Chapter 1
New Beginnings
The Mayan people embraced Flevance and Benjamin with caution and excitement as both men were very different in appearance and in behavior to the Mayan people and both also spoke of wildly fantastic ideas. They each had a knack for gathering a crowd in the evenings with tales of wonder and possibilities of the future for the people. Days turned into weeks and weeks into months with no sign of how they could return to their own time. Flevance and Ben agreed to not tell the tribe where or when they were from due to various reasons of unknowable consequences. Ben was surprised at Flevance's knowledge of the dangers of time travel and Flevance didn't think it wise to reveal that he just enjoyed science fiction since Benjamin was subscribing to his explanation. Benjamin's curiosity would always have him asking questions of where Flevance was from though due to his peculiar looks and his obvious awareness of who Benjamin was. But Flevance would only tell Ben that he cannot say for the same reason Ben cannot tell the tribe. Naturally, this insinuated that Flevance was from Benjamin's future which only created more questions due to Flevance's appearance. However, Flevance would just remind Ben that it was more important that the two men try to figure out how to get back to where they came. Instead, he would just tell Ben about the Mayan civilization from his time and what little he knew about them. He was confused as to why there was so much snow around them as he claimed that the Mayans he knew lived in tropical climates, not snowy tundra. So, for as much as Flevance knew, there was still too many mysteries for him to figure out completely.
As new moons crossed the sky, Benjamin and Flevance became an integral part of the community following Ian's guidance hoping that he might do some new ritual to send them back, but they found no such fate. They taught the people basic settlement techniques to brace against the colder climate as they waited
for something to happen much like someone reading this story waiting for the game of civilization to actually start. They used a nearby clearing as farmable land which allowed the meat hunts to be more efficient. They also began trying to build a large structure for community activities like butchering and cooking where Flevance learned that Benjamin was proficient in a few architectural techniques. Years passed as Benjamin and Flevance taught them the ways of a sedentary lifestyle and housing began to decorate the land as the tribe grew.
Benjamin had been tracking time since their arrival and 20 years had passed as Ian was now a much older man and all of the children had become young men and women who had known Flevance and Benjamin their whole life. Yet Flevance and Ben still looked and felt the same as they did when they arrived and had become central members of the society. Benjamin liked to demonstrate small tricks he could do to show the people ways to manipulate the world around them. Flevance often told stories with moral dilemmas that always ended with an interesting perspective on a dilemma or the human condition and often coming up with various games. Both men had been working on creating floating vessels and encouraging fishing as a primary source of food over hunting wild game which would occasionally result in a tribesman's death. Neither Benjamin or Flevance had much skill as fishermen though so there was a lot of trial and error as they explored various methods to no avail.
As the tribe's community to grew to over 1,000 people a band of about 15 soldiers began patrolling the nearby countryside hunting the Snow Leopards and their dens that were threatening the tribe and their hunters. After much success using trained dogs to track scent, everyone began referring to these men and women as "Leopard Slayers" and inspiring others to train with them. The Mayans were beginning to dominate the surrounding lands of the Bone (Ba'ak) Forest. This name bothered Flevance as in his time there was a sexual inuendo that seemed comical everytime someone said it, that it just sounded ridiculous. Although, the forest became known as this due to it often being covered in snow even in the warmer parts of the year, rocky areas with white coverings and dark shadows contrasting resembling bones was common to see in the landscape. Many birch trees also dominated the forests like bony fingers coming out of the land. Plus, it was actually not uncommon to find small bones laying on the ground in any given part of the forest as if someone had sprinkled them throughout the whole forest.
A thrilling excitement filled the settlement one day as a hunting party came back early and said they had travelled south to the water's edge and spotted a small encampment with very strange structures and other people. The hunting party had not gotten very close to avoid confrontation and came back to the settlement to report it. Ian felt it wise to send the Leopard Slayers down south to investigate as they were the best trained but ordered them to stay on our side of the bay and to only engage if they cross over. This intrigued both Ben and Flevance and they decided that it would be wise for Flevance to sneak out and follow the Leopard Slayers in secret while Ben stayed back to keep the excited crowd grounded. Benjamin quickly began to downplay the significance of the event to the townsfolk and reminded them of their daily tasks that they should be attending to preaching the value of patience and diligence.
