Intro
Tenochtitlan, heart of the Aztec empire, the stronghold of Tezcatlipoca, and the greatest possession of King Titlacauan, the Jaguar Lord. An ambitious and confident man, the Jaguar Lord led multiple armies in an attempt to rule the land, and for many years he expanded, and had no enemies. Until he approached his neighbor the Maya, he led a great army against the capital city. He continued to press into the city, yet to no extent, and the Maya kept pushing him back, out of their territory.
(In the Jaguar Lord's tent)
Two warriors approached the king, and bow at his feet.
"The only reason you should be interrupting me, is if you have good news," the lord said in an oily tone. The soldiers looked at each other nervously.
"Well, my lord, our news is not so much good news," the first one said slowly," as it is neutral news." The king stared at them for a moment, he opened his palm.
"Tell me," he said smoothly.
"The Maya have completely shattered the attack, we had to retreat," he said quickly.
"WHAT!" the Jaguar Lord roared, standing up.
"There was no hope for victory, we had no choice," the second soldier said. The lord then rushed forward, as quickly as a viper, and stabbed the soldier square in the chest, while the other one looked on in horror.
"Alert the soldiers," he said calmly, yet the frustration and anger was obvious," we leave for the city tomorrow, much must be done."
(Tenochtitlan)
Titlacauan did everything he could to find a way to conquer his enemies, he increased sacrifices, he prayed to the gods, he even had one of his own commanders sacrificed, but the gods remained silent.
They stayed that way, until the Jaguar Lord made the ultimate sacrifice. He traveled to the top of the pyramid of Tezcatlipoca with his priests, and cut of his own arm. He burned it under the full moon, and offered his arm in sacrifice to the mighty war god. Tezcatlipoca accepted his offer, and gave him immortality, power of the forest, the power of shape shifting, and the Army of the Smoking Mirror.
The Maya were crushed under the Jaguar Lord's power, and all who defied him were sacrificed. After the task was completed, it was time for the lord's powers to be returned, but Titlacauan was not willing to give up his power. When it was time, he had is wife, and children sacrificed to Tezcatlipoca, and when his priests refused to do, for fear of angering the gods, the tyrant did it himself. Instead of being angry with him Tezcatlipoca accepted his offer, and allowed the Jaguar Lord to keep his power.
But another god observed this, and god as powerful, if not more, then Tezcatlipoca, the feathered serpent, the mighty Quetzalcoatl. Disgusted by this heatless, greedy, and cold-blooded act, the god of the sky sent the priests a vision, telling them to sacrifice the Jaguar Lord to him. He then sent one of his servants, a quetzal, to give them the Dagger of the Sky, the hilt was forged from a fang of the holy viper, covered in the combined ash of quetzal feathers and jaguar fur, bathed in the poison of the holy frog, and embedded on the hilt was the emerald of the Serpent.
The priests obeyed their god, and captured the Jaguar Lord; they then tore his heart from his body using the Dagger of the Sky. The heart was placed in a guarded sanctuary, the king's body in a tomb, and the army of the Smoking Mirror was sealed away, freeing the Maya. To ensure that Titlacauan could not be freed, Quetzalcoatl granted the priests immortality, to guard the Jaguar Lord. The dagger was kept with the priests, so that if ever the Jaguar Lord awakened, they could slay him yet again.
The Jaguar Lord's tomb was placed at the bottom of the great Pyramid of the Feathered Serpent, and his heart was hidden in a place only known to the priests. If the king was ever to be released, he would unlock the Army of the Smoking Mirror, and use it to take over the land, and rule it tyrannically.