As morning rises, he slept early despite how long he was there, he did set a time for that ritual, and despite that his body felt heavy and his mind slow. Despite last night's revelations and the suddenness of it, he forced himself to wake up and quickly changed clothes, he wanted to lay a bit and he was tired mentally at least,
But with his father in his state, he must be probably hungry right now, and that grumbling of his stomach won't go away. Seeing himself having to force himself wake up, he grumbled and went down to prepare both himself and his father breakfast, Lugaw might be best for his father and adding chicken and eggs, would help him recover and those are what was available at the moment,
Though removing the wards, he put up would be better, seeing that most of the wards were made in mind to be broken after usage, it didn't take too long for that and cooking the Lugaw was not even too long too, he made portions for himself and his father and brought coffee for him too, other than that, he ate and watched tv,
While he sees his father resting peacefully, he wasn't deteriorating in terms of the fever but neither was his health improving in that scale. That being said there isn't anything noteworthy to be seen in the news so far, other than the political movements between the upcoming election was amusing, from the promises to promising projects to help certain purposes,
He could be sad, angry or resigned at the politicians for doing these projects just because it was nearing the election, but he won't do that after all, as despite his work on magic is good, doesn't necessarily translate into being smart in politics and what is actually happening, he merely had what the news reported, sometimes read only the headlines, he might look unto it further,
There might be politicians that are striving to trying be good and that they are using the elections to do more, or there could be corruption but he was no enthusiast in it and that the changes in the economy and terrorism around the world, as he himself known that bunch of people are willing to go far to state their needs from food, money or to have a roof over their heads,
And that not everyone has good intentions at all, but he remembered the children thanking him for healing or the occasional adults that came. There were varying responses towards those from being called a "fraud", "witch" or to simply not acknowledging him, but that didn't stop him from doing his profession at that time, because remembered that time where that woman was there for him,
He grimaced at that but the happy memories resurfaced and he had a nostalgic smile. Not until the something rang, he looked at the phone he carried and saw that there were reminders for online class this afternoon. He sighed at that for breaking him from that, he looked at the time to see that it was till early morning and there was nothing to do too,
Then the words breaking news appeared, he felt interested in that after all despite the Mages' involved in trying to make the news not to worsen the influence through panic and fear brought upon it, it could be said that despite that despite seeing a lot of things that were worrying from the magical community or from the Philippines itself,
He tapped, his coffee as he awaits the time and started to prepare for his online class, his phone buzzed and he looks at his phone, opening it there was an announcement, scrolling to the latest and then there was an announcement about no classes but an work at home activity for, Mapulon to do.
That being said, with the activity of making poster about Filipino Culture, as far he knows the closest place that resembles quite a lot of importance, is either in Cebu or In Ormoc, which if cost-effectiveness and travel time, it would be from one bridge he remembered from that one search for an assignment ago, and from a group project, during the earlier months of class.
He read most of the content and he may not be the best at that but he could do what he is capable of and as far he knows as long it's clean and proper measures it won't be that bad, though with his father that sick and no one would be there to take care of his father, as he was thinking of what he would do to solve that dilemma,
The sounds of a siren suddenly erupted to see a house burning down, the reporter was worried about the large fire but then later on said that no one died in the fire, as it seemed that they were outside at that moment. Mapulon was entrance by the flames but a cling sound made him look back at his phone,
He saw a man carrying a girl outside from the house someone was still present in the house a grim expression on his face considering what happened that's expected, he looked at his phone to see someone requesting a friend request, he might not be the most popular in school nor did it mean was he a shut-in. Most of his friends are either not local or simply not in the region,
A friend request, low and behold he saw the image of his mentor wearing a stupid smiling grin and a hand hovering as if trying to balance something, he smiled at that and added her. He watched the news as he tries to wrangle his mind for any ideas, there were couple ideas of his but involves dragging his father along with him,
And obviously his father isn't in any state to walk long distances either, he ponders there for a long time, the closest that he knew of is in Ormoc which is far but his father is sick and the other is just a forest that is filled with different kind of beliefs about supernatural ghosts and the surrounding culture, a strange gleam appeared in Mapulon's eyes and just like that he started preparing materials,
Moving up and stretching, he went to his father and telling him that he will back, not before giving him medicine and water nearby, in case it gets worse. Walking out of the house with his wallet and going out, at least he gets out for a while, much of his supplies of his was wasted,
Though it rarely happens it is a pain to forget to restock his art supplies, though but… Mapulon sighs and went outdoors, it was just early morning in the day, so it was a little cold and he closed his eyes for a moment, as the shining bright rays of the sun, hit directly his eyes,
Rather than expecting it to hurt his eyes, it felt like getting rejuvenating as if drinking cold water in the middle of the night, he walks towards the road and went off his journey, there wasn't in way of vehicles found here as most of the parts here could be just walked, there are vehicles but they aren't needed for that and mostly used for transferring of goods,
He walks but slowly to take in the environment, despite the work to be done, he felt himself not in the rush of things, and indeed he didn't need to as this week has no classes for the week, as he walks around he felt birds chirping around him and gazes towards the approaching city, and murmurs to himself, " It's quiet day today.."
