A/N: As in canon, the Emperor sounds and looks different from different POV's.
I'm still not happy with this, but I promised myself that I would upload it today. If I didn't I would never have the bravery to ever upload this chapter.
Horus Lupercal:
820. M30.
The mortal, Nimis, and his two companions led the way into the depths of the ship in silence. They had chosen to leave the creatures that they had arrived with in the landing bay, nominally to keep guard of the ship. In response, the Emperor ordered two of His Custodian Guard to stay with them outside the ship. The corvette had more than enough members of the Mechanicum to keep guard, but a tech-priest could never equal a member of the Legio Custodes, no matter how advanced the cybernetics.
And the Legio Custodes could never equal a Primarch, especially one such as he.
Nimis and his men led the way, followed by the Emperor. Behind the Emperor walked Horus and Leman, followed by the rest of the members of the Legio Custodes.
If Nimis was bothered by the arrangement, he didn't say. In fact, he didn't say much of anything, though Horus could tell that he wished to. From this and his general demeanour, Horus surmised that was used to being familiar with his superiors, but at the same time inexperienced in speaking to unfamiliar or foreign dignitaries.
Odd, for someone trusted by his lords to meet the highest ranking lords of the Imperium of Man. Were there no better options?
The more Horus thought about it, the more sense it made. The Emperor had mentioned the Warp currents around the system being exceptionally difficult to navigate, and none in the galaxy were as skilled as He at navigating them. This meant that this system was isolated from all of the surrounding ones. Why then, would this civilisation be experienced in diplomatic matters?
They made their way through increasingly dour corridors and passages. There were no paintings, statues or other signs that this place was lived in. Were they looking at a culture that didn't value these things? It was possible, but that didn't seem likely. Cultures such as those had rigid social hierarchies as cold logic gets placed above emotional content. The Mechanicum of Mars was a good example, and all current evidence pointed to the opposite being true.
Then why was this place so empty? Were there no people living in it?
Horus thought it over, as they turned a corner that looked like any other he had seen. No people lived here, he decided. It was far too clean and bereft of signs of personality. What then, he wondered, was this station's purpose, if not to serve as a living area or outpost of some kind?
They came upon an elevator set against in an otherwise unremarkable space. Was this a cargo hold of some kind? It seemed a likely possibility. Most elevators were not built with people the height of the Legio Custodes in mind, much less men of his, Leman's or the Emperor's size.
They entered the elevator with space to spare, which was fortunate, if surprising. The mortal, Nimis, tapped a few buttons on the control panel and the elevator began to move. As it did, music began playing.
It was beautiful, Horus had to admit, buoyed by the sheer lack of culture present anywhere else on the ship. Based on his meagre knowledge of music, it sounded to his ear as piano in A minor. It was a light and unpretentious composition. Still, he had heard better from the artists of the Imperium.
Despite this, the Emperor stirred. It was so minor a movement, Horus almost thought it a trick of the mind. Almost. None knew the Emperor as he did, except perhaps the Legio Custodes. Over thirty years spent with the Emperor told him that there was mystery afoot. Something about the music had captured the Emperor's attention, though Horus could not tell what.
Surprisingly, Leman Russ did.
"My knowledge of music composition is limited, but is this not Bagatelle No. 25?" He asked.
"It was also known as 'Für Elise'." The Emperor agreed, to Horus's surprise. "A composition by Ludwig van Beethoven. It is a relic of the second millennium."
Horus couldn't believe his ears. Horus was not the most cultured of individuals, his focus instead entirely on the Emperors' Great Crusade, but he was more cultured than any mortal could dream of being. Yet, Leman Russ recognized a musical composition Horus didn't even know existed. Leman Russ, who came from a culture of savages and brutes who had never even seen glass before the Imperium graced them with its presence.
He, only two years after discovery, recognized something Horus could not, despite being over thirty years his senior in the matters of the Imperium. Years of practice allowed Horus to school his features and his disbelief was impossible to see. He turned his head to Leman Russ, a questioning brow on his features.
The Wolf King shrugged.
"Bagatelle No. 25 was something I saw in the Sigilites' collection." Ah. That explained it.
Despite Malcador the Sigillite being the Emperor's most trusted advisor, bar His Primarchs, Horus was no ally of the Sigillite. Like many who did not know better, the Sigillite thought himself better than even the Primarchs. Not infrequently, he questioned Horus's tactics and stratagems. It was never in public, and it was always under the guise of wisdom but Horus knew that the Sigillite looked down upon all who were not the Emperor.
Horus knew that the Sigillite looked down upon him, and that was something Horus could not abide.
Horus had heard tell of Leman having irregular meetings with Malcador, as nothing in the Imperial court escaped his ears, but he had excused the news as rumours. More often than not, useless drivel such as the relationship status of this noble or that noble filled the Imperial court, so he could be forgiven for writing this rumour off as fiction thought of by an imaginative Imperial noble, given the Wolf King's…abrasive personality.
To have the rumour confirmed as true, especially at a time such as this was strange but Horus was thankful for it. Leman Russ was not somehow more cultured than Horus, he simply had access to relics that Horus did not. This did not bother Horus.
The relics that the Emperor possessed and the relics that Horus had discovered with Him on countless planets were far superior, after all.
Regardless, why would a relic from the second millennium of all places find its way into some unimportant system in the Segmentum Obscurus? Travel into the Segmentum Obscurus only began in the Dark Age of Technology, more than ten thousand years after the second millennium and by then, the sheer amount of cultural touchstones would have meant that anything produced in the second millennium would have fallen to the wayside.
The Emperor made no further comment on the music, but Horus knew that His curiosity was piqued. Unless it jeopardised their mission here, the Emperor would make at least a token attempt to understand a few of the many mysteries that surrounded this system. Horus admired that facet of the Emperor's character, because Horus knew that he would not. Knowledge in itself was no prize to Horus, except for the options it could provide him.
Horus debated pressing Leman on his relationship with the Sigillite, but decided against it. The type of information he was interested in could no doubt only be obtained through rigorous questioning that Leman would see as antagonistic. Horus could not afford to risk antagonising the Wolf King, as he would be fighting by his side soon, if Horus had a correct measure of the Emperor's intent.
Horus almost always had the measure of the Emperor's intent, even as Horus silently admitted that the Emperor could vex him like no other.
Besides, the questioning would no doubt draw the Emperor's choler. He was a patient man, but He took an insult to the Sigillite as an insult to Him, and Horus could not fathom insulting his father even in his wildest dreams..
So, Horus chose not to question Leman.
Instead he chose to ask the Emperor a question. There was something strange about the mortal, Nimis, besides his demeanour. Ordinarily Horus would have never noticed - Nimis was beneath one such as he, after all - but his continued presence gnawed at him. A puzzle a few pieces short of completion.
"Father." He said, getting his attention. "Do you see what I see?"
The room seemed to glow momentarily before the Emperor answered. From experience, Horus knew that the Emperor had exerted his power to allow for privacy in their conversation. While Leman and the Custodes would be able to hear them speak, Nimis and his men would not.
"If you speak of the 'King's Shield' and their technology," The Emperor answered. "I do."
Horus nodded, an act that he knew that the Emperor could see, even as he looked forward.
"I do, Father." Horus said. "The mortals have access to armour that seems a warped mirror copy of the armour your Custodes possess. It's as if they have seen your Custodes from afar and attempted to copy them without knowledge of the internal systems."
Horus noted that the similarities were uncanny, yet startling in their differences. The armour was made of some unidentifiable grey metal instead of auramite, and it did not have matching heraldry, but the similarities were there. It was covered with red, white and blue accents on the pauldrons along with a simple gold filigree personalised to each member of the 'King's Shield'. that seemed to depict significant achievements or rank.
