Warhammer 40: Doom

Chapter 31 I am utterly impressed

The nights in Nur are like a dream.

The stars disappeared below the horizon, and the magnificent aurora borealis reflected from the enormous jewel-like mountain ranges crisscrossing the planet spread through the atmosphere, forever shrouding the other half of the planet's night sky.

The City of Truth. Built on the third pillar of the Ring of Nur, it is located on the opposite hemisphere of the main domain.

The guardian realm is in the daytime, the city of truth in the night. This seems to foreshadow two distinct classes within Nur:
Sorcery and warriors are eternally opposed.

The differences in their architectural styles are like a divide in their thinking.

The warriors despised the sorcerers' beliefs. They considered faith a sign of weakness, and believed that only the cowardly and incompetent would kneel before an ethereal god and beg for mercy.

Wizards despise the ignorance of warriors. Warriors are savage beings, stubbornly adhering to warrior laws, and will never come into contact with the truth of the universe.

The wizard towers of the City of Truth are not as neat and orderly as those guarding the main domain. They are independent, varied in shape, some leaning, some upside down, no two towers are the same, each possessing a strong individual style.

The tallest tower stands in the city center, its windows no two alike, its brickwork never aligned. It is filled with an eerie distortion, yet exudes a strange beauty.

Isaac knelt before the shrine, bowing and rising repeatedly. He prostrated himself, begging for God's forgiveness.

He failed God's command and did not bring back the divine child who had descended from heaven.

For the past three months, Isaac has been filled with immense fear. He is afraid of being abandoned by God and of never hearing God's will again.

They worshipped and repented tirelessly, kowtowing until their heads bled and their backs bent, praying and chanting until their lips were sore, but they received not a single response.

Fear and terror. The once elegant and composed high priest has lost his former glory.

Now it looks like an abandoned dog that has been kicked into a stinking ditch by its owner, its whole body stinking but still wagging its tail and begging for mercy.

That's how evil gods are. Their love is unique and cannot be evaluated by the same standards as the emotions of humans or other intelligent beings.

Their love will not diminish because of the hatred and disgust of those they love, nor will it increase the fanatical worship of believers.

Whether they love or not depends entirely on their mood; there is no logic to it.

People revere and love God, but God does not love people, yet He loves people.

Isaac was a powerful psionicist whose devout repentance and worship caught the attention of an evil god in the warp early on.

The evil god is behind the veil, watching His devout followers.

Boring!

Tzeentch saw profound boredom in the lowly supplicant; his eyes held neither sorrow nor joy.

The high priest, who is considered to possess profound wisdom in the eyes of ordinary people, is no different from a single-celled organism in the eyes of the gods.

Aren't you going to respond to him?

Three gods stood beside Tzeentch. Slaanesh asked cautiously, as the Dark Prince extended his long, thin black tongue and gently licked his lips.

He sensed a complex sense of satisfaction, a mixture of atonement and smugness, in the self-torturing behavior of mortals.

“A lowly and useless pawn.” Tzeentch’s fingers swept across the void, casually capturing a scene from time.

Isaac, by His will, went to receive Doom.

Amidst the chaos of the battlefield, the High Priest collapsed in the blood and wept bitterly, only to be scooped up by King Norwick.

"Was it you?" Tzeentch's transformed body twisted into a single eye, scrutinizing the grinning Khorne.

Recently, the dog-headed god has been in a great mood, which makes Him suspect that Khorne secretly sabotaged Him and gained an advantage.

Tzeentch's examination was well-reasoned and justified, and Khorne had the courage and authority of a warrior. Even without rituals or mediums, it should not be difficult to stir a warrior's mind for a moment.

The fleeting tremor in King Norwick's eyes was amplified infinitely by the power of the evil god.

It was this instantaneous sense that allowed the King of Warriors to seize the initiative and pick up Doom before Isaac could.

"It wasn't me!"

Khorne glanced at Tzeentch, but in a good mood, he didn't want to spoil it.

Tzeentch's avatar turned its large eyes to the lower-ranking evil god, acknowledging Khorne's answer.
All the gods and demons in the warp know that the blood god Khorne uses cunning and trickery, but he never lies.

"What are you looking at me for?" The lumpy Nurgle, seeing his mortal enemy staring at him, lost all the benevolent peace on his憨憨 (simple-minded) face and said with disgust:

Who is fickle? And who is a liar?

Tzeentch looked away. He knew it wasn't his mortal enemy who did it; looking at it was an instinctive action.

