Descendant

Chapter 3: New Age

Zeal's POV

I ventured into the dark kingdom. As I stood there looking at what was left of the war, I had a glimpse of how fierce the war that was heard and felt throughout the country was.

Fast forward after the incident with the elder aswang..

I woke up and felt so weak. I saw markings from my shoulder to my hands. I wasn't sure what the elder aswang had cursed me with. What I know is that I cannot waste any more time here in the dark kingdom where I clearly won't obtain any information from the spawns of the devil who only knows how to kill and slaughter people.

Going inside the Dark Kingdom was surprisingly easy. But I realized that since the word came out from the other aswangs that royal blood has been wandering around. I knew that at some point I would have to fight my way out.

I walked around for days finding a safe path where I could avoid fighting as much as possible.

As I wandered around I came across two monstrous tiktik who seemed to be hunting for food in a foggy forest. I walked back slowly.. I can kill them easily with full power, but in my current state I will have trouble taking them down.

I was slowly walking back, making sure not to make any noise that would alert the two monstrous tiktiks.

Suddenly..

A wild boar ran behind me.

The tiktik was alerted and was about to look towards my direction. Right there and then I knew that I had no choice but to fight with the little strength and magic that I had.

"Well well, what do we have here?"

Said the tik tik.

"Are you lost boy? This isn't a place for a kid like you."

Said the second tik-tik as they continued to talk one after another.

"Look, he's wearing an armor how cute."

"He he he so the rumours were true. A boy is wandering around our land."

"How convenient."

"We will rip you apart boy. We will rip out your limbs and will feast on your blood. I wonder what it tastes like and I cannot wait to know."

The two tiktik glared at me with their blazing red eyes ready to charge.

I took out my sword.

As they were scratching the ground, getting ready to charge towards me, I gripped my sword and prayed to our great deity Agui.

The tiktiks attacked, and so did I.

"I will wipe every last one of you demons until you and every single one of your kind are no more!!"

I shouted as I charged. I felt both rage and fear for my own life.

As we fought, one of the tiktiks clawed at me behind my neck, but luckily my armor prevented his claws from digging deeper into my neck.

I focused my magic onto my sword as the flames of my father flowed through it.

When I saw an opening, I quickly aimed for one of the tiktiks head and sliced it off.

"Wh-who are you?"

The last tiktik asked in shock.

"I am Zeal. Son of the first Datu, Zulus. You will tell me what you know about what happened during the war, demon."

I said as I held one the the tiktiks head in my hand.

"I will tell you nothing you rotten royal blooded piece of dirt. The elder has cursed you. You're a dead man walking."

The last tiktik said.

I have traveled long enough around the dark kingdom to know that no aswang will give me any information that I needed.

These creatures, although being savages, value loyalty among their own. They will not tolerate betrayal.

The last tiktik escaped before I could cut off its head.

3 days later, I got out of the dark kingdom and went back to my home.

When I arrived at my home, all the towns people were shocked to see me

"The Prince has returned!!"

They shouted.

The guards at the gates of the palace were shocked as well when they saw me wounded from head to toe.

"Prince Zeal? Is that really you?"

The guards asked.

"Open the gates."

I said as I was panting.

"Prince, where have you been all these years?"

The guards asked.

"I said open the gates."

I told the guards.

The guards opened the gates and I went inside the castle.

My mother saw me and was also shocked as she saw my wounded state.

After a few months,

After I recovered from my injuries, I told my mother the bad news that I wasn't able to find Father and Datu Vaidas. I also told her what I witnessed inside the dark kingdom.

Every kindom must be led by a powerful Datu who can protect his domain. That was the duty of every Datu. Datu Vaidas had no son, only a daughter who won't be able to rule because she hasn't inherited his father's magic, and therefore cannot protect the kingdom.

The two kingdoms agreed that I should rule both. So they crowned me as ruler of the two lands.

50 years had passed, and my mother was getting on in years, but time seems to move slowly for me, or perhaps not at all.Which was questioned by the entire kingdom.

That's when I remembered what the elder aswang who bit me said.

