Chapter 73: The America's
(Sorry everyone, my and my brothers truck got totaled the other day while it was parked, so i have been dealing with all that for the past few days and haven't really been in the writing mood)
I felt sick, and I mean holy fuck why am I so stupid sick.
I wasn't actually sick or anything, it just felt like the ship was being steered by a 5 year old with ADHD that thinks hitting every wave is fun.
Causing me to be nauseous.
Adding to that and the waves, was the smell of the inside of the ship. The pungent smell of unwashed men nearly brought tears to my eyes, as if I was pepper sprayed.
Thankfully our voyage was coming to an end, as it had nearly been three months of this torture.
I managed to bribe one of the master mates of the ship enough to get a meeting with the man himself, Christopher Columbus.
And let me tell you…the man was a dick.
I don't know if he had always been like that, or if it was a rather new development, that caused him to become quite the arrogant prick or not, but the man was just a straight up ass hole.
But I, the ever professional, managed not to tear his head off and shove it where the sun doesn't shine, leaving later generations to wonder where his head went, when it was right in front of them the whole time.
Instead, I managed to bribe him to take me with him, and to drop me off in the new world.
Surprisingly at first he was a little hesitant, or at least he was until I gave him a bag of gold the size of his head.
I didn't end up on the same ship as him, but on one of the other 17 ships that left to the new world, that would drop me off along the coast of what will become Mexico, while Columbus and the other 16 ships would be looking for somewhere to build an outpost for future colonization.
We separated from the other ships about three days ago, and land had finally come into sight.
Standing on the deck, all I had with me was a broad sword strapped to my waist and some heavy duty clothes that would last longer than regular fabrics.
Other than that, I had nothing else to bring with me.
Everyone on the ship thought I was insane, but I didn't care, I was finally coming back to the America's.
By this time, my hair had also reverted back to its usual white color, from the three months I didn't re-dye it.
Thankfully, none of the men on board were particularly religious men, and left me alone.
The ship stopped a good distance from the shore, so I was brought to it by a small row boat.
The water was Crystal clear and the golden sand under it gleamed in the sun.
As the small boat hit the sand, I leaped from it, hit the sand with my boot-covered feet.
Some 20 yards from the shore was a long line of dark jungle.
Giving the row boat a hand to get them off the sand and back in the water, I watched as the row boat made its way back to the ship, giving them a wave as they left.
After a few moments, I turned to look at the jungle behind me.
Looking at my system's map, I found I was dropped off towards the middle of Mexico.
(Tecolutla)
Scattered in all directions were different blue dots resembling places of population.
But there was one not too far from myself that seemed to be the biggest one.
So now with a destination in mind, I headed in that direction.
The tropical landscape reminded me of India, with its thick green tungles.
Slowly making my way into the jungles, I listened to the buzz of the wildlife all around me, from the bugs, to the chirping of birds that flew from tree to tree.
It didn't take long for me to traverse the jungle, and come into contact with the inhabitants of this land.
It seemed I had been found by a hunting party of young men, all of whom had spears, and small bows.
To say they were startled would be an understatement.
Most of them were smaller in stature, around 5'4, with wide facial structures and black hair with brown eyes.
All of them only wore a fiber cloth around their waists, and had weird headbands with feathers around their heads.
I had heard them long before I had even seen them.
With the thick tropical brush in their way, it was like a small stampede was heading straight towards me.
I stood still and waited for them to see me, which wouldn't have been hard.
I stood well over six feet tall and had white hair. I couldn't have stuck out more than a kangaroo in a dinner jacket at a fancy dinner party.
When the man leading the group first caught sight of me, his first instinct was to react, which was to bring a tube looking thing to his lips and blow a dart right for my chest.
Likewise, I acted on instinct.
Catching the fast projectile with my hand, I brought the dart up and looked at it, while the group of hunters looked at me in astonishment.
The dart looked to be a thin piece of wood shaped like a nail with a dark blue feather on the back of it.
Looking up at the group of younger looking me, they seemed to freeze when they saw me.
Dropping the dart to the ground, I lifted a hand to wave at them.
