Warhammer 40k: Shattered Steel Soul

"Chaos, this term has a long history," Morse said, sitting opposite Commander Naude of Interex. "It originated from the old earth. In the theogony, it is recorded as the beginning of darkness and light... …Yes, this is a limited scientific system established when human beings’ knowledge of nature is not rich enough—when a theory cannot be proven false, we can take it for granted that it is the truth.”

In the conference hall, all the Space Marines and most of the clerks from the Empire had left. Only Perturabo and Morse, two people trusted by the Emperor, were left to talk to Interx about the matter.

The imperial people's decision made Interex's guards alert. The spears in their hands were tightened, and the silk wrapped around the bright armor fluttered slightly to prevent this "Chaos Wizard" from doing anything deviant. The commander-in-chief shook his head and raised his hand to signal the guards to calm down.

"Do not offend the sincerity of the Imperium of Man," Naud said, leaning forward earnestly, his face a specimen of handsomeness within the human realm, if one ignored the broad, genetically engineered ears.

"In today's empire, chaos still remains in its ancient meaning. As a natural and random part of cultural archeology, it has not been given special attention. We say 'chaos' only to describe those who are in chaos. physical condition.”

Naude frowned: "But today, it is impossible for a race to sail freely in the universe and cross the galaxy at a speed exceeding the speed of light without knowing anything about chaos."

"The subspace, the sea of ​​souls, the vast ocean, the etheric ocean, the supreme sky, the void...chaos." Morse said softly, and when he mentioned the last word, Naude's eyebrows frowned even more tightly.

"Most people in the Empire know some of these terms, but they don't understand what they actually mean and how they are related to each other. After all, it only takes one real intrusion of Chaos to cause human beings to suffer permanent changes. Change, replaced by the nightmare inside them, reshaped until they can no longer explain the true face of chaos to others..."

"So, do you specially train wizards to control it?" Naude asked vigilantly, "I am very happy that the empire has a correct understanding of Chaos, and we will not comment on your behavior of keeping the secrets of Chaos to the masses. But. Chaos is the source of corruption and evil. It is pervasive and born for destruction. It is not an evil that can be controlled.

"I would love to hear that the Imperium does not serve Chaos, but I cannot easily trust the human kin who dominate and guard sorcery - that would be irresponsible to Interx."

"Why do you accuse yourselves, Naude?" Morse smiled softly.

"What do you mean?" the commander-in-chief asked puzzledly, "please speak frankly."

"Dominion and preservation of sorcery, Commander-in-Chief. With the consent of the Curator of the Hall of Instruments, our warsmiths have shared with us the collection of weapons within. You are proud to have the blades of war sealed away in stasis. , thinking that this is a permanent symbol of peace. Perhaps one day, after the Great Crusade, the Iron Warriors will also withdraw their troops in the pavilion. However..."

Morse paused, "Even the human empire would not be bold enough to preserve the weapons of chaos."

The Commander-in-Chief was first shocked by the news and his eyes widened, and the worry on his face was as stiff as plaster. Then, he immediately asked eagerly: "What did you find, friends of the Empire?"

"I hope you know clearly that I don't threaten Interex with this secret. It is out of respect for your social ideals and the first reward for agreeing to form an alliance." Morse said coldly, with black eyes. There is a faint thread of golden light lurking in it. "Enemy Blade."

"It was a controlled collection of witchcraft artifacts," Naude said, not letting go of his nervousness. "We housed it in a stasis field."

"Is it foolproof?" Morse asked. "Can it be guaranteed that nothing will go wrong with them? No, Commander-in-Chief, you don't know anything about the Warp beyond the necessary psychic navigation. Stasis fields are not enough to ensure these sorceries. product safety.”

"That's the best way," Naude said dissatisfiedly, "to keep it under control rather than letting it get stolen."

"This shows that you don't know how to destroy them properly."

The surrounding music became intense in an instant, revealing the violent fluctuations in the Commander-in-Chief's heart, and even contained a hint of sadness that was rare for Interex people.

"You are right, friend of the Empire," he said sadly, "the danger of rashly destroying a magical artifact is likely to be far greater than what we can imagine."

Perturabo spoke softly and comforted him gently: "There is a precedent for this in your history, right?"

