Espiritu

0 - A Town With a Cursed Moon

The hum of the shuttle van's engine was audible, but quiet enough to not bother the people inside it. The highway was winding, almost zig-zagged, and had a few bumps here and there.

The passengers of the Daftours van were accustomed to the high-noise and low-stability of the old-fashioned cars that ruled the roads of the countryside. They were either playing games in the van's obsolete holo-displays or looking wistfully through the tinted windows, staring at passing farmland and palm trees without much thought.

It apparently never occurred to anyone to listen to music; they instead used every cell in their brain to try not engaging the van's faulty AI in conversation (it would play obnoxious 21st century pop music whenever you addressed it; the driver would apologize for this every hour).

Syed was sitting right behind the driver.

"So, you come from the city, huh?" The driver asked. His voice was rough, and although his Tagalog was quite good, his Visayan accent slipped more than once. "I'm guessing you're from the capital?"

"Yeah," Syed said. "I'm transferring schools."

"Aye, it's been a while since I talked to someone from Manila." The driver popped a smile, which Syed saw in the rear view mirror. "I'm not sure why you would transfer to a town like Libulan, though. You probably won't like how quiet it is, seeing as you're from the city and all."

"I. . . took a test. Whatever the result was, I was appointed to Libulan, and nowhere else."

"Is that so? Well, that's bad luck. Or good. It depends on how you'll react to how things are around there." The driver laughed. "Do you know the story of how this town was named? The one about the moon?

"The moon?" Syed thought about it for a while. He did his research of the town beforehand, but the moon was never mentioned, as far as he can recall. "No, I'm afraid I haven't heard of it."

"Hm? Well, don't worry about it too much. I'm sure some lonely sod will tell you all about it once you're settled in and comfy."

-

The "test" that Syed spoke of was a nightmarish thing. It invaded his senses with a barrage of shapes and colors that gradually grew brighter and more chaotic with each quarter-second. The sharp cries of a thousand bats and the unpleasant sound of a million snapping bones seemed to pierce his ear canals and fry his brain to a mush. His heart felt like it wanted to claw itself out of his chest, as if it was disgusted by itself and the host that contained it. Why did he feel such regret- why did he feel the guilt of having betrayed another?

This was how the test began, a taste of the nine hells. Fortunately, it only lasted for about three seconds.

A strange holo-display lit up in front of him. It was a flat image of two circles, one red, and the other copper. Both flickered like decrepit lightbulbs in a vintage carinderia.

"Which one is in torment?" A voice that invaded his inner speech asked. The answer, Syed felt, was naturally the copper circle. He didn't harbor any doubts; the answer was obvious.

"I see," the voice said. "I now know who you are."

"You are an insignificant young man. Aren't you trying to find something? An answer to an childish question? Either way, you have been marked, and if you don't do anything about it, many others will be marked as well."

"Maybe you'll find your answer there. You already know where 'there' is. But don't get your hopes up."

-

Libulan labelled itself a city, but you would only see its city-like aspects if you drive through the highway. Stray away slightly and you would tear down its facade of economic progression and reveal a quiet town that still leaned towards its traditions. Even if these traditions were meshed together with sophisticated holograms and an abundance of neon lighting. The townsfolk did love their colors; enough to even line the country roadside with argon lighting.

It was two days after Syed arrived. He decided to take a stroll on the seaside boulevard just a few blocks away from his apartment.

The town prided itself with its beaches and caves, but what captured Syed's awe and attention was its moon. The bright lights and high-rise towers of his homecity stole any sort of interest he had with the night sky. Now, though, he felt himself lucky to have seen the full moon.

"Star-gazing now, are we?" A young man approached Syed. "It must blow your little cityboy mind right up."

"The stars aren't even out."

"Moon-gazing, then. Same difference; you trying to be clever, huh, cityboy?" The young man smiled wide. "Only joking. I lived in Tacloban not too long ago. Well, five years ago. So we're basically birds of the same feather."

"I guess we are."

"Well I'm glad we agree on something. Are we friends now? The name's Frisco, by the way." he offered to shake hands with Syed. "People call me Fresh Boy, but, uh, don't call me that."

He shook Frisco's hand. "I'm Syed."

"Yeah, I've heard. My old man told me about you. He's close friends with your dad, so we came to visit your weird house earlier."

"Yeah, it does look weird."

"Doesn't it? I know it's a rental home, but did the landlord actually had to split the house down the middle with a really noticeable wall? I know the guy; he doesn't even like the place, so it seems really pointless."

They watched the moon in silence for a while. Syed just noticed that it glowed a sickly-yellow.

"So Syed, I heard you're going to LVI? Looks like we'll be in the same school."

"That's right."

"Cool. Well, see you around." Frisco walked away and waved his goodbye.

"Yeah, see you."

Frisco stopped mid-farewell. "Oh, and be careful, by the way. It looks like you've been marked."

Syed looked surprised. How did Frisco know about being 'marked'?

"Didn't you know? You're walking underneath the light of a cursed moon."