Tool and I walked through the crevices until we stopped in front of a dark cavern, one of many, but this one was darker, so much so that almost nothing could be seen through it. He gestured for us to enter with a movement of his eyes. The cavern was narrower and darker than it had seemed; there was barely enough room to stand.
After walking for a few moments, we reached the end. It was so dark that I could barely see Tool in front of me. Then he took something in the darkness, and light began to enter the narrow cavern… a small opening appeared, and on the other side, a great light blinded me for a moment.
When my vision returned, what I found before me was astonishing: a vast plain surrounded by enormous rocky hills on either side, leaving no room for anything but the sun. But that wasn't the most surprising thing. The plain was painted with unusual colors. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of trees of all sizes sprouted from the ground, along with cacti, prickly pears, and other thorny plants from which flowers and fruit emerged.
"How is this possible?" I asked aloud.
"I knew you'd be surprised," he said, smiling contentedly. "This is the truth behind our community. We live apart from the rest of the desert and survive on the many fruits that grow on this plain nestled between the rocky hills."
"How long?" I asked, now astounded.
"We've been here for six generations," he said, walking forward. I followed him, and he added, "It seems like a miracle, doesn't it?" A community in the middle of the desert with plants, trees, and fruit… a community that can be intoxicating—he sighed proudly—If you survive the ritual, this will be your home, and we will be your people—I followed behind, absorbed in the beauty of those plants, so orderly, so strong and healthy.
"It will be worth trying to escape," I watched a child run while meditating. "This place offers me everything my family and I fought for all our lives in the desert." I saw Tool reach out and pick a fruit from a tree.
"Here, you must be hungry after all that training," he brought the fruit to my chest, pulling me from my thoughts.
"Thank you," I said before he plucked another fruit from the same tree.
"It's called a fig. I hope you like it, and if not, you'll have time to get used to it." He took a big bite and continued walking. From that moment on, with every step I could find more people outside. "This place is so peaceful," said an older man with a sack of hides on his back, accompanied by children who were gathering fruit and putting it inside the sack. Further on, some women were gathering more fruit from other trees, cacti, and prickly pears.
Some men were cutting with long, sharp bones, like the one Yak had, cutting a plant from the ground.
"Are you interested?" Tool asked, almost reading my thoughts. "It's called maguey. It's the plant we use to make pulque," he commented calmly. "That's not it. Are you interested in what they have in their hands? We call them machetes, well, when we use them for work. When we fight, we call them sabers."
"I'm not a little boy." "Where do you get the bones to make them?"
His gaze darkened slightly before he answered. "From the dead, mostly savages."
"Where do you get the bones to make them?" I hadn't thought about it before, but it was more than obvious; it's difficult to maintain a paradise like this for so long. "That's why marriage battles are to the death; if the savage refuses to participate, he dies anyway." At that moment, I felt chills run through my body. "I have to survive no matter what," I said before crashing into a huge stone statue.
"Watch out," Tool said before bursting into laughter.
"Why didn't you warn me about the big statue?" I asked.
"I didn't think you were so absentminded," he said, trying to control his euphoria. I looked ahead and finally saw it; it was the same statue that had been inside the crevices and caverns, only taller, much taller.
"Is this where the woman begged for her life and the girl's?" I murmured without realizing it.
"The old woman already told you, I see," he said, looking at the statue with nostalgia and admiration.
"The old woman already told you," he said, gazing at the statue with nostalgia and admiration. "This is our god, the red man, the lord of the Rain."
"Rain"
"I understand your confusion. In ancient times, it was said that water sprang from the sky, just as it did from the mountains and caverns," he said, responding to my obvious confusion.
"A god who makes water spring from the sky" seemed absurd to me, but what I had just seen at that moment, I wouldn't have believed if someone had told me.
"When the first of the seventh generation are born, from the desert sand a man will rise, and his name will be Chak (this means red). In his right hand, he will hold his axe, with which he will strike the sky, and the rain will fall. Then the era of the lord will end, along with his great affliction upon the earth," he said, pointing to some carvings on the base of the statue.
He continued walking around the statue… I caught up with her and asked, "How do you know it says that?" I asked skeptically. "We don't know, well, I don't… but the old woman does… all in due time."
"And when will that time come?" I was starting to get annoyed by the half-answers. "Do they think I'm an idiot?" "Look who's over there," she said, gesturing ahead. "Hey girls! How's everything going?"
He hurried over to Waax, Kin, and some other young women who were nearby. I approached again, feeling resigned to not getting any answers about what was happening. "What are you doing here in the orchards?" Waax asked, questioning Tool and taking my hands.
"I'm showing the boy around. I thought it would be best if he started getting familiar with all of this," she continued with a peaceful sigh. "In the end, he'll be one of us."
"You're right," she nodded and took me firmly, leading me closer to the other young women. "This is Koh," she said to them, smiling. "Koh, these are my friends. You'll see them around here often, helping out in the garden." I didn't pay much attention to their names, but I did try to memorize their faces.