beware these snake-eyed children.
In the olden times, there was once the hero Handyong. He was a fierce warrior, descended from Bikol’s first hero Baltog. Like his ancestor, he had tremendous strength, and thus defended his people from the monsters of the land. Eventually, he encountered an enemy he could not defeat: the wily shapeshifter Oryol, who could take the form of both a serpent and a woman. She could escape any trap and charm any animal with her gaze. She was Asuang’s daughter, born of a mortal maiden.
The two were so powerful they were locked in a stalemate. Oryol in her caprice then proposed that she and Handyong instead aim for peace rather than enmity. The two worked together as diplomats, Oryol speaking on the monsters’ behalf and Handyong on the humans’. Such was their closeness that they became lovers and eventually married. The monsters and the humans lived in peace with one another (although the monsters shifted their forms to better fit with their human counterparts), and everyone lived happily ever after.
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Handyong and Oryol’s marriage produced many children. They possessed their parents’ wanderlust, and scattered around the archipelago. The more magically potent ones inherited their mother’s hypnotic gaze and penchant for mischief. Beware these snake-eyed children - if you ever encounter anyone with a supernatural charisma, they could very well be one of Oryol’s descendants.