| Imperial Palace |
Inside the inner sanctum of the Imperial Palace, past the incomplete structures, immense statues, golden pillars, and marble structures of stunning beauty, which also showed overwhelming power.
It was a place that stood out compared to the rest of the Imperial Palace, due to its high terraced walkways that rose in tiers, supported by massive stone pillars. Which gave this place the appearance of a theater.
This place was known as the "Garden of the Imperial Palace" or simply the "Inner Garden."
The inner garden was a peaceful sanctuary of native and non-native flora and fauna.
Any who entered the inner garden, would freeze and gape soundlessly at its breathtaking beauty.
But unfortunately, for four months none were allowed in or even near the inner garden, due to the inner sanctum of the imperial palace being on lockdown.
Hundreds of custodians and sisters of silence were patrolling outside the inner garden and throughout the inner sanctum with extreme vigilance.
Every sound and shadow that wasn't caused by them, was immediately tracked down and investigated within 2 seconds by nearby custodians and sisters of silence.
As for why they reacted like this, four months ago their liege, the Emperor, suddenly appeared outside the inner palace covered in wounds.
There, he welcomed back the first found primarch, Alpharius, then afterwards he teleported to the entrance of the inner garden.
At the entrance he told the present custodians and sisters of silence to let none enter while he rests. And the custodians and sisters of silence immediately moved to lockdown the inner garden and inner sanctum.
They all felt an immense urgency, as both groups witnessed the Emperor's weakened state. The custodians saw his physical wounds and the sisters of silence saw the wounds on his soul.
No words can properly describe the intense emotions of dread, anger, concern and shame that all the custodians and sisters of silence felt.
Within their hearts they all held a silent prayer hoping that the Emperor would recover and awaken soon.
The same Emperor, who at this current moment, was wearing pajamas and snoring soundly on a hammock by a pond with all kinds of exotic flowers around him and birds chirping in the distance.
If any human saw this scene, especially the strand of drool on the end of the Emperor's lip, their minds would break trying to process this absurdity.
Luckily the only one who saw this was not a human, he was simply an archivist with a hobby of collecting interesting things.
This archivist snuck into the inner garden and tried to record this priceless scene, but the second he took out his orb to record.
The Emperor who was seemingly sleeping without a care, abruptly woke up and channeled the warp to forcibly blast the archivist back to Malcador's tower.
Now that the Emperor was awake, he started to slowly get up from his hammock and get back to work.
___
'I just had to be woken up because of that crook Trazyn,' I thought as I let out a big yawn. 'Never will I ever let him gain blackmail material on me.'
I got up and scratched my back, then expanded my senses over the entirety of the Imperial Palace.
Through the warp, I instantly grasped what was occurring inside the Imperial Palace, but then I paused and felt guilt over the emotions the custodians and sisters of silence were currently feeling.
It seems that in my impulsive attempt to appear less of perfect being towards the proto-imperium of man ministers, had a very negative effect on the custodians and sisters of silence.
I'll need to have a talk with them to assure them that they have done nothing wrong and let them know going forward I'll be more transparent with my future actions.
I infused my words with the warp to ensure all present within the inner sanctum could hear my next words.
"I have recovered and I thank you all for your diligence in ensuring nothing bothers me. I can sense your worries and I apologize for the concern I have caused. Understand that the wounds you all saw on me and any that I will receive in the future is no fault of yours. It is my fault for acting on an impulse and know that going forward. I will be more transparent when I decide to act."
With that, I believe I should have resolved all their concerns, so I didn't bother checking to see what emotions or thoughts they now had.
Using the warp, I locked onto the presences of Valdor and Jenetia.
I sent a psychic thought to them saying, "Go to Malcador's tower."
After sending out that command, I channeled the warp and altered the attire I had on from pajamas, to a yellow short sleeve tunic and black pants.
Next, I teleported myself to the top of the inner sanctum in the north-east corner, which was the entrance of Malcador's tower and then I looked up with an appreciative gaze.
I was looking at an ancient spiraling structure made from wood and marble with tall stained-glass windows and at the very top was a ringed open air-balcony.
I felt the warp stir and I sensed the familiar signature of Malcador, then doors of Malcador's tower were opened.
Walking in, I observed the interior which was also made of wood and marble that was designed in a variety of contrasting ancient architectural styles that dated back to 1st millennium such as, gothic, ethiopian, classical, byzantine and many others.
There was also a lot of ancient art, like the Mona Lisa I saw displayed prominently on a wall to my right.
I continued to observe these priceless antiques of humanity as I made my way up the stairs to reach Malcador's study.
A short moment later I finally reached the top, turned left and then opened the door to Malcador's study.
It was rather spacious inside, with tall bookcases, candles hanging from the walls, small plants, and a ceiling mural that depicted humanity's history.
At the center of this study was a large baroque style round table made from walnut wood with gold engravings and on the top of the table was a beautiful mosaic depicting the victory of the Unification Wars.
Currently seated at this table was Malcador, Alpharius, and Trazyn.
Alpharius was the first to greet me.
"Hello father, have you recovered well?"
I nodded towards him and replied.
