Chapter 3 : Attack of Coal Eaters in the Enchanted River

"Master! Master! Wake up!" the slave's high pitched voice awoken the sleeping young master in the late morning. He frowned and noticed that something heavy was covering his body, it was a dried bear skin used as protection from the cold. His servant's grinning face welcomed him first thing in the morning. 2984-1199 was holding a small wild boar in his hands as it tried its best to escape from the grip. It looked so young and dirty.

'Just like his captor.' Arexis thought and scoffed. He removed the blanket and sat up, his eyes roaming around the whole place.

"You should not wake up a noble in that way!" Anthony yelled at 2984-1199 and pouted. He crossed his arms across his chest and growled at the reckless guardian --who in the moment was trying to keep the wild animal in his hand to behave.

"You should tell him how to wake you up, fellow master!" Anthony said while pointing at Arexis. The servants didn't care at all and just listened to whatever young master Anthony, imitating an expert teacher.

"You should do it like this-" Anthony said and stood beside Arexis. He touched the young Master's arm softly as he gently said: "Young master, the sun has shine. Please wake up and enjoy this beautiful day"

Both servants bowed their heads to avoid themselves from laughing. Arexis ignored Anthony's lame demonstration and glared at 2984-1199, maybe because of suddenly waking him up.

"I just want to say that I caught this delicious boar. I want to ask you if you like to eat this kind of food, I'm roasting it." The guardian spoke, tightening his grip even more as the wild animal began to move in a rampageous stage, any animal would develop such behavior when their instincts tell them that they are about to die. Arexis suddenly remembered what his mother said, he swore he would never end up like that wild boar.

"Next time I'll wake you up, I' will make sure to do it your way!" 2984-1199 said to Arexis and then, he winked at Anthony. Arexis cleared his throat and saw the poor boar howling hopelessly in the hands of his heartless guardian.

"Let it go" Arexis commanded. The clumsy servant pouted and started complaining about how much effort he had spent to capture the wild animal, and when the young master told him just to let it go, he was hesitant to follow his master's order.

"If you do not wish to eat it, I'll eat it by myself. I will find another food for you but I can't let this one go, young master" 2984-1199 said like a child and hugged the poor animal tightly. Arexis saw the little boar's sad eyes as if it was asking for his help.

"I order you to let the thing go" Arexis glared at his guardian and 2984-1199 had no choice but to let the lucky animal go. He thought he might catch it some other time without letting the young master know. Arexis was a vegetarian so he doesn't necessarily need to hunt food. The young guardian turned his back and started walking.

"Young master~ please wake up~ I caught this wild baby grizzly bear for you to eat~ Hurry up and let's roast it~ If you don't wake up~ I will roast you myself~" 2984-1199 murmured while adding a tune to his words. Arexis frowned as he heard every word, he knew that his guardian was doing it on purpose to annoy him.

"I'm practicing hehe!" the clumsy servant explained and started walking towards the Enchanted river.

"Young master, what if Abus* will suddenly attack us at dawn? Do I still need to wake you up gently?" Anthony's servant asked him innocently. Anthony cleared his throat, thought of an answer that would not ruin his image. Anthony never thought of that kind of circumstances, he made a 'hmp' sound and said, "I'll think of another way of waking us up!"

"Young master~ hurry and please get up~ Abus are everywhere and  you'll be an instant food by now~ I don't want to become a food like you~" 2984-1199 started singing again while grinning at Arexis. The young master ignored the servant's annoying behavior and led the way.

The four young men reached their first stop: The Forbidden Enchanted River, was a deep spring river where the surface of the water was calm and peaceful. Surrounded by green trees and was located in the middle of the mountains, the place was magical with its clear blue water that represented clarity. The water was clear as crystal that you could still see the riverbed even at its deepest part, it has a deep dark hole which could be seen clearly from above.

"Wahh" 2984-1199 gasped in awe. It was the first time he had seen such a magical place. His stomach began to growl when he noticed that no fishes could be spotted underneath the water.

"Are we going to catch fishes in this empty spring?" 2984-1199 asked. A beautiful river without fishes is not too beautiful at all. He was about to swim towards the river, not for a bath but hoping for a good catch of food, hence, Arexis ordered him not dive in yet. The young master uncased his white lap harp and stood near the river steadily, admiring its magical beauty. His delicate long fingers touched the strings, the strings vibrated softly like a soulful hymn.

