(If you’re wondering what this is about, read this.)

My five random words for today’s exercise are mouse, pyramid, turf, passport, parliament.

Chosen word for free association: pyramid
power, scheme, Maslow, apex, illuminati, Egypt, Mesoamerica, Maya

Exercise:

(A quick note before I begin this. This is a writing exercise, not a well-researched, submitted article. What I’m going to write about is from a specific culture, and I’m sure I will get details wrong. I intend no offense to anyone. It’s just an exercise in creativity.)

Ninety-One steps. Even for Aapo, a young man in his prime, they were hard steps. Tall steps. His legs and lungs burned. But he would not stop. He would not be the weak one. He would meet Kukulkan with open heart and life’s blood, and his people would live another year.

Ninety-One steps, now done. His thighs, knotted in cramps, shook. Only the dais was left. He raised his quivering leg and levered himself up and onto the cold stone, where he lay, panting. Strong hands picked him up by the limbs. He felt the chill of stone again, on his back and calves. He closed his eyes.

When he opened them, he would see Kukulkan.