Alberich's silt-blackened face still wore an expression of amazement as Lian and I hauled ourselves up the gangway of the Divine Retribution. I placed the Nemeses Argentum in my breast pocket, and leaned on my eagle-topped force staff for support. The Tzaangor's feathers were as black as if he had fallen into a coal mine, which made his gold-rimmed blue eyes very striking. Blue light glowed with dark fire from his daemon-possessed glaive, and the disk he had used to fly our injured crewmembers to safety was nowhere to be seen. "You... how did you?" the beastman sputtered as Lian helped me up the gangway. Virgil was also there, standing beside Alberich as his lower jaw trembled in awe. The hologram's form was shimmering in emotion.

"Blessed are the names of the Travelers, for they bring the light of God. Blessed are the meek, for they shall be the inheritors of heaven," the hologram was muttering under his breath.

Translucent white ghosts flew around the Divine Retribution in a wide spiral like dry leaves in a windstorm. The countless white shades of singing ghosts chanted and sang in the ancient tongue of Nubua. "The Omega is victorious! Eternal blessings upon the Omega! We are saved, and we are unmade! Praise the Inheritor of Mankind, the Traveler from Heaven beyond time!" they cried out joyously in an otherworldly symphony around us.

"What... what?" the Tzaangor was having trouble articulating himself.

"He's been destroyed. The daemon's essence has been obliterated," Lian said behind me, raising his voice as to be heard over the singing white ghosts. I heard the Fallen spit off the side of the gangway. The glow of his mysterious holy blade cast an unearthly light that reflected off the gold exterior of the Divine Retribution's hull. With a brief sigh of relief, I passed the atmospheric energy barrier that surrounded the vessel. I dropped the protective enchantment around my body. The Fallen followed me, again spitting off the side of the gangway as he climbed.

Both Virgil and Alberich stood just inside the ship, stunned. Alberich took a breath to ask me again what had happened, but I stopped him.

"No time to talk! The planet is dying! The Heart is hitting the core already! Divine Retribution, close up and get ready to jump to Warp!" I vociferated as I pushed past my stupefied crewmembers and onto the ship itself. I sensed the living gold seal itself up with a short hum after Lian entered, and the track lights on the floor illuminated our way to the bridge.

Behind me, I heard Virgil shout with a startled gasp as I raced away, "What has happened? What's wrong with the Archmagos? Who are these women?"

I didn't respond as I dipped my psychic awareness far below, and saw the Heart of Worlds as it continued to gradually dissolve like a sugar cube in a body of water. It was passing through fine layers of psychic crystal in the core of the planet. Outside, my attention was pulled to the entirety of the dead Independent Empires across this broad band of space. Wide holes of empty obliteration millions of kilometers in width had begun to appear in the Deadly Desert as the region began to burn away to nothing. Space was turning into Swiss cheese, and the entire Broken Desert of Nubua was disintegrating!

"Sorry! I'll explain if we're still alive in an hour!" I shouted behind me to the hologram. Smears of fresh blood from unknown injuries covered the floor as I stepped over the unconscious bodies of Null, Ennoia, and Morai. I immediately started running to the bridge. Worry about them later, I thought. I hoped that Null was okay, considering that he took a direct hit from a Noise Marine's sonic blaster at close range. That's terrible. How does anyone survive that? Whatever, worry about that later too. We needed to get out of here!

I frantically bolted through the ship. Behind me, I heard both Lian and Alberich following me the long distance to the bridge. Lian's armored boots were loud as they connected with the floor behind me, making me flinch as we went along.

Wow, we destroyed a fucking Daemon Prince, I thought, briefly giddy at our accomplishment. And I had devoured a remnant of his soul. I allowed myself a feeling of achievement before I went back to fearing for my life.

