Faye began by arranging a set of tools on a cloth lying on the ground. From my position, I couldn't exactly see what they were.

Faye caught my attention by tapping lightly on the side of the bunk. I turned towards her.

“To begin the remodelling procedure, the first step is to have a good view of the heart ... or at least, I think so. Honestly, no one has ever attempted something like this and I made it all up from scratch, so I'm not sure…”

Her breathing had become laboured and her eyes had started wandering around the room. I needed her to regain focus.

“Faye, everything will be fine. It doesn't matter how much time you spend on it, a single day or a whole life, if it's your idea I'm sure it will work” I said with the most reassuring tone possible.

My words seemed to have the desired effect, as her gaze focused on me once again. After taking a deep breath, she spoke again.

“As I was saying, I must have free access to the heart, in order to inject the mana directly into the bloodstream and, hoping for the best, I should be able to use it to modify the entire circulatory system”

Although she was visibly tense, I could see her expression relax slightly as she referred to mana. In fact, in the last few days, despite the concern related to the surgery, I had seen her particularly at ease. I had also sensed a change in her and although she had tried to keep it to herself I had even caught her exercising a couple of times in order to increase her proficiency in mana manipulation. Each time she finished these exercises, a beaming smile appeared on her face. This didn't surprise me, since for a genai, theoretically, communion with mana should have been almost as natural as breathing.

“Ok, let's begin” Faye repeated.

I heard her fumbling with the tools she had pulled out. Shortly thereafter, she came back into my sight. In her right hand she held a scalpel with a blade of considerable size, in the left a strange object that gave me a bad feeling.

“What is that thing?” I asked worriedly, pointing to the instrument with my index finger.

“Oh, it's a gas torch with a metal insert. I made it myself. I need it to cauterise the wound” she replied nonchalantly.

Her gaze was fixed on my chest. She was obviously too focused to realise that what she had just said was quite worrisome. I decided to close my eyes and grit my teeth. Whatever she was going to do to me would not be pleasant.

Suddenly, I felt a twinge in my chest, followed by a series of low grunts. I felt the blade slowly slide through me. After a while, she extracted the blade.

“We're not going anywhere...” I heard Faye murmur.

“What happened?” I asked, while keeping my eyes closed.

“The wound closes too quickly”

My regeneration speed had become a hindrance. I focused on myself and especially on my body. I tried to visualise it clearly, from the outside to the inside, from the head to the tips of the toes, from the skin to the deepest layer of the bones. I isolated myself from the outside world and focused my senses on my physiological processes. The flowing of the blood, the twitching of the muscles, every single detail. My senses sharpened and I suddenly felt something else.

For the first time, I clearly felt the flow of the aura within my body. It was pure life force, which was born from every fibre of my being and flowed through it freely, before reaching the outside and dispersing into the environment. I could feel it concentrating on the area around my chest and speeding up my healing. In this case, however, it was an undesired effect.

I concentrated on suppressing it. I failed. I tried to disperse it. I failed again. Although I could feel my aura, I still couldn't control it. Also, I didn't have much time left: this state of enhanced perception was rapidly draining my mental energies. I had to change my approach.

The aura was a vital force, so it reasonably seemed to oppose everything that put my health at risk. I therefore had to "convince" her somehow that there was no danger. This time I focused on Faye's image. Her face appeared clearly in my mind. Faye was a person I had created myself. Besides, she was now also my irreplaceable partner. From a certain point of view, it could be said that she was "part of me". If this was true, there was no reason to "oppose her actions". I had to convince the deepest part of myself that what she was trying to do was not unlike any other natural process occurring inside my body. I repeated to myself that Faye's actions weren't that different from my heart pumping blood or my lungs breathing in air.

Immediately, I felt the flow of my aura relax.

“Try again now” I urged her.

The blade penetrated my chest and I felt it run through my skin oce again. Despite the pain, I kept telling myself that everything was fine.

“It works” Faye muttered under her breath.

The blade stopped. Immediately after, an excruciating pain and a horrible stench of burning flesh followed. My eyes opened for a moment and I could see Faye approaching me with a saw. I closed my eyes and gritted my teeth until they creaked. Oddly, I didn't feel any pain this time, but I could still hear the disturbing sound of my sternum being sliced. I assumed that my aura was acting in such a way as to mitigate the pain since, at least for the moment, it was not moving to eliminate its cause.

After some time and further fumbling not far from me, a strange contraption was placed on top of me. I heard my bones creak and my chest slowly open.

“I see it!” Faye exclaimed with a satisfied tone.

I opened my eyes just in time to see her lift a needle and stick it in the middle of my chest. A sound of something mushy being injected reached my ears. I felt really weird.

“What was that?” I asked with some difficulty.

“An old needle for the infusion of ether used in Moulding. I have inserted it in your heart” Faye answered quickly.

After speaking, she raised a series of similar needles, clearly not intended to be used on humans, and inserted them one by one in various points around my body. I would have felt like I was undergoing acupuncture, had it not been for the fact that, since she could not insert them by hand, she had to resort to a hammer to get them to reach the necessary depth.

I felt like closing my eyes and sleeping, but I forced myself to stay awake. I was in danger of losing consciousness and could not afford to do it. Suddenly, a strange halo rose from Faye. A whirlwind of colours began to swirl around her. I opened my eyes: it was a sight I had never seen before. Tints I would have never been able to imagine surrounded her. I immediately understood that what I was seeing was pure mana. The shapeless mass poured towards me, running through the needles and penetrating inside my body.

I felt something move inside of me. Under the push of the alien energy, I felt my heartbeat accelerate and my blood rush vigorously under my skin. I was struggling to focus and my vision blurred, but I could make out the image of Faye, pale, red-eyed and with a nosebleed.

I tried to open my mouth.

“ What... what...”

“It's mana. It hurts a little, but I can deal with it” Faye interrupted me.

Even though she was half-genai, she was also half-human. Moreover, it was the first time that she employied mana this way and its flow was eroding her from the inside. I didn't want to allow it, but there was nothing I could do. But I was wrong.

Her hands, tightly gripping the needle inserted into my heart, from which most of the mana was penetrating my body, seemed to glow slightly. An exclamation of surprise escaped her mouth, her face regained colour and her irises returned to normal. I too was amazed: apparently my aura, having stopped healing me, had begun to pour into her in order to at least protect her from mana.

I had lost track of time and, after an interval which felt interminable to me, I saw the needles being pulled out of my body, my chest being closed and Faye stitching up the skin. The rest of the healing process would be left to me and to my speedy regeneration.

Once the surgery was finally finished, I slowly began to refocus. I was still alive. This was the greatest achievement. Although I felt weak, I was fine. Moreover, now that it was over, I had abandoned the peculiar trance I had entered during the operation and could now rightly identify Faye as something completely distinct from me. In a short time, my aura should have gone back to function normally and I would eventually heal up. I knew it would take time, but I was in no hurry. A long convalescence awaited me and after that I would be able to determine if the procedure had been a success.

Suddenly, I began to feel strange.

“Now the hard part begins”

Faye's voice caught my attention. I looked to the side and saw her leave the room with a case, probably containing the tools used during the operation.

“Good luck” she told me, before closing the door behind herself.

A moment later, I longed for death.