Mutagen

Day 153 - 8:39 PM - Village of Exiles, Barangay Mardrijelos, Municipality of Algeria, Province of Cebu

"I better go now. I have to prepare things on my side."

Pefile stood up from his seat after drinking the rest of the tea.

"Then, let me lead you out."

,m Erille said, also standing from his seat.

"There's no need to. I'm not the child you always have to usher in the past."

Pefile replied as he walked towards the door.

Erille watched Pefile's back. About a hundred years ago, Pefile was just a child that called him uncle. Now, there was no trace of that child anymore. What was left was a pitiful wanderer forced to be alone.

"Is there anything we can do to help?"

Erille asked.

Pefile stopped and turned his head above his right shoulder to look at the old Tamawo.

"There is one thing you can do," Pefile replied. "Your son and all those still loyal to my father. Make them leave the tribe before the day after tomorrow. If they didn't leave, I would not be able to ensure their safety."

With those words, Pefile walked out of the door.

Erille wanted to ask why. However, even if he was loyal to the previous king and Pefile, it would be suspicious if he pressed for details. Instead, he fell silent and took Pefile's advice to heart.

The old Tamawo walked towards the door to take a peek at the leaving Pefile. Unexpectedly, even though it was just a few seconds, Pefile was already gone.

"It looked like he had gotten stronger after these years," Erille murmured with a smile. He was happy to see the growth of their king. "I should hurry and send a message to my son. A day is barely enough for them to leave the tribe."

Erille then rushed towards the window behind his house. The window was opened wide with a potted plant. The plant was strange as it was not something that could be seen by humans. Nonetheless, its twelve inches tall stem bore a huge bud at its end.

"Tenaya, I need you to wake up."

Erille spoke to the flower. No, not to the flower but the creature residing inside it.

The voice of the old Tamawo made the bud shake as it slowly bloomed into a beautiful red flower. Inside the flower, a little girl sat in a fetal position, stretched her arms up, and yawned. The cute little girl with blond hair then shook her glowing dragonfly wings and opened her golden-colored eyes.

It was a Lambana. A Spirit Race said to have been born from the tears of the Philippine Goddess of the Moon, Bulan.

"What is it Erille, I'm still sleepy..."

The Lambana, Tenaya, complained to the old Tamawo.

"I'm sorry, but this is urgent," Erille replied. "I need you to send a message to my son as soon as possible."

"Urgent?" Tenaya asked as she stood on the flower. "How urgent is it?"

"Their lives might be at stake." Erille truthfully answered. "We can't delay this message."

Hearing the old Tamawo's answer, Tenaya shook herself awake. She listened carefully to Erille's message and flew out of the window in a hurry.

"I wish that Pefile would succeed." Erille voiced out as he saw Tenaya leave. "Even if he did not accept being our next king, it was better than living under the rule of his brother."

***

The second prince allied himself with the enemies of the previous king. They were the Tamawos who were exiled after committing crimes and blaspheming their culture and tradition.

They were the previous ones thrown in the Village of Exiles.

The Village of Exiles was a village built by those who were exiled by the tribe. To be exiled from the tribe was something grave for the members as it was basically cutting off their blood and knot for the generations they served the tribe.

As exiles, they were outcasted not only by the members of the tribe but also by the other races living nearby. It made it hard for them to live without the support of the tribe.

Experiencing the hardships living as an exile made the hearts of the criminals curse the previous king.

The only way for an exile to return to the tribe was to receive the king's forgiveness. Thus, they took the opportunity to aid the second prince and gain the freedom they wanted.

And in the end, a bloody coup ensued led by the second prince and the exiles. It all started in a sneak attack in their ancestral land, killing all those unprepared warriors along the way.

The second prince succeeded in taking over the throne in one night. Those exiles that aided him had their status restored. While those who were loyal to the previous king were exiled in return.

However, even though the coup succeeded, the second prince, no, the new king, was unsatisfied.

In the end, he never felt the accomplishment of surpassing his eccentric brother. He just took over an empty throne, nothing else.

And the worst thing, the treasure of their tribe that was the symbol of the king, did not respond to the new king's call.

Frustrated, the new king thought that it might have something to do with his brother.

Thus, the new king gave his order.

It was to find his missing older brother.

The Tamawos might not have any ability to locate a person. However, there were other races in existence that might be able to do so.

In the end, they found a witch. The witch was not able to locate the exact location of the missing prince. However, she managed to give the general location.

And there, the new king himself led the search.

They reached Infanta, a place very far from their homeland. However, they were not able to find a trace of the missing prince.

