Chapter 10. Just where did those hybrids come from?

Olivia first touched the books made of paper only on Ceres. Before that she saw the models of them in museums, while she was using electronic devices for reading. It was familiar and logical since paper books took so much space and resources that no-one made them anymore, and the old ones were really expensive.

She understood their true charm only when she read them. That was why she liked coming to the library so much; this room was as huge as any of the training halls. It had thousands of books on its shelves, some of them truly antique. Even the air was special around them: heavy and filled with the spicy aroma of wood.

The bookshelves were reaching up to the distant ceiling. To reach the top ones, one would need to use an old squeaking ladder. Once the book was retrieved, a student could read it by one of the wooden desks or on a comfy sofa.

With all these advantages available, the library still wasn't too popular among students. Some of them ignored it completely, while others were rare guests, the main thing drawing them there was a chance to rest while pretending to be studying.

Olivia was an exception. She loved the library and was honored when Lady Laura assigned her as one of the keepers. On her shift Olivia checked if all the books stood in their places, wiped the dust off of them and just read – for hours, completely drowning in those stories.

New knowledge was all the reward she needed, Olivia didn't search for any company. So she was extremely surprised when she suddenly met Arriz in the library.

He had never been here before! She'd watched him long enough to know that, just like she knew all of his routes and favorite spots. She knew he'd be angry if he had found out about her spying, and she tried to stop herself, but couldn't. She just had to see him, at least from afar, because without him she was becoming really depressed.

She wasn't upset by his lack of interest. First of all, he didn't have to care about her! She didn't know why she adored him so much, and she'd never be able to answer if she was asked about it. Fortunately, that feeling was self-sufficient and modest: she didn't dream of it becoming mutual, his very existence was the source of her joy.

It had been going on for months now. At first Olivia was hoping that this caprice of her soul would go away on its own. She waited for Arriz to do something nasty, something that'd make her disappointed in him. But he didn't do anything like that, he was always so polite and noble that she just had to accept her feelings for him as something natural and long-lasting.

She chose to remain in the shadows, staying out of his way, because talking to him nearly paralyzed her with embarrassment. And now he was coming to her, smiling, clearly intending to start a talk! Olivia could feel herself blushing again.

"Hi," he nodded at her when he walked closer. "Is it just me or are you really alone here?"

"Y-yeah…" her voice was shaking miserably, giving away her nervousness. "My team has free time now, and I'm watching over the library… I'm the keeper here, actually."

"Whoa, they make you work here?"

"They permit me to work here," Olivia corrected. "Lady Laura knows how much I love this, that's why she made me the keeper."

"That's impressive. Does that mean you know this place well?"

"I don't know everything, of course, because how can one learn all this?" she gestured at the hundreds of books surrounding them. "But I know a lot. I can help you if you want to… Do you need anything?"

"Yep, I'm not that much of a bookworm to come here just for fun!" Arriz laughed. "I didn't mean it as an insult to you, of course…"

"None taken. I know I'm a weirdo…"

"You're not, you're just unusual, but it suits you."

It was just a compliment, with no message hidden in it, but Olivia felt like her face was on fire. Arriz noticed that:

"Are you feeling alright? You're flushed like you're in fever…"

"No-no, I'm okay!" Olivia assured him. "So what are you searching for?"

"I know it'll sound stupid, but… I'm interested in books about telepathy."

"Why stupid? We've got a whole section of them, like ten or more books on this topic! I'm not sure about the exact number, but I know where they are."

She really wasn't bewildered by his request: she'd seen more telepaths than paper books in the past. Of course, she met most of them while preparing for the hybrid transformation, when she was generally surrounded by special people, but that didn't change anything. The telepaths weren't too common, but they were accepted as part of the First Breed – normal humans.

She didn't give much thought to why Arriz was suddenly interested in telepathy. He was a curator after all, and that must've been part of his education!

"I'll show you, follow me, please," she asked him. "It's in the natural science department."

"Not like I have any options but follow you – I won't get out of this labyrinth alive without you!"

He was overestimating the size of this place in his joke, but not too much. Bookshelves truly formed a complicated system of passages, turns and crossroads. During her first visits here, Olivia got confused more than once, but now she knew all the main ways around the library. That was part of her work as a keeper: helping the occasional guests in finding their way.

