Night had descended upon the group, led by Siti, who halted from time to time to check on their direction. They had no torches, but as it was an open area, it appeared bright enough, as they trudged their way through rock-riddled fields with scant vegetation. Paglinawan had wrapped a piece of cloth around her mouth and nose, as the smell of sulfur permeated her senses. Kabael tailed behind, his eyes darting from one end to the other, gripping the pommel of his blade as he went on. From afar was the sound gushing of vents in the area and the smell of the odor following each gushing. The gushings began growing louder as they went on walking.
This terrified Paglinawan, who had never heard of such things before. Of course, she wouldn't remember passing by the Varman Wasteland as a child. For another thing, the path through the wasteland merchants and travelers passed would not have been as otherworldly as where they were. At that point, she reminisced about the time during her childhood that she was in Mandalungan. She wished they arrived in Mandalungan and that the entire trudging through the wasteland was but a mere dream.
"Siti," she spoke with a muffled tone, "what are some dangers walking in the dark through this place?"
"None, as far as I'm concerned," Siti answered, kicking a rock in front of her. "Why? Are you worried we might get attacked? Don't fret, Paglinawan. No life, aside from a few plants here and there, would survive such conditions."
"All right." Paglinawan nodded. "I trust your knowledge."
"Have you even walked through these lands after dark, Siti?" Kabael said.
"No," Siti answered, "but I doubt that at this point, anything would jump on us. We've been walking for quite some time now, and—" Yet Siti spoke too soon. From deep within the ground, there came out a hand, smaller than that of normal humans, featuring a root-like texture. The hand clutched and writhed around Paglinawan's ankle, which made her lose balance. In an instant, she fell to her side, slamming her shoulder on the rocky ground.
"Gadis!" Siti turned around, but another hand gripped her foot. She fought to break free, tugging her foot, until she drew out her keris and started hacking at the hand. A compressed gurgling sound followed after she had cut the hand off, leaving a miniature pool of black fluid.
Paglinawan looked toward Kabael and Tayag. More hands had gripped both their legs. Kabael drew out his blade as well, and began chopping at the hands, leaving them in pieces after they let go. Tayag, on the other hand, lost his balance as he pulled his foot away, almost falling to his side, but he unsheathed his blade and hacked at the hand grabbing him, severing it.
There, Paglinawan eyed what was grabbing them from beneath the soil: from the ground came out a creature, standing at a height close to their knees, with skins made of tree roots. Their eyes, flanking their long, massive noses, glowed white, displaying anger and aggression. Other creatures soon came from the ground. Paglinawan attempted to draw out her blade from its sheath, but one of the creatures grabbed her wrist.
Gritting her teeth, she used up the muscles of her arm to break free, but these creatures were too strong, despite their size. She took a glance at the area surrounding them and her heart pounded, as there came more and more creatures rising from the ground, advancing in on them. Some of them turned their heads to their kind that Kabael and Siti had hacked down. Their eyes, from glowing white, turned black, and their expressions displayed fury as they moved in.
Paglinawan gathered her strength once more, and she then pulled her arm, sending the creature gripping her flying across. There, she grabbed and unsheathed her blade. Before her was the creature grabbing her the first time. She yelled out, and then, took a swipe at its neck. It squealed for a moment, but the squealing halted abrupt, as its head fell from its body, its neck spurting out black fluid. "What . . . what are they?" said Paglinawan as she stood up.
"I haven't the foggiest," answered Siti, as she backed away from the huge number of advancing creatures now circling them, like ants moving in to feast on pieces of meat. Pagnlinawan did the same, and the four of them found themselves against each other's backs.
"Kalangets," mumbled Kabael. "They are ancient creatures that burrow upon barren ground. We are in their territory."
"Well, this is bad," said Siti. "Now would be a great time to use magic, Kabael."
"I haven't any strength," said Kabael. "Also, they own the land."
"Who gives a toss? We just chopped down a few of them, so I doubt they'd reconsider murdering us at this point!"
"I concur, ardha," said Tayag. "We could fight with our blades, but there are simply too many of them."
Siti drove her keris through a kalanget's chest. "Stay away!" she yelled, as she threw its corpse aside, but Siti's move only angered the kalangets, and the eyes of every one of them turned black. They began to rush at the group, shrieking as they lunged. Paglinawan's chest tightened and her muscles constricted her airways. She almost fainted at that moment, and she removed the piece of cloth covering her mouth and nose, which only made her sensations worse as the smell of sulfur seeped in.
"Kabael," said Siti, "any minute now . . ."
"What do you want me to do?" said Kabael.
"We're about to get massacred here, Kabael! Do something!"
Kabael grunted kicked one kalanget away as it rushed to attack him.
"Kabael . . ." said Paglinawan in a weak tone, "just . . . just do something. Please . . ."
Kabael sucked in some air and closed his eyes. He sheathed his weapon and lifted his hands with such grace that a performer would, making circular gestures. While moving about, his body began glowing vermilion, with light flowing through the veins of his limbs.
"What's he doing?" said Paglinawan.
"Kabael, what are you doing? A simple spell will do!" Siti fended off a number of kalangets. Tayag hacked at a couple of them who gripped his leg. Paglinawan could only miss or scratch the creatures while taking swipes. At that point, the kalangets had grown aggressive. They began attacking the group with the sharp ends of their fingers that had features which could splinter anyone. One struck Siti's face, grazing and leaving a trail of red upon it.
"Ardha!" said Tayag, who chopped off around eight kalangets trying to pin him down. "What is taking you so long?"
