A/N: Thank you Naranka and Skyborne for taking the time to read this chapter.


Deep in the Himalazia mountains, under miles of rock, ferrocrete, admantium, and psychic wards a woman of Arabic descent sat in front of one of 20 armored and numbered gestation pods. Warp umbilical cords reached out from within one of them and suckled on her left arm, drinking something from her in peristaltic waves.

"Almost…" The woman said to herself quietly. "A few more years and it will end. Even if everything has already ended years ago."

Suddenly, she jerked away from the pod. The immaterial cords attached to her arm tore off as she stood to glare at a spot of golden light opening above the skies of Terra. Her eyes saw through the entire mountain, even though what she saw was heavily obscured by the wards.

"No…" She whispered to herself. "I still had time. I should still have time."

The Master of Mankind had returned ahead of schedule, and her children were not yet ready.

Part of her argued they should proceed immediately. He was not yet through the portal, so at least some could be set free before he stopped her.

Part of her demanded they should end it all. That was well within her reach, and she would be successful if she acted within the next several seconds.

But the last part of her quelled both. There was something different in that light, and he never deviated from schedule. His plan took the shortest path, and the shortest path was meant to take several more years. To come home so soon meant something had changed, either in his objective or himself.

The emerging ships were swiftly hidden beneath a psychically manifested mirage. Only she had seen them return. However, before one of the battleships winked out of sight, her brown eyes caught sight of a set of inhuman silver orbs looking down at her.

"Curious." She said to herself. "Has he changed, or is he changing?"

Her mind reached within her, and summoned up a legend from ancient Greece. A fictitious story that was only partly true. A story of a jealous wife stopping her husband's bastard from being born. Her legs crossed, mimicking the story of Hera and Heracles, sending each of the unborn infants in the pods into a deep slumber. No one would be able to tell the difference between their natural state and as they were now. As their mother, she controlled when and where they would be born.

Time had run out for her original plan, but a new wind blew in the immaterium around Terra. She could feel it in the tingle of her old bones, and the beat of her young heart that palpitated in her breast.

Erda rose from the floor of the laboratory under the Himalazia mountains.

"Leetu." She called, and a massive soldier in Imperial Pattern power armor marched out of the shadows. "Open the laboratory and prepare my shuttle. I must meet your father."

"As you will, mother." The Space Marine bowed his head, dipping the point of the beak-like helm downwards. Then, he headed towards the control panel.

The triumvirate of past, present, and future quickly checked each pod as the sole entrance to the laboratory began to open.

"You have much explaining to do, Neoth." She muttered to herself as warning lights spun and sirens blared. Slowly, pneumatic pistons pulled back. Powerful electromagnets hummed, lifting the locking pins for the hatch out of their cylinders.

Finally, the hatch unlocked itself and swung open. Leetu marched forwards into the dark labyrinthian corridors of the mountain. Erda took one last look at her children, all 20 of them. They were still in the foetal stage, possessing tails and webbed digits. "Sleep now, children." She said quietly. "Hopefully, your father has returned with an important lesson learned."

The hatch slammed shut with her words, sealing the Primarchs into the warm darkness of their technological wombs.


Isha looked down through the floor of the Artax at Terra. She had felt brown eyes catch hers before the immaterial mirages hid the ship from view.

The being was heavily obscured beneath the Emperor's wards, and it was only because she had looked up that Isha had even noticed her at all. Even then, it was difficult to see where exactly those eyes observed her from. She could guess, but that only reduced the possibilities to about half the planet, and that included all the space underneath the ground as well.

She admired the ingenuity of the Emperor's arcane defenses. It was as if the signal had been bounced between several thousand mirror mazes. Millions upon millions of consecutive psychic reflections and refractions made it near impossible to follow the trail of the original signal back to its source. Yet, it still allowed limited observation from inside the wards of what happened outside.

'Erda.' She thought to herself.

The woman was a Perpetual; a state of being far below her original station.

Many would think being immortal was a significant step-up for any human, but Erda was only as human as the Emperor was.

Neoth muttered some commands into his communicator to Lyssander as Isha observed the rest of Terra.

It was a planet ravaged by countless wars, atomics of all flavors, and Warp sorcery so vile that the stench still remained in the ashes of the dead. She wrinkled her nose as the ship passed over central Africa. She could see the teeming seas of bloat-flies from the memories she had taken from Neoth. Now, only obsidian glass remains of Xozer.

Xozer, once described as rebuilt Eden upon ruined Terra. Now, nothing was left.

Its histories were burned.

Its people were killed.

Its future and the last hope of Terra was gone.

"Found something interesting?" Neoth asked as he turned to her, having finished ordering Lyssander around.

"Your wards…" She said, substituting the object of her interest. "Did you attempt to copy the crystal labyrinths of the Raven lord when you constructed them?"

