Warhammer 40k: Shattered Steel Soul

Chapter 453 The perfect city, the city of dust

The pattering light rain had a dull luster, and solidified in the cold air before falling to the ground, and then broke on the dirt road of the country town. The smell of beech trees was blocked by the rain in a smaller space. When passers-by came close enough, the smell of vegetation suddenly burst out from the cold and penetrated strongly into the noses of passers-by.

Morse suddenly looked up at the sky, even though there was only a patch of cold rain clouds that remained unchanged in winter over the planet Ishtar.

He stood stunned, still holding a crystal box brought from Erda and No. 11's manor.

Before leaving, Erda destroyed almost everything that could prove her private existence, but when Perturabo passed by, the crystal box suddenly fell out of the gap in the unclosed cabinet and fell into the palm of the Iron Lord. , and the only way to open it is to destroy it.

They were sure Eleven was going to say something to them, or the next best thing, it was just a beacon. Regardless, the mystery has yet to be revealed.

"What happened?" Perturabo asked cautiously, "What did you find?"

"A message, from your flagship, from Terra, from the Emperor." Morse said, turning his head to look at Perturabo briefly, as if he was still in a daze.

He blinked again and immediately returned to normal.

"There is something going on," he said, "and not everyone can be trusted to handle it. The Emperor has several people in mind, including you, Leon, and Angron."

"I am the Warmaster," said Perturabo. "If what is happening is so cruel that the Emperor would not consider sending Sanguinius there, then it is I who will do my duty."

"Lorgar Aurelion burned Colchis."

"why no?"

"Lorgar Aurelion burned the world of his birth," Mors repeated patiently.

"The few dissidents within the Word Bearers burned with the Colchis sun, and when he was done, he sent a letter to the center of Terra stating the matter, describing what he called the rebellious tendencies of mismanagement. He accidentally burned the Memoirs together to apologize, and listed his methods to solve the rebellious tendencies, as well as future recruitment and base adjustments, etc..."

"No, Morse, what did he do?" Perturabo could not conceal his surprise.

He has never been to Colchis, but the evaluation of that planet has always been at a high level in all aspects, whether it is the stability of the planet's natural and human environment, or its surprisingly high surrender index; this has even won it It has gained reputations as the Golden Capital, the Perfect City and so on.

And Lorgar Aurelion, how could his fire ignite within the empire?

“He burned Colchis,” says Morse, “and the first thing he did when he got there was to give orders—that, according to himself, the traitors would be punished, and the loyal would be saved after death, and gain Immortality. Immediately afterwards, seventeen large cities were destroyed by weapons such as torpedoes and light spears, and a total of about 8 billion and 50 million registered people were killed. I think Aurelion is happy to be truthful. Report the number of people he slaughtered."

"But that's his home planet—" The Warmaster looked like he wasn't entirely in reality, his shoulders hunched inward.

"Don't think anyone treats Homeworld the same way you treat Olympia, Perturabo."

"But..." Perturabo froze in place, "This is for..."

"No," Morse said, staring at Perturabo.

"You already know where the Tyrant Star will be born. The Emperor has the intention to go to Colchis and teach Aurelion personally - but only if he has the intention. Even if his condition is too bad, the Nikaea Conference will be controlled by you. Presiding, Perturabo."

After a few seconds, the Iron Lord replied in a deep voice, raising his head and looking into the distance: "I am the War Commander."

The light rain flowed into his robe along his unconnected neck, like water droplets clinging to the wall of the tomb, hitting the moss and lily of the valley on the ground.

——

Not a single weapon was pointed at the Iron Warriors' fleet as they came within range of Colchis's air defenses.

Even though the Word Bearers' entire fleet of thousands of ships and a hundred thousand Astartes are here, even though they have just burned their home planet to the ground and destroyed everything they created with their own hands, facing Warmaster Perturabo When the enemy arrived, this crazy army showed amazing compliance and even welcomed it.

When Perturabo sat quietly in the manor of Ishtar, looking down from the high-altitude thunder eagle through the eyes of his own body, witnessing Colchis burning in ashes, he remembered what happened to him many years ago. The memories of the Iron Holy City reminded him of the promise made to him by the True Speaker in the tiny light, "If it weren't for your existence," Aurelion smiled humbly, "If it weren't for this, I would be on my way, walking It may not be as decisive as it is today.”

