Cookie series- Priest of Huitzilopochtli

[skull_bearer]

WOW! Original work coming from me! Creative Writing is already having an effect.

The Cookie series is a self-imposed penance challenge. To write as sympathetic characters people who would otherwise be... pretty horrible. It's actually not as hard as expected, since if you really get into their heads, you get their (rather strange but usually interesting) view of the world, and it usually makes sense. So far the main exception to this is the one I'm currently trying to write, since nazi death camp guards are rather hard to write as sympathetic characters.
This one is about an Aztec Priest, it was written ages ago, and it's only now I've thought to expand it, so the writing isn't the best. I still like it though, even if doing the Aztecs is cheating a bit, once you understand how they percieved the world it really does stop being so horrible. Turns out quite a few of the sacrifices were voluntary.

So far some of the others I've been thinking of include: An inquisitor, a WW1 army general, and the aformentioned SS. Any suggestions would be nice.
Also, I don't want to write specific people, so just give me examples. The harder the better.

Aztec Priest

Mayeuatzin had long harboured a shrewd suspicion that it had been desperation more than hope that had led them to present him to the priesthood.
His family, wealthy tecuhtlis nobles, had despaired of their youngest son. While certainly not unskilled at the art of combat, Mayeuatzin showed none of his elder brother's fascination with warfare.

But whichever had been the driving factor behind their decision, it had been the right one, that Mayeuatzin knew. He had shown exceptional promise even from a young age and now... Was he not one of the high priests of Huitzilopochtli, the God of the sun?

Yet, there were days, like this one, when Mayeuatzin found the burden of his life truly heavy. It was in times like these that he left the city and went for long walks alone, trying to sort out his confused emotions in quiet communion with the Gods.

There had been hard times in the past, the hardest being the death of his eldest brother in battle. He knew, of course, that his brother's life force had travelled to Tonatiuhican, the house of the sun, having been chosen by Huitzilopochtli himself. It would be selfish to wish his brother to be alive again, in the all the pain and misery of this life, but Mayeuatzin had dearly loved his brother, and even now the memory was painful.

The emotions that had driven him out here were very similar, but intermeshed with guilt. Again, he knew his emotions were selfish ones, and hardly a tribute to his faith, but no matter how hard he worked to suppress them, they rose up again like bubbles of marsh gas.
There had been a sacrifice yesterday, which wasn't unusual, there was a sacrifice on most holy days. The difference had been the victim.

Mayeuatzin sighed, and pinched the bridge of his nose in an attempt to stave off the impending headache. He knew it had to be done, they all knew, but why did it have to be his uncle?

He knew why of course. It had been decided long ago. Old Meconetzin had been too old to hope to win in the flowery war, yet he had joined and let himself be captured, and had hardly been unwilling. Still, Mayeuatzin wished his uncle had not designated him to perform the sacrifice, though he knew his uncle's reasons.
As wonderful as death was, it was still rather frightening and the old man must have been soothed by the presence of a familiar face.

No. Mayeuatzin's emotions were purely self-centred. Meconetzin was the last of his family, his parents and sister having died many winters before, and he had not wanted the old man to go. The priest frowned, wanting company in the misery of life was simply vile, and he should really know better. He should be happy that his uncle had left the earth, not for the dreary world of Mictlan and the inevitable rebirth into the world, but to the same paradise that his brother now inhabited, that made all the joys in this world pale in comparison.

But yet, even when the knowledge of pleasing the Gods was added, it had been poor consolation when his uncle's blood had washed over his hands, and his heart had burnt on the altar.

Mayeuatzin sat down on the ground, the earth baked dry and bare save for a few tufts of grass, and looked up at the sky. He had performed many sacrifices, most willing, some not, but all the time had he done so in the knowledge that he was liberating the person's spirit and sending them to joys and glory that his poor shell could barely imagine, while in the same moment making sure that the lives of those who remained on the earth were more pleasant and fruitful.

Yesterday had been the first time he had not felt this.

He sighed again, probing his painful thoughts. Rationally, he knew he had done the right thing. His uncle's death served the Gods, who would in turn bestow favours on the people who had given the offering. The sun would keep moving, and the era of the fifth sun would continue for one more day.

Like all the other priests, Mayeuatzin knew what would happen should the sacrifices stop or fail to please Huitzilopochtli. He had heard tales of the deaths of the past four suns, by wind, fire and water, and knew that should the gods be displeased, this sun would end just as abruptly.
Mayeuatzin did not fear death, but he imagined existence after such a cataclysm to be a fate far worse. He ran the memories of his previous sacrifices through his mind. So many dead by his hand, each life leaving their bodies, and soaring up to Tonatiuhican, each one the assurance that the sun would rise one more day. The knowledge that he was doing something right, as though Huitzilopochtli himself had been standing beside him, dispelling any doubts.

Mayeuatzin gave a third and final sigh, letting out all his pain and guilt in that one exhalation. He had done what he must. His uncle had known what to be captured in the flowery war meant. For him to have entered showed that he was expecting to lose, and he had been completely willing when he offered himself. The Sun God was pleased, Meconetzin was in paradise, the sun would keep spinning, and the only one miserable about this was Mayeuatzin.
The priest allowed himself a small smile, then picked himself up. Coming out here always made him feel better, a reaffirmation of his faith and the knowledge that he was doing the right thing. Although the memory of his uncle's death was still there, scratching barbs into his mind when he thought of it, the crushing presence of it in his mind was gone, and his head felt clearer than it had since he'd been designated to perform yesterday's ritual.

Mayeuatzin stretched, rubbing feeling back into his stiff legs as he considered what to do now. He could go back, he supposed, but he wasn't expected at the temple until well past sunset, when he was expected to join the astrologers in their explorations of the night sky. But that wasn't for a long while, and it felt good to be out of the city.

He started off across the parched fields, strolling away from Tenochtitlan and towards the distant mountains, he had no particular destination in mind, just the will to walk where his legs would take him and let his mind go peacefully blank.

He let all that had gone before slip away, focusing on the feeling of the sun on his shoulders, the wind tugging playfully at his cloak, the warm ground beneath his feet. Everything around him was soothing, as though the Gods were close by, watching over him, pleased by his actions. Soon it would be time to go back, and while Mayeuatzin knew it wouldn't be the last time he would come here for answers, he was confident he would find them.