As the hours passed, Morin gradually descended toward the horizon. However, the green pillar continued to emit its glow, illuminating its surroundings with a dense green light. While the rest of the village investigated the light pillar and the events surrounding it, the orphanage ran as usual, if not just a little more hectic, because of a strange new temporary resident.

But none of that mattered to Carter; he wanted a place to rest. A place he could lay his head and close his eyes and escape back to the dreams. After searching for most of the day, he had found something that would make due for now. He had hidden himself in the attic of one of the buildings, far away from the children and the chaos they created. It seemed from the emptiness and dust that it had seen little use in recent times, or maybe it had been abandoned. With a slight smile and a short sigh, Carter went to the window to watch Morin finish its descent. But just as he was about to get comfortable, he heard the giggle of the pest and began to panic.

Carter felt like he couldn't escape the constant presence of this annoying pest. No matter where he went, it seemed to follow him like a shadow. Its incessant giggling echoed in his ears, almost as if it was haunting him. Even when he tried to hide, the pest always managed to find him with its irritating smile, making it impossible for Carter to find a place for him to rest like he wanted.

"FRIEND!" The shrill sound echoed through the dusty attic, making Carter jump. He turned around to see a child appear from the hatch in the floor, with pale pink hair and an infectious smile. The child's eyes locked on Carter and turned into crescents, “I found you again! Heheheehe! This is fun! Where are you hiding, ne…”

“ASTER!” The scream of an angry girl echoed from the floor below, “Leave him alone and go to the timeout room!”

“It’s Aiyah again,” Aster whispered worriedly, “Stay here this time, new friend. I will be right back after I get rid of her.”

“I can hear you, Aster!” Aiyah screamed

“Hear what?” Aster said with a curious face.

“Don’t do that!” She screamed again, her face red, “You broke the rules! Now you need to go into timeout!”

“I did nothing wrong!” Aster shot back

Aiyah huffed as she glared at Aster, “You made everyone run around and cause trouble.”

“I DID NOT! I sat in a tree and just said things. It’s not my fault that everyone did them.” Aster said as he finished climbing down the ladder.

“SEE! YOU DO KNOW WHAT YOU DID!”

“NOTHING!”

“ASTER! STOP RUNNING AWAY FROM ME!”

“MAKE ME YAH-YAH!”

“THATS NOT MY NAME!”

The screaming of the pair continued to echo until it could not be heard anymore.

Carter couldn’t help but let a small grin stretch across his face as he noticed the quietness of the attic after the pest and its pursuer left. He turned around to resume his rest.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

***

Amidst the eerie silence of deserted halls, a tiny child with icy-blue hair zipped through with an excited smile, their high-pitched shouts echoed off the walls, “THEO! THEO! I DID IT!”

The child burst shoulder first into a door, not even bothering to waste time with the doorknob; on the other side of the now open door, a pale-lit room where a man with messy black hair lay his head in his arms atop a cluttered desk. Papers and books were scattered around him as if a storm struck, and whirled the contents of the room around, or maybe it was just a madman rummaging for his notes.

“Huh…” The man raised his head, his face still groggy from his impromptu nap.

“Carter? Is that you?”

"Theo, I finished what you were doing the last few days!”

“What!”

“Look!” Carter handed a thick bundle of papers to Theo with a wide grin.

It was cute that the child thought he could help; he would offer to play with the child, but the research comes first. How could a child as young as this understand theories that most of the race could not, let alone solve some of the calculations that Theo was struggling with?

Theo took the thick bundle of papers from Carter with a gentle smile and glanced over the papers, not expecting much, but each word he glanced at jumped from the paper and pulled his attention. Now, he was enthralled and horrified.

“Wha… What is this?”

“Does it help Theo?” With a tone of impatience, Carter asked with palpable excitement.

Theo could only blink his violet eyes, glancing between this monster and the paper he was handed.

“When did you do this?”

“This morning. Why?” Asked Carter.

Theo was left speechless he had to close his eyes to gather his thoughts. Maybe this was all a dream; it was the only explanation as to why this was happening. When he opened his eyes, he would be alone in this quiet room where he could continue with... He opened his eyes, and he saw Carter looking at some of the strewn notes.

"Theo, this is wrong. The roots of the otrois plant can only grow in straight lines at ninety-degree angles and tend to be two-dimensional, and the flower that grows when it blooms has six petals, each seeming to be dipped in an amber color, which is why it is called a honey pot before it blooms. The image that you have here in your research notes is a plyotrois. Although they are close in appearance and often confused, this one is very deadly, releasing poisonous pollen when its eight petals open. See, look at the root system. It is three-dimensional, and the amber color is closer to dark gold."

Carter gave the information as if he was reading a book, but Theo's mind lay elsewhere. He was a fool. Of course, he should have known this. Both of these plants often grow beside each other, feeding off each other's nutrients... Wait, he had used these plants as gifts as an apology for leaving his last research project before it was completed. Now he was in a panic. Did he just give his close friends deadly flowers waiting to explode or beautiful flowers that would lighten the moods?

Simple mistakes like this kept pushing his research further. Theo felt frustrated, but nothing was worse than constantly hearing this child telling him that everything was wrong and how to improve his research. What even was this thing? Theo could finally understand why Master Aon had locked this monster far away from anything else. If something like this was allowed in this society, would they even survive?

Four years he had been here, and of all times, this distant child had to take an interest in what he was doing. Why did he not go out and play and just leave him alone? Not only that but everything he has done... This child destroyed in a matter of moments.

"Carter..."

"Not now, Theo. I am still explaining; wait until I am done."

"I-I am very tired. Can you just leave so I can rest for a bit?"

"Oh, of course, I can finish telling you when you wake up." Carter was about to walk out the door when he whipped his head back, "Make sure to tell me when you wake up so I can finish. We can have snacks! I'll go make some!"

***

“Friend! Friend! Wake up!” The sound of the pest and the constant poking woke Carter up from his rest.

When Carter opened his eyes, he was surrounded by several of the children, including the tiny pest that had followed him most of the day.

“Hello, friend! It is time for an adventure!” Aster screamed