*Season's P.O.V.*
I experienced sleeping in a really unusual place only to wake up in my bed, in the real world just a week ago. And I could've wanted that right now. As consciousness slowly returns in my being, I sent a silent prayer for this nightmare to be over. My eyes still feels a little heavy but there's a distinct fragrance that played along my nostrils. Although it smells really good, it is way too good to smell like home and I knew that my prayers were not quite answered. I tried tapping on my sense of hearing to somehow have an idea of where I currently am but all I can hear are distant chirping and other sounds of nature. Perhaps I'm still in the forest? The gentle breeze lightly brushed my skin and I shivered. I need to open my eyes. But, for some reason, I still can't. So, once again I let darkness consume me.
I don't know exactly how long I was out for. I just felt something from inside me trying to shake me back to consciousness and this time, my whole body cooperated. I was able to open my eyes and sit up, feeling well rested. My instincts earlier was half right, I am not at home but I'm not quite in the forest too. I laid in a bed of roses, no joke. I am in the middle of a flower field that seems to stretch on and on everywhere I turn. As majestic as the field seems to be, something felt really odd. So I stood up, relieved to see that my clothes are still intact and my muscles doesn't feel weak. I looked up the sky with spots of clouds here and there, trying to determine the time using the sun but, I couldn't seem to find it. It is very bright though, but not very hot. Strange, considering the fact that there's no shade in the area. Shade! That gives me an idea! I looked down to see that my shadow just aligns with my body, therefore it's midday. Good news I now know the time, bad news, it can't provide an information on my whereabouts. I sighed and decided to walk my way to where I'm currently facing and see where it would take me.
Nowhere. I've been walking for ages and nothing! This flower field is so vast that I can't even see its edge! I was about to scream in frustration when something dawned on me. What if my mind is playing tricks on me? Then the sweet aroma of the flowers hit me once again. Smoke. I remembered that sulfur laced smoke that clogged my nostrils last night. After that I was endlessly running when I saw the same balete tree twice! What if that's what's happening to me right now? I plucked ten flowers from their stalks to mark the place that I'm standing on at the moment and tested my hypothesis. I walked straight up ahead and after about 100 steps, my eyes widened. The ten flowerless stalks appeared right in front of me once again which means, I was right! I'm being played by that ugly creature!
"I reckon, when your guards are up my magic won't work on you..." His gruff voice resounded in my head. Right! I sighed, I have to keep my guards up, but how? Usually, one builds their guards up when they're preparing for battle, how can I build it up now when I'm already in the battlefield?
"Keep your guards up!" A voice from my youth thundered in my head. Master Cheng! My martial arts mentor since I was ten years old. "When you're scared they're down, when you're confused they're at the bottom!" He had lectured while clashing the bamboo sticks at me, until I backed against the wall, defeated. He lowered his stick and smiled at the young me, "Be certain, be courageous, be vigilant."
"Listen beyond the sounds you can hear and close your eyes when truth is not what's infront of you." I mumbled, memorizing by heart, the words that he once said. Cause it makes sense right now, I'm scared and confused that's why I'm an easy pray of whatever type of sorcery that creature has. So I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. I listened and listened, calming myself down at the same time. There was nothing at first, until I heard hooves and gruff voices. I opened my eyes and saw that the light from the sky vanished and I saw myself not in a bed of roses anymore but hoisted up in a huge branch that's about 15 feet off the ground. Gosh! I can see them now, a lot of them, Tikbalangs, hanging out on branches of the same tree as well as the neighboring trees. Where have I gotten myself into?
I looked around and noted that everyone seems to be busy with their business, probably thinking that a mere human could never break their spell and used that to my advantage. On a distance, I saw Andrew, pacing back and forth in a branch, probably in the same trance as I was earlier. I quietly made my way to him and bit my lip as I almost slid at the edge of the branch that holds me. I'm gonna need to jump to get to him. I took a few steps back and then I sprinted then leapt off the edge, barely landing on his branch. I fixed myself up and checked if anybody noticed, good thing it seems like they didn't. I faced Andrew and tried to shake him out of the trance but he won't budge!
