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“Well, that was just the first time,” Namjoon said, leaning against the car.
“It was the second. The first time was the crazy repeating night of insomnia hell.” Jimin waved his hand in front of his face to clear the rising smoke. None of the books mentioned how messy it was trying to contact the spirit world.
“I thought we agreed that was just a nightmare?” Namjoon kicked at the only tuft of grass in sight, poking up valiantly from the expanse of blue grey rocks. The middle of nowhere was picturesque, in a stark and brutal kind of way.
“You said it was just a nightmare, but I lived it, and I might have written it off as just a nightmare back then, but now?”
“Yeah, okay, fine. I see what you mean. It was my first time, though. I’ve never walked around in anyone’s skin before. And the second--”
“Third.”
“ My second experience was just…” Namjoon shuddered. For almost two weeks he’d had intense, vivid hallucinations, always about Jimin, but not any Jimin he remembered. A Jimin who’d fought in wars long before his grandparents were born. “And the… my third, your fourth--”
“I don’t think either of us really want to think about that again.”
“You’re right. Still, it’s definitely cause for concern.”
“Concern enough to take action, yeah. Hand me the, uh… elderberry wine.”
Namjoon peered into the case by his feet, wrinkling his nose. “And which one is that?”
“Purple bottle, yellow wax. I think it’s on the right side, sort of middle of the case, next to the red wrapped flask?”
“Ah, got it.” Namjoon lifted it gingerly, stretching to place it delicately in Jimin’s waiting hand.
“Now’s where you come in, language boy. Read it slowly. Not, you know, not too slowly. But slow like it’s important, not slow like you don’t know what you’re doing.”
“I don’t know what I’m doing.”
“We’re summoning a guide to the spirit world to get some answers.”
“No, that’s what you’re doing. I’m just here to read some ancient script and keep you from killing yourself.”
“Honestly, Namjoon, if anyone was going to be worried about getting themselves killed, it should be you.” Jimin cut the wax from the bottle carefully. This knife, though dingy, was sharper than any knife had a right to be and it had cost him half a pint of blood to acquire.
“That is why I’m staying over here. By the car. Away from the fire, sharp objects and potentially lethal herbal concoctions.”
“Excellent, now, read the thing.”
Namjoon sighed and rolled his eyes, but picked up the book resting on the hood of the car. He’d been practicing in his head most of the long drive out here, but he was still uncertain what any of this was going to sound like coming out of his mouth. No one really knew what this was supposed to sound like. No one had spoken this language in thousands of years. He was guessing at most of it, and that level of uncertainty with something that seemed precarious to start with was enough to warrant a little extra caution. He cleared his throat and rolled his shoulders. Show time.
Namjoon began to speak, slowly but not too slowly, glancing down at Jimin’s face for encouragement. The words rumbled out and seemed to drop to the ground, as if the sounds had weight, as if the words were alive, awakening.
The smoke from the fire curled around Namjoon’s feet, the flickering flames casting strange shadows on Jimin’s face, but Namjoon read on. A cool breeze picked up, stirring the smoke into beautiful swirls and causing Jimin to cough, but Namjoon read on.
The words started to come on their own now, a rhythm and cadence to them that felt familiar. Namjoon hardly needed to glance at the pages in front of him. He watched the flames and the smoke and his voice sounded far away, someone else’s voice coming from inside him, but the words were his, a part of him, the voice was him and yet not.
Jimin was saying something. Namjoon thought he was saying something. His mouth was moving, but the words were lost in the wind, in the fire, in the rushing magic from Namjoon with each breath and sound. The fire grew, shimmered and danced. Namjoon dropped the book and leaned back against the car, but still the words came in a steady river, drowning all other sounds.
Jimin waved his arms, still mouthing words that Namjoon couldn’t hear. There was no room in his head for anything but the words he was compelled to speak. His hands shook as Namjoon raised his arms above his head and as he did the words became louder and louder until Namjoon threw his head back and let out a scream that rattled his ribs.
Then silence. Jimin stumbled forward, falling at Namjoon’s feet and tentatively put a hand on Namjoon’s leg. Namjoon didn’t flinch. His arms and head had dropped and he rested against the car. Jimin struggled to stand. His ears were ringing, his mouth dry, hands trembling, but Jimin had to make sure Namjoon was okay. He didn’t even know what okay meant after watching every hair on Namjoon’s head turn stark white while an eerie blue glow came from his mouth and fingertips. Jimin was hoping for something along the lines of alive and sane.
“Oh man, what a trip. Good job, Summoner.” Jimin’s head swung around to find the new voice, low and melodic. In the fire stood a… a being. Mostly human, if humans were inescapably beautiful and had a dancing aura of light. And horns. “Your accent is much better than most who attempt this. You still sound like you were trying to gargle through your nose, but trust me that’s an improvement.” The being looked around. “You brought a friend! That’s adorable. Hello, friend of the Summoner.”
