**Author's note: Sorry for the long wait for this chapter. Real-life shenanigans have been keeping me occupied lately.**
The Dwemer aliens are within a kilometer of you. They are a small group with high psychic potency, the ship says, Alberich's psychic voice informed me as I watched the heretek clone of Nimmie Amee kneel before me with her many arms spread, her soul ablaze with reverence. I didn't immediately respond, so Alberich continued to give me the news on this new terrible situation. I do not know where they came from. It is as if they just appeared in the forest out of nowhere. The ship is currently scanning the forest more comprehensively for a secret gateway.
Alright, I'll get back to you on that, I hastily responded, feeling the mixture of outrage and surprise ring through the Warp like a bell over Tzeentch's triumphant laughter. I quickly glanced upward and found that the heldrakes still weren't deviating from their route! These hereteks had come to this world with an alternative plan, I recognized, quickly catching Oro's brilliant eyes as he smiled before me in the early blue light of evening. The strangely mellow Chaos Marine seemed completely unphased by everything that had just happened! He was currently playfully occupying himself with summoning unnatural gouts of violet fire from his right hand to destroy the red spiders that scuttled around the smoking black and red pile of metal trash that used to be Archmagos Apep. Oro even seemed to be making a game of it by quietly counting each little drone as he engulfed it with magic fire before telekinetically crushing it.
"You... you cannot be her," Null sputtered, his weapon still aimed at the spider Magos as he clutched Magos Jinnicky, preventing him from moving forward. "Whatever you are, you cannot be her!"
"My love," she began warmly, straightening up. Null recoiled from her, trembling. "I-
"Nimmie! Oh, praise Omnissiah, dearest beautiful Nimmie!" Jinnicky called out desperately, breaking free of Null, who made no effort to apprehend him. The nearby heretek Skitarii pointed their rifles at Jinnicky, who stopped about a pace away from Nimmie Amee. Behind me, I sensed that Kaas' rifle was trained on the spider Magos lady's head. Jinnicky obliviously laughed, completely unconcerned about the hereteks aiming guns at his head. "Yes! I understand now! Why didn't I see it before?! We live in blessed times! Why, look! Fabricator-General Kelbor-Hal is here, Nimmie! Look!" Jinnicky pointed at Null with great excitement. "Even the vile beast who followed Horus into the dark has been forgiven! Because of this, I now see that the Omnissiah will forgive all of you!" Jinnicky gestured grandly toward the two heretek warriors who still had their guns trained on him. The two evil Skitarii glanced at one another in confusion.
Hearing this, Nimmie turned toward Null, and she cocked her head curiously in his direction. A vague echo of what felt like recognition was sensed, which was even more confusing. "Yes, there are indeed voices from the past visiting us tonight," she mysteriously stated, half of her eyes narrowing while also seeming to smile.
"Someone better tell me what's going on," I instructed, pushing Sight into my voice. I looked toward the smoking pile of sparking black goo and scuttling red spider drones. Oro was still stomping on the spiders or burning them with magic while smiling happily. The blasé attitude of the hereteks after Null had clearly spoken a code that harmed one of them was beyond surprising!
"Ah, I do suppose that you and Chopper are owed an explanation, yes, even after what you have just done," Nimmie offered, stepping backward and away from Jinnicky's fawning. With a wave of one of her hands, the heretek Skitarii stopped aiming their weapons at Jinnicky. Null continued silently pointing his weapon at Nimmie.
"Null, put it down. Let's at least hear this," I instructed. The Tech-priest's weapon melted away into his mechadendrite again. A sudden wave of instinctual revulsion gripped me as I observed the hereteks before me. I gripped my bloodstone in my pocket again, swallowing the bile in my throat. I took this to mean that the Imperative was reminding me that it hated Chaos and that it wanted me to kill these people instead of playing nice with them.
Nimmie gently bowed again and pointed at herself with two thin spider-limbed arms. "Very well. What you see before you is a clone, as the Omnissiah's avatar states, one that was housed within Cyclothrathe that would be activated upon my death, which Governor Langwidere delivered to me recently," she warmly informed us in her pleasant, sibilant voice. "Over millennia, my studies into the myths of the Travelers lead me to many unexpected places. Many years ago, after my transfer to the edges of the galaxy by my unreasonable betters on Mars, I stumbled upon a group of, shall we say, somewhat agnostic individuals on Tar Vigaz."
"After some persuasive interrogation, I discovered then that the ruling government of Cyclothrathe already apparently had a few agents operating peripherally in the court of Governor Langwidere, but these newcomers that I had in my possession were not aligned in that direction. They revealed during interrogation that they did not support the ruling synod, and were now beginning to search for support for a new direction for their world by scouting independent worlds and their governments beyond formal Imperial space."
