Day 181, Year 988, 41st Millennium
Hive Orion
Lower Hive
Eric glared at Raul, feeling thoroughly annoyed and displeased. He had just survived a life-threatening situation, and now he had to deal with this guy again? Furthermore, he was completely bewildered by what Raul had just said.
Raul coming back from the dead was already practically impossible. On top of that, during their last encounter, there had been a vague hint that Raul was a "Perpetual"—whatever that meant. And just a moment ago, Raul claimed he hadn't heard German in over 40,000 years. That would mean the man standing in front of him was over 40,000 years old, which was absolutely insane.
Bullshit. Nobody lives for 40,000 years. Whatever this guy is, he definitely isn't human, Eric thought, eyeing Raul with deep suspicion and distrust. He even suspected that Raul might just be senile and completely out of his mind.
"Are you a Perpetual?" Raul asked, tilting his head slightly. From his perspective, no ordinary person could speak a lost ancient language so fluently. He certainly didn't believe that Erica, the young woman standing before him, had merely studied it to this level of proficiency. Even though he hadn't heard spoken German in over 40,000 years, he still recognized the accent. The person he had assumed was just an ordinary girl might actually be another Perpetual he had never met.
"Huh... what did you just say?" Eric muttered, his brow furrowing in a mix of confusion and irritation. First, Omega had told him he was a psyker, and now he was being asked if he was a Perpetual? Why couldn't anyone just see him as a normal person?
Or maybe... Raul knew he wasn't from this era.
"Let's talk somewhere more private... It's a rather complicated matter," Raul suggested. Judging from her reaction, he figured Erica had no idea what she was. Still, he wanted to know how someone who didn't know they were a Perpetual could speak an ancient language so perfectly. Furthermore, it would be incredibly strange for someone to live immortally without noticing any abnormalities, all while acting like a naive teenage girl—a demeanor entirely unnatural for a Hive City native.
"No... I have things to do," Eric flatly refused. He had a mission to complete, and the sooner he got out of this area, the better. If he had to talk his way past another Iron Fang ganger, he might not be so lucky. He was absolutely not going to risk his neck or waste his time on someone like Raul.
He could never trust this man again, not after their previous journey to escape the Lower Hive. The events of that time had left him with severe trust issues when it came to strangers—a problem that was only exacerbated when he realized Vann wasn't the person he thought he was, and merely saw Eric as a pawn on a chessboard.
"Are you sure about that?" Raul asked, his tone laced with a mocking edge. He tilted his head toward a group of Iron Fang members who were patrolling closer to them. Eric instantly knew what Raul was threatening to do. He shot Raul a pleading look, shaking his head slightly, silently begging him not to pull whatever stunt he was planning.
"Follow me, then," Raul said, turning his back and gesturing for Eric to follow. Eric let out a soft sigh and cautiously trailed behind him. He kept a firm grip on his gun, ready to raise it and shoot Raul in the back at the first sign of treachery. Fortunately, nothing happened. Even so, Eric didn't lower his guard or let go of his paranoia for a single second.
The two of them slipped through the crowd seamlessly, completely unnoticed by anyone. This made Eric feel incredibly uneasy; it was highly unnatural. Normally, the people he walked past would react to the tough ganger persona he was putting on. But this time, it was as if the crowd didn't even register their existence.
It didn't take long for them to turn into an alleyway. Inside, it looked no different from the dark, grim alleys he was used to. Every alley in the Lower Hive shared the same characteristics: a pitch-black environment, a damp, musty stench, and piles of absolute filth.
While walking behind Raul, Eric carefully scanned his surroundings to ensure he wasn't being led into a trap. But nothing jumped out at them. Raul, walking ahead, showed absolutely no caution or fear. Instead, he radiated an overwhelming sense of confidence—a confidence that seemed dangerously bordering on arrogance.
Because in the Lower Hive, the overconfident and the arrogant died easily. Then again, the overly cautious died just as easily.
Eric knew full well that he could simply turn around and walk away right now, refusing to play along. Or he could shoot Raul in the back and use other methods to interrogate him. But he didn't. Deep down, he felt that shooting someone in the back was a despicable thing to do. It was even worse when the target appeared unarmed and showed no immediate intent to harm or threaten him—no matter how untrustworthy the guy was.
Eric sensed that, this time, Raul genuinely just wanted to talk. And for once, Eric was willing to listen.
"Alright, we're finally here," Raul announced casually as he turned another corner deep within the alley. Eric quickened his pace to catch up. When he rounded the corner, he was met with... a surprisingly familiar sight.
Does this guy have absolutely zero taste in interior design? Eric thought, staring at a solitary door jutting out from the alley's metallic wall. And yes, that was literally it. It looked exactly like Raul's old shop back in Hive Kathion.
