Poof! The green mist and the very magical nuno just disappeared right in front of me, in which, just left me with more unanswered questions. After seconds realizing that the one who gave me information just duped me, I suddenly came into my senses.
"Wait! What place? What one-eyed smiling is that? What dance will I dance in the end? Hey? Hey! Peter Dinklage! Oh, come on!" I exasperatedly said to the punso dirt mound and as I cursed, stomped on the ground lots and lots but sadly, I got nothing from the stupid dirt mound. Why do I get to answer mysteries alone? Come on! And also, as a Filipino, it isn't wise to mess up with supernatural beings or else, as our parents told us, we might end up getting punished by being buried alive or whatnot.
I stood there, just on the spot of Elise's last location with her smart glasses. I thought of these things because honestly, it is too much to absorb, I live and walk in a world where monsters, magical creatures and beings, and even true gods exist. Not that I am an atheist, but the concept of the metaphysical capital G God for me and the other creatures were just some kind of traditions given by our dear ancestors to scare us and do good so that we can appease them. Now, realizing that there is more to what we know now, and not just one God but there are a lot of them, a whole pantheon of them just like in the old legends and myths of the Philippines, now, my mind is tearing up from thinking those things.
I sat by the boulder near the punso and cupped my face with my hands because of frustration, confusion and so many things that are happening right now. I really just can't believe these things and maybe this nuno Peter Dinklage guy I saw a few minutes ago are the products of my hunger and now I am just hallucinating and stuffs, or maybe it is just some group trying to mess with me and there may be some kind of hidden cameras around the place, I am really confused and it is giving me enough schizophrenia.
I didn't get to talk to my parents about this, nor ask for clarifications, history about that, or some guidance, they just said the bomb like boom, 'you are a son of some kind of ancient Filipino God'. Well, I really didn't get to talk to them because at the first place, it creeped me out because of how serious they are looking at me. So what now? My father also is just some con artist who tried to be my father for 15 years? I am really messed up, to be honest. I hate my life, I know it's very unmanly of me to react emotionally to situations like these, but I just really can't. And now what? I am now a fugitive of my very own organization, I am starting to like life, more and more.
I steadied my breathing and gathered my bearings. No, I can't dwell in these kinds of things, I need to keep moving forward, I need to find Elise, she needs me and I am never giving up.
I stood up but then, I heard a faint beeping sound somewhere in my place. I took a look around. Oh no, there might be a bomb somewhere, or worse, maybe the Anakdatu men found me already, damn.
"Eve, what is that sound?" I asked my intelligent speaking Clubmaster glasses.
'Tracing sound… the origin of the sound is found sir, it's just behind the punso." Eve told me subconsciously.
I walked towards behind the punso and I saw something I do not know if I will be surprised or scared or much less give me hope, I found Elise's glasses.
I took it from the ground and analyzed it, well, it is just like Eve, a normal Clubmaster glasses but of course, I modified the software in it so only Elise and I can talk through here, without the Anakdatu eavesdropping on our conversations. It seems to still be in good shape, no scratches, no broken pieces which are weird but still good because it simply meant I can still use it and try it on.
I removed Eve for a while and hung it into the collar of my shirt and put on Elise's glasses.
As I put on the glasses, the HUD of the glasses appeared just like Eve but of course with Elise's preferences. Suddenly, a message blared out the HUD saying "Unauthorized Access" with lots of very loud sounds blaring into my subconsciousness which gave me a very bad headache.
I squinted from the pain but I managed to speak "Override, Anakdatu Datu Puti" in which, after some moments, the very bad brain torture just stopped.
I steadied my breath, "Uh, show me last footage in rewind."
The glasses showed me the rewind version of everything it saw, from me picking the glasses and a pilandok, which is the Philippine Mouse Deer in English, sniffing around the glasses, some hikers, some lovers who are uh, making out in this area (close your eyes children, it can never be unseen, also, a touché choice), and then finally, Elise's last footage. She was on a back of a large man, but this man is wearing like a Shrek outfit, you know, weird sack clothes, leather stuff and also, his skin is green which made me wonder, maybe it really is Shrek. The huge man lugged Elise in which it seemed that she is flailing and moving a lot to escape her captor. After lots of moving and shaking, the glasses fell in the same spot, just where I picked and then it showed the last scene where the huge guy is moving west, just where the glasses are facing with Elise outstretching her arms to reach the glasses once again. And then they just disappeared into the horizon.
I was shaken up, but this is indeed good news! I have a heading, a direction wherein I can trace it and follow the trail of Shrek, maybe Shrek is a Filipino legend too? And then it was Hollywood-ized? A stupid scary thought, but I should keep moving, it's already 2 o'clock in the afternoon and staying the night in the woods ain't a good idea. I took off Elise's glasses and put on Eve. I put Elise's glasses on my backpack and I went on my way and followed the trail.
