Prologue
Rumbling sounds filled the entire land, the place was shrouded in dark clouds that blackened over the land that was bathed in blood. As lightning flashed on one side and the other of the sky, the vultures flew low at the smell of blood.
"Go!" A man stands holding a spear in his right hand, he is wearing a mahabhusana wilwatikaputra[1] a Java royal family traditional clothes the upper part of his shirtless body is covered in blood. The gold necklace that was tightly attached to his chest formed an eagle that was stretching its wings. Thousands of corpses surrounded his body, not the enemy, but his troops!
"Your Highness Crown Prince, please forgive us!"
"We are going to stay with you!" The remaining two hundred troops looked at him and answered in unison.
"Janchuk!" (Swearing in Javanese)
"Koe sedaya di kandani ora gelem ngerungokno?!"
(You guys don't want to acknowledge my orders anymore?
He cursed with ngoko language (Javanese harsh dialect) because of uncontrollable anger, a look of tiredness appeared on his face.
"Go! Why is it so hard for you guys to understand?! Raden Mas[1] continues to cry non-stop! If you stay, he will die too!"
"If he dies, wouldn’t all the fight we’ve done and all the death our brothers has faced will be for naught?! If even a hair falls from him, I won't be able to forgive myself! I'd better kill you myself!" He rubbed the head of the little boy who was still crying in the hand of one of the soldiers, but then raised his eyes and looked at the hundreds of people who were also looking at him.
"Lunga (Go)!" He said, roughly pulling one of the troop leaders below him and then pushing him away. Jiha gushed out of his body pushing the troops away from him, as he tried to hide his tears.
"I’m really glad to be able to fight alongside you guys, see you in heaven!"
"Siwa! Siwa!" The little boy in the arms of one of the soldiers let out a small cry with tears dripping. His small hand tried to reach towards the man.
He reached out his hand, tapped the boy's forehead and the boy instantly fell asleep. His little eyes were still trying to force open, to look at him, but to no avail, he still sleep soundly.
"Protect my little nephew, protect Little Prince!" He stared intently at the remaining two hundred people. They looked so reluctant, but with a heavy heart ran as hard as they could to leave the place.
"The pick-up team is waiting in Exeter City, meet them there!" He said as he left them, the thousands of corpses that had previously been scattered on the ground slowly stood back up.
But their eyes were black, filled with darkness.
The man stood carrying a spear covered in blood, drops of blood inching down onto the ground from the tip of the spear. He looked at the twenty thousand troops that had previously followed him, were now his enemies. Like a paper boat about to sail across the ocean, his body seemed so small in front of the sea of death!
Unlike the knights from the northern mainland who formed jiha into their armor, he only wore pants and the crown prince's oversized cloth. While he turned the jiha and its characters into the form of weapons.
"Hyang Widi (Sovereign God) I beseech you to protect my nephew, please spare his life! Hopefully one day Nusantara will no longer be just rubble that people may forget.." He looked up at the sky, without realizing that his tears were falling. He sadly slashed at the thousands of humans corpses who threw their bodies at him.
"Sorry.."
With two hands he swept across the line of undead that continued to attack him like a rushing wave. Like slashing himself, a familiar face he slashed with his own hands. While chanting their names one by one, he crushed the soldiers who followed him in the battle between life and death.
The swords, claws, teeth of the corpses tried to hurt him but were useless because his body was stronger than steel. How great was the number of enemies he faced, however much he tried to block them from passing through hundreds of them?
He jumped into the air, jiha, the universal energy residing in his body burst out loud. On the back of his hand, the full moon symbol glowed brightly. His body was shrouded in bright light as if he was an incarnation of a star that resembled a human.
The spear in his hand seemed to split itself apart, into three large spears in the air.
"Heaaaaaaaaa!" He shouted out loud, the three spears then grew bigger, the moon symbol on the back of his hand dimmed. Three spears measuring fifty meters each rotated with the swing of the spear in his hand, like blades mutilating the undead trying to pass through.
"Destroy it!" He shouted, and immediately the three spears that were still spinning were filled with blue flames that scorched thousands of undead that did not stop even though the fire destroyed their bodies.
While all that was happening, a black dot appeared in the dark cloud vortex. It grew bigger and bigger, revealing a dragon with a body up to a hundred meters in length. It has two large wings with two smaller wings behind it. The dragon has six huge horns from its nose to the top of its head, it is the mastermind behind all the undead rise.
"Damned being!!" Said the man, he bent his body as if to squat. But then threw his body up, up to hundreds of meters up. The dragon maneuvered in the air, twisting its body to increase its mass, the man swung his spear at the giant dragon. The dragon did not stay still, it swung its tail.
The spear and the dragon's tail collided, unexpectedly, the spear was thrown, while the tail only slowed down slightly. The man then hugged the big tail, then ran over it while his hands formed three large spears in the air with his jiha.
