Samuel’s Point of View
The truth is, in all my time in this universe, I had never expected to run into another reincarnated soul.
I’d already been thrown a few days earlier, when a distant glint made me suspect someone was watching us from afar.
It wasn’t until the party that I finally put a name to our observer: Sakura’s little sister.
Her name was Lunaria.
The girl looked like she had stepped straight out of a fairy tale: skin as white as snow, gorgeous silver hair that fell to her waist, and blue eyes as deep as the ocean, the kind you could get lost in if you looked at them too long.
She immediately reminded me of Anni, Charlotte’s younger sister, who shared very similar features.
Even so, looking at Lunaria felt different, like gazing at a being straight out of a fantasy.
I noticed she was staring at us, at both Yuna and me, but the moment she realized we’d caught her, she looked away.
I found her later by the snack table, picking through the desserts.
As soon as she noticed us, she struck up a conversation with Yuna.
Everything seemed normal, until she started dropping in topics that had absolutely nothing to do with anything.
What really stunned me was that she was describing scenes and mentioning the names of twenty-first-century video games that, in this world, simply shouldn’t exist.
Taking advantage of a moment when I went to fetch some pastries, I wrote on Lunaria’s slice the names of a couple of those games, Halo and Doom, along with a button sequence any gamer would recognize instantly.
The moment she saw them, her eyes locked onto me; I simply nodded, confirming what we both already knew.
Then I handed her a small communication device so we could talk more calmly later on.
Once we were back at our respective residences, we waited for her call.
Once the connection was established, we talked for almost an hour about our circumstances, about what it meant to be reincarnated in a world like this.
I noticed right away that she had no idea which universe she was in.
All I could do was sigh: she’d had bad luck, and even worse once I realized that, being a Perpetual, she’d get a front-row seat to everything this dark universe had in store.
I didn’t tell her yet what was coming, but her next question left me silent for a good while.
“So what are my plans for the future supposed to be?”
The answer was simple, at heart: prepare for the wars to come, and survive them.
The portal preparations and the patriarch’s last pieces of business were already settled: the next day we would leave Earth and head home.
But I couldn’t allow us to leave a comrade behind, dooming her to live through the rebellion of the Men of Iron, or the Long Night, firsthand.
I had to take Lunaria with me.
The final decision, of course, was hers: maybe she wouldn’t want to abandon her family, however despicable they were; maybe she’d rather stay.
To my surprise, she thought it over for barely a minute before agreeing to come with me, which suited me perfectly.
We settled on a time and place to meet: the next day, at seven in the morning, in front of the Yoo mansion.
After a small farewell dinner with our hosts, I waited outside the mansion until I finally detected her.
She was standing right in front of me, practically invisible, which impressed me quite a bit: it reminded me of Corax’s ability to become undetectable to human senses.
I asked her if she was ready, and we set off in a vehicle toward the starport.
When we arrived, we went through the whole customs process.
I altered Lunaria’s outward appearance with a camouflage device so she wouldn’t draw attention; after all, she was the daughter of one of the Federation’s megacorporations, and her face was fairly recognizable.
Luckily, everything went off without a hitch: they let us board the patriarch’s ship with no trouble at all, and we continued on our way.
Once aboard, I assigned Lunaria a cabin to stay in for the time being.
For my part, I decided not to say anything to the patriarch or Marcus just yet; I’d have time to explain the situation calmly later.
With everything ready, we left the starport, leaving Earth behind.
On the way back we would cross the Webway again, so we could fire up the slipspace engines toward Reach as soon as we returned to real space.
Once inside the tunnel, I introduced Lunaria to Marcus and the patriarch.
Both were stunned to discover that she was none other than the youngest daughter of the Sato family.
After a rather serious meeting about what to do with her, the patriarch went so far as to suggest, without much drama, killing her and tossing her body into the void: no one would ever know a thing about it.
It was Marcus, soft-hearted as ever, who flatly refused.
His proposal was for Lunaria to go with Charlotte to the new colony, whether because he saw in her an innocent girl caught in the worst possible place at the worst possible time, or because she reminded him too much of his own daughter for him to be able to hurt her.
In the end, the patriarch accepted the proposal, though not without some resistance.
Later I went looking for Lunaria, intending to talk about exactly where we were and about the plan we had for weathering the worst storms that were coming.
