Aztec Legend Lord of the Jaguars

My name is Dietrich Addison, born in Venice to a British father and an Italian mother. I lost my mother at the tender age of two years old. They say that it is easier for a child to know death. They are young and will soon forget. I can tell you that this is not true. I still sometimes remember her holding me. Kissing my forehead when she laid me down to sleep. I remember her singing as she was cooking our meals. Blowing on a small piece of cake to cool it because she had just taken it from the oven. She would smile as she gave it to me and say, ＂Now do not tell your father.＂ I would happily gobble it up and smile back at her. I do still remember her and sometimes it brings tears to my eyes.In a way I would lose two mothers. After the plague took my mother’s life father took me to China. I was given a second chance to know a mother’s love. Her name was Jah-lee, the daughter of my father’s good friend Jao-long. He too was an important part of my life. He was a wise philosopher and taught me many things. I called him grandfather and he treated me as one of his own grandchildren.I adored my grandfather and Jah-lee. She was kind and never let the other children taunt me because I looked different. They helped me become a compassionate person. I truly wish that father and I had not tried to return to Venice. For it was the second time I lost a mother as a child. Fate it seemed was always there to provide me with pain. Always there to take my loved ones away from me. We never made it to Venice. Our ship was lost at sea and we drifted across a great ocean to a strange world of jungles and pyramids.My father had bought a mother tiger with three cubs. One of them was white and I named him Zeus after my favorite Greek god. Zeus grew to be larger than any tiger in the world. He became my protector and greatest friend. We shared an adventure in a faraway land that no European even knew existed. We were man and beast meant to be with each other. We fought together. We cried together. And together... we became a legend.