Set in Central Visayas during the period of pre-colonial in the 1500s, Rajah Mangubat, who is known as a great and undefeated warrior but with a reputation of being a ruthless leader, is the ruler of a puod (a pre-Hispanic collection of city-states called "banwa", akin to that of a modern-day province). Not long after, a babaylan (village priestess) prophesies that a day will come when he will be defeated and be killed by a female warrior with a twin snake. Anxious about the prophecy, Rajah Mangubat ordered his warriors to kill all pregnant women in every tribe. The only village that survives Rajah Mangubat's terror is the banwa of Datu Bugna, his long-time friend and ally.