Mr. Wiryo pulled Laras's hand with all his strength.
“Run!”
The two of them burst through the narrow passage beneath the house.
Behind them came the sound of growling.
Not just one.
Dozens.
The walls of the passage trembled every time the sound rang out.
**Thud... thud... thud...**
Laras cried as she ran.
“Dad, it’s chasing us!”
“Don’t look back!”
Mr. Wiryo knew that if they stopped, something would catch them.
Yet the farther they ran, the longer the passage seemed to become.
The stairs that should have been ahead still hadn’t appeared.
“This is impossible,” Mr. Wiryo muttered.
He stopped for a moment.
They had been running for almost a minute.
And yet the distance to the stairs was no more than ten meters.
Laras stared ahead.
“Dad...”
“What?”
“Look.”
There was writing on the wall to their left.
**DON’T TRUST RANU.**
Mr. Wiryo moved closer.
The writing looked fresh.
Red liquid still dripped from the ends of the letters.
Laras grabbed her father’s arm.
“Who wrote it?”
Mr. Wiryo didn’t know.
Then a voice came from behind them.
“Wiryo...”
It was his father’s voice.
Mr. Wiryo froze.
“Dad?”
Laras looked at him.
“Whose voice is that?”
Mr. Wiryo didn’t answer.
The voice came again.
“Wiryo... don’t take Laras upstairs.”
Mr. Wiryo covered his ears.
He knew the voice didn’t belong to his father.
Yet something about it sounded so real.
“Keep moving.”
They ran again.
A few meters later, the passage finally came to an end.
There were stairs in front of them.
Mr. Wiryo climbed them quickly.
One step.
Two.
Three.
But just as they were about to reach the top, a black hand emerged from a crack in the wall.
It tried to grab Laras.
Mr. Wiryo pulled his daughter away.
“Run!”
The hand missed.
They reached the kitchen.
Mr. Wiryo lowered the wooden plank into place.
Then he pushed the table and cabinet against it.
Laras collapsed into a sitting position.
“Dad...”
Mr. Wiryo knelt in front of her.
“It’s okay.”
“But Mom...”
Mr. Wiryo fell silent.
“What?”
“Mom was still there.”
Mr. Wiryo looked at his daughter.
“Did she say anything?”
Laras nodded.
“Mom said we had to find the old house.”
“The old house?”
“The house where our family lived for the first time.”
Mr. Wiryo fell silent.
He knew the place.
The old house at the edge of the forest.
The house his family had abandoned more than thirty years ago.
They left the house before dawn.
Mr. Wiryo brought a little food, water, an oil lamp, and a machete.
Laras wore a thick jacket.
They walked toward the forest.
Mist still hung between the trees.
There wasn’t a soul on the road.
The village seemed dead.
When they reached the edge of the forest, Mr. Wiryo stopped.
“From now on, don’t speak loudly.”
“Why?”
“Because we don’t know who might be listening.”
They entered the forest.
The trail was thick with mud.
The farther they went, the denser the trees became.
After nearly an hour, they found an old building.
A wooden house.
Part of its roof had collapsed.
Its walls were covered in moss.
Mr. Wiryo recognized it from an old photograph.
“This is Grandpa’s house.”
Laras stared at the building.
“Why did Mom send us here?”
Mr. Wiryo didn’t know.
They went inside.
The smell of rotting wood filled the room.
There was an old table in the middle of the room.
A box sat on top of it.
Mr. Wiryo opened it.
Inside were several letters.
Old letters belonging to his father.
He read them one by one.
Some discussed debt.
Others were about the rice fields.
But the last letter made him stop.
**For my son, Wiryo.**
Mr. Wiryo opened the letter.
> If you ever find this letter, it means I failed to stop the pact.
Mr. Wiryo held his breath.
He continued reading.
> Don’t trust Ranu. He isn’t a guardian. He is part of that creature.
Mr. Wiryo’s hands trembled.
Laras came closer.
“What does it say?”
Mr. Wiryo handed her the letter.
Laras read it.
