/// BIRINGAN, CITY OF CITIES, 566th ROAD ON THE SOUTHWESTERN QUADRANT, NEAR THE MONUMENT OF THE HOLIEST GHOST OF WAR

“Aish,” uttered Jenna. “Where are we supposed to go? You sure you’re not just leading us in circles, Susanna?”

“Susanna says we’re going to a panciteria,” replied Gala, reading through the book she was carrying.

“Panciteria? But why? Now’s not the time for eating!” She wasn’t answered by anyone, save for the stares of the millions of passerbys that walked beside them. Jenna remembered when she first stayed here and the vast diversity of people scared her: horned people, horse people, walking slugs, insectoid weavers, huge spiders, serpent people--all of them weird and strange and wonderfully wonderful. Once, they made her skin crawl.

But now, they’re people. They’re all toiling in Biringan now. There was no room for prejudice against each other.

Still, a porcelain woman such as her really didn’t have a place in here either.

“Maybe Susanna is hungry?” asked Gala.

“Maybe? Can you hear yourself, Gala?”

“Here.” The three of them walked into an alleyway that led into a steep slope going down. On one side of that slope was a small, quaint little shop with buckets for chairs and broken Dambuhala transport parts for tables.

“Welcome!” said a middle-aged woman, hugely overweight but looking like a fluffy cat. Actually, no, Jenna did a double-take and saw that yeah, it was actually a fluffy cat. A fluffy cat mama. “What can I get you today?”

“Nanay Mingming,” said Susanna, grinning, and she took the cat lady’s paw and touched it to her brow. The classical mano po expression. Gala and Jenna did the same thing.

“Oh, Susanna!” said the cat-lady, grinning. Her tail wagged behind her. Her fur was white as shock, and round-rimmed spectacles sat on her little nose. “What has brought you here?” Behind her was her own little litter of cat-workers, all of them looking like her children. They were going around readying tables, heating ovens, and cooking fried rice on pots and pans.

“I was actually supposed to-- no wait. Sorry. Nay, this is Gala and Jenna. They’re the two other friends that I came in with when I arrived in Paraiso.”

“Oh! How so very nice to meet you, my ihas!” Nanay Mingming took one look at Gala and then suddenly vibrated with joy. She leaned down and pressed Gala’s cheeks together. Gala didn’t move. Her horns twitched though. “Oh, look at you little cutie girl oh my god, how cute you are!”

“Thanks cat mama.”

Nanay Mingming turned to Susanna and said, “Oh, this is the one that you--”

“Nay! Not right now!”

“Yeah, cat lady,” said Jenna. “We need to get this show on the road. Our friends were stolen away by some sexy vampire demon guy and we need to find her.”

“Oh! Please, tell me about it over a plate of chow fan, yes?”

Susanna looked at Jenna. Only now did she realize that Jenna was already hungrily staring at the fried rice being cooked on the large pan.

“Sure, yes please,” said Susanna. “You want to eat, right Jenna?”

Jenna nodded slowly. “I do…” She shook her head. “I-I mean!”

“Then we shall eat!” said Nanay Mingming.

“Cat mama,” said Gala. “Can you remove your paws from my cheeks now?”

Nanay Mingming’s little cat children all smiled and brought bowls of fried rice and meat to the table they sat on, which was a repurposed face-plate of an old giant war armor. They ate well as Nanay Mingming stood over them, grinning widely in that feline grin.

“So, Nanay,” said Susanna.

“Oh, right, you said vampire demon, yes?” She purred. “You must be pertaining to Jaime, the right-hand man of Panginoon Tupas. He’s powerful and has been accruing Gahum for many years now. Many know his name here in Biringan as the Drainer King, since he accrues Gahum not by killing his enemies, but by draining his blood.”

“He’s got our friends. We need to find a way to get to him. He said to seek him out in Panginoon Tupas’ abode, the Sinking Fields. Do you know where that might be?”

Nanay Mingming thought for a moment, biting her lip. “Hm, the Sinking Fields, huh. I must admit, that is a very dangerous place…”

“So that means you know how to get there?” asked Jenna, waiting for an answer as she scooped up more rice into her mouth.

