412 The Life of a Tamawo, A Race Bound by the Emotion called Love (1/2)

Day 70 - 10:12 PM - Agos Bridge, Barangay Banugao, Infanta, Quezon

Inside the poorly made hut, Edzel continued to wrap Pearl in his embrace. She continued to cry until her eyes almost dried up. Not only her guilt and sadness but the tears that she was not able to let out in the times of her hardships flowed out.

After she realized her faults, she resolved herself not to shed even a single tear no matter how she suffered. What happened to her and the rest of the things that came after was something she deserved. The karma that she must suffer after listening to the devil and following his steps.

Because of that, even if she gave up several times and even tried to kill herself, she did not shed a single tear.

Feeling Edzel's warm embrace filled with forgiveness and love, her tears flowed like water from a broken dam. She did not want to, but it just kept on flowing.

It must have been the hardest she cried for her whole life. After she let everything out, she fell asleep wrapped in that warm embrace.

Edzel caressed her hair not minding how dirty it was. Looking at her face as she slept like a log, Edzel decided to just let her sleep. He did not mind staying in this place for the whole night.

***

\”These people...\”

Mark looked up. Although what he could see was the underside of the bridge, what he was gazing at were the soldiers above.

It seemed that they were rather concerned about Pearl, especially the female soldiers. They probably knew about her circumstances, and the reason she was living in this place rather than the temporary dwellings for evacuees.

They were worried that Edzel might have ill intentions and was paying attention to what was happening under the bridge. However, hearing Pearl's cries and what she had said, it was not hard to realize who Edzel was.

Some of the soldiers even shed a tear while listening as closely as possible.

Still, eavesdropping was bad.

With a sigh, Mark turned to Pefile.

\”What do you mean by love being poison to your race?\”

It was a question he was curious about. Although he had a vague idea about it, it was still better to confirm the truth.

Pefile turned to Mark and he could sense his brimming curiosity.

\”I will answer your questions. But, at least give me a favor.\”

\”What do you want?\”

There was no hesitation as Mark asked that question. He was given an opportunity to learn about a race that normal people deemed nonexistent. Who would want to pass this opportunity?

\”It's not something hard,\” Pefile said as he stared at the shabby hut. \”Take in Pearl as one of your people. Please, don't discriminate her for her past mistakes.\”

\”That's pretty surprising,\” Mark said while leaning on one of the bridge's foundations. \”She betrayed your son, you know?\”

\”I won't lie. I'm mad about her decision at that time. But, I think, she suffered more than enough because of that decision. That is why I want to give her another chance for my son.\”

\”Well, your son is pretty much my underling now. If he wants Pearl, it's not like I will deny it from him.\”

Mark replied which made Pefile's eyebrow twitch. Although what Mark said was not wrong, it ticked Pefile a bit.

\”Alright, I already agreed. Answer my question now.\”

Mark said with an annoying tone. It made Pefile consider backing out of the deal. He could only sigh in resignation.

\”When I said that love is poison to us, it meant both in a symbolic and literal way.\”

***

The Tamawo was a race composed of only males. They might be a race that was naturally good looking and had the charm that could make most women fall for them. However, that apparently had no value for a race that had no women.

Without women, their race had no way to continue their lineage.

Fortunately, they were a race that could procreate with most humanoid races. It did not only include humans but other spirit races.

No matter what race the partner was, any male child born would have the blood of a Tamawo while every female would inherit their mother's race.

If they had such ability to procreate with females of many humanoid races, they should have no problem maintaining their lineage. They could just make any female they were interested in fall for them and procreate. As they also had the magic to charm females, it would not be a problem if they took more than one wife.

Unfortunately for them, the truth was harsher.

The chance of a wife of a Tamawo bearing a child was rather low. Too low that it would not be surprising if a Tamawo could only have one child in his whole life. The most unlucky ones could not even have one.

And the worst part, they could only choose one partner in their whole life. Unlike humans, whose love was more something like mental and physical attraction to the opposite gender, to the Tamawo, love was more to a spiritual level. Once they fell in love with a female, that love would bound their souls to that emotion.

If they failed to end up with the female they fell in love with, even if they tried to forget, their souls would remember. For the rest of their lives, they would not fall in love with another woman. They would slowly lose their powers until they were not able to use it anymore.

Once the woman they loved fell from the passage of time without fulfilling the love the Tamawo had, they would suffer from a backlash from their souls harming them in the process. The mildest circumstance was the Tamawo losing his good looks and charms as his face shriveled like a plant that lacked water for ages. Their while shiny hair would fall in patches. Their skin would crack and hurt.

For the worst part, they could die after suffering from turning into a shriveled spirit.

Furthermore, there were even circumstances of some Tamawo that became evil spirits after losing the purity of their souls.

It was because of these things that no matter how much they wanted their race to flourish, they were never able to. Compared to other spirits, their numbers were much lower.

***

\”That's a bummer, isn't it? Your race is.\”

Mark could not help but remark after hearing those things.

\”What can we do?\” Pefile replied. \”Our race is created like this. It's not like we are born this way because we wanted to.\”

A race of beautiful men that had troubles with procreation. It was such a unique story. They were gifted with one thing and forsaken with another.

\”Many of us are really envious of humans. Those that turned into evil spirits took humans as primary prey because of that envy.\”

Pefile added.