THE SUN GOD would grant Puma the power of far-reaching sight. When the Eye of Inti opened, he would no longer have to be within physical sight of the animals whose perspective he used. He would be able to see for miles and miles, all the way back to the old country of his ancestors, for the Temple of the Sun here interacted with its corresponding temple back in the homeland. As powerful as the Eye was here, it was no match for the one there, at the City of the Sun. That one harnessed the power of Inti himself.

He had been there once, on a pilgrimage with his cousin, Killa. It had taken many months, following the path of their forefathers, reversing the route the ancients had taken when they fled from the Spanish, down rivers, across hills and mountains into other watersheds, and down more rivers, until they arrived at this location here, and deemed it a good place to start anew.

But the land had been very different for them than it had been for the Inca of old. Puma's eyes had been awakened to the world beyond the rainforest in which he lived. Cities and roads with frightening, wheeled carts that made an unearthly noise and moved with the speed of the gods themselves. Farms and bare land where pristine forest used to be. And always, strange people to avoid. Killa had taken the knowledge of the world beyond and tried to use it to help the People. Puma had just wanted to shut it all out. He had not left the familiar forest since, except for seeing, out of body, through the Eye of Inti.

He had not ascended the ancient, overgrown staircase in years. But after those interlopers had been here, he felt the need. As soon as he entered the temple at the top of the pyramid, he knew something was missing. The golden quipu. He was not surprised. He had been expecting as much.

He sighed, then did as he came here to do. He reached up and turned the small handle near the ceiling, just above the doorway. This opened the eyelid, the hatch in the roof that had been installed ages ago to protect the Eye, as the jungle was permitted to reclaim the pyramid. Sunlight flooded the chamber, focused by the Eye on the golden Sun Disc, the face of Inti, and reflected it onto a spot on the floor. He extended his hand toward the Eye and turned the Key in it's center, the pupil. Immediately, the effect of the light was amplified a hundredfold. Puma set cross-legged in the beam of pure light, closed his eyes, and let the magic begin.

Puma could see them, could see the whole scene, as clear as if he were sitting right there at the table with them. They could not see him, of course, for his body was still back at the Temple of Inti in the City of the Jaguar. But in his mind, he shared their table, could smell the food cooking nearby, could see the pond with its glowing blue light, could feel the whir of air of the macaw's wings on his face as it flew past. And he did not even have to use the bird's point of view to be an observer.

He did not have to be proficient in their language to figure out their plan. That much was evident in the maps on their strange little glowing devices. And when they brought out the golden quipu, the Key of Inti, he knew what would eventually happen. They might not know what it was, but if they made it to the City of the Sun, to the very Temple of the Sun itself, they would figure it out. And that power was not meant for the likes of them. They were not of the People. They were not worthy of being seen by the Eye of Inti.

They must be stopped.