After seeing Rangga in a much better condition, Arka went back home. His feelings were a mix of relief and worry. That night, his sleep was restless. He groaned, as if haunted by a nightmare, then woke up gasping for air. When Arka checked the time, it was 3 AM. His stomach rumbled with hunger. He got up, realizing his refrigerator was empty. With a thin jacket on, Arka left his house to the nearest convenience store.
That night, the moon was nowhere to be seen, covered by thick black clouds. A cold wind blew fiercely, carrying an ominous premonition. After buying some food, Arka hurried back home.
When he arrived at an intersection, a strange sound caught his attention. Curious, Arka approached a narrow gap between two buildings. He froze for a moment, seeing a skinny creature with a single long, broken horn. The creature looked injured, hiding in the darkness.
Sensing Arka's presence, the creature turned its head. Its red eyes glowed in the dark. It was a monster that had escaped from the previous night's battle. Arka was shocked, his legs felt weak. This was the first time he had seen a monster this close, all alone. Without hesitation, the monster lunged. Arka instinctively dodged and started to run, his mumble audible amidst the panic. "Why... why is there a monster here?"
He ran with all his might, taking a detour to get home safely. After a while, he looked back and no longer saw the monster. Arka felt a little relieved but remained vigilant. He kept running until he ran out of breath and stopped for a moment, bending over with his hands on his knees.
It was at that moment that a fragment of a dimensional rift appeared in front of him, floating in the air like a piece of broken glass. The fragment emitted a faint light, catching Arka's attention. With a mixture of curiosity and fear, he approached it slowly and tried to touch it.
The moment his hand touched the fragment, Arka's body froze instantly. His eyes widened, and the light within them disappeared. His consciousness faded, and he fell unconscious. In the sky above, the black clouds grew thicker, thunder rumbled, and a heavy rain began to fall, as if the universe was weeping for the fate that had just befallen Arka.
Under the cold raindrops and the night wind, in his consciousness that had plunged into a void, Arka fell. He fell into a bottomless abyss of darkness. Arka tried to scream, but no sound came out. After what felt like an eternity, he finally landed at the bottom of the abyss. A great panic hit him. He tried to scream again, but it was useless. Not only was his voice gone, but his sight was too. Everything was dark.
After walking directionlessly in the darkness for a long time, he saw a point of light. Arka ran with all his might, hoping to reach the light. But as if the light was a mirage, he kept running without ever getting closer. Arka was frustrated; he cursed all the events that had happened to him. He gave up, knelt down, and let despair take over.
Just as he felt completely helpless, the point of light began to move. Slowly, the light approached, getting bigger and bigger. When the light arrived in front of him, Arka was shocked. In an instant, he saw a gigantic creature holding the Earth in the palm of its hand. The creature turned its head, looking straight at Arka. Arka's breath hitched, his heart pounded, as if his life would leave his body.
Then, everything returned to normal. Arka woke up, his consciousness back in his body, under the rain that was still falling. His body felt weak, and he tried to get up. The scenery around him felt empty. There was only rain, puddles of water, and a street lamp that glowed dimly. The event he had just experienced felt so real, and for some reason, he felt that something had changed within him.
Arka continued his heavy steps, walking home in a weakened state. Behind him, the growing dimensional rift fragment seemed to no longer matter. Upon arriving at the door, he immediately collapsed, falling into a state of extreme exhaustion.
Morning came, and Arka woke up with a body full of cold sweat and shivering. He forced himself to walk to his room and lay back on the bed. He fell asleep again, this time in a nightmare far worse than before. Groans of pain came from his lips, showing there was no peace in his sleep at all.
Another day passed. Arka woke up from his long nightmare with a feeling of emptiness. He got out of bed, rushed to shower, and realized the clock already showed 10 AM. As usual, he had breakfast while turning on the television, watching the news about the state of the world. However, this time, his mind felt blank. The emotions he usually felt seemed to have disappeared, and his body felt as light as a feather.
Suddenly, he remembered his job. He grabbed his phone and was shocked to see that a day had passed since he was last conscious. In a panic, Arka immediately put on his work uniform and rushed to the coffee shop, feeling that something much stranger was happening to him besides the continuous nightmares.
Arka ran with all his might towards the coffee shop, his work uniform feeling strange on his still-weak body. From a distance, he could already see the area filled with Hunters, police, and journalists. Police tape was stretched out, preventing anyone from approaching. The surrounding buildings looked destroyed, silent witnesses to the horror that had just occurred.
When Arka tried to get closer, a police officer stopped him. "Please don't approach this area," the officer said firmly.
"What's going on?" Arka asked, confused. "Why is everything a mess?"
The officer looked at him with a look of pity. "Last night, there was a dimensional rift in this area. Many casualties fell," he explained.
Arka's heart pounded. "The coffee shop here... what's its condition?"
The officer pointed towards the remaining rubble. "That shop was completely destroyed. The owner and his family... they couldn't be saved by the Hunters because they were too close to the rift."
Hearing that, the emotions that had felt empty suddenly returned. However, it wasn't anger or sadness that dominated. Arka felt a cold fury, but at the same time, his mind accepted the fact strangely. It was as if the death of the coffee shop owners was an unchangeable law of nature. The world now was indeed cruel, and anyone weak would become a victim. That was the law that applied to everyone.
Arka fell silent, staring at the rubble of the coffee shop. He couldn't feel deep sadness, only a strange bitterness. It seemed that the bitter experience in his subconscious had changed the way he viewed the world.