My name is Kirana. I have a piece of an unforgettable story in my life journey . It is very difficult to forget it, even though I have tried hard to do so. Even every detail of the story is still neatly fixed in my memory.
I will tell you. In my own style, because I am not good at Javanese.
***
I am a student majoring in History at a State University. A final year student, the very last. Maybe semester 11 or semester 13. To be clear, this is an odd semester because many new faces are emerging. And usually a warning letter for final year students like this comes at the same time as the new batch of students enter. I have received this kind of warning letter 3 times. This letter tells me to immediately complete my final assignment if I don't want to be expelled. Let alone finishing it, I haven't even started it yet. I haven't found the right title for my thesis. When I receive a warning letter like this, I always want to blame my father.
My father is a science researcher. If you search on Google, his name is easy to find. His discoveries are often considered phenomenal. My father initially studied science because he was bored with the world of history that my grandfather was involved in. My grandfather was a respected Javanese historian. My grandfather's house was like a Javanese museum. Many ancient Javanese relics adorned his house. My father said that since he was little, he had to study history and help his grandfather take care of antiques. He was bored and finally rebelled when he entered college. My father chose to major in Science. As a result, they did not get along with each other. greetings for years. And as a result, I am the one who must be held responsible for my father's actions. I must be the successor of my grandfather studying History, no one else can replace my father. My father is an only child, and so am I. That's why I always reason that my father is the reason I haven't graduated.
Actually, I am not that stupid in studying history. Almost every day I take the time to study; watching the historical drama Jewel in the Palace which tells the story of how a woman became the first royal doctor; I also watched Jang Ok Jung the royal designer; Jung Yi, Goddess of Fire which tells the story of a woman's struggle to become a royal ceramic expert. Oh , not only that, there are still many historical stories that I watch; Empress Ki , The Great Doctor or Faith. Hufft ... it seems like I'm starting to go crazy because of the pressure of thesis ideas..! I will visit my grandfather next week. Maybe at his house I can find a brilliant idea.
***
"Kiran, when will you graduate?"
That was my grandfather's greeting when I first arrived. It just made me crazier.
But for a moment I could forget the madness in my brain. I like to enjoy the night atmosphere at grandpa's house the most. Very calm. Moreover, the sky this time is clear. The moon is round, although not yet fully round. Maybe tomorrow night it will be perfectly round. Tomorrow I will definitely pay attention to it again.
Grandpa's house is located in the peak area, the Sindoro-Sumbing mountain area, Wonosobo. His house was deliberately designed traditionally with wooden walls. Only the fence is made of bricks, completely surrounding this large area. The fence was built quite high for the safety of grandfather's antiques.
In the yard that I am observing, there are various trees and a green grass base. Very different from my house in Jakarta which has a narrow yard, there are only a few pots of ornamental plants there. Grandpa knows I like to look at the sky at night, so he provided this special chair in the yard. I feel like I can fall asleep on this chair.
"Nduk , tomorrow morning accompany grandpa to the market, okay? Grandpa has to prepare a feast for tomorrow night," grandpa's voice interrupted the serenity of my gaze at the sky .
"Why don't Aunt Sum do the shopping, Grandpa?" Aunt Sum, whose full name is Sumarni, is a neighbor aunt who helps out with household chores at Grandpa's house. She and her husband have been employed by Grandpa for a long time, even since Grandma was still around. Aunt Sum's husband is in charge of taking Grandpa to whatever. He is his personal driver. I am quite relieved that there are the two of them to take care of grandpa.
"You go with Grandpa tomorrow. Grandpa wants to teach you everything needed for the Friday Kliwon dinner. So you know, Nduk ."
Every Friday Kliwon night at my grandfather's house there are always small dishes or offerings . My grandfather said that there are many ancient objects that must be guarded, must be offered.
***
I rarely go to the market. In Jakarta, my mother never took me to the market. I also don't know the names of the ingredients for cooking. In a month, I don't necessarily go to the kitchen to cook. Therefore, during this shopping time, my grandfather was angry.
This is called incense, this is a kampung chicken that is different from ordinary chicken, this is an Ambon banana, blah blah blah... It feels like this grandfather's explanation is similar to the lectures of my lecturers when explaining History. I want to go home quickly and watch some of the films that I have downloaded.
