{oOo}

"Who designed your bloodline? It's magnificent work."

Magnificent was an understatement—she was resistant to the perils of the Warp. Replicating it and spreading it through the human genome would give mankind a significant advantage over xenos and warp entities.

The words caught Beryl by surprise. Though by now she supposed she should have expected it. He was more Eldritch Horror than human, after all.

"Ah…" Beryl searched for words. "A great and powerful being who took human shape before, in my home universe."

"Can you summon her?" The Emperor's eyes disturbed her slightly, the clinical gaze he held her in made her feel much like a butterfly on a pin and yet she answered.

"That depends. Can you get me as close to the bedrock of this planet as possible?" she retorted.

The Emperor seemed confused, inasmuch as a being like him could feel anything. Still, even with the complications having such a creature around would be a welcome way to facilitate the implementation of his plans. It was proving to overweight his worries.

She clarified. "To summon her, I'd need to be as close to the ground as possible. And when I say ground, I mean natural rock or soil."

"...Would the Himalayas do?" He asked. Beryl contemplated this carefully, before she answered. "Very well actually."

The Emperor continued, "Why do you need to be near it?"

The more he knew, the better he would be prepared. The better he was prepared, the better he could plan. The better the plan, the higher the possibility that the being would join his cause.

Beryl tilted her head slightly as she searched for a way to answer this. "Bedrock. She draws strength from the soil of a planet. The closer to fertile soil she is, the less likely she'll go berserk at me for summoning her."

The Emperor looked disturbed, "There is no fertile soil left on Terra. The world is barren." That this woman was worried about the summons going berserk painted an ill picture. A powerful mad entity wracking havoc on Terra was out of question. As intriguing and tempting the project was, he had to think about the good of humanity first and foremost. The Imperium was the future and it needed its capital planet. "I must retract my request and order than you never summon her."

"She would be more useful to you, than I." Beryl said quietly, though her shoulders relaxed slightly. "The ... being I did manage to summon said she might be pacified by tribute of corpses." Her lips twisted in a wry smile. "To which end I... began collecting the corpses of aliens slain by the Imperium. Human life is too valuable to waste, after all, but... she is powerful enough to be worth the biomass cost."

The Emperor's brow furrowed "Why?"

It was not her decision to make.

Beryl grinned ferally in spite of herself.

"Because she is capable of slaying a warp god, should she be at full strength." She continued, honestly, "And Fulgrim would be safer without Slaanesh in the universe."

His spine straightened. Or perhaps she was viewing him in a too human way? "How?" That was...on his level of power at the very least. And so very useful. A part of him wondered how would be to meet his equal, one that would work with him, not against him.

Beryl cast her mind back to coherently phrase the fragments of knowledge she remembered, before she began to speak again."She is strong enough to turn a planet against an invading force, if she is well-fed. She controls evolution on a very large scale back in my home universe."

Her brow furrowed.

"But she has to be fed. and if Terra really is barren ,then the corpses I hoard would have at least cut her urge to feed down until she can be unleashed on the enemy."

The Emperor frowned. That… did not look promising. Corruption was always lurking in the Warp…

"You offer me a double edged blade. One that could slay Warp Gods," if that was true, "but could easily bring destruction down upon my work. Can she be contained?"

Beryl dug down deep before answering him this time. " She may be.. will be weak when first summoned. Contained on Terra, yes. Bound to service, yes. She's.. human in shape most of the time. Her way of thinking is alien, though." She clarified. "If Terra is barren, she will be both weakened, and berserk with pain."

She felt the Emperor's speculative gaze alight on her fully as she spoke. She gave him a shrug.

"I sought to look up all available weapons against the Chaos of this realm, and hoard supplies in case of such an eventuality."

The Emperor contemplated this. "How?" To all those questions. This was too monumentous to dismiss out of hand, but first he needed to have a hand on this weapon, this beast, to restrain it. Still, there always was a leash, the problem was finding it. If Beryl could not provide him with one, he would still have to decline the offer. It would be to costly and to absorbing to have to learn how to bind such a being to his service on the fly.
Beryl would have taken offense had she fully known what the Emperor was thinking.

"She takes the form of a human female, but can be bound if she is first fed to repletion and then takes a consort from this planet." A moment's pause. "The ruling family of my homeworld in the other universe was descended from her."

The Emperor understood now. "...You're talking about a sacred marriage."

Such an old concept. He remembered many cultures that practiced it. The symbolism grated at him, but he squashed the thought. His comfort was secondary to the good of mankind. There was no sacrifice that would be too great.

Beryl nodded, relieved that he apparently understood. "It is one of the reasons most of the females were rulers, rather than the men. Female line holds her gifts better."

Beryl nodded firmly. "It would work. The question is whether I have collected enough biomass that I will survive the summoning."

The Emperor dismissed her.

"I will consider it, give me a report on her powers, personality, and though process. In the mean time, continue collecting the biomass"

"As you wish, my lord." Beryl bowed low and left, as commanded. She knew this... would be difficult.

But this could be worth it. Beryl thought. For Fulgrim. To finally buy his safety, to erect another Great Wall between him and the Ruinous Powers.

{oOo}