by Daniel C. De Guzman

Yohan met Santino on a bus bound west of the city on the last day of their school year. That time, Yohan’s body was aching to finally have its much-coveted break after the monthly mental torture he endured just to get good grades all for the sake of barely maintaining his scholarship for one more year. His mind was riddled with too many concerns that made him realize that the vacation that was about to start would leave him exhausted yet again.

Remembering the plans of his A-list classmates for this upcoming break didn’t help him that much either. All he heard from them was that they would enroll themselves in short courses to learn new skills that would come in handy both for the academic and professional world. Some will even attend tutorial classes all throughout their vacation so that they would get ahead. These burned like hot rods inside Yohan’s mind as he began to feel the overwhelming pressure of his soon-to-be senior year in college. So instead of binge-watching his favorite shows or going for an out-of-town escapade, he decided with a long, heavy, and exhausted sigh to spend the vacation by squeezing the last of his brain juice for the next couple of months.

Marco Mañalac is a lover of fantasy and science fiction, a fanboy of combat sports and professional wrestling, and a self-diagnosed stranger to the real world. With more than ten years of corporate experience in Marketing and Public Relations, he is now trying to resurrect his long-gone creative juices by playing video games, reviewing comic books, and starting his own Dungeons & Dragons campaign. When he needs to clear his mind, he is usually boxing or sidelining as a Ring Announcer for fights. He also cosplays every now and then when he’s in a particularly good mood. “THE HISTORY OF THE END OF THE WORLD BY THE LEAGUE OF RESEARCHERS” is his first published short story and our featured story for March, and he happily shares with us his journey.

Where did the story idea for THE HISTORY OF THE END OF THE WORLD BY THE LEAGUE OF RESEARCHERS come from?

by Marco Mañalac

League of Human Researchers Official Journal, Entry #27, Day 2 of the Age of Wyrms, by Thanakros Zyus

They literally came from the skies. One might think of me as stating the obvious with that, but what I exactly mean by saying that is that they are definitely not of this world. 

Now, our human race is no stranger to the wonders of creation, and in fact, we may have gotten quite used to the surprises of the unknown. Too many times have we seen magic that can freeze seas, burn the skies, or conjure new life. We have seen beasts evolve into beings wiser and smarter than ourselves. We have also seen humans mutate into mindless demons. We have seen angels descend from the skies, and witnessed devils emerge from the ground. And it has all been recorded by this proud lineage of researchers. 

We continue to ensure this tradition of recording and transcribing is passed on from generation to generation. Every researcher, as part of their sworn oath, must choose a successor from their own family, whether it be a son, a daughter, a nephew, or a niece. They may pass it on to a sibling, or to a wife, anybody really, as long as they carry the researcher’s blood. As we all know, storytelling is magic in itself.

But this story I am telling may take a dark turn, soon.

Keith Sicat is an independent filmmaker and creator of the comic book “OFW: Outerspace Filipino  Workers”. His films have screened internationally, including venues such as the Museum of  Modern Art in New York City and the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, DC. Notable works include award-winners “Rigodon”, “Woman of the Ruins”, and “Alimuom”. Also working in  animation, he was the script consultant for the first 3D CG animated feature in the Philippines “RPG: Metanoia” and helped develop the first Japanese-Filipino anime co-production “Barangay 143” with TV Asahi that is on NETFLIX. He is currently serving as the Head of Membership of the Directors’ Guild in the Philippines, Inc. (DGPI). 

He talks about our featured story for February  “EWA AND THE SONG FROM A DISTANT STAR” , which is set in the same universe as his Sci-Fi film  ALIMUOM and the Sci-Fi Adventure comic book series OFW- Outerspace Filipino Workers, and which is also his first published short story.

by Keith Sicat

Illustration credits: Layout: Keith Sicat; Line Art: Ydunn Lopez; Colors: Jose Abantao, Jr.

Slender, spider-like fingers clutch at Ewa’s trembling womb. The musty odor of fright mingles with the salty aggression whirling about her, forcing her to take rapid sips of air.  Scanning the snarling mouths of these women camouflaged beneath a layer of dried purple mud and chalky white warpaint, Ewa looks for any sign of her companion in this cavernous dome of leather hide, but he is nowhere to be found.  It is only she in the sea of the savage faces of her captors.

The drumming in her chest muffles all the other sounds she tries to focus on. The tall one standing over her hides her eyes behind the spade-like skull of one of the endemic beasts of this world, her full lips and long, sinewy form suggests an other-worldly beauty.  The bone mask covering her face resembles an infant version of the massive beast that attacked Ewa and her surviving crewmates after the crash many moons ago– this skyscraper-sized monster that emerged from the ground swallowing their ruined ship as it rose to the sky.  The bulk of its body blended serpent and whale lined with an armored hide revealing pustules on its flanks that would inflate granting the beast flight,  its thousand tendril-tongue working in unison to ensnare its prey before guiding it into the maw between its bifurcated mandible.  It is this world’s version of a bakunawa, the mythological dragon that swallows the moon.