One year after.

There was something wrong in the way everything went on smoothly after a year of Four being a spy. We knew Phoenicia's plans, and we prepared the best counterattack for it. But what I don't get is how they weren't suspicious of anything.

"There's a possibility that Phoenicia knows our plans," saad ko habang nakatingin sa outline ng plano namin. Isang malaking mapa ang nakalatag sa mesa, at may mga simbolo at miniature para maging guide sa counterattack namin.

"Maaaring ginugulo niya lang ang isip natin, hinahayaan na maniwala tayo sa plano nila." They looked at me with utmost confusion. Tinuro ko naman ang mga parte ng mapa na walang mga troops, either from our side or Phoenicia's.

"Isn't it strange? These four parts have no troops, yet it all leads to the Phoenix Well— where most Phoenices reside."

"Are you saying that Four is fooling us?" gigil na namang tanong ni Ezekiel sa'kin. Napangisi naman ako, sabay kibit-balikat.

"People become fools not because someone is fooling them. They become fools because they are blind or they choose to become one. Tama ba ako, 'Pa?"

He looked at us, and shrugged like I did. He sighed loudly as he put his hand above the map. White and silver mists fell from his hand to the top of the miniatures, then some turned to white mists, too. But some became frozen with ice.

"This is just my assumption," he said. "It may be true that Four is giving us misleads; or Phoenicia intents to mislead us by her fake plans."

"If Phoenicia plans to use Four's power, then they will surely be in the Phoenix Well." Papa put miniatures of the opposing side in the well. "Surely the strongest Phoenices and Vampires will be protecting them."

"Then there will be a change of plans?" tanong ni Adara. "Hindi na tayo rito magbabantay sa—"

"No. You will still have your counterattacks by the original plan. Only Ezekiel and Zero will be placed for the Phoenix Well."

"Pero akala ko po ba'y naroon ang pinakamalalakas. Bakit sila lang kung gan'on?" asked Andrix, fixing his glasses time to time.

"I will inform the other creators of our new plan. Lucifer, Red, Alpha, and Eris will be with us, and comrades of their choice," paliwanag ni Papa habang mariin ang tingin sa mapa. Then, he looked up to the others. "For now, your objective is a counterattack and above all, protect mankind."

"Is it clear?" Tumango naman ang lahat, ngunit nanatili lang akong nakatingin sa mapa. If I had not noticed it. We're doomed. But I know for a fact that if I didn't, somebody else will.

Tinapik ni Papa ang balikat ko at hinila ako palabas ng cabin. "Come with me, child."

"I'm not a child."

"Yeah, sure. Sabi mo, eh." Then, he made a water hurricane in front of us. Napasapo na naman ako sa noo ko dahil alam ko na kung anong mangyayari. This water hurricane will serve as a portal for us to teleport.

That's good, but the bad thing is, mababasa na naman ako. Hindi naman ako shokoy katulad ng ama ko.

"H'wag kang maarte, bata. Makikiride ka na nga lang, eh," suway niya agad sa'kin, gayunpamang hindi pa ako nagrereklamo.

I huffed with my disgusted face. "Boomer. Bakit kasi hindi astig ang pang-teleport mo?"

"Why don't you teleport yourself, kid?"

"Hindi ko naman alam kung s'an pupunta."

"Exactly," mariin niyang sagot sa'kin. Sa loob loob, tawang-tawa na ako dahil mukhang pikon na pikon na si Papa. I put my hands up and smirked at him. Labag man sa loob ko, pumasok na ako sa loob ng water hurricane. Sumunod na rin si Papa.

In a blink of an eye, the water hurricane evaporated to a cloud. Kaagad akong napapikit nang may mga patak o splash ng tubig na napapunta sa'kin. Our surroundings changed and I realized we were at the realm of demons— Hell.

Nanlamig ako kaagad. Hell here isn't full of fire. It was icy, and cold as heck. Halos pumunta na ako sa likod ni Papa— syempre hindi ko ginawa 'yon kasi sasabihan niya ako ng "aNo kA? BabY?"

"Seraphin. Zero," Lady Sinclair greeted. Napatingin naman ako sa kaniya, ngunit napansin kong kakaiba ang awra niya ngayon. Nanlamig ako sa pagtingin lang sa kaniya. She seemed so serious, pero sabagay— nakikita ko lang naman siyang somehow approachable kapag kasama si Red.

Napatingin naman ako sa likod niya kung s'an naroon si Lucifer, the angel. His eyes were very wary of the surroundings. Kung sabagay, he is an angel. He shouldn't be here— not that he can't, but this is clearly opposite of what he is.

"What brings you two here?" tanong ni Alpha na nasa likod na pala namin.

