Everything is better in the village; so much improvement has been made in their village. What more should he do?
"Son, I want to widen our territory."
Since we are sea wayfarers too, I want you to experience exploring the sea." His father is determined to do this. Their tribe is from Panay Islands and they are sea wayfarers or explorers. They are not cowards just like what the Spaniards told in their history. People in the Visayan region are brave and they often battle with other tribes.
The council of elders approved the plan of the Datu Lakatuna to expand their territory and explore the sea. Since they are from the mountains, those villages that they see upon their descent from the mountain are conquered way to the sea. They built their own port and put up some buildings for their soldiers to station. After a few months of conquest, the plan is successful and they now own the sea. They put the trading center near the port so that traders will not have a hard time traveling and looking for other people to trade.
For almost three years, the territory of Datu Lakatuna has been established and developed. The roads are made of bricks and there are many Kalesa from Maharlika, Timawa, and other businessmen. Buildings were also built like stores for clothes, desserts, kitchenware, and even restaurants. Water is also accessible throughout the territory and public toilets are accessible. There is no hint of upset on people's faces; they are very satisfied with what they have; their lifestyle is sophisticated.
"Come on, get more logs here." People are busy making big ships for trade and warships. His father started to do this because he wants his son to experience the sea as they are originally like this. People are cutting more trees and the streets are so busy.
From afar, a warship from some tribe is seen. They alerted Lakatuna and waited for his command. They cannot use the ships because they are not finished yet so he commanded his soldiers to prepare for war on land. The soldiers took their shields and swords as well as arrows. They are waiting for the enemy to land. The vanguards are placed and the shields are on. People with spears are at the back of those shields. Platoons of soldiers are in the middle of the formation together with their Datu and young Master Dodong. Archers are placed at the back and are ready to shoot when the enemy lands. Some reserved soldiers help the people to evacuate to the mountain and take shelter there.
There are only two warships arriving so approximately 200 enemies are arriving. This number is not threatening to them. Their village now has more than one thousand people and some captives ready for war. Their soldiers are even trained for wars like this; they even have formations that are difficult to penetrate. As soon as the enemy landed and got out of their ships, rains of arrows poured in their direction and killed so many of them. Archers kept on shooting arrows and the soldiers marched ahead. Since these enemies are not trained so well, the battle ended so swiftly.
<< --- no sweat --- >>
Those men who are alive became captives and turned into alipin.
Just like that, they resumed their work a few days after the battle because they needed to clean up the place and continue making the ships. Another month has passed and everything is done. They are now ready to sail. Excitement filled Dodong's face as this will be his first time riding such a huge ship which is not run by an engine but by rowers.
They arrived in the middle of the sea and he saw the calmness of the waves there. There are some flying fish and dolphins tailing their ship. He was so amazed by the scenery he saw. In a brief moment, he realized that they needed salt and that he was in the middle of the sea. He needs to take this opportunity to make some salt. An unplanned errand is made. He ordered his men to fetch sea water and put them in their jars. His father doesn't know his actions but trusts him. After a month in the sea, he made so much salt and his people are so happy with this, they no longer need to trade with salt but it is they can sell salt to the village and trade with some tribes and traders.
As they are about to turn their ships to go home, the sky suddenly darkens and the wind is so strong that a typhoon is about to land. This is unprecedented since there is no sign of storms. The waves are destructive and they thought that their ships would be wrecked. Soon when the rain started falling, a number of Sirena and Syokoy appeared. Sirena refers to mermaids and mermen which have an upper body of a human and a fish tail on the lower body while syokoy refers to green-skinned humanoid creatures with scales and fins. Sometimes these syokoys are incorrectly depicted as mermen. People were speechless and terrified of these creatures. Even Dodong is also shocked since this is his first time seeing an actual mermaid and merman. They noticed that they are actually fighting; sirenas and syokoys are at war and they are caught in the middle.
People began to pray to the gods especially to the god of the seas. Dodong cannot do anything because they are in the middle of the sea and everything is water. He remembered that a god had once favored him so he hoped to communicate with him. He called the gods to help them safely sail to avoid the war of those sea creatures.
