The Land In Between

C H A P T E R 4

By the next morning, Amihan was starving beyond belief. He scarfed down whatever breakfast was available in the mess hall, and he was happy to say that at least the chicken broth was well-seasoned.

He hopes it's enough before he begins searching again. By the time the slightest sliver of sun began touching the earth, he already went to another side path to their private archives for anything concerning dark rust. While most of the literature in the library had some curses, they were mostly fictitious and essentially useless. Amihan hopes his mother has at least some kind of manual or notes in the private archive.

Then again, if there was anywhere where a Babaylan's notes would be secure, it would be in their private archives. The doors of this hidden area of Kiling compound were made of the hardest stone, carved with intricate bakunawas that had jewel-encrusted scales at its front. It was a far grander cry from the private room in the prison chambers, and was far older than even their great-grandparent's existence.

At the door's handle was a metal tip, still sharp and shining under the light of torches. Amihan lifts his pinky and pricks it with the tip, some drops of blood slowly flowing down the handle. Afterwards, the jewels glowed ominous as the sounds of something heavy creaked from the inside, slowly but surely. In the next moment, a door popped open for him to enter.

The inside was not as well-kept as the outside, with dust settling on near every surface and cobwebs littered throughout the room. Amihan wonders if it's due to its old age or the fact the archive was in a rock-set place.

The archive itself was expansive, and Amihan could feel the tiredness deep within his bones. He shakes himself up and tries to muster whatever kind of motivation he has left, "Come on, Amihan, you can do this."

Checking some of the records was a pain to him though, because even with all of their history, the Fourth House was never known for their bookkeeping. It's in situations like these he respects the former First House with their far superior organization and extensive archive that was available for public use.

Amihan stops at his last thought, and ponders a bit. 'Would the First House be proud of what Banawag has become?' He was not from them, but there was...some relationship he had with Banawag that still leaves him confused. The next moment, he shoves the confusion away to focus on his task. The bookshelf by him held a lot of parchment scrolls and even some metal plates of former treatises and official peace pacts. He starts from there.

After what felt like hours and hours of searching, he finally found something close to the happenings of the agimat. It was from one of the rolled scrolls in a farther shelf, called Collection of Spiritual Maladies. He unravels it slowly, scanning each word carefully until he eyes an excerpt talking about corruptive rust.

"The rusting of spiritual tools," Amihan brings out the agimat and thinks it's enough, "is never of external cause like rain or mist. But rather an intrinsic reaction to danger." Amihan looks at the agimat as he mutters, "Danger? What kind did Banawag attract?"

Actually, now that he thinks of it, what kind of danger didn't he attract felt more appropriate to ask.

He continues reading the passage. "If, per se, a tool comes across something higher than its power output, it will have its own mechanisms of defense to protect its owner. It absorbs the negativity within itself and the rust is a product of that form of self-destruction. Once it is absorbed, it becomes inutile and needs to be changed. All evil energy remains trapped in the tool as consequence."

Amihan settles the scroll down on a spare table as he places the agimat beside it. By all intents and purposes, the physical descriptions matched the agimat, but not its metaphysical properties. According to the text, the evil energy should've remained within the agimat. If it simply absorbed all the negativity, then the agimat would've just sat docile and could easily pass off as a coin.