by AA Lee
“I was there,” Kisig said.
Nora’s glowing green body floated toward him. “Yet you didn’t stop her.”
The high priestess’s hand extended and closed on his throat. Kisig tried to remove her hand, but his hand could not touch it.
“Please stop!” Datu Goni said. “High Priestess, you can’t harm the living!”
High Priestess Nora opened her hand, and Kisig could breathe again.
“So why didn’t you stop her?” Her gaze bored through him.
“She told me to turn my back and to not look at her until she was done. I had no idea that she was going to do it! When I turned around, she had already stabbed herself with the staff.”
Horrified, the soul gasped and stopped moving as if she could not breathe. But since she was a soul, her breathing was the least of his worries.
“If Tala hadn’t bargained with the torch to imprison her for the time being, she would have died,” he said.
The soul faced Tala. “Why didn’t you just heal her?”
“The torch would have eaten her and sucked her power out. There was no time because I was the only gifted one present.”
“Where is that torch?” High Priestess Nora put a hand on her waist, looking ready to punish a misbehaving child.
Tala walked to her room and opened the door while Kisig and the rest of the people stayed behind. High Priestess Nora followed Tala but floated back after seeing the torch.
“It’s the most evil thing I have seen. It’s full of hatred and insatiable greed. It should not exist in this world. Wait… I saw this before but with a bigger flame.”
“I am fully aware,” Tala said absently. “I fell to its promises before and gave in to its promise of unlimited power. I know it should not exist here, but it’s our only link to Kenda.”
“Beware of this evil thing. It has eyes and ears.”
“But I’m not holding it. It can’t hear us.”
“You stupid girl! Why did you come up with that conclusion? That thing consumed greedy individuals and sucked their abilities. That includes hearing and seeing.”
Kisig suddenly understood where Kenda got her temper. Looking at Nora, he could see Kenda, who sometimes did not consider her words before they escaped her mouth.
“I’m sorry,” Nora said. “But what were you thinking? You held the torch the longest. What made you think that it could only hear when you’re holding it? Wait a minute…” She focused on the torch. She floated closer to it then back. “Kenda indeed did something before she stabbed herself. Now all we have to do is figure out what she wanted us to do with it.”
“Her hair?” Kisig put his hand over his mouth. High Priestess Nora glared at him. Kisig wanted to ask how the old soul could be so sure that the torch could hear them, but he decided to be quiet and just listen.
“You better figure it out. I have to return now. We’re fighting a losing battle as more souls become convinced that they can stay with the living. All we can hope for is that they disappear before successfully breaching the boundary.”
Chapter 17
Tala
Tala walked toward the torch and reached out ever so slowly. If High Priestess Nora was right about the torch knowing my plan to free Kenda, why hasn’t it done anything?
Her hand brushed against the long straight hair tied to the torch’s handle. Closing her eyes, she called her. “Kenda, we need you right now.” With deeper concentration, she continued calling her name as if calling forth a soul. When she opened her eyes, Kenda was nowhere in sight.
Frustrated, Tala sat on the floor. She hated Kenda for making her face this challenge. If the girl had only found a way to free her without stabbing herself, she would have ended the curse already. The people would surely hate her if she ended the curse right now without freeing Kenda. But why would that matter? Tala would be dead anyway. She wouldn’t have to face their hatred.
But Tala knew deep inside that the fault was solely hers, not Kenda’s. She was the one who started it all. The prophecy of Kenda coming into this world was born to balance the curse Tala had created. She only hated Kenda because she wanted to blame someone aside from herself, and perhaps the love and care she received from Kenda’s family would return to Kenda once she was back. Perhaps she had become greedy like the torch.
A commotion outside her room disrupted her thoughts. The voices seemed afraid.
“This is… not… good,” a woman said, struggling to get the words out, as if she was in deep concentration and her words broke her concentration. “High priestess… is not… here. What do we… do?”
