Sorry for the long wait, but chapter 5 is finally here! Enjoy! 
It was hard to burst open through the door, with the few thousand elementals that survived all the challenges all rushing for the keluar. But as soon as we managed to go out through the door, I can hear the scrubbing of rubble underneath my footwear and the blazing sun evaporating the water that drenched my clothes. It felt warm, yet refreshing at the same time.
“So what’s our next move?” I turned to Ajax.
“We’ll go and find her.” He smiled. He always provided replies with doubt, but since he knew that Jahazrimi back there was an imposter, I decided to give him a benefit of a doubt.
It turns out the keluar we exited at the other end leads to not just a path of rubble, but a mountain trail. In rows of five, we slowly went down the mountain. No more nudging and shoving, for a simple accident could cause an instant causality. We formed duapuluh legions, twenty legions, like a mini army, we probably could be seen for miles.
The sun set really quickly and the moon started to rise up. Darn it, my clothes hadn’t been dried yet. I heard a murmur at the far left of me. There were a couple of nods and sayings of agreement. Turns out they needed a break. I guess they were right. We found a nearby cave. Some settled in there, some rested on the trail, Ajax, Matthius and I rested atop an elevated cliff.
I looked down at the people resting below us. We are citizens of Air Raya, we hardly get thirsty but it was surprising that none of them seemed hungry either. Well, I didn’t feel hungry, neither did Ajax or Matthius or Iohannen below us. I guess we were just too tired after the battle. I can hear feel leaves rustling, like Rustlers in the Life Kingdom. I remembered seeing one, forgot when though.
“You thirsty?” Ajax asked me. He formed a water ball from his hands and drank it.
“Are you sure the water is safe to drink?” I asked him
“Well yeah, with the rubble and mountainy like stuff, I can only create hard water. Had to filter it using this carbon block.” He showed it to me in the palm of his hand. It was totally black, like carbon, like darkness and it seemed perfectly cubed.
“It changes the ions of the water so now it’s safe to drink.” Ajax smiled.
“Hmmm……that’s interesting. I never knew you knew so much about science. And it sort of defies the world we live, with the magic and spells and all of that stuff.” I wanted to show him my trident, but it was back in the dorm. Wonder what happened to it now. It is probably flooded with water and laid still on the floor, like lost treasure on a seabed.
“Well, how we survive depends not only on skill and physique but on knowledge too. Which plants are safe to eat? How to hunt down prey? Stuff like that, but behind them unveils a whole realm of knowledge that we have not yet known. Infact, only around half of the people in Ribut Ganas know of the chemical element carbon. The rest either don’t know or just pretend to not know, arguing that only the thirteen elements exist.” I can see Matthius overhearing out conversation.
“Wow……..” I turned my eyes to Matthius.
“What?”
“You’re eating…..rock.” Ajax was surprised too.
“Rocks provide full of salts and minerals for us.”
“But you’re going to suffer from indigestion that way. Our bodies can’t ingest substances that hard. Furthermore, there might be metals in it which can be toxic for your body.” Ajax looked concerned.
“Well…..salts are for our body and muscle movement and minerals provide last minute energy. After all, we don’t have high energy foods here.”
I remembered a story where a divine being was tempted to turn rock into bread. Damn, I really wish it were bread, referring to the little pebbles that shone under the moonlit night. I felt a shove.
“Do you want to meet with the others?” Ajax asked me.
“Sure why not?” Ajax and I got up.
“Wait for me!” Matthius tried to grab our attention “Let me finish my last piece of rock.” A loud, crunching noise. We walked down the cliff.
“Hey.” Iohannen said as we got downstairs.
“Sup.”
“Hey.”
“Malam.” We sat beside him. I could see a long scar at the side of his head. Probably must’ve been the escape to the keluar. He looked emotionless, it was nearly impossible to decipher his mood.
“So what are you doing?” I asked him.
