At the Hill
Upon reaching the hill, Indra was stunned. What his uncle had always called a "hill" was actually a beautiful, eerie mountain with a waterfall. His uncle led Indra behind the waterfall, into a cave hidden behind it. Indra simply followed without questioning, worried about his own fate after hearing his uncle's explanation. Once inside the spacious, torch-lit cave, his uncle asked Indra to sit in the center, and he sat beside him.
After setting up incense and other meditation equipment, his uncle taught Indra how to meditate, from the sitting posture to the mantras to be recited before beginning. Indra obeyed, and they both closed their eyes. Indra meditated deeply, to the point of losing consciousness; he had gathered the determination to overcome his problem. Day after day passed, and Indra remained in the cave, meditating. Until one day, he felt an extraordinary sensation.
"Uh... where is this?" Indra asked.
He opened his eyes and found himself in a beautiful, ancient, pristine village with terraced rice fields before him. The houses in the village were far apart from each other, and the residents' attire was still very traditional, like an old village. He saw a man standing next to him, simply gazing at the scenery before him, but occasionally glancing towards a chicken coop at the edge of the rice field, being tended by an old man. The man walked down towards the chicken coop below. Indra followed the man, sensing he had ill intentions.
When they reached the bottom, Indra's intuition proved correct. The man pulled out a sickle from his waist and forced open the chicken coop in front of him, then entered and took the eggs inside. But his actions were discovered, and he was immediately judged by the villagers. However, the thief was very powerful; he easily knocked down all the villagers who attacked him. Then, a powerful warrior arrived and immediately fought him. Indra, watching the fight unfold, was amazed because both were indeed formidable. Then, at the end of the fight, the thief was accidentally killed by a direct blow to a vulnerable spot from the warrior and was buried. It all happened in front of Indra.
"So that egg thief was crazy, huh? But what year is this? Why is the egg thief so strong, like an ancient warrior?" Indra wondered.
That night, after he was buried, white smoke suddenly emerged from his grave, transforming into a human skeleton. Indra gasped, recognizing it as the very skeleton he had seen the night he encountered it. Indra followed the skeleton, which limped, dragging its bones, which rubbed against each other at its joints. Its destination was the same: the chicken coop, and its intention was clearly to steal eggs again.
"Good grief, this person never learns. So fond of stealing eggs. Even after dying, still stealing eggs," Indra muttered.
As it was about to enter the chicken coop, Indra held its shoulder to prevent it from repeating the shameful act that killed him again. The skeleton turned and looked at Indra, then walked back towards its grave. But suddenly, it turned back and leaped into Indra's body. Although startled, Indra instinctively used his hand to prevent a part of its body from entering his. The scorched mark on the back of Indra's hand emitted a bright red light, causing the skeleton to cover its face. Instantly, Indra pulled his head upwards, and his head came off.
Its body, which had half-entered, came out again as white smoke and then entered his head. Then, a panting Indra carried the skeleton's head back to its grave and placed it on the still-wet burial mound. The skeleton turned back into smoke and entered the ground. Indra knelt and prayed over the man's grave so that his soul would be accepted by the Almighty. Immediately, white smoke emerged from the grave, but this time in the form of the man he had seen earlier that day. The man smiled and clasped his hands in a respectful gesture towards Indra, then slowly disappeared.
"Thump... thump... thump," suddenly, Indra's heart pounded rapidly, feeling as if it would burst. He opened his eyes and found himself inside the cave. His entire body felt hot, as if burning from high-temperature flames from within. Indra felt his flesh and skin peeling off, and he watched his hands slowly turn into skeletal forms.
"Don't stop, Dra!" his uncle shouted.
Indra resumed his meditation posture and closed his eyes again, enduring the intense heat throughout his body. After a while, the heat disappeared. Indra's heart returned to normal, but he felt that his hands were still in skeletal form. Suddenly, his mind drifted. He saw a human skeleton standing in front of him, limping towards him. With a reflex, Indra kicked it, and the skeleton in front of him fell to the ground, shattered into pieces. Then, the shattered skeleton turned into white smoke and entered him.
"Dra... wake up, Dra..." he heard his uncle calling.
Indra opened his eyes and saw his uncle in front of him, holding his shoulders. His uncle smiled at Indra because Indra had successfully defeated the jerangkong that had entered his body.
"It's over, Dra... now you can use the power of that skeleton for your benefit," his uncle said.
"Huh? Power?" Indra asked, confused.
"Go ahead, look at yourself in the water," his uncle replied.
Indra immediately stood up and ran to the waterfall, then went out to see his reflection in the calm water. Indra was shocked because his body had become a skeleton, including his face, with glowing red eyes. However, his body looked thick, as if his muscles and flesh were still attached, only invisible.
"Why is it like this, Uncle?" Indra protested.
"Calm down first. Try to command in your heart, 'I want to become human again'," his uncle said.
Indra tried it, and he immediately transformed back into a human. He immediately looked at himself in the water, and his face was handsome again, not a skeleton.