One day, however, while looking for the traces of the missing prince, the new king saw a mother and a child buying food in a seaside market. The new king was stunned at the beauty of the mother.

Without a doubt, the new king fell in love with the mortal woman. He stalked the mother and child to their home and infiltrated the home during the night.

There was no hesitation on the new king's mind as he tried to mark the woman and use his charm magic.

Unexpectedly, the king's mark and charm magic did not work and bounced off. Instead, he smelled a familiar scent from the mother.

It was the scent, the marking of his missing brother.

The new king was enraged. Once again, his brother was ahead of him.

Nonetheless, the new king was not one to give up, especially with his life at stake.

With his brother not around, the new king decided to wait and abduct his wife. It was not something that happened immediately. With a curse that Tamawos use to slowly weaken a human, the new king brought the woman to the brink of death.

And soon, in human perception, the woman died, leaving the orphaned child. The woman was buried without anyone knowing what actually happened to her.

But in truth, she was there as she watched her fake body buried, unable to escape from the new king of Tamawos and his warriors.

Finally, the first prince returned, only to see his wife getting abducted by his brother.

It led to a battle. Of course, not that duel needed to be fought by the two Tamawos that fell in love with the same woman.

The first prince was at a disadvantage. Once he lost all this energy fighting the warriors, the new king would initiate the duel. It was one of the loopholes in their curse. There was no rule that both parties should be in the best state nor they could disagree. After all, the rules were not made by them.

Being called a duel was just sugarcoating the whole process. In fact, rather than a duel, it was more of a fight to their deaths. The method did not matter as long as one of the two candidates defeated their killed or made their opponent submit.

In that case, the first prince would lose, not only his life but the love of his wife.

The wife of the first prince also knew what was going on. She accepted the first prince's love knowing what he was. Thus, the first prince did not hesitate to tell stories about himself and his race.

And the woman was a smart person. Knowing that she would be fine as long as her husband was not defeated by the new king, she decided on something.

The woman took advantage of the situation. Since the warriors were not there to protect their king and were surrounding her husband instead, she tackled the new king down.

It caused the warriors to become distracted. However, it was not enough for her and the first prince to escape together.

Thus, the woman roared towards the first prince. She was willing to wait for him. He should escape for now.

Heavy-hearted, the first prince had no choice but to follow his wife's bidding. Once he was caught and defeated in that situation, everything would be lost.

His wife was one thing, but they also had a young child that lost his mother and did not know who his father was.

It was already lucky that the new king did not care for the child and left the kid alone. But...

If he was defeated here, not only his wife would fall into the hands of his brother, but the future of the orphaned child would also become bleak.

There was no other choice.

Before the warriors managed to recover from the distraction, the first prince escaped.

A chase happened, but the first prince managed to hide eventually.

Nonetheless, the new king was not disheartened. His brother would return for sure to retrieve his wife. It was unfortunate that he would not be able to do anything with her. In the least, he would not die since both candidates for her partner were still alive and had not given up.

And as the new king thought, the first prince did return.

The first prince tried to sneak into their territory and save his wife. Unfortunately, many things had changed since the new king sat on the throne. As such, the unexpected things led to the first prince almost get caught.

With the help of the remaining people loyal to the previous king, the first prince managed to escape once more.

Unfortunately, it caused the lives of those that helped him.

Since then, the first prince had gone missing once more.

The first prince returned to his son, waiting for a chance to take back what was his.

Unfortunately, he could not face his son until he got his wife back. There was no way that he would tell that his mother was taken away because of his weakness.

He could only take care of the child in the shadows, putting food in the kitchen and protecting him from dangers.

A decade has passed by since then.

And now, the first prince finally found a chance. It might cost him his loyalty. But it was better than waiting longer.

Besides, being under a potential god recognized by the higher beings was not bad at all...

Even if the one he had to serve might become the God of Chaos in the future.

***

Pefile left the Village of Exiles. Standing under the tree that overlooked the valley where their tribe resided, Pefile took out an item from his leather bag.

It was a crystal with a glowing orb inside.

"I'm hesitating to use this before. But it's not the time to hesitate any longer. I'll be willing to sell my soul to the devil if it would give me a higher chance to save her... Save Celine."

Pefile then left to a certain place. It was a cave that only he knew since he was a child. Here, there was no one to disturb him until he gained the new power bestowed unto him.

Unknown to Pefile, however, his acceptance of weakness caused a commotion in the tribe.

It was because the mark of the King that never accepted the new king suddenly began to resonate.

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