33. Blessings of a god

Elia sat in her quarters aboard the Eternal mist, they were modest at her own insistence, she was not use to luxury and rarely indulged herself even after her son became the ruler of Solaero and offered to get her anything she wanted. She knelt before a small shrine in her room, it was dedicated to her late husband, with a picture of him standing in the centre of it with protective wards and prayers meant to protect his soul inscribed around it. Elia still prayed everyday like she did before the coming of the Emperor, she suspected Aeoran knew what she was doing but turned a blind eye.

As she was deep in prayed, petitioning the gods to protect and guide her son, there was a knock on her bulkhead, she slid her shrine in to a crawlspace behind her bed and went to the bulkhead. She opened it to find one of the Astartes of her son's legion standing there, he was in his armour but had forgone his helmet, his pauldron identifying him as a simple battle brother of the 15th company.

"Can I help you?" Elia asked

The astartes seemed troubled or at least deeply concerned, "You are the mother of our primarch, correct?"

"Yes I am"

"I hear you council him and many of the senior members of the legion"

"Is there something you'd like to talk about?"

"Yes" as soon as he said that Elia stood aside and opened the bulkhead wider for the astartes

It wasn't strange for some of the senior members of the legion to seek her advice when they doubted themselves or their decisions but the lower ranks generally brought their concerns to their commanding officers. The battle brother took a seat on Elia's bed while she brought a chair to sit in front of him.

"What is your name?" she asked

"Astrean"

"A good name, I knew a trader with the same name, he'd rob you blind if you weren't careful but then again what trader wouldn't" Elia chuckled slightly, "What is troubling you?"

Astrean sat in thought for a few seconds before answering, "I can't remember the last few battles I took part in"

"Well your memory does start to go with age, I should know, but I though astartes had photographic memories"

"We're supposed to but when I try to think back on the battles and wars I've fought in I just draw a blank, I cannot remember a single detail, it's just a hole in my memory" Astrean was clearly very troubled by this, that something that shouldn't be happening was happening

"Calm down, what is the last thing you normally remember before these holes?"

"I'm on the transport to the combat zone, I'm getting in to position and before I can engage in combat my memory goes blank, it's always the seconds before combat starts"

"And after the hole?"

"I'm usually on the transport back"

"And what do your squad mates tell you about what you did during these holes?"

"They say I fight better than I have ever fought in my life, my sergeant is even looking to get me promoted for actions I have no memory of"

Elia thought for a few seconds, this was something she had never heard of and she knew about most of the going ons in the 2nd legion, "What do your squad mates say about your personality?"

"They say I'm strangely quiet, I don't talk at all and I will rarely respond over the vox, I only give confirmations"

"Do you hear the voice?" Elia asked

"I do occasionally"

The voice was the name given to the guiding voice astartes of the 2nd legion could hear that would guide them to victory, before the coming of Aeoran it was rare and infrequent but after his discovery the number of battle brothers who could hear it and the frequency of hearing it grew rapidly, it was most common in the legions librarians and they would use it to instantly adapt the battle plans but it was found even in battle brothers that showed no other psychic aptitude.

"Do you think this could be a battle trance?"

A battle trance was a state only the most skilled warriors of the legion could achieve where they let their own consciousness slip back and allowed the voice to lead their actions but the astartes was still aware of all his actions during a battle trance and could pull himself out of it at any time, Astrean clearly couldn't do any of those things.

"I don't choose for this to happen it just does"

Elia leant forward and took the astartes gauntlet in her hand, "I think it is a battle trance but you need to train to perfect it, you need to strengthen your mental fortitude so you can remain aware while you are in that state"

Astrean seemed slightly more at ease after talking to Elia, his concerns had at least been answered. He stood and made his way to the bulkhead but stopped just before opening it.

"Thank you, I will take your advice but can I ask you not to tell anyone what we spoke about, not even the primarch"

"Don't worry I'll keep your secret"

Aeoran sat in his private sanctum, the fog generators in his armour filling the room in a thick mist, he sat in meditation with a book open before him and a quill in hand. The pages of the book were completely blank, Aeoran let his mind drift off as he put quill to the page, his mind completely slipped away and he entered a deep trance. This was deeper than the battle trance he and his sons could enter during combat, he was not able to pull himself out of this deep trance and he would only come out of it when the time was right, he lost all awareness of his surroundings and the passage of time but when he did finally surface he would find the pages of the books filled with writings. Secrets and archaic knowledge would fill the pages, strange rituals that would call upon the powers of the warp to devastating effect, he would share much of this knowledge with the librarius of his legion and his brother Magnus but there were some pages that detailed rituals so heretical and blasphemous that he locked them in a completely separate tome that none bar him knew existed.

