7 Chapter 6: Tagahatid

The boat continued to rock as the clueless kalag became restless on board. As what Tagahatid heard, she kept on mentioning an elaborate prank that she saw on Youtube. Her voice was booming from the boat and while his Master was calmly reading her life book, he knew all too well it was only a matter of time before his Master would explode on the poor girl.

He felt the air of uneasiness surrounding the boat like a calm day before a devastating storm. For a while, he wanted to intervene and save poor kalag. But that would cost him more than what it's worth. Tagahatid knew it all too well, he doesn't want to experience what the previous alagad experienced 200 hundred years ago at the hands of his furious and ruthless Master.

His mind wandered aimlessly as he rowed through the river of the dead. He cannot help but wonder about the recent technology the kalag was talking about.

"You...tube?" He wondered if it could be the same as a television? The last thing he remembered was a brief description of what television was that one time he had to ferry a young man to the dead shores. He kept on talking about it as if it was as important as breathing. Unfortunately, Tagahatid went a step too far when he asked the kalag for more. He got into trouble with his Master because of that and spent 30 years without a tongue and a stitched-up mouth. He never dared ask about anything from the Likalibutan again. He doesn't want to earn a punishment worse than what he had already experienced.

"Yawa-a ka! Let me go!" Tagahatid heard the kalag from an earshot.

He gasped in horror as he felt his Master's presence beginning to devour the boat. His heavy aura began to stall him as Tagahatid himself can't move from such overwhelming power exuding from his liege.

The next thing he saw was the poor soul being violently dragged overboard by an eldritch root into the dark waters. He saw how the water splashed in defiance to the body that was thrown to it but later returned to its calm eeriness.

"What an unbearable woman!" his Master's anger radiated and the stillness of the water did not help the rising tension he could feel coming from him.

"Shall I proceed, Master?"

"No.I want to give her a lesson!" his Master answered hastily.

He noticed his Master paced around the boat which was very uncharacteristic of him. On his hand, he held the chained book of life from the kalag and tried to read again but was unable to focus. Finally, his Master let breath in a deep before sitting calmly again.

Tagahatid knew that the waters had a lot of terrible monsters lurking in its depths. From oversized fishes with human teeth to endless flowing lost souls that entered death before their time. He knew too well how the waters could consume even a god if they wander way too far.

From a distance, Tagahatid saw a pair of glowing eyes begin to surface from the water and fade into its murk. He knew now that poor soul can't survive there if that monster devours her.

"Master, It has come."

His master held the chain tightly and then yanked it as hard as he could to save poor kalag from becoming an underwater treat. The kalag's body hit the floor as she curled in fear before vomiting the water then passed out.

In the distance the glowing pair of eyes peeked into the surface, it blinked once before submerging in the dark depths. Tagahatid can only imagine such horror to what had happened with the previous Tagahatid when it was previously fed by this indomitable creature.

"Buaya, huh?" mumbled Sidapa as he then continued reading the book.

Later after docking, his Master asked him to carry the unconscious kalag to the throne room where he was asked to drop her in the middle of the mossy floor. His Master instructed him to wait for his orders and asked him to leave him and the kalag alone. Tagahatid faded into the shadows and decided to go to his chambers while waiting for his Master's orders.

His room was relatively large; it's not that he needs one. Sidapa just gave him one for him to have a room to retreat on or mostly the fact that his Master doesn't want anybody following him around while he reads or goes to the lesser quadrants of Sulad. His room had a minimal set-up of a simple bed, a writing desk, and an oversized mirror that occupied an entire wall. His master made it so, to give him a reminder of his humanity and also so he could talk with his other-self.

"Looks like your left rib broke three ways." hissed a voice.

"It felt so too. Tagabantay is tough when in his element." as Tagahatid walked to the mirror in the wall. There he was greeted by his other self Tagasundo which remained silent for the remainder of their trip.

"You talked too much." Tagasundo hissed from the mirror. " You could've got ourselves into trouble with your audacity!" he added.

Tagahatid remained silent. He instead picked up a chair and sat in front of the mirror and began to undress. He then tried fixing his broken ribs by manual placing them back in place. He felt every bone as it traveled from under his skin until he set it back. He doesn't feel the pain which was most helpful in this process.

In a normal circumstance, alagads have a fast regeneration ability regardless of whether you cut off a limb or sever an artery, they can even survive decapitation. However, there is an exemption to that, if an alagad gets struck by a weapon blessed or created by a god or goddess, the healing becomes significantly slower. This is the reason why some of the wounds he had on his body have to be stitched. The horns of Tagabantay were blessed from the waters of the old sea that the first Magwayen created.

Tagahatid ignored Tagasundo who was standing in the mirror. He was preoccupied with stitching most of the lacerated wounds and stab holes across his body. Patching up himself was not easy, he had to stitch with one hand while holding the thread with his teeth.

"You missed the back." Tagasundo pointed while gesturing to him to give the needles to him. Tagahatid passed the needle to him and faced his back to the mirror then Tagasundo started stitching his back.

"I hope she endures," Tagahatid whispered.

Tagasundo glanced at him and sighed, " I hope she does."

