Chapter twenty-two.
Tamarus Mountains, Divinus Prime.
Antros lay on the mountainside listening to the universe. The skies overhead were clear, an indigo crescent, edged with wisps of crimson cloud and speckled with the tiny silhouettes of eagles, wheeling lazily on distant thermals. There was no mirror, no serpentine horrors, just reality. But it was the chatter of minds that filled Antros with renewed hope. Mephiston and Mariah had also brought an end to the silence of the miracle. With the death of Zorambus, the crushing psychic void of Divinus Prime had been filled with sound. The voices of the imperium once more echoed around Antros' skull. He could hear the tortured screams of astropathic choirs and the unknowable whispers of the Navis Nobilite, steering the imperial navy back to the world they had lost. Divinus Prime was saved – returned to the firm benevolence of the Imperium; so how could Mephiston be anything other than a hero?
Antros groaned as he struggled to lift himself into a sitting position. Mephiston was standing a few feet away near the prone figure of Rhacelus, and Mariah was a few feet away from them looking out at the scenery as she has never been off Baal before now. At first Antros thought Rhacelus might be dead, but then he noticed that the Librarian was twitching and muttering in pain. Rhacelus' chest was cocooned in some kind of psychic shell – a glimmering web of energy that sparked and danced across his armour. Mephiston was not looking at his old friend. He stood right at the cliff edge along side Mariah, looking out across the peaks of the Tamarus Mountains.
Antros stared at him in confusion. Mephiston had brought a world back within reach of the Emperor's light. There were millions of pilgrims and priests scattered across Divinus Prime that would now have a chance at salvation. Mephiston had also hauled Mariah back from whatever hellish realm she had fallen into. And yet… Antros pictured again the moment Mephiston had looked at the witch and let her go. There had been no doubt in the Chief Librarian's eyes. He had nodded quite deliberately before letting her dive to freedom, taking the Blade Petrific with her. What did that mean? How could that be anything other than a traitor?
Mephiston spoke, as though sensing Antros' thoughts.
"The fleet will take a few weeks to reach the planet and lift us from Mormotha," he said.
Antros frowned. "we wait for the fleet? Why not return the way we came?"
Mephiston shook his head and looked down at his still-trembling fist. "we will travel behind the safety of a Geller field, as we should have done when I brought us here. I have made enough mistakes."
Antros looked down at his ruined body. His power armour had been crushed by the battle. He tried again to move but he still could not feel his legs. He wondered how Mephiston imagined they would cross the miles back to the capital.
Antros rested his hand on his bolt pistol, thinking the unthinkable as he considered all that he had seen. The scale of his doubt staggered him. Since the moment of his insanguination, he had believed that the Chief Librarian had been saved by Sanguinius himself – cured of bloodlust and madness as a proof of what the chapter could still be; proof that their bloodline could yet be saved. But now he had seen Mephiston use his power to aid a Chaos-worshipping witch, a heretic who stole a relic so powerful thousands had died trying to protect it. How could such power have come from the Angel?
There was a blast of white noise from Mephiston's vox and then a voice cut through the din.
"Nothing," said Captain Vatrenus in his usual blunt tones.
Mephiston shook his head. "Look again. I know there are dragoons hiding in the caves to the east. We cannot leave any remnants of that army intact."
"Chief Librarian," said Vatrenus, then severed the link.
Antros slowly raised the pistol.
"Perhaps you will kill me, Lexicanium Antros,"said Mephiston calmly, without turning around. "But not today."
Antros stared at the gun, horrified by the accusation, but knowing it was fair, with Mariah giving him a stern look.
"We are transitory beings. Antros," said Mephiston. "To live is to change. We do not remember what we were yesterday or know what we will be tomorrow." Mephiston looked down into the valley at the smouldering wreckage of Volgatis. With the death of Zorambus, his golems had become lifeless stone once more. Even from here their shattered forms were visible, sprawled across the ruins. "perhaps I will never know who saved me that day," continued Mephiston, lowering his voice. "Perhaps I will never know who plucked Calistarius from Hades Hive and created this monster called Mephiston. But I know who I am now, what I am in this moment."
+Mephiston your not a monster you know that, you just need something to anchor the gift so you can control it.+ Mariah added through the link they shared.