Raka looked at the old man again, squinting as if trying to recognize a familiar scent in a nightmare.
> "Wait… are you a… shaman? Or a wizard? Or maybe... some kind of supernatural expert?"
The old man chuckled, brushing dust off his robes.
> "Call me whatever you like. Sorcerer, exorcist, lunatic."
"But if you want the right word—then yes… I am a ghost hunter."
Raka sat up straighter despite the pain shooting through his ribs.
> "Ghost hunter…?"
> "Yes. And it seems that word finally means something to you now."
The room fell silent again. Raka stared at the ghost nurse, who had now drifted to the corner and was humming to herself like a girl in love.
> "Can you…" Raka hesitated. "Can you save my friends?"
The old man's expression turned serious.
> "Tell me everything first."
---
Raka took a deep breath and recounted everything. The abandoned building. The cold. The pocong. The red demon with wings. The green giant.
> "There were six of us," he said. "Tania and Sarah ran toward the car. They were caught by that… thing—huge and green."
"Kevin and Natasya were dragged through the wall by a pocong."
"And Lina… she was taken by the red demon. It flew away with her. I tried to stop it... but…"
The old man nodded solemnly.
> "Three types. Hmph. That's not good."
He walked to the window, looking out into the moonlight.
> "The green giant, you said… tall, muscled, with moss-like skin?"
> "Yeah," Raka replied. "Like fog made flesh."
> "That one's called Buto Ijo," the old man said.
"Very dangerous. Man-eater. Doesn't just haunt—it feeds."
Raka's throat tightened.
> "Then… Tania and Sarah—"
> "—Are probably already inside its belly," the old man said flatly.
Raka looked away, fists clenched.
> "As for the red one, with wings of flame… you saw a Hellspawn. Around here we call it Bocah Neraka."
> "Hell Boy...?"
> "Don't let the name fool you. It may look young, but that creature's older than most temples. It doesn't kill right away. Usually... it abducts humans to serve in its court. Torture, servitude, or transformation—depends on its mood."
Raka's heart sank further.
> "What about the pocong?"
The old man turned to him with a grim look.
> "That… is the worst of the three."
> "Worse?"
> "Pocong spirits are wanderers. Their minds are broken. They carry souls through the veils of the astral world, often randomly."
"If your friends were taken by it… they could be anywhere—buried in a dream realm, trapped in a memory, or wandering the night between realities."
"Sometimes... they come back on their own."
"But most of the time, they simply... disappear."
Raka felt a chill settle deep into his bones.
> "So you're saying... I'm the only one left?"
Raka sat on the edge of the mattress, his arms limp at his sides.
The faces of his friends haunted him.
Tania's terrified scream.
Kevin's helpless eyes.
Lina, reaching out before being carried into the night sky.
He clenched his fists.
> "How can I go back? How do I face their families?"
The old man stood silently nearby, watching him with unreadable eyes.
> "You've tasted the spirit world," he finally said. "You've seen what most men will never believe."
"If you choose to walk away now, no one would blame you. But if you still have the will…"
He reached into his robe and pulled out a small, old leather book. Its pages were yellowed, but pulsing faintly with something not of this world.
> "Then I can train you. To become… a ghost hunter."
Raka looked up.
> "You mean… I can still save them?"
The old man nodded.
> "Perhaps. If they're still alive."
"But you'll need to learn quickly. And suffer more than you already have."
Raka swallowed hard.
His hands trembled.
> "...Then teach me. Please. I'll do anything. I have to save them."
The old man smiled faintly.
> "Good. Take this book. It contains the basic mantras—tools to disrupt, bind, or weaken spirits."
"But incantations alone are useless without two key forces: the Inner Eye and Inner Energy."
---
> "The Inner Eye," he explained, "allows you to see the essence of ghosts."
"Not just their shapes, but their intent. Their aura. Their realm."
"It is the bridge between the human soul… and the unseen world."
Raka blinked.
> "No wonder I couldn't touch them."
> "Exactly. You saw them, yes—but only because their energy was overpowering. Your eye is passive. Unfocused. You must awaken it."
---
The Eye Ritual
Raka was brought to a sealed room.
White walls. A single wooden chair. A single candle. No windows. No sounds.
> "Sit here. Don't move. Don't sleep," the old man said.
"Recite the mantra until the walls bleed color. Shapes. Visions."
"Only then will your Inner Eye begin to open."
Raka sat for hours.
His throat burned from chanting.
The candle flickered. His eyes blurred.
He was about to give up—
—when the white wall began to ripple.
A shade of deep blue spread like ink. Then red. Then gold.
A pattern emerged: a burning door.
It opened.
Something… looked back at him.
Raka gasped, his eyes stung, but he didn't look away.
---
The Cold Body
The next challenge was harder.
> "Now you must awaken your Inner Energy," said the old man.
"This is what allows you to touch spirits, to strike them, banish them."