The air was silent, and the Thunder Eagle flew across the sky. The black wings corresponding to the Imperial Sky Eagle were stained by the ash and smoke in the sky. The sand was like obsidian lava, making a crisp sound around the still burning flame.

Perturabo stopped outside an unrecognizable city. The huge copper gate that was once strong fell outwards almost at the touch.

A large number of charred corpses piled up against the door surged out like a river of ash that burst its banks. The scorched smell exploded like invisible gunpowder. The river of dried blood from the corpses covered the knees of the steel armor. Some skeletal hands slid down against the armored legs, driven by gravity, leaving behind a fingerprint mixed with gray and blood.

Thousands of Colchis civilians tried their best to knock on this bronze door with embossed icons before they died. After they burned to death, this heavy door covered with bloody handprints was finally pushed open, leaving them too late. The land gains useless freedom.

Some Word Bearers were waiting just inside the door, and after the orbital bombardment was over, they descended from the sky to destroy those who managed to escape, ensuring that nothing was left in Colchis.

The gray armor and parchment of these warriors were covered with flying ashes, as if they were some kind of human figures carved out of gray clay.

Some warriors' heads wrapped in masks turned towards the wreckage of the house, and some warriors were talking quietly to themselves, their voices so low that no one could hear them clearly. When they saw the Iron Lord making a rare appearance wearing a full set of Terminator armor, a communication request sign sounded on the Iron Warriors' communication channel.

"Where is Lorgar Aurelion?" Perturabo asked first as soon as the connection was connected.

"At the Temple of Colchis," one of the Word Bearers answered, "Aurelion awaits you, Lord Perturabo."

Perturabo raised his head and looked at the half-collapsed spire and the golden dome that was shattered like an eggshell. Ashes covered everything here, disfiguring the temples, the tall buildings collapsed, and the lingering smell of sulfur emerged from every crack and crater.

His combat boots lightly brushed against the dust on the ground. There were many colored glass fragments there, embedded in several bodies with small skeletons that were entangled together and indistinguishable.

"Take me there," he said.

They walked straight through the broken bricks that had once been the outer walls of the plaza, his Iron Warriors guarding Perturabo, nervous at what they saw.

After they destroyed the surface of Colchis, the Word Bearers' banners were planted in cracks in the walls and piles of bones large enough to stand up flagstaffs, and some were burning quietly.

The Imperial Truth and the Book of Holy Words, fixed with iron chains on the eagle's ceremonial pole, faced each other on both sides of the road, just as the eagle pole on which they were located faced each other. Each must look in the opposite direction.

When they got close enough, Lorgar Aurelion's back became clear. The Truth-Speaker also wears his full armor. His armor had obviously been severely burned. The outer armor was charred and dented. The blood and charred flesh were mixed with the iron armor, along with all the scripture tattoos hidden under the armor that were damaged by the high temperature and were cast into molten metal. The gray and black cage.

He knelt quietly on one knee in front of a half-collapsed stone statue of the Emperor. Next to him lay a charred skeleton, who knelt on the ground.

Even with his back to the Warmaster, Lorgar easily recognized Perturabo's footsteps. He stood up and tore off his helmet, ash and gravel crunching beneath his feet.

When he turned completely, Perturabo saw Aurelion smiling at him, and his tears were flowing for a long time.

"I'm sorry," Lorgar whispered, pain shaking in his voice, "I cannot stop crying for this desecrated land, my brother."

"You need to explain, Aurelion," Perturabo said, stopping at the edge of the square, his voice like blazing iron dipped in ice water. "By the Emperor's order, in the name of the Warmaster of the Empire of Man, I Come to inquire about your massacre.”

"I have explained, brother, that there is rebellion here, heresy here," said Lorgar, his eyes burning with sad fire, "as in every world I have ever put to death. Even here I 's home planet - it has still become a breeding ground for heresy. If I had not beheaded myself, the governor of this planet would have been buried with Colchis."

He paused, "That's why I ended up here, burned together with my planet, as my punishment. I know this is a light mercy for my dereliction of duty..."

"The Great Crusade does not encourage indiscriminate killing and slaughter, Aurelion," Perturabo said, looking Lorgar Aurelion directly in the eyes. "How many people here are proven traitors?"

"Thousands," Lorgar replied.

"How many people have you killed?"

"Eight billion and fifty million."

"Is there a standard for killing?"

“All men are equal in Colchis.”

"How would you explain the deaths of the remaining deceased?"

"The Emperor will judge their posthumous honors—"

"But they died."

