20. Banish the mists of ignorance
The great hall in the royal palace was once again filled with people as they celebrated the return of their Emperor and their reunion with Terra. Citizens and astartes alike filled the hall with the regular citizens of Solaero marvelling at the stature and strength of the super human space marines. Aeoran sat at the head table with his father sitting at his right hand, the Emperor seemed to have reduced his golden dazzle and even his size somewhat as the two conversed about many topics, both completely engrossed in the conversation.
"So how many of my brothers have you found?" Aeoran moved the conversation
"Only two so far but the others will be found eventually" the way the Emperor said that didn't sound entirely genuine but Aeoran ignored that
"Well I am excited to meet them all"
"I'm sure you'll get along with Horus but Leman is more of an acquired taste" the Emperor took a sip of the wine in his goblet, "Like this wine, strong at first and strong after with an after taste that lingers for a long time"
"You don't like the wine?"
"No, it reminds me of a wine made on Terra long ago" the Emperor seemed nostalgic for a second before coming back to reality, "But I'm sure you'll acquire a tolerance for Leman"
"Brother?" Alrean popped his head out from behind the Emperor, trying to be seen behind the bulk of his golden armour
"There are 20 of us, our father made us on Terra but an accident scattered us" Aeoran explained, "His great crusade is not just to bring the galaxy to heel it's also to find his lost sons"
Alrean saw an emotion on Aeoran's face that he had never seen in the many years he had known the primarch, a joy that only came with a sense of belonging, Alrean could see that Aeoran had finally found an equal and now he had to go out and find the others as well.
The celebrations ended and everyone retired for the night, Alrean and Elia ended up in Aeoran's study with the primarch, the two finally getting to talk to him without the Emperor present.
"Are you sure you can trust this man?" Alrean asked, "He's trying to take you from your people, your family, who knows what plans he has in store for you or Solaero"
Aeoran stood from his desk and approached his friend, "I don't know every detail of his plan but I know the outcome" He placed his hands on Alrean's shoulders, "It will see humanity raised far above every other species in the galaxy, the light of my father will banish the darkness of this galaxy and then who know maybe even the whole universe will be touched by his light but that's a bit too ambitious for our species right now"
Alrean sighed, he could see that Aeoran had set his mind on following the Emperor to the stars and there was nothing he could say to stop him, there was never anything Alrean could say to stop Aeoran from doing what he wanted he just had to trust his friend but any protest usually ended with them both going off.
"Then let me come with you, I'll never be able to rule Solaero like you" Alrean begged, "We can conquer the stars together like we did the mists"
"You have a son that needs you and I know Aslia is pregnant again, I'm not taking you away from your family anymore" Aeoran looked Alrean deep in the eyes, "You can do this friend, I have the upmost trust in you, you are king of Solaero now, rule well"
Alrean bowed his head, he didn't believe he was capable of ruling in Aeoran's place but he truly was the only one who could come close and he couldn't waste the trust put in him, "Then just promise to come back, I don't care if it is in 10 years or 10,000, if I'm alive to see it or if I'm dust on the wind, just come back this is your home and it will always be your kingdom no matter who wears the crown"
Aeoran smiled, "I promise and I will tell your great grandchildren about you"
The two friends sat in their farewell for a few moments before Aeoran turned to his mother, the aging woman looked up at her son and smiled, admiring the man he had become.
"I also just want you to come back, promise so I don't have to worry about you galivanting across the galaxy"
Aeoran kneeled down so he was face to face with his mother, "I want you to come with me, if there is anything I need out there it's you, you always know what to say"
"I'm not your father, I'm not made for going off on adventures in to the unknown, I never was even when I was young and I'm far too old to start now"
"Do you think father would say that?" Aeoran smirked as they both remembered Aldean, "I will have the power of an astartes legion, the power to destroy empires and slaughter entire worlds, I cannot trust myself with such power, I need someone to keep me in line, someone to keep me grounded"
"Do you really think I can keep you in line, I couldn't even keep your father in line and he wasn't even half as unruly as you"
"Trust me, your warnings stopped him from taking many risks that would have killed him" Aeoran looked at his mother, "When he was in the mists your nagging voice was always in his head, he would tell me that and I found that was true from my own experience"
Elia smiled, "Even if I do go with you, I don't have many years left, I don't want you to see me like that, I want to go peacefully without troubling you or anyone else"
"You don't have to die, the Imperium has technology we could never dream of, they can make people young again and extend their lives by centuries" Aeoran took his mother's hands in his and looked at her with pleading eyes
"Are you sure you need me out there with you?"
