Mermaid Blues: Beasts, Giants and Spirits

Warning from the Star

Ceres Agyaman. He's twenty-two years of age. A guy with a height of five foot-seven inch. He's Seline's big brother.

For some reason, Ceres has been brought to a place somewhere he doesn't know. He was unfamiliar with it. He was never been in there.

"Where am I?" he asked himself as he looked around.

He could see trees, mostly pine trees, and huge rocks scattered around. The earth is covered by pine needles. He looked at the sky to familiarize the place. He swore that he had never been there before. The place is covered in fog. A very thick fog slowly dissipates into the sky.

"Hello?" He yelled. "Hello!"

No one is responding. Only an echo of his voice responds.

"Where the heck am I?" He whispers. He looked at his hands. "Am I dreaming?" he asked himself. He gently slapped his cheeks so that he would wake up just in case he was just in a dream.

"Bullshark!" he exclaimed when he realized that slapping himself didn't work.

Then he slowly took a step away from where he stood. He took another step. The rock next to him caught his attention. He stepped toward it to see the rock up close. The rock is about as high as his shoulders. He turned to look around. He realized that the rocks, which he thought were randomly scattered, were flooring the ground like tiles. He began to wonder. He looked down at the ground. He realized that he was not stepping on the soil but on a floor of small rocks covered in thick layers of pine needles. He begins to figure out everything that he sees, touches, everything that he gathers. He faces the rock next to him. He wipes away the leaves and dirt that settled on its surface. He was further intrigued. He discovered dent marks in it. It seemed like it had a specific shape and he suspected there was someone or something that had clawed it before.

He approached the other rocks. He cleans each of their surfaces before he examines them. Just like the first rock, they all have the same dent marks, but their shapes and sizes vary.

"What is this?"

Then, he suddenly heard a voice. He got startled when he heard it. He was uncertain where it came from but he was sure he heard something. A voice of a man, yelling. He seemed like he was in pain, in anger, and in desperation. He began to focus all his concentration on his ears. As the yelling voice got closer and closer, his heart raced faster in panic. A few moments later, the surroundings were silent again. He could no longer hear him.

"Hello? Is anyone here?" he shouted. Hoping that the unknown man would hear him.

"Hello!"

Yet, nothing responded. But meanwhile...

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!"

He heard a sudden scream. But that time, it was a voice of a girl.

"HAH!" he got frightened.

"HELP!" she kept on calling.

"Seline?" he immediately recognized the voice.

"Seline!" He immediately ran away and looked for the person who was screaming for help.

"Seline? Where are you?" He shouted.

"HELP!" the girl responded.

"Where are you!" he shouted once more.

But she repeated the same word.

"I'm coming!"

He was trying his best to track where she was. He heard another of her screams. He was now certain that it was coming from the direction of the west. And so, he headed there. Seline screamed once more. He was so sure that the path he took was right. And he could hear that he was almost there.

"Seline?" He immediately called when he arrived. He stopped in an area where it was vacant. It was only surrounded by trees and bushes. He found no Seline. Instead, he realized that he had ended up in the same place he came from a while ago - in the exact same place on the platform made of stones.

Then, he was further surprised when he saw a burning wolf-lion hybrid coming toward him. He narrowed his eyes as he stared at it. The wolf looks so familiar to him yet he could not pin point when and how does he know that creature. He stood still, breathing heavily, and trembed by its presence.

"You..." he uttered.

Clouds are slowly covering the sky. The wolf slowly steps closer to him. It wasn't growling nor making any sound. It is quiet. Ceres suddenly got nervous.

"Where am I...?" Ceres asked with an uneased tone in his voice.

"The gate has already been revealed, Ceres. They're coming," it whispered against Ceres' ear.

"Who's coming?" he asked, puzzled.

"You will see this place soon..." the santelmo told him. "Keep an eye on the Seline."

The rain started to pour. As the lighting flashes, the light covers the entire background. Both Ceres and the burning wolf disappeared.

Ceres immediately opened his eyes. He lifted up his body. He was breathing heavily due to fear. He looked around. He realized that he was in his bed. He realized that he was in his room. At the same time, he noticed that the sun is already up in the sky when he looked out the window.

