At the back of the group, Alya's condition was becoming increasingly worrying.
Her breathing grew rapid. Her chest felt tight, as though something were pressing against it from the inside. Every time she tried to inhale, it felt as if less and less air was entering her lungs.
"San…" she called weakly.
Hasan immediately turned around.
"What is it now, Al?"
"I… I can't breathe properly."
Hasan stopped walking. Rico stopped as well and immediately examined Alya's increasingly pale face.
"Sit down for a while, then," Hasan suggested.
But Alya slowly shook her head.
"I can still walk. We have to reach Post 3 soon, right?"
She tried to take another step.
However, as she passed a row of massive trees on her left, her vision suddenly changed.
The trees that had previously appeared clear began to blur.
The sound of her friends' footsteps seemed to grow more distant, as though they were coming from somewhere far away at the end of a long corridor.
Alya blinked repeatedly.
What was happening?
She tried to focus her eyes, but the shadows surrounding her grew increasingly indistinct. The small beam of light from Hasan's flashlight shimmered before gradually fading.
Darkness.
Everything turned dark.
"Hasan…"
Her voice was barely audible.
Suddenly, Alya's body lost all strength.
Thud!
"Alya!"
Hasan and Rico shouted in unison.
Fortunately, they were still supporting her, preventing her from crashing completely onto the ground. However, when they tried calling her name, Alya did not respond at all.
Her eyes were tightly shut.
Her body hung limp.
She had fainted.
"Al! Alya, wake up!"
Rico gently tapped Alya's cheek while Hasan tried to lay her down in a relatively safe spot.
Hearing the commotion from behind, their friends at the front immediately hurried over.
"What happened?" Keenan asked in a panic.
"Alya fainted!" Hasan replied.
Laras immediately pushed through the group. The moment she saw her best friend lying unconscious, she knelt beside her and embraced her, her eyes filling with tears.
"Al, wake up! Don't scare me like this, please!"
Her voice trembled.
"Alya, you can hear me, right? Wake up, Al!"
But Alya remained motionless.
Riki quickly opened his backpack and took out a bottle of water. He then helped check Alya's condition alongside the others, while Tissa crouched beside the girl, her face pale.
"Al, come on, wake up," Tissa whispered.
She gently rubbed Alya's back.
"I'm here, Al. Laras is here, too. You're not alone."
Tissa then took an aromatherapy oil bottle from her bag and brought it close to Alya.
However, there was no significant change.
"What are we supposed to do now?" Laras asked, her voice on the verge of breaking into tears.
No one could give her an answer.
Above them, the sky grew darker. The night air became increasingly cold, while a thin mist began to blanket the hiking trail.
Post 3 was still about twenty minutes away.
Twenty minutes.
Under normal circumstances, that distance might not have been a major problem. But night was falling, their bodies were growing exhausted, and Alya was still unconscious.
Rico roughly rubbed his face before finally making a decision.
"Nan, you guys go ahead to Post 3."
Keenan turned sharply toward him.
"What?"
"You need to get the tents set up as soon as possible. If everyone stays here, we'll lose even more time. Hasan, Laras, and I will stay with Alya until she wakes up."
Rico looked at Alya, who was still lying weakly on the ground.
"Once she wakes up and your tents are ready, we'll catch up with you. We'll walk slowly."
"Co, are you sure about this?" Hasan asked.
Rico nodded, although his face still clearly showed his anxiety.
"We can't keep waiting here without making any preparations. Alya needs somewhere to rest, too."
Keenan remained silent for a few moments. He was reluctant to leave his three friends in the middle of the forest under such circumstances. However, he also realized that they needed a safer place to rest.
"All right. But contact us as soon as Alya wakes up. Don't push yourselves if her condition isn't good enough."
Rico nodded.
Keenan then turned to Tissa, Rengga, and Riki.
"Come on, let's keep moving. We need to reach Post 3 as soon as possible."
Tissa glanced at Alya with tearful eyes before finally standing up. She clearly did not want to leave her best friend behind, but she had no choice except to follow the others.
One by one, they began to walk away.
The sound of their footsteps gradually disappeared among the trees.
Now, only Rico, Hasan, and Laras remained with Alya.
They had no idea that their decision to separate that night would lead them into something far more terrifying than the laughter they had just heard.
────────
Several minutes passed.
Alya still had not regained consciousness.
Hasan sat beside her, checking her condition from time to time. Laras continued holding her best friend's hand, as though she were afraid of losing Alya if she let go, even for a single second.
Meanwhile, Rico stood nearby, sweeping his flashlight beam across their surroundings.
Something made him feel deeply uncomfortable.
It was not the sound of an animal.
Nor was it the rustling of the wind.
It was the feeling that someone was watching them from a distance.
Rico directed his flashlight toward the trees.
There was no one there.
He turned in the opposite direction.
Nothing.
However, when the beam swept across a large tree beside the trail, he suddenly froze.
An old man was standing there.
He wore a long, faded robe. His hair was white, as was his beard, which hung down to his chest. His face was covered in wrinkles, yet his eyes looked sharp and clear.
Strangely, the old man did not seem surprised when the flashlight illuminated him.
Instead, he looked at Rico with an expression of concern.
Then, the old man raised his hand and beckoned with his fingers, signaling for Rico to approach.
Rico froze.
He turned toward Hasan.
"San, do you see that?"
Hasan raised his head.
"See what?"
Rico looked back at the large tree.
The old man was still standing there.
"That man…" Rico pointed toward the robed figure. "You can't see him?"
Hasan narrowed his eyes and followed the direction of Rico's finger.
A few seconds later, however, he shook his head.
"There's no one there, Co."
Rico felt as though the blood had drained from his body.
If Hasan could not see the old man, then who was standing right in front of him?
Rico swallowed hard. He hesitated to approach, but the old man raised his hand again.
This time, his gesture was more urgent.
As though he had something important to say, and time was running out.
Carefully, Rico approached the figure. He kept his flashlight firmly in his hand, although its beam seemed to be growing dimmer.
When he finally stood before the old man, Rico respectfully lowered his head.
"Excuse me, Grandpa. Sorry to bother you. What are you doing out here alone?"
The old man did not answer immediately.
Instead, his gaze shifted past Rico's shoulder, settling directly on Alya, who was lying unconscious beneath the tree.
"Young man," he finally said in a deep voice. "What have you done to disturb the mountain guardians?"
Rico frowned.
"The mountain guardians?"
"Have you violated a taboo? Said something you should not have said? Or done something that has angered them?"
Rico fell silent.
He remembered the women's laughter that had echoed through the forest moments earlier. He also remembered Rengga's accusation that Tissa and Alya had brought trouble upon them by failing to watch their words.