Kabael's body heated up, and then the heat surrounded the four of them. The sparse grass sizzled, as the heat moved away from the group. The rocks moved as Kabael went on to gather more of his strength. He was chanting something, and his chanting grew louder—until it stopped. Paglinawan closed her eyes.
Then, as Kabael stretched out his arms sideways, there came a loud boom accompanying vermilion light blasting outward of a circle surrounding the four of them. The wave of fire engulfed a fraction of the land, turning grass and vegetation charred in an instant, and sending pieces of rock and soil flying off. The ground shook and miniature geysers formed, spewing acid on the rocky ground, down on the kalangets who were still advancing on the group. Each of them shrieked before the acid dissolved their frail bodies.
The other kalangets were in the way of the blast, which scorched a vast part of the barren field. It was there, after the blast, Paglinawan opened her eyes to the smell of burnt wood mixed with a rancid odor. She looked around her, and there were charred corpses of kalangets piled upon each other, hundreds of them.
"What just happened?" said Tayag, who shook off a kalanget's hand severed from its now burnt body. "I have never seen anything like that!"
"Kabael," said Siti, who had her hand on her right cheek, trembling while she beheld the sight of death before her, "what was that?"
Paglinawan could not speak. She could not even close her mouth. Her eyes widened at the impact of Kabael's power. She, too, had never seen anything like it, not even when they were back in the realm of the mangalos.
"We better leave this place fast," Kabael grunted as he was wheezing, panting, and perspiring, with his eyes moist and bloodshot. Warmth emanated from his body. "The kalangets are the ancestral owners of this land. The others, especially the one who leads them, won't at all be happy with what we've done . . . what we've done . . . here." Without waiting for the others, Kabael trudged through the dead bodies of the kalangets, still emanating smoke. He limped over them, kicking some along the way to make a path for everyone.
"But Kabael!" said Paglinawan. "Don't you wish to rest first?"
"No time to rest!" Kabael snarled, and he coughed violently. He caught his breathe after a few moments. "Rest . . . rest will come when we near the river."
"Kaba—"
Paglinawan tried calling out once more, but someone pulled her back by the shoulder. She turned to her left to see Siti shaking his head. "Don't," said Siti. "We best leave him be for now and make our way to the river."
Paglinawan nodded her head. Siti sighed and shook her head once more. "Both of you, Paglinawan and Tayag, don't know this, but he's always styled himself as one of the protectors of the land. He wished not to harm the heritage from thousands of years ago. It may seem strange to you, but you two may someday understand that he takes this heavily."
"I see . . ." remarked Tayag.
"I remember him saying once that beings such as humans, diwatas, and mangalos style themselves as owners of the land they occupy, the only ones to take the resources of the land, and ironically think, especially humans, that they're the only ones who can save the land they dwell in."
"But nature . . ." said Tayag "It will continue to thrive even as we die off, and even as nature becomes unsustainable for man. A good friend once told me that. Perhaps he was right in saying so."
Siti nodded. "Mankind is funny that way. Anyway, we should go, before more of the kalangets find us here." Siti went off to follow Kabael.
"Miss Siti?" said Paglinawan. Siti halted.
"What is it, princess?" asked Siti.
"It is still rather unclear to me how you and Kabael know each other."
Siti shrugged. "I work as a corsair, a mangatang in your local tongue, taking contracts from different kadatuans for a living. I raid merchant ships from rival realms to stunt their trade. I met Kabael in Dagitan, whom the independent datu asked me to work with in subduing pirates from the north, who had also been raiding merchant ships. Yes, I won't take it against you if you judge me for it, gadis."
"Oh . . . So you aren't really a sailor."
"Technically, I still am," said Siti. "We'd best get moving, so we'll reach the river by midnight and then, we can make camp."
It took them some time to reach the path where travelers would pass. Upon arriving, they noticed the path was, by all accounts, narrow, yet good enough for beasts of burden to pass through. It was a path resembling a shallow trench, no deeper than where it reached their ankles, and featured a long stretch of grass, which they believed the creators of the path from centuries ago planted. There were also trees, not endemic to the area, surrounding the path, providing shade to travelers from the scorching sun, and even shelter from drizzles.
Yet it neared midnight, and the road was empty. They could not even hear the sound of crickets from afar, and the silence amplified their heartbeats, which pounded as they wheezed past the field of rock and dried soil. Around the area, the stench of sulfur had disappeared. Paglinawan removed the cloth covering half her face, and she was relieved she could finally breath well enough. She found comfort in the fact that they would only follow a straight path toward the river.
Kabael, again, tailed behind, when the rest of the group had caught up with him earlier. He remained quiet throughout the entire trek, brooding by himself. Not even Paglinawan attempted to talk to him, as she turned her head from time to time to see how he was. Kabael could have led them at that point as they understood he knew the road to Mandalungan well. After all, he was supposed to serve as Paglinawan's guide.
Siti halted and inhaled some air. The rest of the group followed suit. She turned around, looking at Kabael, but she did not say a word. Kabael looked Siti in the eye and nodded his head. "It's your turn to lead, Kabael," said Siti. "Beyond this road, I don't really know the path. I am just a humble foreigner from Begawi. Will that be all right?"
Without saying a word, Kabael came forward, and Siti went along to tail behind. Paglinawan's eyes wandered back and forth, comprehending what was happening.
"Will you be fine, Kabael?" Paglinawan asked.
"Yes," the ardha answered. "Just stay close. Though this path goes straight, who knows what trouble we'll encounter. Siti, make sure no one gets left behind."
"All right," said Siti, nodding her head.
"Anything I can do to help?" said Tayag.
"Just protect Paglinawan, Tayag," answered Kabael, "as your duty has always been."
"Understood, ardha."
"Good. Time for us to move."