“Well, yes, of course, but… mga iha, it is less of a question of do I know where it is and more of a question of do I want you to go there. The Sinking Fields can be found in the far south of Biringan City, surrounded by the mecha-turned-buildings of the now-defunct Dambuhala war machines. It is a place of great destruction, for it was the place where a great explosion was detonated during the Holy Heretic Rebellion. Due to the number of deaths that had happened there, its connection with Idalumnon is great, and every now and again lost souls wander there, seeking living flesh to feel truly alive.”

“I know how dangerous Biringan can be, Nay,” said Susanna, a resolute look in her eyes. “I will do anything that I can to get my friends back.”

“Oh, dearie. Don’t get me wrong, I applaud your resolution, your conviction… but I am afraid it would lead you to your doom. Panginoon Tupas has taken a page from the Holiest Ghost’s playbook and has weaponized death itself. The Sinking Fields is a highly dangerous zone for all those that are not under Panginoon Tupas’ burning finger.”

“We can just fight our way through,” said Jenna, letting her Gahum flow, just a tiny bit. “We’ve always done that before.”

“The dead are hard to keep down,” said Gala, sipping on a cup of tea that she had asked for.

“Then we can just smash ‘em--”

“No, we need another plan,” said Susanna, thinking intently. She had forgotten all about her bowl of fried rice. Jenna, on the other hand, was busy scarfing down her bowl of rice in between outcries of rebellion against the dangers of the Sinking Fields.

Nanay Mingming purred. “Your leader’s right, Jenna. You can’t just go in, swinging whatever you may be bringing or summoning.”

Gala was thinking deeply as well, her eyes set on her cup of tea, her hands resting on her cheeks. “We need Brother Owl’s help.”

“We don’t have the luxury of time, however,” Susanna said, thinking about the rapid succession of events that led to them having to track down that white-haired being. “We can’t stand too long. I can’t risk waiting around for Brother Owl to find us than hatching a plan to get back Angela and Esther.”

“Then what do you propose?” asked Jenna. Her porcelain skin seemed to dazzle as the sun fell upon it, orange. “Look, unless we have an army or whatever, we can’t do anything to the Sinking Field.”

“Maybe we can just go in as, like, visitors or something?”

Susanna blinked a bit. Then: “Huh, Nanay Mingming? Does Panginoon Tupas take donations or offerings and whatnot?”

Nanay Mingming’s ears twitched. “He… does actually. Unfortunately, Panginoon Tupas is narcissistic like that. He demands offerings from those under his domain. And what do you plan to do?”

Susanna leaned back, arms crossed in front of her chest, and smiled.

“What’s with that smile?” Jenna frowned. “Hey, I don’t like that smile!”

“Come on, we should get prepared.”

“Oh, dearie, you can use the room upstairs again if you want to rest yourself?”

“Oh, that would be much appreciated, Nanay Mingming.”

“Very well, then! Come, come.”

A bath and a change of clothes later, the three women were ready to head off. They all decided to change their outfits for the coming mission. Susanna ditched the battle maiden garb and shifted to wearing a simple open blouse and leather pants, with a belt harness where her sheathed sword went. She tied her hair light blonde high up in a tight bun, so it wouldn’t get in the way.

Jenna wore a barong tagalog over a short-sleeved rattan mail, coupled with a saya skirt that she ripped so that it only reached her knees.

Gala wore a black barong tagalog but kept it open instead of buttoned up, and she wore a simple tank top underneath. She wore some hugely baggy pants that ballooned and then closed in on the ankles. To help her see, she wore large round glasses.

“Are you sure you don’t wish to eat anymore?” asked Nanay Mingming. She already had other customers eating in her karinderya. A serpent man here, a bird-woman there. An insect man missing a leg over there. “It would help you oh so greatly.”

“We’re full Nay, right guys?”

The other two nodded. “But we’ll get back here as soon as we can.”

“Alright, stay safe, okay?”

“We will, Nay. Can we ask again where your friend stays?”

“Follow the road south, then turn right to get to the main road, then just walk south down the main road until you find Tower 72, he lives in that complex.”

“Thank you. God be with you,” said Susanna, turning around and joining her friends outside of the karinderya, getting ready to leave.

“Make God bleed, darling,” replied Nanay Mingming, before turning around and attending to her customers.

