The red line office was quiet, only heard the sound of AC's buzzing and typing Anton's keyboard who tried to track information about "open eyes" and "master" mentioned by the cult. The words hang in the air, more scary than direct threats.
"They did not try to open a big gate," Bimo said, breaking the silence. He stood in front of the blackboard, staring at the photos and messy notes. "They try to wake something. Or someone."
"And they almost succeeded," added Riani, shivering while remembering the dimension gap and the cold eyes in it. "Anyone or whatever it is, he looked directly into the soul."
Anton sighed in frustration. "I have checked all the databases that we have, even the secret archive of Mr. Daru. There is nothing to match the description of 'Mr.' with open eyes. Except ..." he stopped, typing quickly. "Wait. There is one note. Very short." He read from the screen. "*Note 747: 'The closed eyes are not the end. That is just a blanket. If it opens, the hidden will see. And what he sees will perish.*' It was written by Mr. Daru six years ago."
"The hidden ones will see," Bimo repeated. That made him remember something. He closed his eyes, trying to explore deeper memories, memories that did not belong to him. A vision fragment arises: A very old darkness, older than human civilization, and in it, a sleeping awareness, waiting. And an eye that slowly opens.
He shivered and opened his eyes. "I think we misunderstand. So far we call them eye cult closed. But maybe their goal is to open it."
Suddenly, Dr. Maya rang. He raised it, and his face immediately turned pale. "What? When? Where?" He listened a few moments before putting the phone. "That was a hospital. Patients in the soul ward ... they all experienced the exact same episode. Instantly. They shouted about 'eyes on the ceiling' and 'crushed light' before fainting."
Bimo immediately stood up. "That's it. That's the impact. Their efforts in the lighthouse paid off. They managed to 'open it' a little. Enough to ... feel it."
"What does it feel?" Anton asked, scared.
"Fear," Bimo answered simply. "Pure, the most primal fear. That is what the patients feel. The echo of the awareness that has just been built."
They don't have time to discuss further. An alarm sounded from Anton's laptop a warning from the anomaly activity monitoring program that he installed throughout the city.
"Massive energy activity!" Anton shouted, his eyes fixed on the screen. "Not from one point, but from many points at once! Like ... the network is burning together!"
"Where?" Bimo asked approaching.
"Throughout Jakarta! But the strongest ..." Anton enlarged the map. "... here. Grand Indonesia shopping center."
"Public places? That doesn't make sense," Riani said.
"It really makes sense," Bimo murmured. "They need energy. And there is no greater energy than the fear and mass panic. Come on!"
They rushed to leave the hospital and headed for the car. On the way, Bimo tried to feel the city's energy. He could feel it - an increasingly enlarged pressure, like an electric storm that would soon break.
Grand Indonesia shopping center looks normal from the outside. People walk in and out, unaware of what is happening inside.
But once Bimo and the others entered, they immediately felt the difference. The air feels heavy and static. Neon lights blink uncertain. And the most striking, people begin to behave strangely. Some stop walking and just staring blankly to the distance. The others began to whisper in fear, pointing to the lonely corners.
"Look," Riani whispered, grabbed Bimo's arm. He pointed to the tall ceiling.
Bimo raised his head. Among the decorative lights and ornaments, he saw it. A vague illusion, almost invisible, from a giant eye that is half open, floating in the air. That is not a physical entity, but a strong psychological projection, addressed directly to the subconscious mind everyone in the room.
"It emits fear," Bimo said. "Like a transmitter."
"We have to find the source!" Anton shouted in the middle of the hubbub that began to occur. Some people began to scream hysterically for no apparent reason.
Bimo focused his concentration, following in the footsteps of the psychic energy. The trail leads to the ground floor, to a large food court area. In the midst of a crowd of people who began to panic, he saw three people standing in a triangular formation. They are not panicked. They stood still, their eyes were closed, and from each chest, emitting a black energy that was integrated and formed the illusion of the eye on the ceiling.