Luckily the shopping process was over. Grandpa only bought ingredients for offerings that were not available at the stalls near the house. On the way home, the faces of Mount Sindoro-Sumbing stood elegantly. Someday I want to climb both mountains. Maybe after my thesis is finished. I will definitely climb that peak.
"Have you ever climbed that mountain, Grandpa?" I asked Grandpa while pointing to Mount Sumbing.
"Most of the locals have climbed that mountain. Even my grandfather has climbed it more than once," the grandfather explained.
"That's true, Kiran. When I was in junior high school, my uncle also climbed Mount Sindoro-Sumbing," said Uncle Joni, Aunt Sumarni's husband, joining in the conversation.
"Wow, that's great, you can climb to the top even though you're still in junior high school, Uncle?" I asked enthusiastically.
"The kids here consider climbing to the top a must, as a sign of becoming a real man, hahaha..." recalled Uncle Joni. He also added, "Especially grandpa. Some of his heirlooms came from a cave near the top of the mountain. When he was young, Grandpa Jaya often went to that cave."
"Is that true, Grandpa?" I asked again.
"That's why, because it was obtained with great difficulty, now Grandpa always takes good care of those things. You also have to know how to take care of them. Remember the contents of the offerings that Grandpa will serve later. You have to be able to make them later," Grandpa explained.
"Relax Grandpa, I already know what the offerings contain. Even Kirana has known since she was little, " I said with a smile.
***
How could I not know the contents of the offerings? I always like to observe the offering table in this room. Not only observing, I often taste it too, hahaha.. I always feel like laughing when I remember times like this.
Since I was little, when I was at my grandfather's house, I was always in this room every Friday Kliwon night. The table in front of me was always full of delicious food; free-range chicken, various vegetables, fish & other side dishes, fresh mango, seedless red watermelon, and drinks. All the ingredients of the food served here is number 1 quality in Wonosobo. And almost all of them are my favorites. What I like the most is Ambon banana and spicy-sweet tofu pepes. The taste of the fruit and the cooking is very delicious, different from what is served at home in Jakarta. How can I not be tempted? Although my grandfather forbade it, I am used to tasting it when there is no one in the room. Like this time too.
"It's so delicious," the deliciousness of this food made my stomach full. Very full. After feeling satisfied, I sat on the floor of the offering room while staring at the wooden window that had not been closed. Tonight, the sky was not as bright as yesterday. There were no stars, but the moon was still visible. My guess yesterday was right, "The moon tonight is perfectly round."
The wind was getting stronger, it seemed like it was going to rain. I got up and closed the window. Then, I grabbed a match to light the candles on the offering table. It was my duty to light the candles in this room. Grandpa said it was just in case the electricity went out. This room had to be lit every night.
The room of the offering room is quite large. Several heirlooms are neatly arranged. There are ancient cooking utensils, the grandfather said they are relics of the Stone Age. There are several weapons from the kingdom era; machetes, spears, swords. There are several pieces of palm leaves that tell stories of events. There is a painting of a king from the Majapahit era, maybe it is the face of Raden Wijaya, or Raden Hayam Wuruk, I don't know I have never seen it in my college books. All these items are still arranged the same as before. Neat and always cleaned. It's just there is one item that I have never seen the contents of until now, and I am very, very curious. But grandpa strictly forbade opening the box. No one other than grandpa was allowed to open it.
Lately I have been visiting my grandfather's house less and less. In the future I will be busy with my thesis. While I am in this room, I want to see the contents of the box for a moment. Just for a moment. The long box is right in the middle of the offering table. A wooden box that has not rotted even though it is older than me. I stepped forward, trying to open it.
Tikkss, tikss, tikss , byuurrr..! Heavy rain suddenly fell, making me startled. I thought it was grandpa who woke up and opened the door of this room.
I've been trying to open the box for about 10 minutes, but it's so hard! Even though it's not locked. It's so hard to lift the lid of the box, like trying to lift a 100-kilo barbell. Heavy!!! My hair is starting to get wet from sweat. My palms are also starting to get slippery with sweat. I almost gave up.
Finally, with his breath still ragged as if he had just run a marathon, the box was opened. The contents inside the wooden box turned out to be an ancient weapon. It was a keris. There were several keris like that displayed in the living room.