"I appreciate your concern and I have indeed recovered well."
Right after I said that, Malcador silently looked at me with questions in his eyes and I told him.
"We will start the meeting once Valdor and Jenetia arrive. And the reason I sent Trazyn here was so that we can form an alliance with him."
After I said that Malcador sighed and I could sense that Alpharius was skeptical of how trustworthy of an ally Trazyn would be.
As for Trazyn, although he lacked the ability to do so, I could tell he raised an eyebrow at what I said.
Trazyn looked my way and said, "I am but a humble archivist, furthermore I am a necron and I can not simー"
I cut him off and said to him,
"I know you have been eyeing a few things in the Dark Cells under the Imperial Palace. I am willing to offer you what you have been eyeing, plus 3 ancient necrontyr relics that I own."
Trazyn immediately perked up and replied.
"It would be my pleasure to work with you, after all it is my responsibility as a human citizen to aid the Emperor."
I watched in amusement as Trazyn pulled out multiple badges of people in high ranks within the aristocracy, remembrancers, and ministers.
Then I channeled the warp and took a part of my memories containing information about the Tyranids.
An insectoid race that is controlled through a hive mind called "The Great Devourer," whose only purpose is to devour all biomass from planets to create more of their kind.
This race is an intergalactic menace that has already devoured countless galaxies due to their near endless numbers.
Even more frightening than their endless numbers, was their ability to evolve and adapt at an incredible rate.
This ability happens in real-time while fighting, using the biomass they have, they create new specialized tyranids that are perfectly tailored to counter the specific threats and environments of their opponents.
There are already some isolated tyranids scattered throughout the galaxy lying dormant, awaiting the arrival of any tyranid hive fleet.
I turned all this information into a data slate and handed it over to Trazyn, as he read it, I said to him.
"I will require your help in bringing more necron overlords into our alliance, I know that your race wishes to no longer be living metal and regain flesh. Let them know when the tyranids eventually come, they will devour everything, leaving your race with nothing."
Trazyn sat there in silence absorbing the information I gave to him.
Within the data, I did include the future event when the Pharos Beacon was overloaded and destroyed, which led to the tyranids discovering our galaxy.
Although I do intend to prevent that event, you never know if later on a new event will cause the same effect of attracting the tyranids.
Finally, Trazyn nodded and said to me,
"I know of 3 necron overlords who may consider joining, but do remember that although I act independently, I am still a vassal of the Phaeron Krispekh. I can only speak for a small part of the necron race. There will be many phaeron's and the overlords under them who will disagree and even be hostile to humanity. If anything you should find a way to speak to the Silent King, the supreme ruler of the necron race and convince him."
I hummed in agreement and replied to him.
"I understand and when the Silent King returns to the galaxy, I know he will agree with us working together to take down chaos then prepare to take down the tyranids."
Trazyn looked at me with confusion at my certainty, but then he looked away as finally Valdor and Jenetia arrived.
I watched them both enter and as they were about to greet me, they paused at the sight of Trazyn. I gestured to them to take a seat, which also doubled as me confirming to them I approve of Trazyn being here.
Both of them nodded and Valdor said to me, "It is good to see that you are well, My Liege. During your recovery I saw to it that the security in the Imperial Palace was improved upon. To ensure that beings like that one over there, can no longer come and go as they please."
Hearing that, Trazyn simply laughed heartily at the outrageous claim that he has already made false.
Jenetia also spoke using thoughtmark, specialized handsigns that works as a language for those who do not speak.
"Greetings My Liege, by your will we have arrived."
I transmitted a thought to her head greeting her back.
When they both sat down, I waited a few moments then I began the meeting, the meeting to discuss the major changes I was going to make for the upcoming Great Crusade.
Since Alpharius and Trazyn were here, I first explained what the original plan for saving humanity was.
"My original plan was to start a Great Crusade, to bring all of humanity under one rule and teach the Imperial Truth to everyone. The Imperial Truth was meant to instill an atheistic, rationalist, and materialist ideology into the minds of all of humanity. I wanted them to reject all forms of religion and ignore superstition, to drive away the fears brought by humanity's fall during Old Night. Furthermore, it was meant to starve the four of emotion driven faith."
I paused letting the words sink in and then continued.
"Behind the scenes, I would be working on the Webway Project. Although I created the Astronomican, a method for humanity to travel through the warp. It is a temporary solution, when the Great Crusade starts, I will light the Astronomican using but... It will slowly drain my power the farther humanity travels and most of all. The four, and the countless other daemons of the warp can still interfere with the ships traveling through the warp.
So the Webway Project was a plan to build a human controlled webway, just like the Old Ones had which is now controlled by the Eldar. This would enable safe interstellar travel, away from the predatory beings in the warp and it will prevent my power from being drained dry.
Once this project was completed, humanity would be safe from the interference of the four and the daemons in the warp. Then I could lead humanity into a new era, one where all of humanity becomes a psychic race, allowing everyone to use the warp safely."
Silence took hold in the study as everyone listened to this extremely idealistic plan.
Valdor and Jenetia stayed silent waiting for me to continue, Malcador had a rather melancholy expression. It seems he was thinking of all humanity had sacrificed and what it will sacrifice going forward to just survive.
