After four hours, Kali's soul injury is already completely healed. He started to head over the balete tree. The tree was the mysterious force tugging on his soul earlier. Now that he thinks about it, the tree must have wanted to protect him from the forces of evil like the ones attacking him earlier.
After knowing that he is safe here, he had time to ponder about what happened earlier. The old man must have known that evil creatures were lurking around the corner and that the balete tree is mystical and sacred.
Branding the old man's face into his mind, he proceeded to think about how he was able to teleport a hundred meters away from where he was. Kali noticed that when he blinked, he seemed to lose some kind of substance within his soul body.
Not paying any more attention to it, Kali recalled what had transpired with his encounter with the old man once more. The old man said he will know the answer to Kaluwalhatian and dalisay na nu once he got here. He must be pertaining not outside the tree but inside of it.
Kali is already within the vicinity of the tree, but there seems to be no one he can ask of, so he just assumed that the answer is inside the balete tree. He slowly paced forward. Walking with inconceivable tranquility, he felt the majestic atmosphere surrounding the entrance of the tree.
Arriving at the front of the balete tree, Kali immediately noticed the beautiful engravings of what seemed to be his native tongue's long-lost writing script. If what he can recall is correct, the writing script is supposed to be called Baybayin.
Even though Kali can recall what it was, he can't understand a single thing. After intensely looking at the symbols for a few minutes straight, Kali approached the entrance that is vaguely emanating a soft glow.
Kali contemplated for a second before he decided to set foot inside the balete tree. Once he was in, he immediately noticed that the space inside is actually pretty big. To his surprise, the inside of the tree doesn't look like the inside of a tree at all.
Kali saw a field full of grasses instead of seeing nothing but darkness brought by the shade of the tree. The inside of the tree looks like a meadow. There's sunlight which Kali doesn't know where it is coming from.
There are also land and air animals like deers, birds, and butterflies roaming across the prairie. The beautiful and colorful flowers, which emit a pleasant scent, alongside the grass drifted within the breeze of the wind. Kali took in a mouthful of fresh air before exhaling in relaxation.
...
Kali is appreciating the beauty inside of the balete tree. While his phone is ringing non-stop back at his house since last night. If you look at his phone, you will see five people calling him, with at the very least a hundred missed calls.
Mike put down his phone with a frown on his face. Worry flashed across his face as his call failed to connect once more.
"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING? KALI?" Mike shouted, panicking as he doesn't know what to do anymore.
"Shall I call the police now? Jenna and the others have been contacting him to no avail as well..." Mike mumbled as he contemplated on what he is supposed to do with his best friend.
Mike dialed 911 on his phone, planning to call the authorities. As he was doing so, he suddenly got a call from Kali. Excited, Mike quickly answered the phone.
"YOW KALI, YOU BASTARD! Why aren't you answering your phone?" Mike asked, not knowing if he should feel angry or feel relieved.
"Umm... Mike, this isn't Kali." Kali answered.
"Huh? Isn't this Kali's phone?" Mike replied in confusion.
"Yes, this is his phone. This is Kali's aunt Mayu. Kali is in the hospital now." Aunt Mayu replied.
"What happened to Kali? Why is he in the hospital, auntie?" Mike asked.
"We found him unconscious in his room this morning. At first, we thought he was just asleep, but we can't wake him up. We brought him to the hospital. The doctors said that his body doesn't seem to have any fatal injuries, but..." Aunt Mayu hesitated to continue what she was going to say.
"But what, auntie? Is there something wrong?" Mike inquired worriedly.
"The doctors said he is in a coma. Right now, we don't know how he went into comatose. The doctors aren't sure when Kali will wake up. The doctors said that he might not even wake up. He is basically dead at this point. The machines are the only thing that keeps him alive." Aunt Mayu said with evident throbbing in her throat, possibly brought by reigning in her emotions before she bawls out.
"Thank you for informing me, auntie. I'll go visit him when the quarantine is lifted." Mike replied. Right after dropping down the call, he wailed.
...
Kali, not knowing what had transpired, is still looking around the inside of the balete tree. He didn't know that he was already considered semi-dead.
"Wow! This place is a paradise! Am I in heaven? Did I just ascend to... umm... what did the old man call it? Kaluwalhatian? Ah yes, that's it. Kaluwalhatian must be this. This place is just unparalleled in beauty!" Kali uttered as he roams around the place.
Unbeknownst to Kali, the balete tree is actually listening to his murmur.
After a few hours of going around from one end to the other, Kali found a majestic boat. It is a long boat made of planks, lightweight with sails and oars. The balangay is also characterized by having an eastern-style dragon at its nose. Kali remembered that this boat is called balangay.
Why is there an ancient boat anchored here on this river's harbor? Kali thought to himself.
"This place is weird!" Kali said to himself.
The creatures around here look similar to those outside, but they have noticeable differences as well. I have seen one bird who sings beautifully, it sings seven sweet songs, and although I'm far away, I found myself almost falling asleep.
The feathers of this bird also change in color depending on the song it sings. The colors can range from pearl, bronze, diamond, emerald, crystal, gold, or copper alloy. The bird also has a dark red garnet. It defecated after singing, and to my horror, it turned a golden deer into a stone.
Wait..... isn't that a bird from the story Ibong Adarna? Kali thought to himself. Yeah, that's right! That is the ibong adarna! I always thought it to be a kathang-isip (fantasy/fiction) but to think it is real! Kali almost lost his mind.
"Where am I? This place has mythical creatures and now this ancient boat. What is this place? Is this really the inside of the balete tree?" Kali thought out loud.
In the act of Kali voicing out his thoughts, he didn't notice that he reached the end of the daungan (harbor). Just when he was one step away from stepping into the balangay, a loud boom of voice echoed across the surroundings.
"You seemed absent-minded. Watch where you walk. Once you step into the balangay, there is no going back. It's not as if you can go back anyway." The voice said.
"AH- Who are you?" Kali immediately stopped after coming out of his stupor. He asked aloud, searching where the owner of the voice that woke him up is coming from.
"I am where you are." The voice said.
"Huh? I don't understand." Kali said.
"This place you are in is me. I am this place." The voice said.
"YOU-- YOU ARE THE BALETE TREE?" Kali blurted out.