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.

He went to check the boy that was flung in the air. His face contorted into that of disbelief and pain. The boy let go of his paper bags now as his hands and feet searched for the ground but to no avail.

While he studied the scene of the accident, a man appeared behind him. Like him, it was well dressed and smoked a cigarette. Their only apparent difference was this man had a pocket watch in his hand. "Want to make a bet again?" his nose smoked but his lips remained closed, like a bull on a cold morning breathing out.

"A book," said Sidapa, who did not even look at the man. He was now crouched down, checking the back tires of the car.

The man smiled amd stepped closer. "Should we shake on it?"

"My body is right there." Sidapa pointed at a man smoking on the bench in front of the store.

He laughed. "I thought I could mess with you."

Sidapa stood up and looked at the man. They both bowed their heads, and Sidapa was back in front of the store in an instant.

The car's tires screeched, and the body flailed as it rolled on the ground. The woman in the car cried aloud, disturbing the peace of the night. The car stopped for a moment-- a moment's hesitation. Fear, regret, guilt-- all these feelings bottled up inside the heart of the driver while he assessed the scene. Fear won, and the driver stepped on the gas like he was trying to outrun death. The body was left all alone on the cold, harsh road.

People came out from the store, including Bulan, after the loud crash. Sidapa flicked his cigarette and groaned as he stood up groggily. "What was that?" Bulan asked with a soft voice.

"A visit from death," replied a maleficent voice.

People gathered around the boy whose limbs were still twitching. The boy now lied on his own pool of blood, and the iron-like smell of blood began to spread on the scene. The students called an ambulance, the couple looked away, and two people from the store took pictures of the accident. Bulan squeezed through the crowd and wondered if he could ease the pain of the boy. There was no way he could save this boy; even Death was waiting for the boy to breathe his last breath. It only took a few seconds before the man with the pocket watch knelt beside the boy in anticipation. Nobody noticed the man except for Sidapa, who was staring at the man with the pocket watch as he clicked his tongue every second. Finally, after the 40th click of his tongue, the man touched the boy on the head, and the wind blew colder as the boy's spirit came out of his body. The spirit was calm, like his death was peaceful instead of this gory accident. Death stared at the spirit for two seconds, like he was communicating with it, while the people around them took photos or panicked. One of the students threw up at the sight of the dead body.

The man with the pocket watch looked at Sidapa. "I'll give you your book the next time we meet."

He smoked again, only this time the smoke expanded until it covered him and the boy. When the smoke cleared, the man was gone but the boy was still there. "Oh, we get to keep him," said Bulan. They walked towards the spirit and it stared blankly at them.

Sidapa lit up another cigarette and quickly puffed it. When he smoked, a Baybayin script appeared. The word expanded until the smoke enveloped everyone in the accident. Then, another script followed it. A large wolf as tall as Sidapa formed from the smoke, equally majestic as he is. It had yellow eyes and dark fur, like the sky during a full moon. It sat two feet taller than the boy, so it had to look down to see the boy. The people didn't seem to see the furry animal since nobody reacted when the wolf appeared out of nowhere.

"Lobo!" Bulan hugged the large wolf and sunk into the furs of the wolf. The wolf's tail wagged twice, trying to contain its equal excitement.

Sidapa pulled Bulan out of the furs of the wolf and shook his head.

"It's been a long time since I have seen him. At least give me a minute," he rebelled. Sidapa glared at Bulan and he cried. "Whatever. Hey, spirit, follow this large wolf."

The wolf stood up silently and led the way into the dark night, being one with the distance. The boy followed it without questions as if he was in a trance.

"He will be safe, right? What time will he arrive there?" Bulan asked Sidapa.

"Tomorrow morning."

"Then I guess we can still loiter around. I left my bags at where you sat. I'll go and get it!" He ran back to the store and Sidapa took another sip of his cigarette while he stared at the accident, indifferent to a fault.