Capítulo 283: 283. Kapre Maze ~Narda~
Gabrielle, Narcos, and Mercuria stayed in the bus as Mercuria drove toward the mountain.
"You alright?" asked Narcos.
"It's just Kuya Raph deciding to stay and take care of Mom," sighed Gabrielle.
"Why's that bothering you?" asked Mercuria.
"When my dad was a kid, his younger brother was always favored more by his parents because of his special needs. That took a toll on him in his later years. It didn't make him hate Uncle Kariel, it just made him feel like an inadequate son.When my mom was a kid, she was also put aside by her because Aunt Lei was just way smarter and more skilled.I kinda felt the same with Kuya Raph." Gabrielle leaned her head on
"I never saw my sister in a red light like that," said Mercuria. "I loved her despite the fact that she's favored more."
"I didn't say that I don't love him. It's just that... it'd be nice if you were the center of attention for once..."
"Hey! Look! Free drinks!" Narcos drinks a milkshake from a paper cup.
"Where'd you get that?" asked Gabrielle.
"The seat behind us," smiled Narcos.
Gabrielle slaps the drink away in disgust.
"Stop drinking stuff you find and not buy! You might get hepatitis! This bus used to be owned by some big dude at the south of the city."
"What about free samples?"
"Those are iffy."
"It's weird that you can read and understand words but you can't remember the mildest things..." said Mercuria.
"Thanks..." said Narcos.
"For what?" asked Gabrielle.
"You guys are my family... and I'm very happy that at least you guys will always be part of my threesome, teaching me about the world and stuff."
"Aw... Narcos!" smiled Mercuria, patting Narcos' knee. "That was sweet but that's not what threesome means!"
"Call me crazy..." said Gabrielle, sobbing. "But I found that absolutely touching!"
The bus silently drove into the jungles.
The group reaches the center of the path a gate of some sort slowly opens. The trees surrounding the gate-like walls were unusually tall, about 90 meters high.
The sign before them says, "One Leader, One Path. The only way out is down."
"The only way out is down!?" asked Gabrielle.
The trio look at each other, and all shrug.
"That makes no sense since we're going up the mountain, but sure..." sighed Gabrielle.
They enter...
It's night and Mercuria followed the lanterns with blue fire, planted in the pathway. Above them is a ceiling of soil as well, oddly enough.
Narcos notices that the trees' leaves are visible, but in the next, you only see the trunks.
Meanwhile, a tiger is shown hunched up as it pounces on a deer nearby. It bites into the deer's neck and mangles its legs by swinging its prey left and right. It drags the deer's body into the trees.
Narcos shivered in fear.
"What's wrong?" smiled Gabrielle.
"That deer was just eviscerated by that tiger," Narcos shriveled.
"Chill, dude. We have weapons at the back. And we have Stands that could totally kill a tiger."
"Why are there tigers in this country!? That should be impossible since this is an archipelago!"
"Well... I believe tigers, lions, wolves, and other African animals were traded here from India by Pirates. They were first bred in Zambales and pit against one another for sport, but a couple of tigers and lions got out and their population spread all over the Luzon. They ended up having a weird new ecology. The wolves reside in the mountains, the tigers reside in the jungles, and the lions reside in the grasslands. In other worlds aside from ours, the illegal animal trade never happened.There are about 7,800 tigers, 4,500 lions, 5,200 wolves in national parks all over Luzon. There are also 800 Pandas in bamboo forests in Luzon and 1,100 Davao Black Bears in the forests of Southern Mindanao."
"What is this? Animal Farm?" asked Narcos. "Animal slave-traded by humans?"
"Believe what you wanna believe," said Mercuria.
"That reference doesn't make any sense, Narcos. Animal Farm is about the totalitarian system of the Soviet Union. Not slave trade," said Gabrielle. "Did you guys even read the books I showed you?"
"Pfft!" The pair: Narcos and Mercuria, laugh at her statement.
"Books... What are we? College students?"
*thump*
"You're mentally an infant and you're a college drop-out," Gabrielle told the pair. "You should be reading books."
