Welcome To The Spirit Realm

"Excuse Me..."

Miguel's fellow Apprentice Shamans chuckled after hearing Eldhar Shana asked permission to the empty air as they walk along the path of bushes and prickly foliage leading to the high peaks of Lumin Tribe's mountain forest.

After trying his best to learn and get familiar with the herbs, the Babaylan asked Miguel to be introduced to his fellow Apprentice Shamans so he could also be amicable with them soon.

After all, the ceremony for his apprenticeship will come soon. Although it was temporarily put on hold the Babaylan expects Miguel to know to be a part of this family of shamans. Knowing that he is the sole male member, the integration might take a while, so he arranged him to be together with them in their ritual activities.

"Be careful, Dara. You might step into something you can not see." Elder Shana that serves as their guide sounded serious and yet Dara, the usually giggling goofy member, continued to make fun of it.

"Like what? Probably just a gibberish of an old hag! Haha, Another supernatural being? Just so you know, I never asked to be a shaman! It's just my parents who wanted me to come here saying that being a Shaman is noble..." Dara seemed uninterested, ignoring the warning of the Elder as she haughtily replied as if insulting her.

When the other Apprentice heard this they all laughed so loud that eventually the birds that are resting above the trees suddenly flapped their wings and prematurely start their nocturnal hunt.

The sky is darkening, they were about to greet the start of dawn soon. Among the other Apprentices, she is the only one who had the audacity to mock this sacred trail they are journeying to.

Miguel on the other hand calmly observed his surroundings, he had a lot of crazy and unexplained experiences ever since entering into this newfound world that he began respecting what these tribesmen were saying.

"Much worse than those, Dara. Much worse." Elder Shana didn't even break a smile as she replied.

"What could it be, Elder Shana?" Still unapologetic, she asked with her eyes still glued on the greeneries they were stepping on.

"A curse..." The Elder simply replied.

Suddenly, a scream that made everyone's bones feel a certain chill that manages to crawl even within their marrows rang out.

"Heck! We stepped on a corpse! What the hell are these corpses doing here in the middle of the trail?!"

Just like what Dara said, who is actually the one who finds her feet all smeared by soft flesh and bones, there is a corpse that lies on the ground. Not just one but twelve of them. Each is accidentally stepped on by all of Miguel's fellow Apprentices including her.

Miguel had a foreboding sense of alertness. In that seconds all the strands in his hair stood up, goosebumps in him starts to go into another level from fear to sheer horror like that of a cornered soldier without hopes of surviving.

The corpses belonged to what it seemed to be infants who lacked any charm of a newborn; they have no limbs and their heads are the size of an average coconut.

"Those are not corpses, Dara..." Elder Shana calmly said while examining the corpses who are still moving and uttering gibberish words despite the fact that their small body is already butchered.

"...and they are telling me that you are now dead..."

"What the—"

And just like that, Dara along with the others who laughed and mocked the Elder's earlier warnings dropped on the ground and started convulsing with their mouth bubbling and their eyes rolling back from their lids.

"I told you. These are far worst." Elder Shana sighed regretfully but she didn't give a damn about what is happening to Dara and the rest of Miguel's Fellow Apprentices.

She just walked away silently while uttering permission to the unseen that they are passing through.

"Excuse Me..."

Miguel didn't have any time to ask what is happening but the Babaylan had solemnly warned him to never take his eye away from Elder Shana. Just follow her lead quietly.

The others who are left unharmed also did the same. Silence fell among the bunch as they continued to walk in the darkening woods.

Miguel at this moment remembered that Tikbalang whom Argus had previously fought. He can't help but ask the Elder for some guidance but noticing that the Shaman seemed to be chanting something, he decided to shut his mouth.

.

.

.

...

After some brief silence when they are far away from the wailing screams of the now dead Dara, the Elder halted her steps.

"You must've seen it did you?" She asked everyone present who is able to follow her lead up to the mountain forest's top.

At the distance, Miguel and the others could already see the peak.

"Excuse me, Elder... Are you talking about the infants?" Miguel with clear curiosity and wariness began to ask.

[43] "Lolid... call them Lolid." The Elder replied, still having that smiling yet not smiling expression on her face.

"Those Lolid? Yes... I saw them." Miguel nodded and answered.

The Elder who turned her face towards them finally revealed her yellow teeth, with some broken spaces in between.

Looking at this Elder, Miguel found it to be a little scary. Much scarier than the previous encounter he witnessed. "Where is the usually benign Elder I met?" He could not help but inwardly mutter and think that way.

"Then... this is the part where your third eyes had awakened! Starting tonight, you will be able to communicate and see supernatural beings, even those who hide." Pausing for a bit as the Elder firmly held her wooden scepter. "Welcome, to the realm of spirits..."

As her words fell flat on their ears, Miguel the other's eyes kept on widening. The area became luminescent, they watched as their whole reasoning was thrown in an upside-down unbelievable moment.

And that's how Miguel ended his long prejudice against Shamans...

Discovering The Spirit Realm for the first time.