Getting by
A Year has already passed since all of the Misfits came back to the world. The 1st years are 19, the 2nd are 20 and so on and so forth. Other students have retired and insisted on finding real jobs in order to blend in, some went back to school and finished their education while others worked in some of the 'Façade' businesses that Death owns. The 7 Elites Continued to fight and were sent to all of the different 7 continents; Harriet to Asia where there is a lot of Altered Ones and Minion activity, Aaron to Europe, Celena to the continent of Australia, Dawn to Africa, Esra to North America, Zora to South America, and Aloisa to Antarctica where the melting ice will soon reveal a portal and gateway to hell. She sacrificed herself and is now in a state of sleeping where he body acts as a catalyst and the ice remains in a permafrost.
A kid runs down in the streets of the Philippines in the middle of the night, they seem to be terrified enough to not even make a stop; a familiar feeling. A dark silhouette chases after them as it jumps around the roof of the neighborhood she is running into. The silhouette comes down and with the moon its whole being comes into light, a headless dog. It slowly forms into a shape of a human's body as it steps closer to her.
"A pugot?" She whispered, she raises her right arm as it gets closer. It took one more step and she blows it into nothingness.
"Whew... that was creepy"
"A pugot" She now says it with a smile, she jogs away from the scene as if nothing happened even winking at the people as they opened their doors and windows. The people celebrated and she nods and waves at them; she feels like a star as they did this. She smiles and accepts reward from the people.
"Thank you thank you!"
She accepts the rewards given to her and left before the mayor sees her. She is a Misfit, but she 'awakened' her powers without the aid of the 'Calling'. She is a new kind of misfit, she easily gripped her power and her new body. She is clearly a athlete with a slim yet muscular physique. She zips her hood up and walks the streets of Manila freely. Despite having this ability she hides it from other people, not knowing what type of person she should talk to. Her 'Calling' came in a form of a nightmare-like sleep paralysis where she 'fought' with her own self. She only knows of her strong body and her ability to release a huge amount of power, she points her hands like a gun and uses it like one.
She came back to her home a small house in the suburbs of Manila, she never went to school and is forced to work whatever job possible because of her father. Her father was a police officer and went insane one day, he stole their money and ran away never to be seen again. After that they have to sell everything they have just to get bye, she even thought of prostitution to feed her family but she did not do it. Her family composes of her mother and older brother, who like her father was also a drunkard and neglectful. He studied medicine but since her father took the money away he was just there at their house; he fell into depression and started to take in drugs.
"Mom"
"Kristina... how's your new job?"
"Oh here" She grabbed the money and food that was given to her in a container. She gave 3/4ths of her money to her mother, Anna, about 30,000 Philippine pesos, about $600. It was already enough to but a lot of food, her tired-looking mother smiled only for it to be taken away by her brother who grabbed the money.
"Thank you lil sis, bro appreciates it" He pats the money on her head, "Hey" she said as she grabbed him by the arm. Her grip is strong and she can easily hurt her brother, but her mother stopped her from doing so.
"Let me go"
"Give me the money, that's not yours"
"Its ours, you said... your working for us!"
She lets go and her brother left them to go gambling, he left her a little gift; a spit on her back. She let out a tear in frustration and wipes it away.
"Dick"
"Well, give me your hoodie"
"I'll wash it mom... You go sleep"
"No-"
"Mom?"
"Okay... dinner is on the table, just reheat it okay?"
"Yes mom"
Kristina looks at her mom as she goes to her bed, which is literally on the room next door. Her mother lies down and starts to knit something, she sees a bit of it but chooses to ignore. "Sleep well" She said as she closes the door, she goes to the dining table. Cold wind breeze through as the lock of their window starts to rust up and is already falling apart.
