Warhammer 40: Shattered Steel Soul

Chapter 418 City of God
"He made intercession for sins, and His sacrifice took away all sin, satisfying the justice of God the Father; and by His mediatorial office He intended to appease His wrath.

“Even though He is still angry about injustice, His love still descends, because His love does not change. Only people become enemies with Him because of their sins and do not want to be loved by Him.

"He freed men from disharmony between Himself and Himself, and thus accomplished His manifest lovingkindness." - The Book of Lorgar

"If you really want to know what the Emperor thinks of the Second Legion..." Morse sat down at the table, took out his notebook, and wrote a few additional regulations on the paper. "You may be surprised, Malcador, because he is not happy. In fact..."

He glanced at Malcador. "He's angry."

The Imperial Chancellor blinked his eyes slowly. His old friend was often more alive when he was beside him than in front of the world, but anger was another matter.

The Emperor would smile, worry about the future, describe some unknown fantasy - it was almost childish and Malcador could not help but smile to himself.

But it was difficult for Malcador to imagine what had happened in the galaxy that could cause the Lord of Mankind to hide his anger.

"Why?" Malcador asked.

"Because he has lost a Primarch, my friend."

"Oh..." Malcador shook his head, "Once upon a time, he was indeed a good kid."

"No, Prime Minister, that's not what I meant." Morse shook the pen to make the ink flow smoothly again.

"I mean, he lost a well-prepared tool in his plans, and had to adjust hundreds of subsequent plans to the personal choices made by the Primarch, such as starting his new 'soldier manufacturing program' too far in advance - which was not originally intended to be started in any case.

"Yes, Prime Minister, I can guess with my non-existent shin bones that this is the real reason why the Second Legion must be eliminated. He wants to make sure no one knows what the Second Legion will become - because that would make it too easy to expose his little joke of 'not being a god'."

"What is that?" Malcador asked.

"Don't play dumb with me, my friend." Morse waved his hand nonchalantly. "Anyway, you should know how infuriating it is when your plans are ruined. Imagine that a piece of the damn foundation suddenly collapses in the house you just built. You have to find a way to fix it."

The Prime Minister was silent for a few seconds in surprise at the answer he got.

Morse looked up and glanced at him. "Don't tell me he's bubbling with great love in your eyes, Malcador."

Malcador sat down beside Mors. From his vantage point, he could see out the window the magnificent masterpiece designed by Rogal Dorn and ten thousand of the greatest architects in the galaxy.

Under the artificial blue sky, shining gold, refined gold, gold, plastic steel, concrete rock... from top to bottom, the golden roof of the Terra Palace is paved, the roof gables with clear lines, the stacked buildings with corridors, the open-air gardens with colorful scenes, the wide halls and long halls, and even the solid fortresses and fortresses with stacked battlements, as well as the solid foundation of the bedrock...

The light fragrance of wood and the almost imperceptible incense, set off by the classical music coming from the distant phonograph, everything was so in line with the preferences of the Lord of Mankind, without the slightest deviation.

The Imperial Chancellor raised his lips and resumed his usual tone. Due to his age, his hoarse voice made him look sad.

"If he is what you say, then none of us will follow him."

-

Lorgar Aurelion knew that the Emperor had not yet left, but he had not yet seen the Master of Mankind that he had longed to see. This made him anxious.

If the Emperor had not seen anyone, the One with the Word of Truth would only silently pray to the back of the Lord of Mankind. But he knew that Lion El'Jonson was on the base planet of the Silver Angels, living with the Emperor.

This couldn't help but make Lorgar wonder if he had inadvertently served the wrong thing, so that "He" knew his desire but was unwilling to summon him.

The next day, Lorgar went to visit Perturabo, only to learn that the Iron Warriors had launched a hunt for the scattered Randan aliens without looking back. He suddenly realized what was going on and ordered all the Word Bearers to take action to cooperate in completing the long cleanup.

At this point when the Overmind's consciousness was damaged, and it was even possible that it had already vanished under the Emperor's spear, the mopping-up operation evolved into a formulaic operation of searching - hitting fixed targets or moving targets that were not actively moving - and once the cleanup was completed, all they needed now was time.

