Chapter 01 "A Mysterious Object"

Gray clouds were hanging above the sky. Millions of raindrops were the first thing I saw with my eyes. My body swung back and forth on the sea in a big storm, on the deck of a warship that would soon sink. The dozens of canon attacks finally destroyed the bilge of the biggest and strongest warship across the ocean. The ship tilted 45 degrees to the left. Making objects shifted to one side.

A wooden crate hit my head before finally crashed to the fence and fell into the sea. My fate would end up the same if only the mast wasn't put a halt to my body. My breath was tight. This ship was on fire, flames were everywhere. Burning anything that could be devoured. The heavy rain couldn't able extinguish it. It even made worse. An explosion could be heard again from the hull. The voice was deafening and shook the entire ship. The thick smoke burst out following the direction of the wind to the top of this deck.

If only my body could be moved, I'd do it before. But I couldn't. A stab wound on my abdomen kept me on this deck. Draining the blood, strength, and hope. Not to mention the bruises and other injuries that existed in my entire body. That just made me grateful to be alive until now.

The sound of cannons shouted to each other. Likewise, the metal clinking and thunder beam echoed in the air. The machine of warships was getting roaring tight. They didn't care. They pretend not to see. Thousands of people were killed, and wounded were ignored for the sake of winning each side. None of them were willing to surrender. Charge and win. That was on the minds of everyone in this ocean.

Including me, who had failed for everyone's expectations. The pain from the wound starting to kill all my senses. I couldn't move, hear, and see. All I could do was giving up on this situation. Drowned with darkness which has begun to wrap. This tranquility was the only luxury that I'd never felt during the war rages on. Somehow I remembered the memory of a few years ago. In the past, I'd felt this similar feeling. When my body floated in another dimension. Suddenly, I missed that past.

The time when I ... started everything.

***

'Bald' was his nickname. Taken from his short hairstyle like an army. When his hair grew long, he would cut it with the same style. That's why the word 'bald' was always attached to him. However, only his fellow dared to call him that. For those like us who were still new members, doing that was mean looking for death.

"Hey, Midget! Give me that soy sauce!" He yelled while sitting across from me.

My hands were shaking after hearing his surprising voice. I tried to give a bottle of soy sauce in a plastic bag. The light source in this darkness was just from a campfire and incandescent lamps. When my hand was going about to give it, the mountain breeze suddenly blew. Thanks to my less vigilant eyes, I dropped it accidentally.

"Hey, you're a fool!!! Couldn't you be more careful?" He scolded me with a high voice.

"Y-Yeah! Sorry, Kak Indra!" (1)

My hand picked up the bottle again hastily, then gave it to him. In a moment, his eyes stabbed me deeply. I swallowed my saliva when observing his arm muscles in almost perfect form. With the background of large trees illuminated by the glow of flames, his figure was grilling fish, similar to a soldier surviving in the wild forest.

Indra Pradipta or The Bald, now I dealt with a man who spent almost all his spare time exercising and shaping muscle. No doubt, now his figure was not less than a professional bodybuilder who often appears on television. With a posture like that, let alone a fellow student, I was sure many adults are reluctant to him.

Compared with my thin and petite body, I looked like pebbles to him. So it's reasonable if I was a little afraid of him.

"Haha. Don't be grumpy like that, Captain! Poor Anggi," said the girl who just arrived and immediately rubbed my head. Her hands that had just picked up firewood in the forest, provide dust and soil debris on my hair. Then she put the firewood near a large tent.

"You are scared just like that? A man shouldn't be a crybaby!"

Right now, I was joining the inauguration of the Tae Kwon Do new members club at the mountain slope. The place was far from the city and crowds, looked rough natural conditions, suitable for galvanizing mental of new members.

"Don't take it into your heart! His seems rough, but actually, he has a really good heart," said the girl.

"Y-Yeah!"

Shella Rinjani, a senior who always encouraged and listened to other people's complaints attentively. A type of sister who could be depended on by her younger siblings. The beauty of an oriental face made her popular among men. It seemed that many club members who joined this club were after her.

