Jebat came at 4'o clock. He gave me some notes. We talked, yet I couldn't bring myself up to ask him anything. I didn't know what face he would make or what trick he would come up with.
It was such a beautiful evening. We were sitting on the rooftop. Sun was about to set. Jebat was talking about his school life (I didn't ask him). He seemed happy about something. I didn't want to ruin the mood. So I saved it for later.
"You seem happy," I said plainly.
"Yeah," he smiled. "We got a huge amount as compensation."
I was surprised but I didn't show it. Unwavering, I asked, "We... Do you mean Zed-3? From where?"
"Yes. Well, it happened before you came. An organization filed a case against us. They accused us of fraud. But we won the case. Master did a good job proving our innocence. Well, we weren't guilty, to begin with," he grinned.
"What fraud did they accuse you of?"
"It's kinda childish... They said we scare people and demand money from them. And that we were involved with drugs. They also said we were bribing police... ha ha ha... in reality, police are always seeking help from us... haha." He seemed so proud.
'Ah, the accusations are the same as mine. What if they are telling truth?!' The thought crossed my mind. 'But still, I need to testify it.'
"It was because of that woman. She needed to go ahead and be involved. Master Iyan forbade her. Yet... *sigh* You will meet her soon."
He hummed and stopped talking. I wasn't interested in whomever the woman was. I kept thinking about what I could ask Iyan. The sunset from the roof was quite the view. This house was a bit high in the mountain, so one could see the horizon setting in the long distance when on the rooftop. We sat there, quietly, until the purple color of the sky faded away.
"Mast... Um, Dean, I better go home now." Jebat stood up.
I nodded. Suddenly a thought crossed my mind, "Iyan didn't return, right?"
"Yes... but..."
"Can you drop me at the farmhouse? You brought your cycle, right?"
"Um... yes..." Jebat looked confused.
"Then let's go."
When we headed to the farm, the remaining light also faded. Jebat had a torch. The problem was I was the one holding the torch. It was difficult to maintain the balance. There was a nice smell of grass and mud. There were fireflies flying across. They are the only insect I love.
"Why does Iyan need to work so hard on the firm? You know how we have plenty of employees." It would take some more minutes to reach the farm. So, I decided to hold a conversation.
"That's because he is in debt to your grandparents."
"Oh, Is that so? Then when does he manage to work for your organization?"
Jebat laughed. "He manages. This is exactly why he is our leader. He is intelligent, hardworking, and courageous. He manages everything properly. He is kind to everyone. He is even good at martial arts. He is... blah blah blah"
'I am not listening anymore. I have no interest.' I covered one of my ears with one hand. After all, I had been hearing his praise for almost half of my life.
The farm was big. Jebat dropped me at the office. Iyan was sitting inside. He was working on some papers.
"What brings you here, Dean babu?" He said without lifting his head.
"Just... Came to see you?"
"To see if I am working right?" He closed the file and looked at me.
"..." I was speechless. To tell you the truth, that was my intention.
"Um... I came to see the farm." Even I didn't know why I lied. 'Don't I need to be straightforward and inquire him? Then again, does he know? Did they tell him? I don't think so.'
"Is that so?" He stood up and walked towards the door. "Then you should have come before the sunset. As you know, we closed everything and you won't be able to access fields or cattle now, though we may go to the ponds and fisheries."
"It's okay. Let's go to the ponds then."
Iyan smiled. "Let's go, young master."
It's absurd to have ponds on a mountain slope. The ponds were as artificial as a swimming pool yet looked so natural. 'My family is rich. They earn a lot.' No wonder, they were.
"So what is that you want to talk about?"
'I never said I have something to talk about.' I thought but remained silent.
"Dean babu, I know you are not so stupid to come for a visit at night. So, please speak."
"..."
'Speak Dean. Ask him.'
"What happened downtown? I mean what happened to that fake shaman?"
'Sh*t! I took a 180° turn from my real question.'
Iyan crocked his eyebrows hearing this. In the next moment, he smiled.
"Well, it was just a simple case. He wasn't a fake shaman. He was a bit weak. He used to call spirits and run errands by them on behalf of his client. He chose it as his profession. But things got dirty when he came to know that his son-in-law was involved in adultery. To break them off, he summoned a spirit. Unfortunately, that was a strong and evil one, a ghoul.
The ghoul did his work and in return, that shaman gave him quite a huge amount. But money wasn't the reward it demanded. He wanted something more that we are unknown of. The shaman probably couldn't give that. This is why the ghoul killed him in a brutal way. It's a common scenario in this sort of business. The spirits are quite unreasonable in such cases."
"How do you know? How did you find out it was a spirit, not a human?" Finally, I got the chance to ask.
"Oh, that... I just summoned the spirit wandering around and asked them."
