The boy's skin was wheat-colored, a feature of the people in this region.
He had delicate features and a slender build, but he was clean from head to toe, unlike the other humans of this era, who were all grimy and dusty.
"This is me as a child." The Emperor pointed at the boy.
Qin Mo had guessed as much.
Aurekan looked up from his calculations in surprise.
Burner stared at the beautiful surroundings, though no one knew what he was plotting.
"I have forgotten many things."
"I have changed greatly as well."
"But I still remember one thing: I was born in Asia Minor on Earth, and my parents were ordinary shepherds."
The Emperor looked at his younger self with a complicated gaze. Their eyes met as he murmured those words.
Qin Mo was somewhat puzzled as to why the Emperor had insisted on finding this particular point in time.
"If, in the future, every crisis has been settled and every problem resolved, and we become figures in history textbooks..." The Emperor looked at Qin Mo with utmost seriousness, enunciating each word. "I hope that when human children of that time learn about me, they will know that the man sitting upon the Golden Throne was born in Asia Minor on Terra, and that his parents were..."
"This is how Talon teaches it now." Qin Mo interrupted him. "But I have no control over how the Imperium teaches it."
The Emperor did not seem to care. "When you do have control, just make sure humanity's descendants do not think that the man on the Throne was some Warp freak that popped out of nowhere."
While the two spoke, Burner continued examining the surroundings.
Aurekan, meanwhile, watched them.
If Necrons had such things as facial expressions, Aurekan would surely have