On the third day, Lorgar wanted to visit Horus Lupercal, but he was soon informed that the Vengeful Spirit had already headed straight for the base planet. The moment Aurelion received the news, he regretted his own slowness and insensitivity, and even asked Horus to summon him instead of going there himself to worship.

A few hours later, the One who bears the truth stepped onto the land of the base planet, and with a heavy heart, he searched for his place to stay in the plains littered with corpses.

The might of the Emperor, the flesh and blood that covered the mountains, and the disgusting alien stench were all burned away by the invisible ghostly black flames at some point, preventing Lorgar Aurelion from being unable to suppress his anger at witnessing the blasphemy.

Thus, the remains of the Space Marines were left alone, with their torn, color-indeterminate outer armor, their detached goggles, their helmets that were only half-remaining, and their broken bones exposed outside their armor.

Lorgar closed his eyes reluctantly. He was not mourning for the sacrifice of the Astartes, nor did he pity their suffering. Everything was done to get closer to the Emperor they loved. This was all a matter of course.

No, what he couldn't bear to see was the insult and defilement brought to them by the destruction of the aliens. This made the man with the truth heartbroken, and he could not help but silently chant his prayers, asking Him to forgive and accept them, and bring grace and peace to their souls.

He asked the priests who were following him to leave and walked alone into the wasteland of an unknown planet. His prayers had no origin, and every word came from the true feelings in his heart.

“May your glory after death be greater than your glory in life,” he said, letting the words flow naturally rather than trying to write a perfect prayer. His will guided the flow of the prayer, and the pain of mourning lurked in the subtext of the words, complementing the text.

"May He witness all this, and kindly take away the honor you have received through His mercy. May you be lifted up to heaven, and dwell in everlasting joy and gladness."

He walked slowly, and gradually, his original intention of coming to this land was no longer remembered.

He shut off the sound array and no longer listened to the coordinates of the Emperor that the Word Bearers had told him were his. Instead, he listened to the voices that were sent to his ears and followed the path that his feet led him to take.

"His kingdom is everlasting, and the saints of the Most High will receive it for ever and ever... and be saved from the dust and from the secular world..."

Lorgar Aurelion raised his head, tears sliding down the scriptures on his skin.

"Even if your bodies were scattered in the dust, in the air, in the blood, and even if nothing remained of them, you will receive the grace of the soul. From the soul, you will be resurrected into a spiritual body, and you will live in His temple and take His beauty like a spring..."

He vaguely saw a person walking by, who seemed to be a soldier, with the shadow of bones visible through the armor and a circle of faint flames burning around the helmet. He blinked, and the person passed by.

Luo Jia looked at them blankly, his heart beating nervously for no apparent reason. Then he smiled softly, followed the footsteps of the soldiers, and continued walking forward.

"People often fall into miserable situations because of the sins they have committed, but He is still generous and willing to give them many beauties. There are all kinds of beauty in the sky, on the sea, and on the earth. The sun, the moon, and the stars are all shared."

The world around me seemed to be divided into two layers. The first layer was the original one, full of miserable bones and sleeping dead. The second layer was very bright, with dazzling sunlight falling from the blue sky to the thick earth, as if a new and real land was covering the old world.

He looked around, and at his feet, some golden and crimson flowers bloomed, from the bones of the secular world to the grasslands of the second and higher world. Their colors and fragrance were rare in the world.

“You shall have praise and beauty,” Lorgar Aurelion said with a smile, his purple eyes softening. “You shall have the birds flying, the trees growing abundantly, the bees, and all things that are ever at peace.”

He went on until ahead he heard a sound like the sound of a trumpet and a pure light, like molten gold, burning brightly.

There He was, wearing a black robe, and His skin was also very dark, but His eyes were like bright flames, and His face was like the light of the sun. That brightness surpassed a million things in the world, and His beauty far exceeded anything Lorgar had ever seen.

As soon as Lorgar saw Him, he fell to his knees at His feet, unable to utter a word. His tears kept flowing, and before they fell to the ground, they were evaporated by the scorching heat of the light.

From Him, Lorgar felt a kind of hidden anger, and the coldness instantly penetrated Lorgar's heart, causing the water flowing from the source of faith in his heart to be painfully burned dry in an instant. He felt like he was going to die, and was in great pain because of His anger.

He thought that if he died at His feet today, He would not have to punish him out of anger, which would be much better than letting Him continue to be angry.

