Aztec Eternals

The summers in Alaska are unforgettable. At 58 degrees north latitude, the eighteen hours of daylight bring wondrous natural scenery. First, two hours before the official sunrise, the night gradually brightens, forming a dawn-like "white night." And when the sun rises, it does not ascend straight up into the sky as it does in tropical Central America.

It rises from the south, like a tilted eye, gazing from south to north. Even at noon, it casts a long shadow pointing due north for all who look up at it. This substantial gaze is like that from the highlands of Central America, crossing over twelve thousand miles of ocean, until it merges with the towering, shimmering Whale Island snow mountain, enveloping the endless Arctic Sea!

"Praise You! Your gaze envelops my body and mind… May the Chief God protect me!"

When the hungover Losanda awoke from his tent, the first thing he did was go to the temple altar in the port. Then, the hummingbird emblem flashed with golden light, and he knelt in the southern sun at noon, praying to the Chief Sun God and towards his homeland.

"Chief God! Thank you for granting such long daylight, allowing crops to grow quickly, making potatoes abundant, and filling the holds with salted fish…"

The Chief God's temple on Great Whale Island is not large, but it is definitely "valuable." The temple's exterior is simple and unadorned, the construction is rough and sturdy, like a small stone fortress, and it looks very inconspicuous, only guarded day and night by warriors from hundreds of kingdoms and tribes. However, beneath this "unremarkable" temple lies the "treasury" of the entire West Sea trade route!

Besides the two thousand catties of gold that were used to support the West Sea front last year, there are still a full eighteen thousand catties left here, which is nine tons of gold!

This reserve of gold, plundered by Xiu Luote from the entire Lake Kingdom, the Totonac Alliance, the Tecos tribes, the Otomi tribes, and the coastal Mayan tribes, is enough to drive any monarch in the Old World "from Ireland to Khitan" who knows about it mad. And this nine tons of spot gold, only half a cubic meter of capital, is also the most important logistical support for the nautical priest to maintain the West Sea route and Zuwaluo's frontier development of East Asian trade!

Therefore, Qimier staying on Great Whale Island, riding horses and painting every day, and not moving out to sea at all, is actually representing Xiu Luote in guarding this "West Sea Treasury." You must know that such a huge amount of gold, even in the Mexica Alliance, where gold mines are piled up, is an astonishing wealth that is enough to buy a city-state. If someone else were guarding it, he simply wouldn't trust them…

"Losanda, you're here?…"

"Yes, Teacher Qimier! There were many people at yesterday's banquet, and everyone was very happy, so we drank a lot… That's why I slept until noon, and I hurried to pay my respects to you… By the way! This is a gift I brought you from the West Sea Continent, a ‘silk dress’ traded from the He tribe, the most precious ‘divine attire’ in the West Sea! You can feel the texture, or I can help you put it on?…"

"Oh? Silk dress from the West Sea Continent?…"

Qimier was a little surprised, carefully put down the rabbit hair brush and bronze carving knife in his hand, and marked the position on the circular drawing board cut out of the wooden stake, before leaving the drawing table at the base of the wooden stake. He took the silk dress handed over by Losanda, touched the smooth and delicate texture, and a look of amazement appeared on his face!

"Uh… Teacher Qimier, ‘silkworms’ are a very important and highly valued product of the West Sea. According to the He Kingdom merchants who traded with us, ‘silkworm rearing’ requires ‘mulberry trees,’ requires excellent ‘silk artisans,’ and ‘silk reeling’ also has many tricks… That big merchant asked for a hundred catties of gold before he was willing to find us ‘silkworm breeds from Kyoto,’ ‘Korean silk artisans,’ and it's still uncertain when he can find them…"

Losanda cautiously looked at Qimier's expression and continued.

"The Chief Priest of Zuwaluo testifies! He believes that this kind of expensive aristocratic luxury is not urgent. Therefore, we can put it off for later and first exchange for more useful craftsmen and technologies…"

"Well, a hundred catties of gold?… The Chief Priest of Zuwaluo's idea… has its own reasons, and it's indeed correct…"

Qimier lowered his head and pondered, looked at the unremarkable ground of the temple under his feet, and then smiled and said.