The topic of Xozer was a bitter one for the Emperor, and she would prefer him to be in a more positive mood when Erda arrived. She could tell what the other goddess was thinking. Both of them were maternal goddesses. It was not too hard to predict what the object of her attention would be. She too would have been quite intrigued if Eldanesh had returned all of a sudden with an alien deity willingly aboard his ship.

"Partially." Neoth nodded. "Tzeentch's labyrinths can only be exited the way they are entered. They too are daemons. The closest likeness I can come up with is a sponge or coral. Their reflective guts entrap wayward or curious souls with their own reflection, making them unable to tell whether they are the original or the image. But, the concepts of reflection and misdirection I found after dissecting a few were useful inspiration when making some of my wards. It is a poor imitation when compared to the original. Brute force could be used to solve it, within an astronomical timescale. Still, no daemon has managed to breach it so far."

"Do not sell yourself short. Even if it is a lesser copy, the adaptability of mankind is impressive."

'For a primitive race.'

Isha left the last part unsaid, but her thought process naturally ended the sentence like that. Afterall, the ingenuity of the Aeldari allowed them to misdirect and disguise without borrowing from Chaos, but now was not the time to boast.

Isha watched as some of the Emperor's ships re-entered the Warp on scouting missions and patrol routes around and within the Sol sector.

Mercury was of little importance. The Dark Age of Technology shields only protected a few former mining installations on the planet.

Venus was more problematic with its psyker covens of War Witches and their undying Litho-Gholems.

Terra required constant protection from the odd alien or daemonic intruder.

Mars had its Mechanicus that needed to be monitored.

Jupiter's moons were all inhabited by reptilian aliens of various make.

Saturn had a fully functioning space-travel capable empire that inhabited the rings which required monitoring.

Neptune's mutants were mostly trapped on the planet itself.

Uranus still had a couple of orbiting space colonies that had survived Old Night that also required patrols to keep in check.

Finally, the old Warp Gate at Pluto was the Emperor's secondary resupply point. The remains of various supply stations and the destroyed Warp Gate itself provided fuel and ammunition from their ancient stocks.

This was how the Emperor ensured his project upon Terra remained undisturbed by all others; human, alien, or daemon.

"You must have faced quite a bit of resistance when you decided not to use these ships or the God Machines for the conquest of Terra." Isha said as she watched the last ships meant to patrol other planets disappear into the Warp.

"Air and mechanical power give great control over a battlefield." Neoth nodded. "But they also give the enemy an excuse for why they lost. Powerful weapons may break the rank and file, but the truly determined see it as an excuse. 'If only we had similar arms, we would be victorious.' That ignorant idea that ignores the infrastructure and economics required to create such weapons foments terrorists and rebels." The Emperor's armored flips clenched, squeezing around an invisible throat. "Yet, as powerless as such groups are, many armies with the most modern equipment have been bled dry by guerilla fighters in tunnels or caves." Neoth finally sighed and relaxed his grip. "That is why I do not use these ships. My enemies must know they have been defeated. They must feel it in their heart of hearts, and their spirit must be utterly broken. Such a defeat cannot be brought with anonymous bombardments. Their destroyer must have a face they can see and fear." Neoth looked down at Terra where some of his gene-enhanced soldiers were wiping out the raiding party of some techno-barbarian tribe. "That is why it must be my Thunder Warriors and Space Marines who conquer Terra."

"And you wish to avoid damaging the Orbital Plates as well." Isha quipped, causing Neoth to shoot her a sour look. "Do not be so dour. I know everything you did at the moment of our exchange. If you want to surprise me it'll have to be with something new."

"The Orbital Plates are key for the final part of Unification." Neoth replied irritably, like a child who had his surprise party spoiled. "The Terrawatt Clans have been restoring the ones buried under the Nordyc snows and Afrik deserts. The plates that lay under Ursh and the Pan-Pacific Empire should also be under my control as well."

"Orbital bombardments would damage these irreplaceable constructs." Isha noted as her eyes pierced sand, snow, and rock. Terrawatt Clan miners burrowed towards them with the techniques they learned burying themselves under the Ural mountains. "With Terra's surface so battered, the only place to increase the population would be on these plates."

"It will be more hospitable to humanity there. And I will need more Imperial citizens to complete my plans."

Isha closed her eyes. Her brow furrowed. She knew of the original plan of the Emperor, and the Great Crusade it included. What he needed were people, more specifically children. His Space Marine armies were predicated on a steady supply of initiates. The conversion process was brutal and an excess stock was necessary.

"Are they only materials to you, Neoth?" She asked, referring specifically only to the people on this planet. She could feel an animosity directed towards those upon Terra in his voice. There was a bitter disgust and resentment in his voice when he spoke about the humans upon Terra.

