A thin, crumpled piece of paper slipped out, landing softly on the floor. Its surface was stained and worn, the ink faded—but something about it felt... wrong.

Nimji frantically picked it up and stuffed it in his pocket as Mounchioun arrived with the water.

Kimji and Somji were giggling and laughing, sitting on the antique couch. Nimji hurriedly came to sit on the couch, trying not to act suspicious, as Mounchioun set the glasses down.

The sunlight through the window was hitting the glasses at a particular angle. The dust particles danced around in the sunlight.

Nimji hesitantly took a sip and set the glass down.

“So, Mounchioun, what is this place, hm?” said Nimji with distrust.

“Ohhh, right, right, so this is where I used to live with, um, my family and ummm, I don’t live here anymore because my, urm, family is uhh… well…”

“Oh sorry,” said Kimji.

“Oh, no no, it’s okay. Anyways, what shall we do now, hmmm?”

“The wolves, the Hantens?” said Mounchioun, not taking his eyes off of Nimji while talking.

“I’m not sure. I mean, we have the potion. Once we rehabilitate, we can go to the Mountain and do whatever we need to do… but,” said Kimji, waiting for Somji to finish her sentence.

“Buttttt, the Hantens are at the top of the Mountain.”

“Right, how do we perform the ritual if the Hantens are residing there?” said Kimji.

“We’ll figure something out.”

Suddenly, they heard a frantic flapping at the window, like the sharp, hollow slap of a hand against a horse’s back.

They dashed towards the window, ready to face the worst, but to their surprise, the vulture Somji had threatened a while back was helplessly trying to break the window open.

Mounchioun banged his fist on the window, surprising Nimji.

“OYE! What are you here for, HUH?!”

“T-TH-THE HANTENS! THEY-THEY TRIED TO KILL ME, PLEASE HELP ME, I SNUCK HERE FOLLOWING YOU, PLEASE LET ME INSIDE, I’LL TELL YOU WHAT THE HANTENS ARE PLANNING, JUST OPEN THE WINDOW PLEASEE!!”

Mounchioun smirked, a way Nimji had never seen before. It almost scared Nimji, but he ignored it.

“What do ya want, bird?!” said Mounchioun. Nimji also noticed the slight change of accent in Mounchioun’s voice. It started to creep Nimji out.

“Oye, sit. Tell me what-are-the-hantens-planning! NOW,” said Mounchioun, sitting everyone on the couch.

“The Hantens tried to kill me for not informing them about you sooner. I also told you how to harness the potion—so naturally, they saw me as a traitor.”

“Hmmm…” said Mounchioun, eyeing the creature.

“Alright, you’ll stay here and keep informing US about the Hantens. IS THAT UNDERSTOOD?!”

“YES, and the Hantens plan to stay on that Mountain until you guys show up.”

Days go by and the Hantens are still resting up top the mountain.

Things feel off about this place to Nimji. Everything was so old-looking—

Then, Nimji suddenly remembered the paper from the picture frame. Heart racing, he searched frantically until his fingers brushed against it in his pocket. Relief washed over him—it was still there.

He sighed and sunk into the couch, not sure what to do next. He was stressed.

“Hey, umm Kimji, something feels off about Nimji. He talks less now. Did something happen between you two? I’m worried,” said Somji, standing in the kitchen with Kimji while Nimji kept sinking into the couch.

“Not that I’m aware of, but he does seem off to me,” said Kimji, eyeing him from afar.

“Maybeeee we should talk to himm,” said Somji.

“Com on, let’s go,” said Somji, dragging Kimji by his shirt to the living room where Nimji was.

“Hey, Nimji.”

He didn’t reply.

“Nimjiii.”

He didn’t reply.

“NIMJI!”

He suddenly jumped and snapped out of it.

“Huh, oh sorry Somji, what’s up?” said Nimji, looking out the window, fiddling.

“So me and Kimj— KIMJI!” She elbowed him because Kimji was distracted.

—“So me and Kimji wanted to ask you… if… you are umm alright. We noticed you’ve been acting strange, is everything okay?”

On spur of the moment, it hit Nimji. He never told anything to the two of them.

He sprang up from the couch and told them to follow him to the kitchen.

