His phone buzzed.A single, intrusive vibration on the worn wooden table. Kael glanced down, his focus splintering. The screen was lit, displaying a message from his father.
We are going to Gunung Padang tomorrow. Be ready after your morning class.
…Just like that?A vein pulsed at his temple. He was a twenty-year-old university student, not a soldier awaiting orders. Exams were closing in, his schedule meticulously planned. This… this was a disruption he didn't need.
No explanation. No discussion. Just a command.
"Everything good?"
Kael looked up. His best friend, Rizky, was mid-chew, his mouth full of bakso.
"It's my dad." Kael slid the phone across the table.
Rizky swallowed. "He's always like this, man. Straight to the point, no fluff."
Kael rubbed his temples, a headache forming behind his eyes. "I love the man," he took a deep breath, "but sometimes he drives me insane."
Rizky whistled, his eyes on the screen. "Gunung Padang? Isn't that the giant pyramid-hill thing you mentioned? The one your ancestors supposedly guarded?"
"The very one," Kael muttered. The stories felt like a lifetime away. Ancient history. He was here, now.
His thumbs hovered over the keyboard, a dozen arguments firing off in his mind. But he knew it was useless. Arguing with his father was like yelling at a brick wall.
He sighed, deleting the angry draft. His finger tapped the screen once.
Okay.
He had no idea what he had just agreed to.
The next day, the air in the car was so thick Kael could barely breathe. The familiar chaos of Jakarta's traffic eventually bled into the winding green roads of West Java, but the oppressive silence remained. His father, Sutan, gripped the steering wheel, his knuckles white. His gaze wasn't just on the road; it was scanning the trees, the sky, as if expecting an attack.
What is he so afraid of?
Finally, they arrived.
"Stay close, Kael." His father's voice was low, strained. A command. "Don't do anything foolish."
Gunung Padang was a beast of stone and time. A colossal, stepped pyramid of dark volcanic blocks that seemed to drink the sunlight. The air was heavy here, ancient. As they climbed the stone terraces, a low hum started, a vibration that resonated not in his ears, but in his bones. With every step they took, the hum grew louder. A flock of birds suddenly burst from the trees, fleeing as if from a predator.
Then, silence.
The hum, the insects, the wind—it all vanished. The world went completely mute. A wave of unnatural cold leeched the tropical heat from the air.
"Father…?" Kael's voice was a choked whisper.
"Don't move."
They emerged from the shadows. Vaguely human figures that weren't solid, but holes torn in the fabric of reality, flickering with a dead, static energy. The Un-Made. Alongside them padded four-legged beasts of shifting obsidian, and with them came a pressure that crushed the mind.
The Apathy Hounds.
Kael's mind went blank.
Run. Fight. Scream.
The thoughts were there, but the will to act on them was gone. His limbs turned to lead. His thoughts became sludge. Why bother? It's pointless.
One of the hounds fixed its empty gaze on his father and began to stalk forward. Sutan pushed Kael behind him, his face a mask of pure terror. His hands rose, his lips forming a silent, desperate prayer.
The hound lunged.
Time seemed to bend, stretching into an eternity. He saw the claws, phasing out of reality, aimed for his father's heart. He saw his father's eyes, accepting, ready to die.
A primal scream tore through Kael's mind.
NO!
His body moved on its own. A surge of adrenaline he didn't know he possessed. He shot forward, shoving his father back with one hand while raising the other to block the attack. He squeezed his eyes shut, bracing for the feeling of being torn apart.
This is it… A stupid way to die…
…
Nothing.
The world was frozen. Kael dared to open his eyes.
Everything was locked in place. The hound was suspended mid-air, its phasing claws inches from his arm. His father was a statue, his eyes still wide with shock. The air was solid.
Am I… dead?
The world dissolved into a blinding, infinite white.
Ah. So I am.
A searing pain erupted in his chest, forcing a silent scream from his lungs. A golden symbol blazed to life on his skin, a radiant, intricate sun.
A chime, clearer than any sound he had ever heard, echoed in the white void.
A golden, translucent window flickered into existence before him.
[The dormant blood of the Guardian awakens in the face of Oblivion.]
[You have met the conditions to unlock your designated inheritance.]
[The Codex of Eternal Myths has been activated.]
[A choice is presented to the new host.]
[You may REWIND time, accept your power, and change this outcome.]
[Or, you may let fate proceed and PERISH.]
[A decision must be made in:]
5
The number appeared, huge and golden.
Rewind? Go back? I can save him. I can save myself.
4
But this power… what is this Codex?
3
There's no time to think!
2
His father's face flashed in his mind. The choice was never a choice at all.
His hand shot out, pressing the only option that mattered.
[YES]
[Your decision has been confirmed. Initiating temporal regression…]
[Destination: Warung Bakso, Depok. Prior to the inciting event.]
The white world shattered into a million pieces, and Kael fell into an endless, consuming darkness.