Biringan

I asked him where his information comes from and he boastingly said that there is a big library in the city and all of the books in there are written by the deities and other beings. I immediately question him where is it and request to escort us to the Library. This can give us some hints on how we can leave this place. He readily agreed to help us and told us that we need to go there before the night falls.

"What are you?" Eric whispers at me so that only I could hear it. I look to the two in front of us; they never saw my transformation because I changed back when we landed from the portal. Eric patiently waits for the moment to ask me properly without them knowing.

"Can we talk about it when we get out of here?"

"Promise?" He looks at me pleadingly and I nodded my confirmation.

"I'm sorry for dragging you here with me."

"Are you the mastermind in kidnapping me and dumping me here?"

"No." I muttered

"Did you know we are going to be kidnapped?"

"No… but…"

"Then it is not your fault." He answers and smiles at me. When he realizes that he is smiling, he frowns and looks away.

"Why are you still mad at me? We're friends right?" I ask him, dismayed that he is still angry at me.

"My friend is Vina, not you." He mockingly grins at me. "Oh yeah… she is a conniving bitch too. Like you…you---" He stops his tirade when he sees my hurtful looks at him. "I'm sorry okay, it is just… it hurts when you betray me. I know that you are helping me but I'm still hurting… can you wait for me? I will forgive you eventually." I nodded, he smiles reluctantly and awkwardly pats my shoulder.

10 minutes later and we arrived into the city. The structure of this plane is the same as earth so it is not surprising to see that we are in the city that looks like the one in Aklan. But that's where the comparison stops. The place is in ruin, there are houses with no rooftop and collapse walls. The people are few and scared; they stared as us with fright. One girl approaches us and grabs a piece of my shirt. "Kuya, do you have food? I'm hungry; I don't eat anything since yesterday. Please…" She is scared of us but because of desperation she bravely asks us for food.

My heart aches with sympathy, because I don't have any food on me. I literally enter naked on this plane and I don't have anything. But before I said something at her, Carlo gives her a candy bar from his pocket. "I'm sorry baby girl, that's all I have." The girl smiles and thanks him; she runs into a corner and eats the bar fast as if someone will steal it from her. Other people saw this and hurriedly come rushing at us begging for food.

But because I don't have anything on us, we have nothing to give. Eric tells them that we don't have food anymore but no one believes him. They still beg them for it until Cedric whisper at me to run. So I grab Eric and Carlo and run as fast as we could. We hide in one of the abandon house and settle our breath.

"Why there are people like you in Biringan? I thought this is the plane for spirits and other beings?" I asked Cedric as he rests his back on the wall.

"We don't know why we are here; some of us came through a portal. But some of us are actually born here."

"And you?" Eric asked him.

"I don't remember, all I know is I'm surviving on my own. I don't even know who and where my parents are."

As the night falls, we settle on this house. I collect some woods again for us to have a fire. We sit around it waiting for the night to be over; no one can't sleep yet because of hunger. I ask Cedric how they get food in here.

"The biringan has edible plants and fruits but you will have to risk your life to get it." When I question him why, he said that the food in here are guarded by some magical beast or using it as bait. Some of them are weak but some of them are strong. So you have to gamble your life for some food.

I volunteered to get some food but he refuses to let me go. He said that the stronger beasts are most active at night and some of them love to make people lost. So I relent, promising him that tomorrow I will have food for the people in the city. I bravely said that because I estimate that there are only 15 people in here. He smiles in glee on what I said to him and volunteers as my guide for tomorrow.

Only the crackles of the fire can be heard that night. Everyone on the city have their own bonfire and groups huddling each other. Cedric is sleeping with us; he decided that "He will be our guide on this plane" and settled with us. Eric lies at the ground on my back also at sleep and Carlo is feeding the fire with dried woods he collected.

"You are a Pyromaniac." Carlo trembles in shocked as he heard me, he stilled for a moment and answers me never leaving his eyes at the fire.

"Of course you will know… you are a staff orderly in the institute." He smiles at the fire.

"Can I ask you some question? I am not trying to offend you I am just curious." He finally looks at me.

"Shoot…"

"When is the time you got the urge to… you know…"

"To burn things?" He interrupts me when he notices that I am hesitating to ask him. "I don't remember, all I know was this is my curse to live with."

"I'm sorry." He just smiles and feeds some firewoods to the bonfire. He sits near the bonfire and watches it. I am going to ask him something again when I felt a hand grasping the hem of my shirt. I see Eric looking at my shirt trembling again. He looks at me, got startles for a second and starts to think of something.

"I am going to sleep now."

"You are sleeping earlier." I smiled at him.

"I'm not…" He surveys the area and looks at the men everywhere. "Can you promise something?"

"Anything for you." I whispered at him when he hides his head in his arm and shivers.

"Sleep near me please…" When I agreed, he sighs, smiles and tried to sleep again. I lay beside him and tried to sleep.

Tagalog Terms:

Kuya: Big Brother. You can also call kuya who is older guy than you. "Ate" is the girl equivalent.