"Is it just a dream?" he asked himself.

He looked at his hand. And he began to reminisce about the moment when he was in that dream. He felt that he had been transferred to another place and then went back to his room when he woke up.

***Blue Water***

Seth came out of the interrogation room. He had just finished questioning Balto, the hunter who they arrested in the middle of the road to Sagada. He closed the door and looked at the guys looking through the one-way glass.

Japeth and Cielo were watching the interrogation through the one-way mirror. They turned to Seth when they saw him going out of the room. They can see the look on Seth's face - disappointed and frustrated.

"Nothing?" Cielo asked. "Did you get something?"

"I found the address where Gaddo hides. I wrote it down on paper in case I forgot it," he got the paper out of the folder and read it. "He's in the mansion at Camp 1, Tuba, Benguet."

"Nice! Nice! Let me go to that place with my team. We will surprise that son of a b***h. I'll tell him 'Surprise! Motherfucker!'" Gaston responded with excitement.

"You will no longer meet him there since he and his family moved out three days ago."

"What!" Gaston reacted in dismay. "Goddamit!"

"Balto doesn't know where they are right now?" Cielo asked.

"Unfortunately, that mansion is the only place he knows where he and his family live. That mansion was also a lair for hunters, a meeting place, or a headquarters where the important officials of the hunters met. Even politicians are sometimes seen in there," Seth replied.

"If that's the case, my team will still go there and investigate," Gaston said.

"That's what I like about you, kid," Seth praised. He reached out his hand to grab Gaston's hair and he caressed him like a puppy.

Gaston grabbed the old man's hand and he threw it away. "Hey! I'm not a kid. I am already twenty-seven, not a kid anymore."

"You look like a kid to me though," Cielo replied. He looks at Seth to tell him something. "Come to think of it. He and Gordon do act like kids...sometimes."

"Yeah!" Seth agreed. "I noticed. They fight like children all the time. Remember the time when they fought only because Gordon called him a nerd?"

"Yeah! And you know the time when they argue just because of one single Pokemon trading card."

"I will understand if they are arguing because of a woman, but a children's toy is something else..." Seth said.

"I am not a child! Okay?" Gaston yelled. "In my defense, that card is a rare card. It has Lugia in it and it is cool."

"Okay. Okay. Calm it down," Cielo said while trying to hold back his laugh.

"Look, I better have to go now and call my team, or else...time will be wasted." And so, he walked away. He left the two leaders giggling.

::::::::::

It is a fine Sunday morning...At the mansion of the Acostas...

In the garden located west of the house. Seyhan is strolling there.

He was walking along the stone paths leading to a small shed at the heart of the garden. The path is surrounded by some herbs and large bushes. Behind the bushes are rows of soil beds planted with vegetables like Chinese cabbage and eggplants.

As he walked along, getting nearer to the shed at the heart of the garden, he decided to stop for a while. He took a deep breath as he stared up at the sky. He sees birds chirping on a branch of a tree just in front of him. Then he smiled.

A few moments later, he hears a sound. It is the voice of a girl who seems to be singing. He begins to wonder, he surely knows that the euphony is coming from the place where he is supposed to go. He took his eyebrows near each other, as he began to walk to the shed. The song is familiar to him though. Yet, he doesn't know what the title is. He knows it is Ariana Grande's.

One more time!

I promise after that I'll let you go...

He hears as he approaches. He was surprised when he arrived at the shed. He immediately recognized that it was Seline. He sees her sitting down on a bench in the middle. She didn't notice that Seyhan had arrived since she was facing the other side and she wasn't facing the direction where Seyhan was in. Moreover, she is wearing a pair of headsets. She watches the birds playing on the shed's concrete floor.

Baby, I don't care if you got her in your heart,

All I really care is you wake up in my arms...

Never did she know that Seyhan was slowly walking toward the shed. He is trying to hold his laugh since he is imagining how to frighten her.

By the way, the shed is an open structure that has only four pillars around it to support a dome-shaped roof. The pillars are like those of Corinthian design and they are slowly crept by vines.

He stood beside one of the pillars instead and watched her sing. He leaned his body against the pillar as he smiled.

