The orphanage entrance is dimly lit by the moonlight, with Achie, Noor, Sol and the kid standing outside and the caretaker woman in the old wooden doorway.
"All of you helped so much today," she says, her voice soft but tired. "The children really enjoyed having you around." A warm, genuine smile follows her words.
"It was nothing," Noor replies with a gentle smile of her own. "We enjoyed it too."
The nurse turns her attention to the slum boy standing quietly beside them, half hiding behind Achie's legs.
His worn shirt hangs loosely on his thin frame and his eyes are unsure.
She crouches and meets his gaze.
"If you want, you can come back tomorrow. The last day of the festival has activities for the kids."
The boy hesitates, shifting his weight nervously and rubbing the back of his arm.
"If… if I come… can my friends come too?"
"Of course," the nurse answers, amused by his shyness. "How many exactly?"
"Well… around fifty?"
All except for Achie freeze out of shock.
"Fifty?!" they shout at once.
Sol looks confused and Noor's jaw drops.
Achie clears his throat to get everybody's attention and adds, "There's someone who will cover everything financially."
"Who the hell would pay for fifty kids?" Sol asks in disbelief.
"A captain named Stefan."
Sol's brain visibly malfunctions. "How did you get a captai—"
But he's interrupted as the nurse kneels again, gently taking the boy's hands with surprising tenderness. Her voice becomes softer.
"Bring them all tomorrow. We'll do our best to make it a fun day, okay?"
The boy nods shyly.
Then the nurse turns back to the group.
"Would the three of you like to help again tomorrow? We'll need more supervisors with a bigger group."
"Of course. We'd love to," all three of them respond immediately.
They say their goodbyes and begin walking off. The nurse remained at the door, waving until they passed through the gate.
Once outside the orphanage terrain, Noor tells the boy, "Let's take you home now."
But Achie suddenly stops.
"Hold on. I forgot something. You three go ahead, I'll catch up."
They nod and keep walking, while Achie jogs back.
The nurse was just about to close the door as she saw Achie approaching again.
"Did you forget something?"
"Yes," Achie says, lowering his voice. "Who's that scary looking guy on the top floor? The one Eliot called 'Mister'?"
"Oh, you mean Walder," she responds. "He's new here. He applied from another city, very far from here. But the city hall accepted him based on his qualities.
So I know he looks scary, but he's actually a very kind man once he knows you."
Achie relaxes slightly. "Alright then. I just wanted to be sure there isn't some dangerous homeless guy wandering inside. That could be dangerous."
The nurse smiles tiredly. "Thank you for your concern, but you don't need to worry."
She waves him off again. This time, he truly leaves and runs to catch up with the others.
After a long walk, they reach the slums where the kid lives.
The ground becomes uneven, covered with rusted scrap metal, broken bricks and clouds of dust rising under every step.
The smell here is harsher, burnt trash and stale moisture.
Eventually, they arrive at a massive garbage dump.
Metal pipes and piles of discarded construction debris that form strange miniature caves where kids laid asleep.
Noor and Sol both freeze, horrified. Their faces tighten with sadness.
The boy bows his head. "Thanks for bringing me here. I'll see you tomorrow."
He crawls into a concrete pipe, barely wide enough for him to lie inside.
They watch until only his feet disappear into the darkness.
Noor swallows hard. "These kids actually live like this?" she asks, her voice cracking.
Achie nods sadly. "And we thought our slums back home were bad…"
The three begin walking back again toward the inn where they are staying, as Achie starts telling his story of today.
How his job went, how he met the kid and Captain Stefan, and finally how he ended up at the orphanage.
By the time they reach the inn, Sol suddenly says:
"You know what I find weird?" he says. "That caretaker in that orphanage with scars and a missing eye, you told us about. Wouldn't he terrify the kid?"
Noor shivers. "Good thing we didn't run into him there."
They burst into laughter, shaking off the gloom.
But then a voice interrupts their chatter.
"It seems you guys are having fun without me."
They stop and turn. Axel sits on a wooden bench beside the doorway of the inn. His arms are crossed with a neutral expression.
"Jealous?" Noor teases.
"No… just happy everyone's getting along," Axel answers.
Sol grins wickedly and suddenly jumps forward, wrapping Axel in a big hug.
Axel struggles as Sol tightens the hold using his string powers. Axel's face turns red as Noor and Achie burst out laughing.
"You got to fight me like a man or let me go" Axel protests.
"Tell me you missed me," Sol demands.
"I'd rather die," Axel laughs, squirming like a trapped cat.
"Say it. Say it," Sol repeats relentlessly.
"I'm gonna pass out!" Axel shouted, then looked back at Achie and said in a funny voice,
"Achie, get this shitty dude off my back!"
But Sol already releases him, laughing uncontrollably. They all walk inside the inn, joking and shoving each other lightly.
Above them, the moon glows bright, illuminating the city with a serene beauty.
It's midnight and Captain Stefan ascends the city wall quietly. His boots make soft taps, echoing faintly against the stone.
At this time of night, only a few soldiers are awake guarding the city walls.
He begins marching along the walkway and everywhere standing torches light up the path. Shadows stretch long across the stones beneath him as Stefan marches along.
Then he notices something ahead.
Someone sits on the very edge of the wall, legs dangling over the city. They swing back and forth casually. Stefan approaches cautiously.
As he nears, the moonlight reveals the figure to be a kid.
"Shouldn't someone your age be sleeping right now?" Stefan asks gently.
The boy turns his head slowly, and the captain notices his blonde messy hair, long enough to partly cover his glasses.
Behind the glasses, bright blue eyes glow with an eerie clarity, almost luminescent.
"I can't sleep," the boy replies.
"And why is that?" Stefan prompts.
The boy's feet swung a little faster as he stared deep into the captain's eyes.
His voice lowers, crisp and unsettlingly sincere.
"Because there is a monster under my bed."