"You are so lucky to watch such performance from this young master. He barely plays harp in front of other people" Anthony said like a proud father towards the guardians. Arexis strummed the strings like they were soft threads slipping across his fingers. As the heavenly tune was played, a large group of fishes arrived from an unknown chamber. The three young men were left astonished with their mouths agape. Witnessing the large number of fishes circling in one area because of the sound, they were to amazed. From the deepest hole in the river, a black energy in a form of smoke appeared. It swam along with the fishes and left unnoticed.

"I can't play longer, catch many fishes as you can right away" Arexis said while playing the instrument. The bracelet his mother gave him swayed from underneath his sleeve, swinging in the air like a lucky charm. Dropping his little sack bag on the ground, 2984-1199 never wasted the chance to dive into the water with his two spheres made of tree branches that he managed to sharpen earlier. He was smiling like a kid playing and dancing innocently in the water.

"I'll make fire right away!" Anthony's ear-tagged servant suggested and picked up some dried tree branches.

"Hey Leo! Wait for me! Teach me how to make fire!" Anthony yelled and followed his guardian. Arexis frowned and looked at the young man catching the fishes. He looked at the tag on his servant's ear and sighed.

"Do I need to give him a name?" Arexis asked himself and stopped playing the harp. He thought for awhile and sighed. 2984-1199 raised his two spheres loaded with fresh and big fishes.

"Young master, look!" The servant grinned widely and got out of the water. Arexis thought for a second time and faced the wet guardian walking behind him.

"...name"

The servant looked so happy staring at his food that he didn't hear what the young master had said. He gave Arexis a dumb, wet look while the other party was patiently waiting for a response.

"What is your name?" Arexis asked with his usual apathetic face. 2984-1199 chuckled and said, "I guess you really don't remember me, young master."

He smiled and offered one of the spheres to Arexis and pressed his free palm against his chest.

"When you met me back then, you called me '2984' because you said that my number is too long. This tag serves as my name." 2984-1199 said and held the tag on his ear.

"But ever since you called me 2984, I started telling my friends to call me that way, too. So, you can just call me 2984, young master." 2984 said and bowed his head. Arexis just nodded his head a bit, not even showing any interest at all. He thought that it would only take a lot of time for him if he would call 2984-1199's name everytime he needed to. The young master along with his servant made their way towards the forest. Just as their shadows collided with the shades of the trees, a black thin smoke evaporated on the air as if it lost its chance to suck something out from their shadows.

"Arexis! The kampilan wielders have arrived!" Anthony smiled. A lot of young wielders were gathering around the fire that Leo made, they were wearing the same cloak with the two young master as well. The only difference was that the wielders' cloaks looked darker and less detailed ones. All of them bowed their heads in 45 degrees with one arm across their abdomens as Arexis appeared in front of the gathering. 2984 kept looking at the fishes, he was talking to his food like a kid, then, accidentally bumped into Arexis' back.

"Oh no! Forgive me, young master!" 2984 immediately took three steps backwards and kept his head low, he quickly prevented himself for chuckling. When he noticed that Arexis wasn't showing an upset face, he grinned and went directly to Leo's side. He started roasting the raw fishes without minding everyone's eyes on him. The guardian was cold so he moved closer to the fire.

"I'm roasting this food for my young master only, if you want to eat, you catch your own fish!" 2984 said without taking his eyes off his fishes. He pointed the direction towards the enchanted river where they got the fishes and said: "There are plenty of fishes out there!"

"There are no more fishes on the river at this time." Arexis said lowly. 2984 looked at him with confusion. He just saw the school of fishes that appeared in the water when the young master played the tune, it was obvious that the fishes would still be there.

'It can't be that he's being greedy and want the river all to himself, right?' 2984 thought as he looked as the young master suspiciously. Arexis noticed the kind of look that his guardian was giving him so he wanted to clear what he meant to say.

"The fishes will only last for a short period of time after the tune was played." the young man explained. 2984 giggled as he thought that the young master wouldn't take him seriously.

"We can play the tune again!" 2984 suggested, Arexis frowned. It was said that the fishes on the enchanted river would only show when the tune is played once a day, there was no way that they would come out again for the second time of the same day.

"And who are you to say that the young master should play twice just because of you?!" Anthony gasped in disbelief. For a slave to order such a noble was an insult for them.

