The Mystery of the Lights

"Gentlemen, am I seeing this correctly?" the doctor asked. "Yes, doctor. We don't know why the animals aren't attacking him, even though we created them to do so in a realistic way," one of the workers replied. "Perhaps it's a mistake?" suggested the second. "I doubt it. Let's check it out later. Let them do what they want," the head programmer replied.

Leo woke up in the middle of the night, not knowing why or for what reason, but feeling watched. Looking around, he saw many small lights flying close to the trees. After a moment, he went back to sleep, and when he woke up in the morning, he heard birds chirping "tweet-tweet-twee." He took his things and walked through the meadow, reaching its edge where the forest awaited him again. Walking in, he felt too safe. While walking through the forest, he noticed several houses built in trees. He shouted, "Is anyone here?!" No one answered, so he decided to enter one of the houses, which was open. He climbed up the rocky stairs, grabbed the doorknob, and opened the door. The house seemed small from the outside, but inside it was huge. He noticed that the dining room was often used, even though there was no one in this small settlement.

Despite his fears, he decided to get a good night's sleep on the bed located in the middle of the house. As he lay down on it, he fell asleep almost immediately. He was really tired of sleeping on the ground, but some laughter around midnight interrupted him - "hehe." Half-awake, he decided to go out and apologize for entering the house. However, when he went out, he didn't see people there, only lights. Specifically, the same lights he saw the day before, but now they resembled people running, playing, and singing songs.

He looked at those lights motionless for a long time. Eventually, he dared to ask, "Excuse me...". And suddenly, the lights disappeared, as if they no longer existed. At first, he thought it was an optical illusion and that he was dreaming. However, it was not. He still saw those lights, but now they were looking at him from behind the trees. So he decided not to disturb them and went back inside. Gently peeking at them through the window, he looked until he fell asleep.

"Grandpa, what if he's a criminal?" - the grandson asked.

"Shh, you'll wake him up" - the old man replied.

"But you can't survive a night in the woods. How did he do it?" - the boy asked.

"I don't know, go away now, shoo shoo" - the old man said, pushing his grandson away.

"So, you're not sleeping anymore?" - the old man asked again. Leo, after a moment of hesitation, only opened his eyes and looked at him. The old man had white hair, a beard, pointed ears like an elf, and orange skin with white dots. He was dressed in robes, and when Leo looked at him closely, he apologized.

"Nothing happened. I just want to know how you survived the night" - the old man said after a while. Leo looked at him as if it was some great achievement.

"Is it difficult?" - he asked.

"Yes, especially when you run around the woods with semnars" - the old man replied, referring to those strange animals resembling deer that Leo caught.

"I don't really know what it is about, but I slept outside for two days and nothing happened to me. Maybe it's luck?"

"Possible, I don't know" - the old man replied.

Then, surprised, he wanted to leave. Leo asked him: "What about those strange lights?" "Lights? I don't know anything about them" - the old man replied, then left, adding "Go out when you want to eat."

"What should I do now? I don't know these people," Leo thought as he stepped outside. Suddenly, he was blinded by light, so he squinted his eyes. After a moment, he opened them, but he only noticed two people - the old man he was talking to earlier and his grandson, who looked almost identical. "Where is everyone else?" Leo asked. "They're not alive, they were punished," the grandson replied after a moment, then asked, "By the way, I'm Riokko, what's your name?" "Leo," he replied. "How old are you?" Riokko added. "Riokko, calm down," his grandfather shouted at him. "I'm sorry for him. By the way, I didn't introduce myself either. I'm Gailen. Sit down and eat."

On the plate were fried eggs, bread, vegetables, some fruits, and skewers. After a while, Leo began to eat everything with his hands. "Has no one taught you to eat normally?" Riokko asked. Leo paused for a moment and replied, "No," then continued eating. "What was that supposed to mean, Riokko?!" Gailen asked angrily. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you," Riokko said, bowing his head over Leo. "No, it's okay," Leo said after a moment, adding, "Will you have some bread?" "No, thank you, you have it," he replied.

"Leo, can I ask you a few questions?" Gailen said. "Yes, go ahead, please ask," Leo replied. "Where are you from?" Gailen asked. "I don't know," Leo answered. "And how old are you?" Gailen continued. "I'm sorry, but I don't know anything about myself," Leo replied.

"I understand you. So, I'll just ask how you got here?" "Basically, I woke up under some rock not knowing where I was. I stood up, took that stick I always carry, and somehow went through the forest, a clearing, and then through the forest again, where we are now." "A clearing? We don't have any nearby. Just forest stretches for over twenty kilometers, maybe a little more or less. But there's really no clearing. Could you describe how that clearing looked like?"

Leo started to describe the meadow. In his opinion, it looked normal, just like any other - grass, some flowers, and four trees in the middle. Besides that, nothing special.

"So you're saying it looked normal, like any other meadow. I understand. You can go now, or if you want, stay with us for a while. We've been lacking guests," said Gailen after hearing the description of the meadow.