However, He leaned down and placed His hands on His smooth head, covering the golden scriptures.

“Arise,” He said.

"Where is this?" Lorgar asked tremblingly, standing up obediently.

He did not answer, instead, He turned into a golden shadow and walked into this world. The edge of the world was also lit up by fire, but there was no burning destruction, only the world became brighter.

Then, Lorgar continued to walk forward, his steps light with supreme joy, and the source of his faith began to flow again.

After a while, he saw some Space Marines appearing in twos and threes, with a bright fire burning around their bodies. They seemed to have not yet adapted to their sudden return to life, holding their helmets, wandering in the new and higher world.

Lorgar smiled at them. "The warriors who were slain are worthy to be praised forever and ever."

One of the warriors came up and met him, looking a little surprised. He was a man with a very pure face, with some scars on his face and fire burning in his eyes. The ebony-like charred armor was inscribed with scriptures and decorated with some white skulls.

He was once the son of Lorgar Aurelion.

"Ah, Muristan," Lorgar lowered his head and said, hugging the man's neck that had been cut, and gently patted his left shoulder, "What's wrong?"

"father--"

Lorgar stopped his address and said, "Call me by my name, Hashem."

The Emperor's warrior hesitated, then whispered, "Lorgar Aurelion, have you seen them? My... companions?"

"Not yet," Lorgar said. "If they are here already, you will see them. If they are not here yet, they will come in the future. There will be no problem."

Then they went forward together, Lorgar taking Hashem with him.

Soon, more former warriors followed Lorgar Aurelion. They were wearing armor that looked like black mist. There was a fire on each of their armors, which was cold but bright, and the smoke slowly formed a mist like morning dewdrops.

The terrain has also changed a bit. Some places are still mountains and green grasslands, while some places look like places that have existed in the real universe.

Lorgar saw a desert with tents set up in the sand and the outline of a city in the distance. Colchis was also in this world, almost identical to the real Colchis, but more perfect and seemingly farther away, like a more impeccable imprint.

Some places - he remembered the beautiful scenery that had to be destroyed in the war he started in his early years, and it was revived in this world today. Everything was so similar, yet so different.

Or maybe this world is the real, higher world, and what they usually call the present world is just a dream of the heavenly people. Now, these warriors have just woken up.

They met some new warriors behind a hill. One of them jumped up lively, as if he couldn't wait, and rushed to Hashem's side, grabbing Hashem's hand. Even the fire in his eyes burned more lively than the others.

"Hassem!" the warrior shouted excitedly, and then greeted the others: "Hello everyone, I am Jack, a former Moon Wolf. Hello, Primarch - have you seen the one with the long name Gri-Grith?"

"Not yet, I think," Lorgar said. "If he is a worthy person, he will come sooner or later."

"That will be a good day," said Jack. "I must pronounce his name wrong again, right in front of him. Hopefully, he'll still remember who I am then."

He glanced behind Lorgar and saw the tall buildings and the dark sewers of the hive city. He cheered happily, "That's my Kosonia!"

"That is not yours," Lorgar advised gently. "That is His, warrior. Do you know who you are?"

"We..." Jack thought for a moment, recalling the strange name. The word seemed to have been imprinted in his memory long ago.

"Soulbound? No, that's not right. Damned," he said. "We are The Damned."

"Okay." Lorgar said.

Everyone continued to move forward. The world was still expanding. Some of the green mountains and clear waters belonged to the rumored Olympia, and the large dark jungles were probably Caliban by Lion El'Jonson. The warriors were very interested in appreciating all these mysterious things.

Sometimes, the emerald valley directly connected to a desert of yellow sand during the long night, and sometimes, the wide green inland lake reflected the reflection of tents with weather detection flags on the high ground of the Terra surface wasteland. Fantastic scenes followed one after another, so that even Astartes with a strong will could not help looking around, and even ran a few steps to take a Colchis scripture parchment scroll from the green olive tree.

The world seemed to be completely rolled up, forming an unstretched parchment scroll, and then unfolded again, revealing a world that was far more wonderful and meaningful than any real universe.

It was as if this was the end of time. Mountains, cities, deserts, and forests all left their original positions in the real world and were placed where they really belonged. Only after the end of the false world outside would all the people recorded in the list be allowed to pass through the narrow gate and return to the real world here.