Only a fourth of the moon on the back of his hand emitted light, his body was filled with blue flames as well as the three giant spears that moved swiftly in the air like a fighter plane in maneuver.
"Die you damned beast!!!" He shouted, the three spears were about to pierce the dragon from three different wind directions.
"Roarrrr!" The dragon roared, causing the earth to tremble, it then used its two large wings to cover its head and body until it lost its ability to fly. The three spears pierced the dragon's body, making it fall stronger and faster from the sky.
The man was still in the air and was quickly about to hit the earth, but he didn't stop there. He formed a huge spear measuring a hundred meters in size with all his jiha, leaving him completely exhausted.
The spear was covered in blue flames that dazzled the eyes, the heat made the dark clouds even burn and evaporate, light began to penetrate the darkness that seemed to blind it.
A large spear with characters that filled the entire body of the spear shot through the air, its enormous size made the sound of the friction of the air sound like the roar of lightning.
Boooooom!
The smoke of dust billowed thickly on the ground when the great dragon hit the earth, plus the three spears full of fire seemed to explode when collided with the dragon's body. Its tail and head occasionally peeked out from behind the thick dust, but a large spear that was created in midair swiftly pierced through it.
The spear struck the dragon, the force behind it sent a puff of smoke of dust blown away revealing the dragon's massive body which was in half, engulfed in flames that enveloped the giant dragon. The man smiled, while his body fell from the air, he closed his eyes and lost consciousness.
The thick smoke then dissipated in the wind, the dragon that had lost half of its body suddenly moved.
His big eyes opened again, he opened his mouth while screaming loudly. He opened his mouth and swallowed the figure of the man that had fallen from the sky. Its massive body crawled out of the huge hole formed by the previous attack, its claws alternated through the steep ground.
**
The entire army ran with all their might, but the corpses and evil creatures seemed endless.
"Captain!"
"You go and take Raden (young prince), we will stop them!" ten team leaders spoke as left the captain, the fifty running to meet their deaths. Making a fence with their bodies and blood, giving the captain and a hundred and fifty others time to escape.
"No!!" The captain shouted but did not stop his pace which was getting faster. His tears dripped down to the little face that was sleeping in his arms.
"See you, my brother!" He hugged the boy tighter.
Even so, the line of fifty people couldn't do much. Their screams and groans were all that remained and made an impression on the ears of the other soldiers.
"For the sake of the Nusantara!" They shouted before the bodies slashed and fell to the ground.
"Captain! See you in heaven!" Another fifty people stepped out of line and took a defensive stance!
This time the captain didn't say anything, he just sobbed and kept running. The faster he becomes, the more it drained his remaining jiha. He made the soil and stones fly in all directions by the power of each step as if trying to run from a reality that was so cruel and sad.
"Captain! We entrust Raden (young prince) to you!" Another fifty people spoke, the sky turned black. The night seemed to come sooner than it should, his tears soaked his collar and battle armor.
The remaining fifty people also gave one farewell, but they did not build a retaining fence but each pretend to carry a lump as if carrying a child the captain was holding. They ran in different directions, leaving the corpses in a state of confusion.
Above the sky the sound of dragons roars sounded making the atmosphere even tenser, no one knew what would happen to them. As if the darkness stealing the harmony from the world leaving silence and the occasional scream of death filled the entire cold white land.
**
A boy trying to get out of the arms of a soldier, he is not an ordinary soldier but the captain of the troops who is now lying stiff. His blood was frozen by the cold temperature capable of freezing small rivers.
The boy was trying his best to free himself. When he opened his eyes and found the soldier's corpse which had a hole in its back he called out:
"Oman... Oman.. Wake up..."
He shook the soldier's body many times, but the captain didn't wake up. He wept, frightened in the cold and darkness. The fear was so intense that it made him cry even harder, at first he thought of staying there. But the sounds of wild animals made him even more afraid, he turned and ran away.
But when he had only stepped a few meters, his foot seemed to have stepped on something, "c***k!" like the sound of a twig snapping, but it felt rubbery when his thin shoes came into contact with it. He looked down, found it was the frozen fingers he stepped on, he screamed. As if hearing his screams, the sky rumbled, along with lightning that revealed a huge mountain in front of him.
A mountain that will be etched in his deepest memories, a mountain of piles of human corpses!
About this boy and his future, who could have guessed?
Greeting!
Hi, this is the author's first note and also a welcome greeting to all the readers. This story may show some gory scenes and a tense atmosphere just like all our bad days and nightmare that most of us experienced. Some even facing such in real life, in their past, or their childhood. But the story does not end with that and so your future is not yet set and your life shouldn’t be ended as a tragedy. You won't, trust me, let us heal our pain together with this little boy that you just read.
Foot Notes:
[1] Mahabhusana wilwatikaputra, a Java royal family traditional clothes that are used both in the formal and informal dressing in the presence of the king.
[2] Siwa, a word in the Javanese language means uncle.
In Java royal household every second till the seventh generation of children from the family of the king being called Raden Mas or (young prince).