Narration: Fei

The room is full of abandoned TVs and other electrical equipment. A group of aswang are staring at a TV watching a debate where two politicians are in an argument over some matters involving a corporation. An aswang witch and a human thug sit together closely seeing what may impact the whole of the Philippines.

Even though the aswang are monsters, they do have humans that ally with them, whether through greed, opportunity, or coercion. Usually the latter. The reporter on the TV makes an announcement.

“Kasalukuyang mayroong debate kasama si Jose Garza at Juan Reyes tungkol sa mga papel na ginagampanan at mga plano sa pag-unlad ng Pinnacle para sa konstruksyon at imprastraktura ng Maynila. This may impact the initiative to pass the bill to give Pinnacle more resources in---”

“Hay, jusko, ito no naman,” the witch says in frustration.

The thug responds, “Let’s just see what they have to say.”

I see a figure walk to the podium on TV. I recognize him as Senator Jose Garza, as listed in the lower third title of the broadcast. He starts speaking.

“Senator Reyes, Magnus’ projects have revitalized the economy and cut down the unemployment rate by half in 5 years. To not pass this initiative would go contrary to the values we stand for to ensure na lahat ng Pilipino ay may magandang kinabukasan.”

The lower thirds switch to the name Senator Juan Reyes, as the shot cuts to another senator who says the following in response.

“With all due respect, Senator Garza, ang pagbibigay ng higit pang mga konsesyon kay Magnus at sa Pinnacle sa magpapalakas ng kanilang impluwensya sa buong bansa. There is always a price when you allow such powerful entities like these companies to go rampant in our society. Do you not remember how much we sacrificed to end foreign interference in our affairs?”

Garza fires back. “They already transformed half of Asia with groundbreaking technologies. We have to compete, o maiiwan tayo sa ere.”

Reyes replies, “I won’t deny that. But look how powerful they have become. We will be at their mercy. Hindi sila aalis. I would go as far to say a lot of their policies are close to neo-colonialism.”

Garza scoffs, “Mga korporasyon bilang mga colonizer? Sinisiguro ko sa iyo na--”

Reyes interjects. “Look at what happened in history. Like in Indonesia or Thailand for example. They basically now own those countries. We must at least limit foreign control in these projects.”

Garza adds, “But the nanotech used to build these skyscrapers---”

Reyes slams hand on the podium, “That’s exactly what I am afraid of! Doesn’t matter in construction, communication, or even sanitation, they have control of that tech. Alam nating lahat na maaari nilang itigil ang konstruksyon ng parehong teknolohiyang na ginamit nila upang itayo ang mga ito. Holding the country hostage.”

A huge commotion can be heard from the overall national legislature.

Reyes shouts, “We let them go too far. NO MORE TO THIS CORPORATE IMPERIALISM!”

Arguments start breaking out from numerous politicians over the debate. The Aswang continue to watch the mess on TV unfold.

The thug crosses his arms. “I’ll admit, Reyes is bold but he will definitely be pushed aside or ignored. Tiyak na makakahanap ng paraan ang Pinnacle para mapahiya siya.”

“Or have him killed,” She looks at the thug.

He looks back at her, “They wouldn’t be so obvious, right?”

She shrugs, “A politician from Davao disappeared after he openly denounced Pinnacle’s operations in Mindanao. Everyone down there knows they are responsible, but what are they gonna do? Wala.”

He nods, “A shame. Fucking corp shitting on the rest of us. So about the shipment...”

She responds, “Ate Dalisay wants them moved in a few minutes. We can’t keep our client waiting.”

“Sige, oras na para umalis.” He nods to the rest of the group to get moving.

I was hoping they wouldn’t start now. I could try to sneak the abducted victims out, but the security layout of the base is similar to the warehouse. They will be alerted if I phase through any of the walls. I guess I have no choice. I have to subdue the gang first.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

One of the thugs attempts to turn off the TV. I make my move. I use my hand to reach out through the screen grabbing him by the collar. Then I pull him with all my strength slamming his head into the TV knocking him out. The sound of his skull hitting the edge alerts all the rest. The others are quick to draw their weapons and shoot at the TV.

After they stop unloading, they still aim at the TV guns trained. One of them walks closely but cautiously to check.

Soon, other TVs start turning on randomly in the room. Deception and misdirection are usually my favorite tactics. I quickly crawl out of a TV behind a thug and threw up ectoplasm at his face causing him to recoil. I quickly punch him before finding cover from incoming gunfire.

The witch points in my direction for the others to see. “Butangi ang iyang kilid.”

The aswang and their human thug allies move to surround my position, while shooting at me. I phase through the TVs to run away from the group. The witch telepathically threw one of them from the pile at me. I jump through the screen and disappear as the TV hits one of the aswang in the face knocking him out.

The mob looks around anxiously to see where I was.

