A white sheet is lifted. The man identifies the cadaver; his only son, young and promising, lying pale there- taker of his own life. The father's will left spiraling away. His life becomes a smog of anguish. Collapsing into outstretched arms. Carried out by his brother. Insisting life's worth living. They set sail to clear the mind. An ominous silence of contemplation shrouds the berth of the drifting vessel. The sun burns in the sky above him Like a portal into the beyond. It calls out to him distorted from the other side. A naked dive into the sea- treading water 'til his body folds. A lifeless expanse. Drowning. Darkness unfamiliar and cold. He can no longer hear the sun. Inescapable realm of isolation drifts him to disillusion. Sinking down into the abyss, his son's voice now a distant echo. He focuses on the susurration; a vision manifests from the black. The great mountain looms before him. Voices descend down off its slopes. [Solo Ray] [Solo Sean] [Solo Ray] [Solo Sean] The sun burns in the sky above him like a portal into the beyond. It calls out to him distorted from the other side. Convulsing lungs filled with the sea, carried deeper to the blackest reach. The voice beloved; final remnant. Joined hands paint a fatal portrait. Blinded and swallowed by the sun. The time has come to accept the invitation. "I am watching over Hunahpu" [Solo Sean] [Solo Ray]

Jolted awake by the crackling flame in a shivering delirium- gazing toward the bedside, breathing again; still imprisoned within the cycle of grief. Weeping apologies give way to clarity as he starts to recall his unconscious sight. He finds duality of the whispered name. The Maize God and the peak... purpose floods back to his life. [Solo Sean] [Solo Ray] Seeking origin of the spectral voice, meditating on the otherworldly beckoning, he sets for Sacatepéquez. Night by night, following the dreams and drones sending vivid guidance to his mind. Each morning with burning ears ringing clear, empty of his kin's lament, grabbing roots to scale the earth. The atmosphere begins to thin- pressure growing behind his eyes. Reveries obscure inner cognizance. The visions augment deep senses of dread. Ambivalent pilgrimage; recalling where he plunged his sorrows. A black sun looms over those waves. Volcanic heaps pile skyward, a tree of beheadings at it's crest. Chants rumble beneath the stirring currents, "Hun-Kame, Hun-Kame..." He focuses his eyes, remembering where he stands, returning to reality on this mountain. Squinting eyes through the blistering winds, the sky is clearing and the ocean is gone. Hallucinations fade. Exhaustion surmounting. Clawing higher through the gravel, breath is fleeting. The summit shows itself through his blurring sight. Hooded figures loom, his conscience giving way...

Shamanic altars illuminate the night, a crystal necklace circling his head ceasing the flow of his essence for renewal. Encapsulating mountaintop within the wiracocha, the solitary tree from his visions standing at the center; bearing the calabash he ceremoniously consumes. By fireside gathering fragments, clutched in their hands as they recite in hushed tones. Inviting the grieving through lucidity, leading them into deliverance. So steady the pulse of their drumming, entering astral projection. Freeing his spirit from his ailing form, placing every faith into their promises. Three nights of rituals, sickness takes over. He waits for his spiritual cleansing to come to an ending. Commence the healing of his body severed from agonizing thoughts. The burning ashes fall into the shell. Hymnals and psalms rising, stoking the flames higher. Arch angels called upon, auras fill the sky. He feels psychic bands of power tighten around his skull harder. Shamanic altars illuminate the night... Fourth day of suffering- dehydrated and starved. Concealed by the cloak of dawn along the mountainside to drink the stream of swill. Halted at the descent, an unseen barrier; the warnings were too late. [Solo Ray] [Solo Sean] Healed of nothing at all, victim of deceit and fraud. There is no escape. Transitory strength fleeting in his time of need. No one can hear his calls, visions of his son have all gone. What do they want? Why deprive him of the death that he once sought? Taken, blighted, bestowing a crown of thorns. Spellbound by this ensconcing sorcery. [Solo Norman] By fireside gathering fragments, clutched in their hands as they recite in hushed tones. Inviting the grieving through lucidity, leading them into deliverance. So steady the pulse of their drumming, entering astral projection. Freeing his spirit from his ailing form, placing every faith into their promises. Three nights of rituals, sickness takes over. He waits for his spiritual cleansing to come to an ending. Commence the healing of his body severed from agonizing thoughts. The burning ashes fall into the shell. Hymnals and psalms rising, stoking the flames higher. Arch angels called upon, auras fill the sky. He feels psychic bands of power tighten around his skull harder. Autonomous will he must concede into the hands of sorcery. Credence in powers in venerates- forming allegiance with the snake.

