Chapter 10 : Neutral Zone
1192 Words
“So, my daughter has finally woken up? I will take her home!” A man stepped into Alya’s hospital room. He was the Devil Worshipper.
The air in the room shifted instantly, as if something heavy had entered with him.
“Papa!!!” Alya screamed, panic breaking through her voice.
“Good morning, Sir. I am Dirga, head of the criminal division—regarding Alya…” Pak Dirga tried to speak.
“Shut up.” The man cut him off coldly.
A document was placed in front of him.
No explanation. No politeness.
Just authority.
Pak Dirga frowned as he read it. “Release order for the suspect… issued based on the guarantee from Harsawi Manjaya as her father… signed by the deputy head of criminal investigation… Wait, I am the deputy head. Why is this signed by my subordinate?”
His confusion hung in the air.
The man’s voice was calm. “Internal matters. There’s a stamp. It’s valid. Alya, we’re going home.”
He reached for her.
Alya recoiled immediately.
“I don’t want to go home!!!”
Three bodyguards stepped in behind him.
The room felt smaller.
Tighter.
Like a cage closing in.
Aditia stepped forward and placed a hand on the man’s shoulder.
“Sir,” he said carefully, “Alya had a seizure last night. She was screaming about a very tall entity trying to choke her. The entire hospital saw it. Patients, doctors, nurses. Some even recorded it. If those videos spread… journalists will recognize her. I already tried to stop them, but no one agreed to delete it. If you forcefully take her now, it will only draw more attention.”
A pause.
The man’s expression changed.
Not softer.
More calculating.
More alert.
He understood the risk immediately.
Exposure.
Shame.
Secrets leaking.
“Leave,” he finally said.
“But I will come back this afternoon. If she is not home by then, my men will take her by force.”
He let go of Alya.
The same hand that should have protected her once.
Now only controlled her.
Then he left.
The silence that followed felt… wrong.
Too empty.
“Take off the IV,” Aditia said quickly. “We need to leave now.”
Alya blinked. “Where are we going?”
“To someone,” he replied. “A place that’s safe. The only safe place for you right now. A neutral zone.”
Pak Dirga still stood there, staring at the release letter.
His disappointment was heavy.
“My own subordinate…” he muttered. “He was bought.”
Aditia didn’t respond.
He only guided Alya.
Money can change everything.
That thought lingered in the room like poison.
They left through the back.
Quick.
Quiet.
Almost like the world allowed them to escape.
And somehow… it did.
Outside, an old angkot waited.
A strange sight after everything that had just happened.
...
“Where are we going?” Alya asked softly.
“To the neutral zone,” Aditia said, eyes focused on the road.
The engine rumbled.
The city blurred.
“What is a neutral zone?” Alya asked again.
A faint wind slipped through the open window.
Aditia answered calmly. “A place where no supernatural entity—good or evil—can enter without permission from the owner.”
Alya blinked slowly. “Does such a place even exist?”
A small hope returned to her eyes.
“Yes,” he said. “Only a few people know about it. My father is one of them. He has taken me there before. I think he will help us.”
A pause.
Alya hesitated. “Is it… Queen of the South Sea’s kingdom?”
“What?” Aditia laughed suddenly.
A short, honest laugh.
Alya frowned. “Don’t laugh. I just thought… maybe only Nyai Roro Kidul could stop something like that.”
“No,” he said. “This place belongs to a human. Just a human.”
“Can he really help us?” she asked quietly.
“He’s not an ordinary human,” Aditia said.
A moment.
Then softer—
“Do you trust me?”
Alya looked at him.
“I trust you, Adit.”
They arrived forty-five minutes later.
The moment the gate appeared, Alya froze.
“Y—YA!!!”
Her body jolted forward in fear, grabbing his arm tightly.
The steering wheel trembled slightly as Aditia pressed the brake.
“You see them?” he asked.
“Hundreds…” Alya whispered. “No… thousands…”
They stood like a wall.
A gate of living nightmares.
Tall.
Armored.
Unmoving.
Watching.
Aditia exhaled slowly. “So you really can see them too…”
Alya turned to him. “What do you mean ‘them’?”
He nodded toward the gate.
“What you see as monsters… are guardian forces. Only those with opened spiritual sight can see them.”
A silence.
Then—
“Not hundreds,” he corrected. “Almost a thousand.”
Alya’s breath tightened.
He parked inside.
The moment they entered, everything outside went still.
But not gone.
Just… contained.
“Every country has embassies, right?” Aditia asked.
“Yes,” Alya answered slowly. “But what does that have to do with anything?”
He kept his tone steady. “If you’re a fugitive, you can enter an embassy. Local law enforcement can’t touch you there. It belongs to another sovereign system.”
A pause.
Alya listened.
Still confused.
“This place is like that,” he continued. “A spiritual embassy. No foreign entity can enter without permission. No black, white, or grey power can be sent here. It has its own law.”
Alya swallowed. “I believe you… especially after seeing what’s guarding it.”
The parking lot felt normal.
But not for her.
For someone like Alya, the air was full of things unseen by ordinary eyes.
A crowd of entities.
Watching.
Waiting.
They entered the building.
A reception desk.
A normal world on the surface.
But something else underneath.
“Ma’am,” Aditia said, “please call unit 513. Tell them Aditia is here.”
The receptionist nodded and made the call.
A moment later—
“Please follow me.”
The elevator required access.
No strangers allowed.
No random entry.
Only permission.
A luxury apartment building.
That’s what the normal world saw.
Glass.
Steel.
Skyline views.
A symbol of wealth.
But for those who could see beyond—
It was something else entirely.
A fortress.
Surrounded by thousands of silent guardians.
The strongest ones numbered around two hundred.
But when the owner was weak… it doubled.
Then tripled.
Until the air itself felt like it was being guarded.
People called it something else.
A myth.
A rumor.
A safe place.
A neutral zone.
The receptionist pressed the bell.
The door opened.
A woman stood there.
Beautiful.
Calm.
Unshaken.
“Ah, I know him. Thank you,” she said.
Professional. Warm. Controlled.
“Come in,” she added gently.
Aditia stepped forward.
Alya followed behind him.
Still holding on.
As if afraid the world would try to take her again if she let go.
- Writer
