"Just because something is almost impossible to occur doesn't mean it will never happen." A soft, gentle voice spoke in front of him. His vision brightened as he found himself sitting along with 7 other kids. Widening his eyes in fright, the teenager wanted to run but after a few moments, he realized that no one noticed his presence which was again, puzzling to him. They scooted forward quietly and shook her legs using their small hands.

  "Big sister, it's already Monday, how come the visitor you told us didn't come yet."

  The other kids nodded in agreement as the girl smiled helplessly. "Only time will tell."

  They pouted and it was clear that even they didn't buy that excuse. She waved her hand, signaling that she was going to start the storytelling now. Although they calmed themselves down, they didn't let go of her legs and habitually hugged tighter once in a while. The boy could only stare at them exasperated as he couldn't fathom why they were doing that. ( ?° ?? ?°)

  "This universe is a trichiliocosm. This means it's a big bubble that accommodates 1000 smaller bubbles that contain 1000 even smaller bubbles, which yet again, have 1000 even tinier bubbles inside of it. Billion-fold world. Of course, it's just an estimate, the exact number isn't known as worlds constantly disappear or form."

  "There were once two souls. One died from old age. The other barely has any sentience and it died from suffocation outside the ocean after being hit in a battle between two giant sea creatures. The worlds they are born in are extremely far apart, yet they died at the same time and the places they died in are parallel to each other.

  Many pairs of eyes gazed intently at her as she kept the suspense.

  "With so many coincidences and for some unknown reason, the two souls were attracted to each other like magnets. However, there's a seal over that world so the starfish that died from suffocation whose soul is too weak stayed in one place while the other came over."

  A kid suddenly asked out of curiosity, "Why is that world sealed?"

  He quickly covered his mouth with his hands after realizing that he interrupted her without permission.

  The other kids turned to him, snickering and thinking in their heads, "Brother, I can't save you this time-"

  The kid closed his eyes and prayed that he wouldn't get 'educated'.

  He was lucky, the girl was in a good mood. Her head was resting in her palm as she shifted her gaze to him.

  "I won't say everything in depth and... are you sure you won't get bored?"

  The boy, with his survival senses tingling, quickly said, "N-no, of course not, big sis. Please tell us."

  Meanwhile, his "comrades" glared at him resentfully, causing him to shiver. They are probably thinking, "This punk is pretty lucky lately, looks like we should help him balance out his luck with some 'body tempering'."

  "Nai. It was the period before they started using 'years' to mark history. But there was an era erased from the world.

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  'Iners' This word means motionless; stagnant. Perfectly representing that era.

  At the end of Nai, the so-called 'creator', for the first time, spoke to the creatures thriving on the planets. 'Although I never interfered with you, I wonder... why are you fighting over worthless things all day?' That message included everything and everyone, even the gods. Though, for humans, only the church received it because only the church knew the existence of the 'creator'. No one knows why the creator suddenly told them this, but it caused everyone to panic.

  Then, they heard him sighing, 'Yuanhui has come… Another cycle starts...' Arousing more questions, the tension raised, and the creatures felt a bad omen. A computer won't work if it doesn't have power. But what powers the world? The world's core is the answer. You'll know more about it later on. When the creator disappeared, the universe slowly stopped working just like a clock with dying batteries. That erased period was called 'Iners'. They were frozen in time in a sense. Their lifespans appeared to have become endless but they lost the ability to reproduce. The grass hadn't grown even a millimeter and when they practically crushed it under their foot, it still had that same level of vitality even after days went by. But people eventually notice that something in them is dissipating.

  Until one day, the soul that died from old age went into the world. He was a 'foreign being' that pierced a small hole that couldn't be noticed in this world. It is unclear what truly attracted the soul into this world and the most likely guess is perhaps, the 'resonance' it had with the other soul. It was that same hole that jumpstarted the world. Allowing the creatures to finally kill grass like never before. Allowing 'time' to flow again. Though, it was later..."

  The kids tilted their heads as they urged her to continue, "Later?"

  She smiled, "I told you I won't say everything ~"

  They looked at her with annoyance as she went on, "As soon as time started flowing again, the central powers of various races started suppressing the news, trying to erase every trace of what happened. Notably, the church has already started manipulating the king. The only clue that wasn't erased is the temple of the creator, where he lives once in a while. Though, no one has ever visited that place for who knows how long."

  As the children quietly took in what she said and let their imaginations take over, the girl poured an unknown liquid from a teapot into the cups before sipping on one. The boy tried to guess what it was as he stretched to ease his stiff back. "Orange soda? Lemon honey tea? Not sure..."

  After a while, the girl started speaking again and the little ones perked up.

  "The soul was shattered when it went through and broke a small hole in that world. However, because it was still attracted to the other soul, it was swallowed up by it, causing a tremendous change in the soul and reviving the suffocated starfish-"

  She quickly covered her mouth, "Waa, look at me. I accidentally told you the character's species."

  They pouted as they looked at her with disdain.

  She leaned in and whispered while smiling.

  "Hmm. Guess what happened next?"

  The kids waited impatiently and one spoke up.

  "What's next? What's next?"

  She leaned back and clasped her hands.

  "Too bad. That's it for today ~"

  The children groaned but obediently stood up. Some of them were definitely complaining about her being a devil in their heads.

  The kid that almost got in trouble earlier asked the girl, "Big sis, what is the starfish's name?"

  She stroked her chin as she randomly looked in a direction. Coincidentally, she stared right at him. She playfully squinted her eyes and he felt like he had been seen through as he subconsciously rubbed his fingers. A moment later, she turned around and he breathed a sigh of relief.

  …

  "Hmm, let's call it 'Aster' shall we?"

  …

  The kids had already forgotten their curiosities for the story as they excitedly cleaned their mess up and went to bed. We can't blame them because after all, who allowed their beds to be several levels above ours in terms of comfort? ╮(╯▽╰)╭