Diwa: The Story of a Warrior

「 Diwa: The Story of a Warrior ➶ 」

by: Amanda Macato (blue), Abby Cablayan (purple), Maddie Bartido-Ventura (red), & Alyssa Aguirre (green) from Group 2.

Luzon, Phillipines, Now Central Manila 900 BCE

The sun has graced its presence to all the people on the Luzon island around 5 am. Most men of the Maharlika get up early to get ready and head off to practice. Women in the village get up and start doing their chores growing crops such and rice and bananas with the children. The datu is extra early to the practice field getting weapons such as kampilan and their armor woven from thick braided abaca ready for their routines and drills this morning.

(Diwa's POV) - Images drawn by Amanda.

I hear the bells. The sun has risen; men and women already up and working hard. I should get up as well but the warmth from my bed and my tired body is saying something else otherwise.

I am truly stuck in a terrible position. Every time I try and lift my head up I just fall back down. How will I ever make it to practice? I hope I will be early or else the Datu will be mad. Very mad.

I still can't decide if I should get out of bed or not. My body still aches from practicing with my kampilan over and over again and I cannot wear my armor for one more second. The thick braided apaca is so tight my body might have scars.

Wake up early (page 3)

Sleep in (page 5)

Once Diwa wakes up , he rushes as quickly as possible to the field to start his practice. Diwa has been acting sluggish and kept messing up over and over. He kept failing all his drills he had and the Datu started to become worried for him.

"I hope the Datu didn't notice me messing up." Diwa says with a worried look on his face. He really wants to stay on the Maharlika so he can avenge his father's legacy. Diwa's father was also in the Maharlika but he died from a brutal battle so Diwa stepped in the avenge his father.

During practice, the Datu keeps an eye on Diwa with a worried look on his face. He wonders what is going on with Diwa and why he is messing up. The Datu then figures out what he should do with Diwa and continues watching the other men shouting out drill after drill while still watching Diwa.

As Diwa keeps practicing and practicing he notices the Datu is keeping an eye on him. In his head Diwa was hoping that there was nothing bad of the thought of the Datu keeping an eye on him. While practicing Diwa got more worried on why the Datu has an eye on him but he tried to forget about it as much as he can and focus on keeping his father legacy alive.

Diwa kept on moving ignoring Datu watching him and continued practicing. As Diwa continued his movements he slowly got better without any worry. Datu was intrigued by Diwa's movements just for a little while. After Diwa gets tired panting as his stance goes out of balance. Datu notices then lectures him of his out of place stance.

After Datu was done scolding Diwa he noticed It had gotten very late and the sun was already setting so he hurried back home so he could get to sleep for tomorrows training.

Continue to page 7

Images drawn by Amanda.

It is now noon time and Diwa didn't notice he slept in this late. He rushes out of bed and gets ready to practice for the day. He gets to the field and wonders why no one is there.

The field they practice on is located on the island of Luzon, which now and days is called Manila. It is a flat ground and a huge field that they would practice on.

He continues to look around and finds the Datu waiting in disappointment. He asks the Datu "Where is everyone?", The Datu goes on and says that practice ended hours ago and scolds Diwa about how he should be more responsible with his time management.