Patchworld Heroes

The Sword and The Stone

A flash of light slightly above ground throws a man clad in a red shirt into a hollow tree. He coughed upon landing and managed to stand up and tried to chase the light before it completely disappeared.

"Waaag!!" He shouted. "Ano nanaman to..." he sits on the ground and tries to get his bearings together, checking his belongings and breathing a sigh of relief upon realization that he still had his dull dagger.

Tristan was no stranger to interdimensional travel. In the past, he had traveled through three different worlds in a quest to save his wife, armed only with the dagger inherited from a legendary blacksmith named Flavio.

"Lizardo!!!" He shouted the name of whom he believes to be responsible for his transportation to the unfamiliar realm. He hears a strange sound from behind a broken pillarx which lead him to stab the dagger against the dirt below him, magically transforming it into a great sword. "Lumabas ka dyan!"

A dazed young woman walks towards him. She coughed repeatedly and then fell to her knees. "Ang bato..." she whisphered frantically searching her surroundings. Tristan could not help but show concern for the dazed woman.

"Miss? Okay ka lang?" He asked, reverting the sword into a dagger.

"Ah.. oo pero.. may nakita ka bang parang bilog na puting bato? Nung napunta ako dito, nawala eh..."

"Bato? Wala. Teka.. bigla ka din ba napunta dito?" Tristan asked, offering his hand.

"Oo. Lumilipad ako tapos.. may ilaw tapos napunta na ako agad dito. Kung saan man to." she continued to frantically search for her gemstone.

"Lumilipad?" Tristan laughed. "Ano ka? Magic.. ay.. mahika?"

"Ha? Anong magic. Ako si... " the woman looked around. "Basta." She stood up.

"Ano pangalan mo miss?"

"Narda. Ikaw?"

"Tristan."

"Alam mo ba kung nasan tayo?"

"Hindi. Sabi mo ikaw lumilipad nung napunta ka dito. Ako naman pauwi na sana..."

"Ano yang kutsilyo mo? Nagiging espada?"

"Oo. Gawa ko to gamit bakal galimg sa langit. Ah.. meteor kumbaga. Ikaw? Bakit mo kailangan nung bato?"

"Sabi ko diba lumilipad ako? Magagawa ko lang yun pag nilunok ko yung bato."

"So.. wala ka ngang kayang gawin?"

Tritan pointed at a crystalline tower far from them. "Baka may mga tao doon na matutulungan tayo." Narda sighed and agreed to accompany him. They walked together in the direction of the tower. Narda was visibly upset over not being able to find a certain keepsake.

Nearly an hour of walking later. They saw what appeared to be a destroyed hut. They ran towards it. Observing the surroundings, whatever destroyed the house, may have had claws as there were multiple claw marks throughout the walls.

Narda gasped and almost screamed. Tristan rushed to her and found that the slightly mangled dead body of a man was at the back of the house.

"Kilala mo?" Tristan asked.

"Hindi pero.."

He goes near the corpse and touches the dead man's head. "Malamig na."

The dead man was clad in a brown leather jacket and seemed to be armed with modern day pistols, however, it looks like whatever his expertise may have been. It wasn't enough against the hostile creatures. Tristan searched the man's pockets and jacket. Found a full box of bullets for the pistols. He took the man's wallet and found some identification.

"Ricardo Dalisay... Pulis to." Tristan deduced as he took the pistol and loaded it up then hands it to Narda.

"Di ako gumagamit ng baril." She replied.

"Eh anong kaya mong gawin? Paano kung umatake yung kung ano ano saatin."

Narda paused for a moment then took the gun. She kneeled and performed the sign of the cross for the dead man before they left.

They continued their journey towards the crystal tower but their attention was caught by what looked like a man staring at them from a distance.

"Tristan. Tignan mo yun oh." She pointed at the man.

"Oo kita ko." He responded, grasping his dagger.

The man from the distance suddenly crouched on all fours and ran towards them, immediately clawing at Tristan. He swiftly dodged, turned the dagger into a sword then stabbed the assailaint, immediately killing it.

"Aswang!" Tristan yelled as soon as he noticed they were surrounded by a dozen more of these monsters. Narda aimed her gun and shot them as accuratelt as she could but only managed to hit and kill three of them. The gunshots attracted more of the creatures to them.

"Wala nakong bala!" Narda said as she dropped the metal pistol. Tristan adapted an offensive sword stance and slashed his way through, with Narda following her. She, however, noticed something dangling from the neck of one of the creatures. "Tristan sandali! Sandali lang!"

"Ano?!" Tristan responded angrily.

"Yung bato! Yun yung bato!"

"Sigurado ka?"

"Oo!"

Tristan, despite his doubt over Narda's story, dashed towards the aswang with the white stone necklace. He ripped the necklace off from the creature's neck and threw it at her.

"Ang dami na nila..." he said, deeplt worrying about their own lives as they were surrounded by seemingly dozens more of the creatures. Narda placed the necklace on the ground and stomped on it, crushing the metal around it and freeing the smooth round stone. She smiles as she had the stone in hand and wipes it with her shirt. She swallows the stone and yells.. "DARNA!!"