"Yes I am"
"No mother can abandon her child when they need her, a curse really" Elia smiled at her son, "Fine, at least this way I won't be suck here worrying about you"
Tatin Erstwal walked through the hall of the royal palace, admiring the art that decorated the walls, paintings of his primarch battling against great beasts and statues of him striding in to the fray, there were many others depicting other moments in his gene father's life but Tatin stopped at one that didn't even contain his primarch. The painting was of an armoured man wielding a great axe and fighting a wolf almost twice his size, they were both clearly wounded with the wolf being covered in so much blood that its fur looked dyed, the two faced off and the painting was a freeze frame of the moment before they leapt at each other. Tatin stopped one of the maids as she was going about her duties.
"Who is that man?" he asked pointing at the painting
"That's Aeoran" the woman informed him
"He doesn't look like the primarch"
"Not this Emperor Aeoran, no that is the first Emperor of Solaero the current one's namesake, that is him fighting the bloody red wolf Fen"
Tatin thanked the woman and went back to looking at the painting, he couldn't put his finger on it but something about it seemed off to him, like there was something wrong about or that the painter made a mistake but no matter how hard he looked he couldn't find anything wrong, it was perfectly painted.
"I didn't know you were a connoisseur of art?" Sailas Talla walked up to Tatin as he was staring at the painting
"I'm not something about this painting is bothering me"
Sailas looked at the painting for a moment, "It's wrong, the scene is wrong"
"But how do you know?"
"Something inside is telling me that it won't play out like this"
"I know, I feel the exact same way"
Tatin continued to look at the painting, the feeling that it was wrong not going away no matter how much he stared.
The streets were lined with cheering crowds as troops marched down the great boulevard, in perfect lock step and formation, the mortal men were those divisions that had been chosen to accompany their lord to the stars as the 1st Solaeran mistborn, Aeoran still had to journey to Terra to be educated in several facets of the Imperium and the mistborn still required months of training before they were ready to fight on foreign worlds but today was the day Aeoran and the Emperor were leaving Solaero for Terra. Behind the mortal soldiers came the super human warriors of the 2nd legion, their ceramite clad foot falls shaking the ground as they marched towards the gates of Solra and right on the heels of the fully fledged astartes were the young boys that had managed to pass the initial genetic testing and trials that made them legion hopefuls.
The gates of the city were wide open as the Solaeran mistborn and 2nd legion formed up just outside the city, the armies stood stock still as the golden warriors of the Custodes marched out, formed around the towing forms of Aeoran and the Emperor. The golden guard came to a halt in front of the formed-up soldiers and spread out to create a barrier between the Emperor on the citizens of Solra, who stood at the gates watching the parade.
Aeoran stepped forward, "People of Solaero I must leave you for I have to bring the light I brought you to millions of other worlds that still toil in the dark like we once did" the primarch's powerful voice carried over the gather army with no problem, "I wish for you to keep my dream of a united world alive while I am gone and work to better not only Solaero but the Imperium as a whole, I renounce and abolish the title of Emperor of Solaero and instead pass the crown to another"
Alrean walked through the ranks of soldiers with two Solaeran guards flanking him, he was dress in simple pure white robes as he approached Aeoran and fell to his knees before the primarch, Aeoran pulled out a silver crown similar to his own but much smaller to fit a human head.
"Do you promise to dedicate yourself to the service of the people and the Imperium?" the primarch asked
"I do"
"Do you swear to hold to the ideals I unified this world under?"
"I do"
"Do you swear loyalty to the Emperor of mankind and his great Imperium?"
Alrean hesitated for a single second before he answered, "I do"
"Then I name you, Alrean, my successor and the first king of Solaero" Aeoran placed the crown on his friend's head and Alrean stood as the mistborn chanted his name
As Alrean rose a golden transport landed behind the Emperor and lowered its loading ramp, Aeoran looked down at the man he could call his brother one last time, "Rule well and rule long friend"
"Fight well and fight long, can't have you dying before me"
"I'll try"
Aeoran followed his father and his custodes in to the transport, flying back off to the stars he came from.
Aeoran looked out of the observation deck of the great golden battleship, Bucephalus, suspended in space before him was the cradle of humanity and throne world of the Imperium, hallowed Terra. The world held none of the blue green majesty of the past, thousands of years of warring and strife across its surface had scorched it black and the once great oceans were now reduced to puddles in comparison but the world still held beauty, the beauty of a world stubbornly refusing to be reduced to a lifeless husk, the world wore its scars proudly and that pride made Terra shine brighter than any unspoiled world in the galaxy.
"I had thought of restoring it" the Emperor entered the observation deck, his custodes notably absent
"It has a morbid beauty to it" Aeoran continued looking down at the world
"I watched it receive every scar you see on the surface, I remember the men who caused them and the men who tried to stop them, the men who tried to heal them and the men who were inspired to inflict more scars" the Emperor stood by his son as they watched Terra turn, "Remembering all the atrocities is a burden best shared but maybe one day I will wipe them all clean, after the crusade of course"
The Bucephelus moved as close as it could to the planet without seriously affecting its gravity before Aeoran and his father took a transport down to the surface. It flew over the dried up salt deserts that were sea beds only a handful of millennia ago, over rolling fields and great plains until it approached the Imperial palace and the hollow mountain. The mountain range that made up the central part of the Imperial palace reminded Aeoran of home, the deep valleys and towering peaks looked the same here as they did on Solaero.
