Dark Creature Series: Flight of the Aswang

The “Dark Creatures Series: Flight of the Aswang” features two novelettes about the aswang and its struggles in a modern, more complicated world. The sound of “tiktik” in a rural town in the Philippines after dark would be enough to strike fear in the hearts of those who believe in the aswang, often pictured as a vile creature who hungers for human blood. Among the creatures of local mythology, it is the most feared for its habit of stalking its prey as a seemingly normal person by day, and ultimately hunting him or her after dark after assuming its dark persona.

Its ability to co-exist among the living during the day was probably one of the reasons why the fear of the aswang persists. Unlike the vampire, the aswang - in its human form - can and will live among normal folk during the day without fear of dying under the hot, blazing sun. Moreover, the aswang has been described as a shape shifter, imbued with an ability to transform into various types of animals such as dogs, pigs, and bats, with only its red, glaring eyes revealing its true nature.