《The Void》


 The Bounty Hunter

    In the middle of nowhere, between the island of Ator Rala and the city of Kvatch there¡¯s a traveler with a strange horse riding along the road. The horse emits a magical aura and its color was black as a void. On (his) its head, there¡¯s a silver colored mark that lines up from its forehead toward its nose and it has a red cat like eyes. No matter how strange or beautiful this horse is, it is full of scars in its body.


    This traveler is going to an unknown village to look for someone. The village is in the middle of a dense forest that travelers and merchants have a hard time traveling to. They come there to trade or to visit and sometimes they get lost.


    ¡°We better get hurry, I already see the sunset.¡±


    The horse nod and tap its hooves to the ground like it understands what (his) its rider said. The traveler holds the reigns of his horse so tight to ready himself for the ride.


    ¡°Ok, let¡¯s go Ranger!¡±


    He galloped his horse so fast that one could suddenly feel as if a strong wind passed by.


    The sun is setting and there¡¯s a mist coming through the forest. While he is riding through the forest to get to his destination, the trunk of the trees were forming strange faces and looked at him when he passed by.


    These kinds of trees are considered normal in this place and they don¡¯t do anything to hurt anyone, it just form a strange smiling face if there¡¯s a mist around. This traveler knows the route to that village so there is no problem for him to easily get lost. The horse galloped so fast that they already arrived in the village just after the sun sets.


    This unknown village has a population of 27 people. It has livestocks, a bee hive farm, stables, a cemetery, an inn and 8 houses. The traveler entered the village slowly and he knows that the villagers are looking at him.


    There¡¯s a drunkard laying in the stairs outside the inn and looks at him. He gets up and walks drunkenly towards him then he looks up to the rider.


    He saw a guy wearing brown robes that almost covered his entire body with a hood that covered the face and wears brown gloves. His outfit is like a medieval monk and he wears brown trousers paired with dark brown boots. He also saw a long cloth that covers something that straps on the back of the rider and he thinks that it must be important or something. Because it¡¯s already night, he didn¡¯t get a good look on his face.


    ¡°Hey! You freak! *hic* what the hell are you doing here!?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m looking for someone.¡±


    ¡°You can¡¯t find *hic* anyone or anything around here *hic* so get lost!¡±


    ¡°Look. I¡¯m not looking for trouble and I¡¯m in a hurry so if you get in my way, you will regret it.¡±


    ¡°What *hic* if I want some trouble?? Huh!? ¡±


    The drunkard pulls out his knife and points it towards the traveler.


    ¡°Let me see *hic* your face, you freak!¡±


    ¡°We are getting out of time, get back to your house. Now! ¡±


    The traveler put back his hood and they got shocked on what they saw. He wears a half ivory mask that covered the left side of his face and he has a black hair and brown eyes that is familiar to them.


    ¡°Hey! I think we know you. You¡¯re the rumored bounty hunter that has a black hair and wears a half ivory mask. You are specialized in killing monsters that have a good bounty on their heads and the only survivor in the small town of Valen. Patrick of Valen, the bounty hunter. Am I right? ¡±


    The innkeeper asked. He stands in the door of his inn looking at the drunkard and the bounty hunter.


    The innkeeper is an elf and has two beautiful half-elf daughters that serve as barmaids on their inn. He looks young even though he is over a hundred years old. His wife is a human who died recently because of an unsuspected goblin attack that killed her while picking apples for her family.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    The elves live longer than humans and they look younger than them but they are fewer now than before. The reason is the jealousy of humans, they despise seeing elves having longer lives and looking younger than them so they massacred the elves. Humans still continue to kill their race for their own selfish reasons. He live in this village with his family even though he is an elf because his neighbors accepted them.


    ¡°Yes, you¡¯re right, that¡¯s me. Patrick of Valen, the bounty hunter.¡±


    ¡°Well, what can we do for you? And please forgive him for acting like that. He just drinks a lot but he¡¯s a good man.¡±


    The drunkard is trembling while still holding his knife that is pointing towards the bounty hunter. When he found out that he is the rumored bounty hunter, he sheathes his knife then ran back as he returned to his house. He suddenly awoke from his drunken stupor.


    ¡°I¡¯m looking for a girl named Rea. Does that name sounds familiar to you?¡±


    The villagers outside watching them, goes inside their houses then shut their doors and windows tight. They also hid their children under the bed or in the basement while their parents protect the house.


    They are not scared of him, they are scared because he¡¯s the bounty hunter that kills monsters. So if he¡¯s here then it means that there¡¯s a monster that has a high bounty around the village, lurking.


    ¡°I think I know her, she just moved here a few days ago. Rea said that she moved here because she got a fight with her husband. She lives on that shack on top of that hill over there and we only see her during the day to buy something from our inn. Wait, do you think she¡¯s a monster!?¡±


    ¡°Thank you for the information and I must go now or else it will be too late. There¡¯s a full moon tonight so you have to shut your door and don¡¯t let anyone inside, even me.¡±


    Patrick didn¡¯t tell him if she¡¯s a monster or not because he is not sure if the bounty information is true or fake. Not all monsters are bad, there are good ones too like the werewolf that he saved from the curse in the past full moon.


