ZODIAC GATES-Beware of the 13th Sign

36'HIS SIDE

◎⊙◎

“It’s nice to see us okay,” I heard Zyke uttered nang kumalas na si Suwan mula sa akin.

     Nobody replied. His thoughts made us remember what we have gone through. Hanggang sa tuluyan nang napahagulhol si Suwan at si Euai habang hinayaan ko lang tahimik na tumulo ang mga luha ko.

     The others were also bowing their heads, also sad of what happened to their regions.

     “We have to move now. We have to save the whole Zoidion before it’s too late,” Zyke uttered. So we already dried our tears and turned our faces into seriousness. We didn’t have time mourn though we wanted. We had to move forward before anything gets worst.

     Isu-summon na sana namin ang aming mga pintuan nang may presensya kaming naramdaman sa likod. We turned around and saw a familiar face.

     Xayluz . . . It’s him, in flesh, standing before us with his cold face we haven’t seen during the training.

     “You, Bastard!” Zyke uttered and threw a ball of fire to him. Agad naman iyong pinasabog ni Xayl’ by counteracting it with ball of lightning.

     Xayl’ put a ball of lightning again in his hands. But when he saw himself surrounded by us with my co-Bearers’ powers, agad na lang niyang ibinaba ang depensa niya realizing we outnumbered him.

     We also put our defenses down.

     “Give me your Gate Keys,” he said coldly in a voice we couldn’t tell if he really wanted what he was doing or not.

     Taru snorted. “You stole our Keys at sasabihin mong ibigay namin ang mga ito sa ‘yo? How dare you!”

     “Why are you doing this, Xayl’?” Euai asked.

     “We want change.”

     My eyes widened. Change. Why would they want such wicked change?

     “Nahihibang ka na!” Irgo yelled.

     “We’re not insane,” Xayl’ protested, his voice started to increase. “This is for the Zoidion’s sake.”

     “How could it help Zoidion? It will only ruin the order, Xayl’,” Kases talked using his soft voice.

     “It won’t. My father promised we’ll live happier,” now his face was convincing.

     “We won’t, Xayl’. We won’t be,” Irgo.

     “It’s not a good joke, Xayl’,” Adiya talked seriously. “It will only ruin the order in Zoidion. Magkakagulo lang ang lahat.”

     “And nobody wants to change one’s Sign,” Suwan inserted.

     “I don’t want to be a Taurus,” Gemida uttered. Napatingin naman si Irgo nang masama sa kan’ya.

     “I don’t want to be a Virgo, either,” Drok talked.

     “Me, a Libra? I won’t let that happen,” Con spoke, too.

     “But that won’t matter once the 13th region will be estblalished. More peace will come.”

     “Bakit mo ba nasasabi ‘yan?” I finally inserted myself to the conversation. Hindi ko lang mapigilan ang sarili ko na magtanong.

     He looked at me so helplessly. “Racchina . . .” lungkot niya nang makita ang inis ko sa kan’ya. “Opoles will rule the 13th region―the powerful one. He will make Zoidion a place where all people can live as one―no rules to hinder,” he spoke. “Isn’t that what you really wanted to happen, ‘China?”

     Napaisip naman ako. I really love the idea. . . .  “But I don’t like the road you are taking,” I said it. Gusto ko pero mali ang pamamaraan nila sa pagtupad nito. “Look what your crazy idea have done. The regions are ruined. Many people died.”

     “Because they resisted change,” he responded quickly, trying to convince me more than anyone else. At sa tingin ko’y gusto nga niyang magkaroon ng pagbabago sa Zoidion.

     “Because that change won’t help.” A tear ran down my cheek, remembering Raya and my people back at my region.

     A few seconds of quietness hovered over us.

     “Some were just put to sleep,” he continued to talk.

     “Pero kahit na. You cannot take the fact that your father, you and the other Sagittarians did this mess just because of that insane change you’re talking about,” my voice was insisting.

     He did not reply.

     I calmed myself. “We won’t give you our Keys.”

     He looked at me for a quick moment. His chin dropped to his chest and when he looked back at us, he said, “Then I’ll get it by force.” In a blink, his hands were already covered with lightning. But before he could throw it to us, he realized we’re already have our own Gate Keys in our hands.

     “You’re outnumbered,” Zyke talked at kita naman sa mukha ni Xayl’ ang pagkadismaya.

     “But I will still fight.” Then he attempted to summon his Spirit when he fell down on his knees, suddenly.

     I saw Adiya’s other hand extending forward. A gust of air was coming from it at sa tingin ko’y sinusubukan niyang panipisin ang hangin na hinihinga ni Xayl’. At sa ilang segundo la’y nawalan na ng malay si Xayl’.

     “Xayl’!” I worried and strode to him. “Xayl’. . . .” Tinapik ko ang pisngi niya pero hindi siya gumigising.

     “’Wag kang mag-alala. Kahit na gusto ko na siyang lagutan ng hininga’y ‘di ko ginawa. I don’t want to put dirt in my hands,” Adiya spoke with her serious personality.

     I sighed in relief. Kahit na malaki ang kasalanan nito’y ‘di ko maitatangging may pinagsamahan pa rin kami bilang magkaibigan.

     “Tama na ‘yan, Racchina,” Zyke told me to stand up already so I did, leaving Xayl’ on the ground. “He’s not our real enemy. It’s Opoles.”

     Napatigil na lang kami. Zyke’s right. It’s not Xayl’ but his father. Maaaring nadala lang siya nito.

     “We have to stop him,” he looked at the beam of combined violet and back lights together at the center of Zoidion.

     “Do we have any plan?” Irgo asked while staring at the beam of light.

     “Nothing but to stop him.”

     And we already ready ourselves for what might come. “Great Circle,” we spoke in unison at pumasok na sa mga pintuan namin. But to my surprise, someone grabbed my arm and pulled me back.

     My eyes widened seeing Suwan in front. Our doors were still there while the others have already gone to where we wanted to go. “Suwan?” I asked.

     “Racchina . . .” Her eyes were scanning my face and finally it landed on my eyes.

     I suddenly felt nervousness crawling inside my body and I didn’t know why.

     And when Suwan finally spoke, I forgot to breathe, “You’re . . . a Rare Blood?”

* * *