In the 42nd millennium there is only war, from grand wars of religious crusades to wars of gangs over territory. Wars waged for profit others love, many grand but in this case this one was personal.
Thousands of years ago during the great heresy waged by the primarch Horus Lupercal the word bearer Erebus went to kill the primarchs biological mother Erda, the coward son of Lorgar pulled out all the stops to try and ensure that she was dead slicing open her throat. He had never checked the corpse seeing it rot away but she reformed, 5000 years in her future she woke up once more then until now went into hiding.
Now she stood at the lower levels of one of Terra's hive cities looking out from the hidey hole she carved for herself, news travels slow in the under hives so when in the early 42nd millennium she heard a servo skull of the eclisiarchy proclaiming that one of her children yet still lives she took interest.
Even though she did not have the chance to raise her children hearing that at least one still lives filled her with one thing that was in short supply in the imperium, hope was in extremely short supply often replaced by fear caused by the priest, politician and mercenary after the failure of the great crusade. It was Erda herself that scattered the primarchs later she felt shudders as if the great enemy themselves had some how sealed their fate with a loop.
Meanwhile at the palace with the Emperor starting to become more conscious with each day the custodes captain general himself sat by his master leaning against the throne, he contemplated what the Emperor was thinking as he rested his head against the side of the device so ancient he would dare say that it pre-dated the existence of humans as a species.
The room was so silent even a mortal human could hear the soft clicking machines and the hum of power cables as electricity is shifted place to place along side the power of psykers being pulled into the throne to help fuel the Emperors life.
His voice echoed out rippling through the air making not just the captain general look but the other custodes that had not heard their masters voice in so many centuries stare, "Erda," was the name the Emperor said before he continued "find her, let her in" he said before his voice splintered off into thousands of permutations of how the Emperor knew her.
Words that fluttered off included friend, partner and with a single tear shedding from his eye and how all the voices of the Emperor knew her as Lover.
Erda by the time the Emperor made his statement was at the line of religious patrons that travelled from all corners of the imperium just to see the palaces outer walls, she remembered how beautiful they were when Rogal originally built them spying her sons work from afar. The artistic depictions of history that Rogal put on it once standing proud was now replaced with Anti-Air guns and artillery pieces.
Whilst she had not been around to raise her sons like she wanted to the look of the wall told Erda that Rogal didn't want to rip down the artistry, as her maiden form strode away having faked being a family of 3 to get close watching herself sneak off the side to start climbing across under the bridge.
She left her Crone form standing around checking for anyone paying too much attention as her Mother form blanked her presence from the crowd moving among them like an unseen ghost, this wouldn't be her first time sneaking in and out of the palace having done so with Neoth more commonly known as the Emperor to do things ranging from dining out as restaurants to even just being a normal couple.
The memory made her both smile, frown and stifle a laugh as she remembered how much colour drained from the captain generals bronze skin when he realized the Emperor was not in the palace, but it was also memories like this that caused her throats to quiver as the maiden and mother were half way across the bridge.
Once upon a time her and Neoth were in love and she still felt that connection to him and the ideals he once stood for, she blamed herself for the past 5 thousand years for Horus's war and all the what if scenarios that played in her heads were going to give her a headache.
She put a hand on the las pistol she had hidden under the shawl of her mother form as a singular custodian began to walk forwards across the bridges top, her maiden form gulped as a custodian clambered across the bottom of the bridge having spotted her.
The crone cursed to herself as she blanked her presence then moved quickly with a leap, the maiden also moved flipping up to the top of the bridge. With all 3 of herself together she prepared for a fight summoning her sickle, drawing her pistol and weaving a string of warp magic, "Erda… come with us the Emperor invites you in" the custodian said with Erda's faces taking on looks of shock.
The crone and maiden faded into the mother form taking on her usual singular being, "so I don't have to sneak into the palace this time?" Erda said quizzically getting only a blank stare from the custodian who turned around then started to walk back in.
She sighed to herself the custodians as robotic as ever even though they are still human, following him inside Erda was taken through corridors and side passages some she knew but some were new. Trips with underground train systems that made her wonder were was this in the old imperial palace? A train system would of made getting around so much easier.
Finally she was brought through a series of passages that she knew all too well, passages that were constructed by her and Neoth that went out into a grand chamber with patches of beautiful gardens of which plants that 10 thousand years ago she intended to grow. Sand upon the mini beach with a fresh water lake held a regicide board stabbing out of the ground like a shard from the past, "that's... One of the Sigilites toys" Erda commented pointing out the regicide board to the custodian who nodded.
"Yes Lady Erda though i was not even in my masters service when the great war but even i can recognize artifacts of Malcador the Hero" the custodian said with Erda stopping, "what? Take off your helmet custodian that is an order" Erda said not believing for a moment his words. The custodian simply stopped then turned to look at her and without speaking a single word removed his helmet, the pale white skin that his beneath the helmet held a face that Erda did not recognize and with a slacked jaw muttered "i really have been out of the loop for that long" before continuing.