"These adepts were envoys from a new organization called the Collective of the Gold Dawn, which had sprung from the ashes of Cyclothrathe's near-demise. They explained that they were a rebellious hopeful minority that operated secretly in the shadows. They told of the plight that had fallen upon their world, which was now a depleted Hell-Forge, its planetary integration with the Immaterium greatly damaged. An underground organization had risen secretly from the ashes of the Hell-Forge as innumerable daemon engines failed. These peculiar envoys desperately yearned for innovation instead of ruin, for light instead of darkness. And, seeing an opportunity, instead of executing them, I decided to bring them hope!" The lady spider Magos' eyes twinkled, but I felt Null's soul roil in revulsion beside me. "I told them of the possibility of a new dawn, and of Kelbor-Hal's notable secret research into the beings known as Travelers who could break fate, and then, I let them go!"
I turned toward Null, who was trembling, his emotions a conflicted storm of horror, amazement, and fear.
"Hope can sometimes be seen as a sort of benevolent virus," Oro offered, the violet light around his left gauntlet fading in a cascade of burning ashes. "A small spark can create a bonfire, a pebble becomes an avalanche. Magos Nimmie Amee orchestrated the direction of a new machine cult from the ashes of Cyclothrathe. While the majority of the Hell-Forge was still bound by wicked, stagnant Warp sciences, Magos Nimmie Amee's allies grew, and over time, prospered."
"Oh, oh..." Jinnicky briefly whimpered, confusion and disbelief shining through his soul. He said nothing else and remained standing nearby watching Nimmie speak.
Nimmie walked toward where the profane metal corpse smoldered from Oro's purple balefire. With a spiny multi-jointed claw mechadendrite, she reached forward over her head and picked up the Archmagos' bladed staff that terminated with a large eight-pointed star. She then snapped it as easily as a twig before beginning again. "Because of my assistance, my eyes grew numerous across Cyclothrathe, and I received much information as the collective slowly grew into a more influential force across the remains of the Hell-Forge. The teachings of Kelbor-Hal's Traveler studies had ignited in Cyclothrathe's heart. Over time, the old guard was slowly done away with through cloning and other quiet means. Over a thousand years, the ruling synod was gradually replaced by those loyal to me. Apep here, he was a relic from the time of Archmagos Draykavac, was the last and most senior member of the synod, and he proved difficult to dislodge as he had many clones."
"Which are now being destroyed back home as we talk," Oro casually laughed. The heldrakes continued soaring above us in their wide circular holding pattern.
"Yes," Nimmie tittered happily before turning back to Null. "And thank you, dear Ogun, or whatever you call yourself now, for reciting that paralytic code. It made everything much easier for us!" Nimmie watched as a little red spider squealed as it struggled toward Null in the snow. "These drones each contain a small Warp spirit and a basic upload of Apep's memories, existing as an emergency mind cache outside the main repository of clones deep inside of Cyclothrathe. These bugs can't upload his mind to a body if there are no eligible bodies for him to possess..." One of Nimmie's mechadendrites produced a small laser, and the drone was incinerated in a snap of red light. "Kindly don't let them near you. We'll clean the rest of this up."
"So, you planned on killing Apep down here?" I asked, looking for confirmation.
"Of course! We can't have New Cyclothrathe being led by one of Draykavac's mad dogs. The hope of the future demands change!" Nimmie clarified.
"And you... deduced that the code I spoke was paralytic, and nothing else?" Null responded with an edge of aggression in his voice.
Nimmie didn't respond for a moment and turned toward Oro. With a few barked words from the heretek spider lady, Oro stopped his observation of Apep's corpse. He paused, closed his eyes, and tilted his chin slightly upward.
I immediately reached out to Alberich, Hey, just in case, arm the torpedoes! Back on the ship, I felt the German Traveler comply.
After a moment, Oro first turned toward Null and then me, his pale blue eyes wide with surprise. I mentally braced myself for trouble.
Above, the heldrakes slightly averted their flight pattern. They were now flying closer to us in a tighter holding pattern. One of the daemon engines above screamed in what felt like anticipation. Something big had changed!
Plasma torpedoes armed. I await your command, Alberich informed me.
The spider Magos lady stomped her foot down on a particularly plump red spider at her feet, which ruptured in a small explosion. She turned toward us, and when she spoke again, it was with a soft, but at the same time, cold tone. "Dearest Chopper, I have received information that states that the Anguished Epiphany is experiencing some, shall we say, difficulty in orbit," Nimmie said dangerously, turning toward Null. "Kindly tell me what that code was so that I know from you and not from my adepts when I get my full report."
Right after Nimmie spoke, Oro added more information, his words quick and concerned while glancing at Null. Beside me, I felt Lian's adrenaline rise as he began to anticipate a fight, and Wolfie growled again at my feet. The Imperative and my entire crew were aching for a fight.
