A/N: Minor family emergency, didn't have time to do review responses. I'm sorry. I did have time to get this posted thought, hopefully it will answer some of the questions the last chapter raised.
Chapter Forty-Eight: Quaecumque Vidit
The acorn in Taylor's hand guided them by the intensity of its pulses. When the pulses slowed or grew dimmer, they changed direction through the dark forest until the intensity returned.
The Lion continued to lead them, for only his strange power created a path for them to follow. The Tanith marched in tight formation around them, and behind them?
The full military might of a galaxy-spanning, millennia old conspiracy fought a rearguard action against a demonic host larger than anything Taylor had seen since the Siege of Terra.
A mixed force of mortal blanks, whose warp-disrupting auras were ideal for this type of environment, fought with tanks and mobile artillery along-side winged Astartes that all had the tell-tale beauty of the Blood Angels. And mixed liberally among their ranks were the tall, gold-clad Custodes. She guessed at least three full regiments of military might were slowing the demon horde behind them while Taylor herself trotted beside the Primarch to find their way.
After the first few, confused moments of euphoria at their seeming rescue, she realized it still wouldn't be enough. The only reason they hadn't already been swamped by the Great Enemy was that the path that bound them also seemed to bind the demons, forcing them into a narrow theater of combat.
Which meant instead of thousands of their saviors dying all at one, dozens died every few minutes.
Taylor wanted to ask Osteil or the other officers of his forces where they came from; how they got into the Dark Forest. But they didn't have the time or breath for it. For every step they took, the forest rang with the sound of human soldiers dying at the claws and tentacles of the demon horde. They died protecting Taylor, Sabbat and Telos.
The major had taken a position near Taylor. He claimed he was her liaison to the forces of Pandemonium, the realm he and his soldiers had come from. That didn't tell her who ultimately was in charge, and given that their sole mission was to run like hell, there wasn't a whole lot of reason of liaise that much.
The fear was palpable. Even Sabbat and Telos were rattled by the sheer scope of their situation. Regiments of soldiers from nowhere, with tanks and artillery, and even then they were barely keeping ahead of the demonic army that seemed intent on killing them.
The path El Johnson led them on veered sharply–the acorn seemed to confirm it was the right way to go. But abruptly the Primarch came to a stop. Taylor, paying attention to a hundred other things, slammed into the back of his armor and bounced off into Sabbat's arms.
"What…? Oh."
A mountain marched toward them, towering over the trees. A mountain of rotting, petulant flesh of myriad colors ranging from that of decomposing mushrooms to the long spoiled flesh of a thousand moldy corpses, moved with a gleeful smile and a forest of twisted horns atop its rounded head. A belly as large as a Thunderhawk split open, spilling massive loops of putrescent intestines hung over the edge of a palanquin carried by a million tiny demon slaves.
It wasn't alone, though. Stalking on one side of the Great Unclean One's palanquin, for that was surely what the greater demon was, she saw a winged, bird-like creature carrying a staff that burned the surrounding air of the Dark Forest. Opposite walked a creature at once painfully beautiful, and utterly repulsive. The horned demon's face was flawlessly perfect, but it moved with four arms. Two were perfectly formed, the other two like giant lobster claws. The demon had one perfect shaped breast on a patently feminine left side, and a hard, muscular form on the right.
They were in turn surrounded by an even greater army of demons than those that followed the humans.
"Why are they after us?" Telos whispered, truly horrified by the sight.
"Because we're hope," Sabbat said. "We're the antithesis to everything their masters represent."
"We can't beat that," Taylor said dully.
"No," El Johnson agreed, towering over them. "So, we go another way. Follow!"
There was no argument. He turned away from their path, and the acorn in Taylor's hands lost some of its luminosity.
"We are going a different way?" Major Osteil had fallen back near Gaunt, but jogged forward now at their new direction.
Not just a different path. The transition out of the Dark Forest occurred abruptly, and without any visible evidence of magic or portals.
Sabbat had to create a doorway within a weirwood tree to leave the immaterium. Lion El Johnson just stepped foot from one Dark Forest into another. And in his wake, the entire kilometers long line of three regiments of foreign soldiers followed. El Johnson kept walking through tall, gnarled trees until he reached an open meadow. The meadow was large enough to allow their newly acquired forces to muster. For the first time, Taylor was able to see the full size of the army that accompanied them.
Gaunt drifted close to her, beside Sabbat, Telos, and of course the ever-present Sister Cera.
"Twenty thousand men at arms at least," he told her. "Almost an entire chapter of those winged Astartes. Over a hundred Adeptus Custodes! Where did these people come from?"