“Staring at the bulan…..you know”
“Yeah, the moon is quite beautiful isn’t it?” Matthius replied. Iohannen nodded.
“Is something wrong?”
“No, nothing.”
“Yes you do.” Ajax replied
“Why would you say that?”
“Because you would not say ‘no and nothing’ together at the same time. Clearly you’re trying to evade from it but it just makes it more obvious.” Iohannen faced his head towards the ground.
“So?”
“Although it was fortunate that none of us died…but…most of them are badly injured. I can’t believe that Jahazrimi was under bondage and we’re under rule by an imposter!” He tried to punch the ground. I immediately formed a water pile to cushion the fist, to prevent full impact. He acknowledged me with a nod.
“Hey…but that’s what we’re all here for.”
“All 3162 of us.” I added.
“Yeah, I guess you’re right. I’m going to the cave to rest. I feel awfully tired. Night guys.”
“Night.” We replied. I saw his naked back. He was awfully perspiring, like the symptom of a fever, perhaps after a deep freeze.
“Anyone know fire magic?” I turned to the other two. They shook in disagreement. “It’d be nice to have a little bonfire going on here.” I slowly then closed my eyes, hoping to reach full vitality tomorrow.
I felt a bright gaze over me. I opened my eyes and quickly closed it. The light……it burns. It was weird to find me half naked with my shirt beside me. It was dry that’s good, but, it was strange. I clearly remembered I wore my shirt last night. Wonder what had happened.
I put my shirt on, seeing dozens of other water elementals lying on the ground like dead corpses. I started to walk on the rubble path. It was surprisingly warm despite the fact I’m wearing footwear. I climbed up the cliff where I settled yesterday. I saw another few hundred water elementals surrounding in like a circle. It got me curious. I decided to take a closer look.
“What’s going on?” I tapped on the shoulder of one of them.
“I don’t know.” He replied. “I want to take a closer look too.”
“An inscription, carved in the stone.” Another elemental said. I turned to face him. He was in the inner part of the circle. “An inscription on how to find the real Jahazrimi.” I wasn’t terribly surprised. It could be a fake note. I tried to get my way through the crowd and after a couple of seconds I could see the inscription clearly. I could see many of them in doubt, realizing that this, too, could be a hoax.
“How do we know if this is real?”
“Is this some kind of prank?”
“What if this was inscripted by the imposter?”
“Only one way to find out.” I replied. All of them turned toward me. That was strange. I didn’t say it too terribly loud neither was I expecting to get all of the attention.
“What is it?” One of them asked me. “Yeah.” Asked another.
“Did anyone attend alkimia sekolah?” I asked. A couple, probably ten to twenty raised up their hands.
“Do any of you remember what to do when discovering the origin any written text?”
“Create a seed bomb.” I heard it strongly from my right ear.
“That’s right, and it order to do that we need the following paraphernalia: a hex bomb, holy water, an engraver and sheet metal, preferably silver, platinum or any of the platinum group metals.”
I referred to the first quarter of the elementals facing towards my left. “You people will do the hex bomb.” I felt astonished with my sudden boldness with myself. They immediately left without a word. “You people, on my right, you will create holy water.”
“How much?” One of them asked.
“Preferably two liters.” They left.
I turned to my back. “This half.” I raised my hands a bit. “You guys will find an engraver and carve out the insignia for a seed bomb ritual. They left. “And the rest of you…”
“Find sheet metal, especially platinum group metals if found.” An elemental interrupted me. I nodded in agreement. They too left. I looked down from the cliff. Some of the other elementals who had just waken up also decided to help with enthusiasm.
“Jahazrimi, we’ll find you, I promise.” I said to myself. “You mean we promise.” I turned around. She always arrives at the unexpected times.
“Hey.” I smiled. “You ok last night?”
“Of course, of course.” She smiled at me. “You?”