Then again that was what you expected considering where you live, it is a really small island and not that many people live here currently, despite the smallness of this village, it has somehow prospered after all, the silence could be overbearing sometimes early in the morning but with nature? There is something special with the silence and he added a little jump in between his walk, he walks until he founds someone lying in the road nearby,
The man he saw looked feverish and seemed to have broken a knee, the man groan as he positioned his leg into a comfortable position, his grimace lessened. The man didn't notice Mapulon approaching him, as he did he nearly jumped but his leg made him grimace at that, Mapulon approached him and asked, "What happened to you?"
The man tried to say something but felt like swallowing something bitter and said, " You happen to know about folk stories here right?". An icy feeling travel down his bone as he said those words, Mapulon nodded and the man continues saying, "I was just walking down the road and I saw this a dog walking weirdly, and I wasn't near it but it looked sick, so in the distance I called for the local dog catcher, I was just describing to the person, then suddenly I felt something crawling in my skin and my leg got bitten…"
He grimaced at the pain from the bite despite it not being that large, so to he wants answers but just recalling what happened just earlier, luckily he had a phone so he could call for help, Mapulon listened to him while he was talking and noticed a magical signatures of a dark creature in the wound, so he looks at the man carefully,
And the man's eyebrow rose as he looked at the kid, who seemed to be fumbling something out of his bag, widened at the paper. Mapulon removes them and a single leaf of bundled herbs escapes but he got it with his other free hand, the man looked suspicious at the paper and looking at the herbs, Mapulon felt the stare lessen instead and the man asked, " Didn't know someone could be prepared for this, but thanks anyway!"
The boy seemed not to be one of small talk and puts the herbs near the wound and presses it gently, the man hisses but didn't move. Then suddenly the kid murmured something low and the paper glow slightly, the man hissed and tried to say something the suddenly he sighed as if in relief but alarmed at the display,
He felt his body relax and look at the kid and say , " Thank- " and he felt irritation for just leaving him suddenly, but there was just paper left behind saying, "Sorry for leaving you behind! I've got places to go and in a hurry, just call me in 003-XX2-34224, tell me if the pain gets any worse!". He chuckled at the message and murmured something about kids and the things that kid did,
Blunt the kid may be but he believed the for some reason that kid will go places, a glint appears in his eyes and smiled
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Mapulon walks along the road, his mood sobered at the man's earlier incident and walked, he supposed could try to start today's output and at least try to start, though with the length of the deadline and the other minor assignments he saw earlier, though and the week of no online classes? There weren't any changes with his routine though,
A quick trip towards the city and a few snapchats of the forest should suffice, he could always go back later on, when he is dissatisfied with the pictures he got from the forest, as he arrives at the store, although a bit sweaty from a bit long walk, it was nothing a handkerchief that can't remove, walking past the more expensive materials,
There was a set he remembers, just like before it was discounted and though its quality is not that good as those in the other aisle, a little creativity from himself can fix the problem all else, as such with his restock from that store, would qualify at least 200 – 300 pesos, yes it looks a lot but compared to the amount he bought, it's a lot and quite a buy he got, and as he walks outside he looks at his phone to check if he didn't forget anything,
Well, luckily there isn't anything and so he went to the forest, arriving there he could notice and see the wards, he and his master put down somewhere where no could interfere with them and accidentally destroy the forest, it was a safety measure he asked to put down, since looking at both of their magic,
It could say it was very unique place, there was the feeling in the forest, as if someone was watching Mapulon when he went here, he could sense it but all he felt was something similar to those of ghost or those of spirits, and there were spooky things that you could encounter depending on the time,
But to Mapulon who has mapped some parts of the forest, since it is a magical forest, It has no real border and no ending. It's quite easy to get lost in this forest and in this type of forest, getting out would be really hard, his master has told him basics on navigation and has added wards on where they usually go as a mark and also to ward of attention from others,
There isn't a real sort of secrecy held in such small islands as these, but in Ormoc there are apparently regulations with how large the population is and the greater the consequences of it, but with his home, that hardly needs such as strict regulation, so his master does add just a simple compulsion ward to forces those who aren't Mapulon and his master to look or wander the other way,