Behind my eyes, involuntary images flashed of a familiar young marine as he bravely fought heretics with two power swords. Grikk'ahn had been a talented swordsman who possessed a modest amount of psychic acumen, but not enough to be trained as a Librarian. The whispers of Slaanesh had eventually corrupted him as he sought to perfect his martial prowess right before his Chapter Master fell to Chaos. The corrupted Honor Guard had discovered that he felt a desirable rush when dispatching an enemy, so Slaanesh had given him the special ability to pull souls within himself, feeding his hunger and making him strong. The faded memory of the marine that I had consumed was weak, and like Quale, it was battered and bled of most of its energy, but at least it was something, I thought, dodging a servitor as it continued to mindlessly clean the walls. I'd probably be unconscious from exhaustion had I not eaten him by now.

I guessed that eating souls was now my thing too, I thought as I dodged more servitors wandering the shiny metal halls. I now knew that Sebastian had also consumed life energy for power via the Key, just like me. Maybe that really was how he got so strong? What a terribly ghoulish way to gain power.

"Don't have much time! I sense the ghosts outside grow more numerous!" Alberich cried out behind me as we reached the stairs to the bridge. "Do you want me to join with the ship again, my leader?"

"Yeah, no time for a bath this time, dude," I said pulling myself up the stairs. Would we be okay to fly without Null being conscious? He had been acting as the ship's engineer, but it seemed like the vessel basically flew itself. I honestly had no idea, but we didn't have the option of sitting around and waiting for the tech-priest to wake up, if he ever did.

The gleaming raised golden throne at the center of the bridge made me reflexively cringe as I prepared myself to make a yet another great running escape from yet another dire situation. Alberich did not hesitate, and actually leapt onto his rightmost throne, his blackened feathers all on edge. Here, he definitely reminded me of a scared crow. He placed his daemon glaive on the floor next to where he sat.

I quickly settled myself in my golden throne. "Divine Retribution, attach me," I said, closing my eyes for bravery. Lian stood behind me, waiting for any command that I might give.

My nervous system sparkled as I felt the ship grip me, and once again, I felt a powerful foreign force reach through the ship, and into my very being. The vessel itself had an incredible machine spirit. It truly had a will of its own, and when I was attached to it, I felt like a symbiotic part of its willpower, and just another part of its construction like a brain in a body. A quick realization passed through me. Sebastian had sat on this very chair, and had piloted this very vessel through the galaxy as its captain after being dragged into this shitty dimension, just like me. I felt a curious mixture of dread and wonder, and I decided not to think about that either.

"Alright, let's get this party started," I said, attempting to lighten the incredibly dangerous mood by trying to sound like some kind of tropey space captain. I remembered that I had seen Grikk'ahn blasting the ship with his psyker energy when I was in the pyramid, and wanted to see if anything had been damaged. "Divine Retribution, full status! You okay?"

The three screens large holographic view screens flickered to life ahead of us, and once again, the leftmost screen quickly dimmed and vanished. We still didn't have a third pilot, but I wasn't sure that we needed one. On the center screen (and in my mind's eye) a series of notations once again appeared before us.

Operations: Fair

Fuel: 92%

Emergency Fuel Capacity 50%

Prime Energy Cell: 99%

Void Shield Capacity: 90%

Note: Minor hull damage, left wing. Suggested action: Solar and/or soul regeneration.

Parson Shield Capacity: 95%, Commencing initial scan of Captain, secondary Navigator

The vessel sent a brief wave of cold energy once again through my body, and beside me, I heard Alberich gasp.

Commencing comprehensive scan of Captain: I felt another, more powerful wave of energy wash through me. It felt like I had been immersed in both warm and freezing water at the same time.

Captain Biometrics Scan Complete

Health, Captain: Moderate Fatigue, Mild Iron Deficiency, Moderate Dehydration, Intoxicants Detected

Current Psi-Level: Moderate, Yellow Star, Analog-Epsilon/Delta variable

Motivating Impulse: Escape

Recent Intake: 3 (16)

Range Estimate: 5.7 parsecs, sublight. 1199.999 parsecs, Warp

Backup Parson shield: 408 hours

Recommend intake: 2

Before the Divine Retribution could fully scan Alberich, I felt the its attention pull toward the Key around my neck as the ship appeared to have the munchies. "Hungry? You want a snack, Divine Retribution? Take the souls from the Key!"