Hearing the Chaos Marine's words, Nimmie sighed in what sounded like exasperation, but I could tell that this news was worse than she was letting on. I swear, if we managed to cripple an entire heretek cruiser...
What should I do? Alberich asked, leaning forward on his throne as Virgil stood beside him. I'm having trouble aiming from here, but I think I can hit the dragons without hurting you. The ship also states that it is nearly complete in its regeneration. We can leave within minutes.
Just wait, I responded quickly. What was I going to do here?
"Mmm," Nimmie hummed. "I have also been told that it appears that the Divine Retribution has turned on its talons to face us directly in the last ten seconds. Why has this occurred? You weren't thinking of killing me, were you?" the spider heretek lady buzzed, looking between both Null and me with four of her hands folded before her. "I assure you, again, that we were not here to harm you, only to welcome you."
Null spoke before I could, his tone now proud and defiant, "I have used an ancient kill-code that Archmagos Draykavac once gifted to Kelbor-Hal, but I will not tell you of its capabilities. Old records state that it was given as a gift of fealty to the Archmagos during the Horus Heresy. I am quite surprised that it wasn't changed over ten millennia."
"Old records, you say? How curious..." A long pause. Nimmie shook her head sadly. "It appears that not much has changed over ten thousand years on a few fronts, old friend," the spider Magos bitterly retorted. I felt the loud emotions of shock and hurt heavily blossom within Null, his soul reverberating in the Warp. From my perspective of knowing Null's full history, what the spider Magos seemed to be inferring was really nasty. An uncomfortable thought occurred to me then. I wondered if Nimmie Amee had actually known about my mercurial Tech-priest's memories this whole time. After all, she was the one who had given the memory code to Null in the first place!
My Corona brightened, and the power inside of me continued to push against my consciousness, demanding that I find a way to kill everyone who contains taint. Before me, I could sense Oro's Chaotic corruption, and sadly, I could recognize that this other creature that was Nimmie Amee contained the sharp metaphysical odor of Warp taint, just as I had sensed before.
"Oh, my dear misguided heretek sweeties," Jinnicky chirped, oblivious to the tense situation. Before anyone could shut him up, he unfortunately started talking again, walking forward and further away from our group. "Relax! All of you! Don't you see? All has been forgiven! You have nothing to fear. The Omnissiah is here to forgive us! Even forgive you, my darling Nimmie, if you stumbled on the road! Of course, you do not personally contain taint, as you are ever-loyal! But, fear not! The Omnissiah will cleanse you of any ugly deeds, and you will be welcome again into the Imperium!"
"Jinnicky," Magos Amee sighed angrily. "Did you not hear anything said before you, you miserable old fool?"
"Fool? A clever jest, but-"
"Jinnicky, be quiet!" I snapped. "They have taint! They all have taint! I can smell it!"
Jinnicky paused "But, Omnissiah, you can fix them, yes? Like you fixed the Fabricator-General here?" he asked, pointing at Null. "Like... like you fixed me?!" Jinnicky began to stammer, shaking his head desperately while pointing at Null.
"Jinnicky, please!" I angrily hissed, losing my temper with this dude and feeling the Imperative abruptly surge in me. The nearby Divine Retribution decided to express itself through me in a terrible way. "The stain of taint is forever; their only mercy given should be death!" I found myself speaking somewhat automatically before reaching up with my left hand to retrieve my bloodstone from my pocket so that it would contact my bare skin. I glanced toward Null whose soul continued to radiate with emotion while my heart stabbed with pain, and I pulled myself back again. I did my best to keep standing, however, and not show my weakness.
A peculiar alluring sense then slithered forward inside my consciousness like a bad rumor, and it let me know that if I purged all of these people it would feel amazing, better than any battle outside of a fight with a C'tan. A brief sensation of anticipatory pleasure very briefly shimmered through my nervous system, baiting me for how utterly fantastic it would feel to slaughter these tainted people. Luckily, I was able to swallow that urge.
Permit me my rage, Empress! Lian nearly shouted at me telepathically beside me, but by now, the burning bloodstone was back in my hand and touching my bare palm, calming me slightly. Contact with the jewel was causing some kind of mystical circuit to form between my heart and the stone, and it made my left arm tingle and ache. The Imperative pushed against me further, demanding that I do what it wanted to do and not what I wanted to do. I awkwardly tried to save face by reflexively mumbling, "Sorry, just, uh-"
The spider lady appeared to shift emotional gears; her body language became friendly again, despite Null's admission. She turned toward me. "I understand now. You need not apologize, Inheritor," Nimmie explained, her many eyes falling on Jinnicky. "Ultimately, neither you nor Null is out of turn in this meeting, despite the recent information that I have been informed of."