Jimin blinked a few times and then tried a welcoming smile. “Hello.”
“Don’t you sound lovely. What a sweet voice. But enough with the chit chat. Nobody Summons without an agenda, so present your request so we can get to the Bargaining. That’s the fun part, anyway.” The being rubbed their hands together and smiled. Jimin thought it might be a charmingly innocent smile on an actual human--all boxy, with perfect white teeth--but he didn’t find it at all reassuring at the moment
“Alright, so--”
“Sorry friend. Only the Summoner can make the Request. Rules and all.”
“But I did the actual summoning. All the bits and the fire, the… the concoctions and the potions and weird herbs? That was all me. All Namjoon did was read the words,” Jimin protested. This whole thing was his idea. He’d had the idea this time, and done the research. He was responsible for all this happening.
“And you did a great job, really. This is a perfectly wonderful portal, really comfy. I mean it, but, Rules. I can only grant the request of the Summoner, and that means the Speaker. So… um… hello, Summoner?” The being and Jimin looked at Namjoon expectantly. “Maybe you should shake him or something?”
“Is this not normal,” Jimin asked, reaching up to grab Namjoon’s shoulder and shake gently.
“Nah, happens all the time. Weak vessels don’t realize what’s really going on and their doubt works as sort of a buffer? Like insulation against the truths of the universe? Stronger vessels can get a bit overwhelmed. Just, you know, shake him again. He’ll come around in a minute.”
Jimin tilted his head as he looked at the being, but he continued to try to rouse Namjoon. “Namjoon. Hey, I need you to wake up. Namjoon there’s a… uh… a guy here to talk to you.”
“A ‘guy,’ really?” the being scoffed. “I’m… I mean, you did all this work and you don’t even know who I am?”
Jimin shrugged and shook his head, but kept gently patting Namjoon on the arm, hoping he’d wake up and save him from the wrath of the whatever from high atop the thing. “I was just trying to contact the spirit world to get some answers about why--”
“Hey, hey, hey, no Requests except from the Summoner. Rules.”
“Sorry,” Jimin said through clenched teeth. Namjoon stirred a little under his hands and Jimin rolled his eyes and sighed with relief. “Hey, ‘Joon. You okay?”
Namjoon grunted and raised a hand to his head. Jimin looked again at Namjoon’s newly white hair. He’d wait to bring up that particular detail until later. “What the--”
“Ah, the Summoner awakens! Greetings, Summoner!” the being cheerfully intoned. Jimin lowered his chin and looked up at Namjoon with wide eyes.
“Huh?” Namjoon was always his most eloquent right after waking up, Jimin thought.
“That’s what we conjured,” Jimin said, patting Namjoon’s face gently.
“Summoned,” the being corrected gently.
“Summoned. Yes, right. Anyway, he’s here and he won’t talk to me, so--”
“I talk to you! I’m talking to you! I just can’t grant your Request. We can chat about all kinds of stuff. I want to talk to you. You’re adorable.” The being crossed their arms and beamed.
“So, you can talk to me about whatever?’
“Mostly.”
“So I can just have a casual chat with you about the nature of the universe and the fabric of time?” Jimin asked.
“Funny you should say that. See, time isn’t really fabric at all. Not even in the metaphorical sense. It’s stretchier and impressionable, like… you know that stuff kids used to play with? Pressed it onto newspapers and whatnot?”
“Silly Putty?” Namjoon croaked. His throat was so dry and he felt strangely empty. Hungry, but his whole body was hungry for… something.
“Yes! That’s it. Time is like Silly Putty.”
“Great. Perfect,” Jimin cut in. “So, is it possible--”
“Nope. No Requests. Rules.”
“Oh, come on! I didn’t make a request. It was just a question.” Jimin crossed his arms and glared at the being.
“Look, you’re probing. Trying to get information. I can tell when something is connected to the Request. It sounds different. Not to human ears, of course, that would be weird. But also, kinda fascinating. I mean, I think dogs can hear the difference sometimes, but you guys would just go crazy if you knew what people really wanted. Chaos. Not in the fun way.” The being shuddered a little.
“There’s a fun kind of chaos?” Namjoon asked as he straightened his shoulders. If he was the one who had to the asking, he might as well get started.
“Oh sure. Hide and Seek. Tag. Splashing water.” The being’s face softened and looked wistful and fond.
“So, childhood,” Namjoon said.
“Only if you’re boring. There’s no Rule saying you can only have fun when you’re a kid, you know. But we should get on with the Request. This portal won’t last forever, and it really was very well made. Thank you.” Jimin nodded.
“Right. So, Namjoon, tell this guy what we need.”
“I have a name. I can’t believe this. What are your books teaching you these days?” the being asked, looking around the flames in disbelief.
“Well, they taught me how to make a very nice portal, so that’s something,” Jimin said sharply.