"It seems that we have all experienced the same setbacks. And the Human Empire defeated it, or them." Naude took a deep breath, relieved his panic, and once again picked up the responsibilities and identity of a commander-in-chief.

"You will have a lot in common with the two generals in the Great Crusade, Interex." Morse shrugged his shoulders easily and tapped his fingers on the table. "Only those who understand witchcraft can Restrain sorcery. This rule will not change as long as the influence of Chaos exists.

"Now, I hope that the Instrument Hall will hand over the Enemy Blade to the Human Empire. You can regard it as a request for a gift, or you can regard it as the silent protection given to Interrex by the Empire. It depends on your vision and Pattern, dear Commander-in-Chief; no matter which bias you choose to describe, we can understand."

Naude fell into thinking, and the sound of the instrument was divided into two parts. One was mainly syncopated, high, fast and fierce, and the other was low and gentle, with small but long melody fluctuations. Finally, the second voice gradually replaced the first, and the entire conference hall fell into a reassuring silence.

The Commander-in-Chief blinked and nodded politely to Morse and Perturabo.

"Interex will be grateful to the Emperor for his selfless gifts, remembering the lurking dangers that the Imperium of Mankind has lifted for us," he said. "Please follow us to the Instrument Hall later, and we will present the old enemy blades. I sincerely hope that you will not be disturbed by them, and that the tentacles of chaos will stay away from humans."

"Objectively speaking, your stasis field protection is indeed effective. All it needs is a safer storage environment. They will be sent to Terra and guarded by the Imperial Army."

Morse said that a large number of old night dangers have been permanently collected in accordance with these rules in the underground shadow prison of the Terra Palace.

"And I will personally ensure their safe arrival; and when the Emperor returns to Terra, we will destroy these blades together."

——

"Let them burn." This was the first order given by Lorgar Aurelion after arriving on Planet 54-19 and making initial contact with the local residents.

The priests of Muristan expressed cryptic worries to one another in his presence, and the True-Speaker saw that they were troubled. He trusted in the piety of these warriors, so he understood and gave patient explanations.

"Their offense goes too far, my children," Lorgar stood and leaned over to take the hands of his priests.

"They mistake their small, blasphemous planet for Holy Terra, and they call their leader 'The Emperor' and demand that we kneel before them. If we hold on to the truth we were given, they will touch their Weapons make us bleed."

The pastor hesitated: "He is tolerant of His children and does not always rebuke them for their sins..."

"No, why do we still need to find reasons to condone such blatant heresy? Having rejected the brilliance of the true God, they are no longer His children."

"The Emperor's bloodline is inherited through spiritual life," the priest said suddenly. "You taught us that we are not born as humans, but we are born as His children. 'His Spirit lives in you', if you fail to use who believe to receive the Spirit of truth, they do not belong to Him.”

"That's right," Lorgar smiled, "Okay, let's go. We still have to go to the Holy Grail Expansion, and we don't have much time to waste here."

After the priests left the Wandering Temple, Lorgar Aurelion walked to the colored window and stared at the tiny planet outside.

The lights of civilization were scattered like stars, outlining the boundaries of the cities and countryside on the planet. However, it was such a seemingly beautiful planet that had the audacity to offend the Emperor's name and steal His will. Such absurd ignorance must be eradicated, and the old world undoubtedly needs to be completely reshaped before it can receive the Emperor's grace in a new and clean state.

He closed his eyes and imagined the stormbirds circling over the world, fire being lowered, jet engines rolling air waves in fiery plasma explosions... The stupid heretic fell to his knees, howling and begging for mercy.

But who can forgive them?

Lorgar opened his eyes, and his violet eyes calmly reflected the candlelight in the Wandering Sanctuary.

Only the Emperor can forgive them, Lorgar thought. If they can be saved, after leaving the mortal world, they can naturally go to His kingdom and become part of His power and power; if their sins are unforgivable, then the door will not open. will be open.

And all he had to do was send them to see Him.

From some unknown time, Lorgar Aurelion had firmly believed that the Emperor did have a divine realm for dead souls. He believed that this came from the Emperor's inspiration, and happily accepted the existence of the heavenly realm.

All of this is more and more consistent with the stories written in the scriptures, making Lorgar often immersed in pursuing the happiness brought by Him, so that he has to frequently reflect on himself and not forget the humility he should have.

"Aurelion," one of his descendants called him over the comms channel.