At the bottom was one final sentence:
> The source of the pact isn’t beneath our house. It is in the place where our family’s blood was first spilled.
Mr. Wiryo furrowed his brow.
“Our family’s blood was spilled?”
Laras looked at him.
“Where?”
Mr. Wiryo shook his head.
But on the back of the letter was a drawing of a tree.
A banyan tree.
Beneath it was a circular symbol.
Mr. Wiryo immediately remembered.
The banyan tree where he had first met Mbah Ranu.
“We have to go back.”
When they left the old house, the sun was beginning to set.
They had walked only a few dozen meters when they heard footsteps behind them.
Mr. Wiryo stopped.
Laras stopped too.
There was no one there.
Then came a snort.
**Hrrr...**
Mr. Wiryo gripped the machete.
“Stay behind Dad.”
A black pig emerged from behind the trees.
It was different from any pig Mr. Wiryo had ever seen.
There was a long scar across its back.
Its eyes weren’t red.
They were white.
It walked toward them.
Laras whispered,
“Dad... it isn’t attacking.”
The pig stopped.
Then it turned around.
It walked a few steps before looking back.
As if asking them to follow.
Mr. Wiryo hesitated.
But then he remembered Sulastri’s voice.
**Find the old house.**
Maybe the pig wasn’t an enemy.
They followed it.
The pig led them to a place Mr. Wiryo had never known existed.
In the middle of the forest was an open patch of land.
A massive banyan tree stood there.
Its roots stretched out like snakes.
And beneath the tree was a huge stone.
The stone was covered in black stains.
Mr. Wiryo approached it.
He felt a chill in the air.
Laras suddenly clutched her head.
“Dad... it hurts.”
“What’s wrong?”
“It’s like there’s a voice.”
“What voice?”
Laras closed her eyes.
“Lots of people.”
Mr. Wiryo heard something.
Whispers.
Dozens of voices.
Hundreds.
Then the voices became clear.
**Wiryo...**
Mr. Wiryo stepped back.
A man’s shadow emerged from behind the tree roots.
A young man.
He didn’t recognize the face.
But the clothes looked like something worn decades ago.
“Who are you?”
The young man stared at him.
“I’m Raka.”
Mr. Wiryo froze.
**Raka Wijaya.**
The name written on the underground statue.
“So you were the first?”
Raka nodded.
“I made the pact.”
“Why?”
“Because I wanted to save my family.”
“Then what happened?”
Raka looked at Laras.
“That creature tricked me.”
“What creature?”
Raka pointed to the huge stone beneath the tree.
“The one sleeping there.”
Mr. Wiryo approached the stone.
There was a small crack in its center.
Black smoke seeped from the crack.
Raka said,
“For centuries, that creature has waited for a human willing to offer their blood.”
“And Ranu?”
“Ranu was the first human to become a guardian.”
“Why hasn’t he died?”
“Because he’s no longer human.”
Mr. Wiryo fell silent.
“How do we stop it?”
Raka looked at the bracelet on Laras’s wrist.
“The heir must refuse.”
“Refuse what?”
“Refuse wealth.”
Mr. Wiryo nodded.
“Then?”
“Refuse power.”
“Then?”
Raka looked at him.
“And finally...”
He paused.
“The heir must sacrifice the thing they love most.”
Mr. Wiryo immediately shook his head.
“No.”
Laras looked at her father.
“What has to be sacrificed?”
Raka didn’t answer.
Mr. Wiryo clasped his daughter’s hand.
“We’ll find another way.”
Suddenly, the earth trembled.
The huge stone beneath the tree cracked.
**Crack!**
Laras screamed.
A deep voice rose from beneath the ground.
“Heir...”
The white-eyed pig stood in front of them.
Its body suddenly changed.
Its black fur fell away.
Its legs turned into human legs.
Its body rose upright.
Within seconds, the pig had transformed into an old man.
Mr. Wiryo recognized his face.
Mbah Ranu.
But this time, his face no longer looked human.
His skin was pale.
His eyes were black.