"Losanda, did you bring any other ‘silk dresses’ back this time? After all, Chief Priest Miji is also here… If I put on this West Sea dress, and he sees it, I'm afraid it will embarrass you."

"Uh! I… Teacher Qimier… This dress is relatively rare, I only brought back this one…"

Hearing this, Losanda paused again and awkwardly touched his nose. Before coming back, he didn't know that Chief Priest Miji would also be here. He only brought back one silk dress and two silk short shirts. He gave the short shirts to his wife, Zidiao, as a farewell gift…

"Haha! Losanda, then I can't accept this gift. You have to keep it and give it to Chief Priest Miji later…"

"Ah! Teacher! Please… Please accept it… Chief Priest Miji's side… I… I'll find another West Sea gift…"

Losanda's face turned pale, and he was immediately terrified. He was anxious to say something, but Qimier smiled and waved his hand, explaining kindly.

"Losanda, don't worry. I'm doing this for your own good! Right now, you have to take the initiative to find Chief Priest Miji. The more valuable the gift, the more respectful the attitude, the better he will remember you… And if you don't go to find him, he will actually come to find you, and he will take the initiative to ask you for something, and he might even give you some gifts… But if you let him speak first, you will be ‘further and further away from the Chief God's altar’…"

"Ah? Teacher… Chief Priest Miji, does he have something to ask of me?…"

Qimier smiled and shook his head, not explaining or saying much. It would be better not to say this in advance, as it would be awkward for both sides. He looked at the indigo silk dress again, returned it to Losanda, and continued to smile.

"I see that this West Sea silk clothing is of excellent material, but in terms of dyeing, the pigments used are not as good as my painting… Come, take a look! I am painting this one to celebrate your return yesterday, a ‘Returning to the Sea Night Banquet Picture’ with West Sea craftsmen and products!…"

"Ah… This painting… This painting is really… colorful and brilliant!…"

Losanda stepped forward and was immediately dazzled by the wide painting on the circular wooden stake. He saw hundreds of abstract "little people" painted on the stake, in green, blue, red, black, and yellow.

The green dancing "little people" represented the kingdom's warriors, and the paint was malachite powder, transported from the lower Californian town of Rejin, which produced copper mines. The blue praying "little people" represented the local tribes, and the color was Mayan blue, mixed with indigo and kaolin, which was the most common color in Nawa paintings and very easy to obtain. The red singing "little people" represented the Wakoku craftsmen. In the Lake Kingdom, this red was usually made from cochineal or minerals, but here it was made of hematite powder, from the West Coast Californian Lake Bay Port, where iron had already been smelted.

A few black, glittering "little people" had four feet or two wings. Oh no, these weren't "little people"; they must be "cattle, horses, and poultry" transported from the West Sea. The kingdom's usual black pigment was charcoal powder and bone charcoal powder. But obviously, here, in order to highlight the "divinity," they used gold-plated, shimmering, divinely expensive obsidian powder.

Finally, the fewest in number, with realistic appearances, were the four gold-plated little people, who were the two high priests, him as the chief priest, and the Korean "witch doctor." But the real golden light, the focus of the painting's dazzling brilliance, was not on these little people, but on the periphery of the painting, the unparalleled golden circle that occupied one-third of the painting!

"Ah, this dazzling divine gold!…"

The unparalleled golden circle,贴着the edge of the wooden stake, enveloped all the figures in the painting. This must be the trajectory of the sun, carved with a knife to create an arc, and then dyed with thick golden paint, shimmering with golden light from the inside out. Losanda stared intently before confirming that the pigment was not the "yellow ochre powder" commonly used on the plateau, or the annatto yellow ground from the waxy outer shell of the annatto seeds used by the Mayan tribes…

This pigment was real "gold powder"! I'm afraid that this large circle of gold powder alone, painted on such a large drawing board, would have used at least half a kilogram of gold!

