Limitless Genesis

Hello, I'm Ken, and I'm graduating high school soon. Don't get too excited, though. My life's been a masterpiece of mediocrity, a symphony of sameness.

If you're looking for a gripping tale of adventure, you've come to the wrong place. Consider yourself warned: Prepare for a story so boring, it could cure insomnia.

OR IS IT?

(Present Time)

(Mindanao University)

"Good morning class."

Teacher Reyes said to us with no energy like she's going to talk about boring stuff again.

"Good morning ma'am!"

The classroom lights buzzed overhead, a persistent, irritating hum that vibrated through my skull, making my head feel fuzzy and heavy.

I was staring blankly at the board, where Mrs. Reyes, usually a whirlwind of enthusiasm, was lecturing on different gods and goddesses from around the world.

Her voice, usually vibrant and animated, held a flatness today, a weary resignation that mirrored my own feelings. Even she, the biggest mythology fan in school, seemed to be tiring of the same old tales.

"Another day, another lecture on the same old myths."

"Another day closer to graduation, another day closer to..."

What?"

"More of the same?"

The thought sent a wave of despair washing over me. My life felt like a broken record, stuck on repeat.

Wake up, eat, go to school, eat, sleep. Repeat. Wake up, eat, go to school, go back home, eat, sleep.

Repeat.

It was a monotonous cycle, a never-ending loop that offered no escape, no variation, no excitement.

And to top it all off, I'm still a virgin.

"I really need a girlfriend..."

I let out a quiet sigh, the sound swallowed by the low drone of the fluorescent lights. My gaze drifted to the window, a small rectangle of vibrant color in the otherwise drab classroom.

The sun was shining, a relentless, almost oppressive heat shimmering off the schoolyard below.

I could almost smell the ripe mangoes hanging heavy on nearby trees, hear the drowsy buzz of crickets hidden in the undergrowth.

It was the same old scene, the same old sounds, the same old everything. A familiar, comforting sameness that also felt like a suffocating cage.

"Since Grandma died I've changed so much..."

"I'm used being all on my own..."

"..."

"But... "

The life of mine was like the hall of bad luck, every time that I feel like something good is about to happen it's always going to be the opposite.

"*sigh."

" Talk about bad luck... Next week is the last exam of 2nd semester."

My thoughts then cut off by teacher Reyes, she's a good teacher a kind person.

"So, like we all know,"

Mrs. Reyes said, her voice a little too loud, a little too forced in its attempt to maintain its usual energetic tone,

"Gods, monsters, and magical creatures are a big part of stories all over the world."

Beside me, my classmate whispered to her friend,

"I wish she'd just get to the part about the centaurs."

"They're way cooler than Zeus."

Her friend giggled.

"Yeah, but Zeus is, like, totally ripped he is so hot you know~"

"Have you seen those statues?"

"Gosh I wish to have a boyfriend like him, he he he..."

I rolled my eyes. Their conversation was just as predictable as the lecture. I glanced at my own notes, filled with the same tired, repetitive information.

My life felt like this classroom – predictable, dull, and utterly lacking in excitement. And the crushing weight of my virginity only added to my sense of despair.

"I really needed a girlfriend!"

"Someone to break the monotony, to add some spice to my bland existence!"

"Someone to share this mind-numbing repetition with, at least!"

My mind wandered, adrift in a sea of boredom. I felt trapped in a repetitive loop, a monotonous cycle of school, home, sleep, repeat.

Each day bled into the next, indistinguishable, a record stuck on repeat, playing the same tired tune over and over.

I craved something different, something to break the monotony, to inject a little magic, a little excitement into my otherwise predictable existence.

Something, anything, to distract me from the ever-present awareness of my single status.

Even the thought of a girlfriend felt like a fantasy, something as unreal as the gods and goddesses Mrs. Reyes was droning on about.

"In Greek stories,"

Mrs. Reyes continued, her voice gaining a little more life, a flicker of the usual fire rekindled,

"We have Zeus, the king of the gods,"

"Poseidon, the ruler of the sea,"

"And Hades, the god of the underworld."

