Warhammer 40k: Shattered Steel Soul

After the performance, the Emperor quickly disappeared from the theater without a trace. But Morse could still sense his presence.

At this time, the Lord of Mankind was staying in the suburbs outside Lokos City. There was nothing around him, which made Morse wonder whether the public performance just now had exhausted his ability to face the crowd, and he must return at this time. Among the mountains and forests, enjoy the leisurely scenery of mountains and rivers.

But it's a good thing that the Emperor left the scene, otherwise no one would have listened to Callifon's final speech - the mere presence of the man in golden armor was enough to attract everyone's full attention.

The queen of the planet Olympia and the governor of the Olympia star cluster is still wearing her iconic gray robe embroidered with gold threads today, with an iron crown on her head, and some gray hair with a yellow and black hair. Hairband tied up.

In order to be in line with her dramatic identity of playing the goddess of youth, today's iron crown is also wrapped with an olive branch.

She walked to the center of the stage with a cane and faced the audience. Although she was not young, she was still full of energy. Today's speech, co-drafted by Callifon, Perturabo and Morse, will be broadcast throughout the star cluster in the form of a broadcast.

"It is the time of the glorious expedition of the Lord of Mankind. No one knows how urgent time is and how scarce resources are at this time. Among the cold and vast stars, mankind can only seize every minute and use all its abilities. , at the expense of every drop of precious blood, we can seize a glimmer of hope from the various threats in the galaxy."

"We have no chance or room for failure, only victory. We wake up every day with the belief in victory, hear a new good news at dusk every day, and obey the call of the Lord of Mankind. This is how we are Moving forward day by day, that’s what I’ve been thinking all these years.”

"Every resident of the Olympia Star Cluster, and even all citizens of the Human Empire, those who obey the Emperor's call, and those who follow the banner of the Sky Eagle, embrace this unchanging belief, build, fight, contribute, and even sacrifice. ”

"Because of this, I was very surprised when the Lord of Steel, Perturabo, proposed the plan for this Olympia Games. At that time, I once asked him to take a month out of the limited time of the expedition to return to Olympia in person. , is it worth it to host a sports meeting? Then I got a message from him and it gave me an answer.”

"We are in an era immersed in war, an era where cruelty and ruthlessness are necessities, an era where the end of darkness and the beginning of light are looking forward to the dawn, an era of sacrifice and bloodshed for beliefs, ideals and the future."

"And we need all of this. There is no doubt about it. Because we are in an era where hope and fear coexist, ignorance and rationality coexist, truth and lies coexist. No one knows how far we can go. We can only keep moving forward. "We may have true reward and peace, but we have to pay the price, and the price has been paid."

"The imperial machine has swallowed tens of millions of raw materials into its mouth, transformed them into raw materials for war, and devoted them to the destruction of all enemies. All souls in the world must be loyal enough to the expedition."

"Under such a premise, do you really believe that we will one day achieve peace?"

"Will our great vision be realized? Will the golden light definitely come? Or in the end we will still slide into the abyss, into a darker and colder future, immersed in the eternal war from which we can never escape, and witness the death of hope. , just like when humans were struggling in the Age of Strife?”

"The answer you give will be an affirmation of hope. You will even accuse me. As a servant of the Emperor, I am making trouble here, ignoring the facts, destroying our unshakable military morale, and tarnishing the reputation of the respected Emperor."

"I accept all these questions and doubts, but I am not asking them for my own sake, but for the lingering shadow that lingers above all of us, for the hesitation that exists deep in our hearts, even if it is only A moment."

"I can be honest with you, when I ask myself, when I ask myself this question, there is no way I can promise a victory. A better world. A bright future. So why are we fighting?"

"Because this is our only chance, the only chance to seize our future from the hands of destiny, and it may never come back again. After thousands of years of strife, we finally have an opportunity to face the challenges of space again. Danger, to re-conquer everything we once had and lost.”

"We challenge fate, and we may not win. But if we don't challenge, victory will never come."

"Then what? What kind of victory will we achieve? A more prosperous victory? A more peaceful future? How will it be better than the life we ​​live today? Will it be thousands of worlds reconnected with each other and people reconnected closely? Together, there may still be local crises, but we have food, water, clothing that can cover our bodies, enough housing to live in, and the basic rights of a human being, just like what was once recorded in classical documents Is it the same as the old Terra era nearly 30,000 years ago?”

