The Adventures of Gorio: Archangel Gabriel Academy

By Sherwin Zarate

A group of high school students faces the human consuming entities. Individually, their power is not enough to fight against the entities. They learned that together, they stood much better chance of winning. They honed their skills and their power. They shared what they know with each other.

They also learned about their enemies. Gathering information about weakness or strength of the entities is their best weapon. The most important thing they want, is their safety.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Oct 21, 2020
• ISBN: 9781663210777

Sherwin Zarate

Sherwin Zarate – born and raised from a religious Filipino family. He moved to Canada to pursue a better life.

Book preview

CHAPTER ONE

ORB BEARER

GORIO

I got woken up by a very loud thud. It came from the living room. My bedroom is located on the other side of the kitchen.

What was that? I grunted.

I got off my bed, and I slowly opened my bedroom door. I peeked out to the living room. I scanned the dark living room from one wall to the other. There was nobody there that I can see. I saw the front door. It was wide open.

Did dad lock the door? I asked myself.

I sluggishly walked over towards the door to close it. I looked outside to check if someone was there. There was no one.

It isn’t even windy. I told myself.

What made this door open violently? I asked myself.

I took a deep breath and I shrugged it off. I locked the door and went back to my bedroom. I checked the time. It was two forty in the morning.

Who opened the door at this time? I asked myself.

I yawned and I went back to sleep.

I was jolted awake from a loud shriek.

Now what?! I asked.

I haven’t even started to dream. I was about to shrugged it off, when I heard it again. It came from upstairs.

Mom! I screamed.

I turned on the lights by the stairs and I ran upstairs to my parent’s bedroom. I was about to knock on the door, when I noticed my sister’s bedroom door open. I peeked in. I saw my older sister’s body twisted on her bed. She looked like someone wrung her body like a wet towel. I was about to check on her when I heard the loud shriek again.

Mom! I cried.

I opened my parent’s bedroom door and I saw my dad on the floor with his head twisted.

Dad! I yelled.

Run! I heard my mom screamed.

I looked up. She was floating in the bedroom. That’s when I noticed the roof was missing.

Mom! I screamed.

Run! she screamed again.

I noticed a faint translucent giant hand holding my mom in mid air. I traced the hand towards the body. That’s when I saw the giant.

A kapre! I screamed. It was a giant ghost.

Run! my mom screamed one last time before the kapre twisted her body. Mom! I screamed, crying, looking at my mom’s lifeless body.

Then the kapre tossed my mom’s lifeless body to the side of the room like a run-down toy. It then tried to grab me. I ran downstairs as fast as I can towards the front door. I slipped into my shoes as I unlock the door. I ran. I didn’t look back.

I can hear steps that sounded like thunders on the ground. It sounded like it’s coming for me. I ran as fast as I can. It was almost dawn. I saw the forest.

I will try to lose it in the forest until the sun comes up. I thought to myself.

I ran towards the forest. There is another town on the other side of the forest. I got in the dark forest. I heard the entity following.

Ugh! I said to myself.

I forgot that the home of the kapre is the forest.

Why did I run in here? I thought to myself.

I hid behind a big tree. I looked back. I saw the entity about eight meters away from me. The entity stooped down from the canopy, looking for me. I slowly and quietly kept moving forward as soon as I saw it was safe. I controlled my breathing. I tried to make less noise as I can. It was dark in the forest, but it was not pitch black. The shine of the moon seeped through some open spaces. I tried to avoid those spots.

I have to get out of here by sunrise. It can’t follow me out in the open when the sun is out. I thought to myself.

I slowly creeped out of the forest. I saw the clearing. It was just a few meters away. I kept my sight on the entity. Suddenly, I heard someone yelled, hey you! I scanned the area. I didn’t see anyone. But that caught the attention of the kapre. It was going to where the sound came from. I didn’t bother looking for the person that caught the attention of the kapre. I bolted away from there and into the clearing as fast as I can. When I got to the clearing, I stopped. The sun was peeking out at the horizon. Roosters on the farms crowed, it meant the sun was up. It’s morning. Safety was only few seconds away. I looked back into the forest. I was curious who made that call. I heard running footsteps. I thought it was coming towards me. I backed up further into the clearing. I saw my long shadow. It turned out, that the footsteps were going further in the dark forest. I took a deep sigh of relief. Safety, at last.