"One laaa...st time!" She raised her voice in order to reach the note.

Seyhan was startled but still amazed by her voice.

I need to be the one who takes you home.

One more time

I promise after that I'll let you go.

She kept quiet when the song ended. A few seconds later, she sighed. She looks at the birds chirping on the floor.

"Success!" she clapped her hands happily. "I am really good," she said. "I think the birds love it."

Seyhan is silently laughing. He crossed his arms across his chest. He bit his lower lip as he observes her.

"Oh!," she stood up. The birds were alarmed and they flew away from her.

"I must get back. Auntie Nime will kill me if she sees I haven't cleaned the room."

She turned around. She saw Seyhan standing beside the pillar, which made her startle.

"Ahy! Bird!" she yelled in fright.

Seyhan looked down. Checking if he's not wearing pants again.

"I...I mean the literal bird. The one that can fly," Seline told him.

"Oh? Okay," he realized. "You can sing?"

"Kind of ?" she answered. Then, she looked away. She is blushing in embarrassment.

"I don't know if I am going to be mad at you because of what you did last week, but when I saw you singing in front of those birds (laughs)... It's hilarious."

"Look, I am sorry if I went to your room without knowing you were still there," she apologized.

"And pretend that you didn't see me singing in here," she added.

"Hmph," he sneered. "I will. But don't pretend that you didn't see me naked."

"Yeah," Seline nodded. "That part, I am still trying to move on with. But I didn't see your p***s. I promise."

"Aunt Naomi always tells me you like to loiter around the pool. I didn't know you also like it here in this shed?" he asked.

"Yeah, I was just watering the plants. And I decided to sit here for a while," she answered with a chuckle.

"Aaahh..." he nodded.

"Is it huge?"

"Ha?" Seline wondered. She didn't know if he was talking about the shed or his thing.

"'I mean the shed. Is it huge?"

She looked around. '"Just the right size", she replied.

She feels so awkward talking to him while she remembers the time when she almost saw his entire naked body.

"A...I...I'll just leave you here then?" she holds her head down. She passes him and she walks as fast as she can. When she was about to step outside the shed, she stopped when she heard Seyhan talking.

"Hey. Tell Auntie Nime to make me a glass of juice. I am thirsty."

Seline slowly turned. Seyhan flashes his eyebrows at her like he's flirting or something. Deep inside Seline's mind, she finds it disgusting.

"Yeah," she smiled. She turned away, then she continued to walk away.

::::::::::::

"Hallelujah!" the pastor yelled with joy.

The people in front of him responded by saying "Amen". Among those people are Sherdel and Mr. Tony. Everyone is standing up from their seats after their response in order to prepare for another song to sing. Sherdel, who seems the only one who is on his chair, is yawning and trying to fight his drowsiness. He tried to keep his tired eyes open as much as he could. His grandfather is sitting at the back part of the row. He is watching Sherdel from there. He watches him keeping his head down, then up after a few seconds, then down over and over.

After the song, the pastor made an announcement.

"This day is special because we have visitors again."

The people yelled 'Amen' as they clap their hands.

"And this time...they came all the way from Higher Ground Baptist Church!"

The said visitors stood up. There are about seven of them. They're all sitting in the front row. Sherdel lifted up his head and looked. He was surprised when he saw a familiar face from one of the visitors facing the audience. It is Grace Joy he's looking at. She is wearing a pink jacket and a black skirt. The combination of the colors suits her. Moreover, he was stunned because he had never seen her hair braided like a fishtail. She's quite prettier than usual.

"...And they have prepared a very special song number just for us..." the pastor added.

Grace immediately stepped up on the platform.

"What is your name, my child?" the pastor asked.

"Grace Joy po," she said comfortably, then she smiled.

"Good luck, Grace Joy," the pastor gave her the mic, then stepped down from the platform. Grace is now alone on the stage. She sighed to lessen her nervousness. She looked at the pianist, then she nodded - indicating that she was ready.

The piano played the tune of Chris Tomlin's "Indescribable".

From the highest of heights,

To the depths of the sea...

Creations revealing your majesty.