The last of the rearguard arrived, seemingly out of thin air just like El Johnson and Telos first appeared on Hagia. Ragged soldiers in torn uniforms and armor staggered out before falling to their knees to be sick. Sabbat didn't hesitate a moment to rush out and provide healing. The very last through were a squad of bleeding, battle-scarred winged Astartes, and five towering Custodes.
Being so close to El Johnson, Taylor heard him say "Corinthine plate. I recognize that armor."
Taylor's feet began moving of their own accord as she stepped past where Sabbat healed dozens of demon-scarred men. Whatever mechanism El Johnson used to enter the real world seemed closed to the demon hordes of the Dark Forest, for none followed. Into this momentary respite, she found herself speeding up until she was running.
Telos and Sister Cera followed, as did Gaunt. The Primarch followed more sedately.
As she approached the tall, golden figure, she saw the scoring on the armor. Black streaks of explosive rounds and las bolts spoke eloquently of recent battle. One entire section of his left pauldron had been torn away, revealing the more delicate circuitry of the archeotech power armor. The spear he carried was taller than she was, and it too bore the runes and sigils of divine smithing.
Sabbat, seeing what was happening, staggered as if shot when she saw Taylor's target. She drifted closer to her other three selves. "That weapon," the saint said. "The truth of it! It's…"
Taylor had to clear her throat to speak. "After Ragnorak–the original Ragnorak–the Emperor found Gungnir–Odin's spear." She slowed just feet from the Custodes and stared up at his helmet as she explained. "It was broken, like our sword after Scion. But the pieces still retained so much power that the Emperor kept them. Thousands of years later he forged two sister spears from it–the Apollonian and Dionysian spears. Eventually he gave them away."
As she spoke, El Johnson stepped behind them. He listened but did not speak.
"He gave the Dionysian Spear to Leman Russ," Taylor said. Her voice caught briefly. "And the other, he gave to the son he stole from me."
"What…?"
Because their voices were the same as hers, Taylor didn't know if it was Telos or Sabbat who spoke. It didn't matter.
Constantin Valdor removed the helm of his battered, archeotech armor. He'd aged, she saw. Of course, it had been ten thousand years. Even if he spent those millennia in the Warp where time moved oddly, he'd aged. He'd shaved his head, revealing the many nodes embedded in his skull. Harsh, jagged scars reshaped the left part of his jaw. She didn't remember him having that wound.
Despite the urgency of their circumstance, the Emperor's first companion regarded them calmly. Pale green eyes, having faded in color over thousands of years, regarded first Telos, then Sabbat, and then, finally, Taylor.
"Do you recognize this world, mother?"
Every single mortal within hearing distance froze at the last word. Even Gaunt's Ghosts, having known Taylor for years now, seemed shocked to hear a Custodes use that word–especially to one of their own who looked barely seventeen if a day.
Taylor knew Constantin wouldn't have said anything if it weren't important. She looked around at the world they somehow found themselves in. The sky hung pregnant with heavy, dark clouds that obscured the tops of the distant mountains. Everything was coated in a heavy drape of forest–dark greens forming a uniform carpet across everything she could see.
Closer, framing the distance beyond the meadow, she could see what looked like an ancient caldera–a shattered mountain. A second rose a little to the north. Two shattered…mountains.
She looked down at the meadow. Between mounds of dirt, where storm and wind eroded it, she saw bits of rockcrete broken by the ages. The surrounding forests were dense with alien trees. An orange sun hung just over the horizon, casting cold spears of light through gaps in the clouds at the broken mountains. Like giant fingers pointing out some terrible, past crime.
These weren't volcanos, she realized. They were just shattered fortifications. "Lord Primarch, where did you lead us?" she said to the Lion.
"He would not remember, mother," Constantin said. "Though he, too, has been here before."
It couldn't be. It couldn't be. She squatted down, fighting to breathe. Telos knelt beside her, one hand over her shoulders. "I have no idea what the hell is going on," the winged Olympian whispered. "But are you okay? What's so bad about this place?"
She looked up at her sister-self. Sabbat stood close by, watching with a concerned expression. "This is where our father sacrificed the last of his godhood," Taylor said, grinding the words between her teeth. "Where he finally stopped being Kratos of Sparta and became Malcador the Sigillite. Where he stopped being a god, and became just another psyker."
"Yes," Constantin said. "Lion El Johnson has led us all to Molech."
~~Revelation~~
~~Revelation~~
With the running battle in the Dark Forest of the world trees, there was no time to rest or recuperate. Here, on a dead, abandoned planet, not just the Tanith but the Cognitae forces used the time to grab much needed rest and food. The heavy armor was positioned around the artificial meadow to form a perimeter, with security pickets. Gaunt sent his best scouts out, since it was clear the Cognitae forces were not accustomed to stealth, or living planets.
