Chapter 277 — The Return of the Imperium
Naruto was the first to ask.
He had been listening for most of the morning, asking questions when he could, but mostly letting the others carry the heavier parts of the conversation. Now he finally leaned forward a little and spoke.
"So what happened after the Legions were turned into Chapters?"
The question immediately pulled everyone's attention back to Gaius.
It was a natural question. A simple one, really. But there was a lot hidden inside it. What happened to an empire once its greatest military formations had been split apart? What happened after a catastrophe so large that it reshaped the way humanity fought forever?
Gaius thought for a moment before answering.
"The Imperium rebuilt."
He paused briefly.
"The Horus Heresy had devastated Humanity."
His tone stayed calm, but the weight was clear.
"Countless worlds had been destroyed. Entire fleets were gone. Large amounts of knowledge were lost."
Tony nodded slowly as he listened.
Even with what they had learned so far, the picture was becoming clear.
Gaius continued.
"After the Great Scouring and the Second Founding, the Imperium entered a period of recovery."
"The Chapters spread across the Imperium."
He looked at the others as he spoke.
"Some remained close to their parent Chapters. Others were assigned to distant regions of space."
"Additional Chapters were also founded."
Naruto tilted his head.
"Why?"
"To protect more worlds," Gaius answered without hesitation.
"A single Legion could not be everywhere."
His gaze moved across the room.
"Smaller Chapters could respond to threats across a much wider area."
Naruto nodded slowly.
That made sense to him. If one force was too large to move quickly enough or cover enough ground, then smaller units could be spread out where they were needed. It was the kind of idea even he could understand without having to think too hard about it.
But Gaius's expression shifted.
The seriousness returned.
"However, not long after," he said, "the Primarchs began to disappear."
The room quieted immediately.
Tony's brow furrowed.
"Disappear?"
"Yes."
He continued.
"After the Horus Heresy and the Great Scouring, most of the loyalist Primarchs gradually vanished."
"Some disappeared in battle. Some departed and never returned. Others simply vanished under circumstances that remain unclear even ten thousand years later."
Naruto blinked.
"All of them?"
"Most," Gaius said.
"By the end of M32, nearly all of the loyalist Primarchs were gone."
That immediately caught everyone's attention.
The Primarchs had already been established as figures of immense importance, sons of the Emperor, and among the few who had remained loyal after the Horus Heresy.
And yet now Gaius was saying that, over time, nearly all of them had simply vanished.
Mindy frowned.
"What happened to them?"
"I do not know."
He didn't soften it.
"Some were lost in battle. Some vanished during campaigns. Others simply never returned."
"What I do know is that, over time, the loyalist Primarchs gradually disappeared, leaving only my Gene Father Roboute Guilliman."
Tony nodded once.
"Oh."
A small understanding seemed to settle over his expression.
"That explains it."
He glanced toward Gaius.
"He's the only Primarch I've actually seen."
He was referring to the Praetor ceremony.
Gaius gave a small nod.
"Yes."
Then his expression darkened slightly, remembering Guilliman's words, and the moment he had seen him without his armor, exposed to the wounds Fulgrim had inflicted. (Referred to Chapter 183)
"But even my Gene-father, Guilliman, was eventually struck down."
Naruto frowned immediately.
"What happened?"
Gaius answered in a single word.
"Fulgrim."
That name alone was enough to tighten the room again.
Gaius continued.
"The Traitor Primarch Fulgrim."
Nobody interrupted.
"Centuries after the Horus Heresy, Fulgrim and Guilliman met in battle."
He paused.
"My Primarch was wounded by a poisoned blade."
The room stayed silent.
"A wound so severe that even a Primarch could not recover from it."
Mindy blinked.
"Then how did he survive?"
"He was placed in stasis," Gaius said.
"A field that halts time around the subject."
Halsey's eyes sharpened.
The idea drew her attention in a different way than it did for the others. She was familiar with cryo-sleep systems, with suspended states and medical preservation, but this sounded different. More absolute. Less like rest, and more like time itself had been halted around the subject.
Tony frowned.
"Wait."
"We saw Guilliman recently," he said. "He looked fine."
The others immediately understood what he meant.
If Guilliman had been in stasis, then how had he appeared active? How had he been walking and speaking with them during the Praetor ceremony?
Gaius nodded.
"Yes."
"Because he was eventually revived."
That drew the room's attention in full.
Naruto blinked.
"Revived?"
Gaius nodded again.
"For nearly ten thousand years, Lord Guilliman remained in stasis."
He continued.
"Then, in a later era of the Imperium, he was awakened and returned to command."
Tony folded his arms.
"How?"
Gaius answered simply.
"Through Imperial technology, led primarily by Archmagos Belisarius Cawl."
Then he added another piece.
"And with additional aid from the Aeldari, an alien race."
That caused a few of them to pause.
The Aeldari had now been mentioned in a way that clearly mattered.
Not merely as another alien race.
But as a force involved in the return of one of the most important figures in the Imperium.
That surprised Tony.
From everything he knows so far about the imperium, the Imperium seemed intensely xenophobic.
The idea that an alien race had helped revive one of its greatest leaders was not something he had expected to hear.
Gaius continued.
"The process stabilized his condition."
"It slowed the effects of the damage that would otherwise have been fatal."
Silence settled again.
Ten thousand years still pressed heavily on the room.
Gaius spoke again.
"When he awoke, Lord Guilliman found an Imperium changed beyond recognition."
"The Emperor still remained upon the Golden Throne."
"His brothers were gone."
"And the Imperium had endured ten thousand years of constant war, decay, fragmentation, and bureaucratic stagnation."
Nobody immediately responded.
Guilliman had not simply woken up to the world he had left behind. He had woken up to something altered beyond recognition. A civilization still standing, but changed by time, war, and loss into something entirely different from what it had been.
Gaius paused, letting them take it in.
Halsey then spoke, her tone steady and precise.
"Who is Archmagos Belisarius Cawl?"
"Archmagos Belisarius Cawl is one of the most advanced members of the Adeptus Mechanicus," Gaius replied.
He glanced briefly toward the others, making sure they were following.
"An Archmagos is among the ruling lords of the Priesthood of Mars, the Mechanicus. The organization responsible for most Imperial science and technology."
That immediately caught Halsey's attention.
This was the part she had been waiting for.
The part responsible for the technology of the Imperium.
The part that maintained, preserved, built, and shaped the tools that allowed the Empire to survive. She leaned in slightly, clearly more interested now than before.
Tony and the others already knew a little about the Mechanicus. They had heard enough to know about the machine worship, the robes, the augmentation, and the strange relationship they had with technology. It was all part of the broader picture of Gaius's world.
Tony glanced toward Halsey and smiled.
He was already looking forward to seeing her reaction when they dug deeper into it.
~~~
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