"Without it, your body is just meat. A ghost could pass through you… or crush you."
Raka's training began before dawn.
He stood outside, shirtless, facing the morning wind.
At dusk, he did the same—breathing slowly, focusing inward, forcing his body to heat itself from within.
He succeeded.
But then came the real test.
> "Tonight," the old man said, "you will sit beneath the midnight waterfall."
"And you must make your body warm—not with fire, not with clothes, but with will alone."
"You must chant this mantra… and survive."
Raka's bones trembled as the freezing torrent crashed down on him.
He couldn't breathe. His lips turned purple.
But he grit his teeth. Closed his eyes.
He whispered the mantra again and again—until a faint warmth bloomed in his chest. His skin no longer stung. He could feel his heartbeat… not out of fear, but focus.
---
When he emerged, coughing and soaked, the old man handed him warm tea.
> "Not bad. You're alive. That's a start."
---
Raka returned to the candle room that night.
This time, when he looked at the wall…
He didn't just see color.
He saw spirits. Memories. Portals.
And in the distance…
He saw a figure chained inside a burning hall.
Lina.
Raka reached out toward the image of Lina chained in fire—but before he could touch it, the vision shattered.
Gone.
Like a dream at sunrise.
He gasped, heart pounding.
Without wasting time, he limped back to the old man—his mentor now, whether he called him that or not.
> "I saw her!" Raka shouted. "Lina—she's still alive! She was… trapped somewhere. A hall of fire, chains—she spoke to me!"
The old man's eyes sharpened. He set aside the candle he was lighting and nodded slowly.
> "Then it's true. You've glimpsed the Flame Court—one of the lower dimensions. That means Lina still draws breath."
Raka's heart soared.
> "They're alive…"
---
That night, he meditated longer, deeper, letting his growing Inner Eye drift beyond walls and flesh. As he focused and whispered the mantra again and again, new visions emerged—faint but clear.
He saw...
Sarah and Tania, locked inside a giant birdcage, suspended by thorny vines. Their clothes were made from woven leaves, and they trembled in the cold air of a lush jungle-like realm.
And then—
Kevin and Natasya, sitting quietly on a wooden floor, surrounded by strangers in robes. The place resembled a temple—no, a school. But the way the air shimmered… it wasn't in the real world.
They were in another realm.
Raka opened his eyes, chest heavy with emotion.
They were all alive.
> "You saw them all, didn't you?" said his master quietly behind him.
Raka nodded, eyes wet.
> "I have to save them."
The old man sighed.
> "Of course you do. But are you ready to step beyond the veil?"
---
> "How do I enter the spirit realm?"
> "There are many paths," the master said. "But for you, I recommend learning the Mantra of the Gate."
> "Will you come with me?"
The old man shook his head.
> "Once you pass through… we may be separated. I might not find you again. The spirit realm is... endless."
"But I'll guide you as much as I can before you enter."
Raka nodded, resolute.
> "Then I'll learn it. Teach me."
---
Further Training — Under the Open Sky
> "Your Inner Eye is opening—but it's time to test it outside. Where light and shadow blend and dance."
"You will now practice mantra chanting outdoors. Once in broad daylight, once in deep night."
The test was far harder than before.
In the daylight, the world was too bright—colors bled into each other, overwhelming his spiritual senses.
In the dark, shadows whispered too loud, blinding him in another way.
But Raka sat still and chanted through the discomfort.
He began to see faint flickers behind trees, echoes of spirits hiding in forgotten corners.
The Eye was learning.
---
Further Training — Ice Trial
His mentor then brought him to a marketplace and told him to buy blocks of ice.
> "You want to strengthen your Inner Energy?" he asked.
"Then bathe in cold that steals your breath."
Raka built a crude tub in the garden, filled it with the freezing ice.
He stripped, climbed in, and his soul nearly left his body.
But he held his breath. Chanted.
Forced the fire within to defy the cold without.
And slowly… warmth began to bloom from his spine.
He stayed longer each day.
The pain taught him discipline. The mantra turned pain into power.
---
Mantra of the Portal
> "Now comes the third and most dangerous lesson," the old man said.
"Opening a portal."
> "How?"
> "Stand in a place that exists between light and shadow. Not fully dark, not fully bright. Let your body feel both realms at once."
"Then chant this:"
> "Kono Daleth Sura Mahat."
"Open the space between what is seen and what is hidden."
Raka obeyed.
He stood beneath the edge of the roof at noon—half his body in sunlight, half in shadow.
He chanted.
Again.
Again.
His skin tingled. The air around his waist began to hum.
A thin crack appeared in the air beside him, like a split in glass.
Raka gasped.
> "I can feel it... the boundary…"
The space between worlds.
---
His master stood behind him with a solemn gaze.
> "You're getting close. But only when you can step through that crack… without breaking your mind—will you be ready."
> "And then?"
> "Then you will enter the spirit world. And your hunt will begin."