CHAPTER 1
"Kill the child."
A cold voice echoed in the middle of that dark night.
Surrounding them were aswangs wearing black cloaks. Their faces were covered with black fur, but the hatred in their eyes was clearly visible. In front of them stood a wounded woman, tightly holding a baby in her arms.
"You cannot take him. As long as I am alive, you will never touch him." she said weakly, yet with courage.
A creature standing before them laughed.
It was not human. Its skin looked like stone, its eyes were blood-red, visible even in the deepest darkness, and its presence alone was enough to make everyone around it tremble.
"That child will be the cause of the destruction of the creatures of darkness. He is the one who will bring back the light that should never return. Before he becomes the hope of this world, he must disappear." the creature declared with its booming voice.
The creature was about to approach them when suddenly, a powerful wind swept through the area. And for the first time in thousands of years, a symbol appeared on the baby's chest and began to glow.
But just as quickly as it appeared, the light vanished, leaving behind a terrifying silence.
Everyone froze. Even the creature that had been approaching them stopped after witnessing what had happened.
When it charged toward the woman holding the baby, something unexpected occurred.
The ground shook violently as enormous vines suddenly emerged from beneath the earth. They wrapped around the creature's body and dragged it deep underground.
Some of the aswangs attempted to escape, but before they could get far, the massive vines wrapped around their bodies as well and buried them alive beneath the soil.
The woman could only look around in confusion, unable to understand what was happening to the aswangs, when suddenly a mysterious being appeared before her.
The moment the creature spoke, the woman's body collapsed. Its presence disappeared, and the baby she had been holding tightly fell from her arms.
The mysterious being took the baby and brought him to a small hut owned by a married couple of farmers who had no children.
When the couple saw the baby, they immediately took him in, cared for him, and treated him as their own child.
Seventeen years passed.
In a quiet village hidden between towering mountains and a vast forest, there lived a young man who was extremely careless, along with his friend named Lanas.
"What kind of child are you? How many times has your father taught you how to properly control the flow of water in our fishpond? Look at what your son has done, Roman. The hole he made is so big that many of the fish have escaped." said his mother, Siling.
"Come on, Siling, just let him be. Only a few fish escaped, and there are still plenty left. They will multiply again, won't they, Kael?" Roman replied.
"You should scold Kael so he can learn something. Instead, all he knows is wandering around and going on adventures," the woman said before turning away and leaving the fishpond.
After the woman had gone far, Roman talked to Kael. He taught the young man what he should do and how he could make the task easier without making mistakes.
Kael followed his father's instructions. After they finished letting the water flow, they stepped into the mud to collect the fish and placed them in another section of the pond so that insects would not be able to stay there.
While working, Kael could not help but ask his father why he was still alive despite being someone who could never finish anything without making mistakes, and whose decisions often became the reason he got into trouble.
"That is how life is, son. Everyone makes mistakes. We are not perfect. We are only human, not gods. Whatever mistakes you have made, pray to our Creator because He is the only one who knows everything." Roman answered.
It was already afternoon when they transferred the remaining fish to another pond section. They also brought along the crabs they had caught.
It was already dark when they arrived home.
Kael went straight to the bathroom to clean himself before heading to the kitchen. There, he found his father drinking coffee while his mother was preparing their dinner.
"Oh, Kael, sit down so we can eat already." his mother invited.
Kael sat down, and together they shared the meal his mother had prepared.
After dinner, Kael cleaned up their dishes before going to his room.
The moment his back touched his soft bed, he immediately fell asleep.
The next morning, the young man suddenly woke up when he heard noises coming from outside.