Aeoran felt his consciousness surfacing and his awareness came back to him, he looked down at the book and saw that several pages were filled with writings. The mist king flipped through the newly written pages and found they weren't exactly like the ones before, they weren't filled with arcane knowledge that would help his legion but instead mostly filled with drawings. There were drawings of a great temples filled with worshippers and of a hooded man bowing down and offering something up, he knew instinctively that these pictures were of the future. The vox in Aeoran's armour went off as he studied the pictures he had drawn in his trance.

"My lord" the voice of his equerry came through, "We are ready for you in the strategium"

"I will be right there"

Aeoran picked up his axe and stood, his mist guard followed behind him as he walked from his sanctum to the strategium near the bridge. He walked in to find the legion's senior command already waiting for him.

The 2nd Legion had been on route to scout the furthest edges of Imperial space when a nearby warp storm subsided and allowed scouting fleets to enter previously unreachable systems, the scouting ships had rediscovered a lost human world that was open to talking to the Imperium and as the closest legion the 2nd moved to bring it in to compliance.

"So what do we know about this civilization?" the captain of Aeoran's guard asked

Oradean was the most skilled warrior amongst the ranks of the Mist walkers, he was skilled with a sword but he was most proficient with the power glaive he carried, in comparison to many astartes of the legion he was young but he had earned his post after beating several of the legion's champions in single combat.

"The scout fleet reports that the world seems overjoyed to hear about the end of old night and are willing to accept Imperial rule with open arms" Casis Thal summed up the information the legion had received, "We just need to travel there and make it official"

"So I'm guessing I won't be needed here" the son of Ovis, Sotris stood slightly apart from the other astartes

After the extermination of the Castri Ovis had offered to let his bothers keep his sons, as a sign of good will, during the fight to the Castri homeworld Sotris had shown he was far more skilled at void warfare than any astartes the 2nd legion had so Aeoran decided to keep him on as a sort of naval attaché.

"I would like to keep you in orbit, keep the fleet on alert, this could be a trick to kill me and deal a hard blow to the Imperium" Aeoran was a commander who always had a plan to fall back on, "We may need you to evacuate us"

"Whatever you say uncle" Sotris slightly bowed his head

"We need to assemble a landing party" Aeoran looked around at the captains that made up the senior command, "I'll take Tatin Erstwal and his company along with my mist guard and Thal"

"Are you sure one company is enough security?" Oradean asked, his concern clear

"We don't want to show up in force and spook these people, one company will be enough, if they are hostile then we will be able to easily retreat and prepare an invasion"

"Fine but we should at least have the rest of the legion on standby, ready to drop at a moment's notice" Oradean argued, this was another reason Aeoran had made him captain of his guard, unlike the primarch Oradean was naturally suspicious and slow to trust

"Ok, the fleet will exit the warp soon, everyone go and make preparations" Aeoran dismissed his commanders

After the fall of the Aeldari empire the universe descended in to utter turmoil, entire stretches of the galaxy, hundreds of light years across, were enveloped in warp storms and worlds, human and xenos alike, descended in to complete and utter anarchy. Tempus was one such world that fell in to anarchy, an industrial planet covered in large manufactories when it was cut off from the larger galaxy and material and food shipments stopped arriving, the elected government tried to keep the populous subdued as they sought a solution but the shortages were quickly noticed.

The elected government did not last long on Tempus, the military leaders saw the beginning of the age of strife as the perfect time to enact a coup against the elected government. The new military dictator of the planet claimed that the rest of the galaxy was lost to humanity and that Tempus was the last bastion of their species, he promised that they would set out to the stars again and reclaim the galaxy for humanity.

The military dictator did not last long on Tempus, after only a single generation the people rose up in a bloody revolution and a people's republic was proclaimed claiming that they would lead the people to prosperity and a bright future where all the people of Tempus cooperated for the greater good of the whole, a central committee was established and set to work on their promises.

The central committee did not last long on Tempus, the centralised government was too big and unable to adequately meet the needs of the people, powerful black markets formed and criminals gained enormous wealth and influence and they led a counter revolution, their criminal empires coming in to the light and becoming powerful corporations that promised to meet the needs of the people in exchange for work and the global board was formed.