“You’re right. I’ll just introduce myself then. In the old days, there was more fanfare and I was famous enough to not have to do this part. But things change, I guess,” the being pouted. “Call me Tae, guardian of the entry to the transitional phase of the spirit world.”
“That’s a mouthful,” Jimin said and the being had the audacity to wink at him.
“Yeah, well, it’s a day job, alright? So. Request?” Tae looked at Namjoon.
Namjoon sputtered. “This was all Jimin’s idea. I was just here to read the words. I don’t actually know what we want.”
“I want to know why the hell weird shit keeps happening to us,” Jimin said. Tae just glared and pressed his lips together.
“So, um… why does weird shit keep happening to us?” Namjoon asked.
“You have to be more specific. As far as I’m concerned, most of what you do in a lifetime is pretty weird. I mean, who thought it was a good idea to smother yourselves in hot wax only to put a cloth on it and rip your hair out by the follicles?” Tae stuck his tongue out and shook his head.
“Yeah, that’s weird. But so is nights that repeat on a loop, and spending a week in each other’s bodies, and two weeks of hallucinations of a Jimin living in the past and spending a month, in the space of about an hour, in some future war!” Namjoon finished with a shout. When he said it all at once, it was really just insane. But it had all happened.
“That is more unusual than normal for one lifetime,” Tae agreed. Jimin and Namjoon exchanged a nervous glance. Tae’s eyebrows rose as he looked between the two. “Oh. Oh, I see. Well, I guess you two need to come clean a bit before we get on with the Bargaining.”
Namjoon looked at Jimin. Jimin looked at Tae.
“It’s science,” Namjoon said at the same time Jimin blurted out, “It was just an experiment.”
Tae snorted and shook his head. “Honestly, what do you even need me for? I’m not going to get to Bargain because it sounds like you already know why you’ve got cosmic side effects.”
“Side effects?” Namjoon squeaked.
“From what?” Jimin asked. “We’re just scholars. We found a book. We drink some tea. We stay pretty healthy.” Tae’s eyebrows rose again. “Ok, really healthy.”
Namjoon pushed away from the car and paced around the ring of stones surrounding Jimin’s very well built portal. “In what way would some kind of quantum temporal distortion have anything to do with an ancient text about vitality of the blood that led to some sort of hyper cell regeneration that has slowed down the aging process to practically nothing?”
“The tea is foul though. Tastes like the inside of cockroach,” Jimin added.
Tae shrugged. “You messed with magic without the right buffers. There are side effects.”
“It wasn’t magic! It was science. Old science, sure, but still science. I don’t mumble spells when I make the tea, I just… make the tea!”
“Magic isn’t always showy. You made a magic potion. You drank it, and now there are consequences as well as benefits.”
“But how do we make them stop?” Namjoon asked, stepping up to stand on the ring of stones, waving his hands in the fire just short of actually hitting Tae in the face.
“You can’t. Not this lifetime anyway. Also, keep your hands out of the portal. It tickles.” Tae smiled sweetly.
“Not this lifetime? What does that mean? We just… suffer? Until we die? What if we stop drinking the tea?” Jimin said in a rush. He looked at Namjoon, trying to piece together a reasonable solution that didn’t involve more unexplainable horrors.
Namjoon shook his head. “If we stop now, all that aging we haven’t done in the past hundred years is going to start catching up pretty quick.”
Tae’s eyes were sad and his voice was gentle. “Really quick. But it would end the side effects. And you can start over next time.”
“What next time?” Namjoon asked.
“Sorry, Summoner. Time is up. You have a big choice to make. Either way, I’ll see you on the other side, whenever you get there.” Taehyung waved his fingers and grinned that blinding smile. Then the fire dimmed and he was gone.
Namjoon and Jimin sat down hard on the blue grey rocks.
“A choice, huh?” Jimin said softly.
“Not much of one, is it?” Namjoon rubbed his hands across his face. He had always intellectually known that there would be an end to this loophole arrangement with death, but now that the loop was closing, he felt unprepared. One hundred and twenty three years was a long time to live, but there was still so much more he wanted to see and do.
“Well, so far we’ve come out of these weird occurrences unscathed,” Jimin said with a cocky grin.
“There’s no guarantee that we will continue to.”
“Does anyone have a guarantee of tomorrow?”
“Don’t get philosophical on me, Park Jimin. I’ve known you too long.”
“You’re right. You’re better at it anyway. But I say we risk it. Live some more. And if we get scared off, we stop drinking the tea. Easiest thing. It really does taste horrendous.”
“So you tell me every morning,” Namjoon chuckled.
“So, let’s have some more mornings. The world is our oyster, right?”
“I’m allergic to shellfish.”
Jimin slapped Namjoon on the arm then bumped him gently with his shoulder. “Come on then. Long drive back. You can brood over it then. We’ve got until morning to make a decision anyway.”
“I don’t brood,” Namjoon protested as he climbed to his feet. “I ponder.”
“You brood. You brood and do a dimple thing and everybody knows it.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”