"Boring as hell. "

"We've heard that a million times."

muttered by my classmate from the back of the room.

"Hey, those are classic stories,"

"They're important you know?"

retorted another classmate.

The back-and-forth continued, a familiar rhythm of classroom banter that did little to alleviate my boredom.

I longed for something more profound, something that resonated with the deep-seated dissatisfaction I felt with my own life.

Something to shake me out of this endless cycle of sameness.

I glanced back at the board, a wave of disappointment washing over me. These stories were interesting, certainly, but they felt distant, removed, like ancient fairy tales my grandmother used to tell me, stories that held little relevance to my own life.

I yearned for something closer to home, stories that resonated with my own experiences, stories that felt real.

Stories that felt less like a lecture and more like a lifeline.

"And of course,"

Mrs. Reyes said, her voice taking on a more enthusiastic tone,

"We have our own awesome gods and goddesses right here in the Philippines."

"Like, what are they called again?"

My classmate asked, leaning over to her friend.

"I always forget their names."

"Bathala, Kaptan, and Pamulak Manobo..."

her friend mumbled, consulting her notes.

"And don't forget the diwata!"

"Oh yeah, the diwata!"

"They're supposed to be really pretty, right?"

I sat up straighter, a flicker of interest sparking within me. I had heard whispers of these gods from my grandmother, fragments of stories shared around crackling campfires, tales passed down through generations.

But I had never really given them much thought, never seriously considered their possibility, their reality.

"Maybe, just maybe, there was something more to these stories than just old tales."

"Maybe they held the key to escaping my own personal hell of repetition."

Mrs. Reyes explained, her voice carefully enunciating each word,

"In different parts of the Philippines,"

"We have different groups of gods. In Luzon, there's Bathala, responsible for the universe and all living beings."

"In Visayas, there's Kaptan, a god who lives in the sky, associated with thunder, lightning, and storms."

"And in Mindanao, there's Pamulak Manobo, said to be one of the gods responsible for the first humans."

My mind buzzed with questions.

"Could these gods, these powerful, mythical beings, really have an impact on my life?"

"Could they be the key to unlocking something more, to escaping the suffocating grip of my boring routine?"

"To making my life feel a little more magical, a little less ordinary?"

"Could they help me get a girlfriend?"

Mrs. Reyes continued, her voice gaining momentum.

"But it's not just the Philippines!"

"Think about Egyptian mythology!"

"We have Ra, the sun god, Osiris, god of the underworld, Isis, the powerful goddess..."

"And then there are the creatures of myth and legend – dragons, griffins, unicorns, phoenixes..."

"These beings appear in stories across cultures, across continents. What does that tell us?"

"..."

A hush fell over the classroom, the usual chatter silenced by Mrs. Reyes's impassioned tone. Even the girl infront and her friend were captivated, their earlier whispers forgotten.

"Think about it,"

Mrs. Reyes repeated, her voice softer now, more thoughtful.

"Are these gods, these creatures, simply products of our imaginations, or is there something more to them?"

" Something...

"Real?"

She paused, letting the question hang in the air, a challenge to each student's beliefs and perceptions.

I looked around the room, at the faces of my classmates, trying to gauge their reactions.

Some looked thoughtful, others skeptical, but most seemed simply bored, their minds already drifting elsewhere.

Just like mine had been, before the thought of escaping my mundane existence struck me.

"Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring!"

The bell rang, a jarring clang that shattered the silence, signaling the end of class.

Some of my classmates meetings up with their friends unlike me...

"Besh! Let's go to the new opened cafe!"

"Sure, let's call the others!"

I stood up, pushing my chair back with a scraping sound, and walked out into the hallway.

"Lucky them."

The sun felt warm on my back, but a strange unease settled in my stomach.

The stories of the gods, the stories I had heard as a child, felt more real, more tangible than ever before.

Then, something grabbed my shoulder; its grip was strong.

"Hey Ken! Wanna go with us?"

