"Father!" Horus abruptly stepped forward as well, his towering Primarch physique like a volcano on the verge of erupting. The blades of his Power Claw gleamed dangerously beneath the lights. A flicker of anger at being slighted crossed the proud wolf god's eyes. "I am the vanguard commander of the Great Crusade. Whoever this 'he' lurking in the shadows may be, I will never allow you to risk going alone without a guard! If you must meet him, the Luna Wolves must accompany you to ensure your safety!"
"If they wanted to kill me, they would not need to offer five hundred worlds and the complete technology of the Dark Age of Technology." The Emperor waved a hand, calmly cutting off Horus's demand to accompany him and stopping the Adeptus Custodes from drawing their weapons. He rose, his golden Power Armour rumbling low. "Lead the way, Jian Ya. Let me meet this... guardian hidden in the shadows of human history."
It was a sealed chamber in the deepest recesses of Jian Ya's flagship.
There were no lavish furnishings, no fully armed guards. At the center of the room stood only an utterly ordinary-looking circular Holographic Projector. As the layers of Alloy Gates slowly closed behind the Emperor and Malcador, the lights in the room softly dimmed.
Bzz-
The projector gave a faint hum. Blue light wove through the air and converged, finally tracing the figure of a young man sitting on a sofa.
He looked barely into his twenties and wore a casual jacket unmistakably styled after twenty-second-century ancient Earth, utterly out of place in this brutal age. He sat comfortably with one leg crossed over the other, even holding a steaming cup of virtual coffee.
The instant the Emperor saw the young man's face clearly.
The pupils of