Rarely did anything catch the Kahn completely off guard. Even when his youngest sibling contacted himself and Guilliman, the thought of Horus and his gathered forces heading into a trap didn't faze him much. Alesia falling into the trap, however, shook him to his core.
He watched three of his Legion's Librarians assist the Sigilite and a psyker Custodian in their efforts to mend the psychic wounds the Imperial Princess received from her brief imprisonment in the Man of Iron. As he observed, his mind wandered to the events leading up to the debacle.
His sister and their brother Konrad both received visions of their brothers, Horus, Sanguinius and Lion possibly dying at the hand of a Man of Iron months ago. That vision lead the Princess to call upon himself and Guilliman for back up to the forces engaging the Ork empire in the Ullanor system, and then she, Konrad and Lord Malcador got further assistance from Mars to deal with the mechanical threat. It was only later after the second Man of Iron emerged and was dealt with that things began to become suspicious surrounding the visions Alesia and Konrad received.
"How goes it?" Konrad's low voice brought him out of his stupor. Jaghatai glanced over to his brother, now sporting new scars from the poisoned weapons held by cultists that had aimed to capture the Princess.
"Slowly," he responded. "She asked for you earlier."
"I heard." A moment of silence passed between them. Their sister had only thought of them and their brothers since awakening. "Father plans to send her to SAT-R3 to recover."
"Recover or be punished you mean," he said flatly, remembering how Nekona alwayshad some frilly abomination for Alesia to be forced into. "She's going to be turned into Nekona's personal doll."
"And yet, cult activity is nonexistent there and Nekona is fiercely protective of her."
"Fair point." By then the psychic light went out and the psykers clustered around the Princess stepped back for a break. "Still, Father is rightfully angry that she left Terra at all, even with you and Malcador accompanying her."
"I'm well aware of his…displeasurewell enough. Kithes is also going to be-" Konrad trailed off as their sister, sluggish in step and haggard in appearance, shuffled over to them. "Sister! You need to rest!"
She stumbled and Jaghatai quickly caught her in a heartbeat. His sister slowly looked him in the eye, and her dull eyes conveyed just how bad her invisible injuries were. Normally, the Princess's eyes were bright with emotion, only dimming when she was tired or not feeling well.
"Habibi…." she said weakly and tried to wrap her arms around him to hug him. He had heard earlier their sister had latched onto Konrad and refused to let him go until she had passed out again.
"We are all okay, little unicorn." Jaghatai reassured her as he gently guided her to the awaiting Apothecary. Alesia managed to shoot him a glare for the use of that nickname. "Has she been like this the entire time?"
"Yes, my Lord," the Apothecary answered as the Princess was situated back on the wheel chair. "Whatever happened during her capture must have shaken her."
With that, his sister was escorted away to rest, leaving the two Primarchs alone with the Librarians and the Sigilite.
"We've stabilized her soul," Malcador informed them. "It's now up to her to recover from this ordeal."
"Would sending her to SAT-R3 really benefit her recovery?" Jaghatai asked. "We all know how Nekona gets when they meet."
"Nekona knows when to be gentle," the old man reassured him. "If anything, this will be more of a forced vacation for Alesia."
"Forced vacation? Really?" Konrad couldn't even hide his doubt about this. They all know their youngest sibling could not take much down time without losing her mind to boredom. "Is that what the Emperor is calling torture now?"
"There will be plenty of tasks for her to do there," the smile the Sigilite gave them sent chills down their spines. They did not envy their sister's position at all.
The future was ever changing. Granted there were few moments and events set in stone, yet every action still made minuscule changes to those events.
One of the events Anya observed to be one of those fixed points was her mortal counterpart's capture. However, it appeared that no one could have predicted the consequences that plan lead to.
The Ruinous Powers had thought to paralyze her enough to feast on. As she and Alesia were still connected, when her human self was used as a battery, Anya had been immobilized and frozen in place until the spell was disrupted. The Four had attempted to feast on her essence, but they all learned the hard way what the newest Warp deity truly was.
A golden figure appeared within her realm then. Anya had her work cut out with bringing peace to the Warp, and the more she soothed the more peaceful and welcoming her claimed territory became. The apparition looked around, taking in the ethereal gardens it passed through and observing how Chaos recoiled away from her realm.
"Revelation," she acknowledged the figure as he approached her. While this was only a projection of the Emperor, Anya still recognized the man's soul. "I believe this is the first time you've visited my domain. What brings you here now?"
"Alesia?" he spoke, surprised to see her. "No…you are…"
"I am the version of Alesia that made the wish in the previous time line," she smiled as she took on her mortal facade resembling her Queen of Games days during the third millennium. "Did she not tell you about me? I emerged after you severed our connection."
"No, she did not. I thought the Warp was much calmer as of late, but I did not think a new god would be the reason for this new state." Revelation admitted.
"Hmm. It may have just slipped her mind. However, that is not why you are here. Alesia's soul was drained, and the four jack-wagons tried to devour us both."
"So that was their aim."
"I assume so, but they screwed around and found out so to speak." She took on a more serious tone, letting him know she was about to tell him something big. "The gods of old I worshiped and befriended in my first life all placed their faith and hope into my soul. They gave me their essence, similar to how the shamans of old created your soul, but my ascension triggered a fail safe."
"A fail safe? What do you mean?"
"The universe is alive. And like any living thing, it will eventually die. This universe, our current reality, has been dying since the War in Heaven. The immaterium reflects the cancer that has long since become terminal.
"Do you remember when you drank from the Warp during the final battle of the Heresy?"
He nodded.
"Then you remember that your ascension was gradually killing everything around you, including your guards. Now, imagine that on a wider scale and instantaneous. That is what we are.
"Alesia and I are one and the same; two sides of the same coin. However, if we merge together and become one again, then it's game over for everyone."
Revelation recoiled, and Anya couldn't blame him for his shock. She'd only learned about this not too long ago herself, and the Ruinous Powers also knew this as well; it was the reason why they stayed away from her domain.
"You've noticed them staying away. They tried to devour us earlier, but the opposite happened. They have lost power as a result."
"How is that possible?"
She did not answer that question; he already had an inkling of an idea that would lead him to the horrifying truth.
"Alesia doesn't know anything of what is happening in the Warp." Anya spoke again after a moment of silence. "She knows I'm around, but not the full extent of what we both are. It is best she never knows."
Malcador found his long time friend in the Meditation Chamber. They had only traded a few words since the Princess's rescue, but they needed to speak in depth now.
"Revelation," he spoke up. The Emperor was gazing out one of the observation portals, his back to him. "What have you learned?"
The man turned, his eyes told of a massive burden that had been laid on his shoulders. The words he spoke shook the Sigilite to his core, yet now things were starting to make more sense.
"Alesia can never know of this." Revelation said, face in hands. Even this new tid bit of knowledge was nearly too much for him. "She cannot leave Terra like this anymore."
"Agreed."
"And….once everything has calmed down, she needs to understand where she stands in this empire."