With the custodians helmet back on they traversed through the Villa lights that had not shone for millennia showed them the set path, for Erda it was just a staunch reminder of the past, the fucked up present and the what ifs of a future that never was. Erda rubbed her throat as it seized from her thoughts the custodian offering her tea if that would help mentioning that the custodes not only knew where her home was but found out about what Erebus did.
Erda with her voice sounding more hoarse said "it's ok... Did he keep-?" she asked getting interrupted by the custodian "jade tea the plant species has been preserved since he knows it's your favourite" he said with Erda giving a small smile, "good he remembered, make me some i feel like this meeting is not going to be as i expect" she said with the custodian nodding as they entered the throne room.
She was there when Neoth found the golden throne a device of arcane might and power that promised them a future where the great enemy could never find them or ever touch humanity ever again.
Erda approached the throne walking up its steps passing custodians of whom's golden armours appeared to be scorched by hundreds of years of exposure to the heat of Neoth's physic might, when she saw what she knew as Neoth she was speechless. 10,000 years of sitting upon the golden throne had left the Emperor of man nothing more than a skeletal corpse with thin layers of flesh that clung to the bones like he clung to life, silently Erda said "Neoth... What happened to you?"
Whilst the Emperors eyes thousands of years ago rotted away from his skull Erda felt a stare being focused on her but not the one of the man that confided in her his dreams of humanity among the stars, instead she sensed the hundreds of thousands of soul shards of the emperor gathered all in one place staring down at her each with a request whilst worded differently in different tongues they all screamed for help.
Erda fell to her knees clutching at her head at the screams tears forming in her eyes as she realized the very gods that they had fought against played the foulest trick upon them, she realized that the Emperor her Neoth had been forced to hold one foot in the warp one in reality and is becoming a being similar in power to those of the ruinous powers.
The injury in her throat threatened to reopen again as the stress of dealing with the psychic input forced its way into her mind, reeling back Erda screamed "BE QUIET!" silencing the shards of Neoth. The pain of the many voices subsiding Erda tried shifting through them all trying to find the one that she knew to be his very core, from the shifting mass of soul shards she found the one they all called the Throne Emperor screaming among the silence.
She sat by the throne resting her head on its side as she got closer to the Throne Emperor, Erda reached out with psychic presence probing the shard for speech and whilst she got no speech she got images. A book bound in wood and parchment and sealed in golden text she knew what the book was, next flashed images of all 21 primarchs one by one starting with Alpharius and ending in Omegon.
Curious as to how there was 21 because she distinctly remembered giving birth to 20 Erda regretted asking almost vomiting when the Throne Emperor showed her the images of the chaos gods in their true forms, annoyed Erda told him not to do that again but she felt like she was just talking to a brick wall at this point.
She sighed mostly to herself when one of the other shards stepped forward manifesting in the throne room in the form of a child no older than 6 as far as Erda could tell, the tiny being sat leaning his back against the throne and despite his face not being in her direction Erda still felt his stare.
It had suddenly occurred to her that she was looking in the wrong soul shard, "Neoth?" she asked curiously and the child looked back at her "yes?" he said, his voice echoing smoother than silk and with all the authority of a star in a solar system. Erda smiled and let out a laugh "of course the very core of your being would be this cute" she said knowing the many eyes of the shards rolling in non-existent sockets, "Edra," the innocent shard spoke turning to her "can you help me-us be like you? My soul is so fragmented i don't think i can ever fully pull myself together can you help?" the child shard asked.
Erda shuffled forward then pulled the child shard into her lap getting annoyed noises of protest from him, "you always wanted to do that didn't you?" the child shard asked with Erda nodding "next time don't take such a huggable form but i shall help you" Erda said splitting off her Crone and Maiden forms.
The three of her sat with the shard instructing him on the ancient technique she was taught to control her forms, as she repeated the incantation with him she felt the child shard spread across the other shards acting as the glue that hold them together. The words they both spoke spread among the other shards the same reaction taking hold as each shard then began to spread among the other shards, they congealed together recreating the singular soul that is Neoth.
Whilst he no longer was bound to the corpse on the throne that clung to life Erda let out a sigh of relief as the soul that she knew as Neoth took the ethereal form of the man she married all those years ago in the days of old Terra. His head rested in her lap and she had no idea how long the two of them sat there, but by the time she stood up Neoth had faded back into the warp giving her a tearful goodbye as he returned to his watch as well as a few orders.
The custodians around her knelt down she was never one for grandiose titles but Neoth had granted her the title of Empress to be able to speak even above the reawakened son Robute Guilliman himself, the second task she was given was to find and bring the primarch's home Neoth had told her the only way to save their children was to grant them a second childhood an eternal childhood.
Erda knowing she once upon a time she had thrown them into the warp to try and save them some what relished in the idea that now she had the chance to save them but Neoth explained why she had to make them so young, firstly it was to make them physically easier to handle having set a command in their heads to rebel against him should the emperor become corrupted by chaos. Secondly and what Erda found surprising that being that young and being almost utterly defenceless in comparison to their adult selves restoring their innocence combined with both Neoth's watchful gaze and Erda's love would protect them from falling again.
