Warhammer 40: Shattered Steel Soul

Chapter 58 Who Are You?

Horus wrote down the newly appeared name, and at the same time mobilized his senses to find out if the mysterious flyer existed nearby.His search was undoubtedly unsuccessful.

What particularly puzzled him was that the first person the emperor looked at after hearing this question was him.

Could the man named Morse have anything to do with him?

+ I know him. + The Emperor said that the great man of gold was in low spirits, and that Horus would do anything to wipe away even the slightest sorrow from the Emperor.

The Emperor then spoke, in his perhaps truer voice, which made his appeal all the more poignant,
"I cannot bring him back if he does not want to be there. My child," he paused, "you have a great destiny. I need you, you are Perturabo."

"I'm."

"I am the Emperor. The Emperor of Terra and the Lord of Mankind." The Emperor said calmly. He took a step forward and crossed the snowy tops of the mountains. More details of Olympia were reflected in his bright golden irises. middle.

From Lokos onwards, he observed the entire planet, searching for the character and achievements of his offspring in unusually deep constructions.

After a while, a happy smile appeared on his face.

"You have achieved much in spite of your youth. I have seen true peace unfolding in this world, with magnificent castles miraculously renewed in tandem with peasants' utensils. When you came here, Olympia had achieved All the basic conditions for self-improvement. I can see your pursuit of construction and intellectuality, and we can have many discussions about it."

"I..." The young man's brows were slightly frowned, and his expression was slightly suspicious.

Horus tried to give him a confident nod of affirmation, not allowing himself to interfere further with his father's conversations and decisions before the Emperor concluded his opening remarks.

His attempts had little success.Horus was not discouraged. He would love each of his brothers, especially a noble and serious leader who cared so much about the people of his home planet.But now, they just don't know each other well enough.

The Emperor's invitation was not yet over. He reached out to Perturabo, "Morse has molded you very successfully, boy. Will you come to me and swear to serve the future of mankind?"

Hearing this sentence, especially the first half, Perturabo's hesitation almost dissipated, and more wavering disappeared in the wind along with the snowflakes falling on the mountain top.

His gauntlet-covered fingers flicked a little, and Horus had a small idea to take this brother's hand and place it in his father's palm.What exactly awaits Perturabo?
Perturabo asked: "What else do you need from me? I have experienced your strength, in that field..."

He swallowed the second half of the sentence, and reached a certain tacit understanding with the Emperor in eye contact, Horus was eagerly curious.

"I have many tasks," said the Emperor, "and I need you and your brothers to participate. It will be a difficult road, full of dangers, temptations and dangers everywhere to hinder your steps. But you Overcome it all, and you deserve to lead humanity forward."

"I've heard this before, the Emperor," said Perturabo, looking at the Emperor with ecstasy and concentration, not as a child looks at his father, but as if at last at the end of an infinitely long dream. Be aware of your own awakening.

His combat boots traced forward on the snow cover, and through the radiance of the Emperor, he calmly looked directly at the specific image within the radiance.

"Ten years ago, I said to myself, I was born with a great destiny, and I was going to play my own illuminated part in a grand play. I would follow a more eternal Creator, for Olympia's larger territory contributes my strength and my potential."

"I was then told that my strength and intelligence were not my own and that I had nothing else. I thought at the time he was just humiliating me, but later I wondered if he was using this to promote my growth. .”

Perturabo's tone seemed unstable compared to his stern face. A layer of gloomy sorrow and the low-temperature wind condensed into ice crystals on his black hair. He looked at the emperor, but the focus of his eyes was Not there.

"Then one day, he was injured, people died, and I saw you. I still don't know if it was my mistake that caused the disaster."

The Emperor listened silently to his son's words.

Perturabo went on to say: "But then I understood that even if I regained my lost gifts, I still had nothing to do with a greater destiny. I just led the people to make mistakes like all leaders from ancient times. Some mistakes can be undone, and some cannot."

Horus pondered with Perturabo, his brother interpreting their existence from a new perspective, one he had not thought about before.

He himself told himself that Perturabo's analogy was not entirely correct, after all, they were many times better than any mortal leader since ancient times; Mistakes may also be many times more terrible than any mortal leader.The thought made Horus shudder.

No problem, he thought.Follow the Emperor, the Emperor can't be wrong.

"Now, looking back at my past, I finally hear the question in his words and deeds that he never said. What he is really asking, is that I am really ready to use my talents, strengths, spirits, so that Is your life devoted to the cause I speak of?"

"He's asking if I'm really willing to give up my all for a path that might be right and might be wrong, even though I might end up with nothing."

"He hopes that I will not be like a child, relying on self-sacrifice that I am not needed, and asking for too much boast and love; but like an adult, treat risks and rewards fairly, and truly be me from the bottom of my heart. Everything my talent allows me to do. He wants to know my answers."

Sad shadows flitted across the Emperor's face, briefly enough for Horus to feel ashamed of his misperception and misunderstanding.

"What's your answer?" said the Emperor.

The center of Perturabo's gaze returned to the Emperor, and his young, wise seriousness melted into soft sincerity.

He took the Emperor's hand in his.

"I am ready," said Perturabo, "and he is ready, though he never says it. He is always here, neither appears nor leaves."

The Emperor's gaze moved to Perturabo's side.On top of the pale snow reflecting the sun, a charred black patch appeared.

Then, Horus saw a mortal wearing black robes, holding his hands on his chest, floating calmly in the air.As soon as he saw him, Horus immediately realized who Perturabo had learned the slightly mocking look from.

At the same time, his premonition of uneasiness grew stronger, for the mortal, when he appeared, neither paid attention to Perturabo, nor burst into tears in the Emperor's glory, but stared at him expressionlessly.

"You are?" Horus didn't hold back his mouth.He shook his hand.

Then, the corners of the hanging black-robed man's mouth turned up slightly, an extremely subtle movement that made Horus feel like needles tingling in horror.

"You can call me Morse," he said softly, elongating the end of each consonant. "I am a craftsman. And you are Horus Luperkar, right?"

He turned to the Emperor and asked again, "Is that right?"

"Let's go back to the ship and talk." The emperor made a decisive decision.

And Horus remembered that before they arrived, Malcador seemed to have arranged an internal dinner on the flagship at the emperor's request.

(End of this chapter)