The Grimoire

Chapter 22: Broad Daylight

When the portal closed, napahawak ulit sa ulo ko dahil bigla rin itong sumakit. My body collapsed on itself at napaupo ako sa sahig. My senses began to shift as if I was familiarizing the map of this floating gardens. It seemed like I was floating aboe the islands at kitang-kita ko ang buong paligid, not to mention that I could see Babylon.

The Hanging Gardens were floating like the way we're currently seeing but the Babylon was nowhere to be found. After I saw the whole view, the Temple at the center of the Babylon began to crumble until the whole island began to submerge in the water.

What am I seeing? Did my soul travel back to the past?

I heard screams from everywhere and I saw some of the Babylonians started swimming, but the waters were swallowing them. I saw some flew towards the gardens in the hopes that they could survive, and I saw some, sacrifice their lives just to make a seal.

"Vermillion!"

Napamulat ako and I realized that blood started dripping from my nose. Evie panicked and she started healing me at agad kumuha si Leo ng panyo at hinawakan ang ilong ko. He looked really flustered and startled. Hinawakan ko na ang panyo na ginamit ni Leo at bumitaw na siya, at ako naman ang humawak sa ilong ko. 

Evie and Leo asked a lot of questions but it their questions were nonsense kaya pilit kong hindi makinig. I looked around para hanapin ang nag-iisang floating garden kung saan nagtungo ang ibang mga tao para makaligtas, at nagbabakasakali akong buhay pa sila. My eyes were locked in the farthest floating island from here at tumayo kaagad ako at natahimik silang lahat.

"What is going on here? Who was that? What the hell was that huge wave?! How the fuck did you do that?" Kel asked too many questions and I left him unanswered.

"Vermillion?" Evie called. "What's wrong?" she asked.

I took off the handkerchief from my hand because I know that the bleeding stopped. I took a deep breath, and I started sprinting towards the other island.

"Hey! You'll fall!!" I heard Leo shouted. If my memories were right, I won't.

I took my last step on the floating island I was on, and I sprinted forward midair. I felt the breeze coming from the opposite direction and I smiled for a bit because at that point, I knew I wasn't going to fall. My right foot landed midair and seconds passed by; I realized that I was running on midair. This is my territory- it's natural that even the nature respects me.

Hindi ko na sila hinintay pa o nilingon pa at nagtungo ako sa maliit na floating island na medyo malayo sa amin. It took me a couple of minutes before I arrived at napatigil ako nang nakita ko ang isang malaking templo. It has this grayish white color but some of the blocks got dark like it was burned. I walked towards it at napatigil ako sa entrance. I paused for a moment as I try to compose myself, watching the view. Although the temple looked like it was burned down, the herbs and plants were alive and well. I can even see thick tree bracnches climbing over the temple's foundation, covering the writings on it.

Napahawak ako sa dibdib ko habang hinihintay ang pagkalma ko. My breath became shallow and deep na para bang kinakabahan ako sa kung ano man ang makikita ko, but I didn't let that affect me and I decided to walk forward. Napatigil muli ako sa entrance at hindi ko maiwasang hindi mamangha. The writings were still there but it was mostly covered so I can't really read. The only thing that was readable was the word grimoire.