Churchless Town

34 - Chase

VERM

Ang init sa pakiramdam, tila kumukulo ang dugo ko sa nararamdaman kong bugso ng lakas. Anuman ang spell na inilagay sa akin ni Margot ay tiyak na nagdulot ng malakas na pang-amoy sa aking katawan.

I can smell everything even the slightest hint of the flowers that I was passing by as I run in human form. Hindi ko puwedeng i-transform ang sarili ko bilang werewolf dahil wala akong maisusuot na damit kapag bumalik na ako sa pagiging katawang-tao ko, considering the fact that I'm in the middle of the forest, saan ako makahahanap ng damit?

Things were not like this back then, pinalaki ako sa camp tirso ng mga magulang ko bilang isang responsableng anak. I did follow their rules, I did learn my lessons. Nakapag-aral naman ako nang maayos nang dahil sa kanila.

But those lessons not only includes how to learn academically, but also the way how a werewolf works in our small camp. Tinuruan akong makipaglaban sa mga kapwa naming mga werewolf. They taught me everything that they know about, starting from the basic, up until the difficult parts.

Kahit si Manuel ay nagawa ko na ring harapin isang beses. At sa hindi inaasahang pangyayari, nagawa ko siyang talunin sa sparring na naganap noong kabataan namin. That led to his concrete decision to choose me as the camp's beta when he took control over the whole camp after his father's death.

Being the beta, I'm the one who would take care of the camp whenever Manuel is not around. Which I did my best, considering that nothing's wrong has happened in our camp since then not until the attack of that feral werewolf has stirred the peacefulness of our camp.

The frequent attack every full moon started when Manuel's youngest brother, Ricardo, has gone missing. Hindi namin mahanap ang kapatid niya, maging ang tatay at ang nanay ni Manuel, hindi magkanda-ugaga sa lahat ng mga nangyari.

A lot of things happened in a span of week, hanggang sa dumating ang unang beses na may umatakeng werewolf sa camp namin. Nobody knows what to do about it, they don't want to consider killing it as everyone knows it was a werewolf, a human just like us.

Hindi lang talaga namin malaman kung sino ang nasa likod ng werewolf na iyon, and Manuel's family safely assumed that it was their youngest family member.

I can't blame them in any ways. Kahit sino iisipin ang gano'ng side ng kuwento, when Ricardo has disappeared, everyone created their own theories, and even stories on what could possibly has happened.

Na-kidnap ba si Ricardo? Did he just wander around and got lost and was forced to live on his own instinctively? Since he was not taught yet on how to handle the power of being a werewolf, malamang ay isa rin itong dahilan kung bakit siya naging feral.

Sa totoo lang, kapag nagiging werewolf kami, kung mahina ang willpower ng isang shifter, nawawala yung sense of consciousness namin sa paligid namin. That's why we need to learn how to handle it. Kailangan naming i-maximize yung paggamit ng senses namin. Otherwise we will become a senseless wolf, craving for someone's flesh to devour.

And that's one of the reason why I became like this.

With Margot's help, I can definitely locate this warlock named Armando in no time. Nararamdaman ko, naaamoy ko, na nasa malapit lang siya.

Bakit kaya hindi nila magawang hanapin ang taong iyon? If only Armando did help Margot back then, siguro hindi na humantong sa lahat ang nangyayari ngayon.

I need to save Monalisa. We need to keep her safe, hindi ko hahayaan na may mangyaring masama sa kaniya. Knowing the fact that she was still alive and just fighting the force of  those witches, we really need to do it today.