The Aswang ~ Part 2
The Gabunan
According to Visayan and* Mindanao* folklore, the gabunan are the most experienced, strongest, and most cunning variant of the fabled aswang. They usually don’t shape-shift into animals and remain powerful during the day. They can attack a person even before sunset, pouncing on their victim, strangling them, or breaking their neck. Most gabunan are so swift you won’t see them coming. They fly without wings. They can steal a baby unnoticed, replacing it with a piglet or a large fish made to look like the infant.
Some gabunan can make illusions of themselves out of their patadyong (traditional loose skirt), which they will throw in front of a victim. The disguised patadyong tackles the victim while the real gabunan observes the spectacle. Their victim has no idea that the supposed gabunan he is wrestling for dear life with is just a patadyong which keeps slipping and gliding off their hands every time they try to get a hold of it. When the victim is finally weak, exhausted, or incapacitated, the real gabunan unceremoniously carries them off to be butchered.
The oldest of the gabunan have coal-black skin, bloodshot eyes, protruding fangs, and long, white disheveled hair when in their true form. Despite their viciousness, the gabunan only eat human flesh once or twice a year.
In the Alamat Book Series
In my book series, I first introduced the gabunan in Tala, the fifth book in the series. I was greatly drawn to the idea that there was a “super” aswang variant in the rich annals of Philippine mythology. But by the time I was writing Tala, my aswang mythology was already well established in the series. I knew I had to deviate from the original folklore, far more than I did with my other aswang variants.
In my version of the gabunan, the only aspect of the gabunan that I retained was the idea that they were the strongest version of the aswang ever created by the Yawàs (dark gods) of Kasanaan. My gabunan were night creatures just like any other aswang variant and were subject to the same weaknesses and hunger for human flesh. Unlike other night creatures in the Alamat Book Series, which were once human, later mutated by a bo’ngit chick, the origins of a gabunan’s creation are a tightly guarded secret known only to Gat Yawà Asuang.
In fact, the only thing I've ever written about their making, as of the time I’m writing this, is that they incubate in sacs that line the deepest and darkest of caves. They take years to fully mature and imprint their loyalty to the first powerful being they see. Should they be awakened prematurely, the gabunan is significantly weaker and could lack the ability to fly since their bat-like wings are the last to develop.
They share physical similarities with the common terrestrial aswang, but with a glaring, obvious difference; my gabunans were bigger, more muscular, and without gender. They also share a commonality with another aswang variant, the manananggal. My gabunan, as I mentioned before, has similar bat-like wings when fully developed. With the power of flight in conjunction with their raw power, dense outer skin, and monstrous ferocity, my gabunan are truly the most powerful night creature in the Alamat books... second only to the dalaketnon.
The Dalaketnon
In Visayan folklore, the dalaketnons were elf-like creatures from Philippine mythology, particularly in the Visayan tradition, who lure mortals with lavish feasts to trap them in their magical world by feeding them enchanted black rice. Their hidden abode can only be reached through a portal in a dalaket, aka balete trees. They dress up like ordinary people, but are always clad in the loftiest and most resplendent of garments, jewels, and accessories.
The dalaketnon were notorious human abductors. They lure a person to their abode, where they hold a feast for them. If they eat the black rice that they are offered, they will behold the dalaketnon’s true form – inhuman (not necessarily hideous) beings with white hair, grayish skin, and solid white eyes.
The black rice bewitches the victim to stay with them forever as a form of amusement. When they get tired of them, they become a slave, or worse, they are turned into trees. The dalaketnon can manifest tangible illusions, which they use to confuse or disorient their victims. These stories served as cautionary tales, particularly for children, to keep them away from the woods and from wandering in the dark.
In the Alamat Book Series
In my books, my dalaketnon are more than just evil, elf-like creatures. I made them into night creatures like the aswang. But unlike the aswang, my dalaketnon are considered the ultimate monsters, commanders of the night creature armies of Kasanaan, and the greatest physical threat in the mortal realm of Kalupaan. My dalaketnon appears as either a handsome, muscular young man or a beautiful, voluptuous woman to anyone who lays eyes upon them. But after a few moments of staring at them, anyone could see that they are not what they appear to be.
Unlike the traditional dalaketnon with their all-white eyes, my dalaketnon’s eyes have pitch dark sclera and pupils, with vibrant, iridescent irises. They have smooth, pale skin, small, sharp, pointed teeth, and are missing the philtrum above their lips; a common trope in identifying an aswang.
Originally, they were just your garden-variety aswang, chosen apart from the hoard because of their beauty and other physical attributes. During the latter part of the Kanibusanan or the great war of Kaluwalhatian, the Yawàs discovered that by having these carefully selected night creatures possessed by the Aninas (the unholy, mindless shadows that dwell in the deepest, darkest corners of Kasanaan and the Andunod, the shadow world) gave them more power and greater intelligence than any night creature in existence.
These upgraded forms of aswang were stronger and faster, both in physical qualities and mental prowess. Where most night creatures were no more intelligent than trained dogs, the dalaketnon could not only think rational thoughts and strategize, but were also immune to the damaging effects of sunlight. And as an additional benefit, the dalaketnon’s beauty was also enhanced to rival that of any man or woman, an attribute they use to lethal perfection in dropping a potential victim’s guard before they kill and devour them.
But as deadly and formidable as the dalaketnon were, the Yawàs needed something more to achieve their goals and win the war, enter the Lalad. Amongst the hundreds of dalaketnon warriors that the Yawàs had created over the years, there were the very few, very talented ones whom the three Yawà governors, Gát Yawà Asuang, Daotan, and Dayang Yawà Ibu, favored amongst all others.
These were the few exceptional ones who displayed the most potential and suitability for dark magic. Each Yawà governor chose five exceptionally powerful, gifted, and ruthless dalaketnons and imbued them with as much dark magic as they could. In doing so, they attributed to them powers and abilities beyond any other creature in all three realms. Some were even mutilated as parts of them were fused with other creatures to give them uncanny physical abilities. Like the sisters Magindara and Oryol, whose lower halves were fused with a shark and a snake, or the ever stoic half-dalaketnon, half-bat, Mansalauan.
These fifteen powerful dalaketnons formed three groups under the command of the three governors. These groups were called the Lalad, and they became the reason and driving force for the creation of the Lakandians.