The Return of Rogal Dorn

Interlude: Geniuses

3 days before the battle of The Phalanx

"Why do you subscribe to the delusion of the Omnissiah," Fabius asked Cawl.

Cawl looked up from his notes at the question. "What do you mean 'delusion'?"

"You are a genius, Cawl. That much cannot be denied. You must be smart enough to understand that the Omnissiah does not exist and the Emperor is not a God. So why do you praise the Omnissiah when there is nothing to praise? You were there during the Heresy. You know The Emperor fought for a Galaxy of reason and science. Not for a galaxy of superstition where he is revered. He never wanted this. I should know. I met him."

Cawl regarded Fabius for a moment. "I do know this. But I did not grow up in the Imperium. I grew up as part of the Mechanicum. We believed in the Omnissiah long before the Emperor was revered as his Earthly aspect. That sort of thing cannot be eliminated because one wishes it to be."

Fabius thought for a moment. "But what if it could be?"

"What do you mean?"

"What if you could change the human mind so that the desire to worship is eliminated? I have done that in many of my subjects. It took a while, but I did it. My creations, my New Humanity, they are closer to what the Emperor wished for in his people than the current failure that is Humanity."

Cawl shook his head. "And thus we come to your greatest failure, Fabius. You gave up."

Bile ground his long teeth in rage at that accusation. "Don't you dare accuse me of giving up! When the Emperor's Children were threatened with genetic extinction, it was not the Emperor that fought hard to save them! It was I! When my Legion was reduced to 200, I fought! I did many things, sacrificed many lives, but I am my Legion's savior! Not Fulgrim! Not the Emperor! Me!"

Cawl sighed. "And yet, you still rely on clone bodies. I pity you for that, Fabius."

"Do not pity me, Cawl. I do not need it. I have survived 10,000 years and I will not stoop to be pitied by you."

"I apologize, Fabius. Just so you are aware, I respect you, despite your many flaws."

Fabius chuckled. "And what flaws are those, per se?"

"You are in denial. You do not believe in Gods or Daemons, yet there is proof they exist. You do not view yourself as a god, yet you all but treat your creations as a Fatherly God would."

Fabius laughed. "I treat them better than any God would. As for whether or not Daemons exist, those can be explained as Psychic Manifestations of a human's psyche and mutations brought upon by Warp Energy. The mutated subject believes themselves to be a Daemon to cope with the transformation they have undergone. As for Gods? An archaic delusion brought upon by little people too afraid to face reality as it really is."

Cawl considered those words. "And what do you see reality as?"

"Cruel. A cruel and harsh universe where the strong survive and the weak perish. We must adapt or die. And I will bring that adaptation to humanity! I will cure it of the weakness that infects it."

"You lack faith."

"What?"

"Faith is what keeps humanity going. Faith in a greater tomorrow. Faith in each other and themselves. Faith in the God-Emperor and the Omnissiah."

Fabius spat on the ground, a difficult thing to do as his head was restrained by the neck. "So I am wrong?"

Cawl shook his head. "No, you aren't wrong. The universe is a cruel place. But faith is greater than mere religion. It is how we work to survive in a cruel and unjust universe. And humanity fights back against it because it has faith that can survive. Faith, Fabius, is greater than Gods. What do you have faith in, my friend?"

Friend. The word was something Fabius had not heard in quite some time. "I have faith in myself and my work. And science. Not the Warp. Not Chaos. Not Daemons and not Gods. I believe in what I am doing, even if the Universe condemns me for it. I started fighting for the Emperor's Children, but now I fight for a New Humanity. Even if I must scrub the slate clean to do it!"

Cawl considered Fabius. In his own way, he admired Fabius. I'm not a Saint. I have done things to children that have more than likely condemned me. But I did it all for an Imperium with a future. And I believe in that future. Just as he does.

"Well said, Chief Apothecary. And I will fight for a future where Humanity can live in peace without the need for people like us. That is my Great Work."

Fabius smiled at those words. "'Great Work'. Quite egotistical, Archmagos Dominus."

Cawl laughed at that. "I am Ego Triumphant! I am Belisarius Cawl! I am the culmination of 10,000 years of knowledge! I would say that both of our egos are earned in this case."

The two of them stared at one another before bursting into laughter. Cawl's was mechanical while Bile's was wet and manic. In the corner, on a cogitator unit, Qvo-87 watched while Alpha Primus glowered at the two scientists. "I believe the Archmagos has truly found someone he can truly call a friend," Qvo-87 said with a smile.

Alpha Primus turned his glare upon Qvo. "And it seems to be someone who is as insane as he is. You do not find this alarming?"

Qvo-87 shrugged what amounted to his shoulders under his robes. "It is not my business who the Master chooses to associate himself with. He is smart enough to take care of himself."

Alpha Primus turned back to the laughing geniuses. "But is he cautious enough? Cawl has been letting his guard down more and more with Bile. Something is coming. I can feel it in my soul."

Qvo-87 smiled. "It may just be your body in pain as usual. It will pass."

Primus did not agree. As he said. He felt it in his soul.

Author's Note:

So this was more or less a filler chapter before the final chapter of the Return of Rogal Dorn and the epilogue and I wanted to do something I more or less neglected to do in this: A real conversation between Bile and Cawl in terms of philosophy and beliefs. I am of the belief that the theme of the Fabius Bile books is, and this is from what I have read of Primogenitor thus far (I do plan to finish the books, don't worry. I am into it.) "We are all the heroes of our own story." In Bile's mind, he is doing what is necessary for the survival of humanity as HE wants it. I am of this belief: Bile is a monster. He is a monster with what could be an admirable goal, but what he is doing and how he is doing it is evil. Bile is in denial about himself and his own beliefs.

Bile does not believe in Gods, but in the eyes of his creations, he is God. He is of many names. Spider. Primogenitor. Clonelord. Manflayer. But there is a name that his creations call him. Pater Mutatis. He is their father and giver of life. He is, for all intents and purposes, God. He may not condone the worship, but it would not surprise me that, deep down, there is a part of him that likes it.

That brings me to his motivations. He may want to save humanity, but it's HIS humanity he wants to save. Not humanity as it is now. He wants to replace it with his creations because as far as he is concerned, we are just raw materials for his experiments. Expendable resources. Nothing more. Bile is not a good person.

That isn't to say that Cawl is entirely saintly either. He and Bile are similar in that regard. Cawl experimented on hundreds of thousands of children to create the Primaris Marines. Who knows how many children died on his operating table? There is a reason Decimus Felix was afraid of Cawl upon their reunion in Belisarius Cawl: The Great Work, even if he didn't understand that. And Alpha Primus is a living example of Cawl's reckless abandon in his creations.

The difference between them is that Cawl believes humanity can survive as it is. He has faith while Bile lacks it. But they are similar and if things had been different, they would have been friends a long time ago. As it is now? They are equals in terms of intellect, even if they didn't see it at first. Now... it is time for the finale of the Return of Rogal Dorn.