For a time, I felt as though I were adrift in a dark, airless room. A dimension so foreign, where there was nothing but the cold void surrounding me. There was nothing I could do here but wait, to see where this empty space would lead me.
Why had this happened to me? Was I truly going to die?
For some reason, the thought crossed my mind: dying like this wasn't such a bad thing. Finally, I would cease to burden others. That was the thought in my head. But deep within my heart, I cried out in frustration at this misfortune.
I still wanted to live. I wanted to be of use to others. At the very least, I didn't want to die having accomplished nothing.
"I..." I whispered to myself.
Suddenly, I felt a powerful gravitational force pulling me downward. Whatever was happening, the empty dimension I was in began to shrink and compress, until it vanished completely.
My body seemed to be hurled from a great height at breakneck speed. The cold air pierced my bones from every direction. My breath was shallow from the lack of oxygen and the immense air pressure. All five of my senses began to function again. Full control over myself returned. The first sense to awaken was my hearing, catching the sounds of commotion. At first faint, but soon growing louder in my ears.
"What is this...?! What's happening?!"
"We're going to die if this keeps up...!!!"
"Why are we suddenly in the sky?!!!"
I opened my eyes, realizing that the voices I had heard before were the cries of Dimas and the other members of the club. Their figures, for some reason, had suddenly appeared beside me. Before I could think clearly, I was struck with disbelief. As I looked up, a vast expanse of green forest unfolded before my eyes. On the other side, an enormous morning sun peeked over the curve of the sky. Though partially obscured by clouds, I was certain that this sun was many times larger than the one I knew. My head spun, but that did not prevent me from realizing that I was falling from the sky, inverted.
Wait! What is happening?
If I retraced the events that led me here, everything began when I picked up the pin from the riverbed. Then, the object suddenly shone brightly, releasing heat that scorched my entire body. After that, I don't know what happened, but somehow, a few of us were magically up in the sky. My mind could not make sense of the strange chain of events.
But now, that was not my main concern. Below me, the forest was growing ever closer. From this height, anyone would surely die upon hitting the ground. I had no parachute to slow my descent.
Suddenly, someone grabbed my sleeve. The person also held onto the shirt of another with one hand.
"Hold on to me! Don't let go, no matter what happens!"
Dimas?
At his command, everyone who was plummeting tried to hold onto each other. Not everyone did so immediately, as some were either too scared or waiting to be saved. At first, I fell erratically, but once I was near this man, my trajectory shifted. Dimas maneuvered us through the air and steered us toward the large river cutting through the green forest below.
At first, I thought I was going to die. Even if I fell into the water, my body would surely be shattered. Hitting the water's surface from such a height was not a good idea. But that was before I felt my entire body enveloped by a white, glowing aura. Honestly, I didn't know what its purpose was, but it seemed to reduce the risk of injury when falling into the water. It seemed that Dimas and the others had realized this, which was why they directed their fall toward the river.
Each passing second brought us closer to the river below. I braced myself, closing my eyes, preparing to position my body vertically to reduce the pain from the impact with the water's surface, or perhaps to avoid seeing what would happen next.
Moments later, my body crashed into the river with tremendous force. Every part of me felt as though it had been crushed. The only thing I could be thankful for was the depth of the riverbed, which prevented me from hitting the bottom immediately. The clarity of the river water beneath the surface allowed me to glimpse other figures who had also fallen into the river. Since I couldn't swim, I clung tightly to Dimas's arm, which I had held onto since the fall.
He brought me to the surface. The air rushed into my lungs, which had been tight. Still holding onto others, he tried to pull us toward the riverbank. The strong current of the river made it difficult for us to reach the opposite shore. My head repeatedly submerged beneath the surface of the water. We nearly got swept away by the current before finally getting caught on some rocks. Although I couldn't swim, I did my best to kick and paddle with my hands and legs, hoping to help us move away from the center of the river.
After a long struggle, we finally reached the riverbank. I coughed up water, my head still spinning. My hands trembled. I was terrified. I couldn't believe I had survived what had just happened.
"Bring him here! Lay him down here!"
