36 Chapter 31- The Death God, the Tree and the Pesky Girl

As Lady Hiraya and his children guests went on their way to the Kumbirahan, Sidapa opened a portal going to the tree of Sulad itself. As he entered, he saw the Sulad’s fruits glistening under the pale moonlight.

The heart-shaped fruit looked gray and unappealing to the eye. It also didn’t help that the fruit was pulsating like a beating heart. Sidapa approached one of the fruits and gave it a pinch. The fruit reacted by pulsating stronger and faster, just like a heart would when a stimulus is applied.

“They are now ready for harvest.” He nodded with contentment.

With a snap of his fingers, Obra’s minions popped out of nowhere and began to pick the fruits as quickly as they can. Of course, Sidapa also helped them out. He didn’t really want to be called the god who just bosses around (even if he does it most of the time during harvest).

Today is different. For him this day is special, for a lot of reasons. Firstly, he was able to get rid of the pesky elders from that cursed place of Dacungkahoy. Secondly, he was able to save a few more children there. Lastly, he wanted Calista to taste Sulad’s fruit since she had been very diligent to him during the ceremony, and even putting up a brave face despite the grim reality of the ritual entailed.

Of course, he also did pull some strings at that time. Like, putting a glamour spell on the decapitated heads to avoid her from knowing the truth. He also put on the santelmo to guide them in their way. He usually only utilized one, but this time he thought of going for a lot. The kumintang as well, he made sure that it was finely tuned, because he wanted his guests to feel welcomed.

After harvesting the fruits, they placed it inside a huge basket made from dried water reeds growing near Sulad’s river. He then, pricked his finger and let a droplet of his blood fall onto the heart-shaped pome, blessing it.

The other-worldly fruit was slowly engulfed by the vibrant colors of yellow, with some accents of blue and red. After seeing this, the god of death smiled and teleported the harvest to the Kumbirahan’s kitchen.

He took another glance at the mighty tree, as he saw a new batch of flowers starting to grow again from its branches. In a full moon’s time, the flowers will bloom and if not harvested; on the next full moon, it will slowly morph into that weird pulsating fruit for the souls to enjoy.

He went back to Kumbirahan as quickly as he can, excited for the next part of the feast. When he arrived, however, things were different.

“I am back!” He said gleefully while raising his arms as if to hug someone. He noticed how pale Calista’s face became.

That made him confused. “Did I miss anything? Oh, my Lady Hiraya, you look pale! Are you sick?”

He was concerned with what happened on those few moments while he was gone. He wanted to know what made his poor katabang looked the way she did.

“This is nothing, My Lord!” She quickly answered, “I... just need to freshen up a bit! If you would excuse me, I want to go to the powder room.” She politely bowed and found her way to the exit.

It sounded suspicious to him. He wanted to know more about what happened before chasing Calista and ordering her to get back to the hall. The kids looked baffled, especially the younger ones. He smiled and approached them.

The younger girl elbowed the boy who clumsily stood up along with her and bowed. He was impressed by the children’s manners, but that wasn’t the time to be impressed. He gestured them to sit down which they obliged joyfully. He smiled to them once more and asked.

“What happened to Lady Hiraya while I was away?” The god of death sat in front of the children.

“Uhmm…” the younger girl tried to recall what happened while looking at the ceiling. “She taught us how to thumb wrestling!”

“Indeed!” The boy seconded. “Do you want to try it too, Lord Sidapa?” He asked.

Sidapa laughed albeit it was fake and forceful, he was able to convince the children that he was amused.

“Dear boy, I would love to but now is not the time for it. Don’t you really know what happened?”

Both younger children shook their heads. They were as confused as he was.

“I know why!” The teenage girl blurted.

Sidapa looked behind him and saw the teenage girl bow to him with one knee kneeling. “Tell me then,” he ordered.

“I am Maya, from the tribe of Dacungcahoy!”

There was no shaking in her voice. It got Sidapa intrigued but still uninterested. He only wanted to know what happened to Calista. Why did she looked as if she saw a ghost? It was highly unlikely that she would still fear the ghosts. She’s in the underworld and interacting with souls is her other job aside from being his katabang.

“Lord Sidapa,” the teenager addressed. “She looked pale because she’s weak and incompetent. She cannot attend to your needs as effective as I can!” She glanced at him and cracked a smile.

Sidapa was both annoyed and insulted with what she said, but he tried his best to conceal his temper. He didn’t want the other younger children to fear him and he didn’t want to ruin such marvelous feast because of one teenage girl that cannot hold her tongue.

Sidapa sighed, “You told her that?”

Maya stood up and smiled again, “No, Lord Sidapa!” She laid her right hand at the center of her chest as a sign of the truth. “I asked her how to become like her, a katabang. But for some reason she became pale and that’s when you came.”

