Rewrite the Star

Chapter 8 - Confession

On the sea, violent storm was darkening the sky. The round gleaming moon hid behind the thick clouds. Datu Dumagan and the kawals (warrior) struggled to get the sails down. Without being warned, the towering waves caught their helpless balangay, dousing them in the ocean. They were in a despair of trying to save their lives while the ship crashed down to the side. Datu Dumagan was able to hold on to a bamboo outboard but the wind was too strong that he was pushed away from the ship and drowned him all the way down to the bottom of the sea until Lisuga came to rescue him. She grasped him and they disappeared.

"Is he alright?" Datu Paglinawan asked as they arrived the datu's hall. "Let's take him to his chamber."

The ulipon took Dumagan while Lisuga trembled unto her knees.

"Don't worry. It will all be well." Paglinawan comforted her.

"He almost died." Her tears burst forth.

"Wake up, Lisuga! Wake up!"

She heard a thunder, then she woke up with eyes filled with tears.

"Is there something wrong?" Paglinawan spoke with concern. He was sitting next to Lisuga and holding her hand.

"Weren't you hurt?" Then her eyes glanced at Dumagan.

"I am whole as ever," Paglinawan answered, slowly releasing her hand for he saw her reaction when she looked at Dumagan.

"I thought you are going to die."

"What are you talking about? Nothing bad happened to me, although I did get a little scratch. In fact, it is you I am worried about. If it wasn't for Dumagan's arrow, you might be badly injured right now."

"That is odd. I saw it with my own eyes. You were stabbed, but I don't know. It's weird. I think it's mixed up." She was flummoxed.

"How is that?" The Hight Priestess spoke but she already knew that Lisuga was having trouble with her memory.

"Honestly, I've dreaming about a man who was stab. I cannot understand why."

"Maybe it was a vision," Paglinawan said.

"I don't think it was. It felt like it already happened," Lisuga replied despondently.

Bangkaya was shocked that he asked her out of nowhere. "I don't mean to pry, but can you remember his face? Can you also remember something before you came down here from Langit (Heaven)?" He exchanged glance with the High Priestess.

"I- I can't." She cried out but she lied. She was still trying to understand why Dumagan was in her dream. "Eversince I was fallen, I couldn't remember what happened. It's like my memory is taken away. All I know is that I have to find my brother and save my people." But this time, she was telling the truth.

"It's alright," Paglinawan tried to express his sympathy. "We're still here for you. I will arrange someone to find your brothers."

The next day, before the sun reached its highest point, Lisuga took a stroll on her own. She wanted to clear up her head from the obscured, fragmented memories juggled into her mind. She needed space where no one could disturb her. She was kicking few rocks, thinking it would quickly calm her thoughts until one rock fell unto a hole and plop, she heard a splash of water below. She peeked through it and there was a lagoon inside the cave. She searched for a way in until she crossed another hole with a rope downwards. She slowly climbed down the slippery cavern that was made of limestone.

The cave's beauty was illuminated by the natural light filtered through the big holes of the ceiling, and those tiny holes, that are impenetrable by the light, lay the houses of the birds. There were also several stalactites and stalagmites formation attached to the ceiling and flooring as they appeared to meet each other. Above all else was the magnificent underground lake amplifying the interior of the cave. Then, a pile of boulders, behind the lake, looked as if trying to reach the ceiling.

Lisuga took off her clothes, then, plunged to the water. She closed her eyes and floated until her consciousness drifted to another realm.

"How could you, Brother?" Lisuga was raging at Liadlaw as she arrived in Langit from rescuing Dumagan. "He was going to pass the test but you blew it!"

"Calm down. Don't be too serious about this," he ridiculed. "It's not like you are going to accept his proposal."

"But what if I will!" Her words appeared genuine. "I'm starting to care for him."

"No, you cannot!" Liadlaw exclaimed. "Whatever feelings that you have in him, you have to forget it. It is against our code unless you desire to be banished and stripped your immortality."

"Then I am willing to take it. Don't you ever do something stupendous on him again or else –"

"Or else what, Sister?"

"You don't know what I am capable of, Brother." She, then, disappeared and rushed to Dumagan's side, as he was lying on his bed.

For several days, he was unconscious and Lisuga never missed a day not to visit him, until one day, she could no longer wait for him to wake up. She leaned in a little closer, touching each other's forehead. "Please come back to me." Lisuga whispered. Then her lips brushed to his. She was as if absorbing his negative energy to awaken him. Unexpectedly, his hand drifted to her hip and pulled her closer to him. She inhaled sharply and somehow the innocent kiss became hot, fiery, passionate and demanding. In that moment, her senses had been seduced and could not think straight. Before she could totally lose herself, she pulled herself away.

"My apologies. I got carried away." But his face was lit with joy and triumph.

Lisuga blushed. It was her first kiss and the kiss was not an ordinary one. "I'm glad you are awake now." She managed to speak.

"Thanks to you, I am alive."

Her pink lips turned upward. She was having butterflies in her stomach. She could not even think of a word to say. "I- I am not feeling well."

"Are you sick?" Dumagan sat upright so he could check her temperature.

"No." She stepped back. "A deity does not get sick, Dumagan."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to." Dumagan felt her anxiety.

"Please understand. You are my first and I don't know how to handle it."

"Then let me help you." He was trying to comfort her, but she would not let him.

"You can't. It feels like there's a poison inside of me – a poison that is slowly taking away all my strength." Their eyes met and she could not resist his beautiful dark brown eyes. It made her feel like they were connected. "I am scared, Dumagan. I am really scared."

Dumagan pulled her unto his arms. "Hush now. I am here."

His warm embrace somehow made her alive. "But I am also happy," she continued. "I never wanted anything before until now." She gazed at him. "Promise me you'd stay. Promise me you won't give up."

He caressed her cheeks and replied. "You will always be my first and my last. I promise you that I will not give up on us."

The next thing she knew, she was holding the man she loved, who had blood scattered all over his body. The face was vague, but she knew it was him. She was in pain that she took the Scepter of Timelessness so she could turn back time. Suddenly, she found herself falling to the Earth. The firmament was invaded by massive clouds shadowing the terrain. She was terrified as she watched the verdant land withered. In a split second, she splashed her way across the sea. Then, she heard someone calling her name. "Lisuga, wake up!" It was strange, but she searched for the location of the voice. "Come on, Lisuga. Wake up!" Then, she finally regained her consciousness and saw Dumagan in front of her.

"What are you doing here?" She hurriedly covered herself. "How did you get here? How did you know that I was here?

"Take it easy. You were drowning so I had to save you, and I was here sleeping behind the boulder before you came. I woke up the moment I heard you dove into the lake." He brushed his wet hair up and let the residue of water crawling to his collarbone. "I was supposed to leave until I lost sight of you, but don't worry. I didn't see anything." He took off his jacket and continued, "Take this. It will keep you warmer. I will wait outside."

"Thank you," she muttered.