The Spirit Martial

Spirit 42

“Good morning,” bati ko sa librarian. She was surprised to see me at first pero kalaunan, ngumiti siya. I think she recognized me. Bakit hindi eh hindi niya ako pinapapasok dito noon kasi dito ako tumatambay para magbasa? Books are for riches kaya mahirap magbasa dito noon but now? I guess it’s different. “Can we open the sacred books?” I asked and she immediately nodded at ibinigay ko ang badge ko. “Thanks,” I said at pumasok na kami.

The library is not that huge but mukha pa rin naman itong library. May shelves pero hindi lahat may book kaso mahirap ito hanapin lalong-lalo na nasa isla kami. The walls has holes and the plants have crawled up already dahil sa luma nito. I think kung wala ang mga halaman na ito, sira na itong buong school talaga namin. Nature became our school’s foundation for a long time already.

Some books here have ripped pages pero iniingatan pa rin ito ng librarian kasi konti lang. In this world, unfortunately, books are expensive. Lahat ng libro dito ay tungkol sa mahika at iba’t ibang uri ng poison plants at kung ano man ang antidote nito. Hindi kasi lahat katulad ko na hawak na mismo ang antidote sa poison ko kasi healer rin ako. Some of the students will come here to search for their antidote at sila pa mismo ang gagawa. Ang masaklap doon, they have to try the poison on themselves or rats para tingnan ang effectiveness ng antidote.

“Is this it?” tanong ni Kali nang tumigil siya kaya pumunta ako sa harap. A book locked in a glass that is filled with butterflies. It seemed like they’re attracted to this book.

“Why are these butterflies here?” tanong ko.

“Iyan talaga ang tintanong mo?” Kailani asked with a frown. “Okay, fine, I get it. It was nonsense. How about we’ll open this now?” I suggested out of embarrassment.

“Sure,” Kali replied at hinawakan ang glass.

We all took deep breaths at binuksan ang lock. Nagtinginan kaming apat kung sino dapat ang kukuha ng libro kasi lahat kami kabado. In the end, Nieve took the book at dinala namin ito sa mesa para makita talaga namin ang loob nito. It was larger and thicker than I expected and it’s hardbound I guess.

“This is surprisingly light,” Nieve said at binuksan ang book. Our eyes widened when we saw the first page. What the hell? The book pages are made of gold. This is something you won’t see everywhere! This is rare!

“Now, that’s surprising,” sagot ko at tumango silang tatlo.

Pinagpatuloy ni Nieve ang pagbukas ng ibang pahina. It was really awesome. Kumikining pa nga at klasrong-klaro talaga ang mga sulat. But yeah, that’s not important, we’re here to see that riddle or kung ano man ang nakita ni Tempest at Gin.

The book’s content is kind of unexpected. Almost all pages consists myths and legends, demons, angels, spirits, at iba pa. I bet these information are highly priced para ilagay talaga sa ganitong libro. Nieve suddenly stopped kaya napatingin kaagad kami sa page. This is it. The page was filled with illustration- forests, animals, and importantly, a dragon flying around. Hindi iyon ang nakahuli sa paningin naming lahat, kung hindi ang mga sulat na nasa centro.

“This is not a riddle,” sabi ko. “It’s more like a poem,” I added.

“Right,” Kali said.

“What does it say?” Kailani asked.

“Well,” Nieve said at inilapit ang libro sa mukha niya para mabasa ang nakasulat.

A stone with a shade of red,

Buried in a chest of lamented,

A dead who lives in a hole,

It takes a journey to brawl.

A stone with the shade of red,

Get it and you will end up dead.

“Wow,” I said with a nervous smile. “Nice warning,” I added.

“That’s … That’s not good,” Kali said and I nodded because it’s entirely true.

“So we will end up dead if we’ll get it?” Nieve asked at tumango kaming tatlo.

“Seriously, I don’t understand most part of it,” singit naman ni Kailani.

“Don’t worry, we expected that to happen,” I said with a sarcastic smile and I heard Kali chuckled.

He just glanced at me with an unimpressed look at napatawa na lang ako.

