What The Fireleaves Danced

The flames only grew.

Dakila was gone.

Mayumi had no chance of surviving the forest.

Better we die together, than lengthen the excruciating inevitability.

Then a lance of clarity pierced through the burning, the singing flames, the choking smoke.

Look up, Mayumi.

The voice beckoned, and so, Mayumi looked up.

The phantasm of her mother stood before her, her form swathed in flames, as if clothed by it. Light emanated from her eyes like two suns.

"Quickly, my child," she said. "We haven't the time. My materialization is limited."

Mayumi blinked away tears from her eyes. "Ina…?"

"Yes, my child," her mother spoke, and in that moment all the orange and crimson of the flames mixed into the red tenderness of her heart. She let go of Dakila and reached up to her, tears wetting her cheeks even more. She reached up for her mother like a toddler.

Her mother embraced her, giving her the p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e of contact with what was once lost… until her mother abruptly broke away, reminding her of her cold loneliness.

"Mayumi." Her mother's voice quivered. A phantasm on the edge of crying. "I'm so proud of you, and I am always looking at you. Bathala has given me the means to always keep watch of you. Always remember that. Your Ina is always watching you."

She sobbed. "Y-yes Ina. Yes."

"But now, you must manifest that strength hidden inside you. Bring your engkanto friend out of this conflagration, and into safety. All you need is to follow me."

Mayumi swallowed. "I-I'm not… I'm not strong enough, Ina."

"You are. You hold within you the blood of Heroes, Mayumi."

She blinked. "I don't… I don't understand…"

"All things will be revealed in the city of the Two Datus. Look for your Father. He is still alive. Look for your father. But first, reach for that strength within you, Mayumi. Reach for it and live."

Mayumi opened her mouth to protest. To cry out that she didn't understand. To w.h.i.n.e that she didn't want to go alone. That Dakila wasn't even going to stay long. That she wasn't strong enough for any of this. That the fire should just consume her and she could join them.

But the words of her mouth ignited that numbed pyre in her heart. Something shone. Her eyes glimmered with the slightest burn of gold.

"Grab your power and burn brightly, my daughter. Follow me. I shall lead you out of here."

Mayumi, with a newly steeled resolve that surprised even her, nodded. She hauled Dakila on both hands, and rose to her feet. Pain throbbed about her, and the weight of Dakila strained her, but golden spiritual power surged through her very being, bolstering her tenacity. With a defiant scream, she followed the anito that was her mother, and plunged through the fire.

The flames lapped at her heels, begging for Mayumi to come back. Before her was the almost silent serenity of the forest, completely untouched by the blaze. The second she took a step on the damp ground of the forest outside of the burning clearing, thunder crackled, and rain exploded in a torrential downpour.

Mayumi looked up, still carrying the engkanto in her bolstered arms. In the tiny moments that the clouds would part, she saw the blue eyes of the gods.

Mayumi eventually arrived beside a small creek. Her mother waited for her, her eyes still burning, watching her every move. With an exhausted gasp, she let go of Dakila, who rolled over to the side of the creek, and collapsed to her knees. Her ragged breathing filled the silence of the clearing, intermingling with the lapping of the creek.

"You've done well, Mayumi." Mayumi looked up. The golden sheen and glow that radiated from her veins and eyes faded away, dissipating into naught but smoke.

She watched the anito kneel before her and pull her into another hug. The rush of adrenaline and power still coursed through Mayumi, never-ending, and she embraced her mother right back. "Please come back."

Silence filled the forest. And then, "I'm always here."

Mayumi only noticed that her mother was gone when she stopped crying.

A throng of small, monkey-like diwata attended to Dakila as Mayumi wept, who leaned against a large tree root that bulged out of the ground.

The diwata had pushed Dakila into the small creek and bathed him in the lightly rushing waters. Mayumi was, to say the least, surprised when she saw that the sword wound that Dakila had sustained quickly mended whole,, as if a broken tapestry fixed in a matter of seconds. Before long, the diwata pulled the tamawo out of the stream, and moved him next to Mayumi on the root.

Then, all at the same time, they stared at her. Those hollow, yet seemingly alive eyes, swallowing the whole of her being. Mayumi steeled in her heart to ask her a question, but it seemed as if they had heard the pleas of her heart, and had decided that it was not time yet for answers, for they all vanished, dissipating back into the spirit..

Mayumi inhaled. She looked up at the clouded skies and deduced that it couldn't have been any closer to the night. Maybe an hour or two had passed. She looked back at the tamawo, and found that he wasn't breathing.

But the tamawo opened its eyes, staring glassy-eyed at the canopy of the forest. They don't need to breathe…?

"You are one of them."

Mayumi blinked. She saw that the veins of her palms still glowed with that golden glow, but it was much dimmer than before. As if it were a residue of a much more glorious light.

"What…?"

Dakila breathed. Mayumi tensed and readied herself to catch Dakila as he moved his hands -- winced -- and then his legs, pushing himself upright. With a final pained grunt, he sat himself against the root.

"I will be fine," said the tamawo.

"Do you need any herbs or more of that creek water?"

Dakila shook his head. Despite the ragged combat of earlier, his face was still immaculately perfect. "I only need time. Let me rest."

"Oh. Okay. All right. Rest."

Dakila nodded, and he inhaled once again. Another silence filled the area. The cackling of fires had died down, replaced by the gentle, rapturous pit-pat of rain.

