"Wake up, you shithead!"
Those sounds were pulling Janu back from the darkness.
The pain in his back struck him so violently. His joints scream in soreness, the palms against the hard, cold ground. Jet black hairs with… shape filled with gravel all around, prickling his skin. While the air surrounding him feels suffocatingly humid, paired with a sweet jasmine floral scent mixed with some foul stench.
"Get up, you bastard!"
Same voice but feels much closer now.
His forehead frowned; he grimaced upon moving the neck.
The striking, towering trees in the darkness surrounding him. And the menacing, extensive lanky branches resemble a talon claw grasping the red sky high above.
"Where… am I?"
Complete silence…. All that could be heard is just the ringing of the gong.
GONGGG.
Janu reflexively held his breath, then a sudden realization struck him. He's not alone.
Figures are standing, encircling him behind the fogs. The faces are unrecognizable and so dark at the time, like staring into an empty void. And paired with a striking white shroud engulfing them
Pocong.
Janu's heart beats fast. "Shit…"
One of them suddenly moving its skewed head in a slow mannerism, then—
CRACK.
Its skewed neck suddenly sprang in the opposite direction in such a grotesque way, followed by one after another. Making the cracking sounds almost like an instrument accompanying the fog.
Janu unconsciously tensed, his instinct screaming to run, but his muscles and his joints felt heavy. As if his body were anchored in another place and what's left now is him carrying an empty shell.
GONGGG.
The same gong sound echoing once again. But now the fog slowly drifted away—and finally Janu could see that place.
A plain field stretched out wide in front of Janu. The circlement of stone pillars, like the old days' monolith. Outside of those stone circles stands a wooden stall. Oil lanterns hanging disproportionately above the bamboo pole. A figure passing by between.
A woman with no eyes sitting with a table full of jasmine flowers in front of her. On another corner, an entity, or maybe something so thin and tall, weighs humans' teeth on a rusty scale. A curious Cemani chicken was hanging upside down alive in front of another vendor's stall selling shrouds that swayed although there were no winds.
Scents of incense mixed with blood filled the air. Banter of bargain was heard softly, but no motions of mouths in sight.
And among all of that, some looked like a human. But they just stood in silence, walking in an empty state. Like a customer lost its way out.
The cold sensation in the nape of his neck begins to creep in.
Pasar Gaib
The name pops up quickly in Janu's mind—places, as the saying goes, are forbidden for humans or living beings to enter.
"Good." Janu rubs his palms. "Now all we need is a candy cart and park attendants."
A couple of figures suddenly stop moving.
Janu gulped, "Shit, it heard that."
He tried his best to get up. His mind tried to catch up to the logic race. But last time Janu remembers, he stays on hiking trails. Then next, he heard a faint metallic sound. After that—
Dark.
Tok. Tok. Tok.
The sound of a staff can be heard from the front, slow and measured.
Fogs are drifting away slowly, then a figure of a man sitting starts appearing; the man appears to be sitting on a sturdy wooden veranda for who knows how long he's been there.
His clothes were red and shabby. A red triangle headband with a striking matching color. Sarong cloth wrapped around his waist. Laid upon his lap is an elongated stringed musical instrument that Janu has never seen before.
His old finger slowly but surely danced upon the string.
Nging—
The instrument's sound is thin and hoarse but enough to make a whisper that silences its surroundings.
He lifts his face. Wrinkles filled his tanned skin like old wood cracks; his eyes so lively. The gaze was so sharp when observing Janu from top to bottom.
"Ah," he muttered. "Another deer leaped onto the river."
Janu is frowning. "What?"
The man faintly smiled. "Likewise, the deer thinks it needs to save itself from the tiger."
Plucking of the strings, accompanied by a metallic sound, can be heard. Winds suddenly grew colder. Fogs around them are moving like they have lives. From behind it, two intimidating glowing red eyes opened. Humped shoulders along with heavy breathing like a starving beast.
"What the hell is that?!"
"Calm down," said the man casually. "He just does not like it when the show is interrupted in the beginning."
The beast growls softly. The ground trembled slightly. Janu's taking two steps back while covering his nose because he smelled the stench of wet earth mixed with foul decaying flesh.
That man is staring at Janu again. "All deer wonder the same question when sensing the smell of blood."
Janu looking straight ahead. He sees the man's smile widen.
"Some arrived here seeking answers, some running from themselves…"
The fogs keep creeping in between the stone pillars. Whispers keep growing louder around Janu.
"And another some..." The man's voice trailed off softly, "never fully managed to get out."
Janu held his breath. Both of his legs were shaking immediately without him realizing.
"Welcome…" he said, "…to Pinarbutan."
GONGGG
The world darkens once more.