The instant Brutus put on the ring, the pitch-black band contracted slightly around his finger, as though it had come alive, fitting snugly against his skin.
The string of unknown characters on its face began to give off a dim glow, like ancient, sleeping symbols awakened by some power, slowly shifting in the darkness.
Then his expression grew dazed.
Brutus's pupils dilated in an instant, his gaze turning vacant and unfocused.
His body remained seated in the armchair, holding the same posture as before, but his consciousness seemed to be drawn by some invisible force. It drifted out of his flesh and floated upward, passing through the metal ceiling panels, through the warship's decks, through the veil separating the Materium from the Warp, until it hovered in a boundless void of distorted colours.
The Warp.
Brutus's disembodied consciousness floated in this ocean of Chaos energy, surrounded by roiling, ever-changing colours and shapes. Sometimes they resembled immense whirlpools, sometimes twisted faces, and sometimes indescribable geometric forms beyond human comprehension.
He could sense an omnipresent whispering, like background noise, echoing at the edges of his consciousness. It was as though countless voices were speaking at once, yet he could not make out a single word.
Then Brutus saw the past.
He saw scenes from Terra a hundred years ago.
The images seemed to pour directly into his consciousness through some unknown power, vivid and real, as though he stood there witnessing them himself.
He saw the final battle of the Unification Wars, the decisive engagement that ended humanity's civil wars and established the Emperor's rule.
Across scorched earth ploughed countless times by artillery fire, innumerable Thunder Warriors were thrown before the enemy's guns like cannon fodder.
They had once been the mainstay of the Unification Wars on Terra, the sharpest sword in