She was calling me back.

I’ve tried to invent enough alibis so I could go back to my work, my personal projects, product presentations and back to watching Wowowee. But her appeal was so persistent and I had to regard her pleas even if had to spend my lunch money to go online.

And so, that is why on the Solstice of 2010 of the Third Age, or 1020 by Shire Reckoning when I decided to heed the call of Taborea.

Wordpress - Heroes of Taborea

 

 

Crossing Over To The Light

I proceeded to set foot on this “café” that would usher me into the otherworldly realm of Taborea. This tavern was just like many in this agora-like complex which the Jaguar Men (GuarJa) refer to as the “mall” – palisades of glass and shimmering displays of text and images made up of light. I managed a fleeting glance at one of these hallowed writings. They had archaic inscriptions like Facebook, Twitter and Friendster. They must have been the venerated manuscripts of some antediluvian race who were all washed away when the Great Flood God Ondoy submerged the world.

As I drew close to this modernistic alehouse’s maître d’, I greeted her in Quenyan Elvish, “Maayong Aga, Mistress Netopia! A star shines on the hour of our meeting! In behalf of the Mage Knights of The Blackstone Kinfolk, I pay homage to you on this most transcendent and splendorous day!”

The hostess faced me, brushed the twilight-black hair from her brow and addressed me in a virtuous timbre, “”Ser, mag-e-enternet ba kayo?”

Impertinent kalurkey wench! I turned a blind ear at her feeble verbal stabs of insolence at my class (Mage – Knight) and level (three weeks at Level 10). Though she has wreaked a heathenish transgression, I purposed in my heart to exculpate the sins of this heretical Jezebel.

I arose to heed my calling and return to Varanas. And as I was about to be consumed by the portal radiance that would convey my spiritual essence back into the grandiose Guild Hall of the Empire, the vamp asked me again, “Ser, open time ba kayo?” 


My Life in Taborea – Runes of MagicThe funniest home videos are here

  

 I Left My Heart in Varanas

I am utterly vexed by all these teleporting sorcery!

I must make manifest my disdain of not growing acclimated to its alacrity and its ability to reconstitute the very minute molecules of my being. Thus, after every inter-dimensional journey, I need to have a barf bag in order to disgorge the contents of my viscera and not defile the verdant palace gardens of the kingdom. After regaining my poise and composure, I paid 10 Taborean quids to Snoop The Stubborn Dog.

The hallowed halls of Varanas have not changed since the last time I ventured. The elegant grand waterfalls still greet me at the entrance. I take time to relish in its coolness which brings refreshment to both body and soul. I did the same ritual back home when I basked in a shower from a busted fire hydrant in Manila when I was but a youngling many countless eons in the primeval ages of yore (about 40 years ago). But these are enigmatical times, and I soon was off to my meeting at the Guild Hall. But when I turned to make my way to one of its august corridors, I came face to face with an “acquaintance”.

“QiGonJoni. It’s really you – in the flesh. Or should I say – in the fat.”

“Galadria?,” I quipped. “You’re following me.”

“Just a little bit. So, umm, how did it go with that Priestess you met in Ravenfell?”

“Galadria – look. I’m not blowing you off,” I said. “I just need some time off alone for a little bit. I have a lot of things in my mind right now. Like, umm, saving Taborea from total obliteration, that kind of stuff.”

“You’re in love with her, aren’t you!? Say it! Say it!!”

Wordpress - Talentadong Taborean

As a knight, she has always been direct to the point. We both share this trait as knights who see only black and white in every situation. We also both believe that the best way to conquer an enemy is a head-long rush. From the very start, Galadria and I have shared many similar qualities which have drawn us both to pursue our calling as knights of the Empire. The truth is that it isn’t just these external attributes or talents that have brought us closer together in the days of peace and the duskiness of war. It is much more than mutual professional admiration. The bonds are of a more intimate nature – the same bonds that now strain our relationship and our profession.

