The Tale of Xenosa

Open Sesame

Cheska's POV:

After we ate the small celebratory feast the nymphs prepared for us, they wanted to bond with us for a while. We took the time to sing around the campfire with them as well and ate some smores. All in all, I'd say that it was a pretty fun night. We headed off to bed early (as early as we could) to get enough rest before we left at midnight. We needed to get to the gate before sunrise, so if we left at dawn it would be too late for us, once we got there. That night I fell asleep with fun memories replaying on my mind. Though my dreams weren't as pleasant as those memories. The moment that I had closed my eyes, I was instantly taken to a whole new world of dreams. I knew it was a dream because Nana was there. She was there with me. The scene was when we were at our hut in Samar. She was doing her usual routine of crocheting clothes for me. I, on the other hand, was busy painting. I was so engulfed in what I had painted that I accidentally bumped my cup from where I placed it, causing it to fall onto the ground and thus break. "Cheska, you clumsy girl. Get the mop now and don't pick at the broken pieces, you might hurt yourself. Just get the mop and the dustpan," Nana said. I could sense a bit of anger in her tone. Once I came back with what she ordered, I then carefully cleaned the mess I made. I had my head down the entire time. Scared that Nana might scold me and s***k me with a hanger again. Yes, again, that has happened before. But to my surprise, she called my name, "Cheska, come here. Did you see what you did wrong here?" she asked. I then nodded my head yes. "Very well. You must always take into consideration your surroundings. It's okay to be focused on one task, just don't get so engulfed by it that you forget what is happening around you. The cup broke. It will never be the same mug again. If I were to say an even worse situation, I'd say that you even hurt yourself because of it, but thankfully it didn't come to that. You must always think of others Ches, and how your action may affect them." she said to me knowingly. I then looked up at her and answered her with a nod. After that, I was drifting into an infinite void of darkness again. I was woken up by Cresia a few hours later, violently shaking me. "Geez woman, have you no chill?" I said while rubbing my eyes. "You'd think we were in the middle of some kind of emergency," I said to her, annoyed by my lack of sleep. She rolled her eyes at me and said, "Well, if you don't get up right now, we won't get to that gate by sunrise. We'll get behind by a day if that happens. " "Alright fine, I get your point. But you didn't have to shake me like that," I said to her. "Well, you wouldn't wake up if I did it gently", she shot back. I then proceeded to stand up and dust myself. I then thought of the weapon that I'd bring. I didn't have a black-bladed sword anymore. Should I ask the nymphs for another one? Would that be a good idea? I did throw the sword they first gave me. Yeah, I shouldn't ask for it again. I just grabbed my pack and wore my jacket to keep me warm. This forest sure is cold at night, no doubt about that. I tied my hair in a ponytail and washed my mouth. I then grabbed a pair of gloves from the sides of my pack and wore them. They weren't gloves. They were just something I wore to protect my palms since I'll be using my knife again. I looked over at Cresia and saw that she was tying her hair as well. I walked over to where she was and said, "You ready?" to which she replied with "Yeah just a sec. Oh, by the way, we'll need to stop by at Rita's spot. We should say thank you to them." I just nodded my head at her, indicating that I agreed. After she finished preparing, we went to find Rita. We found her sitting on a rock by a stream. "Hey, Rita!" I called to get her attention. She then faced us with the same kind smile she had on her face when we first met. "I think it's time for us to go. We'll need to hurry if we want to reach the gates on time," I said to her. Though she already knew of our plan, we still thought that it would be rude to go unannounced. Cresia took her hand in hers and said, "Thank you for everything, Rita. We owe you guys so much. We had fun last night. Please take care of the forest, I'd want to see this place again once the entire quest is over." Rita nodded her head and said, "Thank you to you too. Without your help, we could've never recovered this place from the dark nymphs. We would've fallen victim to their tricks over and over again if you hadn't gotten rid of them." She says while looking at us both. I then noticed how she was teary-eyed, though nothing was unpleasant about what we were talking about. "Rita, why are you sad? Is there something wrong?" I asked, concerned. She shook her head no, "Quite the opposite of that, dearest. We've finally been set free by the curse of our sisters. Though they took so many lives with them, we'll make sure that their memories will forever be honored by the beauty of this forest. Their homes." "If only we'd gotten here sooner, we could've helped reduce the casualties", Cresia said. "No, everything happens in their own time. Those were all meant to happen anyway. Fate sure is cruel at times," Rita replied. "You two girls take care of yourselves and good luck. The nymphs are forever in your debt. Godspeed to you both. Au revoir ladies" she said as she hugged us. And so we went off to the gate. We used the newly updated map Rita gave me before we left to battle the darklings. It's very handy. We got through some swamps along the way, but not cottages. We noticed that the farther we went the scarcer the number of trees. Cresia says the place was under some kind of enchantment. When we tried to let her fly off and used the height to look for the gate, we couldn't see it. All she could see was a thick covering of trees. But when she got down, there were no trees at all. Even the grass we were stepping on seemed to be shorter here as it's somehow maintained for the appropriate length. The winds have gotten warmer. That's a good sign the sun will be up any moment now. The surroundings continued to clear up the farther we got until we were met by a dead end. If the map is correct, then the gate should be here. Though no gate could be seen by our human eyes. We thought it was hidden or was just turned invisible or something but there was none. We even approached the rock wall, trying to "feel " the gate. When all of our attempts were unsuccessful, we just both slumped onto the ground loudly. "Maybe we read the map wrong or something," I said. Cresia nodded at her as if saying "maybe". I then handed her the map, "Seems about right. We took the right turns this time. I don't understand how there's not a gate in sight. If this map was accurate, the gate would be right in front of us right now" she says. "I guess we'll have to wait for sunrise," I said. And as if on cue, the sun rose and shone its light on the wall. At first, it was just golden particles swarming around. Cresia and I both stood up and backed up a few steps and then, in the blink of an eye, the most magnificent gate that we'd seen in our whole lives was right in front of us. It was as tall as the mountains and as golden as the sunlight. It's made up of the most intricate designs. It had the symbols of the gods, the encantos, and the witches. It was gorgeous! The gate was purely made out of gold, in fact, because of the "gold-ness" light reflected from it. It was super shiny and powerful. Above the gate was some kind of faint bubble. Was that the forcefield? Cool! On both sides of the gate, there are towers. They both had people on top of them armed with bows and arrows. Oh, they were archers! I was so in awe of the entire thing that I couldn't help but let out a little squeal. I wondered if the entirety of Biringan was like this. I began to look around the place. This was cool and everything but it was closed. How do we get this to open? I then stepped out of the place I was at and looked for a doorbell or a sign or whatever. Cresia decided to look around as well. "Do we need a key for this?" She asked. "I don't know Cres. But I guess we have to do something to make it open," I answered. She then did her "concentration pose" for a while, indicating that she was thinking of a way we could open this. "Hmm the gate only appeared when it got hit by sunlight, right?" she started, "Okay I got it!" she then proceeded to get a mirror from her bag and reflected it onto the ground. "And bingo!" I was amazed. Wow "Smart move Cres," I complimented her. She just gave me two thumbs up and a proud smile. I then began to read the markings, hmm they were in Visayan. Were we in the Visayas? Or was this Mindanao? I didn't have a clue. This must be the language of the people here, I said, remembering that Magic adapts to the nature of life it's located in. I then chanted the words out loud, "Tabi tabi po. Agi mi" and just like that the gates to Biringan flew open.