Light (2)

"Too fast," Wraith murmured. "Too fast, Karyl."

"Google Search TWKAN"

"Indeed, a little fast—is something making you nervous?"

Wraith shook his head rapidly.

Karyl couldn't help laughing. "Don't be nervous, Wraith. There's nothing to be nervous about. You're meeting your brothers and your father. If they're normal, you don't need to be nervous."

Wraith blinked. Karyl had already convinced him, but he still wanted to ask about the worst-case scenario. "What if they're not normal?"

"..."

Karyl rubbed his brow and said helplessly, "Don't be like that, Wraith."

"All right," Wraith muttered.

He obviously knew he'd asked a question with no reason or logic behind it. But he couldn't help himself.

"Also, from here on, I'm going to call you Konrad Curze," Karyl said as they leaped onward.

He'd picked the timing perfectly, taking advantage of the moment while the iron was hot.

"Why? We still haven't confirmed whether he's really my father, have we?"

Konrad Curze asked, his voice scattering into the cold wind along with his leap.

"He might be," Karyl said.

"But he might not be!"

"...Could you do it out of courtesy? Please, Wraith."

"...All right." Konrad Curze nodded reluctantly.

Then they continued running toward the outskirts of the city. Karyl led the way as always, with Konrad following behind.

His expression was calm. By rights, a moment like this should have moved him, but he was now calm to a frightening degree.

Fifteen minutes later, they reached the outskirts.

"Terrifyingly desolate."

Fulgrim spoke with unmistakable pity in his voice. Rogal Dorn frowned, not particularly fond of his brother's tone.

"There's a city in the distance. It looks just as grim as it did from orbit."

Lorgar's gentle voice gave words to his feelings. "I'm beginning to feel sorry for the people who live there."

Ferrus Manus crouched down. The giant plunged his silver hands deep into the ground, hard as steel, and after a moment, lifted out a handful of buried bones.

He examined them closely, studying every detail. Then he reached a conclusion.

"Mutants, but there are normal people too," he said calmly. "There are beast bites on them as well."

"Cannibals?" Rogal Dorn asked.

Fulgrim shook his head. "Please, Rogal, not now—"

"You know I have to," Rogal Dorn replied gravely. "All man-eating beasts must be exterminated."

"What about Father?" Lorgar asked.

He wore a black robe, with books hanging from his belt, and his golden skin glimmered faintly. He wasn't taking part in his brothers' discussion. He was concerned with something else.

He was always concerned with this.

He looked expectantly at his brothers, then asked again, "Does anyone know where Father is?"

"I'm here."

A majestic voice answered from behind them. Lorgar turned around almost at once, so quickly that even Fulgrim was taken aback.

"Father!" Lorgar called warmly. "You've come!"

"Father."

"Father!"

"Father."

The giant in golden armor gave a slight nod, acknowledging his sons' greetings. Then he spoke without expression. "I hope you have no objections to my decision."

"Of course not!" Lorgar replied at once. "There's no need to involve our respective Legions in meeting our brother!"

"We didn't bring many people anyway," Rogal Dorn said. "Besides, I agree that the Legions should stay out of this."

"Really, Rogal?" Fulgrim asked with a smile.

"Really." Rogal Dorn nodded at him. "I don't lie."

Fulgrim's smile quickly vanished. He sighed helplessly and glanced at Ferrus, who had his hands behind his back and silently shook his head.

The giant in golden armor took in all his sons' reactions.

He didn't judge Fulgrim's small effort to lighten the mood, nor did he react to Rogal Dorn's indifference. To him, Lorgar's enthusiasm and Ferrus's restraint seemed to be one and the same.

He neither smiled nor looked stern. His face showed nothing.

He simply stood there.

Calmly—and the darkness was driven away.

"They're here," The Emperor said.

As he spoke, two figures emerged from the darkness still lingering in the distance.

One was tall, the other of ordinary height. They walked side by side.

"It's him," Fulgrim murmured, almost to himself. "Konrad Curze."

He had no reason for it, yet he was certain.

He was certain that the tall, thin giant in tattered clothes, his face pale as a ghost's, was their brother. The other three giants silently agreed.

They looked at their new brother, taking in every detail and every subtle reaction.

Rogal Dorn frowned again.

Lorgar pressed his lips together, as if he wanted to sigh.

Ferrus Manus clenched his fists without a word.