Tala quickly opened the door and saw a boy drenched in sweat in the living room. He didn’t show any signs of pain, but he looked to be barely breathing. Four priestesses were sitting around him, hands held together in a circle and faces covered by the cloths extending from their priestess hats. The magicians surrounded the women as if strengthening their powers.
“She can help. She was a high priestess!” Kisig looked at Tala, and all heads turned her way.
“High Priestess… help us,” Priestess Pasi pleaded. She moved from her cross-legged position into kneeling. “This evil soul is strong… so strong that I think we won’t be able to…” She shook her head, unable to finish. Sweat beaded her forehead. “Anyway, can you call someone powerful… like Kenda did before?”
“We can’t,” Tala replied. “The high priestesses are battling evil souls right now. If we call them here, we risk more souls slipping in here.”
“What is your plan, then?” Datu Goni asked. He poured white powder from a wooden container onto his palm.
“We fight this head-on.”
“It might be worth mentioning that if we lose, Romu, the evil soul we’re fighting will claim a life, and turn the soul into his minion,” Datu Goni said as he scattered the white powder around the boy.
“If needed, I will use the torch.” Datu Goni only nodded in response. The magicians broke their formation to give way to her. She walked to the center and sat with the priestesses. She held the hands of Priestess Pasi and Priestess Haidi, creating a bigger circle. She nodded to each of the four women and closed her eyes in concentration.
When Tala opened her eyes to the world beyond the living, a terribly dark soul greeted her. Smoke swirled around her, making her look bigger and more terrifying. The sight so shocked Tala that she almost returned to her body. The evil soul dipped her head low and sucked on the boy’s breath. Tala steeled herself and extended a hand. She floated to the evil soul and grabbed its neck. It flailed and tried to break free, but Tala held on. The soul scratched at her hand, its claws burrowing at her skin. Tala held on, holding the evil soul’s eyes with her determined gaze.
A few moments later, the priestesses appeared one by one. Priestess Pasi grabbed the evil spirit’s hand, stopping it from clawing Tala’s. The younger priestesses held onto the soul’s legs, restricting her movement.
The dark smoke slowly dissipated, reducing the soul to a regular, glowing green light. “You’re hurting me,” she sobbed. “Please let me go.”
“Give us a good reason why,” Tala said, her voice hoarse.
“Romu promised. I swear I didn’t want to do it at first, but he convinced me. I won’t do it again. I promise.”
Tala kept a tight grip until the soul became smaller and smaller. “If you do this again, I will not forgive you. I will make you disappear.” The soul nodded furiously. Tala let go, glad that the soul would be back in the underworld, but her relief was short-lived. Just before the soul left, she made sure that Tala could hear her sinister laugh. When Tala opened her eyes, the boy was sitting up, hugging his mother.
“Thank you. Thank you so much,” the mother said like a prayer.
“It isn’t over.” Silence engulfed the house as she spoke. “The evil soul was just Romu’s minion, and she’ll return, so we should always be ready.”
“I’m terrified.” Priestess Pasi took off her priestess hat with shaky hands. “We d
on’t know… when an evil soul will come and terrorize us. We can’t… go on like this. We have to work.”
“If the high priestess was here, we wouldn’t be as scared as this,” the boy’s mother said.
Again. Why can’t people see that I can help them? Why do they keep wishing for someone who isn’t here? Tala forced herself to keep the thoughts to herself.
“Tala, I think you better get some sleep to regain energy. I know it is exhausting when you use your power,” Datu Goni suggested.
Datu Goni was right. With her thoughts focused on the evil spirit, she hadn’t noticed that she was actually tired. She bowed and entered her room. Then she looked back and returned to face Datu Goni. “When I’m needed, don’t hesitate to call me. And… I’m sorry I don’t know a way yet to free Kenda. But High Priestess Mutya gave me something to work on. I’ll start with that.”
Datu Goni shook his head. “You’re trying your best. Let’s just assume she’s taking a rest now. Go and get some sleep so that you’re strong when the evil soul returns.”
