It was dark in the Great Hall, and empty. The Fates were not present to gaze down upon the tapestry and its ruined city. Still, the impossibly detailed cloth shone with life and sunlight, casting long shadows on the gray stone walls. The gentle sigh of a god's last breath rustled the air about the arena, fading as quickly as it came.

The shadows stirred; Camazotz emerged from a dark corner, wincing at the touch of sunlight upon his face. He hurried over to the side of the tapestry, staring intently down upon its inhabitants. His lips moved silently, counting. One, two...

He bared his teeth in an awful facsimile of a smile.

"Six. Only six gods remaining. That insufferable sun goddess Amaterasu has finally died, as well as the Zuni oddity. Six gods remain in the arena. Six tired, injured, weakened gods. Hiding from the horrors to come. Terrified of the dangers that are yet to face them."

A thrum of Power began, nowhere near as deep as that of the Fates, but blacker and infinitely more malicious. Had any humans been present, they would have been reduced to the terrified shivering of a mouse transfixed by a snake's gaze.

"They called me weak. Irrelevant. Unimportant. Incapable of participating in the greatest challenge in the universe. Such arrogance," he spat, the word a curse on life itself. "They mocked and used me, Camazotz, Drinker of Blood, Bane of Xibalba! I, who have glutted myself on the blood of nations and yet pursued the screaming humans moments later, hungry for their lives. Their foolishness is second to none. It will be their doom."

He threw back his head in a soundless scream. The edges of the tapestry began to shimmer, then slowly darken as though ink were spreading over the cloth. His body shuddered, twisting and changing as he chanted an incantation in the tongue of the Maya through steadily lengthening teeth.

"When the end-times come, and the world begins to turn," he hissed. "Darkness will cover the land. The heavens will see their wickedness, and turn their faces away from the people. The humans will hide themselves, trembling in terror. The place of the dead will yaw open, and all the earth, whether jungle or sea, will become as one black forest. A million million screams will become one food for the god of blood and shadow, and their pain shall sustain him for eternity!"

Utter blackness covered the arena before a hunched-over figure. For an instant, all was silence and inhuman stillness.

Then, with a great shriek of victory, the figure spread its great, leathery wings, extending to a terrifying twenty-foot wingspan. The figure between the wings was awful to behold; a black-furred abomination combining man and bat with horrific strength and speed. In one unnaturally hand-like claw, a sacrificial knife was grasped, its gray stone blade stained dark with the blood of thousands.

"The dark one shall stalk his prey," he intoned, the words barely intelligible through inhuman lips. "The gods of the heavens will cower before him, for he comes to devour them whole. No light will dare to shine upon his black majesty, and even the stars themselves will flee!"

With another great shriek, Camazotz, god of bats, blood, and darkness, flung himself into the black tapestry and disappeared.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Quarterfinals: Count the Shadows
The Arena: Atropos’s Silent City (see Task Four for details)
The Master of Ceremonies for the Games has betrayed the Fates. Camazotz has waited for the proper moment, when his enemies were few in number and disoriented from the shifting arena to strike. Should he successfully kill the tributes, he will be able to harness the combined might of the gods and reopen Xibalba, the Mayan hell realm. Fed on his new strength, Xibalba will spread over the earth, plunging the world into eternal shadow. From there, Camazotz will grow ever stronger on the pain and suffering of seven billion souls. He will be truly unstoppable.
To accomplish this end, Camazotz has called darkness down upon the arena. His power snuffs out all light and blocks out the sun. He alone can see in the darkness.
However, Camazotz is, for the time being, a god like the tributes. He is armed, yes, and strong, but he has a Fatal Weakness, and can be killed by Godly Weapons.
Your god must defend themselves against Camazotz. As he will not stop until he kills every tribute, the fight must end in his death.
Some facts about Camazotz for the task:
His Godly Weapon is a sacrificial dagger, once used to offer humans to satiate him.
His Divine Powers are control of darkness, the ability to drain life’s energy through a bite, and the ability to turn into a monstrous bat-creature.
His Fatal Weakness is sunlight.
This is the last task where scores will matter; also the last chance for sponsorships.
Kills: 2 in the entry. The three people with the lowest scores go up for votes. One will be eliminated.
+1 point for best quote
+1 point for best kill

Due Date: Tuesday, March 7, at 5 PM EST