I sat down on the dirt. I saw that the dirt was actually a trail leading away from the forest.

I think this will lead me into the town center. I thought to myself.

I have rested a bit, when I suddenly remembered my family. My mom and dad. My sister. Grief came rushing into me. I can’t stop the tears. I wept.

What will I do now? I don’t have any relatives that I know. Why did that kapre killed my family? We didn’t do anything to anger it. Why did this happen to me? What did the kapre want? I thought to myself.

Questions. I have a lot of questions. I hid my face in between my arms and my knees. I wept it all out. I don’t know how long I stayed like that. I must’ve fallen asleep. I must have dozed off, because when I lifted up my head, there were two people sitting in front of me, oblivious that I had woken up. They were obviously not Filipinos. One is a girl. She is obviously Asian. She is slim built. She has long deep brown hair. She is young. Probably the same as my age or a year younger. She is pretty, very pretty. She has fair skin. She has very nice dimples on her cheeks. The other one is a Caucasian man. Late twenties, or early thirties. He is blond. I don’t know how he is keeping cool with his leather jacket, when it is hot and humid August morning even for me. They were talking to each other. They didn’t notice that I was looking at them. I had been watching them talk for a while. They were conversing in English. My English was very poor. I was not a very good student. I can admit that. But, amazingly, I actually kept up to what they were talking about. They were talking about a breakfast they had a few days earlier.

That was really bad. I can’t even call it oatmeal. the guy said.

I think it was gruel. said the girl.

I would like to have stacks of pancakes for breakfast, with butter and maple syrup and thick slices Canadian bacon, the guy said.

I will settle for a bowl of hot noodles with kimchi on the side, said the girl.

With all the talk about food, I got hungry. My stomach growled. That’s when they noticed me watching them.

Hi! said the girl smiling beautifully.

The guy was looking at me and he smiled.

Hi. I said to her.

Do you speak English? the girl asked.

I was about to answer her no, but I paused for a moment.

I thought I didn’t. I answered.

I think I confused them because they were looking at me funny. I stood up, and I was about to leave.

Hold on. the guy said as they stood up.

What do you want? I asked.

What’s your name? he asked.

Gregorio. I answered.

Hi Gre…gre…g. Do you have a shorter name? he asked.

Gorio. I said to him.

Hi Gorio. I am Matt and this is my student Shin Young, he said.

Are you guys lost? I asked.

Shin Young smiled.

Actually, we are here for you. she said.

Why? I asked.

To ask you what happened last night. Matt said.

I felt my energy leave me. I sat back down. Tears rolled down my eyes.

I don’t know what happened. My family is gone. I told him.

Do you know who did it? Matt asked.

A giant kapre killed my family. It wrung my mom’s body like a wet towel. I answered.

I don’t know why it did that? I added.

Did you see the giant? he asked.

Yes. I watched it killed my mom. I answered.

Did something especial happened to you or a member of your family before last night? he asked.

What do you mean? I asked.

Like special powers, like superpowers. he said.

I looked at him irritated.

You have been reading too much comic books. I said to him.

I stood up and I started to walk towards the town. Both of them were following me.

Where are you going, Gorio? Shin Young asked.

Home. I said to her.

Why won’t you just cross the forest again? she said.

I turned back and looked at her.

Because… I stopped.

I looked at her.

Wait. How did you know I crossed the forest? I asked.

You didn’t even ask what a kapre is. I added.

We followed you from last night. she said.

We know what a kapre is. It has different name in every country but basically it is a giant ghost. Matt said.

Who are you guys? I asked.

We are entity hunters. he said.

We are from Archangel Gabriel Academy. he added.

That didn’t help. I was more confused.

You gave me a lot more questions than an answer. I told Matt.

I turned around and started walking again.

We can explain everything, if you’ll give us time. Shin Young said.

I don’t have time. I am going home to bury my family. I said to her.

We did that for you. she said.

I looked at her.

What? I asked.

Give us time, we will explain everything. she said.

Okay. I said to her.

Let’s walk and talk. I added.

Actually, I have a better idea. she said.

She took my right hand and hold on to Matt’s hand. She closed her eyes.

We’re here! she said.

We were standing in front of my house.

How did you do that? I asked.

