21. The Adventure

Ammar stands at the edge of the path--ready to enter the Lore Lindu forest.

"Ela, I hope God will bring us together as soon as possible. Even if we don't meet in this world, at least we meet in another world," said Ammar. Then he stepped into the Lore Lindu forest. He walked slowly and looked around the forest. The sound of leaves rustling in the wind makes the forest no longer quiet. The towering trees provide shade for Ammar, who walks beneath them.

While walking through the forest, Ammar shouted, "Ela Ela Ela! Where are you?!" he hoped Ela heard him.

Time kept turning, and day turned to dusk. Ammar still could not find Ela. He continued walking into the Lore Lindu forest until he felt tired and rested under a big tree. Under the tree, he took out the food he had brought two tuna sandwiches, two bananas, and a bottle of mineral water. He greedily ate the tuna sandwiches. Unfortunately, when he was enjoying his food, suddenly, five wild monkeys came towards him. The five monkeys came from the tree where Ammar was resting. Then the monkeys attacked him.

"Shuu shuu shuu," Ammar tried to chase away the five monkeys by waving his hands to the right, left, and front. However, the monkey was not afraid and continued to attack, taking bananas and food that had not been eaten.

"Damn you, monkeys!" said Ammar shouting at the five monkeys, who climbed up the tree again.

"It's very ridiculous to go to the forest and be robbed by monkeys," said Ammar. He felt annoyed because the monkeys took all the food and left only mineral water for him.

Ammar looked surprised when he saw dozens of monkeys on the tree. Ammar, who was not used to monkeys, immediately left the tree. Even though he felt annoyed with the five monkeys who had attacked him, he was grateful because the monkeys only took the food he brought and did not hurt him.

"I have to hunt for dinner for the following days," he muttered. Then he took out a map and looked for the location of the Lore Lindu River.

"Well, the river is far away. At this time, I will die of hunger and thirst," said Ammar, shaking his head. After that, he continued his journey looking for Ela and a comfortable place to rest.

***

It was getting dark, and Ammar decided to stop looking for it and would continue his search tomorrow morning. He immediately set up a tent in the bushes in the forest. After setting up the tent, he lit a fire to warm himself. He sat before the fire and reflected;

"Ela, until now, I have not found you. I hope you are well wherever you are. Ela, you know, now I am in the Lore Lindu forest, a place where you come from. Well, this is ridiculous because I know you are a liar, but I still believe that you are from the Lore Lindu forest. I don't know whether I will find you and take you back to Archipelago City or whether I will die here in vain. But what is clear is that I will continue to look for you until the end of my life.

"What's on my mind right now besides looking for you is whether you are the only vampire in this world or are there other vampires. Because there are two sides to everything, where there is good there is always evil. And if you are a good vampire, there must be an evil vampire who is super cruel. Evil vampire…" Ammar stopped contemplating and looked around the pitch-black forest area. The hair on the back of his neck stood up at once, imagining the existence of evil vampires, haunting demons, and wild animals ready to pounce on him. All the bad things on his mind scared him and he went into the tent. In the tent, he kept imagining that something bad was happening to him.

"Ela, I would rather die from being bitten by you than an evil vampire," said Ammar, who was still thinking about the existence of evil vampires. After that, he tried to sleep. Unfortunately, the sounds of wolves, owls, and crickets were heard from a distance,  enlivening the night atmosphere in the Lore Lindu forest. Because of this, Ammar, who was trying to sleep, couldn't sleep until he fell asleep by himself.

***

The next morning, Ammar woke up and continued his search. He smiled to himself about what he had been thinking all night.

"I'm still alive," he said as he walked through the forest. Ammar walked slowly while looking around him, hoping to find fruit or other types of food that he could eat.

While looking for food he shouted, "Ela Ela Ela," he kept calling Ela. When he was calling Ela suddenly there was a tiger in front of him. Ammar thought this was the end of his life. Ammar stood stunned, he thought about putting up a fight. But unfortunately, he could not fight the tiger with his bare hands. He also knew that if he fought, he would lose. Meanwhile, he would be chased if he ran, but he also did not want to stay silent.

Therefore, he decided to run as fast as possible. Ammar started running, he ran as fast as he could. Seeing Ammar running, the tiger chased him.

While running, Ammar shouted at the top of his lungs to ask for help from anyone in the forest. Unfortunately, it did not last long because Ammar started to feel tired. Apart from the tiredness he felt, the feeling of thirst and hunger made Ammar unable to survive any longer.

"Ahhh!" Ammar fell because he tripped over a tree branch.

"Oh, God," said Ammar, looking at the tiger in front of him.

"Roar!!!" the tiger's voice shook the entire Lore Lindu forest.

"Aaaahhhh!" Ammar screamed. After that, the atmosphere in the Lore Lindu forest was quiet.