"Hello" I said, trying not to seem threatening to them in any way.
They all looked at each other when I spoke, all in clear confusion at my words.
Tapping my chest, I spoke again.
"Adam…friend.'' I said slowly, knowing they didn't understand my words.
The first to respond was the one who had shot the dart at my chest, who I guessed was the leader of the group.
He only took one step forward, making sure to keep his spear at the ready, just in case I decided to do anything funny, even though if I wanted to kill him, his spear wouldn't slow me down in the slightest.
The man seemed to be in his mid to early thirties, with a few scars running along his arms and on the side of his face.
He spoke to me in a language I had never heard before, and resembled no language I knew.
But he did hit his chest a few times, so I guessed at what he was saying.
"Ocotlan" he said again, tapping his chest.
"Ocotlan," I said, pointing at him.
He nodded his head and a smile grew on his face.
Surprising me, Ocotlan took a few more steps forward until he was only standing a few feet in front of me, looking me up and down.
He nodded his head a few times, seeming mystified at the clothes I wore, as well as the strange color of my hair.
Him stepping forward was like a break in the dam, and before I knew what was happening, I was surrounded by the entire group of hunters, who were poking at me and feeling the ruff cloths i was currently wearing.
And a few times one of them would pull at my hair, and rub the strands through their fingers, looking to see if the color was real or some kind of trick.
But once one of them went to pull my sword from my side, that's when I decided to put an end to whatever was happening. Grabbing the handle of the sword I pushed it back down into the scabbard as I took a step back, and away from the group.
They seemed confused at what had just happened and why I had stepped away from them.
That's when Ocotlan started speaking to the group again, and from the sound of it, he didn't sound happy about something, and was chidding the group.
The verbal beating only lasted a few moments, before he turned to me and spoke again, more than likely an apology.
I just nodded my head, and smiled.
From there he started to wave at me to follow the group.
Which I did.
For close to an hour I followed them through the hot jungle, until we got to the top of a rather large hill, and I got my first sight of their home.
What I saw truly baffled me.
Sitting in the middle of a lake was an island with a massive city on it, with three bridges connecting it to land.
The island had thousands of houses on it, and from where I stood, I could see a total of six large pyramids on it, with one truly massive one in the middle.
They weren't as large as the ones in Egypt, but the biggest one got pretty close to the smaller ones that had been built over there.
Making our way to one of the bridges, we started to pass others who were going about their days.
All of them stopped to stare at me as we passed.
Most of them, man or woman, wore tunic looking shirts that went to their knees with belts to keep them on, with sandals on their feet.
And it also surprised me to see not one of them was over 5 '5, making me feel like a true giant among normal people.
The farther into the large city, the more impressed I was.
Because unlike what I had experienced in Europe and other places, this city seemed to actually be planned and well laid out, with dirt streets and one level homes in perfect placements.
But when we passed a massive market that had thousands of people walking about, was when I truly had to take a moment to soak everything in.
But I couldn't think for long, because people were starting to notice me, and they wanted a closer look at me.
Swarms of people started to appear all around me in a mob, all wanting to look at me.
Thankfully Ocotlan and his other hunters used their spears to keep them at bay.
Pushing me along, Ocotlan pointed towards the pyramids as a destination for us to go.
So with a large mob of people following we continued, until we were standing in front of the largest pyramid.
Standing in front of it, was a group of older men, who seemed to have been warned of my arrival.
They all wore more beads and other nicknacks than anyone else I had seen so far.
They also had large head dresses on them that had large feathers of different colors with gold inlays on the metallic headbands.
But standing in the middle of them, was a man that had the same kind of head dress, but all it had was green feathers, and a pure gold band on it, with a jewel right in the middle.
'He seems important.' I couldn't help but think, as he looked me dead in the eyes for a few moments.
But wanting things to get too awkward, I lifted my hand, and spoke.
"Hello."
As soon as I spoke, it was like my interactions with the hunters.
Whispered conversations spread over the crowd, while the man in the green head dress turned to the other men by him, while they whispered in his ear.
