In a world without stars, without moon, without sun. A realm without time, day, and night. There was only silence, not the serenity that made one fall into a deep sleep but the solitude that made the hairs stand on end.
The light seems to have disappeared from this realm, there is only a flicker of color that may be just an eye illusion. Beneath the deepest darkness of the entire realm was a creature who sitting cross-legged with its majestic unfurled wings behind his back.
He is the ruler of the Mind Realm, Garuda.
His eyes were closed and Garuda seemed to be enjoying something.
Even though the sin of sloth is an unused sin for Moku but he can save and enjoy it little by little until a new orc becomes moksha. As a creature that could be categorized as immortal, he would not be upset even if he need to wait for thousands of years.
Garuda was so happy that he wanted to sing but the sin of sloth made him not want to move at all. He didn't care about his face, as a ruler of this realm, no one even dared to look at his face.
After all, who dares to peek at Garuda, only strange and powerful creatures like Sabdo Palon dare to do that, he has a strange hobby of researching mokshas who pass through this realm. He seemed to have an affinity for astral beings, perhaps because he had previously fought a human before and lost the battle. As a supernatural being and guardian of the gates of the Spiritual Realm, the loss of battle must be very embarrassing to him. Garuda sneered thinking about Sabdo Palon's face at that time.
However, the smiling expression on his face suddenly turned furious, a muffled roar erupted from his beak. Its unfurled wings seemed to absorb all the light in that realm, making the darkness even darker like a black hole where light could not shine.
"SABDO PALON!!!! You better bring your fat belly here before I go there and take the light out of your eyes!!!" The roar of the Garuda vibrates the entire realm, making its inhabitants shudder in fear, and look for a place to hide even if it means burying their heads in the ground like an ostrich.
From behind the pitch, darkness appeared a fat man. His hunched back fits perfectly with his straddling gait. His long nose and wide eyes look comical but the light behind his brown eyes shows the wisdom that can never be found in astral beings. "Hey.. hey.. don't be angry, your screams almost made this realm fall apart" The smile that is always neatly arranged on his face makes those who look at him become submissive and glorify his kindness.
He is Sabdo Palon, the mythical figure of the inhabitants of Mount Lawu and the lord of Java Island.
"What do you mean I can't be angry?! I don't care if a spiritual being accompanies an astral being in the Astral Realm but I can't accept it if it uses my realm to send messages and dreams!!" Garuda glared at Sabdo Palon and wasn't taken in by his reassuring smile.
Even though Sabdo Palon is very strong and has strength that is equal to or even exceeds him, they are currently in the Mind Realm. In this place, it is Garuda who is in power, no matter how strong Sabdo Palon is, he still has to bow his head in this place.
Sabdo Palon just smiled at Garuda's anger and tilted his head slightly.
Sabdo Palon asked "oohh... Hasn't Moku crossed the limits of his astral body and entered the Mind Realm? So he and his 'companion' should have become mind beings and have the right to use the power in this realm right?"
"What do you mean they have the right? I admit that Moku has crossed the limits of his astral body and has the right to explore the Mind Realm but that must be based on his own efforts! Not only she is helping him, but she also breaking into this realm and making her own dreams!! How can a spiritual being do this in the Mind Realm, MINE REALM!!! Doesn't she have any respect for me as the ruler of this realm?!!" The aura of anger bursting from Garuda's body made the entire Mind Realm tremble violently. The dark realm has lost all its colors, and there is only one color left, which is black.
Even so, the smile still didn't disappear from Sabdo Palon's face, his white hair didn't lose its color, and his soft voice still sounded melodious "Garuda the ruler of the sky and darkness, if you're really angry why don't you just destroy the dream she made to remember her and her son forgotten story? With your strength isn't that easy? Hehehe... You're still a tsundere oh Garuda the keeper"
That one question is like rain in a desert. Garuda was shocked and didn't know what to answer. Its beak opened and closed but no sound came out of it.
When his voice came back, all that was heard was a stuttering sound that sounded like a shy high school kid "w..w..wha..what the fuck are you talking about? I..I.. not destroy that place b. .be..because I respect you! Yeah.. is because I respect you! No other reason.. and who are you call the keeper!?? That fucking Vishnu trick me.. it's not that I want it.. it's Vishnu's fault he forces me!! Someday I will break his handsome face!!"
