A foul wind blew through the monolithic Knights' Hall, and Azrael feared he was the only one who felt it.
The Stone Fortress is like a place frozen in time. Everything is almost as it was when he first served. The white paving stones remain spotlessly clean, highlighting the dark gray spiral stones that were placed there hundreds of years ago.
The legions once used it as a training tool, incorporating the sinuous lines into their swordplay routines and training, but Chaplain Sappho once claimed that its significance was much older.
"Walking the maze every day, meditating every day."
This was how Sappho educated the new recruits at that time.
"Keep your eyes on the road, it will help you focus."
Azrael walked on the spiral road at a slow and leisurely pace, his head covered by a thick black hood, his hands inserted into the sleeves of his robe, and his eyes followed the endless black
Looking at the curved lines of the stone.
Then, the thoughts of the Supreme Master Wisdom turned inward, and his heart was hit by an invisible storm.
He could feel some whispers whistling around him like a gust of wind, mysterious and gloomy.
On the way back from the Pavilion Star, Ezekiel once told him that the ether trend near Pandora suddenly became much stronger. Since the think tank director returned, he has spent a lot of time studying this phenomenon.
But what really makes Azrael care about is not these things, but that thing——
He hasn't told anyone about that yet.
Including the inner circle mentors and his most trusted advisors, no one knew that Seifer had appeared, and no one knew that the other party had actually changed his appearance.
Because the whole thing was very strange, he was not sure whether speaking out about it would be good or bad for the battle group. In pursuit of the Fallen Angels, the Dark Angels had gone further and further.
From Azrael's own observations, the atmosphere surrounding this massive fortress seems to have become increasingly unsettling over the past hundred years.
Sometimes he occasionally wonders, are they too obsessed with the long past?
Will the rebellion of the past really destroy the glory and loyalty forged with blood of the Dark Angels for ten thousand years?
At least the increasingly oppressive atmosphere within the Chapter seems to be an ominous omen, and it has been there for a long time.
In order to find a way out for the Chapter, Azriel spent almost all his free time sifting through the vast archives in the fortress library, but he actually had no idea what he was looking for.
Maybe it's just an answer.
He actually hoped to talk to others about his concerns, and wanted to tell Isaac his thoughts more than once, but the pastor's serious attitude made him give up the idea.
But now the answer seems to be in someone who has nothing to do with it.
Thinking of this, the ghostly pressure disappeared, like a candle quietly extinguished.
Azrael paused, took a deep breath, and tried to focus again.
Putting another way of thinking, maybe what he lacks is actually direction, and what that person can provide is a direction.
The young Chapter Master cast his gaze into the void of the vault, and although he believed Soshyan was a noble and kind warrior, Azrael had a duty to his Chapter, his brothers, and most of all to the Emperor himself.
By divine duty, he was obligated to do something, no matter who was involved, but he had to be absolutely sure before taking action.
That's why we had this private interview.
The ghostly wind blew again, and its power surprised him.
It was invisible and intangible, but it pushed him roughly, shaking him with its force.
At some point, light blue light filled the hall, like moonlight, but rolling like oil.
Wild torrents swirled around him, outlined in shadows of black and gray, and if he focused on them they took on patterns that disturbed him.
Now Azrael's mind was filled with a faint, discordant groan. The intensity of the vision startled the young Chapter Master. His concentration began to slip, but the feeling became more and more intense.
The stronger.
Gradually, a dark, hooded figure swayed at the edge of his vision, and then a strange yet eerily familiar voice echoed in his mind.
"Do not bring the Old Gods to the heart of Caliban."
"you--"
Azrael turned around to look for the source of the sound. Of course he knew about these strange hooded creatures, but they rarely appeared and only appeared at very critical moments.
The Supreme Master's heart was beating fast. He looked for the watcher in the darkness in the shadows of the courtyard, but the blue light and the angry wind disappeared in the blink of an eye. When his vision became clear, he found that he was staring at
Across the hall is a statue of the Primarch.
The Lord of the Legion seemed to be looking at Azrael intently, and the scrutinizing eyes on the stone sculpture made his hair stand on end.
"What did they say about the Old Gods?"
The Watcher's words were puzzling, and Azrael quickly controlled himself, controlled the secretion of adrenaline, and lowered his breathing and heart rate through several controls.
"What do you mean? Taken to Caliban... Soshyan?"
Azrael immediately realized that the only outsider who would come to the Stone Fortress recently was Soshyan. Could it be him that the Watcher was talking about?
But what does the Old God mean?
This was the first time he heard this term from the Watchers. Those strange creatures had their own narrative, whether describing the subspace or the galaxy, but they had never mentioned any old gods in the past.
However, Azrael still trusted the Watchers, and the preservation of the boulder as a fragment of Caliban had a lot to do with them.
After thinking about it, Azrael finally decided to change the meeting venue.
At this time, Soshyan had already boarded the shuttle. However, he received a message from Azrael on the way and suddenly changed the meeting place to a warehouse at the orbital station.
This place didn't seem very respectable, and the two of them were like drug dealers conducting secret transactions in the hive.
However, since it was Azrael's request, Soshyan did not refuse and directly asked the driver to turn around and head to the orbital station.
Soon, the two met in a dusty and dark warehouse filled with clutter.
Azrael wore a black cloak, with most of his face hidden in the shadow of the hood, while Soshyan also wore a silver-gray cloak, but did not wear a hood.
"I'm sorry, Chapter Commander Soshyan, for asking you to come to a place like this."
Soshyan smiled and said softly:
"I personally have nothing to do with it, but brother Azrael, you must have encountered some difficulties."
Azrael nodded, and after hesitating for a moment, he also took off his hood.
"Those people in black armor..."
After hesitating for a moment, he said in a very low voice:
"I met."
"oh?"
Soshyan was a little surprised, but his expression told Azrael that what Cypher said was true and that this man did know something.
At least he must know what that black armor represents!