1. Java: Ken
His name is Ken Adhiyasta. He
didn’t know what it meant, but his friends said it was a cool name, so he
didn’t mind the meaning. He thought himself as a cool person, he accepted any
challenge he was given to and, well, he won most of it – in fact, all of the
challenge except one: to attend the annual royal competition, with a great
magic force as a reward.
Oh, you still don’t know about
it? Ah, I see… well, let me explain.
Ken lived far in the heart of
Java Island, a land where the sky poured all of its water along the years. Its
jungles were covered with moss, bushes were grown to the chest of an adult, and
the only path to go outside was through the great Brantas River. There were
many myths believed by the Javanese about the river. One of it was that the
river hid a monstrous white alligator whose existence had caused hundreds of
lives lost. However, several years ago, a man from the outer side of island
called Surabaya came with a boat. He was a wanderer. For a week he stayed in
the village, talked about the outer island, and of course, The Annual Royal
Competition.
The Royal Competition was held in
the far island in the East called Papua. The citizens there were of many races
and cultures. The diversity was vast, while the safety was guaranteed by the
kingdom. Every people from the world dreamt of living there, yet the
requirement were so much they can't. The competition itself consists of many
adventures; surviving a river full of meat eater fish, taming and riding
monstrous creatures, battling with every competitors from various races … it
all sounded like a fairy tale indeed.
The villagers didn’t believe in
magic, that’s why they didn’t take the man’s information seriously. Ken
believed him, though. His own mother always told him that magic existed. She said
magic was wonderful. In the last days before she died, she often talked in her
sleep. ‘I wanted to see your magic,’ she said. Thus he trusted the man and he
challenged himself to go there one day. However, it was when he was only 7. He
didn’t know how hard life was until he got to his 13. People in the village
didn’t provide him food anymore; he should find it for himself. Moreover, the
men in the village were not many, thus all men from the age of 13 and more had
responsibility to hunt. As time passed, he started to forget that dream.
The woods were not an easy place
to hunt, but the river was not an option either. Every morning he went into the
woods with dagger tied to his waist, bow across his torso and a couple of
arrows on his back. Sometimes he caught rabbits or deer, some other times he
didn’t find anything at all. Today was one of his unfortunate day. The pouring
rain developed into a strong storm. Lightning exploded in the high sky, and Ken
had no other choice than to take a shelter. He didn’t see any cave on his way
to the woods, thus he decided on going deeper.
Some half an hour later he came
across a big cave beside a river. He saw a light coming from it. He wondered
who could have lighted fire in it, so he hurried to come inside. The light
turned out to be farther than he had expected. As he came nearer and didn’t
feel any heat, he realised it wasn’t fire. The source of the light was an
egg-shaped thing lying on the ground.
“Is this a forest’s monster’s
egg?” he wondered to himself. But there
is no footprint at all, or… could this thing be… Ken barely touched it when
he fell backwards as if he was electrified. “Wow…” he whispered in amazement.
His mouth shaped a bright smile. “So, you’re really something ‘magic’, aren’t
you? Alright, let’s see how you could be broken—or used, whichever is cool.”
Ken started a fire as near as
possible to the thing, thinking the thing might react to heat. It didn’t budge.
He also took some water; half is used to make tea, half to splash it to the egg
(he had come to decision that it was an egg). It also didn’t make the egg react
at all.
“Ahhh… I give up. Even if you
really are an egg, I can't make you hatch, and if you are a magic vessel of
sort, I couldn’t use you because I’m not a wizard or sorcerer or magician or
whatever. But you have light! It’s a news, isn’t it? I mean, how many people
out there have a light source like you? I think I still can make use of you.
Hmm, I’m pretty smart, aren’t I?” he kept talking those nonsense while the
storm raged until he fell asleep and woke up the next morning. As he gained
consciousness, he realised that the egg was already gone.
“That’s unfortunate…” he grunted
as he walked out of the cave. The rain was light on the soil. Wind didn’t rage
anymore. Ken could say that this was the brightest morning this year.
“You… Wet.”
Ken turned fast on his heel,
looking for the source of the voice. He found nothing around him; just trees
and trees.
A laughter rang in the air.
