"And that is what happened," Basil said. "That is what I discerned from joining with Ansgar to pierce the Veil of Time and see what lay beyond."
Matthias' dark eyes bored into Basil's for a moment and then softened. "Strange how Fate works," he said, then added, "I believe it is the Emperor's will."
He's got something more to say, Basil told himself as he nervously glanced about the Librarium. He just doesn't know where to begin. His golden eyes glanced at row after row of ancient librums and tomes that filled the compartment. He did not need to use his psychic senses to know that wards had been placed over many of them. I bet I could defuse some of those wards, he casually thought then turned his gaze back to Matthias. The man's face appeared old, but did not begin to display the number of years the ancient Inquisitor had lived, a life prolonged by his profound psychic strength.
"Fate is weaving many threads together and I believe they will converge in our lifetimes," Matthias said. "Inquisitor Ipabog, the Master I trained under in a manner similar to how you are training under me, was perhaps the first Inquisitor to travel the Abalatian Reach. Travel it in search of answers against the Great Enemy we face, the Ruinous Powers. And in doing so, he accomplished a feat that I know of no other human to have done. He entered the Webway, the ancient routes through time and space that the Aeldari have used for millennia, if not far longer. In fact, that is why I arranged for your squad of Wyrdvane Psykers to meet with me on that fateful day. I wished to breach the gate in search of the world he had visited. But you know why that did not happen."
I know it was because of the psyker within the Maxell PDF and the Keeper that possessed him, but was there a deeper reason? Basil asked himself. Did the Emperor himself intervene? Was it Fate?
"The world that Ipabog visited was a battlefield," Matthias said, interrupting Basil's thoughts. "The battlefield contained a small number of relics left by the Aeldari, including the wreckage of a crashed Hemlock destroyer. It also contained a large amount of wreckage left by humans, wreckage that dated back to the Great Crusade itself, wreckage of war left by the Sons of Horus," Matthias added, his voice changing as he uttered the name. "And wreckage that he determined to be from an ancient and advanced amphibious race known as the Slann."
"Isn't there extreme danger in that?" Basil asked. "Danger in combing through the wreckage of those who sold themselves to Chaos?"
"Yes, there is, my Apprentice," Matthias answered. "But there is value to be gained from learning it too. It is a risk we take, but I am straying from the important points. While reading through the records of the Sons of Horus he found no mention of the Heresy, only mention of serving the Warmaster Horus in his duties, duties granted to him by the Emperor."
Basil's attention was completely locked onto Matthias' words.
"It seems that the Sons of Horus had encountered a human civilization in the Segmentum Ultima that was quite advanced, a civilization named the Interex," Matthias began. "But diplomacy fell through and devolved into war because the Interex were not set upon destroying the alien. They were more concerned with a thing they called Kaos which the Sons of Horus did not so much as recognize as existing at that time, much less declare their allegiance to it. Among the loot listed in their records as being recovered while battling the Interex was the golden bow you carry and the Ritus de Exilium. The book, Ipabog recovered and brought back with him through the Webway, but there is no indication he found the bow. My mentor also noted many other devices he saw on that world, and one of them matched the description of the Condenser, the item recovered from the horde of War Boss Ulthric which started the war between the Void Spectres and the Adeptus Mechanicus of forge world Vichka, a war the depleted Spectres lost."
"You know more than me about the Ritus de Exilium," Basil said. "Did this civilization, the Interex, write it?"
"No, they did not," Matthias answered. "But you are mistaken when comparing what you know of the book to what I know of it. The book's contents are written in innumerable languages. I must spend time and use translation aids to read it while you merely glance at the pages and understand it."
Basil stared at him, trying to fully grasp what Matthias was implying.
"Do not delude yourself," Matthias answered. "You can understand any language you hear or read. Time and practice may be needed to properly pronounce a language that you try to learn, but understanding is not a problem. That is why I allowed you to take custody of the book so early in your training."
"But I have so much trouble with so many sections of the book," Basil answered.
"You have trouble with sections that I studied for years but never gathered the faintest understanding of," Matthias answered. "Draegoth and I studied the book together under Ipabog for many years, learning many things, but some passages always eluded us. Later, I worked many years with Sirsay attempting the same, but again with no success. Finally, I reached a conclusion while working with her," Matthias said. "From Ipabog's study, and from what I've confirmed, there are legends among many species of the galaxy that there is an ancient language, the Language of Creation itself, a language that contains power. Power that will shatter the mind of a human or render him incapable of speaking if he speaks its words. And I believe that those elements of power have been parsed further to lessen their impact, so that when brought together they can bring about great results. But such requires not only speaking them, but understanding them. And those parsings have been placed within the Ritus de Exilium."
Basil just stared at Matthias with countless thoughts and images going through his head before finally speaking. "Now what?"
"I believe the source of that writing is an entity referred to by various names, but which Ipabog most commonly referred to as one of the Old Ones," Matthias answered. "A race so ancient that they created many of the races within the galaxy, and one of those names by which they are referred to are 'Brain Boyz' by the orks."
"And that is where all this information comes together," Matthias continued. "When the Mechanicus came to Moyere, the Void Spectres placed the Condenser into the Fires of Purgation, one of their damaged Strike Cruisers, and then evacuated the crew and destroyed it with a Rift shell. The destruction of the Condenser is why the Mechanicus destroyed Moyere." Matthias paused for a moment then continued. "Except that isn't exactly what happened. It was a ruse. The Chief Librarian of the Void Spectres remained alone onboard the Fires of Purgation, accompanied by a handful of servitors, with the intent of moving it into the Warp immediately before the explosion of the Rift shell, and to then guide it back to its origin by Faith alone. Back to the Brain Boy who guarded it and warned Ulthric not to take it. Of course, that was a fool's errand, except that we received a fragment of an Astropathic transmission from the deep Reach. A fragment that confirmed the vessel made it, along with other…anomalies that occurred simultaneously."
"So, now you wish to follow in Ipabog's footsteps and find this world he claimed to have visited," Basil answered. "Find the world where he found the Ritus de Exilium. Find the world from which the War Boss Ulthric and his orks took the golden bow…and the Condenser…sealing their doom. Because you want to find the Condenser… and meet this Old One."
"And you will be my hound on this hunt," Matthias said. "But there is one more thing to be done before this hunt begins."
