Tlalocan & Mictlan

Atticus took a look around the hallway of doors again and everything looked the same as before he entered the Norse Underworld. Thanatos was only the next door over to the right from the one which they had just come through. Above it hung the familiar bronze plaque but with strange shapes in its borders instead of anything which resembled the letters Atticus was familiar with.

Atticus turned to Thanatos, ready for his next move. Thanatos took a moment to finish scribbling on his clipboard before looking back to Atticus. "This next Underworld is going to be very different than anything you are used to, so keep that in mind. It represents a people who had vastly different values and lived in a vastly different climate and culture. All that said, don't let it scare you too much if someone tries to rip your heart out."

With that note of encouragement, Thanatos opened the door and it felt like a waterfall poured through. The steamy air took the very breath out of Atticus's lungs and felt like his chest was being weighed down with stones. An odd, ambient light filtered though the door and with it came an odor which teemed with the scent of living, growing things. The sensory overload put Atticus aback and he didn't realize Thanatos had started down an overgrown path.

Really getting tired of being left behind at the doorway again, Atticus jogged to catch up. As he moved, he couldn't help but notice the explosion of life in the forest around him. Flowers of every color, vines as big as his waist climbed the trees, and an omnipresent sound of living animals filled the air. When he managed to catch up, Thanatos began speaking.

"We are now making our way to the entrance to the Underworld. It gets a little complicated, but there are a LOT of options and levels to this Underworld. Most of them you don't qualify for because of how you died; for example, only people who die in floods or during childbirth go to Tlalocan. That place is ruled by Tlāloc, is in perpetual springtime, and is kinda like Hades' Elysium. But that isn't an option for you, like I said.

"Instead, you qualify for the nine-layered Underworld called Mictlān. Most people end up qualifying for Mictlān because the only requirement for entry is that you didn't die in battle, in a storm, or childbirth, as a few niche examples. In Mictlān, each soul goes on a nine-staged journey through the Underworld with a surprise ending that I will save for the end of the tour. We don't have time to hit each of the nine stops, but we will peruse a few to give you an idea of what it looks like around here."

Atticus's head swam with questions, but Thanatos moved too fast for time for questions. They were approaching a cut stone archway which led into a hillside. Ornate, gray carvings sprawled across the surface, depicting scenes which boggled Atticus's mind. He had no idea what they were doing in these scenes, but it sure looked like they were ripping the hearts out of peoples' chests.

Thanatos walked under the arch into the gloom beyond. Following him through, Atticus was met with an even more peculiar sight on the other side. A river of blood flowed through the middle of a large cavern and into another cave at the far end of the cavern. Along the banks patrolled troops of jaguars which tore at chunks of meat and bits of what appeared to be appeared to be human skeletons. Thanatos turned to Atticus and cheerfully continued his narration. "This is the first stage that each person must complete before reaching the next stage. Each person must fight through this field and then swim down the river to the next cave. Luckily, we get to bypass that since we are on a tour! Follow me to the ferry please!"

They picked their way among the bones to a ferry in the river. In the ferry sat a dog-headed man, whom Thanatos introduced as Xolotl. "Xolotl is a tour guide, like myself, but he is on vacation home for a little while," Thanatos spoke. The god didn't speak but simply rowed them to the next cave.

Each cave proved more mind-boggling than the last. The first was full of floating mountains that smashed into each other, each impact throwing thousands of shards of rock into the air around the ferry. The next was full with wind that literally tore the flesh from the limbs of the spirits which tried to crawl to the next stage. The madness of the caves started to wear on Atticus. Thanatos realized this and waved for Xolotl to pull the ferry to the shore.

They exchanged a few words as Atticus climbed out of the ferry before Thanatos joined them on the shore. "Well, Atticus, that is all I have to show you here in Mictlān."

"Wait, what comes at the end of this? For those that complete the trials?" Atticus asked.

"Well, those who manage to complete the trials take about four years to do so. At the end, they reach oblivion. They simply cease to exist. That's the surprise at the end of the tunnel." Thanatos was looking at his shoes when he said this. "Some people just want an end from it. They get tired of waiting for eternity. Well, Atticus, what do you think? Can you see yourself here for the next few years?"

Atticus was speechless. Oblivion? He couldn't comprehend the possibility of that and he wasn't sure how he felt about that being an option for him. It led him to many questions that he didn't know how to answer about himself, about what he cared about. He knew he wasn't ready for this decision yet, there was too much to process.

"Let's go to the next one, Thanatos. I don't have that much to say quite yet. There's just too much going on."

"I understand, Atticus. Oblivion scares a lot of people. You have one option left for your Underworld. If you will follow me..."