A Serpent's Revenge: Bakunawa's Bloodline

Chapter 17

Chapter 17

[MAYA]

"No!" Maya screams in vain and quickly gets to her feet, rushing towards Axel while holding out her spear. Axel dodges, but Maya quickly follows it up with a quick upward swing. Her quick movement manages to scratch Axel's cheek.

Maya did not stop there. Her fighting drive seems to be on turbo, as she quickly follows every attack with another one. All Axel could do at the time was dodge her quick and fierce attacks. Even someone as powerful as him could not do anything, especially since the weapon has some strange magic that seems to frighten him.

A twinge of pain starts to intrude on her mind, making her fall to her knees. Images seem to be popping into her head at such a frightful speed that she cannot decipher what it is that her mind is seeming to recall. It feels like something is hammering at the back of her head, and she's afraid that her head might explode. The pain is so unbearable that it is making her tear up and let out a scream of pain.

She sees images of herself in her younger years holding hands and playing with a boy her age. A joyous laugh rings in her ears so loudly that she can barely pay attention to the sound of Axel speaking to her.

"You're a dangerous one." Axel's eyes seems to be glowing red when he looks at her from where he stands. "I guess that's the power of the daughter of Mayari when basked until the light of the moon." He strides carefully towards her.

Every rational part of Maya is screaming at her to get up and run, but the throbbing in her head is making it hard to focus and command her body to move. Memories of her childhood that she can't seem to remember are somehow entering her mind, and focusing on one thing is hard enough for her to do. She can't even feel the pain on her back as it strikes the wall after Axel kicks her in the stomach, sending her flying back and striking it.

My head is going to explode! She wants to scream as she continues to cry and crumple.

Axel, on the other hand, seems to be laughing at her current predicament.

"The serpent boy must be losing it right now if your memories are starting to return." He snorts.

"What...did you say?!" Maya clenches her teeth after struggling to voice out the words.

'Sigren...Sigren!' A voice. A voice that she used to have when she was a child suddenly rings in her ears as imagines of her younger self can be seen running excitedly towards a younger child in the forest. 'Why are you crying again?'

A boy, not older than five, turns to the younger version of Maya. 'Because you got hurt trying to defend me from the other demigods again. They are going to isolate you and you will be lonely.'

'I'm never lonely, Sigren.' The younger version of Maya sounds so confident and happy that it feels foreign to her ears. 'As long as I have you and Ingko, I am never alone. I am happy whenever I am with you two.'

"Sigren." The cloud in her head appears to be dissipating as her previous memories of herself are restored. She remembers him now—she remembers everything, from the fun times and even to the sad ones. She recalls how close she has been to the serpentine brothers and how sad she was when they had to part ways. Axel was responsible for Ingko's passing, and it was also the force that drove Sigren insane. Before parting ways with him, she remembers Sigren asking her to come with him to join him for vengeance. When she declined, that's when Sigren wiped out her memories.

"That...idiot!" Maya fights through the pain as she props herself upright using her elbows. She notices Axel standing in the moonlight that shines through the cave's mouth onto the cave ceiling. To her horror, she realizes that the moonstone is already gone, crushed to pieces beneath the foot of the demigod.

She looks up at the sky, the bloodmoon growing redder as it seems to illuminate the remains of the moonstone lying under Axel's foot. Strangely, something seems to rise from the pieces of the broken moonstone. Small red particles begin to gather, and the more that they grow, the more the cave seems to be growing hotter.

She has to leave the cave soon. She doesn't know what's going on or what Axel did to the stone, but every fiber in her body is yelling at her to flee for something omnionous is about to happen.

He is calling for something, but upon feeling the presence that's coming from the stone, Maya thinks that it could not be Bakunawa. It's something warm and bright like the sun, so it could not be the serpent.

"Sigren." Maya hisses when she remembers that she can't leave here alone, not when her friend is somewhere beneath the water. She pushes herself up before diving into the water where she last saw the serpentine boy fall.

She lost him once before; there is no way she is going to lose him again. Besides, she still wants to grill him for taking away her previous memories of their childhood. She starts to take a dive in the water with her spear. Using the light that's emanating from her weapon, she begins her search for Sigren.

Luckily, her friend didn't drift far away, as she is not the best swimmer in the land. Sigren lies on one of the platforms near the edge. His body lies on the ground, while his tail seems like it is being swept by a current. Maya fights off the sting from the sea water and swims closer to him.

Maya manages to grab him just before getting swept away by the current. The pool around him is red from the blood on his stomach. Maya pales at the severity of his wound. She worries because it seems like something fatal.

Janella. She needs to find Janella!

With the Engkanto's help, she could heal him, and Sigren could definitely survive. She just hopes that she will be willing to help when she does manage to find her.

Maya reaches back to the surface, having just gotten a good breath of air when she heard Axel's melodious laugh ringing in the cave.

"Arise, Minokawa. This generation is now yours!" Axel professes to the sky, where a burning mass of fire begins to form a shape.

Minokawa? Maya can only gawk when she recognizes the name.

If Bakanawa, a sea serpent, is a moon eater, then Minokawa, a massive predator bird, is the sun eater. Not much is known about Minokawa other than the fact that it is one of Bakunawa's enemies. In fact, Minokawa is a creature that so few people talk about that it would seem like a work of fiction compared to Bakunawa. Nonetheless, if Axel is the one reviving Minokawa, then it should be as bad as reviving the Bakunawa himself.

The massive outburst when Minokawa starts to take form and spreads its flaming wings up into the sky suddenly swept Maya back before she could even consider what action they were going to take next. A strong, swift current drags Maya and Sigren further down into the ocean after they are once more thrown in.

Maya clings to Sigren, ensuring that they do not become separated as the monstrous current continues to push them. The spear glows along the way, providing her with light just as the current finally stops. Everything around them is empty. Pure black waters surrounded them, making Maya worry that they may have lost their way.

A sudden chill makes her turn back as the feeling of being watched registers on her radar. Keeping Sigren in one hand while defensively holding the spear in another, she turns and, with horror, comes face to face with two massive yellow reptilian eyes.

'Free me, child. Free me!'