“I’m sorry,” she whispers. “I freaked out. It’s just that I feel that I just missed an audition and you made me feel bad because you didn’t invite me to your party.”

I walk closer to her, our faces almost touching. I look directly into her crystal blue eyes partly hidden by her soft blonde tresses. “You’ll always be in my party, Galadria. Nothing and no one can change that.”

In all our encounters with wild beasts, monsters, elementals and goblins, I have never seen her emotions evident. She maintained a professional stature that I can barely emulate. And yet, at that moment, I swore I saw a glistening tear form in her eye which she quickly wiped off and dismissed like dry sand from Dust Devil Canyon. Galadria bid me goodbye as she left northward to the Obsidian Bastion. I wanted to go with her for that patch of terra incognita was filled with horrors and perils that no knight should have to face alone. But my duty to the Empire far outweighs what my heart desires.

She was right though. My heart was still there – but it belonged to someone else.

 Wordpress - PVP Battle

 

Many Meetings

The Guild Hall was already filled with a council of selected combatants along with a congregation of fellow mages from the Vahtos Academy who serve as monitors for this urgent meeting. Everyone is standing (some mages prefer to levitate) in a semi-circle around a stone pedestal with a map of the Empire.Leoric, a Templar addresses our group.

“Strangers from distant lands, friends of old, honored delegates from the Northern Drylands –“

Wen, manong!” a voice behind me shouts in Sindarin Elvish (I think).

“You have been summoned here to answer the threat of the Dark Lord,” Leoric continues. “Taborea stands upon the brink of destruction. None can escape it. We will unite or we will fall. Each one of us is bound to this fate — this one doom.”

“Templar, how do we know this to be undeniable?” asks Pistrix.

“Stay your disbelief, mistress rogue,” I barge in. “Leoric speaks the truth. I have seen the Dark Lord himself – face to face, eye to eye – through the all-seeing, all knowing YouTube cinematic orb.”

Wulfsturm, a veteran berserker, steps forward. “And what would a mage-knight know of this matter?”

“This no mere wizard, barbarian.” From across the wide hall and the vermilion carpeted floor, a soft yet impaling voice pierces the walls of the meeting place. “He is Lord QiGonJoni, son of Anzures, kindred of the Aristorenas. You owe him your allegiance.” The crowd turns to the voice to reveal an elegantly-robed priestess.

“And what if Wulfsturm does not bow down to this mage-knight from the north, preacher!?”

The female cleric’s eyes gaze at the warrior, her pale skin and silver hair attest to her Elven Island ancestry. “Then, he shall make sure to delete your character in the selection menu as if you never existed.”

“Good point.” Wulfsturm disappears behind a contingent of sentries.

I turn to the priestess. I try to calm her seething rage with words of wisdom filled with assurance. “Freja, buen aqui todits.” She obliges and stands by my side, her long lustrous hair cascading like water from the Ystra Highlands. Until the very last minutes of the meeting, she stood by my side. She was silent. Yet our unspoken words were more eloquent, more consequential than what mere lips could ever say.

 Wordpress - Horizontal - Mage Knight Duality - JPG

 
The Guild is Forged

“It is thus settled,” Leoric pounds the gavel in concurring the decision of our hastily-assembled conclave. “We have only one choice – to save Taborea, the Dark Lord must be destroyed.”

“What are we waiting for?” Pistrix inquires. “I can summon my kin from the Al Qaeda Guild and they can manufacture for us a most ingenious exploding IED which we may be able to consign to the Dark Lord’s address. And as he opens the coffer, the device will be commanded to explode and conflagrate sending his most evilness to the next life or whatever hell or lake of fire he deserves to spend his lifeless eternity.”

Freja steps forward. “The Dark Lord cannot be destroyed in yon fashion, Pistrix, daughter of Asterix, boo of Obelix. The Dark Lord’s power was forged in the fires of the dark lands. Only there can he be unmade. You must go deep into his realm and cast the Dark Lord back into the fiery chasm from whence he came.”

