CHAPTER 28: What is Your Name?

Two pairs of feet ran along dirt paths as two boys ran into a house crafted of thick stone and held together by plaster. The boys smiled and yelled as they played, before meeting with an old woman sitting on the floor.

"Grandma, I'm old enough for the story, now tell me it. I want to know!" The older brother said.

"I suppose, but Redwind may not. He is too young." The woman said, shooing off the smaller child.

"But I am a man like my brother is!" the child said loudly, full of youthful curiosity and ignorant passion. The old woman's wrinkled lips creased into a smile, and she began to laugh.

"Fine, but do not tell your father. I suppose you are big and brave enough to realize the complexities that lie within this world. But beware of this tale I tell, it is one of blood and fire." Redwind's grandma warned before starting.

"Long ago, ages before this day, when my mother's mother was a small child just like you, a being of tremendous wisdom and power came before our people, and with him stood an army of beasts that took the tongue of man. They were countless in number, each as strong as twelve men. The being said to our people that our gods were false and would never improve our crops, bring us rain, or heal our sick. The being said that only through his power and knowledge would we prosper and conquer our enemies and their lands. At first we laughed, and then set up our attack, furious at the being for insulting our gods and proclaiming his power. We were ignorant of the beastmens' strength, and were foolish enough to pursue violence. With many of our men, we attempted to surprise the being and his beasts with a sudden vicious storming of their resting place. But they were no match for the divine. All mortal weapons were of no effect on the being, and the manbeasts were extremely resilient. With a wave of his hand, twenty men were slaughtered and maimed like rabbits in the jaws of a wolf. Mountains broke and the earth split as he dashed and conquered his foes. The beasts then went rampant, tearing and clawing humans through, some of them possessing magical black sticks exhaling bursts of fire and death that clapped louder than the thunder of even the greatest of storms, hunting the now-damned soldiers down to their last head. Fire and smoke sprouted throughout the darkening dusk, illuminating the blackened nothingness with a hazed orange reflected by the vapory clouds of ash. The being and beasts, with their magic and strength, were superior to us mortals in every shape and form, losing not more than just three manbeasts in the fight that killed thousands. We had realized our gruesome mistake, that we were in the presence of a god. Our people bowed, and groveled for forgiveness. To this, my grandma remembered vividly, the being said 'Let me rule your people and I will give you all that I have promised.' and they relented. Not all of our people, however, were able to witness such an event, and rebelled against the god's divine authority. A shift was created in our great empire, a feud that still exists today and will soon be at its end. Hopefully, my boys, you will be the last of our generations to have to see such a divergence. It is by the god's grace that had hadn't just silenced them already."

"And what is the being's name?" Redwind asked.

"He gave us no name. He has instructed everyone to call him simply 'My king'."

"And this man still lives?" Redwind's brother added.

"For generations he has remained untouched by the workings of the earth and sun. There is not a wrinkle on his face nor a whitened hair on his head. He is truly impervious to the clutches of time, if not the grasp of death at large. He is our king, the ruler of our empire." The grandma said. A weird feeling of downcast nostalgia fell over Redwind. "Our" empire… the empire… the Toltec Empire… Redwind knew the name, yet when he thought of it, a dark sorrow anchored itself in his mind and stomach. There was a memory, a cluster of thoughts, on the tip of Redwind's mind, begging, chanting, desiring to be let free. Try as Redwind might, the memories were suspended just outside his consciousness. They lingered there for a while, only to disappear into the gray of his mind. Though frustrated by the escape of the memories, he quickly moved on. Only a few years later, Redwind stood beside the ailing grandmother, skinny and bonelike and reeking of the omen of death. Redwind's father, mother, and all of his extended family remained at her side, keeping the words of her last hours close and at heart.

"Children, you must now become men. Use my authority to speak to our king about the famine that the new bugs have terrorized us with this growing season. We are far from my grandmother's city of Tula, but the journey will be well worth the wait. With his tricks and some observation of the bug, our king will teach us how to kill these pests and prevent future crop devastations. Now, go with your father to the capitol and save us."

And with that, Redwind and his father and brother set off on a journey taking many weeks and many tough, brutal days in the scorching heat of the land as well as many calm, bountiful days when lush undergrowth grew nearby and the rain fell, blocking the sun and its dry, blistering punishment. After ages on the road, Redwind and his group finally came upon the magnificence and grandeur of the capitol. Giant temples with enormous pillars of stone stood high with an ancient permanence that made man feel so small and insignificant in comparison. Redwind had never seen such majesty. He walked through the city, seeing rows of gargantuan stone sculptures in the shape of wide, almost rectangular men, filling the city with beauty as well as a well-founded intimidation. The men were adorned warriors, proof of the nation's pride in its military might even before the rule of the current king. Compared to his home village, humans littered the city, the crowd exposure making him nauseous. As they stepped into the palace room, they saw this god of myth and legend. A giant, who, if standing fully erect, would be at least 1.5 times the height of the tallest man they've ever seen. Beautiful golden red hair flowed straight from his head down his waist, with some hair resting at his front on his chest dropping and curving on his lap. His hair glistened brightly as the rays of sun fell from the high-placed windows down to his ornate throne. But it was the man's eyes that made Redwind's brother and father fall to their knees in fear of the divine. They were brilliant eyes, accented by sharp, thick, dark eyebrows tinted red. Each iris was adorned with two radiant colors that surrounded the pupil like rings. The inner ring was a vibrant gold that glittered with the crystalline grains of one-thousand diamond-like sands. The outer ring was a starlit silver, with many small crystal-like formations that were not random like the gold's, but long and thin and directed towards the pupil at all points, similar the pattern on a wood log without its rings and with starker contrast between the lights and darks of its formation. Redwind was not terrified by this unnatural eye, but was mesmerized by its beauty. He did not see the being as some foreign entity, but a man with a heart and a soul. He stood there for a few moments before feeling a tug on the cloth around his hip, which was his father desperately signaling for him to pay his respects. He immediately started kneeling and lowering his head before looking back up at the magnificent being. Just like they had practiced before.