Experience told Horus that it was likely some mix of both. In addition, each member had a star on both their pauldrons, their designs differing slightly. The left pauldron was emblazoned with a simple yellow circle - a sun most likely - framed by a yellow wreath on a blue, red and white background while the right pauldron was a white 24 point starburst similarly framed by a wreath. There was some sort of symbol on the shields on their backs that Horus could not see, even in the relatively spacious elevator.
"It could be the influence of your brother, but I have my doubts." The Emperor said. "Despite getting ever closer to him, I still cannot confirm your brother's status. He lives, but I cannot tell his condition."
The melancholy Horus could hear in His voice was immense. The Emperor had explained to both Leman and Horus that while all of their brothers were alive, many of them could have been assaulted with any number of afflictions after being stolen from the Emperor's gene labs. The Emperor had advised both to welcome their new brother, but to be weary in doing so.
"Regardless," The Emperor continued. "While I breathed technological understanding into your brother, I did not give him my knowledge of it. This cannot be his work. Some of the look of the armour is likely due to simple convergent design resulting in similar solutions to similar problems."
"To me, it reeks of xenos." Leman Russ observed.
"Yes." The Emperor agreed. "The armour's locomotion reminds me of Eldar technology, and there are some aspects that remind me of the Orks. "
Typically, it was madness to try and understand Ork technology, as Orks had no concept of proper design methodology. They had no concept of supply lines and proper infrastructure. Everything they made was ramshackle and as deadly to them as it was to their enemies.
In fact, Ork technology were frequent parodies of human and xeno technology made by creatures who barely understood it.
Horus had never cared much about Ork technology, except when he had to destroy it, but he knew Ork technology well. He had killed countless Ork Warbosses and Warlords on planets barely worth mentioning, after all. So, even as a technological novice, Horus recognized that there were systems that acted as a personal force field by the faint sounds of the whirring in the suit and the miniscule shimmering of light around the edges of Nimis' armour.
The armour was also likely directly integrated into the muscular or nervous systems given the smoothness of the movement. Through gaps less than half a centimetre wide, Horus could see coiled cabling, like synthetic musculature in the armour. There were definitely signs of Ork technology, but the cleanliness of the designs made it the most advanced Ork technology Horus had ever seen. Even if Eldar systems were also somehow integrated with the Ork systems.
The armour was more advanced than anything the Astartes could currently readily deploy, except perhaps Terminator and Dreadnought armour.
"No matter." Horus stated simply, a smile playing on his features. "They will be no match for us if there comes a need for violence."
"While I am reassured that you understand your strength, be careful that confidence does not become conceit." The Emperor turned his head to Horus and looked at him with eyes as bright as a star. "You forget the beasts that accompany the 'King's Shield'."
He turned away from Horus to face the door.
"We have arrived." The Emperor announced.
A second later, Nimis announced the same, turning slightly to face them.
Horus resisted rolling his eyes, and instead smiled amiably. Nimis shook slightly, seeing the Emperor again, even from the corner of his vision but Horus' smile must have reassured the poor mortal, because he soldiered on.
"My Lords await you beyond this door." He said, pressing a green button with no overt label.
The door slid open and immediately, the sights, sounds and smells of the domain beyond the door hit all the residents of the elevator. For a scant moment, Horus couldn't believe his eyes.
Outside of the door, lay a rainforest, teeming with life.
"Follow me, please." Nimis announced, before walking out of the elevator, his step confident. They all followed silently.
The difference between this portion of the ship and the docking bay and its surrounding areas was stark. So stark in fact that Horus' first instinct was to assume this place to be a hologram or illusion of some kind. The ship was almost an oxymoron inn itself. Just a few levels away from the docking bay, which was seemingly lifeless, lay an area several kilometres in diameter teeming with plant, insect and animal life.
Horus did not consider himself learned in the ecological and biological sciences, but he could swear that he saw at least one species of animal that did not exist on Terra. A sloth, meandering on a tree in the distance, matched the description of one in the Emperors' personal library.
Did this 'Immortal Sun' have an STC with the genetic profile of some of Terra's lost species? It would make sense. The resources needed to maintain an enclosed ecosystem of this size, so far from any visible civilization, were likely immense, but would be easy to maintain with technology from the Dark Age.
At seemingly random spots in the forest, Horus saw the very beasts that had been left in the docking bay working in the forest. These were much smaller and wore only a light garb, letting an almost greenish-grey skin peek through at points. At a glance, they seemed to be working. Some were collecting items from the forest floor. Others were simply recording their observations onto dataslates.
Was this a research facility?
"It seems the beasts are more than combat servitors of some kind." Horus observed. He turned to his Emperor. "Can you tell what they are, Father?"
"They are Orks."
"Orks?" Horus answered, genuinely surprised. "Truly?"
He knew that Ork technology had been used by the 'King's Shield', but Horus had assumed that they had simply reverse engineered it, from afar. Consorting with xenos, especially the greenskins was another matter entirely.
The greenskins regularly took human and xenos alike as their slaves and killed them at a whim. Horus had seen Orks kill both the infirm and the elderly for nothing more than their own twisted pleasure. They regularly destroyed STC's that could save millions of lives for nothing more than their own amusement and curiosity. Yet this 'Immortal Sun' was so pretentious that it would choose to ally with them?
The Imperium of Man had razed entire systems for less.
"Those are Orks." The Emperor confirmed. "They have been thoroughly modified by what seems to be extensive genetic and cybernetic modification. From a purely cursory examination it seems that they are all following pre-arranged orders. They have no original thought processes. When you compare them to servitors, you are more correct than you realise."
"I do not consider myself a master of technology." Leman Russ interjected, a frown upon his face. "And I do not have as extensive a career battling the greenskin hordes as you, Allfather, but I understand the beasts well enough. Considering the rate at which the greenskins multiply, and their uncanny ability to adapt, would that not mean that this system is a lost cause?
"I agree." The Emperor replied, his voice filled with sorrow. "Unnecessary war pains me. It is a stain upon the soul, but I fear that this system may already be a lost cause. This may not be the case, but if it is, our resources would be better served on more important fronts. After I confirm the status of your brother and recover him, before investigating this system. If I find that this system truly is lost, I will send for the XII legion to reinforce the VI and the XVI and take care of this infestation. Either way, your brother will be recovered, and you will both return to your fronts and continue the Crusade."
Horus frowned.
"Would our brother not object to his home system's destruction?" He asked.
"Your brother will see the wisdom of the action."
"If he does not?" Leman Russ asked.
The Emperor paused, as if the thought had never occurred to him. He sounded pained as he answered.
"Then we shall illuminate him."
.
Nimis led them down a wide grassy path free of trees and twisting vines as Horus mentally ran through the plan for contact with the Immortal Sun.
First, they were to establish contact with the goal of determining the condition of their brother. If his condition is compromised physically or mentally, Horus and the Wolf King would recover their brother and make way for the Bucephalous.
If their brother's condition was good, the Emperor would attempt to open diplomatic ties with the Immortal Sun and convince them of their folly in consorting with xenos. Then, if they agreed to comply with the Imperium and its Truth, they would be asked to destroy the Orks and allow for Mechanicum to create outposts in this system. If they did not agree to compliance, they would be destroyed with the Orks.
Horus looked around, as they walked leisurely down the path.
There were no rails or barriers that kept animals from crossing over into the path. Despite this, no animal crossed into the path even as Horus' senses told him that both animals and the Orks surrounded them on all sides, outside of it.
Mercifully, it only took fifteen minutes of travel to reach their destination; a large pavilion made of white stone, wood and glass.
It was beautiful, and arranged so that anyone inside the pavilion had a near 360 degree view of their surroundings. The mist of the forest floor only served to accentuate the designs of the pavilion, making it seem as if it was floating. Truthfully, it was something Horus could see on a paradise world, instead of some space station in the middle of nowhere.
It was a shame it would burn, soon.
