Budi is in a
hurry. His breath is heavy. Muttering to himself, he runs. The path was dark and
the evening wind blowing against him, giving him a chill. He can hear the sound
of crickets echoing through the jungle, the wild birds calling each other with
eerie tone and leaves brushed by the wind giving off whispers. None of that
bothers him. He is on a mission. The situation has taken a turn for the worst. He
is out of options. Although common, dark arts are not something to be taken
lightly. He desperately needs helps. Dark arts, which has always been insignificant
part of his life has become his greatest misfortune. As he reach his destination, a house at the
corner of the jungle near the village, he knocks on the door like there is no
tomorrow. If there were people, they might think he is without manners, but he could
care less about that now. There are far more important matter on his hand.
The door open as
the owner, Guru Manan, greet Budi. Guru Manan, a man in his 60’s does not seems
like one. He has a lean but muscular body. A feat not every one of his age can
achieve. On top of that, he has a calm face with a goatee and a deep voice
which is spoken softly.
“Good evening,
Budi. You seem to be in a rush. What can I help you with?” ask Guru Manan.
“Guru Manan..!
My daughter! My daughter… She... She is being possessed!” replied Budi, trying
to catch his breath.
“Another practitioner
has gone wild huh? Aceng, Ibnor… We are going out,” said Guru Manan instructing
his pupils.
Guru Manan is
known for his knowledge regarding the spirits. He use his knowledge to help
people and as a mean to counter those who practice the vile dark arts and those
who misuse their knowledge of the spirits. Spirits are the residents of another
plane called the Maya Realm. They are a race of entity which often intrudes the
human’s plane. Their influence in human’s plane and how they can affect it are
according to their level. The weak ones usually can only wander around without
causing too much trouble while the stronger spirits can sometimes materialize
and manipulate objects in human’s plane physically. Those who practice the dark
arts, after achieving a high level can bend those spirits to their will through
a contract. However, there are a few high level spirits which are so powerful
that the dark art’s practitioners themselves worship them. Guru Manan makes it
that it is his mission to stop those with ill intension, no matter the dark
art’s practitioners or the spirits themselves.
Aceng and Ibnor
are two young adults, studying under Guru Manan regarding the knowledge of the Maya
Realm and the spirits. Aceng, a man with slender body, fair skin, straight hair
and slanted eyes clearly showing his origin, which are not the native of the
village. Ibnor, on the other hand are shorter than his fellow student, dark
brownish skin, with dark hair and build body.
The four men
then make haste to Budi’s house. Upon arriving they can hear the sound of a mad
laughter accompanied by shrieking and raving every now and then, a common sign
of possession. Possession usually occurs when, usually a foul spirit try to
take over victim’s body either by its own will or being ordered by a dark art’s
practitioner. As they enter the house, Delima, the possessed daughter of Budi
stare towards Guru Manan with hatred in her eyes. The laughter and shrieking
they heard earlier now are gone. Delima hissed and bare her teeth. Clearly,
that is no longer Delima herself. Things are quiet. Guru Manan ignores Delima
and instructs everyone except Budi and his pupils to exit the house. Guru Manan
then sits in front of Delima. His first attempt is to negotiate.
“Who are you?” ask
Guru Manan.
Delima glared at
Guru Manan with her red eyes. Her face appeared to be distorted, sometimes
showing painful expression and sometimes angry. Then, she answer with
arrogance.
“I am your father!” Delima laugh manically.
However it was clear that the voice was not hers. It was a gruff man’s voice.
“Why did you
disturb this girl?” Guru Manan asked another question. The possessed Delima did
not respond to his question. Instead, she stop laughing and shows even more
hostility.
“I’ll ask you
again. Why are you here, disturbing this girl?” ask Guru Manan, this time with
strict tone.
“You old thing, why… The fuck… Do. You. Care? Do. Not.
interfere with my business!” replied the possessing spirit. It appear to
be angry with Guru Manan.
“You are right.
Whatever it is that you want to do is none of my business, as long as you don’t
cross the boundary and cause any harm to my kind. However, you are clearly
trying to force this girl! You have cause trouble to this girl and her parents.
When the parents asked for my help it has become my business and right to
interfere. By what right do you dare to disturb this girl?” Guru Manan scold
the spirit with a harsh tone. The spirit seems to be arrogant and unwilling
with Guru Manan’s presence.
“She. Is. Ours! She… Asked. For... it!!” the
spirit shout furiously.
”Do not give me
such a blatant lies! She is in pain. You are never wanted here, nor are you
invited! I demand that you release her,” Guru Manan retort as he signal his
pupils to prepare of anything that might escalate.
“Noo..! She… wanted this,” cried the spirit.
“So, you insist
on lying to me. Fine. Have it you way then,” Guru Manan said and start to
revolve his Spiritual Energy.
The energy
circled in his body and flowed to this hand. With a quick gesture, he made a
slashing motion. None of his movement made any physical contact with Delima’s
body but the spirit start to wail in pain. Guru Manan just released a spiritual
blade towards the spirit. He skillfully controlled the amount of Spiritual Energy
contained in the attack so that it only affect the evil spirit and not Delima.
This attack was only meant as a probing measure. It will not cause any harm
towards Delima but can be devastating to a low level spirit. The attack seems
to be working as the evil spirit angered by the pain and start to retaliate.
