The squalor and rampant pollution in the Hive city of Anais Tertius was just like any other: large spiraling buildings, horrible smog-infested air. Disease, corpses lining the streets—yet one thing about this hive city was the fact that there was no underhive, Anais tertius had a history; on terra, it was one whose founder was a "heretic," one who did not bow to the whims of the emperor or the imperial inquisition.
Yet instead of simply being wiped off of the map, the inquisition did something more devious, cutting off trade, limiting access to water, a war of attrition, and once the last person in the hive city died off, they would enter and take it over. Yet something happened. The city shook, and the smog covered air rapidly began to be replaced with clean, breathable air.
Panic rightfully went throughout the populous of tertius, and some wondered if this was finally judgment upon them for not worshiping the emperor.
Down the bustling streets, a small figure ran through, weaving around citizens and other individuals, A brown-haired young boy, wearing tattered overalls. When the shaking of the hive city first began, He was trying to help his sick mother by fetching an apothecary. Now he was trying to get back to his mother as fast as he could.
What greeted him in the streets was panic as buildings slowly collapsed, yet no casualties were found, He smelled the fresh, clean air, and felt ... the sun on his face. Looking up, he noticed that instead of the gray sky, a bright blue one basked down upon the city.
His feet failed him as he tripped over a piece of rubble, only to be caught by an older man. Greying hair, a gaunt face, and a stubbled chin, His green eyes were peering down at him. This was one man that he thankfully knew. "Arkain, what's going on?". The older man let go of the younger boy, standing back up to his full height. An old, sharpened shovel was gripped in the man's left hand. His eyebrows knitted in worry. Arkain: "I do not know octus, but thanks heaven's I found you; your mother sent me to fetch you after she noticed you were not there upon her waking up."
The man quickly picked up the smaller boy and began running through the streets, passing by other individuals trying to escape the chaos. Buildings fell. Yet there did not seem to be any casualties from it. He noticed something was growing in place of the buildings. It was…wood?. "What in the bloody hell is going on?" the man mumbled, cutting down a side ally.
Octus's home should just be a few meters from here, His breathing labored as he ran with the child in tow. The young boy had glanced around at the chaos, only to hide his face in the crook of the man's neck. Not wishing to see or hear anymore of it.
Eventually, the two of them reached the home, It was on the edge of the city itself, allowing a view of the outside wasteland. The door to the home slid open as a woman quickly waved her hand, hurrying the both of them inside, the city shaking in intensity even more. Her skin was pale, her eyes sunken, and her brown hair was frayed, yet an expression of worry was palpable on her face.
"Hurry, hurry!"
Both the man and the child quickly passed the worried woman into the home. She closed the door behind both of them and looked out the window for a moment. Arkain gently set down Octus, wiping the sweat from his brow. He then leaned the shovel against a wall. Octus's mother quickly approached the boy, pulling him into a tight hug. "Oh, thank goodness you both are fine, Who knows what could have happened to you?"
The woman let go of octus, turning towards Arkain, she then gave the man a brief bow. "Thank you for looking for him, Arkain, especially out there with whatever is going on." The man waved his hand towards her, his body slumping slightly as he sat down in a chair near one of the windows. "It wasn't an issue, Reina. I care about the lad also... but whatever is going on, it's not intentionally causing harm to anyone, mainly just infrastructure."
"It feels like the city is about to collapse at any second, this does not feel like an earthquake" The woman, now known as Reina, spoke out, approaching him with a glass of water. The man gratefully accepted it with a thank you towards the woman.
Octus drowned out the conversation from the two Adults and simply approached the window looking out at the surrounding city. It was then he noticed…something that made him shocked. "Mother…Arkain."
Both adults were brought out of their conversation by the young boy, and they both approached the window looking out as well. Reina covered her mouth in shock, while Arkain's eyes widened in utter suprise. beautiful leaves falling throughout the entire lower and upper hive, Large trees reaching to the sky, Plants growing over buildings and on top of them. The pollution and stains of industrial progress and waste were instead replaced with…nature. Arkain turned his head wanting to look out towards the ashlands in the distance, around the entire hive city itself, the starting of lush green even more plants could be seen sprouting, the trash and refuse seemingly fading away.
"The ashlands ... .but that should not be possible, Nothing should be able to grow" Arkain muttered out, It was then that the three noticed the shaking had stopped, and slowly the man reached for the door sliding it open. The air and the smell of grass fully impacted the man. The sun for once shining down upon him, Looking up he could see white beautiful clouds floating in the sky.
"Just what in heaven's name caused this?"
Five hours before
Louis looked at not Clive with an expression of confusion still on his face. "You swear your loyalty to me because I bested you and passed a test that you prepared." Slowly, the man sat down on a rock, mentally screaming in his own mind.
"Yes, my liege, you showed the heart of a true king, and as your loyal serf, it is now my duty to guard and follow you wherever you may go." Gaultier spoke out, still bowing towards the inventor. Louis's eyebrow slightly twitched, He then lifted his hand, running it over his face out of sheer frustration.