"Teacher Chimel, is this… the trajectory of the sun?"

"That's right! This is the trajectory of the sun, and also the trajectory of divinity! I learned through observation and inquiry that the further north you go, the more complete the arc of the sun's trajectory in the sky during the summer. And according to the Sugpia tribe of Long Bay, further north across the sea, at their 'Ancestral Peak of the Heavenly Gods,' the summer sun will never set!"

"That is the 'polar day light' that lasts throughout the summer. The sun no longer rises in the east and sets in the west, but completely turns into a recurring 'ring of tomorrow' from the horizon to the middle of the sky! The sun will draw a complete circle in the sky, round after round, until the polar day passes!…"

Chimel smiled and pointed to the glittering golden ring, looking at Losanda, who was lost in thought, and asked.

"Losanda, do you know what this change in the sun, this trajectory of rising and falling, proves?"

"Ah?… This… this trajectory proves…"

"Think about it, why does the polar day and polar night become more obvious the further north you go? Until the Sugpia people's Ancestral Peak of the Heavenly Gods…"

"Uh… Ah! I know! This shows that the Ancestral Peak of the Heavenly Gods is the edge of the world, the summer residence of the Sun God! He flies here from the south in summer, completely defeating the night and snow, and returns to the south in winter, and the night and snow return… Therefore! The Ancestral Peak of the Heavenly Gods is one of the main god's sacred mountains, a divine place where we must build the main god's temple and offer worship!"

"Uh… This… Well!…"

Hearing Losanda's excited answer, Chimel's expression was subtle, and he paused for a moment, not knowing what to say.

His Majesty Xilote had popularized many incredible "mysteries of the divine realm" to his close confidants who followed him. For example, "the earth is a sphere," "the sun is a big fireball," "the earth itself rotates day and night, and the sun and the earth are constantly rotating relative to each other," "the sun approaches the north of the earth in summer and the south of the earth in winter, forming different sun-earth angles, which also brings about seasonal changes"… As for Chimel, the change in the sun's trajectory during the polar day in the far north perfectly matched His Majesty's prediction, clearly proving all of this, proving the "spherical structure of the divine realm and the world!"

However, these "mysteries of the divine realm" are probably too profound and obscure for most people in the alliance at this time. Even for priests who graduated from Divine Power University, it is difficult to widely popularize…

"Haha, may the main god bless you! Losanda, you are right, the Sun God does come in summer and return in winter, always protecting this far north land!…"

Chimel pondered for a few breaths, and a smile appeared on his face again, nodding slightly in agreement. Then, he smiled and patted Losanda on the shoulder, pointed to the wooden house where High Priest Miki was resting, and urged.

"Go! Losanda, take the best gift, and see High Priest Miki with the most respectful attitude! He is now only one step away from the position of priest elder in the royal capital…"

"And his two confidant priests, unfortunately, went to the divine kingdom in the shipwreck… Now, he is in the most need of people! The opportunity for you to take a further step and become a level four high priest is not with me, but with Miki… Go! This is the best opportunity you have been waiting for for a long time…"

"Ah! Yes… Teacher Chimel, thank you… thank you for your guidance!…"

Hearing this instruction, Losanda trembled all over, and the excitement in his heart was indescribable. He gritted his teeth, knelt down, and kowtowed three times heavily to Chimel. Then, he looked apologetic, took the only "silk and gorgeous clothes," and strode towards High Priest Miki's wooden house.

Watching Losanda's departing back, Chimel smiled and picked up his paintbrush again. Then, after pondering for a long time, he drew two corresponding spheres, one large and one small, in the corner of the painting, and outlined a few strokes of rotating arc light.

"Oh main god! What exactly is the relative inclination angle of this small earth ball, the key to determining day and night seasons? I always feel that it should be related to the angle between the highest and lowest points of this solar trajectory during the polar day… But I don't know how to calculate it well?…"