EVERNA Ring of Fire

SRIWEDARI Part 2

Arumi's counter-attack tactics did not continue smoothly. Cleverly, the rukhan-rukhan in the back row of the running group spread, attacking through other narrow crevices and besieging the “candidate prey”.

But Arumi is not out of sense. “Tree climbing!” yells.

Quickly enough, Arumi and Sthira climbed different teak trees. Nirya climbed the third tree by sticking her twin shells on the tree trunk, her movement even faster.

Rukhan jumped up and down, trying to grab the climbers. But their claws only hit the air. Rukhan can climb trees. But the embers on their backs might burn the trees they climb, and that would be very detrimental to them alone.

So, as a fairly resourceful animal, the foxes used the fire energy they had to jump even higher.

Stunned, Arumi and Nirya dodge by climbing higher. So the worst attack that came in was only a fiery claw in Arumi's groin. On the contrary, a rukhan bit the back of a not so agile Sthira. Sthira groaned as she continued to climb.

Arumi shoots several arrows and kills four rukhan. While Nirya hung on her chain-crest and shot the arrows of the Wind Splitting Clouds prana, subverting the three pillars.

“Enough we've wasted time here!” Impatiently, Sthira plunged down from the trunk of the tree. Arumi and Nirya were aghast, unable to prevent it.

Sthira landed while hitting her machete. The lightning energy from the impact of the machete and the ground spread like a Thunderbolt Shock Wave, striking, hurling and even killing the huddled rukhan below.

Rukhan-rukhan who survived became very angry. No matter what, they wagged their tails, firing fireballs at Sthira. Swinging her machete like a dance, Sthira brushed off the fireballs. But the number of fireballs was too much, until the body of Sthira was stung by embers here and there.

“Cih, your friend is so reckless, Nirya!” Arumi is forced to slump down a tree to help Sthira. She heard Nirya shout back, “He is not my friend!” Because, friends or not, if Sthira is killed, all plans will fall apart, Arumi and Niryapun's lives will be threatened. So Nirya came down anyway.

Gliran Nirya danced with her chain kerambit, cutting at least two rukhan. But when aiming for the third enemy, the kerambit blade that was swung from a distance was instead stuck in the trunk of one of the trees.

Just as Nirya was about to pull out her weapon, one rukhan instead lunged at her from the side. Reacting quickly, Nirya stomped her feet and advanced towards the tree trunk. Then the girl jumped up, tracing and pushing her foot on the trunk, beautifully dressed. The tip of the flaky blade was plucked out instantly, and Nirya instead stuck it on the neck of a rukhan that was in his line of attack.

Not stopping there, Nirya channeled her inner energy into both hands and swung the chain. Rukhan's back stuck at the end was still burning. The body weighs a quarter of the weight of Nirya's body was swayed like a ball of fiery iron, hit and burned other buildings. The action made Nirya momentarily impressed as strong as Sthira's physical strength. As a result, more rukhan were driven away, repulsed.

So, the desperate action of Sthira earlier made his two colleagues join “mengkila”.

A long and loud whistle reverberated. All the rukhan who heard him stopped their steps, then ran in all directions.

“Hey, back! Let me finish you all!” Sthira's emotions seemed to overflow.

Nirya even put on a confused face. “Lho, aren't those rukhan surrounding us, forcing us to fight it out? Why were they pulled back?”

Arumi shrugged her shoulders. “Maybe their master knows, the Rukhan won't be able to win against the three of us.” He frowned, seeming to doubt his own words.

“Wah, so confident the youngsters.” The mysterious woman's hoarse voice sounded again. “When they know nothing.”

A second, softer woman's voice chimed in, “They thought we were pulling back the rukhan because we were afraid. Tsk, tsk, tsk. Wrong big!”

“Don't beat around the bush!” Sthira's emotions exploded again. “Tell me what you want, or I'll burn this whole forest!”

“Hohoho,” respond hoarse voice. “We have hurt you enough, and we will let you die rotting here. Just try to burn and ignite the embers of nature's anger, your death is guaranteed to be very fast and inevitable.”

“So, whatever you choose, you will definitely die,” threaten the soft voice. “You can only choose want to die quickly in severe pain, or die slowly.”

“We have a better choice,” stressed Arumi. “We will get out of this forest and make a calculation with you.”