"Passed through my hands."

"Indeed!" Perturabo shouted, gripping the warhammer in his hand, "Aurelion. This is not what the Emperor wants to see."

"They will die one day, brother, and one day all Colchis will fall into the dark doom, and then the judgment will come to punish all the sins that preceded the Day of Judgment.

"And Colchis is willing to sacrifice his life today, so that the doomsday bell will be closer, and they will not have additional opportunities to commit potential evil deeds in the future - they will die of pure and meaningful sacrifice, Rather than betrayal, disease, crime, blasphemy..."

"This is not what the Emperor wishes to see!" Perturabo said expressionlessly, with an underlying anger and disappointment rarely seen in the steely Primarch.

Lorgar shook a little. He was in a very weak state. It is not difficult to suspect that he indeed accompanied the entire Colchis and survived several days of burning and destruction.

Now, the stiff body of the bearer of the truth is only hung by the painful will burning in his eyes. He stands with a certain despair flowing in his veins. His eyes are wide open, looking directly at Perturabo, stumbling towards the iron The Lord came over and grabbed one of Perturabo's gauntlets.

"Father really doesn't want to?" Luojia said softly, his breathing heavier than his words. "Really?"

"Without a doubt, Aurelion!" said Perturabo, letting Lorgar grab his arm and look down at him. "You shouldn't be like this, torturing others and torturing yourself. What will you use to repay the lives of eight billion and fifty million loyalists, Aurelion? What will you use to repay it?

"Yes, I will tell you that the Emperor will not completely abandon you because of this. I will tell you the truth, because you and I both know the weight of the Primarch. But this does not mean that Carnage can get the Emperor or me. Approved!”

"Do you think I'm torturing myself?" Lorgar asked, seemingly holding his breath.

"Yes," Perturabo said without hesitation, "You shouldn't be like this, Aurelion. Look at the blood on your hands!"

"That is indeed my own blood," Luojia said, tilting his head, and exhaled. "But I thought you understood, Perturabo, this is not torture."

His fingers tightened and his body slid downwards.

"I feel - it's easy, brother. I feel like I've done something for the Emperor again, I feel like my pain is going to him, and it makes me - it makes me feel good. I thought... you Understand, I thought you knew our father's spirit was born of pain and destruction, brother."

"How could he-"

"Don't lie to me, I beg you," said Lorgar, his tears rolling over his chapped lips, almost draining all the moisture from his body.

"You know the Tyrant Star, you know that our father will become it, when all people will pass through destruction from earth to heaven. Don't deceive me, brother, the Emperor must have told you this, you are His war commander is his most trusted son. You know the nourishment he needs—"

"What are you talking about!" Perturabo's voice sounded in shock under the iron helmet.

"I speak the truth, and you know I have not told a lie - and if you have known it from His mouth, I have heard it from revelation. I have seen His city, and you know it, and you know it Right! You know where the Second Primarch went after his death, you know where all the souls of Randan go, and you know they live forever in heaven, Perturabo!"

"I--"

"Don't lie to me, Perturabo. I am willing to listen to everything you say, and I am willing to believe everything you say."

A piece of stained glass fell from a distant church steeple, colliding with the tower wall, ringing crisply, and after a burst of shattering sound like a prayer bell, it was suddenly drowned in the ashes on the ground.

Perturabo stared at Lorgar, "You are wrong in one thing, Lorgar. People do not go from earth to heaven. Death is death, sacrifice is sacrifice, and massacre is massacre. You must realize from now on. This point. The Emperor is not a god, and the Tyrant Star you are talking about cannot really be born—"

"If He were not God, wouldn't I be more responsible for burning this city?"

Lorgar smiled, and iron shavings fell from him like tinder from a tattered, twisted, charred shell.

"If He is not God, I am wrong to worship Him, and sooner or later Colchis, for whom I exist, will be destroyed by the Emperor's command, just as the Iconoclasts destroyed all the churches on Terra. "

"If He is God, then my Colchis is a burnt offering to Him, so Colchis in this world will also be destroyed. Is that so, brother?"

"No matter who the Emperor is, the last thing he needs now is unnecessary death, Aurelion. He has never ordered the destruction of your city. Your actions are undoubtedly self-inflicted-"

Lorgar fell to the ground, his body blending into the tragic blood and smoke in the background. Pertura curled her fingers.

