I should have known something was wrong when the chatty guy who ran the BnB went suddenly silent the next morning. No, we should have known something was wrong when we first wandered off path to this strange place, with the dripping of water everywhere, all silence and water and mists. We were there to see a waterfall, so it didn’t seem strange, the water, but looking back – I don’t know.

Remember the guy we saw, the one with eyes like blue fire, with gossamer wings.

“I like your outfit,” I told him and he smiled warmly at us, gesturing for us to follow him before disappearing into the shadows and from there I could see the silent sound of the place, the crick-crackle of stone streets beneath our feet, the looming towers. How did they fit all of this in the caves(?) Or else, where was the sky?

I agreed with you. This was all just a little too weird. We turned around and left, hiking back to the rented automobile we’d driven here. And then to the BnB for the night, and then in the morning we spoke to the owner over breakfast, telling him about ourselves, about our travels so far, about that strange city we found by accident the day before….

It was strange, memorably strange, how the six-foot tall, bear of a guy, went silent. Then, he crossed himself. “No, ma’am,” he said. “I do not know where such a place is, and … I believe it is time for you to go.”

It was not until after we returned home, that I started to wonder. Every and now again, walking down the street, out in the woods (but it has been a while since I have dared to wander – alone), from behind a pole, a tree, a bench, suddenly the man will appear. Always he smiles, always wearing the same outfit, the same smile. Always, he beckons, and always I walk away. For now.

A little more about the “real” Biringan:

https://owlcation.com/humanities/biringan-city