Promise

Eve's eyes snapped open.

His entire body was slick with sweat and shaking, his breathing was ragged and heavy like he had just run a marathon.

Unable to get over what just happened, events of the future still flashed across his eyes like a movie.

The horror

The pain

And the exhilaration.

He tried to get up but his body didn't listen. Eve was frozen stiff with the pain he felt in his future.

"Wha, wa, what?" he managed to croak.

'I, it-, it was real?'

As time slowly passed, his mind calmed down and he regained some control over his body.

He who was absentmindedly staring into the ceiling, managed to bring his eyesight down to see Melina kneeling on the floor, equally exhausted as him if not more.

The GMO man stood right next to her, wary of Eve and ready to step in between Melina and him if Eve were to suddenly lash out.

Eve tried to smile and wanted to assure the big man. 'A single slap from you could probably snuff out my life right now, so there's no need to be that wary.' 

 Regrettably, his voice was worn out. His entire body, mind, and soul were.

All he could manage in his current state was;

"Ho, how long was I out?"

The meek voice surprised Melina.

"Ah, so you woke up.

I just woke up myself so I don't know, but it should be around 10 minutes." She managed to answer. Even her voice sounded strained.

'I see.'

With the passing of every second, the vision seemed more and more surreal.

Every second, Eve started to doubt the validity of the hallucination.

'Enough is enough. I will be damned if I have to go through that vision again. Let's just go along for now.'

Melina grabbed hold of the big man's shirt and managed to pull herself up.

"Anyhow, do you trust us now?" She asked him in a particularly annoyed tone.

Eve replied back, "Yeah… I guess I do."

His left hand twitched and he squirmed around in his seat.

The big man eyed him carefully. "What are you trying to do?

Eve stared at him with a poker face.

"To stand up, what do you think I am going to do?"

'Dumbass.' He added under his breath.

"Here, let me help you."

Melina put her hand on Eve's head once more, much to the latter's displeasure.

However, instead of being greeted with a sight of the future like before, a welcoming warmth coursed through his body.

The warmth soothed his stiff body and returned feelings to his left hand which still remembered the feeling of being crushed.

His fatigue melted and all in all, he felt much better albeit still weak.

Using the arm of his armchair, he stood up and stretched his hands.

"Whoa"

He looked at Melina with a newfound respect.

'Jonathan should experience this.' Eve amused

'He always complained about his stiff back.'

"So, how do you feel now?" She asked him.

Her breathing was irregular and dark circles had formed under her otherworldly yellow eyes.

Eve took a second to search for the words to describe his current condition.

"Really… smooth, I guess? Why?"

Melina sighed and looked a little bit at ease.

"Ah, that's a relief then. The thing is, I'm still not used to using soul power so I was worried I might have destroyed something. Still, look out for side effects." 

"Say what?"

'Side effects?

Maybe Jonathan shouldn't try this out after all.'

"Never mind that, you should be able to do that on your own in due time. I can teach you some things I have figured out."

'Teach me, huh. I guess it would be a nice change of pace to relieve Jonathan of some of his jobs.'

"Alright so now I know that in about 10 years, something will happen and now killing can get you stronger. What am I supposed to do with that information and what do you want me to do?"

Melina slumped onto the couch and looked as if she was deep in thought.

"Well, the first thing we wanted to do was to make you aware of your own future. I figured if you knew what you would become, then it would be much easier to prevent it.

Then, we would escort you to our base and we would teach you some stuff and work together."

Eve sat back on his couch and pondered over her statement.

"If you wanted me to not turn into the Ravager then you could have like locked me up or something. I don't get why me remembering helps.

My value as a person lies in what I will become in the future. I don't see how my current self benefits you."

Melina sighed, and replied to his question.

"Ravager's strongest point is his strength, but there's a benefit to keeping you close.

Even if his accumulated strength and soul power disappear, his accumulated knowledge of the myriad species in the cosmos will still persist within your soul, just dormant as of now.

Believe me when I say this but we will get a lot of visitors from outer space when the time is right. Using the Ravager's knowledge of their behavior, weakness, and strength could decide whether or not we will negotiate, go into hiding to prevent accidental kills or just full scale war."

Eve continued further.

"I thought you were the brains? Why would the warmongering Ravager know about things that you don't."

Melina's pale face got a slight red tint.

"Erm, so the thing is that I was a complete shut-in until I took off to hunt down the scavenger.

I merely stayed at my base, researched soul power, and occasionally captured or killed some astray beasts.

So in terms of accumulated knowledge, Ravager is better than me."

"I see. So you want to keep me as a universal wikipedia? How will you even access my memories if it's dormant?"

"The same way I dug up some memories of the future just now. And yes, you will be our information source." 

Melina continued with a slightly red face.

"I, uhh, kinda made a promise with the Ravager that I would let him fight? Even if it's impossible to bring that exact Ravager back, I can still get the young version to spar with occasionally."

Both Arco and Eve remained silent with her statement.

'So she is a child who can't break a promise. Good to know.'

"So, you mentioned a base. Where is it?"