"Then all creation sang with great joy and high praises—May we all live forever in peace and brotherly love! They all shouted in unison."
Then I saw the kids smiling at each other at peace at everyone like everyone was their siblings.
They are now emulating what the last line which the Shaman had told, even the guards beside me were smiling, including that scrawny guard.
But at that moment instead of a smile, my lips curved downwards.
I remember how my fellow countryfolks had treated each other...
Holding someone else's leg after each step before he could even step at the stairs of success—Crab mentality, its common name.
It is an ugly trait that I personally hate, where everyone becomes a jealousy incarnate.
All for glory, for fame, for greed, for more!
But at what cost?
The expense of somebody, not allowing anyone to rise, they drag each other like crabs.
These innocent natives untainted by foreign culture brought back a sense of nationalistic pride that boiled in my heart.
How great have you had fallen!
Land of the rising, pearl of the orient seas!
"The iron itself was tough, but its own rust could destroy him." I thought deeply of this saying while looking at the smiling faces of these innocent bunch of little kids.
That's how I would like to describe my beloved country, and perhaps we never really had that trait before...
Did we?
This kids are the proof.
Then I look around to gather more evidence through observations.
Every people in the small tribal town were happily helping each other like it is their own problem.
"Hey! why you didn't say so that your harvest for this month was low. Take mine instead, don't worry we have more!"
"Oh! is that your brother in law who just received Land ownership of three large farm fields? Congratulations!"
I smiled with a hollow laugh, mocking the people of my country back in my old timeline...
See? If only everyone helped each other, we could've been a progressive state!
We could've been smiling like how these tribesmen who are our ancestors are smiling right now.
But we all chose to mock each other, forgetting the fact that we all came from the same blood.
Then while being beaten down by the rubbish recollection of unsettling toxic culture I reminisced, a voice of a little small kid echoed that caught my attention.
In a fervent voice, she asked, "Elder Sha.." failing to complete the name of the Shaman due to her excitement, swallowed her saliva then the little kid continued her question, "If this all happened because of the God of the water kingdom and that great God Kaptan who ruled the sky, then who created this two Great Gods?"
The little kid's brown cheeks glowed red as she curiously asked, which the Shaman smiled even more brightly.
And to be honest, I know she was old but I was caught off guard by her sudden smile.
It is a graceful, amicable display of expression.
Is it because her beauty was emphasized by the shade of the maple tree?
Or that her beauty shined under the noon sun?
Regardless, it was a fleeting one as she replied...
"I almost forgot! hehe" Scratching her head as she said so "Maybe due to my old age am starting to forget a lot of things."
She stared down to the ground and cleared her throat.
And as she did so, the kids started behaving again, they all took their seats and quietly sat down.
"This is a story, long before God Maguayan and the God Kaptan came to be."
"This is the story of our Great Father, the all-knowing and all-loving Great God."
Hmm, there's more? I mumbled inwardly, bemused by this sudden addition.
The Shaman's Voice softly spoke,
"At the beginning of time, there were three powerful Gods who lived in the universe, although they did not know each other. The three Gods were Bathala, the caretaker of the earth, Ulikuwa, a huge serpent who lived in the clouds, and Galuliwa, the winged God who loves to travel."
The bunch of little kid's eyes widened into a surprise and great anticipation.
Now being surrounded with these kids, I feel like I am revitalized with youth ness—I feel young again.
This is fundamentally different, other than me obtaining a younger body that the body of Argus had offered.
"Bathala often dreamt of creating something in his likeness due to loneliness, but the empty earth forbids him to do so. He simply lacked the power to do so."
"One day, while Ulikuwa was visiting the Earth, his favorite place, he met Bathala. Ulikuwa was not pleased for he sees another God rivaling him, and so he challenged Bathala to a fight to decide who would be the ruler of the universe."
Now please go continue Old woman, don't put us into suspense.
As the Shaman patted her thighs to remove the dust that settled.
"After three days and three nights of fighting, Bathala won and successfully defeated Ulikuwa. Killed by Bathala Ulikuwa burned in jealousy and cursed Bathala with a sentence before his death."
"He said: Your greatest joy will give you the greatest sorrow and that shall be my revenge as I shall watch you in forever and eternity beyond the light."
Hearing the Shaman mentioning this, I could not help but shudder by that peculiar curse.
Then the Shaman continued...
"Bathala burned Ulikuwa's remains and did not pay too much attention to his last words as he thought that it must be a gibberish uttered by a defeated jealous God."
"A few years later, Galuliwa wandered into Bathala's home. The winged God was welcomed by Bathala with much kindness and invited him to live in his kingdom which he created located above the earth's dome at the top of the skies."
"The two Gods became true friends, and they happily spent many years together."
"However, their happy time together did not last long. Due to the repeated journeys of the travel-loving winged God, he became very ill. Bathala was reminded of Ulikuwa's curse. Then, before Galuliwa died, he instructed Bathala to bury him on the spot where Ulikuwa's body was burned. Bathala did exactly as he was told."
"Bathala circled the earth numerous times before he could arrive at where he had burned the remains of Ulikuwa. And at the vast dark empty waters, he buried Galuliwa there."
"After three days, Out of the grave of the two Gods sprouted a coconut tree. Bathala took a big round nut from the tall tree and husked it. The nut reminded him of the Galuliwa's head, while the leaves reminded him of his friend's wings. He also noticed that the trunk was hard and ugly like the body of his enemy, Ulikuwa, the serpent God."
The Shaman smiled as she stared at us for a long time. "That is why we call the Coconut, the tree of life. Because it came from the two Gods, every part of its body can be used in many ways."
And the Shaman continued her storytelling.
"Bathala then realized that he was now the ruler of the whole universe! He is now ready to create the creatures he wanted with him on earth."
"And so, he created Maguayan and gifted him the waters and from there Maguayan created his kingdom and became a God."
"In the same way, Bathala created Kaptan and gifted him his rule over the skies, from there Kaptan created his own kingdom and became a God."
"Bathala observed conduct that respected the free will of Maguayan and Kaptan."
"Then one day he dreamt of a day that the descendants of Maguayan and Kaptan's creation would revere him as their loving Father. Also on that same day, he also dreamt of two spirits that resembled Galuliwa and Ulikuwa that came from the daughter and son of Maguayan and Kaptan, softly coming in his embrace. Bathala having that dream, became fond of that idea, and is curious to know what those descendants of Maguyan and Kaptan's creation would look like."
"And so he descended from above the top of the sky and gave an oracle to the two Gods."
"He briefly described the dream but omitted some of its parts and warned Maguayan and Kaptan to not stop the spirit from the bodies of their son and daughter when they come for his embrace in which made Maguayan and Kaptan confused but sworn a promise under a special oath."
"Bathala gifted the third fruit of the coconut to the two Gods and tasked them to give this to their creation's descendants in the future. But while the two Gods received the coconut, Bathala remembered the curse of Ulikuwa making his return immediately to his kingdom in order to ponder."
"And the day came when all of his dreams came true, Bathala received the spirit of Lidagat and Lihangin, it turned out that they were the reincarnations of Galuliwa and Ulikuwa and together they joined Bathala for eternity and forever."
"As Bathala introduced himself over the different people that were scattered below his kingdom, people eventually came to know, the ever-loving and ever all-knowing Great God—Bathala."
"Gifting the world with coconut in his numerous journeys in remembrance to his one true friend, Galuliwa, still reminded of Ulikuwa's curse he watched as the descendants from the creation of his creation, his greatest joy gradually becoming his greatest sorrow."
Finishing with a light nod, the Shaman raised her arms to stretch her whole body.
"And that is the story of Bathala..."