The favor that landed on Rhodes Island operator Lava seemed simple enough. Her colleague Nian just wanted her to go find 'Dusk,' the little sister she hadn't seen in ages.

Deep in the mountains of Yan's backcountry, this errand seemed like it would be over the moment she opened a single thatched-hut door. Instead, the moment that door opened, it turned into a completely different story.

Beyond the door waited a village with the sun and moon sharing the same sky, and people living their lives with no idea they were beings inside a painting.

1. The Messenger Who Swore to Repay a Debt, Whose Very Name Turned Out to Be Made Up

It started with saving a strange man being chased by a pack of Gloompincers. He introduced himself as a 'messenger,' and later, made up the name 'Mr. Nothing' on the spot.

Lava caught on immediately. "You just made that up, didn't you?!" Still, since Kroos seems to find him amusing, they decide to bring him along for now.

A month earlier, aboard Rhodes Island's flagship, Nian had said, "I know it's a hassle, but I'd like you to bring my little sister back." That was the entirety of the explanation.

Nian had already secured Closure's approval and arranged for Kroos to come along. For Lava, it was less a request than a notification.

Before they left, Nian pressed a talisman into her hand and said, "She's my little sister, after all..." Lava didn't catch the unease hidden in those words at the time.

On top of that, Nian let slip a teasing remark before they parted. "That stage costume from Ancient Forge, you actually liked it, didn't you?" Lava denied it firmly, but it was already too late.

2. They Opened the Door, and the Sun and Moon Were Hanging There Together

Following the address Nian gave them, the three climb Mount Huiji and open the door of a thatched hut in the mountains. And what happened after that, none of the three can remember at all.

When they come to, they're in an unfamiliar garden, listening to an old tale from a storyteller called 'Master Jasan.' When they mention they're looking for someone, the storyteller only tilts his head.

Just as the three, sensing something strange, are leaving the garden, Lava looks up at the sky and freezes. It's broad daylight, yet lanterns are hanging across the bridge, and up in the sky, the sun and moon are hanging side by side.

To make matters worse, the moment a bell rings, the villagers start screaming and running. "A monster's coming from the western mountain! Get somewhere the sunlight reaches!"

Unidentified black things come swarming in, and Lava and Kroos decide to fight first and ask questions later. Mr. Nothing, caught off guard, just tags along after them.

Whether cut or shot, the things simply turn into black stains and vanish without a drop of blood. "I'm not seeing any sign of infection..." Even Kroos can't get a read on them.

3. This Is Basan Village, and Even the Era Name Was One They'd Never Heard

Only after driving off the monsters do they finally get a proper explanation from Master Jasan. This place is 'Basan Village,' and right now, apparently, is New Year's Eve of the seventh year of Jingzuo.

Mr. Nothing asks under his breath. "Jingzuo? I've never even heard of that era..." A chill runs down everyone's spine.

Even stranger was the geography. From east to west, the village runs the entire span from day to night, so the sun and moon just hang fixed in place and never rise or set.

And every year on New Year's Eve, monsters come down from Mount Hongdong and terrorize the village for thirty-five days straight. Master Jasan says the only answer he's ever found is simply 'hiding wherever the sun still reaches.'

Lava proposes a deal: they'll help the village get through this night safely, in exchange for a way out of here. Master Jasan agrees, somehow, without much resistance.

4. The Bell-Ringing Monk, and a Pawnshop Owner Hiding Something

A wandering monk named Saga, who keeps the bell tower, shows up in the village. He was also the first to notice that when he swings his sword, the monsters vanish, leaving nothing but an ink stain behind.

Saga gave these monsters the name 'Inkwraith,' meaning a wangliang spirit that vanishes like ink. He claims he's just being modest, but everyone's already impressed.

Facing off against an Inkwraith, Saga mutters, "The length of a painting shifts from time to time, and the scenery here and there turns strange." Before Lava can even ask what he means, Saga's already calmly cutting down the next monster.

In the middle of the commotion, the pawnshop owner Lai shows his face for the first time. And yet, standing in front of an Inkwraith and saying, "Alright, alright, calm down already," as if soothing it, feels far from ordinary.

When Lava asks about it, Lai denies it flat out, calm as ever. "No, never seen it before." Only Saga, completely oblivious to the awkward air, is simply happy to see the two of them reunited.

Meanwhile, the village child Lan tags along after Kroos, asking, "They say you're the hero who saved the village. So you must be super strong, right?!" Kroos answers, unbothered, "A hero's just someone who wants to help other people, that's all."

5. Sleep, Wake Up, and the Whole Village Is Reborn

The next morning, Lan's mother, whom they'd thought was dead, is walking around perfectly fine. The eaves that had been smashed, the alley that had been trampled, all back to how they were.

Saga explains it plainly. When the four of them, people from outside the painting, close their eyes, this world has no one left watching it, and quietly slips back to how it was. Which means this really was inside a painting all along.

The pawnshop owner Lai poses a cryptic question to Lava. "Do you intend to go to all that trouble fishing the moon out of the water?" After all, once the waves settle, the moon goes back to being round regardless.

The moon in the water may shatter into any shape amid the ripples, but once the wind and waves die down and stillness returns, it becomes the round moon once more.

— Lai

But at the next attack, the rules break down. Inkwraiths swarm in even in broad daylight, and this time, someone is really bitten. A villager who's lost her husband screams in anguish.

"Why! Why did my husband have to die!"

The crying sounds far too real to just stand by and tell themselves none of it's real. Lava and Kroos end up taking up sword and crossbow once again.

