Warhammer: In the Name of Nirvana

"Honestly, Brother Chagatai, I can actually understand your worries and why you want to do this."

"But I still have to say, what you did this time is really a bit stupid: luckily the old man doesn't know yet."

"But, then again, even if he knew it, there would be nothing to say: after all, this matter is still to blame on him in the final analysis. Whether it is you, Horus, or even me, he has no face to accuse us of causing trouble again. Now, he doesn’t care about our affairs anymore.”

The walls carved from a single piece of basalt are as smooth as a fine mirror, and the pale golden dome lights cover up every inch of shadow they cast, shrouding this room wrapped in winding crystal veins. In warm colors that make people feel at ease and comfortable.

The cushioned ring-shaped sofa is undoubtedly the core of this kind of private lounge. When the guests' eyes start from here and radiate towards the space of nearly 100 meters in radius, their entire field of vision will be covered by rows of hands holding dishes. The servitor who ordered drinks was packed to the brim.

"All creations of Mars: forged first-rate products [produced] under the personal supervision of the General."

Alpharius and Jaghatai Khan were the first of all the brothers to leave: they would have gone faster if the Great Khan had not insisted on saying a simple farewell to Horus, Magnus, Morgan and the others. Some, but Hydra obviously couldn't defeat the Eagle.

As compensation, since the two of them stepped out of the door of the conference hall, it was up to Alpha to decide where to go: Hydra obviously knew much more about the volcanic world under their feet than Khan did, and he took it with him. The Chogoris people flexibly changed routes among tens of thousands of people, perfectly avoiding the eyes and greetings of all mortals.

While the rest of their brothers had just come out, the two Primarchs had already slipped into a certain lounge specially prepared for the Emperor's children.

Quiet, remote, clean, and almost completely soundproof: the only drawback is that it cannot resist the prying eyes of truly powerful psykers. When he closed the door, Khan could clearly feel that there were at least two streams of psychic energy. The breath caressed his back.

One is Morgan: she's clearly making sure her allies are okay.

The other side, or the Emperor, stayed for a long time: Khan hoped that he was the one behind Alpharius, so that there would be less trouble.

He hated trouble: very much.

But he just can't avoid trouble.

For a moment, Jaghatai Khan was a little discouraged. He found a place to sit down after Alpha took his seat. His first move was to place the Chogoris scimitar that he never left behind on a In the most comfortable position: no matter what his brother tried to do, the Great Khan ensured that the blade would be stuck in the Hydra's cunning neck before his next breath.

Seven inches: This is probably the position.

And Alpharius seemed unaware of all this: from the moment the two brothers sat down, Hydra focused all his attention on the refreshments and drinks served by the servitors, these expensive In the blink of an eye, the round table between the two people was filled with things.

Sparkling champagne, delicious meats, and dewy fruits: this seemingly simple dish can be exchanged for a restaurant that can at least handle it in any world except Holy Terra. house.

Of course: in which city area, two guesses.

Khan shook his head to clear his mind of random thoughts. He waited for Hydra's words as calmly as possible, but after almost five or six minutes of futility, when Alpharius was thinking about his next drink, When the bright white turned orange, the Chogoris discovered that his patience was much less than he originally expected.

“These things evaporate before they reach your stomach: what does the color matter?”

"That's how narrow-minded you are, brother."

Before he finished speaking, Alpharius had already turned his head, as if he had anticipated Jaghatai Khan's impatience.

"Listen to me, brother, I once stayed on Morgan's Dawn Goddess for a while. It wasn't long, just a few weeks to a few months, but I still learned something there: the most important thing is to maintain Love the life we ​​have, love it like a human being.”

"Tell you quietly, Chagatai, I think this is the biggest reason why our dear sister has achieved what she has achieved today. To a certain extent, she is the one closest to mortals among the twenty of us: Father is here I clearly prefer her."

Khan narrowed his eyes and did not reply.

"Say no more."

Hydra smiled: that smile always makes people feel uncomfortable.

"I can't live up to His Excellency the Forging General's kindness, can I?"

"kindness?"

Jaghatai raised his eyelids.

"You don't really think that the Lord of Mars will personally supervise the manufacturing of these machine slaves, do you? When I first returned to the Human Empire, even when my Bladestorm was being renovated, the Foundry General was not present even once."

"Things are different these days: and those robot guys really hate you, brother."