Wulfsturm scoffs at Freja’s declaration. “One does not simply walk into the lair of the Dark Lord. Its black chasms and gates are guarded by more than just ogres, behemoths and hellions. There is evil there that does not sleep. It is a barren wasteland, riddled with fire and ash and dust. The very air you breathe is a poisonous fume (enunciated ala Boromir). Not with ten thousand knights, mages, priests, scouts, rogues or warriors with ten thousand lives could this be done. Wulfsturm says it is folly! It is more than folly – it is suicide!

Morrigan paces halfway across the hall to confront the berserker. “Have you heard nothing Lord Leoric has said? The Dark Lord must be destroyed!”

Wulfsturm flexes his muscles, eclipsing the female archer. “And Wulfsturm supposes you think you’re the one to do it, ranger!?”

“And if we fail, what then?!” adds Pistrix. “What happens when the Dark Lord decides to come after our own lands – beyond Taborea?!”

Morrigan turns to face Pistrix. “I will be dead before I see Taborea in the hands of a thievish rogue!”

Suddenly, Pistrix draws out her poison daggers and starts to lunge at the female ranger. Her swiftness is countered by the archer’s drawn longbow aimed at her heart. Heated arguments and commotion start as the combatants begin to draw their weapons poised to attack each other in a senseless PvP battle.

“Enough! I will lead the way!”

For an instant, everyone ceased to chop off each other’s head or burn each other into a pile of glowing orange embers. Their eyes were transfixed on me.

“I will take the battle to the Dark Lord. But I fear that I will die before I reach Level 11.”

Leoric walks toward me. “I will help you reach Level 11 and beyond, my friend. So long as you immediately cease and desist from hitting on my castle’s house maiden. She my girl now, dig?”

“I may be a thief,” declares Pistrix. “But I fight honorably. And in this quest, I swear by my honor — if by my life or death, I can protect you, I will. Lord QiGonJoni, you have my daggers.”

Moriggan walks to join us. “And you have my bow.”

Wulfsturm shakes his head and laughs heartily as he approaches the three. “Wulfsturm has nothing but contempt for knight-mages and their ilk. But if this is indeed the will of Ayvenas, then Wulsturm will see it done.” He swiftly pulls out his double-handed hammer and whirls it several times before setting it amongst the daggers, the bow and my hand. “For Taborea, you have Wulfsturm’s Mjöllnir war hammer!” I noticed that it was gold and was probably 40K. Such warhammers must have ushered in the dawn of war.

“Lord QiGonJoni is not going anywhere without me.”

Like water that heals, her voice was always assuring. It made one feel that taking on the entire legion of the Dark Lord would be like a walking in one of those parks like Sandara. Freja placed her clerical staff on the stone table and looked at me. “I may not have all these mortal weapons that maim, kill or destroy. But what I have, I freely give. You will always have my heart. A heart that heals every broken bone, aching muscle and even restoring hearts that have been incorrigibly broken.”

“So be it!”, Leoric declares. “After all this mellow-dramatic crap, this fellowship shall henceforth be known as –.”

Moriggan answers, “The Sinestro Corps?”

My Life in Taborea – Runes of Magic from jonnie_anzures on Vimeo.

The End of All Good Things

It’s been over an hour since the team set forth on this voyage. There have been few resting places and plenty of obstacles along the way.

I think I’ve lost a thousand XP points being stung by insects, mauled by bears and boars, and shot at by elementals. But it was all worth it. When you’re a mage-knight defending the Empire, being attacked is part of your job description.

My team has also been a great help. Pistrix makes the initial contact and completely surprises the fiends with her stealth and her poison barbs. So effective are her roguish wiles that she finishes off our adversaries even before they knew what hit them. I learned that back in her hometown she was known as the Queen of The Ativan which I surmise must be a highly secretive cult of professional rogues.

