The Eternal War Kasarewang
Harsa vs School Orientation Period (1)

That morning, Harsa recalled her nightmare at the age of eight. The nightmare that provoked her magic exploded to the point of burning down her entire room. He could not remember the whole dream, but there was one part he could not forget.

Harsa stood in a brightly lit hallway. The right-left wall is made of plain white marble, without a hint of blemish, or a line of pieces. The width of the passage was so narrow, it only allowed him to move a few steps to the side, yet his height even exceeded ten meters. Without a second thought, Harsa stepped forward. Not far away, he came upon a curtain made of mesh cloth that prevented him from advancing. The curtain is also white and in the middle of it there is a pattern of red color. Or the... Rather than a pattern, the image can be called a symbol? The red to yellow stripes twisting in a circle reminded him of a raging fire.

Harsa's mind was still empty when she placed her palm on the curtain. Unexpectedly, Harsa's body was able to pierce through the curtain. His body that had already passed through the curtain became translucent. Intrigued by what was at the end of the hallway, Harsa walked past the curtain.

Far ahead, there is a large gate in the form of a sliding door. On that doorstep, six pivot windows were lined up. The whole gate was also made of white marble. From starting handles, frames, and door hinges. Without any other object in the hallway, automatically Harsa interested in exploring the magnificent gate. With a single hold, Harsa knew that neither the gate nor the window in the door was locked. He opened that pivot window, and it was like there was a great energy flowing from whatever was behind that gate. Curious, Harsa went to the edge of the gate, to open the sliding door. Contrasting its majestic appearance, the gate was extremely light. Harsa's small hand can open the gate with one push.

However, Harsa's hand was stiff when her hand was already holding the handle of the gate. Harsa still had complete control of her entire body, but fear and tension covered her. It was as if something significant would happen if he opened that gate.

It's just a dream, right? Harsa thought, but how did he know that this dream was just a dream? Where exactly is this hallway? What's behind this gate?

When his ignorance begins to overwhelm Harsa, his anxiety turns to fear. The longer, the energy coming out of its open pivot window gets bigger. Harsa tried to close the piviot window again, but in vain. The force pushed Harsa back behind the mesh curtain, and Harsa opened her eyes. Waking up from the dream, he found his body burned by the fire he produced himself, as well as the rest of his room. She did not feel any heat at all, but the skin on Harsa's chest and hands had already felt pain from the burns.

“Arghh!!” Shouts Harsa in pain. His father hurriedly came to Harsa. His chin fell down looking at the chaos in Harsa's room. “Pa!! Help, please!!!!”

Erik hastened to wear a agate ring that he had kept in the closet important documents for emergencies like this. With the ring, he could re-use magic for a while. He gathers all the flames in Harsa's room, as well as in Harsa's body, before extinguishing them.

Since then, in addition to the burns he suffered, Harsa also has a high fever. Occasionally, magic flames burst out from his body again without being controlled by Harsa. Erik had to take a full week off to keep an eye on his youngest. Darma, who cannot magic, will not be able to extinguish the fire in Harsa's body. A few days later, according to Erik's request, Adi came home to hand over a ribbon inscribed with a mantra in Kasarewang. With the ribbon and magic left over from Erik's ring, he seggeled Kai Harsa. That's how the incident stopped.

This morning, seven years later, the whole incident was repeated in Harsa's head in just a few seconds. The cause was the leak of magic energy from the seal that locked Kai in a greater amount than usual. Harsa's eyebrows bent, and she gulped. A week ago, in Pangandaran, for the first time she used her magic after such a long time. From then on, Harsa grew increasingly concerned about the amount of magic energy leaking every day. Unlike the past, he could detonate that magic energy now, but when and where was the time…. What a challenge.

Unable to find an answer, Harsa's room door was wide open. Darma, still with disheveled hair and a typical negligent mother screams no mercy. “Sa!! The sa!! Wake up!! It's half-five in the morning!! Wake up!”

“Wahh!! Yes, Ma!! I've woken this up!”

“Past get ready! Later late!” Shouted Darma again, this time exiting Harsa's room, giving her room to get ready. “First day is late?”

“Iya, Ma! Kok soon!” Harsa's lips re-formed a smile considering that today was her first day of class. His chest skipped a beat, both up with vigor and tense. For various considerations, such as the quality of education, distance from home, Harsa decided to continue his High School education in a different place than most of his Junior High School friends. In short, Harsa will not know anyone at her new school.

Today is the first day of the two days that MOS is taking place. New school, new friends. That was all Harsa thought. If students usually hate MOS, Harsa welcomes it as an opportunity to meet many people. The thought of getting acquainted with various kinds of people made him excited.

In less than twenty minutes, Harsa was in the car with Erik still sleepy. Especially today, he left early to the office so that he could take Harsa to follow the MOS. Thanks to an empty road, they get to school earlier than they should. Therefore, Erik held Harsa back from rushing down from the car.

“Sa. Chat for a moment.” Said Erik holding Harsa by holding his shoulder.

“Be careful with your magic. Don't let go.” Erik's words immediately targeted Harsa's worries.

“Iya. I also don't want to burn the whole school, kok.” Said Harsa seriously.

Erik looked at it with a look of wonder. “Yes, that too, but it's not. I mean, don't let your magic be seen by friends.”

Harsa had never thought of it before, because of the seal in her vase, Harsa had no room to cast her magic. “Eh, why?”

“Many complications. First, most humans consider magic, especially Kasarewang is just a fairy tale. It is difficult for humans to accept the existence of Kasarewang in their midst. You might be less likely to explain your magic with other things like tricks, or whatever and in my experience, it's troublesome. Cases like your mother's are not common. He could only accept that I was Kasarewang for seeing my own unnatural regeneration process while working as a doctor first. Second, although rare, some humans can use magic.”

“Wah?”

“The problem lies in how they use the magic. Some use it for their own benefit, even to commit a crime. Some of them desperately want power with higher magic abilities and one way to get it is to investigate Kasarewang.”

Harsa nodded, paying attention earnestly.

“I mean investigate it all the way to kidnapping and performing an autopsy on Kasarewang. Since most Kasarewang are not recorded as citizens, there are not even laws governing the use of magic. So, it's hard to protect you from syndicates like that. You have citizenship anyway, from your mother, but still cool if anyone kidnaps you with magic. The court will not validate either the manner or motive of the abduction.”

Harper listened without words. The more you listen, the more you are not imaginary. In his mind, he doubted Erik's explanation. He had lived so peacefully fifteen years back, that he only nodded while half-listening. Harsa did not want to be impressed.

“Quiet, Pa! I'll take good care of myself!” Harsa said cheerfully, to calm her father's worries.

“Hei! Seriously yes!”

“Yes, Pa! Just relax!” Harsa said as she got out of the car with her bags. “I go MOS first, yes!”

Erik breathed a tired sigh. ”I'm even more worried that he's too relaxed.”