"They are sinners in a hell of their own making." Neoth snorted. "The oldest Mericans harvest the organs of their own young to replace their failing body parts. The Albians ensure their control through the enforcement of their class systems, endlessly pumping hate downwards onto the downtrodden and powerless. The Achaemenid Empire's greed knows no end, and the Yndonesic Bloc's arrogance grows by the second." He glanced down at the planet below them through the floor. "Each of these predated the Imperium, and their horrid nature is something they take cultural pride in. And then there was Xozer." He turned his eyes towards Isha. "I watched your Warp sight travel over its ruins. You know everything I know. After seeing their memories, do you think they deserve any better?"

Isha looked down at the blackened ruins surrounded by glass. Memories of daemons inhabiting human flesh and mechanical monstrosities flashed before her on a battlefield where dirty atomics were thrown like hand grenades to ruin the genetics of all who lived there.

"I cannot speak to what they do and do not deserve." She said quietly. "But, as a fellow maternal goddess, I can tell you that such a distinction is meaningless to us. A child is a child. Even if we cannot do anything for them, we weep for them."

The goddess turned towards Neoth, silvery eyes reflecting him in his entirety.

"If you accuse humanity of abusing the earth that spawned them, then you too must bear their burden. You, out of all her children, have killed the most of them."

Neoth rose, towering over Isha for a moment. He opened his mouth to shout and rage. The accusatory question asking her what or how she could even know or imagine what he had been through died in his throat.

Isha knew everything he knew and she had watched her own mortal children destroy their empire, their afterlife, their future, and their gods. There was no other person in this galaxy who knew what he had been through better.

An awkward silence hung between them as Neoth struggled to come up with a rational set of reasons to rage at Isha. Otherwise, it would be a simple tantrum.

"Apologies." Isha finally said after watching Neoth's teeth grind together for a few minutes. "It is not my place to intrude into the familial matters of others." She bowed her head in apology as she spoke. "Your history with Erda is your own. All I can say is that she probably still wishes to speak to you. I would if Eldanesh returned to me."

There was a tinge of sadness in her voice. Eldanesh had died long ago at her father's hand. There was no way for her to reunite with her son.

"She is busy with my other project." Neoth muttered. "She will not leave them."

Neoth's communicator suddenly beeped. He glanced at Isha before answering it.

"My Lord…" Captain Velor's rang from the other end nervously. "The shuttle The Emperor's Grip is currently on approach and requesting docking permissions."

Neoth shot Isha another look, only to see her chest puffed out proudly with her hands on her hips.

"Granted." He replied. "Tell her to await my arrival in the docking hangar. Suspend all disembarkment traditions. I wish for some privacy."

"As you wish my Lord." Velor answered.

Neoth turned off the communicator as he shot Isha another look.

"Did you talk with her?" He said, referring to the occupant of the shuttle. Only two were allowed aboard her; Erda and one of the surviving proto-types of the Space Marines LE-2.

"We exchanged looks." Isha shrugged. "But, before that, we are both maternal gods. Even if she is a product of the wild, our core concepts don't differ that much."

Neoth let out a long sigh. Erda, as her name suggested, was synonymous with the homeplanet of humanity. Thus, she shared the same role within the human psyche Isha did for the Aeldari. Therefore, according to Isha, they were capable of understanding each other and predicting the other's actions. However, although birds of a feather could be said to flock together, there was also the saying that it was only opposites that attracted each other.

"I'm going to guess that doesn't mean you can play nice with her?" Neoth asked in a tired tone.

"Of course not." The goddess replied as she crossed her arms. "She and I fill the same niche for different species. That alone gives us reason to kill each other, although I won't start the hostilities."

'Oh really?' Neoth thought to himself. Isha was an aggressive character and wild as nature. Her proud personality also tended to have her fight back against perceived injustice rather than bow her head.

On top of that, she spoke of evolutionary niches here. As the Goddess of Life, following that logic, two species competing for the same or similar niche were bound to come into conflict. If that was the case, Erda and Isha were fated to fight each other.

"That would be problematic." He muttered, rubbing his temples as he did so.

"Oh, worried for my safety?" Isha snorted.

"We've gotten this far without killing each other. I'd like to see our cooperation actually bear fruit." Neoth sighed. It would be poor comedy for everything to end the moment they got to Terra. "I'll keep Erda away from you. That way there will be no conflict."

"That's not a good idea." Isha replied with narrowed eyes. "Better to let these things run their course. Much like males often have to threaten and fight each other to establish the bounds of their territory, females have to establish their own pecking order. The longer you delay it, the worse the fallout will get."

"What are you, a chicken?" Neoth sighed. "Is the mother of the Aeldari incapable of acting above her instincts?"

"It's a metaphor!" Isha shouted back irritably. "We are beings of thoughts and emotions. It is natural for us to be passionate and irrational at times. This process is one found in all social animals, and a core part of the evolution of advanced civilizations and societal structures. It would be negligent as the mother of the Aeldari and the Goddess of Life to avoid this engagement. Besides, you're one to talk. You've attained control and political power for the Imperium in pretty much the same manner."

