A new beginning
The following morning Huitzilli visited the homes of the grieving officers in disguise.
"Tlacaelel has lost his way, and if he continues his reign, everything the Aztecs have built will be lost," Huitzilli pleaded to the officers, "stand together with me to overthrow Tlacaelel." Huitzilli could tell that they were hesitant. The officers were fearful of Tlacaelel's power.
"Why they should we trust you when you're one of Tlacaelel's priests?" Asked one of the officers.
Huitzilli carefully removed his disguise to show his face. A few of the officers immediately recognized him and were stunned to see him alive.
"What had happened to you," they asked. Huitzilli recounted the day of the battle to them. The officers were offended and grabbed their weapons, threatening to kill him for bringing shame to the Aztecs.
Huitzilli warned them, "you can kill me now and let Tlacaelel ruin everything we've worked for, or you can stand with me and overthrow the corrupt king." The officers pondered for a bit before asking how they would stand up against the power of a god. Huitzilli answered, "with another god."
Meanwhile, Tlacaelel had spent his morning figuring out who the next sacrifice would be. He ordered a bowl of pulque to be brought to him, but none of the other priests knew how to make it. He grew irritated and wondered where the missing priest could be. He realized that he never even knew the priest's name, nor had he recognized his voice. He called for all the priests to present themselves to him at once.
They were all accounted for. Tlacaelel realized that this new priest was a fraud and that he had been deceived. He sent his priests to search for the fraud and to bring him to him. Tlacaelel knew who the next sacrifice would be.
It was not long before two priests appeared at the officer's door looking for Huitzilli. Sensing danger, Huitzilli took off his priest robes and immediately hid in one of the officer's chambers. The priest entered the house and searched it, but luckily they missed him. After they had left, Huitzilli told the officers to be prepared and that if they aligned themselves with him that they would see their daughters again.
Huitzilli threw his disguise back on and made his way back to Quetzalcoatl. He told him that he had been found out and that they must overthrow Tlacaelel today before he could harm anyone else. They waited until sunset, when the next sacrifice would take place, to act.
As the sun was setting, Tlacaelel called for everyone to present themselves for the sacrifice. When everyone was finally there, Tlacaelel said, "we have an intruder among us. If anyone has any information on the intruder then you must speak up now. Otherwise, I will take the oldest child from each family as a to sacrifice to Huitzilopochtli."
No one spoke up. Suddenly, the priests seized a teenager from the crowd and tied them to the sacrificial table. Tlacaelel withdrew his obsidian knife and prepared to rip the kid's heart out when a massive wind blew in from the west. Tlacaelel turned his head and saw two men, Huitzilli and Quetzalcoatl, approaching them.
Huitzilli yelled out "Tlacaelel, you must put an end to all the senseless killing". Tlacaelel ordered his officers to seize them at once, but the officers did not move. Tlacaelel yelled that the officers would pay for their treason and commanded his priests to capture the two intruders.
The priests ran towards Huitzilli, but Quetzalcoatl transformed the priest into monkeys and then blew them away. Huitzilli and Quetzalcoatl approached Tlacaelel and Quetzalcoatl said, "you must leave and never come back. You are no longer welcome here. If you do not go willingly, then you too will be turned into a monkey." Tlacaelel lunged at Quetzalcoatl with his knife, but the God was too swift and dodged his attack and then turned Tlacaelel into a monkey.
Huitzilli cut the boy loose from the table and turned to the Aztec people. He told them that Tlacaelel's reign was no more, and with it, so was the human sacrificing and flowery wars. He said to them that they were at the beginning of a new era for the Aztec people and that for as long as he was there that they would flourish like no other.
Quetzalcoatl pulled out some human bones from his sack. He made a cut on his hand and let his blood soak the bones. The bones turned into Copil, and the officers' daughters, and they were reunited with their families.
Quetzalcoatl turned to Huitzilli and said to him "I must leave to take back my own village. Thank you for everything you have done."
In the following years, Huitzilli shared the knowledge of the gods with his people, and they prospered as a peaceful civilization.
Author's Note
This last story is my retelling of beginning of Quetzalcoatl's myth, which you have already read in the second story, except with our hero Huitzilli as the main character. I used this story because just like Quetzalcoatl, Huitzilli stopped a sacrifice from happening and then became the city's leader. Except, of course, Huitzilli had some help. I also used elements from the Five Suns story to add some details to this retelling. Specifically the part where humans get turned into monkeys.
Thank you for reading my story, I hope you enjoyed it.