Somewhere among the Clouds, Heading Towards Jaguar Cave: Outside the City of Tenochtitlan

The city of Tenochtitlan was not barren at all. Surrounded by large hills and gracious farmlands, it was well protected from outsiders. It was sometimes a disadvantage for trade. And yet, the paradise was surrounded by stinking marshlands, dirty forests, and moldy vegetation. This did nothing to the Dragon though, he was high above the land twisting and turning to keep his serpentine body in the air. With the female firmly clutched in his paw, Brave Star continued onward to the cave he had first smelt her in when he tracked the hunter. The wind ruffled his mane and stirred up the memories he had long locked away.

It was the third-hundredth year of his life. Barely anything compared to his father's nine-thousand years. But he was vigilant. And because of such, became know as the Brave Star; his name given to him by the Controller, the Beautiful Goddess of the sky. It was the three-millionth year of the planet and the air was fresh as the water was salty. Oh how he loved bathing in the sea, his home, and swimming to the deepest depths of the oceans. The water down there was icy cold and it refreshed his scales. But he had to come up for air some time and then took to the sky, scales brilliant with water cutting the color of his body. Then it all went wrong. On the three-thousandth-nine-hundredth birth year of the mother planet, the aliens had come with their killing and slaughtering ways. His father had been slain by one and his mother soon after. They had left after a bloody Setsu, kill, and only returned with every one-hundredth cycle of the sun. Then, eight-hundred years ago, the Tatsuoki Satsujin happened. The Great Dragon Murder. How he had survived? He did not know. He had saved many a young-soft hatchling and killed many of the two legged weapon carrying aliens. After seven years they had driven them from the lands, but then it had happened. And for that, he would never forgive!

Brave Star landed on the top of the cave, not showing any signs of exhaustion save for the dryness of his scales. The wind was wet. Some storm was likely brewing close to them. With his paws resting on the rocks, the Dragon observed the surroundings. The trees and plants and even the rocks held some memories of the female human. Both seemed good and bad, memories of someone sweet and kind as well as memories of pain and loneliness. How could so many memories be locked up in such a small place?

He looked about more deeply. Why was there such a lack of water in this place? It reminded him of a large expanse of water. He needed to bathe, and he needed to do so now. Forgetting his original abhorrence, the Dragon again lifted off with ease into the sky. Brave Star's new destination was the ocean. Which was not too far from here and he would carry out better near the sea anyway. With the little female still firmly clutched in his grasp, he interweaved his body through the clouds; like a beautiful silken ribbon dancing in the sky.

Brave Star couldn't wait to taste that salty atmosphere again. He'd been away too long and that thought drove him faster.

The sun was rising again by the time he could smell the life-giving sea. He bent his body forward and through the clouds in anticipation. The human was still in his paw and still asleep. In the back of his mind, he wondered how long she could go without food.

The wondrous blue was spread before him like a blanket of life. He could taste the salt in the air and it stuck to his tongue as he salivated profusely. Forgetting the small female in his hands, Brave Star dove into the sea with great mirth. He swam and came up again, diving and swimming and coming up for air again. For what seemed only minutes to him, Brave Star continued his slithering dance of life. Only when his energy had been filled did his mind stray back to his current situation. The Dragon bolted upward into the sky and landed on a beach of grainy red, black, and cream colored sands. He laid the human on the sand and looked at her for moments. She was cold to the touch, not breathing, and her mouth was full of ocean water. The Dragon bashed on himself for acting so selfishly and carelessly. What had come over him to act this way? With a very heavy heart, the Dragon bumped the human's stomach area with the tip of his nose.

Coughing and spurting water from her mouth and nose, Xochiyotl made a mess of herself as she choked and rolled to her side to avoid swallowing the disgusting water again. She hacked and coughed for some minutes, holding her wrenching stomach as she did so. When the sand next to her, as well as her clothes, was soaked the frightened teen looked up into the eyes of the Dragon. He looked slightly amused and was settled on the sand, his body curled and twisted to fit on the shore. After some minutes of staring at him in horror and selfishly wishing that Cit'lal-i would come to save her, the great beast spoke.

"What are you looking at, two-legs?" he seemed to spit to her in disgust.

"Who… wh-what?" Xochiyotl tried to inquire but stuttered.

For some strange reason, there was something she felt about this creature. Some sort of connection with him that was neither tangible nor perceivable, but she knew it was there. The air around him seemed to tingle and spark with magic and he lifted his head high, and then lowered it to look at her squarely in the eyes. His moist warm breath made her shudder in fear and anticipation. Her nerve began to return with her anger as she looked into his liquid golden eyes. It seemed like he knew her well, like he knew how she had been born and about her past.