It could be remembering something or forgetting something, she added it anyway despite her assurances that no one would go deep in the forest but he told her anyway that there might be chances that someone would wander around here, he remembers her look at him for being worrywart, but he didn't want to take no chances either way, she looked at him a bit of annoyance but she seemed to look away, though he later on learned that she was trying to
He does later on learn that the fact that the forest is magical in the first place and already many people don't go here because of the rumors, with the constant changing place of the forest, why bother creating an anti-compulsion, after learning he certainly didn't huff and then created an anti-compulsion ward on the spot just to spite his mentor,
He was certainly not immature and didn't do it out of some tantrum or some annoyance, No! sir! Not at all… He laughed at that memory, remembering the earlier months that his practice with his mentor has been, there has certainly has been moments and he would treasure them, he never once went upon here other than practice,
Now that he is here to snap some photos, it is certainly unique and… he just stopped taking pictures and just simply take on the sights, he was certain that he could at least stay her for a moment, let the world disappear before him and concentrate on the forest, intaking the life inside the forest. He felt his sense grew but ignored it and felt chirping birds yet despite not hearing any bird earlier,
Well, at least with this he could get a better view of the forest, he created this spell, no actually rather came unto him, it was not a spell more of a sense rather, and from his first use of it nearly overwhelmed him with the sense but with now, it felt like second-nature to him, then he saw from the earlier tries he saw different kind of things from different plants, or rather different kind of animals,
He couldn't really call them animals, as far he knows animals don't really walk on two legs despite having two other legs or defy known laws of physics as if they were nothing, well at least from his perspective it was truly magical and he looked around and he does avoid interacting with local animals or fauna here, you can't expect it to be named magical and not expect anything dangerous here,
He wandered there for a moment, and let himself return back from his spiritual-like state, his leg wobbled for a moment and he allows himself to steady himself, though it's not like he did that earlier to impress people, it was with that earlier accident he saw with that man earlier,
He still shudders at the memories he remembered back then, he was in the forest at the time, and it would be stupid of him not to check, there was not anything he could find during that state, not even a smell or at least marks of those beasts described by the man, Though from back before then he doubted that would be the outcome,
Though it looks like the purpose of the herbs he added was Aloe Vera, indeed it known for helping reducing pain and reduce infection in the area, well it was true he did sense dark magic in the wound but that range from anything just because of its nature of claw, there are lots of creatures with that sort of wound,
Most of the times aren't really that of a major threat, and with what he learned over the months of his mentor, most of the times he didn't need to go into combat, some are much easier in fact from ranging of offering gifts to the creature or talking it out with the creature most of the times it won't result in to combat immediately,
And with that there isn't much but if it anything serious and from his months with his Mentor, asking for help when cornered or something is not something that should shamed about, there are sometimes things that you can't just simply deal with on your own, and that is just a bad,
During the way home, it was as serene as ever. Mapulon look to his surrounding to find that it was nearly 3 PM, luckily he added a meal and some medicine in case if he doesn't get back to his father that quickly, he then asked if he could go to his mentor so that she could assist him, his father didn't want that,
And he simply wanted him to be safe, and they argued for there for a moment. His father revealed something of himself in accident and he coughed out blood as Mapulon felt the stirring of his father's magic and Mapulon then whipped out one of his talismans and herbs he carried everywhere,
And despite their abilities as mages themselves and their way of looking at things, sometimes or rather most of the times, Despite that they have both a tendency to mouth of secrets out of nothing, and sometimes forget that those have consequences and with that a much more heated debate occurred,
Both of them weren't stupid and neither was Mapulon, the did argue quite a lot, and from what he remembered. Even his father used magic at one point to emphasize his ability to do magic and that the illness would go away, and that triggered one of the most heated debates once again,
Despite the prowess he had and his knowledge of magic, his father was still superior, but neither his father had great stamina and so they fought with fists, despite that the conclusion ended happily, Mapulon spilled something that from most of his hazy memory from before ended up into heart-to-heart talk,
And because of that they did an agreement or rather a compromise, from what he had gathered from his father he was once what you called someone who solved problems in the magical community and has retired since long then, and his mentor was someone despite her openness in answering questions about magic,