Well, but that has nothing to do with me, anyway. Rather than chasing a girl, I prefer to looking for ways to become more manly a hundred times than now. As I said before, I have a short and small body. Because of this, many people often made fun of me and call me 'midget' or 'dwarf.' It was hurt at first. But because I used to hear it, It didn't bother me anymore.

Frequent harassment and bullying that had in the past made my mental mushy. When my dark periods in middle school, I always yielded when my classmates or seniors bullied me. They often made me an errand boy or tricked me out to become a laughingstock when they were bored. Of course, this heart wanted to fight, but I didn't have the strength to do so. Because even though I fight back, with my strength, obviously I would still lose in the end.

For that reason, I wanted to change myself when entering high school. I tried to get into the martial club that had never come to my mind at all. I obediently followed every instruction and the materials given by the coach. At first, it was tough to follow this club because of my weak body and stamina. But I was very grateful because all the members of the Tae Kwon Do didn't bully me. Instead, they always gave me passion and drive.

I was grateful that the bitter experience in junior high did not recur anymore.

"Where's Dimas? And the others too?" asked Kak Shella, who suddenly pat on my shoulder from behind.

It shocked me. My mouth was accidentally issued shrill cries like a woman. Kak Indra suddenly squinted his gaze. Perhaps he felt disgusted with my voice.

I decided to ignore it and look at Kak Shella, "I don't know about the others. But, Dimas went to the river. He said he wanted to wash his clothes because earlier he had fallen into the mud puddle."

"Hmm, I see. I want to ask him to prepare dinner. If I'm not mistaken, he promised that he would help me cook. But in fact, he could cook, right? Not just blabbering?"

"Of course, he could. He's a son of a restaurateur. No need to ask his cooking quality. I assure you it tasted delicious." It looked like my answers removed her doubts. "Need me to call him?"

"If possible, It would help me so much," Shella replied with a grin.

"Well, then I'll go."

"Watch out! Make sure you're not be swallowed by a crocodile!" Kak Indra shouted. The existence of that animal was nearly impossible to be at the shallow river downstream, especially in the mountains. But his face was too serious about being considered a joke.

I was a little intimidated and just nodded without answering and quickly went away. A soft voice of laughter by Kak Shella could be heard. And it looked like she was hitting the captain for made me scared before.

Ignoring those two who chuckled, I immediately left. With my phone flashlight to lighten my path, I stepped carefully. The surroundings were very dark. I had to pay attention well to the ground if I didn't want to fall. Besides rocky, this path was also filled with root trees growing on both sides of the road.

Wrapped by fear, my head turned reflexively from side to side when there was a sound. Sometimes there was the sound of birds perched on a tree branch above me, and several times my ears caught howling sounds like a wolf. My cowardice made me flinch every time I heard an unknown sound. But then, I decided to fight my fear and accelerate my pace to find Dimas immediately.

The more I walked, the more I clearly heard the sound of water gurgling. A cold wind blew on the sidelines of the trees' trunks, then tickled me. I folded both hands to keep warm and ignored that breezy wind.

When the sound of the water to the point where I heard it clearly, I arrived at the riverbank, which was quite large. The flow of water wasn't too heavy, caused a reasonably mellow voice harmony in this evening. This was a fantastic calming place in the middle of the forest, I thought.

Immediately, my ears caught the sound of unusual water flow. The sound was harsh and different from the natural stream river. I turned towards the sound source. I could find torrential water falling from a piece of clothing that was squeezing by.

"Dimas!" I shouted to the person sitting on a rock. It wasn't too far from where I stand.

Whether my voice was too small or he was too focus on washing his clothes, he didn't hear me. I couldn't speak louder, so I walked closer and greeted him.

"Hey!" I said while touching his bare shoulder.

Dimas little surprised because of my sudden coming. His face showed a little annoyed, but he held it back when he saw the person who surprised him was me.