In the pavilion stood four people, all on one side of a large round wooden table with ornate designs carved into it in spiral patterns. To Horus' eye, he saw three men and one woman. Surprisingly, all of them stood at or just below the height of a Primarch, though only one had the aura of a Primarch.
They had found another one of his brothers and he was seemingly healthy, in a completely different condition to the one the Emperor had described..
Despite dreading potentially breaking his brother's heart, Horus' excitement was palpable, and so was the Wolf King's. Like Horus, Leman stayed calm and made no move, but his feral grin and the glint in his eye told Horus that he was already judging him. The movement in his armour told Horus that Leman longed to fight their new brother, as Leman had wanted to fight him when they had first met. It was custom on Fenris for brothers to fight, after all, but the Emperor's presence kept the Wolf King from making a move.
Their purpose here was too serious to jeopardise by being too hasty.
Their brother stood second from the left, just next to a red-headed man who looked eerily like him. A coincidence? No, Horus decided, that was unlikely. All of the Emperor's creations were too distinct. Genetic modification of some kind was the most likely reason for the similar facial features.
These people had had the temerity to perform experiments on his brother, and the Emperor's work. It was an unthinkable prospect, but here it was, staring Horus in the face. Horus felt his smile strain.
He wished to draw his sword, and demand answers, but this was not his matter to arbitrate. It was the Emperor's and He was supremely calm, absorbing information that Horus could scarcely imagine.
Like Horus, He had an amiable smile on his face - the very smile Horus had worked hard to emulate so long ago- but his was also similarly strained. In fact, it was almost a frown. Horus could not tell what the Emperor had seen, but he knew his father was not impressed.
Horus returned his attention to his newest brother. Like Horus and Leman, he looked very much like the Emperor, with a strong jaw, keen features and eyes that spoke of mystery. He had dark hair that curled upon itself and reached his shoulders and was dressed in light formal wear - a simple white long sleeved shirt and grey dress pants broken up by a brown leather belt - covered with pieces of ornate black and white armour on his arms and shoulders, with the occasional red accents.
On his head lay a simple steel crown. Besides it, Horus couldn't see a single piece of jewellery on him.
Underneath his shirt, Horus could see what looked like ink on his skin. Tattoos, perhaps?
To his credit, Horus' new brother stayed calm as well, upon seeing them. After taking a moment to glance at a dark skinned man in attire similar to his own and whispering something to him, he looked back at them impassively.
The mortal, Nimis increased pace before suddenly stopping, and going down to a single knee. His two compatriots followed suit on either side of him. His eyes were on the dark skinned man as he spoke.
"My Lord, we have led the foreign emissaries to you as you have requested. Have we failed in our mission?" He asked.
"No, you have not. Your performance has been more than satisfactory." The man answered.
His voice was neither soothing or grating, instead finding a balance between the two extremes. Horus would have described it as being 'average' if not for the power emanating from it. Despite his seemingly relaxed demeanour, Horus had no doubt that this man was dangerous. He turned to Nimis' companions and nodded at the both of them before continuing.
"All of you did well. You may now be at ease."
The 'King's Guard' immediately stood and arranged themselves to stand in front of the pavilion to their lord's right and to Horus' left. The dark skinned man looked up at them from his place in the pavilion before speaking.
Now that he was closer, Horus could see the differences in his attire to his brother. The shirt was the same, but the pants were black and his armour was accented in the sickly green of the Orks. In addition, he had spotted fur lining the pieces of his armour and had ornate steel jewellery and a golden necklace around his neck.
"Welcome, honoured guests, to the Immortal Sun Empire!" He announced, his arms wide open. "My name is Isaac Zulu and I am the Emperor of the Naufrag System."
He motioned to the woman.
She had auburn hair, sharp features and what looked like extensive cybernetic enhancements, though almost none of them were visible to the eye unless you paid attention. Horus always paid attention. Her eyes were obviously cybernetic and looked almost as if she were wearing a pair of red tinted glasses. This was the end of the more obvious cybernetics.
The rest lay beneath her skin, though a silvery metal was visible below the pale skin of her hands and fingers. This was accentuated by the simple iron rings on her thumb, index and little fingers. She was dressed in a simple dark green short-sleeved dress that came down to her ankles. The dress had no overt designs printed upon it besides two large golden suns on the sides of her waist.
"This is Kha Suryasta, the Empress of the Immortal Sun and the Naufrag System."
Impressively, like the dark skinned man, Isaac, she seemed unaffected by the Emperor's presence when most mortals would prostrate themselves immediately before her. She curtsied and inclined her head before interlacing her fingers at her waist.
"I am pleased to make your acquaintance." She began. "Please forgive us for what must be an unusual reception. I'm sure you must be used to grand parades, but we were not expecting a fellow human empire making its way through the Great Ocean unscathed, so this meeting was…rushed for safety reasons. We have chosen to meet you here, instead of the heart of our empire for similar reasons. I hope you understand. We live in a hostile galaxy, after all."
Surprisingly, neither of them chose to introduce the two men standing with them. None of them chose to introduce his brother. Was this a test of some kind, or was it merely an aspect of the culture here?
"We do not take offence." The Emperor stated simply, His tone was polite but unyielding. "The Imperium of Man has felt the sting of Old Night more than most. Unlike some, we understand the need for security above unnecessary pomp."
Horus almost snorted. The Emperor sounded almost amused. Horus could see why. For all of the posturing of the 'Immortal Sun', the empire simply lacked the ability to speak to someone of the Emperor's stature. These people were like children, playing at running an empire in His eyes.
Still, Horus couldn't say he didn't appreciate the lack of extensive formal ceremonies here.
Pomp and ceremony was one of the most ubiquitous aspects of culture in the Imperium. Horus could barely travel anywhere without people preparing a feast and a parade for his arrival. He appreciated a good parade and felt feasts in his honour were appropriate for someone of his stature, but Horus had to admit that most parades felt the same.
After each feast, Horus would tell the citizens of the world that this world or that world was unlike all others he had experienced. Sometimes, this was true. There were gems unlike any other in many places in the galaxy. Terra, for example, was one of them. Most times however, Horus would lie. The citizens would love it and lap every word up like it was nectar raining from heaven. Horus shook his head.
Sometimes, Horus missed the simplicity in Cthonia's culture of violence. There, ceremony was secondary to survival. Horus blinked away the thought. Most times, he did not.
Horus watched as Isaac's eyebrow rose.
"The Imperium of Man?" He asked, glancing over their party. "Interesting. Forgive my curiosity, but would that make you the Emperor of this Imperium, then?"
"It would." The Emperor answered. "To my subjects, I am known as the Emperor of Mankind."
Typically, most would-be 'emperors' of star empires would take offence at this, or claim incredulity. Many would even claim the Emperor to be arrogant for thinking himself the Emperor of all humankind throughout the galaxy and beyond. If Isaac thought the Emperor to be possessed of hubris, he didn't mention it. Instead he froze momentarily, as if the true depths of the Emperor's was only just hitting him.
Action: Meet the Emperor of Mankind.
Reward: Apollo's Odyssey (Horizon Zero Dawn V0.9a)
"Ah." Isaac stated simply after a few moments. "I see. That makes sense. Only an Emperor could afford auramite in the amounts I see among your delegation, much less use it for personal armour."
"You know of auramite?" The Emperor asked, His voice tinged with curiosity,
"I do." Isaac confirmed. "Though I admit that I know very little about it. I have never encountered as much as a single sample of it, and my attempts to create it have been unsuccessful."
Isaac raised his hands and clapped them together once, causing the air around the pavilion shimmer. A force field Horus hadn't noticed began to glow before melting away into non-existence.
"But enough about my embarrassing scientific experiments. The Princes wouldn't forgive me if I wasted hours talking about them." He motioned down to the table. "Please, come up to the table."
"Princes?" Horus couldn't help but interject, as he followed the Emperor up to the table. Of the Legio Custodes, only one followed, the Captain General, Constantin Valdor. The rest chose to stand opposite the King's Shield.