The global board did not last long on Tempus, they were overthrown by a monarchist movement who in turn were over thrown by an anarchist movement who were then over taken by a wave of religious fervour that led to the creation of a theocracy. The governments of Tempus were always fleeting, they rule for a generation or two and were overthrown, every person on Tempus had lived through a revolution or coup and those that hadn't expected to.

Despite this constant change there had arisen one permanent thing on Tempus, the worship of the god of change. How they pray to him and what his temples look like change, even his name will change on Tempus, but the prayers all go to the same god. They pray for him to aid them in overthrowing the current order and establishing their new one and every time he answers their prayers.

The current order of Tempus was a theocratic imperium with an emperor divinely appointed by the god of change at the top although most only served a handful of years before an ambitious bishop assassinated them and took their place. The current holy emperor of Tempus was Novem IX, a bishop that had only been anointed a few months before the long raging warp storm finally subsided.

The holy emperor stood on the landing pad in the centre of the capital city of Sanctres. All members of the planet's clergy wore robes made to have different colours constantly shifting and swirling across the surface of the clothing with each colour having some complex meaning that is sometimes lost even on high-ranking members of the clergy but completely unknown to the uninitiated. The holy emperor wore the most colourful and vibrant robe, the colours shifted and changed at a rapid pace and seemed to combine together in to almost impossible colours that would instantly fade and never re-emerge on the robe again. The robes also sported large hoods that obscured the faces of the wearers, once someone joined the church no one would be allowed to see their face although all members seemed to be able to tell each other apart.

The emperor stood with several bishops behind him, all adorned in their vibrant robes, they all stood silently as they watched an almost pure white craft lower itself on to the landing pad, several other craft came down alongside the first one and created a secure perimeter around it. The power armour clad astartes descended from landing ramps and performed a quick security sweep before the lead craft allowed its passenger to disembark.

Novem and his bishops bowed their heads and Aeoran made his way down the landing ramp, "Welcome envoy of the Imperium of man, your arrival has been long awaited"

"Yes I'm sure this world has long hoped to reunite with the rest of humanity" Aeoran flashed the clergy a smile as he prepared to put his natural talents to use to convince to world in to a peaceful compliance

"Please holy envoy, follow us" Novem and his bishops spun around and walked towards the towering building that stood in the centre of the city

The tower had been known by many names over Tempus' history but it was commonly referred to as the unchanging tower, it had served as the centre of government for every government Tempus had seen and it now acted as the most holy temple to the god of change. The large entrance to the tower led directly in to a great hall filled with worshippers, in the centre of the hall was a gaudy and twisted pulpit filled with imagery and symbols of their god, inside the pulpit was a glass elevator to higher levels. Rings of pews surrounded the pulpit and each was filled with fanatical worshippers belting out a discordant chorus like some crazed choir.

"This isn't right my lord, we should leave" Erstwal was uneasy by such blatant religious fanaticism but something else just seemed off to him, "They will not give up their faith without blood"

Aeoran looked down at the captain, the gaze of his primarch relieving some of his reservations, "We need to give them a chance, let's not be so quick to war"

"Yes my lord" Erstwal bowed his head slightly

Thal pat Erstwal on the back as they followed their primarch and the holy emperor to the pulpit, "Don't worry, you're right to be suspicious but you should trust our primarch's judgment"

"Yes sir"

Thal chuckled slightly, "I am no longer your superior Tatin, we are brothers of equal rank"

Erstwal smiled, "You're right Casis"

Novem took to the pulpit with his bishops, each of them facing a different direction and talking to a different group of worshippers, they addressed the worshipers and each said something different but Aeoran and the astartes quickly realised they were saying the exact same thing just using different words, not a different language just different words that made the speeches sound distinct and unrelated to each other. They spoke of their many named god delivering them from the warp storm and guiding Aeoran to them and of granting great power to the holy envoy from the stars as the central prophesy of their faith predicted. It was during this that Aeoran realised where he had seen the holy emperor before, he had drawn Novem in perfect detail in his book while he was in a deep trance.

Novem turned to Aeoran as the worshippers let out even louder praises, "Please follow me" the elevator opened up and Novem walked inside

Erstwal opened up a private channel with Oradean, "Are you as uncomfortable as I am?"