I rang her doorbell, and a second later I was greeted by Surin, the android, who led me to where she was.
The room was as big as a small house.
I found her in the living room, sitting down with a holographic tablet in her hands, watching what looked like a movie.
On her lap rested a jar of what at first glance looked like fruits I had never seen before: pieces of different shapes and colors, covered in a shiny, almost glassy coating.
I recognized it as tanghulu, a street dessert popular in South Korea, made of fruit coated in hardened candy.
Ignoring the dessert for the moment, I sat down across from her.
For a few seconds, the silence between us became rather awkward, so I decided to get straight to the point.
“Do you know exactly where we are?”
“Um… in some kind of alternate reality of Earth?” she replied, not very convinced.
“Well, you could say we’re in another reality, that’s correct. You are reading on g.com, the official source.
But you haven’t figured out which universe you were reincarnated into, have you?”
“Honestly, no.
I thought we were in Star Trek, or Destiny, but apparently that’s not the case.”
“I’m going to tell you the truth.
Try not to panic.”
“Okay.
I don’t know why you’re asking me that, but I promise.”
Over the next hour I told her that this reality was called Warhammer 40K, a merciless universe where in the future there is only war, summarizing as best I could the rebellion of the Men of Iron, the Long Night, the age of the Imperium, the start of the Great Crusade, the Horus Heresy, and the four unnameable ones, the dark gods.
With every word, Lunaria’s face grew paler and paler, until she started trembling in sheer panic, especially when I told her she was a psyker, and about all the dangers that came with that in this particular universe.
A moment later she shot to her feet and ran over to me, grabbing my head with both hands and shaking it from side to side in pure denial.
“This has to be a joke.
Maybe you got the wrong reality.
Right?
Right?”
“Sadly, it’s all true,” I replied.
“Then what are we going to do?
This is the first time I’m going to travel through the Warp.
Won’t I be in danger?”
“Actually, we don’t use warp drives anymore, but slipspace engines.
To be precise.”
“Slipspace engines?
Doesn’t that belong to the Halo universe?”
“Let’s say I received a certain amount of administrative help, and with it a good chunk of Halo’s technology.”
“Oh, that’s good.
Really good, that’s wonderful.
But… shouldn’t you warn the Federation about the coming machine rebellion?”
“I have to tell you something, Lunaria: even if I wanted to warn them, they’d take me for a rogue AI and wipe me out without a second thought, as a malfunction.
And, to be honest, the main reason humanity fell in M22 was its own arrogance, and being complete idiots to their xeno protectorates, all for their absurd Pax Humana.”
“You’re right,” she said, staring into space.
“My father experimented on people to speed up his research, and then he’d say he did it all for the progress and well-being of humanity.”
“I’m glad we’re on the same page.
My plan is to strengthen humanity on my side and survive; Halo’s technology is going to be vital for that.”
“In that case, I’m really grateful you got me off Earth.
I promise I’ll help you with everything within my power.”
“When you were born, were you given any advantage, or any particular knowledge?
Any information could be important, and don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone what you tell me.”
“I don’t know if you could call it an advantage, but I have a status and attributes panel, like in RPGs: it lets me level up my skills and evolve them.
For now I only have one class, psyker, but it’s locked until I turn eighteen.
The only skills I have available at the moment are Shadow Step, Appraisal, Familiar Summoning, and my only offensive skill: Plasma Shot, which consumes psychic and void energy stored in my own body.
Plus my status as a Perpetual.
My current level is twelve.”
“That’s insane.
Now, something important: how do you get your psychic energy?
Do you use your mind to draw it directly from the Warp?”
“Actually, no.
When I see my reserves are low, I just stop and wait a few seconds until they recover on their own.
I also get energy directly from my familiars; the more I have, the higher my collection rate.”
Inwardly: this girl is incredible, I thought, without saying anything out loud.
She has the potential to become the most powerful psyker in existence.
The possibilities are endless.
Maybe, if I support her, we’ll have one more insurance policy against the Warp.
Although, of course, there’s also the risk that she’ll draw the attention of the four Chaos gods.
We’re going to have to be very careful.
At some point in her explanation, she mentioned in passing that one of her skills had activated during the trip through the Webway, blocking an attempt at spying.
