The green forests of Ngayam were luscious as ever, bird calls filled the air and the sunlight was filtered through the healthy foliage. As always, it was a perfect day to stroll around, the serene environment that the forest provides gives any creature solace. At a usual herding spot unstained by the trees of the forest, a deer was feeding on the plain's vast grassland. The deer was part of a herd but became lost and came upon such a feast; it never wondered why he was alone at such a wonderful piece of land.
The place was once filled with herbivores of all kinds any time of the day, until a new hunter came to the feeding grounds and turned it into a hunting ground. The deer kept on feeding, wandering lost around the forest was such tiring chore, gathering energy might help him find is way back to the herd. The grassland was a fortress for feeders, it's landscape made it that the wind will travel from the tress around it toward it's middle carrying the scent of any predator coming to feed making it impossible for them to hunt undetected. The deer kept on feeding, it felt a small gust of wind pass him but he made it no mind for it carried no scent.
Suddenly, the deer fell down; an arrow pierced it in the heart giving it a swift death. Fifty meters away atop a tree, Habagat was squatting on a branch where he just let loose an arrow, after a couple of times before, he still could not fathom how he can manage such a feat. Three weeks ago he couldn't even manage to keep an arrow fly straight but now, he could hit a boar in the eye fifty meters away
Habagat jumped down and landed on his feet, he began to run towards his catch and put two of his fingers in his mouth to whistle, it was a signal for Amihan to guard their catch to prevent other predators from stealing it. Amihan soared swiftly through the sky towards the deer and shrieked her hunting call. Habagat arrived huffing and wheezing, Amihan was already standing a top the deer guarding it with her sharp claws.
"I bet you're getting insecure... hah... hah... that I don't need you to eat... hah... anymore, eh?" Habagat said while bent down, hands on his knees. Amihan just whistled while looking at him with her head bent sideways.
"I'm just kidding." Habagat tried to brush her head, she was already as tall as he was "Come on, I'm getting hungry."
Habagat led the way to the trees while Amihan flew up and circled him as he walked. Habagat felt pride as he walked through the woods while carrying his catch on his shoulder. His lessons with the babaylan really helped him out; it was funny to learn that his gift was the cause of his inability to shoot an arrow.
You see, Habagat, you have a large well of mana but you don't know how to control it yet. Every time you aim, you concentrate too much and release a lot of mana along with your arrow therefore, throwing off your aim.
Habagat arrived at the river where he usually compares catch with Amihan. Habagat began to gut the deer, throwing it's innards on the ground for Amihan to eat. He thought whether it was enough for Amihan, she has been growing real fast, in just a matter of weeks she was already as tall as Habagat. He put the deer on a spit and placed it on top of a fire he made a while ago and watched the fat sizzle while waiting for Amihan to arrive.
"Hey!" A voice rang from the trees. Habagat turned to look and found that it was Malayon.
"What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be having lessons with the babaylan?" Habagat asked while turning the spit.
Habagat learned that both of them were students of the babaylan, and she has been very helpful to him. The babaylan taught him the basics of mana, how to release and control it. Creativity and imagination is the only limits, the babaylan would always say and it was Malayon who thought him how to. Malayon once showed him how a cyclone works and how to make one simply by wrapping Habagat in one. Habagat thought she was bluffing until he cut his finger when he tried to reach out and touched the wall of wind, turns out that no matter how fast the wind spins in a cyclone, the middle remains unaffected and the wall of wind kept everything in.
