ULAM. -- The Escaped Version

"Tyzen..."
"Huh?"
"Why Ulam is called Ulam?"

Tyzen sat up and looked at Sara, gave her a light kiss on her lips. Sara looks so beautiful under the starry night.

Tyzen hold Sara closer to him, "Sara my love.. 'Ulam' means 'far away' in our ancient language..."

"Far away?"
"..yes.. far away... like the ancient time was far away from the present; like the present is far away from the future..."

*********************************************************

"THAT'S really FAAAR AWAY~~ Sara, " Marz started to rumble, waking Sara up from all her memories with Tyzen, "are we there yet?"

"..erm... almost.." Sara wasn't paying attention. She started to bring Duncan and Marz went around the bushes 1 hour before, when she started to feel hesitate about her plan with Lang.

"Here's the plan -- I know you want to be with Tyzen; and that's bring both of us to have a same purpose -- so you get Duncan to ULAM, and I'll bring Suki there. Duncan is the offering to reach the purpose, but he needs to agree to sacrifice 'willingly', at least we have to make him to, that's why we need Suki as a bait. How's that?" Lang approached Sara the night when she called Tyzen out using Brutus' plates.

Calling out Tyzen wasn't a good idea at all. Sara thought she's got Tyzen over but she's not. She was totally defeated by Tyzen's reappearance in front of her, and her weakness was witnessed by Lang, a man who always knows the perfect timing to use someone's weak points as an opportunity.

Today is the day -- the 16th day of summer in Ulam, the day when the full moon is the fullest, the day when Lang will receive his immortality, the day Sara will be with her Tyzen, forever and ever -- but Sara wasn't so sure about that, but she knew Tyzen will suport her decision.

-- In fact, this is what Tyzen wanted, this is why Tyzen released Lang from the Forest of Sin. "Because I love you Sara, and I miss you so much, and Lang is the only way could help me to have you -- we'll be in Ulam, we'll not separate from each other, in Ulam.." This was what came out from Tyzen's mouth that night, the night that Sara for the first time saw Tyzen in tears, the night that Sara realized both of them are so much inseparable...

Sara stopped. The hidden path lay on their left was the one would lead them to the sacred place. Sara could choose to keep on deviating from the path as what she did for the past 1 hour. Her hand inside her pocket reached the Brutus' plates. She had made up her mind.

"Turn left. We almost there." She instructed.

************************************************************

"Hey.. you are so beautiful.. It's just too bad you're the chosen one..." Almost whispered, Lang smiled at his sleeping beauty in his arm. Suki fell asleep soundly after the long deep kiss with Lang. Obviously the poison on his lips was effective.

Not bad. Lang tasted his own lips. The poison has a flavor that couldn't be defined. He found this poison in The Forest of Sin. He was caged there by the Ulam locals after he came down from the mountain, because they believed the new Langkasuka could only be officialized with the declaration of the old one. Without that, The Forest of Sin would be the place for the potential new Langkasuka, to spend his remaining time, until his destiny released him.

The local believes, The Forest of Sin is the place of condemnation. All bad intentions will be revealed and will be punished -- regardless of whether the bad things have been done, or not.

Lang just shouldn't have showed off his new power to the locals. He spent his most humiliated days in the Forest of Sin, and he cursed so much and swore to destroy the Forest of Sin, and the whole Ulam, one day, when he became the Langkasuka.

Lang lifted Suki up, and started to move toward the sacred place. The full moon was rising from the horizon.

**********************************************************

"But I still don't understand, Dunk," trying hardly to make way out of the think bushes, Marz raised his question, "..you said the reign of a Langkasuka is.. erm.. what.. 5 generations? Then that's not immortality, right?"

"...ye--ah.. in a way.. I don't know... but nobody really wants to be immortal, right? Try imagine if you are immortal but not your loved ones. How torturing it could be to see them dying one after one, leaving you day after day...." Duncan tried to not sound sentimental, "..it's gonna be lonely, man.."

"... you're right bro... what's the whole world mean to you if you don't have that someone you love?" Marz clearly fell into his blues to think of his own loneliness.

Sara was listening to their conversation, quietly, until the last sentence came out from Marz, she was stunned.

What's the whole world mean to you if you don't have that someone you love?
She started to see a point that she'd never thought of before... The face of Tyzen started to flash in her mind.. Her heart started to pump vigorously, she felt harder to breath.. All what she heard from Tyzen before, bore another meaning now--

-- "Because I love you Sara, and I miss you so much, and Lang is the only way could help me to have you -- we'll be in Ulam, we'll not separate from each other, in Ulam.." -- "Ulam' means 'far away' in our ancient language.. far away... like the ancient time was far away from the present; like the present is far away from the future..."

...................

Now she understood. Both her legs became weak, she fell on her knee... "no way.." she murmured..

All these while, she thought she's helping Tyzen to be mortal, so that they can finally be together, like a normal human..; All these while, Lang thought he's on his way to be immortal... All these while, Sara and Lang thought they were executing a plan that planned by Lang....

..It was all wrong..

It was Tyzen's plan, all these while..

The full moon rose. Sara, Duncan and Marz could see the silhouette of the sacred place, ahead of them, in the deep deep jungle..