Chapter 8: Truth of their kind
"There was a power struggle between men and women three decades ago." Zaque started, tapping the table with his middle finger.
"It was so bad that a scientist had to create something to divert the attention of the two genders away from the other. There was a woman who fell in love with a man, but since the war between the two genders was still ongoing— they had no choice except to keep their relationship a secret. That's when a scientist appeared and experimented on the couple who volunteered which created us, the mediators." The red haired man looked at Coco's face to gauge her reaction, but he saw nothing bad except for curiosity.
"I didn't know that mankind tried to fight themselves on the verge of ruin.. Touche. It was like that in my world too, politicians are the ones who kill the citizens and make their life worse than street dogs." Coco commented, still sitting on the floor which was a metre away from Zaque and Heiren, "Anyways, please continue."
Zaque cleared his throat, "Right.. The mediators acted as the peace treaty between two genders. We have the body of a man, but our interiors are similar to both gender which allows us to give birth—"
"So like an omega, alpha, and beta?" Coco interrupted him with sparkling eyes, "I didn't know that they actually existed! Oh my god! I was reading about it just before I finished my thesis, too! Man, what are the odds, huh?"
"Pardon?" Zaque blurted out.
"Ah, it's nothing." She waved her hand dismissively before gesturing for him to continue his lesson.
"Okay.." He cleared his throat again and smiled at her which was a warning for her to stay quiet, "Due to the declining population between men and women, mediators started to take over half of the continent's population. Men refused to bed women and vice versa. Since mediators can give birth to a child no matter who they get partnered with— as long as they are not mediators— they will be able to house a child in their womb. Women lost their ability to give birth so the responsibility fell to mediators since then."
Coco raised her hand like a child waiting for her teacher to call her so Zaque shut his lips and nodded at her. "Does that mean mediators only have the body of men?"
"Fortunately, no. There are female mediators, but they are very rare. I haven't encountered one for years after my mother, she was a mediator and gave birth to me. Female mediators are rare because their survival possibility decreases to ten percent after giving birth unlike male mediators." Zaque stared blankly at Coco, as if analysing her.
"That's brutal.." Coco murmured as she frowned. How can someone's possibility to live go down just like that after giving birth? It's scary to think about, but she can't do anything about it because that's how this world works.