Enter Lukas Apostol - A disgruntled veteran of the Moro rebellion and a war hero of the Battle of Camp Abubakar in the mid-2000's, now a member of the secretive infamous paranormal combat unit, the 666th Infantry "Tagapuksa" Battalion.When a new threat emerged and endangered the archipelago, Lukas found himself in a two-way battle both against the supernatural and his own inner demons caused by the previous wars he fought in. Realizing the nature of the threat, he steeled himself in his resolve to continue fighting on.Will he able to save his nation or will his own demons kill him first?
View MoreMarch 12, 2004
From the dark corners of a recently visited cemetery, a movement could be heard. The stars of the night twinkled bright alongside the full moon that provided dimmed illumination for the silent recepients below. They made sure that no one was around to witness them, for they are not ready yet.
Between the poorly maintained graves and the nearby large mounds of soil below large balete trees, they slowly revealed themselves. The appearances of some varied from one another, but most of them are complete reflection of the other--creatures birthed from the same family of monsters. Diverse as all of them could be, they possessed three things in nature.
Sadism, hunger and malevolence.
Like stringed marionettes manipulated by an inexperienced puppeteer, they walked forward. Each baby steps developing to a stable one as their physiology began to adapt in the new environment where they are born into.
At first, their minds were as blank as snow, but slowly, the plans of their masters were coming to them like amnesiacs reunited with long lost memories. The hunger intensified, the urge to brutalize became even more apparent as the delusional creatures clawed in the air, bathing in the charnel scent that the buried dead around them emanated.
Even if the souls of the corpses in the graves have left the Earth, one thing remained that contributed to the awakening of these creatures.
Echoes.
Without word, they moved in groups toward a single cardinal direction as if they are commanded by a single hive mind but, in truth, were directives long imprinted in their minds. The grass beneath them tickled their taloned feet. To them, the sensation was strange but they paid no heed because the current task mattered for now.
Coldness bit into their unprotected skin like a violating kiss. Most of them are nude with some possessing little to no coverings at all but the temperature did not bother them at all.
They continued.
They moved past graves after another; some of the tombstones were illuminated by still burning candles, which seemed to bow to their presence due to the wind that their speed generated. Scents of flowers, some of which are withered, waffled in their inhuman nostrils, paving way for smells that even the human nose will fail to register. The world they are birthed into was a strange one--full of colors, emotions and sensations that were not found in Hell.
It intensified their desire to invade the world and molest it.
And far ahead, they heard a noise. An aging man with a red shirt and a white bullcap walked in a careless manner as he whistled. He possessed a shovel, which he lifted in a woman's carry, and a plastic bucket in another hand. All of the monsters stopped as they turned to regard the lone human, who was still oblivious to their presence.
The leading creature grinned widely. Their awakening had deprived them of the energy they needed. Grabbing a snack would not hurt the mission in any way and delaying it was tolerable. It would not affect their task at all.
It turned and bellowed a guttural noise that could be mistaken as a dog's howling. It mimicked the sound to avoid attention.
And like vultures drawn to a dead meat, the monsters attacked furiously. A dark blur in the wind that comprised of sharp fangs and talons, the human did not know what hit him as his vision came spinning. And with a horrible realization, he found himself staring at his own headless body, brutally mutilated by a muscular winged entity with a pair of horns and sharp claws for hands.
It scooped his dying heart and ate it.
Smaller dark skinned creatures whose eyes glowed yellow surrounded the ribbed body and began feasting on it while the head was picked up by an old hag with a long, unkempt and matted hair, emaciated wrinkled skin and porcelain white complexion. But the most horrifying in its features was the fact that it has no face, only a pair of mouths located in the eyes area.
The creature ate the severed head's eyeballs and tossed the eyeless part towards the sea of demonic monsters behind it, feasting like madmen. Aswangs, Tikbalangs, Kapres and burning humanoid creatures called Santelmos--the bulk that made up the army of monsters. When they spilt their first blood on Earth, they felt dominance over the human race already, as if their dominion over this world was a lost deserved heredity that they found.
They treaded further, hunting for more humans in sight. However, the unseen leader of this ragtag band of monsters had sent a signal impulse to their brains and suppressed their animalistic instincts to focus them. It allowed the snack earlier, but that does not mean that they are to abuse the short freedom the controller gave.
