At high noon, Tzekel-Kan and Eva were going over the ceremonial process of when she would be a High Priestess officially. It had almost been a complete year, she had exceeded his expectations, and her powers were much stronger than ever. Eva was rather bored, they had gone over it numerous times. He was in the middle of speaking when she interrupted "Tzekel, I know this forwards and backwards, and frankly it is boring."

"Tomorrow is your ceremony! Practice makes perfect!" he replied.

"Yes, but, I know it too well now. And, besides, today is such a beautiful day to go out and have fun!" she spoke looking out to the city.

"Have fun?" Tzekel inquired.

"Yeah! We should go and enjoy the day!" she said excitedly.

Tzekel sighed "if you want to go out, go ahead, but, I will be here waiting for you to come back".

"Why don't you come with me?" she questioned.

"I have to prepare as well for your ceremony" he answered.

"Ok..." she turned towards the front entrance "I guess I'll go alone...all by myself... with no one to talk to..." making her voice sound disappointed, she hid a grin, the guilt trip would certainly pay off today. Eva continued to the entrance before she heard a irritated sigh from him "Alright, I will go with you if it pleases you" Tzekel said. Eva spun around, with a wide smile "great! Come! We'll have such a great time!" she ran up to him and grabbed his hand, pulling him along.

Eva had lead him to where a few of the citizens were watching some of the other citizens play a calming, happy tune. Some children were dancing along, and a couple women were handing out bushels of flowers they had picked, they gave some to Eva who inhaled their sweet scents. She put a flower behind Tzekel's ear, smiling she was, he could tell Eva was genuinely happy. A flutter of golden butterflies flew through, one even landed on Eva's nose. She giggled as it tickled before it flew off with the rest of it's kind. She began to follow them, he followed her. The butterflies lead them to a larger flutter, she stopped to look up and they flew all around her and Tzekel, he could feel their wings brush past him. All his attention was on Eva, she had a wonder about her, and, when she looked to him, her smile lit him up.

Eva was teaching him how to swing on a vine, she glided through them like a monkey. When she stopped to peer back at Tzekel's progress, he was caught in the vines, a tangled mess. She shook her head with a smile, swinging back over she grabbed the vine he was wrapped up in and shook it until he fell out of the tangles and onto the ground that wasn't too far down. She laughed and he did too, it was rather silly.

.

While walking, Tzekel was actually making jokes with Eva, making her hold her stomach while laughing. She too would make jokes or walk in a funny manner just to get him going a bit. Eva then shoved him playfully while cackling, and he shoved back just the same. She shoved him again with more force and he shoved her into a bush to cushion her fall and began to jog away, snickering all the way. She got up with a pebble in hand and threw it at his head, bouncing off he ducked instinctively, Eva cackled and ran after him.

"Let's go for a swim!" Eva suggested, taking his hand and hurrying along into the jungle. "I know the perfect place to swim!" she added. They arrived at the top of a cliff that was a long ways down to the water.

"You're not seriously going to jump from here are you?!" Tzekel inquired looking over to see Eva taking out the twine in her hair, and, disrobing her skirt that had a make-shift bottom underneath.

"Meet you down below!" Eva yelled as she took a running start to the edge and jumping off and falling down, cheering all the way as she curled herself into a ball. A loud splash was made when she crashed into the water. Tzekel peered down, seeing her resurface.

"C'mon down!" she hollered, waving at him. He gulped, taking off his top and necklace. He backed himself up, took a sprinting start, jumped, and proceeded to swan-dive all the way and dive into the water below Eva.

With quick wit, he planned a prank to pull. Just barely close to her wading legs, he awaited the perfect moment. Above, Eva looked around, not seeing Tzekel-Kan anywhere. "Tzekel?" she called out in a worried tone. Unexpectedly, something wrapped around her ankle, but, before she could yelp out she was yanked underneath the surface to have come face to face with Tzekel-Kan himself. Eva punched him in the shoulder, swimming back up along with him.

"You jerk!" she shoved him.

"Ow!" he chuckled. "What? You don't like my revenge on you scaring me?" he sneered.

"Don't bet on it staying that way!" she giggled.

It appeared, over a course of time, Tzekel gained to like Eva more and more. She was smart, snarky, kind, funny, like a person he's never met before. Normally, he would not be interested in any person he knew from El Dorado, however, when they met he had no idea who she was or where she came from. Frankly, what interested him in the first was what she could do, when she saved his life about a vision, yet...now that didn't matter. All he cared about was Eva. However, it was a conflicting feeling he had, knowing he had an emotion towards her, also not knowing how she would react. Would she feel the same about him? Would she despise him if he told Eva how he really felt towards her?

Night had fallen, Eva and Tzekel had made their way to a cliff overlooking the city, but, they were admiring the moon at it's fullest. Cluster of stars seemed more vibrant than on any other night. They had an eventful day, laughing, talking, having the time of their lives. Now, they were quiet, in a pleasant silence. Sitting side by side, supposedly one might say... romantic.

