"No buts!" A shrill metallic rasp issued from the Fabricator-General's mechanical throat. "We have just received a report from Mars. Through their analysis of the residual energy in the Maelstrom region, Cawl and his team have reached an... unsettling conclusion. The golden energy Saul used is, in essence, almost entirely identical in origin to the Emperor's light that guards the Golden Throne."
The news landed like a bomb, freezing the air in the entire council chamber.
The same origin as the Emperor?
What did that mean? An illegitimate son? A reincarnation? Or... some higher form of existence utterly beyond their comprehension?
Just then, a trembling scribe brought in even more ominous news.
"M-my lords... just now, the Captain-General of the Adeptus Custodes, Lord Trajann Valoris, led an entire squad of Centurions of the Gilded Guard out through the Eternity Gate."
If the earlier news had been a bomb,
then this was a supernova powerful enough to overturn all of Terra.
The Captain-General! The Emperor's voice! That living legend who, in theory, obeyed only the Emperor himself! He had actually left the Imperial Palace?
Where was he going? What was he going to do?
The High Lords exchanged glances. In one another's eyes, they all saw the same emotion-utter terror.
A solemn, somber atmosphere hung over the bridge of the Mother of Tears.
All the Sons of Sorrow knelt on one knee, their proud heads bowed. Before them stood dozens of gene-seed storage canisters draped in black cloth edged with gold. They held all the brothers who had fallen in this bloody battle.
In his sorrowful, hoarse voice, Chapter Master Phoros recited a eulogy for each fallen warrior.
Saul stood quietly to one side. The golden radiance around him had faded. He looked like an ordinary Space Marine again, distinguished