"Snap out of it Andrew!" I whisper-yell at his ears but he really can't hear me. I tried to stop his pacing but he's as hard as stone, a moving one. And my attempts to wake him up from the trance caused me to fall. Shit! I barely held on to a twig cause I know if I ever fall, I'm doomed. I tried to swing my way up but it's impossible! And dropping down to the branch below me is not even an option because there's a Tikbalang in there. I kept swinging until a strong, tornado-like gush of wind went past me that I almost screamed when hairy arms wrapped around me, covering my mouth as well. We then landed behind a thick bush when whatever that captured me spoke in my ear.
"Don't make too much noise." Wait! I know that voice! I turned to face him but I was so shocked to see a Tikbalang in a suit that transformed into...
"Mr. Perez?" I managed to mumble as quiet as I could. "H-How is this possible?"
"I have no time to explain Season. I need to get you out of here." He said as he looked left and right.
"Ummm, I don't want to be selfish, my friend is still up there." I said as a matter of fact.
"Yes but either way, we can't get out of here safely because Tikubal rules everyone. He has his army and those who does not obey him, he enslaved." He informed.
"Uhhh, what are you talking about? I don't understand." I mean what? He just sighed.
"That Tikbalang that attacked you last night, that's their leader. The one that took the power and the grace from my family." Gosh... "And I have yet to defeat him but I can see now that that's not that easy to do, considering that he has an army of them." He continued, looking at the large trees where the half-horse creatures hang out on.
"Unless you have an army of your own." I suggested.
"Which I don't. He's got all of them under his command. He-he I can't explain it okay?" Mr. Perez said.
"You're saying that I can't get out of here now especially because that Tikjubal beast wanted to own me as his wife!" I retorted, trying to calm down. His eyes widened at that.
"He didn't..."
"He said it."
"You're in great danger. He's not gonna stop until he'd be able to impregnate you." What? That's gross! I am too young for that! But I know that Mr. Perez is telling the truth, that Tikubal did try to rape me if it wasn't for him that intervened, I'd probably be a rape victim now.
"How are they all under his command? Surely there would be some who'd rather not follow him. Some sort of oppositions?" I started off. I cannot let that Tikubal get to me.
"I wish it works that way Season but you see..." With that he shifted to his Tikbalang form that still shocks me but I got a grip of myself so I won't do anything stupid that would give away our location. He touched his mane and isolated three golden hairs in his fingers, presenting it to me. " This is where our powers come from, once one gets a hold of it, we automatically become their servant. We follow every single thing they'd want us to do and that's what he did." He explained.
I grtted my teeth at the information I acquired. This is one tough 'trying to escape' endeavor. "So he took everyone's golden hair? Why do you have yours?" I asked.
"Not everyone. Only those who did not wish to take his side did he make into his slaves. And he didn't get mine because I wasn't here. I wasn't here when that happened, I wasn't able to protect my family because I was so into the mortal realm. I like hanging out with people, taking advantage of the fact that I can shift into a human. I left a great responsibility that was supposed to be passed down to me when I was younger. Now I live, regretting everything." He confessed, sorrow evident in his voice. I felt sad for the man because I never thought somebody like him, which is not quite human, had been through what he just shared to me right now.
"But what were you doing in the forest when you saved me?" I asked.
"I go every once in a while. Looking at what I gave up to be able to somehow live in the mortal realm, pretending to be somebody I'm not just to escape a heavy responsibility. Which I once thought was, boring." I followed his line of sight and I saw exactly what he meant. The lush canopy of leaves, the tough branches of the tall trees. The outdoors is just so amazing. I always prefer it more than the city life. But of course everything is different for everyone.
"It's not too late for you to get back what belongs to your family. It's not too late for you to be yourself." I encouraged. Not that I have any experience but, I guess that's the right thing to say right now.
He smiled sadly at me. "I just wish I know how." He replied.
Now it's my turn to smile. "I might, have an idea. Say, there are some who still have their golden hairs right? The ones that were on Tikubal's side?"
