Morning sunlight finally managed to slice through the cluster of pine branches, casting a golden hue over the damp asphalt of the Mount Aruna Main Registration Post. The freezing mountain air assaulted their skin the moment the rental van’s door was thrown open. White puffs of vapor billowed from every breath the five friends took as they piled out of the vehicle.

"Man, this is insane. It is freezing, I swear! I think my lungs just flash-froze into ice cubes," Dika groaned, hopping from foot to foot, clutching his windbreaker tight, and frantically rubbing his palms together.

"That's what you get for packing your bag full of chips instead of wearing a heavy jacket," Gani teased, rolling his stiff shoulders after driving straight through the night. He stretched his neck left and right, then scanned the station's courtyard.

The basecamp area was bustling with life. Off to the side of the yard, two separate groups of climbers were deep into their final briefings with their team leads, double-checking backpack contents and handing out energy chews. The rich, inviting scent of black coffee brewing from a tiny food shack near the registration window mingled with the sharp tang of morning dew and pine sap.

"Come on, let's go register. We need to hit the trail before it gets too late," Maya urged, giving Rian’s arm a gentle tug toward the medium-sized wooden registration desk tucked beneath a moss-green painted shed.

Rian nodded. Flanked by Gani and Maya, they walked up to the counter, while Dika and Sita opted to drop onto a long wooden bench nearby to stretch their legs.

Behind the wooden counter, buried beneath stacks of trail maps and thick ledger books, sat a middle-aged attendant. His name tag, dulled by age and pinned crookedly to his left pocket, read Pak Karto. Deeply etched lines mapped his face, telling the story of a man who had spent the better part of his life guarding the threshold of Mount Aruna’s wilderness. His eyes looked heavy and tired, yet a sharp, piercing intensity flashed in them as he looked up to meet the arrival of Rian’s group.

"Morning, Pak," Gani greeted politely, setting a plastic folder containing their climbing permit and student IDs down on the desk. "We’re from the Atma Jaya campus group, here to register for a five-person team heading up the main trail to Aruna Peak."

Pak Karto didn't answer right away. His calloused fingers flipped through the papers one by one. He scanned the roster of names: Rian, Maya, Dika, Gani, and Sita.

The elderly man slowly raised his gaze. His eyes swept over the five young faces one by one with a probing intensity, as though weighing some unseen weight lurking behind their auras.

"Five people?" Pak Karto’s voice sounded heavy, raspy, and shook like dry paper scraping against the wind. "Are you sure you want to go up with just five? No plans to pick up anyone else or drop anyone along the way?"

Dika, who had been messing around with his phone on the bench behind them, chimed in with an easygoing tone. "Oh come on, Pak. If we add more people, it's just a hassle—they'll steal my instant noodle rations. The five of us are locked in, solid, nobody's dropping out!"

Maya shot Dika a sharp glare, signaling him to keep his mouth shut in front of the station staff. "Sorry about him, Pak. My friend gets like this before his morning coffee," Maya apologized with a polite smile.

Pak Karto completely ignored Dika's jab. He picked up a weathered wooden stamp, pressed it into an inkpad, and slammed it heavily onto their permit sheet with a sharp thup.

"Mount Aruna isn't a place to flex your physical strength, kids," Pak Karto stated flatly, locking eyes with Rian who stood at the front. "Especially not for city kids who show up running on empty enthusiasm."

Rian offered an apologetic smile, trying to thaw the sudden frost in the air. "We prepped, Pak. Our logistics are locked down and our stamina's fine. Any specific tips for the trail this week?"

Pak Karto didn't answer Rian’s question. Instead, he sluggishly straightened the files on his desk before sliding the plastic map folder back toward Gani. But before Gani could pull his hand back, Pak Karto's hand shot out and clamped firmly around Rian’s wrist—with a grip vastly stronger than a man his age should possess.

The grasp was icy, feeling as though it pierced right through Rian’s skin straight to the bone. Rian blinked in shock, trying to yank his arm back, but Pak Karto’s intense stare locked him in place.

"Respect the cutoff time at Post Three," Pak Karto whispered, his voice dropping low, nearly inaudible yet cutting straight through the background chatter of the other climbers. "When evening rolls in, never force your way forward if a white fog rolls down the upper slopes out of nowhere."

Rian swallowed hard, his throat dry as bone. "White fog, Pak?"

"Yeah," Pak Karto continued, the corner of his eye flicking toward the dense pine forest behind the post. "And if you're out on the trail, somewhere quiet, and you hear someone calling your name from the brush... do not look back toward the voice."

Dina, a climber from another group standing near the desk, let out a nervous chuckle at Pak Karto’s warning. "Man, the old guy really loves spinning spooky stories in the morning. Trying to scare the rookies, right, Pak?"

Pak Karto didn't crack a smile. He snapped his head toward the other climber with a look so cold it instantly choked off the laughter in her throat. He turned his focus back to Rian, staring at him as though the weight of the world rested on his shoulders.

"This isn't a bedtime story," Pak Karto emphasized, his voice dead serious. "Run... or you’ll vanish up there for good."

The area around the registration desk fell deathly silent for a few heavy seconds, as though the biting morning wind itself was holding its breath.

Pak Karto slowly released his grip on Rian’s wrist, leaned back into his wooden chair, and turned his gaze out the dirty window as though the conversation had never happened.

Gani, standing right beside Rian, furrowed his brows, sensing something profoundly off about the warning. "Got it, Pak... thanks for the heads-up. We'll keep a strict eye on the clock and trail markers."

Rian, still feeling the lingering chill on his wrist, gave a stiff nod. "We'll be heading out, Pak."

The five friends stepped away from the desk, walking toward the trailhead gate. Dika, who hadn't really absorbed the gravity of the moment, threw an arm around Rian’s shoulder with a soft chuckle.

"Man, that old gatekeeper is creepy. He’d make a killer guest speaker for a Friday night horror podcast," Dika joked, trying to break the tension lingering on his friends' faces. "Total lack of fresh air makes guys like that love scaring the youth."

Maya adjusted her backpack strap, her face still shadowed by doubt. "I don't know, Dik. That old man looked dead serious. Didn't seem like he was joking around at all."

"Drop it, guys," Gani stepped up, taking the lead position at the trailhead gate. He double-checked his pack’s harness straps. "The bottom line is we follow the rules, stay tight as a group, no wandering off, and whatever Pak Karto said about not looking back... we treat it as a hard rule to stay sharp."

Sita, who had remained entirely quiet through the exchange, stared straight ahead down the stone-paved trail as it wound its way upward into the thick, mist-shrouded pine forest.

"What he said..." Sita murmured softly, barely audible over the breeze, "...wasn't just about staying sharp, Gani. It felt like the old man was talking directly to Rian."

Rian turned toward Sita, a sudden wave of goosebumps rippling down the back of his neck.

Before he could push for answers, Dika let out an excited cheer, clicking on his action camera and hoisting his selfie stick high into the air.

"Alright, squad! The journey officially begins! Lock in your stamina, brace your minds, we're coming for you, Aruna Peak!" Dika holstered his confidence, marching right through the wooden trailhead gate.

Without a single one of them knowing, deep behind the dusty windows of the registration post, Pak Karto stood watching the backs of the five friends as they slowly dissolved into the thick white fog of the pine woods—a departure that marked the very first step of their trial by fire in forbidden territory.