Somewhere that afternoon, a short man had just finished repairing his raft. Now, he was attempting to inaugurate it in a modest way. He began rolling up his black shorts, then stepped toward the edge of the lake while blowing on a leaf pressed against his tongue inside his thick-lipped mouth.
Prett proott prett... Prett proott prett...
The sound surprisingly managed to entice the dragonflies around the edge of the surrounding water puddles. The insects drifted slowly toward him, circling around the man's grey-haired head with its dangling tuft.
Before long, his raft splashed into the shallow, mossy lake water filled with water lettuce. The man spat the leaf he had been blowing to the side, instantly causing the dragonflies to scatter back to their activities.
He opened his arms with a cheerful look on his face. "Tada! My boat can be used again!"
His expression suddenly changed as he realized something was missing. "Huh, where did those dragonflies go?"
Slowly, he climbed onto it. Once balanced, his right hand picked up a scoop beside a bucket of tools laid inside the raft, dipped it into the water, and began to paddle.
As he navigated the shallow lake, the ponytail-haired man observed the giant gayam trees, thick and mossy from the base up. Their roots resembled monster claws gripping outward from the soft, mist-shrouded, shrub-filled ground. Numerous climbing vines crept across the dense foliage, some even dangling down to touch the puddles of water. The coils of hanging vines stretched between the tree branches, connecting one tree to another, making Nawijem Swamp look like an untouched realm from another world.
Shortly after, he steered his raft toward an old, long-fallen giant gayam tree. Its trunk was covered in moss, but it looked the most unique in the swamp area because it featured windows. In front of its arched doorway was a porch covered with a thick, shabby cloth coated in moss and fungi, while its raised floor formed a semicircle extending out over the lake's surface.
The tip of his raft touched the mossy support stilt of the raised floor. He adjusted it until the raft was alongside and pressed close to the wet floorboards of the porch.
He put his scoop back down, picked up the bucket of tools, and stepped forward slowly. His small feet walked toward a set of chairs crafted from tree stump roots, right beneath the porch window.
Slowly, he placed the bucket beside a clay pot filled with lush plants on top of the root table, then took out a knife from the bucket.
"Tonight, mushrooms are on my menu..." His eyes stared at the blade he held while imagining the spices for his dish.
With small, relaxed steps, he rounded the side toward the front of his fallen tree house.
"Good afternoon, Wus-wus..." greeted the man to his dwarf horse, which was tied to one of the branched limbs.
Startled, the horse spontaneously raised its head before it could finish chewing the grass in its mouth. The horse neighed softly, occasionally swishing its tail and glancing at the middle-aged man in a shabby black vest worn with the marks of daily labor.
The man nodded briefly, as if his greeting had just been returned.
He descended a wooden log staircase, then walked toward a medium-sized wooden signpost that read: Nang kene anggone Solor Ngomah
The porch of his home faced a shady forest. In front of the arched door was a spacious, clean, well-kept yard, decorated with small oil lamps tied with ropes from tree to tree, connecting all the way above the doorway.
In the center of the yard, under the orange glow of the oil lamps, sat a set of wooden root-stump chairs with several books scattered haphazardly. The massive trees surrounding the area were neatly kept, adorned with arrangements of various snail shells resting on the ground around every side of the roots.
"How strange, Samiranah didn't send a letter," he muttered while peeking into a cage mounted at the end of a tree pole. He opened a coconut shell container beneath it, then poured a portion of seeds into the feeding bowl.
Afterward, he walked into the shady forest. It was quite a distance away, but he could still see his fallen tree house nestled among the giant gayam trees.
His grey ponytail bent forward as he stooped to harvest wood ear mushrooms clustering on a tree stump.
Suddenly, the soft ground beneath his feet shifted softly under his leather strap sandals. The shaking grew stronger.
He froze, then stood up straight.
Ogrokk ogrokk... Ogrokk... Kresekk kreskkekk...
The sound of swaying trees grew increasingly loud.
His gaze swept around, looking at the puddles of water, the lake's surface, and up at the branches. Everything was swaying violently.
He glanced back toward his home and Wus-wus, which were still visible despite the distance.
He spread his arms slightly to maintain his balance, his mind filled with confusion.
"Is this an earthquake? Or...?"
The violent shaking of the ground grew even more intense, forcing him to run toward his house immediately.
MBLUUUSSHHHH! GRRUSSAKKKK! MBYUUOOORRR!
Mid-run, from his somewhat distant vantage point, he was utterly shocked to witness a giant gayam tree collapse and slam into the water.
"Oh dear... This is bad!"
Mbbyuuooorrr!
Similar occurrences happened on the other side... and eventually everywhere.
The sinking ground caused numerous trees to fall.
Solor collapsed to a sitting position just as he almost reached his house because the tremor threw him off balance. Worse, the ground beneath his feet caved in, causing him to slide into a deep sinkhole.
"Damn it..."
As he got up, he threw aside his mushrooms and knife, then tried to climb the earthen wall. The wall was relatively easy to climb, as the soil was damp and filled with tree roots.
In the distance, his tree-trunk home was now tilted. Its stump base had sunk into the earth. Lake water rushed rapidly to fill the depression, flooding part of the porch and creeping into the house.
Meanwhile, the tip of the branch on the opposite side tilted high up. His horse neighed frantically, struggling violently. The tether around its neck tightened every time its small body attempted to jump down.
The ground tremors, which had briefly subsided, began shaking violently once again.
"Wus-wus...!" Solor shouted as fast as he could, trying to save his horse with a racing heartbeat.
Before he could reach it, a puddle beside him suddenly shot upward three times the height of a human.
"The Light Pillar...!"
Solor was startled and knocked back as he tried to dodge. However, the airborne water showered down on him as he ran toward his house. He caught a pungent smell, and his skin burned as soon as the water touched it.
"What is happening...!?"
Shortly after, eruptions of gas began bursting across various corners of Nawijem Swamp.