Warhammer 40: Shattered Steel Soul

Chapter 429 Whispering Mountains
"Chaos, this term has a long history," said Morse, sitting opposite Interrex Commander Naud. "It originated from the old earth. In the god tree, it is recorded as the beginning of darkness and light... Yes, this is a limited scientific system established when humans did not have a rich understanding of nature. When a theory cannot be proven to be false, we can naturally regard it as the truth."

In the conference hall, all the Space Marines and most of the clerks from the Empire had left, leaving only Perturabo and Morse, two people trusted by the Emperor, to discuss the matter with Interrex.

The decision of the Imperials alerted the guards of Interlex. They held their spears tightly and the silk wrapped around their bright armor fluttered slightly, to prevent the "Chaos Wizard" from doing anything out of line. The commander-in-chief shook his head and raised his hand, signaling the guards to calm down.

"Do not offend the sincerity of the human empire," Naud said, leaning forward sincerely. If you ignore the wide genetically modified ears, his face can be described as an example of handsomeness in the human range.

"But in today's empire, chaos still remains in its ancient meaning, as a natural and random part of cultural archaeology, and is not given special attention. When we say 'chaos', we only use it to describe those chaotic physical situations."

Naud frowned. "But to this day, it is impossible for a race to freely travel in the universe and cross the galaxy at a speed faster than the speed of light without any knowledge of Chaos."

"The Warp, the Sea of ​​Souls, the Vast Ocean, the Aether Ocean, the High Sky, the Void... Chaos." Morse said softly, and when he mentioned the last word, Naud's brows frowned even tighter.

"Most Imperials know some of these terms, but do not understand what they mean or how they relate to each other. After all, if a human is truly invaded by Chaos once, they will most likely be permanently changed, replaced and reshaped by the nightmare deep in their hearts until they can no longer explain the true face of Chaos to others..."

"So, you train wizards to control it?" Naud asked cautiously, "I am glad that the Empire has a correct understanding of Chaos, and we will not judge your behavior of keeping Chaos secret from the masses. But Chaos is the root of corruption and evil. It is omnipresent and born for destruction. It is not an evil magic that can be controlled.

"I am willing to hear that the Imperium does not serve Chaos, but I cannot easily trust my human kin who control and keep sorcery secret - it would be irresponsible to the Intrex."

"Why blame yourselves, Naud?" Morse smiled.

"What do you mean?" the commander-in-chief asked in confusion. "Please speak frankly."

"You command and preserve the magic, Lord Commander. With the permission of the Master of the Apparatus, our Warsmiths have shared their collection with us. You pride yourself on sealing your blades of war within your collection of stasis, seeing it as a permanent symbol of peace. Perhaps one day, after the Great Crusade ends, the Iron Warriors will do the same. However..."

Morse paused. "Even the human empire wouldn't be bold enough to preserve the weapons of Chaos."

The commander-in-chief was shocked by the news and his eyes widened. The worry on his face was as stiff as plaster. Then, he immediately asked eagerly: "What did you find, friends of the empire?"

"I hope you know clearly that I don't use this secret to threaten Interlex because I respect your social philosophy and it is the first reward for agreeing to form an alliance." Morse said coldly, with a faint golden light lurking in his black eyes. "Enemy Blade."

"It's a controlled set of sorcery artifacts," Naud said, still tense. "We put it in a stasis field."

"Are they foolproof?" Morse asked. "Are they sure that nothing will go wrong? No, Lord Commander, you know nothing about the Warp except for the necessary psychic navigation. Stasis fields are not enough to ensure the safety of these sorcerous artifacts."

"It's best to keep it under control rather than have it stolen."

"It means you don't know how to destroy them properly."

The music around them suddenly became intense, indicating the commander-in-chief's violent inner fluctuations, and even contained a trace of grief that was rare for the people of Interrex.

"You are right, my friend from the Empire," he said sadly. "The dangers of hastily destroying a sorcerous artifact are likely to be far greater than our imagination can reach."

Perturabo spoke softly, gently and reassuringly: "This has precedent in your history, right?"

"It seems that we have all experienced the same setbacks. And the Human Empire defeated it, or them." Naud took a deep breath, eased his panic, and picked up the duties and identity of a commander-in-chief again.