The Emperor himself showed Aeoran around the inner most sanctum of the continent sized palace, filled with artifacts and works of art from across the planet and stretching back to its most ancient history that has been forgotten by all save for the Emperor himself. Aeoran spent months under his father's tutelage, being taught the history of his species and the Imperium as well as how the Imperium waged war, he spent his time reading every book on strategy he could find and committed them to memory until his father deemed him ready.
The investiary was a colossal domed building surrounded by great gothic spires and twenty plinths that were 10 times the height of a primarch, Aeoran looked up at a statue on one of the plinths, a man in a titanic suit of armour with a sword in one hand and a claw on the other with an animal skin rested across his shoulders. Aeoran then looked at the other occupied plinth, the statue was of a barbaric man with wild braided hair and a cloak of animal skins wielding two axes in either hand. He had not met either of his brothers yet but in the months of study he had read over reports of their numerous victories across the galaxy.
Aeoran's attention turned from the statues of his brothers to the only active plinth, the top was crowded by workers who were preparing for something to stand on it, he watched as a crane lowered a tarp covered load on to the plinth as workers guided it in to place, he continued to watch as workers secured it and the tarp was removed to reveal his own visage cast in stone. His statue stood tall in his mist armour holding his great axe aloft with a defiant stare.
"Quite the likeness" an old man strolled up behind the primarch, he was slightly hunched over wearing simple grey robes and walked with the help of a golden eagle topped staff
"Malcador" Aeoran bowed his head to the regent of Terra, his frail appearance contrary to his psychic might
"You will soon leave Terra to join the crusade, I came to wish you luck"
"I do not need luck Sigillite, I am a primarch I was made for this"
"You were made for many things but even the greatest designs rely on luck to some extent"
"Even my father's designs?"
Malcador chuckled, "Especially your father's designs" he joked, "I also came to teach you one last lesson before you depart"
"I'm sure this is not the last lesson you'll teach me"
Malcador took a second to consider his words, "I know you can feel the shifting tides of fate, they guide you on a path as fine as a knife's edge but you are too quick to trust Aeoran, the warp while a powerful and useful ally is not to be trusted"
Aeoran looked down at his mentor and placed a hand on his shoulder, "I will be careful, I may see the tides of the future but all my moves are my own barely influenced by the warp"
Malcador looked up at the primarch, "You have the uncanny ability to make other's more trusting but that will not work on me, heed my warning or it could be your undoing"
"Yes" Aeoran nodded as Malcador walked off
The second legion had travelled to Terra in its entirety to witness their primarch formally take command of them and bestow a name on them. They stood in parade formation in a large square within the Imperial palace, with the newly inducted marines at the forefront, 150,000 marines stood in perfect formation, their armour baring new legion colours and heraldry, each wore an armour of stark white with grey swirls running over the entire surface, the swirls circled up the marine's arm and created the image of a wolf's head being split by an axe on their right pauldron. The entire strength of an astartes legion stood unmoving, their banners swaying gently in the breeze, as they all looked up at the stage before them. It was dead silent for several minutes until a great light engulfed the stage and a shockwave ripped outwards, the light faded and the shockwave echoed off and on the previously empty stage Aeoran now stood, ready to take full command of his legion.
"My sons!" Aeoran projected his voice over the ranks of men, "I have finished my education on Terra with knowledge imparted on to me from the Emperor himself and I am now ready to lead you to war, our legion will march across the stars and bring the light of my father to everyone. We shall walk in the dark and shrouded places and banish them all, you will be as my mist walkers were and aid me in the conquest of this galaxy for the greater good of all humanity, is there any who will not aid me in this mission?"
The legion remain silent, "Then, my sons, let us march to war, let us walk through the mists of ignorance and let us banish them"
"Aeoran! Aeoran! Aeoran! Aeoran!" hundreds of thousands of marines raised their voices, the sheer power of it shaking the earth itself as the full might of the second legion prepared to make war and conquer all the worlds of the galaxy.
The Emperor watched the primarch and his legion from afar, Malcador at his side, he watched them chant Aeoran's name and psyche themselves up for the crusade ahead of them, "He sees through the mists of the future as clearly as you see him now" Malcador watched the primarch bathe the in adulation of his legion, "But unlike many he does not see what will happen 100 years from now, he sees what will happen from one second to the next"
"He can see the shining path, he knows to be careful of his steps" the Emperor looked down on the second, his expression completely unreadable
"Will that save him in the war to come?"
"That war will be for them to fight, the future of it is unclear and ever changing, they will live and die on their own" the Emperor turned away as the second legion filed out, "The worst case for the second is the same as for the others but I doubt we'll have to worry about him"
Next time: The world of Tellus