"Yes." Isaac confirmed, as they reached the table. "The Princes. My sons. The twin jewels of the Naufrag System."
He motioned to the red-headed man who looked uncannily like his brother.
"My Eldest, Kov Zulu."
He then motioned to Horus's brother, who nodded politely.
"My youngest, Esau Zulu."
The Emperor paused as he stood next to a chair that had been placed opposite Isaac's position. Horus placed himself to the Emperors right, and Leman placed himself to the Emperors left.
Etiquette dictated that they wait for the host to sit, before sitting themselves, so they didn't. Instead they stood.
"You named them after the sons of Isaac, from the Book of Genesis?" The Emperor questioned.
"I did. That was the case for Esau at least. Kov's name being so close to the root word for 'Jacob' was a happy accident, I admit. Though from your tone of voice, you don't sound impressed." Isaac said as he and his cohort sat down on large ornate wooden chairs.
"Please, sit." He added, almost as an afterthought. Horus felt his choler rise, but he chose to keep silent. He did not take disrespect lightly, but to instigate conflict when the Emperor Himself had chosen to waive all social faux pas, was beneath him.
While the Primarchs sat, The Emperor of Man stared at Isaac. It had no particular malice, but it was a stare that would wither even the most stubborn of men. Isaac did not falter.
Eventually, the Emperor spoke.
"I have to admit that I am not overly impressed. Those were not the names I would have chosen were I you. But, I am not you." The Emperor's stature seemed to slim to match Isaac in size before He sat down. "However, since I am not you, I find myself worried."
Horus' felt his smile become genuine.
"Oh?" The Empress of the Immortal Sun replied. If she was at all affected by the Emperor's statement and veiled insult, she didn't show it. "What would worry a man of your stature?"
"A great many things, you may be surprised to learn. A great many things." The Emperor looked around the room and briefly tapped the massive golden claw on his left hand on the table, before suddenly stopping. "As of right now, my biggest concerns amongst them are this: What have you done to yourself, and why have you tried to do the same to my son?"
Leman Russ:
Despite popular opinion in the Imperium, Leman Russ was no savage. He was neither feral nor a barbarian. He was wild, fierce, and ferocious, but he was no savage. Often, people forgot that he was one of the Emperor's Primarchs, made near to perfection in every way. He was stronger than any man, faster than any man and most importantly, he learnt faster than any man.
In the two years since he and his Vlka Fenryka joined the Imperium, Leman Russ had seen and learnt about things that his King Thengir, his foster father on Fenris, could have ever dared to dream about. He and his Wolves had brokered deals that brought more than a dozen worlds into the Imperium's fold. Leman Russ was no savage.
In fact, compared to him, most Imperial citizens were savages. They just didn't know it and Leman never cared to correct them. Where they saw savagery on Fenris, he saw a culture and history of resilience.
Leman Russ was no savage.
He was simply true to his own nature, as all men should strive to be. As the Emperor of Mankind, the Allfather had always tried to do.
Unlike Horus, Leman didn't pretend to understand the Emperor or His ways in full. Even to His sons, He was an enigma. To Horus He was the standard to which all men should strive towards, but to Leman, He was a wise man. An old wanderer who chose to be a leader to all of mankind when no one else would step up or could step up. He was not perfect, no man was, but He was as close as possible to the term.
He was always looking towards the future, so it was the role of the Primarchs to focus on the present. To safeguard the Emperor and his vision against harm from all outside threats. Each Primarch represented one of the Allfather's traits made manifest, or so it has been said.
Leman was not the biggest supporter of this theory. It made all the Primarchs seem like nothing more than automatons enacting His will, when in truth they were soldiers fighting for His dream. In rare moments though, evidence of this theory's validity would present itself. In rare moments, Leman would look at the Emperor and see in him a wolf.
This moment was one of them.
Despite the Allfather's polite tone, the malice radiating off of the Emperor was immense. Light seemed to flee the pavilion, darkening the entirety of the rainforest. Leman Russ could hear animals do their best to flee the immediate forest surrounding the pavilion.
If the Immortal Sun could not answer the Emperor to His satisfaction, they would die and the Emperor would raze this system, whether they knew it or not.
Leman Russ had no objection to this. Not only did these people perform experiments on foul xenos. They also had the gall to perform experiments on Leman's brother. The Emperor of Mankind's son. If the Immortal Sun didn't have a satisfactory answer, Leman would rip the emperor of the Immortal Sun apart himself.
Leman ignored the instinct to spit in Isaac's face, and instead simply ensured that his chainsword, the Krakenmaw, was ready. Horus did the same and readied his power sword. The Allfather's custodians readied their guardian spears.
In response, the Immortal Sun did…nothing. They did not respond to the clear intent to fight. Leman almost couldn't believe it. It was as if they couldn't see the Imperium's readiness for violence. Almost immediately, it struck him.
The Allfather was obscuring the sight of the representatives of the Immortal Sun.
Leman placed his hand on the Krakenmaw to take advantage of any order the Allfather might give.
As he did, a sound rang through the pavilion. Leman recognised it from the docking bay. It was the sound of static before a melodic voice rang through the air from a source Leman couldn't identify.
"Warning." The voice said. "Several psychic phenomena have been enacted in the surrounding area. Current analysis places the phenomena as memetic."
In immediate response, all of the members of the Immortal Sun including the King's Shield bit their left thumbs and rubbed the resulting blood across their right palms in one smooth motion. The blood on their palms turned black before spreading to the tattoos hidden under their clothing.
This was unlike anything Leman had ever seen, but he recognized a ritual when he saw one. Whatever was happening, it was something that Leman couldn't let happen.
As the ink spread, Leman stood up and grabbed the Krakenmaw before swinging it over his head in a downward swing at the red haired man sitting across from him faster than the man seemed to realise. Just as the chainsword was about to bite into the man's skull, Leman felt the Allfather's presence to his right.
He seemed to be disapproving of the Wolf King's action. Leman immediately tried to pull back in response, but failed as he had already committed to the swing. Even a Primarch couldn't ignore the laws of physics.
As he felt Krakenmaw cut into the man's skull, the man disappeared in a puff of white smoke and Krakenmaw continued the motion, lodging itself into the wood. Leman's relief was temporary however, as he felt a presence at his back. He turned and found himself facing the red headed man, who was in the air swinging his hands downward as if there was a weapon in his empty hands. Contrary to his expectations, the red haired man, Kov, did not have a look of anger or hatred.
Instead, he looked frustrated.
Mid-downward swing, a massive ornate sword, glowing with electrical energy appeared in his hands. Leman put his arms up, relying on his powered armour blocking the hit. As he did, he felt his body be pushed away from the path of the sword through the table, shattering it.
Briefly, he felt annoyed. The swing was too weak to kill him and he would have handily defeated his visibly weaker and slower opponent. Then he saw the lightning arc from the blade to what was left of the table. Anything the lightning struck evaporated. Leman wouldn't have died, but the blade would have given him an injury that would take days to heal, even for a Primarch, taking him out of the fight entirely.
He would have to be more careful in future.
He glanced around the pavilion and found it entrenched in chaos. Horus was engaged in battle with the empress of the Immortal Sun while their brother was swinging a bastard sword at the Allfather who was dodging the blows with almost contemptuous ease. In the grips of His power claw, the emperor of the Immortal Sun was clearly squirming in pain.
The Custodians were a sight to see, and with Constantin Valdor at their head, they were engaged in battle with the King's Shield. There were more custodians and members of the King's Shield than Leman remembered. The Custodians had likely been teleported in by the Allfather and if the mist on the forest floor was any indication, the King's Shield had similarly teleported in as well.
To keep up with the Legio Custodes, the King's Shield were fighting in teams of two or three to each Custodes with one notable exception.
