The palace of the Sultan was well-furnished with skulls of bulls, fur of tigers, spears, keris daggers and jawi calligraphy written on the walls. Anissa directed Onays to his room for him to change. Inside, Anissa placed freshly knitted Baju Melayu clothing with a tengkolok and samping. Onays began to stare at Anissa with an irritated look.

“Um, I want to change my clothes now.” Said Onays.

“It’s ok, change now.” Anissa assured him.

“Yeah and you have to leave.” Replied Onays in a shy voice.

“No worries, I can accompany you here.” Anissa continued.

Onays pretended to cough. “I need some privacy…”

“Oh, I’m sorry.” Said Anissa as she briefly left his room.

Onays mumbled to himself as there were no doors to close for privacy. There were only these fabrics hung on the doors arch and anyway could enter without even knocking. Onays was flabbergasted that he is now in the past with no modern technology. He unlocked his smartphone and checked the Wifi bar. No connection at all.

He then unbuttoned his t-shirt and threw it aimlessly on the floor, followed by the tank top. When he reached his fingers for his pants’ zip, he sensed that someone was peeking at him. At the closet, there was a small opening that Onays thought was very suspicious. He strutted forward to investigate. As he pulled the handle, Anissa propelled into the air and accidentally fell onto Onays’ body.

She took the opportunity to rub his chest.

“Hey, get off me!” Onays whined, when he actually liked it.

“Oi, who are you!” a tall, muscular and charming man had barged into the room. “Anissa, who is this person?”

“Ratna, he is just a friend!” Anissa bawled back.

Riled, Ratna swiftly stomped toward Onays and smacked his face. The skinny boy then swiveled in the air before crashing onto the floor. Ratna crawled over him and delivered several concrete punches onto his face. Onays’ nose was already bleeding, his eye swollen.

“Stop it Ratna!” Anissa begged as she pulled tried to pull Ratna’s non-stop propelling punches.

Satisfied, Ratna ceased his action and rubbed his sweaty forehead. He then confronted Anissa with his face crimson red. “How could you cheat on me!” Ratna hissed.

“It’s not what seems like.” Anissa explained. “He is just a friend. Believe me!”

“I don’t want to talk to you anymore.” With that, Ratna exited with a mark of bitterness.

“Is he your boyfriend?” Onays asked jealous.

“No, I am going to marry him in a month.” Answered Anissa.

Onays could not believe his ears. “You will be marrying him?Ehm,… yeah like I care.”

“I hope I won’t anytime soon. I hate him so much. It’s all because of royal ties.”

“Good luck with that.”

“You don’t understand me do you?” Anissa complained. “Maybe that’s why you have no friends, you always get trouble and a complete loser. It’s because you don’t understand other people’s feelings!”

“I have a lot of friends. They are,… um Najib and Zahid and Mazelan.” Onays lied.

“Go get changed. We are going to Kampong Ayer for your practice.” Said Anissa as she left.

This time around, Onays had to agree with her. Uncle Tariq and Aunt Khairina was right. He was too occupied with his smartphone and he never really cared about the surroundings and the waves of emotions that people face in their daily lives. That was a matter that Onays pondered by himself, making self-reflections on his mistakes and flaws. He sat on the bed and eyed how lively the port is. The sun was setting, and orange rays painted the sky.

With spare time left, he tapped on the icon gallery of his smartphone and read the illustrated info images that he had captured back at the Royal Regalia Museum. He zoomed in and read it meticulously. Barunah or Berunai was the old archaic name for the modern country of Negara Brunei Darussalam. Onays finally confirmed himself that he was in the past.

By the year, 1578 a Spanish expedition commanded by captain-general, Fransisco De Sande from Manila had arrived in the capital city of Kota Batu to attack the Barunah Empire and to install Pengiran Seri Lela as the new sultan with Pengiran Seri Ratna as the Bendahara.

“Pengiran Seri RATNA as bendahara?” Onays whined to himself. “This is insane!” Onays kept on swiping the smartphone screen to read more.

From the invasion, the Sultan was forced to flee the city with his followers to amass a stronger army. When they returned to liberate Kota Batu….

Onays strangled his head when he only took a picture of the illustrated information. That was all that he knew and he had come to a conclusion that Ratna is not of good news. For him, Onays imagined that it would be impossible to defeat Ratna as he was muscular, stronger and robust compared to his skinny physique. If he were to defeat him, then Onays must devise a tactic to overcome this foe.

Alarmed by the practice that he required, Onays quickly changed into his provided clothing and paced back to the balairung. There, a few guards showed the royal chariot for departure. Inside the cart, a sulking Anissa was seen as she refused to look back at Onays.

“Anissa, I’m so sorry that I’ve hurt your feelings.” Apologized Onays.

Anissa remained silent.

“I know that I’m such an idiot, I big fat stupid idiot. Is there anything that I can do to make it up to you?”

Anissa turned to Onays with a tear dripping down her smooth, rosy cheek.

“It’s fine Mawang. I just, you know think that I can stop all this madness from growing.”

“Madness?” said Onays curious. “Why so?”

“Because, I’m going to get married with a traitor.”

