Typemoon: Starting Out as the Lion King's Personal Knight

What kind of connection exists between Tezcatlipoca, and Alaric? Only the goddess standing before Alaric—Quetzalcoatl—could know and explain.

However, when Alaric broke free from Quetzalcoatl's embrace and voiced his doubts, the response he received was a look from Quetzalcoatl that seemed to say, "Silly boy," followed by:

"Uh-huh~ Big Sis doesn't know!"

"What?"

Alaric's expression froze in shock.

After all, it was Quetzalcoatl herself who pointed out the connection between Alaric and Tezcatlipoca. Yet, when Alaric asked for more details, the response was an admission of ignorance.

Could she have been mistaken?

 Staring blankly, Alaric tried to process this. Quetzalcoatl, noticing his confusion, tilted her head and immediately understood.

"Ha! That guy Tezcatlipoca is sneaky, like someone lurking in the sewers plotting their schemes! Alaric, do you not remember anything about him?"

"Ugh, Tezcatlipoca? I don't recall meeting him."

Even Jaguar Man nearby exaggeratedly stared at him. "That's the super cool Tezcatlipoca, meow!"

Alarid shook his head. "I truly have no memory of Tezcatlipoca. Perhaps you're mistaken?"

"Huh~ That kind of mistake would never happen! Trust Big Sis's eyes, okay~?"

Quetzalcoatl confidently patted her chest and made a firm promise, "It must be that guy Tezcatlipoca. I'd never mistake his aura or power."

Even with Quetzalcoatl's assurances, Alaric simply couldn't recall any interaction with Tezcatlipoca. Upon arriving in this world, the first person he met was the Lion King. In the half-year since, Tezcatlipoca had never appeared.

Could it have been even earlier?

Subconsciously, Alaric asked himself this question.

Was it before entering the Sixth Singularity that he had encountered Tezcatlipoca?

 He couldn't remember.

No matter how hard he tried to dig into his memories, there was no information about him, as though it had never happened.

"What kind of power is it? Does Tezcatlipoca's power linger on me?"

Giving up on his recollection, Alaric turned back to Quetzalcoatl, his golden slit-pupils locking onto the goddess's forest-green eyes, hoping to glean some insight.

Earlier, Quetzalcoatl had mentioned that a trace of Tezcatlipoca's power lingered on Alaric—something the goddess could detect.

Yet, Alaric couldn't figure out what that lingering power was.

From what he currently knew about himself—

"Is the Mictlampa, the paradise of rest? Maybe along the path to paradise? Either way, you've met Tezcatlipoca in the afterlife~!"

Quetzalcoatl playfully pinched Alaric's cheeks. "Poor boy, it seems like you've died many times already~!

You're such a strong warrior~~ Next time, come visit Big Sis's paradise!

I promise that sneaky Tezcatlipoca won't get his way again~!"

Paradise? Mictlampa, the paradise of rest?

Hearing those words, Alaric's eyes widened.

The name Mictlampa, the paradise of rest was all too familiar to him. It was an integral part of Tezcatlipoca's mythology.

Mictlanpa is described in Aztec myth as the northern axis—a place of eternal stillness and silence.

Though nominally under the dominion of Mictlantecuhtli and Mictlancíhuatl, Tezcatlipoca held ultimate authority over what occurred there.

Known as Tezcatlipoca's Warrior's Resting Place, all warriors acknowledged by him would be drawn to Mictlanpa after death, where they would find eternal rest.

The afterlife… the place where warriors belong after death…

Alaric suddenly recalled his three encounters with death. Although it appeared he had survived thanks to his high-level regeneration, those deaths had indeed occurred.

If Tezcatlipoca had intervened to pull him back from the realm of the dead, everything would make sense.

Born anew from death, it was through those true experiences of dying that Alaric awakened his Mystic Eyes of Death Perception.

Only by experiencing death could one truly grasp the beauty of life.

Although Alaric couldn't recall what happened after his death, nor understand Tezcatlipoca's motivations, the pieces began to fall into place.

Aside from his brief journey to the Americas. He had no ties to Tezcatlipoca.

But for him to intervene three times to pull his back from death? That level of effort was extraordinary.

Or perhaps… Alaric had paid a significant price.

Additionally—

"The ties of the mountain… the distant ties of a magical realm…"

These cryptic words, spoken by King Hassan and the Lion King, had puzzled Alaric for a long time.

At the time, the only ties Alaric could associate with were the Lion King. Yet, the Mountain Ties remained a mystery.

Where did such ties originate?

Ties can only form through contact.

Now, the truth of this distant magical realm's Mountain Ties seemed clearer.

As the First Sun of the Five Suns, Tezcatlipoca's right leg and half of his body were made of obsidian, reflecting the black light of the sun.

When obsidian ceased reflecting sunlight, Tezcatlipoca would lose his divinity and become mortal.

Tezcatlipoca's mythology is filled with connections to mountains. Combined with his authority over Mictlanpa, the Black Sun Tezcatlipoca was undoubtedly a god of the underworld.

A supreme god who lingered alongside death—such a figure might have an unexpectedly close relationship with King Hassan, who walked the boundary of death.

"So I'm a VIP after all."

At this moment, Alaric finally understood.

King Hassan's assistance—granted in recognition of the Mountain Ties and his nature—was due to the influence of Tezcatlipoca.

With that realization, Alaric understood something else.

His first destination after being transported wasn't the Sixth Singularity with the Lion King. The first being he encountered was the omnipotent god, Tezcatlipoca.

But where could this have happened? The world had already been burned to ash by Solomon. There was no place left to go except the Singularities.

Except—

The Inner Sea of the Stars.

With the decline of the Age of Gods, not only had phantasmal beasts, divine beasts, and dragons retreated into the Inner Sea of the Stars, but entire pantheons of gods had also withdrawn into the planet's interior, no longer walking upon the earth.

Solomon's great work may have burned 3,000 years of humanity's history, but it likely had no impact on the Inner Sea of the Stars.