Meeting Genius

Cayna woke up in the cave again. Dormach was snuggled against her and stirred as soon as she woke. With a whimper, she began to lick and kiss her.

"Dormach." Cayna said, crushing the redhead to her bosom. They hugged and Cayna found herself crying again, grateful for the warmth of Dormach's body and emotions as she comforted her.

Her stomach and the smell of food tempted her from bed. She joined Gwyn and Carn at the fire, noticing that they were discussing something important in quick, hushed tones.

"I'm sorry," Cayna said, kneeling and bowing to them. "I lost control. I don't know what happened. I just had so much rage. Please forgive me for the trouble I have caused."

Carn hugged her. "Think not of it, dear Cayna." She said and looked at Gwyn. "Yet we do have questions."

Cayna looked at Gwyn who was giving her a curious look. Cayna's stomach growled to which he sighed. "Well, I guess that is to be expected."

They ate first and then, once the others were full, Gwyn questioned Cayna as she continued to rip apart hunks of meat.

"What is going on with you? You are not like the Matriarchs of old, other lycans. Something is different about the way you channel your godnote." He said.

Cayna thought for a moment. She didn't really know herself. She knew a little from her foster parents about those things but they only taught her enough to get through the work day using rune casting. She didn't know what her power was called or where it came from.

"What is a godnote?" Cayna said. The others stared at each other for a moment.

"Do you really not know? How is that even possible?" Carn said.

Cayna was a little hurt by her incredulous tone. "Um, I just, I don't know. I was never taught." She said.

Carn apologized. "Of course, forget your upbringing. Your caretakers were right to keep all that from you. It may have caused you to seek the truth on your own. It would have been dangerous." She said.

Cayna looked at the ground. "In the end, it didn't matter."

Gwyn did something unexpected, touching her face by lifting her chin. "Do not despair over their sacrifice, child. Their efforts have given the world hope."

Cayna touched his hand, trembling as she did so. "Thank you." They parted, Cayna not wanting him to withdraw his hand. "I'm sorry I've been keeping it a secret but I didn't know what was happening to me. I didn't even know it was real."

"Don't worry. You can trust us to keep this secret close." Carn said with a warm smile.

"Thank you." Cayna said and explained everything that happened when Nuka tried to enact the ritual on her. Consequently, she forgot about the godnote question.

Gwyn's brow was furrowed in concentration as she finished. "So the blood transfusion never occurred and you had some sort of vision of the past."

Cayna shook her head. "I don't think I was really in the past. I was only seeing it projected. I don't know how." She said.

"You spoke to the famous Gina Lycian!"Carn said, clapping her hands with excitement. "That's amazing!"

"Why is that amazing?" Cayna said, confused.

"Gina is one of the greatest geniuses ever to grace Eldyon. Her works on rune fusion and efficiency of godnote interface with divinity drives shaped the modern world." Carn said. "I can't believe you've never heard of her!" then she looked around and lowered her gaze. "Oh, right."

"You said you spoke to her but we can't see her." Gwyn said, thinking. "That is a very advanced projection. She was certainly ahead of her time. It is frightening to imagine what she would have accomplished in this day and age."

Cayna heard a chuckle from behind her. It was unmistakably Gina. "All this praise is simply too much! Genius is certainly worthy of worship!"

"Gina?" Cayna said, turning around and seeing her standing behind her, or rather, floating there.

"She's here now?" Carn said, looking but not seeing.

Gwyn smiled, his eyes glowing again. "Come forth paragon, show yourself."

Gina grew a smile on her face that bordered on the insane. "Gwyn, how good to see that you are still alive." she glowed into existence for all of them, posing and throwing up a peace sign, then stuck out her tongue.

"Less can be said of you, Gina." He said with a smirk.

Her smile twitched and a vein throbbed in her forehead. "Your manners in the presence of true genius is still as uncouth as ever. I see you've managed to lose your beloved crown. How… unfortunate." She said, hiding her mocking smile behind her hand. For once his brides did not bristle at the insult.

"Oh yes, quite." Gwyn said, returning that humorless smile in kind. "At least I am still alive to win it back."

"I will pray for your failure in the meantime, good useless king." She said and between them one could practically see the sparks flying.