The Leopard Slayers made their way south to the bay by that evening and set up a small discreet overlook to watch the group on the other side of the river. Not much could be seen at night besides a few shadows moving occasionally from the light of the campfire.
The morning sun began breaking over the horizon allowing a better view of the camp and the Mayan warriors were captivated by the sight. The tents and wagons looked so strange and so beautiful that the warriors stood around playing a guessing game as to what the structures were for. "Alright, listen up guys," a familiar voice shocked the warriors out of their game and they turn to see Flevance walking toward them from the nearby woods. "I am going to take one of our boats and cross this river to go see who these people are. I know Ian gave you orders not to cross but he has given me no such order and I am not going to ignore this opportunity. I need to find out who these people are for my own purposes. I would appreciate you all accompanying me across to go speak with them."
The warriors were shocked and while every one of them was eager to go with Flevance out of sheer curiosity, none of them wanted to be the first to dispute Ian's order. Flevance unsure of how to read the group continued, "I will take full responsibility, and you have to follow my plan exactly as I tell you." He paused to try to read reactions as the group began making eye contact with one another as if to question each other solely through implied looks. Finally, a man known as Muluc stepped toward Flevance and nodded and soon the others stood by Muluc's side. "Alright, I need a couple warriors to cross in my boat with me willing to follow my lead. We will be outnumbered. It might be good for us to take one of the dogs too. The rest of you need to cross now, and fast, and stay hidden until fighting breaks out."
As Flevance's small group crossed the river they saw the camp begin to take notice of them and wait for them to cross from the shore. Upon landing, a few young men of the camp greeted them with caution and began asking questions of their people. The strangers introduced themselves as exotic traveling merchants of great wealth and magical trinkets but as Flevance told them that they had no money and were alone, the merchants' disposition grew more passive aggressive. Flevance behaved as though he was interested in their camp but was actually looking to see if his men were in position within the camp. He couldn't see any of them and before he knew it, he was thrown into the air and landed on his back towards the shore. One of the men had tossed his small frame and the merchants were now threatening the men to lay down their weapons while they raided the boat. Knives of flint were raised and shouts to calm the growling and barking scout dog were threatened with lethal consequence. Suddenly a spear was thrust into one of the foreigners on the shore. The Leopard Slayers came rushing out of the campsite with a full-scale attack catching the merchants off guard and leaving three finely dressed men bleeding out on the sands. The remaining eleven merchants pleaded for mercy and surrendered to the Mayan forces.
Once the prisoners were bound with some rope from the camp, the recon group told Flevance and the others that they had found fresh dead bodies discarded naked in the woods upon their approach. It looked as though the trail led back here to this camp. When asked about the dead bodies, the strangers claimed that the dead men were rich slavers that had taken them captive due to family debts in their villages. They rebelled and figured the only way to be sure of their freedom was to kill the slavers. Due to the Mayan culture in this world, Flevance knew the warriors were only half following this story - but there was no way of knowing if what they said was true as raiding the camp only provided a fair amount of goods but no real information on what really went on here. No matter the truth, these men posed a threat to anyone in the surrounding lands, so Flevance decided it best to take them back as prisoners for Ian to decide their fate. But first he forced them to dig 8 graves for the unfortunate merchants who had been robbed of their lives.
Ian was furious when he found out that his orders had been disobeyed but he did not show it outside of a simple comment about how reckless the decision was putting their tribe at unnecessary risk. He understood why Flevance made the selfish decision he did, and it worked out in their favor this time. He had a few conversations with the foreign men and with the warriors who apprehended them over the next couple days to try and determine what to do with these men. Ultimately, he came to the conclusion that he needed to test if what they said was true. If they were previously oppressed slaves, they would have a strong tolerance for work ethic under comfortable circumstances. So, he pressed them into service at the labor camp Mr. Franklin had recently began developing mining salt for food preservation. He appointed a crew of guards to watch the men and ordered them to treat the foreigners well but see to it that they worked the mine.
