Dante and Sanguinius had thought the conversation would continue for some time, but the place where they stood kept moving farther away from Szarekh's throne until they returned to the flagship's command deck.
The void in the viewport vanished, and everyone on the command deck was no longer frozen in place, resuming their normal movements.
"Technology like sorcery," Dante remarked.
Sanguinius had marveled at it long ago, when he first met Szarekh.
But Dante did not immediately go about his duties. Instead, he asked his Gene-father over the communications channel, "The agreement you made with the Silent King ten thousand years ago..."
Dante did not dare question Sanguinius, but he wanted an answer, even if it was a false one.
Ever since he had seen Szarekh during the Battle of Baal, such questions had filled his mind.
"You are too young. Otherwise, you would know," Sanguinius said.
Dante admitted that he was only about a thousand years old and had not been following his Gene-father since ten thousand years ago.
"The agreement was cooperation," Sanguinius said bluntly. "The Silent King once spoke of humanity's responsibility within the galaxy. What it said did sound as though it wanted to use humanity as a shield, but there was indeed some sense in it... That is why you saw Szarekh on the eve of the Battle of Baal and heard that Grand Judiciar say: continue the agreement with the Gene-father of the Blood Angels."
"You made an agreement with these xenos..." Dante asked nervously. "Did they coerce you?"
"No." Sanguinius shook his head. "They helped me. The reason I reached Terra in time ten thousand years ago and appeared at the duel between the Emperor and Horus was because they helped me."
Dante nodded thoughtfully.
"Go do what you must. Clean up the