The Realm Unseen

“Everyone! Into the dorm, now!” shouted Mrs. Meada towards the girls who were sitting around the campfire. The Girl Scouts from around the Peninsula were gathering for a three-day camping deep inside the thick Rimbaru Forest of Indaraya, when heavy rain started pouring down, extinguishing the fire in the middle of the gathering and interrupting their routine night gatherings. All of them went running into their respective dormitory buildings. Putri held Dora’s hand and ran straight inside theirs, covering their head only with their hands.

“It was almost the end,” Putri said disappointingly, gasping for air beside her bed. She grabbed a towel and wiped her wet face. Just before the rain, they were singing along to the Sweet Night, Sweet Elves, with Zaya as the guitarist, who got a lot of praise for her skill. She wanted more, but at least now they got to rest after a very long day.

“Time to sleep now, I guess,” Zaya said. “Will continue my concert tomorrow.”

Dhiya walked past her and said, “We only said it’s good because Mrs. Meada was there,” while hitting her softly on her shoulder and chuckling slightly.

Putri sat on her bed—which was positioned right beside Dora’s—and took a glimpse of the chaotic environment of her dorm. Then her attention was pulled away by a moving object right in the corner of her eyes. She peered at the window and saw that the bush beyond it moved. She ignored it and just assumed it was the wind or anything, but not some kind of creature.

Then a click was heard coming from the front of the dorm, turning the bright room into total darkness.

“Have a good sleep, kids,” Mrs. Meada said. “Sweet dreams,” she continued, followed by the sound of the door closing. Putri couldn’t see anything, but she knew everyone was already on their bed as the loud noise turned completely silent, only broken by a small murmur across the room.

“Goodnight, Putri,” said Dora.

“Goodnight,” Putri replied.

Hours went by, and Putri still couldn’t get herself to fall asleep. The moving bush returned to her mind just right before she fell asleep, which caused her to be awake again. She felt anxious, and the darkness made her more scared. She kept glancing at the window, hoping that nothing would suddenly appear on it. She kept imagining a lot of things. Horror things, to be precise. She then gave up and turned her body around towards Dora, and gasped quietly as she saw Dora’s sleeping face, along with the sound of her snore, which was quite spooky for Putri at that time.

“I can’t sleep,” Putri whispered to Dora. No response.

“Dora!” she shouted quietly.

Dora moved slightly for a moment, giving Putri hope that she would respond, but then she turned her body around towards the other side. The smile on Putri’s face faded.

She then decided to go out and take a walk.

Putri got out of her bed, took a small pocketknife with her, and sneaked towards the door of the dorm. Soft creaks of the wooden floor echoed around the room, but not enough to awaken the very tired scouts. She reached the door and pulled its handle, producing a modest noise, causing Zandra, who was sleeping right beside the door, to flinch. Putri froze and waited until she was sure Zandra was still asleep, then continued to walk out the door, slowly closing the door behind her.

As her feet stepped out from the concrete floor, a soft squelching noise could be heard below her. The once green field had turned wet and muddy. Her face turned disgusted, but she couldn’t turn around, as her feet had already become very dirty. In front of her was the campfire where they sat just before the rain. The sky was dark, filled with barely visible white clouds and decorated by a shining crescent moon. Surrounding the camp were three logs acting as a bench. Behind it was another dorm building, set against a backdrop of lush green forests. The peak of Mount Slava—the famous border between Indaraya and Tasak—can be slightly seen on top of the trees.

Sounds of bushes rustling could be heard again. But this time it was not from behind her dorm. She looked left and saw that some of the bushes were moving, as if something had just passed by them. She wanted to approach it, but her heart was beating fast. Another horrible thought came up in her mind, causing her to shiver out of fright.

She kept staring at the same bush, and it rustled again. She couldn’t stop thinking about what could be on the other side. Monsters? Wild animals? Or it could just be an Indarayan citizen doing an early morning jungle trek. Putri walked towards it slowly, producing a rather loud squelching mud sound as she took her steps, which she worried could catch the attention of the creature or even Mrs. Meada.

Her hand reached for the bush and pushed it aside, clearing the way for her to go in deeper. After minutes of pushing and swiping bushes away, she came out of the other side.

The dark sky was now bright blue, with the sun can be seen shining in it. A dirt trail was seen starting from the point she now stood, stretching long into the darkness of the forest. The trail was bordered by nothing but more trees. But these trees seemed like it was well taken care of, they looked fresh and more alive compared to the usual forest. The curiosity of her mind led her to walk along the trail, disappearing into the dark.