"But, I, I thought-" Jinnicky immediately began, completely ignorant of the danger around him. "Ah, I see! It was a joke!" The crazy Magos guy turned toward me and pointed. "You like jokes now, Omnissiah! I've seen you joke! Surely, this is another joke! Like when you said you were female? Y-yes?"
"Jinnicky, please be quiet," Null quietly interjected before turning to face Nimmie Amee again, his tone quietly dangerous. "I don't know what you're playing at, heretek, but your game will not work. I fight against those who would betray the Omnissiah." There was the faintest edge of desperate sorrow in Null's voice.
"How utterly and incredibly curious to hear someone like you, of all people in the galaxy, speak in this manner," Nimmie Amee remarked coyly.
Null said nothing. Beside me, the emotion of suspicion briefly alighted in Lian's soul.
The spider Magos lady shook her head, and I heard a long buzzing sigh in a descending tone. Despite whatever psychic dampener she wore, I could sense a storm of emotion surrounding her soul. "I play no games, Null, and I am sorry for losing my temper and speaking in bitterness." She turned toward me again. "And, my deepest apologies to you, Inheritor, for inflicting my adept's behavior upon you. He is still officially under my command, so he remains my responsibility. This is an embarrassment." The spider Magos lady didn't even seem all that upset at what I had said, and it almost appeared like they were actually more upset with Jinnicky's crazy bullshit rather than mine. "Jinnicky," Nimmie began again. "I have a task for you, a new way that you can prove useful."
"Anything, dearest Nimmie!" Jinnicky desperately said, eagerly stepping forward. He was now standing next to the heretek spider lady. The whine of Kaas' rifle behind me became slightly more pronounced, and Lian still held his sword, ready to spring into action at any moment. Honestly, despite Jinnicky being crazy and me feeling like I wanted to explode into violence, this was looking pretty good for us if we crippled a heretek spaceship, I thought, trying to will my heart to stop hurting.
Jinnicky exclaimed, "Under the light of the Omnissiah, anything is possible! Tell me, tell it like you did before, back in Evna!"
No one spoke. Lian again strained, wanting me to let him off his leash. Nimmie extended all her arms in a wide gesture before Jinnicky.
"Get back here, Magos!" Null repeated with an angry growl, only to be ignored.
"Magos Jinnicky, Jinn Randall of Holy Terra, look upon the figure of the Divine Retribution, the Great Breaker of Fate and chariot of the gods from beyond our universe."
The crazy Magos turned around to face the Divine Retribution directly, his back now to us. "I see, I see..." Jinnicky began. "I-"
"Look upon its majesty, its light..."
"Magos, get back here! You are under my command!" Null instructed as Jinnicky stepped forward, now standing beside Nimmie. Null began to advance, but then, the two heretek Skitarii pointed their rifles at him! Null halted.
Permit me, both Lian and the Imperative seemed to whisper to me. Permit my wrath. A heldrake swooped above, spitting a gout of unnatural flame casting unnatural shadows across our meeting. Oro pointedly watched me with perfect stillness before shaking his very, very slowly while maintaining eye contact. The message was clear here...
Jinnicky dreamily continued ambling forward and past Nimmie Amee, the mad Magos' inoperable mechadendrites dragging through the snow. Jinnicky stopped about two paces ahead of Nimmie Amee. He was looking at the Divine Retribution, which was now facing us directly, its three blue-green eyes visible and slightly luminescent in the light of the early evening. Faint gold light shimmered off its hull, and I could remotely see that Alberich, Rasputin, and Virgil were watching this event intently from the bridge. Alberich had his right hand extended over the armrest of his throne, and was waiting for my signal. Jinnicky cheered before us all, and another heldrake flew directly over us. Just how accurate were those torpedoes anyway? "I see the hope for the future! I see... I see a shining city upon a hill! A beautiful testament to hope and change!" the crazy Magos vociferated.
Oro snorted a laugh nearby that didn't go unnoticed.
Nimmie spoke in a gentle cloying voice. "Remember what we talked about in Evna, yes? And, you will be the hands that empower the Omnissiah, aiding the Machine God's righteous works across the universe. To stand at her left side as an angel, eternally and blessedly."
"Yes, yes!" Jinnicky cheered again.
"Thus do we invoke the Machine God. Thus do we make whole that which was sundered. Thus do we extricate that which has failed in the light of God," Nimmie Amee said under her breath softly. Jinnicky continued observing the Divine Retribution, his soul singing with adulation.
"I can see it, beloved Nimmie! I can-"
"Evna T-O-R terminal override code 99-000-kxrz7," Nimmie spoke quickly in a punctuated voice before screeching out some kind of incoherent scrambled machine noise. Immediately, Jinnicky stopped his raving and froze before falling face down in the snow! To my horror, I turned around to see that his entire army (including Snappy the robo-scorpion!) had also been neutralized, every servitor or mechanical drone toppling over in the snow. Even worse, I sensed that the spider lady had also somehow "turned off" Kaas and Rahm, who fell over in the snow behind me!
