Warhammer 40k: Shattered Steel Soul

Horus wrote down the newly appeared names, and at the same time mobilized his senses to look for the mysterious flyer nearby. His search was undoubtedly a failure.

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

Could the man named Morse be related to him?

+I know him. + The Emperor said that the great golden man was in a low mood, and that Horus would pay any price to wipe away even the smallest sorrow from the Emperor.

The Emperor spoke then, using his perhaps more authentic voice, which made his appeal all the more touching,

"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 am."

"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 accomplished much, despite your young age. I see true peace spreading in the world, and magnificent castles and peasant implements are miraculously renewed simultaneously. When you came here, Olympia had already achieved All the basic conditions for self-improvement. I can see your pursuit of construction and intelligence, and we can have a lot of discussions about this.”

"I..." The young man's eyebrows wrinkled slightly, his expression 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 over yet, and he extended his hand to Perturabo, "Morse has shaped you into a great success, my child. Will you come to me and swear to serve the future of mankind?"

After hearing this sentence, especially the first half of it, Perturabo's hesitation almost disappeared, and more of his wavering was lost 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 is waiting for Perturabo?

Perturabo asked: "What else do you need me to do? I have experienced your power, in that field..."

He swallowed the last part of the sentence, reaching a certain tacit understanding with the Emperor through eye contact. Horus was eagerly curious.

"I have many tasks," the Emperor said, "and I need you and your brothers to take part in them. This will be a difficult road, full of dangers and temptations, and thorns of danger will stand in your way. But you If you can overcome this, you deserve to lead humanity forward."

"I have heard these words, Emperor." Perturabo said. He looked at the Emperor suddenly and intently, not as a child looking at his father, but as if he was finally at the end of an infinitely long dream. Become aware of your own awakening.

His combat boots drew a forward trace on the snow cover. Through the radiance of the Emperor, he calmly looked directly at the specific figure within the radiance.

"Ten years ago, I said to myself that I was born with a great destiny, and that I would play my role illuminated by light in a grand drama. I would follow a more eternal Creator and serve for people far better than Contribute my strength and potential to the larger territory of Olympia.”

"I was then told that my strength and intelligence were not my own and that I had nothing but that. 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 and people died, and I saw you. I still don't know if it was my mistake that led to that disaster."

The Emperor listened silently to his son's words.

Perturabo continued: "But then I understood something. Even if I regained my lost talent, I would still have nothing to do with the greater destiny. I would just lead my people to make mistakes like all leaders since ancient times. Some mistakes can be undone, some cannot.”

Horus and Perturabo pondered together, 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; but thanks to the speed of the primarch's brain, another voice immediately told him that what they had committed Mistakes may also be many times more terrible than those of any mortal leader. The thought made Horus shudder.

No problem, he thought. Follow the Emperor, he is not wrong.

"Now, looking back on my past, I finally hear in his words and actions the question he never said. What he is really asking is, am I really ready to put my talents, my strength, my spirit, to the point where Have you devoted your life to the cause I mentioned? "

"What he asked was, am I really willing to give everything for a path that may be right or wrong, even if I may gain nothing."

"He hopes that I will not be like a child, relying on my unnecessary self-sacrifice and asking for too much boasting and love; but like an adult, looking at risks and rewards fairly, and truly being who I am from the heart." His talent allowed me to do everything."

A shadow of sorrow passed over the Emperor's face, brief enough that Horus was ashamed of his mistake and misunderstanding.

The Emperor said, "What's your answer?"

The center of Perturabo's gaze returned to the Emperor, and the seriousness of his young wise man melted away at this moment, turning 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 the top of the pale snow that reflected the sunlight, a piece of charred black emerged.

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 uneasy premonition began to grow stronger, because after the mortal appeared, he neither paid attention to Perturabo nor burst into tears under the Emperor's glory, but stared at him expressionlessly.

"You are?" Horus couldn't help but ask. 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.