<< ---- at the bottom of the sea, Lidagat's palace ---- >>
"Sister, our father asks you to find mother. He knows that you can order the sea to find her." Lihangin is now at the bottom of the sea talking to his sister. He knows that her sister's power comes from their mom so she can easily locate mom. She can also order the ocean to find her.
"I know where she is. I felt her power here in the Middle World." Lidagat is referring to the moment Maguayan appeared in front of Amaya. She blessed Amaya with her magic that night which alerted Lidagat. She knows that her mom is not someone who fancies a mortal. She is very busy guiding the souls, ferrying them to the underworld. It stirs up her inquisitive mind and found out that it was a girl named Amaya, whom she fancies.
While they are conversing, a loud and pure intention called them asking for help. Lihangin and Lidagat stop talking for a moment and feel the intention. It is Dodong who called for help.
The two gods take a look at the situation above the ocean and saw that they are in the middle of a war between sirenas and syokoy. These two groups of sea creatures have had bad blood since the beginning of their existence.
With Lidagat's power, she called the two leaders from both sides and asked them to cease the war. She called them to appear in her presence. All the sea creatures stopped fighting and swim back to the palace of the goddess. She asked them why are they fighting.
The king of the sirenas accuses the prince of syokoy of abducting his daughter. Their prince is madly in love with his daughter. The other side refuses to acknowledge since their prince is also missing; they accuse the sirenas of abducting their prince.
"Be the judge, goddess Lidagat." Both sides request for the judgment of the goddess hoping that either one of them will be the victor.
"Let me see what really happened." Lidagat displays her water of happenings. She uses her magic to find out what really happened between the prince and the princess. There they witness that both of them are in love with each other. There are times that both of them sneak out of their palaces to meet somewhere, a place that no one knows aside from them. They are sneaking out because they know that their family hates each other. As they remember, they have had bad blood from the beginning. Their ancestors had been fighting and this is passed down to their descendants.
Lidagat stops the water ball in showing other happenings. She wants both parties to reconcile on their own, talk not fight, and look for their offspring. She dismissed them all after that.
When everyone is gone, they continued their chat and Lidagat told Lihangin that she cannot point out the exact location of their mom. All she knows is that she is here in the Middle Realm. She advised him to stay for a bit here in the Middle Realm and watch Amaya. For sure, their mother will come out and meet the girl sometime. Lihangin thought it is a great idea.
"Finally, we can see our port from here." People were so cheerful when they saw the port. They didn't imagine that they could escape alive in that situation. Dodong thanked the gods who helped them even though he does not know which god was it.
From the view of Dodong, He saw the tail of a big fish that was hiding under their ship. He wanted to check it but he asked his men to unload the jar of salt first. After clearing everything, he told his father that he has something to check first so he doesn't need to wait for him. He will go home with some alipin and soldiers.
He went to check the thing that was hiding and to his surprise he saw a syokoy and a sirena. He approaches them without malice so that these creatures will not run away. With the blessing of the god of the seas, he is able to communicate with them.
He is awestruck why he can speak their language. Lidagat knows that the prince and the princes were hiding at the ship of Dodong so he blessed him with their language. He asked them what they are doing in the territory of humans. The sirena and syokoy said they ran away because their families are against each other. Their parents will not agree even if they love each other. A Romeo and Juliet of the sea
<< --- chuckles --- >>
Later on, he knew that they are the prince and the princess of their own kingdom. He was shocked to hear this. Come to think of it. If their families knew of this, they would attack the village and would probably flood it. What a devastating situation. Dodong calmed himself and the god for intervention. He has nothing to do with them and their presence is a threat to the whole village.
Lidagat is mad at Dodong for asking her favor again. The god of the seas told him that this will be his last favor and she will strike him with lightning afterward. He pushed himself to smile to hide his fear. After that, the god brought back the prince and princess to their families.
<< --- In the Upper Realm --- >>
"You cannot hide forever Maguayan. Your daughter already knows you are in the Middle Realm." Kaptan utters in his mind and then he goes asking one of his grandchildren, Likalibutan the god of the world (refers to earth) "Shall I go down?"
Kaptan is so happy and the laughter is heard in the middle world through thunders.