The latest four servitors split, two still moving towards him from the front and one each moving off to the left and right. The one on the left he immediately lost sight of, for it had moved far off in the great training hall and the one on the right circled around a large chasm in the floor and he lost sight of it behind part of the obstacle course. That was not good for him tactically at all.

LeKan began to back up, and dived behind one of the great stone pillars that held the soaring roof up, just as the two servitors to his front opened fire with their boltguns. He could hear the shells impacting on the pillar, blowing great chunks of stone and sending clouds of dust billowing around him. The Custodian heard the bolt rounds beginning to hit at different angles and LeKan leaned right and opened fire instinctively at the servitor that was trying to flank around him. He had to fire almost a dozen rounds into its chest to bring it down, for it was wearing what seemed to be equivalent in protection to powered armor. That left three. If he had not been fighting for his life, he would have marveled that such devices still functioned after ten-thousand years of neglect.

The Captain rolled around the pillar, for the servitor on the other side had opened fire again, putting a round into his hip, blowing a chunk out of the left part of his hip. Pain momentarily hit him, but then nothing, as the pain suppressors flooded into his bloodstream. The blood stopped flowing a moment later, for his larraman cells clotted the wound. Blood still seeped from his hip, but he was no longer in danger of bleeding out.

Members of the Custodian Guard had traditionally received the same organs and genetic enhancements of a Space Marine. The first members of the Guard were also the first Space Marines, and effectively tested their organs in battle, defending their Emperor as He united Terra. As the Horus Heresy unfolded, millennia later, the Custodian Guard were easily a match for any Traitor Marine, due to their same organs and enhancements.

LeKan rose to his feet, the agony in his hip cutting through the haze of the pain suppressors with a vengeance, but he had been taught to ignore such wounds and fight on until the day was won. The other servitor was still moving around the pillar, towards his last position and LeKan managed to work around behind it and he opened fire at the joint between the back plate and where its legs should have been. The weak point was no match for the bolts and the mass-reactive shells blew the servitor to hell.

There were two left, somewhere in the huge training facility and LeKan was in no state to track them down. Instead, he limped towards a great archway in the distance, where he though Haldon-Tai's directions told him to go. Actually, what the venerable tome had said was:

From the sixth of the ten great pillars that hold the sky up, you shall see a great path through the heavens, surrounded by the guardian angels and held up by the Emperors hand. Beware though, for if you are not a true servant of the Emperor, you shall not live to pass.

LeKan hurried as fast as he could towards the arch, painfully aware of how open the area he was traveling though was. The archway was more than half a kilometer in the distance, but LeKan could easily see how huge it was, the capstone of the arch at least forty meters from the ground. LeKan was not afraid of the stern warning of the tome, for if he was not a servant of the Emperor, no one was.

The sound of gears and motors from behind him and to the left caught his attention. LeKan dropped down and spun, his Spear blazing. The servitor, caught in the open between the ancient frame of a steel ladder and a set of pockmarked targets, stood no chance.

LeKan picked himself up, fresh pain from his hip still cutting through the suppressors and resumed his journey. As he neared the archway, he could make out incredible details about the arch. It was built to look as if a giant hand was holding it up and cherubs and winged angels, carrying swords, were carved in the stone, looking down on the path under the arch. It was an awe inspiring sight and LeKan almost let his guard down, such was his fascination with the wondrous image.

From the deep darkness within the great passage, where even LeKan's enhanced eyesight had troubles seeing, came a trio of great figures. They were at least a head taller than LeKan, who was at least three meters tall in his armor and helmet. The figures, from what LeKan could make out at this distance, wore archaic power or terminator armor of some sort and had numerous sashes and badges of honor around their arms and torsos. LeKan would have to wait until he closed to see who they were and how much of a threat they were.

LeKan hurried his pace, and at two hundred meters from the figures, he finally realized who they were. They were Custodian Guard, wearing symbols that had not been seen since the Heresy, with armor that had been replaced almost eight-thousand years ago, carrying a Guardian Spear that was remarkably similar to LeKan's own.

The one in the center, wearing a red sash across his stomach with the twin-headed eagle carrying a lightening bolt emblazoned on it, raised his hand in greeting. LeKan was in awe at the sash alone. Only those who had fought at the Emperors side were allowed to wear such a cloth and those who falsely wore it were killed in the most horrific way. No one had worn such a symbol for millennia, not since the Emperor had been interred in the Golden Thorone.

"Halt Custodian and be recognized! These are dark times and if I am not satisfied, we will cut you down were you stand!" He shouted, his deep, rich voice echoing across the chamber.

"I am Captain LeKan of the 2nd Tier! Only those of the 2nd or 1st Tier or the Chief Custodian may address me with such disdain and not be punished! Identify yourself!" LeKan called back, his hands clenched around his Spear.

"There is no LeKan in the 2nd Tier! You are false and thus one of Horus's traitors!" he shouted back, his own Spear held at the ready.

"Horus is long dead and his heresy is long over!" LeKan shouted back, confusion setting in. How could this Guardian not know the Heresy was over?

"You are lying! Horus still has three legions encircling this very Palace and the Emperor is still fighting!"

"It is the fortieth millennia and Horus is ten-millennia dead, may his soul rot in agony!" LeKan spat back.

"Step forward, Captain LeKan and let us discuss what has happened, as brothers."