MAHARLIKA and the Cursed Descendants of the Orient

The Barang

With a snap of the fingers from Pedro, a shadow slinks on the cavern’s walls and ceiling, offsetting their sparkling effect. The flickering tiny particles that are scattered all over the cavern’s surface are now turned into dust and spider webs. The magnificent tapered columns that hang on the roof and protrude from the ground are also gone and turned into dirty flat surfaces. Rickety shelves start to appear near the walls, displaying transparent jars with worms and ants and cockroaches and bugs, either crawling or flying while wresting against one another. In the center, between Tala and I and the couple, is a rectangular decaying wooden table.

Pilar walks closer to one of the shelves and skims her fingertips on its edge without taking her eyes off us, then her fingers stop gliding and grab a jar. Unlike most jars, the one she chooses is translucent so I can’t figure out what’s inside of it. She goes back behind the table and stands next to her husband. Pedro then picks up a small cloth figure which looks like a doll made out of scrap materials. He too doesn’t take his eyes off us. Both of them are moving patiently and confidently. The way they stare commands us to watch them carefully.

“Uhm,...is it only me?” Tala says. “Or are you also confused on what’s going on?”

I know that her question is directed to me, but for some reasons, my curiosity strangles the words in my throat and glues my eyes at the couple’s every move.

Pilar puts her index finger on her cracking lips. “Shhh! You’re disturbing them. Have a little consideration, young lady.” Her voice is unsteady and soft, almost like a whisper.

Pedro, on the other hand, opens a lid of a medium-sized box and takes out something from it then pins it with a needle on the doll’s face. He waves the doll in front of his face, pinching its foot between his index finger and thumb. My feet are stuck on the ground so I crinkle my eyes to have a better vision of what is pricked on it.

Finally, words overpowers my curiosity. “An earring?”

“Yes. It’s a collateral from a client,” Pedro replies.

“Client? In a place like this? What kind of business do you have?” Tala asks, her pitch is higher than usual.

“It’s for you to find out,” Pedro says, putting the doll in an empty transparent jar. He places it in the middle of the table making sure that Tala and I could see it properly.

Pilar twists and lifts the lid of the translucent jar that she’s been clinging to. The croaking and ribbiting noises come out of it as she attempts to cover its opening with one hand while sliding her other hand inside. She gives us a mocking smile before transferring a small frog to the transparent jar where the doll is placed. She then puts the lids of both jars back while her husband lightens the black candles that are half-melted on the left corner of the table. My eyes narrow even more when both of them chant something that I can’t understand, just like what Mang Kanor did back in Barrio Hilot.

Once they’re done, Pedro looks at me. “How was it?”

My eyebrow raises. “How was what?”

“You’re experience under…pita?” he asks

I walk a little closer, gripping my sword. “So you are…the Barang?”

A sharp breath is exhaled by Tala. “The Barang?! So we are in the Gaba’s Underworld?”

“Oh dear, look at you. You look so worn out,” Pilar teases.

“Let me ask you this, how come the castle guards brought me in this place?” Tala asks.

The Barang sniggers at the top of their lungs as if they haven’t laugh in years. When they stop, they wipe the tears at the corners of their eyes and Pilar takes a deep loud breath.

“Why ask me, ask them!” she says, sneering. “If you can.”

Tala stomps her foot. “Where’s Dama de Noche? What did you do to her?”

Pedro and Pilar look at each other briefly before looking back at us.

“Who’s that?” the woman asks.

Tala is about to say something more but I step in. “What is this pita about? Why are you doing this?”

“Even if we tell you why, you wouldn’t care or understand,” Pedro says. “Long ago, our ancestors fought alongside the Moon Descendants and the other deities against the Sun Descendants.”

I find his story appealing so I gesture for him to continue by lifting my palm.

“It was a long and nasty battle that lasted for more than a decade until the Sun got defeated and the Moon was hailed victorious. The Moon promised us one thing, they will let us eat.”

“Eat?” Tala asks.

“And they didn’t fulfill that promise,” I say.

“You’re right,” he says pointing to Tala. “And you’re also right,” and now pointing to me. “Because the majority couldn’t understand how we survive and to save their faces from people’s judgement, the Moon cursed us the same way they did to the Sun.”

