Bagani

Chapter 11- History Lesson

AMILYN

I look expectantly at Mary, eagerly waiting for her explanation. I figured if I'm gonna live a life here at Pinag-adlawan, I might as well learn all I can about life here. It could give me an advantage, or make my life easier. And who knows? Maybe there's a pop quiz on the first day. I don't wanna be the only one who doesn't know the correct answers.

"Hmmm, hain magsugod?" Mary mutters under her breath.

"Uhh...," I start, unable to tone down my curiosity any further.

"Yeah?" Mary asks.

"What language is that? The one you're using, I mean. I assumed it was Spanish, cause your name sounds very Spanish. But now that I listen to it more, it sounds a bit different. Are you, like, Mexican? Or Portuguese?"

"Oh, no no no. I'm a full blooded Filipina. I'm a native of the Mandaya tribe that belongs to the far side of Mindanao. The language is called Mandaya, or Kinamayo, depends on who you ask," she replies matter-of-factly.

"But...your name sounds...I don't know. Not Filipino, I guess?" I object, genuinely curious.

"Well, the Philippines was colonized by the Spanish for three hundred and thirty three years, hence the influence in name and language. But we're very much a people of our own, so you better not make the big mistake of mistaking us for Spanish. It's a bit of a sore topic for us, you know."

"Ah, I guess I get it," I reply, though not quite sure I understand why this would be a sore topic. "But...if you're Filipino, how come you can understand me? And you speak fluent English at that."

"Well that's because I went to a regular school before coming here. Here in the Philippines a great deal of importance is given to English. It's kind of a second language. You know, we were occupied by the Americans when Spain sold the country to them for a few measly bucks. So we were trained to speak in English," Mary replies.

"Sold? You mean the country was sold?" I ask in disbelief.

"What, you need a course on Philippine history as well? Yes, sold. But the Spanish didn't wanna lose face so they staged a mock battle and all that stuff. We were under American regime for a few years while we were supposedly being trained for self-governance. That part is still under debate though. Some would argue that America never intended to let us go independent. Something about being a state or stuff like that."

"Wow, that sounds intense."

"Hmm yeah. Spanish colonization, American occupation, Japanese invasion, then there was a brief British rule. You can say we've been through a lot."

"But... how about the bagani?"

"What about the bagani?"

"I mean, surely the bagani could have helped in keeping the country safe, right? They're powerful and all. If they wanted, they could have prevented all that stuff from happening."

"Ah, I told you that's a sore topic. Yeah, some believe we should have done our part in keeping the country safe. But bagani aren't supposed to interfere in the war of men. We can't direct humankind's history, so we aren't supposed to be involved in stuff like that. Some say letting the country get invaded was sacrilege to the first land, but according to the law, we belong to all nations, not just the Philippines, so we aren't supposed to take sides," Mary explains.

"Sounds complicated," I comment, scratching my chin.

"Sure is. Anyway, we're getting way out of topic. Amilyn, allow me to explain how the world and Pinag-adlawan came to be."

"Right. Yeah, please go ahead," I reply, making myself comfortable and ready for the impending lecture.

"So, in the beginning, there was nothing, right. There were three gods who roamed the nothingness. They were Bathala. Ulilang Kaluluwa, and Galang Kaluluwa. At first, Bathala and Ulilang Kaluluwa met and had this huge argument over who would rule over the universe. They fought and in the end, Bathala came our victorious and thus became god of all creations. His enemy's ashes landed on the earth. Many years later, Bathala met Galang Kaluluwa, and the two hit it off right away and became super bestest buddies. Unfortunately, Galang Kaluluwa dies of a disease even Bathala could not cure. Before his death, he requested to be buried where Ulilang Kaluluwa fell. Where the two were buried, a tree grew. The leaves reminded Bathala of Galang Kaluluwa's wings, and the trunk of Ulilang Kaluluwa. That tree was the first coconut tree, the first tree in creation, the tree of life. Later on, Bathala created the first man and woman from bamboo shoots that he planted as a sign of peace with Aman Sinaya, another goddess. Oh, and before I forget, Bathala had another fight with Aman Sinaya and threw boulders from mountaintops which resulted to the archipelago that we live in now. So fast forward a few years later, humanity is thriving, some new gods and goddesses are born, and the country that was first occupied in this world was called the kingdom of Maharlika. So everyone lived in peace until the beings of evil came. Now, there are several theories of where they come from. Some say they are from the void from which the first gods emerged from, others say they are failed deities, while some say they are humans who were corrupted by greed. But for whatever reason, they wrecked havoc in the land. Now, the kingdom had no means of fighting back. Why would they, they literally had no enemies before that. They were being decimated, turned into mobile lunch packs, stuff like that. So the gods and goddesses intervened. They chose youths who were sixteen moons old and fed them the water of the first coconut tree. This gave the youth the ability to fight back. And thus the war between good and evil began. In the fight, the island of Maharlika sank to the bottom of the ocean, but the inhabitants more or less won the fight. So now they dwell in the bottom of the sea, a kingdom separate from mankind. Meanwhile, the forces of chaos continued to propagate and multiply, wrecking havoc here and there. The gods and goddesses continued to assign mortals of sixteen moons to fight them, training them in the underwater kingdom and sending them to the surface to fight. Which later became, you know, a bother. Who likes a swim before a fight? The ancestors didn't, that's what I know. So they trained a massive army of pinili, and with the help of the gods, they returned portion of Maharlika to the surface, if only to bring the soldiers closer to the fight. By this time, the world has already forgotten about them and has already lost all traces of magic. In order to not shock the rest of the world, the lost kingdom decided to live in hiding, right here, in Pinag-adlawan. Some people came to occupy the surface through land bridges, and viola, Philippines was born. So they live up there, have their own history, and we live down here, continuing to train and stop evil from wrecking havoc. And that, Amilyn, is how Pinag-adlawan came to be," Mary finishes with a grand gesture.

I try to absorb all that she said. An ancient kingdom risen from the depths of the ocean, power dwellers living in hiding. That sounds like...

"Sounds kinda like Atlantis, with all this ancient kingdom talk," I openly comment.

Mary slow claps.

"Man, you are good. Yup, that's where the Atlantis thing came from. Several non traditional historians made that connection some time ago you know, before they were stopped by Pinag-adlawan from propagating their ideas more. Kamoteng kahoy?" she asks, offering me the white tube of something she's dipping in a sauce of some kind.

"Uhh... that smells fishy. What is that?" I ask, pointing at the gray sauce.

"Ginamos. Small fish fermented in salt. Good partner for any kind of rootcrop," Mary replies, dipping her Kamoteng kahoy in the ginamos again. "Wanna try?"

"Urgh, maybe later."

"So what do you think? Understood the topic?"

"Aside from the plenty-syllables of names, yeah, I think so. Ancient kingdom, fighting evil, stuff like that," I reply, still trying to wrap my hand around the idea.

"Hmm, you're good. Don't take too long adjusting. You'll do well here. Don't worry about the names, you'll have plenty of time memorizing the entire pantheon plus a few hundred beings. Peachy, right? You looking forward to it?"

"I guess so?"

"Good. You finished? We'd better go and head for the baths. You don't wanna take a bath in a crowd, do you?"

Not sure what she means, I decide that I do not, in fact, want to take a bath in a crowd. We both get up, pick up our trash, and head out.