Tala at Buwan

Fiction by Leonilyn Llona

Walking home from class I went down a stretch that I hadn’t walked. I felt the cool breeze tickling my skin. I sighed as I watched the trees sway and the birds sing sweetly. Enjoying the moment, my foot caught. I looked down, my eyebrows lifted as I read, “Aswang” knowing what it meant. Aswang is a mythical being in Filipino folklore, an imaginary creature known to be dangerous. Intrigued, I took it home. That night I reached for the book. As I settled down into bed and slowly flipped through the pages I came to “Chapter One, the first hunt,” and started reading. A loud yell broke out in the middle of the night from the thick forest. People were alerted to the presence of the aswang and the attack on the helpless victims. In that tiny community, residents stayed inside their homes and stayed inside till morning. The Aswangs have an ability to blend in with its victim is its most terrifying trait. The Aswangs appear and behave exactly like humans during the day, getting jobs, having families, and even hobbies.

I discovered that Buwan is the Aswang tribe's powerful king. To defend his family and clan, he can act violently and even kill people. Kidlat is his enemy, and he constantly engages Buwan in battle because he wants to replace Buwan as the leader of the Aswang tribe. Even innocent people are harmed and killed.

“Chapter 13, An Expected Guest, Buwan is having a walk in the village of normal people,” I read. I was awakened when someone poked me in the nose with a stick. I glanced about as soon as I opened my eyes. Dawn had broken, and I realized I was not in my bed anymore. There were many unique trees that I was unfamiliar with. A mesmerizing waterfall was to my left, and I was lying in the midst of a field of vibrant flowers. I exhaled in astonishment at the beautiful place.

“Where am I?” I whispered gently. The stick then poked me in the nose again. The fact that someone was standing in front of me surprised me.

"Who are you, a human being?” a tall man glared at me with a harsh gaze.

“Why are you here?” his voice seemed to be powerful and had a thunderous ring to it, and I immediately felt afraid.

Despite my desire to respond to his query, I couldn’t. He continued, “I ask you, Human, answer me, or this will be your last day.”

I said, “I have no idea.”

I saw his eyes grow red, as though I were being choked by a strong wind, and then, without even touching me, his hand reached out and suffocated me through the wind. My eyes began to well up with tears, and I begged, “Please, I don't know, I'm sorry.”

I quickly gasped for air and went to my knees as he gave his final blow and released me.

“I don't care who you are. Leave right away, and never return,” he commanded.

I desperately wanted to go, but I was unable to do so because I had no idea where I was or even where I could go.

“Could you perhaps point out the exit?” I asked. He was frustrated, and when his face turned black, I could tell he was furious. He spoke inaudibly while turning his back on me. His back had a tattoo that I immediately recognized: “Buwan” I assessed and searched for the source of its name. I was surrounded by smoke until I started to cough. After the smoke cleared, I saw that the environment had changed. What? From daytime to nighttime?

“Where am I again?” A group of people then came running after I heard hurried steps.

“Hey, what’s happening?” I asked.

One of them yelled, “Aswangs are coming, run, hurry.”

Someone pulled me and we ran as if it was our last day. I saw a lot of dead people along the way.

“Buwan and Kidlat, those monsters are killing us!” Another shout from the crowd.

Despite what was happening, I was engulfed by curiosity. To my surprise, I saw two people battling who had special abilities. I thought things like this only happened in books and movies, but here I am seeing it in real life. I saw their faces when the moon shined, and I recognized one of them as Buwan. Due to my sense of adventure, I am scared of nothing so I blocked the blazing fire from reaching him. I heard the command to “Cover!” but it was too late for me to run away.

I murmured, ‘blood” because I blocked the blazing fire, I was hurt.

Now that I'm thinking about things, my head is spinning, Buwan? Kidlat? Aswang? I suddenly realized “No!” A familiar face appeared when I opened my eyes.

I murmured, “Buwan.”

He narrowed his eyes and said, “I thought you didn't know me.”

“Ouch!”

“Where did I get these wounds?” I asked as he cleansed it.

“Kidlat and I had a fight yesterday. A lot of normal people died, supposed to be you're one of them, luckily you survived” I wasn’t paying attention to what he’s telling me. Am I dreaming right now?

“You didn’t die, what are you?” he continued.

“Buwan, the king of Aswang, and Kidlat is your enemy because he wants to replace you as a king, right?” I asked.

“How did you know that?” His answer confirmed my thoughts.

“No, this is impossible, tell me I’m just dreaming” I reached his hands and slapped it into my face.