"Damn you! I'm surprised, you know!" He blurted out and splashed the river water at me. My shirt around the left chest got wet. After vent his frustration, he smiled slightly as his revenge succeed.

"Hey, why did you do it? I don't intend to do it before."

"Accidentally or not, you still suprised me," said Dimas. Knowing I wouldn't reply to his words, he continued, "what are you doing here? If you just want to bother me, you should go away."

"You promised to help Kak Shella cook the dinner, didn't you? She called you."

"Ah, that's right! I almost forget. Okay, but wait after I finished washing my clothes first."

That boy threw his shirt back into the water and rubbed it on the dirty part with a stone. Once clean, he repeated at the other parts.

I sat on a rock not far from Dimas and wait. His upper body was not wearing anything, so I could clearly observe it from behind. Although not perfect as Kak Indra's, he had good arms and back muscles and begun to form splendidly like an athlete. He had an ideal body shape that I wildly dreamed of.

Then I saw my own arm. Skinny, not muscular, even frail. It seemed to chase him. I still have to through long and storied ways. Realizing it made me laugh to myself.

"Hey ... you're crazy, huh?!" Dimas sneered when he heard the sound of my laughter.

Slightly blushed, I bowed my face. "No. I just laughed at myself."

That boy looked at me strangely. Then he burst out laughing and shook his head. Looked like I had to admit Kak Shella's words, Dimas was quite charming when he smiled. Although I'm a guy, I couldn't deny it at all. No wonder many women after him at the school.

Come up one point that made me envied him. This person named Dimas Permana was actually my childhood friend. He had an oval face and a super sharp nose like an Arabian man. Maybe he inherited it from his grandfather, who was Yemenis. His height could be proud of for the size of teenagers who just entering high school.

He may not be so clever in the academic field. But when it comes to non-academic, he couldn't be underestimated. In the field of athletics and sports, he has always been a champion among the other students. Dimas also had qualified martial arts skills. He pursued Pencak Silat (2), then shifted to wushu, and now he was trying to enter the taekwondo world.

Suddenly crossed an idea that tickled my mind. If Dimas fought against Kak Indra, who would win, huh?

"When I first met you, I thought you were a strange child. But now I'm sure, you've got more strange today!" he said, laughing.

Although sometimes his words sound harsh, his heart wasn't like that. I dare to say it. Because he always stands up for me when I was being bullied. As for me, he was like a superhero in the movies.

"Let's go back! I want to change my clothes!" said Dimas after he finished washing his shirt. "I hope this shirt could be dry tomorrow morning."

I nodded slowly. He went down from the top of the rock. His hands holding wet clothes that he had just washed. Then walked along the edge of the river with a bare upper body. It was undoubtedly quite extreme when the wind blew breezily. Not to mention the cold of the night in the mountain, which was always at a low temperature. That might not mean anything for Dimas. But for me, it was enough to make me limp and lost consciousness.

Directly behind him, I walked carefully. The leg length difference between us made our distance widened several times. Instead of asking him to adjust my pace, I would try to speed up. A quick walk over small stones on the river bank was quite tricky. I almost lost my balance because of the rock I stepped on, then slipped to the side. I purposely didn't tell Dimas, so he wouldn't consider me too weak. While at the same time trying not to worry him too much.

Suddenly, my eyes inadvertently caught a golden flash from the riverbed. Then I stopped and tried to observe carefully. Somehow I was inquisitive about this. There was a possibility that it was a light reflection from metal. But soon, I got rid of that thought. Although that was a metal, it was impossible to reflect light when there wasn't enough light source. The forest was quite dark. The lighting here only from my cell phone flashlight and the dim moonlight, which I think was very weak to penetrate to the bottom of the river.

"Hey, what's up?" asked Dimas, who noticed me while halting in silence. But I ignored him. A few moments later, the light was shining again. This time was quite bright and clear, to made me believe that it wasn't a mere hallucination.

"Hey! Do you see that light?" I said, pointing to the mysterious light that is now gone.

