*Third Person's P.O.V.*
Things may fall to place on one side of the world, while on the other, things might just fall out of place and into broken pieces even. That's what Sean Cheng Tarver felt when he looked at the lifeless body of his younger sister, the youngest among his sisters in fact, being enclosed in a casket. He simply can't believe that this would happen to her, under his watch. Bitter tears of heartache and failure kept gushing out from his eyes and kept rolling on his cheeks as he kept muttering a single word since they saw her dead body on the woods just a few meters behind the resort's restroom.
"Sorry... Sorry... I'm so sorry." He recited as if it's a mantra for three days now and his wife, stood beside her weeping husband, trying to dry up his tears the way that he did to hers when their son died. "I'm sorry Season... I'm so sorry, mom. Mom I failed you." Sean weeped. His mind went back to his younger years, two decades ago when he sat in front of a casket the way that he's doing now, crying at the loss of his mother while holding the weeping infant close to his chest. Season. The little angel whose name was the last word his mom uttered before she had fallen into an eternal slumber.
He could've despised her the way that their father does but he couldn't let his mom down. She begged him with the last of her breath to protect the baby and he vowed that he would do that exactly. But now... Now he's sitting in front her casket too. Which means only one thing, he failed. He failed his mom, he failed his sister, he failed his vows. HE FAILED.
"Hush now darling, the police is already looking for the people who killed her." The statement of his wife made the blood on his body boil as he clenched his fist and slammed it on the arm of the chair that he's sitting on as he abruptly stood up, catching the smaller woman off guard.
"They better find them for I can't wait to get my hands around their necks and kill them myself! Those bastards deserves nothing but death!" The intensity of his statement scared Eden Peleaz Tarver a bit for she never saw such hostility come out of her foreigner husband. But of course she understood why he's acting this way and she just let him be.
"Son, I think you need to go get some rest." Sean turned to the Chinese man who just entered the room and was about to protest when his second father insisted and even urged him and his wife out of the room. Before leaving though, Sean took a one last look at his sister before succumbing to the tired call of his body. In his mind, Cheng Dong is watching over her anyway, so she'd be fine. In fact she would've been safer around the martial artist than around him. But even with the presence of the both of them, Season still died. And he blames himself for that, because he failed.
And Cheng Dong felt that failure too. He can't believe that she's dead. Or more so, he can't believe that amateur street fighters, who the police suspected to be her killer, could kill her. She's trained for god's sake! He taught her a lot and he knows her capabilities. Hell she can take down 10 armed men even when she's unarmed, so how come this thing happened? And to think that those lousy police would reason out that she's a helpless young lady against those drug addicts is just absurd! For some reason, there's a voice inside him that is telling the martial artist that his student is still alive even if a dead body is laid right in front of him.
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Five days later, the Tarver family, along with Season's close friends who travelled all the way from Cebu to Capiz, gathered in the cemetery at the course of her funeral. All of them still can't believe that this would happen to her. Angel who received the news right when she came back from her trip to Palawan broke down and is still pretty emotional up until today, while Jovie tried to remain calm but still can't help the traitorous tears from rolling down her cheeks as she hugged her friend. Sure, it hasn't been a year since they knew this half American, half Chinese girl but they sure spent sentimental moments with her. While Sean only stood there, watching the workers lower her casket unto the dirt and eventually covering it with dirt, making her rest beside his son. He seem to have ran out of tears but his heart is still aching. He couldn't fathom why these things would happen to him, not that he wants this to anyone else but...
"It's time to go." Eden whispered and Sean snapped out of his thoughts, not noticing the fact that he had been in that position for two hours now. "Her friends already left about an hour ago." She informed and he just nodded seeing that it's only him, his wife, his mother-in-law, and his second father who are present in the area. The sun is starting to set as well since the funeral started at 3:30 P.M. and he reckon that it is indeed time to go.
He knelt down and kissed his sister's gravestone and then his son's before standing up to leave. The four walked quietly out of the cemetery but before they can exit the main gate, two figures caught Sean's attention. And these two figures made their way to them. "S-sheena? Sheila?" He stuttered in disbelief.
"Brother!" They said at the same time as they ran towards the man, hugging him. He can't help but give them both a tight hug, now more worried about how he'd tell them that their youngest is already dead.