That sentence, almost an aside, set off every alarm in my head.
We spent more than five hours talking and planning, until I finally withdrew: we were about to arrive at Reach, and the patriarch needed me on the bridge.
I said goodbye to Luna, leaving her to rest and sort out her own thoughts.
Lunaria felt exhausted.
All the information Samuel had given her had turned her world upside down.
She had never been a fan of dark, destructive universes; the little she knew about Warhammer came from a few movies produced by Amazon Plus, and she’d never taken any interest in its lore or anything related to it.
She felt deeply grateful that Samuel had gotten her off Earth, sparing her from living through all the nightmare scenarios that were coming firsthand.
As long as she was with him and his forces, she could consider herself safe.
Her thoughts were interrupted by footsteps: it was Surin, with a tray of food in her hands.
“Young miss, eating so many sweets will upset your stomach.
I made your favorite food, I hope you enjoy it.”
“Thank you so much, Surin.
Shall we eat together?”
“All right.”
The two of them, along with the other AIs Lunaria had brought with her, sat down at the table, chatting as they enjoyed the meal.
In the middle of the conversation, a figure materialized out of nowhere, like a ghost.
It was Jelly, her familiar.
Surin frowned immediately: he was the one who had been bringing Lunaria strange fruits and flowers all this time, and apparently he had done it again.
His appearance resembled a multicolored jellyfish, constantly in motion, as though small stars were swirling inside his own body.
He had many small tentacles spread across his surface, and stood about two meters tall in total.
At first glance he looked adorable, almost sweet, but on closer inspection you could make out four much longer tentacles, each tipped with a chitin blade that gave off a strange and obviously dangerous energy.
“Jelly, you’re back.
How did it go?” Lunaria asked with a smile.
Jelly delicately raised one of his tentacles, revealing a small cluster of crystalline blue fruit, which he gently dropped into Lunaria’s hand.
The light in the room reflected off them, making them shine like little gems suspended in the air.
“Lapis lazuli grapes!
They’re gorgeous… and delicious.
Maybe I’ll make jam with these.
Do you want to eat, Jelly?”
The moment she said the word “food,” two tiny figures emerged from Lunaria’s silver hair: red heads with a single eye each, floating gently while small red tentacles swayed in the air.
At first glance they looked almost like playful balloons, a cute detail that contrasted strangely with the unsettling feeling they gave off.
“Would you like me to bring the bowls, miss?” Surin asked.
“Yes, please.”
Surin came back with three small bowls, which she set on the table and filled with the fruit from the jars.
Lunaria’s familiars fluttered around eagerly, with quick, precise, almost hypnotic movements, as if each tentacle had a will of its own.
“Well, here we go,” Lunaria said.
She carefully picked up a knife and made a small cut on the palm of her hand.
The blood, bright red, dripped onto the bowls, covering the fruit.
In the blink of an eye, the wound closed completely without leaving a mark; the only proof of what had happened was the smear of blood on her snow-white skin.
“Here you go, miss,” said Surin, handing her a cloth to wipe herself off.
“Thank you so much, Surin.
Dinner’s ready, guys.
You can eat.”
The tiny creatures threw themselves eagerly at the bowls, devouring the blood-soaked fruit with swift, almost elegant movements, like little ballerinas suspended in the air.
When they were done, the two figures went back to hide in Lunaria’s hair, barely letting their glowing eyes peek out, closely watching their caretaker’s every move.
Jelly, for his part, stayed suspended in the air, blending into the shadows and reflections of the room, his colors slowly shifting.
Only Lunaria knew, at every moment, exactly where he was.
Lunaria kept chatting with Surin and the other AIs about nothing in particular.
But if Samuel had been there, and had paid attention to those two little figures hidden in her hair, he would have recognized them instantly.
And terror would have seized him completely: they were one of the most dangerous things in this entire universe.
(…)
After a week of continuous travel aboard the patriarch’s ship, we finally returned to Reach.
Samuel was visibly happy to be back home, though he couldn’t help his shoulders sagging a little: he still had far too many things left to do, and there wasn’t much time left before the exodus.
There was only one thing left to do.
“Well.
Time to get to work.”
English is not my native language, so I hope you can understand if there are any inconsistencies or mistakes in the text.