Neoth winced at that. Most of the Imperium was held together by the fear of its military might. That was true for most empires, so it wasn't unnatural or shameful. However, it did mean he didn't have the moral high ground to talk down to Isha. He was the Master of Mankind, and he had gotten there by kicking all others out of his way, just like a king cockerel would have done.

But, humanity didn't need to win the moral argument to get what it wanted.

The air filled with the sound of chains as golden links of metal appeared around the Emperor. These were not made of the simple metals from the previous two bit skit, but the golden bindings that he had used to ensnare Isha when they first met.

"What are you doing?" Isha said as she took a step back.

"Wrapping you in chains." The Emperor shrugged. "I don't have time to deal with either of your hysterics, so I'm just going to pick the victor and get on with things."

Translation: This is a hassle, so I'm going to make you lose to get things over with. He was not looking forward to watching another divine debate or whatever it was Isha was preparing to engage Erda in.

Besides, if Isha wasn't going to be reasonable, he wasn't going to be either.

"Oh no you won't." Isha huffed. "I'm about to meet another maternal goddess. As the mother of the Aeldari I will not be shamed by showing up in some ridiculous fashion before the mother of humanity."

"What are you even talking about?" Neoth sighed. "The Aeldari aren't even here."

"It's symbolic! I am about to meet my equivalent for your people. That means I cannot afford to lose face for my children. Even if they are not represented here, I must not back down from her no matter what."

"Is that so?" He sighed, and the chains began to fade.

"It is." Isha replied, giving her own sigh of relief. "If you've understood that then shoo away all your soldiers and crewmen. I must meet her in my best condition. Our meeting may tear the minds of mortals usun- Hey!" She was interrupted mid-speech as the Emperor's arms wrapped around her from behind in an unceremonious bear hug. "Unhand me you oversized golden gorilla!" She kicked out at him as he lifted her off the floor. Her limbs didn't hit with her full strength, slapping against his armored thighs as if her feet were made of normal skin and bone.

"Be quiet." He snorted as she struggled in his grip. Meanwhile golden chains began wrapping around her. "I'm not letting you run amok after bluffing my way through everything to get here. Now stop struggling! You're going to end up in a ball of chains at this rate."

Despite not using her full strength, Isha's thrashing meant the chains were wrapping around her erratically, forming a disorganized clump instead of an ordered cocoon.

"No! No! No!" Isha said as she continued to struggle. Both her legs were already bundled up like the world's worst mummy. "I will not be humiliated in front of a deity of the same type as me! Now let me go!"

"If you can't promise to play nice, you leave me no choice." He snorted. "I can live with hurting your feelings and pride, but you are not fighting Erda."

There was a few more minutes of cursing and thrashing from Isha, accompanied with the clanking of chains as Neoth continued to bind her. Finally, after half her body had disappeared under a mass of chains, she dropped limp in his arms like a resigned cat.

"Fine." She muttered bitterly. "I am at a disadvantage here regardless. A mother is strongest when she is with her children. Plus, she literally has the homeground advantage."

"Oh?" Neoth replied, not relinquishing his grip for a second. He had a nasty feeling the moment he did she'd drop the facade and run away from him, possibly through a wall if she was angry enough. "I thought you were supposed to be the executioner of worlds."

Isha was supposed to be an Exterminatus weapon meant to be deployed against planets. Due to that nature, she should be superior to any deity associated with a planet. It would make little sense if the executioner could be overwhelmed by the one who was supposed to be executed.

"Besides the fact that doing so would make me your mortal enemy…" She grumbled. "Her real body is Terra. She is synonymous with it, and therefore her dominion over it exceeds mine until my miracle is activated. The winds here won't be as obedient to my commands unlike the ones on the dead planet where our battle took place." She sighed again. "With that many disadvantages, there is no eventuality where I would fight her, especially in my current state. At worst all we'll have is an argument."

"Really? That's awfully humble of you." He was half-expecting her to boast about her former power, or complain about being in this depleted state. Instead, she acknowledged that Erda's authority over Terra exceeded hers.

"Erda was a goddess from before you were born. As the mother of humanity, she must predate all of it. She is a wild deity formed from the converging beliefs the neoteny of humanity created on its evolutionary journey towards adaptive intelligence and abstract thinking. From the moment of her formation she has had legends and dreams added on to her as the maternal figure that all humans have wished to care for them, even in their adult life or old age." She turned her head to look at Neoth over her shoulder, shooting him a dirty look while she was at it. "By her very nature, she is infinitely more knowledgeable about what it means to be a god, unlike you who tries his best to circumvent the fact while reaping all the benefits."

Translation: She'll be easier to talk to than you, blockhead.

Isha suddenly let out a grunt. "The chains got a bit tighter."

