Into Another World: Kalibutan

The People of Kalibutan

We go out of the carriage and saw the bodies of the three bandits in the ground.  In front of us is a tall good-looking young man with garnet-colored hair and sharp brown eyes.  He was holding a metal polearm and looks like he was the one who wounded those three bandits.

The two other bandits are tied in a tree and was guarded by two human-looking creatures but they have thick skins like scales of a dragon and horns in their head.

“It seems you were unharmed Zara. I can’t believe you were abducted by this weak Tawos” said the man holding the metal polearm while looking to the girl with nice clothes.

The girl replied “I’m sorry Sir Bolin, I know that I was not diligent enough to do my job as one of Lady Ling’s attendants. I was even captured by these bandits; thus, I’ll accept any punishment you’ll give but please help these girls.”      

“It is up to Lady Ling to decide what will happen to the three of you. Rest for a while then we will go to the mansion for Lady Ling to decide your faith” Bolin said.

The two human-like creatures with scales guarding the two bandits tied in a tree went to Bolin and whispered something.

Bolin told the two creatures “I get it, but could the two of you use your aghoy. I cannot stand seeing your scales.”

A red light covered the bodies of the two creatures emitting heat that cause us to sweat. After almost a minute the red light was gone and the scales and horns of the two creatures were also gone.

The two creatures were now looking more of a human. Both of them were tall and with tanned skin and blood-red hair.

Bolin and the two transforming creatures left us. They brought the bandits somewhere and instructed us to rest and to wait for them. She gave Zara a whistle and told here to used it if something is wrong.

While waiting for them, the three of us started chatting.

I learned that the name of the girl with bruises is Resa. She lives with her mother and both of them work as cooks and they were maltreated and paid unjustly by their master a Naga. Her mother has a huge debt with those bandits and they cannot pay them. Two days ago the bandits went to their house asking her mother to give her to them instead. Her mother did not agree and thus she was killed and they abducted Resa.

Zara, on the other hand, was an orphan and was working with Lady Tan Ling as one of her attendants. Then, yesterday a group of bandits went to Tan’s mansion to steal. Zara saw the bandits in the act of stealing and tried to stop them. Unluckily, Zara failed to stop them and she was abducted too.

I shared my story with them, and they told me that I might be a Jinn.  I asked them what is a Jinn, a Naga, and a Tunga.  

They explained to me that Naga, Sirena, Tunga, and Jinn are people of Kalibutan.  Kalibutan is divided into three nations: Qin, Mai, and Zamal.  The people of Qin are called Nagas. The Nagas are weredragon people and known to be ruthless and cruel They originally look like humans with scales and horns. They can transform into dragons and humans, their aghoy form. You can identify a Naga in their aghoy form because of their red hair and all of them are tall.

Mai is the richest among the three nations. The people of Mai are called Sirenas. They are half-human and half sea-creatures, mermaids as we commonly refer them.  Same with Nagas the Sirenas have their aghoy form. In their aghoy form, the Sirenas are known to be good looking with average height and sapphire eyes. 

The humans or Tawos in their term are from Zamal, the poorest nation. Zamal is a nation that is always devastated by calamities. The Tawos are seen as lowly creatures of Nagas and treated them as slaves.

The Tungas are mixed-race. They are thought to bring bad luck thus considered as the lowest people in Kalibutan. The Tungas maybe a mix of a Tawo and a Naga or Sirena, or a mix of Naga and Sirena, the latter however doesn’t reach adulthood. The tungas look like Tawos but they had some of the features of their Naga or Sirena parent.

The Jinns are people from another world different from Kalibutan. It is believed that a Jinn is brought by a God named Badadum. 

Zara told me that this forest is a territory of the Qin Nation. As she mentioned she works with Lady Tan Ling, a Naga known to be full of compassion, unlike the typical Nagas. Sir Bolin and the two other guards who save us also works at Lady Tan’s Mansion. Sir Bolin is a Tunga, his mother is Tawo and his father was a Naga general working to the past Naga ruler. Both of his parents died when he was five. Lady Tan was a friend of Sir Bolin’s father and she treated Sir Bolin as his own. The two other guards were Naga as they used their aghoy form at Sir Bolin’s instruction.

Zara assured us that she will ask Lady Tan to help us. Resa was excited to meet Lady Tan and hopes to work for the known respected Naga.

I, however, was still confused about the things I learned about this place. Am I dreaming? Is this world real? Can I survive in this new world? Can I go back to my world or there is no way out of this world? Questions start popping again in my head until Sir Bolin and the two guards return without the bandits.

No one asked what happened to the bandits. Resa and Zara might know where the bandits are but I don’t want to ask them. I wanted to rest and I am hungry to think for those bad guys.

Sir Bolin told us that since the three of us have rested we will now be going to Lady Tan’s Mansion.

Before we leave the forest, Sir Bolin apologized for not introducing their selves to Resa and me. Thus, he introduced himself as Huang Bolin the leader of the guards in Tan’s Mansion. The two guards were Jay and Mar, they were newly recruited guards of the Mansion.