"Come on, get up quickly, friends. We have to climb again soon. Alya, you and Rico are with me. Are you not dizzy anymore?" Hasan asked Alya who was still sitting.
"My head is getting dizzy, Hasan, even though yesterday I tested my health. Everything was normal, and I was physically strong, but why is it suddenly like this now?" Alya answered in a weak voice.
Hasan and Rico tried to help Alya walk even though they were in the back position.
After they started climbing again, suddenly there was a woman's voice laughing, not just one person but many as if laughing at them.
Rico, who realized it, replied with the words, "Sorry, brothers and sisters in the tree, sorry if we said something wrong, don't bother us, we don't want to have anything to do with you".
Seeing Rico talking like that made them even more shocked and scared, even Laras started to shed tears because she was worried that something unwanted would happen to them.
They seemed to get lightning power in climbing in dark, steep, and cold conditions. They started to get excited again to reach Post 3.
"This is all because of the girls who have been talking rudely since we started climbing, especially Tissa and Alya, who couldn't watch their words even though Keenan had warned them thousands of times," said Rengga, who was annoyed at the two of them.
"Come on, we shouldn't blame each other; the important thing is that we focus. There are many large rocks that we have to be careful about, not only because of invisible creatures but there are also many dangerous animals here."
"We have to protect each other, don't worry, they only want to scare us, they won't dare to do anything strange to us, you guys just pray in your hearts," said Keenan trying to make the atmosphere calm again, while continuing to lead them on the climb.
Alya began to feel short of breath, her breath was short as she began to pass the large trees on the left of her.
The surrounding shadows suddenly became blurry and turned dark.
Brakk ...
Alya fell unconscious, luckily she was still held by Rico and Hasan who had been guiding her to climb. Suddenly the other friends who were in front of her ran to her.
Laras panicked and started hugging Alya's body, "Al, wake up, Al. What's wrong?" Laras made Alya wake up under the tree.
Riki took out water from his bag and gave her aromatherapy to wake Alya up.
Tissa applied aromatherapy on Alya's head and tried to make Alya inhale the aromatherapy.
"Al, wake up, Al" Tissa gently stroked Alya's back.
The night was getting darker, the weather was getting colder, they were starting to get tired and it would take another 20 minutes to reach Post 3. They wanted to get there quickly but were confused by the current situation.
Rico suggested that the others start climbing first and set up a tent there, so Rico and Hasan would wait for Alya to wake up.
"Nan, you guys go up to Post 3 first so that I, Laras, and Hasan will guard Alya here until Alya wakes up, setting up a tent takes quite some time, so if Alya wakes up, we'll go up when the tent is finished" Rico said as he got up from his seat.
"Okay then, come on Tissa, Rengga, and Riki, we have to get to Post 3 quickly" Keenan asked the four of them.
Rico saw an old man wearing a robe who was looking at them with a worried expression, the old man offered Rico his hand and asked him to come over to him.
Rico approached the grandfather, greeted him, and bowed his body in respect. Seeing the unusual incident made Laras and Hasan confused.
"Son, what have you done to make the mountain guards feel disturbed by your presence, is there any prohibition that you have violated to make them angry?"
"Your friend's soul has been sucked out, causing his body to become weak and he faints. There is one of the guards who is targeting him because he always has an empty mind, so they can easily approach your friend."
"Now the creature is beside your friend, he doesn't want to... "Get away"
"Grandpa can help chase away the creature but your friend is advised not to continue climbing to the peak, because he is worried that his body is not strong enough and his physique is getting weaker, the journey to post 5 and the peak is still far, if your friend becomes more helpless it will draw their energy to get closer your friend"
"Be careful, this mountain has many guards from the east to the west, you can discuss everything from the negative to the positive like me, I guard climbers who are lost, who are disturbed like you, even climbers who are lost"
"If you have ever heard Regarding the climbers who were never found, it happened because of their wishes, preferring to obey and respect the Queen who is known to have guarded this mountain hundreds of years ago"
"Willing to become her slaves because they were promised various things that made life comfortable in their world, they had weak faith and have forgotten God, they forget that instant life like that is only temporary"
"You help me pray while I try to chase it away and fight it." The old man walked towards Alya, followed by Rico behind him.
The creature stuck out its tongue and mocked the old man. "I won't go, you old man , I will live with this girl forever because I have stolen her soul." The creature laughed while continuing to hold Alya's body, who was still unconscious.
"Go away you evil creature, I will tie you up with other naughty creatures in the Forbidden Forest"
Grandpa managed to catch and bind the evil creature and he was banished to the Forbidden Forest.
The Forbidden Forest is another dimension on this mountain, which is believed to be a place of exile and gathering of evil creatures who are often mischievous and disturb climbers and residents around Mount Srinjani.
After the evil creature succeeded expelled, not long after that Alya woke up and cried, who knows what happened while she was unconscious.
"I just want to go home, I don't want to continue climbing, I don't want to go with the snake queen" Alya answered while still trying to get up and sobbing.
"What do you mean? Al, we don't understand. Did something bad happen?" Laras asked while giving Alya a drink.
Alya didn't answer and kept her eyes closed while crying.