Something was wrong. Alesia could barely wake up fully on time this past week since her meeting with her father. She was constantly losing focus, unable to keep up with her lessons, and everyone around her had noticed and were clearly worried about her. This morning, however, was on another level.
Neoth nearly broke the doors down when he finally got to his daughter's quarters. An Apothecary was already examining a barely conscious Alesia and Kithes was hovering close by, entirely focused on the Imperial Princess.
"My Lord," the Apothecary turned to bow to him. "Whatever ails the Princess is not a physical ailment."
"I know what is wrong," he said as he quickly picked up his daughter, holding her close as he swiftly left the room with her. They were out of time. The seal on Alesia's soul had deteriorated rapidly and was ready to break any moment now.
"Fa…ther…" his daughter's voice was weak, her eyes dim as she struggled to stay awake.
"Hang in there, Alesia," he said to her as he reached out to Malcador. Is everything ready? We're out of time.
Yes. Get her down here. Was the quick response he got before he took a page out of Magnus's book and teleported to the specialized room deep beneath the Palace he had made in the event the seal broke. It was a domed room with cables and runes crawling up the walls to the orb shaped machine on top; this room was designed to nullify and contain Psykers. In the center of the room was a raised slab where Magnus and Malcador triple checked to make sure everything was ready. Erda was on the other side of the room, eyes glued to several monitor screens and making the needed adjustments through the control panel.
Neoth wasted no time and placed his youngest child on the slab. He looked to Magnus and Malcador; they didn't need to speak, they knew what to do. They stepped back and he gave Erda the signal to activate the machine. The runes along the walls and floor glowed, and Alesia was encased in a dome of psychic light.
Neoth closed his eyes and nearly reeled back when he reached out to her soul. Judging by the swearing he heard from his son and Malcador's gasp, he was certain that this situation was much, much worse than they anticipated. This…This should have been impossible, but a certain Duel Monster from Alesia's deck towered over them, staring him directly in the eye.
"H-H…How?!" Magnus squeaked out, putting their shock into words.
Did Alesia treasure her cards enough to bring Exodia to life? Neoth asked himself, not speaking, and the monster nodded as if it had heard him clear as day. "You can hear our thoughts?"
Again it nodded and then reached out to grip the massive star of a soul, leaving the smaller soul in clear sight and not in it's grasp. It waited, as though expecting them to do something, and Neoth realized what it was trying to do. He stepped forward and gently gripped his daughter's human soul.
"Malcador, once we start pulling, cut the line between the souls," he gave out the order and his old friend got into position. "Magnus, I'll need your help with this."
"Of course," his son came up and gripped his sister's soul alongside him.
They wasted no time and both sides pulled until the thread tying Alesia's soul to the massive soul became taunt and Malcador cut the line in one swift psychic strike. A scream tore through their minds and the three Psykers were thrown back from the psychic backlash.
Neoth opened his eyes to see the containment room in disarray. The runes had been turned into scorch marks, cables hung ruined, and Erda was extinguishing the fire that was the control panel. His hand gripped something and he looked to see what looked like a puzzle piece made of gold.
"Alesia!" Magnus shouted and hurried over to the unconscious girl. Neoth hurried over as well as his son tried to shake her awake. "I can't reach her mind!"
He tried to reach out to her, and understood why Magnus couldn't reach her. Her mind had been shattered, but it was slowly being pieced back together.
"Son, is there anything in your hand?" He asked his son and Magnus gave him a confused look before he realized he was holding another gold piece, and the confusion changed to shock.
"What the—!? Why do I have a piece of the Millennium Puzzle?"
Lorgar had just arrived in orbit of Terra, the Imperial Palace in view on the main display screen, when his ship violently shook. When he looked back to the screen, a giant radius of the Palace had collapsed and most of the surrounding city was in chaos.
"My Lord, we're receiving reports of damage to the rest of cities on Terra," one of the bridge crew reported. "The worst of the damage seems to be centered around the Imperial Palace."
"What the blazes happened?" He muttered, shocked by the sudden event, but quickly regained himself and began to give out orders like the Primarch he was. Once he got the message out to his Legion's nearest fleet to assist Terra, he attempted to establish contact with the Palace only to find that communications with the capital of the Imperium was not possible. "Argel, you have command. I'm going down there to ensure the safety of my father and sister."
It had been five hours since the Emperor had whisked the Princess away, three since she was brought back to her quarters and quickly hooked up to machines to keep her alive, and now day was creeping into evening as Kithes kept watch over his charge and listened in to the reports coming in over the communications channels. From what he gathered over the chatter and what he himself knew of the Princess, he could safely guess that the seal on her Psyker powers had broken and the backlash caused a earthquake level disaster in the surrounding city along with massive damage to the Palace.
Kithes had always known he was 'defective' as a Custodes. His brothers felt no emotions, yet he felt joy in watching his charge grow. He laughed while his brothers remained silent. He felt, and that was why the Emperor chose him to guard the Imperial Princess upon her birth. The heir of the Imperium needed someone with a shred of humanity to protect her not just physically, but mentally as well. As a defective Custodes, he was the perfect fit to protect the Princess as well as be her closest confidant aside Magnus and her former nanny. Yet, right now, he felt as though he failed her, despite the fact that the situation was beyond his skills to change.
