Gaia watched the Lady of Storms pass across the heavens, feeling her grandeur and resolve, and the surging emotions in her heart could not be restrained.
Aboard that magnificent battle barge were humanity's spear and shield, the Emperor's Angels, the Space Marines who guarded the Imperium through endless dark millennia with loyalty and blood.
It was precisely because of these transcendent sons of gods, and because of the countless mortal soldiers who fought bravely beside them, that the decaying and ossified Imperium of Man had managed to stagger through one millennium after another amid storm and ruin.
They were what Gaia longed to become.
And she wanted to become one of them.
Without even realizing it, she reached out toward the magnificent warship that was leaving the bow's field of view, as if she wanted to touch the heroic warriors upon it across the endless void.
As her emotions surged, the psychic power filling her body was unconsciously stirred by her desire.
But at that moment, the dizziness of alcohol and a strange wave of heat rushed toward her mind, and she failed to notice that small change.
And that vast warship, glowing brilliantly before her outstretched hand, became the last image her mind retained before her memories slipped away.
...
Before the launch bay of the Lady of Storms, the towering warrior preparing for the boarding operation suddenly stiffened, then slowly turned his head toward a strange direction.
"Brother Myles, what is it?"
The company chaplain behind him noticed his unusual movement and asked in confusion.
The massive warrior named Myles stared in that direction for a long time, but all he could see beyond the cold metal wall of the launch bay was nothing at all.
After a brief pause, he shook his head.
"It is nothing..."
"I just suddenly thought of someone from home."
The chaplain reached out and patted his shoulder plate.
"You may need a devout prayer to cleanse your spirit, brother."
"Do not let the shadows of the past cloud your sight. Our purpose is only to uphold the blood of glory and fight for the Emperor's people until the end."
...
Gaia stared blankly at the drifting gray mist around her.
Where was she?
She did not know, nor did she have the energy to dwell on the question.
Because at her ears, countless chaotic whispers were rising and falling without end.
They seemed to come from within the gray mist that covered this place, yet also from within her own mind.
Some were laughing madly, some murmuring softly, some singing aloud.
Countless different voices, yet all somehow similar, wove together into a great net.
It seemed to bind her in place, leaving her unable to move even an inch.
She covered her ears, trying to stop those inhuman murmurs from invading her mind, only to find that instead of weakening them, the act made them louder and more overwhelming.
Within that endlessly growing echo, she gradually understood the meaning hidden beneath those seemingly chaotic voices.
They were not curses.
Nor were they torment.
They were suggestions.
Each different voice was suggesting that she become a different kind of being.
They were so noisy that, little by little, those mind-shattering voices began to cover her thoughts entirely, disturbing her ordinary reasoning.
Her consciousness gradually unraveled beneath those insane murmurs, until it condensed into a single question.
Who exactly was she, and what exactly was she meant to become?
In that near-trancelike state, her legs began to move forward on their own.
So the thing binding her in place had never been the voices at all, but her own sense of self.
The chaotic gray mist churned, and no one knew what awaited her ahead.
At that moment, she did not notice that as she walked forward, countless threads that had once lain hidden in the darkness were beginning to wind themselves around her.
The course of many of those threads shifted, entangling themselves with her in some new way.
With every step Gaia took, a certain desire in her heart grew stronger.
That desire had existed for a long time already. It had become restless after entering the Warp, and now it was gradually becoming clear.
Its name was becoming.
Becoming had no goal. It simply longed to change into different states in order to fill its own emptiness.
Just as she was about to walk farther and farther away, a distant call drifted in like a breeze, hazy and light.
But the instant that voice entered Gaia's ears, it carried a strange power that drowned out all the other noise.
"You are Gaia, the blessed child the God-Emperor gave to me."
"No matter what you become, you are still my child."
That voice was like spring thunder exploding across Gaia's silent heart, shocking her awake and forcing her steps to stop.
The moment her consciousness returned, the gray mist around her, which had until then remained indifferent, suddenly began to roil violently.
A powerful repelling force surged from it, trying to drive her out of this place.
But Gaia resisted it with all her strength.
Because she had heard that voice, a voice both familiar and unfamiliar.
She struggled with everything she had, trying to turn toward the direction from which that voice had come, even under the crushing pressure of the raging mist.
A silent roar erupted within her heart, and an agonizing creaking sound came from her neck.
Yet strangely, her neck itself felt no discomfort. Instead, it was her soul that was wracked with pain so intense it felt as though it were being torn apart.
Enduring the pain and the rejection, she finally managed to turn her head toward that direction.
And in the next instant, what met her eyes was a cold golden radiance filtering through the gray mist...
...
Gaia's eyes snapped open, and she sat bolt upright from the bed in the upper-class resting chamber.
She felt a chill on her face and instinctively raised a hand to touch it, only to find that tears had already fallen without her noticing.
Gaia looked up at the hanging lamp above her, then slowly closed her eyes, her body trembling faintly.
Inside that strange place just now, she had come to understand what the desire that had always surged within her truly was.
And that realization left her feeling lost.
Even afraid.
If that desire was called becoming, then was her long-held dream, her yearning to become a Space Marine, also the product of that influence?
Even if it had not affected her much in the beginning, then how much of that desire still truly belonged to her now?
And beyond that, had all of her actions all this time also been shaped by some unknown influence that had been subtly changing her over the years?
Gaia recalled how she had moved forward unconsciously beneath those chaotic whispers, and she could not help but ask herself:
Did her fate really belong to her?
Countless thoughts intertwined, echoing through her heart, leaving her lost in deep confusion.
And just then, the strange sword resting beside her bed began to emit a crisp hum, immediately drawing Gaia's gaze toward it.
(End of Chapter)
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