"Yeah ha... Well... I got in the force because I'm already a genius," said Mercuria.
"And I know the right buttons to collect!" smiled Narcos.
"That isn't an important thing to know about," said Gabrielle.
Narcos eyes her polo.
Gabrielle covers herself up. "What are you doing?"
"It's weird that you used Snap Fasteners for your hand-knit crop top," said Narcos.
"How the hell did you know that this was handknit!?"
"I could tell from a mile away, Gabrielle."
"Yeah!? Well-! What's wrong with having Stud Buttons on handknit cloth!?"
"The metallic structure of the button isn't fit for the yarn used in that hand-knit cloth of yours because it could unravel the cloth string by string, causing the fabric to look dirty and mangled."
"Which I could fix with my Stand Power."
"Yes... but why not use two-hold flat buttons?"
"Because those look cute. I don't like cute."
"But they're damned well effective."
"Why do you like buttons so much?" asked Mercuria.
"I believe that buttons make up everything!" smiled Narcos.
"No... Atoms make up everything. Buttons make up the warm shield your trousers have against the cold," said Gabrielle.
"Well... The way I see it is that everything is connected by a series of webs within those particles you say. They connect every single particle. The joints that connect those strings are the buttons I was talking about. When things are destroyed, the particles' strings disappear.For instance, a stone. The stone is firm because its strings are firm. The strings are firmly placed because of the buttons. Crush the stone into dust, what happens?" Narcos smiled.
*thump*
"The string is destroyed?" asked Gabrielle.
"No. The buttons are unlocked. But the string is still there, floating about the Multiversal plane." said Narcos.
"What are the particles then? Cloth?" laughed Mercuria.
"Precisely... But they're vibrating... The string orbits around nothingness... Like a bubble and air... A bubble is made of water, but the water itself orbits around nothingness. That is why bubbles are round."
"No... a bubble's surface tension contracts the bubble to the smallest possible area. It's round because it contains the most."
"I think it is round because it contains nothing."
"Air particles?"
"I consider air being nothing, as air particles have no buttons. So air means nothing to me."
"Huh..." said Gabrielle. "Can't argue with that logic."
"What about breathing?" asked Mercuria.
"What about breathing?" asked Narcos.
*thump!*
"Whoa... Uh-oh..." said Mercuria.
"What?" asked Gabrielle.
"I've been turning left and right and entered twelve gates... We reached the same bump thrice."
"Sooo...?"
"We've been going on some sort of loop."
"You sure we hadn't done a few rights and no lefts at all?" asked Narcos.
"No. Because I was going left a few times after the rights. I turned alternatively," said Mercuria.
"What does that mean?" asked Narcos.
Mercuria looks around. "I think..."
Gabrielle and Narcos lean closer.
"We're under attack by an enemy Stand."
"Should we go outside and check?" asked Narcos.
"No!" yelled Gabrielle. "We might get randomly killed out of context! It's too dangerous!"
"So? What do we do?" asked Narcos. "Also... the trees keep changing in size-..."
"We just keep driving..." said Mercuria.
*vroom... tuk tuk tuk tuk tuk...*
Gabrielle squints her eyes as she looks left and right. "Okay... I think it's okay. Just keep driving... slowly... God... Someone put on some music! It's like an awkward elevator around here!"
Mercuria sighs and turns on the radio.
"'Elevators...'" thought Narcos.
*STEP... STEP... STEP...*
The trio looks left and right.
*tik tik tik tik tik tik tik tik tik tik*
Gabrielle looks up and sees women with only the top half of their bodies on the top of the trees.
They seemed to be alive since they were moving.
"Manananggals..." said Gabrielle, as she takes out a Diary. "The Locacaca Garden is found at the top of this mountain. But the first level is a maze, known as the Stand 'Narda.' They are gates that randomize one's destination. They are the Stand of the Narra Trees themselves.Its inhabitants are... Oh, dear God."
Mercuria and Narcos sigh. "What?"
*THUD... THUD... THUD...*
"Oh, shit..." said the trio, as before them, a Tree Giant smoking some burning tobacco stood before them.