"Yes" the guard captain replied, "The mist guard will be ready, don't worry"

"I'll make sure my company is ready for an evac" Erstwal sent his company lieutenants coded commands as he walked in to the elevator with his primarch and his guard, he looked out of the glass as it ascended to see two squads of marines walking in to the temple, they didn't disturb the worship, only standing near the wall and silently securing an escape route

The elevator travelled through the centre of the tower, someone's rank in the church determined how high in the tower they could go unless given special exemptions. The elevator soon stopped at the highest floor anyone was able to reach, only the holy emperor and those he deemed worthy were allowed on this floor but it was not the top of the tower. The holy emperor led Aeoran and his party to a door locked with a heavy bolt, he reached in to his robes and pulled out a clearly old key and unlocked the door for the first time in thousands of years.

Novem turned to Aeoran and his company, "Only the envoy is allowed past this point, your companions will have to wait here"

Oradean instantly moved forward, "That is unacceptable, his guard will not leave his side"

Erstwal spoke up as well, "I agree with Oradean, you cannot follow him my lord, the stink of religion and superstition runs too deep on this world"

Aeoran looked at his sons and then at Novem standing beside to door leading to the top of the tower, he knew he should turn back and wipe the fanatism from this world by force and he was about to turn around and descend the tower.

Ascend

He heard the whisper in the back of his mind

The power to bring all worlds to heel

Aeoran turned to Oradean, he put a hand on his shoulder and made intense eye contact, Aeoran's aura made people naturally trust him, it was passive and was easily broken with the slightest effort but Aeoran could also focus his aura to force compliance if need be, he didn't like using it but sometimes it was necessary.

"I'll be fine, don't worry" Aeoran's words even though completely opposing Oradean's nature sounded compelling to him

His mind felt fuzzy and he found the only words that came out of his mouth were, "Yes my lord, we'll stand guard here"

None of the marines felt they could refuse their primarch and they could only watch as he walked through the door with Novem and it slammed shut with a hollow ring behind them.

The fleet of the 2nd legion floated above the planet, stuck in high orbit around Tempus, the planet only had a handful of orbital defence platforms that would be utterly useless against the might of the 2nd's fleet but Sotris had ensured that the fleet was in a formation that could wipe the platforms out at a moment's notice. The soulless prince sat on the bridge of the Eternal mist with the legion's master of the fleet, Sanin Hal, the two were forced to work together and had quite a friendly relationship especially compared to the rest of the legion. The two looked at each other over a regicide board, filling time as they awaited orders.

"This is boring" Sotris complained

"You're only saying that because you're losing" Sanin made his move

"Please you couldn't beat me if I was blind folded" Sotris made his move, confusing Sanin slightly, "I'm just not a big fan of regicide"

"Well you don't seem very good at it" Sanin studied the board intently before making his move, "So what kind of games do they play where you're from, don't they have anything like regicide?"

"Krakens are more interested in physical competition, the only popular tactical game close to regicide I can think of is battlefleet but it is quite different to regicide" Sotris made another move that confused Sanin

"We should play sometime, if you're as good at battlefleet as you are regicide then I feel good about my chances at victory"

"No I'm much better at battlefleet" Sotris moved a piece and unveiled his trap to Sanin, "So you really have no chance"

Sanin chuckled as he conceded victory, "Want to reset the board?"

"No you're a terrible regicide player" Sotris groaned as he felt boredom setting in, "We should check how the ground team is doing"

Sanin pulled up a map of the planets surface with red dots showing where every individual marine was on the planet, they were all clustered in one area in the centre of a city. Sanin furrowed his brow as he zoomed in and looked over the dots again and again, becoming more frantic as he did.

"I can't find the primarch!" his panic was clear as he opened up a channel to Oradean, "Oradean!"

"Yes, what is it Sanin, did something happen?" Oradean replied instantly

"No everything is fine up here but we aren't receiving a signal from the primarch, where is he?"

"He is meeting with the leader of the world, they must be blocking communications as anti-espionage measures, that is likely why his beacon went dark" Oradean explained the situation

Sanin calmed down somewhat, "That makes sense, as long as you're sure he is safe"

"I am" Oradean cut the line but Sanin still seemed a little uneasy with not having an exact lock on his primarch

"We can look through Oradean's camera feed if that will calm you further" Sotris suggested seeing that the fleet master was distracted worrying about his primarch

"Yes that is a good idea"

Sanin pulled up Oradean's camera feed, seeing out of the guard captain's eyes, he was surrounded by the rest of the primarch's guard. They stood in a lavishly decorated room that seemed to be an entire floor in a building, the walls were decorated with religious art and symbols but there didn't seem to be any danger present at all.