"Yes."
"Can you tell me how we can ummm, tame them?"
His eyes widened at my question but I held his Tikbalang gaze. "There is a way but- it's too dangerous!"
"You'll be there with me so we'll be fine. I fought an aswang and a siyokoy wether you believe me or not, I'm sure this would work well. We don't need a lot of armies, we just need enough to defeat Tikubal and free everyone from his slavery. Come on." I pursuaded until he nodded.
I said I might as well be a ninja and I'm glad I had martial arts training because it made our mission a little less, impossible. We crawled as quietly as we could behind the bushes until we got our target locked. "There." Mr. Perez pointed pointed to a Tikbalang sitting on the third branch from below. Thanks to his clear vission, he's able to see that this still has its golden hair.
"Okay, do your thing." I commanded. He smiled nervously but he let smoke appear from his mouth, he said it's one of his special powers as the supposed prince of the Tikbalangs, and he guided that smoke towards our first target. We anxiously waited and in a few moments, we saw the Tikbalang following the smoke with the others not bothering about him and Mr. Perez took me with him, a few distance away from their cavern. He left me on a clear spot and hid in the bushes. I sure hope this works.
After just 3 minutes I can hear heavy footsteps and I knew the time has come. The Tikbalang emerged from the bushes and I stood my ground with a stick in hand, just like the ones I used in training. "Ikaw!" It said as soon as it saw me. That's my cue, I lounge towards it, throwing the stick that I'm holding purposely past him so he slightly turned his attention to it with his horse-back now slightly facing at me and that's where my lounge landed me. He started moving about, trying to throw me off but I held on his mane, pulled out the vine-rope that Mr. Perez gave me and tried to secure myself, never wanting to fall. Which is very hard by the way. When the half-horse was wiggling way too much, something or someone stopped its movements by holding it off. "Tikbulanon?" The Tikbalang said. That must be Mr. Perez's Tikbalang name. I took that opportunity to hold on tight to the creature while Mr. Perez is holding it down. When I'm secured enough, Mr. Perez lets go, of course the Tikbalang was again doing his thing to throw me off but, I made it until he became too tired and eventually surrendered to me. Its new master.
"Can I come down now?" I asked shakily when the half animal seemed to calm down now.
"Try to give him a command." Mr. Perez said.
"Uhh, smash through that rock!" I said and I held on tight as the creature did smash through the rock. It worked! Now this way, he still has his golden hair which makes things less suspicious but he works for us now. I dropped down from the werehorse, yeah that's probably the right English word for a half human and half horse creature and wiped my sweaty forehead with the sleeves of my shirt. "Now good horsy, go back to your palce and act as if you're still serving Tikubal until I'm gonna call you later, understood?"
He just nodded at my command and went on his way. "That was, incredible." Mr. Perez said.
"With a little help from you of course." I smiled. It wasn't easy but we gotta do it three more times. Which is exactly what we did.
"In record time." Mr. Perez said as I sent the 4th Tikbalang back to its place. "Tikubal is going to be back from his patrols soon, you need to be up that branch again." He informed and by his lightning speed, took me back there.
"Mr. Perez, this is the ewwiest thing that I'm about to do yet! I swear!" I complained at what he told me to do in order for us to succeed. He just chuckled at me.
"It's only for today, or if you don't do it, it would be a lifetime." He reminded me.
"Fine!" I agreed and then he dashed down again, the other Tikbalangs not suspecting a thing. I sighed, paced back ang forth like I'm still in a trance once again.
Then I heard a thud in my occupied branch and in my perepherals I saw Tikubal. But I didn't stop my pacing, until I had to face him again. "Did you like my garden?"
Garden? What garden? Ohhh... I smiled at him. "It's beautiful, refreshing and all. It's so big! How many hectares is it?" He must be referring to the garden where he trapped me in a trance, but of course I broke free so whatever.
"It stretches for as far as your eyes can see." He explained. Yeah cause it's just in my head!
"Oh, that's very evident, however, I wish I could drink some water from a spring or something cause I'm really thirsty." I smiled.