Shocked, I immediately pulled upon my Sight, and I felt my light blaze out of me irregularly, my heart aching. I could sense that the nearby Divine Retribution wanted me to call upon it and have me go apeshit again like when we were trying to escape Evna. Seeing my sudden brightness, Oro responded with a blue and gold pull of his own energy nearby, which wreathed his upper body in a radiant halo of Chaotic power. Despite this, neither of us started hurling fireballs everywhere.
Oro shook his head gently again as he looked at me directly, his eyes squinting against the brightness of my gold light. Don't, I heard the mental whisper. I do not wish to fight you, he said, his mental voice tinged with a veneer of fear.
"No, no, fighting," Nimmie responded quietly and calmly. Oro immediately dropped his halo, but I kept mine alight. She turned toward me, her gestures gentle and conciliatory as if she had not just neutralized our entire army. "No need for war, my friends. I'm certain we can come to an understanding." The spider Magos spoke a few words from Oro, who still watched us attentively. "I have simply neutralized any adherent of the Machine God's will beneath my leadership. Since I was in charge of the Tower of Reason, I made sure to include a special operation inside each of my adepts to prevent any disloyalty. And, since Jinnicky is under me, this includes anything he creates. A little secret that I kept, much like the secrets that Null keeps."
"What have you done?!" Null angrily asked, his xenos weapon now crafting itself out of his mechadendrite again.
"I just told you. And, I should ask you the same thing," she calmly informed us. "Maybe now you can tell us what you did with your code?"
A heldrake passed overhead again, and I heard Alberich inform me from the god-bird's bridge, The machine dragons keep swooping in front of my view. The eagle is informing me that the targeting is difficult! Tell me what to do!
Tell me what to do! Lian also asked me while Wolfie angrily barked at my side again.
I needed time to think, so I closed my eyes and willed the world to go away as I pulled upon my Sight, slowing time, despite the pain in my chest. Okay, I should probably know better than to have hopes that things would go well here, but what could we even do with this situation? We had apparently messed up a damn heretek cruiser (and possibly even parts of an entire Hell-Forge) but in return, a mysterious heretek version of Nimmie Amee just shut our whole fucking army down, and I wasn't sure I'd be able to kill everyone before the heldrakes killed us while I was in the shape I was in! My eyes still closed, I put the bloodstone back in my pocket and tried to think.
"The new Inheritor advances upon the golden path. Does the lioness feel the urge to hunt yet?" I heard a beatific male voice call from both within me and apart from me. I opened my eyes and saw that while time was still slowed, I was now alone aside from a familiar grinning figure that had appeared standing before me. This was the man (or whatever he was) that I liked to call "Fake Sebastian," and I hadn't seen him manifest outside of dreams for a while.
"Things would be a bit easier if I wasn't losing my mental and physical shit all the time because of you," I snapped. "How am I supposed to make any decisions when I keep getting fucked up like this?"
Fake Sebastian chuckled. "Power given without cost is unwisely spent. A vessel needs to be appropriately trammeled into an appropriate vehicle," the creature representing the oversoul of the Divine Retribution cooed enigmatically. "But, I digress. You are having difficulty, I see."
I nodded. A chair materialized out of nowhere behind me, and I sat down, gripping my head in my hands. "Alright, if you have any suggestions on what I should do, I'd like to hear them."
"The Imperative is a necessary force. It drives our will forward to do what we must for how we have been forged, but the soul of the Great Eagle lacks a mind to drive it. You must be that mind."
"I have no damn idea what you're talking about." I wearily sighed.
"Just as the Divine Retribution has a soul, and we are many, it requires a mind to express its will appropriately. You are a piece of its function; you must, at times, direct its will with logic. If you are having difficulty, the formal gift of Foresight is now at your disposal."
Information was placed gently in my mind, and now, I felt like I somewhat understood. The ship was telling me that while it contained many shadows of souls from its long past, it was using me as a sort of focal point to intelligently direct its will. It confirmed that I was essentially acting as its "brain" while the oversoul held a lot of powerful abstract instincts. I had suspected as much before, but this was unequivocal confirmation of that theory.
"That's correct," Fake Sebastian said with a smile. "And, sometimes, you must consider the fractal pattern of the future as it branches before you in order to make choices that are good for the future of your race, humanity. The choices for the best outcome may not initially seem like good decisions to the mindless infinite mind of the oversoul and its imperative, and so, you will have to push against the oversoul's emotions with your own willpower."
"Wait a minute, now you're telling me to go against the oversoul?" I asked.
