Lost in Ibalon (How I Disappeared): Rise Of The Enchantress Book 1

Lost

My skin is soggy, so does my crotch by I cannot let these books get wet. From a distance I can hear the crowing of the roosters. It'll be dawn soon, and then maybe, the monster disappeared. I wonder if this river runs from Kamalig, or a place near it. As I got out of the banks, I noticed a few smokes belches off from the woods unto the dawning blue sky. So, I was just near at a village. I went out of the roots and stretched my limbs. Suddenly I felt like there was something missing from me. No! I felt my waist. There was no rope there!

8

I woke up with this coldness in my nape. My arms and toes are cold too. My eyes still has some grains of sleep and I'm closing it to relieve the pain from time to time. The floor was grunting. And it was when I opened my eyes that I see the old man sitting on the floor head by his heels. What is he doing? He tried to stand but his arms are stretched pulling something. He seemed straining and shaking. I slowly get up to my left to see what's in front of him and I was confused when I saw it. He was trying to move the sack which contains the books but he's having difficulty. The floor grunts in his every attempt but the sack does not even jerk.

"What are you doing grandpa?" He stopped. Free his grip from the sack and stumbled on the floor and looked at me to my horror. What is this?

"The sack gets in the way lad." His voice was husky and fierce at the same time. His eyes seemed to be both irritated and confused. Saliva oozes out from his mouth dripping on his bearded jaw. He stayed there for a second, looking at the sack with malice. He was like a rabid dog.

"I c-can take c-care of it g-grandpa." I blurted out of dry mouth and throat. He went on all fours and scuttled away from the sack. I went near while looking at him intently. Slowly I made my way to the sack and lift it. He hissed as I grope the rope of the sack. I cling to the sack with my life. And I don't feel safe in here anymore. His eyes are staring at the sack and he seemed angry. I took a step towards the door. He moved away with me. Saliva and sweat are dripping in his face. His hair is also wet. As I felt the air in my back, I jumped out of the house to the ground and ran. I hear him scream and I turned in the shrubs at the back of his house. I'm sure that he will follow me. Twigs and dead leaves cracked in my every step. For some reason the hairs in my back stood. I need to cross the river.

I held the sack tightly with my right hand, and the jar with the other. Stones bulge under my feet and I was about to stumble in the water but I managed somehow. Water trickled on my shorts as I went crossed the river. My left foot hurt from a sudden pressure over a stone but I pressed on. The rice field lay before me in the pale light of the moon, and the dark mountains of Kamalig was beyond it. I ran to my left, keeping in the line of woods and coconuts. Wind rustling in my ears with the pounding of my pulses. I wonder if there are houses at the end of these woods. But if I went on further, I will be lost. Not only that I will not find the way to Kamalig, but I wouldn't even know where I am. Suddenly a voice grunted just at my side and a scythe appeared in front me. It was like a hook and there was no chance to miss it so I pulled the sack right in front of me. I stumbled with the impact but I saw the end of the scythe on my right. I thought for a second that my right arm was hit. There was neither pain nor wound, only the loud beating of my pulses. I was about to get on my knees when a figure darkened before me. And in the pale moon, I saw a figure of a hairy monster like a goat standing in two legs. A scar can be seen from his cheeks through his nose. And it makes him look fiercer, adding it to the madness in his yellow eyes.

"Give it to me!" he screamed as he held the scythe higher. And I saw for a second what it really was. It was his arm, like an arm of a praying mantis. What is he?