Benjamin and Flevance had come up with a form of paper together already and both were eager to start mapping out the land after this recent encounter. Neither one of them was sure why they hadn't thought to do this before. Perhaps they were waiting for destiny to whisk them away to their real lives that they barely remembered at this point. Perhaps it was the hopelessness that accompanies that realization. At any rate, they both felt the same passion upon meeting a new people. They would each go out on exploration missions to map out the land as accurately as possible and when they returned to the Bone Forest each would occasionally question the foreign men about their travels and the lands down south of the bay.
The men who had quickly gained the nickname "merchant slayers" among the tribe had multiple stories and at least half of them seemed like fables and fantasy. However, all the stories stayed consistent of a clan known as Mesa who rules the lands to the south. They have very advanced techniques and wield power by nature rather than spear and shield. The men made them sound like wizards or druids controlling the very elements of the earth itself, casting curses, and even that their weapons hunger for blood with a mind of their own. Naturally, this only made Ben and Flevance want to investigate these people even more, but with extreme caution, as it could explain why they were here. Over the next couple years, the two men meticulously mapped their own territory in great detail, but Flevance couldn't resist small recon missions to vaguely map and scout the southern shores. He hoped to catch a glimpse of the Mesa clan, but he never did, and he knew this was not a good time to defy Ian as he had before. Ian was a good man, and he had grown very wise and respected over the last couple decades. Flevance knew Ian was aware of his desire to run into the southern lands and see what was there, but he also respected Ian's call to protect the tribe. He spent many nights by one of the community fire circles wondering what could possibly await him down there.
"Take the Leopard Slayers with you in the morning and begin mapping the southern shores." Ian calmy said one evening to Flevance as though it were an afterthought. Flevance was so excited and confused at the same time that it quickly turned to anger. How dare he put the tribe at risk? Was Ian mocking him? What kind of joke is this?
"You want to explain that to me?" Flevance asked passive aggressively.
Ian looked down at Flevance and smiled at his confusion. "You can be reckless and selfish, but these traits are not always bad," he replied almost sounding exhausted. "Well, selfish is probably always bad, I guess. But reckless has value depending on the moment. If it is focused." Ian pauses in thought as he stares into the night sky. "Maya cannot hide from this world, Flevance. Time has healed the wound those men inflicted upon the world, but only barely. It still has healing to do. We need to know if any danger is to the south, so I need to you to balance your reckless desire for the unknown with caution for the tribe." Flevance raised his eyebrows and rolled his eyes away from Ian.
"Oh, yeah, take credit for the good and blame me if something goes wrong." he mumbled.
"What?" Ian asked genuinely.
"What?" Flevance asked pretending to be confused.
"You'll do fine," Ian smiled, "I am certain of it. I only tell you to be careful because it helps me to put my own worries at ease." Ian began walking away to his home as before he finished talking.
Over the next few years, Flevance lead the Leopard Slayers on recon missions to get a detailed account of the southern shores. The land was certainly sunny and more fertile down in those lands and also rockier. Flevance was able to locate a few of the landscapes and landmarks the merchant slayers had told him about in their stories. At least this gave him an idea of where inhabitants may be centralized in the lands. He took Ian's advice and played things a bit more cautious than he otherwise would have and doing so paid off. He was able to discover a tribe using field workers to load a cart with mud or some sort of clay and then carry it back to the southwest. However, this was about all he could afford of restraint, and he ordered his men to follow the cart.
