Jalamanta

Thirty years earlier, a government that saw his views on faith and the state as a threat exiled Amado to the desert. He now comes back to a people reduced to poverty on the edges of the shining Seventh City of the Sun. He has taken the name Jalamanta, which he explains as one who removes the veils that keep the soul blind. Old companions, unfamiliar young faces, and a woman who never stopped waiting for him all greet his return. Many tribes' elders have passed their accumulated knowledge to him, and he has walked the Path to the Sun. Hardship taught him wisdom, and inward reflection gave him a quiet grace. He now feels driven to pass on what he has learned.

Around him, Jalamanta finds hope has been abandoned. Violence keeps rising, and he fears it will reach its height as the new millennium begins. Only the light of the Sun, he believes, can bring deliverance. To walk its Path is to open the soul to clear illumination, to gain a fresh understanding of the Earth and the heavens above, to grasp the mysteries of nature, and to recognize one's bond with the Universal Spirit.

As he preaches this message, his voice is cast against the looming presence of the Central Authority, a regime determined to silence him and crush every belief he holds.