Nimji’s heart dropped.

No… It couldn’t be…

Somji had been dragged out of the armor. Since Kimji was bigger than her, he didn’t notice when she was torn away by the storm.

Nimji turned around and bolted in the other direction, praying for any sign of Somji. His chest felt hollow, devastated. Kimji, meanwhile, felt a sharp sting of guilt. How could he not have noticed? How could he have let this happen?

Nimji kept dragging himself against the howling wind, step by heavy step. Kimji wanted to tell him — we can’t save her now — but the words wouldn’t come. He couldn’t hurt Nimji more than this moment already had.

Suddenly, through the cracks of the armor, Kimji spotted something — a faint smear of red on a distant tree. But the armor blocked his view, making it impossible to see clearly.

“NIMJI! OVER THERE! THE TREE WITH THE SPIKES!”

Nimji followed his gaze — and then collapsed to his knees.

Pinned against the tree by the crushing storm winds — Somji. Her delicate body impaled by jagged spikes, her bright colors dulled by blood.

Without hesitation, Kimji scrambled out of the armor. He dragged Nimji with him, fighting through the winds, scrambling toward the tree.

He tore a strip of fabric from his clothes under the armor and bandaged Somji the best he could, wrapping her small, broken form with shaking hands.

Desperately, he grabbed the bottle of healing potion — the one given to them by the wolf leader. Carefully, he tilted Somji’s head and let the glowing liquid drip into her mouth.

Then he ripped another strip of fabric, tying Somji carefully to the inside of his armor, padding her with extra cloth to shield her from the hard metal. Nimji, too weak to walk, was strapped to his back.

Tears blurred Kimji’s eyes — not just from the wind, but from the weight of everything.

Finally, it hit them — they were just kids. And this world didn’t care.

But suddenly… in the distance… a shape. A house. Hope.

With everything he had left, Kimji sprinted toward it.

He collapsed at the doorway, weakly banging his fist against the wood before crumpling onto the ground, his friends tied to him like broken memories.

The door creaked open, revealing an old bear-man hybrid with wide, fearful eyes. Without a word, the man untied Nimji from Kimji’s back, lifted Somji and Kimji into his arms, and hurried them inside.

While the man carried him, Kimji tried to speak.

“M-my armor… h-has my friend… she’s inside… she’s a… butterfly…”

The old man carefully laid them all down on soft bedding. With gentle, trembling fingers, he removed the armor and slowly untied the bundle of cloth.

And there, shaking but alive — Somji. Conscious. Breathing. Awake.

The old man loosened the fabric and gently let her go.

“Will my friends be alright?!” Somji said in a high-pitched voice.

“I don’t know, I have to see what I can do to help.”

He started to make a healing paste and after cleansing their wounds, spread it on their wounds.

“I-I think this will help.”

Somji flew down and pulled out the healing potion from Kimji’s bag, she placed it in the man’s hands.

He examined the potion.

“Did you drink this?” he asked.

“Ummm I don’t know, I might have, no wonder I have healed.”

The man told Somji to let him examine her eyes. He looked at her eyes very closely, a speck of her eye was white, but it wasn’t physically affecting her. What was going on here?

He tested the potion; it was a normal healing potion. Then why had it caused that side effect?

Since it had good effects on Somji, he slowly fed the potion to Nimji and Kimji.

“You should get some rest. Are you hungry? I’ll make some ramen,” said the old man. He was kind. He prepared ramen for Nimji, Kimji, Somji, and himself.

He set up the table and started to eat with Somji.

“So, may I finally ask, what are three innocent children doing out in the wilderness all alone?” He slurped some ramen.

“Umm, the thing is…” she stopped. She hesitated on telling him, but she eventually opened up. She explained to him about the wolves, about what happened at the river, about them being the warriors, etc.

Suddenly he choked on his ramen.

“Did-did you say Mounchioun? Well, surprise, surprise, that’s me.” He continued chowing down on his ramen, not once looking at Somji.

“Sooooo, will you train the three of us?” asked Somji.