章節 5: 5. Your Son’s Heavenly Flower Has Not Bloomed

All four walls suddenly lurched forward several feet. Kiran instinctively leapt to the center of the room, avoiding the crushing stone. A fiery sphere ignited in his hand, an explosive Fireball ready to be unleashed if he didn't want to end up a human sandwich. But as the walls screeched to a halt, mere feet from his body, the fireball slowly fizzled out.

He exhaled, relieved but still on edge. His mind raced. It has to be something tied to the Darkconian empire, he thought. If it wasn't the vast territory that obsessed the emperor, then what?

As he stood there, gripping the edge of the stone inscription table, the answer began to take shape. His eyes traced the dark stain on the table's surface again—the dried blood of a dragon serpent. Of course, the dragon serpent...

There had to be a reason for that blood.

Kiran's gaze drifted upwards, scanning the ceiling. His eyes locked onto a circular carving—the relief of a dragon serpent etched into the center. "Animal spirit..." he muttered under his breath, the gears in his mind spinning faster.

He quickly connected the dots. The dragon serpent, represented in the crown of the temple, wasn't there by accident. Perhaps it symbolized something greater—a creature from the heavens. His mind snapped back to the stone inscription: the heavenly rays emitted by the Luminous Remnants.

Closing his eyes for a moment, he focused, piecing it together. "Luminous Remnants... animal spirits..." he whispered, pulling on the common thread between the two concepts.

Suddenly, it hit him. He opened his eyes wide with realization. The constellation of the dragon serpent!

Without hesitation, Kiran moved to the north wall—the cardinal direction where the dragon serpent's constellation appeared in the night sky. He pressed the northern ornament.

In an instant, the room trembled violently. The floor shook beneath his feet as the stone mechanism activated.

Clatter! Clatter! Clatter!

The deafening sound of stone grinding against stone filled the chamber. Dust exploded into the air, clouding his vision as the cave roof collapsed inward, smashing into the crown of the temple and leaving behind a heap of debris.

Grinddd...

The rumble of the collapsing stone was soon joined by the sound of mechanisms grinding into action. The circular ornament on the ceiling, which formed the crown of the temple, split in two, opening like elevator doors. Through the opening in the cave's roof, Kiran gazed up at the black night sky.

From that breach, the soft black light of the dragon serpent constellation shone down. It fell like scattered raindrops, landing on the stone table and mingling with the dried stain of dragon serpent blood. The mixture seemed to ignite something as the blood began to evaporate, causing the ancient mechanism to come to life.

Grinddd...

The surface of the stone table split open like a door, revealing a dark abyss beneath. Kiran conjured a fireball and hurled it downward. The fire grew into a Sunfire Gaze, casting a brilliant orange glow over the mysterious underground chamber hidden beneath the table.

Kiran descended the stairs cautiously, the cold air biting at his skin as the oppressive atmosphere of the hidden room settled over him. When he reached the final step, his breath caught at the sight of a vast chamber, its floor and walls blanketed in frost, with delicate ice flowers frozen in place.

At the center of the room, a mysterious man lay on a stone slab, his form draped in ice flowers. The man appeared neither dead nor alive, trapped in an unnatural hibernation. Beside him, a silver-horned white unicorn spirit rested, equally still in its slumber.

Kiran approached, studying the figure closely. The man's clothing was entirely white, and his thin, frail body suggested that he was around the age of Ardika Amartya. His long, silver-blue hair was disheveled, and his pale skin was so devoid of color that it seemed as if no blood remained within him.

A silver bowl sat beneath the man's wrist, stained with dried blood. The markings on his arm, where incisions had been made, told the story of blood drawn from his veins for a purpose.

Kiran didn't know the full extent of the man's suffering, but as he gazed at the still body, he muttered softly, "Your son's heavenly flower has not yet bloomed. It will take centuries more to meet him ..."

***

The World of Lushterra, Year 2023, Nusantara Kingdom

Time flowed on, as swiftly as the ceaseless winds, reshaping human civilization entirely. Major events that shook the world came and went, and human ingenuity spurred modernization, ushering in an era of advanced technology and sophistication.

Skyscrapers rose, replacing ancient huts and stone temples. The once-mighty Darkconian Empire had long since crumbled, its legacy fading into forgotten history. The smaller kingdoms that had once bent under its rule eventually united to form a prosperous new empire, the Nusantara Kingdom, a sprawling dominion that ruled the vast continent of Amerta and its many islands.

Among these islands was the Enchanted Island, a lush, mountainous paradise located in the northern reaches of the tropical archipelago.

That night, the golden light of a full moon shimmered across the surface of the caldera that crowned the majestic Seven Mountain Lake. The nocturnal chorus of the rainforest creatures, nestled in the seven high mountains surrounding the lake, echoed through the still night air.

Sitting on the edge of the caldera, a group of explorers were deep in conversation about one of the island's most elusive cryptids: the Uhang Pandak, or the Short Man of Enchanted.

"But according to the records of an explorer who once visited this island, it's said that the Uhang Pandak looks like a short monkey with feet that face backward," remarked Kairav Pikatan, an 18-year-old with fair skin and hazel almond-shaped eyes that gleamed with curiosity.

A middle-aged local guide named Dimas sitting next to him smiled warmly. "There are many versions of the creature's appearance. But from the many eyewitness accounts, most describe it as primate-like," Dimas replied calmly.

Gavin, Kairav's teammate on the expedition, leaned in. "Some people even say the creature's legs aren't actually backward, despite the stories. Right, Uncle?"

Dimas nodded in agreement but remained silent.

Kairav's mind was still teeming with questions. His cryptozoologist instincts were buzzing, urging him to seek more answers. "But if these creatures really exist, why hasn't there been any concrete evidence? No photographs, no recordings—despite centuries of exploration and research," he asked, his brows furrowed in confusion.