Lucas and Mia were twins who loved to explore ancient places. They were very excited when their parents took them to Mexico for their summer vacation. They wanted to see the famous Mayan ruins of Chichen Itza.
Chichen Itza was a huge city that was built by the Maya people more than a thousand years ago. It had many temples, palaces, courts, and monuments that showed how advanced and powerful the Maya civilization was. One of the most impressive buildings was the pyramid of Kukulkan, also known as El Castillo.
The pyramid had four sides with 91 steps each, plus one more step at the top where a temple stood. The steps added up to 365, which was the number of days in a year. The Maya were very good at astronomy and mathematics, and they designed the pyramid to align with the sun and the stars.
Lucas and Mia climbed up the pyramid with their parents and admired the view from above. They could see other structures like the Great Ball Court, where the Maya played a game with a rubber ball; and El Caracol, an observatory shaped like a snail shell.
“Wow, this is amazing!” Lucas said. “I wonder what it was like to live here.”
“I wonder what secrets this place holds,” Mia said.
Their parents told them that there were many mysteries about Chichen Itza that archaeologists were still trying to solve. For example, they did not know why the Maya abandoned their city around 1200 AD; or what was inside the pyramid; or how they made such precise calculations without modern tools.
Lucas and Mia were fascinated by these questions. They wished they could travel back in time and find out more about Chichen Itza.
As they were walking down from the pyramid, they noticed a small opening on one of its sides. It looked like an entrance to a tunnel.
“Hey, look at that!” Lucas said. “Do you think it leads somewhere?”
“Let’s find out!” Mia said.
They ran towards the opening before their parents could stop them. They entered the tunnel and followed it into darkness.
They used their flashlights to see where they were going. The tunnel was narrow and dusty, with stone walls covered in carvings and paintings. They saw images of animals, gods, warriors, kings, and priests.
They felt like they were entering another world.
They walked for what seemed like hours until they reached an end point where there was another opening leading upwards.
They climbed up through it and found themselves in another chamber inside
the pyramid.
It was much bigger than the tunnel and had a high ceiling with windows that let in some light. In the center of
the chamber there was an altar with a statue of Kukulkan on top of it.
Kukulkan was one of the most important gods for the Maya people. He was also known as Quetzalcoatl or Feathered Serpent, and he represented creation, wisdom, and life. The statue looked very realistic, with scales, feathers, and wings. It had eyes that seemed to glow in the dark.
Lucas and Mia approached the statue cautiously. They felt a strange sensation as if
they were being watched by someone or something.
Suddenly, they heard a voice coming from the statue:
“Who are you, and why have you come here?”
Lucas and Mia gasped in shock.
They looked at each other in disbelief.
Was this really happening?
They tried to answer, but they could not speak any words. They realized that they did not know how to speak the language of the Maya people.
The voice spoke again:
“Do not be afraid.
I am Kukulkan,
the Feathered Serpent.
I have been waiting for you.”
Waiting for us?
What does he mean?
Lucas and Mia thought.
“You are special children,”
Kukulkan continued.
“You have been chosen by fate to learn about my people’s history,
culture, and secrets.”
Lucas and Mia felt curious but also scared.
What did Kukulkan want from them?
“I will show you things that no one else has seen before,”
Kukulkan said.
“But first you must prove yourselves worthy.”
He paused for a moment,
then said:
“Answer this riddle:
What is something that has no beginning or end,
but can be measured by time?”
Lucas and Mia thought hard about
the riddle.
It sounded familiar, but they could not remember the answer.
They looked around the chamber for clues, but they saw nothing that could help them. They felt a sense of urgency, as if time was running out.
They knew they had to answer quickly, or else something bad might happen.
They decided to guess, hoping that they would be lucky.
Lucas said:
“Is it a circle?”
Mia said:
“Is it a dream?”
Kukulkan shook his head.
“No, those are not correct answers.”
He sounded disappointed and angry.
He said:
“You have failed the test.
You are not worthy of my knowledge.”
He raised his wings and opened his mouth,
revealing sharp teeth and a long tongue.
He looked like he was about to attack them.
Lucas and Mia screamed in fear.
They ran back to the opening where they came from,
hoping to escape from Kukulkan’s wrath.
They climbed down through the tunnel as fast as they could,
ignoring the carvings and paintings on the walls.
They reached the exit and ran out of the pyramid,
back to where their parents were waiting for them.
Their parents were relieved to see them safe and sound,
but also angry that they had disobeyed them and gone inside the pyramid without permission.
They scolded them for being reckless and irresponsible,
and told them that they had to leave Chichen Itza immediately.
Lucas and Mia apologized for their behavior,
but also tried to explain what had happened inside the pyramid.
They told their parents about Kukulkan’s statue,
his voice, his riddle, and his threat.
Their parents did not believe them at first,
thinking that they had made up a story to cover up their mischief.
But then they noticed something strange:
Lucas and Mia were speaking in a language that they did not recognize or understand.
It sounded like an ancient language with complex sounds and tones. It was unlike any language that their parents had ever heard before. They realized that Lucas and Mia were speaking in Maya, the language of Kukulkan’s people. Somehow, during their encounter with Kukulkan, Lucas and Mia had learned how to speak Maya without knowing it. They had gained a gift from Kukulkan, even though they had failed his test. They had become part of his people’s history, culture, and secrets.
Their parents were amazed and astonished by this discovery. They wondered what else Lucas and Mia had learned from Kukulkan, or what else he might have shown them if they had answered his riddle correctly. They wondered what other mysteries Chichen Itza held, or what other wonders of the world awaited them in their future travels. They decided to take Lucas and Mia back to Chichen Itza someday, when they were older and more prepared, to see if Kukulkan would speak to them again, or give them another chance to prove themselves worthy.
The End