Warhammer 40: Shattered Steel Soul

Chapter 503 Old Cardia
This was not the first time Fulgrim had known that the terrible eye was hovering not far above Medusa.

The warnings and perceptions of the Navigator Family and the Astropathic Choir are unforgettable, and the sensitive mortals listen to the distant noises on the other side of the world from the universe. In the brightest days of the Astronomican, there is silence here. Only in the occasional warp storm, the noisy howls of the storm and the terrible wails will echo behind the terrifying waves of the vast world.

However, whenever they passed within the vicinity of Medusa - which was not uncommon for the Emperor's Children, as they tried to skirt the swirling Warp currents in a region that encompassed hundreds of star systems, the noise and the howling of Warp entities here were so loud that even Fulgrim himself could vaguely hear a hint of it.

Sometimes, he even wondered whether there was some existence in this storm, calling out his and Ferrus' names.

He had questioned the psionically savvy Magnus about this, and the latter used it to re-emphasize the filth and danger of the Warp's truth.

"I think this is a newly formed region," Magnus had told him. "I have not seen this place in the tomes. The star maps of the old nights do not mark this dangerous place... you know how they like to draw strange creatures and shipwrecks on their sea maps... I have not heard of the old rumors about the natives with purple eyes, although Aurelion's report mentioned such a thing... But do not touch it, Fulgrim, no matter what it tells you."

Now he had to step into it.

No, he did not really enter the eye of the storm. He just discovered something that went against common sense in astronomy, that is, the closer he got to the core of the secret satellite above Medusa, the closer he got to the eye - the eye in the sky.

The air around him gradually broke at the edge of darkness, and Fulgrim held his flaming sword tightly with a solemn expression, trying to disperse some of the enemies in the shadows, until he realized that it was the endless storm itself that wanted to peel off the shell of his soul. This eye wanted to transform him into another kind of thing to be eaten, a bunch of crushed fragments.

He had to carefully resist all of this, focusing on the dark and shiny stone slabs under his feet in the real world, and the flowing dark green light fractals. The clear perception these entities brought him was also one of the reasons why he dared to move forward.

If he was completely unable to reach the reality, then he would never continue to move forward rashly.

Where is Ferrus Manus? Fulgrim could not help wondering. In the firelight of his heart, he could clearly see Ferrus somewhere in front of him, a clear silhouette reflected in the sky, moving further ahead. But where exactly was he?
What exactly did he go through? Is the experience of the Iron Hands outside related to him? Or...

He erased a worrying conjecture, unwilling to delve into whether Ferrus was the solution to the incident or the cause of Medusa's current situation. Then, he heard the signal from the built-in sound array communication in the armor automatically start to receive, and a voice came.

A voice that was familiar to him, but that did not comfort him.

"Fulgrim?" said a robotic voice, the tone that spoke his name being Ferrus's.

Fulgrim did not answer for a moment, as the voice spiraled away into the depths of the world. His face grew heavier, and the light flowing on the surrounding walls grew darker, gradually turning to deep purple, with mist condensing like flowing clouds.

He paused, looking at the world around him: thick fog rose up around him like delirious scribbles, permeated with scarlet threads. Tiaras made of amethyst and necklaces of turquoise tinkled at his feet, every facet of which was so perfect that no human craftsman, no matter how gifted, could imitate even a fraction of these exquisite jewels with their mortal skills.

Fulgrim's boots crushed the gemstones beneath his feet with ease. It was not his concern.

"Ferus?" he replied softly, swallowing.

No one responded.

The sound of a drop of water falling brushed against his cheek, and he heard the deep sound of the wind surging from below, cold and wet. Suddenly, he smelled the rushing water vapor of the river, rising, rising, floating, and curling in the distant drumbeats, mixed with tiny prayers and chants. Yes, he heard the low chanting of another world, and he was not unfamiliar with those languages...