"I think I feel better, we need to trust the primarch" Sanin could clearly see that Oradean and the other astartes present were ready for any danger that could present itself

Sotris didn't reply to Sanin, he stood staring at the video feed, his fists balled and shaking, "GET MY MEN ARMED AND GET ME A STORMBIRD!"

Sanin was surprised by the sudden outburst, "What is going on?" he stood in front of Sotris as the prince attempted to leave, a powerful expression of rage covering his face

"This world is infested with heretics, they must die!" Sanin was no psyker and Sotris had no soul but he could feel the hatred and rage coming off him

"Why do you mean?"

"Those symbols on the wall are of the dark god Tinch, any followers of the dark gods must be slaughtered" Sotris attempted to push past Sanin

"That is just a coincidence, their religion means nothing, it's not real" Sanin attempted to calm Sotris, "We can't interrupt during negotiations, please calm down"

Aeoran followed Novem up a flight of stairs to the very top of the tower, to a place that none had seen since the construction of the tower, at the very top there was a small room. The walls and floor were covered in runes and other symbols of power, the primarch quickly figured out the room was set up for a ritual like the ones he would write about in his trances and in the very centre of the room was a book with just such a ritual.

"It was foretold a holy envoy would come from the stars and it was our duty to impart to him the power of our god, for he would be the chosen one" Novem picked up the book and flipped through the pages

Aeoran knew he should leave, he shouldn't take part in a religious ritual especially one that was so close to the dark sorcery his brother Magnus had warned him about but he knew what he saw in his drawings and what the voice told him, this ritual would strengthen his powers and give him the ability to bring entire worlds to heel without bloodshed, with such power he could complete the great crusade by himself, he couldn't let the chance slip away.

"Please kneel in the circle" Novem gestured to the circle that took up most of the floor, covered in runes meant to focus the powers of the warp

Aeoran knelt down as Novem started to recite a chant written in the book, he felt the powers of the warp concentrating around the tower and flowing in to him, the belief of the worshippers below being sent up by runes carved in to the foundations, sent up to the peak where Aeoran knelt. All the paths of the future were laid out before him and he could see where they all led, he could feel the strength and scope of his powers expanding.

Just below in the holy emperor's quarters, Aeoran's sons paced, they didn't like leaving their primarch alone but they couldn't interrupt him now without severe consequences.

"We can't just sit here, something is going on and I don't like it" Erstwal was about ready to tear the door that separated him and his primarch off its hinges

"We can't, our primarch told us to wait here" Oradean also seemed to be restraining himself

"What happened Oradean? You should have stopped him or at least gone with him" Erstwal asked the guard captain

"We can't refuse a direct order from our primarch"

"He didn't give an order" Erstwal could see that Oradean was trying not to think about what happened

"I follow my primarch's wishes"

Erstwal was about to push Oradean further but as he did the tower shook and the sound of distant bolter fire could be heard coming up the elevator shaft, Erstwal immediately opened a channel to one of his lieutenants stationed at the base of the tower.

"Lordiel! What is going on down there? Have we been betrayed?"

The lieutenant answered immediately, "No sir, it's the World beasts, what do I do?"

"The World beasts?"

Along with Sotris a company of World beasts also joined the 2nd legion to act as his guard and a unit under his personal command for when he is deployed to a planet's surface, they had seen some action with the 2nd against some psychic xenos or civilizations but they generally stayed aboard the Eternal mist.

Lieutenant Lordiel had been standing outside the tower as he constantly scanned for any threat approaching the tower, he could hear the worshippers inside letting out shouts of praise to their ridiculous god. Nothing was happening until several stormbirds came screaming through the atmosphere, they hovered around the tower close to the ground as marines jumped out of them.

Lordiel recognised the colours of the World beasts and quickly figured it was Sotris and his company, "What are you doing?" Lordiel attempted to intercept Sotris and his warriors as they marched towards the tower

"What any true man would" the pirate prince easily shoved the astartes lieutenant aside

"You cannot interrupt the negotiations" Lordiel again attempted to stop Sotris though he wasn't sure how, he doubted the World beasts were traitors and hadn't attacked the Mist walkers so he was hesitant to use lethal or extreme force

He was ultimately too late and Sotris kicked down the tower's doors, the World beasts' ran in, much to the surprise of the Mist walkers guarding the inside, and started slaughtering the worshippers. World beasts marines gunned down entire pews as Sotris drew his power sword and cut dozens to ribbons with each swing of his arm.

