Anaxtra climbed back onto her Flying Surfboard, her eyes fixed on the tall stone wall in front of her. Slowly, her Flying Surfboard drifted toward it.
"Don't tense up too much. Just relax!" her father shouted from below.
"Come on, Anaxtra! You can do it!" Peter and Lilia shouted back and forth, cheering her on.
Anaxtra straightened her body, placing her left foot behind her and her right foot in front, like someone about to run.
The Flying Surfboard drew closer to the cliff wall. Anaxtra quickly bent her right leg and braced herself on her left leg, which remained straight. She tilted the Flying Surfboard until it formed a 45-degree angle.
When she was about 7 meters from the cliff wall, the Flying Surfboard's speed began to decrease, but it continued floating upward, higher and higher.
Anaxtra looked around. The forest and the village where she lived appeared green, while her Flying Surfboard continued climbing, passing the waterfall that turned out to be pouring from between the towering cliff rocks.
"This cliff is higher than I expected. The top of the waterfall only reaches halfway up," Anaxtra thought.
She tried to look down at where her father and friends were standing, but her view was blocked by mist from the waterfall's spray. They were no longer visible.
Anaxtra turned her gaze back toward the forest where she lived.
The same.
It was invisible, as if a cloud of mist had covered it.
Anaxtra's body continued floating upward on the Flying Surfboard. The air around her felt somewhat warm, then gradually grew hot.
"Am I almost past this cliff?" Anaxtra wondered.
Her guess was correct. The next second, she saw a stretch of dry, barren land ahead of her.
Anaxtra landed on the ground in front of her. She immediately felt the heat wrap around her entire body.
"Am I in hell?" she thought.
Anaxtra looked around. There was almost no sign of life. As far as her eyes could see, there was only dry, barren land.
Anaxtra touched her temple, and a small glasses-shaped screen appeared in front of her eyes.
The screen was a radar monitor capable of detecting the movement of objects. Through the glasses, Anaxtra looked around more carefully.
"Anaxtra! Anaxtra! Can you hear me?" her father's voice came through the communication chip embedded in her ear.
"I can hear you, Dad," Anaxtra said, activating reply mode.
"Your voice keeps cutting out. Are you all right?" her father asked again.
The communication device used by the inhabitants of Dieng Valley was a chip implanted near the ear. The chip allowed two-way communication as long as it received a signal from the same frequency, while activating call or reply mode only required touching the skin around the ear.
"I'm fine!" Anaxtra said, still watching her surroundings through the radar monitor.
Beep... beep... beep... Beep...
The radar monitor detected five red dots moving rapidly. Anaxtra tried to increase the device's range, but the five red dots quickly moved farther away and disappeared beyond the radar's reach.
"What were those things?" Anaxtra muttered.
"Were you talking to me?" her father's voice came through the still-active communication device.
"Come back quickly, Anaxtra. We're worried something might have happened to you!"
"All right, I'll come down soon!"
Anaxtra was still curious about what she had just seen on her radar monitor, but she didn't want to make her father anxious, so she abandoned the idea of investigating further.
Anaxtra turned off her communication device and closed the radar display still projected in front of her eyes. She climbed back onto the Flying Surfboard and floated in a circle as she descended the cliff toward Dieng Valley.
For someone who had never entered Dieng Valley, the valley's existence would remain completely unknown from the spot where Anaxtra stood. From above, all that could be seen were white clouds. No wonder Dieng Valley was so well protected.
Anaxtra slowly dove along the edge of the cliff. She had to maintain the distance between the cliff and the Flying Surfboard so the sensor could function and keep her floating. Otherwise, her body could immediately begin to sink, because the sensor could not detect objects more than 10 meters away.
Orval, Lilia, and Peter watched Anaxtra descend intently.
From where they stood, Anaxtra looked as if she were descending from the sky. Their limited range of vision allowed them to see only Anaxtra breaking through the cloud mist and floating down toward them.
"Did you see anything up there, Anaxtra?" Peter asked curiously.
"Is it prettier up there than it is here?" Lilia cut in impatiently.
Anaxtra sighed. She wanted badly to tell them what she had just seen, but she changed her mind when her father asked her a question too.
"What do you think of the Flying Surfboard? Is it working perfectly?"
"I think it's working well, Dad."
Orval smiled with satisfaction.
"Make one for me too, Uncle!" Peter said.
"Me too, Uncle!" Lilia added, unwilling to lose.
"Hey! You're a girl. Why do you always want to compete with us?" Peter protested.
Lilia stuck out her tongue. "If Uncle doesn't mind, why are you the one complaining?"
Peter had nothing more to say.
"You two don't need to fight. I'll definitely make one for both of you," Orval said, settling the quarrel between the siblings.
Lilia jumped for joy.
"Anaxtra, give me the Flying Surfboard! I'll head home and make a few more right away."
Anaxtra climbed off the Flying Surfboard she had still been riding.
"Maybe you can modify this device, Dad, like adding laser weapons, for example. Or adding fog lights to illuminate the way when riding at night," Anaxtra said.
Orval thought for a moment.
"I'll think about it," he said as he climbed onto the Flying Surfboard.
"Lilia, go home with Uncle! Peter and I still want to stay here and practice a little."
Lilia hesitated.
"Come on, get on! I want to test the device's carrying capacity too," Orval said, agreeing.
Lilia shrugged. "Okay!"
Then, without hesitation, Lilia climbed onto the Flying Surfboard. She stood behind Orval, aligning both of her feet with his.
"Hold on to me. We'll be leaving soon!" Orval said.
The Flying Surfboard then floated up and quickly glided away, leaving Anaxtra and Peter still standing there.
There was no significant change. The Flying Surfboard continued functioning perfectly; only its buoyancy had decreased slightly. With one person riding it, it could reach a height of 10 meters. With two people aboard, however, it could only reach 6 meters.
But that was still better than before the sensor was installed. Previously, it could only float 7 meters high with one passenger, dropping to 5 meters with two passengers.
"Tell me, Anaxtra! What did you see up there?" Peter asked inquisitively.
Anaxtra stared intently at Peter. There was something she hesitated to say.