    Patrick saved Ralf to undo his curse from transforming fully into a werewolf because he didn¡¯t want to lose his humanity and become merely a man-slaying beast.


    Ralf was in pain for years when he became a werewolf. He just kill and eat livestocks to relieve his hunger during the full moon. He had never killed any human or elf in his entire life. The bounty on him before had false information.


    The content states that this werewolf killed women in the brothel during the full moon but the one who provided this bounty was the real killer. The killer just wanted to cover his crime and pass it to the werewolf.


    Humans can be a monster too. So every time Patrick accepts a bounty, he always have a moral dilemma when he meet those monsters. He tries to understand their situation and motives before he accomplish his task according to his mission.


    Patrick rides toward the shack on the top of the hill. When he is in the front of the shack, he slowly gets down on his horse then he removed the cloth that covers the thing from his back. Inside the cloth is this very strange weapon.


    The design of his weapon looks like a jagged sword but this weapon has human skins. On the pommel of the sword, there¡¯s a crystal-heart that keeps on beating like it¡¯s alive. It looks like the weapon had its own life. This weapon is very effective on monsters but for humans or elves, it¡¯s just like a normal sword. He called this weapon ¡°Heart, Slayer of Monsters¡±.


    He prepared himself for the upcoming fight so he chants a spell to protect his body and to enhance his weapon.


    ¡±Mahal kong Apolaki, bigyan mo ng kapangyarihang apoy ang aking sandata at protektahan mo ako gamit ang iyong kapangyarihan laban sa kasamaan.¡±


    (Oh dear Apolaki, Please bestow upon my body and weapon the power of fire. Protect me using your blessings to fight against evil.)


    After he chanted those spells, his weapon ¡°Heart, Slayer of Monsters¡±, covered in an aura of fire. He also felt the heat permeating around his body as it made him feel more protected. The heat around his body will protect him for the upcoming fight but there is a consequence, there¡¯s a time limit on it so he have to act quickly. If he need to fight, then he should end it quickly or else his body will weaken in fatigue until he blacks out.


    In the past, only elves know and speak this ancient language and they called it Tagalog. This language is so powerful that it can create another dimension if someone declared the proper chant, but so far no one in the current era know how to do it.


    They mainly use this language to chant spells for helping or killing someone. As time goes on, some experts like the magic casters or in other words, wizards and sorcerers, learned this language and used it to advance their technology like building portals that teleports people from one place to another.


    There was a time in the past when a wizard gone rogue aimed for immortality, so he used the Tagalog language to achieve it but it didn¡¯t go well. His whole body slowly disappeared, then out of nowhere, a black portal popped out and sucked the wizard into it.


    The experts called it the void and after that, no one had ever seen him again.


    Patrick entered the shack and the door slowly creaks open. It feels that no one is at home but he is still alert.


    ¡°Rea! Come out! We need to talk about something. I know you¡¯re here.¡±

 Manananggal

    ¡°Rea! Come out! We need to talk about something. I know you¡¯re here.¡±


    No one is answering his call so he entered the shack and uses the fire aura from his weapon to light the way.


    Inside the house is pitch black and you will not see anything if the door and the windows are closed but tonight is a full moon. So the light from the moon passed through the windows and the cracks of the door and it made the atmosphere calm.


    While he is slowly walking through the shack, he heard a voice inside the bedroom. He slowly walks toward that room and finds no one but he knows that she¡¯s there. When he looked under the bed, he saw her looking at him with her glowing red eyes.


    He pulled the bed to the side then took a step back to look at her. He prepared himself for the attack but Rea just stands up and dusts off herself then looks at him. Her hair is all jumbled up that it¡¯s like she didn¡¯t comb her hair for years. She looks like a middle-aged woman but the truth is she¡¯s older than that.


    She wears a white blouse and a green skirt and her eyes right now are brown but when he looked at her under the bed it was glaring red. But he knows the reason why it does that so he proceeds to ask her.


    ¡°After 6 days of tracking and traveling, I finally found you. Do you know this bounty? You have 100 gold and 500 silver reward in your head and that¡¯s a big reward, don¡¯t you think?¡±


    Rea is very nervous in front of the bounty hunter because she heard of him before so she knows a thing or two about what he did to the monsters he killed.


    ¡°Y-yes. I know that bounty.¡±


    ¡°The information in the bounty said that you killed 12 fetuses and 5 pregnant women in the city of Kvatch. Is this right, Rea?¡±


    ¡°That information is wrong! T-there¡¯s a not a single truth on that and it¡¯s true that I¡¯m a manananggal but when the night comes, I only eat the animals to relieve my hunger. I haven¡¯t touched any fetus or pregnant women in my whole life!¡±


    ¡°Stop lying and tell me the truth!¡±


    While Patrick is talking, he slowly feels that his fatigue is going down fast so he needs to act quickly or else he will blackout.