He distantly heard heavy footsteps and he tensed up, not knowing who would be approaching the Princess's private quarters, yet Erda, whom had taken up the role of monitoring the comatose child, appeared relaxed. It didn't take long before the doors opened and Lorgar stepped through the threshold before he froze at the sight before him. Kithes could empathize with the Primarch; seeing Alesia comatose and hooked up to machines to keep her alive was heartbreaking.
"My Lord," Kithes quietly greeted the Primarch and the tattooed man continued to stare at the sight of his little sister barely clinging to life.
"W…" Lorgar struggled to find any words to say, but did slowly approached her bedside. "How…?"
"The seal on her powers rapidly deteriorated over the course of two weeks," Erda gently explained. "We were able to massively sever her connection to the Warp, but it came at a steep price. It is uncertain if she will ever wake up."
Lorgar sank to his knees as he reached out to touch Alesia's hand. Kithes knew the Princess had always worried over her religious brother, more so after the incident with Kor Phaeron and her brother's silence since then. He had hoped the two could reconcile, but now that looked near impossible and her brother looked to be coming to that realization himself.
"Alesia, little sister," he heard the man say, his voice shaking. "I'm so sorry…"
The moment was broken for Kithes as he heard the distant call of his name and someone almost the same size as the Emperor running towards his location at high speeds.
"Kiiiiiitheeeeeeesssss!!" Magnus skidded over the threshold and grabbed his shoulders as if his life depended on it. "Did you suddenly find an odd piece of gold in your hand?"
"W-What? No?" That was completely out of left field, even by his skewed standards.
"Check your pockets!"
"Calm yourse—" Kithes absentmindedly reached into the pouch he normally kept his charge's Duel Monsters deck incase she got challenged while out and about, and pulled out a puzzle piece made of gold. Magnus then held up what looked like four pieces of the puzzle already assembled, and the Custodes unconsciously slotted his piece in. "What is going on?"
"These appeared after her mind was shattered," Magnus began to explain, clearly hyped on adrenaline and ready to go hunt down the rest of the puzzle. "Alesia is reassembling half of herself, but we need to reassemble the other half, hence these gold puzzle pieces each person she holds a close bond with received. Each person has to insert the piece themselves, otherwise it just phases through another person's hand."
"So, every person with a piece has to come to Terra to assemble Alesia's other half—"
"Or I go to them and get it assembled faster. The assembled pieces don't phase through, thankfully, so I can go teleport to everyone else and get the puzzle assembled, then come back for the last piece. For some reason, Father's piece is the last piece to it."
"Wait, how do you know who she has a close bond with?"
"So far we've found pieces on me, Malcador, Father, you and two on Alpharius. I'm sure you can see the pattern there."
He did, and he realized something.
"Her nanny! She may have one!"
"What the blazes are you two talking about?" Lorgar demanded, confused and clearly not entirely up to date with the whole situation. After a quick summary given by Magnus, the tattooed man understood and looked in his own pockets for a gold piece. Once his piece had been added, he asked, "Is there any way I can assist, brother?"
"Stay here with her while Kithes goes to meet with Alesia's former nanny." Magnus said without hesitation, even throwing a glare over his should to the three Custodes peeking in. "While I trust Father's retinue of guards, I believe our sister would want to hear your voice again. She can hear the world around her, she just can't respond."
Lorgar froze, as though he wanted to argue with his brother, but then came to a realization.
"My Lord, your sister would be glad to hear your voice again," Kithes said, completely honest with him. "She worried about you every day. I'm sure she would be relieved to hear you and know you're here beside her."
Lorgar found himself unable to argue with the Custodes. How could his sister forgive him for his silence? She was worried about him?
She never blamed me for anything, he realized. She was not his late adoptive father. His sister genuinely cared for him, for all of their siblings.
"I should be back within a month's time," Magnus continued, bringing Lorgar out of his thoughts. "Father will be busy with repairing the Palace and the Astronomicon, so we're counting on all of you to protect Alesia. Malcador has already organized disaster relief for all of Terra, so he will not be able to aid the Princess should something happen."
That gave Lorgar a mental slap as he remembered the devastation of not just the Palace but to the entire planet. He'd been so focused on coming to his father's and sister's aid that he forgot the rest of the populace. His brother then teleported away after making sure their sister would be well protected and watched, leaving Lorgar behind to make a quick request to the Custodes about to leave.
"Honorable Custodes, can you send a message to Rogal's and Perturabo's legions?"
"Communications are limited, but we are able to send out messages as far as Mars so far. Also, Sigismund has already sent out a request through a friend of the Princess to Lord Dorn for assistance and we've already received confirmation that his, Perturabo's and several other Legions near and within the system are coming to our aid right now."
"Captain Sigismund is here?"
"He is the Princess's combat tutor. I can give you the full story once I have returned."
"Very well. Be swift and be safe."