"Mother, I have to tell you something."

  Those simple, yet powerful five words, captured the attention of Her Highness Maya, who changed her expression from a loving face to one that showed bewilderment.

  "Is something wrong, son?"

  "It’s… it’s about several things." Ketsual turned his face to the side to look at the windows that opened to the outside, showing a bluish sky with some clouds floating, but the black and reddish circle he had seen before fainting was no longer there.

  He felt relief seeing that it was gone, and turned his face back to his mother, who still maintained her bewildered and worried expression.

  "Mother… before I fainted, I saw something horrible in the sky… it was a kind of black and reddish circle, with long things moving in a strange way."

  "Calm down, it most likely was an illusion caused by fatigue," said Maya in a consoling tone.

  Hearing her words, Ketsual wanted to believe it, he wanted all of that to be just in his mind, but with what he had dreamed during the week, and now this, he simply could no longer ignore it.

  "It’s not just that… also, all week, I have been dreaming of horrible things."

  "What kind of things, son?" asked Maya worried.

  "Death… I’ve dreamed of battles, people falling ill, floods, fire, and dark figures laughing—" Unaware, as he spoke more, a tremor in his hands and voice became more noticeable, while he lowered his gaze.

  In that moment, Maya held both of Ketsual’s hands firmly, causing Ketsual to stop speaking and look at her. She had a very worried expression—a look that Ketsual had never seen before

  "Son, are you sure about what you have dreamed?" asked Maya firmly.

  "Yes, I am very sure about it… besides, when I looked at that circle in the sky, the same images I had dreamed appeared."

  "Really? This is very serious, son. Do you swear that what you are telling me is true?"

  Ketsual felt somewhat scared seeing his mother’s attitude, but he still answered, "... yes, it’s the truth."

  Silence filled the room, allowing only the small sound of the breeze to be heard.

  Maya held her gaze on her son, looking at him deeply, trying to find any sign of a lie in his words. Something she did not succeed in.

  "Son, when you feel better, I need us to go to a place," said Maya, softening her gaze and voice a little, but with a hint of worry.

  .

  .

  .

  With firmer steps than before, Ketsual walked alongside his mother, who guided him along the way.

  They passed through some internal corridors, until in the distance they saw two soldiers standing between a stone staircase that led downward.

  Ketsual knew the way well and where that staircase led—they were heading to the vault, a place known for storing the kingdom’s great riches; although he had never entered, he was not allowed to go in until reaching a certain age, something that was ignored due to the situation.

  Maya headed toward the two knights before descending the stairs, followed by her son.

  The further they went down, the light from outside faded, replaced by the light of torches hung on the walls, allowing them to see the steps.

  They continued like this for a while longer until they reached the last section. In front of them was a small passage, and at its end stood a large iron door, which had a lock in the middle.

  Maya approached the door, touched her hair which had several ornaments, and among them grabbed one shaped like a butterfly, revealing that the hidden part had the figure of a key.

  Ketsual looked at it, astonished.

  Immediately after, Maya went to the door, inserted the key into the lock, turning it to her right, and as she turned it, the sound of mechanisms working could be heard.

  She stopped after turning it three-quarters of the way, and pushed it from her left, opening the door with a loud metallic noise.

  And with one last metallic noise, before silence invaded the vault, Ketsual moved closer to get a better look, but he could not see anything beyond his own nose; the darkness was very dense.

  His mother took a torch that was hanging on one side of the door, then entered the vault, and afterwards moved to her right.

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  Ketsual also entered the vault, looking to his right to see his mother five steps away from him. In front of her there was a small circular structure, which resembled the structure of water wells, but it did not have a hole. It had a small recessed space to hold some kind of liquid on its surface.

  Maya extended her torch toward that liquid, which instantly ignited, and not only that, the flame followed a predestined path, traveling through the room rapidly and managing to illuminate the entire chamber.

  Ketsual was finally able to see the vault in its full extent, and it was simply impressive: mountains of gold coins, objects that looked to be of immense value, precious stones filling several parts of the room—it was simply vast.

  "So… this is the vault," said Ketsual incredulously.

  Maya approached Ketsual, who was looking at all that wealth. "Yes, but it is only a small part of the kingdom’s wealth."

  "Really?! Where is the rest?"

  "Didn’t you see it in your classes? All the kingdom’s riches are spread across different main planets of the kingdom; it is not good to have all the kingdom’s wealth in one single place."

  And with that small lesson, Maya began to walk among those riches without giving them importance, and Ketsual followed in her footsteps.

  Everything that was in that vault was incredible to Ketsual, but then he remembered his situation, and he did not know for what reason they were there.