Onays’ heart pulsated rapidly. “Yes, Ratna. How did you know?”

“I’ve known it a long time ago Mawang. With this feather, a wise old man who was an expert with the Ilmu Kebal and magic had gifted me this as he saw potential in me. I’ve travelled through the future and learnt about our peoples’ destiny that this very day, we are about to see bloodshed. The old wise man said that we have managed to protect our sultanate with the magic we were thought ever since our previous forerunners. Then, if there is a traitor then he would expose our weakness and foreign powers could easily conquer us.”

“Does this mean that Ratna has those magical powers?” said Onays worried.

“I’m afraid so, because the other day I counted my feathers in my drawer and I saw that two of them were missing.”

“Perhaps you’ve given two of them to me?”

“No, that was before I met you.”

“I don’t know how I could contribute to fight. Look at me, I’m nothing.”

“Mawang, do you want to know why nobody in the future could see or feel my presence except for you?”

At last, she is going to answer me! Thought Onays to himself. “Yes?”

“The old man had forecasted that the people of the past are unable to see the future but are able to create it. But the people of the future could see the past, but never create the past. Do you understand what he is trying to perceive here?”

Onays shrugged.

“It means that you have the power to learn from the past and avoid it from occurring again. Take note Mawang, you can learn from the past but not change it.”

“Owh, I get it now.” Onays pretended to interpret her. “I’m not sure that I can learn from the past. I failed my history, physics, biology, mathematics and chemistry at school. I even got zero for my add maths.”

“Whatever that is, that should not be your reason to stand back. You must believe and trust yourself Mawang. I have strong faith in you.” Cheered Anissa.

Onays felt more motivated and that was probably the first time a girl had ever cajoled him with elegant, beautiful, inspiring words. He was starting to madly fall in love with Anissa despite him scolding and bickering at her. Although, he cover it up because he is scared to see her reaction. As a primary student aged about 7 to 12, Onays was infatuated to this intelligent, profound girl who was actively involved in competitions and scored high marks in the exams.

On an anguish account, by the night where the UPSR students received certificates for their last day at school, Onays had approached her and confessed his love. She refused him and it turned out that a few naughty kids were recording them on the balcony. The video went viral and ever since, Onays secluded himself from others in the world of anime and vanguard. Never dare to speak to a girl again, not until he met Anissa, who had shifted his life forever.

“No hard feelings Mawang.” Said Anissa.

“Of what?” Onays listened attentively.

“You didn’t have to dance and make those chicken noises to teleport.”

“Then what was the purpose?”

“It’s really funny to see a person do that!”

“You’re lucky that I’m in a good mood!”

Stalking from behind a tree, Ratna was tempered by that fact that an unknown person is meddling with his fiancé. His grip was strong on his keris dagger, he dreamed of thrusting the poisonous keris into Onays’ abdomen. Ratna is a pendeckar of the Barunah people. He had successfully countered numerous attacks by pirates entering into Kota Batu. At the same time, he is also a nakhoda who commands his fleet and guards the territorial waters of the Barunah Bay. The people awe and appreciate his contribution and audaciousness in combat and how he serve the sultan humbly and guided with nobility. That was the reason why the sultan had arranged his wed with Puteri Anissa. Under the pressure, Ratna had gone berserk deep within his heart.

Sultan Saiful had favored Onays’ to carry the task of fending off the White men when he is supposed to carry that role. Hatred and animosity brewed within him. He was planning a way to oust that skinny boy out and live in true tranquility. Strutting behind him, a larger, bold man in relatively striking royal clothing gave a salam and saluted.

“Your majesty, Pengiran Seri Lela brother of Sultan Saiful.” Obliged Ratna as he bowed.

“Pengiran Seri Ratna, I would like to express my concerns about the royal ties.” Seri Lela had shared.

Ratna nodded. “Yes?”

“I would be happier to accept you to be my brother-in-law rather to let my real maternal brother be the incumbent sultan.”

“You majesty, what you are saying is traitorous. We should not betray the ruling sultan. It is against the mandate. We could be punished.” Ratna briefed with a serious look.

“My brother, Saiful is not fit for rule. He has not managed to fend off the white men. Yesterday, they have rocked one of our ports and Arab, Siamese, Indian, Japanese and Chinese traders alike had and our tax income is aggravating. If no strict actions are taken, we might witness the fall of our sovereignty.”

“What do you propose your majesty?” asked Ratna.

“We must gather enough manpower to overpower him. At the same time, the white men must also be repelled. I may only attain this with your influence and support, Pengiran Seri Ratna.”

“An offer I must reconsider…” Ratna admitted.

Seri Lela grew larger as he towered over Ratna with an expression of pure wrath. “Take the time you require. Yet again, think about your loved, Anissa and your grand title. That Onays may steal all your valuable possessions and replace you. Your name will go down in history as a spoiled brat.”

“I see the consequences. When shall we begin?”

“I will give you time to marry Anissa. Then, we are able to instigate the rebellion and I shall position you as the Bendahara, while I as the new sultan.”

“Very well your majesty. These feathers would become a great deal for us.”