CHAPTER NINE
💥 "The Start of the Attack"
The next day, everyone in the city was busy preparing for the day of the celebration. The festivities were to take place in the massive plaza adjacent to the municipal hall, personally organized by the city mayor.
This was where several programs, such as dances and songs, prepared by the entire town for days, would be held. Spaniards could be seen strolling through the town, delighting in the decorations and surrounding festivities.
Food stands, popular among the people, were scattered around the plaza. The city was not particularly wealthy, yet the mayor's birthday celebration felt like a grand fiesta because of the extravagant parade funded by the city hall for him.
Meanwhile, in the forest, the Siklaon group was also preparing for the upcoming battle.
Alfredo gathered all the members of Siklaon to discuss the impending revolution. They numbered over three hundred people, including children and the elderly.
At the beginning of their assembly, some were already apprehensive, asking Alfredo if they could possibly succeed in the fight, given that the police force in the town exceeded three thousand. This, coupled with the Spaniards' modern equipment, made them hesitant about launching the attack.
They recalled the past failure of the former Siklaon group, which was wiped out after launching a major attack on the municipal hall ten years ago.
At this juncture, Alfredo calmed them down, smiling and encouraging them.
"Siklaon's past failure will not be repeated. One of the problems back then was the weak faith and trust of the former group leader in the power of our diwata," he shouted.
He gave every person present a wooden dagger crafted with Alfredo's power. It was unclear to some why even the children and elderly members were given these. Afterward, he first thanked everyone present for participating in the group's cause.
He continued to recount the Spaniards' cruelty toward every Filipino in the town and sympathized with their suffering and endurance.
"That town is full of wicked people who continue to enslave the Filipinos. We, the brave soldiers of the diwata Ada Siklaon, will free the remaining Filipinos who endure the abuse of the Spaniards!"
He told them that because of the diwata's power, they would be able to win the battle. To further convince them of the diwata's power, he encouraged a comrade to go to a tree nearby.
Although the man had no idea what Alfredo wanted him to do, he obeyed and approached a tree. There, the young man instructed him to plunge the wooden dagger he was holding into the tree trunk.
"Believe in the diwata's power and accept her as an ally. Through it, she will bless each of us with power that we can use to fight the Spaniards," he said.
The man didn't hesitate and followed Alfredo's words. The man shouted his loyalty to Siklaon and plunged the dagger. The dagger stuck in the tree gradually glowed, and the tree's body seemed to soften and move.
A moment later, vine-like tendrils emerged from the tree's body and clung to the man's arm. In a flash, he was pulled into the tree's body and disappeared.
"W-wh-what's happening? Ahh!!"
The people were briefly in chaos, wondering what had occurred. At that moment, Alfredo calmed the crowd again and pointed to the tree that seemed to have consumed their comrade.
The ground shook as its roots rose up, and its branches and leaves continuously moved, seemingly changing its form.
They were shocked by what they were witnessing and were slowly amazed by the extraordinary event unfolding before their eyes. The ordinary tree in front of them turned into a monster after the man merged with it. It was over 30 feet tall and 2 meters wide.
They often saw that monster as the transformation of the Sugo Tayog, but this was the first time they witnessed that a normal person could also transform. Alfredo repeated that this was the diwata's blessing to anyone who would faithfully worship her, and because of that, they finally believed the young man's words about the power of their guardian.
"He has now united with nature with the help of the diwata's power! All of us have the opportunity to receive it. Each of us was chosen by the diwata to be the guardian of the town of Urdaneta."
"The entire Siklaon group are Sugo of the Diwata of Pangasinan!"
He smiled, raising both hands as he invited his comrades to accept nature as their partner.
"Comrades! This is the hour of revolt! Let us show those Spaniards the strength of the people of Pangasinan!!!" Alfredo shouted.
His words bolstered the spirits of his Siklaon comrades, and they shouted back bravely. They knew that once they accepted the diwata and united with her, they would gain power like Alfredo's.
They ran off, searching for a tree to plunge the daggers they held into. The surroundings were filled with shouts, and even the children and elderly members joined in the search for a tree.
"Yaaaahhh!!!"
"Long live Ada Siklaon!!!!!"
While this was happening, Alfredo gradually laughed, praising his comrades' courage.
"Hahahaha, well done, excellent, comrades. Brave soldiers, hahaha. Just give your lives to nature."
The ground continued to shake as the trees transformed into monsters. A moment later, the members of Siklaon successfully received the diwata's power, and the forest was filled with monsters.
While this unfolded, Erik did nothing but listen and watch the events around him.
At that moment, as he heard his friend speaking, he stepped backward because he saw the black energy emerging again from Alfredo's body.
Alfredo slowly turned to him and smiled with blank eyes.
"The day has come, friend," he said with a smile.
~ Erik's Point of View ~
I swallowed and sweated, not because of the shock of many people transforming into tree monsters, but because I saw the black aura emerging from Alfredo's body again.
I felt a chill from the presence I was sensing. What was that thing? I recalled the mysterious woman's comments about the negative energy that came out of a person when they were doing something bad and when evil embraced their entire being.
