Chapter 52:
the strangeness of a village
Shadow Exister (volume 1)
“There is a report from one of the guard soldiers, my brother-in-law and also His Majesty the King,” Arga said, seriously staring at Sudirja.
“What is it?” Sudirja asked.
“Something strange has happened in a village,” Arga replied. “Marquess Arjuna and I are on our way there.”
“What is the name of that village?” Sudirja asked.
“Kemarus Village,” Arga answered.
Sudirja knew about that village. It was located 8,000 feets from the royal capital. The journey there would take a long time, at least five days. Unlike the village where the Lindru temple stood, which was only 350 feets away.
Sudirja immediately looked at William. Yes, William understood the meaning of that glance from his alter. He would join the investigation, for he felt that this must be the work of demons.
Meanwhile, the people from the Lindru temple had already returned to their own area. They knew it was dangerous, and they did not want to cause further trouble. After Atron’s disappearance, they had nearly died of shock.
Once Arga was sure there was nothing else to report, he—the clone—vanished.
Since, in Sudirja’s view, a normal journey would take too long to reach that village, he explained the distance from the royal capital to William. He didn’t want the investigation time wasted by waiting for his alter.
“The distance between that village and the royal capital is 8,000 feets,” Sudirja explained.
William understood immediately. Without hesitation, he activated his magic circle. A circle formed beneath his feet, shining lapis lazuli blue with patterns of circles and the northern star.
“Space manipulation of Position and Probability,” William chanted.
Sudirja quickly activated his own circle as well. A magic circle formed above his head, rose red in color, with patterns of circles and a sun.
“Sukmo dadalu rekso suoro dadi purno asmo,” Sudirja recited.
Their magic shared the same theme: speed. But the form differed. Sudirja’s magic allowed its user to move as fast as the wind, while William’s magic was endless teleportation across random locations.
Sudirja’s spell had no significant drawbacks for its user. William’s, however, left him nauseated. The reason was simple: when his magic was active, William could see all possible locations where he was being teleported at the same time. No human mind could comprehend such a thing.
Still, William’s spell had one advantage: he could arrive at the village before time itself advanced.
“Ah, damn it; never again…” William groaned.
The nausea still lingered. He wanted to vomit, but he held it back—it would only hinder him if he did.
William had already arrived at the village, even before Sudirja (his own alter) and the other two.
Had there still been villagers there, he might not have realized that this desolate place before him was indeed the village in question.
Driven by curiosity about the villagers’ disappearance, William searched the village. He found no clues, even after circling to its farthest edges.
Yet, at the edge of the village, he spotted a cave. He felt as though he had been there before, though in truth he had not.
He wanted to enter the cave, to confirm something. But he understood one thing: he had no idea what was inside. More precisely, he only knew vague rumors—aware of the danger of the cave, yet ignorant of its true threat. After all, it had once been among his random teleportation points.
Thus, the only choice was not to enter it alone.
He returned to the village entrance, where he saw Sudirja and the others finally arriving. Arga was riding his sword like a surfboard, while Arjuna mounted a serpent-dragon.
“Have you investigated?” Sudirja asked.
“Yes,” William replied.
“Did you find any clues?” Sudirja pressed.
“No,” William answered.
“Have you tried using magic?” Arjuna asked.
“Not yet,” William admitted.
“Then let us recheck with detection magic,” Arga suggested.
William hadn’t thought of using detection magic. He had only conducted a normal inspection, still unable to think clearly due to the side effects of his spell.
A magic circle formed beneath his feet. At once, William felt an energy.
“I sense something from my circle,” William said, kept focusing.
“What is it?” Sudirja asked.
“An energy that has mass, and perhaps… a distribution number?” William continued.
“How many?” asked Sudirja.
“There’s not just one. Several… maybe four,” William replied.
“Never mind, just name them,” Sudirja urged.
“Okay. Each energy has different mass and distribution number: the first has a mass of 12 Meu/C with distribution number 0.65, the second has a mass of 7 Meu/C with distribution number 0.15, the third has a mass of 88 Meu/C with distribution number 0.775, and the last has a mass of 133 Meu/C with distribution number 1.125,” William explained.
Sudirja immediately recognized the particles manifested by those four energies. After all, he himself had designed this world’s standard particle model. He knew them: Qieren (symbol q), Denzon (symbol D), Boritan (symbol β), and Octizon (symbol ω). All were particles destined to undergo time decay—disintegrating by shifting into the past or to another time Nexus.