It became harder and harder to conceal the group as they went on following the cart and soon keeping their distance became the only way to keep from being seen. Eventually, they watched the cart go to a large settlement with crude walls and multiple smoke plumes coming from it. Flevance was certain that this was the Mesa people. He quickly did his best to calculate where the settlement was in relation to his previous maps and then ordered the men to fall back to the north before they were seen. However, a small group of about 5 men with a few goats had somehow flanked them and was coming south toward them from the north. They greeted Flevance and his men warmly and asked about where they were from as they didn't recognize their markings or Flevance's unique attributes. Much to the Leopard Slayers' surprise Flevance immediately referred to himself as a king who was on a faraway journey from his kingdom to explore the world looking for a place of legend among his people.
Even more surprising than Flevance's absurd claims was the eagerness of these people to believe it and be impressed by it. Flevance immediately discounted the shock on his warriors faces by telling their new friends that his bodyguards hate when he reveals his true identity as they prefer him to be more discreet. They were excited for him to come into the tribe's large settlement and let them host him, but he declined saying he has an army camped nearby that is awaiting his return. Instead, he agreed to walk with them to the city gate and request an audience with the chief leader sometime this week. His nerves were on edge with the bluff but it had been working this far, so he figured he would ride it all the way through. Much to his surprise his new goat herding friends did all the leg work for him and offered to put Flevance in contact with someone who could help set up a meeting with the chief.
A few warriors who were a little more composed than the previous herdsmen met with Flevance and his men to discern their legitimacy and after some negotiation Flevance was able to agree to a meeting the following day after dawn where he would go in with only 2 of his men as bodyguards accompanying him to have an audience with the chief. Then the group turned back north and made camp for the evening on the southern shore of the bay keeping heavy watch with no fires. When the horizon began its soft glow against the night sky as though it wished to whisper of the day to come, the camp began gathering to travel back to Mesa Verde. Some of the men expressed their concerns about trusting this people so easily but Flevance wasn't trusting them but rather testing them in a way that Ian may call reckless. But he felt his hand was forced when the herdsmen encountered them so close to the city. He would go into the city and have the remaining men make camp on the north side of the bay to avoid a surprise attack and wait for him.
Upon reaching Mesa Verde, the sun's rays had began to conquer the sky without the sun being present yet. Flevance took Muluch, due to his brave spirit, and a man named Tun to be his bodyguards to enter the city with him and ordered the rest of the men to go make camp and if he had not returned by the noon sun to go back and report hostility by the Mesa people. Walking through the settlement was interesting for Flevance despite it being a brief experience and soon he came to a building he was escorted into. The society around them was certainly more creative in their endeavors than the Mayan people by the trinkets they wore and a couple simple machines he had seen them using. The building on the inside had a clever skylight fashioned with a n animal hide tarp and a gutter to divert rain and a half naked man standing in the morning light greeted him and his men warmly.
Introducing himself as Kota the man was eager to hear of Flevance's exploits in his travels. Flevance decided to go with Atlantis as a rough blueprint for his imaginary kingdom and was easily able to distract the conversation using questions of flattery of the Mesa's technological prowess. Pretending to not understand half of it and expanding on others he could get Kota excited at the possibilities of the two people working together. Flevance told Kota he was on a quest to find a legendary land or tribe that is said to be able to allow people to travel to other worlds, but Kota had never heard of such a thing and was fascinated by the idea. After dwelling on the topic for a while, Flevance changed topics toward the Mesa people and was able to learn that the society is very loosely guided more by convenience and group mentality than by distinct laws. The prisoners back home had painted an inaccurate picture of the Mesa people for some reason. They did not have any spells or secrets that could magically transport him and Ben back to their times. He told Kota that he had been in contact with other tribes around Mesa Verde and that he thinks Kota would get along well with a tribe known as the Maya in the far northern lands. When Kota began discussing the other frontiers around him, Flevance would make something up usually blending some sort of history with fictional tales of conflict. He assured Kota that they would talk again but he should end this meeting for now.
