disfunctionality | HwanHee ✅

Nineteenth Toll

I nibbled on myself as my body was itchy. "You're been doing that for over an hour..." "Really...?" I felt the itch come back and started back up again. "You obviously were bit by something. Probably mosquitoes..." "Why haven't they bitten you?" "They have. I just don't get the itch irritation." I whined in envy as I wanted it to disappear. He suddenly stopped then looked around. "I've never been here...Him's got to be nearby." I couldn't understand the correlation a new area and Him had but I followed him nonetheless.

"Ugh, what is this..." My paws were sticky beyond belief and the air reeked. "Keep pushing through." I did as I was told then felt the ground leave from underneath me. I shook myself free from dirt then looked up. "A pit..." Luckily I had avoided injuries, but I didn't think any animal transformation would help me out of here. "Wait...a bird..." I transformed into a sparrow then looked around as I was in the air. I couldn't see Keonhee anywhere.

I saw him running over to the pit then drop whatever was in his mouth. "Hwan!?" I flew down and landed on his back. "Present." "Oh. Forgot..." I gave him a questioning look and he responded with silence. "Were you worried about me?" "Of course. You're my buddy now afterall." Buddy. A cuter way of saying friend. It hurt, but I was able to hide it well. "Let's get going. Time's wasting." "I don't it will be going anywhere, Hwan." He seemed amused by my statement which warmed my heart.

We both chose a side to look at and I started thinking that this search was hopeless. "There!" I looked and saw an ordinary looking cave. "You think that could be it?" "Won't know til we go in." We approached the cave and I started getting a weird vibe from it. "Do you feel that?" "If it's a weird vibe, yes." We nodded then hurried inside. Keonhee led the way and I wondered how deep this cave was. As we were walking, I saw something shimmer in my peripheral vision. I headed in that direction and saw tiny gold leaves sprouting from the ground. "Keon..." I followed the path then saw a huge tree in the distance. I entered and felt refreshed. "What is this?" I became spooked as I didn't expect to see Lutin. The gold leaf that I had floated into Lutin's hands and started to envelop him.

I looked at Lutin in awe as he had taken on a different form. "Lutin...?" He didn't respond. I called out a few more times but it was the same result. I heard steps behind me. "Woah, what is that?" "Keonhee!" I quietly sobbed as I didn't know what to do. "It all happened so fast..." Nisse appeared then circled around Lutin. "I can't make sense of it either." I noticed Keonhee's gold leaf had floated towards Nisse, but my reaction time was poor and it ended up in his hands too. The same event happened to Nisse and I looked on in horror. "What's happening to them!?" "Calm down Hwan...Look."

I looked up and saw that the both of them were coming together. A golden figure now floated in front of us with a satisfied smile. The tree now bore fruit and the air was filled with a rich sweet scent, just like Keonhee's. "So you two have finally met." We looked at each other and he looked just as confused as me. "Um, do you mind explaining yourself...everything?" "I'm Him. The one you two have been searching for." "Hold on. So you've been with us the entire time? And why us? Why disguise yourself as two pixies?" "I guess I have a bit of explaining to do."