Morning After
"Ugh," Irwan, who had been sleeping by the mouth of the cave, slowly opened his eyes. He turned to see Nadia still asleep next to him, leaning against him. Slowly, he moved, gently lifting Nadia's head and resting it on his backpack. After that, he stood up and walked out of the cave. The two lakes in front, which had been filled with green and blue water last night, were now completely empty, like two side-by-side craters.
Irwan walked back into the cave and sat next to Nadia. He leaned against the cave wall and rubbed his own head. Then he looked back towards the cave entrance and then into the tunnel where the gate was. He started thinking about his life.
"If we actually manage to get out of here... what are we going to do out there?" (He looked at Nadia.) "It's easy for her to say we'll run away together, but do we not need money? Is getting out of here even the right decision? Honestly, I have no idea what to do. Besides, if we want to leave, where do we find the other artifact?" Irwan mumbled in his chaotic mind.
Irwan stood up and walked out of the cave again, looking around. Other than the cliffs, the empty and dry lakes, the wilderness, and the gazebo ruins, there was nothing else there. But as he was about to turn back inside, he looked towards the wilderness in front, where they first arrived. Irwan looked up to see the top of the forest, and there was a puff of white smoke coming from inside the forest.
"Huh... is there someone there?" Irwan wondered.
He turned and went back inside. Then he crouched next to Nadia and gently shook her.
"Nad... Nad... wake up, Nad... we have to go," Irwan said, waking Nadia.
"Hmm,"
Nadia groaned and rolled over. Slowly, she opened her eyes and saw Irwan in front of her. She immediately smiled.
"Morning, Wan," Nadia said softly.
"Come on, wake up quickly. There are people in the forest; we have to go," Irwan urged.
"Huh?" Nadia immediately sat up. She looked around, rubbed her hair, then Irwan helped Nadia stand up. They quickly put on their bags and ran out of the cave.
"Where?" Nadia asked, confused.
"Look there," Irwan said, pointing towards the smoke billowing up from inside the forest.
"Oh no, so where do we go?" Nadia asked.
"This way, follow me," Irwan replied.
The two circled the small lake where the waterfall was, then navigated the cliff using a narrow path that only one person could pass at a time to climb up. They climbed slowly, helping each other. Once at the top, they found a dried-up riverbed with the edge of the waterfall and wilderness along the river. They started walking along the riverbank, still holding hands.
"W-where are we going, Wan?" Nadia asked.
"I don't know, but there's no way we can go back the way we came. That rising smoke is from over there," Irwan replied.
"Okay, but don't leave me, okay?" Nadia said.
"Never," Irwan promised.
The two continued walking through the wild grass and vegetation growing in the riverbed and at the edge of the forest, as they walked between the two. Nadia turned to look into the forest. She saw something that looked like a destroyed, eerie-looking rural house. After going a bit further, she saw another house in the forest, which was, of course, also destroyed. As soon as she saw the third house, Nadia stopped and pulled Irwan's hand, making Irwan gasp and turn around.
"Ugh, what is it?" Irwan asked, annoyed.
"Look into the forest," Nadia replied, pointing into the forest.
Irwan turned to look into the forest. He squinted his eyes and saw a stone structure shaped like an old rural house.
"There's a house in the forest?" Irwan asked.
"Yes, we've already passed three houses," Nadia replied.
"Want to go check it out?" Irwan asked.
"Hmm... okay, better than just walking aimlessly," Nadia replied.
The two began walking into the forest, pushing through bushes and continuously holding hands. After passing through the forest, they arrived at another open space, and several ruined rural houses were visible in front of them. They approached the houses. In front of one, there were still scattered fragments of ancient-looking pottery. There were also the ruins of a well with a simple ancient pulley system made of bamboo. The former pulley post was still stuck to the side of the well's ruins.
"These houses are super old," Irwan remarked.
"Yeah, I know," Nadia replied.
"Come on, Nad, let's go there," Irwan urged.
They continued walking in the forest and saw a few more houses ahead of them, neatly arranged with wide spaces in between, like a village.
"This is... a village, I'm sure of it," Irwan said.
"But an old, ruined village," Nadia replied.
"Alright, for now, let's rest here. It seems safe," Irwan said.
Nadia looked around. She saw many old, ruined houses scattered about. Then she looked down the end of the path and squinted.
"Wan, let's go that way first," Nadia said, pointing towards the end of the path, which was actually a forest.
"Whoa, back into the forest?" Irwan asked.
"Yeah, but it doesn't look deep," Nadia replied.
"Hmm, alright, let's go," Irwan said.
They immediately walked in the direction Nadia pointed and re-entered the forest via a footpath. "Rustle!" As they emerged from the bushes, "Whoaaaaaaah!" Irwan immediately stopped and grabbed Nadia beside him. Both stared ahead with wide eyes and open mouths. They stood on the edge of a very deep cliff, and below the cliff, they saw a volcanic crater emitting smoke and smelling of sulfur.
"T-this is the Mount Halimun crater?" Irwan asked.
"Y-yeah, let's go back," Nadia replied.
Irwan looked into the crater, then he looked around. He saw a rather grand and large temple complex on a cliff far to their left.
"There's a big temple complex over there," Irwan said, pointing towards the temple complex he saw.
"But how do we get there? We'd have to go around this crater, wouldn't we?" Nadia replied.
"Let's try going back into the forest where the ancient village is and find another way," Irwan suggested.
"Okay, as long as it's still daytime, I'm not scared," Nadia said.
"Perfect, me neither. Come on, Nad," Irwan replied.
The two re-entered the forest and searched for a way to reach the temple complex they had seen from the cliff.