"You will walk for eternity, and you will live only to die until the day of his return."

At that moment, I understood what the old man said.

I told the whole kingdom about the curse.

Why would a demon curse you with everlasting life? Wouldn't that be called a gift? To live forever? "

The townspeople asked. which I replied.

I do not know. I doubt that the spawns of the devil would do that for nothing. I will seek and study this curse that was placed upon me. "

"Maybe they made you one of them!"

"Maybe they sent you back to destroy us!"

"Maybe we should take the crown from him and find a new Datu."

The townspeople shouted.

"YOU FORGET WHO I AM!! I AM ZEAL, SON OF THE FIRST DATU ZULUS. I HAVE SWORN TO PROTECT THE TWO KINGDOMS AND SWORE TO FIND OUT WHAT HAPPENED TO OUR GREAT DATUS. THEY COULD BE OUT THERE SOMEWHERE WAITING FOR HELP."

"IF YOU CONTINUE WITH YOUR FOOLISH TALKS, I WILL BRAND YOU AS REBELLS WHO IS A THREAT TO THE PEACE OF ENTIRE KINGDOM."

I angrily shouted.

Some of the townspeople rebelled against me. They feared that I would become one of the Aswangs.

But throughout those 50 years my appearance never changed. 30 more years had passed and my mother died. I watched as she slowly exhaled her last breath.

I ruled over the two Kingdoms for 200 more years since the Datus Vanished. I have watched my friends die and their sons of sons die of old age. Everyone close to me has been gone with no one else left but me.

After 230 more years, the monarchy slowly faded in the minds of the people.

What is a Datu without his people? That's what I had in mind. So I left the Kingdom to search for answers to my questions and seek information about my curse.

Democracy came.

I became a normal man wandering around in what used to be my domain. I was lost and slowly losing hope and patience. I have watched different countries occupy this land.

I have witnessed 2 global wars which have killed millions.

I watched people kill each other because of greed.

All of this happened and I was still searching for answers as to what happened to my Father.

I burned our kingdoms history; cultures, traditions, and everything that is linked to our dark past so people wouldn't live in fear of the terrible things that happened in the past.

The Aswangs only became a myth in the new generation. No one ever knew about the war, which happened 500 years ago.

Yet they still exist, terrorizing people all around the country, but they are careful with their actions now. All so they would remain a myth in the minds of the people, and wanted to remain that way.

The last person I knew who possessed the magic of old died 90 years ago. He had no one to pass his magic to. So he took his magic to the grave with him.

The only creatures I know who still possessed magic were the spawns of the devil and the greedy people they taught. The ones who practiced dark magic.

The mangkukulams or dark witches.

Mangkukulams practiced an ability which could control the person they victimized or cause strange diseases or illness until they died.

Mangkukulams are not exactly magic users. They just have the ability to cause pain and suffering to people. Magic users like my kind don't need anything to cast or use our magic because we can control it. Unlike those lowlife witches, they still needed enchantments and books which the Aswangs taught and gave them.

For years, I went around hunting for the aswangs. But in this generation, they were not easy to find.

They went into hiding since there were normal people who learned how to hunt them down using different methods such as "anting antings" which was found by a man who accidentally dug an enchanted metal which was used by my father's army when they fought in the war.

The reason why the anting anting spread throughout the land is because of the white witches or the White Mangkukulam.

White witches are once dark witches who turned against the aswangs and helped humans by replicating the first anting anting.

As new generation came, new kinds of aswangs were born like the sigbin, mananangal, santelmo, Batibat, and other new species of dark creatures. Some were weak enough that they were hunted and killed by normal people who possess an anting anting.

Modernization came. The existence of the aswangs, the anting antings, and all the stories that were related to the old generation was slowly being forgotten by the people.

It gave such comfort to dark creatures that they could now walk among people looking like them.

One night, while I was hunting down an aswang which fled inside of what is now the UP diliman Campus. It became a place where most aswang would nest inside the big old trees.

I heard a loud noise and a loud screech, which I was sure came from an aswang.