I hadn't realized it, but Dimas was helping someone who had fainted after pulling them out of the water while I was still in shock. He then went back to the river to help someone else who had been swept away. It wasn't just him—other people who were still conscious were helping as well. It seemed his actions had stirred others to act.
It took quite some time for everyone to be saved. Fortunately, no one was seriously injured. I was thankful for the mysterious white aura that had surrounded us earlier; without it, our bodies might have been shattered when we hit the water's surface. Most of the group seemed traumatized by what had just happened, myself included. Crouching under a tree, hugging my wet body, I tried to calm my shaking from both the cold and the fear that had taken root inside me.
It was only then that I realized the white aura that had enveloped me in the air disappeared the moment I touched the river water. It seemed that mysterious force had vanished after fulfilling its purpose.
"Is everyone okay?" Kak Indra asked.
"I don't know, but it seems so."
"There's still one missing," Dimas, sitting on a tree stump, said with a sorrowful expression. "Anggi. We still can't find her. We don't even know what happened after she suddenly vanished into that mist. I hope she's okay."
Wait, what did he just say? I was glad that he was worried about me, but I didn't like being forgotten, especially when I was standing right next to him. But there was something odd. It wasn't just Dimas who looked like that. Everyone else looked down with pity, as though they regretted what had happened to me.
I was confused. Had they forgotten about me too?
Summoning my courage, I raised my hand, catching their attention. "Um... I'm here."
Upon hearing me, they looked at each other in bewilderment. They exchanged confused glances, as if unsure of what was happening. They fell silent for a moment, observing me intently, like someone considering whether to buy something with great scrutiny. I felt uncomfortable, as though I were being stripped bare by their gaze. Some of them began whispering to the person next to them. Dimas turned to look at me, raising an eyebrow.
"I've been wondering this whole time. Who are you? I don't remember anyone like you in the Karate club. And also... I'm curious about this. Sorry if I'm being rude!" He looked at me with a strange and unfamiliar expression, then swallowed nervously.
I backed up against the tree trunk as Dimas extended his hand toward my head. His fingers reached toward my cheek, brushing aside the long hair that cascaded down to my chest.
Wait a minute! I never remembered my hair being this long. My hair was often yanked during bullying, so I always kept it short. The longest I let it grow was just to my shoulders.
"My gods!" Dimas gasped when he touched my ear. He stroked it gently, as one might stroke a beard. "What are you? Your ears are so long!"
I immediately grabbed my ears. My hands traced them from the bottom to the top. There was something wrong with the shape, texture, and length of my ears compared to what I had remembered. My ears felt softer and more elastic. But the most noticeable change was that they were about 20 cm long.
"W-What is this? What's happening to me?" I cried out, trembling.
"Calm down! I know you're shocked. For now, don't panic! Let's think this through together," Shella said, wrapping her arm around my shoulder and gently patting the back of my head, which made me feel a little better.
"What else is there to think about? Isn't all of this because of Anggi? Because of her, we're all trapped in this strange black fog, and now, we're somehow falling from the sky and stranded who knows where!" Kak Erik suddenly said with a sharp tone.
"Wait! Don't jump to conclusions like that! I'm sure there's a logical explanation for what happened," Shella protested.
"Logical explanation? It's clear! Everything was fine before she brought that strange object!" he replied.
"Quiet! Can you please shut up?!" Suddenly, Dimas shouted loudly. His voice was strong enough to silence everyone, making the group fall silent at once. He glared at Kak Erik.
"What do you mean by saying that, huh? Do you want to die?"
Kak Erik, unwilling to back down, was about to lash out. But he was stopped by Kak Indra, who was standing beside him.
"Enough! Instead of arguing about who's at fault, we should focus on how to get out of here. Does anyone still have their phone?" Kak Indra instructed everyone to check their belongings. Many of them had lost their phones due to water damage or they had been lost in the river. Only one person's phone was still working. "Do you get a signal? Can you call someone?" Kak Indra asked that person.
"No, there's no signal at all."
"Where are we exactly? This forest is very different from where we were camping," he muttered as he looked around.
I followed his gaze. As Kak Indra had said, the structure and composition of the forest here were drastically different. The trees here were towering, some reaching several dozen meters, unlike the shorter trees before. The dense foliage created overlapping canopies that provided shade for anyone underneath.