Sidapa’s patience was slowly diminishing for Maya. The way she insulted his katabang, was also indirectly insulting him for his poor choice—which wasn’t the case with Calista.

“Lord Sidapa, I know you can only pick one katabang, make me your katabang, instead of her!” She pleaded. “I can be better than her, I am going—”

That last statement was the final straw that broke the camel’s back. Sidapa was furious with her, but still didn’t wanted to ruin the feast nor the other younger children’s perspective with him. He breathed in deep and clapped his hands. After that, everything stopped except for him and Maya.

Sidapa stopped time, it was something that even he shouldn’t do in his realm, but he really wanted the teenage girl to get her just desserts for insulting him, “Maya, was it?” He asked while he stroked his chin.

“Y-yes, Lord Sidapa.” The girl looked around and saw everything stood still. “W-what’s going on?” the confused took a step back.

“Nothing. I just stopped time, so we can talk without—distractions.” He answered. “You really want to become a katabang, don’t you?”

“Yes of course! If you let me, I will do everything that—”

“Everything?Anything?!”

“Y-Yes, I will Lord Sidapa, if you’ll let me!”

The god of death smiled at her, “Come follow me!” He snapped his fingers and opened a portal to the hallway of a thousand doors.

Maya was reluctant at first but pulled herself together and went into the portal with Sidapa.

Sidapa waited for her at the other side of the portal. He stood near a black wooden door, smiling at the aspiring katabang.

Sidapa opened the door to a dark room with a single table on the center where there was a light lit. He gestured the girl to come inside with him. Maya obliged and bravely took a step inside of the dark room with Sidapa.

“W-what are we doing here, Lord Sidapa?” Her voice trembled in both fear and uncertainty.

“Don’t worry my dear, no harm will come to you,” he offered his hand in a gentleman’s gesture and escorted the girl into the center of the room where the table was.

“Maya, I understand how you wanted to take Lady Hiraya’s job. I will grant you that opportunity today!” He glanced at Maya whose eyes shimmered in excitement.

“I will do everything that I can to prove myself!”

“Good! That’s the spirit!” He exclaimed. “Very well, I want you to help my friends drink water from this bottle.” He materialized a bottle from the shadows and gave it to the girl.

“That is a task I shall no doubt complete!” Maya confidently agreed.

“I hope you would…”

Maya looked at Lord Sidapa and asked, “By the way, Lord Sidapa where are your friends?”

Sidapa smiled, “Good that you asked!” He snapped his fingers, and the entire room was illuminated with a bright light.

To Maya’s horror, she saw the heads of the elders of Dacungcahoy. They were neatly arranged in a shelf. Some of the heads were the new ones but as she looked around, she saw other heads rotting with their fleshing slowly melting into a black sludge or some with their eyes falling off from their skulls.

“L-lord S-sidapa, what is this?” Her voice trembled along with her body in fear.

“Well, these are my friends! My companions in the underworld!” He said sarcastically. “Oh, that’s right! You know them as your elders! Here let me call them out for you!”

The terrified Maya ran towards the door, only to see it disappear into thin air. The horrified teenager banged the wall where the door was supposed to be, but nothing came to her aid or opened the door from the outside.

Sidapa raised his arms towards her and called her back to him. Maya’s body began to stiffen. She was unable to move and all she can do was scream at the top of her lungs.

Sidapa controlled her body and controlled her to walk back to him.

“Tsk! Tsk! I really hate people who can’t stick to their word.” Sidapa said.

“P-please, L-lord Sidapa not this…please!” Maya begged as her body walked towards the decapitated heads. She had no control of her body as she picked up the bottle from the table.

Sidapa made her stood still in front of the village elder he placed into the shelf earlier. Maya could only watch in horror as Sidapa called them all out.

“Wake up, you old oafs! You have a visitor!” Sidapa shouted.

The heads opened their eyes and gazed into the young girl standing in front of them.

“Mmmaayyaaaa…it is youuuu..” the hoarse voice of the village elder brought more terror into Maya. She wanted to run but she can’t. She wanted to scream, but she wasn’t able to, not anymore.

The rest of the heads began to jolt, and their mouths gruesomely moved letting out a hoarse howl that echoed around the room.

“Well, Maya this is your first task. Make me and them, proud.” Sidapa winked at her and smiled sinisterly.

He waived his hand against the wall and the door appeared again. Maya could only watch in terror as Sidapa leaves the room and slowly closed the door. By then, Maya could feel her senses return and the door fully closed she can move and scream again.

Sidapa on the other hand, sat at the floor in the hallway listening in glee to the screams of an arrogant pesky girl.