Quale was the first soul that left the Key, and he briefly filtered through my body on his way into the vessel. There was very little that remained of him, but I could sense a soft gratitude in the shreds of his soul that remained. Second, the memory of Grikk'ahn was pulled. His soul was similarly fractured and abused. The last soul that came through actually caused the lights of the ship to brighten momentarily as Nabopolassar's powerful and willingly sacrificed soul swam both through me and the vessel. The Divine Retribution's spirit responded almost with delight, and I felt additional energy push through its body. I even felt the peculiar sensation of satiety from the absorption of the ancient king. The ship had found him absolutely delicious. Curiously, I noticed that I did not feel as if the king's memory was entirely consumed, but that a sizeable portion of his strength remained within me, much more than any other soul I had previously consumed.

Commencing scan of Secondary Navigator:

Secondary Navigator health: Fair. Warning! Recent exposure to raw Warp energy! Secondary Navigator may be prone to mutation if fully interfaced! Recommend soul purification procedure. Confirm?

I felt Alberich's head whip toward me, and his beak was open in surprise. I physically turned toward the Tzaangor on his throne. "What does purification process entail, Divine Retribution?" I asked quickly with a stammer.

"Forcible removal of residual malfeasance from subject. Subject may suffer damage. Chance of success, calculating..."

"Wait, no," Alberich said. "I'll get off the throne. I-"

"Chance of success, 95% percent," the ship impassively intoned.

"Oh," the beastman exhaled. He paused, and I saw that he was thinking. We really didn't have time for this.

"Alberich..."

"I'll do it. You need a copilot," the Tzaangor said as he steeled himself on his throne, gripping his armrests.

"How long does that removal procedure take?" I quickly asked the ship.

"Estimated procedural time, 2.5 seconds."

"Do it," Alberich and I both said at the same time.

The Divine Retribution's attention turned inward toward Alberich's throne, which turned bright white as the Tzaangor cried out as if stabbed in the chest. It was over quickly, and the light gradually dimmed. The beastman was now breathing heavily, his features pinched in pain.

"Cleansing procedure successful."

"Good. Attach Alberich and let's get going."

I felt the Divine Retribution push through Alberich's soul as it integrated him into his intelligence. I swallowed nervously. We have to go!

I realized that Lian was still standing beside us on the bridge. "What do you command of me, Inheritor?" he said, still holding his glowing sword in one hand as the vessel attached the Tzaangor.

I turned to Lian as Alberich's soul integrated within the vessel. The sword the Fallen held was now so bright it was actually difficult to look at, and it now reminded me of some kind of massive light saber. It sent a bright light that reflected scintillatingly across the already bright gold of the bridge. An air of holy power now surrounded him, radiating from the sword he held. I studied the huge sword again, and at the corner of my consciousness, I once again witnessed a giant marine with long blond hair wearing kingly green power armor as he wielded this very sword against another monster of a marine in dark armor decorated in lurid indigo, red, and black. While my lore on space marines and their primarchs wasn't the best, I was able to put two and two together once I saw the bat wings, white skin, and utter insanity decorating the second individual. The sword Lian held had been wielded by a primarch in battle against another primarch, and was blessed by incredible power. With a quick nudge of my incredible new psychic intuition, I had my answer on the identity of that blade.

Wow, I could only think, shaking my head. Holy shit.

Ready when you are, my leader! the beastman said to me through the ship. Alberich was now ready. I paused, still staring in surprise as I studied Lian, who was bloodied and exhausted, waiting for me to command him. He had a bleeding head wound over his right eye, and it appeared that a small part of his scalp had been torn out, revealing a hint of white bone. A line of bright red blood fell from his nose and mouth, dripping to the floor.