"I'm looking at you." She stressed the last word.

For moments the dragon did nothing. He simply stared at her. She took this as a sign of his surprise and decided to go on. Her braveness had returned with her spirit.

"Never talk like you know me buddy, you don't even know my name!"

"You're an orphan. Your original parents named you Tonalnan (Mother of Light). And you currently serve the Hunter yautja called Cit'lal-I, who renamed you Xochiyotl (heart of a gentle flower). Anything else?" a liquid-like voice called out from between some of the Dragon's curled flesh.

With a sudden jolt, the Dragon moved like he had been electrocuted. Now on Xochiyotl's side, he too gazed at the newcomer. She was lucid and moving, her garments flowing with the slightest breeze. She wore twenty long sleeved robes. Each was a different color of the rainbow. When her arms moved, it looked as if a rainbow was following behind them. Her hair was black and strait. It was braided and bunched to form what looked to be some sort of flower. With her brilliant eyes glowing, she smiled a flashing white smile. Her feet never touched the colorful sands.

"Who are…you?" Xochiyotl's fear returned in an instant.

Running through the forests of Tenochtitlan, heading towards Jaguar Cave

Cit'lal-i was still running, still searching for her. He had lost and picked up her scent more than once today. Nine other Hunter's had joined him simply for the chance to kill a Dragon. He had ravaged the city for any crazed Hunter willing and ready to go on a moment's notice. They now ran with him, moving their legs 15 miles an hour to get to their destination. Despite his injuries still plaguing him, Cit'lal-i was not slower than the rest of his brethren. He smiled simply because he was keeping up. The gashes had long ago stopped bleeding, though every muscle still begged for rest. His mouth was dry and his spit was thick in his throat. Sticky sweat covered almost every inch of his body is a film of musk and determination. And yet he pressed on. In his mind pressed the questions, doubts, and fears. They raced as fast as they could. Was she alright? Was she even alive? What would he do if she were dead? At that thought his mind stopped. He couldn't fathom the thought of her being dead, of her gone forever.

The jungles and marshlands made navigating hard for anyone without the right equipment. Thankfully, each and every Hunter had his or her personal helmet and wire mesh suit of armor. They had digital maps and weapons to counter whatever seemed to be out there. The Hunters hissed and clicked in their language to each other. They couldn't wait to slay.

"So what are we out here for anyway?" One large black colored Hunter inquired.

"We're gonna kill a Dragon!" A short green skinned fellow smiled.

"That's not the only reason. He wants something else too," added the biggest of the males. He had a reddish colored skin.

"It's his mate. She's missing," The only female chimed in. She was gray colored and at least two feet taller than the males.

At mention of him, Cit'lal-i turned his head and hissed. A female's intuition was a high myth. For some reason females always seemed to know things that were not obvious. This situation was littered with intuition and questions.

"His female?" the green hunter inquired, "Cit'lal-i had a female? I thought she was just a slave girl."

The tall female yautja spoke up, "Yes, he rescued her from one of the others in the slave chambers."

"Cit'lal-i…is the slave your mate?" the female asked him in a whisper, striding up to the front with him.

For moments Cit'lal-i said nothing. How could he say that he wanted her? He didn't even know if she cherished him the way he prized her. For a moment, his mind flashed to what he wanted. He could almost picture their pups playing at the base of the temple and her shouting at them to behave. He unconsciously gurgled a laugh at his own thoughts.

"So she would have been." The female again guessed right.

She was good at this game.

"Yes. She might have been…" Cit'lal-i trailed off in thought.

"If the High Elder would have agreed to let you mate her."

Cit'lal-i looked over to her for a moment. He longed to know if she was angry with him or not. Most females hated the human women, especially the ones that interacted with the Hunter males. He smiled; many females had beaten fellow males for talking to human girls.

"Are you not angry? She is a human female."

"Angry?" She looked at him, cocking her head to the side. "No, I don't think I am. You want her, it is your choice."

"You must be the first female to say that in the history of our kind." Cit'lal-i shook his head solemnly

"Probably." She smiled.

They continued to trudge onward through the jungle paths. When Cit'lal-i finally recognized the area, he broke into a quicker run. The foggy scent of the Dragon was everywhere, mixed with Xochiyotl's, and only got stronger as he neared the cave. When he smashed into the glade surrounding the cavern, his memories boiled over.