“Etimuoren particles decaying through time… that’s the cause,” Sudirja muttered.
“But I don’t know their source,” William added.
Had Sudirja used the time vector lens, he might have traced the origin. But he was not using it now. As for relying on Arjuna or Arga? Those two had never even touched such technology. The only choice left was to search for other clues manually.
“Any other lead you found?” Sudirja asked.
The circle faded as William glanced at his alter. “I’m not certain, but I saw a cave at the edge of the village,” William replied.
“Perhaps that cave could be the evidence,” Sudirja added.
They intended to investigate the cave, hoping for answers to the villagers’ disappearance.
Upon reaching its entrance, they felt a presence. Sudirja seemed to recognize it. It was this time Nexus’s version of the Armor he had once worn when conquering Dahaluk.
As they entered, darkness enveloped them, though not completely. A faint light still seeped in, and the cave walls themselves emitted weak glowing stones.
Deeper inside, footsteps of approaching monsters echoed. The sound resembled rattling bones.
“Jerangkong,” Sudirja muttered.
“Shouldn’t that be Skeletons?” William asked.
“Even though I am your alter, after spending so long in this time Nexus and learning the Javanese language, I prefer calling them Jerangkong,” Sudirja replied.
The monsters emerged from the walls, lunging at them. Their attacks were far too slow—Arga’s sword had already cut them down before they even struck.
“Wow, so light… like, I dunno… maybe like lifting a feather,” Arga boasted, flicking his sword.
“If there are many, we’ll be in trouble later,” Arjuna remarked.
They continued onward and finally reached a place where they saw something resembling a breastplate.
It was blood-red, with wolf heads crowned with horns on its left and right shoulders. In the center was a bulging head-shaped mass, eyes glaring wide, crescent-shaped teeth in both jaws, and a long tongue dangling down.
“Singogeni of this time Nexus,” Sudirja murmured.
“So it’s one of the eight dark artifacts created by the Demon King Semar?” William asked.
“Correct,” Sudirja confirmed.
“At last, a host has come!” the armor roared.
The armor shot toward William. He failed to evade.
Slowly, William’s vision darkened. Then, total blackness.
And in that moment—
—something else took control of his body.
No longer William, its rightful owner.
“What is it?” Sudirja asked.
“Something strange has happened in a village,” Arga replied. “Marquess Arjuna and I are on our way there.”
“What is the name of that village?” Sudirja asked.
“Kemarus Village,” Arga answered.
Sudirja knew about that village. It was located 8,000 feets from the royal capital. The journey there would take a long time, at least five days. Unlike the village where the Lindru temple stood, which was only 350 feets away.
Sudirja immediately looked at William. Yes, William understood the meaning of that glance from his alter. He would join the investigation, for he felt that this must be the work of demons.
Meanwhile, the people from the Lindru temple had already returned to their own area. They knew it was dangerous, and they did not want to cause further trouble. After Atron’s disappearance, they had nearly died of shock.
Once Arga was sure there was nothing else to report, he—the clone—vanished.
Since, in Sudirja’s view, a normal journey would take too long to reach that village, he explained the distance from the royal capital to William. He didn’t want the investigation time wasted by waiting for his alter.
“The distance between that village and the royal capital is 8,000 feets,” Sudirja explained.
William understood immediately. Without hesitation, he activated his magic circle. A circle formed beneath his feet, shining lapis lazuli blue with patterns of circles and the northern star.
“Space manipulation of Position and Probability,” William chanted.
Sudirja quickly activated his own circle as well. A magic circle formed above his head, rose red in color, with patterns of circles and a sun.
“Sukmo dadalu rekso suoro dadi purno asmo,” Sudirja recited.
Their magic shared the same theme: speed. But the form differed. Sudirja’s magic allowed its user to move as fast as the wind, while William’s magic was endless teleportation across random locations.
Sudirja’s spell had no significant drawbacks for its user. William’s, however, left him nauseated. The reason was simple: when his magic was active, William could see all possible locations where he was being teleported at the same time. No human mind could comprehend such a thing.
Still, William’s spell had one advantage: he could arrive at the village before time itself advanced.
“Ah, damn it; never again…” William groaned.
The nausea still lingered. He wanted to vomit, but he held it back—it would only hinder him if he did.
William had already arrived at the village, even before Sudirja (his own alter) and the other two.