“Ouch, I’m not,” I concluded.

How did this happen? Why am I now in their world? I started crying.

“This is not right. I’m not supposed to be here. I want to go home” then I ran outside.

But, I stopped, a lot of creepy creatures appeared everywhere, vampires such as naguneg, abat, buruka. Weredogs, called kiwig and malakat. Witch or the mambabarang, ghoul or the balbal, all kinds and manner of

Aswangs. My knees trembled, and I was about to fall but someone caught me.

Buwan ordered, “Everyone, please go back first to your places,” everyone nodded and departed.

I screamed, “NO, this is not real; you are merely fictional characters in the book.”

“What do you mean?” He appeared incredibly confused.

“You! All of you! You’re not real!” I shouted at the top of my lungs.

I told him everything, but he didn't seem to believe me.

“Then why did you block the blazing fire for me? Are you not terrified of us?” he asked.

In my mind, why should I? He's not true anyway. I admitted to him that I knew they were frightful but didn't care because all I wanted was to get out of here as possible.

I then tried to step forward, but he grabbed my arm and said, “It's dark outside, it's not safe” he continued, “tomorrow.” Is this for real? A kind Aswang? I doubt it. Yet, I listened because he appeared threatening.

I was awakened by a sunbeam and took my way out. Again, Aswang of every kind were everywhere. I still can’t believe that I was in their world.

They were all staring at me when I clumsily said “Hi!”

They all kept doing what they were doing after that, so I kept walking. Buwan was nowhere to be found despite my best efforts to find him. I made an effort to approach the Aswangs with more friendship. They were all frightful but yet good. It was all incredible; they taught me magic and made things float. They changed from human to Aswang figures, and I was too shocked to react. They also changed into other animals, like pigs, dogs, birds, cats, and more.

“Amazing!” I mumbled.

They admitted to me that they were formerly wicked Aswangs, but when Buwan became the king, they learned kindness and distanced themselves from the people in order to avoid harming innocent people. But since Kidlat enjoys eating and murdering people, he didn't like the idea. He desired to become king in order to resume the custom. This was the underlying cause of Buwan and Kidlat's anger.

“What a selfish and wicked one” I said in disgust.

I realized now that I made hasty judgments and felt sorry for myself. I began to admire him as though my heart were being pinched. They had taught me magic, so I asked them to assist me in creating a star.

“Tala,” I said. Tala means star in my world. Since I knew that I would only be in their world temporarily, I made this star. I would give this to Buwan so he could always remember me and my name. We were startled by a loud crash. Kidlat is attacking us along with his followers. Everyone was running and fighting. I need to find Buwan. I disregarded my friends' calls because I had to find Buwan. There was a war, and many Aswang were dying in great numbers. I sensed the tension, I saw magic everywhere, and I saw a variety of strange things that only Aswangs could create. I saw Buwan wrestling with another Aswang as I reached the falls, and I had a strong feeling that it was Kidlat.

I yelled loudly “Buwan” to get their attention, and they both turned to look at me.

“Aha! you have a guest, and I smell sweet human blood,” Kidlat remarked.

I instantly got goosebumps because I realized he was referring to me. Buwan said, “Don't you dare touch her.”

“Oops, I can tell that she really means a lot to you, huh?”

I'm not sure what happened after that; all I know is that Kidlat was holding me hostage and strangling me.

“L-et m-e g-o,” I tried to get away from him, but I couldn't because of his strength.

I felt like I was being bandaged with ropes and was having trouble breathing when he threw me up in the air.

Buwan said, “Kidlat, stop it, let her go.”

Kidlat responded by shouting, “Then give up your throne.”

“No! Ignore what he says!” I had to cut them off. “Don’t let him win!”

Kidlat blasted me with magical arrows when he became angry. Both the pain and the blood dripping from my body were vivid to me. My vision began to fade, and I was now too weak to fight. I lose consciousness as Kidlat and Buwan are currently engaged in a violent battle. I was startled to discover Buwan was crying when I felt the warm liquid on my face.

He tightly hugged me, “Hey, I'm okay. What happened?” His sobs are all that I can hear.

Kidlat said, “He gave up the throne so he can save you” and turned to leave.

I cried out in a bloody cough, “Sorry, this is all because of me.”

In my pocket, I found the star I had created, which I handed to him. I dried his tears and said “I made this for you; it's called Tala, and that's my name.”

With tears in my eyes I continued, “Let's meet in my world next time, Buwan.”