Between the Stars (I, 3k)

In Van Cleef's eyes, the world had turned a somber, forest-blue hue, as if someone had personally wrapped a thin layer of silk around his eyes.

Everything seemed ominous and chilly in that color, but Van Cleef didn't notice anything amiss.

His thoughts were almost frozen. Apart from some instincts that he deliberately preserved, there was only one simple idea left: a goal that had been buried deep in his flesh and blood.

Tarasha Euten.

He silently murmured the name. They were complete strangers, never having met before, yet it already carried a deep-seated hatred and murderous intent.

The company commander walked briskly and efficiently, entering the deck from the corridor and then the transport ship preparing to land in the Macragge orbit. His face beneath his helmet was numb and indifferent, but no one noticed anything amiss, not even Xianni.

"Are you nervous, Company Commander?" he asked over the comms channel in his usual cheerful tone.

"Silence, Xianni." As always, his company commander answered in a stern tone.

"It's not time for silence yet, Company Commander."

"Now is the time for silence, Xianni."

"Fine, say what you want." Xianni from Terra chuckled on the communication channel, then remained silent as ordered.

The transport plane's deck began to shake, indicating that it was about to take off. Meanwhile, the docking personnel from Macragge had already boarded their ship and were conducting an inventory check.

The ninety tons of precious Adamantium had been discussed many times by the First Company of the Eighth Legion. They all believed that the Adamantium would be used for coating the keels of ships, or to manufacture more sacred Terminator Armour for the Ultramarines Victrix Guard.

Adamantium is always precious, so every bit must be used wisely.

They quickly formed their battle formation as they had discussed over the past fifty-nine dinners, with Karyl Lohars —their instructor—and the First Company standing at the very front, forming the sharpest point of the arrowhead.

Unlike the five hundred First Company warriors clad in Power Armour, Karyl Lohars wore only a serious and simple black uniform made by the clothing machine on the Nightfall, and the fabric used was actually not very good.

However, he has never cared.

"Van Cleef," Karyl greeted calmly, his eyes fixed straight ahead.

The transport plane was much larger than the Storm Eagle, even astonishingly so. The warriors behind it were silent, their Power Armour humming. It should have been quiet, but the roar of the engines and the tremors of the deck made everything noisy.

However, his voice still reached Van Cleef's ears clearly.

Then—that instinct that had been deliberately preserved began to operate again.

"Lord Karyl."

How have you been lately?

"Of course, why do you ask that?"

"Just wanted to check on you." Karyl turned and calmly looked into Van Cleef's eyes. "You've been unusually quiet lately, haven't you?"

"I'm so sorry, sir."

"Why apologize? You didn't do anything wrong. This isn't wartime, and everyone has the right to be alone."

"Yes, sir."

"No, Van Cleef."

Karyl sighed softly and shook his head.

"I mean, solitude," he said, turning his head. "True solitude."

A ripple spread through his numb heart, but Van Cleef was completely unaware of it.

He still murmured Tarasha Euten's name, but everything else was sealed away.

Only one aspect of him was captured by that deliberately preserved instinct, and then, this aspect of him, with his usual demeanor, quietly answered the question, with his respect for Karyl.

"Are you referring to that feeling of examining one's own heart?" the company commander asked. "I've only been fortunate enough to experience it a few times during meditation."

"Examining one's own heart is a dangerous thing, Van Cleef. It can allow one to see oneself clearly, but it can also allow something else to take advantage of the vulnerability. The charm of solitude lies in reflection, but reflection is not always a good thing."

"I don't understand what you mean, sir."

"Van Cleef certainly doesn't understand."

Karyl lowered his head, observing the tremors of the flight deck beneath his feet, and said nothing more.

His calmness brought a terrible silence, and also stirred up unease among the 499 soldiers of the Eighth Legion behind him.

After a long while, Xianni spoke softly. He did not use the communication channel, nor did he use the breathing grille to alter his voice.

Just then, the transport ship broke through the clouds and began its vertical descent. The view of Macragge flashed past the porthole.

Forest -- Mountains -- Clear Spring.

Then there are the cities.

A vast city nestled against mountains and beside water, birds flying across the azure sky. The distant mountains are covered in thick snow, a striking white expanse. Beyond these mountains lie forests and waterfalls.

