The Goddess of Inokua Temple

Chapter 1

'Naturally, my story begins when I was a baby, but of course I don’t remember. Hmm, in short, the tumultuous experience that I live in, hereby starts with me turning 22. Nothing special really, me, a college student, getting by every day with self-disgust and god-complex at the same time. Demanding the world to bow at my feet yet still doing nothing but be a lazy bum. After all the college hardships and at last the graduation event, I am having a new problem called neighbors and society expectation and interest for the next's preneur I should be on. JOB. '

'I spent a good month doing nothing at home but just helping my mom, doing whatever the great empress bid. Then came my very first job that made the neighborhood gossip and my mother was somehow relieved at the temporary escape from joblessness I was in.

Nothing much, just typing, storing data and drawing. Simple and easy, very suitable for me honestly, though I believe I'm good at everything, that kind of confidence that they should be thankful I grace them with my presence. This unknown self-belief is somehow good for me and I should be thankful. The problem is, it made me a little bit unsociable and bossy at times.

In short, normal problems and normal life. Perfect in imperfection and simplicity'

'The turning point is when there is a shining line on the floor where I sit my lazy ass. And hulala, a magic circle out of nowhere. How could I know? Easy, I'm very confident in saying I'm quite experienced and wise in fantasy like storyline and all the corresponding media to contain it, in the form of 2 dimensions. So honestly said, I'm surprised but not that much to stop my brain to works. The first question is obviously, what happens?'

'Observing my surroundings, the pattern span the entire floor, with all my colleagues on it.'

'The second question is, huh? Who made it? What is the purpose? Is this f*****g real?!'

'Yes sadly, it answered my last question by shining brightly like a limelight in the daylight, and then we are moved to an unknown location with white brick walls and vines everywhere. '

'And then I answered my own question: this must be the doing of a fantasy god-sama, and the why is no use to think about for me right now. I Should survive whatever happens. It honestly only happens in the span of a few seconds. At one point, all people was working, and next we were gone away to who knew where. Amazing honestly'

"Huh, huh, where is it? What happened?"

"I don’t know either"

"Does anyone know what happened here?"

"WHAT HAPPENED HERE?!"

"Who the f**k is doing all this prank, hah?"

'And I thought to myself, shouldn’t we all be collected, calm and silent in unknown territory? In the case of fantasy plotlines where monsters are roaming everywhere, being loud and obnoxious is one of the causes of death after all. If I wanted to stop them, it would be too much to do with their energized fire blazing about with panic. Should I prepare for my untimely death by pig teammates?'

'Should I try to tell them the possibility that I could thought of?'

'Humhum, I think I'm panicking, a little bit at the start of despairing, and somehow like I'm given the best gift in the worst and mystical way possible. The dreams of all time, getting transported into the fantasy setting are getting true. But I couldn’t be more optimistic and happy because the chances of survival in the new reality are surely much lower and having no ability, being abused, slaved and killed, is a high possibility. Not the worst way to get my dream achieved. Not in my favor too, unfortunately.'

"Calm down everyone, we should be calm in unexpected situations."

"Does anyone have a sliver chance of knowledge as to what may be happening now?"

"Boss, there is no internet connection, and we can't use the phone."

"Is there any sort of communication device any of you that could be used?"

'Visibly, everyone seemed dejected, confused and having no response to the situation appropriately. Though I wonder what the appropriate reaction should be in this situation.'

"I think we should go out from wherever here is."

Panick keep bounding hard and deep in the throat, fear is awesomely gripping all their minds. Perfect chaos

"But!"

"Everyone was looking at the young man, aged 24 at most, from what I saw, with fear and confusion in his eyes."

"There is a magic line before we are transported here."

"What do you mean?"

"You see, before we get here, there is a blue line that is shining across the floor we are standing on. Then somehow, with blinding light, we appear here. From what I know, it's only happened in stories, and its called teleportation, transmigration, something like that."

"So you want to say, we are transported to without our consent or knowing another place? Come on, is it possible in this era of technology to believe in children's stories?"

'The leader seems to have a headache because of all the possibilities that is happening toward us right now. The crease on his forehead and the puckered like angry expression looked displeasing.'

