When cortes landed on the shore of mexico what did the aztecs think he was?

Through sheer coincidence, the Aztec god Quetzalcoatl was supposed to arrive in the land of the Aztecs the same time that Hernan Cortez landed in South America. After having a pleasant first greeting with the Aztec Emporer, Montezuma, Cortez and his men kidnapped the Emporer and forced him to tell his people to give all their gold to the Spanish. Montezuma was killed, however, when he told his people the demands. Cortez then escaped onto his ships and fled, but not before infecting the native population with several contagious and fatal diseases, like smallpox and measles. This killed off almost all of the Aztec population and Cortez later returned to kill the rest and take their gold.