"You will have a lot in common with the two generals in the Great Crusade, Interrex." Morse shrugged his shoulders easily and tapped his fingers on the table. "Only those who understand sorcery can restrain sorcery. As long as the influence of chaos exists, this rule will not change.

"Now, I hope that the Hall of Instruments will hand over the Nemesis Blade to the Human Empire. You can regard it as a request for a gift, or as a silent protection bestowed by the Empire on Interrex. It depends on your vision and pattern, respected commander-in-chief; no matter which description you choose, we can understand it."

Naud fell into thought, and the sound of the instrument was divided into two parts. The first part was mainly syncopated, high, fast and intense, and the second part was low and gentle, with small and long melody ups and downs. Finally, the second part gradually replaced the first part, and the whole conference hall fell into a reassuring silence.

The commander-in-chief blinked and nodded politely to Morse and Perturabo.

"Interrex will thank the Emperor for his selfless gift and remember the potential danger that the Imperium of Man has saved us," he said. "Please follow us to the Instrument Hall later, and we will present you with the Nemesis Blade. I sincerely hope that you will not be disturbed by them, and that the tentacles of Chaos will stay away from humanity."

"Objectively speaking, your stasis field protection is indeed effective. All it needs is a safer storage environment. They will be sent to Terra and guarded by the Imperial Guards."

Morse said that in the shadow prison underground in the Terra Palace, a large number of old night dangers have been permanently collected according to this rule.

"And I will personally ensure their safe arrival; and when the Emperor returns to Terra, we will destroy these blades together."

-

"Let them burn." This was the first order given by Lorgar Aurelion after arriving on Planet 54-19 and making initial contact with the local inhabitants.

The priests of Muristan expressed their hidden concerns to each other in front of him, and the True Speaker saw that they were reluctant. He trusted the piety of these warriors, so he understood and gave patient explanations.

"Their offense is profound, my children," Lorgar stood up, leaning over and taking his priests' hands.

"They mistake their tiny, profane world for Holy Terra, and they call their leader the 'Emperor' and demand that we kneel before them. If we uphold the words we have been taught, they will unleash their weapons and shed our blood."

The pastor hesitated: "He is tolerant of His children and does not always rebuke them for their sins..."

"No, why should we find excuses to forgive such blatant heresy? Having rejected the glory of the true God, they are no longer His children."

"The blood of the Emperor is passed down through spiritual life," the priest said suddenly, "You taught us that being born as a human does not mean you are born as His children. 'His Spirit lives in you'. If they fail to obtain the Spirit of Truth through faith, they do not belong to Him." "That's right," Lorgar smiled, "Well, let's go. We still have to go to the Holy Grail Expansion, and we don't have much time to waste here."

After the priests left the Wandering Sanctuary, Lorgar Aurelion walked to the stained glass window and gazed at the tiny planet outside.

The lights of civilization are scattered like stars, outlining the boundaries of cities and suburbs on the planet. However, it is such a beautiful planet that dares to offend the Emperor's name and usurp His will. Such absurd ignorance must be erased, and the old world undoubtedly needs to be completely reshaped in order to gain the Emperor's grace in a new and clean manner.

He closed his eyes and imagined storm birds circling above the world, fire being rained down, jet engine blasts rolling in hot plasma explosions... the foolish heretic falling to his knees, howling and begging for forgiveness.

But who can forgive them?

Lorgar opened his eyes, and his violet eyes peacefully reflected the candlelight in the Wanderer's Church.

Only the Emperor can forgive them, Lorgar thought. If they can be saved, after leaving the mortal world, they will naturally be able to go to His kingdom and become part of His power and authority. If their sins are unforgivable, then that door will not be opened.

All He had to do was send them to Him.

At some point, Lorgar Aurelion had firmly believed that the Emperor did have a holy kingdom for the dead souls. He believed that this came from the Emperor's enlightenment and joyfully accepted the existence of the kingdom of heaven.

All of this was increasingly consistent with the stories written in the scriptures, causing Lorgar to often immerse himself in the pursuit of happiness brought by Him, to the point where he had to frequently reflect on himself and not forget his due humility.

"Aurellion," one of his spawn called over the comms.

Luo Jia gently answered the microphone array on the neck buckle: "What is it?"

