Chapter 1 The Last Lullaby, Below The Banyan Tree.

A lot of University students seemed to be at an archeological site of a temple that was recently discovered, but what was most surprising was that the temple did not match with any current or past cultures in the whole world. No one was able to tell which civilization built the thing and when.

And that's why reporters, specialists, enthusiasts, and students from top universities around the world were visiting the site to find any potential clues for discoveries.

The excitement regarding this specific structure was in the air because even though it was deemed to be thousands of years old, not even a single crack was found on its surface. It was as if it was built just recently.

And that is why the discovery of this temple created big waves around the world in every news outlet.

While students were busy searching for clues and taking notes on the structure itself, one place stood out the most as people were staring at the particular spot with gazes of admiration, envy, and awe.

"Look! Isn't that him?" A beautiful girl exclaimed in excitement, her gaze was full of awe as she looked at the particular spot.

"Yea, the number one genius on earth. That's him all right, Tch." A boy said who was in college uniform, from his tone and body language... He seemed to be either annoyed or pretty pissed off for some reason.

"Oh wow... But why is he..." The girl said somewhat in bafflement. It was as if she had seen something that she did not expect.

Someone beside her sighed deeply and said, "Forget about him. He's just like that. Let's just do our own thing okay? Otherwise, we will all become suicidal if we think about him more," said the person and turned back. The girl also turned back to do her research although somewhat unwillingly.

Conversations like this were happening all over the place and people gradually got bored and left to do their work.

Middle-aged women suddenly stepped forward. Her figure was quite sexy, she wore a pair of glasses, high heels, and the typical sexy teacher outfit which could only be seen in anime or web novels.

But anyways, the women walked to the huge banyan tree that was quite old and looked like it was easily qualified to become a top-most heritage site from its extensive form, broad trunk, and super wide roots that were even visible to the naked eye through the ground.

A young student with blond and rather unkept hair was leaning on the tree wearing a collage uniform and a winter coat. Rather than leaning, it was fair to say that he was taking a sweet nap, even saliva was drooling over his mouth.

Now you have to understand how strange this looked, an ancient-looking temple with strange symbols and patterns all over its walls was found and many intellectuals were currently looking vigorously to record all the data. While on the other hand, a university student was just taking a nap under a huge-ass banyan tree without any care as if all those others were just fools trying to find something.

The sexy woman walked up to that boy, she knitted her brows in hopelessness as she looked at the boy snoring and muttering some comprehensible words in his sleep.

"Hey! Wake up!" The woman kicked the boy lightly and yelled.

The boy however looked as carefree as ever and just changed his sleeping posture and curled up his body even more. This looked as if the woman was bullying a cute sleeping kitty.

"Aww, he's so cute!" Few girls who were still sticking around to see what happens said adoringly.

The women's eyebrows twitched, she looked back and clenched her fists which were shaking due to anger. "Wat'cha lookin' at huh? Get lost and do what you came here for!" The women yelled at the girls loudly, and everyone scattered.

"And.. YOU! I... SAID... WAKE THE HELL UP!" The woman screamed at the boy as she grabbed his ear and twisted it in a rather painful-looking manner at a 90° angle.

"Ah, Ouch. Ouch! Hurts. Aww. That hurts!" The boy finally woke up and first and foremost tried to get the women's hand away from his ear as fast as possible.

The boy's eyes looked uninterested and drowsy but his handsome face was currently twitching in pain

The woman let go of the boy and stared at him attentively with hands over her waist, that with her beautiful curves and cleavage were enough to even charm the uninterested boy, but not much tho.

"Ms. Hutson... why won't you let me live in peace.. *yawn*," The boy said drowsily, his eyes were still struggling to keep open as he rubbed his ear which was red as a tomato.

"The whole reason I brought you here is for you to look at this site and tell if you can find something! Hmph! Do you think I like dealing with you? If you weren't such a smart-ass I wouldn't even care! Now get your lazy ass up and come with me!" The woman said with a lot of frustration, she was literally on the verge of exploding.

The boy struggled to wipe and spit from his face that was constantly coming out from the woman's mouth. He finally gave in and said, "Fine... Fine... Let's.. Go.. Ok?" He said gloomily As if he was being sent to war to die. His tone and expression were so gloomy that even the passerby felt sympathy for him.