"Hey! I didn't say that it has to be the young master who would play the tune!" 2984 said. He started eating his roasted fish, blowing the smoke coming out from the fresh steaming food and savoring its palatable taste. He chew it normally, the cold nor the disgusted stares coming from the young men around him didn't bother him. At least, he would never starve to death.

'I've been looked down for all my life, what's new about it?' 2984 thought and continued savoring his meal.

"Fine! Since I'm a good hearted slave, I'll do you a favor! I'll try to play the tune once again and who knows, the fishes might come out for the second time of the day!" 2984 babbled nonstop as he looked for his dirty bag. He drawed a black panpipe from his bag and proudly presented it to everyone. Not even a single person, including his fellow slave showed interest with his old looking wood instrument.

"Do you even know how to play that tune? Don't embarrass yourself too much!" Anthony said while laughing. He grabbed the other sphere loaded with roasted fishes and cut it into half using his butterfly knife. He handed the other half of the branch to Arexis and ate the half portion.

"Here, Leo! Let's share" Anthony said and handed the half portion of his fish to Leo. The slave was surprised for his young Master's kindness towards a lowlife like him.

"Thank you for your kindness, young master" Leo said gratefully and ate his portion. 2984 swallowed his food with full of grace, licked his fingertips and making sure that not a single piece of food was wasted. He started playing with his woodwind instrument like an amateur musician. The sound of the panpipes was not that bad but the tune was really off.

"Amateur" the young master chose to eat his food silently as he let his annoying guardian plays fool in front of everyone. After a few attempts, 2984 finally got the perfect and detailed series of keys of the tune. He continued playing as if he was performing in the middle of an important event. Arexis looked at 2984 and the way he played his instrument, he was surprised to see how good he was at playing it. One of the wielders headed towards the said enchanted river to see if there were any fishes coming out from the water. Arexis kept staring at 2984, waiting for a chance to witness a bit of mistakes but he was disappointed at how talented this young man was. The wielder gasped in surprise, more fishes came out from an unknown chamber and swimming in the water as if they were dancing. The energy that the music gave seemed to awoken not only the hidden fishes but the sleeping enchanted river.

"Fishes! There are a lot of fishes!" the wielder shouted and quickly informed his fellowmen. The other wielders hurriedly went to the river to catch their own food. Anthony approached 2984 and started complementing at how talented the guardian was.

"You are a talented one!" Anthony cheered while laughing with 2984.  The four of them were the only ones left inside the forest, the loud voices of the young men from the river could be heard from the deepest part of the forest.

"Who taught you on how to play that thing?" Anthony asked, his index finger pointing to the black wooden instrument.

"I just learned it by myself, this was the only thing my mother has left for me, young master." 2984 answered politely, acting shy and a  bit arrogant at the same time. Anthony kept smiling at 2984 which made Arexis frowned. He knew that something was not doing right with the other young master. For he knows him too well that he knew what his friend's vices are.

"If you get too close to that slave, you'll get your cloak wet" Arexis said and glared at 2984. Innocent, 2984 returned his panpipe inside his bag and wore it on his back. Water dripping down from the hem of his clothes, he just shrugged his shoulders.

It was not too long before the four young men decided to go back to the enchanted river when they heard screams, sorrowful screams that would pierce your ears painfully. It was the scream of the kampilan wielders. The two nobles along with their guardians dashed towards the river and witnessed a bloody scene. All the young men were dead, blood coming out from their mouths, ears, eyes and noses. In addition, one could never tell how much the wielders had gone old because their skin were dried. It seemed that their blood were sucked out from their bodies.

"What phenomenon is this?!" Anthony gasped as he saw the scattered, lying corpses around the enchanted river, some where floating on the water. The blood stained the clear blue water, creating an artistic and tragic effect for the place. 2984 was standing behind the two young masters when he noticed that Arexis' shadow was sucked to one direction.

"Young master!" 2984 immediately pulled his young master's waist by hugging him from the back. Frowning, Arexis fell on his back towards the ground against 2984. 2984 pushed the taller guy off him and helped himself to breath steadily.

"Stay out of the sunlight" 2984 said and exhaled deeply, coughing loudly, he discovered what kind of monsters they disturbed.

"The coal eaters, they were the ones who did this." 2984 said with a serious voice. Two young men had no idea, and on the other side, Arexis clenched his trembling fists. He knew that such creatures long disappeared for a very long time. He thought where did they came from.

"Sigbins" Arexis said with clenched fists as his knuckles turned white.

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©The Bathala's Forbidden Vessel

Creator: Arl Hesse