Had there still been villagers there, he might not have realized that this desolate place before him was indeed the village in question.
Driven by curiosity about the villagers’ disappearance, William searched the village. He found no clues, even after circling to its farthest edges.
Yet, at the edge of the village, he spotted a cave. He felt as though he had been there before, though in truth he had not.
He wanted to enter the cave, to confirm something. But he understood one thing: he had no idea what was inside. More precisely, he only knew vague rumors—aware of the danger of the cave, yet ignorant of its true threat. After all, it had once been among his random teleportation points.
Thus, the only choice was not to enter it alone.
He returned to the village entrance, where he saw Sudirja and the others finally arriving. Arga was riding his sword like a surfboard, while Arjuna mounted a serpent-dragon.
“Have you investigated?” Sudirja asked.
“Yes,” William replied.
“Did you find any clues?” Sudirja pressed.
“No,” William answered.
“Have you tried using magic?” Arjuna asked.
“Not yet,” William admitted.
“Then let us recheck with detection magic,” Arga suggested.
William hadn’t thought of using detection magic. He had only conducted a normal inspection, still unable to think clearly due to the side effects of his spell.
A magic circle formed beneath his feet. At once, William felt an energy.
“I sense something from my circle,” William said, kept focusing.
“What is it?” Sudirja asked.
“An energy that has mass, and perhaps… a distribution number?” William continued.
“How many?” asked Sudirja.
“There’s not just one. Several… maybe four,” William replied.
“Never mind, just name them,” Sudirja urged.
“Okay. Each energy has different mass and distribution number: the first has a mass of 12 Meu/C with distribution number 0.65, the second has a mass of 7 Meu/C with distribution number 0.15, the third has a mass of 88 Meu/C with distribution number 0.775, and the last has a mass of 133 Meu/C with distribution number 1.125,” William explained.
Sudirja immediately recognized the particles manifested by those four energies. After all, he himself had designed this world’s standard particle model. He knew them: Qieren (symbol q), Denzon (symbol D), Boritan (symbol β), and Octizon (symbol ω). All were particles destined to undergo time decay—disintegrating by shifting into the past or to another time Nexus.
“Etimuoren particles decaying through time… that’s the cause,” Sudirja muttered.
“But I don’t know their source,” William added.
Had Sudirja used the time vector lens, he might have traced the origin. But he was not using it now. As for relying on Arjuna or Arga? Those two had never even touched such technology. The only choice left was to search for other clues manually.
“Any other lead you found?” Sudirja asked.
The circle faded as William glanced at his alter. “I’m not certain, but I saw a cave at the edge of the village,” William replied.
“Perhaps that cave could be the evidence,” Sudirja added.
They intended to investigate the cave, hoping for answers to the villagers’ disappearance.
Upon reaching its entrance, they felt a presence. Sudirja seemed to recognize it. It was this time Nexus’s version of the Armor he had once worn when conquering Dahaluk.
As they entered, darkness enveloped them, though not completely. A faint light still seeped in, and the cave walls themselves emitted weak glowing stones.
Deeper inside, footsteps of approaching monsters echoed. The sound resembled rattling bones.
“Jerangkong,” Sudirja muttered.
“Shouldn’t that be Skeletons?” William asked.
“Even though I am your alter, after spending so long in this time Nexus and learning the Javanese language, I prefer calling them Jerangkong,” Sudirja replied.
The monsters emerged from the walls, lunging at them. Their attacks were far too slow—Arga’s sword had already cut them down before they even struck.
“Wow, so light… like, I dunno… maybe like lifting a feather,” Arga boasted, flicking his sword.
“If there are many, we’ll be in trouble later,” Arjuna remarked.
They continued onward and finally reached a place where they saw something resembling a breastplate.
It was blood-red, with wolf heads crowned with horns on its left and right shoulders. In the center was a bulging head-shaped mass, eyes glaring wide, crescent-shaped teeth in both jaws, and a long tongue dangling down.
“Singogeni of this time Nexus,” Sudirja murmured.
“So it’s one of the eight dark artifacts created by the Demon King Semar?” William asked.
“Correct,” Sudirja confirmed.
“At last, a host has come!” the armor roared.
The armor shot toward William. He failed to evade.
Slowly, William’s vision darkened. Then, total blackness.
And in that moment—
—something else took control of his body.
No longer William, its rightful owner.
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