"Tch... fuck"
She goes towards the window and closes it, she uses a small piece of carboard and wedged it on the window in order to close it. She almost kicks the table in fury but she just stomped instead, her anger turns into tears and she breaks down on the floor. She immediately wiped her tears as she gets back up and warmed up a dinner, she ate it lethargically and then went to sleep. Next day came and she did the same thing she was doing, she went to different places where she felt a 'presence' of sorts; even tuning in on a local channel where they show allegedly haunted places. She would go to the ones near her city and just hitch on vehicles. Obviously the presence of such creatures has been detected and through desperation of the people who live in the area, they set up a bounty of sorts to get rid of such creature.
Kristina would often hunt for dead animals indigenous to the area; such as dead dogs, cats, cows, snakes and other animals that would be believable. She would rip it to shreds with her power after she killed the real creatures, this is as to not raise anymore fear among the people.
She sleeps on the back of the truck and the driver gets out to wake her up.
"Hey, we're here"
"Yeah... thank you.. here"
She passed on him 1,000 pesos; which costs about $50. The driver thanks her and she hops down, it was not a long ride as she expected. She arrived at the small village where people seems to be living normally than she expected, no one is hiding nor being nervous; just a normal town. But that is also where she starts to get her guards up, the fact that the place seemed 'untouched' is maybe because there is something. She walks around and she feels eyes on her back, she turns around and nothing seems to be looking directly at her; yet she still feels unwatched. She looks behind the houses and sees small mounds.
"What are you looking for?"
"hmm?"
"You... what are you lookin for?"
"Well... anthill"
"oh... Do not disturb it, a goblin resides in that hill. If you are to disturb it they will bring misfortune upon you"
"Yeah... I have heard about them"
"Good... then why are you here for?"
"The scenery"
The old geezer looked confused as there is no scenery here on their village. Just a farmland where carabaos and farmers tend to their harvest. The old man gave her a weird look and it made her uncomfortable, she nodded and left him alone; but he still continues to stare at her.
"This place is eerie" She though to herself, to which a voice replied and agreed with her. The hair on her neck stood straight up as she heard it clearly, she thinks its a ghost. She swallows and turns around to see that no one is there, not a single person nor village. She was just in the middle of a small forest with trees standing so high and its branches block the sunlight and the sky cannot be seen. She looks everywhere as she is immediately met with a feeling of drowsiness, she can smell the strong scent of tobacco in the air.
"Kapre?"
She looks up and sees the giant man. A creature about 7 feet tall, black toned skin, hairy in its chest, feet, and armpit, and its red-shut eyes. The odor of its body and the smell of the tobacco nauseates Kristina but it was not enough to put her down. She tries to jump away but another creature knocks her down to the ground and pinning her. The Kapre looks down and blows the tobacco smoke on her face, making her unconscious. All she can feel is her body being tied up and carried deeper into the forest.
She wakes up and she can see creatures dancing in a circular manner. her eyes dart everywhere and she sees the old man from before, and also the villagers from earlier. The creatures seems to be chanting something that she cannot understand.
"Their celebrating?"
"Yes, and you need to find a way to beat them"
"how?"
She sees goblins, hobgoblins, several kapres around the area, and the tikbalangs; a tall bony humanoid creature just like the Wendigo, but its head is that of a horse's and hooves with ridiculously long limbs. They seem to be cheering even louder than earlier and it gets more annoying. She then discovers why the creatures are chanting and celebrating even a louder. 4 creatures called sarangay which resembled the Greek minotaur comes in, but their faces are that of a water buffalo and its body is that of a muscular man's, and really hairy. They have jewelry around them and obnoxiously huge gemstones on their earlobes.
"Oh wow"
"Just wait, it gets much more terrifying"
As the Sarangays walk to the side a beautiful woman walks among them, all of the creatures suddenly stopped chanting and bows down on the presence of the Diwata. The girl is the epitome of perfection, no creature dared to even stay in front of them. She sat on her wooden throne made of the roots of a Narra tree. She speaks in a tongue that none of them humans can understand.
"You there outsider, why have you come here?"
"Me?"
"Yes you, I have never seen your face before"
"Ri- uhm... apparently the locals heard loud drumming and chanting sounds, so I got curious and checked it out myself"
"And well?"
