Chapter 26: Be one with nature
Mana is what revolved the universe. Causing the moon to orbit the earth and the sun, and stars to formed galaxies. With each individual galaxies has its own system. Without mana, the universe will be lifeless since all life needs mana, like how nature needed to breathe.
Understanding mana as the essence of life would enlighten a mana user to sharpen their sense. Wielding mana as their limbs. Enable mana to flow in and out of one's own body as natural as it could be. Such a person is granted the title of Master. Master of mana who had long been using their own unique style of wielding mana. One can be either the master of enchanter, manipulator or conjurer. It's rare to see a mana-user capable of mastering three types in one cycle of life.
Even so, becoming a Master would mean a great asset for a kingdom like Varhem kingdom. Sylva is one of them as a Master manipulator who governed the lighting. Mercilessly striking down his enemy with powerful thunderstrike. Reducing enemies to ashes before they could even blink their eyes. This is the powerful thunder. As fast as light. As fierce as heaven itself. Striking down monsters before they could even move.
However, people such as Sylva is not common. Master users are rare existence that could only appear less than ten in every generation. Even in the Varhem Kingdom itself only have two masters including Sylva. That is already considered to be powerful enough to topple one whole world. Rumours have spread that Prince Ray of will be the third master soon. The Lansten Kingdom is in the lead with three Masters. The Beast Kingdom has only one Master. The Lipan Kingdom and The Misty Kingdom both have two masters each. Each and one of them could solely fight a Mythical monster.
All of them accumulate to ten masters. However, only around half of the original number is on Earth right now, as some of them are stationed in their own original world to protect against invading army of other countries or even another world.
Kim current self is powerful enough to fight even a legendary monster in equal standing when he is in his 100%. When compared to Kim, other masters of various Kingdom shouldn't consider fighting him head on. They will only court death. And yet Kim has only experienced mana for 5 years while masters usually lived for hundreds of years. Now, a door toward mastery is slowly opening. As his body withering, Kim focused on enchanting his mind, pushing everything within him to escape the whole situation.
Kim circulated his mana and tried to force his mana toward the wall of the sphere but...he was rejected completely. His body had a backlash and blood oozed from his mouth. Albeit the painstakingly feeling piercing his body like thousand knives, his eyes gleam with light. A smile carved on his face.
"This sphere, I can't manipulate it. And... the mana is the same as the warrior, and also the vine cage... even the whole world I'm in now. This is not the monster mana. This is the mana of nature of this world!"
Kim then concentrated his mana sense around the sphere. As he analysed the mana, his eyes flickered with a sudden glow. A smirk could be seen in his dry face full of wrinkles. His hair became white in colour and clear shape of bones emerging from his skin. It's only been less than a minute and Kim already looked several times older than he was before. In a few moments, he would be a lifeless corpse which soon will be reduced to ashes.
Kim, however, ignored everything happening toward his body. Although he is physically deteriorating, his mind still bright like a shining sun. He put his hand on the floor and let his mana flow into the sphere instead of forcing it through. As he let the sphere absorbed his mana his body stopped withering...and his life force, although lit dimly, it wasn't going to extinguish. Instead, it remained flickering, not willing to perish.
The monster eyes flickered. It felt a sudden fluctuation in mana surrounding nature. It could feel that the tree it was perching on is trembling as if it was alive. In fact, it was actually alive. Momo looked at the sphere with warm and gentle eyes. She could feel that Kim is in there fighting to come out to see her. The warrior gave a look at the sphere with the same cold expression on his face. After a while, the warrior started to move step by step toward the sphere.
Kim then started to rub the floor of the sphere as if he was pampering it. Although it's hard to distinguish his face, his gentle expression could be seen clearly. His eyes show some touch of warmness in it as if he's looking at his own family. He breathed and opened up every orifice of his body. His veins are bulging, and his blood is circulating rapidly.
His body emanated a bright white glow which pierced through the cracks of the sphere. Outside., white orbs flow out from nature and started to gather around the sphere. Then enveloping it like a layer of skin. Kim's mana and nature's mana is now assimilating with one another.
Kim took another breath and sudden instances of memories flashed through his mind. He felt like he is sitting on a chair in a dark room while in front of him... clips of old film is projected on a wall.
Within the projection, he could see a vast land with lustrous green growing. Forests, rivers, mountains and trees seem endless under the blue sky. Inside the forest, a small sparrow is pecking on the ground looking for food. eyes flashing, the sparrow chirps and stroke fiercely. Finally, it grabbed an earthworm. It jumped around as if it has stroke gold. With the wriggling worm in its beak, the sparrow took flight towards its nest.
Three small baby sparrows chirp wildly when they saw their mother coming in with food. The mother sparrow then threw the earthworm toward the nestlings. A fierce battle of tug-of-war happened between them as each one the baby sparrow wanted to eat the worm on their own. The mother sparrow seems to shake its head and wanted to let out a sigh. But it just looked at its little babies and started to fly again until it perched on a red rambutan.
Before it managed to peck the rambutan, a dart suddenly shot toward its body causing it to fell down. It trembled a bit and finally stop moving. Then a child carrying a 'sumpit' with one hand walking stealthily toward the bird. He licked his lips as he saw the bird in front of him. But then, he heard the chirping sound of nestlings. He looked toward the direction of the bird and saw a nest. Then he looked toward the dead bird again and a sudden feeling of empathy evolved within him.
