The Tale of Xenosa

See You When I Do

Xenosa's POV:

 It was an hour after we ate the soup Nana prepared for us. We were playing cards in the room, having some fun. Temporarily forgetting about the whole Sitan waking up issue. I mean it was good to just, you know, hang out with friends and be teenagers for once. Though our fun had been cut short because the three of them had decided to go back to the room. Meeting's over, huh? The three of them were sporting different faces as well. Dagat had her usual poker face on while Mom and Dad both had grim looks on their faces. Well, that's not a good sign. My guess is that whatever they talked about must've been something sad or bad. Dagat was the one to speak first, "Xen they have something to tell you," she said. Based on her tone of speaking, it must be something serious. Ah family time, okay. I get it. I looked over at Cresia and gave her a look. I think she understood what that meant as well, so she excused herself from the room. "Xen, I'll be outside once you guys finish talking. Just call if you'll ever need me, okay?" she says. I nodded my head and said, "Thanks Ches, you can hand with Jaz and Justin, no need to wait for me I'll be fine. Don't worry about it," I replied. She nodded her head and continued to go out of the room. After she was out, mom and dad immediately approached the bed where I was currently seated. My mom then started to say, "We believe Sitan has grown stronger over the years he went dormant. Or we believe that he did. Only he was amassing so much power while at it. He had gotten powerful enough that he was able to manifest himself in your consciousness while still stirring. Even worse, he was able to physically harm you by doing so. If he continues to stir at this rate he'll be awake sooner than expected." I then looked over at my dad because I heard him clear his throat, "Xen, the three of us have decided that your Nana, together with your mom and I must go back to my domain in order to check and monitor Sitan's awakening. It will help in keeping him at bay longer," he explained. They were leaving me?! Okay, I was overreacting a bit, but how could they do that? I've longed for a complete family my entire life and yet they'd leave me here all alone? How would that help in making Sitan stay asleep for a longer time, anyway? Why are they going home? To help with keeping Sitan at bay? That just didn't make sense to me. I've only known this family for a day and yet they were already planning to leave me. Well, that's just great. I saw Dagat glance at me and I knew she saw the tint of disappointment in my eyes. For a moment there, I saw a quick glimpse of concern flash into her eyes. Huh, it must be a feeling she's familiar with. "Nothing is certain yet, we'll meet the council in a few hours. We have to tell them about what's happened to you so that they can act sooner," dad continued to say. I fixed the way I was thinking and feeling so that I wouldn't seem like an unreasonable kid throwing temper tantrums at her parents. "So uhh, how is going home actually going to help in assuring that Sitan stays asleep longer?" I asked. Keeping the tone of my voice as monotone as possible. Not allowing any kind of emotion to breakthrough. I will not let things such as my emotions hinder the job, it was their responsibility to keep the people and creatures in their domain safe. So who was I to counter that right? "Xen haven't you heard of the story of Sitan's downfall?" Nana asked. I shook my head to the side, saying no. She took in a deep breath and began to tell me the story. “It was said his four agents had failed in protecting him. They were about to claim the skies where Bathala had rained over but their plan was overturned when his four agents were nowhere to assist him. The prophesied demigod had overturned his plans and played him at his own game, and so he was pierced in the chest by the chosen demigod in order to defeat him during that era. And so he fell to the underworld. Now the underworld, as previously stated, is just under the Earth's crust. Only it's in another realm. In this world, the only way we can get close to the underworld or the underworld could get close to us is by entering the deepest parts of the ocean. Which, of course, is your father’s domain. Your father controls everything that’s in the sea, even the piece of land it’s on below. If he could delay the opening just like what he did before, then maybe that would be a game changer for everything.” I nodded my head at her, trying to comprehend her explanations. And then a question popped into my head and, without thinking, I asked it out loud, “If Sitan had already been defeated already, why do I need to go and do it again?” From my peripheral vision I saw Dagat uncomfortably shift on her seat, “That’s because the demigod during that time, didn’t actually defeat him. He was only sent to the underworld and was cursed to remain asleep. The only way that he could wake up was if his agents had risen back to the mortal realm and we believe that they did,” I was quiet for a moment. The story somehow made sense, but I felt like something was lacking from it. To my surprise, Dagat spoke next, "You see Xen, the four agents were wrongly killed. You had to hit them in the spot where their