6. Leaving Behind Only a Fan, He Decides Not to Settle the Score

That night, Mr. Nothing, who's been playing it cool this whole time, finally opens up with the real story. At thirteen, he was practically sold into the Lian family's martial arts dojo, and grew up under his master for over ten years.

But last year, he ended up killing someone in a match. It turned out to be a trap set by people trying to tear down the fading dojo's reputation. In the name of 'the rules,' his master bled out in front of everyone and passed away.

All that was left to Mr. Nothing was his master's fan, the Yinqing Fan. Ever since, he's lived on the run, hiding who he is, posing as a fortune-teller, posing as a messenger.

Someday... I'll go back to Jiuwu Fortress. I'll go back and settle this.

— Mr. Nothing

So this was the reason Mr. Nothing has been hiding his skills, and the reason Kroos had noticed long ago but never asked.

Lava isn't particularly surprised. "You might fool other people, but you can't fool me." That one line alone sets Mr. Nothing off crying again.

7. One Bamboo Firecracker, and Lai's Cryptic Hint

Lai drops a subtle hint. This village has never had a thing called 'firecrackers,' but if they make some, the Inkwraiths should be afraid of them. The material: bamboo from Master Jasan's garden.

"It'll grow back by tomorrow anyway." Without a moment's hesitation, Lai chops down an entire full-grown bamboo for them.

Lava takes charge of managing the fire, and as the bamboo crackles and burns, the Inkwraiths really do get scared and flee. And so the three of them start a new nightly routine, lighting a bonfire at the village entrance every evening.

Then one day, Master Jasan lets slip a question. "...Nian?" And yet no one had ever said that name.

8. The Monk Who Napped for Ten Years, and a Painting Within a Painting

Saga, who'd shut himself in his room alone, finally opens his eyes after seven days. Master Jasan asks, "So you've finally woken from that long dream... How much time has passed?"

Saga's answer is perfectly calm. "I watched the plum blossoms bloom and fall ten times over." Counting it out, that comes to a full ten years.

Years earlier, Saga had stepped into yet another painting, one of Mount Cheonak, and quietly lived out ten years there. What he just stepped out of was only that one painting.

Dusk, the owner of the Mount Cheonak painting, finally appears before Saga. Saga asks the question he's carried for ten years. "Is the person inside a painting real, or false?"

Dusk asks back, "You know full well they're a person inside a painting, so why ask whether they're real?" Then she gives her answer, calmly.

You and I, all of us, are painting-dwellers. People inside a painting.

— Dusk

Dusk shows Saga an old memory. The sight of a young head monk walking for three days and nights among the starved dead, praying the whole way.

Only then does it become clear why Saga's teacher had secretly added one more character, 'still,' to the painting. It meant, 'Jolsan is not yet finished.' Saga sets off again, his face unburdened at last.

9. The Big Sister Finally Finds the Little Sister Trapped in the Painting

As it turns out, Mr. Nothing and Kroos had each been trapped in their own dream. Mr. Nothing's, dying all over again without ever avenging his master. Kroos's, meeting her old comrade Beagle again only to watch her fade away, hollow and empty.

It was Nian who woke them up. "If I hadn't come looking for you, you'd have had to live through everything again, starting from the moment you left Jiuwu Fortress." Nian says it as though it were nothing at all.

Nian tells Lava an old story. Long, long ago, Yan's young emperor Zhenlong subdued the arrogant gods of heaven and earth, or so the story goes.

"Those beings are still out there across Terra today, just wearing different shapes." Nian says it with a smile, but there's something urgent hiding underneath those words.

Before long, Dusk appears. She bristles at being called Nian's "good little sister," but in the end, gives in and joins the conversation anyway.

"You can't afford to be more confused than me. Think about this long history, how many times have their shadows shown up already?" The more Nian talks, the stiffer Dusk's expression gets.

"We have to be ready, for our own sake, and for the sake of what we love." At Nian's words, Dusk finally raises the white flag. "Fine, I admit I lost the bet."

Right on cue, Saga wakes up and greets them, a grain of rice still stuck to his face. "Your elder sister, Teacher? What an honor to meet you!" The sisters' tense standoff deflates in an instant.

Once the mission wraps up, Mr. Nothing grabs Lava, eyes shining. "Does Rhodes Island happen to be hiring, by any chance? I can do just about anything!" Caught off guard, Lava ends up giving something close to a yes.

Epilogue. Basan Village Existed Both in a Painting and in Memory

Years pass, and an old, ailing Lai meets Dusk one last time. "You saved my life, and gave me the chance to survive... and even now, at the very end, you've come to see me like this."

Lai has a request. All he remembers is the village's name, the pawnshop next door, and a single mountain, but he asks her to paint Basan Village for him, in his place.

Was my life... a happy one, in the end?

— Lai

To Lai's final question, Dusk gives no answer at all.

The scene shifts to Rhodes Island. Dusk, brought along by Nian, is still as prickly as ever, but she stays up all night watching movies, and quietly schemes to sneak into Nian's mahjong game.

Then Dusk suddenly asks, "You still haven't told me what kind of people the Doctor and Kal'tsit are. Do the two of them have something to do with why you're here?" Nian just smiles and puts off the answer. "Once you hear the whole thing... you'll understand why I like it here."

The errand to go find Nian's little sister ended up becoming a journey across an entire painting. Master Jasan, Saga's ten years, Lai's whole lifetime, all of it was a story inside a painting Dusk had made. But the time spent laughing and crying within it was never a lie to anyone.