“Large conversations the soul is dying,” said the hoarse.

“True, true,” welcome delicate female voice, gradually disappear as if carried away by the wind.

“Move, Arumi!” snapped Sthira.

Precisely Arumi reprimanded, “Control yourself. Use your common sense, Sthira. By choosing ‘dead slowly’, we so have a chance to keep looking, who knows there is a bright spot in the middle of this narrowness.”

Sthira gasps. Usually he is the one who has been directing and strengthening Nirya through his words and strong attitude. This time, even the new Arumi he knew dampened the emotional turmoil that was the dark side of Sthira himself. Nirya bowed lethargic, Arumi seems to understand Sthira better than Nirya knows her.

So, Sthira lowered her machete and walked after Arumi without saying a word. Nirya walked gontai, this atmosphere was too awkward for her. The rain had stopped completely since then, but the cloud in his heart never stopped.

The three men walked and continued to walk, without being able to monitor the position of the solar radiance of the Mahesa which blocked the dense foliage. They just follow the path, hoping for a way out at the end of the path. Even stranger, none of the beasts or not they saw roamed the ground. Only the voices of birds and rodents began to rumble on the trees, as if to welcome the departure of the rukhan and the intruders of peace. The poor animals. They were completely unconscious, a greater calamity than any disturbance was approaching them.

After more than half an hour of walking, Nirya suddenly said, “Friends, it feels like we are just circling in this forest.”

“What do you mean, Nirya?” sergeant Sthira.

Arumi interrupted, “Remember my words when we entered earlier? Almost everyone who has ever entered Sriwedi Forest today is lost and killed in various ways, including going crazy and committing suicide.”

“So in other words, are we lost?” ask Nirya.

“B-can be... But, I-I don't know..” For the first time, Arumi looked left-right like a confused person.

“Already! Let's keep going! Who knows the end of the forest is not far from here!” Without waiting for her comrades to answer, Sthira seemed to step firmly. Though he was hiding his tired expression from the look of the eyes of the two girls behind him.

Arumi stepped as if both of her legs were overcame by a mountain. His chest felt tight, but mixed with a warm and familiar feeling that he had never felt before. It felt very close, as if hugged in a warm day, covered in angel wings.

However, a glimmer of gloomy memories of the sour-salt street fighter reawakened this young senopath on the street he was on. Nah! I am a warrior who has been forged since the age of seven by the traitorous master, Begarwana! There is no room for tenderness and comfort in my heart! inner Arumi. Even though I never set foot in Sriwedari, I feel like I've been here before. But I can't remember at all when, and what made me feel this uncertain.

Angry and joyful, restless and peaceful.

Hate and love, all at the same time.

Suddenly Arumi who was half daydreaming stumbled onto something. The girl looked down and gaped. Turns out his leg tripped over a rukhan carcass. More agape again Arumi saw the bodies of damaged animals like scattered here and there. And this only means one thing.

“God... That's... That means we've been just going around in circles? Then back to where we fought the rukhan earlier?!” Moreover, Nirya, her face was deathly pale.

“Yes, definitely so!” sthira. “Especially now it is almost dark, we have to spend the night first here!”

Suddenly the voice of a man interrupts, “You do not have to spend the night in the forest.”

The three warriors turned their heads, all eyes then fixed on the source of the voice. Source they hate.

It was Stiralah who confirmed the identity of the man. “Begarwana!” As usual, he reacted the fastest. He pointed his machete at the thick-moustached middle-aged man.

Nirya clasped her weapon tightly and joined rebuking, “People we are after since Ratauka turned out to appear alone here, what a coincidence!”

“Hai, hi,” Admiral Begarwana just sat down with a smile. “On the contrary, I am the one who seeks and hunts you down into this forest. I intentionally waited here, because I knew, sooner or later you guys must have returned to this point.”

“Stupid. If you think you can match the three of us alone, I'll prove right now that it's suicide.” Sthira pulled the blade of her life away for a moment, ready to thrust its pointed tip right into the heart of the big man. “Goodbye, Begarwana!”

However, how shocked Sthira was when a long keris burst forth, precisely fending off her prick.

“A-arumi!?” Sthira was surprised not to see the barrier.

Image Caption: References to the rukhan monster from "fox deer" (Source: Pinterest).