Lorgar responded gently to the radio array on his collar: "What's the matter?"

"The Emperor's Memoirs brought an application to Colchis by the name of Royd Dahl."

"Approval. If he has needs, try to satisfy him as much as possible." Luojia smiled and ended the episode.

Three days later, the "Emperor" of 54-19 was executed, and the local centralized government was completely destroyed by the Word Bearers. Only a few die-hards were still hiding in fortresses in the mountains of the southern hemisphere, accusing the Word Bearers of unprovoked attacks on them. and brutal acts of extermination.

Lorgar never listened to the nonsense of heretics or heretics, and the conquest of 54-19 was just a casual thing. In his mind, going to the Holy Grail Expansion and exploring the metaphor of the sacred title "Holy Grail" and the rumored Nightmare Sun were always top priorities in his mind.

"But I would still like you to come to the surface and have a look, Aurelion," his priest said.

"Did their counterattack stop our advance?" Luojia asked, "I thought they were just ignorant heretics with backward technology."

"They have never hindered us, and they are indeed backward-minded and primitive in technology. But an unknown signal is interfering with our communications in the mountains, and something they call 'Samus' is sending out blasphemous whispers."

"So, you think I need to go and see it for myself." Lorgar pondered, and stood up from the emperor's statue. "Take me to see it, priest."

"Yes, Aurelion."

They landed in the Whispering Mountains of Planet 54-19. The mountain winds were strong and the climate was freezing. As the Word Bearers discovered, there was indeed a faint whisper lingering in the Whispering Mountains. The sound was ambiguous, and as the mist and cold wind blew in from the mountains, it even invaded the Word Bearers' communication channels.

Lorgar found that he could hear "Samus"'s words clearly, which caused a cold rage to burn in his heart.

"Samus is by your side..." the filthy and evil creature tirelessly told, "Samus is the end, Samus is death...Samus is waiting at the end..."

This whisper even weakens the natives the Word Bearers face. When they meet those stubborn opponents, they often have already fallen into mad ravings and are teetering on the edge of self-destruction. Even if he is still conscious, he can only kneel in panic before the Word Bearers, begging them not to go further into the Whispering Mountains, because "the boundary between the spiritual world and the real world is blurred here, and the black light comes through the veil."

Lorgar Aurelion remained unmoved as the ring of ash burned all his foes. Fortresses were destroyed one after another, the ancient tunnels and labyrinths were completely purified, and the screams of mortals drowned out Samus's whispers. They crossed the ice bridge, traversed the fortress, dismantled the temple brick by brick, and destroyed all the original beliefs in the Whispering Mountains.

The priests chanted the Imperial Mantra aloud, countering Samus' whispers with true creed. The natives were frightened beyond words by the Word Bearers' chants, as if the Emperor was their greatest fear.

"They fear the truth," Lorgar Aurelion said with satisfaction, leading the Word Bearers to walk in the deep cave, listening to the water dripping from the walls and the flames burning on the oil. "They fear the truly noble. The truth, the fear of soul-cleansing prayers, has etched their miserable souls too much, preventing them from receiving the true light.”

Then, the water droplets on the wall formed a vague rhythm, which seemed to be some kind of code to convey information.

Lorgar listened intently, "Samus is here...in the darkness...Samus in the sun..."

He ignored these codes indifferently and refused to listen to the demon's whispers, until the priest exploring ahead sent a new response: "Aurelion, we found a mural, that is the complete map of Terra, the old map of Terra , there are still oceans and mountains on it...and--"

There was a sound of fighting, and artillery rumbled deep in the tunnel, like the heartbeat and trembling of the earth or magma. Lorgar waited, and soon the priest answered again: "We found a separate aboriginal, who advised us not to get closer. The front is the realm of darkness and destruction. The aboriginal has been executed..."

The second burst of gunfire rang out, and the priest was full of doubts: "The aborigines seemed to be reborn after death, maybe through body transformation..."

Before the third burst of gunfire rang out, Lorgar interrupted the cycle.

"Ask his name, children," he said softly. "If he would rather die than tell his story, then listen to him."

After a few seconds, the aboriginal got a chance to communicate. Surprisingly, the language he spoke was Terran Gothic.

"John Grammaticus," he replied reluctantly, hoarsely, his voice shaking with pain, "My lords, I come from Terra."