Quantum Leap - Vol. 1 The Leap That Starts It All

C011 Guardian Spirit

As we neared the entrance of the settlement, I asked in general towards them, "Guys, have you ever seen a wolf shadows tall as the trees at night?" Suddenly, the brothers stumbled forward and dropped their paddles they were carrying on their shoulders while accidentally knocked a few items off their baskets.

They turned around, eyes wide as saucers and with their mouths gaped wide open. They looked at me in bewilderment for a short while when suddenly Cheng finally spoke up and asked me," You sure you saw a shadow of a wolf as tall as the trees at night? Don't you think it was some kind of shadows dancing off some lantern's light and it is part of your imagination?!?"

"Y...Yes, I saw it at a moment's glance when I came back from the common bath are last night, right after I had snuck out to relieve myself." I stammered while at the same time staring at them from one face to another.

I dreaded of thinking and saying the wrong words to them especially that I do not have the intention to reveal that I am just transmigrating into Bo's body while my original body was still back in my own time either in a comatose state or even maybe in the morgue...or worse, it might have already been laid to rest in peace six feet underground.

Ding and Eun picked up the fallen items that had rolled out from the basket; while Cheng glared at me with eyes that had gotten red either with rage or with the effects of being submerged too long in the sea.

"You do not speak of the Guardian Spirit when we are not within our settlement, alright? The forest around here have ears but if you want to find out more, meet us at the 'port' later once you had done with these goods." hissed Cheng to me in a very voice that was a total opposite that he had spoken when the first time I met him and earlier on.

"Y...Yess...I understand," I replied meekly and was intrigued to find out more about this Guardian Spirit as I hung my head in silence, acting like a town's fool while pulling the palm frond along with me with the two sacks of grains behind it.

Upon settling back and calling Ani to come and render some assistance to take a look at what we had brought back, Ani suddenly welcomed me with open arms.

She embraced me and I caught a whiff of her fragrance emitting from her skin and her hair. I could feel the warmth of her body through the thin wraparound cloth that she had on her as well as the contours of her upper body that was rather perky and was crushed against my body when she held me close to her.

What makes her do such a thing, I really do not have an answer for it right now. The only thing in my mind was enjoying the feeling of the moment. Haha.

I was a bit taken aback by her actions since this shouldn't be the way a younger sister should act with her elder brother.

Taking for granted of the current situation, I returned her with a quick hug to avoid any suspicions from her.

"Abang, did you bring back some mussels for me to cook dinner afterwards? I am sure you had your usual roasted mussels by the seaside together with the brothers."

"How many baskets were traded today? It seems you had been pulling an additional 2 more sacks of grains, which means you had more than enough harvests today, am I right?"

She asked excitedly as she peered at the palm frond that I had been pulling behind me as I handed her the basket that had a half dozen large-sized mussels in them.

"Here, there are a few pieces after we had roasted the remaining at the beach earlier for lunch," I said while pushing her the small basket that contains about five to six pieces of mussels that was as long as my palm.

She peered inside the basket and was delighted to see what I had brought for her.

"I will prepare and cook 'ginataan' later for our dinner, okay? You go and join the brothers. It seemed that they have something to discuss with you at the meeting point there."

Ahe smiled while taking the basket in her hand and hurried back home to soak the mussels in brine water at the back of the 'dirty kitchen'.

Before that, she had asked some helpers to carry the 5 sacks of grains and the helpers were happy to receive an additional 2 sacks of grains from the barter trade earlier.

The 4 baskets that were filled with tubers and other vegetables were considered as a side bonus for them as the main concern for the settlers would be grains.

There 5 sacks of grains would be able to last at least a week is used sparingly.

I watched her back as she sashayed her hips, soon disappeared behind the house where the 'dirty kitchen' was situated.

I knew that she would be inspecting the dryness of the grains and would be drying them on sarongs spread on the ground during the daytime before handing them to the ladies that would be crushing the grains to remove the husks.

I went along with the helpers to the granary that Ani was in charge of the inventory and storage of all the perishable goods.

A few moments later Ani appeared at the granary and was wiping her wet hands on the edge of her 'sarong'.

At this moment I can't refer her 'sarong' that she was wearing but rather a wrap-around skirt that covered the top of her ample breasts to her knees.

The helpers were busying themselves to sort out the items from the baskets into a circular woven tray that Ani would be held responsible to distribute evenly amongst the settlers of the settlement as well as to set aside for the maids of the Chief to come later and gather it for their use.

This was the first and only time when I had entered the granary on my own and I saw that there were plenty of sacks of grains neatly stacked on a wooden platform.

There were a few cats stationed inside the granary and these cats were assigned to get rid of mice and other vermin lurking around at night.

There were strings of dried Spanish Mackerel and Chad strung up high in the centre of the granary near the rafters and there was no way any mice or rat would be able to reach the strings as there was a type of large circular winnowing basket that shielded the pieces of dried fish from being raided by those vermin.

Since there were 12 households altogether in the settlement, 13 woven trays were also displayed on a wooden table, one of it belonging to the Chief's; for the even distribution of an assortment of food.