But how could I justify that? I clearly saw Alfredo helping the Filipinos. He was a hero relied on by people abused by the Spaniards, so how could she say Alfredo was violating the agreement?
At that moment, Alfredo suddenly spoke to me, which surprised me.
"Wait here until I reclaim the town."
I was shocked when he said I wouldn't be joining the upcoming fight. The truth is, at first, I was like the people in the Siklaon group—afraid to fight, as I was just a normal person—but the situation changed when he mentioned uniting with nature.
"Silly boy, I can't give you this dagger and unite you with nature like my comrades," he said.
I asked him why he said that, but he didn't respond and turned his back on me to observe his comrades. He was silent for a moment, as if feeling the wind passing around us.
A moment later, Alfredo's expression seemed to change. I don't know why, but I saw tears stream from Alfredo's eyes.
I couldn't understand why there was sadness on his face as the tears flowed down his cheeks. A moment later, he forced a smile, as if trying to be strong while observing the tree monsters.
"Because the moment you unite with nature, you can never return to being human," he said sadly.
I had nothing to say at that moment and just stared blankly at what I had heard.
"W-wh-what do you mean by that?"
At that point, he confessed that those trees could be used as weapons by the Sugo of Pangasinan, but they needed an energy source to come alive and become monsters, as had happened to the others.
The only energy source available was the life energy of a person and their faith in the diwata Ada Siklaon.
But he repeated that the people who entered the trees could never return.
"For now... from Isabel...
Grandpa Nanding...
Isaac...
the children in the orphanage...
all the members of Siklaon are...
...
.
dead... all of them," he stammered.
My arms felt weak from what I heard from him, and even my knees were trembling from the shock, because it seemed Alfredo had allowed the trees to consume the lives of his comrades. People who had become his family in this world and had been with him for a very long time.
"You deceived them," I suddenly told him.
Alfredo immediately denied my accusation and insisted that he did it for the entire group's desire to succeed. He called that thing part of the responsibility of being a member of Siklaon.
"But you didn't tell them they would be trees forever and would die!" I shouted at him.
"Because they didn't need to know that. What matters now is that we have the capability to fight," Alfredo replied.
I couldn't fathom him, but he seemed desperate in his actions and steps, using his comrades as an energy source just to have weapons against the Spaniards.
He insisted that they needed to sacrifice for Siklaon's cause and that everyone knew it from the start. At that point, he recalled the suffering of his comrades in Siklaon's past revolts.
"Their numbers are large, and they have high-caliber guns and weapons, so no matter what we did, we couldn't win," he said.
Here, he recounted the revolt in the town of Urdaneta ten years ago, where his father and mother were the leaders of the rebel group.
"We did all the preparations, and I thought I could help using my power as a Sugo, but my father didn't allow me to use my power then, so we lost the battle..." he said.
Here, he knelt on the ground as he recalled the Governor-General killing his comrades. He couldn't fight back and was easily defeated in the battle.
Alfredo angrily punched the ground as he mentioned the Governor-General killing his parents right in front of him back then.
"I will never forgive him. I will destroy him!! I swear he will pay!!!" Alfredo shouted.
His shout echoed throughout the forest, and his entire body was suddenly enveloped in light. A strong wind circulated around him, accompanied by a green aura. Vine-like tendrils gradually crept over his body and merged with him.
Here, he slowly stood up again as the wind carried away the light enveloping his body, and he transformed back into the Sugo of Pangasinan, Tayog.
His face was contorted with the anger he felt inside, and he continued to curse the Spaniards.
"Wait here until I return," he said as he walked away.
"W-wh-What are you planning to do?" I asked fearfully.
"I will wipe out the Spaniards in the town, and I won't leave any of them alive." He replied directly.
I couldn't speak or even utter a word to him, perhaps because I had nothing to say to him at that moment, or maybe because I was afraid of the being in front of me.
The gentle smiles had vanished from his face, and the calm Alfredo I knew was gone.
He was shrouded in negative energy because of his anger and desire for revenge for his parents.
~ End of PoV ~
"Forgive me, Erik, I have no other choice," he whispered to himself.
Tayog slowly walked away from where he and Erik were standing and toward the giant tree that Alfredo had once called Siklaon.
Here, he plunged the dagger he was holding, and vine-like tendrils gradually wrapped around his arm, emerging from the tree's body. Tayog's body glowed, and in a flash, the tree swallowed him.
The ground shook, and its giant roots lifted from below, causing Erik to sit down where he stood as he witnessed the transformation of the giant tree in front of him.
A horrifying tree monster formed in the middle of the forest, towering nearly 60 feet tall and over seven meters wide.
It began to let out a powerful roar, prompting the other monsters to walk forward, as if ordering them to storm the town.
While this was happening, the young boy did nothing but sit down and bow his head in dismay over the person he considered a good man and an older brother.
He realized that evil had completely embraced his friend, who would now bring tragedy to the people in the city.
"Why, Alfredo? Why?"
~ End of Chapter ~