"What are you two doing here?" He asked when they let go of the hug. He inspected them and saw significant changes in their physique and he can't help but think about what Season told him, that these two are involved in illegal business. Before they could answer the skies roared as a thunder clapped alerting all of them, especially Master Cheng Dong who knew that such a sudden change in the weather could mean something mystical, not that he's superstitious, it's just that he has experience.
"We came looking for you." A sickly sweet voice said and Sean turned around to see a... How can he describe her? A gothic looking chinese woman with an equally gothic looking chinese man beside her. While he doesn't know who the hell they are and how did they get in here just like this, the blood is already draining out of Cheng Dong because he knows very well who they are. But what he doesn't know is, how did they get here?
"Who are you and what do you want from me?" The clueless man asked as his wife held on to his right arm, clearly terrified, because the couple in front of them is emitting such a dark aura.
"I'm your grandfather. Your mother's father." The man said which clearly shocked Sean, making him look at his sisters who just nodded. Grandfather? And he guessed the woman would be their grandmother? Who are they kidding? They may be dressed in an old fashioned way, but they don't look old at all! He thought, but he kept it to himself.
"And we want you back, all of you." At the woman's words, they were all surprised when Master Cheng Dong jumped in front of them, as if protectively.
"Never! You'll never get a hold of them the way you didn't get a hold of her!" He said as he fearlessly charged towards them. The staff that he's holding suddenly turned into a sword and it was the gothic looking man that intercepted his attacks. They clashed with their swords and when the woman made a move to get to the still shocked group of people, Cheng Dong recited a rhyme and let out a blue stream of energy that shot towards her, which provoked her, making her shot her own stream of power towards him.
Sean couldn't believe what he's seeing. Perhaps this is all a dream? But he knows it isn't as Master Cheng Dong struggled to fight with those two in an uneven match of 1 vs 2. His eyes widened when he saw the woman about to stab him in the back while he's busy dueling with the man. But before that could happen, a gunshot rang just beside him, hitting the woman straight on the chest, stopping everything, including the dueling men. He slowly turned to his wife who is holding her gun because she always brings that even if she's off duty, but her eyes are glued in front, looking at the supposedly dead woman but was very shocked when she didn't even fall to the ground, despite the bullet's hole very visible on her chest, along with the blood that spluttered out. It's as if the bullet just went past her, and it actually did because...
"Not so fast, human." The man said, raising his hand, showing the bullet held between his thumb and forefinger.
"What the..." Sean could only mutter before the woman screamed in anger and everything turned black.
Cheng Dong coughed a few times and when the smoke cleared, he can only see the cemetery not even thrashed a little bit, probably because of a spell that his mother casted, it's even possible that no one else knew of what happened, lest the town's people would be panicking by now. Yes, that's how powerful she is. His eyes searched the area, although he knew he couldn't find them anymore. He ran to the right where two unconscious bodies laid. "Ellen! Eden! Wake up!" He said, making sure that they are fine, which thankfully is the case.
"W-what happened?" Eden asked as soon as she's up.
"Who are they?" Her mother seconded when she managed to get up too.
Eden looked around and when she noticed that the Tarver siblings are nowhere to be found, she panicked. "Where's my husband? What did they do to him?" She asked, violently shaking Cheng Dong's shoulders.
The middle aged martial artist took a deep breath before he spoke. "They got them. They got Xia's children."
"Who are they and what do they want from the Tarvers?" Eden asked as the man started walking back to where Season was burried, trying to keep up with his large steps, with her mother trailing along, still dazed by what just happened.
"She's my mother and that was her new husband. They're the siblings' grandparents and they want their blood for some selfish reasons. But none of the three has what they need, goodness!" He answered although he knows that she wouldn't understand.
"B-but they clearly are not human. And so are you!" By this time they reached the grave and Chen Dong dropped down. "What are you doing!?" She exclaimed when she saw how he dug out Season's casket using his magic.
"I don't believe that she's dead. We need her alive because she's the only one who can help us get her siblings back from those two." There's urgency in his voice as a blue colored energy stream appeared in his palm and within a minute, the casket was unearthed and lifted out of the pit. He then hurriedly opened the lid and was shocked to see what's inside.
