The Spirit Martial

Spirit 38

Sa ngayon, nandito kami sa port hinihintay ang barko. We have our own ship though kaya okay lang, sponsor naman ng school. Normally, may kasama kaming instructor pero sa team namin, wala. Why? Well, a lot of things happened.

Nang malaman ng Reyna ang mission namin, hindi talaga siya pumayag. Nawalan lang siya ng choice kasi nga pinilit ni Kali. He kept on saying na malaki na siya and he knows what to do and stuff like that. Syempre wala kaming sinabi nang pumunta kmai doon, ayaw na niya sa amin tapos ano? May sasabihin pa kami para mas ayaw niya? Kaya nanahimik lang kami habang pinapakinggan si Kali at ang Reyna. Well, for half hour, nagpatuloy silang ganon hanggang sa sumuko ang Reyna.

“Malaki ka na hindi ba?! Pws wala kayong kasamang instructor!” ika niya and that statement made us froze. How will we do our mission ng walang kasama? Pero pumasok sa isip ko na noong first mission namin, wala rin naman kaming kasama so I think we’ll be fine on our own.

It happened yesterday at dahil sa galit ni Kali, doon natulog sina Kali at Nieve sa mansion ni Kailani. At first, the butlers were alert of Kali’s movements along with Nieve. Alam kong napansin ni Kali iyon kaya hindi siya masyadong lumalapit kay Kailani kahapon but Kailani on the other hand was doing the first move. Siya mismo ang lumalapit maybe to ease the discomfort of his brother. Their brotherhood is something else. Tinatago lang nila ang nararamdaman nila pero kitang-kita naman namin ni Nieve.

After what happened yesterday, we prepared for our journey kaya ito nandito na kami sa port- suot ang uniform namin This uniform we are wearing is not like the other- they cal this as the mission uniform. Para lang itong royal suit pero kulay black at may cape na silver. In other words, we still stood out among the others.

“May nakita ka bang dragon sa isla, Cygnus? You lived there, right?” Kali asked at umiling ako.

“I never knew dragons existed in our land. Sa liit ng isla namin, sino namang mag-aakala na may dragon doon?” sagot ko at tumango siya.

“You have a point,” Kali said.

“This will take a day to arrive right??” I asked kasi ganon dati.

“No, 30 minutes maybe. The ship we will be riding isn’t like a normal ship so madali lang talaga. Are there inns there na pwedeng tulogan?” he asked at nagtinginan kami ni Kailani.

“Cygnus live there, we can stay at their house,” Kailani sa suggested at binatukan ko ang ulo niya.

“No, our house too small for us. May inn naman doon pero hindi … hindi kasing gara ng palasyo niyo,” sabi ko at umiwas ng tingin. Ang hirap talaga pag ganito ang kasama sa byahe, kung sa mundo ko pa dati- I’m currently with the rich kids.

“Hindi ako maarte Cygnus. Actually, I’m quite excited kasi hindi pa ako nakapunta sa Gambier,” he said and to be honest, it was a relief.

“I see. Well the island is small at mas maraming mga halaman kesa bahay doon. Isa rin lang ang palengke at maliit pa. I knowmost of the people there kasi konti lang kami. We also have school but it’s for healers and poisoners only,” I explained and he nodded.

“Mas naging excited ako dahil sa sinabi mo. I feel like we’re going on a vacation rather than doing a mission,” he said and he chuckled.

“We’ll see about that when we get there,” sagot ko naman.

When the ship arrived, syempre sumakay kaagad kami at ang daming crew in white suits. It’s as if they are specialized for us, student royalties, only. They even bowed down and provided us seafood meal sa higher deck. It was nice, to eat with friends in a ship along with the nice breeze. This is something I couldn’t imagine from my previous world. This is like a dream. Lobsters, crabs, tuna, at iba pa. So they exist here huh? It was my first time to eat such food types with rice wine. Believe me, it was delicious. We talked a lot of things while we were on the ship and yes, halos naubos namin ang pagkain.

When we arrives, the captain told us that they will be back in 7 days kasi iyon nga ang nakalagay sa mission namin. We nodded and bid goodbyes and we gave our gratitude of course.

When we finally went down from the ship, the people stared at us and the moment they saw a royal badge- literally all people bowed at us. Hindi ba nila ako namumukhaan?! It’s me and I know them. Hindi sila tumigil sa pag bow at nagpatuloy lang kami sa paglakad but I find it weird though.

“Kali, I don’t want to be bowed down by them,” I whispered at tumigil siya kaya tumigil kaming lahat.

“Oh, right,” sabi niya. “Please rise and do not bow down to us ever again. Treat us like your neighbors please,” he said at tumayo na silang lahat.

Just like that, naglakad kami papunta sa central at ako ang nauna kasi nga ako ang taga rito at mas alam ko ang mga daan dito. I did saw some of my neighbors and they were happy and surprised to see me. I was expecting them to hug me just like what they usually did to me when I lived here pero hindi iyon nangyari, maybe because it is disrespectful, lalong-lalo na nandito ako kasama ang royalties. Nakarating nga kami sa central at palengke and the people there were stunned to see us, to see me. I looked everywhere because I’m looking for my mother. I have a lot of questions and I need answers. 