The child then buried the dead bird into the ground and said his prayer. He felt regret and sad for leaving the nestlings without a mother. He then climbed the trees and took the nest with him. Took them to his village.
As he went deeper into the village, a voice of an elderly woman could be heard calling the child which made him run excitedly toward a house made of woods. The house was long and is supported by tall pillars that are also made of wood. The child slowly went up the stairs, and run toward his mother who is sitting at the porch. The child talked about what happened in the forest and started to feel down for killing the mother sparrow. He also talked about his intention of raising the birds. His mother smiled with a gentle warm and only nodded in silence. She then patted her child head' giving permission. The child smiled and jumped happily.
Both of them then went to gather some woods to make a house for the nestlings. Out of curiosity, other children gathered around to see what is happening. His mother then explained everything and asked the other children to help. When they started to build the house a guy went toward them to help as well.
Day by day has passed, and the child continuously taking care of the birds. Feeding them every single day. Sometimes he would take the birds out and let them flew around. He would also bring the birds to hunt with him. The birds grew and the child also grew. From a boy to a teenager. Sadly, birds longevity wasn't that long. He continued to live while the birds die one by one, and the teenager had to bury them... one by one.
The scene changed.
A young man could be seen holding a parang and a terambai. He's wearing animal skin on his body. His lower body is covered with sirat. There are also tattoos covering his shoulder and neck. In front of him is a man who is wearing a similar outfit. Both of them is in their battle stance, solemnly glaring at each other. One look at both of them seems to be similar to the warriors that Kim fought in the vine cage.
Both of their parang dance brilliantly. Every time they exchange blows, sparks formed from the clashing of their parangs. After hundreds of exchanges, both of them finally in clear exhaustion. The young man gritted his teeth and move forward to give a decisive blow. His opponent, however, found an opening and managed to strike the young man body with a kick. The young man coughed blood but didn't falter. Instead, he managed to stand on his ground causing his opponent to feel astonished. The young man raised his parang high. Despite nearing his death, his opponent put up a smile as if feeling satisfied. He let go of his parang and let fate goes its way. With one big swing, the young man beheaded his opponent.
He went back carrying his opponent head with him. The moment he reached his village he raised up the head which set a commotion within the village. Everyone cheered him on as he had gained an accomplishment for the honour of the village. He looked toward the porch and saw his mother looking at him with a smile. She nodded and the village had a festive celebration that night.
The scene changed again and this time, the young man has become a man. He was holding a woman arm which was full of wrinkles. He looked toward the face of the woman and felt a sadness in his heart. Although looking old and weak, the woman has a fierce look in her eyes. She looked at her child with a gentle warmness. To her, the man in front is still the same kind child who decided to take care of small birds....after regretting killing their mother
The woman touched the cheek of the man and nodded as if giving permission. The man walked toward the exit and turned back to give a final glance toward his mother. Feeling determined, he step outside where a crowd of Iban warriors wearing the same outfit as him is waiting for him.
"Today we will chase away those invaders. If they resist, then we will slaughter them. We will take their heads as our trophy. Today we will make the enemies run in fear. Stand by me, my people. So long as I live, I will fight! Agi idup, agi ngelaban!"
"Agi idup, agi ngelaban!"
"Agi idup, agi ngelaban!"
"Agi idup, agi ngelaban!"
The cheer from the crowd together with the man has caused a slight tremor that shook the earth. The crowd then moved to fight against the invaders. Alongside, with the man, the warriors fearlessly put up a strong resilient. Even with the more advanced weapons used by the invading army, the Iban warriors still won the first battle! Rising the man in fame.
However, the invaders didn't fall back and started to strike back. With an iron-hearted will, the warriors managed to give a huge counter-blow but still ended up with a forced retreat. The invading army took the chance to destroy the warriors base. The man saw his village, house, family, people, burnt down to the ground along with his mother. This has cause rage within his heart and his people to explode like volcanoes.
More and more ambushed occurred with the effort of trying to take down the man and his people but end up with a failure. The invaders attacked with cannons, but the Iban Warriors managed to make their own cannons to strike back. The man proclaimed to the invaders
"Even if you bring all the cannons, we will still not be afraid of you."
Their impregnable fort caused a massive headache for the invading army. Even after long years, the Iban warriors were still standing on their ground. However, the man ends up meeting his death due to old age. Even when nearing his death, his eyes still flickered with determination to fight.
Afterwards, Sarawak was conquered as a whole, alongside with other states in Malaysia. During that time, Malaysia's natural resources were excavated with no restraint. Then development occurs, and nature started to diminished. Logging, pollution and waste dump continues to destroy nature. It didn't only happen in Malaysia, but also the whole world. As the world grows, mother nature dying in the process. Every single detail that happened since the birth of nature, a bird was viewing the whole scene while perching on a tree.
Kim's heart started to thump wildly. He was also at guilt as sometimes he would get involved with all the pollution. Then a teardrop rolling down from Kim's cheek. The moment the teardrop on the ground, a rumbling tremor shook the earth!
RUMBLE!