Constantin Valdor was personally engaged in a furious battle with the leader of the King's Shield, Nimis and seemed to be winning through sheer skill alone, though Nimis's almost bestial savagery enhanced by strange technological devices was keeping Constantin from advancing. Constantin would clinically dismantle Nimis' defence, then Nimis would deploy an electric energy shield from his armour, or a grenade, to keep him busy while he recovered.
Still, unless the store of weapons was infinite, Leman had no doubt Constantin Valdor would win. What did worry Leman was that the King's Shield like the royal family had ink all over their armour and bodies.
And it was still spreading. Leman turned his attention elsewhere, back to the fight in what was left of the pavilion.
Horus was much stronger than the empress of the Immortal Sun, but was somehow an order of magnitude slower. This would have been fine, had it not been apparent that the woman was a witch. While Horus could bring his sword up to block a cascade of dagger swings, he could not dodge the sudden bursts of fire and lightning battering him from all directions.
Leman dodged out of the way of another of Kov's downward swings, grabbed the Krakenmaw in his right hand and ran towards Horus's direction, ducking a swing from Esau on the that would have decapitated him had he not noticed it. Leman would have taken that personally had it not been meant for the Allfather who was doing his level best to talk Esau down.
Leman reached Horus' location just as the witch completed a spell that seemed to conjure a series of explosions that blew the pavilion wide open and sent the Wolf King flying back to where he came. The explosions had rattled his senses but a Primarch was not so easily put down. He turned the momentum of the blast into a roll that put him right in the path of another one of Kov's downward swings.
This one he parried easily with the Krakenmaw. The fighting had been brief so far, but it had been annoying. Despite the chaos of the fight, it was clear that these people were coordinated. To remedy this, Leman drew deep and howled.
The sound disoriented Kov, causing him to stumble right into a left hook thrown with enough strength and speed to turn a space marine's head into pulp. Instead of killing him, the blow merely staggered Kov. Leman took advantage of the distraction and made a motion meant to bisect his opponent.
Once more, he disappeared into smoke. In his place was an item Leman recognised from the journey to this space station. It was an oblong object that he recognised as a gravity mine. Leman swung Krakenmaw at the device, but it detonated before he was in full swing.
The sudden quintupling of his armour's weight sent him sprawling to the ground. From the sounds of metal crashing into the ground, Horus and the Custodians were caught off guard by the sudden increase in weight. An educated guess told Leman that the members of the Immortal Sun were likely unaffected by the device. Leman knew he and Horus would adjust in minutes, but he doubted the Custodians would be able to recover in that time. He rated them to take at least twice the time to adjust.
In the intervening time, the Allfather would be facing the Immortal Sun on His own. While he would wager that the Allfather would win, Leman couldn't take that chance.
He let go of the Krakenmaw, planted his hands a metre apart from each other and pushed himself up. The effort would be herculean for even the most gifted of space marines, but Leman Russ was a Primarch. To him, it felt something like trying to lift a weight underwater.
Irritating, but far from impossible. In seconds he was on his knees, watching the Allfather simultaneously parry blows from all four members of the Immortal Sun at once, His sword alight.
He looked unbothered.
Occasionally, the witch would attempt to use her witchcraft on the Allfather, but each spell seemed to fizzle in His presence. Leman smiled and stood up. Horus had managed to stand up as well.
At this point, the pavilion no longer existed, and all were fighting underneath the clear twilight sky of the rainforest.
Leman nodded at Horus, and they both charged the four members of the Immortal Sun from opposite sides. Neither had their weapons on hand, and both were affected by the increased gravity but that meant nothing. They charged forward. Leman at Kov because he was closest, while Horus charged at their brother, Esau. Likely because he seemed the biggest threat to the Emperor.
Leman tackled Kov, crumpling his body and causing him to drop his weapon. By Leman's estimation, the tattoos were seconds away from fully connecting.
Leman grabbed his head and headbutted him. It was a crude attack, but sometimes the simplest tactic was best. Kov continued to squirm, so Leman headbutted him again, and again, and again until his face was a bloody mess unrecognisable as anything approaching human.
He stopped squirming and Leman let him go.
His next target was the witch, while Horus was grappling with their brother. They were trading vicious elbows, punches and kicks but it looked like Horus would win the exchange. While they were matched in ability and strength, Horus was armoured, while Esau was not.
He had also allowed the gravity mine to affect him. He had wanted the fight between him and Horus to be fair, it seemed. Leman found that he respected him for it. Perhaps his brother wasn't a timid pup, hiding behind his adopted parents, after all.
Leman turned to face the witch, who ducked under the Allfather's warp lightning, before jumping up to knee Him in the jaw. Faster than even Leman could see, He brought a gauntleted hand across her face, sending her flying into his direction. She turned midair and met a punch with a kick aimed at the inside of his elbow.
The Allfather turned to Isaac, the emperor of the Immortal Sun. His eyes were glowing a sickly green colour and he was beginning to match the Allfather in speed and strength. He was also beginning to visibly grow in size. In no way was this good.
The witch's kick connected, giving her the space to adjust her stance.
In the corner of his eye, Leman saw Isaac bring an empty hand down across his face. The witch adjusted herself to block his field of vision just as a mask of bone inscribed with dripping black ink appeared on his face. She couldn't block his view of the ominous green lightning surrounding Isaac, however.
This thought was soon forgotten as the witch threw lightning at him, which he dodged handily. Briefly, the tattoos across her body had fully connected in a series of beautifully symmetrical black glyphs across her body. In the moment it took for Leman to wonder what this meant, she spoke.
"Would it be out of the question for you to surrender?" She asked, her voice eerily calm.
Leman smiled, showing off his canines.
"Unfortunate." She commented as she backed away.
His pursuit of her was cut by the smell of charr and ash. He looked down on his armour and saw a series of inked papers burning. When had-? No matter.
He steadied himself, and soon he was drowning in explosions that battered his armour from all directions.
The witch used the distraction to clap her hands together. Several puffs of smoke filled the area in front of her and six of the hulking cybernetic-Ork beasts that had been left in the docking bay were staring him in the eye.
Just as the explosions stopped, Leman managed to dodge under a massive axe swung by an overeager beast before coming up and punching its head clean off. By Leman's estimation, each of these beasts was as strong as the average Ork warboss. Even injured, that meant that they were no match for him.
He punched through the chest of another beast and proceeded to rip the remaining four to shreds with a ferocity befitting the master of the VI legion. As he did, he found that he was now facing twice the number of beasts. Leman smiled and grabbed two axes from the corpses at his feet.
Six or twelve, these beasts were no match for a Primarch.
The Wolf King began his hunt.
By his hand, twelve of the beasts were killed. In their place stood twice that number. He killed them with ease. In their place stood twice that number. He killed them. The cycle continued until he was in a blind rage, killing all who were close to him. He was an instrument of death, forged by the Emperor of Mankind himself. No matter how many the witch summoned, they would be no match for him.
In the pitched battle, Leman felt gravity return to normal. Briefly, he wondered who had destroyed it before deciding that it ultimately didn't matter who did it, just that it was done.
He continued the slaughter.
Soon, the forest floor was slick with blood and he stood upon a pile of hundreds of corpses. The servos in his armour were jammed by almost black, foul smelling Orkish blood. He came out of the battle trance and saw that was now far from the rest of the battle. He looked around and saw no more opponents.
He roared in victory, and deep in his heart, he knew that his sons had heard him.
He sucked in the humid air of the rainforest and frowned. Something was wrong. He looked around and saw lightning and thunder rolling over the distance. Some of the lightning was green, some of it was white and some of it was golden.
While spat on an Ork corpse. His nose told him that while danger awaited there, it wasn't the most immediate one. He smelled something acrid from one of the dead beasts. A deeply ingrained instinct told him to run.