"How many people have experienced such an era? It seems untouchable and unimaginable. Although it is radiant, its shape is vague. It is impossible for all human beings to be willing to face a vague and unattainable thing. Give him everything he has."

"Friends, take a look at where we are now, Olympia. In the past, the climate here was considered unique among many planets in the universe, but it also suffered from wars and slow development."

"For thousands of years, our civilization has stagnated, always a poor imitation of the old era, a shadow of something long gone. Our political systems have continued to iterate, and our economic models have changed repeatedly, but in the end we have returned to a tyrannical system. Underneath, it has shrunk for thousands of years. This is a microcosm, a piece of ashes from the past.”

"Perturabo, Lord of Olympia, changed everything. He brought new technology, new ideas, new peace, and new government. He personally brought his ideals to our land."

"Since we are all in this theater, let's look up and take a look at this theatre! Take a look at the water conservancy facilities, road traffic, green spaces and communication networks painted on the columns, and take a look at the work in the murals "

"Olympia is the city the Iron Lord reshaped, the great achievements he made, and a template for his vision for the future. Perturabo was an architect, and Olympia was the drawing he drew stroke by stroke. It is not a A vague dream, but a real exhibit, an utopia that everyone can touch, understand, and experience for themselves. It depicts the image of our future and goes further than the old Terra."

"The reason why this games can be held is not because we are idle, but because we are busy. We are so busy immersed in the hesitation and endless war that we don't have much time to think about where we are going."

"Perturabo understands this, so we don't have to continue to take time out to think in busy moments, we just need to take a month here, during the Centennial Expedition, to experience it all. From this, we know that our dreams has entered reality.”

"You can see it, touch it, feel its existence, its breathing, and every pulse of it. This is not the future I can promise, but this is the future I hope everyone can get. "

"It may actually come within thirty years, maybe fifty years, or one hundred years. But even if it takes a thousand years, in our entire thirty thousand years of human history, it will only be equivalent to the arrival today." tomorrow."

"In ancient legends, in the birthplace of the Olympia Games, city-states often fought against each other. Years of war made the people tired, and they generally longed for recuperation. Therefore, three important city-states reached an agreement to hold an annual games and stop wars during the period. , allowing athletes from all over to compete, this is the famous Olympic Holy Truce.”

"From that moment on, about two thousand years later, humans in the old land were once again plunged into war. Dark clouds shrouded the continent of Europa, and war was on the verge of breaking out. In 1912, an ancient sage proposed to imitate the ancient sacred truce. , held a sports meeting in Berlin, the source of the war, in order to eliminate the disaster. However, his wish was not realized. A fuse was lit that burned the concept of truce, and the Berlin Games was cancelled.

"A few years after that day, time came to the end of the second millennium. In 1994, athletes from a war-torn country received special approval and were invited to participate in the games at that time. Because of this initiative, that The fighting in the country temporarily stopped, and the two sides temporarily ceased fighting, and the peaceful intervention was effective. After that, hundreds of countries in Old Terra at the time jointly signed a new Olympic Truce, starting a week before the opening of each Games and ending at the end. One week later, stop the war.”

"Tens of thousands of years later, in the year 843 of the 30th millennium, in the same land called Olympia, we were fortunate enough to restart this long-lost agreement. In just this short month, we regained our understanding of each other. Respect for human emotions and protection of human rights. Let us put aside our fatigue and forget our worries and live in an ideal city as we already live in a more peaceful and better world.”

"Here, players from the most remote and backward planets can also have the opportunity to win a competition; former enemies within the star cluster can also have a happy chat after the game."

"Here, we know that the future is around us, and the future we will fight for with our hands is like this."

“So when the games end and the war resumes and we set off, we will know who we are, where we came from, and where we are going in the longest, most dangerous, and greatest war in history. "

"thank you all."

The applause she received was long and sincere. A few seconds later, the first bouquet of flowers was thrown at the Queen's feet. This was like an order to announce the start. More flowers and silks were sent to the center of the stage of the theater from all directions. , and soon a fragrant heap formed at the feet of Callifon.