Fake Sebastian shook his head. "No, not exactly; you will simply need to convince it that its needs are in alignment with yours. If faced with a difficult situation, you can use your powers of Foresight to divine the outcome while the path is uncertain. If the endpoint is good for humanity, you will need to remind the oversoul of your command, and it will bend."
"Okay," I was only able to respond. "And how do I use this gift? How do I do that?"
"You have already used Foresight before, and perhaps you intuitively wished to use it at the present, which is why we are speaking. When you were on your throne earlier on this day, you asked the Divine Retribution for help in a manner. It revealed to you potential futures. Simply concentrate on your issue, and reach into your Sight to calculate an outcome. This is, for you, somewhat hazy as you are still not at your full potential, but it is a gift that you possess."
Oh, I remembered now. After meeting with the Dwemer and before I had left for Jinnicky's tower, I had asked the god-bird for help, and it had shown me some images that didn't seem to make much sense. These images were potential futures.
"Yes, you're correct. Undisciplined, but correct," Fake Sebastian answered, effortlessly reading my thoughts. "You would need to meditate on these potential futures further to see where they lead. You can also go the other way and meditate on an action, and what future would occur should you follow it." Fake Sebastian paused to squint at me, and said, "You must know that this is a more difficult technique, especially when not attached to your throne. The act of conscious foresight will drain and sear your body, which is suffering from the amount of Sight you are forcing through it. It may even kill you in your present state."
"It might kill me if I do this? But why-" I then immediately remembered that I was a Perpetual and that I had already died twice in this body.
Fake Sebastian nodded. "Yes, it may kill you, but you will renew yourself under most deaths. If you were curious, this is why all Inheritors must be Perpetuals. They must be able to regenerate from the burning power of the Great Eagle."
So, I could divine the future now, but it might take a lot out of me or even kill me but that was okay because dying is something I'm getting pretty good at now.
"Exactly!" Fake Sebastian smiled, his body now beginning to fade away. "And, once you become even more powerful, you will become free of the shackles of your current body's weakness. Celebrate your growth and the pain and death that comes with it, for it is meant a rebirth for the new leader of the human race!"
"What?" I stood up as I questioned the blurry smear of light that vanished. He was gone. Time was still slowed around me, and I was now alone, standing in the snow. My crew and the hereteks were nowhere to be seen. I could divine the future! It might be hard on me, but right now, I needed help. This situation was terrible.
I closed my eyes and visualized the predicament I was currently in with the hereteks and Nimmie Amee. My expanding psychic abilities made visualization easier than before, and then, with a deep draw of Sight, I audibly whispered a question to myself.
"What is the best outcome that I can accomplish concerning my current situation?"
The sensation of movement and fire gripped me as my visualization began to reconstruct itself. I wasn't in good shape presently, so I knew I wouldn't get the best results, but at least it was something.
I briefly saw Nimmie Amee kneeling before me with an army of constructs, her arms open in a gesture of praise or adoration. Directly afterward, I was now in space! I beheld a fleet of Mechanicus ships that were flanking the Divine Retribution as I roared into combat against a nebulous shadowy foe that I knew was threatening a world filled with humans. "For the glory of the Machine God! For Divine Retribution!" a chant in a machine language reverberated in the Warp. An intuition struck me, and I understood that this was the flashpoint of a new following that would reach across many systems!
The shadowy foe was a great danger to humanity, and somehow, I knew then that Nimmie's Traveler cult could somehow assist against this unknown hazard. While anything with Chaotic taint was disgusting to me, what was even worse was seeing worlds of innocent humans die. Focusing in on the antagonist, I realized that I couldn't immediately discern what it was, but all of this was enough to realign my priorities, and I felt the Imperative turn toward reluctant understanding. It wished to save the humans, no matter how this salvation came.
I was beginning to strain. I quickly asked, "And, how do I get to that point?"
Another flickering image appeared in my mind, and I briefly saw myself speaking to a group of Dwemer alongside Nimmie Amee, who appeared very happy. The scene changed, and now, I saw myself calmly making my way back to the Divine Retribution with Null, Lian, the two Blanks, and the Skitarii. A heldrake passed overhead in an almost playful, acrobatic movement. My attention was brought to my hand, and I recognized that I was now holding two cut bloodstones! The last hazy image I beheld was of the Divine Retribution flying through space near the Anguished Epiphany before it turned around and wheeled away.
So, in order to get another bloodstone and to save humans from whatever that nebulous enemy was, I had to just... peacefully let these people go? What the fuck?!
