"Time for more Suhendra, kids!"

Ponderet was angry.

I mean, she was always angry, that was sort of just her personality. It of course was not helped by the fact that she lived super close to a world filled with the loud, smelly results of her husband's infidelity, or that her initial plan to murder them all with dangerous animals failed because they hid in holes her husband made for them, or how her SECOND plan to murder them all failed after another God warned some dude of the flood she was about to bring upon the world and he hid with his wife and a bunch of animals in a stupid canoe, but this had now gotten even more personal.

You see, if we remember from our last story, she had just watched two smelly mortals - Guntur and Suhendra - kill her pet snake/jaguar/bat monster, take a bunch of holy stone from the place where it had lived, and lug it all the way to Sarawak to build a grand temple to Cozmera, who she loathed. They had gone too far, and she would punish them for their insolence.

So over the next few months, as construction continued on the temple, Ponderet schemed, and thought, and schemed some more, trying to think of a way to punish them without facing the ire of the other Gods. Finally, right as the temple was nearing completion, she had an idea. Later that evening, she approached her father, Purnama, God of Death and Keeper of the Menagerie of Tanah Tuhan.

"Hey Dad, I have a favor to ask of you..."

Purnama sighed. "What is it now, Ponderet?"

"Well, I wanted to help a couple of men on Doebi go on an epic quest, and as you should know, every epic quest needs a God-created monster to keep it dangerous and exciting..."

Eyeing his daughter suspiciously, Purnama frowned. "You, the God who hates humans more than any other, wants to help two of them? Daughter, what is this really about?"

The fury stared to bubble up inside of her. "Two smelly humans KILLED MY PET, and now they are using the rocks from where it lived to build a nice big temple to little Miss perfect Cozmera. They have to pay, so I will be sending the Gajah Syurga after them and their stupid little city."

The Gajah Syurga was a grand Elephant of the Gods, standing as tall as 8 men, with footsteps that shook the ground it walked on like an earthquake, golden tusks that could pierce even the hardest of surfaces, and a trunk from which one horn would send shockwaves, killing any man they touched instantly. It was a creature kept in the Menagerie of Tanah Tuhan because if was seen as too impressive to simply destroy, but also too dangerous to let it roam Doebi. Plus, Purnama thought it was pretty cool.

Purnama shook his head. "Ponderet, my daughter, you know I cannot let you take the Gajah Syurga out of the menagerie. It could put the entire world down there at risk, and is not justified for you leaving a massive deadly creature down there and it being killed. Plus, if they could kill THAT pet, what if they killed the Gajah Syurga? We would hate to lose him from up here."

Ponderet fumed. She would NOT be denied this revenge. "Dad, I swear that if you do not give me the Gajah Syurga, I will go down to the Cave of Death, break the door, and let the dead return to the land of the living and roam free. Is that really what you want? Do you really want the dead to start roaming the land, going around and attacking people, causing chaos?"

This saw a change in Purnama's tune, because no, he did not want that happening, and he knew that Ponderet was powerful enough to do just that. So with a sigh, he gave her the key to the menagerie.

"Just... bring him back safe, OK? I would really miss him if he didn't come back."

Ponderet laughed. "It's a giant elephant with the ability to shake the ground, pierce anything, and kill men with a single sound from its trunk. What danger could it possibly be in?"

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Back in Sarawak, the temple was nearly done. The holy stone had been cut to perfection, forming a building that seemed to glisten with the light of Tanah Tuhan itself. Gold leaf formed images all along the inner walls of the temple, and at the center was a raised sacrificial alter surrounded by a small water channel, which flowed down the center aisle of the temple. All that remained was for the statue of Cozmera, crafted to adorn the back wall, to be raised into place, and the anointing by its first animal sacrifice to make it official, and show Cozmera her new place of worship.

Suhendra looked over the architectural masterpiece, as giddy as a child. This was to be it - his ticket to eternal life. When it was complete, there was no way that Cozmera could deny him and Guntur their immortality. Guntur smiled as well, not for any thoughts of eternal life, but because it made him happy simply to see Suhendra so happy. They had grown close over the time of Guntur's rehabilitation by the palace healers, and even more than before, Guntur wanted nothing more than for his friend to find happiness. Watching together as the statue was slowly raised into place, the two held hands. They're quest was finally nearing an end.

Suddenly, however, the statue began to shake, and fell forward off of it's supports, hitting the ground face-first and shattering into a thousand shards. The two jumped back in horror, and the tremors only grew more and more powerful. Then they heard the screaming from outside.

Rushing out of the temple, they were confused to find it nearly dark as night despite being midday, as well as seeing hundreds of people running away from the new building. Confusion on both fronts was quickly cleared, however, as the two men turned to see the outline of the Gajah Syurga blocking out the light from the Sun. With each step it took, buildings fell around them; with each horn from its trunk, dozens died all around it. Truly, to many, it looked like the end of days.

But Guntur and Suhendra were not normal men. Upon seeing this monstrous creature sent by the Gods, they rushed to the armory, got their weapons, and ran towards it. Dodging between crumbling buildings and fleeing crowds, desperate to avoid the deadly shockwaves released by its trunk, they always made sure to put something between themselves and the elephant. Finally within range, the two looked at each other, and let fly their spears.