He was walking right behind her, and it made her heart flutter. She wanted to keep turning to him and smiling, but she knew it'd look awkward. It was her first real talk with him, she didn't want to ruin the impression by such antics!

They reached the center of the library – a space free of bookshelves. It was lined by the reading desks that were all facing a statue. Olivia got used to this place and was about to pass it by, when Arriz stopped her.

"Wait a second! Who's that?"

He was pointing at the statue standing in front of a large imitation of a round window with multi-colored glass. The bronze human-sized figure was of a man with a straight and confident posture. He was young and obviously very strong, his self-assurance surrounding even this image of him. The bronze didn't keep the color of his hair, skin or eyes, but it made the sharp features of his face look very alive, and his gaze was filled with confidence and even barely recognizable superiority – he wasn't smug, he just knew he was extremely powerful. He was wearing a business suit and a short coat, the fashion of nearly two hundred years ago. His arms were folded over his chest, and an ironic smile froze on his face. It was as if he was watching every new generation of hybrids with curiosity and challenge: now what can these guys do for the Second Breed?

Olivia had seen this face before on so many occasions: in books, movies, portraits. It was familiar to her, and she took the statue as an integral part of the library. But Arriz, who had come here for the first time, was mesmerized by it.

"That's Ar'yan," she explained. "Don't tell me you didn't recognize him! It's a very good portrayal of him."

"I believe that, I just have no idea who Ar'yan is."

"What?" she blinked in shock.

At first she thought he was making fun of her. Not knowing who Ar'yan was – it had to be a prank! She waited for him to laugh and say he was joking. But Arriz just kept watching her with mild curiosity, waiting for the details.

"Why should I know that?" he asked. "I'm not a hybrid!"

"But you work with hybrids, you should know our history!"

"Honestly, I'm not against it. I welcome this idea! But curators probably learn all of this in their final years at the Academy, because so far I haven't heard the name Ar'yan there. Your history is guarded better than any national secret! So who's Ar'yan?"

Now Olivia wasn't sure she should answer that. Why didn't the teachers tell him? Maybe he wasn't supposed to know? She had to deny him, saying that it wasn't any of his business. But Olivia just couldn't: one look into his eyes was enough to make her heart sing, and she wanted to do something good for him so desperately!

She calmed her conscience with the fact he was on Ceres already, and that made him different from other curators. He earned his right to know more!

"Ar'yan is considered to be the father of all hybrids, the first one and the only one hundred percent hybrid. The whole Second Breed started with him."

Something weird flashed in his eyes – something she couldn't quite understand. He moved a chair in front of her, inviting her to sit down.

"Let's stay here for a while," he suggested. "Those telepathy books won't go anywhere, and finding a better person to talk to than you would be challenging!"

The blush that had only started to fade on her cheeks was back with full force.

"Oh come on… Everybody heard that story…"

"Well, I didn't. Where did this Ar'yan come from?"

"Nobody knows that. We're just told he appeared one day. He was saying his life before the Second Breed didn't matter. He came to show his power, and it was so great that he decided to share it with others. He knew everything about the great potential he was giving to hybrids. They would do things normal people couldn't even dream about. Ar'yan's close friends took his blood and changed it in such a way that it could be used to make new hybrids. Of course, they knew they couldn't give that power to anyone. It was passed to children chosen through specials tests. Those children were receiving proper education…"

"Wait, wait, wait!" Arriz interrupted. "Sorry to interfere, but I think you're jumping over too many facts from the past!"

"I'm not jumping over anything, the Second Breed was developing on the same scheme over the years!"

"I believe you, but let's get back to Ar'yan. What exactly happened to him? Who was he originally?"

"A hybrid," Olivia reminded. She didn't understand why he was asking this.

"Yeah, but before he became a hybrid? What does it even mean – to be a hybrid? For his blood to be used to change others, he should've gone through some changes himself. It could've been a natural mutation, or some radiation, or a virus, or something else! Maybe he wasn't a human to begin with!"

"He was a human. As for how he became a hybrid… He never told that to anyone."

Olivia didn't think it was a big deal. She liked viewing this story like some sort of a fairytale. In her mind Ar'yan was a magical creature, a hero that appeared at the time he was needed the most. All those scientific theories about mutations and viruses… they were logical, but they spoiled the beauty of the legend.

