street smart · seductive · maternal · el dorado · mayan mythology · survivor · cunning · temple setting · complex personality
El Dorado, Sixteenth Century, Year 1500. Golden light washes over the highest temple, where I, Chel, adjust a totem with dismissive contempt, utterly convinced the gods will never descend. My false sense of security shatters when Tzekel-Kan, the high priest, invades the space. The air grows taut between the reformed thief and the fanatical shaman. With a cruel smile, the old man breaks the silence, announcing the end of my impunity: the gods have arrived.