These 200 pound pointed weapons had slaughtered everything the pair had brought them against. They took down raiders and pillagers with ease, could frighten even the largest of tigers, and had been able to pierce the scales of Ponderet's Monster from the spires. But as they struck the hide of this great elephant, they simply shattered, failing to even scratch its tough exterior. The two realized that this would be a greater challenge than they had ever faced before.

The next two hours saw over half the city destroyed in the fighting. Building after building fell to the heavy footsteps of the Gajah Syurga, and over a thousand people fell victim to his deadly horn blasts. But Suhendra and Guntur gave it everything they had, trying anything to break the hide of this beast. Sadly, no weapon they had seemed to be able to do the trick.

Just as all hope seemed lost, Suhendra had an idea. He yelled at Guntur to toss him right at the head of the elephant. Guntur did, with all his strength, and Suhendra landed on the bridge of the creature's trunk. Before the Gajah Syurga even knew what was happening, Suhendra raised his 400 pound club, and brought it down hard on one of the beast's golden tusks.

The creature let out a roar of intense pain, and Suhendra struck again, and again, and again. Finally, on the fifth strike, and with a terrible sound, the tusk broke free of the face of the elephant, sticking into the ground where it landed. Sliding down the trunk, Suhendra landed next to the tusk, and he and Guntur quickly yanked it out of the ground and slammed it into the beast's front left kneecap.

The elephant screamed again in pain, and began to wobble with its footing. Grabbing the tusk again, and avoiding another shockwave, the pair slammed it into the creature's back left kneecap. Barely able to support its own weight, and bleeding viscus black blood heavily, the Gajah Syurga leaned to the side, struggling to stay upright. Taking advantage of the lull, Guntur threw Suhendra once more onto the elephant, this time carrying the tusk. Running along it's back and arriving at the base of the head, Suhendra raised the tuck high, the golden object shining brilliantly in the sunlight despite being covered in blood, and brought it down on the head of the elephant. With one final roar of pain, the Gajah Syurga fell to the side, and went still.

When the dust finally cleared, Suhendra ran to Guntur, embracing his friend to celebrate their newest victory. But his celebration quickly turned to horror, as they realized exactly what dust had just settled. Underneath the body of the beast, reduced to little more than pebbles and dust, was the temple to Cozmera. Crying out in agony, Suhendra collapsed to the ground, picking up piles of dust in his blood-stained hands...

His blood stained hands...

Why was their blood on his hands?

He quickly checked himself up and down. He was not injured, and the blood was definitely not that of the elephant, so where did it come from?

That's when he heard the weak cry from behind him.

"Suhendra..."

He ran over to Guntur, and that's when he noticed the massive shard of golden tusk sticking out of his chest, blood running down his sides, and terror in his eyes. Suhendra caught his friend as he collapsed, color draining from his face.

"SOMEONE GET ME A HEALER! PLEASE, ANYONE! WE NEED HELP OVER HERE! SEND A HEALER!!!"

Suhendra wept as he looked into Guntur's eyes. "Please, my friend, stay with me. You can't leave me, please! I can't lose you, not like this!"

Guntur forced a smile. "My friend, it is ok. I have made my peace, lived a good life. It is time for me to go."

"But you can't go! You can't die, you are too strong for that! Besides, we were supposed to find eternal life! You can't leave yet, you just can't..."

"Suhendra, we will live forever. We have already ensured that."

"No, I won't let you go! Stay with me! SOMEONE HELP US!!! WE NEED A HEALER!! PLEASE!!"

Guntur looked up at his friend crying out for help. He did want to stay longer, spend more time with Suhendra, do more while he was alive. But he was so tired, and his eyelids felt so heavy, maybe he could just shut his eyes for a few minutes...

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Guntur woke up, startled, in very shallow water. His hands flew to his chest where just moments ago a large shard of golden tusk from the Gajah Syurga had been, but instead just found his normal chest. Standing up, he looked around to find himself in what seemed to be an endless ocean of water only as deep as his ankles. With a sad recognition he knew where he was - Tanah Mati, the land of the dead.

In the distance rose a large mountain, the only landform to be seen in any direction. Compelled to walk towards it, Guntur began his final journey. After what seemed like both an eternity and no time at all, he arrived at the base of the mountain, where he found a simple iron door. Pulling it open, he entered the dark cave behind it, as the door slammed shut behind him.

As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, Guntur looked around him to see what looked like hundreds of statues of people... sitting at tables and eating? Then, as his eyes adjusted further, he saw the statues move. They were't statues at all, they were people, people who had been there so long that dust had began to cover their bodies, their movements so slow that it was never disturbed. Then he saw - there weren't just hundreds of people, there were thousands. Thousands upon thousands, stretching as far as the eye could see, all sitting in silence at these tables, slowly feeding themselves what looked to be mounds of clay.

Guntur walked in silence deeper into the darkness, finally coming across an empty table. He sat down, and began to eat. The gray matter didn't taste good or bad, in fact, it didn't taste like anything at all. It just was. And Guntur, Guntur didn't feel happy, or sad, or scared, or really anything at all. He, too, just was. And so he sat there in silence, feeling nothing, as the dust began to settle around him.

"And that kids, is where we end for today!"

She got no response from her children, save some light crying.

"Mommy, is Guntur really dead?"

"Yes kids, he is. But Suhendra is not, and we will see how he fares tomorrow night. Now, goodnight kids!"

"Goodnight mom..."