She looked around and couldn’t form any assumption inside her mind, other than it being just a normal forest. But something caught her attention as she spotted large footsteps from every direction on the trail. Its size was three times that of humans. At first, she was relieved that she wasn’t alone. But then she realized she wasn’t alone.

The creaking and rustling noise of branches and leaves broke the silence. Something or someone was walking there too, she thought. Putri peeked around over her shoulder while moving slowly. She drew a small knife from her pants’ pocket and pointed it forward in case something ambushed her. For minutes of walking and spinning around, she saw nothing, though the footsteps and noises of dry leaves and tree branches could still be heard around her. She assumed that it was not one, but many ‘something’ were surrounding her at that time.

Creak. It came from somewhere to her left. She stopped and turned her whole body. Again, she saw nothing. Then a loud and hard footsteps were approaching her from behind. She turned around and gasped. A very tall, humanlike creature—red-eyed, crooked teeth, topless with only leaves covering its bottom and two fangs hanging on each side of its mouth—was holding a rather large axe high in the air, ready to swing it towards her. Her reaction was quick as she rolled to the left just as the axe was right on top of her head. Then came another one from her right, this time without a weapon. It came running towards Putri and snatched one of her hands, leaving her hanging in the air.

“RELEASE ME!”

Putri struggled as the others came from all directions, surrounding her like she was their breakfast. Then she remembered the knife in her other hand. She swung the knife and struck it right into the palm of the one who was holding her.

“AAHH!” The creature cried in pain. It released Putri, and she fell to the ground. As she was about to stand back up, a large fist came flying toward her. She closed her eyes and covered her head with both her hands in an ‘X’ pattern. But nothing happened.

She opened her eyes. The creature was frozen. Behind it, at a distance, was a small ball of bright white light. The creatures seemed to focus on it and went for it instead, leaving Putri there unhurt, with the frozen unknown creature in front of her.

As the creatures approached the light, more lights emerged besides the one that was initially there. It was so bright that Putri and all the creatures covered their eyes in response. The small light ball became bigger as it moved closer towards the creature. The creatures then became frozen, one by one.

The lights moved past the paralyzed creature, unveiling a human body representing each of them. Each of them was wearing a full white robe, had neatly done hair slicked back on both men and women, and was a little taller than average. They then stopped, except for the woman in the middle, who was holding a staff, which Putri assumed was their leader. She approached Putri slowly.

“Who are you?” Putri asked.

“I am Lady Astrid, Leader of the Elves,” she answered, offering her hand to Putri.

Putri grabbed her hand and stood up again. She was shocked. She had never heard about elves in lullabies and legends. Everyone she knew told her it was not real since there had never been any evidence proving the existence of these mythical creatures, just rumors and storybooks. Now, in front of her, talking to her, is an elf.

“You are safe now, Putri,” Astrid continued. Putri was even more shocked by the fact that they knew her name.

“How do—”

“Follow us, if you may?”

Putri followed Astrid, accompanied by the other Elves behind them, along the dirt trail.

After minutes of walking, she just realized she didn’t even ask Astrid about the creatures, since she was too fascinated by the existence of the Elves.

“So, what are those creatures? Why don’t you just kill them?” Putri asked as she walked side by side with Astrid.

“They are goblins,” Astrid answered. “And killing them is not necessary, as they, too, have the right to live inside this forest.”

Putri was not happy with the statement. What did she mean by ‘not necessary’? Putri witnessed the goblins use her like a tool, throwing her around and even almost being eaten by one of them. “But them trying to kill is okay?” she asked with a raised voice.

“That’s how nature works, Putri. That’s how goblins live. They hunt and prey. We are not obliged to stop them,” Astrid said.

The trail finally reached its end, and Astrid stopped walking.

“We’re here.”

“Woah!”

Putri couldn’t believe it. She felt like being inside a fictional world. Her pupil dilated in excitement. A big smile formed on her mouth. All the nervousness inside her body dropped to the floor, and she felt light again, as if something just took her weight away from her.

Right after the end of the dirt trail, a marble floor started, separated by a large gate made up of white pillars and decorated with colourful flowers. Beyond it was a large city, filled with cheerful laughter and the singing of birds flying around. The marble floor stretched forward, with many shops and houses on its side. And at the end of it was a large white castle, majestically standing in the middle of the city. Behind it were two waterfalls located on each side, which were a part of Mount Slava. Surrounding the city were large, green trees, the same tree she saw when she first found the dirt trail, fresh and very much alive.