Asking tentatively with fear etched in his face and voice trembling with nervousness, the young man answered

"I don’t know either. Maybe we should explore?"

"Yeah, I think so too. We need to get out of here after all"

"Yeah okay, who will check?"

'Everyone was looking at each other. In this situation, I think my position is quite good, I'm a woman, fragile. And then there are men. In this early confusion, without any danger to be seen, we would still maintain the basic principle of male chauvinistic ideology. Seems good enough for now.'

"Okay, I will go out to check with Sigit and Subari."

"Uhm, do we have to?"

Glaring at their direction, the silent persecution by the other people feels abounding

"Okay boss"

"Please be careful"

After three people go out of the room, the other people look at each other with suspicion and fear towards their surroundings.

'We are waiting in the abandoned room? Full of moss and vines? Don’t know how there are plants where there is no sunlight whatsoever. Wait, for further thinking, why can we see if there is no visible opening and no lamp? Squinting my eyes through my glasses, I thought I could see a small white and golden-like thing on the ceiling of the room.'

'Is it like some lighting bacteria that could shine? Like in tropical beaches? No, that's algae'

'Waw really?'

'Should be inspected'

"Aifiii, what do you think is the source of the light?"

'I said it aloud, to make others as curious as me. Everyone started looking at the ceiling too. Good'

"Yeah, you are right."

"I have just realized it now. I don’t think I observe it that much."

"Who can take those things off to be seen clearly? Can we take it off?"

'Finally, someone talks and orders people to stand up.'

"Yeah, I will try to scrape it off. Does anyone have some stick?"

"No, no, there aren’t any. Anyone have anything?"

Silence and people looking around with no result at all.

"Then you should be on my shoulder and go take it"

"Good idea, let's do it!"

"Ughhh, you are so heavy!"

"Hey, I'm standard-weight okay"

"A little bit higher, come on!"

'They look like a father carrying his son on the shoulder, except it is an overgrown child, amusing.'

"I got it!"

Wooo, cheer. People pick the moss from the ground where it falls off

"Come, let us all look at it, what is it like, what is it?"

'A few people crowded the man with the little lamp, and tried to squish it one after another. It's better to wait till they lose interest and get my turn to observe. I went around once again, seeing the entrance still the same as when the leader went out. I wondered if they have been well?'

'I wonder if we will all die horribly? Or can we go out safely?

'After a long time passed, I got my turn to squish the thing in my hand.'

"I thought it looked special, it just feels like moss with light emitted, but not enough to go blind. Its surprisingly squishy"

"I think so too. It feels good"

'So, they are moss like lamps. Basic fantasy. Wonder what the fantasy man would say to this phenomenon.'

'Looking over at the man with a nervous expression earlier, now he seems alright. I think everyone is getting sleepy. Almost half of us are already sleeping. Why do they sleep so haphazardly though? Thinking of this, I get down to a comfortable place to sleep also. '

"Aifii.... I'm sleepy...."

'Looking next to me, she's already asleep. Well, forget it. Sleep is sleep.'

'I think the fatigue is starting to get over me. I feel tired and sleepy. Am I somehow affected by chemicals in here? Are there any though? I feel like I'm coming to a very comfy peace of slumber. It's nice to get rid of adrenaline and fear with confusion and distress.'

'The moment I woke up, there was bright light all over, in an open space of hall-like place. That’s what I get after enduring the momentary blindness from sudden light after sleep, the anemic-like feeling in my head after getting my sleep interrupted and the bad mood that follows. In short, terrible.'

'The floor is made of paved rock with many cracks all over the walls, yet the pillars seem to keep standing, though I doubt for how long. There were no vines visible, and the sun streaming through the half-open and destroyed round ceiling. I think it looks like a beautiful and ruined holy palace. Something of that kind of vibe. Sacred even in its ruin.'

'I look at the surroundings, wondering where the others are. They are all sleeping. With no sign of anyone else waking up or any movement whatsoever. I thought all still happily asleep. Why should I wake up first? I sleep so well after so long. A bother to wake up'

Murmur murmur

Step step

'There is a faint sound from afar, probably. Can't really believe my defective hearing. Okay, it's getting louder, there must be people. Better be careful, pretend to be asleep. If it's safe, wake up.'

"How long would they be asleep for?"