"Give me a second... I carry quite a few keys on me," Raul said sheepishly, pulling out a massive, clunky keyring and fumbling to find the right key for the door. Eric found the sight slightly comical, though he kept his guard up just the same.
While waiting, Eric tried to figure out what a "Perpetual" actually was. In his mind, it might just be a term for beings with incredibly long lifespans, or perhaps entities that were truly immortal. That would certainly explain how Raul managed to come back from the dead, even after his body was infected with a zombie virus (Eric had no idea what Nurgle's Rot was) and his head was blown off.
And right now, it was obvious that Raul was immensely curious. Maybe Raul really had lived through the 2000s. Hearing Eric speak German must have made Raul suspect that he was a Perpetual too, simply because absolutely no one spoke that language in the current era.
Or maybe... he could just tell Raul the truth.
"Finally found it," Raul muttered, slipping a brass key into the lock and pushing the door open. Eric followed him inside cautiously. The atmosphere wasn't much different from a typical Lower Hive dwelling that had been converted into an illegal weapons shop, packed with everything from cheap stub pistols to lascannons.
"Wait right there. It would be terribly rude of me not to offer you a seat," Raul said. He quickly fetched a folding table and a chair, setting them up in the middle of the shop before gesturing for Eric to sit down. At the same time, Raul walked behind the counter and pulled out a hot water thermos and a tin of tea.
Eric sat down, his eyes tracking Raul's every move. His hand hovered near his holster, ready to draw his pistol and put a bullet between Raul's eyes at a moment's notice. Frankly, even though the guy was casually brewing tea—or whatever passed for it—there was no way Eric was going to trust him.
"Spit it out. What do you want to talk about?" Eric pressed, wanting to wrap this up as fast as possible. He still had a mission, and wasting time on a dragged-out conversation was the last thing he should be doing. He took off his helmet and face covering, then pulled out a handkerchief to wipe the sweat, soot, and grime from his face. Right now, he looked like a woman who had just woken up late on a weekend, without having washed her face or combed her hair. His hair was slightly messy and damp with sweat from wearing the helmet for too long.
"Care for some Nelin? It's a very expensive drink. Took me quite a while to track it down in the black market," Raul offered casually, completely ignoring Eric's urgency. Instead of getting straight to the point, he handed Eric a cup containing a dark, herbal-smelling liquid.
"No thanks. I'm not thirsty," Eric refused immediately. He didn't dare accept a drink from Raul; for all he knew, it could be laced with poison or a sedative. Strangers were never to be trusted, and Raul was the least trustworthy of them all.
"It's not poisoned... Honestly, it's your loss," Raul sighed. "Now, let me ask you: how do you know how to speak German? And with such fluency and perfect pronunciation? It's highly unlikely that you simply stumbled across an ancient language textbook." Raul began with a light, teasing tone, but his voice abruptly shifted, dripping with pressure and a demand for answers.
Eric froze for a moment. He tensed up even more, realizing Raul's question effectively blocked every possible lie he could have used to avoid telling the truth.
He couldn't lie and say he learned it from some ancient tome. He couldn't claim it was a language passed down through his family, either, because... well, Raul knew a little bit about his background, even if not the full picture. Claiming family heritage was a terrible idea anyway; he had never told anyone he had a family here. Plus, if a language was truly passed down through generations over millennia, it would inevitably warp and evolve, losing its original pronunciation.
"How should I put this? It's... complicated. You probably wouldn't believe me anyway," Eric said, his voice dropping. He was afraid the guy would just laugh in his face. What normal person would believe that, while walking home on a rainy day, he got hit by a car and woke up in the Underhive of Hive Kathion—inside a woman's body? But as Eric trailed off, Raul simply sat there, patiently sipping his drink in absolute comfort.
"Go ahead, say it. I'm all ears. Everyone has a past or things they'd rather not talk about. But if your story is that embarrassing, I promise I won't tell anyone," Raul joked, showing absolutely no tact. Eric gritted his teeth and clenched his fists, fighting the overwhelming urge to jump up and punch Raul in the face.
"Don't laugh... One day in Berlin, in the year 2025, I—Eric de la Cruz, a normal office worker—was walking back to my apartment on a rainy day. Suddenly, I was hit by a car while crossing the street. Then I woke up here... in a woman's body, in this crazy futuristic world." Eric explained the reason he could speak German with the most concise answer possible.
Raul fell silent for a moment. Eric braced himself, assuming Raul wouldn't believe a word of it, that he would call him crazy or delusional. Because honestly, his reasoning sounded completely absurd.
But he was wrong.
