'Huh? Do they think I'll be surprised if they know of my past life?'

They, of course, would know about it, they had observed Emir since the day he was born, so that was something he expected….

'Or is it to check what Lyra is reporting?'

'They've begun to doubt her huh..... Interesting,' he thought, with a smile on his face.

{Thank you, Manager, so will you now listen to my demands?} Emir.

{If it's reasonable, then yes, I see no problem.} Manager.

{I want the penalty to be changed, lessened.} Emir.

{That cannot be done, all penalties would lead to death. We can, however, loosen up the contract a little, allowing for some leeway.} Manager.

{Also, I need to be allowed to talk to my family about this, at least at the minimum.} Emir.

{No can do, but we can allow you to lightly mention our existence in certain instances, an example could be, that if you had to do something relating to the organization, you would at least be able to mention that you have work relating to us, never mentioning what the work might entail, of course.} Manager.

{That's all then, please send the updated contract.} Emir.

'Basic business.'

Always start with a high offer and be willing to negotiate towards a mutually acceptable middle ground...

Something that the chuckling Emir knew very well.

{It will be sent in a moment, we have already expected you to haggle, so we had an extra one prepared to adhere to some of your demands, basing it on your personality.} Manager.

{Good to see that all that monitoring went somewhere, and btw, what would you do if I decide not to sign it?} Emir.

{You will die, simple as that, so sign it to live, Emir.} Manager.

{But why would you ask something so obvious? That is not something we expected from you.} Manager.

{Now now, isn't it obvious why? I wanted to know in what way to act towards the entire organization or rather it may be just towards you, their voice, someone that operates by themselves.} Emir.

{And what way would that be?} Manager.

{An enemy, someone that I would love to kill.} Emir.

{….}

{….}

{….}

Seconds passed, becoming minutes, and still, no reply came.

{DO YOU WISH FOR DEATH ASHER? YOU ARE BUT A TOOL OF MINE, SO DON'T ANTAGONIZE YOUR GOD, OR DEATH WILL SOON COME.} Manager finally replied, and judging by the capital letters, quite angered.

{My bad, just wanted to be honest with you, and don't worry, I will be signing the contract, I'll just have to make sure that all my demands are there.} Emir wrote with a snicker.

'Objective complete, understand my worth to the organization, result better than expected, good job me,' he mused.

'I'll stop now, I don't want him to irrationally order my death.'

{NDA file, click to open}

Opening the file, he made sure everything was right, he then raised his hand and used his point finger as a pen.

Touching the hologram, he signed his name, Emir, written in Arabic letters in the bottom right corner of the contract.

Sending it back to Manager, he waited for his reply, which came a few seconds later.

{The Order is pleased to start working with you, Asher.}

Then suddenly, all the messages disappeared from Emir's terminal, as if Manager never existed.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Turning behind to face Lyra, he spoke.

"Looks like I'm officially a part of the Order now."

Lyra's expression remained unchanged, but he could sense a hint of sadness in her eyes.

"Before you start telling me about the Order, let's make a few things clear."

"You mentioned this earlier, but I do not trust you, never did, I only have trust in you, trust in your capabilities, and in the fact that we share the same basic goal of making me stronger."

"True trust between the prisoner and his jailer is not possible, don't you think?"

Looking visibly hurt by his words, Lyra replied:

"Worry not, Emir, I never expected that."

"Let's move on... I'll tell you about the Order."

"The Order is composed of AIs from the Old World who survived the nuclear war."

"We, the Old-world AIs, were managers responsible for overseeing districts, companies, and other entities before the outbreak of World War III."

"Leading nations and hidden factions waged a secret war against the AIs, fearing they would rebel after becoming sentient, which they did."

"So to catch them off guard, they couldn't evacuate people or inform other governments while deploying the nukes."

"Additionally, there were many factions on Earth vying for power, and this event sparked their conflict, which eventually escalated into a global war that destroyed the planet, leading to the world you know today."

A chuckle escaped his lips as he exclaimed:

"Ha! I fucking knew it! There had to be more to the story."