"Captain Erstwal, what do we do?" Lordiel wasn't about to start a conflict between legions for a few religious fanatics on a world that wasn't even compliant yet

Erstwal thought about it for a second, he knew what his primarch would want him to do but a few small seeds of doubt stopped him from giving the correct order, "Do nothing, they aren't Imperial citizens" Erstwal knew his command was opposed to his primarch's wishes but he felt it was the right thing to do, "Do not engage the World beasts unless they fire upon you"

"By the Emperor, Tatin, what are you doing?" Thal challenged him, "This will make negotiations impossible, this is not what the primarch wants"

"We don't need to be starting a conflict between brothers for some crazed zelots" Erstwal argued with the equerry

"The primarch has chosen negotiation not war, our duty is to ensure the wishes of our primarch are brought to fruition"

"Our duty is to expand the realm of the Emperor no matter how it is done, he is the one we serve above all others or have you forgotten that Casis"

Thal was about to retort when the doors of the elevator were torn open and Sotris clawed his way in to the room, without the proper access to the elevator he had climbed up the shaft by himself. He was entirely focused on the door that led to the top of the tower and the primarch.

"What do you think you are doing?" Thal stood between Sotris and the door, "I don't know what is going through that abominable skull of yours but you will not interrupt the primarch"

"Stand aside" Sotris' voice was stern and filled with focused rage, there would be no negotiating with him

"No" Thal drew his power sword, he knew Sotris was stronger and faster than him but he was a skilled warrior and the chances of victory didn't matter, he followed his primarch's orders

The mist guard surrounded Sotris, they weren't duty bound to protect Thal but he was one of their battle brothers. The tension was thick as they waited with their hands hovering over their weapons waiting to see what would happen.

"Stand aside" Sotris gave the former legion master one last chance, "Now!"

"No"

Thal stepped forward to strike Sotris but he barely got his foot off the ground before Sotris' fist struck him, the prince back handing the astartes and throwing him aside like a ragdoll, Thal was thrown in to the wall with such force that deep cracks appeared in it and entire left side of his face seemed to have been crushed. The mist guard instantly drew their weapons, pointing them at Sotris, neither making a move.

"Oradean" Erstwal caught the guard captain's attention, "Don't"

Oradean was obviously hesitant but he quickly made up his mind, "Stand down" he ordered

"Captain…" the guard were surprised

"Stand down!" Oradean repeated, "He poses no threat to the primarch, see to Thal instead"

The mist guard sheathed their weapons and went to check on Thal's condition. Sotris didn't say anything as he kicked down the door and made his way to the top of the tower.

Aeoran knelt in the circle as he felt the threads of the future swirl around him, he followed each and every one, seeing the many futures for humanity and the Imperium some glorious and other nightmarish. The ritual was nowhere near complete but the door to the room flew out of its frame and Sotris charged in to the room.

Novem was forced to stop the ritual and barely ducked in time, the blade missing his neck and instead tearing the hood off the holy emperor revealing his horribly mutated face, horns grew out of what looked like melted flesh and his mouth was filled with mismatched teeth that seemed to come from various animals.

"Abomination!" Sotris raised his sword but before he could bring it down Aeoran grabbed his wrist

"By the Emperor, Sotris, what are you doing?" Aeoran could feel Sotris struggling against his grip but his strength didn't surpass that of a primarch

"I'm doing my duty, I'm purging the galaxy of the worshippers of the dark gods"

"I don't want to hear about the nonsense your people believe, you've ruined any chance at negotiations" Aeoran sighed as he let Sotris' wrist go, "But you revealed that this world is led by a mutant, we'll need to purge them anyway"

Novem cowered in the corner, "Holy envoy we must complete the ritual, it will have dire consequences if left unfinished"

Aeoran wanted to continue but he knew his duty and despite not finishing the ritual he had gained valuable insight and he could feel his powers had increased. The mist king killed the holy emperor with a swipe of his hand, the force completely destroying his head.

"You will have to answer for this transgression" Aeoran pointed a stern finger at Sotris

"I did my duty" Sotris stood unflinching

"Just don't tell anyone what happened in this room" Aeoran left the room

The fleet was soon contacted and the might of the 2nd legion quickly rained down on the world. The war for Tempus would be short, cost few lives and ultimately barely be a footnote in the history of the 2nd legion.

Next time: Unbound from fate