"Ikaw ang what brings you here, Alpha. D'on ka na sa mate mo—"

"Shut up, Seraphin," pagputol agad ni Alpha kay Papa. Napatingin siya sa'kin at kaagad namang huminahon ang hitsura. The corners of his lips lifted a bit, and he patted my shoulder the moment he got close. Hindi ko alam kung bakit tila nakaramdam ako ng kaba sa kaniya. His eyes and pat told me he was somehow worry of me— but why would he be?

"There will be a change of plan," panimula ni Papa. With his magic, he formed the same map and figures that we had in the headquarters. Kita kong napataas ang kilay ni Sinclair. She took steps closer to us, and some demons behind her did so, too. Not until she hushed them, calming the demons down and ordered them to go farther. Napansin kong naging tensyonado si Lucifer nang makalapit kanina ang mga demonyo.

"Where's Red?" tanong ni Papa bigla. "Kailangan niyang malaman 'to." Wala namang sumagot sa kanila, kaya't malamang ay hindi rin nila alam kung nas'an siya. "Naglayas na naman?"

"Lately, he has been running errands on his own," Lucifer said. "He refuses to tell us anything of what he is doing. But I assume…" he stopped, as if he was teasing us into the climax of the story.

"Ano 'yon, Lucifer?" mariing tanong ni Alpha. Sinclair narrowed her eyes, then widened it as if she realized what Red was doing.

"He's travelling to other realms?" Nang sambitin niya 'yon, kahit ako'y halos manlaki rin ang mata. Travelling to other realms?

Kaagad naman niyang tinakpan ang bibig niya. Then, I realized that Phoenicia might hear us. Tinaas ni Papa ang kamay niya at bumuo ng water barrier sa paligid namin.

"You can speak freely now," he said.

"I heard him mutter about a world named Aerilon and Summerland. Apparently, one of the mentioned worlds may be the one where the portal leads to," Lucifer explained. "He may have an ability that allows him to travel from here to one separate realm from us."

"Nagkataon lang na magkaka-konekta ang mga realms nating lima. The Realm of Angels, Demons, Sun, Earth, and Moon. The universe is vast, so there might be more interconnected paths that leads to other realms that we do not know of. Hindi lang natin alam, maaaring may mundo palang makakatulong sa'ting talunin si Phoenicia. At sa tingin ko'y 'yon ang ginagawa ni Red."

"B-but how come? Paano naman siya nagkaroon ng abilidad na gan'on?" Sinclair asked.

"The sun is where our realms revolve, Sinclair. The sun may be the one to see what lies beyond us," Father implied. "But he does not speak of it with us because he does not know the consequences of his actions. Travelling to other realms may bring danger to his body– especially when there is a difference between the time and space. He's risking his own life."

"Phoenicia…" mahinang sambit ko ngunit narinig din nila 'yon. I sighed and looked down at the map. "Why is she so powerful? What makes her so special and more powerful from you? Hindi ba't kayo ang gumawa sa kaniya? Kung ga'yon, paanong mas naging mas malak—"

Lucifer answered, "Because she coexists with life and death. When she reaches the limit of her power, she can always be reborn again. Unlike us—" a pause. "Once we reach our limits, we may vanish and never be reincarnated again."

"But why?" I asked again. "You are the creators. Hindi naman pwedeng mawala kayo… hindi ba?"

"Not really, Zero." This time, Sinclair answered. "Our purpose is only to create. The others were born to destroy, like Phoenicia. You see, everyone has a purpose. Now that we're done creating the realms, we have no purpose anymore. We only choose to protect what we have."

"We can just leave these realms alone, and let it be destroy. But we chose to live on to protect people like you, Zero. We chose to live on to protect the future."

"Kahit kami rin naman nagtataka. Bakit ba hindi namin matalo-talo ang ibon na 'yan? Ibon lang naman 'yan, eh," singit ni Papa. I scoffed at him in disbelief. Then, the others slowly started laughing.

"I wonder why, too," Lucifer murmured while chuckling.

"What did I miss?" Sabay-sabay naman kaming napatingin sa taas nang marinig namin ang boses ni Red. He smirked and jumped from outside the water barrier to us.

"Where have you been?" tanong ni Sinclair gamit ang nanlalamig na boses.

Red chuckled and shrugged. "Sa tabi-tabi. Naghahanap ng paraan para matapos na ang lahat. Aaaand guess what?"

My eyebrow raised. He seemed to be excited, as if he already knows how to end this all. The corner of his lips lifted more, but surprisingly, a tear fell from his eye.

"I finally found a way," he said before he suddenly passed out, leaving everyone in complete shock.

The Zero Curse
By lostmortals
Plagiarism is a crime.

Sabi ko sainyo, eh. Hindi lang 'to para sa The Orphic Secret. Damay na rin dito ang Phoenix Acad. hahahahha.

Thank you for reading!