"They are the antenna!" Bimo shouted. "They transmit that vision!"
Bimo, Riani, and Anton tried to break through the increasingly panicked crowd. People run away abysmally, push each other, terrorized by their own hallucinations.
"We have to stop them!" Riani shouted.
"If we attack them physically in the midst of this crowd, a bigger chaos can occur!" Behind Anton.
Bimo knows Anton is right. He must do something else. He closed his eyes, ignoring the screams around him. He focused on white fire inside him. But this time, he didn't use it to attack. He imagined it as a blanket, a big shield that radiated warmth and calm.
He reached out, and a soft white light spread from him, filling the food court area. The light was not dazzling, but soothing. People who were trapped in panic began to slow down, their breathing breathing began to be regular. The screams turned into confused murmur.
Eye illusion on the ceiling blinking, disturbed by Bimo's energy.
The three "antennas" cult (worshipers) opened their eyes, surprised. They saw Bimo. One of them smiled faintly, then nodded at the others. They stretched out their hands, and their black energy changed direction, not to the ceiling, but went straight to Bimo, trying to penetrate his mental defense.
Bimo staggered. Psychic attacks were immediately and cruel. He saw a terrible vision: Jakarta in the ruins, his friends lay lifeless, and a giant eye that was completely open, looked at him empty before everything was dark.
"He is here ..." a whispering voice in his mind. "He's awake and he sees you ..."
Bimo fell into his knee, trying to fight.
"Bimo!" Riani shouted.
Riani did not remain silent. He ran towards the speaker mounted on the Pillar of the Food Court. He closed his eyes and put his hand on the speaker. He focused all his abilities, not to create illusions, but to manipulate the output of the sound that came out.
Suddenly, through the speaker, the classical music that was calm and soothing a piano sonata began to air, replacing the usual mall music. The sound was followed by the sound of nature, waves, birds chirping, and wind riots through the leaves.
The effect does not immediately eliminate the illusion, but it gives another focus point for people's thoughts, weakening the grip of fear.
That's enough for Bimo. The disturbance gave him a gap. He took a deep breath and pushed out all foreign energy from his mind with an internal fire. He stood up, his eyes were fiery with determination.
He walked to three cult members. They tried to escape, but the crowd who had been more calm accidentally blocked their path.
Bimo did not touch them. He just raised his hand, and three small white fire rings surrounded the heads of each member of the cult. The fire did not burn, but broke their psychological relationship with the source by force.
All three screamed non-physical pain before fainting together.
At the same time, the illusion of the eye on the ceiling just disappeared.
The atmosphere at the mall changed drastically. People stopped, rubbed their eyes, confused with what had just happened, like just waking up from a nightmare.
Mall security finally came, and Bimo and his team quickly identified themselves as "security consultants" which helped ease mass panic. They handed over three cult members who fainted to security before slipping away.
Back in the car, they were all silent. The battle was short, but very tiring mentally.
"They do not use rituals or relics," Bimo said finally, breaking the silence. "They use their own people as a network. That means their 'master' is now strong enough to manipulate the mind directly through his followers, even from a distance."
"This is just a different level," murmured Anton. "This is no longer about ghosts or portals. This is about the conquest of the mind."
"And that means," added Riani in a trembling voice, "Those eyes ... really began to open."
Bimo stared out the window, in the city of Jakarta which kept throbbing without realizing the invisible war that was happening in it.
"Yes," he said, his voice was flat but full of terrible confidence. "Our war has just changed. They no longer try to open the door for other creatures. They are awakening something that is already here. And we must find a way to make him sleep back, or we will all be trapped in a nightmare that never ends."
He felt a very large burden on his shoulders. Pak Daru's legacy, his strength as a child of fire all felt small compared to the threat they had just faced. This is no longer a battle to save lost souls. This is a battle to save humanity itself from madness.