LUSUNG: THE LOST KINGDOM

AMEMORI SOUMA

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 LUSUNG: THE LOST KINGDOM
AMEMORI SOUMA

Table of Contents
Chapter 1:
Dreams and the Dreamer
………………………………………………………. pg. 3 - 5
Chapter 2:
The Balete Tree ……………………………………………………….pg. 3
Chapter 3:
Inside the Balete Tree
……………………………………………………….pg. 3
Chapter 4:
……………………………………………………….pg. 3

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Chapter 1: Dreams and the Dreamer

"Kali! Have you watched the TV? We are on a lockdown they said." A young teen-ager sounded
through the phone.

"I haven't. You know me, I'm too tired of watching their uninteresting drama plots repeatedly
reskinned and retitled." Kali a 19-year-old boy who seems to be annoyed with his friend's
question.

"So, what's the matter?" Kali after thinking for a while asked Mike.

"The news said we're on a lockdown." Mike shared the information he got after watching the
news, a few minutes earlier.

"Huh? What? Lockdown? What is that?" Kali asked with apparent confusion.

"They said that we are under Enhanced Community Quarantine or a lockdown in short. It
basically means we aren't allowed to go out of our houses." Mike answered.

"But why? Didn't they say that we have yet to have an infection case anywhere in the country?"
Kali asked once more seemingly not able to understand what is happening.

"Uhh... bro... I bet you haven't watched much news. We already have infection cases in the
thousands." Mike replied to his ignorant friend.

"Ahhh... is that so? Then what shall we do now? We promised Jenna that we would come over
her house." Kali asked as he still can't accept that the government locked them to their houses.

"Well, that will be postponed. I also called you for that. Jenna said that we should stay home for
now. Her cousins are particularly disappointed that you aren't coming over. I'm jealous, how
come you get all the girls?" Mike answered Kali with obvious complaint in his voice.

"That's because you already have a girlfriend dumbass! Anyway, if that's all you've got to say,
then I shall drop the call now." Kali told Mike.

"Okay. See you when we can."

"See you!"

After conversing with his friend. Kali went to browse his phone to look at the latest news.

...

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2 months later.

Ahhh. This quarantine sucks! Lying in his bed, Kali thought while looking at the ceiling. I shall
call Mike. It's been two months since our last call. This lockdown lifestyle is boring me down.

"Hey bro! Wass up?" was what Kali heard when the call connected to Mike.

"Nothing much. I've done nothing for the past two months except to wake up, eat, browse the
phone and sleep. What about you?" Kali asked Mike, wondering what his best friend is up to.

"Not much different to you. I do sneak on to Jean's room whenever there's a chance. She's just
right next to our house after all." Mike said, intent on making Kali envious with his numerous
baby-making sessions.

"Okay Mike fine. It's you who got an exciting life. You don't need to brag to me about that. I just
hope you don't run crying to me saying you've got Jean pregnant." Kali joked not taking Mike's
provocation to heart at all.

"Hey, hey, don't say that. You'll curse me to doom!" Mike exclaimed.

"Yeah, okay whatever. I just called to see if you're fine but since you've got overwhelming
energy every night, I see that you're more than fine. I'll end the call now. Bye!" Kali jokingly
replied.

After ending the call, Kali contemplated what he shall do once more until unknowingly, he fell
asleep.

Oh... I'm sure you must have seen a 19-year-old, 170cm high, weighs 60kg; has black hair, black
iris and face with the golden ratio; has high but rounded nose and red full lips; have thick
eyebrows, long eyelashes and a thin body build. Yes, that's me, that's the boy named Kali.

You may be wondering why I'm describing myself.

Well, that is because I'm looking at myself right now. Not in the mirror though. I'm currently
sleeping you see, so I can't use a mirror.

If you still can't visualize what is happening, I am currently floating in the air looking at myself.
That's right, I'm currently in a state called lakbay-diwa. I think, this is what most people call as
OBE or out of the body experience.

In my country, we have this notion that when you are asleep, and you dreamt of walking or
running around in a place that you don't know, your soul is wandering around and what you
dreamt off is what your soul experienced out of your body.

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In my native tongue, we call it paglalakbay-diwa which means soul wandering. This should not
be confused of with galang-kaluluwa or in English is wandering souls. It seems the same but it's
different.

