“You are quite the nasty bastard, aren't you?” Faye reproached me.

After a couple of minutes of reassurance, she had been able to regain colour and calm down. Nevertheless, we were now both sitting down on the chairs, in order to avoid other unpleasant events.

“Yeah, you're probably right”. I spoke without a single parvence of remorse. I felt a little bit guilty about my distasteful joke, but there was no need to show it. Although I wanted to establish a good relationship with her, it would still be advantageous to keep the upper hand in this transaction.

“At least you are conscious of it. Now, before starting with your requests, I'd like for you to tell me clearly what you know. You took me off-guard with your words before, but if I think about it there is no way you could know anything” she snarled at me.

“I know you are a genius with a highly developed mana perception, I know your father was human while your mother was not, and therefore you are a human with genai heritage” I rebuked.

She looked at me flabbergasted.

“Ha! How the f**k… There is no way… How? Not even Pop knows about it!”

“I suppose because he was never told. If I'm not wrong, you should know about your heritage only thanks to your mother's genetic memory”

“Ok ok, stop. But how?”

I shrugged my shoulders.

“I know many things. Let's just agree a birdie told me”

She sighed loudly.

“Fine, keep your secrets, you jerk. Anyway, you do understand no one would believe you, right? So what is your plan, because blackmailing me wouldn't work”

Despite her words, she was still visibly worried, and understandably so. The information I possessed could prove quite dangerous for her.

“I don't want to blackmail you, but if I wanted to, I could simply threaten to drag you outside of the Perimeter by force. What would happen then?”

As a matter of fact, she could remain hidden until she remained deep inside of the Perimeter. If she put a single step outside of it, she would resonate with the ambient mana and her true nature would become apparent. At that point, she would become a target. Even her grandfather would disown her immediately.

She was the fruit of the illicit relationship between a man and a geogenai. The geogenais, also called genais for simplicity, were people born of pure mana and were the sworn enemy of mankind. To sum it up, many hectic things happened in the past and from cherished friends, geogenais became traitors. Humanity, after having risked extinction, retaliated and basically hunted them down like dogs. The remaining ones lived in hiding, lurking in the shadows.

Geogenais, although rarely, could still sprout up from nothing in mana-rich regions. Faye's origin story was that a group of archs had gone scouting outside of their Perimeter, one of them had found the newly spawned genai, had decided not to follow the protocol, i.e. immediate termination, and the rest was history.

“I don't know, but I'd say something bad for me… Are you going to use force to make me comply?”.

Although she was trying to hide it, I could sense her fear. My perception had truly developed well.

“Nah, as I've been saying, absolutely not. I just wanted you to know that I probably know even what you think there is no way I could know”

I knew I was being scum, but I kept my guilt at bay.

“... You are having fun. At my expenses. Threatening my life as a joke. I'd slap you, but I would only hurt myself”

Now, Faye was showing a furious expression. She had surely been told I was an arch, and archs had tough skin and bones. By slapping me, she would only hurt herself. I answered with a mischievous smile. After some time, she collected herself and stared at me.

“Fine. You want something from me, but I don't have anything to give to you. Maybe an apple or some grapes. I may be a freak of nature, but what I truly am is a simple country girl. I really don't have anything. Since before I can remember, I've always lived with Pop, working in our orchard. Many things you said are correct, but I most certainly am not a genius. I'm just a peasant, an ignorant girl fearing for her safety every single day”

A hint of sadness tinted her words and tears seemed to want to leek out. I knew the reason: although the genetic memory she inherited from her mother didn't contain much information, it contained the pain and desperation of the dying genai species. In my story, this had been the driving force behind her life purpose: to solve the age-long enmity between the two species she was a part of and bring back peace to the world. Nevertheless, differently from how I designed her to be, she was now a simple teenager who had probably never stepped outside of her fields before today. The fear of being discovered and mercilessly killed must have followed her her whole life, like a curse. The sense of helplessness she felt must have been unbearable for such a vulnerable young girl.

Nevertheless, I needed her, or at least, what she could become. Without her, I could strive for how long I wanted, but it would prove incredibly arduous reaching the top of the world. I couldn't leave her moping in a forgotten hole. Not only that, I didn't want to let her. I couldn't accept that my creation, someone who should have been respected by all, was here waiting for an inevitable death. Her destiny should have been full of gold, not mud like it was now. This was my world, and it was up to me to rectify what had gone wrong.

“You are indeed the greatest genius this world has ever and will ever see. Your destiny is to be a wind of change for this stale old planet. You may not believe it now, but you simply need to trust me. After all, didn't I just prove to you I know what cannot be known? I will show you what you can do” I spoke emphatically.

“... Do you mean it? Am I truly this great person that you talk about?”

Faye's eyes were slowly lighting up.

“Yes. Follow me and you will become the first Former, you will make me strong, and together we will realise that dream of yours: genais and humans will be finally be able to live in peace. You just have to believe in me and yourself”

I talked like a scammer, but Faye was looking at me like she was listening to a prophet.

“Yes. Yes, I understand! Let's give it a try … By the way, what is a Former?”

And so, I explained to her my plan.