Gaunt himself joined Taylor, Sabbat, Telos, Sister Cera, Lion El Johnson and Constantin Valdor in a small conference around a fire, where they boiled water from nearby streams to make their rations somewhat edible.
"You were behind the Cognitae all along?" Taylor asked after their security situation was discussed.
"Not all alone, no," Constantin admitted. "They have always existed, since before even your father was born. The Emperor shared memories of his earliest times with me, and the seeds were there at the beginning. A group of mortals that tried to capture and use Enuncia."
Telos perked up. "What's that?"
"Words of creation," Taylor explained. "The words Zeus spoke to create Olympus, or Odin to create Asgard."
"Or what we used to create our domain in Brockton Bay?" Telos said brightly.
Taylor shook her head, having no memory of that. "Mortal wizard-priests of ancient Sumer recorded their earliest gods using the words. But the ones that have been hunting me…"
Constantin leaned forward, regarding her intently. "When your father sat upon the Golden Throne, he sent psychic messages to his followers. You know about Gallent Sidozie. But you did not know that Kyril Sindermann also learned of you from Keeler. He adopted a new name and became one of the founders of the Inquisition. It was he, through jealousy, who decided that Malcador's orders to protect you from Chaos should be interpreted as killing you. It was he who added your name, and the name Telos, to the list of forbidden names. It was also why he ultimately had Gallent Sidozie murdered. Though not before Sidozie formed his own movement within the Inquisition."
"What's this to do with the Cognitae?"
"Following my master's final instructions, delivered through my dreams, I left Terra and circumvented the Cognitae to suit my own ends. To divert Sindermann's efforts to have you hunted down and killed. I put Cognitae against Inquisition, and by their constant sparring was able to protect you. Until all of your selves returned."
"And then what, Custodes?" El Johnson's voice was so low it made Taylor's chest rumble.
The ancient Custodies nodded toward the three aspects of Taylor Hebert. "Telos Undivided could restore your father completely. But the legions that he crafted as his armies have been sundered and scattered over the eons. They pursue their own agendas. The Lords of Terra serve only their own purposes and seek power for power's sake, and the Inquisition and Ecclesiarchy would find beliefs that your father held as law to be heretical. And they've all been conditioned enough to fight even Him. The traitor legions still make war on us all. None of this even touches on the Xenos threats.
"My mission was not just to protect Taylor Hebert, but to prepare the way for Telos Undivided. Telos' return, and His restoration, were never going to happen without bloodshed. And so I created a kingdom within the Warp to gather an army and prepare the way for the Emperor's restoration, and through him, the Imperium. The Inquisition and Cognitae both knew me as the King in Yellow, but I have always been the Emperor's servant."
"Typical," Taylor said. "Another crusade. Trillions more dead. All in the name of Unity."
"Not even Telos Undivided could stop it, mother," Constantin said. "But with the forces I spent two thousand years growing, we planned to reduce the bloodshed. Or so I hoped."
He turned his attention on Telos. Her wings fluffed unconsciously and she ducked her head under his intent glare. "What?"
"I spent two thousand years outside of time itself building my city of Dust," Constantin said. "I gathered old Eyes of the Emperor and genesmiths, and with their help, we recreated the geneseed to elevate new Custodes. We gathered the Geneseed of the Blood Angels and adjusted it to create our flying Astartes. I've been cloning pariahs for thousands of years to form an army ideally suited to the Warp. And I had a bastion in the Eye of Terror where not even the Great Enemy could see. Until something punched a hole through our protections and exposed us to the enemy."
"What does that mean?" Telos asked defensively.
"The tear," Sabbat said. "I could see the truth of it. It wasn't just a tear in the warp. You ripped through every wall of every realm in existence. Your reentry into this universe made quite a mess."
"I didn't mean to, I was just trying to get home!"
"Intent is irrelevant," Constantin said flatly. "You ripped through one of the Dark God's realms and then into Pandemonium, and in following you, the Great Enemy saw my realm and attacked. What you see around you? These are the merest fraction of the forces I had gathered. I had an entire fleet ready to fly to Terra. All gone."
"I was just trying to get home and see my father," Telos said again. "It's not my fault you idiots fucked the whole galaxy up so bad Hell is trying to eat it! And I'm still trying to understand this whole mother-son thing. I know you said you had kids, Taylor, but how could you have a kid who's eight feet tall? I mean, what'd he weigh at birth, fifty pounds?"
"He weighed seven pounds, eight ounces," Taylor said softly. "No custodes was born like that. They were made."
"And all of the first of us were made of your line," Constantin added. "Your genome survived the first-generation apotheosis better than any other. I was the first, mother, but not the last."