There were quite a number of sacks of crushed grains placed aside on wooden pallets that had been pounded and winnowed by the other women in the courtyard as well as another stack of readied pounded grains to be hand-milled and then made into bread.

After settling the matters at the granary along with the rest of the helpers, I made a beeline straight to the brothers.

The moment I get there I heard Cheng called out to me and remarked, "Let's discuss the matter just now once you're done," as he made eye contact with me and gesturing his head towards the port.

One of the brothers was carrying a tray with several cups and a pitcher that had been stored in a cool place. I am very sure that the liquid inside the pitcher would contain something that would be very intoxicating.

I made my way to the clothesline at the side of the house, removed my top and hang it on the clothesline, picked up the 'sarong' that was meant to be used as a shower cloth and towel.

I wrapped myself up and removed the pants since it would be the most appropriate dress to wear that evening.

After I had completed the initial task of dressing just like the men over at the port, I went straight to them and greeted.

I sat myself down on the tatami mat under the canopy of the tree and eyed them with anticipation.

"So... What do you want to know about the Guardian Spirit?" asked Cheng while he casually took some tobacco and place them into the dried ears of the corn before rolling it up; placing it to his lips and used a smoking end of a burning stick to light it.

He took a deep breath and after he had inhaled the potent piece of rolled-up tobacco, he looked at me with anticipation.

Soon the sweet scent of tobacco wafted through the air and Cheng blew the smoke out from the sides of his mouth and his nostrils. The others also followed suit as they rolled the tobacco and smoked as well.

"I'm not sure if I had brought this subject up before but I wanted to know about the Guardian Spirit that you mentioned before, also about how and why was it called a Guardian Spirit and is it so secretive that it couldn't be discussed outside of this place?"

I started off with carefully chosen words so as not to raise suspicions among them.

Ding pulled long on his rolled tobacco and blew the smoke upright into the air with confidence before he spoke in a low voice,

"The Guardian Spirit protects this settlement and only for this settlement only. It protects the settlement from any harm or danger that may come about to its residents here, just like you and me," he replied while explaining the reason in detail.

"The Guardian Spirit is of no known whereabouts and it only comes out when it sensed danger or when the moon is full just like last night," said Eun.

"Other residents from other settlements did report some missing babies from their cradles in the middle of the night but then it was regarded as hearsay since the culprit was not discovered even until this day," said Ding while spreading his hands.

"Some said that the Guardian Spirit was once a human that was cursed by a witch a long time ago but no one knows whether it's the truth or not and the shadows would only be seen by people having the third eye."

"What we know is the Guardian Spirit does not harm anyone but would stand and fight if it detected any kind of threat to the settlers here," added Cheng while he took a long pull from his rolled-up cigarette.

"Having a third eye?", I queried to Cheng." Yes, a third eye is meant for someone who had unveiled an unseeing eye on his or her second chakra point."

Cheng explained while looking at me with an interesting look. "You don't seem to accidentally awaken your third eye, do you?" asked Eun while he turned to look at me.

"E... Errrr, third eye? Second chakra point?" I asked them in bewilderment as I had no known knowledge of these matters mentioned by them.

"A third eye enables one to see things that we humans don't normally be able to see. The third eye enables one to see spirits and ghosts or any other supernatural things out there."

"So in the meantime, others like us would not be able to see these sea entities but those with the third eye could see them clearly."

"Also these chakra points are circular vortexes that are placed in different points of the body that are possible to disturb the life energy such as your Qi, "

Cheng slowly to ensure that I understand these points. Since I was the town's i***t, I acted perfectly like one and nodded my head in acknowledgement.

"If your parents are still alive, they probably could tell you more about the chakra points and the third eye."

"However, you should know that your late parents were the pioneers in mastering and channelling their Qi energies when they first settled here." said Ding as he mentioned of my 'late parents' from his slight but noticeable part of his memory.

"Only when a person that has the third eye and Opening Qi would be able to communicate with the Guardian Spirit," explained Cheng while he stubbed his finished rolled tobacco into the ground beside him.

The pitcher that was brought to the port was poured out into 3 cups and I was wondering where the 4th cup would be.

A clear liquid was poured out and I could smell the pungent sweet smell of thick homemade liquor emanates from the cups.

"This is pure homemade grog! Its better than ale or cider and if I'm not mistaken, this grog is tapped from palm trees.

They are more potent and a cup could knock a bear out, literally. I had once tasted it when I was in Thailand while on active duty back in the military but the grog over there had been diluted.

But still, a few cups could easily knock someone off...!"

I thought to myself and I wished I was offered some while the brothers knocked back their cups and drained the whole contents from the pitcher.

I instinctively held the pitcher close to me and discovered not a single drop remained and I had a rather smug face on me.

"Enough of this educational talk eh? I want to go and wash up... Who wants to join me?" remarked Eun as he began to raise himself.

"Wait up..... Me too," replied Cheng and Ding while they too stood up and walks along with Eun.

"Aren't you coming along?" asked Cheng as he adjusted his 'sarong' and walked towards the common well.

"Yeah... Coming..." I replied as I too stood up, carried my 'sarong' for showering and hurriedly walked along with them.

I wondered to myself whether I would be able to see the Guardian Spirit later tonight..."

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