Chapter 1



May, 2009
Eastwood Technopark, Libis, Q.C.
Philippines


"Well, I hope you guys find a job soon. Take care guys, okay?"

That was the last thing Rai's manager, well, former manager, told them before they left. Several of them were "released" by the company for different reasons. And his was because he had a problem with his NQA, which was because of a glitch with the company's software.
But still, he was held liable and he was released, and advised to reapply after a few months. And after the shift, their manager and tech leads took them out for dinner(which, due to their shift, was about three in the afternoon). they have said their good bye's and was on his way home when he felt it...

Or rather he sensed it...

Being a human with bound psychic abilities, this wasn't at all strange. in fact, his abilities were beginning to manifest themselves every now and then. If only he remembered how he had his powers bound in the first place...

He arrived at the Araneta Cener-Cubao area and was walking toward the next point of his commute when he ran into a brick wall... Or rather a guy who was built like a brick wall, and boy was this some wall or what.... The guy stood about six feet eight, with long black hair and a silver nose stud. Given that Rai was an average Filipino, with the average height of five feet four inches, he was practically looking towards the sky when he tried to look at the guy. if only the guy was brown skinned like him he would've mistaken him for a Kapre( a filipino tree spirit, ridiculously tall and always smoking a cigar). "Sorry about that, I wasn't looking where I was going..." Rai said apologetically to the guys. And he prayed this wasn't an asshole or else he was gonna get his ass seriously whipped to next week. "Walang problema dun pare, pasensya ka na di rin ako nakatinging sa dinadaanan ko e" (No problem, sorry I wasn't looking where I was going either) the stranger said in flawless Tagalog, which of course surprised Rai. TheKapre cannot be a Filipino, could he?

"Pilipino ka?"(You're a Filipino?) Rai asked tall guy. "Nah, not really. I just happen to know you're language" The mountain of a guy replied. " Well, nice meeting you and be careful now Rai, okay?" "Sure T-rex, you too okay?"Rai replied before he left, referring to the man's height because the guys was seriously tall.

"So what do you think about him?" Bathala asked Acheron. Bathala was about 6'2" so the Atlantean was a head taller than him. The only thing they had in common aside from their height was their long black hair. Bathala was casually dressed in jeans, white t-shirt and sneakers while Acheron was in his requisite ankle length leather duster, leather jeans, burgundy Doc Martens, and black T-shirt. "How did he know about me? Did you tell him?" Acheron asked the other god. "No, i haven't, and you're not answering my question. What do you think about my guy?" Bathala asked again. "He's okay, he's a nice guy and all but are you sure about this? There's nothing special about him, and I can't even sense anything preternatural abouth the kid" the Atlantean replied.

"My point exactly Atlantean"

"What the hell are you getting at, Bathala?" Then it hit Acheron, he was omniscient but he couldn't sense anything or see Rai's future. That was only supposed to happen to the people he was closest to or was to play a role in his life.

"The reason you can't sense anything is because the guy's powers are bound."

Acheron was getting confused, which wasn't a good thing. "Don't tell me we have another bound god or demon in our hands... I already have my hands full with Nick!"

"No, he's definitely not a god, my good friend, which was why I called you here."

"So what the fuck is he? And what do I have to do with this?"

"Ash, I need you because I need him trained. I just wish I can do it myself. At the very least he could be one of my warriors, a Pintado."

"And at most?"

"Ash I think he might be a Chthonian. And you're the only guy I know who's got connections in that department bud..."

"Shit!" Acheron exclaimed.

"You said it bud, I don't know what's happening but you may want to ask you're Chthonian friends about this. The last thing we need is an untrained Chthonian running around."

Ash sighed, this is going to be a handful. he can feel it to the marrow of his bones. "Okay Bathala, but you owe me for this. And you owe me big time. I just hope this doesn't get all fucked up"

"We can only hope Ash, you know we can never tell with free will" said Bathala.

"I know, and free will seriously sucks..."