Onwards, he sat them down on the stools and explained everything in detail—about how he got the potion, about Mounchioun’s eye glitching, about the paper, about everything.

“So let me get this straight, we are this close to defeating the Hantens but there are other problems, like this eye-glitching thing. Ughh, come onnnn!” said Somji.

“Wait, did you open that paper yet?” said Kimji, eyeing the paper.

Nimji shook his head and lifted the paper, folded wide open.

His eyes widened, his heart paced.

It was a picture, possibly a picture of their future.

There was an immense war happening, a great big army with wolves and foxes surrounding a being that seemed to resemble Mounchioun, a box in his hands, and a white flowing dragon held captive in the box—in the foreground stood a tiger, a red panda, and the shadow of wings, butterfly wings.

He froze, letting Kimji and Somji fill in the silence.

Kimji snatched the paper from Nimji and sat there silently, passing the paper to Somji, her eyes widening.

They all sat in silence, letting the moment sink in.

Suddenly, Mounchioun opened the front door, coming home with a basket of vegetables.

“I’m backkkk! OYE, where’s that bird?!” said Mounchioun.

“Why does he sound so different?” Kimji whispered in Nimji’s ear.

“That’s what I was talking about,” he whispered back.

All three of them put on their normal faces again and greeted Mounchioun—helping him put the vegetables in the kitchen.

“So, how was your day?” said Mounchioun, as he had been out all day.

“Um, okay, there isn’t really anything to do.”

“Hmm, that’s true…and the Hantens refuse to move. And if they attack and somehow find us, we can sneak up on them and do the ritual—once the ritual begins no one can disrupt it. But we have the potion, it’s all so messy but… we are stuck. I’m sorry you have to go through this,” said Mounchioun while unloading the baskets.

“It’s... fine…but I just can’t sit around anymore,” said Nimji, not being able to meet his eyes with Mounchioun.

“Hmmm, well… Oh, what would you all like for dinner?” Said Mounchioun, suspiciously trying to change the topic.

“Who is that? No Mounchioun I know would do that…” Somji whispered in Kimji’s ear.

“I know, I know, we’ll figure something out,” He whispered back.

“What was that, Kimji, hm??” said Mounchioun, glaring at Kimji, making Kimji scared.

“Oh, umm, I was saying we can have soup for, umm, dinner.”

“Yes, perfect, I’ll start cooking!” said Mounchioun without taking his gaze off Kimji.

Mounchioun went back inside the kitchen. Kimji let out a loud sigh.

“Nimji... NIMJIII, what do we do?!!” said Somji, her wings flapping nervously. She was tense—realizing what was happening.

“Hey, calm down, it’s okay, Nimji, tell her,” said Kimji, taking Somji’s hand and slowly dragging her back to the sofa as she floated up from the anxious flickering of her wings.

Somji, dumbfounded, sat back down and shared glances with Kimji and Nimji.

“N-Nimji?”

“OKAY, I have a plan,” said Nimji after zoning out for a few seconds.

“Huddle up, so we will sneak out after Mounchioun goes somewhere. We take our belongings and leave. We will go to the Mountain of Shi and DO THE RITUAL!”

“SHUH! NIMJI, YOU’RE SO LOUD!” said Somji.

“Oops, my bad...”

“Do what ritual, hmm?” said Mounchioun, holding a wooden bowl and spoon, peeking out from the kitchen.

“Oh, we were talking about, um, how the dragon–Shi ritual, whatever it is, works. It’s interesting, right?” said Nimji tensely.

“Calm down, why do you look so darn pale? Here, soup is ready, enjoy!”

Kimji saw a tear slide down Somji’s face, and out of instinct, flicked it off.

“Don’t cry,” said Kimji, giving Somji a big smile.

Somji flashed a hesitant smile back and playfully punched Kimji’s arm.

“Tomorrow we leave,” Nimji whispered to Kimji.

“But… you know what, we will talk about this later,” said Kimji.

Nimji nodded while drinking his soup.

A strange smell rose from the bowl.

Nimji pinched his nose. “Eww, what is that smell?”

He sniffed the bowl a couple of times to make sure it was coming from it.

Out of nowhere, Nimji threw the bowl across the floor.

“THAT’S ENOUGH!”