He turned to run to Horus when one of the first batch of bodies he killed detonated, blowing him back into the mountain of corpses he had created. He scrambled to stand and found himself frozen in place, mid-action. He looked down at his hands and found himself covered in the black ink all of the members of the Immortal Sun were covered in.
The beasts had been a manner of obfuscation for a spell to trap him in a minefield of his own creation. Clever.
So. was this to be the death of the Wolf King?
He thought it likely. There were hundreds of corpses piled on top of each other here. He had killed so many of the cybernetic Orks so as to block his own vision. By his estimation, put together the could vaporise a mountain. He closed his eyes for a brief moment, then decided to open them.
Leman of the Russ was no coward. If he was to face death, he would do it with eyes open and ready to fight.
He waited a long moment, but death never arrived.
Instead, the man he had brutalised did.
Leman was surprised. He had expected the witch instead and was sure the man had died, besides. That he hadn't showed Leman that he had underestimated him.
That would never happen again, Leman swore.
The man, Kov, stood staring at him in what looked like new black and white powered armour. He gestured and a stool appeared in front of Leman before sitting on it. His face still showed the results of their fight, but was healing quickly. An eyeball, previously hanging out of its socket was now staring him in the face while the other was swollen shut. It was impressive. Still, his face looked like meat freshly tenderised.
The man didn't speak. Instead, he clapped his hands, and a series of metal plaques appeared in the air, accompanied by white smoke before he caught them. He held them to Leman's armour and the plates attached with a loud clang.
The black ink around his body glowed briefly before changing and expanding. If Leman had a small hope of escaping before, his hope of escaping now was miniscule.
The man checked his work and sighed in contentment.
Leman spit in his face.
"I should kill you for that." He said, voice shaking with fury.
"Oh?" Leman challenged. "Remove my restraints and let us see you try."
"No." Kov answered immediately. "Unfortunately for you, I am not a fool."
"Or perhaps, you're merely a coward."
Kov scoffed.
"If any of us is a coward, you are. After all, you did attack an unarmed man."
Leman didn't dignify that with a response.
The silence stretched on, interrupted by sounds of battle and lightning before Kov spoke.
"What's your name, anyways?" He asked. Leman thought about refusing to reply but ultimately saw no harm in it.
"I am Leman, King of the Russ on Fenris and Primarch of the VI legion."
"That is a long title."
"Each part of it has been earned in blood."
Kov put his hands up, palms facing Leman.
"I wasn't criticising you, I was merely making an observation."
The silence returned again. Leman strained his genehanced hearing and found that he could still hear the sounds of pitched battle. It was farther away now, if even more pitched.
"Does my brother still fight?" He asked.
"You mean the man with the wolf pelt strung across his armour?"
Leman nodded, or made an attempt to.
"Yes, he still fights." Kov confirmed. "He will be joining us soon, though."
Leman's eyebrow rose.
"Is that so? The last time I checked, Horus was handily defeating your prince. For all my brother's bluster, he is perhaps the best fighter the Imperium has, sans the Allfather or myself. I severely doubt that he would be so easily captured."
"It is." Kov confirmed, matching Leman's confidence. "Esau is, bar none, the best fighter in the Immortal Sun, after all. Even in a fight with Isaac himself, Esau would not lose."
Esau Zulu:
Esau was losing.
He had initiated a contest of strength with a man he thought was his equal and found that he was incorrect. While it was blatantly obvious to any observer that this man had been made from the same template by their shared creator, it seemed that their experiences had made them unequal.
His erstwhile brother was obviously an experienced fighter, while he was not. He was an excellent fighter, but he was not an overly experienced one. He had faced overwhelming odds with his family before, but he had never fought an equal. He never had to and after the Night Virus fiasco, his hands were full ruling.
Right now, he was suffering for it.
Esau ducked under a jab and was met by a slash from a gigantic claw that could tear through steel, sending him staggering back as the gaping chest wound registered. He tripped over an errant tree route and found himself on his back facing the rapidly darkening sky.
Part of him knew he deserved it.
Esau had explicitly ignored his father's orders and attacked this man when the chaos in the pavilion began. Not only that, he had insisted upon a one on one fight. He had even refused the Empress Kha's help and even Kov's help when he had healed from the damage to his head. Esau sighed.
Not only that, he had done so unarmoured. He had let his need to prove himself overcome his common sense.
Kov was going to give him hell for it later.
In fact, if he didn't also somehow manage to win this fight, he doubted that he would ever be able to live it down.
He heard a ringing in his ear before it repaired itself, and he realised that his brother was speaking.
"Join us, brother." He said, his voice full of an almost religious fervour. "The plan our father has for this galaxy, for humanity, is glorious."
Esau almost regretted the fact that he could heal. If this was the quality of what he had to listen to, what was the point of having ears with which to listen in the first place?
Esau rolled out of the way of a stomp and used the momentum to stand up. He shook his head when he heard a steady percussive rhythm, worried that the damage to his hearing could be permanent. He blinked away the thought when he realised the sound was a result of his father and Kha's continued fight against the 'Emperor of Mankind'.
Esau could almost hear his father call the name pretentious.
"I would be more receptive," He replied, parrying a jab. "If the Imperium hadn't chosen to attack a crown prince of the Immortal Sun."
"Yes, our meeting would have gone smoother without Leman's impulsiveness." He actually sounded genuinely apologetic as he continued his ferocious assault. "But it was in response to whatever spell you were activating."
"Which, in turn, was in response to your Emperor's psychic attack." Esau retorted as he parried kicks, punches, slashes and elbows from his armoured opponent, before he answered with a straight right that hit his brother right in the nose, breaking it.
"It wasn't an attack." His brother insisted, as he backed away to realign his nose. In seconds, his nose would be fine. "Father was simply concerned about your wellbeing. We Primarchs were made as His treasures and His companions. In all the galaxy universe, there are only twenty of us. We are unique. He was simply afraid of losing you."
"While I have no doubt that we are unique, I doubt that he cares for us." Esau answered honestly, grateful for the time to heal and strategize. "He could have approached our meeting in any number of ways. Yet he chose to cast an illusion over our eyes and order his men to prepare for battle. Does that sound to you like a father who cares for the wellbeing of his son?"
It was strange, Esau had to admit, having disdain for one's creator. After years spent imagining his creator and building him up in his mind, Esau had expected disappointment. That was the likeliest possibility. After all, no man could live up to his growing expectations.
Except, the Emperor of Mankind did. He was everything Esau expected and more. His superiority was ever present, visible to any who had eyes. His radiance was fit to blind even Esau and he carried himself with grace. It was clear to Esau upon meeting him that this man was his primogenitor and creator.
Esau had told his father as such, stinging his heart, even if he didn't mean to. His father had waved it off. It was the right of all children to know their parents, he whispered back. Esau had been forgiven for the slight, but his father was hurt.
The realisation had stung more than any of his brother's punches or his metallic claw. He would have to make it right when he won.
If he won. As it was now, with his current loadout, that seemed unlikely.
"It does." His brother replied, adjusting his stance. "He simply wished to confirm your status. It was clear to Him that the Immortal Sun was engaged in multiple genetic manipulation experiments. The Orks were an obvious example of what the technology here could do. He couldn't sense you and He assumed the worst. Could you blame him for that?"
He could not.
Even after the breach of etiquette and custom, even after the fighting, and even after Kov had almost died, Esau couldn't find hate in his heart for his creator.
Esau wondered if he could ever forgive himself for that.
For a brief moment, Esau mused on whether that was the result of behaviour programmed in him by his creator. The thought almost immediately evaporated in his mind, the result of long hours thinking over his mental processes. In the end, it didn't matter. Even if he could never hate his creator, Esau still had no love for him.
Love was the result of hard work from both parties, and as of now, his creator had yet to put in the effort.
"No." Esau answered honestly. "I can not. What I can blame him for, was not giving my father the chance to explain himself in good faith."
His brother snorted.
