The eastern edge of Grimoir City was a place where human presence barely existed. Beyond the outskirts, there was nothing but endless grass and towering trees that had grown wild for decades. Somewhere near Dewi Ijo Village stood the forest people avoided talking about.
Vasukih Forest.
"Shouldn't we turn back already? I've got a bad feeling about this," someone muttered while nervously scanning the surroundings.
"Wasn't this our idea in the first place?" the other replied. "Besides, this forest is supposed to be creepy. I read about it in the newspaper. Perfect content."
The morning sun had fully risen, yet barely any light managed to pierce through the dense canopy above. Two men walked deeper into the forest while carrying vlogging equipment.
One was a large man wearing glasses and a loose shirt. The other wore a thick jacket against the unnatural cold. A small handycam continued recording everything around them.
"We seriously need to leave. There was a no-entry sign earlier."
"And that's exactly why we should keep going."
The forest answered with silence. Then came the faint rustling of leaves. There was no wind.
The man holding the camera slowly turned his head. The cold air pressing against his skin made the hairs on the back of his neck stand upright.
It felt like something was watching them. Something hidden between the trees.
He swallowed nervously and looked back at the recording. Then he froze.
Behind the leaves in the distance, a pair of eyes stared directly at him without blinking. At first, he thought they were flowers.
But flowers didn't stare back.
"Eh... what the hell!?" the man in the jacket blurted out as he grabbed his companion's arm. "We need to run. This place is seriously messed up."
"Hey, what's wrong with you!? Let go!"
With trembling hands, he replayed the footage and pointed toward the trees. His breathing had turned uneven.
"Right there! Look!"
"Where? There's nothing there."
"What? No, there was... there was an eye!"
*Crack!
The sound of a branch snapping echoed from behind them.
Both immediately turned around. Someone was already standing there.
"Who are you!?" the big man shouted in surprise.
"That should be my question," Hendri replied calmly. "Who are you? How did you find this forest, and what are you doing here?"
"They call me Master Pirsa. I'm a horror content creator. We came here looking for scary footage."
"Content?" Hendri said. "Why didn't you ask permission from the village head first? Didn't you read the warning signs? This forest is off-limits without permission."
"Hah? Since when do people need permission to enter a forest?" Pirsa scoffed arrogantly. "Does the village head own this place or something? And who are you to question us?"
Hendri's gaze hardened slightly.
"I'm the caretaker of this forest. Protecting it is my responsibility." His voice lowered. "We can discuss your permission issue later. Right now, we need to leave this place before it's too late."
"Leave? No! We have come this far. I am not afraid of the inhabitants of this forest! If there are ghosts, then come! We are not afraid."
*Whooos~
The dark clouds became darker, and thunder rumbled here and there. The surrounding mist was so thick that the remaining visibility was only a few meters, limiting sight and giving a sign that something was happening.
Then the wind came.
Cold.
Unnaturally cold.
It descended from above and swept past them fast enough to make the trees tremble.
Hendri's expression changed immediately.
"She's here..." he whispered before bowing respectfully toward the direction the wind came from.
"What is this guy doing?! He's been suspicious since earlier!" the man in a jacket exclaimed in panic due to the sudden weather change.
"Let's go up. Even if it rains, it won't be too bad since this forest is dense," said Master Pirsa.
"No, don't!" Hendri exclaimed in a panic.
Too late.
From somewhere deeper within the mist, the sound of horse-drawn carriages echoed through the forest.
*Clop... Clop... Clop...
The hoofbeats grew louder and closer. The ground itself seemed to vibrate beneath their feet.
Then… Laughter. A soft, feminine chuckle. It slithered through the mist like a song half-remembered in nightmares.
Her voice came before her form.
"Something's coming!" Master Pirsa exclaimed excitedly instead of afraid. "Quick! Get the camera ready!"
The man in the jacket hurriedly adjusted the equipment with trembling hands. The handycam nearly slipped from his grasp twice before he finally managed to steady it against his chest.
His breathing had turned uneven.
The mist kept thickening around them, swallowing the trees one by one until the forest no longer felt real.