"That's a rather peculiar case, isn't it? Okay, I thought you were a Perpetual, but it turns out you—or 'he'—are just an incredibly unlucky guy who accidentally time-traveled. Did your soul possess someone else's body or something?" Raul asked in a relaxed tone, acting as if this was the most normal thing in the world.
"What do you mean? I don't know how to explain it or what it means, but when I woke up, the clothes I was wearing before I got hit by the car were still on me. And those clothes were 100% mine." Eric recalled the moment he first woke up in this world. His clothes had been completely intact and were undeniably his own, not someone else's. Only his body had changed.
"I suspect Warp energy or something similar altered your body and turned you into a woman," Raul explained calmly. Eric was a bit confused; he didn't really know what the "Warp" was, but he figured it must be connected to why he woke up in the 41st Millennium with a female body.
"So what exactly is the Warp?" Eric asked out of genuine curiosity. He had heard the term "Warp" from Arcas when the man was explaining how he had time-traveled to the present despite originating from 10,000 years prior. But Eric knew he was entirely ignorant of the details.
Raul stayed silent for a moment, as if debating whether he should share this information, but ultimately, he decided to speak.
"It's like an alternate dimension—a spiritual realm. A Sea of Souls. A dimension parallel to real space where the emotions and thoughts of living beings are reflected. The laws of physics don't exist there. Time is volatile and practically meaningless. It's filled with countless entities... you could even call it Hell. The Warp is utilized for many things, mainly faster-than-light travel. It's also weaponized by psykers, who use it to bend reality. They can manipulate gravity, conjure fire, lightning, or materialize objects out of thin air, depending on their expertise. Some can outright alter reality in their immediate vicinity. There was even someone who notoriously used psychic powers to change their form into other people—or into a woman—for... certain purposes. And right now, that particular person is likely sitting on a Golden Throne. So, in your case, it's entirely possible that the Warp distorted and completely changed your body into a woman's," Raul explained coolly, careful not to say too much about forbidden topics. However, he couldn't hide a tiny smirk, clearly amused by subtly gossiping about someone he despised.
"Ah... I get it," Eric replied, nodding, even though he had only grasped a fraction of what was just said. He understood that the Warp could distort reality and time, and that it might truly be the reason he was thrust into this horrific future in a female body. Regardless, his curiosity was piqued. If the man sitting across from him was truly a human who had lived for over 40,000 years, he would possess an unfathomable amount of knowledge and historical insight. Yet, at the same time, Eric was secretly both baffled and relieved that Raul was so abysmal at fighting, despite having over 40,000 years of life experience.
"So, have you gotten used to your new body yet?" Raul asked, setting his cup down.
"I guess I'm a bit used to it," Eric replied. Yes, he was used to it, but he still didn't like this body in the slightest.
"And how are you going to prove that you lived through the 2000s?" Eric asked, his suspicion flaring up again. Maybe he was being played. He needed solid words or actual proof to confirm the man in front of him was telling the truth.
Raul simply stood up and walked over to one of the walls. He tapped a hidden mechanism, and a section of the wall slid open. What was inside left Eric absolutely stunned.
"I have every single vinyl album of Justin Bieber, complete with his autograph on every record. Is this enough proof for you? It's a shame I couldn't keep the Mona Lisa for myself, though. If it wasn't for Malcador, my collection would be vastly larger," Raul boasted proudly, though his tone dipped into a hint of melancholy when mentioning the name 'Malcador'.
Eric was utterly speechless at the sight of actual Justin Bieber vinyl records, signatures and all. He wasn't entirely sure if they were genuine; the records and the autographs in front of him could very well be elaborate fakes. But even if they were, just knowing about them was proof enough that Raul truly was a Perpetual who had lived for over 40,000 years.
"Okay, I believe you now... What year were you born?" Eric swallowed hard before asking for Raul's crucial background, his curiosity fully taking over.
Raul simply smiled and let out a soft chuckle, carrying himself with the slightly arrogant air of a true elder.
"Very well, little one... so you wish to know? Don't take offense, I just prefer calling you that. I, Raul Menendez, was born in a nameless village in the southern region of Spain, around 1,200 BC—" Raul began reciting his history quite comfortably, but before he could finish his sentence, Eric rudely interrupted.
"1,200 BC?!" Eric blurted out loudly. If he remembered correctly, the current year was 998 of the 41st Millennium. If Raul was born in 1200 BC... doing the math, Raul would be somewhere between 43,000 and 44,000 years old. ...He was currently sitting across from a living, breathing artifact!
"Don't be so shocked just yet. That's not even the most surprising part, little one," Raul teased with a soft laugh. He was starting to find this kid quite endearing.