"Did they?" Neoth replied with a wide smile. "Sorry, my concentration must have slipped."

"You petty primitive pompous pedantic peevish pessimistic pinhead!" She shouted back, returning to struggling and thrashing. "Was being told the truth that hard to hear!"

"My apologies." He shrugged. "But as a petty primitive pompous pedantic peevish pessimistic pinhead, I also have no reason to be ashamed for acting like one."

To tell the truth, Isha's words annoyed him a little. But, if she was going to keep calling him a primitive he might as well act like one. Besides, trying to out-talk an Aeldari was a fool's errand, especially when the facts were on her side. However, that didn't mean he had to take it lying down. After all, he was a tyrant.

Anyways, Isha wasn't struggling against him with her full strength, so she wasn't 'that' angry. This goddess had caused him enough headaches already. He was allowed a little revenge.

Suddenly, he sensed a familiar presence approaching the Astropathic choir. Faint scents of desert winds and incense wood wafted through the air. Apparently Erda had ignored the message he sent via Velor, and was approaching them.

"Hey, stop struggling." He ordered Isha, but she simply struggled even harder.

"Unhand me first! She's almost here!"

"And that's why I'm telling you to stop making a bigger mess than this needs to be!"

"This is my self respect as a goddess that's on the line!"

"What sort of goddess has a damn tantrum over this!"

"Just let me go!"

"You stubborn woman! If you keep this up I'm going to suplex you through the damn floor!"

"Just try it! My skull's far tougher than yours!"

"Alright then! I'll suplex you into the floor, then send thousands of photos of the scene into the Webway!"

"What?!" Isha stopped for a moment and Neoth grinned.

"You didn't want your children to see you in a ridiculous state back on that planet, did you? Imagine what they'll think if the first image they see of their mother is her stuck in the ground upside down?"

"You! You!" The goddess sputtered, ears twitching, cheeks reddening. "You wouldn't dare!"

"Won't I?! Because that seems to be the only thing you care about!"

"Tyrant! Control freak! Bully!" She started thrashing against him with more strength than before causing him to stumble forwards. Yet, he was still able to hold onto her, if only barely.

"Yes, I am all those things. Now, do we do this with your divine reputation intact, or will the Aeldari have to update their mental image of what their mother is like?"

It was at this moment the doors to the Astropathic Choir opened, and both of them froze as a woman in a brown hooded cloak of Arabian descent walked into the room with a fully armored Space Marine behind her.

There was a rather long pause interrupted only by the Custodes closing the massive doors of the Astropathic Choir with a loud bang.

"Could you explain to me what's happening here, Neoth?" Erda asked with a raised eyebrow. A gargantuan sigh exited his mouth as another headache started to brew. Meanwhile Isha resumed her attempts to break free from his grip.


"Well, it is good to see you restored to your former self, although you may have gone back a bit too close to your roots. Have you resumed your tradition of ravishing women Gilgamesh?" Erda covered her mouth with her hand as she laughed quietly.

"Please tell me you're joking." Neoth grumbled, rubbing his temples as he did so.

The four of them were standing or sitting around a small clay table Erda had conjured up. Isha and Erda were sitting at it; the Aeldari goddess perched on a Wraithbone stool while the mother of humanity sat upon a wicker chair. The Emperor and Space Marine were standing a little further away. The table was only human sized. So, although it barely fit Isha, the two oversized men were unable to sit down at it. He had finished recanting what had happened after meeting Isha, and why he was able to return earlier than scheduled.

Neoth felt someone watching him across the table and looked up to see LE-2 looking at him through his visor. Even though he couldn't see the Space Marines eyes, he felt a judgemental stare coming from beneath the optics within the helmet. He returned it with an annoyed glare, and the Space Marine silently turned away.

"Neoth, stop being so childish." Erda admonished him with a sigh as she lowered her hand. "Leetu, I was joking with your father. Do not show disrespect towards him." She turned her eyes back onto Neoth with a faint smile. "I'm just happy to be able to talk to you again. It was pretty much impossible before." She looked downwards as she spoke the last sentence, tone dropping sadly with her gaze.

"There were a lot of things on the line." Neoth replied. "We… I couldn't afford to stop."

"I know." Erda replied. "You were the only one who could act, using your little loophole. As one of the many who could only stand back and watch, I have no right to accuse you of anything."

There was a short silence between the two of them. A long colored history was shared between the two. Many harsh words and fights had erupted between them. The last ten thousand years of their relationship had entered a long period of stagnation while the Emperor rushed forwards with his definition of salvation for all mankind.

"Erda…" Neoth opened his mouth, but a hand rose to quiet him.

"It's alright. I forgive you, Neoth." She said sadly. "I have never made a judgment regarding your actions. All I can do is mourn what is lost." Her face looked up towards him again, flashing him a small smile. "But, from now on, I would appreciate it if you could try dialogue once again before charging into things. I was actually proud of what you managed to do with the Tripartite alliance and Albia."