As always, Wulfsturm refers to himself in the third person. His boorish ways are only exceeded by his vulgar profanities. He seems to derive primitive pleasure in bad-mouthing our enemies as he pounds them to a pulp with his humungous war-hammer. But as a mage-knight trained and brought up to be prudent and reverent, I am exasperated by his words which should not come out of one who hails from the simple yet civil village of Logar. No one in that town will ever mention the cuss words he screams in the heat of our battles. To put it bluntly, his words are “wala sa Logar”, to use his own Logarean dialect.

As we cross a deep gorge, I turn and see that Freja’s eyes have been looking at me for quite some time. As our glances lock, she pretends to look at some fireflies in the enchanted forest. Like all healers, Freja’s mere presence brings comfort and inner strength to our war party. But our bond is deeper than a relationship between a mage-knight and a priestess. Besides both depending on manna as our source of power, we depend on each other to satisfy our inner longings.

And Galadria felt this. It was too strong to be kept a secret.

Suddenly, the forest comes alive. What we thought were giant vines and tall trees turned out to be ogres, shades, banshees and minotaurs.

“It’s an ambush!” shouts Leoric, stating the obvious.

Moriggan fires several arrow shots at the charging wall of fiends which were closing at us from both sides, threatening to engulf us in a deathly clamp. I concentrated to infuse my hands with enough power to launch a giant fireball. Hurling it at a group of minotaurs, I managed to give our team enough time to regroup. But even our combined skills and levels would not stop the inevitable – we were all going to die in this lonely fissure.

Before I threw an electric bolt charge at the marauding wall of beasts and inhuman malfeasances, I took a long gaze at Freja. As our gazes met, possibly for the last time, I saw the same tears that I saw on Galadria’s face.

As her quivering, soft lips attempted to whisper the last words that I would ever hear, a loud, unearthly voice shattered my very being.

“Ser, magsasara na po kame. Closing taym na. Balik na lang po kayo bukas.”

Heretical pasaway wench! Just when I was warming up for the battle royale (with cheese) of a lifetime! If it was only possible to feed her to the fungus fiends who would slowly digest her in a span of a thousand years.

I hesitantly left my war-band to fight another day. Before the clanging metal gates of the so-called café hit the floor, I knew I would be back for a chance – just one more chance to show my enemies that they may take our lives. But they will never take our freedom – our freedom to defend Taborea once again.

All this living in the virtual world of Runes of Magic may be an obsession for some. But remembering Freja’s last glance, I knew I wasn’t going to leave her – and Taborea ever again.

NOTE: This my friend Kaye’s New Me testimonial for the Glutamax Web Blog Contest 

 

Kaye Langit – Luistro: My Journey Into The New Me

What is the essence of being a woman? 

Glutamax Audio Promo

How does a woman find her true self through years of dealing with life’s tribulations and achievements – at times sacrificing herself for the good of others, such as family and friends? 

Join me in my journey of self-discovery. A passage that scales the summits of achievement that most women can only dream of. Feel my descent to the depths of sorrow, grief and guilt. And experience my redemption and transformation through a gift that has given my family so much joy and fulfillment. 

My name is Kaye Langit – Luistro, and this is my journey into the new me. 

 

 

Childhood Days and Dreams 

At Grade 2, I already knew what I wanted.  I wanted to be in media and to graduate from UP Diliman.  A few months after college, I found out that 98.7 DZFE-The Master’s Touch was recruiting new announcers.  Since I already was an avid listener, I rushed into this opportunity and thankful that I got accepted. It was one of the best moments in my life! 

During my stay at the University of the Philippines, my professors brought out the extrovert – some say, the “kikay” in me. I knew then that I would soon be working with media people I only admired from a distance. 

