[center][h2]Itztli of the Great Lake in Kubrajzar[/h2][/center]
High Priest Khentii was having strange dreams. Dreams of the moon eating the sun. Of the vibrant colors fleeing and all become grey and bleak. For a moment he was happy when a servant woke him up. Yet then he remembered what day it was. He rushed out of his hovel. It was a simple bricked hovel with nothing fancy about it other than the few statues carved into the walls. Even that made it stand out from the otherwise smaller hovels his people lived in. He looked east, along the sacred road heading for the temple plaza. The Great Pyramid of Ohae was faintly glowing with the sun barely behind it. Then, the first drum beats echoed throughout Aklux. The call had begun. Those of the builder and warrior castes came out of their hovels and saw Khentii.

“Bring the slaves!” He yelled at a few warriors. For today was a day Ohae in the sky would need help. “Bring wood as well!” He shouted at the builders. Before he rushed towards the Great Pyramid. He begged the Star Serpent that he was wrong. Yet the omens and machinations had to be heeded. More drums vibrated from the temple. Waking the spirits of the world. Great bonfires were lit at the food of the temple, coating it in a dark red and smokey glow. Like incense the smoke rose along the Great Pyramid. At every level more drummers joined the Call.

When Khentii was upon the Temple-Plaza, many of the builder castes had already gathered and began to dance along the great bonfire. Chanting and shouting in excitement. For the sun was about to do battle. Those of the Warrior Caste had already begun to drag their prisoners one by one up the stairs. Which had a channel cut in the middle of it. With every passing moment each level of the great Pyramid became more and more alive with drums, fires and chants enhanced through sorcerous magic. Khentii rushed up the stairs. Followed by several priests in gold-coated masks brandishing highly polished, bronze knives. Their cotton robes had gold dust on them as paint. Behind them the lesser dressed acolytes moved. Eying each of the sacrifices that were dragged up the stairs.

Khentii, at 150 years old, was not a young Itztli anymore. Every time he had to mount the stairs to the top, it took a toll on him. When he reached the flat top of the pyramid he dropped to his knees, out of breath. None of his fellow priests helped him. Instead they all moved around the four altars placed equally away from a central pool. The first four sacrifices were hauled onto the stone slabs and held down. The priests held their claw-shaped knives against their throat, which hung over a bowl. They waited for the signal. Khentii and his own acolytes looked up at the sun. Below the drums and songs and chants made more and more of the world-spirits awaken. Even the spirit of the Great Pyramid began to stir. Upon the smaller, more colorful temples standing around the Great Pyramid of Ohae the priesthood of Meghzaal, the Father-Spirit, were reciting their poems and sang their songs with their choirs. All to appease and quicken the spirits-in-all.

Then it happened. The sun was being eaten. The drums stopped. Dances were stopped in their tracks. Khentii felt a chill run along his back. Below Itztli began to cry out in horror. The light, the life, it was taken! Khentii gave his signal. Blood poured into the bowls. Which where then emptied into the central pool by servants. The bodies were thrown along a broad channel carved in the north side of the temple. The blood in the pool wasn’t enough. More bodies were dragged up on the temple. Priests on each level and upon the temple-plaza ushered their kin to continue the dancing. Bonfires were flared and fed with more wood as the dances and songs continued. Mixed with screams of fear and agony.

Nothing was enough. The sun kept being eaten. Priests begged and prayed to Ohae to defeat the World-Eater and send him once more to the gibbon god. Upon the plaza warriors were asking for a sign to kill their prisoners there and then. Khentii pushed on, demanding faster sacrifices. Letting half-drained corpses slide down the duct in favor of fresher blood. The central pool overflowed into the nearby channels, directing it down the stairs like a crimson trickle. Not enough still, the chill came and shadows became more prominent. Heat leeched from the air. Their world would be next.

Blood couldn’t flow fast enough. More and more corpses piled on at the foot of the temple. In the Eternal Shadow, gibbon-masked priests were dragging and sanctifying the dead so they may never rise again. Pyres burned dimly in the increasing dark as more and more corpses were burned to then be buried in the burial pits. Acolytes of the gibbon god of the moon were almost always convicts or prisoners taken from amongst the sacrificial offerings. Many despised their faith. They cursed the moon, the god of death, for their suffering. The masked priests were much more reverent and often showed thanks and gratitude to the moon god. As he was, after all, the god of new chances.

Meanwhile, atop the pyramid, Khentii began to silently despair as the world became dark. Finally he resorted to the last measure. He yelled his command down the southern slope of the pyramid. The Itztli warriors obeyed and pushed their prisoners against the ground. With their necks across the bloody channel that had so far but a trickle of blood. They slashed their throats, making a torrent from the trickle. Crimson falls poured down the southern slope. Violent splatters coated the entire side. When their prisoners were empty, the warriors put their blades upon their own necks and waited for the command.

Khentii held firm as he watched the white light with a black point in the middle of it. With soundless words he begged Ohae to vanquish her foe and not perish. The whole city of Aklux held its breath. Then, the world got just a little bit brighter. Khentii did not want to celebrate. Not yet. More prisoners were dragged up the eastern and western stairs. Yes, it was growing brighter. The light was growing lighter. Ohae was victorious! The goddess of sun and war had been fed enough blood! Cheers erupted along the pyramid and then amongst the commoners upon the plazas. People embraced each other and cooks ushered off to prepare the feast.

The High Priest stood motionless as the surviving sacrifices were led down the temple, the central pool was cleaned out with water and the last of the bodies were send down towards the gibbon-priests. The world was saved and now the great feast would begin.

[hider=Summary]Khentii wakes from a strange dream and realizes that the omens said that today would be an important day for the sun. As she would do battle against the World-Eater. He begins the ritual sacrifices upon the Great Pyramid of Ohae, the sun goddess as the eclipse begin. Lot sof blood is spilled but the eclipse ends. Khentii sees this as Ohae being victorious over the World-Eater.

No Might or DP was used, nor was any prestige gained.[/hider]