Everyone was amazed by her voice. Sherdel is one of them, he can't help but listen to her.

"She looks familiar though," Mr. Tony muttered to himself while watching her perform.

All-powerful, untameable...

You placed the stars in the sky

And you know them by name

You are amazing God...

Sherdel can't explain what he's feeling inside. He doesn't know if he's still amazed at her talent or he is feeling something deeper. All he knows is his heart is racing faster, his mind got clear that he won't even realize that he doesn't feel drowsy anymore, he can't help but focus his eyes on her.

You are! she belted.

Indescribable, uncontainable...

You placed the stars in the sky

And you know them by name

You are amazing God...

All-powerful, untameable

Awestruck, we fall to our knees as we humbly complain

You are amazing God...

The audience clap their hands and yelled "Amen".

"You are amazing God..." She slows down the melody.

Yes, you are amazing God...

The audience continues to cheer for her. Sherdel smiles slightly. He holds his head down while he reflects on how he felt. Grace scans around her audience. To her surprise, she sees Sherdel, keeping his head down. She faded her smile just for a while, then she laughed as she looked away. Sherdel looks at her again. Grace Joy took her eyes back on him. She smiled. Sherdel nodded as he slightly smiled.

The grandfather of Sherdel noticed them. He smiled as he began to think. In conclusion, they might have seen each other at school. Not only that, he can see something special between them.

:::::::::::

Camp 1, Tuba, Benguet... It is the village where Gaddo's mansion is located.

Gaston and the rest of his team are standing by the door. With three strong kicks, the door destroyed its locks and it opened. Immediately, the agents walked inside. They arrived in the living room. As Balto said, the building was deserted. They found no signs of human activity. The place is empty.

Gaston looked around the room. His agents went to check the other corners of the room. There's an agent who found himself in the kitchen, a huge wide kitchen. Two agents arrive in a hallway with a series of doors on both sides. They open them one by one as they investigate the rooms behind those doors. Then, three agents stumbled upon a room where there were bookshelves covering the entire wall. Those shelves are empty. There is a huge window where light can enter to light up the room. Next to that window is a desk, an empty desk made of acacia wood.

Gaston is examining the living room. He walked towards the window to his right. When he got there, he looked through it to see outside. He could see a few houses far away from the mansion.

Then, an agent came over. "Sir, you need to see this..." he said.

"Okay," he replied.

The agent walks away. Gaston follows him afterward.

::::::::::::::

They have arrived at the door of the room the agent is talking about. The agent opens the door. Gaston was surprised by what he saw. Inside that room are shelves full of creepy kinds of stuff. He pans to his left and he sees a row of shelves containing jars of teeth and paws. He enters the room to investigate further. He walked into the space between two shelves. He looked around. There are lines of jars containing some rare parts of animals, or so he thought. He pans to the left and he is looking at a jar of fangs like those of wolves. He turns his head to the right and he can see an eye in a jar. He can't determine if it is from an animal or from a lignodon.

"What the fuck..." he shockingly said.

The agent with him is also looking around. "What are we going to do with these?" he asked his boss.

"Let's get these things to the laboratory," Gaston replied. "The more evidence we get, the more the elders will be convinced to kill him."

"Yes, Sir. I have to call the others," the agent said.

And so, Gaston nodded.

"Are you sure you are okay being alone in here?" the agent asked with concern.

"I am fine," Gaston replied.

And so, the agent quickly moves out of the room. Gaston continues to walk around. Then, he found something that attracted his attention. In the corner, there is a fireplace. Above the opening of the fireplace is a head of a dead deer stuck in the wall. The fireplace is filled with cobwebs and the head of the deer is also full of them. It was like no one had been there in years. Dust is everywhere. Even though the ashes are still in that fireplace, it has never been cleaned. Gaston walked over to the fireplace. When he got there, he got his flashlight out of his belt and turned it on. When he lit the fireplace, he noticed some small plants growing in the ash.

"Ew! Yeesh..." he exclaims in disgust when he sees spiders creeping in the cobwebs. And then, he focused his eyes and the flashlight on the deer. While he creepily examines the preserved head, he got startled when he heard the static sound coming from his communicator.