It was half Colchian, half Medusan, a mixture of both grammars and vocabulary, but neither of them surprised and confused the Phoenix.

What is this? Phoenix said to himself.

The golden-red flames burning on the flaming sword shot up, illuminating a larger area.

He saw a stone road inside the mountain. The chisel marks inside looked rough and primitive, some metal ornaments were rusty and colliding, and half of the road collapsed into the underground river below.

Metallic dust and stone chips smelling of frankincense were everywhere. Many fallen venerated objects lay carelessly beside the road, some crosses woven of brass wire, some two-headed eagles simply carved out of stone, and others, instruments of fertility cults, tangled wooden sculptures that Fulgrim could hardly bear to look at.

He lowered his head and realized that he was still standing on the solid and flat obsidian ground of the Medusa satellite, but taking another step forward, the ground suddenly turned into an ancient stone slab deep in the cave, covered with a layer of damp mist.

This means that going deeper - is the realm of unreality, at least that is definitely not Medusa, Fulgrim thought calmly... and that is probably where Ferrus Manus is.

Just in front of him, he saw an old woman in coarse clothes, kneeling in the shadows beside the road, as if floating in the darkness. When Fulgrim noticed her, she looked up at him, her purple eyes fixed on the dimly glowing steel part of the cave, the wrinkles moving into a puzzled expression.

"Are you the Iron Hand?" the old woman said in the language of Medusa, her voice as hoarse as a late-flying crow. "Are you the Iron Hand?"

Fulgrim extended his sword slightly, staring closely at the flames burning in the darkness of the other half of the world: it was still blazing and hot, and the light and shadows flickered like dazzling sunlight, but it was enough to make many tiny insects hiding in the darkness fall with the flapping of their veil-like scorched wings.

He drew back his sword, and his iron hand passed over the burning blade, and a flame passed over his arm. "Where is this?" he asked.

“This is our temple,” the old woman said.

She stood up, unsteadily, her eyes a deep purple mist. Her hair was bald, her skin was loose and hanging on her frame, but her demeanor was abnormally youthful, and her smile was as if she were still a young and radiant girl.

She bowed reverently, half of Fulgrim's silver face reflected in her purple eyes, and she seemed to be immersed in Fulgrim's exquisite appearance and unable to extricate herself.

"This is our home, my lord. We await you, Ferrus Manus," she said softly, with compassion.

Fulgrim heard his teeth gnashing in anger. "Where is this?" "This world? It is called Cadia, my lord. It is near your world, not far from the Eye of the Celestial Realm. Your brother Aurelion found us, but Cadia was not created for him, and the Dark Mother's gate was not meant for him."

'The crone said, caressing a chain of metal bones dangling from her fingers, and knelt down in a disciplined manner before Fulgrim.

"I am Suryani, the handmaiden appointed by Ferrus Manus. Come, my lord, let us go to the depths, even though I have seen you go there. I will bring you the blessing you have long awaited, which your father left in the cradle of birth in the Most High before you were born, forgetting to take away."

"Ferus was here?" Fulgrim stared at the handmaiden, the light from his blade catching the silver-grey tunic of Suryani. "You saw him?"

"Not long before you came here, my lord, Ferrus Manus came here," Suryani said attentively. "This is probably the will of the Dark Mother, who made him return to the place where the sacred ceremony was to be held. My lord, you will become whole again here."

Fulgrim dropped his eyes and thrust his flaming sword into Suryani's chest.

The maid looked at him in surprise and chuckled, "My lord, if you want my flesh and blood, then take it! Steel and flesh and blood, these are what you should weigh and give to your offspring, so that you can pursue perfection! Although you are still resisting its completion in our ceremony, haven't you already accepted it?"

"Go to hell," Fulgrim cursed.