As I fight aswang in the new generation, I put up barriers which would hide any noise from the aswang so the people on the outside wouldn't notice.

In these peaceful times, I had to learn how to fight the spawns of the Devil without causing commotion which would scare the people of this era.

It surprised me to find a big dome of barrier placed in the wide field of what is now the UP diliman Campus, since the only people who can put up such a barrier are the royal Family and their protectors, who died a long time ago.

The last protector I knew from my royal family died a hundred years ago, so it was strange seeing a barrier which belonged to nobles and their protectors.

I went inside the Barrier and saw a Black witch.

I looked at her as she stared down at the dying monstrous tiktik before she struck it with her finishing blow. Her final blow eradicated the dark creature.

She looked normal with her white skin and silky black hair, which was different from other black witches that I know.

She also looked too young to be a witch.

A normal black witch would have to study almost half of their life just to become an official dark witch.

I was staring at her while standing behind her as she changed to her normal clothes using her magic.

Then she suddenly spoke.

"Hello there Prince"

The witch said.

When she called me Prince, I was astounded.

"Who are you witch? Where did you learn to create a barrier like this? And why are you calling me Prince?"

I asked.

"Aren't you a prince? The son of the First Datu who Vanished after the Great War?"

The witch said.

I was surprised. I was sure I burned all the history documents written about our past.

"You will tell me who you are at once witch. If you know who I am then you know what I can do to you right here at this very moment."

I said as I threatened her.

"You need to calm down Prince, I'm not an enemy."

She answered.

"Stop wasting my time or I will burn you to the ground."

I said as I was losing patience.

"Here."

She brushed here hair from her neck and showed me a mark.

"That mark.. who exactly are you?"

I asked curiously as I recognized the mark.

It belonged to the protectors of King Vaidas' royal family.

"I think you know who I am."

The witch said.

"It's impossible. All the protectors died hundreds of years ago."

I said to the witch.

"Well not me."

The witch answered as she laughed softly.

"How?"

"Witches were around since the old generation you know."

She said.

"I do not remember any witches from my time."

I replied.

"Well that's because I was the first one."

She said as she smiled at me.

"Then that means you were taught by the spawns of the devil. I knew it!! you're just another lowly black witch."

I said to her as I revealed my sword.

"Oh no no no Prince. I'm a grand witch, that means I'm the first and only one of my kind."

"See, there's black witches, there's white witches and then there's me."

She said.

"I will not believe anything you say. You dare show me the mark a royal Family, I will not allow anymore disrespect towards the nobles."

I said as I unleashed my flames in her presence.

"Ok I will explain everything Prince."

She said.

"You better do it now and do it fast."

I answered.

That's when she told me that she was Datu Vaidas' last living protector. She was an orphan who was kidnapped by the Duwendes. They forced her to learn sorcery and beat her everyday until she learned enough knowledge about magic which she used to escape from the Duwendes.

She went to the castle after she escaped and was found by Datu Vaidas. When she grew up she was appointed as one of the royal family's protectors because of her amazing ability with sorcery.

When the war of the Kings broke, King Vaidas told her to stay and protect his Family, which she did. The second King was like a father to her, so when she got the news that her King had vanished, she was devastated. Still, she kept her promise that she would protect the King's Family, and she did.

She went and studied different kinds of magic including dark magic, and was able to discover how to stop time for herself so she could protect the King's Family forever.

"And here I am."

She said

"If you were protecting the Kings Family which died a hundred years ago then what is your purpose now?"

I asked.

"Still the same. Protecting them or should I say him."

She said.

"Who's him?"

I asked.

"Geez what have you been doing all these years? King Vaidas's daughter was married to a commoner. She had kids and her kids had kids and so their blood still lives on."

She said.

"Are you saying there's still a royal Family out there?"

I asked.

"Not exactly a Family. There's only one left and he was searching for you. Luckily, I found you or should I say you found me."

She said.

"Take me to him at once, witch."

I said to her.

"Will you please stop calling me witch? The name's Chloe."

That's when I met the Grand Witch.

I asked.