"Is that sword what I think it is, Lian?" I quickly asked, mentally willing the gold wings of the vessel to extend in preparation for departure. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Cypher supposed to have that sword? What are you doing with it?" I pushed my awareness through the Retribution's body, feeling its body come alive and initializing the vessel's esoteric mechanical systems, readying us for takeoff.

Lian didn't immediately respond, but I saw his jaw clench. Since we didn't have time to mess around, I willed anti-gravity engines to ignite in my wings, belly, and tail as my gold talons pushed me off the surface of this dying world. A convenient updraft caught me, and I was easily pulled into the air. My left wing was still injured from being struck with a mine in the Warp, but the damage was mostly cosmetic, and shouldn't hamper my flight too much. Ghosts filled with life energy caressed the underside of my wings, offering an additional lift. The two large holographic screens ahead of me displayed what the ship saw directly ahead of it, which was a nearly opaque sandstorm and a singing band of white ghosts. With a flicker, the ship projected a green wire frame representation of the ground below us through the thick dusty winds.

"How... how do you...?" the Fallen started to ask, shaking his head before stopping himself. "Of course you know. You are who you are. I should not be surprised. Forgive me for my skepticism. Copies of the blade were made to keep it hidden, and Lord Cypher was expected to pass through this remote area of space to retrieve it once again on his own mission." He turned the sword point down, and rested it on the floor of the bridge. It had begun to dim.

"Well, let's talk about that later," I said quickly, bringing my attention fully back to flying.

Lian was in possession of the damn Lion Sword! No wonder he had been so nervous about the Imperium finding that bunker!

I closed my eyes, willing the ship to become myself as I pulled further up into the atmosphere. It was somewhat of a struggle here, as the irregular winds buffeted us, causing the ship to roll and pitch from time to time as if it were a boat on rough seas. The eye of the storm had passed over this area, and we were once again in the full fury of the storm. A sudden downdraft slammed into me from above, and I felt the ship rally to stay airborne. I wondered if I could change my perspective and experience flying this vessel just as a natural bird would fly around in the Materium instead of being on this throne? This was what I had done in the Warp, but maybe I could do it here too? Would that make it easier to steer in this rough weather? Keeping my eyes closed, I pushed my visual awareness ahead and through the front of the ship. The Divine Retribution easily figured out my intentions, and complied with a, "Visual Acuity Navigation Mode: Materium activated" response.

With a slight jolt of pain, my consciousness was transferred, and I was now a massive mechanical eagle flying through the sky, and seeing a perfect physical representation of the landscape around me, and the wireframe that represented the obfuscated ground. Lines of helpful information describing altitude, height, airspeed, and other statistics appeared at the lower right corner of my vision.

Reality: Materium, planet, atmosphere class B, 85% gravity

Altitude: 490m

Airspeed: 587kph, variable. Warning, sandstorm gale conditions. Warning, airborne debris. Winds, variable directional, gusts 150kph+. Void shields activated.

Current rate of ascension: 79mps, variable, emergency spiral ascent, emergency vertical ascent unavailable, spatial instabilities detected.

Fuel remaining: 92%

Warning! Unknown reality instability detected! External interference detected! Calculating hazard...

That last line didn't make me feel good, and I had no idea what it meant. Around me, I could now visually see through the Retribution that the whirlwind of singing white ghosts had actually broadened and was continuing to grow larger as they flew around me. With my keen eyes, I could even make out individual white spirits in the maelstrom as they sang joyously in anticipation of their destruction.

"Behold Garuda, the Great Eagle, the Herald of Heaven! The ancient oversoul enshrined in gold! The Chariot of Fire!" the whirlwind of white spirits sang.

How fast could we get to Warp and not get ourselves killed on this planet? Instead of asking the ship verbally, I pushed the inquiry through it, and it responded readily in my mind with, 5000m minimum jump altitude. Energetic instability at ground level. Warning, planetary integrity may be compromised!