"What light!? Hmm ... no. I don't see anything."

I could see the serious expression on his face. Dimas was playful, but I could tell when he was joking or serious because I had been him long ago. The light was once again sparkling, but still, Dimas admitted to not see it.

It was pretty strange. Because I could see it very clearly. A second later, I didn't know what was on my mind. I was trying to get into the river after put off my shoes. Heeding the warning Dimas who kept yelling, automatically brought me out from his liability if something happened. My feet felt the coldness of the river and the sharp rock surfaces at the same time. Gently, I kept coming toward the golden light, which was repeatedly glowing.

The more I walked towards the middle of the river, the riverbed became deeper and starting to swallow me. The water was wetting my back and chest. I never thought that the river would be this deep. Curiosity helped me defeat my fears and made me go forward. Step by step, the distance between that brilliant flash and I was decreasing. Looked like it didn't take a long time to—.

Suddenly, I lost my balance due to a miscalculation. I didn't think the next leg footing much deeper than before. Flows were quite heavy in the middle of the river, made me sank to the bottom. I tried flapping my hands and kicking the riverbed to get back to the surface. My breath was getting tight every second as if there was something choked my neck. At that time, I just realized that I couldn't swim.

I kept trying and trying my best to get back afloat. But it was useless. When I thought that the riverbed was my deathbed, suddenly something kept me surviving for a minute longer. Just when I was at the bottom of the river, my eyes fixed on something. It was a shimmering golden light source before. The riverbed was so dark, I couldn't see anything other than the light. With some difficulty, I tried to bring my body closer to the light.

But something was holding me to reach it. A large force pulling me up. When I reversed my body, I found Dimas who was trying to save me. That guy forcefully pulled me up. I gave a little fight back. It didn't mean that I didn't want him to save me. However, it was because I wanted to get something that was almost accomplished with my own abilities. I reached my hand out to grasp the light. But not even slightest my fingertips reached it. Until the end, Dimas used all his power to bring me back to the surface.

"Hahh ... hah."

A few seconds later, I was breathing as much as possible after afloat to the river surface. Then Dimas dragged me to the riverbank to get away from the place that nearly lost my life.

I crouched on the ground and start coughing. But it was still better than got drowned forever in the dark riverbed. I was lucky enough to be still alive. If Dimas didn't help me, perhaps this time I—.

"You idiot !!! What do you think you did back there!!?" Dimas snapped with a loud voice. "Why did you challenged the danger? Did you think you have many lives? Or do you think I will always be there with you, huh? What if I was not here? You would be dead meat right now!!"

His remarks rattled my heart. But he was right. It's all my fault. I was ashamed and felt so bashful and sorry to Dimas, who was always good to me. Everything that happened made me bowed my head and could only say a word, "sorry!"

After that, no words come out of Dimas's mouth. He just looked at me with a look of pity. Then scratched his head and sighed. "Oh, whatever! The important thing is you're safe and sound now. Let's get back to the camp and dried off." He reversed his body while grumbling. "Dammit! Not only clothes, but my whole body is all wet!"

When he walked away, I started raising my head. Honestly, I was very grateful to him. Thanks for saved me before, and sorry for made you worry.

After making sure the boy was a bit far away from me, I opened my hand. In my palm, there was a polygon-shaped small object with an octagonal star-carving. It has two opposite sides. One side was bulging part with such writing ancient characters. Meanwhile, on the other side was the flat part, where there was a small hook and a needle. Is this sort of a pin?

I observed it more carefully and summed it up. No doubt, this thing was the source of the mysterious light seen before in the riverbed. I was very sure of that. Because after I took this thing, I didn't see the golden sparkle from there anymore. It made me wonder. This thing was no longer shining after I picked it up. It was as if it sent me a signal to take it out of the riverbed and make it mine.

"Seriously, what is this?"

***

(1) In Indonesia, the word 'Kak' is used to refers to elder siblings. It can also be used to refers to seniors.

(2) Pencak Silat is the indigenous martial art of Indonesia.