At that moment, the same thought arose in each of their hearts.

"He really is just a child."

The figures approached slowly, but the Emperor spoke before they reached him.

"Welcome, Kael Lohars. Thank you for bringing my son here."

One of the figures answered the Emperor in an unfamiliar, hissing language. His voice was calm—far too calm to be the reaction of an ordinary mortal meeting the Emperor.

"...Yes, I should greet him first. But there are some things I need to make clear to you first, Kael Lohars. This is very important."

The Master of Mankind stepped forward and extended his right hand.

From Lorgar's position, all he could see was his father's back. But that didn't keep him from understanding the gesture's meaning. In an instant, a complicated feeling welled up inside him.

He looked at the unmoving figure and felt angry at his insolence.

My father didn't make you kneel. He thanked you, and even offered you his hand—he thought indignantly.

And what did you do? How dare you keep him waiting!

A tall figure looked over at his glare. A hissing sound followed, but the mortal called Kael Lohars patted him, and he fell quiet again.

Fulgrim looked at Rogal Dorn. Without turning his head, the latter said quietly, "Don't compare me to him."

"When you were a year and a half old, you were studying."

The handsome demigod chuckled teasingly. "And when he was a year and a half old, he was just like you, wasn't he, Rogal? That mortal was lucky to raise a Primarch."

Rogal Dorn let out a low sigh, a rare thing for him.

Ferrus looked away.

For no reason he could explain, he disliked Fulgrim's use of the word "lucky." He simply didn't like it. But he didn't want to say so.

He knew Fulgrim meant well.

Fulgrim simply liked teasing and joking around. At heart, it was no different from the innocent playfulness of a child. But it came from a Primarch, which made it all the more precious.

Ferrus Manus was willing to indulge that playfulness, and to cherish it.

The hissing sound came again. The Emperor calmly withdrew his hand, and Lorgar clenched his right fist. The indignation in his eyes grew even more apparent, but the Emperor remained unmoved by his reaction.

It wasn't that he couldn't see it. He knew, but he did nothing.

"Yes, we came by ship. Interstellar travel is nothing unusual in this age," The Emperor said in High Gothic.

After a moment of silence, the figure spoke again in the hissing language. At the same time, a cold blue light shone in his eyes.

Fulgrim was startled. "A Psyker! No wonder he understood us. I thought he was doing it on purpose."

"No, I wasn't," the figure said in halting High Gothic. "I would never be so rude."

He was some distance from the Primarchs. By an ordinary mortal's hearing, he shouldn't have been able to make out Fulgrim's mutter.

But he had heard it.

"I apologize on my son's behalf," The Emperor said. "Kael Lohars, your command of psychic powers is growing stronger."

Fulgrim flushed red.

"So that's what this power is called—psychic power?"

"You didn't know that before?"

"I didn't," the figure said.

His High Gothic grew more fluent by the second, and his heavy accent disappeared. "But I still think you should speak with him first."

The Emperor slowly shook his head, then turned to his sons and said, "Go meet your brother. Talk, take a walk."

"Father?" Lorgar asked, bewildered. "Take a walk?"

Rogal Dorn saw the figure in the distance pat their brother again. The giant, far shorter than they were, then spoke in an exceptionally gentle voice.

"...I can take you around the city."

He stood in the darkness, watching them. The demigods could feel the stranger's gaze. It was clear and held few complicated emotions.

As soon as he sensed that gaze, Fulgrim, who had still been brooding, spoke up. "All right, brother!"

He turned to Ferrus, who nodded before he could even ask, as if he'd already seen it coming. "It would be rude to refuse."

Rogal Dorn said nothing, simply beginning to walk forward at a slow pace. Every detail of the conversation so far had been beyond his expectations, but this wasn't the time to voice his opinion.

He simply agreed with their father's decision, adjusting his pace so that he wouldn't seem too threatening to the mortal.

He knew all too well what he meant to mortals.

Fulgrim and Ferrus followed behind him. Only Lorgar stayed where he was, his skin glowing gold and his expression bewildered. "...Father?"

"Go," The Emperor said.

So Lorgar had no choice.

As a Night Lord, sneaking in updates is pretty common, isn't it?

Also, one more thing.

Because of some issues with the setting, half my saved chapters are unusable now. But it's fine. I'll write like crazy for a few days and make up for it.

I'll definitely deliver thirty chapters when the book goes live.