Date: 17 August 1982
Location: Lawang, Matur District, Agam Regency, West Sumatra
The cries of a newborn echoed through the bamboo-walled room.
Outside, the wind rustled through the sugarcane fields that blanketed the highlands of Lawang. The night was cool, touched by the scent of damp earth and distant smoke — the kind that carried stories in the wind. Inside, the air was thick with the sweet aroma of boiling saka, red sugar cooked over fire, and the soft, steady murmurs of prayer from an elderly midwife in the corner.
A kerosene lamp flickered, casting long shadows across the rough wooden walls. The baby had come just before midnight, after hours of pain, pushing, and whispered invocations to Allah. The silence that followed his birth was broken only by his sharp, clear wail — a sound too focused, too powerful for such a tiny body.
A young mother, no more than twenty, lay soaked in sweat and tears, her hands trembling as she cradled the newborn against her chest. Her face was radiant — exhaustion, relief, and overwhelming love tangled into one.
"Alhamdulillah…" she breathed, her voice raw but reverent. She pressed her lips gently to the baby's forehead."Anakku… Rakha Yudhistira…"
The name hung in the air like a promise.
The infant did not cry again. His breathing slowed. His tiny hands relaxed. His eyes opened.
And in that moment, something was different.
He did not look around with the unfocused panic of a newborn. His gaze — impossibly calm, impossibly aware — met hers. The room fell still, like time itself paused to witness what had been reborn.
The baby's pupils tracked movement. He blinked once. Slowly. Purposefully. His brow furrowed ever so slightly, as if… processing.
Inside that fragile body, behind those intelligent eyes, a storm of memory surged. Names. Faces. Death. Betrayal. A bullet. A speech never delivered.
He remembered falling.He remembered blood on marble floors.He remembered the silence that followed.And now — the warmth of a mother's embrace.
This… isn't heaven.This… is home.
His mother, unaware of the soul reborn within her arms, held him closer and whispered with a trembling smile, "You have your father's eyes… but I hope you carry my heart."
She wept again. This time not from pain, but from something ancient — a mother's intuition that her child would be different.
Outside, his father stood barefoot in the yard, eyes lifted to the sky. The sugarcane leaves rustled like waves. The moon hung low and red — a sugar moon, as the villagers called it. A good omen for harvest. A good omen for birth.
Inside the child's mind, the static grew louder. And then came the voice:
[GARUDA SYSTEM ACTIVATED]Welcome back, Rakha Yudhistira Halim. Your mission continues
Inside His Mind…
The darkness wasn't silent.It hummed. Buzzed. Then—
[GARUDA SYSTEM ACTIVATED]
Welcome, Rakha Yudhistira Halim.
Life Status: Rebirth Confirmed
Main Objective: Reform the Republic
Tracking morality, economic influence, cultural impact, and national stability.
Initializing starter attributes...
I'm alive? No… I've been sent back.
He wanted to scream. Or laugh. Or weep. But all he could do was blink.
[Starter Trait: "Second Sight" unlocked.]
You can retain knowledge from your previous life.
Cooldown: Permanent
Penalty: None. This is your second and final chance.
Okay. Okay. Stay calm. I'm... in Lawang. My hometown. The house — it smells like Sugar and that voice... must be my mother.
He wanted to speak, but his lips failed him.
Instead, a light screen floated behind his eyelids — like a HUD overlaying his consciousness.
[SYSTEM PANEL — STATUS: INFANT PHASE]
Name: Rakha Yudhistira Halim
Age: 0 (Rebirth)
Cognitive Function: 100%
Physical Function: 5%
Emotional Control: Limited
Speech: Locked (Unlocks at Level 1)
Mission Tracker:
Reform Score: 0
National Influence: 0
Economic Footprint: 0
Popular Trust: 0
System Path Unlocked: Reformer's Path Polymath Growth Tree
Statesman Path (Locked) Commander Path (Locked) Garuda Ascension (Locked)
Skill Tree Available:
Child Prodigy I – Accelerated Cognitive Development (Active)
Language Acquisition Boost
Memory Recall (Full)
Passive Insight: Corruption Detection [Locked until age 10]
System Note: Your mind grows faster than your body. Use time wisely.
That Night…
As his new mother hummed a lullaby and the soft crackle of a wood fire danced nearby, Rakha stared up at the dark wooden ceiling — its beams old, familiar, unchanged by time.
The scent of kayu manis and boiling saka still hung in the air, sweet and grounding. Outside, distant sounds of merdeka celebrations echoed through the hills: the crack of handmade fireworks, drums from schoolchildren, and the fading strains of Indonesia Raya carried by the wind.
Seventeen August... Independence Day.I was born on the very day this nation first claimed freedom. Again.
His tiny heart beat steadily, but his mind raced — sharp, focused, anchored by memories that no infant should carry. The betrayals. The reforms. The quiet war behind every handshake. The bullet that ended it all.
This time, I won't waste my chance.I won't ask for power. I'll build it — from sawah to senate.No shortcuts. No masks. No foreign strings.
His eyes, still too knowing for a newborn, turned slightly toward the flickering flame across the room. In its glow, he saw shadows of what he would one day become: a reformer, a builder, a guardian of his people.
I'll start here — in my homeland. In Lawang.Among farmers, silat masters, and mothers who can sweeten life with nothing but firewood and cane.And I will not stop… until this country stands tall — on justice, on faith, and on its own two feet.
Then, like a whisper stitched into his thoughts, the voice returned.
[SYSTEM NOTICE]
"National Reform Path" officially begins.
Starting Location: Lawang, Agam Regency, West SumatraYou are the last hope of a clean Republic.
Welcome back, Rakha. Let's fix what was broken.
And as the lullaby faded into the night, and the sugarcane fields rustled under the moonlight, Rakha Yudhistira Halim — child of Independence Day, son of soil and sacrifice — closed his eyes.
Not in sleep.
In planning.