Who needed that preciseness anyway? Olivia believed that the past was to be left behind. Ar'yan's origin didn't influence whom he had become in the end, or else he would've told his students about it.

"Fine, I get it," Arriz sighed. He understood that she didn't know that part of the story – and wasn't shy of that ignorance. "So what was Ar'yan doing when he first appeared?"

Finally, they were getting to the interesting part!

"He was fighting crime! And not only obvious criminals, he managed to uncover a secret governmental plot! He demonstrated that some problems were so serious that police or army simply weren't enough. A new force was needed, the one that's greater than what humans could do."

"And the world listened to him?"

"Not everyone and not at once," Olivia admitted. "But he managed to find people who shared his opinion. They transformed his blood into the hybrid matter which is still used for the transition. At first things were really hard for him and his friends. They didn't know how to turn humans into hybrids and were experimenting a lot… They made some mistakes. But Ar'yan had been there all the time, controlling the process. They discovered that hybrids shouldn't rise above the eighth level of power, no-one but Ar'yan could handle that. But even the eighth level was giving them a lot of strength."

Talking about that made Olivia remember all the great stories she'd heard about the deeds of the first hybrids. The world was afraid of them, trying to lock them down and control them, but they didn't surrender. They proved that they were the force of justice, not a threat. Finally, they were internationally accepted. The Second Breed received financial and political support.

"Back then there already were humans who didn't like hybrids," she continued. "But they were mostly talking nastily about us, they weren't doing anything serious. Various terroristic organizations started appearing around fifty years ago, not earlier. Back then Ar'yan already left his position as the leader of the Second Breed."

"Where did he go? He couldn't die, could he? I've heard that the level ten hybrids are immortal…"

"I've heard those rumors too, but there's no scientific confirmation to them," Olivia smiled softly. "Because only one hybrid ever reached that level! Yes, many people believed that Ar'yan was immortal. He'd been our leader for more than a century, and that means a lot! But he grew tired of that and simply disappeared. He said he was letting the hybrids find their way without him and left… He didn't explain why or where he was going. But those who saw him claim that on the day of his departure he was as young at this statue shows."

"That wasn't too noble on his behalf!" Arriz stated. "First he started an organization, then he grew tired of it and left. And he didn't return even when the terrorists started killing you!"

"I don't think he can return… As for his reasoning… I guess I would've left too if I were him."

"Really? Why?"

Olivia had been thinking about it a lot, she just didn't dare to tell anyone about those thoughts. She was embarrassed by putting herself in the place of the legendary Ar'yan, and the others would definitely laugh at her for this. In the worst case scenario, she could get punished for comparing herself to him!

But things were different with Arriz. Olivia wanted to trust him, he didn't look like someone who could betray her.

"Because those around him were starting to treat him as a god," she answered. "They couldn't make any decision without consulting him first, they asked his opinion about everything. Before doing something, they were trying to imagine what he would do – and what he would think of them if they did this. They were doing everything to please him. Ar'yan understood that as long as he was around, hybrids couldn't be free of his influence. He chose new leaders among his friends and students, and then he left."

"Then I get it. He basically had two options – to leave or to turn into a dictator."

"He wasn't a dictator in the slightest. He was… unique."

Thinking about Ar'yan made her imagine the best qualities a person could have. He was intelligent, kind, honest and strong – he couldn't be any worse than that. Olivia knew that the hybrids that started worshipping him had probably been thinking the same thing. But she reminded herself that he was gone now, thus she could idealize him all she wanted.

Arriz didn't laugh at her, and that was inspiring. Though he probably couldn't fully understand what Ar'yan meant for the Second Breed. He was looking for scientific facts, simple explanations and medical diagnoses!

"I know that our time views everything through the prism of science and technology," she said quietly. "But sometimes you just need to have faith."

"That's why kids believe in fairytales. And then you grow up and can't afford that anymore. Besides, your fairytale is rather sad since the hero had abandoned his loyal army."

"He didn't abandon anyone, he left. Most likely hoping that without his support we will become stronger."

She sensed that Arriz didn't believe her, but he was too polite to mock her or try to prove her wrong. He simply stated:

"I respect your opinion. But if I were him, I'd try to find another way to change things. Oh well, those are just fantasies from the past… He's gone and the fairytale is over. Now let's find that telepathy book!"