I was so shocked I couldn't answer him immediately. I never thought of being invited by these guys. They were all good-looking, unlike me, a shitty face and a loser.

"H...Huh?"

"Are you talking to me?"

They laughed at me, and I thought they were just messing with me, but I guess not.

"Who else?"

"It's almost graduation, and me and the boys thought we should invite you man."

"We're going to the mall, are you with us man?"

They said words I'd never heard in this school. I'd love to accept, but I felt like I didn't belong in their group.

"Sorry, guys, but I'm too busy at home right now…"

He smacked my back, but not hard. They smiled at me and said,

"Hmmm…"

"It's no problem, man; we understand. Living alone is hard."

"Also, we're sorry for the loss of your grandmother…"

"Yeah…"

I felt their kindness in their words, although I really wanted to go with them.

"Thanks for understanding."

As they walked away, waving their hands, they said,

"If you want to join us, just tell us man!"

They were all talented and good-looking,

but I,

I was the opposite.

"Sigh"

"Time to go home…"

I walked home, the familiar route suddenly feeling different, charged with a new energy, a new sense of possibility.

Bathala, Kaptan, Pamulak Manobo – their names echoed in my mind, their stories swirling around me like a rising tide. I couldn't shake the feeling that something was changing, that something big was about to happen.

I didn't know what it was, but I felt it deep within my bones, a certainty that resonated with every step I took.

"Maybe, just maybe, a change was coming, a break in the monotony, a chance to finally escape this repetitive cycle and find..."

"A girlfriend?"

The world around me felt brighter, the colors more vibrant, the sounds more intense.

The ordinary hum of the city seemed to amplify, each sound carrying a weight, a significance it hadn't possessed before.

I felt a surge of energy, a wave of exhilaration that washed over me, a sense of possibility that was both thrilling and terrifying.

I wasn't just Ken, the ordinary kid trapped in a boring routine, I was Ken, the kid who was about to discover the truth about the gods, and maybe, just maybe, the truth about myself.

The light intensified, growing brighter and brighter, until it was almost unbearable.

The sounds around me became a deafening roar, a chaotic symphony of noise that made my head spin.

I shielded my eyes with my hand, trying to make sense of the overwhelming chaos, the sudden, inexplicable shift in reality.

And then I saw it.

"Oh... no... "

I thought, my heart pounding in my chest, a cold dread gripping my soul,

"I'm... I'm going to die."

A giant metal bird, a monstrous machine of steel and fire, plummeting towards me from the sky.

It was a plane, a f*cking plane, and it was crashing. The sheer size of it, the unstoppable momentum, filled me with a paralyzing terror.

"F*ck, what the hell! "

I shouted, my voice a thin, reedy sound lost in the roar of the approaching disaster.

"I'm going to die..."

"No, I'm still a virgin! F*ck, I don't want to die!"

The words tumbled out, a desperate, incoherent plea against the inevitable.

A desperate plea for a chance to escape this endless cycle, this suffocating sameness, this agonizing virginity.

The world around me faded to black, the screams and the roar of the engines fading into a distant hum, a low, ominous drone that swallowed me whole.

The last thing I saw was the glint of metal, the flash of fire, and then…

Nothing.

....

_________________________________________

PHILIPPINE MAIN GODS

LUZON

BATHALA:

- Sex: Male

- Age: Timeless

- Powers: Creation, life, death, fertility, and the elements.

- Short Story:

Bathala made the world and everything in it. He gave life to the first people and taught them how to grow food. He's the boss of everything.

VISAYAS

KAPTAN:

- Sex: Male

- Age: Timeless

- Powers: Control over the sky, thunder, lightning, and storms.

- Short Story:

Kaptan lives in the sky and makes thunder and lightning. He's really powerful and can make big storms.

MINDANAO

PAMULAK MANOBO:

- Sex: Male

- Age: Timeless

- Powers: Creation, life, and the ability to shape the world.

- Short Story:

Pamulak Manobo made the first people out of clay. He showed them how to live in the forest and be friends with nature. He's a wise teacher.