"Good faith?" He asked, though Esau got the impression that the question was rhetorical. "Your 'Immortal Sun' has breached several Imperial laws. First among them was your consorting with xenos. The second was experimenting using the Emperor's own genetic code. Don't deny it. Your 'brother' looks too much like you for it to be a mere coincidence. Your continued silence as our Father spoke to the emperor of the Immortal Sun certainly didn't help."
"I didn't speak because there was nothing to say. The meeting was supposed to be a diplomatic meeting whose purpose was to allow our two empires to feel each other out. I had hoped to speak to our creator in private later on, when I had better judged his character. His actions have ripped the opportunity away from me."
At this, Esau's brother didn't retort. Instead, his facial expression seemed to collapse, and so did his stance. After seeming to agonise over it, he put his hand out, forgoing this fight.
"I apologise, brother." He said, sounding surprisingly sincere. "Father is not the easiest man to get along with, but I assure you, he never wished for any of this. Would you have it in you to begin again?"
Esau's pride made him want to refuse. Had the fight gone one, he would have lost to this man, purely as a result of his arrogance. His arrogance told him that he could best his brother with the little armour he had on. Without his weapons or using any of the many abilities his father's sealing had granted him.
At any point in his fight, once he had succeeded in activating the 'Living Ink' covering his body, Esau could have sealed his brothers movements, his strength, his memory or even his knowledge of combat away.
He could have summoned the Ur-Orks, one of the Silver Mind's constructs or a Necron simulacrum from his father's pocket dimension. He could have drawn from the Empress Kha's store of psychic energy or used one of his father's 'Masks'. At the very least, he could have summoned his powered armour.
Instead of any of these things, he had chosen to fight against an opponent without attempting to equalise the field at all.
He had thought himself free of his arrogance after the Night Virus fiasco, when he had to explain to his men that they were going to mutate and that it was his fault. He had thought himself free of it, when he had worked day and night to cure millions of people and create rehabilitation programs for those who had some chance of integrating with society. He had thought himself free of it when he realised that most could never be humans again.
Evidently, he was wrong and not for the first time in his life, Esau felt disappointed with himself.
He grabbed his brother's hand and shook it. Still, years of ruling had not made Esau an idiot. He activated the Living Ink as he held Horus' hand.
The name was a reference to the fact that it allowed the user to access his father's sealing ability in return for some stamina per use.
In the twenty years since he received it, his father's forge granted sealing ability had proved itself to be immensely broad. As long as there was some way to observe something, no matter how esoteric the method, there was a sealing technique that allowed it to be sealed. Some sealing methods would then allow for the modification of the sealed object, on the part of the user. An example would be sealing a battery and then allowing the seal to cause electric shocks on command.
Many things could be sealed. The truth was one of them.
In shaking his brother's hand, Esau had activated an effect that essentially sealed the last minute of his memory, analysed it and then unsealed it back into him at speeds even Esau would have trouble noticing.
Esau let go of the hand, a frown on his face.
At least a part of his brother's statement had been a lie.
"So," His brother said, relieved. "I notice we have yet to introduce ourselves."
He placed a gauntleted hand on his chest.
"My name is Horus Lupercal, Master of Cthonia, and Primarch and genefather of the XVI legion, the Luna Wolves."
Esau reciprocated despite his misgivings. Despite knowing how dangerous and duplicitous this man was, it was easy to find oneself conversing with him. A mutation of Esau's own aura? Or was Horus simply more willing to draw on his superhuman charisma than Esau was?
"I am Esau Zulu, one of the twin rulers of Naufrag Noctis and a crown prince of the Immortal Sun Empire."
"The other is your brother, yes?" Horus asked.
"Yes." Esau turned to Horus who looked contemplative. "You're confused."
"I do admit that I find myself vexed. How can there be more than one crown prince? Would that not create issues of inheritance?"
"Not particularly. There have been none so far at least. The Empire traditionally has two rulers in a leadership role."
"Ah." Horus replied. "I see."
Esau recognised that he didn't see. Horus wouldn't understand the social structure of the Immortal Sun until he had seen it himself. He didn't bother to explain it. Instead, he decided on something else entirely.
"I do find that something vexes me as well." Esau began.
"Go on."
"I am confused by your title. You call yourself 'genefather' of the XVI legion."
"Ah." Horus answered. "You wouldn't know. From our genestock, our Father in His wisdom had chosen to craft for each of us sons to rule over, as fathers and generals. Each of us is in charge of a legion of Adeptus Astartes."
"I see." Esau answered simply. The questions running through his head were many and varied. How close were these 'sons' to him in relation in truth? Were they crafted as clones of Esau, or were they soldiers taken from battlefields and genetically modified? Above even that, he had a sudden longing to meet them. "These legions. There are twenty of them?"
"Yes, one for each Primarch."
"Including a II legion?"
Horus' smile widened so far that it would cut his face in two.
"So you are the Primarch of the II. I have to say, when comparing you to your legion now, in hindsight, the resemblance becomes uncanny. You will be proud to learn that the II has had a long history of military victories, though a recent loss has somewhat culled their numbers. With you at their head, I'm sure they will recover and join us on the frontlines in no time at all."
"I am not joining you." Esau answered automatically, even as he felt a pang of grief for children he never knew. Horus, in turn, looked confused.
"You will not join? Even when I have laid bare the fate of your genesons?" His voice was coloured with fury.
"Do not pretend to understand me. A single fight does not mean you have my measure. Neither does your penchant for speech. I am no fawning fool to fall for the words of a sycophant." Esau replied, his words dripping with venom.
"Suddenly." Horus announced, his voice having a dangerous edge to it. "I feel dissatisfied with the results of our duel."
"Is that so?" Esau replied. "I find that we agree on this 'brother', I underestimated you and nearly paid the price. You will find that when properly equipped, I am more than a match for the likes of you."
"Truly?" Horus asked. "You think yourself my equal?"
"I think myself your better."
Horus's face distorted in a way that would be comical in a man that was not an equal in size and power to Esau. Unlike Kov, it seemed Horus could not stomach insults. Even one so tame as this.
"Careful brother." He spat out through gritted teeth. "You overstep."
"I overstep nothing." Esau replied. "To prove it, I challenge you to a duel. Both of us fully equipped."
"When?" Horus likely expected Esau to postpone the fight for weeks or months, even as both the Imperium of Man and the Immortal Sun were engaged in the opening volleys f war with each other.
It made sense.
In their fight, Esau had largely focused his efforts on destroying the armour which seemed like a one of a kind piece of equipment built to his stature and specifications. As a result of this destructive effort and his extensive mechanical knowledge, however, Esau now knew and understood all of the armour's capabilities. If Esau so wished, he could rebuild it from scratch.
"Now. I could repair your armour and supply you with a new weapon, if you so wish."
"How long would that take?" He asked.
"Minutes at most." Horus scoffed.
"You lie."
Esau smiled.
"I do not."
Horus considered him for a few moments before taking a deep breath and answering.
"Very well. How will this repair occur?"
Esau clapped his hands, summoning a build gun and an omni-tool to his hand. He initiated contact between his cybernetics and the omni-tool, transferring the blueprint for Horus' armour. He then tossed the items to Horus.
"That," He pointed. "-is an omni-tool and the other item is a build gun. Select the blueprint for your armour on the omni-tool and press the build gun to your armour. The build gun will select the appropriate materials and repair should happen automatically."
Horus did what he was instructed to with no visible fuss, though confusion was clear on his face. Soon, he had pressed the build gun to his armour and it was being repaired.
"What is Necroderm-Steel?" Horus asked, suddenly.
Necroderm-Steel was the Immortal Sun's answer to the Necron's Necrodermis. Necrodermis was a metal used to construct nearly everything produced by Necron culture. It was made from a liquid metal that acted more like a living colony of nanomachines than any solid element. The space that had contained the Necron Tomb World had been sealed away and placed in a complicated set of arrays in a pocket dimension sealed off in the Webway, away from real space, five years after Naufrag was unified.