"I know."
El Johnson growled. "Valdor, are you saying this…this perpetual mortal was the source of the Custodes? Is she also the progenitor of the Astartes?"
"Yes," Constantin said. "She is the eternal mother. Astartes herself used Taylor Hebert's genome as a template for the first marines on Luna. My Master did not use her base genome for the Thunder Warriors, and they became unstable as a result. So all of my first brethren were either children, grandchildren, or great grandchildren of Taylor Hebert until my master perfected the process. Descendents of Malcador himself. Her genes carried within them the seed that made our apotheosis possible. Without Taylor Hebert, there would be no Custodes. There would be no Astartes. A trace of her genetics remains in every geneseed of every Astartes. She is, in many ways, a living matriarch of our entire race."
"What of the primarchs?" El Johnson said.
"No, you were different," Taylor said softly without looking back at the demigod. Her eyes burned, and she hated that they did so. If she were only a few years older, she'd have better control. Sabbat scooted to her side where she sat on a bench made of crumbling, centuries-old rockcrete, and in spite of the discomfort her blank nature caused, took Taylor's hand.
Gaunt cleared his throat. "My lords, Beati, I'm just a simple soldier. But I speak for my men. What would you have us do?"
"The dark forest is closed to us," El Johnson said. "The xenos within…"
"Demons, Lord Primarch," Sabbat said, daring to correct him. "They are demons of the Warp."
"Just so. They have our spore now, and the moment I lead us back, we will be set upon."
Taylor took out the acorn. It still held a faint golden glow which pulsed weakly but consistently.
"You know a way back."
Constantin did not speak a question, but rather stated a fact. At her glance, he straightened. "Otherwise, Lord Johnson would not have brought you here. You've been here before. With Him."
Taylor felt a cold breeze blow down her back. "You don't know what you're talking about."
"I was with Him during his second visit. I know you were with Him the first time"
She shook her head. "I barely survived, and then only because of dad. It would kill everyone else except you, Lord Johnson, and…my other selves."
"What are we talking about?" Sabbat asked.
Taylor couldn't help but look back at the shattered mountains. "The Emperor of Man…was a god. Like Telos Undivided. Like most gods, he lost his domain when Scion attacked. The other gods without demains just lingered on perpetually. Dad too. But the Emperor saw something, or learned something. Something the rest of the pantheons of earth didn't know. Around twenty thousand years ago he came to the Church of Telos and asked for funding for an expedition. He was really picky about who came."
"What do you mean?" Sabbat looked around the fire before settling on Taylor.
"He took only gods, Sabbat. Gods, and me. Erda went with him. Dad. A daughter of Hermes named Angelia. He even dragged Enkidu with him. Angelia was going by Alivia by then, and Enkidu called himself Ollanius and claimed to be Catholic. We came here, and…" The words failed her.
Telos, enthralled at the names, leaned over and touched Taylor's shoulders. "What happened?"
Taylor forced herself to take a deep breath. "Do you remember the stories dad told us about Ragnarok? About why Odin did what he did to our mother, or the other realms?"
Both Sabbat and Telos concentrated on the old memories of their childhood. The others looked confused by names so long lost in history as to have no meaning.
"Odin was trying to find the secret to life," Telos finally said.
"Yes. Odin found a tear in reality on the edge of existence, where he used Words of Creation to shape Asgard and the other realms. The Well of Eternity. He never found the true well. The Emperor did. It was here, on Molech." She reached up her arm and pointed at one of the shattered mountains. "Under Mount Torger, right there ahead of us. When he went in, he was a god. When he came back out, he was something else. More."
Sabbat shivered. "You went in too?"
"We had to. It was sublight ship that brought us here. The warp drive was still experimental and the Event Horizon disaster of 2147 put a stop to warp drive technology for thousands of years, and the existing FTL barely got us past lightspeed. That meant the trip to molech lasted centuries. So, yeah. I went in with dad and the others. And it got us back to Terra."
"How?"
"It…guided us to what we were looking for. It's the nature of the Well. It gives you what you seek. The Emperor sought new power and secrets, and that's what he got. Horus sought power and an audience with the gods of the Warp. Dad sought to get me home, and that's what we got. But I only survived because of dad. And my blank status."
Taylor was surprised when Ibram Gaunt of all people leaned over and took her hand. "The mission is what's important, Taylor Hebert," the Commissar-Colonel declared. "Not the lives of those spent accomplishing it. Your mission is vital to the Imperium. To mankind itself. Every man here would gladly perish, if it meant saving the Emperor. If there is a way back to Terra for you and your sisters, even should it mean abandoning us, then in the Emperor's name you must take it."
"It is why you are here," Valdor said simply.