Chapter 3

Dreyden went to a place located in the Sunda Strait. That place is an island better known as the island of Krakatau, or Rakata, because on that island there is an active mountain called Krakatau. This island is located between the islands of Java and Sumatra.

Once on the island of Rakata, Dreyden went straight to the top of the volcano, followed by Michael. Once they reached the top of the mountain, they immediately jumped into the mountain caldera and had to jump many times to avoid the hot steam from the lava of Mount Krakatau. After making eleven jumps, they finally arrive at a niche similar to a cave.

Dreyden and Michael fit into that niche. Surprisingly, once they entered the recess of the cave, they didn't feel the heat anymore, even though this place felt quite warm and not humid. Dreyden and Michael continued their pace, and after walking through ninety-one turns, they finally arrived at their destination.

The place, like a prison, had eleven small pillars the size of a finger, with a distance of fifteen to twenty-five centimeters between each other, which became the separator between Dreyden's standing place and the one in prison.

The prison looks quite fragile and can make the imprisoned free to go out, but the reality is not as imagined. Because the person who was inside the prison was bound by a large chain attached to the walls of the cave, It wasn't just his hands that were bound; his two legs were as well.

The person was a silvery-white-haired man; his hair was so long that it was piled on the floor, and his beard and long mustache almost touched his knees. A glimpse of the man in the passage is like seeing a helpless old man, but his turquoise eyes still exude the aura of life.

"Klaus," Dreyden said to the man.

The man Klaus called turned his head, and as soon as he saw Dreyden and Michael, he immediately spat on the floor, and his spittle hit his own hair roll. "You're friends with that lowly creature, Dreyden, huh? Have our people become extinct under your leadership?"

"Four hundred years in brackets with a silver chain in the prison that is also made of silver still makes you arrogant, Klaus," Dreyden said with a spout. "I did all that not because of my greed for your power, but because you have already killed many humans. I saved our people because of your act of showing your identity even without a full moon."

Klau grinned, the four hundred years in brackets still couldn't reduce the aura of nobility that belonged to him. Dreyden looked at Klaus with regret. Because exactly one week after Djiwa's death, Klaus had to be locked up in this place so that he wouldn't kill more humans. They were forced to erect a wall on the edge of the mountain's caldera in order to hide Klaus from humans, even when this mountain erupted in 1883. Klaus still did not leave this mountain.

"Klaus, you certainly remember the consequences were not due to your actions; we were searched for and almost wiped out! We searched in every corner of the country!"

"Those indigenous humans don't know how to kill us, Dreyden!"

"Natives are indeed not! But the Dutch, English, and Portuguese who joined you in killing them know the weakness of the werewolf, Klaus! They are looking for us with silver bullets. We almost lost Lynn, two silver bullets lodged in her body. We even had to lose Raze and Andreas because they tried to kill Lynn and Eleanor!"

"I chased them because they killed Djiwa!"

"Djiwa makes you lose your mind, and it hurts us. Do Raze, Andreas, Lynn, and Eleanor mean anything to you?"

Klaus looked away.

"It's that greed, and your feelings for that frail and easily killed creature, Klaus, that makes you like this. For thousands of years, Lynn loved you, but your love never reciprocated it. Lynn Daciana Viltarin, the great descendant of the most respected werewolf. Your cousin loves you more deeply than she loves her life. But her feelings you ignore just for the sake of a woman like Djiwa! A woman you can never have because of your difference in destiny!"

"I know," Klaus said weakly. "I know Lynn's feelings are also yours, Dreyden. I don't want to repay Lynn's feelings because I know my brother loves her."

Dreyden was the one who turned his head this time.

"You guys should have been together when you locked me up in this damned place, Dreyden!"

"It's not you, Klaus, who is stupid for love. I still have some common sense!"

"Nonsense! Until when do you want to deceive yourself, huh?" asked Klaus with a laugh. "You locked me up in this cursed place not because I killed humans, but because you also wanted Lynn and were worried that heartbreak would make me look away from Djiwa."

Dreyden tried to contain his anger as strongly as possible, especially when he heard Klaus' roar of laughter, similar to the howling of a wolf.

"You shouldn't have to worry about that, Dreyden. I have time to fall in love with having to lead war after war; think of dozens of strategies that can strengthen our nation so that it doesn't go extinct in the hands of vampires. I don't have enough time to fall in love. You should have been able to have Lynn a long time ago!"

"Nonsense, you fell in love with humans, and she made you weak."

"No, she's not! She raised her sword, Dreyden. She knew she was going to die, but she valiantly led the charge in defense of her nation and people!"

"Lynn did the same!"

"Because Lynn is indeed a strong girl, a werewolf soldier, she is different from Djiwa!" Klaus was not to be outdone. "I've seen her since she was a child, saw her play swords for the first time, saw him fall while riding, and dreamed of becoming a Srikandi1.Imagine Dreyden's dream, Srikandi, the woman who could kill Bhisma1 in the Kurusetra1 field."

Dreyden laughed. "I didn't expect that after four hundred-plus years, you even still remember the Mahabharata story that the little girl said, Klaus!" Said Dreyden mockingly. "But you know, it's not if Srikandi doesn't die on the battlefield and that girl of yours, not Srikandi.After all, I think Djiwa is a dead Amba, and you, Bhisma, who can't die except by his own will,"

"Isn't that good? That means I'll meet with Djiwa one more time, and this time she'll be Srikandi."

"The one who will kill you! Because in this world, you are Bhisma, and don't forget your hatred of Djiwa, Klaus. Until her body was reduced to ashes, the hatred was even beneath her."

Hearing Dreyden's remarks, Klaus laughed out loud instead, because he knew the hatred wasn't directed at Djiwa. Djiwa loves him just as much as he loves Djiwa, and Klaus survives in this cursed place because he hasn't found Djiwa's reincarnation. But he now knows Djiwa has been born somewhere out there, but he isn't ready to meet her.

1: Srikandi, Bhisma, Amba and Kurusetra : is the name of a character in Hindu mythology's Mahabharata story.