Warhammer: Primarch's Life from the Beginning

In the dimly lit net, it seemed as if a sun was rising.

Just as a farmer who gets up early to work looks towards the rising sun in the distance, every living creature on the battlefield that is still breathing looks in that direction.

Bursting with immense pressure and intense heat, wherever the morning sun reached, the filthy demons were utterly suppressed, screaming and scattering in panic. Those who couldn't escape shattered their own skulls on the spot, letting out mad screams, before crumbling into ashes.

At the center of the sun, a corpse rose up, its face a bloody mess. It wore golden armor similar to that of the Imperial Guards, remained silent, and its limbs, like those of a puppet, staggered toward the demonic tide.

The monstrous creatures, surging like a tide, scattered with mournful cries. Some tore at each other, devouring their own kind, desperately trying to gather strength—a futile attempt to stop a chariot. Others, no longer able to maintain their physical forms, turned into thick smoke; the battle lines collapsed and dissolved even before the thing reached the battlefield.

Instead of retreating, some powerful beings in the net channel surged towards the strange object in a rage, creating a turbulent current along the way.

The remaining Imperial Guards, still breathing, immediately understood what was happening. They quickly gathered around, blocking their path and brandishing their spears. Under the blazing sun, they sliced ​​the demons and monsters to pieces as easily as cutting fruit.

This thing, which resembles a savior, is the body of Leo, who died not long ago, but it is not Leo who controls it.

Soldiers hiding in the trenches and ruins peeked out, squinting in the bright light, and saw that the thing had a drooping head and an arm raised above its head, with the light converging into a giant sword.

Golden light and electric sparks rapidly filled the blade like flowing water, and in the blink of an eye, the greatsword transformed into a burst of flames.

The scene was so overwhelming that the surrounding Guards, the Silent Sisters, the Mechanical Guards, and countless soldiers all turned to look at him.

The overloaded energy was too immense. Leo's body began to disintegrate, his skin burning to ashes layer by layer. His drooping head was raised at an eerie angle, his eye sockets emitting golden light as he gazed into the depths of the net.

With a single sword strike, it fell.

Amidst the deafening roar of the net, silence fell instantly, and all that remained before everyone's eyes was a white light.

The surging demonic sea was split in two by heavenly fire.

.

.

The raging flames covered the ground of the net track.

The mutilated corpse that caused the miracle was also burned to ashes.

Faint shadows rose from all parts of the sea of ​​fire—Guardians of the Imperial Guard, Silent Sisters, scholars, and ordinary soldiers. These figures left the ground, drawn away by the same force.

Completely unaware of the danger, Leo, along with many other heroic spirits, drifted towards the throne in the wind.

Before a door stood a man with bronze skin, black eyes, and a simple woven vine crown on his head. His long, black hair was whipped about by the wind, and his face was filled with sorrow.

Leo recognized him: the Emperor.

Suddenly, all around became completely silent. The battlefield, the flames, the dead—all the scenes receded to the farthest reaches, leaving only the two of them.

Leo first raised the question, "Am I returning to the throne?"

The emperor looked at him and nodded slightly.

Leo looked again at the golden light that gathered the heroic souls of the empire, and lowered his gaze.

"I'm not reconciled."

The Emperor stared intently into Leo's eyes.

It's not the right time yet.

The voice was calm. Leo looked at the Emperor, puzzled, his brows furrowing slightly. Confusion was rarely seen on the faces of the Imperial Guards.

The emperor remained silent for a moment.

Then, he raised a finger toward Leo.

Leo suddenly felt something cracking deep within his mind.

It wasn't a feeling of pain, but more like a door that had been closed for a long time being suddenly pushed open, causing the pile of debris behind it to collapse out.

These are many scenes and memories that did not belong to this Imperial Guard, in which Leo saw a boy.

Unremarkable, silent, he blended into the crowd unnoticed. That boy knew many stories, wars, so many names, so many legends that weren't his own. He liked to look up at the sky, and at night he would think of stories no one else knew. He had no great achievements, no military rank, no distinguished deeds.

