3 Torches

Inside the village, a boy is strolling on the dark empty streets with lamp posts on each of its sides. He is uttering a harmonious tone as he is swinging his hands while his other hand is carrying a bouquet. 

"Such a calm night," he smiles slyly, "now I wonder, where would Lumina be? Crystal and Aji told me that she's nowhere to be seen."

The corners of his lip arise as he is swinging the bouquet. His feet stop moving bit by bit, and his smile vanishes from his lip.

"L-Lumina?" he inhaled deeply.

He witnessed a young man sitting beside Lumina on a rooftop. His hand begins to shake as the petals of each flower are falling.

He turns around and lifts the bouquet closer to his eyes, and so he throws it away. Thence from his place, he begins to run.

Unbeknownst to Lumina, a few men wearing dark clothing are hiding in the shadows of the streets near the structures.

One of them moves his eyes to the young man who's standing in front of him. So, he says, "Are we going to assassinate them?"

The young man raises his hand to the one who asked. "Not yet."

The corners of his lip curved upward while gazing at Lumina and the young man beside her. He slides his hand inside the pocket of his bottom clothing, and he brings out a camera.

"Tonight, I will feast upon my victory." he chuckled.

He lifts the camera closer to his eyes. Waves of cold wind blow throughout the whole townlet as the night goes deeper.

In a hallway, inside a hospital, Santos is standing in front of a man wearing white attire; both of them are having a conversation 

Santos moves his eyes down while sliding his hands inside the pocket of his pants. "Is that true, doctor?"

The man in front of him stares at his eyes before rubbing his nape. "As you can see, Santos, we are doing our best to help her."

Santos looks down and shakes his head. He moves his eyes upward and looks into the eyes of the doctor.

"Will there be any other possibilities?" Santos asks, "I'll do everything, just please… save her!"

The doctor inhales deeply. "Your wife, I cannot say that I can heal her in a matter of seconds or rather give you false hope on her condition." 

Fluid fills Santos' eyes as he shakes his head while gazing at the doctor's eyes. "But you are a doctor! You can heal my wife because you know that more than anyone else!"

The doctor moves his eyes to the glass window beside him. "Even though I am a doctor, it does not mean that I can cure any disease. Like you, I am a human as well."

Santos stares down at the ground while the doctor is walking away from him. Santos looks up and walks closer to the glass window beside him, and there he sees an unconscious woman resting on the mattress.

"What must I do?" fluid fell from the corner of his eyes.

He walks toward the closed door. He touches the doorknob and twirls it, and then he pushes it.

He enters the room and pushes the door, and presses the button on the doorknob. He walks toward the mattress and settles the plastic bag on the surface of the desk beside the bed.

He holds the part of the chair which is placed beside the bed, and so he pulls it and gives his feet a rest.

Now, his calm eyes are staring at the mug of his beloved. Hence moves his eyes toward her hand and sees a thin colorless cord pierced into her hand.

He says, "My love… I don't know what to do anymore."

He holds her hand and calmly presses it. He moves his eyes toward her face and tears fall from his eyes.

"I-I just want you to speak and tell me that 'everything will be okay," he sniffs, "if you only know how I'm eager to await for you. Just speak my name and I will be okay."

He settles his face on the back of her hand, and more fluids rapidly fall from his eyes and he remains in that position.

On the dark streets with lamp posts placed on each sidewalk, Lumina and Afitera are ambling beside each other.

Lumina looks at Afitera who's walking beside her. "Say, Afitera… are we friends now?"

"I never had one," Afitera tells her, "but if it's you then I'm okay."

She looks away from him and puts her fingers closer to her lip. She moves her eyes toward Afitera. "A-Am I that special for you?"

She looks up and utters a soft laugh. "Don't treat me that way! You're making my heart race!"

"What?" Afitera said.

Lumina's eyes widen and she blinks repeatedly. Then she looks toward Afitera only to see him looking up. "For me, you are like a statue."

"Excuse me! Statue?!" Lumina closes her hands and they shake, "there are so many things that you can compare me to! Why did you compare me to a statue?!"

Afitera makes a low, continuous, droning sound. "Well, for me you behold a beauty that is pure as a statue."

Lumina narrows her eyes at him. "But for a longer period, a statue can look old! How can you say that I have beauty like a statue?!"

"A statue will not look old if someone will take care of it," Afitera looks at her and closes his eyes as he smiles gently, "so I will take care of you. I will preserve that beauty of yours."