The sunlight filtering through was sparse, which made the ground below quite damp. Green moss and grass grew abundantly on the tree trunks and rocks. Adding to the scene was the clear, wide river, which resembled a lake.
"It seems we're not in the camping forest anymore. It was night before, but now the sun is just rising," Shella said.
"Did we experience some sort of teleportation?" Vani, one of the twins, suddenly spoke up. "Like in those Western movies?"
"I don't know. But it's clear we've definitely been transported."
"Hey, did you hear something?"
At Dimas's words, everyone immediately fell silent. I tried to sharpen my hearing. In the distance, I could hear the conversation of several people clearly. It seemed there were about five or seven people, some of whom were women, and there was a sound like an animal I couldn't identify. Although I could hear them, I couldn't make out what they were saying because they were too far away. The sound of footsteps indicated that the group was heading this way.
"They're coming!" I whispered.
Dimas and the others turned to follow my gaze. Everyone appeared cautious and on alert. The voices and footsteps grew louder with each passing second. I swallowed nervously, fearing that the string of bad luck we had faced so far had not yet ended.
One second later, a group of people emerged from the thick trees. They froze and stared when they saw us. These people wore strange clothes, resembling those of a native tribe, and carried traditional weapons like arrows, daggers, spears, and machetes.
But what astonished me and the others was the presence of an animal that kept whinnying. It had white, spotless fur, and its long tail brushed the ground. It resembled a horse, but the difference was that it had a single horn protruding from its head. For some reason, this creature reminded me of stories from fairy tales, of unicorns.
As soon as I took a breath, the group immediately took aim with their bows, while those with daggers and spears advanced toward us, pointing their weapons at us. Instinctively, I stood up and shielded myself behind a tree, while the others took a step back.
"Please! We don't mean any harm to your forest! We're lost. Can you help us?" Dimas said, stepping forward with both hands raised as if to surrender.
They responded with cold stares. I guessed the language they were speaking wasn't a local dialect. It was definitely a language I had never heard before.
Yet, for some reason... I understood them.
"What did he say? These people... don't look like locals," one of the spear-wielders said.
"You're right. Their clothes are so strange!" replied a thin-bodied man.
"What now? If word of our hunt gets out, we could be in serious trouble with the city guards..."
"Let's just kill them. No one will care about a group of bodies found in the forest like this. I'll start by tearing apart this handsome guy's face! I've never liked pretty boys." The ugly one sneered at Dimas, who looked confused.
"Fine! On three." The two of them nodded in unison, keeping their eyes trained on us. "One... two... three—!"
"Wait a minute!" For some reason, before they could unsheathe their weapons, I suddenly leapt in front of Dimas, blocking them as though to shield him with my body. "Stop your weapons! We don't mean harm. We're lost, and we just want to get out of this forest."
The two of them exchanged looks, then turned to the others behind them. They probably hadn't expected one of us to understand their language. Neither had I. Although the language was foreign, it felt as though my ears and mouth had known it for a long time. It was easy for me to understand and speak it.
After a moment, one of them—the apparent leader of the group—stepped forward. The middle-aged man was large and muscular. His face was stern, yet commanding, exuding the aura of a leader. His gaze was sharp, capable of intimidating anyone he spoke to. He stared at me for a long time. Then, without any preamble, he parted my hair, revealing my ears.
"Elvian! This girl is Elvian!" shouted the thin man. They were all stunned, their eyes fixed on my ears.
"She's not Elvian," the leader interrupted. "Her hair is dark brown, not golden. Her eyes are green, not bright blue. Her skin isn't the pale yellow of the Elvian race. Physically, she's no different from us humans."
"Then what is she?"
"Haier-Elvian," the leader said deeply. "One of the worst races that ever existed."
The group was shocked, staring at me as if they could hardly believe their eyes. Meanwhile, I stood frozen, not understanding what they meant. As someone who had just ended up in a strange place, I couldn't comprehend any of it.
I might have dismissed it as just the wind and thought everything would return to normal. But that was a grave mistake. All the strange events I had just experienced were leading me down a path filled with danger in the future.