Awakened (Bloodline, #1)

Chapter 5

05: The Adventures of Irus and I

I woke up feeling hungrier and thirstier than ever.

Still disoriented, I carefully sat up and tried to bring back my bearings. A canopy of trees came into my view as soon as I opened my eyes. The clear sky was littered with thousands of stars and illuminated by the bright moon.

"Oh, you're awake."

Paglingon ko ay naroon si Kei sa tabi ng apoy na mukhang mas malaki pa sa ginawa niya kanina. Agad naman akong napabuntong-hininga. I was wishing everything was just a bad dream but it looked like I had to continue living in this real nightmare.

Napatingin naman ako sa parte kung nasaan si Irus kanina pero wala na siya roon. Right. It was already nighttime, so he could freely roam around.

"Where is Irus?" tanong ko.

"He's hunting the remaining Katteris."

Agad na napakunot ang noo ko. "Huh?!"

He laughed in return. "He said he felt useless a while ago, so he went off to finish what we have started."

"But—"

"Don't worry about him," he said. "He can kill hundreds of Katteris in a few minutes."

Napatikom agad ang bibig ko nang marinig ko 'yon. Kaya pala parang restless siya kanina sa ilalim ng cloak. If only those Katteris attacked us during the night.

Naalala ko naman ang nangyari kanina. I remembered shouting at the two Katteris and something went wrong with their bodies. That horrifying scene made my skin crawl. Lumapit ako kay Kei at umupo sa tabi niya.

"What happened earlier?" I asked. "I mean, those Katteris . . . exploded all of a sudden."

He stared at me and the embers of the fire reflected on his gray eyes. "They were poisoned."

"W-what? What do you—"

Napahinto ako nang makita ko ang braso niya. He tried to hide it but I swiftly reached for his arm and saw huge blotches of blue and purple bruises, just like what happened to the Katteris. I looked at him, trying to find answers on his face, but he averted my gaze.

"What are those? What happened to you?" I asked but he remained silent.

Muli kong inalala ang nangyari. The Katteris' bodies exploded and . . . some of their blood splattered at us. Was their blood poisonous? Agad kong tiningnan ang balat ko pero wala namang nangyaring kakaiba sa akin. Did most of the blood get on him?

"Don't worry too much," he said as he hid the blotches under his clothes. "I'll be alright once I drink blood."

"Oh. So you have an extra vial of blood?"

He snickered. "None."

Tinitigan ko siya at hindi ko alam kung bakit at paano niya pa nakuhang tumawa. "What the heck? What are you still doing here? You should have—"

"I could not leave you here alone," he said. "And Irus went off before I could tell him to get me some blood."

Sinamaan ko siya ng tingin dahil parang wala lang sa kanya ang nangyayari. What if he suddenly explodes just like what happened to the Katteris? Hindi ba siya nag-aalala sa puwede niyang kahinatnan?

"Are you—"

"Ah," he exclaimed, cutting me off again. "It will be okay. Once we reached Kariota tomorrow, this would disappear."

I knitted my eyebrows. "What do you mean? And are you sure?"

"We're meeting a mage there," he said. "See, the mainland is a lot more dangerous than Hallim and Batara. Stronger creatures inhabit those countries and we need a mage to strengthen our defense and offense."