"Well?"
"What have you come to realize?"
"I cannot answer your properly with me like this.. my head hurts"
The Diwata waved her hands and one of the hobgoblins climbed to the top of the rope and cut off the vine, Kristina fell down on the hobgoblin killing it by being crushed. The creatures stopped chanting and some of the goblins grabbed the corpse under her and threw it among their crowd and devoured it; their cheering resumed. The rope around her was pulled to become more tighter and they carried her on the top of their heads and to the feet of the Diwata. She spoke in tongue but she cannot understand it.
"Sorry, will you pay for the destruction of our forest caused by your people?"
"but, I did not do this"
"Yes you did, you and your own kind started to destroy our forest, our home. And when we fight back you brand us as monsters, but is that not your own kind?"
"....."
"Taking over different areas and declared it as their own, your greed and pride goes so high that you are even willing to trample down on your own kind"
"What? I never did anything to you"
"Hmp, they always say that" She said so as she pointed up to the people tied by the vines. The vines started to suck the literal life and flesh out of them, it turned into small effigy on the Diwata's hip. They can hear their shrieks fade away and it 'stings' in her ear, it makes her emotional as she feels the despair in the souls. The Diwata grabbed her by the neck and her eyes starts to glow blue and fumes starts to come out of her mouth, nose, and ear and she starts to inhale all of it. Her eyes starts to glow blue as well and she floats up, she can feel it grab her very being.
*I can't breath*
*Why can't I breath*
The vines on the ceiling come crawling down like a snake, it makes contact with her skin.
"Feast well m-" A sound outside of her little ritual area broke her concentration and she dropped Kristina down. The Diwata commander her goblin and hobgoblins go after the sound., but before they can come out a beast with a height of a stallion and a body of a muscular yellow tiger. It ravaged the hobgoblins and goblins along its way and even wounded the several colossal beings around them. The Diwata somehow did not stand a chance against the beast, taking this opportunity Kristina attacked the woman in its real form; an ugly disgusting woman.
"Eww" She said as she grabbed the creature by the hair and tear off its head from its body. The head screamed and it froze the way it is; its hollow eyes and wide-opened mouth. The same fumes from before came out from all of the holes and slowly dissipate into the ground. The beast-creature attacked Kristina but she slices the arm off.
"I'm sorry"
The beast roared in pain and cut through some of the Kapre and Sarangay. A fire erupted amongst the chaos and Kristina tries her best to put it out, but the creatures around her did not allow it. She jumps out of the ritual area and he looks back to see the souls of the people that was sacrificed to grab a hold of the creatures and kill it themselves. The fire grew larger and swallowed the whole place.
"What Have I done!" She kept repeating as she used her power, it was only making the fire grow even bigger and cause more destruction. Instead of doing anything she just ran away from it, she cried as she was not able to do anything. Her tears fall down to the ground with regret.
"Please please, get me out of here"
She got to a certain distance where she does not hear the roar of the flames and the squeals and screams from the group that she encountered. It was not that long too that she ended up back at the abandoned village, nature is slowly taking over it. She looks around and it was the same, the only real difference was the footprints she left as well as the smell that she carries.
"Hello? Is anyone there?"
"HELLOOO!" All she can hear is the quiet singing of the birds, all she can feel is the eerie atmosphere around her. Before she knew it the beast from earlier responded to her calls, she was afraid than earlier. The creature stood up and it was about 6 feet high, and its hand healed back.
"I....I'm... sorr..sorry.. I did not mean t"
"I know, I must have scared you"
The beast replied without even moving its very mouth.
"What is happening?"
"Oh wait, I really need too"
Fumes of air erupted from his joints and he starts to get shorter and shorter, or getting back to normal. The fog that he created blew away revealing a tall man with blonde hair, shorts, and a cloth as a way to cover himself. He was thinner than what she expected.
"Who are you?"