I press my fingernails to my palms and so as my lower to my upper teeth.

The man’s jaw is shaking as he tries to open his mouth. “They used us, betrayed us and isolated us from the rest of the world!”

“You’re doing all these for revenge?” Tala asks while clutching her fists in front of her body. “You’re not avenging yourselves! You’re killing innocent people that have nothing to do with your demise!”

For the second time, Pilar laughs in a scornful manner. “Revenge? It’s not in our vocabulary anymore.” She then lifts her hand in front of her face, extending her long thin fingers before folding them onto her palm. “We’re doing this to remain alive!”

Instead of getting clarity, my head is being rambled by question after question. “What do you mean?”

The jar where the doll and the frog are placed suddenly quivers on its own and black smoke comes out of it when Pedro takes off its lid. They peek through the inside then gasp in excitement, they’re giggling as if they are children opening a present for the first time in their lives.

Tala crosses her arms. “Okay, so what now?”

“Another one down,” Pedro says, wiggling his index finger on us. “I wonder how painful it is for these things to crawl or to fly or to jump inside the victim’s body? Well, I guess it’s even more painful when these things get out of her body.”

“Good thing, she’s already dead by that time,” Pilar adds. And again, they snigger.

The sound that’s coming from their mouths, even the slightest breath, sends shudder to my veins which induces my hand to draw my kalis.

“Oh my!” says Pilar, resting her palm on her chest. “Are we to be blamed if the victims choose to live in their delusional worlds?”

“It’s a give and take situation if you ask me,” Pedro says. “Our magical drug gives them what they desire but they have to gives us what we desire too.”

I take another step closer. “And that is?”

Pedro’s eyes exhibit sharpness as he removes the earing from the doll’s face and lifts it with his fingers. “Like this? Is this too much to ask, young man?”

“Stop fooling me!” My voice could no longer control itself and amplifies its volume. “Those insects, you’re putting those on your victims’ bodies, don’t you?”

“Bingo!” he says.

Rooting from the hurtle of rage within me, my legs leap to mid-air while my arms swing my sword on the Barang’s direction. The crashing of glasses when they hit the ground and the creaking of the table when my feet land pump my blood faster. Pilar and Pedro, even though look old, are able to dodge my attack with ease. They don’t even show the slightest emotion on their faces.

Without a second thought, I destroy all the things that are laid on the table by kicking or slashing them. The box where the earing is kept, tears into pieces and reveals different stuffs such as pendants, buttons, photos and even strands of hair that are sealed in a transparent pouch.

The distress that wanders from my chest to my throat explodes in my mouth. “Revenge. Survival. Satisfaction. Whatever it is that you’re trying to pull, you’re doing it wrong!”

Tala jumps on the deteriorating table and snatches the scabbard that hangs on my waist. “Let me borrow this.”

In the spur of the moment, she leaps attempting to attack the woman but her move is halted. Tala’s body suspends in the air as Pilar wraps her hands around her neck.

“Tala!”

Before I could help her, she is hurled to the ground. The impact causes her body to bounce up and down while rolling. I rush towards her and lift her upper body while crouching down. A relief squirms in me when she slightly folds her eyelids open.

“You okay?”

“Y…yeah,” she says, her voice is almost inaudible.

I assist her in standing up by grabbing her shoulders and pulling her weight up. Once I’m certain that she can carry herself, I remove my hands from her and take my fighting stance.

Pedro takes out something from another jar. The jar is different from the rest, it is opaque and black in color accentuated with red scriptures. He extends his fist then slowly unfolds his fingers and blows the sparkling gold and silver dust with a familiar sweet smell.

“Nooo!”

In an instant and as I should have expected, my surrounding transforms into something completely different. Around me are picturesque limestone karst landscapes that virtually kiss the bright blue sky. Underneath me is fine white sand that is so soft that half of my boots sink a little everytime I take a step. And in front of me is a crystal clear turquoise ocean, boastfully burbling whenever it gets the chance to hug the sand. Dipping on it are Sinag and father gesturing for me to join them. I turn around when I smell a charcoaled meat, below a huge colorful umbrella is mother grilling and preparing food.