“Fine, thanks.” A small pause. “You know I should be going to help the other elementals to create a hex bomb. There was a……”
“An inscription on the stone and if you’re determining its origin.” She interrupted me, but it did not feel annoying one bit. Probably her charismatic smile, I don’t know, even I have some things unknown to me about myself.
“Well……I guess I should be going.” We gave a small laugh. I was just about to leave.
“Wait.”
I turned to her. “Yes?”
“What should I help on?”
“The one you work best in.” I gave her a smile and walked away. After walking down the cliff and a few turns here and there, I tapped on the back on an elemental, squatting down. She appears to be collecting something. “What should I work on?”
“Oh……would you mind collecting rustler leaves and spectre herbs? There seems to be a lack of elementals trying to find those.”
“Alright, thanks.” I was walking around for a few minutes, tuning my head here and there looking for them. “Excuse me, can I help you?” An elemental asked.
“Yeah. I’m finding for rustler leaves and spectre herbs.”
“Follow me then.”
“Thanks.” It was while we were walking that I took a closer look at him, scars, muscles, great hair. He seemed to be a confident, yet kind person. Perhaps I shouldn’t stereotype people anymore. After all, stereotypes are a stupid human invention.
“Alright, we’re here.” He smiled with teeth that shone. Man, I wanted those teeth. “But we’re still finding them. The spectre herbs are incredibly rare.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“Hey. Weren’t you that guy who said to us what to do just now up there?” He pointed at the cliff.
“Yeah.”
“That was quite some boldness you got there.”
“Yeah I know. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. It was good…..a leader…..to stand up for all of us. By the way, name’s Methusael.” He raised a hand.
“Sayan.” I raised my hand and completed the shake.
“So how much spectre herbs do we need exactly? A handful?”
“No need. Maybe a few stalks that’s all. We don’t need that big of a hex bomb anyways.”
“I wish I had the opportunity to go to alkimia sekolah. It seems awesome.”
“It IS.” I replied.
“I hardly casted anything to survive those rounds that we went through. I had to use my physical strength, skills and whatever knowledge that may come in handy to survive.”
“I wish I had your physique. I HAD to cast spells to survive.”
“Well, I guess we wanted something from each other.”
“Hey, I found a spectre herb!” Mathusael turned around.
“That’s great! Thank you so much, it is really rare to find them.”
“No problem.” She giggled. “Hello, what’s your name?” She turned to me.
“O, I forgot to introduce.” Methusael interrupted. “Sayan, this is my sister Anastasia, Anastasia, this is Sayan.”
“Nice to meet you Sayan.”
“You too.” I replied. “So you two are siblings?”
“Yes we are. Wait, your name sounds familiar…..Sayan?......O! Sayan! Hi! My sister told me a lot about you! She said you’re great!”
“What?” I gave a laugh. “Really? Who’s your sister?”
“She hadn’t told you yet? Well that isn’t surprising, she normally likes to keep her family matters secret. She is Amelia.”
My eyes widened. “Wow…..really. I didn’t know she had a sister.”
“Not one, but seven.”
“Seven!?”
That’s right. “Our parents gave birth to duabelas.” Methusael replied.
“Twelve!?”
“All right, calm down.” She laughed. “Of the twelve, there are a set of quintuplets, a set of triplets and four other children. I’m part of that quintuplet group, and all girls.”
“Wow…….I really need some time to cope this.” I took a step back.
“I know. It happens.” She replied. “All of us managed to come to Air Alasan, but unfortunately, five of them did not make it here.”
“It was really sad to see them go.” Methusael added.
“I know…….I really wished that we ALL became air tuan. But, we have duabelas, who am I kidding? Anyways, where should I put this spectre herb?”
“Over there is a pile of materials for the hex bomb.” Methusael replied. Anastasia headed towards the pile.
“So……” I said. Methusael turned to me.
“Methusael, Amelia and Anastasia……that’s three of the seven who are still here.”
“That is correct.”
“Who are the other four?”
“Three of them are the quintuplet group along with another one. None of the triplets made it here.”