I suddenly came back to myself in real-time in an abrupt shift, fire licking my shoulders! I had been knocked down! Immediately sensing danger, I shouted "Stop!" which managed to abort Lian's charge toward Oro, whom he had instantly blamed for my episode. Dizzily, I managed to force myself to stand back up. The corners of my vision threatened to darken as I willed the fire that had started on my shoulders to quench, but I remained standing. The scent of burned hair wisped in the air. Before me, I saw that Lian had frozen a pace away from Oro, his sword drawn aggressively in both hands. Oro now had both hands raised; his left hand still held the levitating black orb and his right hand was now held above his head and it was wreathed in multicolored light. The sorcerer had his eyes fixed on both me and Lian, and luckily, he hadn't begun to fight anyone just yet. "No one attack anyone! The fire is a side effect of me using Foresight. Lian, get back to my side and don't fight that guy."
Lian reluctantly trudged back to my side. Null had not moved; his mechadendrite was again pointing his xenos weapon at Nimmie Amee. Oh, this was going to be a bitch to explain...
"Listen, everyone," I began, my words colored with reluctant shame. "I have the power of Foresight, and this power is telling me that we should not fight," I started. "It's telling me I should... actually just be friendly with you."
NO... FIGHT...? Wolfie transmitted with great disappointment.
No, sorry, I responded. The astral hound then vanished in a puff of irritated Warp smoke.
The torpedoes are still armed but I still can't get a good target on someone since you're all too close together, Alberich informed me back on the god-bird. And, the aliens are just over 100 meters away now. The ship tells me that there is some interference surrounding them so I can't get a precise bead on their number or an image.
Unarm the torpedoes, Alberich, I reluctantly instructed. I'm going to fix this another way.
After a moment, Oro finally dropped his flaming gauntlet. The Chaos Marine wore a small smile of relief. The heldrakes remained circling above.
Nimmie tensely observed me, and I could tell that she was carefully considering what to say. "With your gift of Foresight, you must understand that my organization has only righteous goals and that we do not suffer the typical madness of Hell-Forges. As you must clearly see, I am a civilized Magos, and my conduct at the Tower of Reason in helping the Evian evacuation should tell you that. I do not wish destruction, I assure you. I and my collective's only wish is to advance into a brighter future with you as a new figurehead for the Omnissiah's light. I praise your wisdom."
Everyone still strained around me, demanding that I somehow both "fix everything" while also wanting me to purge all the hereteks. I sighed. "I saw a future where you were helping a lot of humans against some foe that I could not see," I responded, shaking my head in disbelief at what I was saying. The Imperative was now aligned with wanting me to actually cooperate with the hereteks so that more humans could live later.
"And it sounds like a good future, Inheritor," Oro said, smiling widely. His body language and facial expressions had relaxed now.
"I am glad to hear this," Nimmie answered. "And now, if you please, Inheritor, can you kindly tell us what Null's code was designed for specifically? My code, as I said, was an implanted command that all underlings beneath me possessed. It is a shutdown in case of emergency, which I interpreted as it was."
Gritting my teeth, I visualized what I had seen. If I let all these people go, this act would start a butterfly effect that would lead to planetary systems being able to defend themselves against a terrible foe. As repulsive as it was, I felt the Imperative actually back off on wanting me to purge anything with taint, as it wanted more humans to be saved in the long run. It was no longer pushing against me to tear the hereteks to pieces. Cringing, I turned toward Null and instructed, "Null, tell them what you think your code does specifically," I found myself ordering.
What are you doing? Lian telepathically asked me, alarmed.
Just what I said, I quickly rattled off. I hate this too, but I want as many humans to be saved as possible.
Null didn't immediately obey, but after I turned toward him and gave him a harsh look, he said "I told the truth. The code is an operative code for Cyclothrathe. It was designed as a gift of fealty to be given to Kelbor-Hal by Archmagos Draykavac. If pronounced before a ranking member of the Hell-Forge it..."
The Tech-priest looked back at me with a pleading expression on his wide animated eyes. I nodded my head, indicating that he should keep going.
"It may or may not paralyze manufactorums and other essential systems on Cyclothrathe. I theorize that it would act as a sort of executive reboot. It might also manipulate the functions of void-faring vessels, but it is unclear what exactly it may do in that case. In the terms of your voidship, I'm genuinely unsure."
A wave of unexpected surprised happiness exploded across Nimmie Amee's soul, even perceptible over the dampener she wore. She clasped all her thin clawed hands together. "Oh! And here I was believing that disaster struck because of a little trouble on our cruiser!" Nimmie Amee spoke a few words in a strange language to Oro, who began to laugh merrily. What was going on?
I stepped backward, now worried that I had once again fucked up with something important. Nimmie shook her head, happiness beaming off of her as she began to laugh raucously. "And to think I was worried! This has worked to our advantage! Recently, Apep put up an extra guard on the cloning facilities deep within the capitol, as he was growing paranoid, suspecting an assassin in his midst. Your code, if what you say is true, has shut down all defensive security measures of these locations as their defensive encryptions had not been updated since the Horus Heresy! For ease, Apep simply built upon older systems without fully updating any security! We anticipated great defensive resistance from these locations, and we had laboriously trained an underground army specifically designed to assault this region; it was predicted that this operation would be extraordinarily difficult, even with my forces. Instead, you have opened the front door for our assault and have allowed our wolves into the larder! His clones will be easily destroyed! We have won!"
