We all sat down around the table which had apparently already been set up for us and a meal was already sitting at our place. For the first time, I was actually curious if this artifact actually helped the family or hurt them.
"I hope you don't mind that we pray to our God." Bartholomew spoke as his family sat down last, "We like to thank a higher being for all our provisions even if they aren't the greatest of gifts."
"I'm sure they wouldn't mind," Billy said, "After all, we are hungry." Most of the men around him nodded in agreement.
"Dear gracious one," Bartholomew began reverently as everyone bowed there heads, "we thank you for our guests today and for the food you have provided. We hope that these adventurers will finally free us from our curse. Amen."
Everyone seemed to have a bigger appetite than I did, but that was probably because I wanted to here more of Bartholomew's story. The most I was able to eat was only a morsel compared to my hunger to know what had happened that had cursed these Aztecs.
"Would you mind telling them about your story Bartholomew?" Billy asked before I had the chance.
"Gladly," Bartholomew said enthusiastically as he put down his utensils, "This tale begins with a man who approached our village and was said to be looking for an artifact that had fallen from the stars and landed somewhere near our location. He seemed, to our ancestors, to be dressed differently from the visitors they had seen in the past. He told our people he knew what this artifact looked like and said it was disguised as an ordinary object, he also promised great riches to the family who found this great artifact. So our people searched far and wide and eventually we became distraught over how hard it was to find this object that fights broke out among us and we split into the three tribes you hear about today: Aztec, Inca and Maya.
"All of us were still looking for this great artifact in our different locations. Some thought that this artifact was why there were tales about this mystical jungle to the south. Other still thought that not every rock had been turned in the country that we lived in. Then there was our group who thought that there was a meteor, as it's called now, that had fallen to the earth somewhere to the north. The sign to find it, they believed, would be in a place where the land was barren of plants. They were right, of course, or my family wouldn't exist. They found it in a crater of what is now apart of the U.S..."
"You mean to tell me the idea that a meteor fell in Arizona some odd years ago was the cause of a magic artifact?" I interrupted.
"Yes," Bartholomew replied. "Can I continue without any more interruptions now?"
The majority of people nodded, the others seemed preoccupied by the food.
"Now, where was I?" Bartholomew continued, "Meteor, crater, ah yes. We found the artifact in the crater and he blessed us with many great things. Most of which were thought to have appeared out of nowhere, but we all knew that this artifact granted this visitor great power. We were very prosperous for a time, but slowly these blessing turned into curses as our former brothers started to fall away until they were no more. We became quite unhappy that we had to fight our brothers so we fought against the one who held the artifact to take it out of his grasp. Even though it was one against many he was still able to outsmart us for a while, but we still were triumphant in the end. Our enemy was defeated, but the artifact was sealed away and he cursed our tribes so that whoever tried to reach it would be killed. Some say that this artifact no longer exists and others said that they have friends who die trying to find it, but they all say that most of the phrases uttered from the man began with "I wish...""
