Sounds of rustling leaves startled the critters and birds hiding between the trees. Between the chirps of birds and the pleasing white noise of the jungle, two men were walking briskly, destroying the peace of the forest's inhabitants. One was old and wrinkly but with a firm gait, while the other one was a mid-30s uncle, but oh so clumsy. The younger man had stumbled many times in between the gnarling root network but would be saved by the older one in a timely manner all the time.

 

"Tok Silihan, how much farther must we walk?" Arash was making an ugly crying expression, unbefitting the regular calm-bookish person he always portrayed. His face was devoid of color from the intense exertion. He regretted asking Tok Silihan for help, well, almost. How could he know the cheeky grandpa would make him do a high-intensity marathon with added obstacles? He was not made for this! TT___TT

 

Tok Silihan snorted in disdain and repeatedly knocked on Arash's head in frustration. "This old one has already slowed down! You're the one that made us all so slow! Just a bit more, you little wus."

 

Looking at Arash's pale face made Tok Silihan more annoyed than ever. True, he felt guilty about what happened. But, if one thinks properly about it, he wasn't directly involved. He sometimes felt he had been giving this boy too much face!

 

Others would be grateful to get personal guidance from him for anything! This cheeky one had the gall to complain and nag nonstop just like an old aunty! Even he didn't whine to the younger generation so much!

 

He begrudgingly walked a little faster to punish the wimpy boy. 

 

However, when Arash was about to fall down on a particularly sharp broken branch that would've impaled him for good, Tok Silihan sighed defeatedly and saved him yet again.

 

"You! How can you survive all this while and live well to this age?! Someone as clumsy as you would've died in the cradle already!" 

 

This time, it was Tok Silihan's turn to school Arash for 30 minutes straight. Realizing that he had pushed the old grandpa a bit too much, Arash toned down, nodded, and mumbled apologies all the way to appease him. It might've worked since the intensity reduced somewhat after the 30 minutes 'pep-talk'.

...

..

.

"Alright. Let's stop here."

 

It had been a total of four-hour aggressive tracking. With two hands on his knees and panting heavily for breath, Arash turned around to look at the spot Tok Silihan chose. The trees looked just the same as the ones before. It's the same with the boulders and undergrowth. No particular landmark whatsoever to make the location special.

 

They were practically in the middle of nowhere.

 

"To answer your question, 'why here?', written all over your face, let me tell you now. It is not the location, but it's the people." Tok Silihan didn't wait for Arash to ask the question but provided an explanation with a boring look. 

 

Tok Silihan's answer was so cryptic, Arash froze on the spot and made a blurred face as he tried to process the words properly to no avail.

 

A knock came along on Arash's head, "Hello, it the brain there? Hello? Why is it not comprehending what this old one is saying?"

 

"Adoiii, adoii, cut it out, Tok. I really don't understand." T_______T

 

"Stupid. We're finally out of that foreigner's range of detection. He is powerful, and I don't know whether he is a friend or a foe."

 

Arash blinked his eyes with a blank face as he finally understood the old Spiritual Healer's remarks. "Excuse me? Really? Which one? Boss Alan?"

 

"No, no. That kid, for one, is cursed. He doesn't have the means." 

 

Another bombshell.

 

Arash, What? Cursed? O____O|||

 

"The old one. The one you're so friendly with. What's his name again?"

 

"...Uncle Miles?"

 

"That's the one. I can feel the spirit within him as explosive as a torrent. That level of energy, he must already be one with the land! He is definitely an expert! I could feel it even when he purposely contained his spiritual energy. I am pretty sensitive when it comes to sensing the energy from the land, you know? No one can hide from me as long as his foot touches the sacred deity's land. I can feel it!" Tok Silihan harumphed and crossed his arms while tilting his head to the side a bit. He was waiting to be praised. 

 

"Err.. Thank you for telling me." Arash was having a headache now as he felt his mouth turn dry. Was it a coincidence that Alan tried so hard to become close to him? What was his true intention? Was it truly just to recruit him? He even let his Boss enter his house and meet his kids!  

 

Oblivious to Arash's internal turmoil, Tok Silihan added after a brief pause. "I don't know why he is here, and especially why he is with you who doesn't even have a Spiritual Root, but beware of him. There is more than meets the eye. The intensity of his energy... Mmm... What this old one could say is, even I don't dare to say that I could defeat him if he decides to come after you. I can only escape alone. I just hope that he is not an enemy disguising as an ally." Tok Silihan warned Arash with a low tone.

 

It was hard to admit that he wasn't the best. But due to the severity of the current situation, he at least needed to inform Arash so that the boy could take precautions against the wolf in sheep's clothing from now on.

 

Arash made a serious face and nodded gratefully, "I will, Tok."

 

"We walked this far because this old one can finally feel the eyes spying on us are finally gone. He is something. What shamelessness! Spying on kids might be his favorite pastime!" Tok Silihan snorted and trash-talked about Uncle Miles again. 

 

Arash sighed as he tried to cope with Tok Silihan's intensity. He refrained from asking again about their main reason to be there at this particular moment, lest the capricious Elder would change his mind out of spite. As he listened diligently to the Spiritual Healer's venomous spittle, he made himself comfortable by sitting on a tree stump nearby. He made sure to nod and add a little comment, but not too much to inflame the Elder further. Arash knew Tok Silihan was just trying to let off steam from unfounded dissatisfaction that he couldn't understand.