"Sir, can you hear me? Over, " the agent spoke.

Gaston replies. "I am here, over." Then, he focuses his flashlight on the deer's eyes. He examines them.

"Sir, we definitely found the room supposed to be Gaddo's office," the agent replies.

"Did you find anything in there?" he asks, while he begins to wonder about the eyes' appearance. When the light is stricken on it, it glitters like marble. It is not normal for a preserved deer's head's eyes to shine like that when struck by light. Moreover, it does look like they have been replaced. There is something glimmering inside the pupils.

"No, Sir. We only found empty shelves and some sketches," the agent replied.

"Sketches of whom?" Gaston asked. Then he noticed that the deer's pupil in the right eye dilated. He widened his eyes in horror. "Oh no..."

"We don't know. We can bring them though so that we can scan their faces--"

Gaston immediately yelled. "He's watching us. Get out now!"

"Sir?" the agent, on the other hand, responded.

"It's a trap!" he yells as he moves away to the fireplace. "Get out! Get out! Hurry!" he simultaneously shouts.

And so, the agents immediately get out of the rooms they are investigating. They start to find their way out of the mansion. As fast as they could, they ran in the hallway towards the living room where the exit is. They hear their boss's distress call as they find their way out.

Gaston came out of the door. He continues running away from the mansion. He is being followed by his agents. Two of his men managed to get out by jumping through a window on the first floor.

Five seconds after they went out. They heard a loud boom coming from inside the house. Immediately, fire came out from every opening of that house. The house slowly crumbles as it is consumed by flames.

The agents immediately ducked and covered their heads with their hands right after they heard the boom. Three of them got thrown away by the force of the explosion. Luckily, they landed in the soft grassy part of the yard.

::::::::::::::

On the vacant field located west of Benjie Rosales's home...

Seth, one of the leaders of the Association of the Cordilleran Marksmen, is there. He is standing alone while enjoying the view of Mount Cabuyao from afar. He was patiently waiting for Benjie to come and speak to him.

Meanwhile, Benjie is walking as fast as he can as he heads toward the direction Seth is. When he sensed that Benjie is getting closer to him, he turned around gently to face him.

"What do you want?" Benjie asked.

"Like every visit, Benjie," he answered.

"I told you not to show your face in front of me. I thought we were clear about that."

"Benjie, you and your brother's lives are at stake. I know that the hunters have been spying on you all this time. We will never know when they will strike just to get you killed. You can't always have the strength to protect your brother. "

"Don't you dare tell me what to do to keep him safe," Benjie insisted. "They'll hunt us even if I need your protection. And if ever I agree with you, would you tell them not to hurt us because your organization has me? No, right?"

"We'll protect you, Benjie. You and your little brother."

"Like I always tell you, I will never trust a backstabbing person like you," Benjie told him.

"My God, Benjie..." he raised his voice. "I work in an organization that aims to protect 'monsters' like us. Can you just give me a chance to prove it to you?"

"Never," he spoke softly. Then he smirked just for a second. He took a step closer to the Association's head.

"If you want me to trust you... tell the judges that my father didn't kill my mother. Will you?"

Seth took a gulp. He didn't reply. He just stared at him blankly.

Benjie took a step back. He turned away from him and he began to walk towards his house. Benjie left him speechless after he said that statement. However, while Benjie was getting closer and closer to the gate, the man spoke. Which made Benjie stop for a moment to hear what he was saying. "We might not tell you why I was the one to blame. I just wished that I could tell you why."

Benjie sighed. He heard what he'd said but he ignored it, his heart was burning in anger at that moment. And that anger burning inside suddenly burst out.

He looked at Seth from the distance.

"Don't worry. My guards are outside if you need anything," Seth said.

"f**k you!" he shouted.

Benjie had entered their front yard. Kendrick came running to meet him. "Kuya. Is that Seth?" he asked.

"Just pretend you didn't see me talking to someone, okay?" he said.

"Are you okay? What did he say?" Kendrick asked.

"Nothing. He didn't say anything," Benjie replied. Then, he walks away with frustration painted on his face.

Kendrick watches him moving away. He is getting confused and worried. He was thinking that Seth might have warned him.