Kingdom Come: Deliverance, but Warhammer 40k

"Hey, Henry, wake up."

In the darkness, it seemed as if someone was calling Henry's name.

Consciousness struggles to rise from nothingness.

He opened his eyes.

Golden sunlight pierced through the clouds and spilled onto the boundless grassland, where the wind swept through, creating layers of green ripples.

It swirled up the flying leaves, along with a touch of gold among them.

Her golden hair flew in the wind, with a few tiny specks of light shimmering in the gaps, like trapped stars.

Henry's image was reflected in those deep blue eyes.

"Salia..."

Henry's Adam's apple twitched slightly.

He couldn't understand why he was able to see her again.

It seems that whenever he is forced to come into contact with those indescribable beings, he always sees her again.

Time and again, Salia helped herself resist those temptations, but why her?

Henry slowly extended his hand.

My fingertips finally touched her face, feeling her real warmth.

But the next moment, he realized that his actions were somewhat ridiculous.

He already knew Salia's fate, and this wasn't the first time he had fallen into a hallucination.

The evil gods in the warp who coveted his soul were masters at manipulating the softest corners of their prey's heart.

"You're back, Henry."

  

"Salia said softly."

"yes."

"I'm back."

His hand slowly slid down her soft hair.

"You are still the same as I remember you, unchanged."

Salia looked back at him quietly.

"Henry, do you think I'm a fake?"

Henry did not answer, but simply watched in silence.

He didn't want to hurt the girl's feelings, even if she was just an illusion.

But I shouldn't lose those beautiful things...

But the girl tacitly accepted his guess and gently pressed her cheek against his palm.

The warmth spread through my palm.

Whether it's true or not is actually not important.

She said.

"Henry, what you believe in is your world, your country."

"What do you mean?"

Salia did not answer.

The weather on the horizon suddenly changed.

The distant grasslands seemed to be eroded, with dark matter rising from the horizon and gradually swallowing the sky.

Salia turned her head and looked into the distance.

"It seems we don't have much time left."

But the girl accepted it all calmly, and she helped Henry tidy up his hair, which hadn't been trimmed in a long time and was almost down to his neck.

She smoothed out the tangled strands of hair little by little in her hands.

Just like the world disappearing little by little...

Suddenly, as if remembering something, she muttered to herself.

"I don't like that black girl; she's worse than the others."

Henry paused for a moment.

"What?"

The girl blinked.

"Although... she's very good to you."

"But I still don't like her. She'll bring misfortune to my Henry. She's almost forgotten who she is..."

Before Henry could ask for details, the whole world had already fallen apart.

The grassland, the sunlight, the breeze, and the girl's figure all shattered into countless powders.

Salia's final words came from the void.

"Henry, don't let hatred become your everything."

"Salia!"

Henry suddenly reached out his arm, trying to grab that elusive figure.

The next second, the real touch in his palm brought him back to his senses.

Soft, cool, and with a little sticky residue on the surface.

He looked down.

He was holding a dark green tentacle firmly in his hand.

The other end of the whiskers.

Anastasius stood frozen like a statue, several eyes simultaneously focused on the captured tentacle.

The scene was a little awkward for a while.

"..."

"..."

"ah."

Anastasius finally let out a bloodcurdling scream.

"My hand!"

It retreated like a frightened bird, its remaining tentacles all shrinking back into a ball, adopting a defensive posture.

"etc!"

"No! Why did you suddenly grab me?!"

"I'm just checking your status!"

It kept yelling and backing away.

As a result, the tentacle that Henry had been holding onto broke off due to the strain.

pat.

The severed limbs lay on a nearby iron plate, still writhing restlessly, even trying to crawl towards the original body.

Anastasius stared at the remains on the ground and fell silent.

Finally, the young demon crouched down, extended a few slender limbs, and picked up the severed body.

"We must not waste food..."

As it spoke, it carefully coiled its whiskers.

Then he took the cloth next to him and wrapped it up, his movements as serious as if he were taking care of some precious item.

Henry slowly propped himself up.

He then realized that he was lying in a makeshift tent made of canvas and scrap metal.

A few simple medical devices were scattered around.

He noticed a suspicious ring-shaped mark on his forearm.

Shaped like some kind of rune, or like the scabs left after a wound has healed, dark red lines are coiled between the skin.

It is largely inseparable from terrorism.

"Is the Nurgle invasion over?"

"How long was I unconscious?"

Anastasius was busy fiddling with the cloth bag and paid no attention to the human who had saddened him.

"Who knows?"

"It feels like a long time has passed, long enough that I've already obtained my pet's certificate."

"But it might not be that long... at least the ship hasn't sunk yet... soon our time will be aligned with the warp."

"Anyway, I'm pretty much thriving in the subspace... but actually, I still prefer this kind of life..."

Anastasius suddenly became somewhat pessimistic.

"General Cass said there was no precedent for demons being registered as humans, so he gave me the name of a pet."

"This way I can move freely in a limited area. Anyway, everyone is about to die, so no one cares about having another demon pet. Some people might even feed me something before they commit suicide."

Henry stared at it.

"..."

"You ended up as a pet?"

"Yes." Anastasius nodded helplessly.

Henry raised his hand and pressed it against his temple.

"General Cass?"

"Um."

Anastasius picked up a chipped iron bowl, turned around, and served it a bowl of soup.

"By taking advantage of the collective outburst of the Nurgle followers, that guy finally completed his centralized power."

"Now he has successfully organized a decent army... but nobody cares anymore."

He handed over the iron bowl.

"Have some soup."

Henry reached out and took it, examining the murky liquid in the bowl.

"Meat broth? Where did the meat come from?"

He tried taking a sip.

Surprisingly, it tasted pretty good.

The meat is quite chewy and even has some of the freshness of seafood.

Anastasius's eyes darted around nervously.

"Well... one of the noble aquariums on the ship has been found."

"There are a lot of things inside, but nobody needs those pets anymore anyway."

Its tone was feigned nonchalance, but its wandering gaze betrayed it completely.

Henry stared at it.

"Do you know something?"

"no."

"real?"

"real."