So they traversed across the graveyard, towards the unguarded cemetery gates that were flanked by two white concrete pillars connected to iron stake fences. They flooded out of the cemetery like parasites infecting a healthy flesh.
They traversed the unfinished road that should have been constructed long ago had it not for the intervention of greedy politicians who only thought of themselves. The road was flanked by trees and bushes and their presence inspired the other unclean spirits dwelling silently in the uncharted areas to join them, having gain the confidence to come out without fear of being hunted.
The lights of the nearby city could be seen in the horizon and as they reach it, their ranks grew in size thrice bigger than before. The evil creatures native to this planet who have joined them had been dwelling in existence for years now but due to certain cataclysmic events that led to their almost near extinction, they were routed and proceeded to hide in the dark and waited for a better moment to strike.
And when they saw the "angels" sent by Hell, prayers of gratitude to their dark lords could be heard from their lips in a form of loud howling.
The leading creature arrived at the rise. Beyond was a rotunda surrounded with lively establishments, from fast food restaurants, small convenience stores and bouttiques. Galvanized jeepneys and tricycles reminiscent of the old military vehicles left by the Americans in the Second World War could be seen, moving across the highway. But the only thing that caught the leader's attention was the statue of Saint Vincent in the middle, winged and holding a book.
It extended its claws and attacked the statue, sending it from the pedestal with a thrust of its hands to watch it fall. The statue smashed into millions of pieces, earning attention from the humans in the immediate vicinity. At first, they thought it was some kind of a cruel joke or the Saint himself had miraculously moved, but it took them a minute to fully register that a demon-like monster was standing on the pedestal in place of the Saint.
Then they began to scream as the monster moved to another target and scythed another skull from a pregnant woman. Behind, the monsters charged at whoever they see, pulling people down to the ground and sending them to a bloody death that consisted of sharp claws, poisonous fangs and...more blood.
In a matter of seconds, the section of the city descended in a haze of frenzied murder. One pitiful human after another, fall. And in every body that falls, a pair of claws were tainted in bright red. The slaughter was so great that the air was covered by a thin mist of red. Warm liquid sprayed onto the skins of those unlucky enough to be still alive.
The ill-equipped police force from the nearby precinct dispatched a pair of policemen in a squad mobile, thinking that the attack might just be another work of some vengeful rebels for what the government did for their brothers, only to meet nightmares incarnate. The elder law enforcer ran behind on foot, leaving his younger partner to fend for himself as a winged upper torso of a Manananggal chased after him before it eventually scooped the lawman from the ground, only to drop him back down with a head bent backwards in an awkward angle.
The second policeman succumbed to his wounds due to the impalement done to his body by a trio of red skinned entities with dark purple skin and felinid faces.
Soon enough, the district's populace was slaughtered to the last man. The killings gradually died down and the noise became muffled by silence shortly. The air around them began to cool as the red mist of blood disappeared. The world's color returned to normal.
The muscle bound demonic leader let out a sigh of relief as it lifted a corpse of a man with an overstretched broken jaw. It crushed the cranium under its death grip, turning it into red paste that covered its hand in blood. It wrote a symbol on the ground; the other monsters recognized it and began to form around the leader from a safe distance.
After finishing the symbol, the creature took careful steps backward before halting to genuflect. Smoke appeared from its nostrils as it attempted to speak.
"My master, accept our sacrifice." It said with a hoarsed tone.
The pavement around the symbol cracked. It traveled around the crude character before returning back to the original point. The space crumbled downwards, revealing the light of Hell underneath.
And like a fallen deity heralded with fire and brimstone, it came from below. The humanoid entity that resembled a man floated a few centimeters above the repairing ground, its bright orange eyes fixated at the leading monster. All of the creatures present were empowered at its presence, their eyes glowed red and their fangs and claws, longer. He was half naked, the features of his body were finely chiseled and expected of a god like himself. His shoulder length hair matched the color of dried blood--ruddy brown to the point of becoming maroon. His body was decorated with tattoos that only his followers or creations would understand. A skeletal hand of a small child hung around his neck in a thick cord, worn like a pendant.
