No one will understand, or believe in this story. The story I am about to tell. I was the only surviving witness from my village that saw what really happened. I feel obligated to do so—revealing the details of the remnant of the events that are about to lost in the history. 

      It all started with an epidemic that broke out in the village. 

      “Have you heard?” I asked my fellow villager. “ What?” he replied. “ Luna went alone to kill the monster.” I said with hope, “ She’s going to save us.”  “ Quit playing! She’s only 17 years old, she’s not well-trained.” he replied. “Well, her love for her mother will conquer anything. You see her mother is dying. Like rest of us. ” I sighed. “Did village head tell her to go?” he asked. “ She snuck out last night without telling anyone, leaving only a note to her father” I answered. 

       Luna’s father was our village head, as well as our pharmacist. He was highly revered by everyone, and we all thought he was the kindest person you will ever meet. Months ago,  he announced that there’s an epidemic coming for us. He saw monster Nian near the village. We all know Nian. Our parents, grandparents, all warned us about this monster. We never thought Nian was real, to us, it is merely an ancient Chinese tale told by the elderly. Apparently, the myth is not made up, the monster did bring illness to all villagers. Almost everyone’s hair turn white in just one night, and looked as if we were near death. Situation is worse for the elderly, ten funerals in just one day.  

       The day is getting dark. The other villagers and I finally arrived at Luna’s father’s house. He is the only person that knows medicine in our village. At first, he gives us medicine for free. But as things got worse, he ran out of money to purchase herbs. I and other villagers who are relatively healthy, decided we should help village head. We trade our crops in the market to pay for the medicine. 

There’s a long line waiting in front the village head’s house. People are complaining, “It’s too hard to get any crops in the winter, I can’t do this anymore…” The villagers were exhausted, they felt hopeless, and some openly wept. I wanted to help. But my generosity could be my parents’ death. 

The night is even darker for Luna. She has been walking for two days. Not a single trace of Nian was found. A sense of desperation sneaks into her heart. She misses her mom. She cannot see a clear path in the darkness, and as she walks deeper into the mountains, she feels cold air rushing to her feet. 

 Luna falls into a hole. 

Her face hits the ground and the blood covers her eyes. 

“Who are you?” she hears a child-like sound asking. 

“ I..I.. My name is Luna,” she replies.

“A human? This is not the place you should be,” warns the creature. 

Luna wipes her blood from her face. She sees a glow worm in front of her. A bug can speak?

The glowworm speaks again, “you shouldn’t be here. He is about to wake up. Go before he finds you.”

“Who? Wait, what?” she asks.

As soon as she utters those words, she hears heavy steps coming towards her. The ground is shaking, and in the light of the glowworm, she sees a figure. It is short and stout, as if it were squished by a heavy object. It has a dragon’s head, red fur in the back, green skin, and four short legs with star-shaped nails. The tail is the shape of the sun. 

It is Nian. 

Luna can no longer speak because she is petrified with fear. She steps backwards, but Nian steps forward. 

Something irritates Nian—Her nasty human smell. 

Luna wakes feeling a heavy weight on her skin. She thought she would be dead, but sees that she is still in the cave. It’s almost daylight, but it’s raining heavily outside. She stands up. But suddenly she sees that her feet are green with red fur. She shouts in disbelief, and runs out of the cave to the river. In the river, she sees Nian’s reflection. At that moment, she has flashbacks to new memories, but these memories belong to someone else.

——

“Nian, do you like your little brother?” Nian’s father asks.

“Dad, is mom really gone?” Nian asks tearfully. 

“Sigh. Nian, I’m sorry, but you know the fate of our kind. Mothers die after they can no longer give birth,” the father tries to comfort him. “Someday, after I am gone, you must promise me that you will take care of your younger brother Xi. You must also promise me you will never venture onto land, and you will stay in the water. There are evil creatures on land that will hurt you and your brother.”

“ Why dad?” Nian asks. 

“ Our species is very rare. Every part of us can be used to save lives. There’s a evil creature on the land we call human. They will do everything they can to catch us. Your ancestor takes great pain to make human believe we are evil. They are scared of us. But you are young, and easy to be hurt. When I am gone, I will be unable to protect you. You must protect yourself and your brother.”

“I promise,” said Nian.

After Nian’s father passed away, Xi and Nian lived peacefully for a while. But Xi’s curiosity overtook him, and he snuck onto the land. Nian rushed to bring him back into the water, but was too late. Xi was captured by a man wearing a straw hat and a black cape. The man disappeared with Xi. Nian knows his lung was not fully developed yet, and he could not bear being out of water for long. He crawled back to the river using the last of his strength. When Nian’s lungs became fully developed, he moved to the mountains in search of the man that took his brother. 

            ——

Luna awakens from her flashback. All can she think about is going back to her father. Her family, her village. Everything she sees right now is not true. 

The villagers feel the ground shake, and see a monster coming their way. The monster heads straight to the village head’s house. Luna sees her dad and shout “DAD!” However, the villagers only hear a monster’s roar. They cannot understand Luna. I was there too. I shouted to the crowd “ Nian is here! Grab your weapons!”

Then I see village head goes inside the house and grabs his sword. The rest of the young men, including myself, gather in front of the village head’s house. We hold torches, knives, and axes, waiting for the village head’s order. 

Luna can’t believe what she saw. His father walks out, wearing a straw hat and a blake cap. It’s his father. 

Nian’s consciousness awakes in her. The pain of Nian’s past overcomes Luna, and she swings her claws at the men with tears in her eyes. She rips off the roof of the building, and suddenly sees Xi in a fish tank. Xi has not grown up, and is as little as the day he was taken away. Xi looks almost dead, with a thick needle inserted in his gallbladder. Connected to the needle is a long tube that feeds Xi’s bile into a medicine pot. Luna turns around in blind rage. She is not herself anymore. “You monsters…What did you do to him!”

The village head waves his sword, and the villagers respond by using their weapons to stab Luna .Luna fights back, and kills as many men as she can. I was fortunate, and was only knocked unconscious by Luna’s blows. In the confusion, the villager head takes his chance and stabs Luna in the heart. Xi sees this, and climbs out of the fish tank to save his brother. Xi stabs Luna’s father with the needle that he inserted in Xi. 

As the monster lay dying, it began to change shapes, and the head of the monster formed into Luna’s face. Her father looked on in horror as he lay dying, realizing he had just stabbed his own daughter. As I came to from being unconscious, I walked over to ask Luna/the monster what happened. The monster spoke in Luna’s voice, and told me how Luna became a part of the monster when the monster ate her, and the whole story of Nian and his brother Xi. I eventually pieced together what really happened. 

           Xi was abducted some time before the illness came to our village. So how did we get sick?  Looking for clues, I searched Luna’s father’s house, and during my search, I walked on some floorboards that were loose. When I lifted the loose floorboards, I found a jar of strange powders hidden underneath, and a journal written by village head. 

 Day 1. Poison is not strong enough. 

 Day 2. Marked fish began to swim erratically in circles. 

 Day 3. Fish died a few days later—-too strong. Change the ingredients. 

 Day 4. Tested on Madelyn. Symptoms: hair turn white in just one night, accompanied by some puking. Gets better after fed with Xi’s bile. Not life threatening.

 Day 5. Ready to pour it into the river. 

 Day 6.….