The meeting began again.
No, seriously, how many more times did this have to happen? Stop halfway through, get their heads straight, then come back and keep facing things that were almost unbearable?
Sanguinius had no answer. He did not know how many more times this would go on, just as he did not know when the enemies beyond those worlds would come. In that sense, the main subject of this meeting was just as terrifying as those enemies.
He looked around and saw a single common thread on those calm or dazed faces—unease.
No one knew what would happen next, except Angron and Lorgar. But even they were uneasy. It was a strange kind of anxiety: knowing full well the future would not be good, yet still having to face it.
Perhaps that was what courage meant.
"Then, shall I continue speaking on their behalf?" the Word Bearer asked.
"Actually," Mortarion said slowly. "Aside from these... matters, there is something else I want to know more."
He looked at The Emperor.
"Does any of this truly have meaning?" the Lord of Death asked in a low voice.
"I cannot see how these events could possibly help us. You once said we would take part in an apocalyptic battle, and that everyone would die. If that is true, I will accept my death. But what does any of this have to do with that battle? They are our opposites. What we might become, what we do not wish to become, or perhaps what we dream of being—so what? Father?"
This was the first time he had called The Emperor Father since his return.
"...Perhaps I am too stupid to see the meaning in all this. Or perhaps none of it has any meaning at all." Mortarion closed his eyes as