 

30 minutes later..

 

"...Hahhh, be like your wife. More drive and determination, don't let others step on your head like those bosses of yours."

 

The curses had evolved into cliched bits of advice elders loved to spout to the younger generation to show their superiority in terms of wisdom. The context suspiciously sounded the same all the time. He got the same 'love' from his own parents, his strict MIL, and random uncles regularly. He had learned to nod and smile while avoiding antagonism, regardless of what he actually felt. Hence, maintaining harmonious relationships with said elders.

 

"Stop grinning like a stupid mountain goat. I can see that it's insincere!" More painful knocks decorated Arash's head. It wasn't easy to fool an old grandpa who could see through your body language like a magnifying glass.

 

"Ow, ow, ow. Sorry, sorry. Personal habits that couldn't be controlled. I have difficult-to-please parents, ahahaha..." Arash laughed sheepishly as he was reminded by the old Elder about his own parents who he hadn't visited for ages.

 

"Be grateful they're still alive and kicking, you ungrateful wretch. Us Elders eat salt earlier than you do!" The knocks turned to a painful pinch to Arash's fair cheek.

 

Arash mumbled in his heart tragically, Why am I being treated like a kid eventhough I'm already in my 30s... This is so unfairrrr... TT___TT

 

"You told me you want to learn how to feel the pulse of the earth, correct?"

 

Arash nodded vigorously.

 

"Sit."

 

Arash looked around for a nice location to put his butt on, but none looked decent enough to his eyes. Everywhere was a bit moist and full of loamy soil mixed with rotten leaves. He regretfully didn't bring something to cover.

 

"Err, Tok, I'm already sitting on this tree stump. Can I pass from sitting on the soil?"

 

"Carry your butt and sit on the land this instant! Ewahhh, you dare defy my instruction again?!" This time, Tok Silihan pinched both of Arash's fair cheeks until they turned red. Although he was a bit annoyed, he still controlled his energy well. Looking at how rosy those fair cheeks turned to, coupled with the suppressed aggrieved look, Tok Silihan's annoyance melted and quietly turned to mirth.

 

But he controlled well not to show it on his face as he talked sternly towards the boy. He would never admit that he was fond of the boy rather than his own ungrateful direct descendant, Ramlee.  

 

"Boy, spiritual energy originates from the land blessed by the deity's touch. Before one wishes to learn how to detect spiritual energy, one must cultivate the necessary sensory organ attuned to said energy within. It is known as the Spiritual Root. Some are blessed with a strong and sturdy Spiritual Root from birth. These are the talented ones; jewels in the rough. With little practice, detecting the spiritual energy is just the start. Once reaching a certain threshold, these blessed ones can manipulate and imbue this wonderous energy within them for personal use in many forms. Someone like me." Tok Silihan chuckled arrogantly. He was obviously feeling full of himself at the moment. Arash could only roll his eyes after listening to the cliched explanation as he tried his best to show great interest. It seemed that there was a grain of truth within those wuxia books. 

 

Obscured by Arash's sight, the movement of spiritual energy was controlled smoothly to permeate the muscles of Tok Silihan's right index finger. It moved in the form of hazy multicolored light particles refracted by the sun, roiling like the waves, zoning on the finger. The finger absorbed a small amount of the hazy light. Tok Silihan tapped a boulder as big as Arash's head lightly. Contrary to the gentle movement, the boulder crumbled to dust!

 

Arash, O___O||| (He imagined that the boulder was his own head.)

 

He continued, "Some others have a tiny one. This means it is not impossible to learn the Way. Nonetheless, the effort needed to achieve basic mastery increased exponentially, leading to overall mediocre attainment. Hence, in this person's life, he could never go far." Tok Silihan shook his head regratably. With his eyes, he could observe his people's condition at will. The majority of the Bateqs have grain-sized Spiritual Root. That was why they were more attuned to nature. But, he knew training these people would be a waste of time, as the requirement to select the successor to fill in his post as the Spiritual Healer was harsh!

 

"The most unfortunate ones are the ones with no Spiritual Root at all. The path will be forever blocked for these people." Tok Silihan observed Arash's face meaningfully as he added. "You are under this category."

 

Arash world felt like crashing down as he digested Tok Silihan's explanation. Will this be the end?

 

His breathing turned rough as he felt like his heart was being squeezed like a piece of crumpled cloth. He tried his hardest to control himself and calm down. If it was meaningless, Tok Silihan wouldn't have pushed him so hard to trek so far just to tell him this bit of info. He could've told him directly on his face the minute Arash begged him for help. It meant that there was a solution. But at what price?

 

Arash nodded calmly and asked back, "What did Tok think I can do to work around this problem?"

...

 

Authors' Note:

1) eat salt earlier than you = it's an idiom with the meaning "more experienced than you".

2) Ewahhh = something like 'amboi", which has the same meaning as hmm, can't think of a similar bit adoii..mmm.. something like when u make a sound because you feel annoyed eg., "tskkk! or rolling your eyes (a mocking sound or a sneer)