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TIKBALANG
An untrusting skittishness is
prevalent among the communites surrounding the
mountainous regions of the King Filipinas archipelago.
The skewed, furtive glances exchanged when family
members ask to be accompanied somewhere are
a habit formed from fear of the Tikbalang. Often
eerily mimicking the appearance of victims'
relatives, this forest spirit will lead lone
people out to the heavily wooded depths of the
mountain ranges, occasionally breaking the increasingly
uncomfortable silence with short bursts of reassurement,
and stilted gratitude for the assistance. The
suddenly pungent aroma of tobacco and drunken
swaying motion adopted by the false family member
is noticed before their face blurs into something
that resembles more that of a horse's than a
human's. Delirious town folk who have stumbled
their way into town after long absences tell
of how this apparation pushed and slapped them,
often knocking them over and not allowing them
to right themselves; all the while shaking with
nervous, childish giggling. People say that
the cessation of resistance or protest will
suddenly lead a victim to find themselves alone
in the woods, plunged into darkness; the sun
long set. The path home, recalled by the few
who return after a disappearance, is hampered
by a severe sense of disorientation and a forest
that seems to curl in on itself repeatedly.
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