Forbidden Region

"There's really a cave; this is the biggest clue. From now on, this old man would like to tell you a story. A story told by this old man's late Master." Tok Silihan put down the metal cup after he finished the beverage. He sat cross-legged with a severe expression upon his face.

Arash blinked back the manly tears threatening to fall bashfully and pretended to cough. He took a deep breath to calm his roiling emotions for a few minutes. Arash scrunched his brow in confusion with the sudden change of topic, "What story, Tok? Is it even relevant to my wife's plight? Oh, you do have a Master! What happen to your Master now, Tok?"

"Ohhhh, don't ask too many questions and just listen!" Tok Silihan knocked Arash's head a few times while he grimaced unhappily.

"This was more than a hundred years back. This old one couldn't exactly remember when. Once my Master acknowledged my ability and accepted me as an apprentice, he took me deep into the forest to deepen my knowledge and train. It was a big deal for my people, since no other possessed the ability to become a Spiritual Healer appeared for a long time." Tok Silihan closed his eyes while speaking as if he was going through memory lane fondly. He grinned with satisfaction at his own accomplishment as he immersed himself with nostalgia.

Arash yawned and tried his best to show interest. After all, he should let the old man posture once in a while. Tok Silihan really knew how to boast. Looking at how big his blooming nostrils puffed intermittently, he knew the Elder must really feel good about himself. What a narcissistic old man.

"At that point in time, the young me had finally achieved initial mastery in the arts of Spiritual Healing by becoming one with the deity of the land. It took this old one less than a year, you know. The Master then told me a story. A story that was only passed down to generations of qualified Spiritual Healers of this land. And with the story, a heavy responsibility."

"Around 160 years to 200 years once, mysterious phenomena will occur in the Forbidden Region. These phenomena were akin to the sky being ripped like cloth. From within these 'ripped' locations, most of the time, danger emerged. Hence, he termed these mysterious breaches as the 'Gates of Hell'. Currently, our Bateq had identify two of them. One is the one this old one frequented, while another one is located within a small, unassuming cave within the Forbidden Region."

At this point, goosebumps appeared on Arash's arm. His eyes were wide with a sudden epiphany after listening to the lame, full-of-cliché story. He felt a red flag rising. He could almost predict where this story will reach, but desperately prayed that it won't be so.

Looking at Arash's restlessness, Tok Silihan narrowed his eyes, "Shut it! Don't interrupt. Listen first until this old one finish talking. There will be no second time." He warned the agitated boy from asking.

"With their opening, a wave of spiritual energy blew in, enriching the region for many years. It was a boon for our people, since the level of spiritual energy in this land is so thin. Since the land near the Gate is rich with spiritual energy, it nurtures the growth of spiritual herbs in the surroundings naturally. However, sometimes hellish beasts appeared and ravage the land. It was more like a gate of opportunity and calamity came together hand in hand. A long time ago, when there were more Spiritual Healers, some courageous ones decided to venture in to bring back more resources but never to return again. They just disappeared without leaving a trace."

"The worst tragedy happened when three demonic beasts breached through the Gate some five hundred years ago and went on a rampage in our lands. These beasts had been described extensively by this old man's late Master. A large black beetle with razor-sharp limbs, a bronze-colored metallic bull the size of hill, and the strongest of them all was a ferocious lion with the tail of a snake, and fish scales covering its body. Their bodies were shrouded with demonic black flames and lightning. These disastrous creatures nearly wiped off all of the Bateqs along with the budding Spiritual Healers. We lost so much. Our population dwindled to double digits." Tok Silihan's eyes dimmed at this point. He sighed a couple of times and lamented the fate of his people during the olden days.

"And then suddenly!" Tok Silihan stood up abruptly, scaring Arash. The old man became so passionate with his storytelling, his saliva splashed everywhere, making Arash so helpless but he could only bear with it.

Tok Silihan lowered his voice into a whisper. "Mysterious men and women with light-colored eyes and hair arrived. They fought with the three beasts for a long time with tiny sticks in some of their hands and burning swords in others. They finally won after a hard-earned battle and took the carcass away. Before departing, they left a scroll behind to the current Spiritual Healer of that time. The scroll will act as a signal to inform them if a breach of that level ever happened again. They promised to send help immediately."

"Since that day, we Spiritual Healers became more cautious with the Gates of Hell. It is a double-edged sword, this old one admits, but the spiritual energy enriching the surrounding is the reason for us to advance further. Since Fate has preordained us to bear witness to the presence of the Gates, we took it in ourselves as the Gates' guardian until today. Nonetheless, we have forbidden our descendants from frequenting the said areas. The last two times after the Demonic beasts' massacre, nothing appeared. Only spiritual energy flowed in and encouraged the cultivation of spiritual herbs in the surroundings."

"Now, do you understand what this means?" Tok Silihan's heavy gaze landed on Arash as he placed his hand over the boy's shoulder. He could hear the boy's increased heartbeat as clear as day. If his speculation was right, then, there is nothing he could do to help this unfortunate boy. He was simply a small time cultivator.

Arash's throat felt dry. He closed his eyes and took a couple of deep breaths before asking, "The timeline you said before, Tok. The duration of time when the gate opens. Has it arrived?"

A long silence ensued. Both of them stared at each other for the longest time. Arash desperately prayed in his heart.