"Hail to the Inheritor for gifting us Cyclothrathe!" Oro laughed.
In the Warp, I also felt the laughter of Tzeentch as the god voraciously fed off the emotion of change that I sensed was now absolutely pouring off of Cyclothrathe. A vision of teams of twisted Skitarii charging into rooms filled with frightened hereteks burned briefly in my mind. Explosions rupturing strange facilities filled with red vats and spider drones ignited within me. A cackling pink horror cavorted down a black street while chanting a happy song about the "Future sister, the Dark Queen of Heaven, blessed of change! The touch of hope and progress from the future sister!"
Lian, be at ease, I ordered my tense Honor Guard who then reluctantly placed his sword on his back again.
Nimmie was still laughing when I came back to myself. "Oh, this meeting has worked out marvelously. And to think I was worried by a little feedback interference on our vessel! Operational code 991-9xy, renewal exception, unit m-jr99x," the spider Magos chuckled with a dismissive wave of her arms. Instantly, I sensed that Jinnicky's army along with Null and Kaas became functional once again. The rest of the crazy Magos' army pulled themselves up, but did not move to arm any weapons; Jinnicky himself, however, was still lying face down in the snow. "Inheritor, I am glad that we could all meet and clear up this misunderstanding."
"Inheritor..." Null quietly pleaded to me. I didn't look at him.
"Why is Jinnicky still out?" I asked suspiciously, motioning my staff to point at him.
"I'm not sure, entirely," Nimmie responded with a shrug, and before she could speak further, Oro stepped forward.
"Forgive the interruption, but the heldrakes are informing us that the xenos are nearly here. They are traveling from the forest. They are close. Would you like us to deal with them, Inheritor?"
I shook my head, remembering that this confrontation should enable me to snag another cut bloodstone, which was definitely something that I wanted. "Just... just leave them alone," I answered, upset at what I was doing. My tolerance of the hereteks here felt all wrong. "The xenos are coming here to talk, not to fight."
"Very well, Inheritor," Nimmie Amee answered happily. "Speaking of talking and not fighting, we wish to speak to you concerning the future of this world and what it should be after your departure. This is, after all, your world, and it shall be claimed under your banner."
"So, wait, now you're giving me this world?" I asked.
"Yes, of course. Once we properly survey it, yes. Despite your humility, you are ultimately the true Omnissiah's avatar, so Ix shall be gifted to you. Perhaps it is the first world under your new Imperium! You will be free to rule this world as you wish with us as your stewards," Nimmie responded warmly. "And Cyclothrathe, of course, is also yours once our forces overrun it. Thanks to Null's code, this is all but certain. The world of Ix has a lot of potential and many resources. We know that there are human tribesmen scattered about this world, along with ancient ruins and Traveler-related relics. Aside from the subterranean xenos, it is ideal! A rare pristine jewel of a world that we are eager to colonize under your name!"
I looked away again, confused and overwhelmed. The hereteks were actually giving me these worlds? That was certainly unexpected, and I still felt terribly guilty for cooperating with these people at all, but my future visions seemed clear enough. If I let the hereteks off the hook, many humans will be helped in the future, my Foresight had heavily suggested. And, speaking of that, I sure hoped that this action was the right move, because being friendly with hereteks felt like a really stupid thing for me to do. Thinking back on my lore, I then recalled that the Emperor had also done a lot of weird dumb bullshit that seemed counterintuitive, and now, his erratic decisions were starting to make a bit more sense. From this angle, it appeared that he had used his own gift of Foresight to plot his way forward concerning the galaxy. Even if his actions seemed unusual, he had acted in a way to produce a certain outcome, which I assumed was the galactic supremacy of humanity.
Upsettingly, I abruptly realized that all his actions, even with the use of Foresight, had ended up with him stuck on the Golden Throne. How would I know if using this gift was reliable?
Everyone was looking at me, and behind, I felt that the Dwemer were near. Maybe I could tell these quasi-heretek people to leave the Dwemer and the human tribesmen alone. Would they listen to me? "Okay, we'll figure it all out," I finally ended up responding to what had been said to me earlier. At the very least, it was starting to look like I wouldn't destroy Ix like every other damn world that I touched in this cursed universe.
"Hope in small things, I guess," I whispered as Tzeentch gorged himself on the energy bleeding off Cyclothrathe's distant coup, the Chaos God's daemons singing praises to my inevitable supremacy.