Flevance's hopes of finding a way back home to the south dulled back down to a simple dream of the past as more decades passed. The prisoners that had been known as "merchant slayers" were released from servitude after they served 8 years, and they enjoyed the Mayan society so much that they were welcome into and joined the ranks of the Leopard Slayers and finally shed their previous nickname. The original group of Leopard Slayers split into two separate hunting parties each with half veterans to train the new recruits. Benjamin and Flevance watched so many tribesmen they knew so well pass away and their younger generation take up the mantle over the years. It was Ian's passing in his 60s though that made life surreal for a few years and Flevance and Benjamin both fell into a depression. Both men failed to see the point of mapping the surrounding land and Ben had stopped bothering to track time, but a few men and women of the tribe had taken over in his stead. The Leopard Slayer groups mourned for Ian as well the two men and took up the responsibility of mapping the surrounding lands. Benjamin and Flevance did still offer guidance to the people, but they were apprehensive about getting too close to any of them and rarely got actively involved.
Over the next couple decades Benjamin and Flevance withdrew from all social gatherings and just spent time talking with one another or alone as the gravity of their fate felt too heavy to deal with the tribe. Flevance eventually told Benjamin everything about where he was from and how his persona was not actually his own but of a fictional character he had created in his imagination - which only made everything make even less sense. Both men expressed that they felt like they were in a dream - the longest, most detailed dream ever. Destiny seemed to be putting a cruel display in front of them to for some reason that they could not figure out. The two even began calling the city "Destiny" instead of "Ba'ak", and Flevance was relieved that the new name caught on quickly even with the tribe. It seemed to fit much better for him and Ben's perspective almost as an ironic joke, but fitting.
Time can act to numb emotional pain though and after quite some time, Flevance and Ben would occasionally find themselves laughing at the absurd fact that they had been there for over 200 years. Slowly they reintroduced themselves to society and to the latest generation who had begun to see them as immortal deities there to guide them. The Mayans now had over 2,000 population in the city of Destiny and had become a pretty productive people. They had taken what Benjamin had taught them about boat making and some had become proficient fishermen to the point that the tribe rarely hunted wild game on land. The group of Leopard Slayers that roamed the southern lands in Mesa territory had become known to as the Cheetah Sentry, named after the wildcats that inhabited those lands, but they were more of a scouting unit than hunters unlike the Slayers keeping Leopards at bay in the north. The Cheetah Sentry was well versed in Mesa culture due to how much time they spent in their lands investigating various parts of the land Flevance would inquire them about.
The Mesa people and the Mayan people grew close as they shared stories and the Cheetah Sentry spent a year with Mesa Hunters learning their ways of smoking meat that helped meat preservation tremendously for the Mayan people. Being able to preserve fish so well was a main contributor to their population growth over the following decades. These years truly bonded the Mesa and Mayan people until Kota, their leader passed away and the story of Flevance's immortality in the north made the Mesa people begin to become wary of their relationship with the Mayan people. Flevance did what he could to alleviate these concerns but superstition proved hard to overcome. In this time, he even travelled south to the village on the coast where the prisoners once known as the "merchant slayers" had claimed to be from to find dilapidated buildings that actually did look like it may have been raided long ago. Reminiscing of the men Flevance now saw as more than just "merchant slayers", he thought of the sons and daughters of these men who were now serving in different roles in Maya society. He was pleasantly surprised when he saw a family living on the land of the old wreckage that was once a village to his friends. He spent some time with that family and the Cheetah Sentry over the next few weeks helping them dismantle the old buildings for the wood and helping them build a crude irrigation system to fight droughts. It had been over 100 years since he met the "merchant slayers" and was happy to honor their memory and share their story of what happened to the previous village.
Multiple exploits like these by the Mayan people into the Mesa lands offering aid helped mend the relationship between the two tribes naturally. Flevance thought it would be wise to officially train a small army of warriors to fight any human invaders as stories of hostile people began to circulate in Mesa lands. Many Mesa people even joined Mayan society for protection and Mayan fishing techniques made sustaining a large population growth possible. Housing was the main issue, but Benjamin assured everyone that his new production district being constructed would help housing keep up as the use of lumber would make building basic structures much faster
