I grabbed my right arm by the wrist before it could fall to the ground. I was now standing up on the alert, trying to locate the attacker. My blood clotted immediately on both wounds, the one on the detached arm and the other on the body.

I felt the mana pressure on my skin rise once again and launched myself backwards, evading another rock spike. I tried to reposition my arm where it belonged, but a thin layer of mana remained, impeding me to glue it back to my body.

Differently from beasts, geogenais were intelligent beings. Their attacks carried complex intents and the mana they moved had a higher weight as a consequence. It would require far longer to scatter this mana. The assailant could seriously injure me.

I looked around and extended my sensory range, concentrating on every single perception, from the faintest of sounds to the smallest vibration travelling through the ground. To this end, I removed what remained of my shoes and shirts, to extend the sensitive surface of my body.

I looked up and saw water vapour coalesce into an ice spike. I stepped to the side while it fell to my side, embedding itself into the ground. The genai had exposed itself. A dim but perceptible trail of mana wavered around in the air. I immediately started to follow it as it was the best clue to find the genai.

He had messed up. Had he continued to raise stalagmites from the ground, I would have needed longer to decipher the subterranean trace of mana.

I run through the open fields, following the disappearing mana trail. The more distance I travelled, the more I encountered suddenly rising portions of the ground or falling ice crystals. With each step I took, the frequency of their appearance increased, but the attacks also grew more and more haphazardous. The hidden genai was panicking and his lack of concentration directly translated into less defined formations.

After some time I found myself in the middle of nowhere. I was far away from the now destroyed fighting arenas and even further from the Perimeter. I could see a small group of people on the outer edge of the Alpha watching me from a distance. Most of the main cast members were out there intently looking at me: Caleb, the red-haired girl, a gigantic woman covered by a fur mantle and the old Tobias.

I turned my attention to the ground I was walking on. The mana trail which had guided me here had dissipated, but I could feel the presence of someone in the area. I walked around for a couple of minutes until I found what I was searching for.

I raised my severed arm over my head and swung it downwards like a mace with all the strength I had in my body. The earth cracked and broke apart, revealing a shallow burrow hidden beneath a rocky lid. Hidden inside there was what perfectly resembled a person; but you could tell with a single smell it was not such.

It was an incredibly pale entity, with sparse grey hair and a completely hairless body. Its eyes lacked irises. He was trembling while I stood over him. The falling rocks had injured his naked androgynous body, but he was quickly recovering, similarly to how beasts did.

“Do you wish to surrender?” I asked him with a slight tint of annoyance in my body.

I didn’t appreciate him severing my arm but I knew killing him without giving him the chance of surrendering wouldn’t sit well with Faye. Her dream was to nurture peace between the two species she was part of and I had decided to help her out.

The newborn genai just nodded, while he was shivering. I didn’t know exactly why, but he seemed terrified by me. I could understand his fear, as I could have killed him at a moment’s notice, but this went beyond it.

I put my severed arm between my teeth, grabbed him by the collar and hurled him outside of the hole. I followed him by jumping and using my free and only remaining hand to grip the sides of the pit.

I returned to the surface and found someone waiting for me. It was Tobias, with his usual monotone expression. His hand was firmly put on the shoulder of the genai, who was so still he seemed to have lost consciousness.

“You’ve done marvellously well, John,” he said to me once I had completely exited the hole.

He was addressing me by name. Although I was still far weaker than him, I had gained his respect. From here on out, he would treat me as one of his peers.

“You’ve been watching me since the start of the mayhem, have you not?” I replied with another question.

“Naturally. I do not wish for you to die”

Tobias then pushed the captured genai in my direction.

“What do you wish to do with this one? I’m too old to care about the ancient hatred between us and the birthless folks”

It appeared that while I had been away, Tobias and Faye had deepened their relationship enough for her to share with him her intentions for the future. Nevertheless, although he had given me the option to choose, there was actually no choice at all. In these modern days, the only reason genais were born was to confront humanity. The only way of existence for them was to be targets for humans to kill.

Or at least this was how it should have been. During my previous struggle against the beasts, I noticed a peculiar phenomenon. Those that ingested my blood died immediately, but for a fraction of a second they stopped their attacks. Every time it happened I felt a connection form, but it lasted only for a moment as the beast promptly dissipated.

I had a hunch this was related to the violet hues present in my blood. While my aura density was high all across my body, it was in the violet blood I perceived stronger the still undefined “something”. I wanted to try and inject it inside the genai, to confirm its effects.

Before I could even propose this, the genai exploded in front of my eyes. Blood and internal organs rained around us, before dissipating into nothingness. Inches from my forehead there was a javelin covered in a thick and hostile aura. Tobias had grabbed it and stopped it in midair just before it could destroy my head.

I was starting to think something out there was trying to get me.