"Wow, it works!" Indra exclaimed.
"Now, try to say in your heart, 'I want to become a jerangkong'," his uncle said.
Once again, Indra tried it. White smoke enveloped his body. He watched as some of his flesh, muscles, and skin slowly disappeared, so his bones seemed to protrude, and his face returned to a skeleton with glowing red eyes.
"When you are in this form, don't carelessly touch people, because they could die instantly," his uncle said.
"Huh... so what's the benefit for me to be like this? I don't want to be like this. Why can't I just go back to normal?" Indra asked.
"I already told you, half of your soul has merged, but you managed to defeat its evil side, which was the egg thief who was unsatisfied, seeking the warrior who killed him, and holding a grudge against the villagers, thus scaring them with his curses. Here, take these..." his uncle said, throwing a pair of gloves.
Indra immediately put on his black gloves. Suddenly, his uncle's fist was in front of his face. Unconsciously, Indra caught his uncle's fist with his gloved hand. His uncle smiled, but Indra was stunned and surprised because he couldn't fight but could catch his uncle's fast and powerful punch.
"Hahaha, so it's true, that egg thief was an ancestral warrior..." his uncle said happily.
"Huh, what do you mean?" Indra asked.
"You don't need to know. Now try punching that big rock..." his uncle said, pointing to a river stone next to the waterfall.
Indra, not understanding, simply obeyed. He punched the river stone, and "Crack!" the river stone had a hole as if his fist had gone right through it. Indra was even more surprised, not only by the result on the river stone but also because his hand felt nothing. Then his uncle explained that Indra possessed the martial arts abilities inherited from the jerangkong; his strength had also multiplied many times, and his body became athletic, surpassing even athletes, despite being just a skeleton. Plus, he had a deadly touch that could kill an opponent with a single touch, but all of this could only be used in his half-skeleton form. His uncle gave Indra a pair of ancestral sickles that he had taken from inside the cave where they had meditated. Then, he told Indra to jump.
Indra tried to jump, and his jump was so high that he himself was scared because it was too high. After coming down, he paused for a moment to change back into a normal human. His uncle patted his back and invited him down the mountain.
"Be grateful, you managed to turn a disaster into a blessing," his uncle said.
"A blessing? I didn't go back to normal, Uncle, what blessing?" Indra replied.
"Well, it's better than being a jerangkong forever, isn't it? You suddenly became a warrior, so you should still be grateful," his uncle replied.
"I actually had plans to go to college in Jakarta later... but now I can't," Indra replied.
"Why? Is there a problem? There's no problem, right? Just go to college," his uncle replied casually.
"It's a huge problem, Uncle... but it's useless, he won't understand, he's not even married," Indra thought to himself.
******
A few days later, when Indra was asked by his friend Hadi to cover his shift, even though he had resigned, and with Mr. Joko's agreement for just one night, several men riding motorcycles and wearing full-face helmets entered the convenience store around 12 AM.
"Hey, open the cash register, quick... or I'll shoot," a man said, pointing his pistol at Indra.
"Hmmm... sorry, no money yet, I just started my shift," Indra said with a smile.
"Don't joke around... open it or I'll shoot," the man said.
Several other men in helmets went around grabbing items. Indra glanced at the CCTV camera recording everything. He immediately squatted down and put on his hat.
"Hey, what are you doing?" the man shouted.
"This..." Indra said in a terrifying voice, stepping out and grabbing the man's hand.
"Bang!" The pistol fired and hit Indra's skeletal forehead. Indra's head, which had jerked back, looked forward again. His skeletal mouth seemed to be smiling, and his red eyes stared at the terrified man in front of him. A scorched mark appeared on the man's hand, and he immediately collapsed lifeless. Indra jumped out from behind the counter and approached the men who were busy grabbing items.
"Hey, are you going to pay for that?" Indra said in a terrifying voice.
"Aaaaaa... what kind of creature are you?" a man screamed.
"Bang!"
"Bang!"
Two homemade pistol shots were heard, and Indra looked at his body. He saw two holes in his body, not bleeding at all. Then, from inside the two holes, the bullets lodged within them came out on their own. Indra looked at the men in front of him, whose faces were covered by full-face helmets. Indra opened his mouth, and the entire convenience store was covered in a thick white mist.
"Hehehehe.... bye-bye..." Indra said in a terrifying voice.
"Noooooooo.... help meeeeeee..." the men screamed.
And after that, social media was abuzz with the discovery of several men's bodies in the convenience store, complete with their full-face helmets. But when their helmets were removed, forensic officers saw their faces looked utterly terrified, and there were scorched marks on their chests. After that, the story continued, with many similar incidents around the city, leading netizens to name the perpetrator, who was briefly seen in CCTV footage as a terrifying skeleton resembling a grim reaper: The Reaper.
After Indra returned home, without further delay, he immediately went into his room and lay down on his bed, holding his smartphone and tapping the icon of his favorite multiplayer online battle arena game.
"My two friends are here... nice..." he thought to himself.