Kalifon smiled helplessly, accepted the applause and praise, and decided to wait for people to throw away the flowers in their hands before announcing the successful conclusion of the closing ceremony. She had already seen small civilian drones starting to fly in the distance. It seemed that not only people in the theater, but also people in the city decided to send the flowers they prepared to the stage.

Among the flowers and brocade, a red-haired singer came to the stage with a gentle and respectful voice: "Dear Queen, may you allow me to pay tribute to you with a song? Although this gift is insignificant, it is in the vast world. It is unique in the universe. I want to use this song to praise your respectable heart and let my singing stir up waves about beautiful things.”

"I will accept it," Calliphon said, allowing the singer to come to her.

The singer nodded nervously, took a deep breath, then took another breath, and sang the unaccompanied song alone. Her voice was like a spring breeze blowing through dead branches, blending softly with the other noises in the golden theater.

The song begins with a delicate and trembling melody, which jumps in the air, full of desire for endless exploration of life, like the first bud in the arms of Mother Earth, twisting and turning back and forth, endlessly exploring. Then, the tune gradually broadened, like rain falling, moistening the earth, and stimulating the growth and hope of all things.

This song is not only the flow of sound, but also the manifestation of life force. It is like the murmur of the soul, arousing the resonance of the listener's inner life, almost reawakening every ray of vitality in life at the cellular level. The singing gradually sublimated, the surrounding noise seemed to be purified, and the air was filled with the joy of new life and the harmony of living creatures.

The singer's face shone with brilliance, and the afterglow left by the brief communion with the power of the goddess of life once again shone on her face, blooming with the spark of life originating from the depths of her soul. Shanadore praises the vitality with her singing, the melody is flying in the created score, and the endless potential is intertwined into a picture that seeks to spread and prosper.

Then, an unexpected ray of glorious power left by the Lord of Humanity, mobilized and pulled by the spiritual energy field, began to be continuously collected and gathered again. As the notes vibrate, the cold spiritual energy flows into the sea like a river, finally blending into the singer's voice.

The singer felt slight pain from this, but she continued to sing, a golden tear falling from her cheek.

The sky is gradually covered with soft gold. As the song rose, the golden light condensed into drops and turned into golden raindrops, slowly falling from the sky. The golden rain danced and shimmered in the air before falling to the ground, like a joyful dance of life, echoing above the capital city of Lokos.

The rain touches the land, and every plant and every creature is nourished by the rain and takes on new life. Withered flowers regained their vitality in the rain, and branches of withered trees began to sprout new buds. People around them also felt that their illnesses subsided, their spirits were maintained, and their bodies suddenly felt comfortable.

As the golden raindrops fall, smart energy continuously converges on the queen who is listening to the song. A faint whirlpool of light seems to be formed around her, where the essence of life and time are condensed.

In full view of the public, the years rolled back on Callifon's face.

The wrinkles and signs of time gradually disappeared from her body, replaced by smooth and delicate skin. Her body shape changed quietly, and her back gradually straightened. The once half-grey silver threads were transformed into jet black and shiny strands, radiant. Her eyes became bright and lively again, shining with a youthful light like dewdrops.

Not only is her body rejuvenated, Kalifon's aura has also become stronger and brighter, as if her whole body is filled with a powerful life force. It is a force that is both ancient and new, just like time. The epitome of history and the future.

The tips of the olive branches on her head began to drip golden morning dew, which shone in the sunlight, and every drop was like the solidified essence of the sun. The golden dewdrops slowly slid down, along the queen's hair, and dripped into her collar.

And the iron-plated wooden crutch began to sprout again in the queen's hands. Tiny green leaves squeeze out from the strong wood grain, and tender green branches spread out. It is no longer a simple tool to support the body, but has transformed into the source of life.

The buds on the crutches grew more and more prosperous, and soon they bloomed into small flowers, exuding a faint fragrance, which seemed to be a sign of the rebirth of Kalifon himself, and even the whole world, promising a future full of vitality.

The goddess of youth lets go of her cane and bows to the world.

“We come from the past,” she declares forcefully, “in the present and move into the future.”