Behind The Missing Trace

Once upon a time, a little blond boy came to a village near long river. He was accompanied by no people. He walked away as there was no resident to ask for direction. He carried a black square suitcase on his left hand. On his right hand he carried nothing except his dirty colored hat. He looked like having a long traveling before getting this town. He stopped. He tried to sit beneath the oak tree. The sun went mad.

After a long break, there was a cart passing by him slowly. The blond boy, suddenly, got up and followed that cart. Unfortunately, when they reached a forest in the south, he missed the cart. However, he tried to find it by going along the cart stamp on the ground.

“I though I could ask them for direction. Hmm, Metro Kingdom. I have no idea where to find it,’ while taking some break near the river.

That boy opened his small bag and took a dull map. “Now, I guess, I am almost in Ganjar Agung Village. It means that I will get to Metro Kingdom,” he kept looking at the map and was in silent. “But why didn’t I find any villagers along this way.” He was shocked, “Am I supposed to be lost?” “Shit!” throwing the map to the ground.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaa!”

He heard a screaming near him. “What the hell of that!” He stood up and searching for where the screaming came from. He was surprised by the three giant flying bees attacking a girl wearing an antique dress.

“Help me! Help me!,” shout the dwarf girl. She held a wand that has a blue small crystal ball on the top.

The boy got his bag and took a small pouch. “Magic Pouch! Physical Bow!” suddenly, he held a bow that came out from that pouch. One of the three giant bees addressed him by shooting its sting in turn.

“Shit! I cannot release my arrow if it attacks me by this way. I should make a plan”, he run to hide behind the trees. “Nice. I knew it.”

The giant bees kept searching for the boy by going around the area while the others are trying to capture the dwarf. The girls kept screaming. The boy directly jumped over the flying bee and stand on it. “Paralyzed Arrow!” as he released the arrow right to its head, that bee was paralyzed. He, then, hit the other one. “Paralyzed Arrow!” when he was trying to shoot the last bee from up the bee body he firstly shot, suddenly, an amount of giant bees gathered in that area.

“Oh my . . .!” He kept standing and still holding the bow.

Unpredictable, two giant bees attacked him from behind and released the poison bee stings. The boy had no chance to avoid them. The stings became closer to the boy. He just had no way to run. The stings hit the boy’s bodies.

“Shhhhield!”

In the right time, an elastic shield covered the boy bodies and bounced to the ground closer to the dwarf girl. The giant bees chased the boy by releasing the stings to the bounced shield but had no effect.

“A . . . a . . . are you a . . . alright?” asked her.

The boy was amazed, “How. . . you . . . bah! Why don’t you use your magic since the beginning?” speaking rudely.

“”I am sorry. I am just a novice. So I cannot spell it once.” Confessed the girl.

“Oh, I see. Now . . .” before completing his words, the bees releasing a great amount of poison stings to them.

“Shield!” They were covered by the bubble shield, “Wait a minute. It looks like unordinary poison stings.” Guessed the girl.

“What do you mean?”

“Look! When our shield bounced the poison stings attack, the poison lubricant spilled the surrounding us and melt the ground, trees, and any things affected by it. It never happened with another poison sting. The only I think is that this poison contain dense high acid. And I assume that it is only produced by the Queen of The Giant Bee. I guess so.”

The boy just looked at the dwarf girl suspiciously, “You are a novice magician or a sage, aren’t you?”

While they were discussing, smaller poison bee stings almost hit the shield. “First shield, Ground Ring!” A transparent shield of ground protected them. Smaller and normal bee stings hit the shield on and on. The shield seemed to be broken.

“We are finished”, said the boy.

They heard a strange voice. “For the eternity of the air, for the mortal ocean, the living earth are the glory of the universe, I summon the ancient beast “Flying Turtle”. And the weather changed. The sky were going to be black covered by the dark clouds. The air breezed strongly. The rain fall down on the earth and a giant turtle with a pair of phoenix wing were flying above them.

“What!” the boy pointed out it, “Who is he? He is a human. I never know that human could be a summoner.”

That giant turtle opened his mouth. There is a man standing on her shell. He had also a pair of wing. “Fire Blast!” then, the turtle blast fire from its mouth and swing its wings that makes fire become rudeness and directly hit the bees and the Queen. “We made it.”

The fog is surrounding the area hitting by the attack. That man and his giant turtle go down from the sky. But, before reaching the ground, the Queen came out from the fog heading to the giant flying turtle. It stopped on the air and lunched one huge sting from its tail and two stings from its hands.

To be continued . . .

M. Sayid Wijaya

VOCABULARY CARD

This is the simple technique to memorize vocabulary for the novice. I have got this from my lecture in Vocabulary and Pronunciation class, Mr. SUPARNI HADI. It would be better to have a partner to exchange and practice your words.

(Word) (Class of word / part of speech)	(Definition of the word. You can make it by yourself)
(Example)	(The example of the word in sentence.)

Cushion N (Noun)	Small bag filled with soft material to make sit more comfortable.
Example:	My aunt has bought some new full colored cushion for his new sofa.

Hints:

Make three new words each one day!

Memorize it!

Review in the seventh day!

Practice in writing!

SANTRI DAN DOA

Sehabis acara mujahadahan yang melelahkan di alun – alun kampung, seorang santri bertanya pada kiainya, “Apakah semua doa yang kita panjatkan dapat membuat kita lebih dekat kepada Allah?”

“Apakah segenap doa yang kau panjatkan dapat membikin matahari terbit esok hari?” ujar kiai, bertanya balik.

“Tentu saja tidak! Matahari terbit berdasarkan sunnatullah.”

“Ya, itulah jawabannya. Kedekatan kita dengan Allah bukan lantaran banyaknya doa yang kita panjatkan.”

Santri itu tersentak bingung.

“Jika demikian, apakah doa kita sia-sia?” katanya mencoba menyimpulkan.

“Sudah pasti tidak. Apabila besok kau tidak bangun pagi maka kau tidak akan pernah menyaksikan matahari terbit. Dan, meski Allah senantiasa bersama kita, jika kau tidak berdoa maka selamanya kau tidak akan pernah merasakan kehadiran –Nya,”

Fahrudin Nasrulloh, “Syaikh Branjang Abang”, hlm. 15-16

PERJALANAN KIAI SIRAJ

Kiai Siraj ditanya oleh salah seorang sahabatnya “Apakah sampean tidak punya niat untuk menikah di usia yang 50 tahun ini?”

“Ya, punya,” jawab Kiai Siraj. “Dulu saat masih muda, aku telah bersusah payah mencari perempuan yang sempurna. Pernah dari Tasikmalaya aku merambah hutan belantara untuk sampai ke Demak, dan aku bertemu seorang perempuan yang sangat alim dan jelita, namun ia tidak tahu apa apa tentang urusan dunia. Aku tidak mau perempuan macam ini. Kemudian kulanjutkan perjalanan ke Madiun. Di sana, aku bertemu seorang perempuan yang alim dan menguasai kehidupan duniawi. Sayangnya, gadis itu tidak cantik. Aku juga tidak ingin puya istri yang jelek seperti dia. Lantas aku melanjutkan perjalananku lagi ke Surabaya, di sana aku dijamu makan malam di rumah seorang perempuan yang amat cantik, taat beragama dan sukses dalam urusan dunia.”

“Lalu, mengapa kau tidak menikahinya?”

“Dia tidak mencintaiku!”

Fahrudin Nasrulloh, “Syaikh Branjang Abang”, hlm. 94