He took several uneasy steps backward while searching for something to lean against. His back touched something cold.
"Huh...?"
At first, he thought it was bark. But bark wasn't soft.
His body slowly stiffened. A foul smell drifted into his nose. Wet soil, Rotting flesh.
The man swallowed hard. Very slowly, he turned his head. A pocong stood directly behind him.
Its entire body was wrapped tightly in a dirty white burial shroud stained with mud and old rainwater. The knot above its head hung crookedly to one side while the fabric around its face sagged unnaturally.
Completely still. Completely silent.
As if it had been standing there the entire time, waiting for him to notice.
"Huaaa—!"
Before the scream could escape completely, something moved inside his throat. A snake burst from his mouth.
The creature slithered outward violently while muffling his screams. More of its body kept emerging, longer and longer, writhing against his face as he collapsed to his knees in terror.
The tip of the snake turned toward him. Its fangs spread open inches from his eyes. He could still feel the rest of its body twisting inside his throat.
Alive. Moving. Trying to crawl free from within him.
'Looks like we have uninvited guests.'
Something enormous shifted within the mist.
Shadows slithered between the trees. Emerald scales glimmered faintly beneath flashes of distant lightning, followed by gold ornaments that shone like fragments of a dying sun.
A woman emerged from the fog, beautiful enough to leave the mind empty.
She wore a traditional green Javanese dress adorned with gold details, her long ponytail flowing neatly behind her. Beneath her waist, however, her body became that of a massive white serpent covered in gleaming scales.
And the forest itself seemed to shape around her existence.
"Your Majesty..." Hendri immediately knelt before her.
'Did you invite them here?' she asked calmly.
"Sadly... no."
The man in the jacket could barely breathe. His vision blurred from terror and nausea, yet the moment he saw her face, his fear became tangled with something else.
He didn't even realize the serpent empress had already coiled herself around him.
'Now what should I do with you?' she whispered near his ear. 'Should I eat you alive?'
"P-Please... spare us..."
Before he could finish begging, the tip of her tail wrapped tightly around his neck. She forced his gaze toward her beautiful face, leaving him too terrified to even blink.
'Two foolish humans trespassed into my kingdom uninvited. Free food.' Her smile deepened slightly. 'At the very least, I can drink your blood before my brother arrives.'
"No need."
A voice echoed from deeper within the forest.
The empress' eyes widened slightly in surprise. Her tail loosened immediately as her attention shifted toward the approaching figure.
"I'm here," Zeyn said firmly while walking through the mist with calm, steady steps. "Release them."
'Brother...'
Zeyn stopped a few meters away from her.
"As long as I'm here, I won't let you take them."
The serpent empress smiled faintly. 'Hahahaha... acting like a hero again, are we?'
Without another word, she began slithering toward him. Zeyn walked forward as well. Neither of them looked away.
Closer.
The distance between them grew shorter. Then suddenly, A blinding light erupted between them.
*Shiiing!
Both of them vanished instantly.
The mist disappeared together with them. The forest returned to normal so abruptly that it felt unreal. The suffocating cold was gone. The thunderclouds slowly faded overhead, leaving only silence between the trees.
It was as if everything that had happened moments ago had been nothing more than a nightmare.
Except it wasn't.
The man in the jacket remained frozen on the ground, staring blankly ahead. His breathing was shaky. Fear, nausea, confusion... all of it twisted together into something his mind could no longer process.
Nothing about this made sense. And yet he had seen all of it with his own eyes.
"Come on," Hendri approached him and extended a hand. "Let me help you get out of here."
"Ughhk... w-wait..." The man coughed weakly while holding his throat. "Where's Master Pirsa?"
Hendri fell silent for a moment.
"I don't know."
"W-What...?"
"But considering his attitude earlier..." he lowered his gaze slightly. "There's not much I can do."
The man's face turned pale. "W-Why?"
Hendri let out a long, tired sigh before looking deeper into the forest.
"Let's just pray he's still alive." His voice became quieter. "No one truly knows where this forest takes people."
The words lingered heavily in the air.
And somewhere beyond the trees, deeper within Vasukih Forest- something laughed.
* * * *