The Illuminated Maiden

Chapter I

Blood dripped from his blade, a single-edged, one-handed blade with a pronounced belly near its tip, known as a pinuti, featuring steel with a dark coat. Surrounding him were bodies of bandits who were once dining, now sprawling on the bamboo floor, their blood seeping through the gaps. There was none, but the faint sound of crickets and the vagabond's breathing after what was an underwhelming encounter against a bandit who had been terrorizing the village of Lumpan.

Moonlight from outside the thatched hut, seeping through the windows, and illumination from a lone lantern in the middle of the room shone upon the vagabond's olive face and his obsidian eyes, revealing his earth-colored headdress which held back his wavy ebony hair. The wind from the outside blew on his bare chest, where there was only a brass pauldron covering his left shoulder, masking the humidity. He wrapped his legs with moss-green cloth complemented with a dirty-white sash belt, protecting his feet with woven sandals.

He had ended up there after journeying through the Galang Valley, the expanse of land housing the principalities, known as kadatuans, of Hamabar and Selurong, which in themselves contained settlements and the cities of Kota Hamabar and Kota Anawang respectively. There was a time he ended up in the Galang Valley on the island of Abuyo, a landmass of agricultural highlands and swamp-filled lowlands, with hinterlands covered in rainforests where bandits and otherworldly beings found their home.

The earthy smell of the Galang Valley, emanating from the Galang River flowing through it, took him back to a youth he believed never existed—for he could not remember it no matter how he recalled, yet somehow, he knew he once roamed these lands before he left to cross the seas and make his trade someplace else. In an instant, the earthy smell turned into the smell of blood at the sight of the bodies, still sprawling on the floor, their eyes empty and facing the bamboo rafters of the ceiling. The vagabond shook his head and sheathed his sword back into its scabbard, and the spat in disgust at the thought of degenerates terrorizing a humble and once-peaceful area that was far from the reaches of the urbanity. He proceeded to turn around and walked out of the hut through a doorway covered with beaded curtains.

It was common for dwellers to elevate their homes using stilts, accessed through small steps, and the house where the bandits stayed was no different. The humid wind from outside greeted him as he made his way down the steps. The moon shone bright, yet the clouds began gathering above, ready to smother the moonlight. The animals within the rainforest surrounding the village sensed it too, as the howls of monkeys grew faint, as with the chirping of crickets.

He walked through a dirt path surrounded by foliage, eyeing his surroundings. The area, save for the sole hut, was empty. Then, from the shadows, three figures cloaked in darkness appeared: one of them, a tall man with a blade in its scabbard on his side, adorned with markings of caiman patterns all over his body, with the two others behind him, carrying bamboo spears and rectangular shields with patterns carved.

"Is it done?" said the tall man, revealing himself to be a chestnut-skinned figure donning a loincloth, a vest, and a striped headdress. He went before the vagabond, fixing his eyes on the latter.

The vagabond grunted.

"Stupid question," the tall man remarked. "You have a reputation in these lands after all, vagabond, and I had yet to see it for myself. It's rather impressive that you managed to find where Kaliso and his men were hiding in the outskirts of Lumpan. I assume he won't bother us any longer."

"But some other bandits might," the vagabond spoke in a rough, deep voice.

"Yet we know where to go for help, right?"

"If I decide to set up shop for my services, then maybe. Otherwise, you can run to your datu if he even cares at all."

The tall man chortled. "You're a funny one. Anyway, the puno is waiting for you back in his home. Don't worry—you will be well-rewarded for your efforts, which didn't seem much for you."