A Man From The Past

Now Abdul opened his eyes which had been closed for about a minute. With a confused face, he looked around. He found he was in the bus he was riding. He looked around in amazement at every corner, surprised to see the condition of the bus that looked normal. He remembered that the bus had fallen and even sunk into the lake. But what he witnessed now was that the bus was still running fine. Everyone on the bus looks fit and clean. Even the person sitting next to him was still the same person.

He wanted so badly to think it was just a dream, but it was so real. He could still feel the chill on his wet body from splashing into the lake, even though the state of his clothes now looked dry and normal.

This confusion made his whole body feel hot and cold at the same time, the thin hairs on the skin of his hands stood up with shivers of fear, his heart was beating fast, while his face now didn't dare to turn around as he began to plant suspicions that the cause of the appearance of his delusional image was the man sitting next to him. . Between fear and curiosity, his eyes that showed a worried expression now glanced at the man.

"Don't be too afraid, I'm not a demon," said the man next to him.

"Who are you?" asked Abdul, glancing in fear.

"A few minutes ago I told you my name!" the man warned. "You have a hard time being polite to elders, young man!"

In his heart, Abdul said, "This person is very strange, why should he call him 'Young man'? While himself is not so much different in age from me."

"Sorry, I think I've been asleep for a few hours so I forgot," said Abdul reasoned. Now he had the courage to look at the man.

"My name is Jayendra, just call me Jay," Jay said introducing himself. "You call that sleep? a few hours? You only closed your eyes for a minute."

"I'm Abdul," introduced himself. Now he felt quite calm because Jay was not so mysterious anymore when he was about to start a conversation. "Is that so? Indeed, sometimes dreams can seem longer, even though I only sleep for a while," he continued.

"Abdul, know that what you saw earlier was not a dream," Jay said.

When Jay said that, Abdul was increasingly convinced that his experience must have something to do with Jay.

"I do not understand?" asked Abdul confused.

"What do you see?"

"I have not only seen, but experienced, and it is very real," said Abdul explaining what he felt. "A horseman who claims to be a fugitive from the Galuh Kingdom invites me to accompany on a journey that doesn't know where to go."

"Accompany? Not be his servant?" quipped Jay.

"How do you know?" Abdul was annoyed and surprised. "Wait a minute, did you do this to me?"

"Remember when I tapped your shoulder?" Jay asked hoping Abdul would remember.

Abdul glanced up trying to remember. "Then?" said Abdul curiously. Jay tried to explain, but in a slightly whispering voice, because he didn't want other people to know about this conversation, especially on the bus, some people had already started paying attention to their conversation.

"Listen carefully ..., what you are experiencing is not a dream. I have the ability to send people to the past, and earlier I sent you to the Galuh Kingdom, when I was young ...," Jay explained.

"Wait a minute, how did you do it?, when you were young? Aren't you still young enough now? Then if you really can do it, why should I!?" retorted Abdul with his high pitched questions.

Many people on the bus began to pay attention to them, some looked at him cynically because Abdul's noisy voice disturbed some of the passengers who were resting. While some others just stare with curiosity.

"Calm down...! Lower your voice..., People are starting to pay attention to us..." Jayendra warned.

Feeling bad, Abdul stood up and looked at the other passengers and, "Sorry everyone, I missed it," he said with a shy smile, then sat back down.

"Try to explain!" asked Abdul who had lowered his voice.

"Promise me not to speak loudly again..." Jay whispered. Abdul nodded in agreement.

"First, I do have the ability to send people to the past through an Ajian that I learned from my old teacher. Second, I am not old, while I am already more than seven centuries old. Third, you are the fifth person I sent to the past. The first two people I sent never opened their eyes again. The next two people were frightened after opening their eyes, then they never wanted to see me forever. And that was the last time I did it, 75 years ago to two Japanese soldiers."

"Wait, my head is migrain," Abdul complained after hearing Jay's explanation. "Actually, everything you say will be easily laughed at by people who have just heard it. But because I've experienced it, it's hard not to believe. There are so many questions in my head right now for you, all of them already waiting to be issued."

"You can start with the questions you'd really like to know," Jay suggested.

"Are you a time traveler? Why don't you do it yourself?" asked Abdul curiously.

"I'm not a time traveler, but I send a time traveler with the Ajian method called Kelana Warsa or briefly called Nawarsa. Actually this Ajian Nawarsa can make people time travel anytime. But that can only be done when they reach level ten. Meanwhile, I only able to study up to level five. My master died before I finished all levels, so I can't time travel alone, but can only send other people. That too is only to go to the past, can't be used to go to the future. "

"What's the reason you sent me just now?" asked Abdul.

"You feel good about that?" Jay asked back with a mocking smile.

"Actually it was very scary, being trapped in the wilderness and then meeting a fugitive. But I consider this a gift, because not everyone can time travel," said Abdul with his face starting to radiate happiness because of his blind pride.

"It turns out that stupidity and wisdom are so thin that you consider a reward for something that is actually a punishment," Jay teased.

"Even though at first you were very quiet and looked cold, now I really want to praise you for your warm nature to new people. But wait, because I still have too many questions," said Abdul, who was already warm to talk.

