Prologue

The scenery overlooking Verde Rice Fields had degraded into a thousand pixels.

Tala could only stand and watch as the once vibrant and vivid view of the Angat mountain ranges continued to be overtaken by some kind of dark mist or shadow. This darkening was not the beginning of twilight or dusk, she realized. The shroud was simply too dense and heavy, especially when it came to the way that they crept and crawled up and down its slopes.

Everything it touched turned black and grey, all life being drained from every tree, flower, and blade of grass. Animals that were infected grew gruesome and grotesque, extra limbs or horns mutating out of their bodies, eyes bleached a burning red. It all seemed wrong.

As she turned and sprinted the opposite direction, deep voice rang throughout Tala's mind, drawing her attention away from the encroaching darkness.

"Tala," it said.

"Sir Joseph, something's wrong. There's some kind of plague spreading."

"I know. They're trying to take over everything."

"They? Who's they?"

"There's no time. They've locked everything down. You're going to have to find a portal to get out of that area before you're infected."

"What about the others?" Tala said, her lips trembling as she spoke.

Silence filled the air for a brief moment—one that wasn't brief enough to keep a knot from forming in her gut. She swallowed as she waited for a reply, the voice on the other line releasing a long sigh before finally speaking.

"I'm afraid I can't get in touch with the others. You're likely the only one left. Hurry. There's a Balete tree a few kilometers ahead, past the rice fields."

Tala felt the knot in her belly begin to grow, and then spread throughout her body. She felt her limbs grow stiff, her jaw rattle, her hands shake. "I—I can't... I don't think I can..."

"You can make it," the voice in her head insisted. "Go!"

Tala pushed broke into a sprint, despite feeling like her lower half was submerged in water. Nevertheless, Tala continued to drag her feet forward, her breath short and sharp even from moving only a couple of meters. Right above her she saw clouds blur, sunlight scatter and slip. Darkness and shadows thrust their way towards her from the mountains, like flames licking at her heels.

"Found you, Tala!" a raspy voice emerge from within the darkness. It was coupled with a figure that barely she recognized.

"Azazel?"

The cloaked figure licked his lips as he rode the wave of darkness. He cackled and reached a hand out, his fingers nearly touching the skirts of Tala's robes. "No need to be scared, Tala. We'll take good care of you." Another wave of cackling left his lungs as he seemingly pulled the darkness behind him over the entire valley—like a cape rooted around his neck.

"Eek! No!" Tala shrieked, running as fast as her feet could take her. She made the shape of an "L" with her right hand and swiped her arm upward.

The gesture did nothing.

"What's happening?" she cried, tears now flowing out the corner of her eyes.

She repeated the gesture, swiping her L-shaped hand upwards over and over—at least ten times.

Still again.

"Damn it! Why, god? Why?"

She put down her arm and focused forward. Even without looking back she could sense the darkness sweeping through the rest of the valley behind her, taking over the fields and those that worked them. She thought she could almost hear Azazel's breathing right next to her ear.

She could feel the sickness begin to take over her mind, her thoughts growing hazy with every second, many questions beginning to arise: "Who am I? What am I doing?"

Still, she fought on, and forced her way forward. Every step further from the shadow brought more clarity and brightness. Just as began to pull away, the shroud of shadows surrounding the fallen angel suddenly grew limbs and tentacles that stretched out to try and grab her.

"It's useless, Tala," Azazel said. "Stop running!"

Tala screamed, and then whispered a word between breaths, "Salimbay!"

Just as the name of the wind's final syllable left her lips, she felt the weight at her ankles ease, and her body begin to float. She pitched her entire body forward, and found herself doubling, tripling in speed as she raced through the rice fields.

Her breathing steadied somewhat the more distance she put between herself and the shadow. A few seconds later, she found the balete tree her superior had mentioned, sitting along in a clearing, a stone arc and pathway leading to its heart.

Tala planted her feet on the stone path and broke into a brisk walk, her cherry skirt flowing and fluttering beneath her as she tugged on the sleeves of her silver robe. All around her, wild lantana and peanut grass filled the ground outside the reach of the balete's branches.

She arrived at the tree seconds later, and circled around its base in search of the opening that led to its hollow core. Stilt roots dangled from its upper branches, forming a curtain around doorway that led to the inner chamber.

Tala reached out to touch the door, its surface marked in old Baybayin runes that held the key to opening the chamber. Having used many similar portals around the continent before, Tala read the runes aloud is a calm and steady tone.

"Ngayon at noon, dito at doon, umuwi tayo't magtipon."

At that moment the grooves that marked the door's outline began to brighten and burn. Feeling a chill run down her spine, Tala glanced behind her and saw the swathes of darkness covering the entire landscape behind her, now creeping over the wildflowers and grass—like a virus infecting all of space.

She shrieked and pushed the doorway open, a flood of light burning through. It wasn't enough to divert her attention, though, and she fell forward, into the doorway—her body quickly dissolving into a thousand tiny pixels.

The infection was inches only inches away before she she'd completely disappeared into the ether. But even in her absence it continued to thrive, sweeping across every acre of the fields and forests before it moved on and covered the oceans and streams, the mountains and ravines.

In a matter of seconds it had enveloped the continent of Hiraya, before moving on to embrace the entire world.

And there, within the in-between, before she'd later materialize at her last safe space, Tala found herself staring at the very world she'd been helping to create for months now—currently being altered and rewritten as she zipped through.

"Oh dear God," she said. "Not like this... Not like this."