Although Nurgle's authority is powerful, it requires a fixed cycle to complete in order to realize Nurgle's divine power.

Moreover, Nurgle hates Tzeentch and despises intrigue and scheming, so he won't act in secret. He will wait at the end, and after everything has settled, he will quietly reap the rewards. Finally, the three evil gods turned their gaze to Slaanesh, the youngest of the evil gods.

In the warp, four evil gods are hostile to each other because of their power. But one of them is hated by the other three gods.

Slaanesh. As the "youngest" evil god, His authority represents desire and indulgence.

The power of desire is abhorred by other gods.

Khorne's bloodlust and Tzeentch's thirst for knowledge. The berserker's satisfaction in killing enemies and the scholar's joy in the bursts of inspiration can both be tainted by Slaanesh.

Nurgle hated Slaanesh more than anyone else, second only to Tzeentch.

Negro is decay, but he also symbolizes the cycle of life. By enduring the pain brought by decay, life will be reborn.

Slaanesh desecrated the necessary suffering of the cycle of life, transforming pain into pleasure, causing life to no longer cherish the new life that comes from Nirvana.

In terms of both power and motives, Slaanesh is the most suspect.

"It wasn't me!" The Dark Prince's languid, seductive voice decisively excused himself: "That person has a strong will; he's a restrained warrior."

Slaanesh despises warriors, especially those with strict discipline. This is why He and Khorne are mortal enemies.

Disciplined and well-defined soldiers possess an extraordinary resistance to the temptations of depravity.

The four gods fell silent. They knew for certain that King Norwick's act of picking up Doom was no accident; a force beyond their sight had been involved.

“Is it Him?” Slaanesh asked softly.

“No. There is no trace of His power.” Tzeentch transformed into a crystal mirror, projecting a panoramic view of Terra: “He is busy preparing the Legion and unifying the homeland.”

"Whoever it is!" The crystal mirror distorted and shifted, showing King Norwick writing and drawing in his study: "Now he knows our purpose."

“If we want Doom to come under our command, he is the biggest obstacle.”

The filthy, thick belly of the planet split open, vomiting out a dark green planet, which was a miniature version of Nur: "The planet's location in the universe is very solid; the barrier to reality is very strong, and it is in another dimension, far from the subspace."

"Our power must not only penetrate the real universe, but also extend to another dimension, greatly reducing our influence!"

“Send an envoy!” Slaanesh flapped his long tongue, the tip of which lightly touched the phantom of Nur, leaving a purple mark: “With just one ritual to establish an anchor point, space will be nothing to us.”

If only two remaining deities agree, the four gods can briefly reach a consensus on their goals.

Khorne and Tzeentch had long wanted to have a "good talk" with Norwick, so they naturally agreed.

Tzeentch reverted to his humanoid form, his slender, withered arm reaching into his throat to pull out a dagger inscribed with arcane runes.

Khorne took it and gripped it tightly, his blessing flowing into it, granting power to the wielder of the dagger.

Nurgle swallowed the dagger and licked it thoroughly, imbuing it with a corrupting power.

Slaanesh spins the dagger, granting it swiftness and skill, and the wielder acquires exceptional artistry.

“Now.” Tzeentch chuckled and turned his gaze to the priest, the pawn seeking forgiveness.

Isaac has kowtowed countless times and chanted countless times. Now, he is sustained only by his willpower, praying for the forgiveness of the gods.

Of all the thousands of years of faith, only he received divine revelation, but he messed it up.

He prayed with utmost humility, begging the gods to cast their gaze upon him once more and offer him further revelation.

"Isaac, what are you willing to give?"

In a daze, the high priest heard a distant call, both far away and close at hand.

He bowed his head and then lay prostrate on the ground.

Tears of joy streamed down his face as his prayers were finally answered by the gods: "I prostrate myself and offer my devotion, begging the gods to take everything from me!"

"I have lost everything because I have broken faith with God, but I am grateful for God's mercy and am willing to give up everything!"

"I will no longer be myself, I am an apostle of God! The mouthpiece of God on earth!"

This time, he's willing to pay any price!

"Cough~ cough~ cough~ cough~" The god laughed with pleasure: "Then I will grant you everything. I hope you will not disappoint us this time."

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　　AI-generated typos are rather ineffective, bordering on artificial stupidity. If you spot a typo and could even point it out, that would be greatly appreciated; the author will likely correct it.

(End of this chapter)