It's not the sleeping angelic face of the martial artist's/witch's student/niece, but rather... "What's the matter?" Ellen asked when he just froze on the spot. He just moved aside and let her see for herself.
"A-a banana's trunk..." She stuttered.
"What does this supposed to mean?" Cheng Dong asked, knowing fully well that it's not the work of Wu Jie, his mother for she doesn't have the ability to create a doppelganger.
While Ellen and Eden looked at each other and it was the latter that spoke. "I-it could be the work of an aswang. It's possible that she's attacked by an aswang." Aswang. Although the term is familiar, Cheng Dong doesn't know a lot about that creature.
"So that means that, that aswang has her real body?" He asked, the spark of hope igniting inside him once again. He knew she couldn't be dead just yet.
"Probably served as a meal already." Ellen answered. And just that quickly killed his hope. He just fisted his hair and screamed in frustration. He doesn't stand a chance against his mother Wu Jie, and the former emperor Quin Xian, but he doesn't want to fail his half-sister even more.
"We need beings like me to help us get the Tarver kids back." Cheng Dong sighed in defeat.
"But where will we find beings like you?" Eden asked.
"Somewhere in China but I don't know where exactly. It's been a long time since I've been there." He answered. He just closed the lid and returned the casket to the pit, his hope of using his power to try and revive her just flew out the window (not that there's any). So now he only set one mission in mind, and that is to save the other three who may be powerless but still important to Xia.
"Or what if, you try to recruit mythical creatures from this country?" Ellen suggested, because she believes that there are a few who'd be willing to help. And Cheng Dong just stared at her.
"Would that really work?"
"We can try."
"We sure can, atleast we'd have an army to fight alongside us."
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On the other hand, speaking of army, Lakan, prince of the Dalaketnons sat on the double throne of Lumayan in the absence of his father who is busy training their soldiers in preparation for the next move of the healer engkantos whose race they want to wipe out. He was just chilling around when he heard delicate footsteps resounding on the marble floor and slender female legs walking like a model towards him. He raised his eyes and traced her body from her legs, to her curves, and eventually to her make-up caked face. He cringed but did not show his disgust because this aswang is a good asset for him. "Nena." He curtly addressed.
"Pinatawag mo raw ako mahal?" He cringed again but just looked at her with a blank expression even when she batted her fake lashes.
"Oo, sinigurado mo bang palabasing patay na ang dayuhang babaeng iyon sa kanyang pamilya?" He asked, referring to Season, his nemesis' love interest.
"Oo naman mahal ko. Pinanood ko pa nga silang humagulhol ng iyak noong kanila nang mailibing ang puno ng saging na nasa kabaong." She answered proudly, hoping to impress him.
"Mainam, upang wala ng ibang gumulo saatin dito." Lakan said. His scheme of kidnapping Season to get Kaloy away from the castle and let his father invade it did work very well. However, he has no intention of returning her to her realm, or let Kaloy actually save her once he got to see how beautiful she truly is. It makes him want to marry her eventually and breed with her, wether she likes it or not. Unfortunately his nemesis managed to actually save her. And if he wasn't irritated enough, he saw in their last encounter just why Kaloy wanted to keep her. She's not just any human being, hell she's not human at all! She's a powerful creature, so foreign to him which makes him want to unite with her even more.
"Tama ka mahal..." Nena his aswang ally said in a seductive voice that doesn't sound enticing on his ears. "Upang wala nang ibang makakasagabal sa ating plano. Pero ano ba ang saysay ng babaeng iyon? Bakit kailangan mo sya dito?" Lakan just rolled his eyes at her dumbness.
"Kahinaan sya ni Kaloy at makapangyarihan sya. Kailangan natin sya sa kampo natin."
"Ngunit hindi ba nakuha na sya ni Kaloy?"
"Kaya nga, kailangan natin syang bawiin at gawing alagad."
They both laughed evilly and before they can continue their conversation, a soldier barged in the main hall. "Mahal na prinsipe, inaatake ng mga engkanto ang silanga g pamayanan ng mga mangingisda." He reported and Lakan stood up, dismissing Nena.
"Ang lakas din ng loob nilang sumulong gayong alam nilang madadaig lamang natin sila! Ihanda ang hukbo ko!" He commanded. "Tatalunin na kita ngayon Kaloy... At magiging asawa ko ang babaeng minamahal mo."