"Um, what's going on here?" Cayna said, sensing there was history between the two.

"Dear husband and the paragon know each other." Carn said. When Cayna gave her a meaningful look, she explained further. "Ahem. They were once rivals for a lover, if the story is to be believed." She looked over to her husband.

Gina scoffed. "Is that what you told these two little wenches?" she said.

Dormach and Carn snarled at her.

"Excuse yourself?" Carn said, her aura suddenly flaring. Dormach gave a menacing growl, her aura flaring as well. The three women looked ready to get into the most epic cat fight ever known in history.

"Um, I'm still so confused." Cayna said. That seemed to calm everyone down.

Gwyn sighed. "Gina and I remember things quite differently. There was a spirit of some exquisite nature and we fought for its attention. We dueled countless times, each convinced it loved ourself best. It was an ongoing thing that lasted some decades. It was unthinkable that I could lose any contest to a human."

"Ha!" Gina said, cutting in. "Age isn't everything. It is nothing that cannot be bridged by genius!"

"Humans cannot fully appreciate such beauty, even ones with superior intellect." Gwyn said. "It didn't stop you from being a foolish and typical human."

"A foolish human that changed the world and deserved everything she asked for! Including the undivided attention of the spirit!" she said, huffing at him.

"What spirit?" Cayna said. "Why is it important to the both of you?"

Gina crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. "The spirit was a powerful being. Gwyn wanted to put it in a glass case to gather dust." She said disdainfully.

"Now that is not true. The spirit was dangerous. It could not be allowed to roam free, not until it was cleansed." Gwyn said.

"Your methods would have taken too long." She said.

"And yours would have fundamentally changed it." Gwyn said.

Gina pointed at him. "Improved is the better word."

"Just like a human to think something needs to improve to their own needs. Admit this was all about your own goals." He said.

"They were worthy goals. Studying the spirit would have furthered my research immensely." Gina said with regret in her tone.

"It wasn't to be, after all." Gwyn said, sadness in his voice. For once, Gina mirrored his emotion.

"Yes. Too bad, really." She said.

"What happened?" Cayna said, watching both of them brood. It was Carn who answered.

"The spirit died." She said. "More accurately, it was destroyed." She looked at her husband, concern on her face.

"I had to." He said. The nephelis had taken too deep a hold. The infection was irreversible."

"Humph, with my intellect and those under my command, I could have stopped the spread." Gina said, though for once she did not supremely confident.

"So the spirit is dead." Cayna said. "That's so sad." There was silence after that for a little while as everyone turned inward to their own thoughts. Dormach was first to stir from their silent musings. She walked over to Gina and sniffed at her legs, which was kind of strange still in her humanoid form but Cayna was getting somewhat used to it. Gina raised her eyebrow at the red head.

"This one seems to be broken." She said, leaning down close to the woman's head. Dormach stared up at her with curious eyes and then gave a happy yip and tried to lick Gina's face but her tongue passed right through the projection. The woman turned her head in a questioning stance, confused as to what is going on.

"She has gone through some trauma that left her in this state. To be honest, she only recently came into her Eldarin form. For many, many years. She has been at my side as my faithful hound." Gwyn explained.

"Hm." Gina said, petting the woman with her ghost-like hand. Dormach seemed very confused and upset that she could not feel the welcomed pets. "Have you consummated with her, Gwyn?"

He nodded in the affirmative. Cayna winced in embarrassment. This isn't something she should be hearing! Carn caught her eye and winked. So not appropriate! She looked away, feeling her face become hot.

"Yes. She came to me from a dead land and would not leave my side after I nursed her back to health. When the need came to her, I gave her my seed. She bore fruit and after they went their way, we continued on with Carngrwn." He said.

"Just the one time?" Gina said. Cayna wanted to shout at why she was asking such personal questions! Don't these people have any boundaries?!

Gwyn said that it was the only time. Gina thought for a moment.

"She remained as a hound after giving birth and refused to return to her Eldarin form. Not until Cayna. We still don't understand it, though we suspect it may be because she has a similar divinium signature in her godnote." Carn said.

Gina nodded. "That would make sense. All Canis families would bear some sort of fealty towards the lycan clan." She paused. "But why is she in such a child-like state after all this time? What did she see that scarred her mind so?" she stared into the woman's eyes who simply stared back, her tongue lolling out to the side and panting. "Unsettling."