"I think a god brought down the rains to quench the flames of the forest."

"No doubt it was Ribung Linti. You've seen an Apo with your own mortal eyes, Mayumi. A Higher God. A diwata from the Skyworld."

Mayumi blinked. She stared at Dakila for a moment. Then she closed her eyes and whispered a small prayer of thanks to the Apo.

"A more important fact is:" said Dakila, "you are gleaming with the glow of the sun."

Mayumi furrowed her eyebrows. "I… I am?" She stared at those glowing veins once again.

Dakila nodded. "Yes. It seems the legends were true."

Mayumi blinked. "What?"

Dakila wasn't looking at her as he spoke. "I know not much about them either, for the last of their kind was centuries ago, but my ancestors fought with powerful Heroes in the Final Wars of Sunder."

"Final… Wars of Sunder? What are you-"

"I shall tell the tale. As much as I know. But I must rest first."

"Then rest you shall."

Dakila nodded. "We should be safe here. The diwata watch you. They are interested as well. No doubt they have not seen someone like you for a few centuries as well."

Mayumi tilted her head to the side, curious to a fault about the truth of Dakila's words. "I am confused by your words." Not that I ever expected not to be.

"Fear not," said Dakila. "I shall keep you safe for the time being, but I cannot keep you longer than I already have. Let us make haste to Pinagsama." The tamawo winced as he stood up.

"Don't. Not yet." Mayumi grabbed Dakila's shoulders and pushed him downward. "You are too tired. You have been gravely injured."

"I have been healed," he hesitated, "mortal."

"You have not. Healing requires time." Mayumi was surprised that even came out of her. With gentle repose, she moved Dakila down once again. The dappling of rain accompanied the transition from adrenaline-filled survival to a quiet respite.

"I…"

"You will rest," said Mayumi. "It is what you require. Even tamawo get tired, I assume."

Dakila quieted down. The thunder from the thunderstorm had quieted. Dakila's breathing stabilized.

Mayumi watched him for a few more moments.

Dakila looked at her with a sideways glance, and then looked away again.

"What are you so nervous for?"

Dakila did not move as he spoke. "Beings like you are known to possess magicks. Some stories speak of your superior affection and loveliness, capable of charming even the most stalwart of tamawo."

Mayumi blinked. Red rushed to her ears.

"What are you…?"

Dakila turned to her, and some form of weird, alien regret flashed across his face. His eyes widened, and he shook his head. "I-I mean that-- Um."

Mayumi swallowed and turned away. They were sitting at a hair's length from each other. Mayumi pulled her knees to her c.h.e.s.t. The red blossomed from her ears to her cheeks.

Dakila inhaled. "You are one of the people that have inherited legendary power," said Dakila. He was not looking at her. "I do not know much, but it can be found in the Aklatan in Biringan, and it has been taught to us by the Tamawo Parawali. Are you willing to listen?"

Dakila looked to his side, only to see a fl.u.s.tered Mayumi covering her ears. Her veins and eyes still glowed with gold.

She nodded at him, biting her lips. "I-I can hear you…" Her voice shook.

Dakila sighed. "Very well."

And the tamawo launched into a story:

"In the Time of Heroes, an age aeons before this Time of Malice, there were powerful Heroes born with the promise of greatness, and the virtue of excellence. They were forged in the crucible of creation, tempered by war, refined by peace. They were weapons used to beat back the forces of darkness as well as try to cull the madness of tyranny, of the Mad Sky."

Mayumi blinked at that, but she did not say anything.

"Now these Heroes, when they liberated the human race from the dark dangers of the world before theirs, created vast, world-spanning empires, and achieved technological marvels and feats that minds nowadays cannot even begin to fathom.

"And that all ended with the Final Wars of Sunder. The war that sundered the sphere of nature and spirit.

"These Heroes fought against the engkant. But it had not always been that easy to summarize. Anyway, this war was of such casualty that the society of spirit removed itself from the world, and hence why you cannot see the spirit kingdoms with your n.a.k.e.d eye."

"I don't understand how that explains anything about me."

Dakila inhaled. "These Heroes carried with them the promise of salvation and power. They commanded the earth, shone like the sun, clever like the moon, and fickle like the stars. They were paragons of humanity, heroes that led and were worthy of song."

Mayumi was quiet.

"When the war ended, every single one of these Heroes died. It was the greatest casualty. So much so that it ended in a great cataclysm -- a mix of storm and deluge. The Thousand Tears and Lightnings Cataclysm, which the Apo have said come from the mighty tears and the enraged lightning bolts of the the Lords of Sky.

"And so, the engkanto never thought we'd ever see the likes of those Heroes ever again. But it seems we are mistaken." Dakila turned to look at Mayumi. "It has long been said that these Heroes will vanish when they are not needed. As with a sword sheathed, or a hammer buried into the ground. But when the time comes, the sword will be drawn. The Heroes will Awaken once again, to protect the world. I am not sure how. The power of the Heroes are said to have been sealed in the blood that flows through humanity, or in the legendary deeds that the engkanto are capable of. This is the Inheritance."

Mayumi found that her face wasn't red anymore. She was listening intently to every word that sprouted out of Dakila's mouth.

"What I am puzzled about is this: there doesn't seem to be any threats lingering around. What is the use of the Inheritance? If this is the world that they return to, I can only think of two possible outcomes: that either they will resurrect this dying world back to its former glory…

"Or end it once and for all."