817.M41
Segmentum Obscurus
Koronus Expanse
Marani nebula
Epsilon Marani system, Nova Roma in High Gothic or New Rome in Low Gothic
Ancient Tower on the surface of Palatinus, future Inquisitorial world
Sarcasin stared at the tower, studying its features. The rough surface was white with no apparent glyphs or markings. It appeared to be stone but there were no visible seams or mortar on its surface. Same for the arched entrance the giant bird had entered. "You should have told me," she said. "Such things are dangerous." She paused a moment and then continued with an edge to her voice. "Did you deliberately ignore what happened in the last such tower? Thousands of people sacrificed. Minister Vordin, your friend, dead."
"You do not need to remind me that my friend is dead," he snapped back.
The great bird let out a loud shriek in response.
"Easy," Vitus said and walked to the entrance. The bird lowered its head and Vitus rested his hand on top. Easy, he said telepathically and reached out, calming it. "Go!" he said.
The great bird stepped out of the tower, unfurled its massive wings, and leapt over the edge into the fog.
Vitus turned back to Sarcasin who had returned to staring at the tower. "I chose Minister Vordin to join my Rogue Trader expedition but you chose him to be sent on Inquisitorial missions yourself," he said. "But, I am holding no one to blame. Minister Vordin gave his life for the Emperor in a successful venture. He deserves to be honoured for that sacrifice, not have his memory bandied about as if we are discussing the price of a commodity."
Sarcasin turned her back to the tower and looked at him. "Still, you should have told me," she said in a softer voice.
She is not happy, Vitus told himself with a sigh. A few moments ago, all was right in the universe. Not now. He removed his helmet as he walked past her to the entrance. "Call Magos Ketya and inform her of our location, then catch up with me. There is something I must show you," he said over his shoulder as he walked into the tower.
Vitus strode steadily down the corridor with his helmet in hand. It was just as he had seen it when parting the veil between past and present in the other tower. White stone. Ten metres in height and fifteen metres in width. No glyphs or wards. No piles of desiccated corpses. He reached out and touched his free hand to the wall as he walked alongside it. No suffering. No pain. Only calmness, he confirmed with his psychic senses. There are chambers below, empty chambers, he told himself as he felt the extent of the tower through his touch on its wall. Of course, Sarcasin is following me at a distance, watching, he told himself. There is more, he told himself and then psychically felt deeper into the wall as he tried to define what he was feeling. Deep inside, beneath their white surface, the walls are black and…polarized in some way, was all he could come up with to describe his feeling.
Finally, he reached the atrium and stopped. No pit half-filled with the corpses of slaughtered void ship crews. That was added by the Yu'Vath, he told himself. No stirring hordes of doomed souls. No throbbing darkness. A dim but white light, like starlight, filled the atrium. Those lead back down corridors to the other outside entrances, he told himself as his eyes adjusted and he made out exits wrapped around the edge of the atrium. In the center was an elegant spire. Its surface was a glossy black and its curves wrapped around themselves as they rose out of sight into darkness.
He felt Sarcasin walk up beside him. "The Yu'Vath greatly altered that," he said aloud as he viewed the spire. "The Yu'Vath corrupted the tower in the Cinerus Maleficum," he said without bothering to look over at her. "Will we be guilty of the same once we have left our fingerprints here?" he asked her.
She didn't answer.
Vitus started walking again, straight toward the spire in the center. He felt her quietly following him. "Teach me how to fashion a kine shield," Vitus absently said as he approached the spire. "I could have saved Vordin if I knew how to fashion one," he added. She is being awfully quiet, he told himself as he struggled to hear her footsteps.
"Vitus," Sarcasin said from over his shoulder as she followed. "I am sorry. I am sorry I used his memory and friendship against you as I did earlier." She paused, then said, "His choice or not, I bear a responsibility for his death. A responsibility for every death my choices have brought about." She paused again and Vitus heard her take a breath. "It is a responsibility borne by all Inquisitors. It is a responsibility I have been meaning to speak with you about as I have watched your knowledge of Chaos grow."
"Someone offered to teach me how to fashion one," Vitus said as he neared the spire. The footsteps behind him stopped. "For free, he told me in anger. I told him 'I live to serve the Emperor' and refused."
Silence from Sarcasin. Vitus stopped as he reached the edge of the spire. He looked up into its heights in the darkness above the starlight and stared.
"Who?" Sarcasin asked. He felt the nervousness in her voice.
"The Chaos Space Marine whose memory you wiped from my mind on Phobos Tertius," he replied. "It angered him but he offered it to me for nothing in the name of his Master, The Architect of Fate, as we passed through the Maw." Vitus paused. I don't believe she has drawn her bolt pistol yet, that is a good sign. He spoke again. "I held no fear at not being able to uncover how the Architect of Fate and the Perfect Prince had tried to influence our passage through the Maw because I already knew. They had both tempted me. I declined." Vitus thought for a moment, Should I tell her about what temptation the Perfect Prince used against me?
He reached out and touched the glossy black spire. Power. The warp coursed through him and he saw only blackness.
Suddenly, Vitus was looking at himself. Not a reflection as he was, but changed, a dark reflection of himself. His hair was long and turned fully white. He wore piece-meal armour that was black as night. A red eight-pointed star was on his breastplate. In his hand he held a spear and Vitus knew the spear was alive. He felt its evil intelligence. He felt emotions too from his reflection. Fear. Lust. A desire for Ritual Combat. Corruption. But mostly, he felt Hate and Jealousy. Facing the dark reflection of himself drained his energy.
Vitus' knees buckled. He released the spire, dropped to one knee, and bowed his head down.
A gauntleted hand touched the exposed back of his neck. "Are you all right, my young psyker?" asked Sarcasin's voice, soft as she frequently talked but also warm, as he had never heard it before.
"Yes," he replied. "I saw a vision. It is difficult to tell the meaning of what I saw because it was shrouded by Chaos, but I believe I saw what I might become." Vitus paused and thought for a moment. "I don't want to become that. Don't let me become that."
He heard the sound of metal sliding against leather. The sound of Sarcasin's bolt pistol sliding back into its holster. At that moment, he knew. She pointed it at the back of my head when she placed her hand on the back of my neck. She was ready to kill me then.
Sarcasin gently pulled on his neck and turned him toward her, pulling his head to her breastplate. "Listen, my young psyker. You must pay attention to what I say and let me guide you," she said in a soft whisper as she rested her head on top of his.
"I will," he promised as he raised his arm and placed it around her waist.
"Time is running out," she whispered into his ear. "I have foreseen the proper course of action. You must return with me to Holy Terra and be bound to Him."