Tala bowed and entered her room. The warm glow of the torch did not bother her eyes, and she felt herself drifting to sleep fast.
“Tala.” The voice was familiar, a voice she longed to hear.
Tala sat up straight. “Mother?”
The woman looked exactly like Tala if she had been a few years older. Tala had thought her dark skin was due to having stayed out under the sun for a long time when she was a slave, but she found that her skin stayed the same even after she escaped slavery. Her mother looked confident, while Tala had been always ashamed of her skin.
“Mother! I’m sorry I haven’t tried to call you. Things have been… hectic since I got out of the torch. How did you cross the boundary? I haven’t called you.”
“I have my tricks up my sleeve, and I’m willing to pay for this trespass. I came to warn you. The underworld is in chaos. More souls will soon escape and behave as if they were with the living. They will not be here just to see their loved ones but to use the living to increase their power. This village is the start of their war against the living, but soon, it will spread as more souls convince others to join their cause. When that happens, think of the good things only. Do not let hatred, greed, and jealousy rule you. Remember what happened a long time ago. You must not let that happen again.”
“I will never let that happen again. I won’t put the people’s lives at stake,” she promised.
She didn’t hear her mother’s response. Instead, a loud banging at her door caught her attention. She stood to open it, but when she moved, she realized she was still lying down, her eyes closed. It had been just a dream. She thought her mother had really crossed the boundary between the living and the dead. She quickly got up and opened the door. Datu Goni was standing there, white powder in his hands. Night had already fallen, and Tala concluded she must have slept too long.
“Tala, you need to help us now. Please.”
“Don’t worry. I can defeat the evil soul.”
“No!” Datu Goni said.
The wind blew so strongly that his thin body swayed to the side. He closed his hands, but most of the white powder was blown away. Tala didn’t know where the wind was coming from, considering the main door was closed and the walls built with few to no gaps. The house was plunged into darkness, but light sparked as the magicians lit the lamps. Nine boys were huddled in a corner of the living room, faces full of terror.
“There are more,” Datu Goni continued, “and the strongest of them came this time: Romu. You need to call the high priestesses.”
Eerie laughter rocked the house, and Tala was sure the whole village could hear it.
“Where’s the high priestess staff?” she asked.
“Here!” shouted Idja. He held the staff and ran toward her, but wind knocked him down, sending the staff flying toward the main door.
Tala ran for it, grateful that the door was closed. Just as her hand closed in on the staff, a scream sent shivers up her spine. The voice, a girl’s, screamed again, and Tala knew her mother’s warning wasn’t just a dream.
“This has to stop.” Fists clenched, she raised her hand to call forth the high priestesses.
The door opened so suddenly that she was momentarily frozen in place. The evil souls weren’t hiding anymore. Their dark forms floated into the living room, smothering the remaining light. She summoned her anger but found herself surrendering to fear. Now, more than ever, she needed the wrath of the torch, but with the number of souls present, she was sure the torch would have full control of her by the time she defeated all the souls.
“Enjoy this, you worthless people. You enjoyed watching me die in pain. You laughed at every part of me that was bitten by ants.” The darkest soul floated high above the ceiling, enveloped by the biggest swirling smoke. It had to be Romu.
Romu dived down toward the children, but Pilly stood and covered her boys with her body. She screamed in pain. Datu Goni scattered some of the white powder in the wind. Romu backed away just for a moment then blew the powder away before swooping down again. Tala couldn’t bear to watch any longer. If she called the high priestesses now, souls might pour in from the underworld. And she would have spent all her energy summoning them and wouldn’t be able to help. She ran back to her bedroom. She needed the torch.
Tala’s body went rigid as dark smoke enveloped her. Her heart raced, and she struggled to breathe. Her hand went to her throat but could not touch anything suffocating her. All she could think of was her need to breathe. The torch was so near yet out of her reach. She stretched her hand, summoning it, but it stayed where it was, its warm light shining despite the darkness surrounding it. Her hands returned to her throat again, clawing desperately at the dark smoke choking her.