He was hunting. The jungle was alive and thick, the air was moist and hot as usual. Blood drenched his arms and legs from his most recent kill. There was a moaning noise followed by an animal's yowl. Following the paths of blood and smell of hate, Cit'lal-i found her. And from that day onward, he couldn't get her out of his mind. And so he named her Xochiyotl, heart of a gentle flower, after the way she had looked at him when he had killed the large cat. She looked at him with hope, bliss, and adoration in her forsaken eyes.

The glade seemed empty now, as if when she had left she had taken what mattered in this place. He looked to the plants that held the same memories that he did, perhaps from different perspectives. Everything was important here, simply because she had touched it. With a heavy sigh, he noticed that nothing was there, no Dragon, no Xochiyotl, and no evidence that they had even ever landed. He shook his head faster, sinking to his knees in desperation. Where would the creature go besides here? Falling to his back, Cit'lal-i was aware of the others coming into the glade and sitting or lying on the grasses. He fought back tears and sorrow at his lost love. Closing his eyes and ignoring the tears that flowed from them, Cit'lal-i prayed for the first time in his life. For once, he hoped that there was a God up there that would answer his call.

Seventh Heaven

Ixtlilton leaned over the edge of the mirror. Being one of the shorted Gods of the Aztec, he had a hard time seeing when there were several people crowding the stone. He huffed a little and turned instead to the God of Gods. It was seemingly asleep, but everyone knew that it never slept. Being both male and female, Ometechulti/Omecihuatl didn't need anything in the order of sustenance. It simply was there. Still he gazed at it in wonder, knowing that it knew the outcome of this charade of Mayahuel's. He still wondered why the Demi-God wanted the human alive so badly. Or why she wanted to bring the human and yautja together so badly. He clicked his nails together in thought.

"That Dragon is pissing me off!" Mictlan, God of the ninth level of the Underworld shouted.

"You have to admit it was a well played maneuver by the Japanese goddesses." Xochiquetzal smiled beautifully.

"As well played as putting your knight right in front of the King." Quetzalcoatl frowned.

"In a time like this, you speak of chess?!" Mixcoatl shouted at the top of his lungs.

The four Deities began to fight, their anger boiling over into the mirror and probably showering a place in the world with war. Ixtlilton sighed and finally got a chance to peek into the mirror. He noticed something that the others did not seem to see. The Hunter was praying, calling for help.

"Umm…guys…" he started and looked to the others, they were still fighting.

Ixtlilton jumped when Ometechulti/Omecihuatl popped up beside him. It looked slightly angry.

"He prays not for himself, but for her." It smiled. "Mixcoatl!"

The God of the Hunt swished around and hissed. He looked at his parent and then to the mirror littered with his Hunters. Walking slowly, he stood before Ometechulti/Omecihuatl.

"Yes, My God?"

"Do not shower me with compliments. I have a task for you. I am certain that you will be able to accomplish it, but you may not come back to the Heavens until you do." Ometechulti/Omecihuatl smiled broadly.

"Do I have a choice?" Mixcoatl looked much like a small child would, reluctant volunteer for anything without knowing what it was first.

"No."

"Well, then of course I would love to have your task!" he stood up straighter.

"You must go to Earth and help the Hunter called Cit'lal-i in any way he needs. You will have most of your powers and may bring your Choca with you.

With an angry grunt, the God of the Hunt nodded once and turned. As he walked toward the doors, the scene faded from the Mirror Temple, to the inside of the small cave.

The first thing he noticed was the comforting weight of his Choca double-bladed spear (The weeping spear). He loved the feel of it on his back. Smiling, he stepped out into the fading light of the camp the Hunters had made. Silently, he stepped closer. All of them were asleep but Cit'lal-i and the Female, who sat beside him.

He slumped and looked like he had been torn from something. Mixcoatl sighed quietly and realized for once just how much the human meant to the Hunter. How had he come to love her so much? The Gods had not interfered that much had they? Silently, he recited one of the more famous sayings his predecessor had scribed into the throne in his temple.

Don't fall down.

Don't look into the eyes of the world beneath you.

Don't look down,

You can't hold onto the fear that's lost without you.

If you're not here, we're not fine, we're not real…

After some minutes, he decided it was time to show himself to the Hunters. After all, they would need him to fight off the Dragon and to keep the Japanese Goddesses at bay. And he knew he would need the help of those lucky enough to stay in the Seventh Heaven.

With a loud crunch of dead grass beneath his black and crimson boot, the God of the Hunt stepped forward into the light.