Sa di kalayoan, I saw my mom’s back na nagtitinda ng mga halaman at hindi pa niya ako nakita kasi hindi siya lumingon. Tumigil muna ako saglit at huminga ng malalim.

“What’s wrong, Cygnus?” Kali asked.

“You wanna go talk to your mom alone?” Kailani asked as he pointed my mother.

“It’s fine, Your Highness. We can wait,” Nieve said with a smile.

“No,” sabi ko. “You’re my team kaya ipapakilala ko kayo,” I answered and Kali was stunned. “You look surprised?” I asked.

“It’s his first time to meet a friend’s parent,” sabi naman ni Nieve at binatukan niya si Nieve sa ulo.

“H-He’s lying,” sabi niya at umiwas ng tingin. It was just a split second but I saw Kali’s faint smile as he glanced away from me.

“Well then, tara,” sabi ko at tumango sila.

Naglakad ulit ako at habang papalapit ako , mas lumalakas ang t***k ng puso ko. I wonder what her reaction will be. Magiging masaya ba siya? Malulungkot ba siya? Magugulat ba siya? Iiyak ba siya? Will she feel guilty for not telling me anything? My mom continued arranging the plants that she is selling at parang tutulo na talaga ang luha ko nang may katabi siyang pisture frame. The picture frame has a paper inside where my face was drawn. I was touched to be honest and I want to hug her so bad.

Tumigil kami sa harap ng tindahan namin and she noticed our feet.

“Sir, halama-” putol niyang sabi nang makita ako.

Napaatras siya ng konti at napatakip ng bibig niya. She’s surprised. She’s crying but she’s smiling. I smiled at her at nakatitig lang siya sa sakin. From my hair to my royal badge na suot ko bilang kwentas to my mission uniform to my white boots and my silver cape.

“C-C-Cygnus,” she called and I smiled again and I nodded.

“I’m home,” I said and this time, hindi na niya napigilang yumakap sa akin. I hugged her back tightly because I missed her also even if she hid secrets from me. She must have her reasons and whatever they are, I’m ready to listen.

Honestly, this is the first time that I’d feel so happy about going home. All this time, pag uuwi ako, palaging may kapalit. I’m happy I got reborn here. Bumitaw siya sa pagyakap at hinawakan ang mukha ko.

“Ang laki ng pagbabago mo, anak!” she said at yumakap ulit siya. She suddenly stopped hugging me nang makita niya ang mga tao na nasa likoran ko.

She suddenly took 3 steps backward and she bowed down which surprised the hell out of me.

“Y-Y-Your Highness, I-I’m sorry. Hindi ko po kayo nakita kaagad,” she apologized at napatingin ako kay Kali. He was panicking and it was funny to see. Maybe he wasn’t expecting that reaction since its his first time na ipakilala sa magulang ng isang kaibigan.

“U-U-Um, o-o-okay l-lang po,” Kali said at hinawakan niya ang mama ko para tumayo siya ulit.

“Makulit po ba ang anak ko?! Kung ayaw niyo na po sa kanya, huwag niyo po siyang saktan! Ibalik niyo nalang po siya sa akin!” she said and I heard Kailani chuckled so I stepped on his foot and I glanced at him with a sarcastic smile.

“Walang nakakatawa Kailani,” I whispered and he nodded. I took my foot from his foot and he frowned.

Ibinalik ko ang tingin ko sa mama ko and she was still crying.

“U-Uh, hindi po. Nandito po kami kasi may mission po kami dito,” Kali explained and my mom froze.

“Mission?! Pumasa ka?!” she exclaimed as she glanced at me. I nodded at napatingin siya kay Kailani na nakangiti. She glanced back at Kali and Kali nodded.

“We’re actually in one team po.” Kali said at took a step backward para tumabi sa akin. “He’s the second strongest one our batch having an A Class rank,” he added and my mom was not surprised but I can see that she was bothered from the result.

“A Class rank in his age huh?” she asked and she looked away.

“We are all in A Class po, it’s just my brother, Kailani ranked as first and Cygnus as second. I came third and this my partner, Nieve, ranked fourth,” Kali replied. Ah siya na mismo ang nagpakilala sa sarili nila. Nagmamadali ba siya?

“So kids nowadays are strong huh, that’s a relief,” she said at kumunot ang noo ko. Ano ba talaga ang nangyari sa kanila ni papa? Why is he not here? Sabi nga ng Auntie ni Kailani, my mom was one of the strongest too but what happened? Why is she here? Why did she run away?

What is she running away from?

“Opo but Cygnus stood out among us,” Kali said and my mom was now panicking. “I mean why not? He’s special, right?” Kali asked me. Gago ka Kali, my mom doesn’t know that I know and you are panicking her.

“Well,” sabi ko. I think she should know that I know already. “I’m the son of the previous Spirit Martial after all,” I added and this time, natumba ang mama ko and I can see that she was trembling. “Right, mom?”