A woman knelt in front of the altar, weeping profusely. To a casual onlooker, it would appear like she was just kneeling. But when you came closer, you would notice the slight trembles that resulted from prolonged weeping. She made no sounds for the source of her tears stemmed from profound pain and overwhelming sadness. So that all she could do was to part her lips, but no words came out.
Her jet-black mane of hair was unruly and her pale skin was doused with sweat. She looked like the average common woman of Ikigayo, probably crying to the heavens because of a rebellious child or an estranged husband. But when she lifted her arms, her tattoo was visible and shone with a light that belonged to only royals. The crest of the people. This was no commoner. It was Queen Ligaya, formerly Princess Ligaya barely a fortnight ago. What could have brought the Queen of the land to her knees?
Princess Ligaya jerked when a hand touched her. She turned terrified eyes to the apparition and found her trusty right-hand man, Zaro.
“You’ve been here too long, Ligaya. Let’s go back home.”
Princess Ligaya had forbidden Zaro to use honorifics with her. For some reason, hearing someone call her by her name kept her sane. Safe.
“I can’t leave Zaro. The heavens have forsaken me. They have forsaken our people and I need to appease them.”
“But you’ve been here all day. The sun is about to set. And we don’t want to be here when they arrive.”
“But why? Why should we run? This is our land. They are the outsiders. We shouldn’t be the one running.”
Zaro cast a worried look at the sky. It was getting dark and they urgently had to leave. He bent down to his queen and only friend.
“Ligaya, I promise you we’ll find a way. I would personally go to the ends of the earth to find a solution on how to rescue our people. But for now, you need to come with me.”
Princess Ligaya stared into the imploring eyes of her friend and stood up in a daze. She felt calm momentarily. They will find a way.
But as Princess Ligaya sat in her room, she wondered how it had gotten so bad. This group of people came one day with a device that was said to bring “happy thoughts” to people. Her father, the late king of Ikigayo tried it first and according to him, he had been transported to the time of his happiest moments. Which were times her mother was alive. Her father had never been so happy. So he permitted the strange people to use the device on the citizens. And they were all happy, having happy thoughts all the time.
But trouble arose when the people became sadder more and more each day contrary to what was expected. Apparently, the strange people filled them with thoughts of their happy past. Past that could never be gotten. And so left them sad when the device left their heads. They controlled them so deeply till the people were lost. They were like zombies. They had lost all sense of who they were. And her father, who was aged didn’t survive it.
She didn’t know about any of these as she was always wandering far in the mountains. Till Zaro sent a message on the disaster that had struck. By the time she could make it home, her father had already been buried and she was immediately crowned Queen and ruler of Ikigayo, with no time to mourn his.
Now, it was up to her to save her lost people. The strange men now paraded the kingdom every night, giving them a taste of what they couldn’t have, for a price, and then taking it away. Somehow she had to make them remember who they were. Recall who they were as a people. Dressed in her mountain clothes and with black marks of war on her face, Princess Ligaya went back to the temple.
She knelt in front of the altar and cried and wailed at the top of her voice. Then, as something dawned on her, she began to dance the dance of her people. The dance of the heavens. Drums began to play from nowhere and she turned to find Zaro drumming. He smiled encouragingly at her and mouthed. “Let’s save our people.”
Princess Ligaya beamed and began to dance. And as the sound of the drums increased in tempo, she danced and stamped her feet and swayed Soon she begun singing and with tears streaming down her face, prayed in her heart that her song filtered into the ears of her people and broke the clutches of the device on them. That they would recall who they were.
With her eyes still shut tight as she danced for more than an hour, she didn’t notice that she was no longer dancing alone. Then she heard the voices and opened her eyes to meet the smiling, teary faces of a few people. She looked into the dark and found more people coming.
So together with the people of Ikigayo, Princess Ligaya danced and thanked the heavens that her people were finally free. They danced deep into the night. But as dawn came, they stopped. And together, they plotted ways to fight back. And to revenge.
