I lost track how many times I rewrote this chapter but here it is! I finally get to bring up another adversary based on one of my favorite stories from the Maya.

I don't own EoA

Chapter 7: Worth It

From his roost high up in the main cave, Zopilote looked at a small piece of paper in his hands. He read the different items listed until he had them memorized.

"Bogato!" Came Ash's voice far below. It was followed by Esteban yelling and then a loud crash. "Not like that!"

Zopilote grumbled and then crumbled up the piece of paper before transforming into a buzzard. He flew down to land on one of the many rocks poking out of the ground. There he got a good view of Ash and Esteban training. Well, if one could call it training. Esteban was basically running around the entire cave at this point.

"If teleportation is all you have, at least use it," Ash said before raising her tamborita in front of her. "Bogato!" she yelled, slamming her hand on the drum. Esteban jumped away as the white blast whizzed by him and hit the rocky wall of the cave.

Esteban stopped running and faced Ash. "I did that the last two rounds. And I either got teleported in line of fire or almost off the edge of the mountainside." Then Esteban crossed his arms and held his head high, "I'm not teleporting unless there is a better way to-"

"Bogato!"

So fast was the blast that Esteban had no time to react this time. He was knocked off his feet and he fell a few meters away on his back. His staff clattering to the ground not too far from him. "Ow..." he moaned as his face twisted in pain.

When he looked up, Ash was standing over him as she said, "Magic is reactionary, remember? You're as good as dead if you think otherwise and complain."

As Esteban sat up to rub his back, he asked, "Can we at least take a break. We've been at this all morning and it's almost noon."

"The goal of today's training is for you to disarm me," Ash explained as she held up her tamborita. "You haven't even tried coming after me, so we're not done until you do."

Esteban got up on his feet and pointed the tip of his staff close to Ash's nose. "You haven't even shown me how."

Ash raised an eyebrow, unphased by the weapon at her face. Before Esteban could blink, Ash was already grabbing his staff by the hilt and twisting it. It forced Esteban's wrist to turn at an odd angle and he gave a yell before letting go. As he shook his hand off of the pain, Ash pointed the staff right at his nose as she said, warningly, "Need another demonstration?"

Zopilote rolled his eyes and yelled, "All right, enough!" Ash and Esteban looked at the birdman surprised as he raised a wing. "As much as I agree with Ash that you should keep practicing and putting more effort, you can have your break, Esteban."

"What?" Ash asked surprised

"Finally…" Esteban said relieved.

Zopilote continued, "I need to get supplies and I'll be gone for a while. But I can't have you training alone if the ceiling caves in because you two couldn't stop arguing. So no spells cast until I get back." Esteban smirked in Ash's direction which caused her to shove his staff back into him so hard the hilt almost knocked the wind out of him. He could only look up at her with his own sneer as he leaned over to recover. Then Zopilote added, "And no leaving the mountain."

Esteban stood upright real quick. Now it was his turn to yell, "What?!"

"I expect training to resume when I get back and I don't want a repeat of the last two times you got lost. So stay put."

Esteban watched in defeat as Zopilote flew out of the cave. Ash noticed his dismal look and said, "Oh, come on. It's not like you have anywhere else to be." Esteban just turned to leave her in the main cave. There was no use coming up with a retort. Because what she said wasn't true.

He did have somewhere to be. Well, not really HAD to be. Or did he?

Esteban stopped at the entrance of his makeshift room and leaned against the rock wall. A lot more work had been put into the small space since he last took time to really look at it. But still, nothing could make this small place feel welcoming. That's why he wanted to get back to the Maruvians so bad because at least the Itz'at made him feel welcome. Which is why he had been hoping for a break all morning. So that he could go out and find them.

But first, he had to locate that clearing again, and he couldn't remember if it was southeast or southwest of Las Garras. "Figures," Esteban sighed. He was probably going to get lost again, even without teleportation. And Ash had stayed in the main cave. If Esteban tried walking out, she'd start asking questions. If he couldn't go anywhere, then what was the point of all this thinking? Maybe that was just it, it was pointless. After all, if the Malvagos couldn't teach Esteban who's to say the Maruvian's could do better. And Esteban didn't even like training in magic. It wasn't worth it.

"It would mean a lot to him…" Zyanya's words echoed in his mind. As soon as he thought of that, he felt a small breeze. Esteban stood up straight and looked down at the tunnel he was in. One of many in the mountain. A small smile appeared on his face. Maybe it was worth a shot.

