1 A story of two. (Ezekiel)

"Legend says that once a man is on the brink of demise he is given a gift. The eye of Bathala. A beautiful radiant purple surrounds half of one beholder's eye. Given to those who looked death in the eyes yet still refuse to subdue and accept their inevitable fate. None of those that received the gift survived."

"Whoa!" A handful of children cheered as the old man told a myth.

"Amazing! Is this really true grandpa?" One of the kids excitedly asked.

"Yes it-" The old man tried to reply but suddenly got cut off.

"No, it is not. All those are myths, gramps, none of them are actually true. " A pessimistic man interrupted the old man's story. Ezekiel, a young lad in his teens helping his father who is a lumberjack carry some logs.

The old geezer looked at Ezekiel with pity "Yes you are right my boy these are myths, but none of us actually know whether these legends are true or not. For a century we've been expanding our village, but why had we never conquered the woods?"

"Because of predators," Ezekiel answered. " Because of wolves, and bears, and other wild animals. Telling these kids stories about myths will only lead them scared because they believe a, uh, a 'Kapre' or whatever it is real!" He added.

"I believe in grandpa!" The children suddenly joined to protect the old man's beliefs. "Yeah me too!"

Ezekiel sighed. "You could be teaching these kids how to crop you know." He mutter. "How to be useful, rather than blabbering insignificant nonsense!"

"Ezekiel Valerio!" His father, Hulio, furiously called him.

"Damn it... Coming!" Ezekiel shouted. The youngsters laughed at Ezekiel as he unexcitedly jogged to his dad.

"What did I tell you about opposing the old man's beliefs?" His father scolded Ezekiel as they placed their logs over the pile of wood.

"I know but he's making the kids believe it as well." He parried.

"Let them be, they'll grow out of it just like you did. You loved those stories back then as well, you were even copying the sounds of the monsters." Hulio teased.

They continued working until the sun started to set. Ezekiel asked permission to eat his 'meryenda' under the nearby trees in the woods. His father agreed just as long as he doesn't wander off too much. He ate his fried bananas under a Narra tree and relaxed.

"How much farther can we expand the village? It's been more than a century and we haven't even covered much of the forest, our progress is too slow, none of the men have the strength to go deeper." He thought to himself. "What are they even afraid of?"

A rustling noise suddenly rattled the bush behind the tree Ezekiel was resting under. He grabbed his slingshot out of his pocket, quickly picked up a piece of stone, and loaded the projectile item.

As the sound of rustling leaves got closer Ezekiel's breath became heavy, he began sweating profusely as if the situation meant life or death. He closed his eyes and focused, rubbing the stone and its semi-smooth texture to help calm down his nerves, in an instant, he lunged himself back up to his feet and aimed, fully prepared to attack whatever was lurking within the tall grass.

"W-What?..." He stuttered in shock.

A creature stood afront that remained unseen of him up until now. It looked like a man but it was far from it. A humanoid creature that stood as tall as Ezekiel, it had human-like skin at some parts and other spots where it was a navy blue, one could distinguish it as a human panther. Its clothing was ripped apart and it was generally filthy. Ezekiel looked eye to eye with the being, the pupil in its left eye was completely red but its right eye was different. Ezekiel stared at it for a moment, a sudden spark alarmed his very being. "The eye of Bathala!" His body trembled before its very sight.

"W-what are you..." He muttered in fear.

They both froze for a second, the critter came to its senses and rapidly ran away. Ezekiel fell on his knees in fear, struggling to get a grasp on reality. "We're not alone... What else is out there?..." With the additional pressure of shock, his stomach grumbled and he gagged. Ezekiel swiftly ran home. He slammed the door open, trembling in horror as he thought of the creature.

"Inay! Itay!" He screeched.

Hulio along with his wife hurried downstairs, worried about their son, they also panicked. "Ezekiel! What happened?!" Hulio blatantly asked.

Ezekiel explained his encounter with the otherworldly creature. The darkness of the night covered the sky as the family argued for hours on end.

"Is this some sort of joke?!" Hulio asked furiously. "You had us worried about something that you saw, and you have no idea what that thing is!"

"What I'm saying is real!" Ezekiel shouted back.

"Here I thought you moved on from the old geezer's story. Eye of Bathala?! Blue patches on the skin?! That's all fantasy!" Hulio argued back. "You keep on acting brave, yet the second you stumble a bit further into the forest you lose your damn mind!

"Everyone calm down. Ezekiel was really tired, it should normal for him to see things he shouldn't." Ezekiel's mother, Maria, tried to settle down the situation.

In distress and anger, Ezekiel slammed the table. "You don't understand!... How do we even know if these legends are true or not!..." He struggled to resent the urge of crumbling down into tears

Hulio watched his only son shiver tremendously in fear. "I'm sorry-" A howl echoed and startled the people of the village.

"Aswang!" An ear-piercing scream of a woman blasted through the townfolks.

Everyone in the village went outside. They went to inspect the location of the shriek. There was a long silence, the sound of a vase that fell and broke suddenly emitted inside of the house. One of the village members went in to investigate. Ezekiel turned around to see the townpeople's reaction. Some were murmuring to each other, a few, especially children were excited about the thrill, but he then noticed the old man. He stood, frozen in horror, fist clenched as a jagged teeth monster reflected unto the window.

"Run!" The old geezer squealed in terror.

The window suddenly shattered, the torn-apart body of the investigator flew outside. Multiple maneaters called 'Aswang' lunged out of the trees and preyed on the defenseless villagers. They screamed in panic and tried to sprint away. Hulio pulled Ezekiel and his wife and separated from the herd.

"Itay where are we going?!" Ezekiel cried, huffing his breath as he ran relentlessly away from the predators, the hope drained out of his very eyes.

"There is a cave near the corner of the village, one that is difficult to be seen! We'll be safe there!" Hulio relieved.

Ezekiel looked back and saw the ravenous carnage. The beasts ate the children, half-cut bodies with wings flying around and assaulting the villagers, farm animals shapeshifting back into an Aswang further spilling the blood of innocent people. Ezekiel disgraced himself upon knowing there was nothing he or anyone could do to stop the rampaging monsters. Ezekiel's family and some of the residents reach the cave. Out of the 350 villagers, only 74 survived. The people mourned in grief for the one that they lost, some were furious as well.

"What now?! What are we gonna do?! Just sit around here and die?! There's nothing here!" One of the folks shouted. Others then began to complain as well and some were distressed by all the noise the people were making.

"Silence!" The head of the village shouted. " There will be a solution to this. Calm down."

"Solution? What solution huh?! Almost seventy percent of our people got wiped out, we don't even know what are they and how to kill them, and they can turn into animals may I add!" The villager suddenly said.

"Well, there is a way." The old man butted into the conversation.

"Shut up with your myths old man it's not going to help." He alleged

"But what just happened is supposed to be just a myth." One of the villager's comeback.

"Let the old man talk." The head of the village ordered.

"We must find the 'Buhayostine'"