The Red Box

ARTOCEROS PARK in Manila (2024)

"Not bad! Go on, Andres! Disarm me!"

A man with brown eyes, and long black hair reaching his back has a wide smile on his face.

He points his knife at Andres. "Come on! You won't like it if I go all out, right?"

Andres, a young man with yellow hair on top, dark hair on each side of his head, and an open left eye and closed right eye sighs and brushes the bead of sweat on his forehead.

"Quit whining like a girl, Father," he swung his knife in a circular motion, "you know that I always beat you."

His father chuckles, and he bends his forelegs a bit and jumps toward Andres.

Andres doesn't miss the chance to strike Prince's knife. Andres crouches only to prevent Prince from hitting his throat, and then, he kicks the knife from Prince's left hand.

Prince breathes faster while touching his chest, and his eyes widen while looking up.

Andres slams his foot on Prince's cheek, sending him flying away.

Prince stands up, and he starts to move his feet but a knife is pointing at his forehead.

"I beat you again for the 55th time," Andres smirked while he remained pointing his knife at Prince's forehead.

Andres steps away from his father while sliding his knife into its sheath. Prince stands up and looks at Andres.

Prince smiles slightly. "You're growing well. You always excel in knife sparring but let us see if the outcome will be the same in a sword sparring."

Andres furrows his eyebrows. "I may not be that good in a sword fight so I want to request you to gather your patience."

"You have my blood flowing in your veins, how will I be angry at my son whom I love

dearly?" Prince grinned, "So go on, bring out that sword and that courage as well."

"Okay!" Andres moved his hand towards the handle of his sword and pulled it from its sheath.

The birds nestling on the branches are chirping as the gentle breeze of wind hovers throughout the whole park.

Andres and Prince move at full speed at each other, and their hand movements synchronize; pulling their sword from its sheath.

They close the distance between them, and the sound of blades clashing against each other echoes.

"You know when I and my father were fighting during his youth," Prince brushed the specks of dust from his clothes, "he disliked it when I was on my knees."

Andres pushes himself back to his feet and coughs. A part of his shirt has a small tear with a small cut on his chest.

Andres jumps backward but Prince closes the distance upon jumping towards him.

Prince swings his sword towards Andres as Andres is standing while swinging his sword towards Prince.

Both blades clash once again but Andres makes a move, and he tackles Prince once he passes across him.

Prince smiles while being pushed by the impact of the kick. He jumps toward Andres grabs him by the collar of his shirt, and tosses him away.

Prince raises his hand, catching Andres from falling by holding the back of his shirt.

"You failed," Prince told Andres with a slight smile.

Prince releases his grip on Andres' shirt, and Andres lands on the ground. He brushes the imaginary dust from his shirt.

"Did I disappoint you?" Andres asked while putting his sword back on its sheath.

"How did you disappoint me?" Prince took a quick look at Andres, from his head down to his dark rubber shoes.

"You taught me many times how to use a sword yet I can't win even one time against you in sword fighting." Andres slightly looked down, with dull eyes.

Andres feels a hand on his back, and he looks beside him only to see Prince's smile.

"There are times that you might fail but do not forget that you are a human being," Prince smiled gently at Andres, "there will be times that you will make a mistake and that is alright... what matters is that you're growing from it.

"Do not be afraid to approach me every time you feel that you are on the verge of making mistakes. You are my son... no matter how many times you fail: my love for you will remain whole."

Andres is staring at Prince's eyes before a light smile forms on Andres' lip.

Both are now sitting on a nearby bench. Andres removes the cap from his bottle of water, and drinks.

Prince calmly says, "Don't blame me if your mother gets angry when she knows that you skipped classes again."

Andres does not look at his father before speaking, "It's okay... she's always mad at me."

"Your mother loves you," Prince gently taps Andres' shoulder, "it's just you know."

"She's afraid of my right eye which is closed, is that what you're going to say?" Andres asked.

Prince nods. "You're right."

Andres gulps and chuckles. "Let's just enjoy the peace."

"Yeah," Prince settled his back on the bench.

Andres looks at his hands. "Why are you so eager to teach me about knives and swords?"

"Well, you will know when the right time comes." Prince pulled his sword a bit from its sheath.

Prince brings out a small rectangular red box, and he lends the box to his son.

"What is that?"

"Take it, Andres."

"It's not even my birthday but sure."

Andres takes the box from his father's grasp, he brushes his fingers against it only to hear his father faking his cough.

"That box is from your grandfather, he told me to give it to my firstborn when the time comes that my firstborn surpasses me."

Andres looks at his father. "Can I open it?"

Prince stares at his son before laughing. "Of course! Open it, I didn't open it not even once."

Andres touches the lid of the box, and he moves it but can not. He hums confusingly and looks at his father. "Are you tricking me?"

"No! Wait, why can't you open it? Where's your energy?!" Prince grabbed the box from Andres' grasp but was halted by a harmful sensation.

"Damn! What is even that box?!" Prince furiously waves his hand.

"Maybe it doesn't like you?" Andres laughed.

AROUND TONDO, MANILA

After hours have passed, Andres is walking on his way home.

From an alleyway, a tall woman with dark skin, her voluptuous body covered in her uniform, comes out from the alleyway.

"Andres," she spoke while staring at Andres.

Andres nods. "Of course, Ma'am Agnes.".

Agnes smiles a bit and she says, "We have some important matters to talk about, especially your grades."

They are now ambling along houses, and Agnes halts in an alleyway.

Andres slowly narrows his eyes while gently moving his hand toward the knife tucked into his leather belt.

"No need to fight," Agnes looked at Andres through glancing on her shoulder, "the box is what I need from you."

"Box?" Andres' eyes widened, "Why do you want that box?"

Her eyes radiate a yellow light, and her voluptuous body is enhanced; her clothes are torn as her muscles expand, changing into the form of a male horse standing like a human.

"Oh, you got to be kidding me!" Andres jumped backwards avoiding the kick from Agnes.

Agnes now has the head and body of a male horse, standing at inches that succeed the human height.

She neighs. "Now, don't test my patience and give me the–!"

Andres turns around and runs away, and the horse chases him.

"Fuck! What am I going to do? There's no way that I can win against her!" Andres glanced at his knife which had rope attached to it.

He throws the knife on a wall of a nearby building, and he pulls himself towards it which results in avoiding the strike from the horse.

The horse jumps toward the wall that the knife has hit, and she moves her hand toward it but a white energy beam strikes the hand of the horse.

Andres removes the rope from himself and he falls on the ground but lands in a crouching position.

Andres looks up and sees Agnes fighting against a man with white hair and ice specks on his cheeks.

Agnes kicks him but he steps aside. He constructs an ice katana on his hands, therefore, swinging it towards Agnes.

Her head falls from her body, and her head and body return to normal. The man holds her body freezes it, and cuts it to bits.

Andres jumps backward and avoids the head.

The man from the roof jumps, and lands beside Andres, and Andres' eyes widen as he shrieks.

"Whoever you are," Andres looked at him, "thank you for saving me but I need an answer! Why did my teacher turn into a horse and attack me?!"

The man kneels in front of Agnes' head, and he picks it up. "I don't answer questions but don't forget this, keep that box safe, and don't go aimlessly."

He begins to walk away from Andres. Andres shakes his head. "W-Why?! I need a direct answer! Why did that monster attack me and why is she aiming for the box?!"

"Even I don't know why," he answered without any anger or frustration showing on his face.

"Until then."