Blue Moon

C H A P T E R 43

THE BEAST'S WISH

ARRAH

I dared not close my eyes and sleep because I was very scared, so I laid on the bed and watched them instead. My chest kept hurting more tonight. True enough, when the soul was sick, the body followed. My soul wasn't just sick. It was dying.

I was dying.

'It is time, Akì.'

The lights came and I knew I couldn't stall for time anymore. The more they appear, the less of me here. I couldn't feel my legs.

Kai!

I wanted to wake her up and help me stay because I didn't want to go. However, there won't be anything she could do. Now I wished she would just sleep through it. I bit my tongue, held back a cry, and committed their faces to my memory.

'I am terrified, Kai.'

As if hearing my desperate call, she opened her eyes and saw me disappearing piece by piece. The pain and fear in her eyes were too much. It tore at me to see her so but I had to go. When Nadia started crying, it was all too harder to leave. I wanted to reassure her that everything will be ok.

But what comfort could I offer?

My little girl...

I lost consciousness and when I next woke, Baku was already locked in combat. Seeing Haliyah through Baku's eyes was a different experience. The fact that both Baku and Haliyah appeared larger than everything around us was of little consequence to the havoc that they were causing. Baku was angry and there was no getting through that steaming thick fog.

"Haliyah's fighting half-heartedly," Búlan said as she took form beside me.

"Half-heartedly? What becomes of everything if she suddenly fought seriously, huh?" Landslides and earthquakes. Natural disasters caused by unnatural forces as these deities clashed. "Can't you stop them?"

"I want to but the Bakunawa's anger was so deeply-seated. I can't say it was unfounded but rather her anger is misplaced," she sadly said.

"But Haliyah did kill Mayari. That was the cause of this." Killing was never right. Baku was in the wrong too but I could not sit still as Búlan tried to defend Haliyah. Baku loved Mayari—Liway, so much that she was prepared to go through hell. 

"And that is the burden Haliyah must carry. She allowed herself to be defeated by her emotions and acted rashly." We did nothing but look on as Baku assaulted Haliyah with her water daggers. "It was too late for her to recognize that it was the Bakunawa who acted against Mayari's wishes and captured me."

"Mayari turned to you for help but she was killed instead," I murmured. "Why?"

"We wanted to help but we could not. No one is truly free as everyone is tied down by laws. We were—are bound to it. We could not outrightly meddle in the affairs of humans lest we tip the scales and destroy the balance. As was imposed, we could only offer our help through mediums but Mayari was asking us to fight the battle for her as she was powerless against the enemies," Búlan said.

"The enemies who were backed by another god. The god of war, Malandok, gave them the power by which the curse was created. I could deal with the others but isn't it justified that you fight against him," Mayari joined us inside the bar-less cell Baku made. "He was your enemy, not mine."

"Malandok?" Who was he now? Was he gonna show up and join this battle royale?

"I—we did not know of it," Búlan started but was stopped by Mayari.