"Is there anything that could help them wake up somehow?"

"Even if there is, we don’t know, and there is no way to get it. Things got real hard after we got here. We can't even go out of this building!"

"Sigh, I don’t know what to do anymore"

"Aren’t they going to wake up soon?"

"I don’t know Ted, I don’t know."

'wow, they really sound so dramatic'

'I wonder when I should wake up? How long do they plan to sleep? How long would they just stand there? Why can't the three of them leave from here and go somewhere? I need to explore! I get it that we need protection, but still, ruining my possible fun.'

'The sun is getting set and they start to move, looking for food maybe? But why at night? Isn’t it more dangerous? Weird'

'They don’t say anything anymore, and probably say something while I'm asleep. It's not my fault that lying down doing nothing makes me sleepy. After they are gone for a few minutes, I will go explore this place. Probably.'

'After I waited for a while, the sun set, and the sanctuary became like a ruin of destruction. Literally, for how it looks, no metaphor.' 'Its been quiet, too quiet. No birds chirping, no small animals squeaking and no groans or any leaves going with the wind. Hell I feel no wind at all. Weird. Super weird.'

Wondering wondering

'I stood up and started looking around the room for any clue that may be there. It's clean except for the debris and the dust. It means no people here make trash. Then what did the three people eat earlier? Water and moss? No water though? Where do we get water?' 'After thinking about it, I feel thirsty suddenly. Damn thoughts.'

'Wait, aren't the people who fall asleep feel weirdly silent? Isn't it normal for people to move or snore while sleeping? They looked half dead. The kind of dead body, but not that eerie. Not sure about my own thoughts, I put my finger below the nose of the sleeping people. Breathing. Confirmed.'

'Nah they're still alive. I'm okay. They must be okay too. Maybe they will wake up not long after'

'Looking at other people and poking their faces, not dead, just asleep. They are warm. Though I'm not sure for how long. They are yet to experience the malnutrition of falling in a coma, which means less then a week. Hell, it could be just a day. Nah, I'm no detective, useless to play analyze.'

'Should I explore outside this room? To corridor? From what I see, there is a corridor with a faint light coming from it. Maybe the three are going there. Should I follow? If found out, just say curious and just wake up. It's good to hoard food whenever you can.'

'Trying not to make any sound, I walked into the dimly lit corridor, from afar there was light moss on the ceiling and the corridor was f*****g long. Is it tilted down somehow? I feel slightly like going downhill. How do I know? Meh feeling of course. Me no expert huh'

'Where are the people going? I'm tired. Should I go back? Though it is dark, the fact we are there and I'm still able to wake up proves the place to be somewhat safe. Okay, go back.'

'So I tracked back to where I came from, while walking uphill feel like battle for my foot, my foot!'

'So tired, hungry, and thirsty! Can't there be something that I could eat or drink? Can I eat the light moss? But I'm not tall enough to get that, and no tools either. I'm hopeless! Maybe I would end up as a shriveled zombie in the never-ending corridor who died of starvation. Yeah sound perfect. No! f*****g airhead! I want to eat!'

Drrcckk…

"Eh?"

'What is it? Arrow? Trap?'

'My heart was beating furiously and my instinct flared like I'm about to die, probably true.'

Nothing happened.

'Nothing f*****g happened?'

'What's that before?'

'Ooooh there is some brick or tile that I touched. Its moving inward. Should it be like a secret passage? But one brick can't be used?' 'Just a little indent meant nothing. Should I try to touch another brick?'

Tap tap taptaptaptapatap…

Nothing happens

'Disappointment'

'Huh, let's jump on the floor! Fun things while alive!'

Thump thump thump

'And dancing!'

'While touching the brick!'

Thump thump thump thud thud thud

Drrrkkkkk!

"Aa!"

'My body fell through the hole that opened from the wall leading to the stairs underground.'

'I think my bottom hurts, and my head is dizzy. My bottom hurts!'

'Where am I by the way?'

Swooshhhh

"Whoaaa, the torch was lit by themselves!"

'The staircase leading down, lit by torches. It feels like some dungeon and secret room. There will be experiments and monster? Am I gonna die?!'

'Nah, main characters in stories always get good things-that’s what I thought.'

"Then, let's go down and start another adventure!"