Now Ken was highly alarmed. “Who
is there? Show yourself, coward!” he traces every tree, hoping to find some
movement behind.
“Coward…?” the voice came again,
now with a curious tone.
“Where are you, loser?!” Ken
shouted. Fear began to creep along his marrow. What is it? The jungle’s ghost? I can't be frightened now, can I?
There’s no one around here, no one can help me. I walked at least 20 km from
the village, no one ever got this far, and if I run now, he would catch up before
the villagers could hear my voice. At this rate…
“Up,” the voice said.
Ken gazed upwards. A giant black
bird –if it is a bird—flying around without sound. Its size was as big as a
sheep and its wings as wide as his hut’s roof. Something in its head was
glowing blue like a sapphire stone; yes, he knew how sapphire looked like, he
got one at home.
The big bird landed its feet on
the ground. He looked at Ken with keen interest. “You… Wet. You… Know… Magic.”
And it talked.
It talked! “You talk!” Ken couldn’t help himself to remark.
“I talk. You talk too.”
“Wow… am I dreaming? Are you some
kind of the soul of the jungle? Or, are you the seiren… ahh... I don’t know
anything…”
“You okay?”
“Will you attack me?” Ken asked.
“Attake?”
And that was when Ken realised
the bird couldn’t really talk yet. “Have you never talked before?”
The bird shook its head. “You
first.”
“Wow…” Ken observed the bird more
closely. “Can I touch you?”
The bird nodded enthusiastically.
Ken carefully touched its head,
rubbed its feathers, and he came to the stone. “Can I?”
“No sure… people say magic…”
“People? Where are you from?”
“Far… no rain… it wet here…”
“You really need to learn more
about how to talk. When will you go back to your land?”
The bird stared upwards. He
looked kind of cute like that. “No sure…”
“Well, in that case, what about
learning to talk with me? I can go back here every day and teach you.”
The bird, again, nodded
enthusiastically. “Promise?” the bird asked.
“Hn! Of course,” Ken ensured him.
The bird bowed down and told Ken
to touch the sapphire on his forehead.
“But you said you’re not sure!
What if I die after I touch it?”
“It okay.”
“How do you know it?!”
“Just know. Then,” the bird kept
giving his forehead.
As Ken touched the sapphire, he
could feel some strange electricity running through his fingertips. And it was
in a good way. He didn’t feel like being electrify at all just like yesterday…
“Haaahhhh?” Ken was surprised by
his own train of thought. Is he really…
“What?” The bird tilted its head.
Ken looked at the bird as
detailed as possible. “Are you the egg in the cave yesterday?!”
The bird nodded. “You slow.”
“I can't just guess you hatched
from a mysterious egg, can I?”
“You can.”
“Moreover, why can't I take my
hand off of your head?”
“Wait for a moment.”
That ‘a moment’ was more than 10
minutes. Ken’s hand was already stiff when he could remove it. He inspected his
hand and found a gash across his palm.
“Whaa… wow… What is this?!” Ken
showed his scarred palm to the bird. “It doesn’t hurt nor bleed, but it looks
deep.”
The bird turned his head. “I
remembered. Contract. No know to take it off.”
“What are you talk—whatever.” His
stomach went noisy all of sudden. “Now, are you hungry? What do you eat? I can
find some rabbit or deer, for sure…”
“I eat just now.” The bird nodded
its head towards remain of a cow of sort.
Ken was flabbergasted and then
gulped. He can actually eat me. Savagely.
I’d better not make him angry.
“It wet. I go to cave.” With
that, the bird went inside the cave.
Strange creature.
Since that day over, Ken always
went to to the cave whenever possible. He taught him many things, including the
magic his mother told him, the adventure of the wanderer, also the myths of the
village. He also told the bird about the villagers, the people of the shores,
the Royal Competition. The bird seemed so fascinated.
In his own gain, he noticed the
rapid change of the bird. Its feathers began to disappear, he thought that the
bird was a bit ill or something and it would came out again; but it didn’t. His
skin became thicker. His wings became a lot like a bat’s wings. There came his
curiosity.
“You haven’t told me what you
actually are,” Ken said.
“I haven’t?”
Ken shook his head.
“I’m a dragon.”
…
"WHAT?!”
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