His mouth was filled with sharp teeth.
“You’ve run far enough.”
Mr. Wiryo pulled Laras behind him.
Ranu smiled.
“Now it’s time for the heir to choose.”
Laras trembled.
“Don’t listen to him.”
Ranu raised his hand.
A gold coin appeared in his palm.
“Choose wealth.”
Another coin appeared.
“Choose a comfortable life.”
A third coin appeared.
“Choose a life where your father is never poor again.”
Mr. Wiryo looked at Laras.
Ranu moved closer.
“And in exchange...”
He pointed at Mr. Wiryo.
“...you only need to give up one thing.”
Laras cried.
“What?”
Ranu smiled.
“Your memories of your mother.”
Mr. Wiryo froze.
Laras stared at her father.
Ranu continued,
“Give up every memory of Sulastri.”
“After that, the pact will end.”
Mr. Wiryo looked at Laras.
He knew how important those memories were.
Her memories of her mother were the only part of the past that still made Laras feel close to Sulastri.
If those memories disappeared...
Laras might never remember her mother again.
“Dad...”
Mr. Wiryo gripped his daughter’s hand.
“No.”
Ranu smiled.
“Think carefully.”
“No.”
“If you refuse, you’ll stay poor.”
“No.”
“Laras will keep being hunted.”
Mr. Wiryo glared at Ranu.
“I’d rather be poor.”
Ranu fell silent.
Mr. Wiryo continued,
“I’d rather lose my house.”
He squeezed Laras’s hand tighter.
“I’d rather die than surrender my child’s memories of her mother.”
Ranu’s expression changed.
For the first time, his smile vanished.
The stone beneath the tree cracked wider.
A roar came from inside it.
“FOOL!”
The wind began to swirl.
Leaves flew through the air.
Laras suddenly dropped to her knees.
The bracelet on her wrist blazed with light.
Mr. Wiryo tried to help her.
But a voice came from beneath the ground.
**The heir refuses.**
Then another voice answered.
**Then the pact must be paid for with blood.**
Mr. Wiryo saw the ground beneath Laras’s feet beginning to turn black.
Ranu stepped back.
He looked frightened.
“No...”
Mr. Wiryo looked at him.
“Are you afraid, Mbah?”
Ranu didn’t answer.
A gigantic hand emerged from the crack in the stone.
It wasn’t human.
Its fingers were long and black.
The hand reached for Laras.
Mr. Wiryo immediately stood in front of his daughter.
“Don’t touch my child!”
The hand stopped.
Then it slowly opened its palm.
Inside was an old coin.
A coin unlike all the others.
The symbol of a pig’s head was engraved on its surface.
And on the back was written a single name:
**SULASTRI.**
Mr. Wiryo was stunned.
The voice from beneath the ground said:
“Your choice isn’t over yet, Wiryo.”
“Because the thing you love most...”
The hand pointed at Laras.
“...isn’t your child.”
Mr. Wiryo looked at Laras.
Laras was crying.
“Then who is it?”
The voice beneath the ground answered:
“Yourself.”
In an instant, the bracelet on Mr. Wiryo’s wrist snapped.
His body rose from the ground.
He screamed.
Laras tried to grab his hand.
“Dad!”
Mr. Wiryo looked at his daughter one last time before his body was dragged into the darkness.
And from behind the banyan tree, Mbah Ranu laughed.
“Now you understand.”
“No human can escape the pact.”
But Ranu failed to realize one thing.
In Laras’s hand, the black bracelet that had previously held only three red lines had now turned white.
And for the first time...
Laras wasn’t afraid.
She looked at Mbah Ranu with eyes that no longer belonged to an ordinary girl.
“Dad won’t come back as a human.”
Laras’s voice had changed.
It was deeper.
Older.
Mbah Ranu stepped back.
“What are you doing?”
Laras looked at him.
“I’m not becoming the heir.”
She raised her hand.
“I’m becoming the breaker.”
The earth beneath the banyan tree shook violently.
And from within the darkness came a long scream that shook the entire forest.