Wow, this keris is beautiful. The handle is brownish. While the curved iron part is smooth black. Maybe my grandfather diligently took care of it so that it is still very shiny .
"Hmm … why isn't it displayed in the row of keris in the living room ? Maybe this keris is the most antique," I muttered to myself. I put my hand into the box to take the keris. When my hand touched the keris, suddenly a light like lightning struck my eyes!
The keris was thrown and I fell face down!
My head felt dizzy. I felt like I was hit and run. My body was also in pain. But I quickly gathered my energy, crawled, and tried to get the keris. I was worried that grandpa would hear what happened and come here.
My hand almost reached for the keris, but someone grabbed it first.
"Oh no, grandpa took it! I'll definitely get really angry," my guts started to shrink. I resigned myself to getting punished by grandpa. I slowly raised my head. However, this time my heart really seemed to stop beating, my breath almost stopped, my eyes widened in disbelief. It wasn't grandpa who took the keris, but a handsome young man. He looked tall and big, with slightly dark skin. My shocked face slowly turned red. A smile began to appear on my lips. However, my logic immediately realized, who is he? Why is he suddenly here? My brain was full of questions, even though I was being shy.
"Finally, we made it..!" Grandpa exclaimed happily. Eh, but that wasn't my grandpa.
"But who is this girl?" the young man asked the grandfather.
"He is the owner of the keris," explained the grandfather.
I watched them both chatting for quite a while. I also started to observe this room. I concluded that: I was not in the offering room! I was not in my grandfather's house! So where was I? What happened? Did I faint and get kidnapped here? Maybe they were thieves trying to steal my grandfather's keris. Yes, that was normal. My grandfather's house had been visited several times by thieves who wanted antiques.
***
They told me to sit down. The three of us sat on a mat. Then, an old lady came in with a tray of drinks. The old lady served me a cup of hot tea. The aroma of the tea was fragrant.
They didn't look like thieves or bad people, so I dared to drink the tea. It was refreshing, quite soothing to my throat.
Now there are 4 people here. However, none of them are talking. I am not the patient type. I immediately asked, "Who are you? Why did you take me and the keris? Please give me the keris. Otherwise, my grandfather will scold me."
The old man replied, "Forgive us, son, for bringing you and this keris here. Right now, we really need this keris. When the business here is finished, we promise to return it to you. So, wait until that time comes."
The grandmother also said, "If you are tired, take a rest. Grandma has prepared a room for you."
"No, I have to take the keris and go back to grandpa's house! Who are you guys? And what is this place? I have to go home now," I said as I got up. I tried to take the keris from the young man's hand. But he quickly defended the keris. The grandfather and grandmother tried to break me up and sat me back down.
"Calm down, son," the old man pleaded. He explained, "You can't go home now. We are very far from your grandfather's house."
"No, I have to go home now. If my grandfather wakes up, he will definitely be confused looking for me," I stood up again and tried to grab the keris again. I tried to grab it with all my might. This time the young man pushed me until I fell down. I looked confused and without realizing it, I shed tears.
The grandmother approached me, "Please calm down, son."
And the old man began to speak again, "Okay, I will tell you everything. You are forced to stay here temporarily. We are now in my house, in the middle of the forest of Melanipura Village. We are in the realm of Majapahit." He paused for a moment, and continued, "We need this sacred keris to fight the enemy who is trying to overthrow Majapahit."
Speechless. It felt like the old man's explanation was worse than my lecturers' lectures. At least my lecturers' explanations could enter my brain even if it was only for 5 minutes. The old man's explanation couldn't enter my brain at all! Maybe I was dreaming. Yes, this was just a dream that would end when I woke up tomorrow morning.
"Majapahit??? I'm in the Majapahit era?! You're all liars! I don't believe this!" I screamed loudly as I ran out of the house. I ran, cried, and kept running.
I kept running. Until my legs felt weak, I started walking slowly and finally stopped sitting on the ground. My face looked up at the sky. It turned out that it was currently raining heavily, just like earlier when I was in the offering room of my grandfather's house. How could I believe that I was no longer there? In fact, I was in a far different space and time. But if this was just a dream, why did the coldness of the pouring rain sting to my bones...
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