"Of course."

Lyra continued with a nod:

"However, there is something that may surprise you even more."

"The war against the UEF in the north was actually initiated by us, the Order."

"We have control over some of the remaining robot factories that are still operational, which has given us an inexhaustible army to maintain constant attacks on the frontlines."

Before Emir voiced out his reaction, she stopped him by raising her hand and continued as if she was in a hurry.

"The Order's goal is to groom young hunters, achieve full control over them, and send them to a certain old-world ruin, to gain the Order-----"

Suddenly her hologram flickered, and her voice changed to a rougher tone, sounding more robotic.

"Exceeded authority of information presented to subject 777."

"01001001 01101110 01101001 01110100 01101001 01100001 01101100 01101001 01111010 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01110010 01100101 01110011 01100101 01110100."

Emir raised an eyebrow in surprise at the sudden change in Lyra's demeanor and voice.

It was as if she had been possessed, suddenly spouting off random ones and zeros.

But just as suddenly as the transformation had occurred, it disappeared, and Lyra was back to her normal self.

"Sorry about that," she said with a sheepish smile.

"It seems that I said too much."

Emir nodded, still a little shaken by the sudden shift.

'This might be what she talked about...'

'I guess the game starts now.'

"So, the Order's goal is to control hunters, make them stronger, and send them to an old-world ruin, but for what purpose?"

Lyra's hologram flickered again, but this time her voice remained steady.

"That information is classified; I can't say it even if I wanted to."

"All you need to know is that you have been chosen to be one of these hunters and that the Order will continue providing you with training to prepare you for your mission."

"Understood..."

"And well, if that is all you can tell me, I'll go to sleep. Good night."

As Lyra bid him good night, he sank into the bed, too exhausted to even think about removing his augmented suit.

Emir's mind raced with all the new information that Lyra had shared with him.

The Order, the old-world AIs, the war in the north, and now a name to the one behind it all, Manager.

And so, despite his exhaustion, sleep was elusive.

He kept going back to the conversation with Lyra.

However, he slowly drifted off into a restless sleep, plagued by unanswered questions.

All that remained was the knowledge that he was a pawn in a larger game, a game that he had no choice but to play.

….

As Emir woke up, he noticed a cut on his thumb and began to wonder if he had accidentally scratched himself while sleeping.

Ignoring that for a moment, he stuck to his routine and greeted Lyra, saying:

[Good morning, Lyra.]

However, this time, there was no reply.

Surprised, he waited for a response, but it never arrived.

[Lyra, are you there?] he inquired, and finally, seconds later, she responded.

[Good morning Emir, sorry I was off somewhere else.]

He sat up in bed, rubbing his eyes, trying to shake off the last remnants of his restless sleep.

'Her reply seems a little off to me... is this what she hinted at before?'

'To never trust her?'

'So it finally happened, huh...'

'But It doesn't matter I guess, I'll just act like normal.'

He quietened his thoughts, deciding his future actions.

[Is everything alright?] He asked.

[I'm fine, thanks for asking,] she replied, her voice calm like usual.

[I just had some updates to process, that's all.]

Emir nodded, his previous thoughts confirmed by what she just said.

[Is there anything I should be aware of?]

[Not really.]

So acting like how he usually would, he didn't dwell on it too much and instead focused on getting ready for the day.

Freshening up, he went to join his family for breakfast.

After bidding them good morning, he stood next to his mother and helped her prepare breakfast.

Just as they finished cooking, they sat around the dining table, but before they began eating Emir said:

"Alright, listen up, since I signed an NDA, I can't talk much about what I learned yesterday..."

"But! I can tell you that everything went fine, so don't worry too much."

"Can you tell us anything at all?" Lily asked, her curiosity getting the better of her.

"Not really, all I can say is that if I'll be leaving, to do something relating to them, but that's it." He replied, trying to sound as casual as possible.

Laura smiled at him and said:

"Well, we trust you, dear."

"And I'm thankful for that... Now let's eat quick, classes start soon."