    His moral dilemma is preventing himself to act quickly, he needs to find out the truth whether Rea did all that or not. He is not a mad killer that everyone thinks because they thought that Patrick of Valen, the bounty hunter, feels no remorse while doing his job.


    The manananggal can¡¯t take it anymore so she throws the chair beside her to Patrick.


    The bounty hunter anticipated that this will happen so he instantly dodged the chair and proceeded to counter-attack but he didn¡¯t know that there¡¯s a second attack coming to him.


    She used her elongated proboscis-like tongue to attack the bounty hunter in the heart but she slightly missed. Patrick vaguely dodged her second attack by doing a pirouette and her tongue penetrates his right shoulder from the back.


    While her tongue is inside of his right shoulder, the spell he chants earlier worked. Her tongue burned so she pulled it out of his shoulder but the bounty hunter pirouetted again and then he swung his strange sword with a fire aura upward to slice her elongated tongue.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    ¡°Aargghh!! Mah thangue, Mah thangue!!¡±


    (Aargghh!! My tongue, my tongue!!)


    She cried and cried about her tongue that has been cut by the bounty hunter. The next step she did is to sever her upper torso and then she sprouted her huge bat-like wings.


    Meanwhile...


    ¡°Did you hear that father? That is the cries of a manananggal! I knew it, there¡¯s something ominous about her when I saw her the time she moved here. Father! Let me help that bounty hunter!¡±


    ¡°Sasama rin po ako kay ate para tulungan yung bounty hunter!¡±


    (I will also go with sister to help the bounty hunter!)


    The innkeeper looked at his daughters.


    ¡°Hindi ako papayag. Ayokong mawala rin kayo katulad ng nanay niyo.¡±


    (I will not allow it. I dont want to lose my remaining family especially when your mother already left us.)


    His older daughter is good at using bow while the younger one is good with sword. He teaches them after they work at the inn. He did it so they¡¯ll know how to protect themselves, he didn¡¯t teach them to kill or fight.


    ¡°That bounty hunter knows what he¡¯s doing. That¡¯s why he is one of the best bounty hunters in this world so don¡¯t worry about him. He didn¡¯t get that title for nothing.¡±


    Saelhana and Elanys can¡¯t argue with their father anymore because they know he is right. So they just sat and waited for what will happen next because they can¡¯t sleep in the current situation.


    The villagers can¡¯t sleep too because they don¡¯t know if the bounty hunter is going to win or not so they stayed awake the whole night to protect their children and alert themselves. They are also scared because when there is full moon, the monsters become stronger.


    The bounty hunter looks calm but deep inside he feels that his energy is slowly escaping from his body so he needs to end this fight fast.


    ¡°Yuu wii pay for tis!¡±


    (You will pay for this!)


    Rea shouted. Even though she lost half of her elongated tongue, she proceeded to talk.


    Then she flew towards the bounty hunter and she tried to stick her claws through his stomach but it failed. The bounty hunter rolled towards her standing lower torso then he smeared the crushed garlics and salts on it.


    While Rea is crying for her tongue earlier, he took the garlics and salts from his back pocket inside his robe then held it in his hands to wait for a good opportunity. The bounty hunter clearly smiled while wearing the half ivory mask towards the monster.


    ¡°This is over.¡±


    Patrick thought after he put the garlics and salts on the lower torso. This is fatal for a manananggal because the upper torso would not be able to rejoin to its lower torso and then she will be burned when the sun rises.


    ¡°Nooo!!! Wat ev yuu dan?!¡±


    (Nooo!!! What have you done?!)


    The bounty hunter is losing to his fatigue and he almost fell down but he stands with his right knee while holding his strange sword with both hands towards the ground.


    The manananggal didn¡¯t stop, she is very angry, she tried to fly again towards him to attack and stick her claws through his stomach and she successfully did it. While she is holding him with those claws through him, she brings him with her and flew through the window.


    Patrick spit out a lot of blood and he almost lost his consciousness and his protection spell is gradually wearing out.


    ¡°Hahaha!!! Yuu layk tis??¡±


    (Hahaha!!! You like this??)


    Rea¡¯s face is too close to the bounty hunter. She changed a lot when she transformed into a manananggal. Her face becomes wrinkly and her eyes became brightly red. Her hair becomes rougher than before and she also shows her shark-like teeth to him then she licked his lips with his sliced elongated tongue.


    They flew towards the sky.


    You will clearly see the two silhouettes thats moving upwards in a great speed in the front of a big beautiful full moon. The bounty hunter used all of his energy to lift his right hand to swing his sword on the left wing of the manananggal. Because of the fire spell in his sword, the manananggal¡¯s left wing burned. The manananggal roared in pain and then she released the bounty hunter from the sky.


    The bounty hunter is falling faster and faster that there¡¯s no way that he can survive the fall and he lost all of his energy so he can¡¯t move or do anything anymore.