In the village of Sta. Monica, nestled on the edge of the
foothills of the Cordillera mountains, lived Playtime Gcash
Casino, a young farmer with hard, cracked hands from planting
rice.
The seasons there followed the same timeless path as the
weather: storms came with the rains, plants sprouted, and a
rotation repeated itself through the year. When the old people
told stories of heroes and warriors, the youth of Sta.
Monica, like Playtime Casino, soon drifted off to sleep. The
tales seemed unreal, like smoke drifting away in the night.
But the village became spooked. The country had seeped in
shadows for some time now, with reports of strange beings seen
at the rims of the lands. Stories surfaced of an aswang, a
creature that shapeshifts, who came to villages such as
theirs, leaving just whispers in its wake.
Old men grumbled about sending word to other towns to offer
aid, even to invoke the old rituals, but nobody was willing to
act even that far. They were simply humans, after all.
But something was happening to him. Something that he didn’t
understand, yet at the same time could not stop. One evening,
standing all alone by the waterside, to watch the sun go down
behind the craggy hills, he made up his mind.
His father had always been a hard man, he had taught Playtime
Casino Gcash never to look for glory: that man’s place was to
till the earth. But Playtime Casino Gcash felt an urging that
the tales of old were not so very distant.
He left in the morning, unannounced. He took with him only his
sharp bolo, a sack of rice and the blessing of his mother. The
village held its breath in the pale dawn light as Playtime
Casino Gcash left, disappearing within the dense trees that
bordered their lives.
He knew what lay ahead; he knew the journey wouldn’t be easy.
The land on the other side of the hills was wild, unpatched
and filled with spirits — only the restless ones such as the
chojo who hurried around on the edge of perception, its eyes
and hands grown heavy and brown with time.
Soon, the air was colder, the trail steeper. Playtime Casino
Gcash climbed higher into the mountains. Maybe, if no one else
was going to do it, he had to do it. A fierce determination
sprang up within him. A fierce determination.
If no one else was going to do it… the spark emerged, warming
its wings. There were so many mountains, Playtime Casino Gcash
thought. And none really cared, none really made a difference.
He had to sing. If no one else was going to… the spark sought
his heart. His foot. That little toe. It was then, in the
heart of the mountain, that his spirit became a dove again. He
felt happy, for some reason.
As he stood before it on his fourth day, guarded by a cave
mouth that did not welcome visitors, Playtime Casino Gcash had
walked as far as he could, guided by those few tracks that
still, without explanation, appeared in the grasses here, as
well as by an unnerving stillness among all elsewhere.
His heart pounded as blood rushed to his face. Twisting a
bolo, which he had kept by his side in case he needed to
defend himself, he toyed with the idea of retreating.
How could he, a simple farming man, expect to come face to
face with a creature bursting from mythology? The thought of
returning home, failed before he even began, filled him with a
dull shame.
But deep inside, he understood that turning back would only
perpetuate a fearful silence over his people.
Slowly, he took one step forward. The air in the cave was hot
and foul smelling. The darkness was immense. Every
intermittent footstep echoed in the tight space, as if the
mountain was laughing at him.
And then, the creature materialised among the shadows. Eyes
aglow with hate, a monstrous figure of half man and half
beast. Playtime Casino Gcash felt his feet glued to the earth.
All his senses urged him to turn and run.
But suddenly he was no longer afraid. The fear that had
possessed him for so long was gone, replaced by a toughness
far more ancient than the mountains themselves. Reaching out,
he tightened his grip on the bolo.
His knuckles turned white.For a long moment he stared into the
creature’s eyes. He was nothing special, a peasant farmer, but
he was also something else.
The young whale ripped out half his flank; now, with a
bellowing cry that echolocated through the cave, Playtime
Casino Gcash charged.
The confrontation was dreadful and short. Impalement, death:
the mastodon wildly charged, kicked, tossed his head; Playtime
Gcash Casino listened to his bones snap, to the creature’s
gurgling, noisome panting.
And then it was over, as swift as it had started. The mastodon
was dead; Playtime Gcash Casino stood alone, the monster at
his feet. He thought no word of hero; nothing tasted of glory.
It tasted like life, like the right to go home.
Hearing his journey, rising with the sun to come to Sta.
Monica as it spilled over the hills, Playtime Gcash Casino
reminded himself once again that the tales of old had always
been of men like him. Not known for their great deeds, not for
their fame.
After all the journeys, after all the hardships, the men
returned home to tell stories of the terrors they’d faced and
overcome, of the people they’d met, and whom they’d comforted.
Playtime Gcash Casino was still just a man. But sometimes it
took being human to be human.