While I was working in the media, I was chosen as the only media practitioner sent as an official Philippine delegate of the 1999 RP-Japan Friendship Programme for the 21st Century formerly known as the Youth Invitation Program sponsored by the Japan Information Cooperation Agency held in Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Kanagawa-ken, Matsuyama-shi, Ehime Prefecture and Hiroshima, Japan from January 13 to February 9, 1999. 

It happened more than a decade ago but I can still feel the clay in my hands while twirling the machine needed for making tobeyaki pottery. 

From hosting award-winning radio programs to the overseas seminars in Japan where I learned about Japanese broadcasting and tobeyaki pottery, I felt then that I was molding the very clay of my media career in my hands.

 

Career Opportunities 

My 15-year media profession included television news-casting, TV news reporting, magazine writing, voice acting in TV and radio commercials and radio announcing. 

One of my most cherished awards was my back to back win in the 1997 and 1998 KBP Golden Dove Awards as the writer and radio host of Concert Hall aired on 98.7 DZFE, The Master’s Touch. 

On TV, my feature stories have been aired on Studio 23’s News Central. I also enjoyed being a co-anchor of the early morning newscast Balita Alas Singko ng Umaga on ABS-CBN Channel 2. 

 

Something Was Missing 

Despite the achievements, I felt that something was amiss. 

 Life is a great teacher. Just when you think you know it all and have it all, something comes along and changes everything. A lot of people make the faux pas of being overconfident or thinking they are too intelligent or too successful to be lacking. 

I was a wife, a caring partner and a close friend to my husband. But the woman in me was craving to cherish someone borne out of our love – our union as husband and wife. Someone whom we could show our unconditional love and be loved in the most unique way. 

Somehow, I wasn’t ready to become a mom. I had several emotional baggages to deal with first.

 

 

Kaye Langit – Luistro: My Journey Into The New Me from jonnie_anzures on Vimeo.

Guilt and Emotional Trauma

But conceiving a child was not the problem.

 The main concern in my spirit was my guilt and the emotional trauma I experienced at the height of my media career. 

In 1995, my mom went into surgery to remove a suspicious tumor from her right armpit. Later, the doctor confirmed a horrible truth. My mom had non- Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, cancer of the lymph nodes, and one of the most aggressive forms of cancer.  Proof was that a mere three years later, that spiteful tumor has metastasized into my mom’s spine, stomach, uterus, and intestines. 

The next five years became a vicious body-draining and spirit-sucking road to our own Calvary. A barrage of life-changing medical interventions left the family grasping for air on a moment-to moment basis. 

My mom underwent an avalanche of laboratory tests including the dreadful bone marrow aspiration, where a gargantuan needle was stuck right through the spine to draw blood, eliciting heart-wrenching cries from her. 

Since my father died when I was still very young, I had to be strong on the outside because I was her sole companion through the whole ordeal. But deep inside, the incredulous fear left me shaking and trembling like a rag doll.   

My mom’s sun finally set in 2001. 

Losing someone you love is never easy.  It took me a long time to really recover. Not only from the pain, but more from the guilt of not having the chance to exhaust other possible means to save my mom. I wanted to give more of myself to my mom as her only daughter – her only child. 

For the next several months, my husband would see me all curled up, crying on my mom’s bed, where she died.  Without judgment, he just allowed me to cry in his arms until I’d fall asleep in exhaustion.  

My mental anguish was so strong I literally felt my mind would have just snapped anytime. Daily talks with my husband, prayers and meditations on the Book of Psalms healed me bit by bit. I finally broke free from the reins of depression, a year and a half later. 

 

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Overcoming Fears 

Looking back, I realized that it was the pain from losing someone I dearly loved that stopped me from pursuing motherhood. I didn’t want to go through with something as painful like that again.  But of course, that’s only wishful thinking.  Another thing that really scared me was the pain associated with childbirth, not to mention the hormonal changes when you’re expecting. I literally didn’t want to lose control over my own body!

