Meanwhile, Lumawig was oblivious to all the activities his lolo has been doing. For some reason, no sound from the outside can be heard inside the cavity; from the moment Lumawig started his chant, the inside of the tree seemed to have been separated from the outside world, and a heavy spiritual air could be felt inside. This spiritual air gave some form of pressure to Lumawig but did nothing more. After repeating his chant for ten times, he suddenly felt his abyan move inside him, and from his left and right hand, they started to slowly make their way out of his body through his glabella.

It took quite some time for them to completely go out of his body, and once they did so they brought along a half-a-fist size white orb with them – Lumawig’s soul. Lumawig’s soul looks like a ball composed of black and white colors; the right side is fully white and gives a gentle glow similar to its appearance, and the left side of the orb is fully black and gives a gentle grayish glow. The gimokud that stayed divided inside his body, has merged into one soul orb when it came out.

The moment Lumawig’s soul left his body, Lumawig instantly felt his surroundings become clearer, but before he could revel in the surreal feeling of having his soul leave his body, he felt a tug and saw two orbs of lights. He immediately knew that these two orbs were his abyan. However, this was the first time that he saw his abyan up close and thus was shocked and became dazed when he saw them.

“Hmm? This one is different from my other abyan. This one is predominantly deep yellow in color with hints of red and looks brighter. While this one is predominantly black with hints of gray color, and gives a much weaker light, it also seems to be more transparent than the other one.” Observed Lumawig.

The young man was still in the middle of his observation, when he felt another tug on him. It seems that his abyan were urging him to come with them. When he looked at the direction where his abyan were taking him, he was surprised to see a soft white light pulsating. If he were not with his abyan, Lumawig would have thought that the light is the same light that beckons people to the afterlife like what he has seen and read on many tv shows and stories before. He might have been even afraid.

Lumawig followed the two orbs of light into the pulsating white light, everything went white for a while, but soon after he was able to see better and what he saw amazed him to no end. What Lumawig saw was an expanse of beautiful nature, lush green grasses covered the land, tall strong trees could be seen everywhere. Their leaves, of a darker green shade than what he saw in the Mortal realm. All kinds of animals can be seen in this place, deer, pigs, wild boars, goats, cows, carabaos, dogs, cats, eagles, and many more! Their color appears to be more vibrant than their counterparts in the Mortal realm. He also saw a river so clear that he could see the many fishes and different kinds of shrimps and crabs swimming in the water.

“WOW!” he exclaimed in surprised and awe. When his lolo told him that he will be going to the Spirit Realm, what he imagined was a world that appears gray and bleak, he never imagined that the Spirit Realm would be so beautiful. A soft and gentle light illuminates the land, and everything here seems to give a soft glow of light in their bodies.

“Hmm? Their bodies seem to be transparent, and they have patterns tattooed on them?! These must be spirits!” Lumawig also noticed something peculiar about the animals in this land and speculated that they were spirits.

While he was enjoying the beautiful scenery, Lumawig felt that his soul was being pulled forward by his abyan. It was at this time that he recalled his lolo’s words. He then immediately stopped looking around and obediently followed the two orbs of light, failing to notice that wherever these two orbs of lights passed, all the creatures would make way for them and would not even dare to make a single step towards Lumawig’s soul. If Lumawig was able to notice this, he may also see that in all these creatures’ eyes there is nothing but respect and a slight hint of fear on them.

Lumawig took his lolo’s words seriously and never once did he raise his head and look around after his initial wonder. Hence, he was oblivious to the reactions of the spirits.

The trio travelled for a very long time, that it seemed that they have been travelling for almost a year, and consequently Lumawig’s soul began to weaken. Even though he was able to strengthen his dungan for the past few days, having one’s soul separate from its body will have negative effects, and Lumawig has started to feel it.

The effects are not that strong though as he is being protected by the two abyan. After what felt like a decade of travelling in the Spiritual realm, Lumawig felt that the two abyan stopped, no, more like they suddenly disappeared as he could no longer feel their presence. As he felt their presence disappear, Lumawig was forced to look around, and he was again shocked by what he saw.

There was only a white expanse all around him, no matter which direction he faced, all he could see is white, and the two abyan were nowhere to be seen; even the other spirits he saw a long time ago were not present in this place. Confused, Lumawig pondered on what he should do.

“Where did the two abyan go? They just disappeared without a trace. Should I continue travelling forward, or should I go back? Is this some sort of a test before I make my decision?” Lumawig thought out loud.

“Since I’m already here, I’d like to see how this will unfold.” Lumawig decided to continue travelling alone.

After what seemed to be a week, Lumawig still has not found any spirits, much less his two abyan. All he can see is this vast expanse of white that covered the land and the sky. His soul has also started to get more uncomfortable in this place, sooner or later, he needs to go back to his body or risk having his soul permanently separate from his body. But Lumawig still persevered and just travelled forwards. Another week went by and Lumawig’s spirit started to feel the pressure exerted by the Spiritual realm on his soul. At this point, he has to decide if he should continue travelling or go back. Just as he was about to decide to trace his steps back, Lumawig saw in the distance a golden table.

Delighted that he saw something for a change, Lumawig’s soul dashed toward the table, and as he was getting closer and closer, he saw that there was no food on top of it, but two ancient looking books laid down on the table side by side. The books’ cover seems to have been made from a crocodile’s skin, and both of the books are equal in thickness. Even though he was unsure on what to do, he felt that the books were beckoning him to open them. With nothing better to do, Lumawig approached the table and went on to open the book on the right side first. As he opened the first book a flash of bright light appeared, and a projection of sorts appeared in front of him.

The projection showed Lumawig a scene where he can see himself as a happy, successful man with a loving wife and three happy children. In this projection, Lumawig has achieved all of his life’s dreams and wishes. He was able to buy a car, a beautiful house, and was able to travel outside the country, enjoying all the pleasures life could offer him. In this projection, Lumawig is shown to have no wants, as his life is as good as it can get. The projection of these scenes seemed so real, that Lumawig himself felt that he was already living that kind of life and was not merely watching it. His heart was shaken by the scenes playing in front of him as this is what he wanted, his life goals so to speak. Even though he enjoyed living with his lolo in the countryside, he still longed for the comfort and beauty of concrete houses, the different technologies he sees on the television and newspapers, and the tasty food from the restaurants.

“Could this book be showing me my life in the future? Is that the life I will have if I choose to not continue in the path of being a babaylan? But lolo said that becoming a babaylan will not be detrimental to me.” Lumawig pondered for some time as he closed the first book. Then he turned his attention to the second book.