"The Emperor's primary intention in sending me here is not to punish. He does not want you to kill anymore," Warmaster Perturabo said, the blood on the ground reflecting on the iron surface. "You must realize this today, and use your In his language, this is his infinite goodness; in my language, this is an inevitable requirement for the maintenance of the human empire in the future.”

"Then why can't I hear the Emperor himself speaking to me, brother?" Lorgar asked stubbornly, with an incredible light on his face.

"The Emperor has no time to manage everything in the entire vast empire."

"Want to hear my thoughts, brother? Listen to everything I have seen these days. I am waiting for you to correct me. I am willing to listen to whatever you say."

Perturabo looked at him, at his unblinking eyes, at the blood overflowing from his breath, and at his face stained with ashes. For a moment, he couldn't tell what he saw.

This is Lorgar Aurelion, Aurelion, First of the Word Bearers, who has killed perhaps eighty times eight billion, and yet he is still capable of weeping like he never knew he was In Killing, it is as if he lives in a space that is too light and strange. The tears of the deceased are the holy oil in the incense candles, the burning scriptures are the frankincense in the stove, and the flying sparks are the fireflies that light up the world. He seemed to see him clearly, but also seemed to have never known him, not now, not before, not in the future.

"Say it," he said.

"Okay," Lorgar said with a smile that contained neither hatred nor a need for pity. "I want to tell you about everything I saw, or was forced to see, my brother," he said.

"A year ago, you went to Interrex, Horus went to Ullanor, and I went to the Holy Grail Expansion. Not long after, I heard that Horus was victorious in Ullanor, and you conquered I also found the clues to the Tyrant Planet, Perturabo, how good everything was then!"

"Then, after that, I saw you being rescued by the Illuminati on Eleven. I saw you briefly, and then you disappeared. There was no news for a month. I thought at the time, you and Eleven No. Because your craftsman knew his silversmith, because they said he saved you. I don't know."

"Then, I sent No. 11 back to Terra. I made a mistake. I always make mistakes. I sent No. 11 back to Terra, but your craftsmen also happened to send the old enemy blade to Terra. No. 11 went After leaving the Shadow Prison, the old enemy Blade also went to the Shadow Prison.

"I prayed, and then I discovered that Magnus was in Terra when the Nemesis Blade was stolen, because he came to tell me not to pray. But where was Magnus when the blade was stolen? Why did he come so late? How late?

"I know he is arresting the silversmith, but didn't the silversmith save you?"

"Then Horus was assassinated, and my men betrayed me. So you were crowned, and we never saw the Emperor again, we never saw Him again.

"Then, you went to find No. 11 - and you found where he was right away, right? You talked to him, right? Before you got to Colchis, you were in the homeland where he grew up. In, right?

"Even you are here now, because I can't feel you, I can't feel your breath in this armor - can you take off your helmet, brother? Let me see you?"

Perturabo felt astonishingly cold around him. "You doubt me?"

Lorgar shook his head: "I just want to hear your answer, Perturabo. I know that there are many evils in the world that are eyeing the human empire, and I know that the devil can always take advantage of it and seduce our differences through lies and deception. I Know that everything I see is limited. Maybe everything I say is false. Only you can know the complete truth.

"So I only want your answer, and then I will find a thousand reasons to prove your loyalty and greatness. You are the brightest morning star among us, the child of the Emperor's morning. Let all the gloom between us As the ashes disperse, I beseech you, Perturabo."

After a moment of silence, Perturabo answered, "What is your question?"

"Are you going to stop the Tyrant Star from taking us to heaven?"

"It won't," Perturabo said solemnly, a feeling of powerlessness welling up in his heart. "Wake up, Aurelion, that is the power of destruction, not a ladder to heaven. You must believe that the Emperor is right about himself. There is an arrangement, but he can’t tell everyone the secret. I don’t have the right to reveal everything before the matter is over. Maybe you can wait until the Nicaea Conference-"

He suddenly choked, because the Emperor might not be able to attend the Nikaea Conference.

"Then the Emperor is the Tyrant Planet?"

Lorgar said, but his expression said already that he knew he wouldn't get an answer.

"You have to believe the Emperor, Lorgar," said Perturabo. "I have not lied to you a word today. I don't know what else I should say to you, Lorgar..."

Lorgar shook his head, gasping for air in the scorched air, nearly suffocating in tears.

"That's enough. Thank you, Perturabo, thank you, thank you, thank you, my brother, thank you. No. Thank you..."