ALKISAH: Prayer for the World [1001 Indonesian Fantasy Stories]
STORY: The Reality of the World/Hidden Soldiers

Almost all humans love pets, and most of the animals that are made into pets, are cats and dogs. Yes, of course, this is too obvious. However, there was a truth hidden by this world. Perhaps no human is aware of it, but half of the world's dog and cat population is not actually ordinary cats and dogs, because they are warriors.

Anto's empty eyes were fixed on a single page in his diary. He just read it, considering it was dawn, maybe four o'clock, and he woke up with a strange feeling.

“What is the point of me knowing these truths.?” Ask Anto to himself. The skinny, long-haired teenager looked very bored. He sat at the study table which was right in front of the window.

The room was dominated by darkness, only the lamp on the study table was lit, emitting a warm yellow light, and at the table the diary was left open. Anto refuted his cheek with his right hand, making his face look crooked.

However, suddenly Anto's eyes caught a flash of light out there from behind the window. And strangely, the flashes did not stop.

Anto immediately stood up, and tried to look more clearly.

In the sky, above the residential area located a fair distance away from where he lived, he could see strange flashes and explosions filling the night sky. It was as if there was a battle there.

“There is wrong.” Said one voice coming right from beside Anto.

The young man turned his head in astonishment towards the source of the voice. Just talking was a pure white-haired, blue-eyed male cat that was already on the table. Pet Anto, Zarah, Pets,

“What's wrong?” Anto asked as he looked back at the window.

“You remember right? About my explanation of evil beings born of human sin? The sins.”

Anto nodded at Zarah's question. The young man knew that the sins of man could rise into a terrible form, and wanted to eliminate mankind. However, it was fortunate that there were people who could stop them, the soldiers from another world. And Zarah, his cat, was one of them.

“This is unnatural... The sins that are there are very strong. Too strong even.“ Zarah muttered in a serious tone that Anto had never heard in his entire life. “I have to tell others.” He said again as he jumped down from the table and walked towards the door.

“Loh! Where are you going?” Anto asked surprised.

“I have to get there. We have to be on standby because there is an impropriety that is happening right now.”

“Eh! I'm coming with dong!”

“Ya, whatever. And don't forget to wear your jacket!” Screaming Zarah while jumping open the door and out of the room.

After Anto got ready, he went straight to the kitchen. Zarah was waiting there, right in front of the door to the backyard. Then, with an empty mind, Anto opened the door slowly, then closed the door slowly, and after that, the two immediately ran as fast as possible to leave the house.

Hawa dingin memenuhi udara, dan langitnya masih gelap gulita. Nafas anto mengepul di udara dalam setiap langkahnya. Dia masih mengenakan pakaian tidur, dan jaket yang tidak terlalu tebal untuk berlindung dari angin dingin di pagi buta, tapi jelas itu tidak cukup.

On the way to the house, there was also the sound of the clanking of swords getting louder, and the sound of explosions that did not stop, and along with that, more and more cats and dogs were coming, and ran towards the same direction as Anto and Zarah.

But strangely enough, no human being is bothered by that. They could not seem to hear the deafening sound of the clanking of the sword, and the sound of destruction. Everyone is still sleeping in their homes.

Honestly, Anto didn't know what to think now. His feet moved on their own. It feels a bit exciting and interesting, but the closer he gets to the housing, the more unpleasant his feelings become. Maybe because he's just human.

Unlike these cats and dogs that have the power to crush large rocks easily. In fact, they had all been at war before.

Zarah used to say, if those who were sent here from another world, are people who have been through war.

As a human being, Anto also has an interest in conflicts and problems. But war? Anto realized that it was beyond his limits. The teenager had never even been involved in major competitions at school. Instead of not being interested, it all seemed very boring to him.

If he only solved the problem given by the teacher, he could do it without any difficulty. That's too easy. Or completing orders from his parents, he was more than capable of working on them. He is also used to it.

Sometimes Anto thinks, maybe he was born in the wrong world.

He had always felt that there was something lacking in this world, and it affected him greatly.

“Don't be far from me!” Zarah cried out when they were close to the gate of housing.

Suddenly, there was a white light enveloping the body of Zarah, as well as other cats and dogs, then a split second later, the light vanished, and they had all changed.

The bodies of the cats and dogs were enlarged to the equivalent of an adult human. And their posture changed. They have four legs, and two hands on their upper body that are like humans. They also wear strange uniforms. Some are armored, and some are only cloth clothes with knitted motifs.

Some looked like warriors, and some looked like witches.

However, among them, Zarah had the coolest appearance. He wore full armor all over his body, as well as having a long white robe on his back, and also a giant white axe on his right hand.

“It Code Black... You all! Let's put human safety first here! Do immediately!” Zarah cried with a loud voice. “Bring all humans away from here by all means!”

