Lunch.

Rakin is currently having lunch with Minera in his own hut, which is something that should not be allowed to happen under any circumstances.

Because the people here believe that an unmarried woman shouldn’t be dining with an unmarried man under the same roof, and should instead be with their families, unless they are engaged or something similar in their beliefs.

“Why are you here again?” Rakin asked as he chowed down on the food before him, and even though the taste was only passable because there is a lack of spices. He didn't have much of a choice but to eat as he needed to replenish his exhausted body.

“What do you mean ‘why am I here’? If I wasn’t, who would eat and cook for you? You barely know how to cook” replied Minera with a raised eyebrow, and compared to Rakin who’s eating like there’s no tomorrow, Minera is eating slowly with graceful movements.

“Besides, I really can’t understand why you don’t want to eat with your mother and your siblings,” Minera added.

Rakin placed a meat inside his mouth and replied, “Step mother and half siblings”

Minera looked at him and said, “I don’t really understand what those mean, or where you even learned those words, but even if she isn’t your real mother, you’d still have to treat her as your mother and those two kids will still be your siblings. It’s not like Dayang Hamara doesn’t treat you any differently because you’re not her real son”

Rakin just snorted, but inside, he was bitterly thinking, ‘You think I didn’t want to? It’s just that the previous owner of my body didn’t like his father’s new family. I just can’t go over and suddenly cozy up to them when everybody knows how much I don't like them, right? I can only continue this facade until I have reason to even start mending our relationship’

‘Living with the identity of someone else sure is hard~’

“Anyway, I heard from the kids that when I was a child, a group of aswang came over to “visit” me, was that true?” Rakin said carefully while taking a mouthful of the meat on his plate carved from some kind of wood.

Minera raised an eyebrow, wondering why he’s asking such an obvious question he should already know, “That...yeah, and they didn’t come to visit us. They attacked our village because they wanted to take the kids, including you and me. One of my uncles and a couple of adults died because of them, but thanks to their sacrifice, no kids were abducted and became their food”

“Why are you asking something that you should already know yourself? You had even told the kids that story multiple times already”

“Eh? I was just casually asking” Rakin hurriedly said while shaking his hand in front of him towards Minera.

‘So it wasn’t just me huh? But I wonder what an aswang looks like? Do they truly transform into large dogs like the stories mentioned? And if they exist, does that mean tikbalang, manananggal, capre and the other supernatural creatures in the folklores also exist in this land?’

When Raking reached the end of his thoughts, he couldn’t help but shudder as he imagined himself encountering one of them.

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‘I’d probably yell like a girl or pee my pants!’

Remembering something, Rakin looked up and turned towards Minera and said, “Right, how long do you think my father and the rest will come back?”

When Rakin woke up after he was rescued, he didn’t wake up to see his father, but instead, he found out that his father had led a few of his men and assembled a caravan with them as they made a journey towards one of the neighboring friendly villages in the mountain regions, a trade they had always done with them.

His absence made him really curious about what he looks like in person, especially when he discovered that his father’s face in his memories is really blurry like there’s a film or something blocking his face.

Pwwwwwft~ [Sfx]

Minera was about to answer his questions when the sound of conch shell being blown in the distance was heard, and both of them looked at each other before they hurriedly got up and looked outside through the window, and the rest of the villagers below them, quickly abandoned what they were doing and looked towards the direction of where the sound is coming from.

With confusion on her face, Minera mumbled, “It’s too early”

Confused, Rakin looked at her and said, “What?”

Pwwwwwft~

Pwwwwwft~

Pwwwwwft~

Rakin was looking at the confused Minera, wondering what she meant, but when the sound of a conch shell being blown resonated for the fourth time, his face quickly changed. Rakin quickly turned around and grabbed his Kampilan, then he stopped for a moment as he thought of something, then he turned around and grabbed his buntot pagi before running down his hut and towards the direction of where the sound was coming from!

He wasn’t the only one, the men who were also confused earlier had also left what they were doing and were running with their Kampilan in their hands as the conch shell kept resonating in the distance!

Rakin and the faces of the others were filled with tension and battle intent!

It was because the conch being blown more than three times meant an emergency!

Rakin and the rest had stopped in their tracks and stood just at the edge of the village looking towards the distance as they gripped their weapons tight.

A few of them were surprised to see Rakin, but they knew it wasn’t the time to be curious about something when they are currently facing an emergency.

On the other hand, Minera and the other women of the village led the kids towards the house of Rakin’s father, and standing beside her is Rakin’s stepmother, Hamara.

The women hid the kids inside the Rajah’s house, before turning their attention towards the men in the distance.

A man coming from the opposite direction could be seen running towards where Rakin and the rest are.

And when Rakin and the others heard the sound of someone running from behind them, they turned their heads around and saw Rakin’s uncle running towards them with a Kampilan and strapped bow and quiver on his back.

Rakin’s uncle arrived, and gave Rakin a quick glance before looking at the rest of the men and said, “Banoy, Kidlat, Heherson, with me. The rest stay here and look after the village”

The men whose names were called nodded, and just as they were about to depart, Rakin hesitated for a few seconds before calling out and saying, “Uncle, I want to come with you!”

His uncle stopped in his tracks and looked at him and saw his trembling arms. He wanted to refuse him, but when he saw the determination in his nephew’s eyes, he smiled and only said one word, “Okay!”

Hearing his reply, Rakin felt delighted even though he’s feeling quite scared inside, but he is determined to survive in this world!

He knows that the first step to change is the hardest, but he can only move forward and face whatever challenge is thrown at him!

The group immediately departed and as they passed through a relatively large trail that leads towards the mountain regions.

Rakin followed behind the group while looking around cautiously as this is the first time that he had gone this deep into the mountain trail, and at the same time, he was also a little kind of confused about why his uncle only brought a few men with him.