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Not part of Riordanverse
The following article/section is from the Storm Runner/Shadow Bruja continuity under Rick Riordan Presents and not the Riordanverse canon. |
- This article is about the volcano. For the man with the nickname, see Nero.
| “ | Having my own volcano was about the most interesting thing in my short life. (Up until that point, that is.) I’d even found a secret entrance into it last month. Rosie and I were hiking down from the top, and about halfway down I heard a strangled gasp. Naturally, I went to investigate, half expecting to find a hurt animal. But when I parted the scraggly creosote branches, I discovered something else: an opening just big enough to crawl through. It led to a whole labyrinth of caves, and for half a second I’d thought about calling National Geographic or something. But then I’d decided I would rather have a private place for Rosie and me than be on the cover of some dumb magazine. | ” |
–The Storm Runner | ||
The Beast is a volcano originally located in the New Mexico desert that served as the prison for Ah-Puch.
History[]
The Beast was made by Hurakan as a prison for Ah-Puch. The death god was turned a piece of folded paper from the Ceiba World Tree and placed inside an owl figurine at the bottom of a volcano. Many years later, Hurakan's son, Zane Obispo, found secret entrance into it. It was located in his backyard, but when he cleared the opening to the caves, Ah-Puch’s distress signals reached his demon runners
Storm Runner Trilogy[]
The Storm Runner[]
A month later, Zane and his dog, Rosie, witness a Demon Runner crash a plane into the volcano. Smoke came from the Beast and Zane heard the demon runner say "Ah-Puch". It failed to find an entrance on foot, so it thought crashing the plane would open the volcano.
Ah-Puch, the prisoner
The following day, a Nawal named Brooks tells him to take her to the volcano saying it was lurking with evil. The entrance inside was around the back but only halfway up the Beast, the nearby floor was sandy. After crawling to a twelve-by-twelve chamber where three tunnels branched off in different directions, Brooks reveals that fifty yards behind a dead end was Ah-Puch's prison. She explains that Zane is actually destined to release Ah-Puch during the solar eclipse the next day according to the Great Soothsayer's Prophecy of Fire. But Brooks plans to prevent that from happening, she wants his help finding it so that she can take it away. Soon, they came to a sharp downward slope that opened up into a larger, cavernous space with a very rotten smell. About twenty feet down was an uneven sandy floor about fifteen feet wide, it branched off into a narrow passage that came to a dead end, the rocky path had loose gravel on it. After hearing a noise, they found a demon runner creating an opening in a wall by methodically removing rocks one at a time and stacking them on the ground. Brooks attacks it with her flashlight but the battery dies and it starts to ooze poison. Zane chooses to sacrifice himself so the others can get to safely, but Rosie gets past him and sinks her teeth into the creature. Brooks turns into a hawk and attacks the demon runner, it grabs Zane by his short leg and drags him after it touches Rosie against the wall. Zane agrees to help it if he is released, he jams his cane into it and it devolves into goo, but dies and her body turns to mist, Zane and Brooks decide to leave the volcano.
The next day, Zane Obispo hears Rosie's noise coming from the Beast, the call came to him as Rosie to get him to free Ah-Puch, he goes to the entrance and looks for her. He touches the wall from yesterday and realizes he touched demon runner venom, Brooks arrives, slits open his forearm and he squeezes. After explaining the noise, Brooks reveals that she is only part-nawal, and is being refused training due to her heritage, she thinks that stopping the release of Ah-Puch will get her training. After Brooks suggests Zane’s father might be a magician and mentions the pyramids of the Magician/Soothsayer, Zane hears Rosie again and the wall crumbles like dust leading to a chamber with a green pool leading to the death god himself, Stalactites clung to the ceiling overhead, dripping water into the pond with a hollow echo. It gave off an overwhelmingly foul smell like it was filled with rotting fish, the walls were rough and ash-colored and the floor was uneven. Pale rock columns, about two or three feet tall, grew out of the sloping ground and surrounded a taller stalagmite with a flat surface, on top was a large stone bowl containing two cracked animal skulls sitting on a pile of bird bones. Brooks explains that this is a sacrifice chamber prepared by the demon runners for Ah-Puch's release. They look up and see resting demon runners in blue pods, they awaken and move towards them. Zane takes Brooks, who can’t swim, and plunges into the water.
The owl artifact containing Ah-Puch
They swim down an underwater cave (similar to what is shown on the cover) and find the other side. They are followed by one of the demon runners, it drags Brooks under water but Zane frees her and drags her unconscious body to shore, the demon runner disintegrates. Zane tries to save her but she is unresponsive. He sees a light coming from a column that opens to reveal a small ceramic owl containing Ah-Puch. The death god tells Zane to free him. He promises that he can save Brooks and bring Rosie back. With the eclipse seen from a crevice in the chamber's ceiling, Zane climbs the wall to get to the outside.
The top actually looked like the surface of Mars, miles and miles of red rock, dust, and no life. Zane breaks the owl freeing the god. Ah-Puch emerges as a skeletal figure that, after consuming blood from a creative given to him by Muwan, becomes an intimidating looking man. He changes the scene from the cave to a penthouse balcony in Los Angeles. Zane pleads with him to save Brooks and bring Rosie back. Ah-Puch says he will do so if Zane pledges himself to the death god and answers his call in "three moons." Hurakan appears on a pyramid and tells Zane not to and he sees a figure across the way. However, Zane pledges himself to Ah-Puch anyway before he is blown back to his room in his house.
Soon afterwards, before he could become a death soldier in the potential Mayan Gods war, Zane managed to defeat Ah-Puch in the Empty and Hurakan gave him his full power by claiming him in the Old World. Ixtab managed to pull him out before he could die and moved the Beast from the United States of America to Isla Holbox, Mexico as an emergency doorway to Xib’alb’a. Once Zane Obispo gets there, he and Rosie, now a Hellhound, decide to go explore the Beast like they used to.
Trivia[]
- The Beast was inspired by a dormant volcano seen from the backyard of the author, Jennifer Cervantes.[1]