Invaders

Chapter 27: Enggang, Guardian of Sarawak

Lights shimmering from within the sphere as it gently dropping down to the ground. Rocks that made it started to crumble to pieces, revealing a multitude of infinite layers. Making one unable to imagine how thick the sphere was and how dreadful it must be for someone to be trapped inside.

And Kim has been there for hours.

As more rocks crumbling down, the light shines ever more brightly, along with a dense amount of mana flowing out. However, the mana didn't just disperse randomly. It actually circled around the sphere helping it to land softly on the ground.

Finally, as it touched the ground, everything shattered to pieces. And emerging from inside was a desiccated body, unable to be distinguished who it was. As if time move relatively faster inside the sphere, his hair became fully white, his bone cheek and eyes socket are showing. Even his robes seem to be in tattered and have past through the viciousness of time. Emanating the aura of ancientness.

She looked at him with her violet eyes and gave a gentle smile. Even though his physical appearance has changed, but to Momo, her Master aura was still the same as ever. Kim is Kim. The only difference was that his aura is brimming explosively. Even brighter than it was ever before. Feels like he had undergone an awakening with his mana.

"Welcome back, Master"

Kim moved his head with a creaking sound. She looked directly into Momo eyes and gave a deep gaze. And she looked at back him. Both of them seemed to be inside their own personal world. Even with his dried-up face, his eyes still shone with a sudden emotion of mixed feelings. At the same time, Kim was feeling apologetic as well for his mistakes. Momo only nodded and smile back. Kim closed his eyes and looked down. Then he opened it again, and look back toward Momo with a sudden determination.

The monster perching above Momo looked at them without understanding a single expression. But it understood one thing... no one could interfere with their special connections. It's only could be developed when both people have gone through the thick and thin together.

Bones cracking and muscle trembling, Kim bent down to kneel on the ground. Every muscle he moved would produce cracking and cracking sounds of bones. He looked like he would crumble to dust with a single touch. Finally, his knee was on the floor. He palms then also reach the ground. His position... he looked like he was bowing to give respect.

And the respect he was giving to was towards nature. The world he was within. And also those who were buried within. The warriors who fought for their land. This land. Which was also Kim's land of birth. In fact, the moment he finally able to sense the nature of mana circulating in the world, he came to a realization. A sense of belonging swelled within him. The feeling of familiarity formed inside his heart and soul.

"This place... is not just another world created by the monster... it's actually Sarawak itself... only a part of it. It was a final attempt to preserve some of the land"

He then poured some of his mana to earth.

"Before this... I only know how to take and manipulate mana. Forcibly taking as if I owned everything. But, the foolish me didn't realize that the mana I'm taking come from nature itself. I only know how to take and used it myself. Destroying it back. I never considered to give back. Its only natural to pay back what was given to you"

But...

Mother nature is kind and benevolent.

They give without the intention of receiving back. We took, without a single speck of gratitude. Until the land was left bare and empty.

Kim's eyes flashed as more mana was being poured to the ground. It caused a backlash to his body, and blood oozed from the corner from his mouth. As the blood drop, and seep into the ground, the earth shook slightly. a gentle yet strong breeze pass through causing the surrounding trees to sway back and forth. Producing a melancholic melody that sounded as if... nature itself is weeping.

"I'm sorry" Kim muttered.

The voice sounded soft but could envelop the entire green lustrous world. Causing it to tremble violently.

"This time, I'll be the one to give you back. I'll protect you"

The perching monster glare at Kim with mixed feelings. After being born through the will of its creator, it stood still in its place formless with no emotion nor intention. The only thing that was left behind inside him was to protect.

It didn't understand anything and stood in its place without moving an inch. Without understanding the will of its creator.

Later, that will to protect started to change when it saw the mother swallow fell to the ground. Cold and motionless. Out of curiosity, it took the form of the mother swallow and mutated into the magnificent beast it is now. It followed the little boy who killed the mother swallow to his home and viewed every event without missing a single second while perching on a single tree.

Sometimes, it would fly around but… no matter how far it went, it always went back to that single tree. Its huge body covered with magnificent feathers has caught the attention of Sarawakians everywhere. In end, people of Sarawak granted it the title of forest guardian and named it Enggang.

Time went by, and that will have developed its own conscience. It saw happiness. It saw the beautiful cycle of life. It saw how people interact with nature, animals, and even to itself. It learned about life.

However, the moment it understood life, it learned what comes after… which was death. After life... comes death. This was the cycle of nature itself. An unbreakable law of the universe!

The monster accepted the cycle of life and death through and through. The monster which was born pure like white clothes has been colourfully painted.