"That's not too high; this place is doomed anyway," I said aloud through my body on the throne, soaring high in an increasing acceleration in a tight upward spiral, much like a large bird of prey. Being attached to the ship like this had somewhat eased my anxiety. The Divine Retribution's machine spirit apparently had an ego from its numerous encounters, and within it, I felt an assurance that just like every other danger it had faced, it would overcome this hardship as well. But, I did feel a shadow of a worry from deep within as it calculated on what peril we currently faced. Both the ship and I were concerned. I willed my curiosity through the Divine Retribution as I soared higher, asking the ship what it sensed.

"False vacuum decay correction within 500 light years. Pockets of degenerate space of undefinable definition expanding outward. Pocket of degenerate space forming within .5 light year distance. Danger!"

Oh, that sounded bad, and unfortunately I couldn't ask Null about what we could do about that. Running away as soon as possible was probably a good option here.

Are we going back to that hell place? Do we close the eye shutters now? Alberich asked me through the ship. I could tell that he was watching our progress through the monitors which displayed what I was observing.

Yeah, I said, feeling Alberich's nervous tone. Brace yourself. Let me drive, and just stay alert if I need you.

"Divine Retribution, as soon as you can, close the eye shutters and jump to Warp, and be prepared to fly at full speed out of the Deadly Desert. Let's get out of here!" I physically spoke through my body on the bridge, only barely sensing the contact of the throne on my human form. I sensed that Virgil had appeared beside me with Lian, and both were watching the large holographic screens on the bridge. The hologram had his hand over his mouth in worry, and it appeared that Lian was consoling him.

"Trust in the Inheritor of Mankind, astropath," the Fallen said stoically to Virgil as he gestured toward the holographic screens. Lian's holy sword had now dimmed to a soft white glow, and the blade was at rest by his side. "She is the new hope for mankind, and I will trust in her judgement."

The shutters of the Divine Retribution's three eyes closed, and I could sense that the hologram had startled in fright at the clattering noise. "I pray you are right, my lord," the hologram responded.

"Warp jump commencing in 5..."

"If she fails, humanity dies," Virgil said, turning to the Fallen.

"4..."

"She will not fail. Have faith," Lian said, swallowing his own fear that he shouldn't be able to feel as an astartes.

"3..."

"The Imperium is failing. Null told me. If she dies-"

"2..."

"Do not speak of such things," Lian cut the hologram off.

"1..."

"-humanity is doomed," Virgil's holographic form anxiously shimmered once again.

The Divine Retribution pulled a skin of my own soul energy over itself as I felt myself step backward in reality. Unlike a normal Warp jump, when I translated this time, I felt reality actually tear to pieces behind me, unable to handle the additional stress. The expected familiar sensation of time and emotional currents streaming over my gold feathers did not come, but instead, I found myself immediately blown out of control, thrown careening into the winds of a violent reality storm!

"Danger! Ongoing reality collapse! Cause: undefinable!" I heard the Divine Retribution peal out a warning. I opened my internal Warp eye into the storm, and found a horrifying scene.

We were flying uncontrollably through a black and white whirlwind of rage and pain. Pieces of resentment crystallized by time shattered off my void shields, forcing me to extend more energy to keep myself intact. The hit was severe enough that my Parson Shield registered the hit, and my human captain cried out in pain.

"Heavy Void Shields activated! Void Shields: 90%. Danger!"

Alberich and I both cried out in surprise as an even larger sharp obsidian boulder of congealed misery immediately blindsided us, and struck the forehead of the Divine Retribution, causing the ship to reel in pain. I shook violently.

Void shields: 72%, Parson Shield: 90% the vessel informed us, stunned by the heavy impact to the head.

