A young girl sat leaning against the wall in the middle room of a house.
"Mom, there's a commotion in the neighboring village. They say a husband and wife died in the forest. Do you know what actually happened?" Fatheema asked while sipping the warm tea she had just made.
Her legs stretched across the floor, occasionally swinging left and right.
"Oh, that. Earlier I saw a funeral ambulance passing in front of the house. I happened to meet the village chief."
"He said the ones who died were a married couple from the next village over—Nurhakim and Hayati. The forest has been temporarily closed to the public because of several strange incidents. They're worried there might be dangerous people threatening anyone who enters the forest."
"A week earlier there was also a missing persons case. Some students from State High School Number Two went camping in the forest. They vanished without a trace. All that was left were two small tents and their belongings."
Fatheema nodded while sipping the sweet jasmine tea.
"That's so strange. We've never had any criminal incidents in our village before."
"Here, something to go with your tea," her mother said as she handed her a plate of banana chips.
"Thanks, Mom. I was actually craving a snack," the girl replied while taking the plate.
"Earlier, your father said he was going to the village hall. They're planning to continue the search for the missing people from last week."
"Does Dad really have to join too? Isn't he already busy with work at the office? If he joins the search, he won't get any rest," Fatheema asked curiously.
"Your father feels he has to help. One of the missing boys is the son of your aunt's husband's family. Of course he feels the loss too, especially since the disappearance happened so close to our home."
A man's greeting was heard from the front door.
"Your father's back," her mother said while walking toward the entrance.
"How was it, dear? What happened? Any new information?"
"Who knows…" replied a tall man with an average build, wearing a dark green knitted cap. The cap fit tightly around his head, outlining its round shape while a few strands of hair poked out near the edges.
"It's already been a week since those kids disappeared. It's like the earth swallowed them whole."
"The search will continue tomorrow. The village volunteers, SAR team, and village officials will gather at the village hall around seven in the morning."
"Tomorrow, Sister Nurul's husband will join the search team too. He'll stop by our house first. I talked to him on the phone earlier—he said his wife hasn't stopped crying since it happened."
"Fatheema, please make for me some black coffee. Don't use too much sugar, just a little."
"Alright, Dad," Fatheema replied as she got up and headed toward the kitchen.
***
That night, the wall clock in the family room showed eleven-thirty.
The village felt quiet. No vehicles passed along the road anymore. The villagers' activities had all ceased.
Only the sounds of night insects echoed through the darkness.
"Dear, are you going to bed yet? The livestock behind the house are making a lot of noise," Fatheema's mother said to her husband.
"Not yet. I'm still thinking about what happened at the village hall."
"Are the children asleep already?"
"I think so. They're probably exhausted from school activities."
"I'm going to check the poultry coop out back. Maybe there's a civet cat or a monitor lizard."
The man took a headlamp flashlight and a small black bag hanging on the wall.
Then he walked toward the back door.
A few steps behind the house was a fairly large area surrounded by bamboo fencing layered with black netting.
The coop itself was made of bamboo fencing with a metal roof.
After checking around for a while using the small flashlight attached to his head, the man stood in front of the poultry enclosure.
"Strange… there's nothing here."
"Why are these ducks so noisy?"
"It's like they're afraid of something, but I can't find anything. Usually when they act like this, there's some kind of predator nearby."
The man walked toward the house and climbed the stairs to the rooftop terrace beside it.
Standing on the rooftop, he observed the surroundings and the poultry coop behind the house.
"It's unusually hot tonight. Feels stuffy."
"It's been raining frequently these past few days. The dry season is still about four months away. It shouldn't be this hot."
"Could that be why the birds are acting up?"
Suddenly—
In the distance, a reddish light shot upward into the sky from the direction of the wilderness forest.
Thunder rumbled violently as lightning flashed repeatedly across the heavens.
The phenomenon lasted for a while before the sky finally returned to normal.
"That came from the Alas Purwo Forest… what's really happening there?"
"A red light piercing the sky, directly beneath the constellation of the Seven Maidens…"
"What's going on with the Alas Purwo Forest? Strange things never used to happen there. Why are things beyond reason happening now?"
"Could some evil creature be behind the disappearance of those children? And what about the deaths of the husband and wife this morning? Are the two incidents connected?"
The man sat there in deep thought. He grabbed a small stool and remained frozen in contemplation over the strange events.
After some time, he finally rose from his seat and climbed down from the rooftop.
After checking the poultry coop once more, he returned inside the house.
"How was it? What happened?" his wife asked curiously.
"There was nothing. No wild animals in the coop. At first I thought it might've been a civet, a monitor lizard, or even stray dogs, but there was nothing at all."
"It's pretty hot tonight. Maybe that's what's making the birds restless."
"You should go to sleep now. It's already midnight. Tomorrow we'll figure something out—maybe place a larger water container there or spray down the coop first."
"Alright, dear. You should sleep too. Didn't you say you were joining the village volunteers to search for the missing children tomorrow?" his wife reminded him.
Roosters crowed one after another.
The sun was about to rise.
Orange-red hues stretched across the eastern sky as a girl wearing a light blue hoodie and ankle-length training pants jogged toward the sunrise.
Sometimes she sprinted at full speed before slowing back into a relaxed jog.
Occasionally she ran in place while hopping lightly.
"Alright… now I'm going to test my speed."
"Pure speed, without anything else."
She activated the stopwatch on her wristwatch.
Then she assumed a one-hundred-meter sprint stance.
"Ready… set… Go!"
The girl shot forward like an arrow released from its bow.
Her movements were light, and the sound of her footsteps was nearly inaudible.
After reaching the hundred-meter mark, she stopped and bounced lightly in place while checking her watch.
"Hm… 10.91 seconds. Almost Olympic champion level. Hehehe."
"What if I add another variable? Like inner force… or mana?"
"Alright! Let's try again."
"I never fully explored the use of inner force while running in the Forgotten oblivion World."
The girl took her sprinting stance again, preparing for another hundred-meter dash.
The stopwatch activated.
"Ready… set… Go!"
Once again, the girl burst forward, running as swiftly as an antelope.
Her feet seemed to touch the ground without making a sound.
A hundred meters ahead, she stopped and quickly checked her watch.
"9.50 seconds! Wow… inner force really increases my speed."
"But wait… my mastery over inner force still isn't advanced. I'm still basically a newbie."
"What happens when my inner force level increases later? I'll probably become even faster, right?"
"Hmm… alright. Now let's try the special one," Fatheema grinned mischievously as she prepared herself for another sprint.
"Sira ratuning bayu,
langit ira mandala angin,
ingsun nggugah aji Nirwana."
"Nirvanic Wind Sprinter!"
"One… Two… Three… Go!"
This time the girl launched forward at terrifying speed.
Her feet seemed to barely touch the ground.
It was as though powerful winds were carrying her body forward.
Her speed was nearly unbelievable.
At the hundred-meter mark, the girl performed a maneuver by leaping high into the air and spinning several times like a propeller.
And then—
She landed lightly on the ground like cotton.
"Yup! And… 5.10 seconds!"
"Unbelievable!"
"Spiritual power can increase physical abilities several times over."
"Nirvanic Wind Sprinter makes my speed almost like a raging wind."
The girl slowly walked toward the edge of a roadside cliff.
Beside the road was a deep ravine, with the tops of the trees nearly fifteen feet below the road itself.
The sun had partially risen in the eastern sky, its dim light piercing through the trees below.
A familiar sensation entered her field of vision.
A cool feeling filled both of her eyes.
And then—
The patterns in her irises turned dark red, radiating a soft violet glow.
***