I’ll explain later. Let’s go in before your neighbours sees us. she said.

But the house is… I looked up to the roof.

Fixed? I said confused.

The roof was missing last night. I muttered.

Yup. I put it back. Matt said.

Okay. Okay. I am getting really confused. I said to him.

Where is my family? I asked.

They are at the backyard. he said.

I ran to the backyard. There were three burial sites in the back yard. There were signs of digging but there were no mounds to indicate graves. I looked at Matt.

Thank you. I said to him.

You’re welcome. he said.

It’s better for your neighbours not to know what happened. he added.

Why? I asked.

Our work with paranormal may not be a secret, but people still have trouble understanding it. So, we tend to keep this kind of things away from people’s awareness. he said.

They will still ask where my parents are. I said to him.

They might not have someone to ask if you will give us time to explain. he said.

Why? Are you taking me away? I asked.

We are here to recruit you. We can explain it in the house. he said.

Okay. Give me a moment to grieve. I said to him.

Both of them went inside the house. After over an hour later, I went in the house.

Lunch is ready! Shin Young happily exclaimed.

I hope you don’t mind, but I invaded your freezer. she said.

That’s fine. I said to her.

Go on ahead and eat. I added.

I went to my room and straight to the shower. When I got out.

Go ahead and eat. Matt said.

We just finished eating. he added.

There was food waiting for me.

Do you know how to cook? I asked Shin Young.

A little. she said.

Okay. Start explaining. I said and I took my first bite.

They were both sitting on the couch facing me while I was at the table eating.

We are from a school of entity hunters. Matt said.

Like ghost hunters? I asked.

Yeah. And more. he said.

Why are you recruiting me? I don’t have any special abilities. I said to him.

That’s why we are here to find out. he said.

How? I asked.

Well, have you noticed something different from you? he asked.

Like what? I asked.

Like Shin Young here, she can teleport. he said.

Is that what she did earlier? I asked.

Yeah. She can also find anybody. he said.

How about you? I asked.

I can freeze anything by touch and I am very strong. he said.

He also doesn’t age. Shin Young said.

How old are you? I asked.

Ninety-four. he said.

I almost choked on the food in my mouth.

Not bad. I said to him impressed.

Thanks. he said.

Are you immortal? I asked.

No. I will die eventually. It will just take a while. he said.

How old is she? I asked Matt.

I am only fifteen. Shin Young answered annoyed.

I was just asking. I said to her.

Actually, if you have the power like us, you will stop aging at around thirty. Matt said.

Well, I don’t have anything like that. I am still the same as I was yesterday. I said to him.

But you said you saw the giant. Shin Young said.

Yeah. In full view. I said to her.

Have you ever seen ghosts before? Matt asked.

Yeah. But not that detailed. I answered.

Yeah. Us too. he said.

We only see glimpses. he said.

That’s the power we are talking about. The entire school cannot see ghost entities. You are the first one. he added.

I have always been scared of ghosts albeit they never harm us. But last night, I was horrified. I feared for my life. I stated.

I barely escape with my life. If you haven’t distracted it, I could be dead right now. I added.

Actually, I called out for you. We didn’t know the giant ghost was close by. We saw a tree bend over. If Shin Young didn’t transport us back here, we are the ones that’s dead. he said.

Which was also a good thing. We had time to fix your house and bury your family. he added.

Why did the kapre kill my family? I asked.

It was probably looking for something. he said.

Like what? I asked.

An orb. he said.

A what? I asked again.

An orb. It is a ball of powerful energy. he said.

We do not have anything like that. Look at our house. We are not rich. I said looking around.

An orb is something you cannot buy. It chooses you, he said.

Why does the kapre want it anyway? I asked.

If it catches the orb, it will give the entity enormous power. It may not feed at all. he answered.

Entities eat? I asked.

Yeah. They eat energy that humans give off from fright or death. he said.

Is there any entity that successfully eaten an orb? I asked.

So far, there is only one. A vampire. he answered.

I gulped from the thought of a vampire.

Where does the orb come from? I asked.

Nature releases orbs. It is not constant. Sometimes, twice a year at the most. Sometimes, none in a few years. It may come from the trees, the wind, the water or the earth and sometimes, it comes from fire. he said.

"It will travel great distances to find its human. Most of the time, it will go to new born babies.