"Those were only temporary agreements on the path to unification." Neoth snorted. "Nothing will be left of the old order once my conquest of Terra is complete."

"Even then, any outcome that reduces the number of human deaths brings warmth to my heart. You are all my children, after all." Erda looked down through the floor at the planet below them. "Terra's hope died with Xozer. But, that doesn't mean humanity as a whole is doomed."

Neoth's fists clenched at the mention of Xozer, then relaxed as he shook his head slightly and looked upwards instead.

"Do you still love all those who abandoned you and Terra?"

Terra was a depleted planet. All the resources she once held had been taken by the colonists and used to set up their lives on many different worlds. Now, Terra was just a legend in their patchwork histories after Old Night. Depending on perception, the people on those faraway planets were the descendents of the thieves who stole all of Terra's worth.

"To ask me not to would be to destroy what I am." Erda said sadly. "I was brought into existence by the first humans' want for comfort. My love is indiscriminate as the land that fed them and the air they breathed." A tired chuckle exited her mouth. "Even after they sullied both with radiation and pollution, that fact has not changed." Her eyes turned towards Neoth at this. "You too have gotten closer to that mindset. I can feel it within you. Hero and villain now run upon the same burning wheel that paves the path forward for humanity." Erda turned her brown eyes to the frowning Aeldari goddess sitting opposite to her. "I suppose I have you to thank for that, alien goddess?"

"Keep your thanks." Isha snorted. "I merely did what I had to do for the survival of my children and myself." The Aeldari goddess's eyes locked with Erda's. "To be honest, I have quite a number of complaints against you. Even if you are a wild god, wasn't there something you could do about his manners?"

Erda blinked in surprise for a moment, then laughed.

"You have my apologies for that." She said with a shrug. "Although he is my son, as a goddess born from all humanity, I could only do the bare minimum to raise him. By the time he could converse with us, he was too old to listen." Erda stood up and walked over towards Neoth, rubbing a hand over his armored chest. "You should know how much of a handful he and the rest of humanity is."

"No child is easy to raise." Isha retorted irritably. The Aeldari had been problematic in their own way to her, even before the fall. If she had to pick a particular example out of the many irritating events, the worst was probably the Aeldari civil war.

"True, I guess the species doesn't matter." Erda shrugged, turning back towards Isha. "Children fall before their mothers and skin their knees on the dirt. We can only hope that their self-inflicted wounds do not get infected and rot."

Isha's eyes narrowed at the hidden barbs of Erda's words.

'You and I are equally flawed. We both failed our children, and they failed us through their own folly. Therefore, you have fallen down to my level. The level of a primitive wild god who was neither designed nor empowered by the Old Ones.'

"So, you speak to me about motherhood." Isha growled.

"Although many times younger than you, I am far more experienced in watching my children fail." Erda shrugged. "At those times, it is better to abandon your expectations and pride. Acceptance is the only thing that can heal their wounds."

"Do not lecture me about acceptance." Isha snorted. "My children are all equal in my eyes."

"Is that so? Then you have my apologies for providing unneeded advice."

"Apologies for this. Apologies for that." The Aeldari goddess sighed. "Do you even feel responsible for what has happened?"

"Only as much as a wild deity can. There's not much I can actually do, unlike your kind." Erda shot back with a smile. "What about you? Can you take responsibility for the blood your children have taken from mine?"

"To kill and be killed are part of the cycle of life." The Goddess of Life shrugged. "Although I do not agree with the outcome, both of our children act as barbarically as nature demands."

"In other words it is their fate to act like that, and it is our fate to suffer their actions."

Neoth felt a drop of figurative sweat drip down his brow. When Isha had said she and Erda would come into conflict, he had imagined something a little more direct. Instead, the two goddesses were metaphorically giving each other gut punches with words. Isha was more obviously angry, but he could feel Erda's rage radiating from behind her smile like the desert sun. Yet, there was no hint from either that they would engage in physical violence. Instead, the passive aggressiveness in the room continued to rise until it felt suffocating.

"Erda…" He interrupted. "Isha has agreed to assist me with uniting humanity and recovering our standing as a space faring species. She is a proud disagreeable alien, but I still intend to…"

'work with her.' Those were the words that were supposed to come next, but they stopped as Erda turned her eyes on him.

Confusion. Worry. Sadness. Anger.

Several emotions seemed to flit within her brown gaze which quickly approached him as she reached for his face with both hands.

"What are you…?" He managed to say before she cupped his cheeks and began to inspect him, like a mother checking behind her child's ears for unwashed dirt.

Finally, she released him. Her figure blurred, switching between three different ages.

"How much have you changed him?" Her voice spoke with three tones. One young and girlish. One ripe and feminine. One cracked and old.