"Vigdis relay the message to Raskain and Kuvera, Tell them to activate ENV pylon 7-1-A. At this point, I just want to get this over with and sleep, why not leave a lasting impression?" Louis spoke out, annoyance still in his voice. Today had been a hell of a day, and he felt it would get even worse once he met Guilliman once more.
"Roger that Louie..." For a moment, a spinning hourglass appeared in place of Vigdis's eye, a few rotations went by until it fully cleared with a check mark. "Alright message has been sent ... now what?". She watched as Louis stood to his feet, rolling his right arm for a moment to relieve a bit of pressure.
"Now we wait for Guilliman to send some of his ultramarines." Louis scratched his chin for a moment, and eventually he heard it—the sound of a shuttle approaching. "And speak of the devil..." Louis watched as the shuttle slowly landed near them, the back opening up to show around twenty Ultramarines and... an even bigger one behind the rest of them, one without a helmet, A red ocular lens covered his left eye, graying hair maring his head.
The marines and the larger one quickly surrounded them, with most of the ultramarines pointing their bolters toward the Gaultier. Yet the knight showed no signs of distress, simply rising to his feet. This caused a few of the marines to pull the hammer back on their weapons, ready to fire them. A few of the marines also surrounded Vigdis and Louis, their bolters pointed towards the man as well.
"Stand down, men. Keep guard over the knight, but the cube and the inventor are of no threat." The gray-haired man spoke out, approaching Louis. Then, in a rather unusual motion, the chapter master extended a massive hand towards Louis. "Marneus Calgar, that is my name, Chapter Master of the Ultramarines, and I am your escort to Lord Guilliman himself."
Louis looked up at Calgar for a moment, before accepting the handshake from the chapter master. Calgar then felt his eyebrow twitch at the next statement from the inventor. He already knew that this omnissiah was eccentric from his father, yet this just brought a headache to him.
"Is it fine if I call you papa smurf?"
Guilliman pinched the bridge of his nose, His head pounding due to the sheer absolute ridiculousness of the current situation before him. Louis, Vigdis and Gaultier were in front of his desk. However the knight was still surrounded by multiple space marines at bolterpoint. "...You have proven yourself, Omnissiah. Yet I do not even know where to begin with this situation…"
Guilliman lowered his hand, going through the massive amount of paperwork on his desk. Due to the miles-long beam of destructive energy, the head at the administratum essentially had a stroke due to all of the repair requests… he would be out of commission for a cycle or three.
The primarch reached over past some of the paperwork, taking out a pair of reading spectacles. "Let's start with this, The ti-...knight, Who is now apparently your loyal serf due to your subjugation ... .I will not fault you for that considering I was the one that tasked you with it to prove yourself. The damage while unexpected… is something I will take blame for"
Guilliman gazed over request after request for repairs and looked back up to the omnissiah. "Then there is the fact that you somehow cleared the pollution and countless multitude of trash into a thriving and breathing Ecosystem of possibly the worst hive city on terra anais tartius...All I ask is this Alberton. What is your game here"
Guilliman clasped his hands together, his eyes glaring down right at Louis. Yet the man remained calm, and instead simply clasped his hands behind his back. He looked out the window towards the polluted hellscape of the hive city he was in. A sad smile gracing the man's features.
"Innovation…..plain and simple, I have no ulterior motives…I simply want to better the lives of Humanity and the Mechanicus as a whole Guilliman. And what I did to the hive city of anais is proof. Let's face facts here ... .you and imperium need Me and the Mechanicus to support you and your war effort…..and due to the treaty of mars, I can act without influence from the Imperium even cutting off supply."
A few of the space marines, Calgar included, seemed to blanch at the blatant disrespect towards Guilliman, yet the Primarch simply continued sitting down. No sign of anger on his face. "A bold proclamation…yet a true one. Which is why I have a proposal towards you"
Guilliman stood up from his desk and walked around it, He approached Louis with a piece of parchment, signed and dated by the primarch. "It is this, your continued support to the imperium's war effort as a whole. And the improvement of life on terra for humanity. I simply wish to do better where my father has failed ... Even if it is heresy under the eyes of the administratum getting assistance from a god…."
Louis gently took the contract from the primarch gazing over it with a keen eye, No loopholes to allow the imperium jurisdiction over mars, No clauses of assassination for heresy…..a genuine agreement between two factions. Louis looked away from the contract and back to Guilliman. He then reached into his pocket taking out a pen from it, then with a flourish he signed his name over the dotted line and extended his hand towards the primarch. "I accept the terms of this contract Lord Guilliman, It will be a pleasure doing business with the imperium"
The primarch accepted the handshake, although he had to use two fingers in order to do so, Yet there was a sly smirk about his face as he spoke his next words. "Now that you preside over Anais tertius, you can now also assist in the repair of the Palace and the other hive cities. After all it was your Loyal knight that caused it in the first place"
Louis looked at the Primarch, his eyebrow twitching as he handed the contract back to him. "You …..fine. I will dispatch a few Magos and tech priests to handle the damage repairs…..and also help you by working on a new system of filing."
Louis could feel that guilliman was doing this to spite him, touche primarch, touche.