"She said that?"
The boy nodded.
"Well, be at ease, because that's not the truth. The monsters who live there are people like us, they indeed are vicious people who might put a knife in your back and betray you, they can easily kill someone they don't like if they have the guts to do it, and they are way more powerful than us, outsiders, they also are loved by surya. But they aren't the monsters you may think of."
Lumiere explained to him and Tae looked confused but relieved with the new knowledge, clearly having a lot of questions popping up in his little head.
"What do you mean by 'outsiders'?"
"The outsiders are the minority who live outside the Star Tower. How can I explain this... mmhm, do you know what a different reality is, Taeyang?"
"You guys can call me 'Tae', it's more comfortable. And yes, I studied with Dawgreen about it. It's like a different version of our world, existing at the same time but in an entirely different space, right?"
Karina agreed with a smile on her face, noticing that the kid was as smart as she thought, then she continued:
"Exactly! Then think of the Tower as a giant building, which you can't see the end of it and where each level of it is just like a different reality itself."
"How do you climb it?"
Lumiere and Karina shared a look before answering Tae's question.
"Well, we don't know exactly, once we cannot enter it. But, what we know is- the amount of floors is unknown, to climb it you must become what they call a 'Climber'. To become a Climber, you need to pass a really difficult test in what they call 'The Tutorial', then, apparently, you get in touch with the leader of the tutorial and thenceforward you start climbing the Star Tower for real."
"And we only know this, because we met Marie and she explained to us. But most of the outsiders don't know about it. They only know that there's a gigantic tower close to the Solar Zone, which we cannot access because we don't have enough surya running through our veins."
"What does that mean? Why can't you enter it? Isn't that unfair?"
Karine gave the kid a soft smile and pet his hair, then she said:
"Well, kid, life is unfair! The world isn't fair and neither are the Gods."
"And it's not like we cannot enter the tower at all. We can, but we're going to be intruders there. Also, we wouldn't be able to survive, because as Karina said, we, outsiders, don't have enough surya running through our veins to be able to survive up there. On the other hand, the people who were born there, have way too much surya in their bodies, to the point that they're able to, not only survive but also to awaken an inner power."
And Lumiere's statement only made Tae more curious about it.
"Two questions. First, if there was an outsider with too much surya in his body, could he survive there? And second, what inner power?"
They exchanged a look and then she answered him, straightforward.
"Yes! If there was such an outsider, he could, very probably, survive up there. At least I believe so. Well, how do I explain this?!"
She questioned herself.
"Do you know what superpowers are?"
"Yep. They are superhuman abilities like manipulating the elements, moving things with our head, speed, and a lot of other kinds, right?"
Lumiere smiled at him and nodded.
"Exactly. Then that makes the explanation easy. Those inner powers are kinda like superpowers. Not exactly like it, but very similar."
"So, when you have a very high quantity of surya in your body and you can control it well, you can awaken those.. powers?!"
The couple nodded, thankful for the fact that the kid was so smart, understandable, and straightforward.
"That's so cool! But they are all bad up there?"
"No. There's no such a thing as a place where everyone is bad. Because there's always one person left, or more than one, and that's hope."
Lumiere said calmly with a sad smile on his lips.
"You guys know that, it doesn't matter what you say to me, I'll find a way to go there and save them, right?"
Tae spoke firmly but calmly and with a determined look in his eyes, which proved that he was not going back on what he said.
"We kinda expected that you would behave like this. They kidnapped the ones you love the most, it's understandable. You wanting to save them and get revenge on who did this-"
Lumiere said and Tae hugged him, and then Karina with his free arm.
"Thank you! ..I mean, for saving me and all. And for not hiding information from me, at leastt not all of them."