Her name was Mayang, a twenty-four-year-old woman who had just completed a bachelor's degree in psychology. Mayang had deliberately taken a vacation to Borneo to heal her broken heart.
Mayang came from a well-off family, and she was also a bright student on campus. Unfortunately, her luck in love wasn't nearly as good as her grades.
This time, she had come to visit her childhood best friend at his workplace. His name was Joenathan, though everyone called him Joe, and he worked for a coal company branch in Borneo.
She had come to take a vacation while also healing the wound left by her boyfriend's massive betrayal before he started working.
However, Joenathan was in Sulawesi this time, so Mayang followed him there. After meeting her at the airport, Joenathan took Mayang to the company residence while he was on assignment in Sulawesi.
The car Joenathan and Mayang were driving followed the increasingly deserted road as night swallowed the coffee plantation route in Central Sulawesi.
On this route, GPS could lie and logic could die. They had spent hours looking for lodging, but every address that appeared on Google Maps felt strange. It looked like a grand, modern city, yet the aura there was anything but normal.
Golden-yellow neon lights illuminated spotless streets, while skyscrapers soared overhead with unfamiliar but breathtaking architecture.
“Where are we? Is there really a building this grand around here?” Mayang said, clicking her tongue in amazement.
“Where's your GPS? Let me see,” Joenathan said, reaching for the phone in Mayang's hand.
“It says this location is a hotel, but as far as I know, there aren't any hotels here,” Joe said in confusion.
“If we don't go in, we'll never know what this building is,” Mayang said as she got out of the car.
Joe caught her by the arm. “Don't get out yet. There's no hotel this grand around here,” he said, holding her back.
“Maybe you just never knew when they built it.”
“No, May. I've been here a long time. I know there isn't any building this grand around the coffee plantation. This is a cliff.” Joenathan tried to place the location.
The building had an enormous gate covered in gold, decorated with unique carvings.
Mayang stood in front of it. “Wentira,” she whispered, reading the inscription written in a script combining Arabic and Javanese characters—words that Mayang could somehow read automatically. Then, just as automatically, the gate opened on its own.
Beyond it lay a magnificent city: modern buildings, skyscrapers, and an entire city covered in pure gold.
The streets there were made of slippery white marble, and everything was so dazzling it hurt the eyes.
Mayang looked around, curiosity mingling with unease. “Joe, this... isn't an ordinary place, is it?” Her voice trembled softly.
Joenathan nodded, his face serious as he tried to reassure her. “Maybe this is part of a new city we never knew about.”
But as they ventured deeper inside, figures emerged from the shadows.
Their faces were almost human, with smooth skin, sharp eyes, and perfectly proportioned bodies. Yet one thing left Mayang confused: there was no indentation between their noses and lips, as if their faces had melted together without the natural boundaries of human features.
“Excuse me, where can I find lodging around here?” Mayang asked awkwardly, speaking to one of the locals.
“Just go straight. There's an intersection ahead—turn right, and the hotel will be on the right side of the road,” the woman said, pointing the way.
“Thank you,” Mayang said.
“You're welcome.”
Mayang and Joenathan followed the woman's directions, still unaware of anything strange about the people they had encountered there.