Not like Us

Chapter 20

The kingdom was in chaos looking for the black creature that had escaped from its cell. They search the whole castle but they did not found any traces of its shadow inside the palace. One hundred years ago, it had accidentally entered the kingdom. It was a kind of monster that originated from the human world.It was as small as a palm. It had been imprisoned for a hundred years. This was the first time that it have ever escaped.

It was a very dangerous monster. It could poisoned someone's mind. Engkantos were known to be easily overwhelmed with negative energy and that monster could make someone produce a negative emotions. The engkantos would be dangerous if it spreads its negativity throughout the whole kingdom.

"We could not find the monster inside the castle, Gat," A knight said reporting to their king, Gat Maharlika.

“Search the whole kingdom. Be sure to search every corner of the houses. If the creature is still inside the kingdom, it would be dangerous,” the king commanded.

“Yes, Gat,” the soldier replied.

“Be sure to close every portal, too. No one should access it from the inside or even from the outside. If that has escaped after one hundred years, someone must be behind this,” he added.

“I will make sure of that, Gat.”

The king nodded. “Always keep me updated. You can go now.”

The knight nodded and exited the room.

The king and queen looked at each other. The king placed his hand on the queen’s. The queen leaned on the king’s shoulder and sighed.

“It was my fault,” the queen said. The king tick the queen’s loose hair behind her ears.

“You have no fault,” the king reassured as he held the hand of the queen tightly.

She removed her hands from the hold to cover her face. She shook her head. “I brought it here,” she said with a guilty soft voice.

He kneeled in front of her and removed her hands on her face. He lifted her head up. “None of it was your fault. So do not blame yourself. You were used as a host. Okay?”

The queen looked at him in the eyes and nodded. They hugged each other and the king patted her back.

“They will find it soon.”

“Gat Maharlika!”

“Dayang Vivien!”

Timpi burst into the room. The king went back to his seat. The king and queen looked at him.

“What is it, Timpi?” The king asked.

“I have been waiting for Gat Lamang since last night in his room but he never showed up.”

The king and queen immediately stood up.

“What do you mean?” The king asked. Both the king and queen looked worried. Where could their son go?

Timpi looked down and clasped his hands. “I checked up on him when the news about the black creature spread but as I arrived he was not on his room…”

The king went out of the room and the queen followed him. Timpi followed them as well. They all went to Lamang’s room. The king opened Lamang’s door but he was not indeed not there. They roam theirs eyes in every inch of the room. His bed was untouched.

“He was not really here,” the king said.

The king went out of the room and went to the other side of the wing. “He could not possibly be there?” the queen asked.

“We will see,” the king replied. Timpi looked at them, contemplating whether to tell what he thinks.

They all stopped in a room. “I will do it,” the queen volunteered.

The queen strides near the door. She took a deep breath and knocked on the door. It only took a second to someone to answer. Dayang Maria greeted them. “Gat, Dayang, what has brought you here?”

“Is Lamang there?” the queen directly asked. Dayang Maria’s face looked confuse. They already had an agreement. Why would they break it? They would never risk such thing for the kingdom.

“He is not here, Dayang. We have never seen each other ever since the wedding,” Dayang Maria answered.

The queen looked at the king.

Timpi cleared his throat and looked at the king and queen from looking down. Dayang Maria got his attention, as well.

“There was this time…” Timpi started. “Before the wedding, Gat Lamang went to the human world through a portal.”

He kneeled in front of them and clasped both of his hands to ask for forgiveness. “Please forgive me, Gat and Dayang. I know I should not hide that.”

The king and queen looked at him in disbelief. “How could you Timpi?”

He dropped his face to the ground. “I am sorry, Gat and Dayang.”

The king heaved a heavy sighed. His forehead wrinkled. The king massages his temples. “I already ordered the knights to close all the portal,” he said while looking at the queen.

“Could we request to open some of it back?” the queen asked worriedly.

The king paced back and forth and sighing at the same time. “It would take a while. Opening a portal is different from closing it.” He looked at Timpi whose face still facing the ground. “Rise, Timpi.”

Timpi rose and stood up but he did not looked at the King, Queen, and the princess consort. He was ashamed. He failed the King and Queen. His task was to take care of the prince but he had failed that.

“Tell me how did he had an access to the portal without being seen? The portals have a very tight security. Even though he is a prince, he does not have the permission to access because of his destiny. Tell me how?”

Timpi was still looking down. Guilt filled his face. “Gat Lamang is more powerful than you thought, Gat and Dayang. He could make a portal himself. He still does not know about the limitations but he could really make one and he had use it some times.”

The king and queen stared at each other. For a hundred years, how come they did not know?

“What are the things you have not told us, Timpi?”

The king said with an authority. Looking down at Timpi because he was taller than him while the queen clinged to the king to make sure he would not do something.

The king noticed Timpi was silent then, there has to be more.

“What are you hiding, Timpi?”

The king sternly looked at him. “Why did he use the portal?”

Dayang Maria who was on her slightly opened door was curious as well.

Timpi kneeled on his knees and drop his face and arms to the floor. “The prince was just concerned about the affected trees from the forest, Gat. He visited them when he had time,”Timpi confessed. “That was all of it, Gat,” he continued but with a lie.

The king and queen looked at each other and the queen just nodded. “If I ever found out that you are lying, Timpi, you would be stripped from your position.”

Timpi’s tightened his grip to his face with his arms as he stared into the ground. He could not betray Gat Lamang.  He ought his life to serve him. The encounter he had with the human girl had end, that was what he said, and Timpi, did not want to damage Lamang just because of the things that were trivial.

“Why would he went back there? I am the wife of the prince. It is now my duty to take care of the forest and the sea is his. I checked the forest and it is now healthy. The burnt section was already sprouting,” Dayang Maria said to Timpi as the King and Queen left. She grew the open gap of her door. Intrigued about the reason why the prince was lost.

Timpi looked at her. “Is not ‘how must he be?’ should you question and not ‘why?’,” TImpi asked. “As the princess, you must be concern about the well being of the prince instead of asking ‘why’s’,” Timpi added and stood up from his position.

He patted the dirt away from his clothes. He hoped Dayang Maria was the right princess that they picked. He hoped.

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“Are there still any portals that are open?” the king asked. The king and queen went separate ways. The queen went back to the throne room and the king went to the station where his most trusted knights were found.

“We have closed all, Gat,” the knight said.

The king side and massaged his temples.

“Is there any problem, Gat?” the knight said while helping the king to have his balance.

The king went to the wall with the help of the knight and leaned on there for a moment.

“No, there is no problem. How is the search?” he asked as he tried to adjust his mission.

“There was no luck, Gat. We could not find the dark creature.”

The king stood up straight and squared his shoulders.

“How were the residents? Have any of them had been reported as victims?” The king asked.

The knight shrugged his shoulders. “There was none, as of now.”

The king sighed. “Be sure to monitor everyone for about the week. We need to ensure their safety,” the king commanded.

“How about the portal?” he added.

“We had make sure to close it tight, Gat. It could only be open in one week,” the knight answered.

The king massaged his temples again. A week was longer for them. How would his son survive the human world for a week? This would be a problem.  Once he got back, he needed to keep an eye on his own son.

“Is there still any portal that is still open?”

“None, Gat. We made sure every passages are close.”

He sighed. “Could we at least open one? I need to check on something.”

The knight stared at the king. “It is difficult to do that, Gat.”

The king nodded. If Lamang could produce his own portal why was he not coming back? Could he not open a portal when other portals were close? The king heaved another sigh. He hoped he was okay.