Eva nudge him with an elbow, he turned to see a smug smile on her face. "You had fun today, no?" she spoke.

"Ok, yes, I had fun." he grinned.

"I did too" she faced the moon again, leaning on her arms with a sigh of content.

Tzekel, on the other hand, could feel his heart racing a bit. He wanted to tell her how he felt. His mouth refused to form the words, it opened and closed at least five times before he spoke.

"Eva?"

"Hm?" she looked to him, listening intently.

"I..uh..." he swallowed hard. "I..."

"What?" Eva turned to face him fully.

He cleared his throat, even though it was clogged with a lump. Opened his mouth... "what do you see in the future?" he asked, mentally punching himself.

Eva stared back to the stars "Well...I see...something changing. Something completely changing the course of history as we know it..." she replied.

"Really? What is it?" Tzekel questioned.

"It's too foggy to see now...but, I suppose it will become much clearer soon." Eva answered.

A silence grew, he couldn't tell her. It was impossible, Tzekel did not even think the Gods could help him with this.

"Well...I think we should head back...your ceremony is at dawn..." Tzekel sighed, his heart sinking to the pit of his stomach.

"Yeah, I guess you're right..." Eva agreed, getting up from her spot she held out a hand for Tzekel. Pulling him up to his feet, the touch lingered only for a mere second..how he wanted to hold her hand, but, he resisted.

The walk back was quiet, reaching the temple they said their good nights and headed to their rooms. Tzekel came to his room and fell on his bedding. He gazed at his ceiling with a heavy breath, rubbing his eyes harshly before closing them to a frustrating sleep.

That very night, he began to dream...it was hazy where he walked, and soon it turned dark. However, he was not alone, even as quiet as it seemed. A roar of fire lit up the space, revealing a room, another torch lit, making the surroundings clearer. He looked to his feet, noticing now that he was on someone's ginormous knee, his eyes followed up the thigh and all the way up to see a statue of a face.

A crackling sound began, the eyes of the statue snapped open, reveal piercing red irises. Soon all the stone had crumbled away, leaving behind a truly terrifying figure.

The Goddess, Ixtab. Her skin was gray and covered in wrinkles even though her face appeared youthful (to an extent). She was so incredibly thin that bones you were not suppose to be visible, were. He could see the golden rope tied tightly around her neck, turning the area surrounding the rope, blue and purple. Her face was gaunt, like the rest of her body, sunken eyes with dark circles underneath them. Her nails long and deadly sharp, with boney hands. Her pointed teeth filtered her hazy breath and her hair was a never ending cycle of smoke, and the room immediately reeked of cigars.

"Well...if it isn't Tzekel-Kan.." she spoke, looking down at him with a toothy grin.

"My Lady..." he said, bowing before the enormous Goddess.

"Your recent offerings have not sufficed me...mainly because...THERE. ARE. NONE!" her voice boomed deeply with a fist pounding the surface, making Tzekel fall on his rear.

"W-W-Well I-I haven't been able to make any offerings t-to you...my Lady..." he spoke carefully.

"And why, pray-tell, not?" Ixtab asked stiffly.

"It's...it's j-just I have not found anyone w-worthy for you..." he replied feebly.

"Oh really?" she arched her brow to him, clenching her fist. She snatched him from his spot, holding him firmly in her grasp as he squirmed. "Oh Tzekel...what to do with you..." Ixtab sighed greatly. He felt like he was being tossed about like rag-doll while she did simple hand gestures.

"Please, my Lady...I have not found worthy blood for you!" he struggled against her heavy hand.

"It's that new friend of your's isn't it?" she brought him to be face to face with her.

"F-Friend?" Tzekel repeated.

"That woman?" Ixtab inquired.

She opened her hand, and, took in a deep breath and let out a huge cloud of smoke, causing him to cough furiously. Soon he was surrounded by a circle of wispy haze. Before him, opened a window to reveal a sleeping, familiar, woman.

"Eva..." he whispered.

"Mm. Yes, a youthful, kind spirit." purred Ixtab in his ear. He peered over to see her standing next to him, she had shrunk to a normal size, though, Tzekel could not figure out what was more frightening, her giant stature or being the same size as him.

"She seems worthy enough for me." Ixtab said.

Tzekel drew away from her, "no, not her!"

"Well then who's blood is?!" Ixtab snarled, "I do not think the men upstairs will appreciate your finickiness." she added.

"Have they spoken of when they will return?" Tzekel asked warily.

"I have not been told anything regarding their return, Tzekel-Kan. As you know they will return on the eve of the Age of the Jaguar." the way she pronounced his name made him cringe.

"You will do well to fulfill the demands of blood, Tzekel-Kan." Ixtab got into his face, "or else.." she hissed.

Suddenly his body jolted awake, sitting upright in a cold sweat. His chest heaved, he sat unblinking for a few moments, he needed to fix this soon...