It resembled a humanoid with wood for skin and trees for fur all around its body. It has a large beard on its face and it has yellow eyes. It has sharp teeth and long limbs.
"OH MY GOD!!!" yelled Narcos. "GO BACK!!!"
Mercuria drives backward as the gate before them closes. They go backward several gates until they end up back in the entrance.
"How are we back here after thirty seconds!? We've been going about for two hours!?" Gabrielle annoyedly asked.
"We need to get back in there..." said Narcos.
"Wait..." said Gabrielle. "The sign says that only one person should take the lead."
"So... Who will have to go outside?" asked Gabrielle.
The pair turns to Narcos.
"You guys are jerks!" Narcos opens the door and slams it shut as he stomps outside.
"We're women!" laughed Gabrielle.
Mercuria laughed too and shook her head.
Narcos sighs as he walks inside the gates as the van slowly followed.
"What the hell is the plan even?" asked Mercuria.
"I don't know! We're just doing what the sign says!"
As they reach a forked road, Narcos uses his context clues to see which path he should take.
"What's the hold-up!?" asked Mercuria.
"I'm trying to figure out which place we won't die!"
Suddenly, a Kapre lands before Narcos from the right.
"OH DEAR GOD!!!" yelled Narcos, as he runs away toward the left path.
"Well, I guess the right answer was left," said Gabrielle. "STEP ON IT!!!"
Mercuria hits accelerate and rushes the bus toward Narcos.
But...
...the pair reach a dead-end.
There are no gates before them.
Gabrielle turns behind them and sees that they are within an enclosed space without any paths.
"What the hell happened!?" asked Mercuria.
"I think the trees consider us lost since we lost track of our leader..." said Gabrielle.
"So!?"
"We're stuck here forever until Narcos finds us..."
Meanwhile...
Narcos looks around the endless paths between endless trees, seeing that he has become separated from the pair.
"Crap..." said Narcos. "Crap, crap, crappity crappity crap... Gabrielle!? Mercuria!?"
Shrieking could be heard from far away.
He heard howling nearby as well.
Narcos begins to run away as the shrieking and howling get louder. He kept on running and running until-...
*THUD!!!*
He tripped on a branch.
It... was cold...
Narcos then sees something shiny on the ground...
A button.
A cold button made entirely out of ice.
"What!?" asked Narcos.
Narcos tries to pick it up but it's attached to the soil. Like any child, he got curious and decided to unlock the button, even though he was taught that that wasn't how the world works...
But the button was unlocked and the ground opened like a sheet of cloth.
Narcos found more buttons on the ground and unbuttons each of them as the cloth was divided.
But the ground opened. He drops into the path where the bus is.
"Elevators..." whispered Narcos.
"NARCOS!?" asked the pair.
"FOLLOW ME!!!" yelled Narcos.
(theme begins)
Narcos uses Coldplay who punches the ground over and over as buttons appear, each getting unbuttoned as the ground opens up like sheets.
"FUREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEZEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!" yelled Coldplay.
Narcos blasted buttons everywhere as the bus keeps going down.
"The reason why the maze changes destination is because the maze teleports you somewhere else. You saw how tall the trees were, right!? That's because the trees teleported us near its highest point then randomly teleported us on different floor levels. The only way outta here is down! The gates are like elevator doors and the path are elevators, shifting around and placing us randomly in a different platform!"
Suddenly, a Kapre appears and leaps down where they are falling, following after them.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!" yelled the trio.
Gabrielle then brings out Stone Free, who punches the Kapre away as Narcos uses the buttons to attach the Kapre on one of the ceilings.
Stone Free then leaves the bus.
They continue to fall.
When Narcos opens the next floor up with buttons, under the floor is just ground.
"We're here..." said Narcos.
Stone Free immediately grappled Gabrielle's hand onto a branch as the bus safely lands.
Narcos was also grabbed by Stone Free's foot.
"Thank you," Narcos sighed in relief as they safely land on the last ground level.
Suddenly...
*ROAR!!!*
Several kapres chases after them as the trio ran out of the woods and enter the second level of the mountain... a clearing.
The kapres sigh and return inside.
(theme ends)
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