“Wow, all of the quintuplets made it….that’s amazing!”
“Yup, somehow…..they all made it.” A pause. “You’ll probably get to know them later.”
“Alright.” I smiled.
“Hey. That pile seems to be complete.” Anastasia came back.
“Oh really?” I decided to take a look at it myself. A bunch of rustler leaves, a few stalks of spectre herbs, a handful of lycanthrope berries, stem of the cosmos, dragon nuts, powdered malachite and lapis lazuli, scattered bits of star ferns, grounded rock salt, silk from a couple of spider webs, sap from a bernean tree and extract from maronian vines.
“Yup.” This is complete. “Good job, you two. I’m sorry I didn’t do any work at all.”
“You did the work by assigning us on what to do.” Methusael reiterated. Anastasia nodded in consent.
“Well, since the hex bomb is done. I’ll see how the people are going with the holy water over there.” I replied.
“Alright bye.”
“See you.”
After walking for a couple of minutes I finally reached at the other end. “Hey…..you were great out there.” I turned around. “I beg your pardon?”
“You were great…….you know…..out there, being the leader for us all.”
“Oh……nah, really, it was nothing. How’s the holy water going on by the way?”
“It is going great. Fortunately, a few elementals from Ribut Ganas and Berlumpur Air learnt a couple of light spells and so managed to create holy water, all two liters and more in just a couple of minutes.”
“Great to hear it. Well then, since holy water is also made, I’ll go up the cliff the see how the other groups are doing.”
“Right. Bye.”
“Bye.” I headed up towards the cliff. Apparently this side was much jaggier and steep than at the other side, but it still provided me with no hindrance at all. Upon getting up, I saw how the elementals carved the insignia so perfectly. It is like as if I’m stepping upon a temple, a shrine, a sanctuary, some place holy.
It looked like the sun, except that the moon and the stars somehow intertwined with it. The planets are then in alignment, showing the synchronization of the universe, a cosmic dance engraved on Air Raya. At the center of all of it laid the inscription. Some of the other elementals at the cliff were working on the sheet metal. Chunks of palladium and rhodium being sheeted using pressure exerted from water they casted. Signs of osmium and iridium leaked out through roasting ore. But they made sure that the ore was not roasted at a high temperature, for the osmium would become osmium tetroxide, a deadly gas. Signs of platinum and ruthenium were shining brightly after being exposed to the open air by the excavation using fluxes and pickaxes carved from ice, really, hard ice. The metals and minerals of earth are so useful. No wonder we have a strong correlation with each other.
It was a bummer that I left the notes of alkimia sekolah at the dorm. It was probably drenched by the flood, if it managed to break open my luggage, but it wasn’t surprising that it could. Looks like I had to remember everything about the seed bomb ritual. One mistake and all of the elementals have to start all over again with gathering the resources. I felt such a burden on me, such a huge task. I felt I can’t do it alone.
“Are you alright?” It was Amelia……no……..Anastasia. They were part of the quintuplet, man, they looked very similar.
“Yeah I’m alright, its just, I’m not sure if I remembered how to do a seed bomb ritual, if I make a mistake, I’m afraid all the resources would go to waste.”
“It’s ok. I’ve attended alkimia sekolah before.”
“Really?” I was happy that the burden was removed from me.
“Of course, silly. Otherwise, why would I know to look for spectre herbs?”
“Do you know how to do a seed bomb ritual then?” She nodded, blasting me with a wind of her fragrance. Very oriental, the queen of all fragrances.
“Am I ever glad.”
“So…..do you remember the steps?”
“I’ll try.” I told Anastasia of all the steps that I could remember about the seed bomb ritual, and she would correct me with all the flaws I’ve made. It felt good to have someone to help me. I’m not alone. A group of elementals brought in the hex bomb, another group brought in the holy water, the insignia was properly carved to perfection and the sheet metal was provided. It seems everything was in place. It was time for the seed bomb ritual to begin.