Time again pass by, and that painting was smudged. Although it could accept the natural occurrences of death itself, it couldn't accept the act of forcing death.

A war broke out.

Human killing human regardless of who. Nature being ravaged and ****. Animals were mercilessly hunted down with no restraint. Blood, fire, and despair. Until the point human would take their own life just to save themselves from the madness. It could only watch since mana was too dormant for it to do anything.

Then, another thing has changed. The will that was given by its creator. Before it was only instructed to protect without any subject. That will have developed into protecting the land it was within.

"Although I was born through the will of my creator, my land of birth is here in Sarawak. I shall protect this place!"

"If I have power, I will make the world stop, and life will never come to death ever again!"

The ambition was great, but doing it was impossible. Not without the help of mana.

The monster already has its own mana circulating inside its body. It was left by its creator alongside with its will. To stop time would need a vast amount of mana, but it could tamper the time and make it go faster. It couldn't affect the whole world, but at least, Borneo. It slowly let its mana flow into the ground and cause the ripening to become faster.

"Awake!"

Time goes by… it didn't leave a single moment to farce. Bits by bits, it could feel that the barrier of the dormant mana is breaking. However, it was still too weak.

"This place, how much more mana it wants before being awake. Please, wake up. You might get destroyed before you even wake up!"

Feeling desperate, it gave a final effort by utilizing all the bits of mana left within it, until the point that it emanated a deathly aura. Its eyes were blurry, and its body started to wither. Feathers started to fell, one by one. The cost of hastening the ripening of mana was ageing. Its body was wittering due to the sudden ageing. The monster was left with a single breath when suddenly, a tremor shook the ground.

"Finally, it's… it's… eh?"

A whole lot of mana started pouring out wildly with no constraint. When compared to other places in the world, mana in Borneo was several times denser. Thousands of times much denser. However, the dormant mana should awaken slowly instead of abruptly exploded. It also affected the Earth as a whole!

A single breath of the mana has caused the monster body to recover completely from its dying state.

It didn't give a single glance toward the weird occurrence and just accept it as a miracle. Without that, then this land will continue to be ravaged. It let out its mana domain spread out to hundreds of kilometres wide!

"Life will never meet death, and death will never come in this world of mine! Time, freeze!"

The monster contained some of the mana memory left by its powerful creator. The ability to manipulate time!

The whole area covered by its domain freeze and move again. However, lively may it seems, time is not moving. In fact, time as a whole has stopped. Although with naked eyes, everything seems to flow naturally, with powerful mana sense one can see that it wasn't the place physically that wasn't moving, the flow of life itself. The whole green world is now in a standstill. Between life and death. If there is a scale bar showing life and death, and it shows how much life we had left… we could see that it is not moving at all. As if it has reached an equilibrium.

This was the combination of having the power to manipulate time and understanding the cycle of life and death.

From that power, time was preserved. There will be no destruction anymore. Not until the monster dies. And that what developed an anxiousness within its heart. No matter how powerful this ability was, the amount of mana it needed to consume was tremendous. It couldn't maintain everything for a long time. However impossible it may be, it should at least find someone to pass on its legacy of protecting this world of his.

Unfortunately, the moment mana was awakened, the mana pouring out was too powerful that the people in the land of Borneo couldn't adapt in time. Most people were killed by the sudden appearances of powerful monsters, some involuntarily exploded to bits for not being able to contain the amount of mana forcefully flow into their body.

Then, a miracle happened. A human. A real living person entered its lair developed from its domain of time.

Hope then shone in its eyes, giving an expectation for the human. Unfortunately, it was still a child. A boy who just experienced mana. No matter how kind-hearted the person may be, even if there are no other people would enter its lair ever again, the person should be powerful enough to attain its legacy.

The boy failed… with a smile on his face a determination in his heart. The monster smiled feeling ensure that he will come back again.

5 years pass by, and miraculously, it was still perching on its tree. The monster should be on the verge of death but it still holds on, believing that the boy would come back. And he did, in an awful manner. Bringing an army of the dead with him.

"Why are you bringing those disgusting creatures with you?! Get them out!"

Angered, the monster unknowingly increased the amount of mana pressure in front of the door to its lair.

It regretted at first for losing control but seeing the boy was able to move forward without yielding himself. It let him go through it. Another thing that took its intention is the girl behind him. Clearly, he was doing this to protect her. It saw the determination within Kim and finally let him through within the last minute.

Even if Kim passed out, it would still use it mana to bring him inside. If Kim knew that the reason he was having a hard time passing through the door was due to the monster losing its control, Kim would cough two to three mouthfuls of blood.