lifeforce is coming from. The demigods from before made the mistake of piercing them in the chest. That didn't kill them at all. It only made them disintegrate. Time will come. They'll take human form again and join their master once more, this time much stronger than before." I was about to ask her why she knew about all this but a sudden knock came to the door, "Who is it?" Nana called from the inside. "It's Emma ma'ams and sir. You've been called to the court room. A hearing will begin shortly. They're waiting for you to come and join them there." she says. "If that's the case, then you'll only need dad and mom to go. Why do you still need to take Nana with you?" This time Dad was the one to answer, "That's because she'll need to chant some magic there. We'll need all the help we can get," he says. I was about to protest but dad had cupped my cheeks, "I'm sorry, Xen, but we'll have to leave you here and train. Your sister will be here with you. I know you're disappointed about the entire thing, but trust us, it's for the best," he explained. I had a million words that I wanted to say to them but I just couldn't do it, the only word that I could muter was a short and simple, "Okay". My mom hugged me and kissed my cheek while dad squeezed my hand. They then left the room and headed out. I then did the only reasonable thing I could've done. I cried. I cried until the tears had stopped flowing on their own. I cried until the heaviness on my chest was lifted, I cried until I couldn't anymore. Why was the world so cruel? How could a life that had started so peaceful and only a little less than perfect turn out this badly? I mean, I understood the prophecy was already there even before I was born, but I couldn't help but think that if I hadn't been born at all, then maybe there was no prophecy to come true. But then it was selfish of me to think of it like that. If that happened, I'd only be giving this burden, this problem to another child and making them suffer. It could be one of the demigods I'm with right now or one I don't know at all. I'd only be avoiding it and not really erasing the problem. I hoped that we could've bonded for a few days at least. I wanted to get to know them more. As much as I despise the public display of affection my parents do on a daily basis, I must admit that I'd like to know their story and why they acted like that. I wanted to spend time with Nana. I mean, that's the whole point of this whole quest. I needed to find her. I thought that by finding her I'd be answering all the questions that I had. Well, finding her did answer a lot of those questions. I met my mom and dad. I know as to why they left and why they had to do it. But on finding her, the list of questions continued to grow longer. Everyday I seemed to be adding more and more questions to the list. I was tired. Physically and emotionally, I just wanted to rest already. Maybe I had cried too much and thought too deeply that I didn't notice myself drifting off to sleep. I then found myself entering something, a familiar void. Oh no, not again. I don't think I can handle two of those in one day. I waited for the impact to hit, but nothing. I touched the scar I had on my back. It seemed to be glowing. After a while, I noticed that it was burning. But I wasn't in pain. Wait b-but how? Then I had a dumb idea. I closed my eyes and stepped out of the body I was in. Then I saw it, it didn't hurt because it wasn't me. It was someone else. She had a mark on her shoulder and had the demigod mark on the side of her face. She looked awfully familiar. I think I was her but I'm not. Though I couldn't see her face clearly, I knew she had the mark. The omega wound on her back was paining her but she kept on going. The farther she walked the more her face contorted because of pain. I wanted to scream at her and say, " Hey you stop!" but I couldn't. I didn't have a voice here. She then came to a sudden halt. I followed her line of vision and saw she had found him. She found Sitan. With her shoulders bleeding she fought him with all that she had. Sitan had four people behind him, the girl suddenly stopped fighting. She dropped her sword and screamed in agony or was it in despair? She was talking to them but I couldn't hear it. Everything in this vision was muted. Then the scenery began to change. I saw four people. It was the same girl. I think I know this vision. I've heard of this before. I racked my mind so badly, trying to remember all the details I had about the prophecy. That's when the memory clicked! This was what Cresia's vision was! It was us! We were stone. The four of us were stone. I followed where the statues were facing, they faced five figures. Four were dead, like they were already dead. One figure was on the ground, screaming and pulling out his hair. I don't know if it's out of fear, sadness or anger. Maybe even all of them. The one moving figure suddenly began to glow, he was literally glowing! I bet my money that only a few moments from now he would burst. And he did! Then the entire place shook. I looked around. That's right, we were inside some kind of cave. I forced my line of vision to go further and that's when I saw him, a glowing figure. The god of all gods. The greatest of them all. The ruler of the skies, Bathala.