'It can't be' is Manggala's first thought the moment the guy joins him and Nina—apparently, that's her name—and then proceed to continue with, 'Is this some shape-shifter shit?' Shape-shifter is not even real.'
It's not even 700 hundred years yet. There are 67 years more to that. Manggala knows because she counts, and he's been watching over her bucket of roses that she used to measure the years since the first time he woke up in the mansion. It takes 700 years for this man that stands before him even to have the slightest chance to come back alive, and that's supposed to take so many things from this world.
Yet here he was, looking slightly pale as if he had seen a ghost before meeting them but managed to cover it well enough for anyone to notice.
Manggala had mixed feelings over this discovery. For a moment, his mind was thrown 300 years back where he went through memories as he lay down dying. It took seven days before he woke up. He almost saw 'the light' that every dying soul was talking about, but thanks to Atarakala, he didn't have to walk through it.
///
The Mansion, 1722
"You are awake," is the first thing Manggala hears as he opens his eyes.
It takes a few blinks before his view turns clear, and he realizes he is inside a house—or a mansion by the height of its ceiling—and not in the river where he remembers he should be. He remembers how the water turned red when he drowned in it.
Manggala feels lightheaded as he pulls himself into a sitting position. Instinct dampened to the point he can't even feel slightly threatened to find a woman sitting beside his bed and helping him to sit down properly—fixing his blanket as a mother would.
He feels like himself, but not really. Manggala feels human if anything—something he never thought he would ever feel in this lifetime. But he feels so weak, and his muscles feel like cotton.
It takes him a while before he actually looks up and focuses his eyes on the woman sitting by his side, yet it takes him only one blink to realize who she is, and suddenly he wishes he could jump back into a corner somewhere to protect himself.
But all he can do with widened eyes and an almost feeless body is, "Wait, you—"
"Please, calm down," she said after.
She stands up and walks away until there is quite an ample space between her and Manggala—as if she was trying not to pose a threat to the man—then says, "You must have heard about me."
"But you should have realized by now what's true and not to it, no?"
Should I realize? Wait—what is she talking about—
Then the whole memory of someone Manggala is very sure was not himself unfolding right by his eyes. Like waking up from a dream that feels too real to be just a usual dream. Like reading a storybook from the third point of view. He can hear himself and move, but the voice and the actions don't belong to him.
It belongs to this lady in front of him.
"What's just happened to me?"
She tilts his head and looks at him in sympathy, saying, "We just shared a bond. All my memories are yours to keep too now."
///
Manggala blinks back as if the memory throws him back to his body harshly. Before proceeding any further, he hears a yell from a far-right by his ear—it sounds like Mahisha.
"No! Stop! Gala!" she shouted from afar.
Manggala's eyes flick toward two humans standing before him and realize they did not seem to hear anything. The voice must be coming from far away, and he is the only one among them that may have the sharp hearing of an animal—even the people still gathering around the crashed car ahead don't seem to hear anything. He has to leave now. Mahisha should have quickly taken herself and Adiwilaga to the mansion, and they should have been there by now, so the fact that he can hear her yells far enough but not quite far enough for it to be coming from the mansion is quite concerning.
Atarakala must hear them—if things are bad, Mahisha will open her bond to ask for help immediately—but even if Mahisha do that, Atarakala won't be able to get out of the mansion for them. They have not put the barrier down for her for the last 300 years. The barrier can only be unlocked by him as he is the key to the mansion, and it will be too late to save Mahisha and Adiwilaga.
He has to handle this on his own.
Manggala looked at the man standing before him once again, then decided he would come back to think about this later. The world is small, after all; it will not be impossible to find him once again now that he knows he exists, at the very least. There was a pang of guilt hanging on his chest as he decided so, but he tried to bury it for now.
It takes a moment to shake them off of him, especially Nina. The girl is keen on getting his name despite Manggala rejecting it a few times already, but he is glad the other finally get the signal—or he hopes she is—so that she lets him go.
"It does not matter. We will never meet again, anyway." He said, even though he was not sure of it himself.
Manggala is not as fast as Mahisha or Adiwilaga. He can fly, but it is impossible to do it in this form, so all he can do is make a quick step towards the source of sounds—trying so hard to look normal to avoid anyone looking at him weirdly. He doesn't need attention. All of them don't need unnecessary trouble.
He cannot hear Mahisha's voice anymore. It's pretty concerning, but Manggala knows how capable Mahisha and Adiwilaga are. Both of them won't be taken down quickly.
So, he just focused on his instinct, following it to where he thought the source of the voice might come from. He only realized that it might come from an off-limit area as he faced a tall crusty fence with a 'Do not trespass' note hanging in there. He looks around quickly in case anyone sees him, then jumps over the wall that separates the museum area from a river down the hill while opening the connection in his bond and leaving a short message:
'Tell Mahisha and Adiwilaga, I'm coming for them.'