***
After so many hours, I kept going westward but it seems I just keep walking the same place again and again, like I am on those weird 1940 silent films where the cast walks on a treadmill and the background just keep going and back again, I think, seriously, some kind of mystical mumbo-jumbo nature spirit is messing with me because damn, I passed the boulders and the punso for the twenty-third time in the afternoon already, even though I keep on heading west and damn, the sun is already setting on the horizon, a few minutes more and I will be left here with darkness and scary animals and creepy crawlies of such. On the bright side, Eve has night-vision mode so yeah, I can maybe survive this nighttime. My mother used to tell me a story about the reason why people get lost in the woods, something that has to do with horses… but sadly, I have forgotten about the story but I remembered one thing, once you are lost in the woods, just invert your clothes and you will be back on your way.
I thought of that, so yeah, why not try it? After all, I am even part of the Philippine mythology and folklore, my daddy is a sun war god, so yeah, maybe it does work too.
I dropped my bags and stuff and I took off my clothes, inverted it and put it on once again.
I carried my things again but I don't know, something seemed different, the course of the wind changed and the trees swayed and rustled so as their branches. I heard a quick series of footsteps like someone running away, but I am not sure. Also, maybe the inverted shirt thing worked. I better go west quickly, I sense something not good is going to happen. So then, I ran westward, after the three hours I wasted awhile ago.
This time, things seemed to be different, the woods seem to get darker and darker, creepier than ever, no, creepier than before, creepier than the place wherein I met the Nuno. I am starting to get chilly, like someone is watching me right now, watching every step I take. I shook the feeling off, I am an Anakdatu and I am trained to withstand situations and pressures more intense than this.
'Eve,' I told my glasses through my subconscious self, 'Do a scan of living things in our surroundings.'
'Solid copy, sir.' Eve replied.
My HUD did an Augmented Reality style scan of the surroundings, I found a deer, a monkey hanging from the trees, fishes on a nearby lake but nothing but those things, no weird monsters or such.
'Thanks, Eve.', I told my glasses once again.
I continued my journey to the west but, the sun seems to be gone already by the thicket, I need to hurry up, something might have happened already to Elise so jogged through the woods already, jumped from boulder to boulder, doing my best to save time. I kept on thinking, what is happening to her at these hours? She is a smart, clever and creative and also a powerful yet dangerous girl so I think she can stall Shrek for a while, but still, she will need back up and I really need to hurry up. I didn't jog anymore. I ran.
While I was running, I don't know, I keep hearing very subtle tree branch sounds, like someone is following me through the trees but I don't know, maybe Green Inferno cannibals? Oh no.
"Hurry up," I muttered to myself.
As I was running too, I kept on asking myself, how was I a demigod? How did a god and my mom meet? What is the purpose of my father? From what I knew, they told me I have the blood of a Philippine datu, a Philippine chieftain from the ancient times, but now, I've got the blood of a god? I know I am taking this in awfully calmly, but still, I have so many unanswered questions and it is messing with me, I don't know and by those thoughts, I almost run into somebody but I stopped.
It's not just somebody, it's me, my face and arms full of scratches and grime, also I have developed some sort of a goatee, my tattered clothes, my hair that got so long because I didn't cut my hair in the whole summer vacation in which I ponytailed it, my tan face from the 3 days straight of searching for Elise, tattered jeans and shoes, I am not a mirror type of guy but damn, I look oh so horrible. I touched myself (no, it's not what you think it is you person with a very sexy imagination), my other self, the one I almost bumped on and it is a surface, a mirror. What the hell is a mirror doing in the middle of a deserted, lush, and creepy forest? Too late I realized that I might have walked into a trap and I was so stupid to think of that.
I examined the mirror, it's a rectangular mirror, no frame around it, about 7 feet in height and 4 feet wide, just the right silhouette of an NBA player at the center position, a stand on the back and nothing odd about it, which makes it weirder. I pulled my sniper pistol from my backpack and aimed at the mirror, but something odder happened, someone disarmed me, someone quick slapped my gun out of my hand and I was shocked.
I looked to my left and right, ignoring the mirror in front of me, but I didn't see anybody, now I pulled my umbrella from my bag (yeah, I know I am looking silly, a tattered guy who looks like a hobo holds his umbrella for self-defense). I placed my thumb on the button that activates the Kampilan to be ready.
Suddenly, a group of laughter cracked up behind me and so then I looked behind me.
There were 5 guys, muscular teenagers (heh, I'm way more muscular *flexes biceps*) about my age, like they were born in the Marines, wearing leather breastplates over their t-shirts, leather arm bracers, normal jeans, some tattoos, and combat boots. They seem to be in a very good mood, except their spears are leveled and pointed directly into my chest. They maybe are some kind of ninjas, really buff, casual ninjas that made me wonder, did I just walked into Hidden Leaf village? I almost said 'Where is Naruto?' but I stopped myself for sounding so stupid.
"What are you going to do with that?" The guy in the middle with a buzz cut hair pointed at my umbrella, "Hit us with that?" And they laughed once more.
My stance remains guarded "Who are you?"
They seem to stop laughing like they realized they still need to kill me, the guy in the middle stepped forward "No, the question is, who are you?"