"I only exchanged the sum total of his existence with an equivalent sized chunk of mine." Isha shrugged.

Erda turned towards her, form still blurring. The young girl turned first, followed by a mature woman, then an old hag.

"He is my child." Three voices spoke again, and there was the crackle of electricity as sparks flew between her fingers.

"He still is." Isha snorted as she narrowed her eyes. "Is your definition of humanity so narrow that you no longer define him as your own?"

The clay table cracked then turned to dust as Erda approached Isha.

"Humanity is mine, alien." All three voices spoke the same words with different tones. The young girl spat the words with visible anger. The mature woman warned her firmly but quietly, while the old hag growled bitterly. "Keep your hands off of my children. Their lives and fates are their own."

"I have no interest in any part of them besides the danger they represent to my children." Isha snorted.

Erda leaned over Isha, staring down into her silvery eyes as Isha returned the glare in turn.

"Keep your word." She said with only one voice this time. "My children are not you or your ilk's playthings."

Neoth watched the two of them glaring at each other as wisps of black smoke rose from the footprints left behind by Erda on the floor. The mother of mankind was synonymous with Terra, and the planetary body she shared a name with was a ruined radioactive wasteland. The bitterness of an entire planet and its destroyed ecosystems was radiating from her corporeal form, eroding and degrading everything around her.

"You truly are ugly." Isha said softly as she stared into Erda's eyes.

A soft snort came from the brown-eyed woman as she drew away from the Aeldari goddess's silver eyes. The black smoke disappeared as the table reformed.

"I am as resilient as my children." She shrugged. "It would be odd if my true form looked like what stands before you, especially after all they did to me."

"Past, present, future. History, the people that make it, and their hope. All reduced to dust and ashes. Yet, you persevere." Isha closed her eyes, as if looking at Erda was physically painful. "It's like watching the worst burn victim imaginable kept alive only by machinery and obsession."

"Yet, I still love them." Erda said as she returned to her chair. "Of all the sentient beings in the galaxy, you should understand how I feel."

"I do." Isha acknowledged. "Hence, I have to hate you."

"Like staring into a mirror, isn't it?" Erda laughed, hiding her mouth with her hand again. "Neoth, I give my permission for your new friend to tread upon Terra." She said mirthfully. "It would be troublesome keeping her up here when you intend to work with her."

Neoth raised an eyebrow. He couldn't discern at what point Isha and Erda had buried the hatchet. If anything, he had expected a fight to erupt and had been standing on edge to intervene. However, he was most surprised by Erda's last statement.

"I was unaware I needed permission."

"You've never cared about it or asked for it before." Erda sighed. "Neither has its revocation impeded you. I cannot do anything to stop you, after all. But, this time you have my permission, as meaningless as it is."

"Take it Neoth." Isha said, voice amused. "The spirit of Terra herself gives you her support in this action. The fate of humanity is intertwined with her very essence. Even if it doesn't seem useful, you may find her charity more helpful than harmful. Think of it like a good luck charm. Better to have it than not."

"Indeed." Erda nodded. "Although a feature of his birth, he often thinks of things through a mortal perspective. The word of a deity means something even if it does nothing. Thus, a deity's word should always be kept. Yet, he lies and cheats all the time."

"The importance of things without form is always hard to measure." Isha sighed. "But, it is precisely because it is immeasurable that it should not be underestimated. A truly careful person always ensures to take that into account."

"Being prepared and being careful are not the same thing, unfortunately." Erda grumbled. "He is always the former and never the latter. The number of times I've asked him to take less risk…"

Neoth felt a frown carving itself into his brow. A few moments before, and he could have sworn they were mortal enemies. Now, they were happily airing their grievances about him to his face.

However, in his current state of mind, he could see that they had a point. His plans may have been complex, but there was very little room for error or empathy. They were made to go from point to point in the shortest time possible with no care for the emotional state or physical condition of those involved.

As the God of Heroes, his voice was usually enough to rally any human to his cause. Whatever depression or malaise they may be feeling would be wiped out by his presence, leaving only the burning desire to enter the legend of humanity. It wouldn't matter if they were missing all their limbs and vital organs. If he called, they would come to serve him, even if it meant they had to crawl like maggots to get there.

The price for following his voice was their free-will and self-determination, as well as any physical injuries sustained along the way. That was the only reason he did not speak in that manner often.

But, there were times where even that was a small price to pay. Old Night had not been kind to him or humanity. The battle with the Omnissiah left no room for error. He did not regret what he did, or what he forced others to do during that time.

Still, at this point in time, he might be able to afford a change of pace.

"You are both right." He said, and both of the women turned to look at him. "I have been too hasty in the past and I must apologize, especially to you Erda. From now on, I will discuss things with you. In return, I ask for your council. I have long been out of practice in working with equals."

Admission of guilt, apology, and a future plan of remedial action. The three steps necessary to repairing broken trust.