“Welcome to Suria, the City of Elves!” Astrid said as she held Putri’s hand and walked her past the gate.

Sound of waterfalls, people talking, and some kind of soft orchestra coming from the castle started filling her ears. The smell of fruits and sweets reached her nose, calming her mind and body. It was something that no one would ever experience in the world she lived in, especially not in Asil, her hometown.

“How did no one know about your existence?” Putri asked, eyes looking everywhere but at Astrid.

Astrid wrapped her arm around Putri’s shoulder and started walking together slowly across the marble path. “There are spells that hide us from you humans,” Astrid said. “Sometimes, we allow some to go past it, like you, Putri,” she said, looking at Putri. “And when people like you go back to your world, no one believes what you tell them. Because to them, it was all legends and mysteries, until they got to experience it themselves.”

Putri continued walking around the city, witnessing every little detail and the magnificence of the glorious, magical city. She even got to meet some of the Elves and had a little chat with them. The one thing that she was most fascinated by was the Equs, a white horse-like creature with softer and thicker fur and a horn on top of its head. It wasn’t a mythical creature, though, but that species could only be found inside the region of the Mahashringa, which was located at Mount Moghodas. For her, that was an experience that she, or maybe even anyone, had never felt before. The peace, the calmness, you couldn’t find it anywhere else in The Peninsula, especially in her hometown, Asil.

Hours passed, and Putri finally realized that she had been gone for too long. She also realized that since she had gone out of the bushes back at the place where the goblins attacked her, the sun was stuck at the same spot, not moving even the slightest. The sky, which was supposedly dark as she left the camp, was bright blue. Astrid saw her glaring at the sky and walked towards her.

“Time moves differently here,” Astrid said while wrapping her arm around Putri. “When you go back, they might not even realize that you were gone.”

Putri did not take her eyes off the sky, a smile fading from her face. “I need to go back?”.

Astrid lowered her body just as the same height as Putri. “You can’t leave your friends and family, Putri,” she said while patting Putri’s back. “You don’t want to hurt them, make them feel worried, do you?”

Putri shook her head in agreement.

“Then, you need to go back. Go and enjoy your time with them, the time with your life. You are a brave and mature little girl, let that guide you through your life and reach your potential one day.”

“Can I come back here though?” she asked, slowly turning her sight towards Astrid, with her face frowned in sadness.

“Whenever you want,” Astrid replied. “Anyone who has already seen this place will be able to see it for the rest of their lives,”

A smile reappeared on Putri’s face. She hugged Astrid tightly, causing her eyes to start getting flooded with tears, with some of them already starting to drip down her cheeks. Astrid used her fingers to wipe away the tears.

“Now go. Don’t turn back, just keep walking forward,”

They exchanged looks and smiles for the last time, then Putri turned around and walked straight towards the entrance gate, disappearing into the thickness of the forest outside the city.

After many minutes walking, she thought about looking back, and did. She was surprised that the exact spot where the gate stood appeared to only lead into more forest. A small doubt formed inside her that what she saw was just a dream, as she kept walking towards the end of the path.

She reached the end, and the goblins were still frozen in the exact position as when she left. Her hands reached the bush, and she made her way into it until she reached the other side. The bright, blue sky turned dark again. The silence hadn’t changed. The wet, muddy field was still in the same condition as it was. Even her footsteps were still clear. She walked past the campfire, washed her feet at a water tap placed beside her dorm’s door, went inside straight towards her bed, and continued sleeping as she should have.

Night arrived after a full day of activities again. Putri had not mentioned anything to anyone. But everyone had noticed her behaviour was different—a bit more energetic than usual. They gathered around the campfire just like the night before for a storytelling session. The students' murmur turned quiet when Mrs. Meada entered the campfire.

“Who wanted to go first?” asked Mrs. Meada.

Everyone looked at each other. No one dared to start, since no one had a story in mind. Putri was also doing the same, until she caught a glimpse between the trees behind Mrs. Meada. It was Astrid who was smiling at her from afar.

Putri smiled back out of reflex, and that smile was caught by Mrs. Meada.

“Putri? A wide smile on your face, I see,” she said. “Got something to tell us?”

She peered at Astrid for one last time and back at Mrs. Meada.

“Yes, I do.”

And she started telling the story of everything that happened that morning. Starting from the goblins up until the point she left the Elves' city. Everyone listened to it as if it were a folklore tale, while Putri shared a story that only she knew was real.