Unfortunately for one of the thugs, he gets near a pile of abandoned stereos. Time for some rock music. With flick of a switch, the stereo blares out extremely loud rock music disorienting the thug and causing him to cover his ears in pain. I appear from behind the stereos and knocked him out with a boombox. More of the mob shoots at me, while I run across the room. Some of the bullets graze me. I hold my side while I regenerate. The qi present in this room is off, but enough I can absorb the flow to use my powers.

Some aswang with claws, maws, and melee weapons try to charge at me. I attempt to dodge with moves that one can see from capoeira, something I learned when Finn and I were in Brazil a while ago. I draw a combat knife and slash at the two aswang that are attacking me.

They attempt to counter my attacks but I managed to slash them a few times. They pull back with the two human thugs as the witch shoots her magic at me. I contort my body as I try to dodge more bullets and magic missiles.

The witch meets with the wounded aswang and licks their wounds healing them. Very odd way to mend wounds.

One of the thugs drops his gun and reaches for something in a nearby bag. It's an RPG. He aims it at me.

“真的吗?” (Really?)

The thug fires the projectile. With quick reflex, I take a TV and hold it in front of me. The TV turns on with white noise on the screen and the RPG disappears into the static world within.

I bet they didn’t see that coming. The human thug lowers his gun and looks at the witch. The witch looks back at the thug.

The witch yells, “What are you staring at? Kill her n--”

One of the TVs suddenly turn on with the RPG appearing out of the static abyss going straight for the witch and the other two aswang detonating on impact. I cover my face from the smoke and debris.

As the smoke cleared, I could see that almost everyone in this group was downed or possibly dead, if that RPG blew that witch up. I can not only bring objects into the Static Realm but also people. I could have dragged any of these thugs in. But, I won’t. That part of my past is behind me. It would have to be some dangerous individual to force my hand.

Despite what I am, I try not to be a killer. It’s not my place to take a life. It’s better whenever possible to subdue and not terminate my opponents. I hope that I didn’t end up killing the witch. However, I heard her kind is very resilient. An RPG in this case is good enough to down them. Kill them though? Hard to say at the moment.

I see one of the conscious thugs run away downstairs. I would pursue him but something caught me off guard. It is the human thug that was talking to the witch. I stand in front of him. He drops his gun and raises his hands out. “I...I surrender.”

I notice that the thug looks rather familiar to the girl I met earlier. And of course, he had a rose tattoo on his right arm. Coincidence? Doesn’t matter. I will take this opportunity if it works in my favor. The thug looks at the fallen.

I ask, “Where are they?′

“Look, they will kill me if I snitch,” he pleads.

I remain silent.

He asks, “You will kill me if I don’t tell you?”

I shake my head. “No.”

He sighs. “Oh....thank you.”

“It would be easier if you told me for your family’s sake.”

The thug is taken aback by my words.

I say, “We know who you are.”

A sort of bluff, which works. The thug kneels down pleading to me. “Look, just don’t hurt them.”

“I only mentioned them because I don’t think it would be fair to your daughter to grow up without a dad.”

I walk over and lay my hand on his shoulder and give him the girl’s watch. “Your family will be protected. I promise.”

The thug tears up and nods, taking the watch. “Basement. Fourth door. Combination 2548.”

“Thank you. Go to them.”

Sniffling, the thug stands up. I nod to him and he nods back, before running away.

One of the aswang groans and reaches for his gun when a spear appears through the ceiling and impales the aswang’s hand. The aswang cries in pain as the spear disappears. I could hear the sound of familiar footsteps. I turn to see a Caucasian man with red hair and a beard with a long beige coat and a white dress shirt walking through the doorway. He walks like how warriors of old would walk, which was with confidence and certainty but also with a certain amount of vigilance. His features look middle-aged but there's something...ancient about his visage. He saw much....that I understand. One can easily tell from his dark-green eyes. He holds up his spear.

Finn walks over to me and shakes his head. Disapproval? Naturally.

“Lass, what did I say about giving promises that we can’t possibly keep?”

“I was only bluffing so he could tell me the location.”

“Yet, you also let him go.” The spear in his hand disappears in a flash of light as he puts his arm down.

“You said everyone deserves a second chance. I’d rather not have someone resent us because we took someone’s dad away.”

Finn groans, “That’s not up to us. Look, I get it. It’s not easy, but you must know we can’t help everyone.”

“You helped me, remember?”

He scoffs at my words, “Aww, it’s because you were foolish back then. Shite, you are being foolish now letting suspects go.”

“Then, I’ll be foolish and proud of it.”

Finn sighs and scratches his head.

“We’ll talk about this later. C’mon...let’s find the captives.”

I’ll admit as we leave the room, I feel a bit embarrassed about what I said. Foolish and proud of it? It sounded so much better in my head.