Later that day, his Master Sidapa summoned him back to the throne room where he was greeted by torn appendages and a separated body hanging from the eldritch roots summoned by his Master. He knew in his mind that the poor kalag had rubbed his Master off the wrong way. He bowed low to greet his Master sitting at the throne still reading the book.

"A pleasant evening, I hope you have patched up yourself well." his Master greeted.

"Pugay, Master. Indeed I have but not without the help of Tagasundo."

"I see you both are hitting off well now! How long has that been since both of you last spoke?"

Tagahatid stood in silence. Not wanting to get an answer, his Master rose from his seat and commanded the roots to move the torn kalag closer to him. His Master grabbed the kalag's face once more and whispered something in its ear before finally, transporting it somewhere within Sulad.

His Master went back to his seat and sighed deeply, " Tagahatid, I want you to put her back together."

He bowed lower in his response to this command, " Yes. It will be done."

"Good."His Master nodded, " One more thing! I want you to talk to her. Show her that even in my tumultuous temper, I am a benevolent god and master."

" You are true, Master." he knelt to agree.

" Her name is Calista, call her that. By the way, I imprisoned her at the 4th quadrant, found her there in the heap, and took her to one of the cells."

" As you wish, Master." as he picked up the scattered appendages before he faded into the shadows.

The dark cell was never difficult for Tagahatid to see its entirety. The silent cold creeping in the atmosphere of the cell made it better for him to focus on patching up the poor kalag which his Master called Calista. The needle pierced her skin and muscles like moss on a wet ground. He started to assemble back Calista from her arms, which proved to be easy considering there was no form of resistance from the girl. However, the kalag seemed to be broken, mentally.

During the time Tagahatid was patching her, he could hear her mumble incomprehensibly. The entire operation lasted 36 human hours non-stop. After he finished the last stitch, he immediately wrapped the wounds with the young leaves and tree barks of Sulad to give it faster healing.

It was at this point he realized that he stitched her without the pangpaduka concoction which was a potent drug that could even make the strongest gods go to sleep. A kalag can still feel pain like, in their living essence they still have emotions and all sorts of sensations as they are still considered human unless they ascend to become an anitun or they get to become an alagad or katabang to a god.

He wondered how painful it could've felt while he stitched her through 36 hours of not even stopping even for a pause. The thought quickly got lost in his mind as he remembered that the kalag was most likely broken by his Master both the soul and mind. Tagahatid picked up the tools he used and walked out of the door.

"Iiiisss iiit over?" a weak voice broke from across the room.

Tagahatid looked back and saw Calista, her eyes were tired yet held a certain power with her stare. He nodded to answer it but his mind raced in disbelief that somehow the kalag survived all through that still retained her sanity as what he saw in his eyes.

"Amen," she said before passing out.

It's been days since he stitched the kalag back together, she's been silently resting at the cell not even moving an inch from the bed where she laid on. At early dawn, Tagahatid would come by to check on her wounds and treat them, while at night, he would bring her supper and feed her before checking her wounds. This has always been the same task Tagahatid did while Calista was recovering. In fact, it was done like clockwork and he never missed a single schedule for her.

He then reports her status to his Master which would only nod in approval before dismissing him. However, there was one strange thing he never had the heart to tell his Master. He knew all throughout the time he was nursing her back to health, Tagahatid had always noticed Calista murmuring something. It sounded like jumbled and foreign words to him. It was rhythmic as he observed how her lips moved and paused every so often during the mumbling. It looked familiar to him, but the concept is lost to him. One night, after he treated her wounds Tagahatid finally asked her about what she was doing.

"Praying," she answered in brief.

"To whom? To those gods of new? or to the god who bound your soul?" he asked.

"Would it matter?"

"My Master doesn't take insults kindly." he sighed.

"I know that first hand...or maybe ripped appendages and all."

"Then why are you still trying..."

"I'm praying for forgiveness for what I am about to do next."

A shiver came down Tagahatid's spine. The same shiver he gets when he talks to an angered god. He felt something was off. He knew this might have endangered his Master, without warning, Tagahatid flings Callista to the wall, winding her.

"You dare threaten my Master?" Tagahatid summoned his sanggot out from the shadows, exposing the glistening blade kissed by the pale glowing miasma that surrounded it.

Callista was unable to move. The stitches have healed that much yet and now it started to bleed all over the place. Her eyes were wide in shock and horror as Tagahatid grips the weapon and readies himself to strike.

" IIII... would like to accept your Master's invitation and I am more than willing to throw away the faith I know to serve his Liege," she answered as she struggled to catch her breath.

"Do not lie to me, kalag! Your fickle attempt to harm him will cost you more! I will end you!" he gripped the weapon hard and unleashed his powers of bursting miasma slowly eating away the walls and floors of the cell.

"If you kill me now, don't you think your Master wouldn't bat an eye about it?" she asked in her weakened voice.

Tagahatid paused and tried to think about it before he finally calmed down and put his weapon back to the shadows. He thought about it, how his Master would react to it especially if he erases her out of existence. That would not go well for him. He knows his Master and how he punishes one who offends him.

"What do I call you?" she asked for his name.

"Tagahatid," he answered while he glared at her with his piercing cold eyes.

She averted her gaze and was silent for a while. Then, she mustered her courage and looked at him in his eyes, " Tagahatid, teach me."

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