SIDAPA I GOT back to my tree, but I saw no one. I looked around, searched every bush and tree, and still nothing. When I got tired, I walked back, disappointed. “Um, excuse me?” I panicked when I heard a voice speak behind me. I assumed it was hovering over me so I lifted my head up to the sky, but it turned out that it was standing right in front of me so I looked down. My eyes widened. Before me stood a being whom I had never seen before. It had long, silver white hair that stretched down to its waist. Its skin was so pale, and their icy blue eyes were gorgeous. It wore a silk robe that covered very little of its skin. I couldn’t tell if it was a man or a woman, but one thing was for sure: It was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen in my entire life. “Who are you?” I asked in a soft voice. But since I was in my true form, what was soft for me would sound very deep and scary for others, like talking to a creature that came straight from the underground. “Can you please help
SIDAPA I GASPED when I remembered about it, and I quickly left to find some herbal plants nearby. It didn’t take me that long to find one. I handed over some leaves and vines to the guy, and he accepted them. “Wrap them around your leg. It will ease the swelling,” I told him, and he just stared at the leaves. “What? You don’t know how?” I raised an eyebrow. I laughed when he shook his head. “Don’t laugh at me, Mister! I am not from here, so I really have no idea about these… these things you gave me,” he admitted. “What are these for?” he asked with teary eyes, before showing me the vines. “Use that to tie the leaves together so they won’t fall off when you move,” I said, and he looked more confused. “Please put the leaves for me,” he pleaded. “What?” I exclaimed. “My claws… I might hurt you,” I refused. He sat down and sighed. He felt hopeless. “Can I ask you something?” he opened up while trying to figure out how to apply the leaves on his injury at the same time. “What is it
SIDAPA “SIDAPA, why are you swarmed by black butterflies?” Libulan asked. He had just arrived, and the first thing he noticed were these butterflies that were fluttering all over the place. “Don’t mind them,” I said, and continued carving new lifeline marks again on the tree. “You’re allowed to sit,” I added when I saw him still staring at me, or rather the butterflies around me. I met Libulan a week ago. He injured his leg when he fell down from the sky. He told me that he was hiding from the sea serpent, Bakunawa. For some reason, he asked if it was okay that we see each other again and I agreed without much argument. I admit, I was captivated by his beauty. He looked so perfect in so many ways. But again, I feel like I’m breaking the rules for harboring such feelings towards another God. And he’s a man, a very gorgeous one, I thought. I was almost done with the last mark when I heard something crack. “It broke,” I said in horror as I lifted the broken machete in an eye level po
SIDAPA “CAN’T breathe,” I said, and Libulan quickly released the hug. I lied. No one had ever hugged me before so it was an alien feeling. I couldn’t tell if it was comfortable or something I would find displeasing. Libulan wiped off his tears and sniffed, before flashing a smile. “I’m glad that you’re alive!” “Sorry for scaring you like that,” I apologized. “That’s why I didn’t want you to see me while I was making the machete. I had a feeling you’d react like this,” I told him. Libulan pouted, and scoffed at me before stomping his foot. “You should have told me beforehand! What if I actually stabbed you with my spear?” “Then I will just have to stop you,” I sarcastically replied. He was still annoyed and relieved at the same time, but he chose to close the topic and he asked me something that would likely change the way I saw things until now. “Hey, Sidapa… Those souls that weren’t given a chance to be reborn or forever rest in the afterlife, what exactly happens to them? I’ve
SIDAPA “WHAT an odd one,” I said to myself while staring at a soul that had just arrived moments ago. “It’s too tiny compared to the others,” I noticed, and gave it another stare. I was briefly distracted when the cold breeze of the wind brushed through my skin. I lifted my head up and realized that the skies were upset, and rain was coming. Libulan told me he would be a little late because he had a fight with his eldest brother, Likabutan. Yesterday, I promised him that I would show him how and where I sent those souls that already met their end. When Agui witnessed it one time, he was grossed out. He commented that I had the most boring role and job as a God. I didn’t feel upset, but I was not happy either. I just didn’t feel anything about it. If I were to be asked, I didn’t hate the idea of living, but death was also not something to be proud of. I just didn’t want any kind of attachment to these two. Because if I did that, I wouldn’t be able to let neither of them slip my han
SIDAPA “WHY is that?” I asked. “Because he already did enough. He died without regrets,” he reasoned. “Did I get it right?” “What you said is true,” I uttered, before I opened a little portal just below us. Libulan was alarmed. “Wait, what’s that for? That’s the portal towards the afterlife, right?” he reaffirmed. I just stared at him as I took back the soul with the use of the invisible force again and let it hover at the center of the portal. The size of the portal was a meter in diameter. Its center was pitch black, and a deep purple smoke was circling around its outer area. “Libulan, look at it for the last time,” I told him, and he stared at it and focused. He frowned. “It’s still blue,” he said. “Are you sure?” I tried to shake his thoughts. Libulan gave it another stare, and his expression slowly changed. “I can see some shades of black. It’s concentrated in the center,” he revealed. “That’s the core of his soul,” I clarified. “Although he did his role as a perfect lea
SIDAPA IT WAS burning hot. It was in the middle of the day and here I was flooded with new souls. “Why did it have to happen now?” I asked myself in exhaustion. “Is it mating season or something?” I tried cracking a joke, but it was awfully lame. I now found it awkward talking to myself like this since Libulan became part of my life. At first, his presence was annoying. He was a pesky little one, too. I called him ‘little’ because he was literally short for someone who was a God. He was only 5 feet and 5 inches tall, and a total klutz. I also discovered that he wasn’t a fan of anything scary. He revealed to me that when we first met, he thought that I was going to eat him alive, or lock him up somewhere. Before, I felt offended by those kinds of first impressions, but Libulan was so honest about it that it only proved how pure hearted he was. It didn’t stop him from interacting with me. “Sidapa!” I flinched when I heard Agui’s voice. His sudden visit only meant one thing. [The fes
SIDAPA EVENING came. I finished just in time. A few died today, but most of them ended in the afterlife. “Did I make it?!” I almost fell off my tree when Libulan popped out of nowhere, haggard and a little disoriented. “Libulan? What happened to you?” I asked in awe, and came down by jumping directly to the ground. It created a loud thud, and small animals nearby ran in fear and hid somewhere safe when they saw me. [Even animals can sense the danger in me. So why can’t Libulan?] I wondered as I looked at the clueless Moon Deity. I didn’t become the God of Death just to deliver some cringe nonsense to be laughed at. In this physical world, I was the symbol of fear and the epitome of death. My looks weren’t just for show. I was meant to look hideous so I could bring out the negative sides of mortals. A human heart’s desire was the most fragile thing to deal with. If you inflicted it with the tiniest bit of fear, they could transform into something unimaginable. But fear could also