"My king… my home village, along with a large portion of the northern province, has been struck with famine due to the insects here..." He pulled out a cage primitive yet quite well crafted to show the unique new insect. A guard, one of the manbeasts, came and snatched the cage from Redwind's grasp. He brought it to the deity, who examined it carefully.

"A new breed, the more you learn..." The king said. "I will not help you yet. I need to see the species effect on the environment, as well as study these separately. Move along, I'll see it done eventually."

Redwind's eyes locked straight with the being's as Redwind fought to conceal a sneer.

"We do not have time. My family and neighbors are starved as we speak. These bugs are poisonous and simply inedible. We have nothing? You promised us economic strength and general prosperity, don't you have the divine power to fix this?"

"I cannot instantly fix your problems. It is my mind and my skills alone that ensure that I can maintain prosperity in these lands. Besides, I have more important tasks that bid my time."

"Should not your people be your main priority? Is that not the job of an enlightened ruler? And you call yourself a god?" Redwind said to the deathly paleness of his family beside him.

"Silence, you man! You overstep your boundaries and disrespect your king. You should be beheaded!" The manbeast guard on the adjacent side roared.

"Now, now, moxa. I want to clear up some misunderstandings. First, I never said I was a god. I once did say 'If you want a king, I will be your king. If you want a god, I will be your god', but that does not mean I am a literal god. Secondly, I claimed this nation for a reason other than to be your perfect benevolent king. From the stars I came and back to the stars I wish to go. This is not the only nation I rule, I am merely planting in these nations a seed before I move to the next one and rule them all from afar. I have provided this kingdom with a common language that can be used in many other nations unlike Nahuatl language, and many great advancements in irrigation, crop rotation, medical knowledge, and education. The northern province may have some loyal to the nation, but many rebels also lay in wait there. The innocent may have to suffer for a bit while I weed out those leafhoppers before I deal with the actual ones."

Redwind, in a violent fury, stood straight up and walked closer to the king as the brother and father were paralyzed with the shock of the discovery and their situation.

"I will not stand for this, you false-faced king! How dare you deceive us with your talk of improvements! A man with no empathy will get no respect from me or my people. I would rather die than let this opportunity slip by while we are still face to face. I challenge you, king!"

"He who cannot move a boulder cannot hope of moving a mountain" The king said, towering over the small young man, his ascension from the throne and his descension down the stairs to a mere couple of inches from the boy's face happening near instantaneously. The boy did not flinch.

"He can start by moving small stones."

The king tilted back and laughed heartily.

"I like this young man. He has more strength of will than all of the guards in this room combined. Very well. I will make it my priority to stop the insects causing the famine within two days. That is a promise, but only under one condition… old man, is this not your son?" The king questioned. The father hesitated

"Y-yes, my king!" He whimpered.

The king chuckled. "How utterly spineless these two are. Had you not stepped up to defend yourself a second time, you and your family would be dead right now. Moving on. Well then, father, do you wish to give me your son as payment? He will be receiving the rare gift bestowed on the few who catch my favor. The chance to ascend and break one's limits, to go beyond the boundaries of mankind. And to this, I offer you, young man; blood, strength, and immortality. You, in turn, will serve me for the rest of your days. Do the both of you agree?"

A collage of yes and I don't know scrambled together as the father agreed and the son, for some reason, did not.

"Will I not be able to see my family anymore? My life is my family, and I cannot abandon them."

"Then you will start a new life. One where your voice matters. Tell me, young one, what do you call yourself?"

"Redwind."

"Then I will give you a new name. You have shown your bravery is as solid and unyielding as the earth that makes the foundation of this city. I can tell when a man's will is unshakable unto eternity. You, therefore, will be named 'Antigua', as you will live with that same determination in your heart for countless years, even when you become more ancient than I."

Redwind looked at his dad and his brother with wet eyes, and their own eyes glimmered with determination and a surprisingly confident nod that told Redwind that they would try their best to sustain their family. They no longer were choosing this option from the pressure of the king, but chose it as a grand opportunity for Redwind that few others in the entire world had. Realizing this, he slowly met with them on their knees and said one last loving, heartfelt goodbye before getting up and turning to the king, who was uncontrollably smiling with a pure, warm, and totally unexpected expression. Perhaps this ruler of stone had some cracks, once in a while.

"I accept your deal. Until death do I part it." And with that, the king and his new subject turned and exited, while the brother and father began their journey home. While following, Antigua asked the king a question.

"What is your name, my king?" Antigua asked with an expression of calm curiosity.

"Tangente" The king replied in turn. "Now, boy, prepare yourself for what is to come. For I have given the beastmen their claws and I will give you your fangs. One day you, too, will be able to shatter mountains and break the earth."