For once, Cayna thought more deeply about Dormach and her condition. She had never considered that her condition was not her normal self. Or maybe Carn had mentioned something about it earlier. She couldn't remember exactly.

"All that aside." Gwyn said, standing and approaching Gina, who stiffened at his approach. "You are not the real Gina. Gina is dead. You claim that she made you. You are an AI. Why are you infused into Cayna's godnote and did you cause her to transform into a lycan?"

Gina smiled and pressed a hand to her chest, appearing very proud of herself. "It is true, I am but a program that has inherited the characteristics of Gina Lycian. As to your second question, I am not responsible for the change directly. The real Gina is. As she created me, she also created the Lycan Matriarch System. I am merely the user guide." She said.

"Are you telling me that Gina managed to reverse engineer an arch-light's covenant and figure out a way to change the trigger sequence?" Gwyn said, not bothering to hide the open awe in his expression.

Gina's face contorted into that ominous, insane smile again. "Isn't genius simply beautiful."

"More like terrifying." Carn said with a grimace.

Gina cleared her throat and went back to not looking like a crazy, mad scientist on the outside, though Cayna suspected it always lingered close to the surface. Or her sane face was just a mask. It made her nervous. How mad is this woman?!

Gwyn looked at Cayna, who made a small noise at his sudden attention and looked away.

Gina made a teasing face. "Oh, how cute. I see you have another bride in waiting, Gwyn."

Cayna gawked. "W-what are you saying?" her face seemed to be as hot as a flame and steam blowing out of her ears. Gina laughed at how uncomfortable she was. Gwyn simply shook his head at her antics.

"The matriarch of the lycan clan has much to worry about. Let's not bother her with silly things, Gina." Gwyn said. Cayna found herself slightly miffed by that comment. Couldn't he have the decency to at least appear a little bit embarrassed? Them? Together? How could he brush that thought off so easily?!

"You know the lycans. Their desires are not to be considered silly." Gina said, giving her a more serious look. "Especially ones that suppress their instincts."

Carn stepped in. "Excuse me! I won't let you corrupt this poor, naive little girl!"

"Hey! Can't you guys see I'm right here? I can hear you, you know?" Cayna said but no one seemed to be listening.

Gina's face grew smug. "Oh, this coming from the hussy who seduced my sweet ancestor in the river? You're no better than a pervert and a creep!" she said.

Carn was about to retort when the sound of her husband's voice came behind her. He didn't sound happy at all. "Carngrwn… What is this?" he said.

"U-um." Carn said with a sidelong glance. "Oh nothing honey. This crazy genius has a few twigs twisted!"

"Oh how naughty of Carngrwn. What bride doesn't listen to her beloved husband when he specifically told her not to play tricks on our poor, innocent Cayna?" Gina said with a not so veiled look of triumph.

Cayna stuttered nonsense as her husband came to stand behind her, towering over the kneeling woman.

"You disobeyed me?" he said, his shadow growing dark. Carn twisted around in slow movements to face her husband and supplicate his forgiveness. "You inconvenienced Cayna against my wish? What tricks did you play?"

Cayna looked on the whole scene wanting to disappear, or die. Either one would be good. Her face was so fuming that she really did think she would burst into flames. Why her?

Carn looked as small as a mouse as Gwyn suddenly grew in shape, becoming something dark and terrifying. Cayna forgot about being embarrassed. She felt that for the first time, she was seeing his true self, at least more so than the beautiful visage he had been portraying himself as all this time.

In a flash he was back to his humanoid self and dragging Carn off by the hair. She screamed for forgiveness. He paused, his eyes glowing as he cast an intense look back at Cayna. "Excuse me a moment." He said, then dragged Carn screaming and out of sight.

A few moments later, the sounds of thunder could be heard and the distinctive cry of Carn calling for mercy amidst the cracks and smacks.

"You saw it at last." Gina said in her mind. Her voice was no longer teasing. "The real Gwyn. He who was once named the edenite king of death. Remember this, young Cayna, Gwyn will never be your friend. He may your protector and perhaps even your lover, but in the end he cannot change who he truly is. He is death."

After that, Gina disappeared and said no more that day.