Mythical Warden

After the Fight

The huge creature started to raise its hands and clench its fists. It immediately lunged its attack towards the six of them. "Blaam!" Alex, in his human form, managed to hold back the creature's punch, but he was pushed backward. Nara instantly vanished and reappeared behind the massive creature. She sat on its neck and immediately plunged both her daggers into the creature's neck.

"Graaaaaaaaah....." the creature screamed in pain.

It reached its hand back, trying to grab Nara who was sitting on its shoulder, but Nara pulled out her daggers. She leaned backward and stuck to the creature's back upside down, then stabbed both her daggers into its waist. But its leg, which was wrapped around the creature's neck, was caught, and Nara was immediately flung towards the blackboard. Indra jumped, caught Nara, and brought her down.

"Shin!" Amanda yelled.

"Yeah!" Shin replied.

Shin drew his sword, and "Sriiing!" the creature's body split in half at the waist, right where Nara's daggers had pierced it.

"Graaaaaaaah.... no... way... impossible..." the creature groaned hoarsely.

"Thud!" The creature's upper body fell, smashing the chairs behind it, but after that, it didn't move again. The six of them stepped forward. They looked at the creature's upper body, holding their noses, because of the strong fishy smell like rotten fish in the ocean.

"Another weird creature..." Indra muttered.

"Holy cow, the smell!" Diaz replied.

"I caught its punch again. I really need to wash my hands," Alex said, trying to smell his hands.

"What do we do with this creature now? We can't just leave it here, can we?" Fani asked.

"Call Mr. Fadli, Manda. You have his number, right?" Nara asked.

"Yeah, I'll call Mr. Fadli..." Amanda replied.

"What about them?" Indra asked, pointing towards Tari and Mr. Mardi, who were hugging, unconscious.

"Well, take them outside, but it's crowded out there," Diaz said.

"I have an idea. Nara, why don't you try going outside?" Alex suggested.

"Huh? Why me?" Nara asked.

"Just try it..." Alex replied.

Nara opened the door and stepped out of the classroom. Immediately, everyone outside the classroom moved away and covered their noses. Nara's face instantly turned red, and she rushed back inside. She immediately ran to Alex and jumped on him from the front.

"You're mean... you're so mean... I'm so embarrassed... now let me be, we'll smell bad together..." Nara said, hitting Alex while hugging him.

"Whoa... ow, hahaha... sorry... sorry... soooooory... get off... your smell is contagious..." Alex said, holding Nara's waist.

"Let it be... let it be contagious to everyone!" Nara yelled.

"See, now they're just messing around," Diaz commented.

"But seriously, it does smell awful. Not just them, we got the smell too," Fani said.

"We have to shower after this... ugh, I can't stand it." Indra replied.

"Shower first. Don't get in my car before that," Diaz said.

"Well, how are we going to get back? We'll take your car, then you can wash it. I'll help," Indra suggested.

Amanda hung up the phone and walked over to the others. She said that Fadli was heading straight to the school with his team.

"But Mr. Fadli said that we have to leave before he arrives. What do we do?" Amanda asked.

"Take Mr. Mardi and Tari out to the next classroom first, and then get Tari out of here..." Indra replied.

Finally, they carried Mr. Mardi and Tari to the next classroom. After that, Diaz carried Tari on his back, and they immediately walked to the car to head back to their boarding house.

*****

Evening Debrief

That night, Fadli came back to their boarding house and said that the incident at the school never happened because the creature had been neatly taken away by his team for research.

"But with today's incident, it's clear that Tari is being targeted by them. Perhaps the reason is in the notebook and smartphone I took yesterday," Fadli said.

"Have you checked the contents of the smartphone, sir?" Amanda asked.

"My team is trying to unlock the password, but as for the notes, some of my team have successfully translated the language," Fadli replied.

"Oh, I see, sir. What's in the notes?" Indra asked.

"Instructions for making an interdimensional machine. But the most disturbing part is the last sentence: 'Whoever wants to build that machine wants to open a dimension where they are imprisoned and free their people,'" Fadli answered.

"Huh?!" all six of them exclaimed in unison.

"So that's true... my dad once told me... about a lost civilization, but they weren't really lost; they were imprisoned in another dimension," Nara mumbled.

"Hmm, it seems you know something?" Fadli asked Nara.

Nara explained that her dad often told her stories about the city of Saranjana when she was little. Nara recounted to Fadli what she had previously told Amanda, Indra, Alex, Diaz, and Fani.

"So that's it. Your dad once said that the gem in your necklace was imprisoning something, and now that something is free. It seems this problem is bigger than we thought," Fadli said thoughtfully.

"I don't know what was imprisoned in that gem, but my dad definitely said something like that and asked me to take care of the necklace," Nara said.

"Is that why you went to college in Jakarta, Nara?" Fani asked.

"Yeah, because when I was in Banjarmasin, my necklace was stolen," Nara replied.

"Alright, I understand. I have to go back to the office. We'll continue the investigation. Thank you for your help today," Fadli said, standing up.

"You're welcome, sir," Amanda replied.

"Oh, Mr. Fadli, since Tari isn't here, I wanted to ask, next week we have orientation at campus, and we have to attend the freshman camping as part of the orientation. What about Tari?" Indra asked.

"No problem. You're only gone for a week, right? Tari will stay with me for a while, and I'll ask that while she's with me, she doesn't leave the house or visit the places she usually goes, like what happened today," Fadli said.

"Okay, sir. Thank you, sir," Indra said.

After saying goodbye, Fadli walked out of the boarding house, escorted by the six of them. Indra closed the door, and they went inside, but suddenly Amanda fell to her knees, holding her head. Her face looked terrified. Indra, seeing her, immediately crouched down and held Amanda's shoulders.

"What's wrong, Manda?" Indra asked.

"Book... drawing..." Amanda replied.

Indra turned to look at Alex, who immediately went into the living room to get Amanda's sketchbook, then came back. After Amanda took her sketchbook, she immediately put her pencil to it and quickly drew a picture. Indra, Alex, Nara, Diaz, and Fani were surprised when they saw the drawing. They immediately turned to look at Shin, who was also looking at Amanda's drawing. Shin raised both hands and shrugged, indicating that he didn't understand either. In the drawing, Shin was sitting cross-legged in a dense forest, not wearing his mask, looking down and holding something shaped like a smartphone. But what surprised them was Amanda's writing below the drawing, which read:

"Batu Raden campsite, October 2023."

"Batu Raden campsite..." Indra mumbled.

"The place where we're camping next week with campus..." Alex added.

"What does this mean?" Nara asked.

"So if Shin is here and in the drawing..." Diaz mumbled.

"There are two Shins... but is that even possible?" Fani asked.

"The answer is next week when we go there... I have a strange feeling looking at this drawing," Amanda replied.

Hearing Amanda's words and seeing her tense face, Indra, Alex, Nara, Diaz, and Fani fell silent, continuing to stare at the drawing Amanda was holding.