"Maybe, my lord," the maid's body gradually burned out a large empty hole starting from her chest. She was still smiling strangely in sadness, "Maybe, I will die at your hands, just as flesh must decay and steel must decay, it's all for the same reason. If we are not blessed, all struggles will flow into the void of nothingness, and all perfection will decay under the invasion of time, and I am one of the thousands of lives that are not as blessed as you. However, your promotion will not be long, as long as you are willing to accept..."

Halfway through her words her very being was consumed, three-quarters through her words her soul was consumed by Fulgrim's relentless fire, but her voice had finished her words, or it was not her voice.

"Cardia welcomes you, my lord." Her voice echoed in the cave, gradually turning into the echo of hundreds of mortals chanting together, drawing a series of cut ripples in the air of the cave.

Fulgrim stood still, neither moving forward nor backward. He seemed to know a lot, yet he seemed to know nothing.

Cadia, he knew it was indeed a planet that Lorgar Aurelion had recaptured within the Empire. Did the fanatic's zealotry fail to cleanse the Cadia natives of their blasphemous beliefs? Then, the people here were very good at endurance and concealment.

He closed his eyes, wondering how Ferrus Manus had arrived here, how he had gone deeper and deeper in his quest to combat the Warp invasion...

No, is that really the order? Or did Ferrus actually go deep into the Key of Hel first, because the Great Crusade was coming to an end, and he intended to immediately start fulfilling his promise to change the competitive trend of the Iron Hands that only machines are supreme?

Fulgrim's eyelids twitched slightly in pain. If the latter was the truth, he would probably regret those words he had said in a joking tone to persuade Ferrus to change his ways earlier.

He stood, listening to the cries of the Warp, to the whispering hymns of praise to the Holy Dark Mother. Gradually, he saw a blinding jewel rise before him, a ruby ​​expanding into six, and its number still growing. He could hear no other sound except the sound of the thin wind through the endless darkness, and the low hymn.

He had stayed here too long, and this darkness had begun to envelop his soul.

An accident? A deception? Or a long-standing trap?

Or he could go back now and wait for Rogal Dorn, who was not good at psychic powers, to accompany him here, or wait for the Imperial Fist's think tanks who were willing but unable to explore this cave that connected to the depths of Cadia.

He couldn't go on alone to find his brother, could he?
"Ferus?" He whispered to the sound array, "Ferus, are you there?"

There was no response. Perhaps the previous conversation with Ferrus was his last echo in this world.

Fulgrim stepped back, blood diamonds and lapis lazuli crunching beneath his boots, and flames were stretched along the blade of his sword, extending deeper into the cave.

The singing coming from deep in the cave gradually resonated in his bones. The depths of the cave were no longer dark. The light of amber and onyx complemented each other, and there were metallic colors of gold, silver, copper and iron. All kinds of arcs of light flowed dazzlingly on the water below like oil paint.

The longer he stood there, the more turbulent the light and shadows around him became, and the calmer his heart became.

Soon, he would be unable to stay here any longer, because the natives of Cadia would notice him, and because the Eye of the Sky would surely notice him as well. Soon. Soon.

Fulgrim smiled and walked deeper into the cave with his sword in hand.

"Ferus, are you there? Do not listen to the persuasion of the darkness. I have come to find you."

He asked, his voice rising above the roar of the river, over the echoes of the dark hymn.

The sound of his combat boots shattered the changing pearls, and on his back, a wing of bright red fire feathers gradually formed. Each feather was a promise made by his descendants in the past. As long as he did not give up his pursuit, his descendants would not leave him, no matter where he went. This was what they had agreed on long ago.

He walked deeper and deeper, listening to the noises coming from the Warp grow louder, and Ferrus Manus still did not respond to him. He did not lose heart, but raised his sword, holding the blade in the iron hand Ferrus had given him, using it as a torch, and walked forward along the cave. Reality was moving away from him, and he gradually recognized this familiar and unholy feeling.

He had walked out of the chaotic evil realm once, and if there was to be a second time, then there would be a second time.

"My brother, where are you?"

(End of this chapter)