But there was no time to grieve.
Arya had to move.
Serambi Nusantara wouldn't stop. They'd come for him—erase every trace of their crimes. He needed solid proof to expose them. He needed revenge.
For Bayu. For all the victims.
It had been three months since the firestorm at the warehouse. Since he watched his brother lose the last of his humanity.
Now, Arya lived like a ghost—bouncing from one safehouse to another, never staying long. Always looking over his shoulder. Serambi Nusantara had resources, connections, and reach far beyond anything he imagined. He trusted no one.
But he wasn't idle.
Through underground contacts and a handful of loyal ex-military allies, Arya had started pulling threads. Secret research sites scattered across Indonesia. Names of high-ranking government and corporate backers. Video files. Documents. Horrific images of failed experiments.
Enough to make anyone lose sleep.
Yet… something else haunted Arya more than any of that.
Himself.
Something had changed since that night. Maybe it was the splash of Bayu's blood. Maybe the green fluid from the ruptured tank. Maybe something else entirely.
He didn't know.
But the change had started.
On the second night after escaping the warehouse, Arya found Bayu's old phone—cracked, scorched, but still working. In the hidden files, he found a final message.
A voice memo.
Bayu's voice.
"I can feel it… pushing behind my ribs.
It's not pain.
It's like me, but not me."
Arya clenched the phone, jaw tight.
"I know this is the end. I can hear its voice now… a voice that isn't mine.
I'm scared."
A pause. Breathing. A faint tremble in the background.
"I'm sorry if I turn.
Please… don't let me hurt anyone.
Don't let me become something you'd hate."
Click.
Silence.
Then another file.
"Anima Terrae – Research Notes"
He tapped play.
"Day Three after injection.
Professor Hadiwijaya calls it Anima Terrae—'the Soul of the Earth.' He thinks it's the key to human evolution.
But he's wrong.
This thing is older than humanity. It predates language, memory, history.
The Dayak called it Kalimantan Diri—'The Forest's Will.' They believed it chooses its hosts. The chosen remain human. The rest… don't.
I can feel it moving inside me. Searching. Learning.
He says he's modified it.
I don't believe him.
I think it's playing him like a puppet."
The message ended with Bayu's ragged breathing.
And something else.
A whisper.
Barely audible. Ancient.
Since then, Arya had noticed… changes.
Cuts healed in seconds. His strength had doubled. His reflexes—inhuman. His hearing sharp. His vision clearer than ever. He could smell cigarette smoke from rooms away.
And then—there were the voices.
Faint at first.
Now, growing louder.
"We can be stronger," it said.
"We can be perfect. Together, we're unstoppable."
That morning, in a moldy bathroom of a rented apartment, Arya nicked his chin with a razor.
He stared at the mirror.
Blood welled… then vanished. The wound sealed within seconds, smooth and untouched.
In the mirror, his pale reflection looked back.
But something twitched beneath the surface.
Black veins danced faintly beneath his skin—pulsing. Breathing.
A second heartbeat.
"Why fight it?" the voice whispered, warm and inviting now.
"This is evolution. This is perfection."
"We can live forever. We can rule the world."
Arya gritted his teeth.
"Shut up!" he hissed at his own reflection.
"You're not Bayu. You're just a parasite trying to take me over!"
But his reflection didn't flinch.
It smiled.
Though his face stayed still.
"I am your future.
Our future.
Together, we'll be gods."