Chương 35: Sinden

While everyone was preparing to go to the Melianor Shop, Elia who was unknowingly trapped in the Ruang Hampa still thought that Theria locked her up deliberately for a purpose unknown to her.

"Why did he lock me up like this? This food supply is enough for a week, but who wants to eat in this situation!" Elia kicked the door.

The fresh fruits looked miserable and suspicious in her eyes.

"Did he give poison in every food? But there's no way he's going to kill me. If Sunshine, ah no, Melianor and Theria, if they want to kill me, they can do it from the beginning!"

Elia sat wondering what they really wanted from her. Is there no better way than locking me up?

Elia began to recall Theria's attitude towards her before this incident. In her memory, all was well until a specific memory showed Theria's expression after they had traveled that short space and time.

Did I look weird at the time? Why is his face so? Or am I showing him something I didn't realize? What is it? Ah shit! This underworld is confusing. The expressions of the people here have never been seen. Their ability, their faces.

Elia admits she was fascinated by Theria's good looks and Melianor's beauty. They are like gods and goddesses who are often depicted in classical Greek stories.

Elia continued to ponder. What makes me locked up here? Theria said I should get used to the Magi in the Melianor Mansion. Is this the way? Forced to realize it without warning. What are they thinking?

Keep thinking about making Elia sleepy. Her thoughts that were quite detailed looking back at the details that were missed, over time all of them were transparent. Her head started to feel heavy, but then she gasped.

What's this? Why is there music all now? But what music is this? I think I've heard of it somewhere. The language, it's Javanese, right? This... Isn't this Sinden's song and voice?

Elia looked around. She's looking for speakers. Nothing. Where did the sound come from?

Surprisingly, Elia's body and feelings responded to the song that Sinden Lanang was singing that sounded wingit in her ears. Despite the goosebumps, Elia was not afraid at all.

The voice began to increase, it sounded content, taking turns whimpering, flattering, asking for something to the point of sacrificing souls between Sinden Lanang and Sinden Wedok.

They take turns reciting stories in verses with alluring ups and downs, long and short tones. At certain moments, there is a special choir squad behind the main sinden.

Elia remembered the horror movie she saw. Maybe this is the devil's den? Elia shook her head loudly. Ah, no way. Fuck! Why do I remember Max's words that I'm half demon? Is this a welcome song for me? So that means this is how they accept new members?

Elia stood listening with a mind that kept wondering, until she finally tired of herself asking rhetorical questions. She fell down along with the rhythm and soft verses that were recited.

By the time the gamelan took its turn, realized or not by Elia, the fruits, bread, plates, chairs, and tables were lost one by one. All the objects in the room left themselves as if they were ruled.

Elia fell to the floor when her chair disappeared. A shocked screech came out of Elia's throat. Her ass landed roughly on the floor.

Sinden Wedok's voice, without the accompaniment of gamelan, was like trying to talk to Elia, but Elia couldn't see the face of Sinden Wedok. The neck feels stiff. Her shoulders feel heavy, her heart pounding so hard. Elia's toes began to cool. The coldness spread to the top of the head.

Unable to resist it, Elia crouched down. She pressed her head. Something's wrong. Is this a sweater spell?

She then curled up, hugging her own shivering body. Sinden Wedok's voice continued.

"Why do I feel like I want to cry? What does this song really mean? fuck! I've never heard of it but it feels like it contains a very sad story. If it's like this, the first song is like an opening, the second song is like character recognition, the third song is conflict recognition, it's the third song, conflict."

Elia stuck with Sinden's voice and consciousness. She doesn't want to feel it anymore. The thing is, she can't stop it. She doesn't know where it came from. Moreover, her body reacted horribly. Her heart was pounding unsanching, hard and painful inside her chest. She held her chest tightly and over time couldn't stand so moaning.

Her legs started cramping. It seemed like the blood stopped flowing there and chose to swirl around in her heart alone.

"What other things?! Theria, Melianor, Max, help me..."

Elia was bathed in sweat. Is this psychological murder?

Elia spewed food and water from her mouth. She continued to vomit until her stomach was deflated. The vomiting didn't stop for a while. Elia was limp with her head spinning. At the same time, Sinden's voice did not stop, her voice even louder as the horrors mounted in Elia's mind.

When she stopped vomiting, Elia stopped screaming with the rest of her energy. I don't know why she did it, maybe for a protest. She wanted Sinden to stop singing, but her loud, voiceless request was denied. Sinden Lanang and Wedok were still singing, the softer they sang, the louder Elia's heartbeat sounded.

Elia's confusion, pain, horror, frustration increase her desire to escape the voice that torments her. Elia forced her feet to stand up. She walked in the direction she thought could save her. Even so, over time her legs like answering her wishes. Elia could walk, from slow to fast, then run straight to find a way out. Her estimation was wrong, wherever she went, the voice kept following, becoming the ear itself.

Elia also became even more confused, because the path she chose was endless. There was no sign of an exit so far and for whatever time she ran away. In vain.

Elia sat limply on both her legs, looking around there was only black and a dark light. There's no way out. There was no one else but herself. There is no door to Melianor's house. There was no light of Melianor's house lights that calmed her down. There is no smell of Melianor bread. There are no jokes from Max, Theria, and Azaila. There was only Sinden's Voice that made her feel more and more lost into the afterlife.

Elia cried and screamed loudly until she fainted. Sinden Wedok's song continued to soften wingit.

The sound of gamelan has changed. The sprinkling became calmer. It sounded like a gurgling of water flowing in a rocky, clear river, reflecting off the face of nature, the sky, the entire universe. On a certain beat it feels like a drizzle combined with a light tone and a soothing tempo, then it turns like a woman walking the earth with tiptoeing legs. Like the wonders of nature, space and time, each material comes together to form a component of imaginative unity. There is one part that feels like a Rosebird flap in the morning, like the silent presence of butterflies, and like the cold of the night at the peak of the dry month.

The unity of Gamelan music is unbroken, continuing to join forces inseparable. Each other interweaves like colors that side by side make the world as beautiful as the imagination of the fairies.

The change made Elia's previously dogged heart dogged by stories of conflict that hurt her to be in the middle of a soft area. The freshness it felt might be like a cloudless sky one morning, when the sun was sweetening greeting all living things, unobstructed by the cold expression of the mountains.

The reassuring strain of frequency made Elia stop crying. Although more comfortable than what happened before, the unexpected situation still confused her. She did not dare to open her eyes, she just listened to the sound of gambang, saron, bonang tapped rhythmically then flute blown with a strong and gentle breath. At that moment, Elia who did not know what instruments were sounding around her, she could only enjoy and feel relieved, the torment felt by her was swept away by the beauty of this Gamelan. Part of her is grateful for the sweet changes that have occurred even though it is not easy to accept and understand with her common sense. All of this obviously couldn't be real, maybe it was just in my head, was I being punished? Elia took a short breath while still curled up and holding her head.

"Nduk... wake up... It's okay, just wake up," someone said. It sounds like an afternoon coolness.

Elia felt her head being stroked by a faint hand that instantly got rid of the pain. Her energy recovered instantly. Elia raised her head. Both of her eyes felt heavy. She needed to try harder so that her eyes were wide enough to open and could see someone in front of her. Elia saw starting from his feet in black sandals. Plain.

Old-fashioned sandals? Who's this guy? The first thought that appeared made Elia immediately close her mouth. She realized she had to hold back, whoever was in front of her might be able to make her feel pain worse than what had just happened. With great efforts to refrain from doing things that could offend the person in front of her, Elia watched from the bottom to up.