1 The Forsaken Princess

Once upon a time, there were two star-crossed lovers, Princess Isabel and Mancao. Princess Isabel was a beautiful diwata while Mancao was an ordinary, handsome man from Anapog who often visited her.

The pair of lovers were well known in the village. Despite being a diwata, Princess Isabel dearly loved the simple human man.

One day, after Mancao's visit to the princess he made a vow.

"Isabel, my love, I will return to my home in Anapog. Do not cry, my love. I will return and I will ask for your hand in marriage. Wait for me, my love."

Thus, Mancao left to ask for his parents' blessing.

Alas, Mancao did not return ever since then. He disappeared, even the villagers searched for him but could not find him.

For days, Princess Isabel waited for him but as the days go by, she slowly fell into despair as she finally realized he will no longer come back to her.

She cried and cried until she could not shed tears anymore. She no longer held the will to live and tried to kill herself.

She drew a knife and plunged it to her belly but no matter how many times she would stab herself or how many cuts she would make or how much blood was spilled from her wounds. She still lived and she couldn't feel any pain.

Her life force was the trees, the sea, and the flowers. As long as she was surrounded by them her life would not perish.

She tried other means to end her misery. She went to a cliff jumped off of it. She hit the surface of the dark waters of the ocean and fell unconscious. Her body plunged deep into its rocky bed. To her dismay, she woke up later, washed up ashore, safe and sound.

On the shore were a group of beautiful mermaids giggling with their melodic voices. They waved goodbye as they left, thinking that they had saved her. Unbeknownst to them, they had foiled her plans.

For several days after that blunder in her plan, she did not eat anything. It only made her suffer. No matter how hungry she was she still lived for days. She never let water touched her lips but that was also futile as she never felt thirst. She cried to sleep, feeling hopeless.

And on the next day, she slit her throat out of desperation. Blood rushed out of her gaping wound and for the first time, she finally felt the pain, but it was not enough.

She tried other multiple attempts, but they too were to no avail. She felt empty, sullen, and almost mindless by the time she understood she could not end her life.

In her senseless state, she took a dagger with her as she wandered on the edge of the village that was close to the sea. She stared at the sunset while her hand, holding the dagger, moved to her belly. As a mockery of her first attempt, she made a huge cut on her belly but as she expected, there was still no pain. She watched her innards almost swelling out of her torn-up belly with melancholic eyes.

She threw the dagger aside and pulled out her intestines. She continued to walk as she laid out her entrails on the pathway. Her intestines turned into shorelines, a boundary between the sea and the earth. Her intestines reached one point of the village to the other thus the name Punta was derived from.

As she turned back to see her trail, she slowly crumbled and shattered like glass. Death had finally come to her at last.

The people mourned her death and named the village Punta Isabel after her. As decades and centuries go by the village now become Punta.

Princess Isabel left three treasures behind: her domain, her crown, and her golden horse. All three were hidden separately around Punta.

Nowadays, people still say they have seen a beautiful horse holding a white cloth in its mouth. They would see the stunning creature appearing suddenly as it run across the fields but before they could marvel longer, it disappears in a blink of an eye.

As for the crown, people say it was left buried underground, but no one knows the specific location. People also said that whoever wears the magnificent headpiece can enter her enchanted domain and become its new owner.

For the last treasure, the domain, had countless enchanted and beautiful things. Amongst them were glistening tableware, fine dresses, shining jewelries and a beautiful wedding dress. It was the same bridal gown she prepared for her own wedding with Mancao but was never worn. However, she let the women from the village borrow her dress for their own wedding because she loved seeing them happily married to their beloved.

For years, people from the village have come to the doors of her domain to borrow her belongings upon a condition that they must return them safely.

Unfortunately, one villager decided not to return a set of tableware thereby infuriating the servants of Princess Isabel's domain. Since then, villagers could no longer contact her servants and borrow from her. Only a handful of people can see a glimpse of her domain now.

These people are called the fated ones or taghana.