After a few minutes of this, the man in the green head dress raised his hands into the air and spoke.
To me it seemed he was quieting the crowd of people.
And within seconds it was quite again.
Allowing the man to speak again.
I couldn't understand what he was saying, but it was like he was giving a speech, before he pointed at the clear blue sky, then yelled a few more words.
His words seemed to send the crowd into an excited frenzy, before they all started to chant.
And to be honest it sounded kinda eerie, and haunting.
Then a middle aged man eagerly stepped from the crowd and approached the group of men in headdresses.
As soon as everyone saw this, they let out a loud cheer that made me go Def for a moment.
I was confused as all of this happened, until Ocotlan stepped up beside me, and smiled up at me, and spoke in his language.
But I still couldn't understand.
But he tugged my arm, and led me to the man in the green head dress, and before I knew what was happening, I was led to a large stone building, that I guessed was a small palace, and was taking a bath, in heated water.
By the time I was out, the sun was starting to lower, and I was led back to the pyramids, which by this time, was lit with many torches, and was nearly completely surrounded by people.
I was led to a shaded area that had nice wooden chairs with the man in the green head dress seated.
When he saw me, he gave me a wide smile, and pointed to another chair next to his, which I gladly expected.
By this point, I figured he was the ruler of these people, and I should just do as he says.
As I sat, a pretty woman came by with clay mugs of an aromatic smelling drink, which I soon found out, tasted like mangos, and had an alcoholic aftertaste.
I couldn't help but down the drink in one large gulp, as a flavor I hadn't had tasted in thousands of years touched my tongue.
When the leader of these people saw this, he pointed at the woman again, and told her something.
But shortly after she came back with a jug of this stuff, I couldn't stop myself from grabbing the entire thing from her, and downing even more of it.
Which made the man in the green headdress laugh loudly.
Holding my second jug in my lap I now sipped it instead of chugging it, when another lady came by, holding bowls of fruit, which she handed to her leader with a bow, then myself, also giving me a bow.
What I saw in the bowl was an assortment of different fruits, like banana, mango, papaya, and guava.
I couldn't help but let out a smile as saliva filled my mouth at the sight.
Because for so long I had only eaten bland foods that never really had a sweetness to it, but now I was practically in heaven, as I started to eat with my hands.
Nine whole bowls later, something started to happen at the top of the largest pyramid, as a large flame was lit at the very top.
Setting my bowl down, I took another long sip of my fruity mango beverage, as I watched what was happening.
With my perfect eyesight, I was able to see perfectly what was happening.
Standing all the way at the top of the pyramid, was the middle aged man from earlier today, as well as the other men with head dresses.
They seemed to be talking, when he was led to a pedestal by the stairs.
Then to my bewilderment, they started tying him down, so his head was right over the stairs.
'Hmm, that's strange.' I thought.
That was before one of the headdressed men pulled out something that looked like a long paddle with sharp ends and started chopping the man's head off.
Choking on my fruity drink, I couldn't help but be startled at the sight of butchery that was taking place so suddenly.
In two solid swings, the man's head was cut clean off, and started bouncing down the many steps, while blood spurted from his headless neck.
"Oh fuck." I said, as I watched the head bouncing.
"Oo fook." The leader of these people said next to me as he gestured to the skeptical.
In the days after that, I managed to put the pieces together of who these people were.
It took me so long, because being someone from the far north east of America, Aztec cultures wasn't exactly a common top.
At first I couldn't tell if this was an Aztec city or a Maya.
But I Heard they called themselves the "Mexica", which sparked a cloudy almost forgotten memory in my head, about a Joe Rogan podcast i hadn't listened to in a while, about ancient civilizations in Mexico, and the man who was explaining a Aztec city deep in the forest that had been covered completely by the forest, he refused to them as " the mexica people".
(I know Joe Rogan did have a podcast about this topic, but I don't think that was ever brought up)
Thankfully, they didn't have any more sacrifices while I stayed there, but even if they did, I wouldn't do anything about it.
This was their way of life, and I had no right to stop them from doing something that was part of their Culture.