Under that sky, there were no towering haunts, no statues, and no mechs. It was an ordinary, almost fragile world: schools, books and blackboards, streets, buildings, rain-soaked pavements, shop signs, hurried crowds, people slipping on puddles, and finally, speeding trucks.

Many of the scenes were very short, as short as fragments of a dream, yet so real that he couldn't deny them.

Then came the things he knew: the burning Terra, the fractured continent, the wilderness where genetically modified warriors and mutant warlords clashed, the Emperor's banners had just been raised, and the war for unification had only recently begun.

But that unexpected young man stood on this land, looking completely bewildered.

He understood where those unfamiliar scenes that occasionally flashed through his dreams, and where that sense of fragmentation came from.

It turns out he wasn't from this world.

Leo remained silent for a long time, so long that even the Emperor did not interrupt him.

Those ten-odd years were not long. Compared to the thousand years he spent by the emperor's side afterward, they were like a lingering dream after waking up in the morning.

Yet they were so real that they gave him a strange sense of dizziness. The war of unification, the purge of the Thunder Warriors, the Great Crusade, the expansion of the Empire, the rise of the Primarchs, the defense of the Web... these were the core elements that constituted Leo's life, while the boy's life seemed like a poorly written movie that had nothing to do with him.

+Your mind is filled with too many things. Those perceptions, that understanding of the universe, shouldn't belong to the present. So, the moment you appeared, you were already locked onto by those gazes from the subspace.+

The Emperor looked at Leo and continued.

Your soul is too pure; you will be torn apart and taken away. Therefore, I sealed your memories and transformed you into a royal guard, keeping you by my side.

Leo listened quietly, looking down at his hands.

Those hands were already a blurry outline, but he still looked at the palm lines as if he were alive, the habits left from holding guns and spears, and felt a moment of disorientation.

"Those ten years or so felt like a dream, but I don't understand it."

Leo countered the Emperor's question, "Why are you restoring my memories at this time?"

+Because you have proven yourself+

You fought for me, for humanity, through countless years and countless bloody battles. Now, you will not be corrupted by those voices behind the scenes, and that knowledge is no longer your shackle.

"!"

At this moment, Leo's scrambled brain finally came to its senses, and he abruptly looked up.

"Your Majesty!" he wanted to remind, to remind of those things that had not yet happened, or those that could still be salvaged.

But the emperor raised his hand.

With just a simple movement, Leo stopped. The Emperor spoke slowly.

There is no future that is certain to happen; the trajectory of fate has already changed, so there's no need to dwell on it.

But Leo's eagerness remained, he said in a deep voice.

"I don't want to stop here. If there's anything else I can do, I'm willing to continue."

"For you, and for humanity."

The emperor revealed a faint smile at this moment.

I have been observing you for thousands of years, and you have proven your character to me.

+I think you already know that half of these returning Primarchs are destined to betray us.+

+But there is one that has not yet been born; it has no essence, and therefore is not in their plan.+

This is your destiny.

Having just regained his memories, Leo didn't know who the Emperor was talking about, so he could only listen carefully to every word the Lord of Humanity said.

"Do you want me to become... the Primarch?"

+It was Primarch Zero, but unfortunately, it lacked its own consciousness. It went out of control and destroyed several planets; I have already destroyed it.+

+Your pure human genes and soul can help me restart it.+

Before Leo could figure out what this meant, he saw the Emperor reach out his hand to him, with a ball of burning golden flame in his palm.

Come here, touch my soul. I don't have much time left, and this is the best gift I can give you.

Leo, bewildered, raised his hand and touched the Emperor's large palm. In that instant, Leo's thoughts were emptied, and before him was a boundless golden sun. He felt a sense of suffocation, as if he were falling into a vast ocean, and whispers reached his ears.

+Your subspace nature, I hope you won't mind.+

A force suddenly entangled Leo's soul, like an autumn wind sweeping up a fallen leaf. The surrounding scenery began to stretch and distort, and golden psionic energy quickly formed a protective shell around Leo.

+Sleep now, see you again in ten thousand years+

Leo's consciousness then plunged into complete darkness.