บท 20: 20. First Adventure

1 Month Later

The warm rays of the sun slowly began to erode the thick fog clinging to the morning air on the slopes of a conical volcano in the East Sovereign's Province, hundreds of miles from the Crown Capital Special Region—the heart of the big island.

Mount Arjuno—that was its name. Known as one of the most haunted mountains in Nusantara, it has countless creepy stories tied to its peak.

One of the most infamous tales is about the disappearance of climbers who never returned after entering a haunted forest near the top, known as the Forest of Lost Souls. The story goes that during the rainy season, a strange fog descends around dusk, engulfing the forest in an eerie haze. This mystical mist leads hikers astray, pulling them into what seems like another world—a place without escape, leaving them lost forever.

The disappearances became so frequent that the kingdom eventually intervened, banning citizens from climbing the mountain years ago. Still, there are always some who defy the law, seeking either an adrenaline rush or the hidden secrets rumored to lie behind Mount Arjuno's grandeur.

Among these defiant adventurers were three young men, now sitting squeezed between baskets of tea leaves on the back of a truck hauling plantation goods.

Kairav stared blankly at the sprawling tea plantation before him, the lingering echo of a strange voice still rattling around in his head. It was a voice he couldn't shake—a voice that had pushed him to set foot here.

"If you want to know, meet me in the Forest of Lost Souls when the rainy season comes..." The words had cut through the fog of his mind a month ago, pulling him out of a dazed stupor, and those words hadn't left him since.

Drrttt... Drrttt...

The vibrating phone in his white jacket pocket snapped him out of his daydream. He sighed as his almond eyes flicked to the screen, reading the contact name. "What now?"

"Little bastard! Where the hell did you run off to this time?! Trying to put your old man in the hospital again?!"

Kairav winced, pulling the phone away from his ear to protect it from his father's booming voice. "Dad, seriously, don't make me rush home just because you decided to collapse again! I need to finish this expedition and actually study the short man of Enchanted!"

"Don't think I'm an idiot!" Satya shot back. "You didn't even buy a ticket to go to Enchanted Island! Get your ass back home now!"

"I'll come home if you tell me everything you know!" Kairav demanded.

"I've told you everything!" Satya replied, exasperated.

"That's a lie!" Kairav snapped, running a hand over his face in frustration.

"How could you say that?!"

"The increasing wrinkles on your face can explain everything!" Kairav shot back with a fierce retort.

"You little demon!"

"And you're the demon king!" Kairav yelled before abruptly hanging up. He shoved the phone back into his jacket, fuming.

Gavin, his expedition partner and close friend chuckled at the exchange. "Tsk, insubordinate son of a bitch," the dark-skinned youth muttered, turning his attention back to the camera in his hand.

Kairav grunted in response, but the insult stung more than usual. Maybe it had something to do with the shocking revelation from a month ago—the day when Satya, the man Kairav had always believed was his biological father, dropped a bombshell.

"I can't hide the truth anymore... You're not my real son. I was sent to raise you. You're actually a descendant of the Eternalush Kingdom, destroyed hundreds of years ago..."

Gavin's voice snapped him out of his thoughts. "Deja vu, right? One minute, we're hearing your plane explode, and we're preparing to throw flowers in the sea for you. Then the next minute, you pop up in front of Baron and me like some ghost. The tears we cried over your 'death'—all for nothing!"

Instead of guilt, Kairav burst into laughter, only fueling Gavin's frustration. "The other guys still think you're dead. How are you going to explain that?"

Kairav shrugged casually. "Just tell them the info was wrong. I came home by ship, not by plane."

Gavin sighed and shook his head. "That sounds absurd, but I guess it's believable."

He then shot Kairav a curious glance. "You know what sounds even more absurd? The crazy stories you told us about animal spirits and the Eternalush Kingdom. Baron and I thought it was just the ramblings of a madman or maybe a hallucination from your run-in with the short man of Enchanted."

Kairav raised an eyebrow. "So why are you here if you don't believe me?"

"To see for ourselves if there's any truth to what you said," Gavin replied. "And even if it's not real, spending time together like this isn't so bad."

Baron, the tall, thin guy with glasses sitting between them, suddenly murmured in his sleep, "Enjoy it while you can, because he'll still be a twenty-year-old when we're fossils."

Kairav shot him a glare. "Go back to sleep!"

"He'll still be young when we're ancient relics," Gavin added with a smirk.

Kairav rolled his eyes, but a faint shadow passed over them as he muttered, "Don't joke like that... Living forever sounds terrible. Watching everyone around me die..."

Their conversation was cut short as the truck jolted to a stop. The three of them grabbed their bags and hopped out, the eastern hiking trail now visible just beyond the tea fields. A coffee plantation marked the trail's entrance.

Gavin took a deep breath and shouted, "Mount Arjuno, here we come!"

But his enthusiasm was dampened by the truck driver, who hurried over with a concerned expression. "You're really going to climb that mountain?" the middle-aged man asked, his voice tinged with worry. "You'd be better off turning back. Many people go missing up there. Those that come back... it's like they've left their souls behind."

"Relax, Uncle. We've done this before," Gavin replied, his confidence unwavering. "Besides, we're armed." He pointed to the rifles slung over their shoulders.

The old man sighed, weary from dealing with yet another group of headstrong youngsters.

Kairav, meanwhile, smirked and pulled out some red bills from his wallet. "As agreed, 300 Krisnala for the ride."

As they walked away, Kairav glanced back at the driver and added with a wicked grin, "Oh, and if anyone asks, you didn't see us. You know the consequences for aiding illegal activities, right?"

The old man shook his fist in frustration. "Brat!"