"Yes."

…

Tok Silihan sensed the boy's condition inside the haya next door. The boy's heartbeat was still very erratic. He hasn't calm down, it seemed. Tok Silihan took out a dirty yellowish cream sheepskin scroll from within his shirt. He held it tightly in his palm.

It was his fault. He had been negligent.

Although the rules inherited by the Spiritual Healers forbade him from divulging sensitive cultivation-related information, he should've placed a clearer directive to his people about the dangers of the Gates before leaving.

He had been staying in the region of the other Gate to cultivate since the spiritual energy density of the Gate near to the settlement had depleted significantly more than fifteen years ago. If he stayed, he will never progressed a single step. Since he had provide a talisman to his people, he thought that he could just go over immediately if something occurred. Lo and behold, the whole placed had transformed into a modern town!

His eyes nearly popped out the very first time Jaya explained to him about the location marked on Arash's map from the last visit. Tok Silihan had secretly tried to approach the location of the first Gate of Hell he frequented in the olden days in an attempt to locate the exact location, only to be bombarded with unbearable air and noise pollution. He had never seen so much humans, buildings and filth mixed together in a small place. He had to turn back, or he would be killing someone or destroying something reflexively. Since then, he had been suppressing it for quite some time. He thought he only made a mistake, since the geography of the area had a total makeover.

Until his suspicions was validated by that scoundrel descendant of his.

The boy's lady-what-was-her-name really did accidentally crossed through the Gate!

This incident was unprecedented! A human surviving a cross into the Gates of Hell, and was able to send information back!

Obviously, he believed one hundred percent of what the boy was talking about! Heck, his lady already know how to mind-control cultivators like him who had been cultivating for more than a hundred years! This is too mind-numbing! That lady must have a sea of minions in her command already. Had she turned into a Demoness with such dark arts at her disposal?!

He unfurled the scroll. Inside, there was no words written. After all, the scroll wasn't exactly a letter. It was an old communication transmission relic from 500 years ago. There were only two things inside. At the middle top part of the scroll, there was a hexagon-shaped emblem with an embossed six swords crossed with each other into the shape of a star. Below the 'star' was an old-styled cursive lowercase 'G' with a diamond-shaped green dot in the middle. Below this two-inch symbol was a complex circular-shaped diagram containing thousands of scattered lines intersecting with one another in dark red ink. In between the seemingly chaotic lines, tiny imperceptible symbols could be observed through the naked eye. The size of the diagram nearly covered the whole scroll.

If Tok Silihan was more exposed to the outside world, he would realize the symbols were somewhat similar to a mixture of Latin words and Greek symbols. However, the old man only knew written Bateq language and spoken Malay. He never cared about the livelihood of the plebeins and the importance of secular education. After all, the heritage of the Bateq Spiritual Healer was passed down orally and through hands-on practices.

Tok Silihan looked in Arash's direction with guilt. This was not exactly a dangerous breach nor an emergency. It was an entirely different problem. Additionally, the lady seemed to be healthy and well.

Tok Silihan placed his palm at the middle of the circular diagram. The only way to activate it was to inject a small amount of spiritual energy. He swallowed his already dried up throat and concentrated.

After awhile, Tok Silihan sighed defeatedly and placed his hand behind his back again; he couldn't do it.

What if the beings out there become furious and decided to stop helping them when real danger crossed over in the future due to the false alarm?

He had to place the survival of his clan into consideration. After all, they were his kin. He might have the ability to flee, but his clan would definitely won't be able to survive an attack from such beasts. Now, the new town erected will bear the consequences together in the future. The scroll became more important than ever before.

[Sorry, Boy.]

Tok Silihan sighed again as he tried to withstand the guilt seeping through his heart.

…

Miles sat over the fire and poke it a few times. The Young Master was finally sleeping well. It was true; sometime, people need a bit of greenery to perk up their spirits. He hadn't seen the Young Master worked so hard for quite some time and felt quite touched. His fondness towards the Young Master's new favorite increased quite substantially. He had been cooped up too much since they moved to this country.

It has been three years. Three years of nothing. He wondered, was it the right decision to stay in this beautiful tropical country without doing anything at all. Arash's pitiful gaze stung him quite a bit. He had been following the Young Master's workaholic's regime of work-sleep-workout-work for a long time without him achieving anything.

Miles took out a small metallic gray device that looked similar to a smartphone without the camera function and placed his thumbprint over a spot. He then took it near his left eye. A red light scanned his retina. He lowered it down and waited for a few seconds.

A soft beep sounded.

A screen appeared on the device.

A cursive lowercase 'G' with a diamond-shaped green dot in the middle appeared. The symbol rotated gently for a few seconds before it disappeared. In replace of the symbol, a digital map showing the surroundings appeared. A panel materialized showing several readings of the surrounding locations.

[Hmm… Mana reading is slightly above usual, but still not significant.]

Miles sighed lightly.

He suddenly felt a burst of seething mana poured out from the middle of the aborigine village. The reading increased at a location at the edge of the village.

[Oh dear, the Tok Batin must have lost his temper.]

The old butler shook his head and smiled slightly, choosing to ignore the ruckus. He knew, no matter what, the Tok Batin won't kill his own kin wantonly.

…