I ended up staying for roughly a month, before I decided it was time to continue my journey.
So late at night, I gathered all I had gotten while here, and left, not leaving a trace to be tracked.
I ended up continuing south, where I ended up running into the Maya people, where something like what happened with the Aztec people happened.
I was led to a large city, where a sacrifice was done on a large pyramid, and a celebration ensued.
Again I didn't stay too long, and continued south, running into other much smaller groups of people, and tribes.
I lost track of time as I finally made it to the bottom of the South American continent, and got a look at the gleaming blue sea.
To get here I had to travel through some of the harshest terrain I had ever experienced before, and I couldn't have been happier.
I managed to see some crazy wildlife up close, and be the first person from the outside world to come into contact with certain tribes.
It took another year for me to make my way back up to Mexico, where I made stops at some of the Maya and Aztec cities, before I continued north after passing the Rio grande river.
As soon as I was on the other side, I could help but fall to my knees and give the dirt a kiss, out of pure excitement.
I started my journey, by going through Texas, at a westward angle, hoping to make it to the grand canyon.
At the moment, I was walking next to Tony, my alpaca who was carrying the cool knick knacks I had collected over my journey, as well as my food and water skins.
The reason I was using an alpaca to carry everything instead of a horse was Because to my surprise, there are no horses in the America's yet, or at least there might be and I just haven't found any.
And due to the fact that most of Mexico is intense jungle terrain at the moment, anything bigger than the 100 pound Tony wouldn't be able to move through it.
I got Toney as a gift from a town leader, when he was still young.
And over my travels, I taught him to stay with me and to not wander off, or particularly not to spit at me.
Tony had white poofy hair that I had to cut every now and again, but other than that he was great.
Surprisingly, I didn't run into a single person during my entire trip, and after 4 months of continuous walking, I finally got my first glimpse of something I never saw in person in my last life, the grand canyon.
It was stunning to see, and truly breathtaking.
With its red rocks that can be seen for miles, and its large peaks, I couldn't help but find it all relaxing.
But after a few days of camping out there, I decided to head west again, in search of some shape shifting humans.
Using my system's map, I headed towards Washington state, where I saw a few small blue dots.
Along the way I came in contact with my first native American tribe, but unfortunately they were on the move, and wanted nothing to do with me, so stayed at a distance and only watched Me.
That was fine by me though, because I had a few hundred years to get to know them.
Continuing on, I managed to meet a few more tribes who actually seemed interested in me.
Though at first they were hesitant, they eventually came around.
Something I learned as I met other tribes was that their languages were all different.
Sure some had similarities, but at the same time, they were completely different.
Also their traditions as well as their styles differed greatly from tribe to tribe.
Some tribes liked to cover themselves in paints, while some preferred to create bands out of animal hides.
It varied greatly among each.
But as I slowly made my way north west, I managed to learn enough of their languages that I became a sort of traveling storyteller, where I would tell the story's of Europe to them.
Like Homer's odyssey, the boy who called wolf by Aesop, or mahabharata by Vyasa.
Using Tony as my sidekick in all of the stores.
But eventually, I made it to Washington state.
By this point, I had taken on some of the dresswear of the people of this land.
I no longer wore a shirt, and decided to let my hair grow extra long again. My pants were warm animal hide, as well as my makeshift shoes.
Tony looked mostly the same, but had different colored beads in his locks that hung past his head.
Making it to the state of Washington, I really got to see why the Cullen clan liked it here so much.
It was beautiful, and as I made it to the Olympic region of the state, I found a place perfect for vampire inhabitants who would want to live among humans.
It was always cloudy and raining here.
Following my map, I found the quileutes easily.
Among the tall trees and by a rocky river, the tribe thrived.
_________________________________
Here's a long chapter for ya.
I most certainly made some mistakes in the writing so if you spot anything please let me.
I did some research on all of this, but I'm sure I also might have missed some stuff, so of there is anything the MC should go and see, comment here —>
Words-4, 003
_________________________________
Also if you haven't already, please check out some of my other fictions.
You can find them on my web novel profile.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone