Solsday, 7th of Aprillia, 470th year of the 5th Era

  The sun was beginning to rise over the horizon, giving the sky a beautiful orange colour, while at the same time gracing the waters of the nearby Anakluat river - a tributary of the mighty Rantau river - giving it the same breathtaking orange glister. The village of Saorma had already started to awaken since a few hours earlier with many of the villagers already setting out to carry on their daily activities.

  Saorma was much like Goria in that it was a village built based near a river, with the main difference being that it wasn’t built right on the river, instead being located a few kilometers away on an elevated hill, giving the village an advantageous view of the surrounding farmland area. Saorma was the seat of its own kingdom, one of the dozens of petty Kingdoms within the Halaklands.

  Partogi was sitting cross-legged in the middle of a sacred grove at the center of the village, located close to Saorma’s Royal Hall. The sacred grove was made up of several large palm trees tied at their main trunks by sanctified ulos and next to the trees were several large stone sarcophagi, carved ornately with figures of warriors etched at the front. These were the sarcophagi that held the bones of the great elders and Kings of the Pasaorma clan. Each Halak clan had their own shrines or mausoleums known as ‘Tugu’ located around their ancestral villages or other such sacred sites. Even the Sigumogo clan had its own tugu located close to the village of Goria where back during the time before the arrival of the missionaries, many traditional rituals were carried out, mostly for the purpose of invoking the blessings of the great ancestor spirits.

  Partogi had closed his eyes as he gathered his aura essence around him as he had been meditating within the sacred grove for a few hours since he had awoken from his sleep. For the past weeks since his and his wife’s unfortunate exile from Goria, Partogi had begun to acclimatise himself towards life in his wife’s home village. While his wife Lamria would still wake up in panic in the middle of the night from time to time and begin to sob as she kept being reminded of their children that his father had so tyrannically kept from them, Partogi could see that being among relatives was quite helpful in helping his wife alleviate from the pain of loss. Lamria had even started to smile again somewhat as she took on roles to take care of the younger members of her clan within Saorma.

  While his wife was busying herself with the more maternal roles within the village, taking care of and teaching the young children, taking part in seamstress activities and other such occupations, Partogi had been welcomed by his simatua (father-in-law) into Saorma’s military structure mainly in order to train the newer guard recruits as well as help out around the village where an extra set of hands was necessary.

  Though when compared to the rest of the peoples within the continent of Neacordis, the Halak are uniquely gifted as talented warriors - with most men being gifted with a natural talent in training their aura and becoming a starred warrior was nothing special - the Realm of Goria stood head and shoulder above all other realms with their warriors being on averaged at three to four stars, with the realm of a five star warrior being not too uncommon. In contrast to that, other realms - like that of Saorma - were quite behind in terms of martial prowess averaging at two stars of power mostly. Thus when Partogi had defected to Saorma in his exile, he automatically became one of the more prominent warriors within the realm’s structure especially with the fact that he was perhaps on the verge of becoming a fifth-star pinnacle warrior.

  But despite all that treatment within his new home, ever since his exile, Partogi had experienced quite a block within his own personal growth in training. His own mind and psyche was still greatly troubled and muddled with so much worry that it was interfering with his progress. He lacked the same natural talent granted to his elder brother, nephew, or even son, but despite that he had always persevered thus far. Though training and meditating within the sacred grove yielded some benefits towards his concentration as the natural level of mana surrounding the area helped to accommodate him especially as he invoked the help of the great ancestors, he still felt like something was missing.

  Putting aside those worries, Partogi had determined to once more clear his mind of his current thoughts and focus back on gathering the mana from around him within his core so as to help find a breakthrough to the next realm. However, in the middle of his focused training, he had felt a presence approaching near to him. As he was put on alert, opening his eyes from his meditation, Partogi saw a figure of an old and skinny man with greyed hair and in the traditional garbs of a Halak shaman holding a taff carved with totems on it approach him with a smile. This man was his wife’s bapatua, the head shaman of Saorma, Tuan Honahata Debata Pasaorma. A powerful shaman, almost as powerful as even perhaps Elder Rihar of the Rapmasari, he was the eldest brother of Saorma’s King who had voluntarily passed on the title of king to his younger brother due to his devotion to live a celibate life in veneration of the ancestors and pursuit of knowledge.

  “You seem to be quite troubled, son.” the old shaman said as he sat on one of the sarcophagi near Partogi “I sensed a disturbed turmoil within your mana as you were meditating. It seems you still have a lot on your mind, Lord Partogi.”

  Partogi merely gave a strained smile at his uncle-in-laws comments before answering, “Forgive my rudeness, Lord Datu (shaman) but I don’t think you need to sense the turmoil within my mana to determine whether or not I have something troubling my mind.”

  “Bahahahaha! You speak truly, Togi.” the old Shaman Honahata bellowed out in laughter as he leaned into the stone statue of the sarcophagus’ head.

  “Also, do you not think it somewhat disrespectful to sit upon your ancestor’s resting place like that?”

  “Oh this?” Honahata motioned towards the sarcophagi he was sitting on as he gave it several firm pats “Oh you don’t need to worry about that. Ompung Lomo always had a soft spot for me and he was quite the jokester as well when he was alive. Heck, he used to let me sit on his lap all the time when I was little. Well, when he wasn’t busy letting his concubines sit on his lap that was, hahahahah!... Oh that was just a joke by the way. If anything, Ompung Lomo never really showed any interest in a woman besides ompung boru (grandmother)... Heck now that I think about it, even that’s a stretch. Oh well, bwahahaha!”

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  Partogi could only shake his head in disbelief at the irreverence that the realm’s head shaman was showing at this very moment, especially considering his pivotal religious status within the village as being equal to that of Bishop Ludwig’s role in Goria. But even with the eccentricity, Honahata’s prowess could not be denied as he was even able to heal Partogi’s son of an ailment that not even the physicians and healers of Goria could deal with. Though that could also be attributed to the fact that they had to resort to the use of blood rituals in sacrificing the life of a convicted rapist. Once more, Partogi grew bitter as he was reminded of that fact. What was even the worth of a criminal’s life if it meant that his sacrifice could usher into a net good for others? Wouldn’t his death be even more exalted as with it he would have at least ended his life with an act of good regardless of his own willingness throughout the ordeal.

  “Regardless, Bapatua (uncle), what brings you here to me? Are you about to conduct a ritual or some other rites? If I’m acting as a hindrance to any activity that you might be holding, I apologise and will remove myself from the vicinity…” Partogi slightly bowed before getting up from the ground.

  “Oh it’s nothing of the sort, son.” Honahata waived away Partogi’s concern before he too got up from his seat “We’ve already conducted the necessary rituals of Sipahasada a few days ago, remember? No, I’m only here because your father-in-law desires to see you as he said there’s something we needed to discuss.”

  Partogi only nodded and didn’t think too much of it as lately he’s been helping out a lot within the village and naturally, he also had regular discussions with his father-in-law, King Lombutua. The two men made their way out of the sacred grove and headed towards where the king was at. Next to the royal hall was a large stone building that didn’t quite look like a traditional Halak building but at the same time wasn’t built in the style of western buildings either. It more so was akin to what Partogi recognised as a Devani-Hindan style of architecture popular throughout the Banuan Hindan Kingdoms brought over by the Hindan Kingdoms from the faraway Devashuran subcontinent. He believed this style of building was called a ‘Candi’. The walls of the building were intricately carved with so many expressive murals depicting various animals, flowers, and nature in general as around the candi were planted all sorts of trees, flowers, and plants.

  The building was by far the largest in the entire village as it stood at about five to six meters using western systems of measurement. The main doorway inside of the building was adorned with two statues of ‘Dvarapala’, ogre-like beings holding massive clubs with fierce expressions, gazing upon any who would enter into the structure. In contrast to the fierce exterior, the inside of the building was a different story.

  Though he had already been inside of the candi multiple times throughout his stay within the village of Saorma, Partogi could never cease to be amazed by how beautiful it was inside as when he entered, his senses were greeted by a beautiful mixture of aromas from the many flowers and plants inside the building. The Candi of Saorma was famous throughout the Halaklands as one of the most beautiful gardens in the realm, housing inside it a variety of botanical species, collected from all sorts of exotic plants throughout Neacordis and even beyond.

  There was an old myth that the candi was built by the very gods and deities of the divine realm, but that was just a sort of fairytale that parents would tell to their children growing up. In reality, the village of Saorma was a relatively newer center of power whose main cultural center was built no more than six to seven generations ago by exiles from the eastern territories of the Halaklands after a dispute between the clans there. The candi was built first as a temple on what the locals from the surrounding villages had always considered sacred ground upon a hill. When the first King of Saorma arrived within these lands with his fellow clansmen, he had united the surrounding realms and made for himself the land of ‘Saorma’ which meant ‘to gather’.

  Partogi couldn’t remember when, but between the establishment of the Saorma kingdom till the current day, the temple was eventually converted into the garden it was today because one of the ancestor’s wives truly loved flowers and plants from all corners of the world. His father-in-law in particular was an avid gardener and would often spend most of the day within the confines of the candi when he wasn’t carrying out any duties as the king.

  Coincidentally, while thinking of all these things, Partogi spotted the king standing at the middle of the building watering the flowers and plants surrounding a tall statue of what could only be described as a goddess. Near the rotund jovial-looking king was a young boy who looked to be no older than six or seven years old.

  “Brother, I’ve brought your hela (son-in-law) like you asked…” Honahata said as he called out to the king.

  “Ah! Thank you so much for that, abang! Bonar, here, you can water the other plants around there.” The kings said acknowledging their arrival before handing over the clay watering-can shaped like an elephant towards the little boy as he excitedly took it to water the other flowers “Remember to not water the plants too much or you’d kill em. Also watch out for those coloured plants over there as they’re poisonous…”

  “Yes, father, I know!” The boy nodded before setting off with the watering can.

  Partogi couldn’t help but smile when he saw the little boy that was actually his brother-in-law and the only male heir of King Lombutua. Though it also caused a slight ache inside of him as due to his young age, the young lord Habonaron Pasaorma reminded him too much of his own children who were currently being kept in Goria by his father. Regardless, his father-in-law had now called him to discuss something, and it seemed important if even the head shaman Honahata was involved.

  “What was it you wanted to discuss, amang?” Partogi said as he bowed his head slightly to the king.

  “Ah yes, you came just in time because this seems to be something I had to discuss with you. Please follow me.” King Lombutua said as he led the two men to a rather spacious alcove within the candi garden. The floor of the alcove was adorned with luxurious looking carpets that seemed to have originated from the eastern lands of the moslems. On top of the carpet, a table made of teak wood carved with the image of dragons on its table legs stood with velvet cushions laid out around it.

  Partogi was still very much sure that his father’s realm was the most powerful as well as prosperous of all the realms of the Halak, but if one were to judge solely out of the luxuries that one can see especially in such a luxurious space as the stone structure of the garden, one would think that Saorma was the richest of the Halak states. In truth, however, Partogi knew better. He knew that despite all of the perceived opulence that he had been shown by King Lombutua, Saorma was one of the weakest and least relevant of the Halak realms, at least it was so before his reign.

  King Lombutua had motioned for the men to take a seat upon the velvet cushions before he called in one of his slaves to serve drinks for them. While that was being done, king Lombutua had laid out a large scroll upon the table and when he rolled it open, Partogi’s eyes widened at what he saw before him. As he looked up towards his father-in-law, the King of Saorma merely gave Partogi a smile before continuing.

  “We have much to discuss, son.”