Ne Zha woke up in an unfamiliar realm, suddenly coughing and his back aching. He was in a cavern of some sort. Jagged stones and bleached white bones, covered by a heavy, purple mist, surrounded him. Any vegetation that grew was drooping and half-dead. The whole place reeked of rotting organs and degradation. He was coughing madly now, seeing no end to it. The smell started to cling to his nostrils as if it was trying to overtake his lungs. Ne Zha took his Armillary Sash and wrapped it around his nose and mouth, doing his best not to inhale the putrid stench.
The prince looked around. No entrance, no exit, as far as he could see. It seemed that whoever stumbled here did not come out alive. Anyone who had even half a brain would know that this was a realm of horror and atrocity. A realm of the dead. He placed his hand on the ground, ignoring the pain in his back to lift himself up, only to take hold of a decomposing... something. Ne Zha recoiled in shock. He had dealt with organs only once when he killed Ao Bing. The situation might not have ended well (Ao Kuang salty ass...), but at least they were fresh off the kill.
Now using his spear to fully stand up, Ne Zha tried to piece together what happened. I was fighting that bastard, Zeus, and pretty well, too, he thought as he started walking on his flaming wheels, spear in hand to keep himself from falling back down. I made sure he got a good whack in the face with my ring...
As he walked further across the cave, he could hear quiet chirps coming from many places. He looked up, only to find stalactites and more mist.
His head made a pensive droop again and he continued to contemplate. And I was THIS CLOSE to winning when something exploded behind my back, and now...
He couldn't complete himself. The chirps became louder and louder, derailing Ne Zha from his train of thought. He was growing anxious. Somehow the cavern was growing more narrow. A cold, shrill laugh sent shivers down his spine. "Who.. who's there? Where on earth am I?" he demanded, his eyes focused on nothing.
Ah Muzen Cab buzzed hurriedly, struggling to maintain on Ah Puch's tail. Maldito cadáver! he cursed. He ruined his hives; his undead minions crushed his bees underfoot. That bastard will pay!
The God of Decay's cruel laugh echoed in his mind. "Come now, bumblebee," he gloated. "You can still make more, can you?"
Tears formed in Ah Muzen's eyes, blurring his vision. "No one kills an entire forest of my bees and thinks they won't face my wrath!" he lashed back.
The scenery blurred around the Bee God's angry flight. From the dark greens of the Olympian forests, over the blues of the Atlantic, to familiar, lighter greens of the Mayan jungle, and finally to not-so-familiar violets and dark grays. He stopped abruptly, observing this new environment. Mist, rocks... corpses...
"Mitnal," Ah Muzen figured. Ah Puch had trapped him. But, if he is to avenge his fallen brethren, he cannot back down. He began to fly again, this time at a slower pace. He constantly checked for any traps that might catch any wrong turns, knowing the death god's... habit of trapping mortals to their doom. The whole place was miserable. Many a soul had been pulled to these depths, innocent and sinful alike, only to remain as one of Ah Puch's rotting trophies. And the stench was disgusting! It stank of Ah Puch's many torturous spells and traps, and the decomposing bits of flesh only made it worse.
The Bee God coughed in disgust. "Ay ay ay! Wouldn't it kill him to clean up once in a while?" his voice echoed throughout the tunnel. He continued going, however, as his anger towards Ah Puch kept him going. Except for the little chirps here and there, all was eerily silent.
As he crept further into the cavern, a loud, childlike voice made him jump. "Get the hell off of me, you little bastards!" it yelled angrily. Ah Muzen cautiously approached the voice, hoping it was not one of Ah Puch's illusions. As the mist parted, he could make out a figure: slim, graceful, donning all kinds of reds and pinks. A crimson, scarf-like fabric was wrapped around his nose and mouth. Ivory skin, raven hair, golden eyes, not too masculine yet not too feminine.
Prince Ne Zha, the bee he got closer, the stranger seemed to be driving away some small, fluttering things away. They seemed to try to injure the poor boy, biting and tearing at his flesh. Looking closer, they appeared to be bats. Camazotz, Ah Muzen thought in disgust. Wanting to be a gentleman, he summoned some of his bees to help. "Fly, friends!" he exclaimed.
~~~~~~
"Huh?!" Ne Zha gasped. Creatures smaller than the bats - bees? - began fighting the bats away. They scampered around, stinging them until the furry pests had no choice but to flee. As the bats scattered, Ne Zha saw the bees buzzing another direction, towards a being much like them in appearance, only much larger and more humanoid. The little insects happily flew around him as he approached the prince.
"Prince Ne Zha, right? I don't believe we've met," the being said, his hand placed shyly on the back of his neck. "I am Ah Muzen Cab, Mayan God of Bees."
Ne Zha smiled through his sash. "Thanks for the save there, Ah Muzen Cab. Those bats were driving me crazy since I got here."
"Hmph. Camazotz has a habit of that. Besides that, however, how did you get here? This is no place for a little boy."
The lotus furrowed his eyebrows in thought. "I don't know. I was fighting Zeus and then something exploded on my back and I fell unconscious..."
"And when you woke up you arrived here?"
The prince nodded.
Ah Muzen crossed his arms. What would Ah Puch and Camazotz want with Ne Zha? Were they that bored?
Just then he noticed Ne Zha wince in pain, holding onto his spear for dear life. "¿Qué te pasa?" Ah Muzen asked worriedly.
"Ugh... whatever got my back... it's certainly a handful," the prince stammered.
The Bee God hovered behind his back and found a small talisman on his left shoulder. It clamped through Ne Zha's shirt, onto his flesh. It had an all-too-familiar face, a small replica of Ah Puch's mask, flanked by a bat's wings, gathering the lotus' seeping blood. This was the last straw for Ah Muzen. "Hold on, this may hurt." He started to gently pull the talisman off, but it was stuck there, and it would only get more stuck if they struggled more to remove it. "Ugh, it's no use," Ne Zha said gloomily. "We'll have to make whoever made it take it off."
Ah Muzen growled, "And also make them get us out of here."
Ne Zha agreed, but the problem is: How?