Feathered Dragon

From the chronicles of Coton:

In flight before the ranks of chaos.

The horse carries me like the wind across the face of the True World, but always the places I pass are realms of darkness, destruction, and despair. We fly along the road to Cordotl and pass the smoking ruins of that town.

Here the monsters of the Viperhand have erected a great edifice atop the pyramid, like a great skull image of Zaltec. They seek to raise their bloodthirsty god to new heights, but they do not understand that it was he who cast them down among the beasts. The folk of Cordotl are gone, either fled or given to the fanged jaws of the war god in sacrifice.

Now past ruined fields of mayz, the great flat valley between Cordotl and Palul that has been trampled into mud. Palul, too, lies in ruins, though again the pyramid has been raised to new heights and crowned with its grotesque image.

Here the horse carries me up the face of the ridge, crossing back and forth along a winding trail. We see none of the beasts of the Viperhand here, for they have been summoned back to Nexal by Hoxitl.

Finally the horse crests the ridge, and we pause before a small cottage. It is a place of holiness, I sense, and strong pluma.

The man who comes to the door to greet me is old; he is also blind.