Guardians & Encants: The Heart of Mayon

Chapter 1: Bulan and Sidapa

Bulan and Sidapa were the scholars of light and dark magic respectively. Two total opposites; Bulan the kind, carefree, and beautiful man, and Sidapa the apathetic, sophisticated, and sinister-looking man. They posed as humans and peregrinated the physical world to check on new innovations they could adopt to the spirit world. As humans, Bulan was a pretty boy in his prime while Sidapa was a tall, well-dressed man with perfect posture. Sidapa was simply intimidating while Bulan was congenial. Consequentially, Bulan would always be the one to talk to people. Anyone who encountered them thought of them as a rich, handsome young man guarded by his tall and intimidating butler.

It was a slow night when they strolled around a town. The wind blew lazily and the noise in the town hummed at minimum. They would have gone for a big city, but they knew big cities sold the same products for a month, if not years; most likely because big cities overstock so towns would have a better chance of having new products per delivery. Also, they have discovered a pleasant snack called binatog in a town when people have queued up in a park for it. Bulan loved sweets, so he instantly fell in love with the simple snack. After that, they realized big cities have busy people working all the time so if they wanted to discover more things, they should roam around towns too.

Bulan craved for an ice cream while they strolled, a sweet that made nights like this less dreadful. He asked Sidapa if he wanted one too and the tall man shook his head. "Your loss," he shrugged. Sidapa pulled out a cigarette and a lighter from his pocket, his preference over the cold and sweet ice cream. He put the cigarette between his lips, lit it up with his lighter, and sipped it like it was his last. The faint kindling of the cigarette was the only warmth he needed for the night.

From the store where he sat outside of, a boy with strong spiritual aura came out. He had no defining feature except for his aura that almost took form without his knowledge. The boy slowly walked forward, carefully considering his paper bags, then stopped, and went back into the store. Sidapa tapped his fingers on the table, forming a beat with the rhythm of life in the small town. He kept the cigarette between his lips while he followed a cat on the pavement with his eyes, curious on what was going on inside the cat's head. It brushed itself on a couple of loud college students going home, who totally ignored the cat. The cat stretched and proceeded to a couple who were a little bit more touchy than necessary. Normal stuff, he thought.

The boy came out of the store again, carrying more paper bags than when he first came out. Sidapa peeked inside the store to see if Bulan was already queued in line, but he wasn't. Sidapa sighed, and lit up another cigarette. The boy went on his way again while still checking the items inside his paper bags. Sidapa casually regarded his cigarette, the most important thing in his world right now, and puffed out a dispersed smoke. Beyond the haze, he saw a pair of lights headed for the boy on the road. It glared angrily in the distance, keen on taking a life, but the boy clearly didn't notice it as he was still regarding his bags. The smoking man simply continued to let the nicotine flow through his body without bothering to shout a warning to the boy.

He watched the event unfold.

With a loud thud, as if the signal to start a play, the car hit the body- a theatrical scene for Sidapa. The world slowed in his eyes and he could see every little detail, even the tiniest dusts that rode the wind freely. He stood up and walked closer to the accident. The boy's body was in midair, inching slowly away from the impact. The paper bags the boy was holding were still on his arms, but not for long. Sidapa checked the passenger's seat, and saw a woman screaming while covering her eyes. There was genuine fear in the air that surged from her. She dropped her phone, which was still in midair like the boy. He walked to the other side of the car, which had already moved slightly forward. The driver's eyes were wide open, the panic keeping it from shutting close. He wanted to look away but he was holding the wheel so he couldn't. Sidapa noticed the crumbs of cocaine on his lap. He wanted to punish the careless driver, so he blew on the driver's face. Black dusts latched onto the face of the man, innocuous for now but quite terrible in the proceeding days.