I took the book from Nieve at tinitigan ang nakasulat. A stone with a shade of red is obviously the heart that we are looking for. Buried in a chest of lamented- lamented? So it’s currently in a chest of a dead, dead what? A dead dragon possibly. A dead who lives in a hole- so this dead dragon is in a hole but that hole? A literal hole? A cave will do pero wala akong alam na kweba dito. Halos nalibot ko na ang buong forest dati pa pero wala akong nakitang kweb- wait, there is this waterfall at hindi ko alam if may kweba ito sa likod. It’s worth checking. A dead who lives in a hole- brawl huh? Are we about to fight something? Or someone? Get it and you will end up dead- kahit sino kayang intindihin ito.

“So, have you figured out something by staring at it?” Kailani asked and I frowned. Isinara ko ang libro at binigay ulit ni Nieve.

“Return that book, I think I know where we’re going,” sabi ko.

“Teka lang, we need information here, ano bang naisip mo?” Kali asked.

“Hindi ko alam kung tama ba ang pagkakaintindi ko pero the heart that we are looking for is inside the chest of a dead dragon gaya lang ng sabi nina Tempest kahapon. The dragon is dead. The dragon might be buried into some kind of hole, a cave will do. Wala akong nakitang kweba dito pero nagbabakasakali akong may kweba sa likod ng napakalaking waterfalls dito. Also, wherever we’ll go in para kunin ang scarlet stone, we’ll have brawl- a fight with something maybe,” sabi ko at nakatunganga lang silang tatlo habang nakatingin sa akin.

“Oh,” Kali said at tumingin sa libro at tumingin muli sa akin.

“What?” tanong ko.

“You’re really smart,” bigla niyang sabi. It was simple, what the hell is he talking about? “Baliktad kayo ni Kailani,” he added at tumawa ako.

“What? Hindi kaya!” reklamo ni Kailani.

“Just embraceyour flaws, Kailani. Mas malakas ka naman sa akin eh,” sabi ko at tumawa kaming tatlo.

Nieve returned the book to the glass storage at agad kaming umalis. Naunang lumabas sina Kali kasi hinintay ko pang matapos ang librarian ang sinusulat niya para maibigay niya ang royal badge. She handed it to me right after kaya agad kong kinuha.

“U-Um,” she said kaya napatigil ako at napatingin sa kanya. “I-I never thought y-you’ll be …” hindi niya matapos na sabi at napatingin sa hawak kong badge.

“I see, Thanks again,” sabi ko and I showed my badge once again.

Lumabas na ako at bumungad sa akin silang tatlo na hinihintay ako. Lumabas kami ng tuloyan sa building at napadaan kami sa mga classroom. Th classes were stopped nang dumaan kami at kabilang na doon ang advance classes na halatang napipikon habang tinitingnan ako. Of course, I just smiled at them para mas mapikon sila.

Nagpatuloy kami sa paglakad hanggang sa nakalabas nga kami sa campus.

“So, where’s that waterfall you mentioned?” Kali asked.

“It’s quite far pero hindi naman talaga iyon ang problema ko eh,” sabi ko at napahinga ng malalim.

“What is it? Monsters? We can handle that, alam mo iyon,” Kali said confidently.

“No, not monsters,” sabi ko.

“Poisons, right?” Kailani asked and I nodded. I’m sure he knew about it kasi doon rin ako unang pupunta dapat para magtago sa kanya.

“The forest is filled with poisons?” Nieve asked.

“No” sagot ko at napalunok ako. “The forest itself is poison,” I answered at napatigil silang dalawa.

Hindi ko alam kung papaano kami dadaaan papunta sa waterfall. This forest is normal for us kasi most of us are immune to poisons pero paano sila? I can’t handle this on my own kaya kailangan ko talaga sila. Halos lahat ng halaman dito may poison, pati mga animals. Even the air is poisonous, there is no way they can cross the forest without being poisoned, they will surely die.

“Do you have any idea kung papaano ito?” Nieve asked.

“Just to tell you, dying isn’t one of the options,” Kali said at tumango ako.

“Of course,” sagot ko at napatingin sa malayo kung nasaan ang forest. “Do you guys trust me?” I asked. I have an idea but I’m not sure kung gagana ito.

“Yeah,” Kailani replied.

“Kahit anong idea mo Cygnus, hindi ako aayaw,” Kali replied.

“I agree with Prince Kailani, Your Highness,” Nieve said at tumango ako.

“Well then,” sabi ko at huminga ng malalim. “Can I kill you all for a couple of minutes?”