Alpha picked up his fork and casually tore a beautifully plated steak into pieces in front of the Khan.

"Besides, Mars is different now than when you came back. You haven't been in the Empire for many years, so of course you don't know much, Brother Chagatai: Riza's de facto independence has caused Mars to lose almost all of its power in the eastern part of the galaxy, and now they can't even keep the south and north."

"Luther and Horus in the north, Mortaria and Corax in the south, are all trying to win over their respective Mechanicus allies: even if they just imitate Morgan and Riza's way of getting along, Mars's position as the top forge world will only be a false name, and even this false name can't be kept."

"So you see, the dignified Forge General The Lord got along with our Perturabo in the conference hall like a brother: How dare such a Martian disobey the Emperor? Kalberhar might not even have time to be happy to show his face in front of the Lord of Mankind. "

"But how did I hear that? He was an opponent of the Emperor back then."

"Back then? Back then, the entire galaxy and Terra were opponents of the Emperor."

"This kind of thing can never be eliminated."

At this point, Alpharius finally became serious. He threw away the fork, letting the torn steak lie quietly on the table to cool, and picked up the wine glass, letting the scarlet liquid stain the edge of his thin lips in circles.

"It was like this before, and it is like this now: it will not change in the future."

"Rather, after the Emperor leaves, more and more opposition parties will emerge: isn't that the case in the Maelstrom? Fulgrim was so busy there that he couldn't even get back to attend the Council of Nicaea. It is said that the number of deaths of the Emperor's Children has exceeded one thousand, which is higher than most conventional battles in the past."

"And this is just a warm-up: the future will definitely be more lively. If the news of the Emperor's departure from the Great Crusade is to be transmitted from Ullanor to every corner of the Human Empire, it will take at least three to five years or even ten years. By then, there will be more troubles waiting for us. "

"There is no doubt that we will be busy dealing with these things. No one is qualified to laugh at Fulgrim. After all, this is the inevitable pain of power change: especially when the ability and authority of the heir are both behind his predecessors, he will definitely face more troubles to establish prestige. "

"But the results are often not very good. "

"Or..."

The Hydra put down the cup and observed the Khan's face with a smile: the Chogoris separated his arms and legs, let the center of gravity of the whole body lean forward, and placed his shoulders and elbows on one side of the knee, casting a large shadow on the ground with his chest.

This is a thinking action.

"What do you want to say?"

After a minute or two, Chagatai Khan looked up at his brother.

"Just a question?"

Alpharius smiled.

"Chagatai Khan, I want to know if you are like me, and have no confidence in Horus' future rule in your heart: I doubt Horus' ability, and you should be doubting that Horus can't take over such a huge mess thrown to him by the Emperor."

"That's right."

Khan did not hide his dissatisfaction with the Lord of Mankind.

"I don't doubt Horus' ability, but the Emperor's decision is too rough. Even if Horus is more capable, he can't maintain everything the Emperor has given him in such a hurry: so he must choose to abandon some areas, which is what I just told him."

"Really?"

Hydra tilted its head.

"By creating a bad impression of Morgan in the heart of the Wolf God?"

"That's her true side."

Khan's voice was flat.

"For a long time, although Horus also valued Morgan's status and ability, he was still troubled by rumors from the outside world, and he would look down on the power of the Spider Queen in his heart: it was nothing in the past, but if he wanted to act as a warmaster in the future, he must pay attention to Morgan's energy and..."

"Threat?"

"You can say that."

Chagatai Khan nodded.

"If I don't explain it more clearly, I'm afraid that in another thirty or forty years, Horus will still wishfully think that Morgan is just a shield pushed out by Guilliman. He doesn't know who is the leader between the two: it may not be a big deal internally, but when the two of them are united against the outside world, Guilliman's role is only worthy of taking off Morgan's boots and wiping his feet."

"Ah... is that so..."

Hydra's body leaned back, and it took him almost three or four minutes to sort out all the thoughts in his mind.

"Let's start from the beginning."

Alpharius waved his hand.

"First, Brother Chagatai: What do you think of the order left by the Emperor?"

"No idea."

The Khan glanced at the piece of meat that was tossed into a mess by Alpharius. He frowned slightly, but before this piece of food, which was enough to exchange for a dozen lives on some wild world, completely cooled down, he grabbed it, tore it into pieces, and then threw it into his mouth to chew.