All colors return to this dark realm. The pitch-black atmosphere becomes warm again, like a dark place where weary people seek rest.
"After all, she was able to do that only because she was able to descend into this realm! And it wouldn't happen under your watch! What exactly are you doing and what are you planning to do?" Garuda returned to his authority look and glanced at Sabdo Palon with narrowed eyes.
"Garuda.. I'm not omnipotent and you know that. So even I can't hold back the power of mother's love" the smile that always formed on his lips widened until it was like splitting his face in two.
Sabdo Palon looks at a feather that has a different color from all the feathers on Garuda's majestic wings.
...
In a lush rambutan tree, a mother and her child are seen sitting opposite each other.
In front of them was a game of snakes and ladders which was usually played by children of her son's age. However, this game is not made of paper and plastic as usual but the board is drawn on the ground with pebbles as the tokens.
The mother who cannot buy her child a simple game like this is forced to use her creativity. Even so, they played with laughter on their faces.
"Mom why can't I always make it to the finish line? I always get wrong dice numbers and have to return to the previous square. This game is so annoying! I just want to play console games!" The boy complained to his mother.
The mother just smiled and stroked her son's head gently "Is that it? Are you gonna lose? Is my Hero gonna lose? Is the main character of my story gonna lose? Are you gonna lose my son?"
The boy didn't know what to say, he didn't want to lose but this game seemed to be pranking him. Every dice that comes out is always wrong and makes the token get further away from the finish line. "Mom it's not me who wants to lose! But this dice is!" With an annoyed face, the boy blamed the dice in his hand.
The gentle smile still did not disappear from the mother's face. She took the dice in her son's hand and threw it to the ground "My son is just a dice. It won't be able to do anything to you.
You're not upset that your dice don't show the number you want. You're upset because you can't enjoy this game. You're upset because you can't understand that every square you pass is a valuable experience. You're upset because you can't understand that every ladder you climb is just a temporary victory. You're upset because you can't understand that every snake that knocks you down is just a temporary defeat.
My son getting to the finish line is not the real point of the game but crossing the squares, climbing stairs, and being knocked down by snakes is where the fun comes from.
Isn't it the end of the game when you reach the finish line? Don't you want to continue playing with mother?" the mother sounds sad.
The boy was surprised to hear his mother's question, although he didn't understand the whole meaning of his mother's words he understood that he wanted to continue playing with his mother, in a hopeful voice he said "mom! I don't want to reach the finish line! If I reach this finish line, let's make a new finish line! I want to keep playing with mommy!"
The mother's smile turned into laughter "hahaha... Then—"
...
"—let's keep playing" That soft voice made Moku feel like he was in a warm embrace.
Punches after punches from the treant break his body but all he felt was the warmth and comfort he longed for.
"If Bhimasuta Form was a square,—" dragon prana churned, the golden tribal tattoo that stayed still vibrates and writhed violently.
"—successful unification of Monsters is the ladder,—" They gathered together and coalesced like a smoldering golden flame, creeping down and filling all of Moku's feet.
"—then you.. a Mana Child that the world loves is just a snake that knocked me down.—" his broken bones reconnected, his shattered flesh rejoined, and his torn skin healed.
"Looks like I've reached the finish line.. [Bhimasuta Armor: Kasutpada Kacarma]!" The golden tribal tattoo fuses with the biofield and solidifies to form a mythical legendary armament known that can traverse any world, made from the skin of the guardian god of the earth, and fulfill one of Moku's dreams of being able to jump beyond the clouds.
The appearance of the mythical legendary armament sent all the treants surrounding him flying. The ripples of mana against dragon prana made the world tremble violently.
Mana is angry that his power is being violated, Mana is angry that his power is being challenged, and Mana is angry that he is afraid.
"Let's make another finish line—"
Deak's control of the treants are disconnected, the treants rage and roar with fury. The mana in their bodies was not accepted and made them use all the available power even if it destroyed their bodies to kill the new energies that challenged their power in this world.
Dozens of extremely fast punches shot toward Moku's lying body. There was no way for Moku to get out of that attack even though he can travel with the speed of sound and no matter how strong his body was, it would be destroyed after receiving this attack.
But Moku just smiled as he said "— and Let's keep playing!" and his body disappeared.
Updat𝒆d fr𝒐m freew𝒆bnov𝒆l.c(o)m