ANYA peered out the car window, her eyes never leaving the Bali’s stunning scenery. This time, it wasn’t the beach or the terraced rice fields that caught her attention, but a giant banyan tree in the courtyard of Bingin Temple. Its sturdy trunk was wrapped in poleng cloth—a mysterious black and white checkered pattern—towering high, as if the tree were a gatekeeper to another dimension.
“That’s a sacred tree, Miss,” said Wayan, the tour guide driving, his voice slightly raised. “You shouldn’t climb or touch it carelessly. It’s guarded by a guardian.”
Anya, a young photographer with a reputation for daring, smiled faintly. “Guardians? In this digital age, you still believe in them, Mr. Wayan?” She aimed her telephoto lens. “This tree is very artistic. I need a unique angle.”
Despite Wayan’s repeated reminders, Anya’s instincts as an artist and her desire for a ‘different’ photo were unstoppable. While Wayan was busy explaining the history of the temple to the rest of the group, Anya slipped away. She spotted a sturdy, low branch, easy enough to climb. A crazy idea struck her: take a photo from amidst the twisted poleng cloth. Just a few minutes, she assured herself.
Deftly, Anya climbed. The wrapped poleng felt cool against her skin. From above, the Bingin Temple looked majestic, and the afternoon sunlight filtered through the dense foliage, creating a dramatic effect. Click! Click! She took several shots, satisfied with the results. As she was about to descend, she felt a faint vibration in the branch she was standing on, as if the tree were breathing. A soft whisper, not in human language, touched her ears, feeling like a low frequency that made her ears ring. She immediately jumped down, her heart pounding, but she dismissed it as a suggestion.
When Mystery Looms
That night, at a luxury villa in Ubud, the strangeness began. Anya was transferring photos to her laptop. Suddenly, the laptop screen flickered, displaying a strange glitch. The photo files of the banyan tree, which should have been her masterpiece, were completely corrupted. Her sophisticated digital camera wouldn’t turn on either.
“Damn!” she cursed, repeatedly trying to fix it.
That night, a nightmare struck her. She was in the middle of a dark forest, the branches of a giant tree crawling like tentacles, and the strange whispers turned into ear-splitting roars. She woke up gasping for breath, her body drenched in cold sweat, and a strange feeling as if someone or something was watching her.
The next day, she called Wayan. “Sir, my camera is completely broken, and yesterday’s photos are gone too. And… I had a really bad dream.”
Wayan fell silent on the other end of the phone. “Maybe it’s because you broke the taboo at that tree, Miss. I told you.”
“Don’t joke, Sir. There must be a technical explanation.”
However, the strange occurrences continued. The lights in the villa flickered frequently, the Wi-Fi suddenly went out, and her phone frequently received unknown calls that only made a hissing sound. The feeling of being watched grew stronger, and she even felt a cold breath on the back of her neck as she slept. Anya, usually rational, began to feel afraid.
She decided to meet Wayan in person. At a coffee shop on the edge of the village, Anya recounted everything she had experienced. Wayan listened intently, nodding occasionally.
“This isn’t new, Miss Anya,” Wayan said. “There have been several similar incidents. Once, there was a foreign tourist from Europe named Olla Schmidt. She was also naughty, climbing a sacred tree there. After that, she began to mysteriously disappear. She hasn’t been found yet.”
“Disappeared?” Anya paled. “You mean… pulled into another dimension or something?”
Wayan shrugged. “We don’t know for sure. Some say the guardian spirit is angry, others say the tree is a door.”
Seeking a Solution on the Brink of Science Fiction
Anya refused to believe in superstition completely, but she couldn’t ignore what was happening to her. “Mr. Wayan, I need your help. Is there a way to… undo all this? A ritual, perhaps?”
Wayan nodded. “Usually, we would perform a small ceremony and a small-scake purification ritual to restore balance. But your case, and that of Olla Schmidt, seems to be more than just a simple ritual. There’s something more…”
The two of them began digging for information. Wayan introduced Anya to a wise village priest (Balinese Hindu temple priest). The Mangku explained that the banyan tree, called the “Tree of Life” by our ancestors, was an ancient energy center.
“It’s not just a spirit, my dear,” Mangku explained, his eyes piercing. “In our beliefs, if a tree is larger than a hug, it is usually inhabited by a community of spirits. Some passersby often overhear conversations of people cooking there. The tree is also a node of cosmic energy, an ancient gateway. Our ancestors have long known how to use it to maintain natural balance. Poleng cloth is not only a sacred symbol, but also a guardian of frequencies. When you climb it, you might disturb the guardian’s frequency.”
Anya paused. This concept of cosmic energy and frequency made more sense to her scientific mind than just an “angry spirit.” “You mean, it’s some kind of… portal?”
“That’s roughly it,” Mangku replied. “Olla Schmidt… we believe she wasn’t lost, but ‘pulled’ into another dimension, or into a different time, because she completely destroyed the frequency node without understanding.”
Anya’s fear was now mixed with awe. So, the banyan tree wasn’t just an ordinary tree, but an unexpected biological-technological artifact?
Breaking the Time Node
Anya and Wayan, assisted by Mangku, devised a plan. They could no longer think of this as just a ritual, but also a scientific understanding of the tree’s energy. Mangku revealed that an ancient palm leaf manuscript spoke of a “harmonization code” for the tree’s energy nodes, a series of vibrations that could calm or even manipulate the portal.
“We have to find that code,” Anya said, her scientific passion reignited.
They dug deeper. Mangku showed them ancient carvings. In the temple, it looked like a complex diagram, not just decoration. Dewi, Wayan’s fellow cultural researcher, joined in, bringing old books on ancient quantum physics that Bali apparently possessed. One contained theories about biological resonance and interdimensional energy interactions.
“Look at this,” Dewi said, pointing to a section. “It’s possible that the banyan tree functions as a transmitter and receiver of temporal energy. The poleng cloth, with its checkered pattern, likely functions as a frequency filter, stabilizing the energy to prevent time or spatial distortion.
Anya realized that when she climbed, she was not only violating tradition but also interfering with the tree’s natural functioning. The strange whispers and vibrations she felt might have been the tree’s own reaction, attempting to rebalance itself, or even a kind of “system warning.”
They discovered that Olla Schmidt may have triggered an uncontrolled temporal jump, causing her to simply disappear. She, having not been on the branch for very long, only experienced “side effects” in the form of resonance disturbances that triggered illusions and damaged electronic devices.
The solution was not just a ritual, but a “frequency recalibration.” Mangku guided them. He used traditional Balinese musical instruments that produce specific frequencies and guided Anya to project goodwill and a sincere apology to the tree. Anya was also required to donate sophisticated technological equipment (subject to the applicable fine), which Mangku would then use to conduct further “research” on tree energy, combining local wisdom with modern science,
During the “recalibration” ritual, under the shade of the tree majestic banyan, Anya felt all distractions disappear. Her camera and laptop, which she tried to turn back on at the villa, suddenly functioned normally. The nightmares stopped. Not only was she free from the curse, but she also gained a new understanding: that in Bali, science and spirituality can intertwine, forming a mysterious node that is far more complex and amazing than she ever imagined. She has seen the future of tourism, where respecting culture is not just about traditions, but also about understanding the hidden technologies of the universe. (*)
