The Marks of the Engkanto

⋆༒⋆*༺༽ 𝟟 ༼༻*⋆༒⋆

Akali's fingers were tingling when she left Pinta. The sensation of new tools for tattooing lingered in her hands. She thought she had already learned everything she needed to know about the art, but Kayn surprised her with more.

She walked into the busy Central Forest with a smile on her face and excitement in her heart. Learning was a step closer to her dreams. Today, a training session with a professional tattoo artist. Tomorrow, a session with the highest-paying clients! She could already see herself in a private room with a bamboo stick in her hand and a pomelo thorn in the other, ink sloshing in a bottle on the table beside her.

It was still bright outside, and she had a few more hours to spare before the celebration of Mayari tonight.

The forest was busier than usual. Colorful banderitas decorated the pathways and every shop and stall that lined them. Though the afternoon light had not yet faded, several Santilmo had already woken out from their daytime slumber, brightening the surroundings with their fire-like glow. A parade of dancing creatures marched and followed the pathway, singing and beating drums into a rhythm.

As Akali walked deeper into the Central Forest, she noticed how the shops and stalls displayed their merchandise--tables flowing with several kinds of enchanted goods. Bags of magic sleeping sand were sold at one booth, and vials of love potions were tendered at another. Pendant charms to ward off evil spirits were bartered at one shop, and stone amulets for different powers were traded at another.

Akali hopped from one outlet to the next until she came to a store inside a mushroom. A window was cut into its stall under its umbrella cap. A female dwende was organizing bottles of liquid over a shelf filled with assorted objects--carved ornaments, dried leaves, blackened bowls of rice, and burnt wood.

The dwende turned as if she sensed Akali. "Hey you," she smiled, her green skin stretching over her face. "Yes. You. You. You."

Green-skinned dwendes were the most cunning and devious.

Akali hesitated, but curiosity pulled her in, and she approached the window.

The dwende grinned. "I've got a new stock product you'll be interested in." She reached under the window and pulled out a small bottle of dark purple liquid. "Yes, this is the one. You'll like it, and you'll buy it." When she pulled the lid off, the fluid inside bubbled and made kissing sounds.

Akali's brows shot up, wondering why the dwende wanted to sell her a bottle of kisses. "What is it?" she asked.

The dwende raised the bottle to her. "It's a potion that will turn you back to normal if you turn into a toad. It's all the rage. Everyone is buying it." Then she pointed several times behind Akali. "That guy bought one, and that guy, and that guy, and that guy."

Akali didn't turn around to look. She was meticulous about it. Her grandmother had taught her to be careful with such creatures who would try to trick her. Her mangkukulam side was immune to any charms anyone could put on her.

"Why would I want that?" Akali asked. "I'm not turning into a toad."

"Eh!" The dwende didn't know how to react. "But, but, but everyone is turning into a toad nowadays. Yes, just wait. You'll turn, too. Yes, you will."

Akali chuckled at the idea of an epidemic that turns everyone into toads. Though it was possible, she dismissed it. "No, thank you." She then turned around without waiting for the dwende to try to convince her more.

"Wait! Wait! Wait!" The dwende called out, but Akali had already moved back into the crowded pathway, walking toward the next stall.

She had paced farther before she could no longer hear the call of the dwende and returned to her touring of the busy Central Forest. She reached a portion of the market near the edge of the woodland, where the gathering creatures thinned, and there was better space to walk around. Plenty of stores and shops still populated the area, with colorful banderitas in yellow, red, green, and blue hanging over their front doors and windows.