"The Emperor's memoirs request admission to Colchis. His name is Lloyd Dahl."

"Approve it. If he has any needs, try to satisfy them as much as possible." Lorgar smiled and ended this episode.

Three days later, the "Emperor" of 54-19 was executed, and the local centralized government was completely destroyed by the Word Bearers. Only a few diehards were still hiding in the fortresses among the mountains in the southern hemisphere, accusing the Word Bearers of unprovoked attacks and cruel extermination against them.

Lorgar never listened to the nonsense of heretics or pagans, and the conquest of 54-19 was just a small matter. In his mind, going to the Holy Grail Expansion, exploring the metaphor of the sacred title of "Holy Grail", and the rumored Nightmare Sun, has always been his top priority.

“But I still hope you will go to the surface and take a look, Aurelion,” his cleric said.

"Did their counterattack stop our advance?" Lorgar asked. "I thought they were just ignorant heretics with backward technology."

"They have never hindered us, and indeed their ideas are backward and their technology is primitive. But an unknown signal is interfering with our communications in the mountains, a thing they call 'Samus' that is whispering blasphemous words."

"So, you think I need to go and see it myself." Lorgar pondered, standing up from the Emperor's statue. "Take me there, priest."

"Yes, Aurelion."

They landed in the Whispering Mountains on Planet 54-19, where the wind was fierce and the climate was extremely cold. As the Word Bearers had discovered, there was indeed a faint whisper lingering in the Whispering Mountains, the sound was ambiguous, and it came with the mountain mist and cold wind, and even invaded the communication channel of the Word Bearers.

Lorgar discovered that he could hear "Samus"'s words clearly, which made a cold rage burn in his heart.

"Samus is beside you..." the filthy and evil creature kept saying, "Samus is the end, Samus is death... Samus is waiting at the end..."

This whisper even weakened the natives that the Word Bearers faced. When they saw those stubborn opponents, they often fell into mad ravings and hovered on the edge of self-destruction. Even if they were still conscious, they could only kneel in front of the Word Bearers in panic and beg them not to go deeper into the Whispering Mountains, because "the boundary between the spirit world and the real world is blurred here, and the black light comes through the veil."

Lorgar Aurelion remained unmoved, and the Ring of Ash burned all enemies. Fortress after fortress was destroyed, and the ancient tunnels and labyrinths were thoroughly cleansed. The screams of mortals drowned out Samus's whispers. They crossed the ice bridge, traversed the fortress, dismantled the temple brick by brick, and destroyed all the primitive beliefs that existed in the Whispering Mountains.

The priests chanted the Word of the Imperium, using the true Creed to resist the whispers of Samus. The natives were terrified beyond words by the chants of the Word Bearers, as if the Emperor was the thing they feared most.

“They fear the truth,” Lorgar Aurelion said contentedly, leading the Word Bearers through the deep caves, listening to water dripping from the walls and flames blazing on the oil. “They fear the true and noble truth, the prayers that can cleanse the soul. The darkness has etched too much into their pitiful souls, making them unable to accept the true light.”

Then, the water drops on the wall formed a faint rhythm, which seemed to be some kind of code to convey information.

Lorgar listened. "Samus is here... in the darkness... Samus is in the sun..."

He ignored the codes indifferently, refusing to listen to the demon's mumblings until a priest exploring ahead sent a new response: "Aurelian, we found a mural. It's a complete map of Terra, an old map of Terra, with oceans and mountains on it... and -"

There was a sound of fighting, and artillery rumbled deep in the tunnel, like the heartbeat and tremor of the earth or magma. Lorgar waited, and soon the priest answered again: "We found a single native who advised us not to get closer, because there is a realm of darkness and destruction ahead. The native has been executed..."

The second round of gunfire was heard, and the pastor was full of doubts: "It seems that the natives were reborn after death, perhaps with body transformation..."

Before the third burst of gunfire rang out, Lorgar interrupted the cycle.

"Ask his name, children," he said softly. "If he would rather die than tell it, then listen to what he says."

A few seconds later, the native got the chance to communicate. Surprisingly, the language he used was Terra's Gothic.

"John Grammaticus," he answered reluctantly, his voice trembling with pain, "My Lords, I come from Terra."

(End of this chapter)