The boy was 21 years old Ethan Riddle who was said to be a genius and the topper of the world's number one university called Stanfield University.

The fact was that he had already completed graduation at the age of 16 and was just forced to attend college by his parents so that he would 'make friends and get some 'experience with socializing'

Ethan was arguably the laziest person on earth, he even said once that he did a speedrun in education just so that he would have more time to sleep later. He was the kind of person that had no ambition, did not care about anything, and just liked to sleep under s tree and stare at the moving clouds for hours.

He was criticized a lot for not using his incredible talents for the good of society. And now he was dragged by his teacher Ms. Hudson to who knows where to look at some old temple which Ethan had absolutely nothing to do with.

The guy basically just wanted to chill and everything he did was all for that purpose only.

Ms. Hudson grabbed his right hand and urged him to get going. Ethan sighed in resignation and lazily tried to stand up.

As he was struggling to get up from extreme drowsiness, he saw something shining in a small slit on the Banyan Tree's Trunk. He extended his hand and quickly grabbed the thing inside.

It was a hard ordinary-looking and oddly shaped, glossy, light blue stone. Thinking that it looked just like the clouds above, Ethan threw it inside his pocket and that's when Ms. Hudson who was getting more and more annoyed forcefully pulled him up.

Both of them began crossing the road because the site was on the other side of the road. The place was quite crowded and a few camping tents could be seen here and there around the temple's premises.

Both of them heard the sound of a truck coming and they stopped in their tracks, "it must be the truck of supplies... But why do I feel so uneasy all of a sudden? I wouldn't just happen to get hit by the infamous 'Truck-Kun' now, would I?" Ethan thought to himself. He would often think weird things like this which were utterly not so genius.

He was still yawning and standing unstable because of drowsiness, "Honestly, when will this boy grow up?" Ms. Hudson thought while looking at the Drunk-looking Ethan.

The truck soon came into view, it was going at above-average speed and because it was a slope, the momentum was even faster.

Ethan with Ms. Hudson was standing on the side of the road. Suddenly the driver found out the brakes weren't working when he tried to slow down the truck as the destination had arrived.

He panicked and did not know what to do. In a panic, he did not see Ethan and Ms. Hudson on the side of the road and turned the steering wheel accidentally.

The road was bumpy to begin with, and when the truck suddenly turned, it went out of control, and because of the slope, its speed increased.

Only the sound of something being hit hard was heard followed by the truck crashing into the banyan tree. When the clamor suddenly broke out and people gathered immediately, they found that Ms. Hudson was on the ground far from the crash site as Ethan seemed to have pushed her to safety.

But then they saw Ethan in a pool of blood just behind the crashed truck. People gasped and some girls screamed seeing the bloody scene.

"Quick! Call the ambulance.. Quick!" Multiple voices shouted.

Ms. Hudson who recovered from the shock got up and saw the bloodied Ethan. She panicked and ran up to him and began sobbing uncontrollably.

"I-This.. is.. What has happened... It's all my fault.. My fault... I- I never.. Never should have asked you to come... Woo.. Woo," Ms. Hudson said between sobs and hiccups while holding Ethan's hand which was getting 'chill' and more 'chill' by the second.

The whole scene broke into chaos as people looked at Ethan with sympathy. Some recognized him and were concerned while some secretly laughed.

The driver who was saved by the airbags only had scratches and minor concussions. He got out of the truck from which hot steam and black smoke were coming out.

"I- I didn't do this on purpose... I don't know what happened. I don't know.. How.. How did this... AHHH," The driver said in hysteria as he was going crazier by the minute. He finally broke down and ran away frightened.

What was Ethan thinking as all this was thinking you ask?

"Well... Damn.. So cold.. I feel so cold.. Can't move.. I hope it's.. Not a fracture.. Otherwise.. I will have trouble... In sleeping.. I feel so.. Drowsy again. Ahh.."

"I feel so sleepy," Was Ethan's very final thought as all the noise gradually faded and he slowly closed his eyes, Ms. Hudson tightly held his lump and cold hand and looked at him through her teary eyes. Ethan had a strange satisfied smile on his face. As if he was enjoying eternal sleep just like the smile he always had while taking a nap in the afternoon.

This intensified her emotions several folds as she wept even more loudly while taking Ethan in her arms and caressing his head as if to tell him that he could now sleep unbothered forever.