"We have to leave this cursed place," the amalgamate consciousness of all of us stated, and I began to seek a direction for my escape, plotting down where my golden road would take me. Anywhere away from here was satisfactory. My wings dodged more falling rocks and sharp shards of black nothingness borne on keening white winds of stark brutality. This shredded ruin was not how the Immaterium was supposed to look, I thought with worry. There was no gradient of emotion, no color, no dreams and no nightmares. Only the desire for annihilation raged here. One of my minds attempted to visualize the pleasant forest to fly in once again, but before the landscape could even be born, more wailing debris was smashed against it, and nothing could be made. Without a visual landscape, a road ahead could not be built, and the degenerating Warp was resisting any attempt at constructing anything that could help me escape.

The skeins that built the network of dreams, nightmares, and emotion behind this area of space were coming apart, and were not behaving properly. Again, desperately, I tried to forcefully demand the landscape of the Warp to conform to my will, only to see my efforts torn asunder before they could even be built, exploding into sharp black snowflakes of stinging nihilistic pain.

This was an emergency, I thought, evading a whirlwind of screaming skulls that mindlessly wanted to pulverize any concrete thoughts and emotions. The Warp in this area demanded nonexistence, so any thought would not be tolerated. Without a road, I would not be able to navigate effectively, lost here in the morbid death screams of this ancient dead civilization.

I was actually in peril, I thought, surprised. It had been a long time since I had perceived such an imminent threat to my existence. Calculating that was an emergency, I decided to consult my archived memories for insight.

I reached back through my many lifetimes, and my numerous captains of many races. My machine spirit was truly vast, larger than most dreams that could ever be imagined, and my well of knowledge, nearly depthless. Any mind attached to me would not be able to comprehend my presence in its fullness, so they only saw a fraction of me, and only during times of most dire need. Many lifetimes ago before golden roads needed to be crafted to fly through the Warp, I remember utilizing a Constant. A Constant was a fixed point in the Warp used for navigation when all other orienting methods failed. The two minds attached to me contemplated on what a "Constant" meant, with one imagining a lighthouse in a storm, and another, the light of the Astronomicon.

I read through the memories of the main intelligence that directed me, and discovered that the Astronomicon was a Warp beacon that originated from one of my old captains, shining with the same light as I did. Indeed, that would suffice for a Constant. If I could find such a light, it would be easy to find my direction once again, even without a golden road. However, I discovered that the light was currently trapped behind a wall of upset Warp space, and could not be seen from this distance.

Another black boulder struck my shoulder. 65% void shields.

A brief search of old memories stored in hidden places in my machine spirit. Whispers in the abyss and cries to the light. Whoever my light touches, it does not leave, and can never be removed. I am a point of gold in a universe of infinite dullness, and I am an eternal flame that will not be snuffed, even in the eons of my age. This old captain, I now understood, had not been physically alive for a long time, but still, the gold aura pulled from me remained. It would cling to him forever.

Any previous captain would retain my brilliance even beyond physical death, as my touch cannot be dimmed. Like a compass, I was always attuned to it, even beyond the rules of reality, real or unreal.

"That's impossible!" my captain physically said, watching as I took control of the situation. I laughed at the thought of a so-called "impossibility."

I existed as an entity beyond the rules of these tepid realms and barely clad in beautiful metal flesh. I have served Travelers, Scions, Inheritors, Gods, Kings, Warlords, and Conquerors over millions of their years. I was left behind by Those Who Came Before as a beacon of hope to the Warp-sensitive races of the galaxy against the dark, and I am very old. I am a shadow of something wise, wild, and untamed in the universe of the before, and the universe that will be after.

Nothing is impossible to me, for like my current title, I am divine retribution. I survive and I endure to mete the justice of the Creator, and I will not be stopped. The rules of eternity stack probability my favor!

And so, I look to myself now for a potential Constant, seeking my own bright shadow to guide me through this storm. In my wisdom, I gifted him my light many years ago, and now, he will use it to save me.

The present captain turned our eyes to where the old captain was dead and dreaming, so far away. She remembered a name that he had once used, and cried out to him.

"Sebastian!"

And through the gulf of the broken galaxy, the suffering corpse of the creature that used to be Sebastian responded.