Beneath their feet lay a helipad that perfectly blended classical and modern elements. Flags fluttered atop thirteen massive, milky-white stone pillars, and the once dense crowd gradually became clearer as the descent progressed.

The distinctive blue, white, and gold colors of the Ultramarines began to emerge, along with their symbol, a huge emblem resembling the letter U.

"Instructor?" Xianni called softly. "Is there a problem, Company Commander?"

"He's not the problem, Xianni, it's me. I'm still stuck in my past identity and haven't fully adapted, which led to this situation. I'm an incompetent instructor, but there's still a chance."

Karyl calmly shook his head.

"Get ready," he said softly. "We're about to land. We still have a chance."

"What opportunity, instructor?" Xianni asked.

"Save them," Karyl said.

Beside him, Van Cleef stood quietly, like a corpse.

--

"I still want to say that it wasn't appropriate for you to drag me here, sir."

"Please, ma'am, just for one day, could you please not call me 'sir'?"

"Grown ups."

"Ms. Euten."

"Yes, sir, I am here."

"."

Roboute Guilliman sighed and shook his head. His second-in-command, Marius Gage, the Chapter Master of the First Ultramarines Chapter, saw this and immediately fixed his gaze straight ahead.

"Today is an important day, ma'am."

"Of course I know today is an important day, my lord. I can hardly recall a day like today, when you assembled your legions and even summoned back your First Chapter Master —Lord Marius, I hope you have finished your paperwork for today."

Gage coughed but didn't say anything.

Of course he didn't finish. Who could process a mountain of government reports in just one morning?

"So, if today isn't important, then when will it be, sir?"

"Marius, could you please ask my steward to stop mocking me on this matter?"

Marius Gage heard his Primarch, Roboute Guilliman, ask this question in a helpless tone.

"Lord Marius, please tell my master, Lord Roboute Guilliman, that I am quite displeased with his dragging me here, but certainly not to the point of daring to ridicule him."

"."

Gage decided to remain silent; he didn't want to get involved in this conversation.

The person who had been speaking to Roboute Guilliman was a middle-aged woman. She was tall for her age, but she still appeared short standing next to the group of Ultramarines and their Primarch.

She was very thin, her short hair was already gray, and her face, weathered by time, still showed traces of her former beauty. However, there was a hint of unhappiness on her face at that moment.

"Miss--"

The Primarch of the Ultramarines, the giant Roboute Guilliman with short blond hair and a green laurel wreath, sighed again with a sense of helplessness. "--This meeting is different from what you expected; it's somewhat special."

"Then, could you explain it to me?" Tarasha Euten, Roboute Guilliman's housekeeper and foster mother, looked up and asked.

"I can't right now!"

Roboute Guilliman finally snapped. The pent-up emotions from three hours of persuasion, coupled with a touch of impatience, made him irritably swing his arm—partly because he was talking to Tarasha Euten.

He wouldn't act this way with other people.

"I had originally planned to travel with the ship to the other end of the Ultima Segmentum for exploration, but I rushed back. Madam, their visit was so sudden, and the person leading them was someone I never expected."

"Who?"

"Karyl Lohars."

"It sounds like a tongue-twisting name, so what kind of person is he?"

". I have no idea."

Roboute Guilliman lowered his voice, a hint of doubt, unconscious in his handsome face, immediately apparent to his butler. "My brothers all have their own descriptions of him, and they all differ."

"That's very interesting." Roboute Guilliman's chief steward frowned. "It means he's either a two-faced scoundrel or a..."

"What is it?"

"He's someone just like you."

Ms. Euten's answer surprised Roboute Guilliman, who couldn't help but smile.

He lowered his head and said in an affectionate tone, "No, no, my lady, you've got it wrong. He's not like me. Ah, they've arrived, it's that ship, come with me, madam."

Are they really different?

Tarasha Euten, now in her fifties, looked up as she walked, gazing at her child, a star she had raised with her own hands.

She smiled and shook her head.

From the age of twelve, they all looked up to him. Now, every coin issued by Macragge bears his portrait and that of his foster father, and every decision Macragge makes requires his approval.

Her child has grown so large and strong, becoming a towering tree, yet she still doesn't realize how she appears in people's eyes.

You look different in everyone's eyes, Roboute. She thought silently. In my mind, only God could do that.

And who was that person on the transport ship that fell from the sky, that man named Karyl Lohars?