The spinning pendulum weakened his mind. He had been betrayed, his luminous body caught in the throes of entrapment. Brought here by the beckoning whispers spoken to sprigs cast out to the ritual flame, seeping into his dreams. Poisoned by the calabash fruit, readying for possession by the demonic Xic; beheading. "Summoning the Queen of the Damned drawing her to the tree, We'll hang his head upon the branch impregnating Xquic. He is the conduit of resurrection to birth the pure blooded prince of Xibalba. His weakened grieving soul sacrificed to the Cult of Kukulkan. This is his only salvation. He'll find his son through death. His vacant body, left behind, will become our offering to the void splitting beneath by the Great Equinox. The gates to the underworld have been ruptured open. She will come to Hunahpu seeking forbidden fruit. Replace the Maize God of this realm. An evil servant waits for her, spitting out demonic seed to spawn a king to reign below." [Solo Ray] The prisoner remains paralyzed by the turbid philters. Through sorcery- trials of treachery; they appease the serpent, sharpening the blade to decapitate. Exploiting vulnerability, forsaken by these forces. Ever elusive as his closure- so is survival. [Solo Sean] The ailments take control of his mind. Wailing from depression, praying for death, bound by leather restraints. Black magick incantations banishing the id to dehumanize. Exploiting vulnerability, forsaken by these forces. Ever elusive as his closure- so is survival. [Solo Jerry] "Alash Tad Al-Ash Tal Ashtu. Awaken, great Bringer Of Death. Come be present in our sacred space." The chanting echoes on into the night, summoning demons. Ingesting intoxicants, ayahuasca, their eyes roll back. Evil dwells within the lahar stifling fumes, conjured by imposturous spells, craving innocent hosts. Life force soon abandoning him, no place to run. Possession only one step away- trial of flames. "Summoning the Queen of the Damned drawing her to the tree, We'll hang his head upon the branch impregnating Xquic."

With leather straps and vines constricting his limbs, an ominous glow spitting shadows at his back, the night bombinates a processional dirge as he's dragged into the dark ritual stone house of fire. Struggling to escape, scraping at the walls- seeing something there. Looking up at the night sky to an infinite darkness. The tenebrous atmosphere breaking hope, bending will, blocking out the sun. Slithering shadows mark the day of the serpent god's descent. Paralyzed at the edge of flames, masks of bronze radiate covering their painted faces. Talismans and burnt incense unfurled at their knees before him. Baring forth obsidian blades- eyes in their reflections. Hypnotic frequencies resonating, tearing through his hollow spine. Spiraling patterns form behind his eyes. Chants becoming rabid and harrowing. Shapes in the umbra twisted into form, weaving through the walls of the structure. A cascading vacuum of light at the crux tearing through the pitch black. Slicing their forearms open, filling the chalice with their blood. A violent hiss breathes out as it's poured in the pit. Cavernous wretches rising, proliferating vociferance. Masturbating the lords while the earth moans beneath. Northern lights piercing through the veil as time distorts. Entities swarm the earthen gates, ripping the cryptic webs. Subterranean flooded caves begin to boil from the merging and the aftermath of symbiotic realms. Xic and Patan congregating in their thirst- traversing upward, through the layers of torture. The outer world beckoning their lust for blood, leaving the razor house on rivers of black scorpions. Blood Maiden harking back to the birth of twins, lasciviously intrigued, sets her eyes to the sacrifice of men. Her libidinous incursion. [Solo Sean] [Solo Daniel] [Solo Thomas] [Solo Daniel] Soils of fell trenches squelching in rejoice, a feast for the worms. Decaying sinew and entrails imminent. Silence surrounds the vacant thrones. Bound hands flail, ripping dirt, eyes widen as he feels a weight; tucked away- a half-eaten fruit seeping with a poisonous nectar. In a final strife to survive, calabash feeds the flame. The sickle now clutched in the hand of the shaman, the sound of the violent fire permeates rapidly filling, the dome with toxicity. The exits are sealed with piles of burnt debris. With a swift claw, Xic plagues the room. Blood foams in their throats- gasping for air. Drowning in clouds of blood, the shaman's grip falls from the blade. The sacred space dissipates and the spirits retreat. The man takes a final breath, the shape of his son's face in the embers. As the sun's breaking dawn, father and son embrace- the gates of Xibalba sealed shut. [Solo Sean] [Solo Ray] [Solo Sean] [Solo Ray] [Solo Sean] [Solo Ray]