His lower groin was draped with a wolf's pelt, and around, a powerful scabbarded sword hung. The deity, as soon as the floor was fully sealed up, finally touched ground. He drew the sword, urging his faithful lieutenant to stand up.
"Rise, Delubyo." He said as a large number of horned armored spiky troopers manifested from the dark and marched closer behind the deity. Just as promised, the Fallen Lightbearer had indeed loant a detachment of Legionnaires from his great armies to the upstarts.
But Delubyo, and the other monsters, looked at them with disdain. They never liked satanic forces in the first place, but only stuck with them for survival against the Angels and their cursed...Protectorates.
The deity smiled at his loyal servants and turned to face the Demon Legionnaires of the Exotic Blasphemy. This army would suffice, and he will not fail in his mission to sink the archipelago in an eternal night of slaughter and devastation. After all, most of the inhabitants had already done most of their works for him in the form of genocide and corruption.
"Listen," the deity's voice echoed across the lands, from villages to cities, causing some of the local fauna and livestock to die mysteriously. "I am Sitan, your new master. Bow before me, I will bless you well, but resist me, you will die." He grinned. "I urge you, serve me." Then his voice became calm. "Now, my child. Watch the horror unfold."
They continued down the street. It was dark and quiet with only the distant noise of the battle taking place elsewhere could be heard. Lukas could hear his own breath as they traversed the road, paranoia slowly forming in his mind. He restrained his thoughts before it became a distraction until something urged him to stop.He raised his fist upwards and glanced from left to right. The storefronts around them looked weird. Of all the stores, one in particular was not barricaded. He studied it and noticed swirling darkness beneath, as if a black smog or a murky water filled it from the inside. He took two steps towards it when the glass that kept it from the outside world shattered, along with the other storefronts around and behind them.Elongated shadows streaked from the stores. Lukas noticed the white porcelain faces on the top of the six entities. He raised his aim and fired at the face of the entity near him.Three bursts and the face shattered. The entity i
The sun sets in the horizon. The streets were empty, not a single soul was seen in sight. Even the police who should be watching it were also absent, fearful of the fabricated contagious disease that the 6 AM news had broadcasted. In the side of the defenders, it was acceptable since they would just get in the way of things when this particular shadow war was waged. Even the so-called "Regular Infantry" that the soldiers of the paranormal combat units fond of using to reference their ordinary counterparts were also evacuated kilometers away.He envied the civilians, who only thought that this event was just simply caused by some infectious viral disease. Indeed, it was far better to live one's life in ignorance than bearing the burden of knowing about the existence of the creatures that prowls the night.He watched the sun sinks below the world. The scenery was symbolic, for the most part. Davao City, the would-be battle zone of a skirmish that should be fought in the
The horn of the Demon was laid on the top of a cloth. The Chaplain's Office was now restored in order and the furnishing's orientation was different than the last time when Lukas visited it. He watched as Father Mike sprinkled the horn with holy water while reciting a prayer of sanctification.Every droplet that made contact, the object sizzled. Geysers of smoke rose, as if it was a steaming hot object doused with cool water.After the blessing, Father Mike wrapped it again with the white cloth and handed it to Lukas. He nodded his thanks, the laced vial around his neck containing the eye moved slightly. Lukas was still getting used to his new necklace, which he couldn't wait to remove after this suicidal assault that they are about to undertake.Right after they walked out of the room, they encountered Major Veras outside."Lieutenant." Veras called sternly. "Come with me, we got a meeting.""Meeting?" Lukas asked."Remember the liaison off
Sergeant Nagar and Staff Sergeant Alice Abantay stood before the restrained Roberto Omar, who glanced at them with an impressed look in his eyes. Alice crossed her arms and asked."Why are you looking at us like that?""You two could make a good couple," he said. Nagar raised his butcher's knife without hesitation. "What? I meant that in a good way as possible.""No, I think it was something else entirely." Abantay replied. Lukas, and a new soldier from the cut-off team regularly attached to their unit, the newly promoted 2nd Lieutenant Yusuf Ibrahim, stood behind the observatory window with three other subordinates facilitating the room as usual. They quietly listened."You think?" Roberto asked. "I'm just kidding, yes. Because I am very impressed that you survived against my master that I am already convinced, you might win this against him.""How'd you know?" Alice asked, threatening to pull out her sidearm. She was suspicious that the Mambabara
After an hour of rest and submitting his paperwork to the Major, and to the High Command as an esoteric After-Action Report, Lukas dropped by the Clinic Bay to have his injuries checked. Lukas was laying with his stomach flat on the bed. It felt awkward but Nurse Sala instructed him to. There was no point in protesting since all he wanted was to get himself treated.The nurse came with her tools and pulled his shirt up to reveal his backside. She gasped upon seeing the contusions on his back muscles."I am inclined to recommend my superiors to put you under x-ray for any bones that might be out of place.""Don't sound like I'm gonna die." Lukas protested. "It's just a fall from a two-storey house.""Exactly!" She said. "Don't you hear yourself?""Just apply your guyabano leaves and be done with it." Lukas said sarcastically. "The Major needs to see me in an hour and I want to get this checked before he decides to send us into another operation."