Soon, Esteban was making his way down a small tunnel before taking a left at a bigger one that connected right to it. In the few days the Malvagos thought he could mask himself from tracking spells, Esteban had bumped into a few tunnels that lead to entrances in different parts of the mountain. If he could find the right one that led him to the base of the mountain, he was out of there. So for a long while, Esteban continued taking tunnels downward.

At one point he found a familiar crossroad. He knew if he chose right he'd be going down into pitch black. The memory of an unknown presence in the dark gave Esteban goosebumps, but then he remembered what Zopilote said. Nothing else was living here. Which made sense. Why would the birdman make this place a hideout if it meant sharing it with someone else?

Esteban lit a candle he brought with him just in case. He could at least see a meter ahead to avoid stumbling around, but it still wasn't much. It was a small candle and about fifteen minutes later the flame was getting near his fingertips. There had to be a way out at some point, right?

Finally, after what felt like forever, the floor beneath him leveled out and he spotted a glow at the end of the tunnel. He would have run to freedom if the glow wasn't an eerie purple. He slowly made his way to the source of the purple light, preparing himself for whatever was ahead. When Esteban got there he almost dropped his candle. It was a cenote.

At least 3 meters in diameter, the sinkhole took up almost the entire floor of the cave. The water itself was the one glowing purple. Small catfish that swam about seemed to be unaffected by the light. Esteban looked up to see if there might have been some hole in the ceiling to shine daylight in, but all he found were stalactites six meters tall hanging from the dark shadows.

He would have stayed longer if the glow hadn't shown him what was on the other side of the cenote. Carved into the rocky wall was a stela of a bat figure painted a dark blue with glyphs on either side. No doubt it was Maruvian given it was depicted with body facing forward and head facing left. But Esteban stepped back, noticing the mouth was open to reveal fangs and its wings spread out to raise large talons. There had to be a reason this was here. Was Zopilote right to say they were alone in the mountain?

A draft on his left made Esteban look at the large entrance of another tunnel. If there was wind, then this was his way out. Remembering his mission, he shuffled quickly along the edge of the cenote as to not fall in before making his way into the new tunnel. He left the cenote behind, not noticing two of the many stalactites twitch back and forth

Esteban hurried down the newfound tunnel as the flame of his candle began to dim. He only stopped when he spotted another glow at the end of this tunnel. The bright yellow color made him sigh in relief and toss his candle aside. Daylight was just up ahead, and he could even spot some trees. He had finally reached the base. "Ash and Zopilote think they can keep me in the mountain. Please…" he said, fixing up his ascot and hold his head high, "I just did so and without any problem."

Suddenly, he felt hot breath on his neck and Esteban went stiff. He took a glance back and saw nothing but sharp fangs. On instinct, Esteban ducked as whatever it was tried to bite down on his head but missed. Then, Esteban swung his staff up, hoping the sharp tip would do some damage. He didn't get a hit but it was enough for whatever was attacking to back off and give him room to run for the exit.

Just as he was about to make it out, a sudden gust of wind behind Esteban caused him to be blown out of the tunnel and into daylight. He tumbled to the ground and kept rolling until he came to a stop on his side. He would have stayed laying there in pain if he didn't feel hot breath right over him. He whipped around so that he sat up and came face to face with the biggest creature he had ever seen.

It was a giant bat, almost as tall as the trees that now surrounded them and fur a deep blue that could get lost in the night. Its aqua blue wings spread wide to show they were double their own size and had a singular sharp talon on each. Nostrils on its blue leaf-like nose flared as it breathed heavily on him and long point ears laid back flat on its head. What caught Esteban's attention was that it wore gold wrist jewelry on each talon and a thick gold necklace. The pendant marked by a black X-mark. It even wore a purple cloth like a skirt around its waist.

Suddenly, the giant bat opened its mouth to give a mighty screech showing two massive fangs and almost blowing out Esteban's eardrums in the process. Esteban grabbed his staff that had fallen right beside him. Forget avoiding getting lost, it was either that or become this beast's dinner. Esteban slammed the end of the staff to the ground in hopes he didn't teleport in front of the giant again.

Once he found himself standing up and seeing a different part of the forest, he sighed in relief. And then followed it with a yell of frustration. "Why is it every time I walk into this cursed jungle something is trying to kill me!?"