Since then, the World had continually been scanned over the course of fifteen years. The dimensional mechanics of the world made it difficult to scan without waking up the Necrons entombed in the deepest depths of the world, but the Immortal Sun had managed to scan some technology and reverse engineer most of their sentries, and warriors.
"It is an alloy made from a self repairing metal reverse engineered from an alien species. Items made out of it fix themselves over time."
Horus nodded at his explanation, while Esau summoned one of his personal armours from his workshop on Castle Bela.
It was an older model, painted in black and white and made when he was experimenting on integrating Ork concussive technology into his suits. As such, it had no exotic weaponry besides its ability to generate concussive blasts and mass effect fields. It had no Necroderm-Steel, phasing or teleportation technology. By Esau's standards, it was outdated and barely worth his time.
In other words, it was more than a match for Horus' armour.
His aching body required that he use the armour's internal stores of medi-gel, but the end result was that he was back in perfect condition soon enough and ready for battle.
Soon, Horus' armour was also repaired, the white Necroderm-Steel replacing expertly crafted ceramite plates and damaged auramite linings. A new power sword was at his side while internal pieces of armour machinery were optimised and the internal reactor replaced. All in all, it was a more durable, easier to use suit of powered armour, if less receptive to long term use.
The downside was unlikely to matter in a fight between him and Esau.
The repairs done, Horus tossed the omni-tool and build gun back at Esau and he sealed it away. Silently, placed themselves across from each other before drawing their weapons. Esau drew a single bladed sword identified in Castle Bela's records as a 'Messer' which he held in two hands, while Horus drew a glowing power sword, handling it one handed.
Both men stared at each other silently, then at some invisible signal ran at each other.
As they did, lightning in three colours flashed around them.
Esau ran at Horus, aiming to slash at him diagonally. Horus parried the blow, pushing Esau to the side before making a vicious attempt at swinging at his face with his claw. Esau briefly regretted not wearing a helmet before he shifted his momentum so that he was on the inside of the swing. Esau used the momentum to headbutt Horus, stunning him before trying to make some space by backing up.
Unfortunately, even stunned, Horus had the presence of mind to let go of his sword and use his right hand to grab onto Esau's neckguard, using the momentum of Esau's own headbutt to drag him down. Esau activated a concussive wave emitter adapted from Ork designs.
The original design was supposed to cause earthquakes. Adapted to his armour, the concussive blasts were merely disorientating, allowing him to avoid the fall. Esau avoided attacking the weak points he knew existed in Horus' armour as he swung down with his sword, instead aiming for his head.
Now, Horus knew that he could not reliably grapple with Esau. There, Horus had the advantage as he had likely had to fight off creatures of similar strength and size, and possessed knowledge that came with direct tutelage from their shared creator who himself was a monster on the battlefield, while Esau did not.
As expected, Horus kicked him away and decided to make space, rolling to a standing position. He reclaimed his sword. Now, the situation was more equal.
The lightning around them increased in intensity.
Horus put his clawed hand up, and shot a series of explosive rounds from a port at the back of the claw. Esau dodged to the left into some trees, aiming to circle around and found Horus hacking through a tree Esau was using for cover, cutting it clean in half.
As Horus completed his cut, Esau jumped up and kicked the tree into Horus' general direction, forcing him to juke out of the way.
For every advantage Horus had, Esau had an equaliser. For each equaliser Esau had, Horus had a solution. For every cut, the other knew the defence. In every defence, the other could see holes in which to strike.
So it went, in cycles as the battle ebbed and flowed. One moment Horus was deftly winning and the next, he was on the backfoot, needing to recover. Trees were felled all around them by rogue cuts and lightning burning trunks to ash.
Neither of them refused to back down.
The battle threatened to continue for hours when the effects of the Emperor of Mankind's battle with Esau's father and the lady Kha made themselves known. The lightning that had been raining down on the battlefield created surges of psychic power so high that Esau could physically feel a pressure in his skull, like his brain was being squeezed.
If Horus felt it, he didn't show it and neither of them let up. They both let loose slashes, stabs, parries and all numbers of disarming manoeuvres. None of them world and the fight continued.
Suddenly, areas in which the green lightning hit resulted in the wildlife surrounding the area growing in size and attacking anyone nearby. Esau and Horus had been fighting close enough to the epicentre of the lightning storm that even the trees became hostile.
With barely a blink, both of them dismembered the trees as soon as they became sentient. It seemed nothing would stop their fight. The white lightning grew in intensity, hitting trees with such intensity that the sap would launch itself at them, its heat so high as to threaten to melt stone. Neither of them flinched as their armour was drenched in it.
They continued their fight, uncaring of their surroundings until they were struck by the golden lightning. At first, nothing happened past the shock, which they ignored. Then as continued strikes occurred, a series of things became apparent.
They were both becoming prescient, adjusting for moves the other had yet to make. Esau would block a strike that never came while Horus would stab at an area Esau had yet to move to. It had seemed like illusions, or hallucinations at first, until they began to match each other in a twisted dance, neither able to hit the other.
To Esau, it was as if he saw himself performing an action, and then the action was performed with no time to think or consider the ramifications. As for Horus, Esau could only wonder at what he saw.
Gradually, their prescience expanded, and they watched the Emperor of Mankind cut Esau's father in half while Kha dodged out of the way. She prepared a sealing array while Esau's father instantly recovered, his body knitting itself together before returning to the fight.
Suddenly, the fight skipped ahead, to Kha with a gauntleted hand ripping through the chest of his father in an effort to catch the Emperor off guard. She succeeded, and black ink spread over the Emperor's armour before suddenly stopping and erasing itself from it.
Now, their view had changed. They were both in space, looking at a ship in space, stuck in an asteroid field with mines light seconds apart. To the ship's immediate left, a tear in reality opened and two ships appeared, one following the other.
Suddenly, they back to reality, standing across from each other in a burning field of vines and trees. Esau felt sweat gather on his brow as he tried to stay standing.
As one, both he and Horus emptied their stomachs on the forest floor.
After a moment of calm, both of them turned eastward and began to run to the fight.
Though they ran for different people, they ran for the same reason.
The two Imperial ships that had just arrived in the system had been the Imperium's reinforcements.
This was far from strange, except, both Esau and Horus felt a connection to a single occupant, lying awake in some forgettable room near the engine room of the ship, hidden from sight of serf, slave and marine alike.
Another Primarch had reached Naufrag.
15.1. Perk(s) earned in this chapter:Domain: Databases: Mundane - Apollo's Odyssey (Horizon Zero Dawn V0.9a) (600CP): Supposedly destroyed by an antimatter explosion in orbit, somehow the Odyssey's copy of Apollo has ended up in your possession. This cache of information contains all the knowledge the Old Ones were able to salvage before the collapse, and attaches to your warehouse, although is accessible through any connected device.
A/N: I have an announcement to make. From the next chapter on, It will be harder for Isaac to obtain perks. The in-story explanation is that the Forge wants to keep itself entertained so is raising the bar for an action it can reward.
Outside of the story, it's so I can flesh out the consequences of the rolls rolled so far and their impact on the galaxy at large so it will likely take a chapter or two before another perk is rolled.
I will be accounting for Isaac's experiences in the timeskip retroactively though.
This means that when, say, the Emperor or some other very plot relevant character organically comes into contact with a galaxy changing aspect of the Immortal Sun and then uses that information to do something cool, dangerous or spectacular, Isaac will get a roll.
I've debated on it a while, but this is what I've decided on.
Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter.
Also if you're having problems imagining Esau's armour, think Valkorion's armour from Star Wars: The Old Republic.
Also also, the Apollo perk manifested as a giant computer with the appropriate cache in the Castle on Naufrag.
Thank you all for your amazing support.