Maniwala sa Magic ng Pasko (A Bu-Lakan Fic)

One Shot (eng)

"Kuya Pogi! Heading to work so late? Take care on your way!"

A voice calls to me as I leave my rented place. I nod and give her a small smile, before going my way, to not look like a snob and self-absorbed ass. I hear my neighbor and her friends giggle among themselves. Something about my dimple being a viand. I stop myself from shaking my head. I could never understand the ways of humans. Particularly the female kind.

It's been almost nine months since I left my home and decided to escape to this place. Where no one knows me and I know no one. Where everything is different and nothing will remind me of where I came from. Where I can look around and not see her... in every tree, in every rock, in every cloud formation...

The humans sure have done a magnificent job in making sure there would be as little foliage around. They also made the sky less brilliant with all the smoke and pollution in the air and tall structures obscuring the view. Definitely a far cry from my home.

"But how come..." I whisper to myself as I look up at the night sky, the moon and stars barely visible tonight. "Memories of you still haunt me?"

**********

"Lakan!"

Her voice rings out across the training field, interrupting the ongoing simulated fighting exercises of my troop. With a curt command, I tell my men to take a short break, before turning to face her. My co-commander gently nudges me. "Here comes 'Bungisngis' (giggles). You can relax your poker face now."

I give him a glare before stepping forward to approach Busilak, the Mulawin who has captured my heart. I give her a smile that reflects the joy I felt in my heart. "Love, what are you doing here?"

"I brought some of your favorite fruits. I just know that you'd forget to give your men a break. Just look at them! They're panting like pashnea (animals) during a drought!"

"Love, weren't you the one who told me that training is important to strengthen one's spirit and purify one's heart? If I am not strict with the troop entrusted to me, how can their spirits toughen up and their hearts ?"

"Alright, alright. You are the mightiest, the leanest, and the most respected Mulawin troop commander..." Busilak pinches both his cheeks, making his pout more pronounced. "Next to my father, of course." Her laugh echoes in the field and I can't help but laugh with her, because her joy was contagious. Ever since I met her that fateful day, I find myself laughing more often and more heartily. My world was suddenly brighter and even the simplest things made my heart break out in song. I couldn't even remember how I lived before she came into my life.

**********

Now months after her death, it's like there's a constant black cloud hovering over my head. My sun is gone and there are only dreary grey days ahead until the day when I finally get to be reunited with her in the afterlife. A perpetual night with no hope of daybreak.

The sound of laughter jogged me out of my reverie. A family coming home from somewhere walked towards me, laughing about whatever humans found amusing. The child was animatedly telling his parents about something, while his mother cradled his baby sister in her arms. I quickly turned away, unable to watch the scene. I felt my heart breaking once again, remembering what I had lost.

**********

I landed on a cliff overlooking the kingdom of Lireo, a longtime ally of our kind. Centuries have passed since the Queen of the Diwatas played the flute to summon us for a mission. Despite Hathoria's insatiable quest for power, there was relative peace in the realm of Encantadia, as long as the four powerful gems were in the safekeeping of Lireo. But that did not mean that I should be lax in combat training. I wanted— no needed to be stronger because he had much to protect.