A surprised growl from behind him made Esteban look back wide-eyed. He had only managed to teleported behind the bat creature so it was easy for the giant thing to hear Esteban yell and turn to face him. It too was surprising to see the man end up back there, but its surprise went right back to fury as it gave a massive screech and charged. Esteban tried to teleport far away again, but he only found himself next to the large right wing of bat. It raised its leaf nose in the air to sniff before its giant head turned sharply in Esteban's direction.

Esteban hit his staff to the ground figuring that if he couldn't teleport far away, he could at least teleport out of reach from the jaws of death. And that's all he did. The man would teleport deeper and deeper into the jungle but the creature would always be right at his tail. Esteban wondered how a creature that normally flies was able to get around on the ground so quickly.

"Come on, you lousy thing," He grumbled as he looked down at his staff. With as much strength as he could gather, Esteban slammed the end of his staff into the ground almost wedging it into the dirt. By the time the creature caught up, Esteban was nowhere in sight.

The man found himself back to back with a tree. Seeing nothing but trees in front of him, Esteban peeked around the trunk. He only caught a glimpse of dark blue moving among some trees far behind him before he turned back to look forward again. The bat gave another loud screech that almost seemed to make the leaves of the trees shake. Esteban pressed himself closer to the trunk, staff close almost touching his nose as he tried to stay hidden. "Move along, move along…" he whispered. He waited a few moments until he was sure he heard nothing. When he peeked around the tree again, Esteban didn't spy the bat creature.

Sighing in relief he stepped away from the tree and dusted himself off. "No-no- no WAY is all this chasing around and getting hunted worth learning some dumb magic tricks. I'm going back-"

A distant screech cut him off and he looked in the direction the bat left. At first, he thought it was coming from among the trees until he heard it mingled with the sound of giant wings cutting through the air above. Both sounds getting louder. "How?" Esteban asked in disbelief.

The tree Esteban had been hiding behind was then toppled over and crushed by the immense weight of the giant bat as it fell from the sky. It used its talons to scrape through the wood to search for the man. Realizing its target had escaped and was running away again, the creature charged once more.

Esteban didn't know how much longer he could keep up running until he broke through the tree line and found himself by a familiar stream. Before he could remember why he stumbled on a loose rock and fell to his hands and knees. This slip-up gave the bat enough time to catch up and break through the treeline itself. Esteban looked back in time to see it lunge towards him and a wall of water rise between them.

Esteban scooted back, mouth open wide as the water splashed right into the creature's face. It shrieked as it tried to shake its head off the water. But more to the stream came back up and splashed in its face yet again. He then heard someone in the trees behind him yell, "What are you doing? Run!" Esteban looked left and right trying to find the owner of the voice but forgot about it real quick when he realized the creature wouldn't be distracted long.

Doing as he was told he ran deeper into the jungle, not caring where. He then heard the creature screech again and he looked back to see it charging right for him and getting closer. Without warning, he heard a buzzing sound followed by a new voice saying, "Don't look back. Keep running then jump through the gap." Esteban looked around again and saw no one, but he did see something new up ahead.

Vines. A huge cluster of them hanging from the trees. Esteban noticed a space between them he could run through without getting tangled. The feeling of the creature biting at his heels pushed Esteban to run faster. And then he jumped.

I promise this is the last time Esteban gets chased around for a long while. It would be out of character to introduce Zotzini any other way. But at least this time it seems Esteban is getting some help from some unlikely new allies.

Fun Fact Time!:

1)Cenotes: sinkholes filled with water that are found all throughout Yucatan Peninsula and can often connect with other sinkholes miles away through tunnels below ground. Said to be the gateways to Xibalba, the underworld, in Maya mythology.

2)Zotzini: "Zotz" means bat in Kiche Maya and "Bigidiri Zini" translates to butterfly meat, which is a title for bat in Zapotec. Zotzini is inspired by my favorite demon in the Maya Pantheon known as Camazotz. When the Maya Hero twins go to the underworld, one of the many challenges was to go through the House of Bats in which Camazotz rules from. Sometimes he's depicted on his own or having an army of killer bats. In general he is known as the lord of bats, death, and the night. Which is why Zotzini is influenced by depictions of Camazotz on pottery and effigies. But just like the show does with Quita Moz and Orizaba, I don't directly use the name of the being their inspired by… that way I can bring in my own creative ideas for Zotzini

So let's so how Esteban get's out of this mess next chapter. I'm KikaKatTIOI, peace out!