Was the person he knew the least, it was strange though that could be the fact that neither actually talked personally or hang out for fun, but it seems like his master was quite busy during those months as sometimes in-between practices, she does, he does asks but sometimes he'd received non-specific answers or sometimes vague, it seems liked it was something important to his master,
Though she does get irritated when he calls her master, but he didn't care and sometimes uses it as a nickname though he did score a hit when he said it some sort of suave way, she looked away and he didn't know the reaction but he merely laughed his ass off, she got irritated at that and doubled his assignments with magic after that,
He stopped after that, memories entered from his mind as from different places, nostalgic but he forced them out as he entered the house, his father had an illness and he was not certain what it was and he wanted to fix it, and so he forced a polite smile in his face as he greeted his master waiting for him inside,
Though it is expected he did have it arranged so that his master would check on his father during that compromise and his master wasn't that of slouch and medicine making is certainly not a specialist in making medicine but she certainly studied it by sheer determination, he once asked something about it and his master despite not being the most specializes in that sort of thing helped him on that path,
And true he knew that he had fights before and most of weren't really serious and to be honest, Mapulon wasn't the type to fight head on, he preferred settling it much more friendly and didn't want to assume things, and because of that he turned his fear for confrontation as fuel in those fights,
But now, despite not having a fight. He felt stone cold as he saw the grimace in Mas-, Marisa's face apparently just by looking at her face something went wrong, he forced a polite smile and she lead her into where his father was located, just before entering the room, he could feel dark miasma coming out of it and coughing inside, and pausing as if to take a breath, and his heart froze as he looked at his father's feverish face, all traces as if the fever would slow down earlier gone,
And now was the look of someone who was terminally ill, he felt himself frozen in the spot but forced himself to walk and spoke, " What is happening with my father's body?" His tone changed with a tremor in the last sentence, and she could feel the demand in that sentence without even increasing the voice,
Marisa smiled at him but It felt forced and said, " From what I've seen in my contacts, it appears that this feverish like disease has been appearing in this locality, and apparently declared as some sort of plague, the island has been banned entry or exit even since "
A look of understanding appears in Mapulon and Marisa struggled to smile nostalgically at him, and she forced those emotions out, she has learned that trying to stop Mapulon from doing getting involved in this investigation was a hurdle of on its own and that it has forced some of her hand and she chided him on that, Mapulon twitched at that,
A disease that seemed to come out off nowhere and unknown accidents seemed to occur near them, and that it involved something dangerous, and from the news sites lots of burning has taken place and for some reason he couldn't felt suspicious and he wanted to investigate,
Marisa looks at him tiredly and sighs loudly, prompting an annoyed looked from Mapulon as he stampers out as if he got punched bad, "Promise! It won't be bad as that last incident!", and towards the line she remembers that time during the magical forest where he was practicing spells that nearly killed him and was trying to do something and he fell towards the ground,
She chided him on that and she looked at him with an amused glint, Mapulon looked at the ground for second and he stared her back but there was something fiery about it like something changed and he said, " There's a monster lose and it has already affected my father! Most of my herbs used earlier merely alleviate the symptoms, and I want to help!"
Months before, he wouldn't have the courage or the gall to say something that corny, but now there was something like fire that was lit in his eyes, and Marisa looked at him amusement and she then says to him calmly but she couldn't look at him at that seriously and chuckled at that, ignoring the startled yelp Mapulon did, she then breathes and a serious tone toke place in the mood, effectively sobering both of them,
And then she says, " You have journeyed far, and this has been your first ever case like this… No, today's the day we become equals, and investigate your first ever real incident". He looked startled at that and audibly gulped at that and straightened his body out and said, " It certainly has… and from what I could see, this is really dangerous work here…"
Marisa nods to that but before they could try to making plans in investigation, she looks at the old man who was chuckling beside them as they made plans, then proceeds to make an very awful pun about two wizards and a chicken leg entering a bar,
Suffice to say, it removed the dampened atmosphere in the air, Mapulon made more terrible puns and they laughed along, and with that Mapulon looked at them and he felt the danger in this case truly for what it was, he nearly fell but one look at them he felt something bloom in his heart, and so he thought, " Troubling times indeed… But with them along the way". He felt himself at peace at that and wondered for the first time, maybe searching for something stable doesn't have to be something perfect and that maybe he shouldn't worry too much after all…