The first encounter
1571 Words
Hoot, hoot, hoot! Coo, coo, coo! Hoot, hoot, hoot!
It was the same owl that warned him on his way in the woods fluttering over his head again. But this time, the bird did not leave. It stayed close to him, cooing and hovering around. “Thank you, my friend, for accompanying me,” Rakly said. He was not alone in the woods after all. Although, it was a common belief on the island that other beings also resided in its forest beside the wild animals. “I know something is coming. Well, it’s just a feeling. I don’t know.”
Hoot, hoot, hoot! Coo, coo, coo! Hoot, hoot, hoot!
The night bird insisted it would stay by his side and be his eyes in the air. It also felt the same strange and foreboding feeling. Rakly had to give in to the owl’s desire. He agreed. It was better to know where the enemies positioned themselves than to be blindsided. That was a principle he learned from his teacher.
A woman from a distance shrieked. It was a cry of terror. Rakly figured the direction of its origin. It’s from the village center, in the wooden house that was the biggest in Sitio Lasang. The villagers used it as a night shelter for women and children while their men patrolled the village at night. Then followed a chorus of different voices — men, women, old, and young, and yes, including the cries of little children. “Help! Help! Help!” An otherworldly sonata filled the entire forest — deafening cries, screams, and howls, making it a slaughterhouse in the middle of the woods. The wilderness was howling.
And then there was silence, a dead silence broken by the owl’s cooing. Rakly sprinted toward the village center in the hope of finding some survivors to save.
Hoot, hoot, hoot! Coo, coo, coo! Hoot, hoot, hoot!
As he sped up through a narrow pass between two huge rocks on both sides, a strange creature appeared suddenly. It was like a man deprived of hair, with wings of skin connected to his arms and hands. Like a bat, it could see in the dark. But the color was that of flesh instead of black. Blood dripped from its sharp, vampiric-like fangs. It extended its pointy, long tongue — about half a meter — and its big red eyes were like balls coming out of its skull. The terrifying creature was about two meters tall, and the length of its wingspan was the same as its height. Its belly was bulging, like that of a giant python’s after swallowing a whole calf. It was the same as the monster Konradus described in many of his Mainland stories. Was it Tiktik, Kikik, Sigbin, or Aswang? Rakly could not identify which one of them. For him, they’re equally horrifying.
His grip of the sword on both hands was tightening. He would be using the weapons for the first time in a real fight. Then he stopped and made himself ready. It was a trap. If he could not get past the creature, it would be his last. So he turned his back against the rock and prodded the monster to come to him. He wanted it to attack him. But the foul creature walked away slowly as it appeared to be noticing that he could see in the dark. That he was not like its many past victims, the monster showed apprehension.
Rakly kept still, waiting for the creature to come within striking distance, which would be to his advantage, giving him an upper hand to initiate the first blow.
Hoot, hoot, hoot! Coo, coo, coo! Hoot, hoot, hoot!
The owl hovering above him said that another creature from the other side was coming and some more hiding in the shadows.
“You can go now,” he said. “I’ll take it from here.”
The bird flew higher, keeping him within its vision as the monster tried to assert itself, seeking to overwhelm the young man with its outstretched wings. A foul odor filled the air that made Rakly feel sick and want to throw up. He thought that had Isuk been with him, he would have fainted.
The distance between him and the creature was about twenty to thirty steps. If it were an ordinary bandit, he could hit it with a single blow unnoticed. But he was cautious and would not put himself in unnecessary danger. As the creature showed off the length of its wingspan, blood and sticky discharge were dripping from its mouth, making it look utterly disgusting. The talon still had some fresh flesh. He tried to control his gut from vomiting.
Rakly’s swords glinted. He saw a torch in the distance, which reassured that some villagers might have survived the attack. It gave him the determination to defeat the creature in front of him. The only problem was that he did not know how to beat it. Although he remembered the techniques Konradus taught him, he’s not even sure if his swords would work against it. He initiated a few steps forward, but the monster stepped back, luring him away from the rocks toward the open space. It tried to put him at a disadvantage. The creature was long, so he preferred to fight it in a narrow opening between the two gigantic rocks.
It took him a few moments of figuring out when the monster would attack before realizing that it was buying more time. It was waiting and calling for its companions with a high-pitched screech that scratched his eardrums.
Kreeeeeek! Kreeeeeek! Kreeeeeeek! Tik tik tik tik tik tik tik!
The caterwauling creature became more aggressive, showing off its sharp teeth and fangs. Its tuneless screech was like a bellowing of the devil straight from hell, from the heart of darkness — horrific, uncanny, otherworldly. It was the sound of death; it was a noise of infinite terror. Rakly hadn’t heard such a dreadful, ghastly sound before.
Even though he covered his ears, the grim sound already pierced the recesses of his soul. For a moment, fear overcame him. He trembled. The birds sleeping on trees awakened, flying and fluttering in a chaotic panic, which awakened his senses. The living creatures in the wild had scattered in different directions. But the owl remained as it maintained its distance from him.
Kreeeeeek! Kreeeeeek! Kreeeeeeek! Tik tik tik tik tik tik tik!
The monster made a loud, harsh, squeaking noise again.
Kreeeeeek! Kreeeeeek! Kreeeeeeek! Tik tik tik tik tik tik tik!
The horrifying, nauseating, piercing shriek was getting louder. It was the ugliest sound on earth, a thousand times worse than Isuk’s singing, rather shrill howling when drunk that he could barely tolerate. It would have been the creature’s chance to attack as Rakly felt dizzy due to the stench and the ghastly screech. But it stepped back further away.
Rakly believed it was an opportunity to use the fighting skills he learned from Konradus for years in actual combat. He had fought against some bandits and pirates drifting to the island in the past. A couple of times, he drove them away alone, which earned him the respect of the Raguans. However, fighting against strange creatures like this was different. It held no weapon, but its sharp talons, nails, and fangs. He was dealing with monstrous creatures of magic.
Slowly, he kept on moving forward, one step at a time, away from the rock on his right. But the creature in front of him retreated by about ten steps back. So, he pursued it. The stench stuck in his nose, rendering him unable to distinguish a fresh carcass from a rotten one.
The standoff went on for almost half an hour. Both Rakly and the monster refused to take the first strike. While he was stepping forward, the creature was moving away from him at a calculated distance. With no one making the first move. Although, it was the monster that won it, as it succeeded in buying time for the other creatures to come.
On the other side of the village, the torch moved toward the center, and then the fire died out. It was dark all over again. Not that it mattered, but Rakly was more concerned about the villagers who would have survived an attack. Maybe they’re all wiped out just as he feared. And if the other creatures would come to help the one he’s facing, it would be impossible for him to escape, let alone win the fight. As he was thinking about these things, the owl fluttered above him.
Hoot, hoot, hoot! Coo, coo, coo! Hoot, hoot, hoot!
It persuaded him to step back and retreat, which he did. But it was too late. Another creature appeared behind him. When he faced the newly arrived monstrous creature, it looked like it was starving, and was more ferocious, baring its fangs. The monster swiftly ran toward him, taking no more time to wait. It attacked him with no second thoughts.
Kreeeeeek! Kreeeeeek! Kreeeeeeek! Tik tik tik tik tik tik tik!
The night was cold and dark, and Rakly fell to the ground.
Kreeeeeek! Kreeeeeek! Kreeeeeeek! Tik tik tik tik tik tik tik!
- Writer