Red tints appear on her cheeks and so she swings her hand and her hand hits his face. Afitera touches his cheek while yelling in pain while Lumina is touching her blushing cheeks.

"Y-You! Smooth talker!" Lumina looked away from him.

She begins to jump repeatedly whilst Aiftera is rubbing his reddening cheeks.

At a great distance from Afitera and Lumina, Bene is currently standing on a rooftop. He raises his hand and immediately moves it downward.

The men wearing dark clothing behind him run toward Afitera but all of them were put to a halt.

One of them mumbles, "What? Why are there so many people here?!"

A swarm of human beings can be seen holding up torches and pitchforks while running in a certain direction, hence all of them blocked the way of the men in dark clothing.

"What?!" Bene inhales deeply, "I can't believe that there are so many people going toward that rat."

One of the men behind him steps toward Bene. "Sir Bene, it seems that—!"

Bene turns around, he embraces the man who stepped towards him. Bene pulls the man closer to his body and the man's eyes broaden while red fluid is dripping from the corner of his lip.

Henceforth, Bene pulls his hand from the man's neck and pushes him while he swings his knife; clearing the blood from its blade.

The man falls to his knees, he touches the hole in his abdomen; pressing it deeply. He couldn't prevent himself from coughing while looking downwards.

"Who told you that you can lay a finger on my skin?" Bene tosses the knife, "it's clear as daylight that you are only a cheap creature that I can use as long as I want to."

Bene folds his knee in front of the man whom he stabbed. Bene stares right into his eyes as he lets out a breath with his laugh.

"Now, rest." he smiled at him.

Bene thrusts his hand; piercing the skin and flesh on the man's forehead. Everyone around them begins to walk backward as their eyes are widening and their thighs are trembling.

"Fear me," Bene chuckles as he stands up from kneeling, "your fears are like wine that quenches my thirst."

In a blink of an eye, Lumina's eyes are widening as she is witnessing Afitera being carried by many people behind them.

"Afitera," Lumina whispered.

The crowd carried Afitera with them while Lumina is left as a witness to her friend's fate. Bene turns around and his eyes are widening.

"This energy!" Bene's heartbeat is increasing per second as his face is getting soaked by his sweat, "I am aware of the one who is causing this!"

Afitera is thrown into an alleyway; he crashes on the ground. His eyes are widening as multiple fists are landing on his whole body, and pitchforks are being used against him.

The blades of the pitchforks form deep scratches on his arms, neck, thighs, and face. 

One of the individuals lifts Afitera by holding his neck, and waves of screams of anger are filling the atmosphere as if he was being cheered by raising Afitera.

"You are truly a son of those creatures! Creatures like you shouldn't deserve a bit of pity from us," he thrusts his hand into Afitera's eyes, "now, I will take your eye from you! Because of you, my wife has been killed by those creatures!"

Afitera's eyes are widening as his other eye is being pulled from its place; blood bursts from it. 

"ENOUGH!" He cried as fluid fell from his eyes.

The cloud begins to go dark, as a force of wind blows throughout the whole alleyway; shutting most of the fire off the torches.

A pair of footsteps can be heard going closer to the crowd. All of them turn around and their heads burst. Moreover,  flames manifest on their whole body; burning it to ashes.

A woman with sharp fangs and two fireballs floating on her shoulders is walking toward the rest of the crowd.

All of them scream and scramble away from Afitera; his eyes are closed as blood is oozing from his wounds.

The young woman halts beside Afitera. She stares at him and her hair arises and she looks back at the rest of the humans.

"You call yourselves human but you don't have mercy on your kind?!" flames burst from her back and it forms onto the shape of large wings, "In that case, I will burn all of you to ashes!"

She jumps toward them. Two women wearing white clothing go toward Afitera, and they lift him.

The two women carry Afitera on their shoulders. All of a sudden, they explode into a cloud of dust; leaving nothing but the fading cloud of dust.

Meanwhile, inside a room with no lights, a young man is sitting on a dark metallic chair while sipping on a wine glass.

He moves the wine glass from his lip and stares at it. "Why is it so hard for you to be mine, Lumina? That man doesn't even own what I have!"

"That man doesn't even have money to go to Manila or even to Cebu," he chuckles while staring at the wine glass, "Cebu is a nice place for people who have varieties of blood. Like what my grandfather said to me, 'Ferian, if you want to taste some fine blood then Cebu is a place to go'."

He puts his hand down and tosses the wine glass from his hand, hence the sound of a broken wine glass echoes throughout the whole room.

"I can replace anything for I am a wealthy aswang," Ferian whispered.