"Can you prove it?"
Iyan was startled. His expression was complicated. After a while, he said, "Dean... ah... oh... so you don't believe it? No, actually you never did..."
'Ah, what a huge reaction! Only scum would have such a reaction. So, my grandparents didn't tell him anything. Let's see what he can do to make me believe.'
"No one would believe such things. What era do you think it is? No matter how you look it's all fake. By the way, how much money did you spend?"
Iyan sighed. His expression turned into a cold one. He turned around without saying anything. After standing for a while, he started to walk. That time I thought he was running away. So, I chased after him and grabbed his shoulder.
Suddenly Iyan turned around, slapped my hand off his shoulder, and in the next second, I found myself floating in the air.
My eyes broaden and my body went cold. 'What the hell is this? Am I floating? How the hell? How high up am I from the ground?' I screamed.
"Please, hold on there. If you move around too much, you may fall. It's hard to maintain the balance if the object doesn't stay still." Iyan said crossing both of his hands in his chest as if he was admiring the view.
'Is it you? how....? However, put me down first.' I yelled.
"Dean babu, don't move too much. If you have anything to say please tell me."
'Damn you, I'm telling you.... huh...'
Sh*t!!! I couldn't say anything. No word came out of my mouth. Sh*t!!!"
I only realized then.
A moment passed. I tried to calm down. After trying for a while, I finally said in a small voice, "Put me down."
"Did you figure out how I did it?" Iyan smirked.
'That's right. How did he do that?' I searched for any string or rope attached to me.
'There isn't any...!!! Perhaps, it's a magnetic field and thus he used iron to...'
"It's not a magnetic field. If it were, then building a farm here wouldn't be possible."
Iyan leaped up in the air.
"So, what do you think, young master? Is this enough to clear off your suspension?" He came closer, an irritating grin on his face.
Honestly, I was speechless. I couldn't deny it anymore. I mean I was hanging on the air...!
"Am I still a fake?" Iyan's eyes narrowed, he was still grinning, as if enjoying the whole matter.
"How high we are from the ground?" I asked, hesitantly.
"Pfft... ha ha ha ha...," Iyan burst into laughter. "Young Master, you really are a masterpiece. You manage to ask the most irrelevant thing in the most critical moment. Haha haha."
"Well... ah... I was meaning... to ask you for a while."
'Actually, I yelled it before. Unfortunately, there wasn't any voice.'
"Approximately six feet from the ground... he... h... he...," he answered while laughing.
"Please, don't laugh anymore and put me down"
"Okay."
We came down smoothly. It looked like some fantasy anime where the creator would present the character as smoothly as possible.
"How did you do that?"
"It's simple. I just balanced you there for a while." Iyan waved his hand.
"Then... what were those things yesterday?"
"Ah... huh... how about we go somewhere nice before I tell you the story?"
"..."
Iyan didn't wait for my response. He picked up his mobile and called who knows whom.
"Hello! Oh, ma'am. I and Dean would be late.
Yeah, he is with me.
Yeah.
Ok."
'Oh, it was granny.'
"Let's go, Dean babu." Iyan grabbed one of my hands. Then he circled once and started to draw something in the air.
"This is how we are going?" I frowned.
Iyan continued what he was doing, he didn't even glance. So I didn't ask anymore and tried to figure out what he was drawing.
A few stars, on top of them he wrote something. Again some stars and one bizarre verse or so. Then he stopped.
'What's the point of drawing these on the air?'
A minute passed. Then another minute. Iyan stood still, grabbing my hand. No one was moving nor said anything.
Several minutes later something as thin as some thread glowed up in the place where Iyan was drawing. It soon turned into a flowery pattern with something written in-between. Silver lighting from the thread enlightened the place.
"Eh!" my mouth gaped.
Some more threads formed. It looked like a palace.
Iyan placed his hand on top of that formation and our surroundings changed.
"Eh!" I yelped.
Even the sky changed. There was a huge moon in the sky, several times bigger than it should be. It enlightened a path ahead of us. It's as if we traveled to a completely different place.
"What... what happened?" I stuttered.
"We came to a different dimension," Iyan answered. He was grinning ear to ear. Nothing but his grin was irritating me.
"Using that flowery pattern?"
"Yes, using that." He started to walk and I followed him.
"Dimension... you said... you mean that kind of dimension described in stories?"
"Kinda." Iyan stopped.
There was a huge palace-like house standing in front of us. It was painted in a dark color, maybe maroon. From what I could see, it had three floors at least. Not so far from it was a lake. The house area was tremendously big. And there was no sign of life except some fireflies floating near the lake. And under the moonlight, the whole scenery seemed otherworldly.
Suddenly Iyan turned around and bowed as if he was greeting, "Welcome to my manor, young master."