"I think you nee- HEY!" Kristina passed out due to exhaustion and blood loss. The man did his best to take care of her and they both ended up in a hospital. Her vision is blinded by the lights ad she had to squint, she can see a nurse taking her Blood pressure and greeted her and behind her his older Brother.
"Thank you" He said with that disgusting look to the nurse, that he 'wants' her in a way. The nursed turned to her and her eyes says so many things, she feels disgusted at the way her brother acted. She turned away in shame as the nurse walked out of the room and her brother greets her.
"Kris"
"Get up, you fucking idiot, our mother is worried sick"
"Oh? Since when did you care?"
"Since money stopped coming" She sees her sling bag on his chair, crushed and empty. She sits up straight and her brothers is checking the money that she has.
"No wonder, the amount wasn't right, trying to keep some for yourself? Greedy Bitch"
"Fuck you" He stopped counting and chuckled upon hearing her cuss, he turns around slowly trying to be threatening but Kristina was not having any of his façade. She has that cold look in her eyes, an eyes that resembled a predator and her brother's eyes resembled its prey. She puts on her boots and her jacket on the table and followed her brother.
"You forgot your bag"
"Fucking leave it"
"Why?"
"Fuck you that's why"
"HEY YOU BITCH!" He screamed in anger as he tries to chase after her, the whole emergency room were alerted of his screams. His chase was cut shore of because of a wound on his knee that she put there, and it starts to bleed quickly. He touches his feet but he does not feel any sensation, he falls down on the ground and starts to panic. Kristina turns around once more to her brother, clearly an addict from the drugs he takes, his face is just ruined. She put her hood on and quickly left.
"How did he get here?"
"I brought him here, you really must hate your half-brother"
"Yeah, why do you care?"
"I never got to introduce myself"
"Do I really need to know?"
"Well, I'm gonna need a name for this"
He opens the seat of his motorbike and there revealed cash, lots of it; more than she can imagine.
"There's more"
"Is this a scam?"
"No, its a job, you and me we go back to that hellish forest and kill all of those creatures, what do you say?"
"I say we live them alone, like us they also need a home, and we ruined it for them"
"Right, still they killed all of those people"
"But they did not deserve it, it was the sin of the people that came before them, the settlers it wasn't theirs"
"So who pays for their sin?"
"Them, but they do not have to die for it, they can you know.... make up to it"
"Yeah sure.... well what if I tell you, those creatures have killed a lot of people"
"....."
"Innocent"
"Are you trying to put me in a moral dilemma?"
"Are you in one?"
"Yes, some humans deserve to be destroyed, others deserved to be built up because they are ruined, but those are the weak, powerless, the poor, what can they do?"
"Ruin shit, do crimes or something"
"Are you stereotyping us? Just because we are in the lowest level of society, were this group that would do anything?"
"I didn't mean to, but you have powers, you can use that for something"
"I do, do I?"
"Good, or bad, right or wrong, its all on you"
He grabbed something on the bottom of the storage compartment, in a glass bottle. He opens it up and Kristina's attention is drawn to it, he quietly offers it to her.
"What is this?"
"Your decision"
She smelled it but it has no smell, she looked at it and she is put into a trance of some sort. She drank the whole bottle in one go and there was no flavor whatsoever, her eyes starts to turn into the galaxy and she falls over but the man grabbed her. A Police officer saw him putting her on his back and driving off.
"HEY! GET BACK HERE! FUC-- shit"
He easily puts on his earphones and opens his phone, he surfs through it and opens up the radio.
"This just in, a massive fire was started on a dense forest in"
"Damn"
"Some of the locals said it was the engkantos taking revenge for the new subdivision being built on the plot of land. The fire department and the local police forces has started to investigate on the origin of the fire"
"I made one hell of a mess"
He rides into the dark night with Kristina and all they can do now is run away and do as they want. His brother gets into a rehabilitation facility only to kill himself a day later, and her mother dies of an illness as her brother - who bought her medicine- has died. Her body was discovered and the local news made a report regarding her death.