Moku shuddered in fear.
With frozen facial muscles and stiff lips.
Moku stammered.
"W...w..what a.a...are yo..o..ou?" His tongue was bitten from forcing it to speak, blood drip out from between his lips.
"You know who I am" Garuda replied.
"G..G..Garuda?!" Moku tried hard to calm himself down but his cold shivering body was still shaking violently.
"Garuda? it's already a long time someone call me with that name." Garuda looked up at the sky.
However, in this place there is no sky, only emptiness.
Garuda took a deep breath, looked back down at Moku and asked "Are you his descendants?"
His gaze and tone of voice showed that he missed meeting whoever it was he thought was Moku's ancestor.
"Who?" Moku managed to calm himself down.
"No you are not. If you are, then it's impossible for us to meet at this place" Garuda answered his own question.
"Did anyone else call you 'Garuda' before me?" Moku asked.
"Yeah.. He's still very young at that time. He told me that he had sworn not to eat before he ruled the world, so he came to me asking for strength. That kid is so brave and stupid! HAHAHAHAHAHA
I wonder if he has stopped fasting or not. HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"
Garuda's thunderous laughter shook the subconscious realm.
His flapping wings darkened the entire realm.
Even the golden light from the gate became dim and extinguished.
Moku again shivered in fear. This was the first creature he knew that he had no chance of winning at all if they fought.
Maybe even one breath of his can make Moku's body crumble to dust.
It was natural for Moku's body to shiver in fear.
"Ah! I'm Sorry, that's a good memory of mine always make me laugh whenever I remember it. So who are you and what kind are you?" Garuda stopped laughing and closed his wings again.
Suddenly the light re-illuminates the realm.
"I..I..I'm Moku, an orc" Moku replied.
"Alright Moku, I know you have a lot of questions you want to ask. However, you don't have long time to stay in this place.
So I will only explain it once.
I am known by many names Wainateya, Suparṇna, Garutmān, Garuda, and so on, but my job from the very beginning was one, namely guarding the gates between worlds." Garuda seems proud of his duty.
"Since the beginning of time there have been three elements that govern the world. These three elements act in their respective realms and keep it in balance.
The three elements are Astral, Mind, and Spiritual.
The Astral Element maintains the world you've been living in, where all things are balanced, every time there is an action there will be a reaction. All things become visible with your five senses and can closely observed.
The Mind Element is me and I am the Mind Element, we guard the world of shadows, ideas, fiction, illusions and dreams.
We take care of all the things the astral being can imagine and put them together and then throw them back into the astral realm.
You will find it in the form of ideas and thoughts that you will later process and think about so that you can make a booster for the progress of your civilization.
The Spiritual Element is where we all come from.
I was not given knowledge of that realm and I could not enter into that realm. Just as a painting cannot live and become an astral being.
All beings will remain in their respective realms, not only because your body will be destroyed but also because the path has been blocked.
Since the first astral beings descended to earth, the path connecting the astral and spiritual realms was closed.
But you astral beings are very creative and greedy, you are not satisfied with just the vastness and beauty of your realm. You find another detour to the spiritual realm.
You found us." Garuda looked at Moku with both disgust and admiration.
Like someone who says he is a very brave person, then there is challenged, if he brave enough to bathe in a puddle of feces.
Without thinking the brave threw himself into the puddle of feces. With a body full of feces the brave cheered and proclaimed his bravery.
The challenger will look at the brave with both disgust and admiration. So disgusting is the brave that it makes the challenger amazed.
"You have succeeded in making a new path into the spiritual realm, you have named it by many things, just as you have named me by many names.
But for you, I know if you know it better with the name Mount Lawu." Garuda stopped and smiled.
Moku gaped, he knew about Mount Lawu and the legends around it. 'Is the legend true?' Moku wanted to ask that but Garuda didn't give him a chance and continued to explain.
"There are three peaks of Mount Lawu, each from a mountain peak, signifying the pinnacle of attainment of the three realms.
Hargo Dalem, symbolizing the peak of the astral realm.
Hargo Dumiling, symbolizing the peak of the mind realm.
Hargo Dumilah, symbolizing the peak of the spiritual realm.
Now you have successfully climbed to the top of Hargo Dalem. To continue your ascent, you must pass through the gate behind me.
The stairs you see are mountain passes and the gates are guard posts for the climbers. We call these climbers Mokhsa.
Every Mokhsa must have a guide, the guide is the first Mokhsa to reach the resting point or reach the top of the mountain.
Guides are those who determine the price for opening the gates and negotiate with the gatekeepers.
You Moku, you are a guide. Guides of all Mokhsa of your kind.
I Garuda, I am a gatekeeper. The guard of the peak of Hargo Dalem and the gate to the peak of Hargo Dumiling" Garuda stopped talking and smiled slyly.
The face of the dashing knight turned into the face of a merchant waiting for a good deal.
"So you're saying that I as a Guide will determine the price that I and all the orcs will have to pay upon crossing the peak of Hargo Dalem and opening the gate to the mind realm?" Moku confirmed.
"That's Right!" Garuda nodded quickly.
"Why don't I just beat you and enter without paying?" Moku asked.
"Hmm... beat me?
HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAYHAHAHA" Garuda laughed so loudly, he seemed to hear the funniest joke he had ever heard.
A great laughter rumbled throughout the realm.
The light turned dim again, the world was again trapped in the darkness.
"Hah.. hah.. I'm Sorry, I didn't know you had a joke as funny as this. hahahah.. hah.. hah.. well, if you're serious about it, I'll tell you something.
You who are now even though there are 1000.. 10,000.. 1,000,000.. hmm... even 1,000,000,000 of you will not be able to scratch my feather.
You're not even as strong as an ant in my eyes, they can still bite, while you?? well.. it's not I blame you, sometimes the height of the mountain will look small when viewed from afar.
In conclusion, the current you will not be able to dream of defeating me.
So the only way is to pay" Garuda returned to his merchant face.
Moku also knows that his strength and Garuda's are very different, but he never thought it would get that far.
"What do I have to pay?" Moku asked.
"You have to pay for it with sin!" replied Garuda.
"Sin?" Moku is confused.
"Yes a sin. Once you pay for it you will not be able to sin again." replied Garuda.