The difference is that paglalakbay-diwa uses lakbay and diwa which translates to wander and
soul (as essence) respectively, while galang-kaluluwa uses gala and kaluluwa which translates to
wander (aimlessly) and soul (as spirit) respectively.

Now that you understand, let's get back to the topic.

So, I fell asleep and suddenly saw myself still lying in my bed deep in my sleep. I panicked at
first because I thought that I died but I found out that I could wake up if I willed to do so.

After discovering that, I suddenly remembered my mother telling me when I was a child that
when we sleep, our souls wander. I thought this might be it. Yes, this should be it.

It's getting boring with the lockdown and with this ability that I somehow gained, I should be
able to go outside to play. One thing to note though is that I can't interact with anything.

After a few hours of wandering around, I started to feel bored again, so I went back to my body
and wake up. At least that was the plan, but after trying hard to go back to my body, I gave up.
My body seems to be rejecting me.

I checked and there aren't any spirits possessing my body, but I still can't enter. I was going to
cry and mourn for my eventual death since I'm essentially in a coma when I felt a tugging
sensation. It feels as if it wants to drag me somewhere, so I followed it.

I don't know what it will lead me to, but since I can't go back anyway, I might as well explore
first before wracking my brain off, thinking how to go back to my body.

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Chapter 2: The Balete Tree

I walked around in circles trying to find the direction of the pull. It took me a while to find the
general direction of the pull.

The sky is starting to get dark and the street lamps are starting to light up.

Because of the quarantine the once lively streets are now devoid of life. As I walk towards the
direction of that mysterious pull, I reminisce about the past. 'How fast the world can change' I
thought. It was just a few months ago when the streets are filled with vendors, pedestrians,
kids playing tag and vehicles passing by.

Now you can't even see a single soul.

Or so I thought...

When I thought that there isn't even a single soul, I started to feel something weird. It feels as if
someone is staring at me. So I looked back and saw something horrifying. A man, who seems to
be in his 80's is looking straight at me, smiling.

I thought it was just my imagination but he suddenly moved towards me.

"Hey boy! Is it your first time?" The old man asked.

"Who are you? What first time?" Kali asked warily.

"Me? I'm a wandering soul. Just like you." the old man uttered.

"A wandering soul?!!?" Kali exclaimed.

"Yes. You seem to be confused, I suppose it is your first time. Why didn't you ascend?" The old
man asked.

Realizing what the old man just said, Kali understood that the old man mistook him as a soul of
a dead person not a living person's soul.

"I'm not yet dead. I'm still alive." Kali denied the old man's claim.

"Oh? But that is what those who just died always say. Would you now tell me why didn't you
ascend?" The old man asked insistently.

"Ascend to where exactly?" Kali asked, curious as to where it is he didn't ascend to.

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"To Kaluwalhatian, what you people call the heaven... well it isn't exactly heaven but that is
where dalisay na nu goes to." The old man said.

"Kaluwalhatian? Dalisay na nu? What?" Kali seems to get more confused with what the old man
said.

"You don't need to ask for now, you'll know it soon once you go there. To the place where your
soul is begging you to go. I just want to remind you though, there isn't just me in here. There
are other souls and other creatures that can see and do harm to you. You must take care.
Farewell now." The old man told Kali.

"Huh? Ah- Ahhh..." Kali wasn't able to finish what he was going to say when the old man
suddenly vanished from his sight.

Unable to understand what just happened, Kali ruminated over the old man's last world while
he continued his way to the source of the mysterious pull.

As he was walking further out of the view, the old man who mysteriously disappeared,
appeared at the same spot Kali saw him, quietly mumbling "A new manlalakbay-diwa
(dimensional traveler) has appeared. I wonder if he can survive the malignos (evil spirits) on his
way".

...

A few minutes later as Kali continuously threaded forward while feeling the mysterious guiding
force far in the distance, he heard a screeching sound from his left. Alerted by the sound, Kali
stopped and peered into the dark alleyway to his left.

Kacha! Kacha! Kacha! What is that? Kali thought, shocked of what he saw. He saw a bloody
disfigured creature reminiscent of a human being and a demon. Kali didn't know that he
encountered a maligno. An evil spirit who feeds on the soul of humans, and he as a soul is
extremely vulnerable to its attacks.

A maligno can morph into any form but usually they are seen as just like humans. As such, Kali
didn't know what the creature is but as it radiates extremely sinister energy, Kali felt an
instinctual danger.