The dogs and cats that had changed immediately nodded following Zarah's orders, and immediately shot out into all directions, at a speed that could hardly be followed by Anto's eyes.

“Hey! Move!” There was a screaming sound from the sky, and there seemed to be something that was shooting towards Anto very quickly.

The figure hit the top of the gate until it was destroyed, and landed very hard right where Anto was standing, so that a large hole was created. But, the figure rose again quickly, as if nothing had happened.

“Loh, Fira!?”

Anto was very surprised when he saw the figure of the girl. From the looks of it he might still be in High School, but Anto really doesn't know what to say. It could be that a young girl like her would have to engage in a battle like this.

“Eh? Mr Zarah? And... why can there be humans here?” Ask the purple-eyed girl. He held a sword that was also purple in his hand. Even though she looks beautiful, the girl looks very messy.

“What really happened?” Ask Zarah.

“Ah! I-I don't know either. Just after we almost managed to close the black hole, suddenly a very large sin came out of it, and he was very, very strong!” Obviously the girl.

“And what about the others..?” Zarah almost whispered.

The girl only smiled slightly and shook her head slowly.

“Awas, Brother!” Anto exclaimed as he pointed towards something hovering above.

It was a gigantic black creature and looked extremely terrifying. The figure suddenly charged towards the girl like thunder that struck the earth, creating even more destruction, and making the ground shake again, and the dust flew wildly. Fortunately, the girl managed to escape. He jumped back a long way.

However, the monster did not stop, the figure came out from the puff of dust and shot towards the girl mercilessly. The creature attacked with its fists that were as big as a human, but the girl held it down with her sword.

“Agni! Geminus! The triplici! Altum!” Fire suddenly appeared enveloping the girl's sword. He drew his sword at lightning speed, then slashed forward to create a spreading incision of fire, but unfortunately the creature also managed to dodge it. “Damn it! His body is so big! But how does his movement even really fast anyway!?”

“Nyxia!” This time it was not an ordinary flame that appeared on the sword, but rather a dark purple-colored flame. The fire enlarged and wrapped the entire sword until it made the weapon look bigger and more powerful.

“Eh... You don't want to help him?” Ask Anto to Zarah.

“Of course I want to help him, but this attack is a determination. If the flame of the Star Heirloom did not manage to kill him, then the only thing we have to do, is run and make sure the humans are safe.”

“There is no other way! So, try to hold this!” Shouted the girl while throwing her sword with all her might towards the black monster.

But unfortunately, the attack was also successfully held up by the monster. The creature even used empty hands.

The eyes of Zarah and Fira instantly widened, and everything became silent.

Anto looked at the girl's face. He seemed to be able to only move. Fira then turned to look towards Zarah and nodded.

“What does it mean?”

The particle who understood the signal immediately nodded back. With his burly hands, he lifted Anto up on his back easily. “Tight grip.” Said.

Anto who was still exchanging glances with the girl instantly became panicked. The girl was still standing there, and smiling. “Wait! What are you doing! How about dia—” However, Anto's words stopped when he saw a sword—sword owned by Fira herself— suddenly stuck in the stomach of the girl.  “No... “

A great fear seeped into the young man. His whole body goosebumps, his eyes open wide, his face gradually turns pale, his breathing feels tight, and he feels very weak. Anto did not know Fira, but, somehow he felt a lot of pain at the sight.

“I'm sorry... Human security is primary. Although our lives are at stake, that's okay.” Clear Zarah.

However, Anto's eyes were still fixed on the body of the girl who had now been lying helplessly on the ground. Her tears almost fell.

He can't accept this reality. This is too much and unfair.

“For us, humans are the most important thing.In fact, the life of one human being is more valuable than the life of a thousand Otherworldly People. That's reality... “ Whisper of the particles that keep staring straight ahead. “Maybe... that's what makes me so hate humans.”.

Anto was deep in thought.

“Wait... So you don't like humans?” Anto asked with her eyes still wide open, as if her petals would not close again. “Means... “

“If you are not. I think of you as my son too. I don't know why I can't hate you, even from the moment I first saw you. When you picked me up... “

However, Zarah's other friends—the cats and dogs from another world— suddenly came back after finishing evacuating humans in that area. While Zarah ran away from the battlefield, his companions instead darted in the opposite direction, and charged towards the black giant.

“Wait... what do they do..?” Ask Anto who is resigned.

The sword has been drawn, the magic rods raised, and the firearms directed toward the manifestation of sin. One by one the attacks were launched, from the incisions of the flaming swords, various destructive spells were released, as well as a barrage of shots.

However, all that is useless, and Anto just saw it without doing anything. “No..“

“Ya... in fact, this truth is not supposed to be known by humans.” Zarah.