Jainal's steps were heavy as he returned to the White Monastery, carrying two children who had no idea they were holding fragments of the world's hidden truth.
The sun had yet to fully rise, and a gentle mist clung to the outer courtyard.
The monk guarding the gate recognized Jainal's silhouette and quickly opened it.
But when they saw Unit 5 on his back—pale, silent, still wearing a tattered lab robe—they tensed.
> "Another child?" one monk asked hesitantly.
"From the ruins they tried to hide," Jainal replied. "A survivor. Just like the first one."
---
In the same room where the first child slept, there were now two small beds.
The child from Karsel—now called Ruu by the monks—watched Unit 5 with quiet curiosity, then offered a wooden toy he had made.
Unit 5 stared at him without much expression.
But he accepted the toy and placed it on his lap.
His movements were stiff, but he did not reject the gesture.
That was enough for Jainal.
> "You're not broken things," Jainal whispered.
"You're just seeds that grew in the wrong soil."
---
That afternoon, in the empty meditation room, Jainal sat cross-legged before a small altar.
Spread out in front of him was the notebook from Research Post 03—pages filled with diagrams of children's bodies and emotional tracking charts, all designed to create weapons, not humans.
> "Project Δ-Lambda shows unstable results. Of 42 subjects, only 5 did not explode during processing. Two are now considered 'calm but uncontrollable'…"
Jainal wrote in his personal journal:
> These children are not failed results.
They are proof that evil needs neither horns nor blood—only authority and a convincing reason.
If I continue to carry them, I will become a target.
But if I abandon them… who will understand their scars?
---
That night, he spoke with the head monk, an elderly man with sharp eyes and a calm voice.
> "I'll leave them here for now," Jainal said.
"But they're not ordinary children. There's danger running in their veins. And perhaps… hope."
The head monk nodded slowly.
> "We've cared for those who've lost their way in mind.
But these two… they weren't just lost.
They were born in the dark."
"And now they must find the light—or they will consume everything."
---
Before departing again, Jainal stood by the bedside of Ruu and Unit 5.
He didn't know if he would return with answers—or just more wounds.
But he knew one thing:
They weren't burdens.
They were compasses.
As he stepped out of the monastery and descended the steps back toward the city, the sky began to shift in color.
Beyond the monastery walls, the world still burned with war and deceit.
But within, two seeds had been planted.
And perhaps one day—they would grow into trees that could change the world.