“Don’t be angry with me. It won’t take long before we’ll be working together. Let’s see how your talent works after you leave your body.” The evil soul laughed.
Panicking, Tala could not remember where she’d heard the voice, not until she met the soul’s eyes, malicious eyes even after death. He was the reason Nayon had fallen. In his hands, the village had turned red with blood.
Tala raised a hand to Hagibis’s throat. She could not touch him, but she couldn’t think of any other way. Just as she’d done in the priestess trials, she imagined the smallest part of him, the smallest part of the air composing the evil spirit. She could see his being, his evil soul and mind. He was hers.
“How dare you!” Hagibis hurriedly flew out of the room.
Tala was almost there. She’d almost gotten control of him. She had controlled humans before and made them follow her wishes, but she’d never thought she could bend a soul to her wishes. If he hadn’t escaped, she could have used him to fight other souls.
She lunged forward and grabbed the torch. The light grew, sucking at all the darkness in the room. Torch high above her head, she marched to the living room. The souls whimpered and fled except for two, Hagibis and Romu. The magicians, so quiet earlier, now sighed with relief as the torch grew brighter and brighter. She could hear stifled cries from the corner. Only the oldest boy, who looked older than Tala, tried to help his mother shield his brothers against the evil souls.
Confident in the power of the torch, Tala held several locks of hair in the staff simultaneously. The high priestesses appeared all at once and chased Hagibis and Romu. Clearly outnumbered, the two evil souls flew out into the night. Tala followed them, her feet lighter and faster. Outside, the sky was dark, yet the sun was still up, hidden by a thick, dark cloud. Far away, other parts of the world remained in bright daylight.
One evil soul was hiding behind a tree. Tala pretended not to see, looking forward as she walked. When she was near it, she leaped forward and extended the torch, which sucked at the soul slowly, taking its time. The evil soul wailed in agony as its dark, airy body slowly disappeared. Tala’s mouth hung open in shock. She’d thought the torch would burn the soul.
Tala noticed something off ab
out the torch. It was slower than before. Four hundred years before, she only had to extend the torch, and the body of a person turned into ash in a blink of an eye. Now it took longer, as though it needed time to work. Perhaps a soul was harder for the torch to consume. She continued chasing the evil souls and trapping them in her torch.
Romu’s sinister laugh polluted the air. She looked around but could not see him. He seemed to have found a way to lurk in the shadows, away from the light of her torch.
“You will never be as powerful as Kenda,” Romu seemed to whisper, though Tala knew he wasn’t near. “You’re just depending on the torch. You will never replace her.”
“Shut up and show yourself!”
“The boy will never love you. He will continue to deceive you. But you already know that, don’t you? Why don’t you help us instead? We will never deceive you.”
“Don’t listen to her, child. He cannot hold the torch, so he is trying to manipulate you,” High Priestess Nora said, appearing suddenly. “You’re just as powerful. If you aren’t, you wouldn’t be holding the torch now. And Kenda knew you and the boy are destined to be together. I have watched that child. She’ll never take away the one you love. The village needs you as much as it needs Kenda, so don’t listen to him. He liked to manipulate people when he was alive and still does now, even after his death.”
Tala bowed thankfully to the high priestess. Yet her mind was telling her something different. Romu was right. The villagers thought Kenda was more powerful than her. And even if that wasn’t true, she was always better in their eyes. Tala shook her head and tried to focus on the task at hand.
High Priestess Mutya dragged a dark soul back into Datu Goni’s house. Other high priestesses also came back with evil souls who now looked much smaller. The sky gradually brightened, revealing the sun, which still had a few hours before it would hide behind the mountains. Tala knew she had been holding the torch for too long and needed rest, but she didn’t want to collapse in the middle of the village, with the villagers out of their huts. She made her way back to Datu Goni’s house but then remembered they hadn’t caught Romu or Hagibis yet.