There was a city ahead, and outside the city stood a row of uniformed warriors, facing the city. Although they were all wearing black armor and had some marks related to death on their bodies, it was easy to tell that they must be Iron Warriors.

"Kroger?" The soldier named Jack ran out energetically, staring at the faces of the soldiers in the queue one by one, "Hey, why are you here too!"

"You're a little noisy." Kroger said bluntly, "This city is Lokos. The capital of Olympia."

"What's wrong with you? How can you move your family here as well?"

"Is there a problem?" Kroger may have used up all the cruelty in this life - or the next life - whatever - in this sentence, because the next moment, he snorted coldly, strode forward, and followed Jack to join the advancing group of cursed warriors.

Luo Jia looked at everything in front of him with joy and satisfaction, as if a ray of light had lit up in his heart.

The world in front of them began to rise, like a slope that stretched endlessly upward, lifting up the mountains, water, and trees, and reaching the infinite dome. They followed the slope upward, but were not pulled by gravity. The scenery under their feet was receding, sometimes it was a lake that they walked on, sometimes it was the top of a green tree. The eagle flew high in the sky, as if it was about to fly through the white clouds.

Gradually, they no longer recognized the world beneath their feet. This seemed to be a unique planet, with sand plains, but the fortress was flowing with the luster of silver and gold, and the aircraft shuttled through the sky around the fortress, and the metallic brilliance on the wings was very dazzling.

And above the yellow sand in this area, countless silver angel statues are hovering.

The intelligence they once had seemed to have disappeared, or they had been completely re-refined, removing the memory of their redeemed sins. They experienced the punishment of fire, smoke and sulfur, and were roasted in bottomless pits before being allowed into this new world, trapped forever in that silver body, performing their eternal pure service.

In the center of the yellow sand, Luo Jia saw a person he didn't recognize, staring blankly at the silver angel in the sky.

He was wearing a traveler's tan robe, with a sword wrapped in cloth at his waist, and a pair of bone wings on his back that spread out like leaf veins.

The face seemed similar to Leon's, but softer. He looked tired, yet peaceful.

"Who are you?" Lorgar asked.

The man came to his senses.

“I…” He shook his head, accepting Aurelion’s hug awkwardly. “I don’t have a name. Just call me the Angel of Resurrection.”

"Let's go." Lorgar smiled.

The silver angel colossus hovering in the sky also followed the team. Everyone continued to move forward. Their team was very large, perhaps thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, countless warriors moving forward silently.

The world began to nest, with Cosonia in Olympia, Caliban in Cosonia, an unknown world of resurrected angels in Caliban, and Colchis nested inside that, and then Caliban again…it was endless, and the farther they went, the bigger the world became, and the brighter the light became, as if everything existed forever in endless light.

Finally, Lorgar Aurelion saw Him once more, standing at the end of the world, the point where all light converged. A shadow of a dragon-like creature coiled behind Him, like a mosaic background of an icon, and each scale emitted colorful light.

Horus Lupercal and Lion El'Jonson stood on His left and right, looking unusually small.

“Angel of the Resurrection,” He spoke, wearing a golden crown on His head and holding a flaming sword in His hand. Thunder roared mercilessly as He spoke, “Come here.”

The resurrected angels walked toward Him and knelt in the cloud at His feet.

He raised his sword and pressed it on the resurrected angel's head. Then, the resurrected angel's entire body was also ablaze with a layer of light golden flames.

He lowered his head even lower, and the brown traveler's robe on his body was burned white by the flames, turning into a fine linen robe, with a golden belt hanging around his waist.

"And you," He continued, His authority unquestionable. "Leave here."

His light shone outward, obscuring everything that existed in the realm of emptiness.

Then, Lorgar Aurelion woke up.

His head ached slightly, and he felt a sense of emptiness, as if he had lost a memory that made him extremely happy and moved.

To his left lay Horus Lupercal, and to his right Lion El'Jonson.

Lorgar blinked, and a strong sense of glory arose in his heart, and he would never know the reason for this holy glory.

Everything he had seen before, the thousands of wonders he had witnessed, everything connected to Randan, the buried truth, the lost blood relatives, and the fate and whereabouts of the dead...

He no longer remembers any of it.

(End of this chapter)