Alpharius was surprisingly completely still like a stone, he had no emotion on his face but I felt a faint emotion of hope and reverence. I could only assume the reverence was for the plan.
As for Trazyn it seemed like he really wanted to mock me, but he held it in and said.
"They would never let your plan work and do you properly understand the cost of creating another webway?"
I glanced at him and nodded.
"I do and going forward," I said slowly in a solemn voice. "Those plans will no longer be our priorities."
Trazyn let out a faint, "Ooh," in mild surprise.
Malcador had no facial reaction as I had already told him that the Webway Project was no longer a priority, but he did sharpen as he was now listening closely. To hear what plan I have designed now.
Valdor became tense, because in the many years he was by my side. He can subconsciously tell when I'm ready to start a war.
Jenetia's eyes widened in wonder at what I was going to do.
And Alpharius actually had an expression of surprise, because from what he could deduce from what I said earlier. He couldn't imagine a better plan, what could humanity possibly do against beings like that?
"I have reflected on my actions and learned the error of my ways," I said while watching all of them look on in shock. "The four are ruthless in exploiting truth and lies, they've used it to make many people betray me or even worse, make them turn to chaos. I've seen the future, in it the four showed my sons some of my own actions and twisted it to their favor, causing half my sons to betray and lead a rebellion against me."
Everyone's reaction varied heavily, Malcador gasped as while he did expect a rebellion. He never imagined that half of them would actually betray.
Valdor and Jenetia were stunned by this revelation, to them they simply couldn't imagine anyone betraying the Emperor. After all everything he does is to save humanity, his word should be everyone's will.
Alpharius stood up trembling, his mind was reeling, as he also couldn't imagine someone wanting to betray his father and worse. He couldn't help but wonder, 'Surely I was by his side during this rebellion, right?' But he lacked the courage to ask this and sat back down. At that moment he decided he will prepare contingencies to prevent or even kill his own brothers at the first showings of betrayal, or maybe he can act as a spy.
Trazyn looked on with glee, thinking of all the priceless moments and individuals he could add to this collection if that rebellion ever happened. But he reminded himself he had to work with the Emperor now.
Then Trazyn asked the burning question that everyone had.
"What do you intend to do?"
They all looked towards me waiting for me to continue, but then they all felt a deep sense of dread and their eyes widened in fear at me.
At that moment I was surrounded by visible, absolute hatred, hatred aimed at the existence of the four and the countless daemons of the warp. This hatred came from deep within and it was not just from me, but also from the other "Emperors of Mankind" from the other timelines.
"For a long time, chaos has always won and humanity has always lost," I said in a deep guttural tone emphasizing my hatred. "Chaos has always attacked and humanity has always defended to the bitter end. This cycle has made them way too comfortable… Comfortable with trampling over humanity, treating us like toys to amuse them. No longer will we only defend, instead we will prepare to attack them with righteous fury."
I became lost in my hatred, allowing power to enter my words as I spoke to them further.
"With my will, body, and soul I will reignite the one thing in humanity that chaos has never been able to truly defeat. The one thing that empowers humanity to fight to the bitter end.
THE INDOMITABLE SPIRIT!!!!
THE UNYIELDING WILL OF HUMANITY TO PERSEVERE, HOPE, AND OVERCOME THE IMPOSSIBLE!!!
I WILL LEAD FROM THE FRONT AND SHOW ALL OF HUMANITY THAT THERE IS NOTHING TO FEAR!!
I WILL SHOW HUMANITY THAT NOTHING IS UNBEATABLE, THAT EVERYTHING BLEEDS, INCLUDING ME!!!
NO LONGER WILL CHAOS BE THE AGGRESSORS, NO LONGER WILL HUMANITY COWER!!!
WE WILL RETURN THE MALICE THEY CASTED ON US!!
WHEN WE MARCH INTO THE WARP, ALL OF CHAOS WILL FEEL OUR WRATH!!!
WE WILL RIP AND TEAR UNTIL IT IS DONE!!!!!"
After I said that, I reigned back in my hatred which allowed everyone present to breathe properly again. Currently they were all looking at me with lingering fear and awe, I also sensed a bright burning will in all of them besides Trazyn.
This will carried hope and rage, though for some odd reason I could even sense reverence bordering on faith.
Though I dismissed it as reverence aimed towards our soon to be bright future, because there is no way Malcador, Valdor, Jenetia, and Alpharius would begin to feel anything related to faith towards me.
Letting silence take hold for a bit, I then said to them all.
"Here is what I planned and what I will need you all to do going forward."
-To Be Continued...
(A/N: I'll probably only be able to write one chapter this upcoming week because my schedule is packed. Though the following week after that will be back to 3 chapters a week.
One of my friends told me I should learn the "Forbidden Technique: Cliffhanger," how'd I do?
The next chapter will have a bit more lore dump and the specifics of the Mc's plans.
Also I'm trying to reduce the amount of times I write "He, They, and I said" with cues to let readers know that the character is about to talk. Lmk if it ever doesn't feel clear on who is speaking.)