///THE WILTED LEAF, TEAHOUSE UPON STACK 52

The Petal Being laid prostrate before the speaking statue. “O, lo, mighty Apo Biring, I beseech thee. Look humbly upon thy worthless servant, for I seek answers to questions posed by stranger beings.”

“Speak, Babaylan,” said Apo Biring, from the mouthpiece of the spirit statue. “Many call upon my name.”

Walang Humpay brought out the lock of Susanna’s hair. “They seek a great person, they do. One who has the same lock of hair as this. Susanna Quimbao, her name is, and she is great, and she is lost.”

“Lost? I do not think so,” said the Spirit. “I know where this Susanna stands within my city, and her footsteps speak of one intent: to go to the Sinking Fields.”

Mattheo and Jonathan both turned to Brother Owl, expecting some kind of reaction, some kind of question, but Brother Owl looked ambiguous and unaffected as ever.

“I thank you, Apo Biring,” said Walang Humpay. “I am forever exalted by your grace, forever humbled by your grace.”

“See to it that your friends take care, however. Panginoon Tupas is not in a diplomatic mood. Be thou as it wilt, make God bleed.” And then, that sudden stillness was gone, replaced once again by the chatter of the teahouse and the clamor of the city, as if they had been stuck in place in time.

Mattheo leaned to whisper to Jonathan: “So to be a spirit medium, you have to be an asskisser?”

Walang Humpay stood up then and turned to Brother Owl. “What will you do?”

Brother Owl was stoic and then nodded. “The thread unravels, and it is time to cut to create the perfect length.”

/// IN THE DUNGEONS OF THE SINKING FIELDS, DEEP BENEATH BIRINGAN

Esther awoke beside Angela. They were uncomfortably close. When she jolted awake, so did Angela.

“Where are we?”

They looked around. Multicolored flames burned atop bamboo braziers. They lay within an empty, damp black stone room. To their left were rails. Were they in prison?

“Are we in--”

“--Ah, you’re awake.”

From out of the shadows stepped that white-haired man once again, now only wearing a simple black baro that was unbuttoned halfway up, and wearing tight black leggings. “I apologize for the lack of good accommodation, but Panginoon Tupas wanted you here in the meanwhile.” His eye color shifted as he talked. The multicolor flames made his platinum white hair sparkle. “Pray you aren’t hurt?”

Esther winced. “My wrists are a bit sore.”

“Apologies.

“Where are we?” asked Angela again, struggling to get to her feet. “Are we going to get killed? Is this death row?”

“No, no, calm down. Here, I’m Jaime. Nice to meet you…?”

“You kidnapped us and took us into some dungeon,” said Esther, also rising to her feet. “Why are you being so nice to us?”

“Relax,” said Jaime, rolling his eyes. “You’re not going to get killed.” His stare was intense, deep into Esther’s own. There was want there, a bloodcurdling necessity. “Unless, of course, you prove to be more trouble than you’re worth, but that’s easy enough to find out anyway.”

“Where are we?” asked Esther again, resolute, her eyes narrowed. Her anger bubbled, and she couldn’t see it, but Angela could. Her eyes burned with a strange shade of crimson, lighter than Susanna’s, but deeper, and angrier. Strangely more orange. The tips of her long hair burned with that color, as did her fingertips.

Jaime’s eyes gazed down where the light shone, and then back up again. He licked his lips. “You’re feisty, aren’t you?”

“Shut up and answer me.”

Angela stepped forward and grabbed Esther’s hand. Esther visibly calmed down, a tension released. Esther held on to Angela’s hand, gripped it tightly. Angela looked up at Esther, like a puppy caring for her owner.

“The Sinking Fields,” said Jaime, pushing his hair back. “The abode of Panginoon Tupas. We’re in the central dungeons, in his greatness’ underground palace. As I said, we won’t hurt you, but Panginoon Tupas will ask for you soon--”

To the far right of the stone hallway, something steel creaked. A door? “Ah, speaking of.”

“Jaime, step back from the prisoners.”

“Yeesh, I’m just making sure they’re all nice and supple. Relax.”

A large man with a single eye and tusks that resembled a boar stepped out of the gloom, clad in iron armor with filigrees of green verdigris. “Prisoners, come with me. Jaime, escort them.” The huge creature began fiddling with the lock. “They will be dressed appropriately, according to Panginoon Tupas’ desire, and shall be presented before him immediately.”