The stench arrived long before my eyes, still trapped in the grip of Neuro-Achromatopsia, could capture its source. It wasn't the sharp tang of sulfur, but the aroma of rotting meat being slowly scorched by the earth's heat. We had just crossed the final ridge below the treeline when Mbah Gembong halted his steps before a tilted wooden gate, nearly buried under volcanic ash.
"This village..." my voice trailed off. In my grayscale vision, the village—which should have been a final sanctuary for climbers—looked like a mass grave forced to stay alive.
"This is what the people call Kandang Bubrah, Cah Bagus," Mbah Gembong whispered, his hand gripping his wooden staff tightly. "Saptapala calls it a 'Pillar Energy Buffer Zone.' To me, this is the dining table where the powerful satisfy their greed with the souls of the common folk."
I stepped through the gate. The ground beneath my feet felt soft, unusual for a mountain slope. As I looked closer, it wasn't soil covering the path, but a thick, viscous layer of black fluid I knew all too well: Kalabendu. This pillar residue seeped from the cracks of the villagers' bamboo walls, forming geometric patterns that glowed with a faint, ghostly blue in the darkness.
Suddenly, the creak of a rotting door broke the silence. From the shadows of a half-collapsed house, a figure crawled out. My heart hammered against my ribs. It wasn't human.
Its belly was abnormally bloated, its skin metallic and slick as if coated in machine oil, yet its limbs were skeletal, ending in long, blackened claws. Its eyes were massive, lidless, emitting a dim orange glow that synced with the pillar radiation in my arm.
"Tuyul Agung..." I hissed, my hands instinctively locking into a combat stance.
"No, Satria. Look closer," Mbah Gembong said, his voice laced with bitter sorrow.
The creature emitted a high-pitched, agonizing chortle. Around its neck, tattered remnants of a sarong still hung, along with a rusted village ID tag. This wasn't a monster born from the forest's depths; this was a mutated human. These were the villagers exposed to Semeru's pillar radiation for too long until they surrendered to the frequency of Avarice. They had become parasites to their own mountain.
"They are hunting for energy, Cah Bagus. Because Saptapala is siphoning the life from this mountain, these poor souls seek a replacement from anything that passes. Including you," Mbah Gembong continued.
In an instant, a dozen pairs of orange eyes ignited in the darkness of the ruined houses. They crawled out with jerky, unnaturally fast movements. Their screeching began to overlap, creating a static frequency that made my head throb.
Synchronous Rate: 83% — Unstable.
"Hungry... Satria... Give them your blood... Let them feel the purity of the residue within you..." Brother Dirga's voice echoed again, hungrier this time. I could feel the muscles in my left arm twitch, as if the Kalabendu in my veins wanted to burst out and merge with the fluid drowning this village.
"Mbah, I can't attack them. They're human!" I shouted, fighting the urge to release an energy claw.
One of the Tuyul Agung leapt at me with staggering speed. Its long claws nearly ripped my throat open before I performed a desperate Harimau Menoleh dodge. I caught its thin wrist. Its skin felt burning hot and pulsating, exactly like a Saptapala high-voltage cable.
"Do not use rage, Satria! Use your Rasa Syukur (grace)!" Mbah Gembong slammed his staff into the ground.
BUM!
A wave of energy erupted from the Copper Mirror, creating a silver dome of light that repelled the creatures. They shrieked in agony upon contact with the pure light. To these corrupted beings, the mirror's light was poison.
"Cah Bagus, listen to me!" Mbah Gembong locked eyes with me. "This village is a mirror of what will happen to the entire Archipelago if you fail. Saptapala doesn't care if a pillar becomes a monster, as long as the skyscrapers in Jakarta stay lit. You are the antidote, not the destroyer!"
I took a deep breath, trying to suppress the shadow of Dirga that demanded blood. I closed my eyes, sensing the flow of pillar energy from the summit. Amidst the chaotic static of the monsters, I felt a different pulse—a soft, suffering vibration. It was Brother Dirga. He was screaming from the Sector Zero facility.
"Forgive me..." I whispered to the mutated figure crawling back toward me.
I didn't release a lethal strike. Instead, I concentrated the orange energy from my arm into my palm—not to destroy, but to draw out the excess pillar energy trapped in their bodies. This was the Residue Absorption technique, a fragment of knowledge my Father had left in my fading memories.
As my hand touched one of the mutants, the blue light coating its body violently transferred to my arm. The creature collapsed, its bloated belly deflating, and its skin color slowly turning pale again—at least it was no longer an active parasite for the mountain's energy.
But the price was heavy. Every time I absorbed their residue, the pain in my bone marrow multiplied. My sensory ring flashed continuous warnings.
Warning: Contamination Level High. Synchronous Rate: 86%.
"Enough, Satria! We must move! Saptapala's cleanup crew will have sensed the energy shift!" Mbah Gembong grabbed my arm.
In the distance, through the volcanic mist, I saw the searchlights of Saptapala gunships sweeping over the village. They weren't coming to save the people; they were coming to 'sanitize' the evidence of their failed experiment. The thrum of heavy pillar-powered machine guns began to rain blue fire upon the wooden houses, incinerating everything.
"Run, Satria! To the ash fields! Don't look back!"
We ran through the hail of bullets and the burning ruins. Behind us, Kandang Bubrah slowly vanished into Saptapala's flames, leaving one more scar on Semeru's body. Our target was now visible: a cold steel tower standing tall amidst the crater's smoke—the heart of this greed.
ANTARALA GLOSSARY [Chapter 7]
Kandang Bubrah: A sociological and metaphysical phenomenon where a settlement is destroyed physically and spiritually due to uncontrolled pillar radiation.
Tuyul Agung (Mutant Type): Humans transformed into Wiyangga due to long-term exposure to the Pillar of Avarice. Characterized by bloated bellies (a symbol of endless hunger) and a dependency on pillar energy.
Residue Absorption: A rare ability of a Surya Majapahit Seal bearer to draw back pillar energy that has contaminated other living beings.