I was really thankful that Randy never asked for a child in all our thirteen years of marriage.  Other husbands might not have been that patient. I wanted to thank him so I asked the Lord for a son.  Two months before my 35th birthday, I started praying very seriously about this.  Every day, I woke up at dawn to pray.  I opened my prayer time by singing the worship song “The Power of Your Love,” not in English but in Spanish.  I felt that the Spanish version brought out the inner urgency in me.  

First, it was just about having a baby.  After all, being childless for thirteen years is already considered infertility.  But days passed, and something really incredible happened.  My prayer time took a different turn.  I was no longer praying for a son.  I found myself just singing and singing the song in Spanish in tears and with great reverence.  Every lyric spoke to my heart and mind as if Spanish is my native tongue. 

I also can’t stop William Carey’s quote off my mind either: “Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God; for we serve a great God.”  I did just that.  I simply believed.  Without any work-up nor any medical intervention of any kind, sometime in December 2008, I discovered that I was already 7 to 8 weeks pregnant. 

It was a moment that not only changed my body. It forever transformed the way I saw myself and the world. 

 

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Redemption

When Lance Paul came into our lives, he changed us forever.

I’ve never realized that having a baby would make me feel more fulfilled than having all my accomplishments combined. All the perks associated with my television stint were now inconsequential, compared to holding your baby, cuddling him and seeing him laugh and smile. 

Something in me finally made sense. Having Lance Paul in my life completes me not just as a woman but as a person. I feel that I have the strength to raise myself to the standards of being an honorable human being because of him. 

Loving my child has finally brought me an opportunity to erase the guilt I felt when my mother died. I can now give myself away to love my child in the same way my mother offered her life for me when I was born into this world. Being a mother has brought me redemption. 

My transformation to a career woman and working wife into a mother has dramatically changed my life. I guess I’ve become more selfless in a way. All those sleep and food deprived days made me feel that I was no longer living for myself, but for another person. Although he takes up most of my time, I would not want it any other way. 

Right now, my baby has become the most important part of my life. I have given up my dreams for radio and television and have opted to work home-based. 

I am now a freelance media specialist, dividing my day between writing magazine articles, doing voice-over work for TV/radio commercials, corporate AVPs, and being a voice talent for Back to the Bible – Philippines. 

Thanks to the loving support of my husband, I’ve started as an international voiceover artist, operating from a home digital studio in Quezon City. This way, I will still have the chance to see my son grow up to be the person God envisioned him to be. There’s really nothing wrong with other moms pursuing their careers. I just feel that this is the right path for me to take. I’ve decided to follow this conviction and now, I’m reaping the fruits of my labor, one day at a time. 

I am now a mother like I always wanted to be. I could die tomorrow and feel completely fulfilled as a woman and as a human being. 

 

The Joy of Transformation 

I was watching Oprah one night and she was giving tribute to moms all over the world. One mother said that once you become a mother, you can never go back to your previous life of just focusing on yourself. 

I guess she’s right. 

One time, I was in the mall. My husband and baby were not with me. Instead of feeling free and ecstatic since I can go anywhere without carrying a 30 pound baby and an extremely huge and heavy bag filled with my baby’s diapers, bottles and what have you, I felt sad! I wished that they were with me, especially my baby, who smiles whenever he sees lights, babies, and food from just about anywhere. 

I can truly say that the life I have now, although extremely difficult, has produced some of my most treasured memories! 

So, what makes me a fulfilled woman? 

I think Sushmita Sen, Miss Universe 1994, said it best – “Being a woman is a gift of God which we all must appreciate. The origin of a child is a mother, and is a woman. A woman is one who shares love and who shares and shows a man what love, caring and sharing is all about.” 

That, for me, is the essence of being a woman. 

Everyone in this world wants a long life. But I want a happy life. 

My child has transformed me from being a wife and a woman, into a mother – a giver of life. I can never go back to my previous life. And I will never, ever want to. For my baby has made me the happiest person in the world. 

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My name is Kaye Langit – Luistro, and this has been my journey into the new me.

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