"Oh fucking Jesus Christ! You evil thing surprised me!" Kali unknowingly exclaimed as he was
overwhelmed by shock when the maligno abruptly moved towards him. Thinking of what he
needs to do, Kali didn't realize that the maligno was already upfront to his face.

The maligno raised its claws then slashed towards Kali's neck. The cold, gleaming, and blade-like
sharp claws appeared as if it were trying to rip his head off of his neck.

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Cold shivers run upon Kali's soul body. Driven by instinct to escape he somehow blinked out
100 meters away from the maligno.

Kali realized what just happened. Terrified of the maligno's claw attack, Kali stood rooted on the
spot for a second before quickly running away as fast as he could. Kali knows that it is not the
time for questions as he saw more and more malignos hurrying towards him from all directions.

Three whole hours later, Kali saw a luminescent tree 5 meters ahead of him. It seems as if a
dome of light encompassed his severely injured soul. Injuries he acquired from fending off
numerous malignos that surrounded and attacked him.

The tree is big, tall and wide. Lush green leaves adorned the tree with long and soft vine-like
structures extending from the stem of the tree. At the bottom-center of the trunk, a huge door-
like hole can be seen emanating a soft but warm sacred aura making it an eye-catching sight.

The dome like light that encapsulated Kali seemed to heal his wearied and injured soul. One
thing that Kali didn't understand though is that, why did this tree change? This tree is the
famous balete tree. Kali always pass by balete drive and he never saw the entrance like hole in
the tree nor the light radiating from it.

It's weird, Kali thought. He often hears about the balete tree and the balete drive haunted by a
white lady. Spirit of a woman died of r*pe, often haunting theirs and other rapists, traveling
within the balete drive. With such cases and rumors going around, the balete was supposed to
be the evil spirit's hide-out.

Now that Kali is standing in front of the tree himself, he found such notions ridiculous. How
would such a sacred tree for souls be evil?

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Chapter 3: Inside the Balete Tree

After four hours, Kali's soul injury is already completely healed. He started to head over the
balete tree. The tree was the mysterious force tugging on his soul earlier. Thinking about it, the
tree must have wanted to protect him from the forces of evil like the one's attacking him
earlier.

After knowing that it is safe here, within Kali's immediate vicinity, he had time to ponder about
what happened earlier. The old man must have known that there were evil creatures lurking
around the corner. The old man must have also known that the balete tree is mystical and
sacred.

Branding the old man's face into his mind, he proceeded to think about how he was able to
teleport a hundred meters away from where he was. He noticed that when he did that, he
seemed to lose some kind of substance within his soul body.

Not paying anymore attention to it, Kali once more recalled what had transpired with his
encounter with the old man. The old man said that he will know the answer to Kaluwalhatian
and dalisay na nu once he got here. He must be pertaining not outside the tree but inside of it.

Kali is already within the vicinity of the tree but there seem to be no one he can ask of it so he
just assumed that the answer is inside the balete tree. He slowly paced forward. Walking with
inconceivable tranquility, he felt the majestic atmosphere surrounding the entrance of the tree.

Arriving at the front of the balete tree, Kali immediately noticed the beautiful engravings of
what seemed to be his native tongue's long lost writing script. If what he can recall is right, the
script is supposed to be called Baybayin.

Even though Kali can recall what it was, he can't understand a single thing. After intensely
looking at the symbols for a few minutes straight, Kali approached the entrance that is vaguely
emanating a soft glow.

Kali contemplated for a second before he decided to set foot inside the balete tree. Once he
was in, he immediately noticed that the space inside is actually pretty big. To his surprise, the
inside of the tree doesn't look like inside of a tree at all.

Instead of seeing the trunk of the tree and the darkness brought by the shade of the tree, what
he saw is a field full of grasses. The inside of the tree looks like a meadow. There's sunlight
which Kali doesn't know where it is coming from.

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There are also land and air animals like deers, birds and butterflies roaming across the prairie.
The beautiful and colorful flowers which emits a pleasant scent, alongside with the grass drifted
within the breeze of the wind. Kali took in a mouthful of fresh air before exhaling in relaxation.

...

While Kali is appreciating the beauty inside of the balete tree, his phone back at his house is
ringing non-stop since last night. If you look at his phone, you will see five people calling him
with at the very least a hundred missed calls.

Mike put down his phone with a frown on his face. Worry flashed across his face as his call
failed to connect once more.

