8 Chapter 7: He Who Ruled

The throne room was quiet just the way he likes it. Sidapa has been reading on the throne for almost half a day and he is now near the end of the soul book he acquired from the poor kalag he tore apart earlier that week. He flipped through the last few pages before deciding to put the book down and check the portals of Sulad.

He walked through the dimly lit hallways and gloomy rooms towards the first portal near Sulad's opening. He entered through the portal and went to the First Quadrant of the Underworld known as Liyang. There, he watched the traveling souls squeezed themselves in a narrow opening to enter Sulad. Sidapa would conceal himself from a special view space he had installed at the canopy's wall.

Usually, he would count the souls entering the narrow opening and secretly judging them based on their looks. He knows it's low but, as a death god that has no other form of entertainment other than reading those books from the souls he collected, he thinks this should give him a slip.

Mostly, the kalags that passed by that entrance are either very tired and weary. He can see it in their faces. Some may have looked lost and just went there by chance.

Souls nowadays are hard to come by. Especially when most of these souls are taken by their designated gods that they have been linked to from their bloodline. But sometimes due to the traffic or mostly due to an alagad's incompetence some of these souls get lost and most can go to another god's domain. For example, if a mortal drowns at sea and the designated death god cannot deploy an alagad there for one reason or another, Magwayen would usually take it to her underwater domain of Kasanaan. That same rule has always been followed and disputed by the death gods.

Sidapa went to the second quadrant, the Pinagsayawan. This quadrant gets all the souls from the Liyang to dance all throughout to cleanse away their sins and prove their conviction to the death god on their devotion and willingness to cleanse themselves. This quadrant has the sound of banging percussions and ancient string and wind instruments on the blow for infinity. If a soul stops dancing the eight-handed alagad known as Kasway will drag them to the cells where they will be tortured for good measure before being allowed to either rest and gather their strength to continue the dancing ritual or be erased from the entire existence forever.

This alagad also has sick kumintang chops that Sidapa would sometimes request for it to play in his throne room. Sidapa checked and saw everything was uneventful. Kasway was playing some wonderful rhythms but unfortunately, has never done any torturing for the day.

He checked Panamparan, the third quadrant, also known as the grooming room. This is where those cleansed souls get groomed before facing him in the luscious banquet awaiting in the fourth quadrant ( Kumbirahan). Everything was quite normal. So normal that even the kumbira (banquet) where his alagad Obra was known to throw such lavish and extravagant banquets and productions cannot quench his boredom. He was drinking alone on his table being served by the Obra the finest and lavish of meals while looking at the kalags eating and drinking voraciously waiting for their time to travel either back to the Likalibutan to be reborn or to the Greater Heavens were they will be welcomed by the Council and join in their ranks as Anituns.

He retired back to his throne room after spending the remaining part of the day catering to the souls in the Kumbirahan. As a god, one can never feel fatigued but he felt an overwhelming weight in his chest, a sense of fatigue not in a physical sense but rather ethereal. Sidapa took again the book of the kalag he prospects to become his katabang and read it again from the beginning.

"I for one have failed him..." it read, " If only I could've loved him more he wouldn't have left me. I was all alone and he made me see my light. He was everything I held dear after I've lost everything and now I've lost him." the words played a solemn yet painful tune in a death god's heart. He closed the book and laid it down on the floor where it got swallowed by the living moss. Sidapa contemplated for a while before falling asleep sitting on his throne.

Sidapa woke up as if he dreamt of something. He tried to recall the dream but cannot remember what it was. As far as what he can comprehend, he woke up short of breath and wheezed wildly as if he was running from something. He looked around trying to scour for any audience that might have seen his vulnerability. No one saw him, luckily. It would've been bad if someone did, it would be for them at least.

He now notices the fair lit room under the light of the moon kissing the darkness from the canopy of his tree. The light gave some soft undertones to the throne room making it look more beautiful like a landscape molded by the hands of a great artist such soft lights became his leisure of seeing during the night. Calming and at the same time mystical these lights have always been a pleasure for him to gaze upon and he would always wait for the moon to shine before retreating to his chambers.

Out from the shadows, Tagahatid showed up and gave a bow of greeting him, his Master. He was presenting his nightly reports to him about the kalag he's nursing back up. The report has always been the same for quite some time now. Tagahatid in his monotonic voice would usually report it as it is. When he says kalag is not moving that means it's not moving. Mostly, Sidapa detested how Tagahatid would give no sort of emotion in his report and often criticized him due to being monotonic while giving out information. However, this night was different.

"My Master, Calista spoke to me."

That caught Sidapa by surprise. " She what?" he stood up in surprise.

"She spoke, Master," he replied

"How did that happen?" Sidapa pried deeper, his eyes staring in anticipation for Tagahatid's interesting report on Calista. Finally, something to quench his boredom!

Tagahatid narrated to him how he noticed Calista seemed to be mumbling every time he dressed her wound and how she seemed to be broken by everything that happened to her. It happened many nights back but he never mentioned it to him because he thought it was irrelevant. But this one was different, he asked her what she was saying and she answered back.

"She told me she was praying to her deity." Tagahatid hesitantly said.

" Praying...to her..deity?" a stunned Sidapa was losing his thought at the mere fact he just heard.

"Ye..." Tagahatid was whipped by an eldritch root out from the shadows that flung him across the room.

Sidapa was furious, "She dared!"

Sidapa's powers leaked into the atmosphere shaking the tree by his sheer force and rage. Tagahatid was unable to stand up from the sheer pressure of his presence.

"She insulted me again?! The audacity!"

Tagahatid stood up from where he was flung and began to speak, "Master, I know you felt angry at such audacity however, I think she might be considering it now."

"You speak of what?" his voice echoed throughout the hall.

"She asked me to teach her," he replied.

Sidapa slowly calmed himself down, he took deep breaths and sighed. Finally, his aura dwindled until Sulad was no longer shaking in his rage. He sat back to his throne and he relaxed before commanding Tagahatid to give him the details.

Tagahatid cordially obliged to his command and narrated the rest of their conversation. Sidapa couldn't help himself but grin at the idea. He told Tagahatid to teach Calista and guide her through the inner workings of the underworld.

"But please, this time report to me every single detail you have about her." he added before dismissing him.

Tagahatid retreated to the shadows with a nod. Sidapa couldn't hide his enthusiasm from what he just heard from his alagad. He summoned again the book he hid from the living moss and continued to read until the moon peered the distance and the sun peeked from the sky. He fell asleep on where he sat again but this time he woke up full of energy and inspiration.

This ought to be fun. He said to himself.

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WRITER'S NOTES

Greetings Reader!

Here you are again! I love how consistent you are with reading this novel! So, to reward you for your loyalty and never-ending patronage, I give you more knowledge about the words and terminologies that might have confused you.

Liyang- Liyang is a little slit in between to boulders that souls have to pas in order for them to go through the underworld.

Pinagsayawan- came fro the word sayaw which means dance in the Filipino language.

Kumbirahan- to feast. If you want to go fancy on your next party, but don't have a new name for it. Try using this one and... you're welcome.

Obra- means work of art.

Kasway- means appendages in the Cebuano dialect.

Thanks for supporting my novel! I will see you the next chapter.

Pugay!