The night sky seemed to conspire with fate. The full moon hung high above the Indonesian forest, its light falling like silver blades piercing through the leaves. The silence was eerily tense; the only sound that could be heard was the distant hoot of an owl.
In the midst of that darkness, several men dressed in black moved cautiously through the dense jungle. Long-barreled rifles were gripped tightly in their hands, as if they were ready to face whatever awaited beyond the thickets.
"Be careful, this forest is very dangerous," said one of them. His voice was low. A smirk appeared on his face, his eyes staring straight ahead, full of vigilance.
"Relax, I know what I'm doing," replied his companion.
"I heard that pair of white tigers is extremely rare, and according to myth, they are descendants of the royal pets from the land of Pasundan," he continued.
He gave a mocking smile, as if what he had heard was nothing more than a joke. "The people here have such ancient beliefs."
They were mercenary hunters sent by a wealthy collector obsessed with owning a white tiger. He didn't care that the animal was not merely a rare creature, but a legend fiercely protected by the local people.
It is said that the tiger was believed to be a supernatural creature owned by a great king from the land of Pasundan, a powerful ruler who was respected and feared by the colonizers of his time.
But that night, greed had blinded them. The ancestral prohibitions and taboos of the local people were ignored just like that.
The man's companion glanced briefly. "I've known that for a long time. That's why I agreed to join the hunt. There are two benefits I can get. First, the money from that foolish collector. Second, I can take one more tiger and sell its skin to another collector."
The man beside him smiled cynically. "You're so cunning," he said. His gaze was sharp, piercing through the darkness, as if he could see the beast they were talking about.
Suddenly, the sound of rustling grass was heard, followed by a loud roar that made their hair stand on end. Instantly, the hunters turned toward the west. Under the dim light of the headlamps they wore, their eyes could see a pair of tigers standing proudly amidst the thin mist of the night.
"There they are! The tracks lead west!" whispered one of the hunters, his voice trembling with tension.
"Roarr!"
The roar of the pair of white tigers echoed, howling and reverberating among the trees. Slowly, they stepped out from the tall bushes. The bodies of the two beasts looked mighty and majestic. Their white fur shimmered under the moonlight. Their silver eyes glowed, revealing a terrifying rage.
At that very moment, the hunters swallowed hard. Their bodies trembled in fear, but remembering the enormous payment made their fear vanish, carried away by the cold night breeze.
"Now! Shoot!" shouted their leader. His voice echoed, enraging the pair of beasts that immediately lunged toward them.
With that charge, bang! bang! gunshots rang out. Dozens of bullets flew, piercing through the bodies of the jungle's royal pair. Fresh blood dripped onto the ground, mingling with the cold night dew that bit into the skin.
"Roar!"
For the second time, the roar of the white tigers echoed, sounding like wails and cries. Their eyes stared at the hunters who were laughing in triumph. The gaze of the jungle's rulers seemed to say, full of vengeance,
"Cursed be you! What you have done will be repaid with a punishment far more cruel."
"Roar!"
For the last time, a roar resounded through the forest, as if announcing their deaths at the hands of the hunters, a mournful lament that shook the soul. It was as though they were bidding farewell to the ruler of the forest, to the nature they had protected, while asking for permission to seek vengeance for the blood spilled that night.
Slowly, their bodies collapsed to the ground. Their eyes gazed at the sky, as if entrusting an unspoken message.
As though the heavens answered that final roar, in a noble family's house, two women in separate rooms were struggling to give birth to their babies.
The cries of the pair of babies echoed, filling the entire room of the house. The screams and wails, different from other babies, made all the inhabitants shiver and glance at one another. Various questions reverberated in their minds.
Why did the cries of these two babies sound like lamenting and weeping, unlike other babies? What was happening?
However, it was different for one of the fathers of the newborns. He shouted with full excitement, "My child has been born! It's a boy!"
A sigh of relief escaped him. His eyes looked at his baby in awe. Not long after, he was startled when he saw the baby's eyes open, emitting a shimmering silver light like the eyes of a wild beast.
"My God, why do my son's eyes look so strange?" he murmured. He blinked his eyes, as if unable to believe the peculiarity he saw in his son.
Elsewhere, the middle-aged midwife who witnessed the oddity let out a small scream. Her eyes widened in shock.
"What has happened in the forest? Why do these babies' eyes resemble those of a white tiger so closely?" she murmured.
Instantly, her body trembled, and her gaze did not leave the baby's eyes. She shook her head, as if dismissing all the predictions of what might happen in the future.
In another room, the elder of the noble family was shocked as he looked at the baby girl, who had been bathed by the midwife and revealed a birthmark white as tiger claw marks.
"Impossible," he murmured.
He focused his vision, as if to confirm the truth about the birthmark on his granddaughter.
"O Great Lord, what has happened in the forest?"
He shifted his gaze to the window of his daughter's room. Slowly, the middle-aged man stepped toward the window.
Upon reaching it, he opened the window and drew aside the curtains.
His eyes gazed at the full moon. "What is happening with the pair of jungle kings?" he murmured to himself.
He stared straight ahead, as if trying to understand what had happened in the forest.
The middle-aged man froze when he heard the faint roar of a tiger, making the hair on his neck stand on end. Degh! His heart pounded fiercely.
"Why do I hear the roar of a tiger calling for help?"
He turned and looked at the baby girl, now lying beside his daughter.
"Why do I have such a bad premonition?"
Not long after, the sound of the royal gamelan played softly, filling the room. Instantly, the atmosphere became very quiet. The scent of incense and the music blended, filling the chamber.
"What is happening?" asked the baby's mother.
She looked at her husband's face, who was sitting at the edge of the bed, then shifted her gaze to the face of the elder who was watching her.
Gradually, the sound grew louder, reaching their ears and making all the inhabitants of the house even more fearful.
Elsewhere in the room, the father of the baby boy glanced briefly at his child and wife, then looked at the midwife who had assisted in the delivery.
"Why do I feel something strange? Isn't that the sound of the gamelan?"
For a moment, he fell silent in thought. "I will go and see outside."