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING KALI?" Mike shouted, panicking as he doesn't know what to
do anymore.

"Shall I call the police now? Jenna and the others have been contacting him to no avail as
well..." Mike mumbled as he contemplated on what he is supposed to do with his bestfriend.

Mike dialed 911 on his phone intending to call the authorities. As he was doing so, he suddenly
got a call from Kali. Excited, Mike quickly answered the phone.

"YOW KALI YOU BASTARD! Why aren't you answering your phone?" Mike asked seething with
anger and relief.

"Umm... Mike, this isn't Kali." Kali answered.

"Huh? Isn't this Kali's phone?" Mike replied in confusion.

"Yes, this is his phone. This is Kali's aunt Mayu. Kali is in the hospital now." Aunt Mayu replied.

"What happened to Kali? Why is he in the hospital auntie?" Mike asked.

"We found him unconcious in his room this morning. At first, we thought he was just asleep,
but when we didn't manage to wake him up, we brought him to the hospital. The doctors said
that his body doesn't seem to have any fatal injuries but..." Aunt Mayu hesitated to continue
what she was going to say.

"But what auntie? Is there something wrong?" Mike enquired worriedly.

"The doctors said he is in a comatose. Right now, since we don't know how he went into
comatose, the doctors aren't sure as to when Kali will wake up. The doctors said that he might
not even wake up. He is basically dead at this point. The machines are the only thing that keeps

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him alive." Aunt Mayu said with evident throbbing in her throat, possibly brought by reigning in
her emotions before she bawls out.

"Thank you for informing me auntie. I'll go visit him when the quarantine is lifted." Mike replied.
Right after dropping down the call he wailed.

...

Kali not knowing what transpired and that he was already considered semi-dead, is still looking
around the inside of the balete tree.

"Wow! This place is a paradise! Am I in heaven? Did I just ascend to... umm... what did the old
man call it? Kaluwalhatian? Ah yes, that's it. Kaluwalhatian must be this. This place is just
unparalleled in beauty!" Kali uttered as he roams around the place.

Unbeknownst to Kali, the balete tree is actually listening to him murmur.

After a few hours of going around from one end to the other, Kali found a majestic boat. It is a
long boat made of planks, light-weight with sails and oars. The boat is also characterized by
having an eastern style dragon at its nose. Kali remembered that this boat is called balangay.

Why is there an ancient boat anchored here on this river's harbor? Kali thought to himself.

"This place is weird." Kali said to himself.

The creatures around here looks similar to those outside but they have a lot of differences as
well. I have seen one bird who sings beautifully, it sings seven sweet songs and although I'm far
away, I found myself almost falling asleep.

The feathers of this bird also changes color with each song ranging from pearl, bronze,
diamond, emerald, crystal, gold, copper alloy and it also has a dark red garnet. It defecated
after singing and to my horror, it turned a golden deer to a stone.

Wait..... isn't that a bird from the story Ibong Adarna? Kali thought to himself. Yeah, that's right!
That is the ibong adarna! I always thought it to be a kathang-isip (fantasy/fiction) but to think it
is real! Kali almost lost his mind.

"Where am I? This place have mythical creatures and now this ancient boat. What is this place?
Is this really the inside of the balete tree?" Kali thought out loud.

In the act of Kali voicing out his thoughts, he didn't notice that he reached the end of the
daungan (harbor). When he was one step away from stepping into the balangay, a loud boom
of voice echoed into the surroundings.

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"You seemed absent-minded boy. Watch where you walk. Once you step into the balangay,
there is no going back. It's not as if you can go back anyway." The voice said.

"AH- Who are you?" Kali immediately stopped after coming off of his stupor. He asked aloud,
intending to find out who is the owner of the voice that woke him up is from.

"I am where you are." The voice said.

"Huh? I don't understand." Kali said.

"This place you are in is me. I am this place." The voice said.

"YOU-- YOU ARE THE BALETE TREE?" Kali blurted out.

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Chapter 4: Kabilang-buhay (Afterlife)

Kali was shocked to find that the voice he heard was from the balete tree itself.

//all from nature has a soul (from the source nu).

//balete as the bridge and carrier of the river of destiny

//sanctuary of mythical creatures once roaming the earth

//old man as an agent of kaluwalhatian

//diwata

//souls don't ascend heaven but is carried by the boat to the other life.

//maligno and agents of kasamaan

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