The same exact sensation I felt before, an extreme happiness, embraces my entire being. Just as I’m about to meet Sinag and father, a horrifying sea creature comes out of the waters and hooks my brother and father’s necks and chokes them with its muscular scaly arms. Its piercing yellow eyes are glaring at me and its green skin with webbed limbs excretes a fishy odor. I raise my sword but don’t move my feet.

Taking a deep slow breath, I close my eyes. “Relax. This is nothing but illusion.”

The agonizing screams of my family are like daggers that are stabbing my heart all at the same time but my concentration is fighting hard. I let the little calmness I have to grow bigger until I hear Tala’s voice calling out to me.

“Liyab!”

I slowly open my eyes and in front of me is Tala’s worried face and the Barang’s confuse expressions. I’m back where I should be, in reality.

“So you made it. Must it be that your desire is that fragile?” Pilar asks.

“Hn.”

“Get ready,” Tala says.

“You don’t have to tell me that.”

Pedro snaps his fingers again and this time, all the jars are shuddering on their own like crazy. Shards of glasses explode triggering me to protect my eyes with my arms. When the clinking and clanking noises vanish, I divert my sight back in front of me. The small frog from earlier increases in size, it becomes bigger than the biggest karakoa I’ve seen.

The next course of event causes the hairs at my nape to rise, thousands of roaches and bugs hover in the air and another thousands of worms wriggle on the ground. I move my wide eyes from side to side and up and down as I firmly grasp the hilt of my sword.

Pedro gives a conceited smile before snapping his fingers for the third time, the tiny insects attack Tala and I all at once. Tala randomly swings the scabbard and I do the same with my sword, trying to hit as many as we could. Everytime they successfully nudge our skins, even in just short amount of time, the portions of the skin that they make contact with swell and itch making it difficult to focus.

While I blindly striking with my kalis, a heavy gasping tickle my ear. I turn my face to where it’s coming from, it’s Tala. Her hands on her knees while she glares at the insects in front of us. The next thing I realize is that all the insects stop attacking as if there’s an invisible force that’s ceasing them from moving. The Barang at the furthest back are pinned on the wall.

‘What’s going on?’

“Liyab,” Tala murmurs, still breathing heavily. “I don’t think I can move from this position…do you think…you can manage?”

Surprise smacks me in the face when blood trickles down from Tala’s grey eyes.

“Go! I can’t hold on any longer.”

I nod with absolute confidence.

The holes from the cavern’s roof where decent amount of sunlight passes through, help me generate enough heat in my arms. The moment I feel the blazing fire in my hands, I let it travel to the tip of my sword. I twirl around and jump high until the last insect burns to dust.

I then rotate my wrist while holding my kalis and lunge towards the giant frog then thrust my sword to its bloated belly. The flames in my blades scorch its belly causing a wail to come out of its toothless mouth.

Before I could take my next attack, a long and sticky stuff squeezes my body and throws me to the air. When I safely land on the ground, the Barang are making their way out to a dark and narrow passageway. I could only look at them from afar since the giant frog start spitting its yellowish saliva which melts everything it touches.

I have to dissolve the fire and hotness in my arms before darting towards Tala and carrying her weak body while avoiding the frog’s attack. A moment of springing, jumping, running and hiding until I get onto its brown warty back. I gently lay Tala’s body then head to the top of its head and penetrate my kalis on it. My arms release flames anew, black marks with flickering tiny fire appear on its skin as it lets out another wail and this time, it sounds more painful than the previous one.

It hops while flames keep on fleeing from its wound. Its weight is too heavy that whenever it bounces up and down, the cavern is shaking. So many things run wildly in my head but escaping is the best priority.

Not noticing that my hand is still burning hot, I grab Tala’s arm. A small cry escapes her mouth.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to.”

“It’s alright. Just go and save yourself. You don’t have to bring me with you,” Tala says.

“No! Are you crazy?! We’ll both get outta here, alive.”

She shakes her head weakly. “I’ll just be a burden to you.”

“Shut up.”

By the time the heat in my arms subside, I carry her unconscious body and head to the same passageway the Barang went into.

Pebbles and sands fall like rain and walls c***k like lightning. My legs tingle but that doesn’t make them neglect their duty of sprinting away from the collapsing cave. Little by little my chest is running out of air and my heartbeat is decelerating.