It was good to be back.Lukas was exhausted. The previous operation had drained all of them both physically and mentally. All of them are quiet upon their return to Outpost Detachment Bravo and Lukas himself wasn't sure if the operation could be counted as a victory because of the casualties dealt on their part. If it was, it would have been a pyrrhic one.They have lost a lot, and to Lukas, he have lost his bestfriend whom he relied on many times, just as how he also relied on him. He swallowed, choking on the lump formed in his throat. For the most part, he couldn't feel anything but numbness in seemingly random intervals, because it would be sometimes replaced with the need to cry out loud as a form of mourning. As fast when it appeared, the urge would disappear, leaving him in numbness again.Maybe, his weeping could bring back something, but the dead will stay dead. There was nothing he could do.As the truck rolled to the garage, he immediately dise
He hit the ground with his armored back. Static washed across his display link and his electrocardiogram visibly spiked while the deity raised his sword with its blade pointed at him. The front door of the first floor opened, revealing Sergeant Alice and a handful of soldiers in her team. Lukas was horrified about what would happen next."No, not Alice." He spoke weakly. "Not Alice!" But he couldn't move in pain.Sitan received multiple bullets in his back as he stood and turned at the 666IB soldiers. He approached and struck at the soldier in Alice's right. The blood of her comrade sprayed onto her visor, obscuring it in red. The others retreated inside while the other few dragged her away from the rampaging deity.Lukas bared his teeth as he forced himself upright. The armor absorbed the brunt of the attack, he thought. He had gone through far worse, he thought. Sharp pains were sent across his ribs and right leg but he tried to fight them off as he looked at
He aimed at the mansard-roofed porch and let out a sigh. He made a gesture in the air and the stack immediately complied as they made for the porch. The shadows on either side moved like fluid and Lukas knew that they were Aswangs lying in wait. He whirled swiftly and fired at the silhouette. A wet snap was heard followed by a cry. Nagar fired at the second Aswang behind Lukas, sending it back to the ground. The other soldiers eliminated the creatures without effort before they advanced towards the porch.Lukas, Nagar and Laurel approached the door with precaution. The superior of the three extracted a small pack of explosives from his belt. Lukas removed the adhesive covering and attached it on the door's surface before he pressed his back beside the left sidelight while Nagar and Laurel at the opposite side, out of the right sidelight's view. Laurel unpinned a grenade from his bandolier as the door exploded.When the wooden door fell from its frame, Laurel tossed the
"The coast is clear!" Francis finally said. "Time is of the essence, go!"They moved once more; Lukas saw clusters of furred bodies everywhere and realized that there must be a nest here. The possibility of the entire subdivision being a nest crossed his mind, but he immediately banished it because it scared him. He started to doubt their survivality rate in this operation.They came across a rotunda with a marble fountain in the middle. Lukas held a fist up when he felt being watched from the shadows beyond. Paranoia grew in his mind as he turned to the darkened corners around, but Nagar's aim remained fixated at the fountain in the center.He followed his aim and noticed a person with no clothes on. It was hard to determine their gender or their features due to its blackened flesh, as if they had been incinerated for a long time. Lukas aimed but he dared not to approach the entity.It laughed, revealing a decaying teeth from its ashen mouth. And in an i
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