I leave Asia and Kunou playing alongside my mother, who is happy to take them swimming around the lake while I follow Princess Pusuk to dive into Lake Toba. Pusuk creates a bubble around me so I can breathe in water and so the creatures that protect this place do not attack me.

"What kind of creatures protect this place, Pusuk?"

"Please don't call her a creature. She is also a former Divine Being, you know? She is called Boru Saniang Naga. She is a former high goddess, the daughter of Batara Guru, the High God of the Middle world, our world. Sadly, she loses her divinity after the people slowly forget her name. However, she still loves humanity and is willing to sacrifice her remaining divinity to change into a dragon that guards this place. Not only guard this place, but she also ensures she rescues anyone lured by the creatures in this lake."

"Ah, are there rogue creatures in this lake?"

"Yup! They are grass-like creatures that will pull any swimmer who gets too far from the shore and pull them to the bottom of the lake. They then get sucked out of their life force, and their body will be used as breeding grounds."

Yikes.

"Ah! That she is!"

I snap from my thoughts and look where Pusuk is looking to see a long eastern dragon with light blue scales and gray eyes. It has a single horn coming out of its forehead and what looks like hairs coming out of the upper part of its body.

She dances around the water before she gets closer to us.

"Pusuk! Is this the one?"

"Yes, my lady. This is the guest Lord Soripada expects to see."

"I see. Then please don't make my uncle wait!"

The dragon then looks at me and says.

"You smell like a dragon! Let's play after you are done talking with Uncle!"

After saying that, she left us to continue doing whatever she was doing before. I look at Pusuk and say.

"What does she mean by uncle?"

"Ah, I did not tell you, huh? Lord Soripada is the son of Lord Mulajadi na Bolon, the Chief God of Batak Pantheon, while Lady Boru Saniang Naga is the daughter of Batara Guru, Lord Soripada's brother."

"Right."

The two of us continued to swim deeper into the lake before I could finally see a massive temple at the bottom of the lake. I can feel a barrier around it that I know to hide the temple from the mundane people.

It is a temple that looks like a grander traditional house of the Batak people. The barrier around it has a hint of divinity. It is very subtle, but I can feel divinity there. As we pass the barrier, the water cannot get inside the barrier, and I see Pusuk change into a beautiful woman.

As the two of us land on the ground, she immediately kneels, and I follow suit.

"Lord Soripada, I have come bringing your guest."

After waiting for a few seconds, I can hear someone greet us.

"Pusuk, what do I tell you? You did not need to kneel in front of me, niece. Please get up. That also applies to you, dear guest."

The two of us got up, and I could finally see the man who was greeting us. He has white ashy hair and red eyes. He is rather tall, almost two meters tall. He looks at us with a small smile that shows kindness and innocence. However, I can see behind that smile lies a hidden power that is ready to be unleashed if provoked. He might lose his divinity, but he still has thousands of years of experience to whoop my ass from Monday to Sunday.

"Greeting Lord Soripada."

"Please, call me Sori. I am not your lord and have already lost my divinity."

"I don't think I can do that."

"Please, I insist."

When I see his begging expression, I can only sigh and say.

"Of course, Sori."

"Great! Please come in! I already prepared some meals for you."

I blink at that statement because this is the first time I hear of a God who is not the God of Cooking, who cooks something.

We followed him to the house, and I could see a lot of dishes already prepared for us on the floor.

"I am so excited to have a guest that I cook a lot of food. Please eat! Don't hesitate. There are a lot of them."

I can only sigh and sit on the floor alongside Pusuk and Sori. After Sori takes the first bite, Pusuk and I follow suit.

Hmmm! This is good. What I am eating is something called Saksang. It is a traditional dish from the Batak people. This dish is usually made of pig meat, dog meat, or buffalo meat, which is cut into pieces and cooked with many spices that make the sauce dark brown.

"Thank you for coming here, dear guest."

"Please call me Ryan, Sori. Also, you did not need to thank me. It is a pleasure to meet you in person. To learn that my ethnicity has a pantheon of its own is surprising, and it is a pleasure to learn it under you."

"I am glad. While our name slowly disappeared in the canal of time, I am glad that there are people who are willing to learn about our life and name. I did not care if you guys worshiped us. As long as there is someone who remembers us, we are happy."

I like him. He looks like someone who is lonely. He only wants some companionship. I guess getting stuck here for who knows how long will do that to you.

"Then I will make sure my children will know your name, Sori. I promise you that."

He smiles brightly at me and says,

"Thank you! You did not know how much it meant to me."

I nod and say.

"Anyway, can I ask you the reason why you call me here?"

"Oh, right!"

His change from excitement to complete seriousness.

"Ryan, can I ask you to kill Padoha Ni Aji when the seal is broken?"

Yikes. Can you not raise that flag too high just after I meet you?