"I don't like the responsibilities given to me by the Emperor. He gave me a large piece of land and people to protect, but promised me that I could travel around the world: a typical emperor-style promise, it seems to give you what you want most, but in fact, there are strong shackles behind it."

"So you want to break it?"

"No."

The Khan raised his head and looked at Hydra calmly: Although there were no more advanced lie detection methods, Alpharius could confirm that what Chagatai said was true just through the most direct communication between the two people's eyes.

"Listen, Alpha: I do not like the responsibility given to me by the Emperor, but I have no reason to break it. In the face of the common interests of all of us, the gains and losses of any individual are irrelevant: I will wait patiently until the Emperor emerges from Terra again, and then throw my responsibility at his feet."

"By that time, I think I should have fulfilled my obligations to him."

"Ah, I think so too."

Hydra looked away to cover the storm in its pupils.

"In other words, you want to maintain our current system?"

"Otherwise, why do you think I should remind our warmaster?"

"Why?"

Alpharius looked over.

"You deliberately tried to sow discord between Horus and Morgan in order to maintain the system?"

"That's too harsh."

The Khan swallowed the meat, grabbed a bright silver knife, and hesitated for a moment before saying the next sentence.

"Think about it, Alpharius, we all want to maintain the existing system, with the Warmaster as the core, until the Lord of Mankind is willing to take on his responsibilities again: then, in this system that needs to be maintained, the Warmaster is undoubtedly the leader and the first person responsible."

"He must see some things clearly, including who is his biggest enemy."

"Do you think Morgan will be an enemy of Horus and the Human Empire?"

"She is not, but she is the most likely."

The Khan spread out his words.

"Otherwise, tell me, besides Avalon who took the initiative to make connections and led the Far East countries to betray Holy Terra, who else is there in this galaxy? What other power can stir up a war that sweeps across the empire?"

"Or, what other power can threaten Horus' life and status?"

"..."

Hydra didn't speak, but the strange smile on his face made Khan feel very uncomfortable.

"Look, Chagatai."

"I said it long ago, this matter is ultimately to blame our father."

"If he could have revealed the truth to all of us earlier, then you wouldn't have made such a mistake: your starting point and ideas are all good, but you just did something stupid that doesn't fit your character."

"..."

Khan frowned.

He wanted to stand up and ask what the stupid things Hydra was talking about were, but Alpharius took action first: he dodged the breath of the eagle like a spirit snake, and floated to the door in the blink of an eye.

"Well, it's time to end the conversation: I just came to confirm your position."

"And your answer reassures me."

Alpharius pushed open the door: before leaving officially, he turned back and gave Khan a few instructions in a heavy tone.

"And in return, I will reveal a few facts to you, brother."

"First, you did do something stupid: you will regret it in the future."

"Second, Morgan is not the biggest enemy of Horus and the Empire. At least at this stage, she is still an ally of the Emperor: As for Horus? Don't interfere in their affairs, it will only harm the Wolf God."

"Finally..."

Hydra paused.

"Just listen, there are indeed enemies in this galaxy that can threaten the entire human empire, but the Emperor has not revealed their existence to you: Yes, my smart brother Chagatai Khan, you should be able to guess where our enemies are hiding, right?"

"..."

Khan frowned, his voice seemed heavy and hoarse.

He only thought about it for a while.

"Everyone in the galaxy told me that there is nothing in the warp."

"The Emperor said so too."

Alpharius smiled.

"You'd better believe so, Khan."

"For your own good."

"Oh, right."

Hydra seemed to remember something, and he showed Jaghatai Khan a cruel smile that he would have when torturing a prisoner.

"I'm telling you something unfortunate: don't think you can rest easy after you've aroused Horus's desire for psychic power. You don't know how to give him psychic power, but that doesn't mean there aren't means in the galaxy that can awaken the Primarch's psychic power."

"At least the Emperor has it."

"So: think about what kind of stupid thing you did, Khan."

"I hope you can come up with a remedy."

"And me?"

"I'm going to supervise another harmonious and friendly brother-sister tea party."

"There are some small things, some equally important private talks."

"Brothers, allies, enemies, and the most classic father and son."

"In short, everyone is very busy before the final scene of Nikea is unveiled."

——————

Just got home, I'll write these today, I may be busy in the next two days.