However, instead of the positive reaction he expected, both women fixed with him a deadpan stare then sighed.

"My condolences, I can only imagine the hardship you've been through." Isha said to Erda.

"It's always like this." Erda said as she massaged her temples. "He speaks of cooperation and unity first, but every time things don't go his way he abandons all compromise and debate."

"Then again, it's not entirely his fault he is the way he is. All heroes are charismatic to some degree." Isha crossed her arms and huffed. "That means they often get their own way in the end. They might be good at using people and bringing the best out of them, but that's not an equal relationship based on cooperation. Theirs is the relationship between the main-character and the sub-character of a story."

'Did… Did the situation just get worse?' Neoth thought to himself. The two before him seemed to be even more united against him than before. He looked inside himself to all the other heroes who reached him to find a way out of this situation. However, almost all of the female heroes with a spattering of male ones were face palming or shaking their heads.

'Joan!' Neoth called inside himself.

'Moi?' The ancient French hero replied.

'Explain the situation to me.'

'Pourquoi moi? Why me?'

'As a member of the fairer sex, I want your perspective on the situation.'

'Quoi?! You're asking me? I became a hero by abandoning my femininity.'

'It can't be helped. All the others are either sighing like those two or shaking their heads. It's obvious they agree with them. I'm already hemmed in on two sides. I don't need a third front coming from within me.'

'Je vois… I see… Fine. I'll try my best, but I'm just a woman; not an expert on psychology.'

'At this moment, that is probably the person I need information from the most.'

The brunette gave a massive sigh at that.

'Merde! It's comments like that which get us into trouble.'

'What?'

'It's sexist to expect any woman to understand what any other woman is thinking. You should have realized that by now. We can be either man or woman at any time, but you're still confused.'

'Just because I can become a woman doesn't mean my personality or priorities change. You know that as well as I do.'

'Putain.' Joan swore. 'In short, your apology is too little too late. Especially when it comes to Madame Erda.'

'Too little too late?'

'Think back to everything that's happened between you two. There's been more than one time that she's asked you to stop for a moment and talk things over.'

There were several times Neoth could remember off the top of his head. Most of their conversations over the last 10,000 years had been pretty much that.

'Saying you'll follow Erda's advice now seems like a cheap excuse to get out of your current situation. Even if you were partially sincere about it.'

Again, part of him had said that because it had begun to feel a little stifling figuratively trapped between those two. He had meant it, but that wasn't the only reason he said it.

'Is there a way out of this?'

'Non. There is none.'

'Joan…'

'I don't want to listen to them anymore than you do. We are the same person after all. Merde!' The French woman cursed again then sighed. 'But, at this moment the only thing you can do is listen to them vent. She has a lot of complaints and grievances pent up over the years.'

'And how long is that going to last?'

'As long as LE-2 can take it.' Joan shrugged. 'He's the innocent bystander here, so Erda will probably stop when her son can't take it anymore. It shouldn't be much longer. His eyes are already glazing over.'

Neoth returned from his little mental conference to see LE-2 starting to lean to one side. The perfect posture he had when he entered the room was slipping.

The two women before him were psychic beings of immense power. Their little passive aggressive power play followed by their threats, and now this complaint conference was sending ripples throughout the local immaterium. Thankfully, the effects were contained within the Astropathic Choir, but that simply meant that LE-2 was exposed to a more concentrated dose. He was being filled with an immense sense of exhaustion, as if he was being exposed to hours upon hours of parental nagging. He had been trying to do his best to stand upright, but it seemed he was reaching the limits of his mental fortifications.

Neoth himself was unaffected by this, protected by his immaterial hating touch.

For a moment, he felt a slight tinge of pity for his creation. He was getting depressed by just the words uttered by Isha and Erda. LE-2 was experiencing both the words, and the emotional intentions associated with them. He began to reach out with his essence to fortify and shield the Space Marine from the psychic effects of the two beings before him, then stopped.

Joan had said Erda would probably stop when LE-2 couldn't take it any more. Therefore, to reinforce LE-2 would mean to prolong the mental siege Erda and Isha had engaged upon him.

Slowly, he pulled himself back.

'It'll end faster this way for the both of us.' He said to LE-2 silently.

"See? Scheming as always." Erda huffed.

"Did you really think we wouldn't notice that?" Isha sighed.

"..." Neoth remained quiet. Joan had said that the two were just venting. If that was the case, remaining silent was the best way to prevent putting his foot in his mouth any further.

"He probably asked Joan for help." Erda said, shaking her head. "Poor girl. All heroes end up going to him. That's why none of us got a champion to act in our stead."

"A tyrant in life and afterlife." Isha shrugged. "I guess his nature and divinity might have changed, but not his personality."

Erda and Isha's venting lasted until LE-2 was almost unconscious. At that moment, Neoth wasn't sure whether he pitied or envied his creation.