Black aura seems to materialize around Delima’s body. Like a wild beast, the
evil spirit lunged at Guru Manan with Delima’s controlled body. It swipes its
claw towards Guru Manan. Guru Manan made a side step to avoid the attack but
the evil spirit spin around and launched a kick to Guru Manan’s head. Guru
Manan grab the leg and throw the possessed Delima to the side. It lunged again
but Guru Manan stride forward and throw an uppercut flinging the evil spirit. The
evil spirit regain its balance before hitting the floor and bounce off to the
corner of the wall. There, it stay up near the ceiling baring teeth towards
Guru Manan.
Guru Manan
signal his pupils to restrain Delima. Guru Manan revolve his Spiritual Energy
and fired a palm towards the spirit. The evil spirit jump to the side to avoid
the attack. Unfortunately for it, Aceng and Ibnor calculates its trajectory and
was already at the place where it would land. Before it even land, Aceng and
Ibnor jump towards it and grab Delima’s hand each, skillfully locking the arms.
They land together with one hand holding Delima’s arms and another pressing her
shoulder blade. With a hit to the back of the knee, both Aceng and Ibnor force
the evil spirit to kneel. Guru Manan approach them and place his hand on
Delima’s skull. He then send his Spiritual Energy trying to separate Delima’s
own spirit from the possessing spirit. The possessing evil spirit scream in
pain and start to curse at Guru Manan.
“Aaaaah! It hurts! It hurts! Fuck you! Damn it! Kuugh!
Get. Off… Me. you… Fucker!”
“Will you
release this girl?” ask Guru Manan, ignoring the spirit profanity.
“It hurts… Damn it! Fuck! Fuck. You! Fuck… Your.
Father! Fuck. Your. Mother!” The spirit keep on cursing and swearing.
“Release her and
go back to where you came from!” said Guru Manan.
“It hurts! Please
stop! Stop it!” plea Delima. Aceng and Ibnor was startled. Just when they were
about to release their grip, they saw Guru Manan shakes his head. It is true
that it was Delima’s voice. However, it is not truly Delima. It is just the evil
spirit using Delima’s voice and Guru Manan knows it.
“Do not test my
patient!” Guru Manan warn the spirit as he increase his energy input.
“Aaaah! Damn you! Damn. You! It hurts!”
Seeing its trick did not work, the spirit revert back to cursing. It went on
for quite a while. After that it start crying.
“It. Hurts… I hate. You! Damn. It. This is… Not.
As. Promised… Fuck! You! Master. Will… Get. You,” the spirit start to
wane. It has been weakened and injured.
“I have given
you the opportunity to go back to where you came from but you choose ignore it.
You are arrogant, stubborn and vicious. It is too dangerous to let you roam
free, either by yourself or with your master,” said Guru Manan. He then perform
a couple of hand seals and took out a little bottle.
“Spirit Sealing
Technique: Chained Prison!”
Aceng and Ibnor
release their hold and Delima was suspended in the air surrounded by glowing
seals as Guru Manan execute his Sealing Art. Guru Manan manage to forcefully
separate Delima’s spirit from the possessing spirit. A ghastly translucent
figure seems to seep out from Delima’s body.
“Bind!”
With few hand
gestures, the seals start to latch themselves onto the translucent figure in
the form of chains. Multiple chains was formed and circled around the evil
spirit then finally binding it. The evil spirit howled and its translucent
figure begin to dim. Guru Manan then directed the evil spirit into the little
bottle using his technique.
“Seal!”
The evil spirit
struggle to get away but it was futile. Is was still being drag by the chains
into the bottle. It kept on shrinking and shrinking until finally it was sucked
into the bottle. The bottle glow as few runes stat to appear around it in the
shape of chains. Delima flopped to the floor, unconscious. Aceng gently pick her up before handing over
the unconscious Delima to Budi.
“Take care of
Delima, she just need some rest. She should be alright by tomorrow,” Guru Manan
said to Budi before notifying his pupil to pack up.
“Thank you, Guru
Manan. Thank you so much,” Budi was feeling very grateful towards Guru Manan.
“How can I ever repay you?”
“There is no
need for such thing as repayment. It is my duty after all. However, this shows
that someone is having a grudge with your family. Be more careful from now on. Envy
is one of the roots of evil. I’ll set up a fence around the house,” reply Guru
Manan before heading outside. A fence is actually a spiritual barrier that will
prevent any spirit from intruding an area. Similar to sealing techniques, but
instead of preventing the spirits from getting out, the fence will prevent them
from getting in, thus creating a safe zone. However, the techniques has their
own level of strength, where it depend on the strength of the caster, so a high
level spirits can tear down any low level barrier easily.
Outside the
house, Guru Manan instruct his pupils.
“Aceng, you take
a point at the southwest. Ibnor, take the southeast. We will set up a triangle fence
formation.”
Both of Aceng
and Ibnor move towards their respective place and begun setting up the fence.
Guru Manan himself took the north point, forming a triangle barrier, with the
house in the center. The three perform the same hand seals at the same time,
erecting the barrier.
“Spirit Barrier
Technique: Tripartite!”
Seals begin to
form a triangle formation around the house. The individual seals glow brightly
before falling in formation and dimmed out.
“Fence!” The
three of them shout in unison. A golden light in the form of triangle shoot out
to the sky, lasting for a breath of time, signaling the barrier has been
completely erected. Anyone who saw this light knows that an area was being
fenced, and if the barrier was breached by any spiritual being that they owned
or broken by an attack that they released, it serves as a provocation to the
owner of the barrier.
“This should be
enough for now,” said Guru Manan. He then turned to Budi, giving him few
instructions regarding the barrier. After that, Guru Manan went home with his
pupils.
This is the
continent of Nusantara. A world of martial, with multi races fight for
survival. Fights occurs every now and then, while battle is almost a lifestyle.