"So, it's your attitude that I consider impolite to make me intend to hone skills that I haven't used for a long time. I really don't care if you wake up again or not. Because human impoliteness nowadays often makes me angry!" Jay said firmly.

"It turns out that you actually punished me, and wished me to die for such a trivial mistake." said Abdul.

"Indecency is not a trivial problem, it's a kind of parasite that leads to even more vicious problems," Jay advised.

"So how did you get up again?" Jay asked.

"Why are you asking? Can't you find out yourself?" asked Abdul.

"Listen... I always send people to the past at the same place and time, namely a lake in the wilderness of the Galuh Kingdom in 1295 AD. So, what happened to you has happened to someone I sent before. They told me that a fugitive named Saga met him and threatened him to be killed if he didn't want to be made a servant to help him during the journey to the eastern part of Galuh. So they obeyed. But because in the middle of the journey they ran away, making Saga angry, then looking for him and instantly kill them once caught," said Jay.

"From that sequence of events isn't it very long? But why did I only close my eyes for a minute you say?" asked Abdul.

"Actually the time it takes to travel time is only one second. As long as your needs were in the past, it will still only take one second. Your one minute is used for delusions that take you to your destination." Jay focused on explaining.

"What delusions?" asked Abdul in surprise.

"Didn't you feel there was a scream of all the bus passengers as soon as I tapped you on the shoulder? Then you felt the bus fall into the lake? Actually it was a delusion that I created so that this time travel feels very real and will confuse you. There are so many delusional scenarios that I can think of. wear, but it seems that the delusion I chose is the one that looks the most appropriate and makes sense to get you to your destination." Jay said.

"Okay I understand now. So, you sent both of them at once? Those Japanese soldiers? For what purpose?" asked Abdul.

"I sent them both at once, because the two of them might help me find something I'm looking for. Something that is very useful for my life. I think that with their background in the army, they can be more prepared and strong to face anything that happens during the mission. it goes on."

"Why did you send me alone?"

"I told you that my intention is only to punish your impertinence!" said Jay.

"So, how come they can wake up again while they died in the mission?"

"It's actually someone who can only wake up again after they died in the middle of a time travel mission."

"Then the two people before them couldn't come back because of what?" Ask Abdul.

"I don't know either. That's a big unanswered question," Jay said with a heart full of questions. "Then how did you die? Did the fugitive kill you too?" continued Jay.

"As I recall, I was bathing my horse in the river, but then I slipped and fell into the fast flowing river. I couldn't swim," Abdul explained.

"The deaths of the two Japanese soldiers were at least more honorable for trying to maintain their dignity, while dying by drowning in a river? Especially when bathing their master's horse? It's really sad" Jay deeply insulted.

"Why does this time travel look like a video game? I mean if the fugitive had met the Japanese soldiers in the past, I shouldn't have been able to meet him again at the same time. Because the timeline cannot go hand in hand," said Abdul who started think logically.

"What do you know about the concept of time travel?" Jay asked to test Abdul's knowledge.

"If I go to the past to change something then the future will change, right?" said Abdul confidently.

"Haha ..., you watch too many fiction movies," Jay joked with a low laugh. "If the concept of time is like that, then there will be a paradox that can destroy the laws of nature. For example, if you went to the past to kill your grandfather when you were young, then your grandfather would never marry and it would be impossible for you to have grandchildren, and you never existed. If you didn't exist, then your grandfather wouldn't have been killed. The paradox will keep repeating itself and breaking your own head if you dare to think of anything that violates the laws of nature." Jay explained.

"Then how? I still don't understand," asked Abdul

"The real concept of time is, if I go into the past to do something, it will never change the future in the reality we are living in. It will only create a new branch of reality, a new world that will coincide with our world. For example, if you went to the past to kill your grandfather when you were young, then your grandfather in the universe we live in will still exist, but in the universe of time when you kill your grandfather it will create a new branch of reality where in that universe you never existed because indeed your grandfather died when he was young." Terang Jayendra explains how it works.

"So, what's your mission to send people to the past if in the end you can't change anything? It's useless," complained Abdul.

"I will not make any changes, I will only take something from the past to bring to the present"

"So we can bring things from the past to the present?" asked Abdul excitedly.

"True. But only according to their needs. Don't harm people who live in the reality of the universe you are in," Jayendra warned. "Even you have done it, Abdul."

"Do what?" asked Abdul confused.

"You bring something from the past to the present," Jay said.

"What? I didn't bring anything."

"The wet condition on your shirt and pants is the residue from the river water that sticks to your body."

Abdul stood up, checking his pants. "Well, it's only right that I feel cold earlier."

Jayendra couldn't help but laugh at Abdul's innocence. But then the people around him started paying attention again. Staring cynically again. Jay looked back at them with a shy smile.

"That's it, let's sit down again." Jay asked with a soft laugh.

Abdul sat back down with that sour face. Jayendra is now getting interested in Abdul's personality which makes him laugh. Jay feels that he has friends because before it was very difficult for him to make friends. Maybe it's because he seems cold to those who don't know him.

Jayendra thinks Abdul will be able to help him on a time travel mission. Then now he started to have a serious expression, "Listen carefully, I'll tell you what happened in the past that I became so obsessed with sending people to time travel."

***