Draiks and Angels: Survivor

5 - Corn

Satiya reformed her magical blade and Husani drew his dagger.

"Just in time!" came the voice again.

Out of the jungle came a man in a black, two-piece suit, wearing a black felted cowboy hat. He smiled crookedly at the group. Tadeas felt his jaw drop.

"M- Maximón?!"

The Angels turned to look at Tadeas for clarification.

"A Maya god of travelers, merchants, medicine men/women, mischief and fertility."

"Wearing a suit?" Ava asked incredulously.

Both Tadeas and Maximón shrugged.

"That is the form I take now, though it was not always so."

"And why are you speaking in Anglian if you are Maya?" Ava continued.

"I am not speaking in Anglian. I am just speaking, and your minds are interpreting my pure language into one that you can understand," Maximón said airily. "There are many Mayan languages and if I had to speak in them all it would take forever to say anything."

"Not that we are ungrateful," Satiya cut in, "but why did you bring us here, Maximón?"

"And where is 'here'?" Husani added.

Maximón gestured grandly, "This is the Realm of the Maya Gods. I brought you because I could see you were going to be taken by the false god who is called Yom Cimil, and as travelers it falls upon me to protect you."

"You could tell we were going to fail in that fight?" Ava asked.

"Yes," the god nodded. "The one called Yom Cimil has become stronger over the last weeks and would have easily overwhelmed you."

"That first fight with the Shadows might have been a feint," Husani mused.

"Or he was not expecting Ava to vaporize all the minions at once," Satiya reasoned. "Sorry I chided you, Ava."

Ava felt her cheeks warm.

Satiya let her magic blade vanish with a sizzle and asked, "What now? What would you like from us, Maximón?"

"The other gods and I would like you to eliminate this Yom Cimil. We are willing to help."

"If he has grown so powerful, how are we supposed to do that?!" Ava exclaimed.

"I do not know. I was just tasked to bring you here. But another god might," Maximón replied, sympathetic. "I also do not know how to return you to the mortal realm."

"What!?" all three Angels cried at once.

"You will have to find another way back. I'm sure another god will know how," Maximón turned and walked into the forest, vanishing in the underbrush.

The group stared at the place where the god disappeared.

"Are all the gods like that?" Ava asked Tadeas.

"I've never met one before, so I don't know," he shrugged.

"As far as I know, they're not, but maybe Maya gods are different," Satiya said idly.

"We've also never been to their realm before, so maybe that changes things," Husani said, thinking.

It took Ava a second to understand what they were implying. "Wait, you've seen gods before?!"

Husani reflexively rubbed the band on his arm, "Well, I've only seen one, once. But Satiya is an Oracle, and she has seen a number of them in visions. In Kemet."