Nusantara Throne - Senandung Kebangkitan
Prologues
“You sure it's here?” Toro urged the two soldiers in front of him as the forest around them grew dark. “We will not return to the palace before bringing the corpse of the old dissident. You should know if we fail, your head will never be whole again.”
“Hamba sure Sir!” said the skinny soldier who was frightened to hear the threat from Toro's mouth.
Toro understood the fear of his men. He has witnessed the ferocity of King Mahardhika, since the last year he was appointed deputy commander of the archipelago. The king who had been king among the kings of the Emerald was the most respected and feared. In his lifetime, King Mahardhika would not hesitate to decapitate the failed soldiers. After all Toro had to be careful, the carelessness of his men could be disastrous for them.
“Is what you saw really him?”
“Sure Sir! The characteristics were already very clear, an old man with white hair and a beard along the straw, his thin body clad in a ragged black robe. Daksa managed to injure her leg with three spear stabs,” said the small-bodied soldier who walked slowly patting proudly on Daksa's shoulder.
“It must be Purnapana,” cetus Toro excited, while starting to light the torch. “Once again I warn you, he is not an indiscriminate person, do not be fooled by the wrinkles on his face.”
“But Sir, is now the right time to light a torch? Slave worried Purnapana will be easier to ambush later.”
“Cursed!” Toro snorted, his face veins twitching. Since childhood Toro does not like to be underestimated, especially by low-ranking soldiers. “Don't I tell you old man isn't a random person? He is Purnapana, the teacher of King Dotulong, the dissident! If he wants to, he's been ambushing us ever since. Had he appeared in the dark in this tight forest without a torch, I guarantee you will never see the morning light again.”
The two warrior soldiers looked down in regret. They remembered the scary old stories, about the stealthy humans who turned into tiger figures. Rebel troops are told to come out of hell. Imagining the story alone made their entrails melt.
Every beat, the soldier's head began to fill with doubt. Is it true that they are pursuing now is Purnapana? the teacher of King Dotulong, the rebel tiger demon king.
During the night in the forest. The atmosphere began to feel different and strange. The wind felt heavy and wet. Every two footstep, Toro's hair bristles. Toro is not a coward. But tonight is the worst. The branches of the tree were shaking violently as if alive to watch the three soldiers walk. Along the way toro's arm never moved away from the keris on his waist.
Toro is the second son of the noble Warrior family of Kedaton Nusantara. He was a handsome and dashing man of twenty-five years old, brown-eyed, and burly in stature. Unlike the low-ranking soldiers who are mostly bare-chested. He wore a long tube-shaped kawaca protective suit made of shiny copper, on his waist tied a scarf with a bronze sun symbol from the Nusantara Kingdom, as well as bronze bracelets as a sign of the vice soldier. The scarf tied to his waist was the greatest achievement he had obtained; made from the finest silk cloth in the Emerald, thick, and shiny.
In his teens, Toro killed a grown man. At that time, Toro caught him stealing a chicken. He recalled how easily the wooden swing in his hand floated towards the man's head until it made the thief's head shatter like a broken glass.
“This is where it is,” said one of the soldiers who looked nauseous.
Dozens of lifeless warriors before them scattered like dried leaves. Toro tried to toughen up, the fifty soldiers he had brought from the palace were now just rotten-smelling corpses. In view of all the possibilities, Toro has lost. But give up the choices he hates.
He deeply regretted his decision to settle in the encampment while the other soldiers insisted on searching. Currently, Toro admits his biggest mistake, which is underestimating Purnapana. Toro peered towards the sky, a demon could have been hiding in the thick branches of the forest, but Toro then chose to forget the idea.
“The waves are right about the feet?”
Daksa shrugs, “two punctures on right thigh and one puncture on arm.”
“You said three stabs in the leg?” Toro insists.
“One last prick, I'm not sure Mr.”
Toro then made two more torches by hooking the remains of a scarf covered in dried blood on a thick twig.
“You move that way, and you go that way,” Toro commands while pointing in two opposite directions.
“Master, our opponents are witches.even stealth.”.
“Making control of my love does not make them immune from wounds!” Toro could not hold his patience.
The two soldiers immediately picked up the torch and scattered in the other direction. Toro turned away from the shadow of his missing men. His gaze was fixed on the corpse of the soldier lying stiffly. Toro did not know them very closely, some were older than him and pale-faced.
“Really impressive,” Toro stunned, while wagging buzzing flies.
Toro never saw that many bodies. The most bodies he had ever seen were mostly less than ten, it was only in the form of prisoners beheaded on the orders of Patih Mahardhika. However, this corpse was different, its body torn apart like falling leaves. Dark red flesh splattered like jam. The eyes of the soldier's corpse were open and empty, as if they were unaware of the attack that killed him.
Toro then pointed his torch towards the front. The small flickering shadow of his men's torches still flashed dimly. Toro stops near a tall ulin tree to lean on. He stared into the distance, his face pensive. His shawl moved around his waist like a snake.
At a glance he saw something moving from the pile of scattered corpses. His instinct felt it was a crow or a scavenger animal. At first he was not interested, but after looking on with jelly. The body of the corpse fell down in dark clothes. All the lowly soldiers in Nusantara were bare-chested. Is that Purnapana's corpse? Think, happy.
His heart was beating happily. For a moment he did not dare to breathe. The moonlight flooded the corpse clearly. From his perspective he believed the corpse was Purnapana. As he approached. The figure of the corpse shot out like an arrow with agile quick movements, gripping Toro's calf and tearing it apart. His calf meat was scattered like a porridge.
Toro screamed like a sick animal. In front of him stood the figure of a white hairy creature as thick as a forest cat with a streak of ashes. The way it stood was very graceful and authoritative, both of its arms were positioned like they were about to pounce on a prey. The creature is taller than Toro.
Every now and then the creature opened its mouth revealing rows of ivory-white fangs lined up like hills. The look in his eyes was sharper than an eagle, his pupils lit up like golden luminescence and his claws were as long as a dagger blade. Toro's fresh blood dripped from the tip of his claw.
“Purnapana! Returning!” jerrit Toro's.
Two of his soldiers who were far enough away ran towards Toro. Their presence is in vain. With one short leap, Purnapana slashed at Toro's neck like a gust of wind. Toro that moves as late as one beat. Being late to realize the attack. Toro's head was thrown and rolling in the thickets. Daksha could only stand stiffly watching Toro's headless body fall down, on his neck spurting fresh blood like a mud shower. Purnapana then fell and roared violently because he sustained pain in his right thigh due to the stabbing of Daksa's spear.
“By Patih Mahardhika! Die you Purnapana!” One skinny soldier ran crashing while brandishing his steel spear. His movements were not shrewd enough, Purbana then immediately got up and moved as fast as the wind. His claws pierced through the soldier's abdominal skin and tore through its contents. The scattering of his innards flew like splashes of rain drenching the face of the Purnapana tiger.
Daksa's body trembled violently, his legs unable to be moved as if stuck on the ground. Daksa dropped his spear, then finally bent his knee in front of Purnapana. Daksa closed his eyes and prayed to the unnamed forest gods. Daksa's right eye is open. The tiger man's pupils were as bright as the full moon. Daksa felt something soft as a cat's fur touch her cheeks, and tightened around her neck. Daksa then opened his eyes, immediately his body was numb and his vision became dark.
***