"Of course, anything for you my queen. Let me carry you." He said. I don't know what makes him think that I'd go with him but of course Mr. Perez said I should act this way because of this and that, so I took his hand and let him carry me.
"Let him take you to a body of water no matter how small of a puddle it is, because in your mind you know if it's still in a trance, it would be a very huge body of water, you know? You get me right?" Mr. Perez had said. So basically land can only be seen as another land area and water would be water as well, that's how their magic works. So the Tikubal guy-horse, took me down to a stream, kind of away from the cavern.
"Wow, it's beautiful." I said. Although it looks really ordinary. But he did put me down and let me drink.
"Shall we go now?" He asked but I remained quiet.
"Go where?" Mr. Perez said from behind us and Tikubal turned to him, clearly angry.
"Tikbulanon!" He growled as he immediately pulled me to him to hold hostage.
"Come join us the four of you, NOW!" I said in a loud voice and the four Tikbalangs I tamed appeared from the bushes. Tikubal didn't have time to call his own army because of shock and because Mr. Perez charged directly towards him, making him let go of me. I immediately run to the side with a command. "Go fight against Tikubal." And my horse minions did just that.
I climbed to a branch from a tree nearby as I looked for the bag of hairs that Mr. Perez told me about and when I spotted a sparkle of gold on Tikubal's left hip I commanded, "Get the bag of golden hair." I know my minions heard me as they did their best to get it until one finally did and threw the bag at me.
"Hindi!" Tikubal yelled but the five of them is holding him down. He tried that sulfur smelling smoke on me but I got my guards up and it didn't work. So I ran a few meters away from them as they are dueling again and I held all the golden strands in my hand. I can feel an immense amount of heat or power flowing from within me and I quickly did what Mr. Perez told me to do.
Gosh please help me do this correctly! "Gintong mga hibla," I started the tagalog chant, "ngayon kayo'y aking-" what the hell is the tagalog of "set you free" again? Shit. "pinapalaya!" Yes that's it! The golden hairs started floating on the air around me and I hear their fight came closer to me. Gosh! I gotta finish this. What were those words again? The one that says "go back to you owners"? "Kayo ay magbalik muli, sa inyong tunay na nagmamay-ari!" That's it! I did it! I spoke two tagalog sentences and it made the locks fly back to the cavern! Yes! It's working.
"Mr. Perez! To the cavern!" I screamed and Mr. Perez, along with my minions, dragged Tikubal towards the others who are now free from their slavery. I watched as almost everyone in the cavern was shocked at what's going on but not a minute later, they're all helping Mr. Perez take down Tikubal and his remaining loyal followers.
When Mr. Perez was able to pull out Tikubal's golden hair, he ordered him to free Andrew from the spell and took him down. That's when I decided to get out to the bushes and run to my friend to reassure him.
"Anak? Nagbalik ka!" A female Tikbalang said as it hugged Mr. Perez. Perhaps that's his mother.
"Salamat sa pagpapalaya sa amin mula sa pagka-alipin." Another said as it bowed down in front of him and eventually every other Tikbalang did.
"It wasn't me. It wasn't even my idea." This time, he spoke English, I don't know if everybody understood him but the female he's talking to somehow did as the two of them looked at me." It was her. Mother, this is Season, the one that freed us all." He introduced. I kind of stepped forward although Andrew seems so confused I just smiled at him. I mean who wouldn't be if he just broke out of a trance only to see something probably more strange than the trance itself.
Mr. Perez's mother looked at me with shock, kind of reminds me of how Kaloy's mother looked at me. "Isang tao? Tinulungan tayo ng isang tao?" She asked.
"Oo ina, hindi naman talaga lahat ng tao ay masama o natatakot lamang sa atin." Mr. Perez said.
"Hindi sya basta-basta kung ganoon. Halika ija." I didn't understand her but I did saw her motion for me to come closer, so I did. Her eyes widened wden she held my hand. "Pinapangalagaan sya." She said.
What does that supposed to mean?