  So he asked his mother, "Mother, why are we here?"

  Maya stopped her steps, looked at Ketsual with a sad expression, approached him, and placed herself at the same height as him.

  "Son, what I am going to tell you is something that no one else, aside from the royal family, must know, so listen carefully."

  Ketsual grew tense at her words, but nodded to assure his mother that he would listen to what she had to say.

  "Alright, to begin with, do you remember the story of 'Origin and Master'?"

  "Huh? Of course… the story is about—"

  Before Ketsual could continue, Maya interrupted him.

  "Very well, then forget all of that."

  Ketsual remained frozen for a moment; something that had been taught to him, and that he had studied arduously, was erased with those few words.

  "I will tell you the story of the origin, our origin and that of the dragons."

  "Our origin and that of the dragons?"

  "That’s right. It is said, for generations, that the world was nothing more than an enormous void, a void where two great beings dwelled, two dragons."

  "Dragons?"

  "Yes, these two dragons are known as Yoli and Miquiztli. At a certain moment, the two dragons grew tired of their world being an empty place, so they created beings in their own likeness—they created the dragons, and with that they created planets so they could inhabit them, animals so they could feed themselves, and water to quench their thirst.

  The two dragons were proud of their creations and of the universe they had created, but something went wrong: these dragons were not as intelligent as they were, some were even savage.

  The dragon Yoli became worried about his creations, to whom he had grown attached, and began to see them as his children. So, with the help of Miquiztli, they decided that the dragons, who were wild because of their freedom, needed to have control, and they decided to create a being that could do so. That was when they created the human being—the being meant to accompany and hold the reins of the dragons."

  The dragon Yoli felt affection toward humans, for being able to help his dragon children, so much so that he grew fond of them.

  But Mizquitli did not like this; he believed that such a different creature could not be adored, and because of that he distanced himself from humans.

  Yoli decided to follow Mizquitli, but before departing, he decided to give an object and a blessing to humans, specifically to the leader of the humans. Telling him that if one day humanity were in danger, the leader or his successors would know it, and with the object they could prevent it.

  After saying this, Maya stopped speaking and continued walking, with Ketsual following her.

  "But what is that object? And why is this story a secret? And why are you telling it to me?" asked Ketsual.

  Maya, without stopping her steps, answered, "The object is believed to be the tool used to call Yoli, so that he may help when humanity is in danger. This story is not told, since it would be dangerous if someone knew about this object. Besides, your ancestors decided to hide this story with a different one, in order to have greater control, based on the religion they created, and not tarnish the true story."

  "My ancestors did that? Wait, so the person who received the object from Yoli was one of my ancestors?"

  "That’s right. The object was given to the founder of this kingdom, the ancient king Tlatoni. And I am telling you all of this because of this." Maya stopped in front of a wall far from the entrance to the vault. Once again, Maya took an ornament from her hair; this time it was shaped like a dragon, but it was also a key.

  She approached the wall, searching its worn surface for something specific. Her movements stopped when she was able to locate a crack.

  She inserted the key into that crack, turning it halfway, and then pushed the wall from her right. A part of the wall began to move inward, allowing a small room to be seen, which had a wooden box placed on top of a big rock.

  Maya entered, and Ketsual did not know whether to enter or wait outside, but that doubt disappeared when Maya looked at him and motioned for him to come in.

  Ketsual entered, stood beside his mother, facing the wooden box. Maya lifted the lid of the wooden box, revealing that inside there was… a stone.

  It was not a stone that had anything special, like a shine, or some kind of carving or drawing on its surface. Its appearance was simply like a stone you could find anywhere.

  Ketsual was bewildered by this; he had thought the object would be something else, anything but a stone.

  Maya leaned slightly and took the stone with somewhat trembling hands. She held it, looked at it, and then looked at her son.

  "Now, take it."

  "Okay, and after I take it, what do I do?"

  Maya waited a moment before answering, "I don’t know. The stories say that when humanity is in danger, the blood of the blessed will be activated and they will be able to use the object, but it has never been said how, so we will find out."

  Maya extended the stone to Ketsual, who took it, and in that moment… nothing happened.

  “Do you feel… anything different?” asked Maya, somewhat worried.

  “No, nothing.”

  They waited a few seconds to see if anything would happen, but nothing did.

  Maya let out a sigh of relief. “Good, it seems that the nightmares you had have nothing to do with the story. Give it to me so we can put it away and forget about this.”

  Maya extended her hand, but Ketsual was still holding the stone close to him. He didn’t feel any change in himself, but he felt that there was something more to do with the stone.

  “Son?”

  “I… want to look at the sky first.”