In order to recapture a battleship, they lost another battleship and their leader. After breaking away from the pursuit, the soldiers of Broken Eagle felt that they had fallen into a dark and ironic joke.
He was the only one walking in the dark cabin with complicated emotions.
Finally, he came to the navigation room.
The lighting in the navigation room is stronger than that in other rooms and corridors of the ship, illuminated by the grainy light of nearly thirty display screens used for external image feedback.
They cast their gray glare throughout the navigation room, bleaching the central circular platform like snow. The smell of nutrient solution floated in the air.
She is not in the water.
In the months since they captured the Cursed Echo, when half of her hull has been scraped or purged by flames, when she has needed to maintain her deepest connection with the ship's machine spirit, Navigator O
Tavia will use the nutrient pool.
The former pharmacist of the Eighth Legion and current leader of the Broken Eagle warband is also a prophet. Talos Valcoran, nicknamed "Soul Hunter", has had contact with and understood the former prisoners of the Navigation Room, and can also deeply understand most of the Navigation Rooms.
The reason why members refused to stay in the nutrient solution for too long.
The air in Octavia's private space was a mixture of subtle leaks of chemical smells, the ticking sound of sweat, the moldy edges of her books and the not unpleasant smell of natural oils in her hair, even though she had just
washed.
Talos walked around the pool and approached the seat facing the monitor.
Each screen shows a different position of the ship's hull, as well as the void above them, as well as several showing the worlds they orbit, and the contrasting moon.
"Ottavia."
She opened her eyes and looked at him with some vague sleepiness, but it quickly disappeared.
Octavia's black hair was tied into a ponytail, hanging down from a silk handkerchief.
"you're awake."
She said without stopping her movements.
"Just like you."
"Yes, even though I don't want to wake up."
Her lips revealed a half-smile.
"What did you dream about?"
"I remember basically nothing."
The warrior pointed to the world on the screen in front of her.
"Do you know the name of this world?"
She nodded.
"Thettimus told me, I don't know why you want to come back here."
Talos shook his head.
"I don't know either, my memory is still in the fragments before I was knocked unconscious by the vision."
He sighed softly.
"Home, at least our second home, is in Nostram
After that, it’s Sargu LS, a world of decay.”
"It has been colonized, albeit with a small population, and colonization has only begun recently."
"I know."
"So what do you want to do?"
"I have no idea."
Octavia turned and sat in her seat, still wrapped in her silk blanket.
"It's always cold in this house."
She looked up at him, waiting for him to speak.
When he was speechless, he realized that he had nothing to say.
"It's difficult to sail here, the Star Torch doesn't shine this far from Terra, and the fringes are darker than darkness."
"Can I ask what this feels like?"
The navigator played with the hairpins in her hair as she spoke.
"The subspace is dark here, completely dark. The colors here are all black. Can you imagine a thousand black shadows, each one darker than the last?"
He shook his head.
"You're asking me to imagine a different concept than the physical universe."
"It's very cold.
"She said while turning her face sideways.
"How can a color become cold? In the darkness, I can feel the existence that is intolerable to common sense: the screams of souls rushing straight into the hull, and the indifferent tumors that travel alone."
"Tumor?"
"I can only describe them this way, huge, indescribable entities of venom and pain, similar to some kind of malicious intelligence."
Talos nodded, as if he understood.
"Maybe it's the souls of false gods."
"How can they be called hypocrisy if they really exist?"
"I have no idea."
She trembled.
"The place we sailed before, even if it was far away from the Star Torch, was still illuminated by the Emperor's light. No matter how far we sailed, you could always see shadows streaking across the edges, invisible demons swimming through the liquid torment...
But I can't see anything here. It doesn't mean that I can't find a way through the storm. I have been well trained, but now it is like a blind man looking for a way, and everything seems to have been wiped out by the sound of wind that disappears in an instant. "
At this moment, he was disturbed by the similarity between her experience and his own hallucination.
"But we got here and did a great job."
"I also noticed other things, small creations that were gentler than the warp around them, like eyes, things that looked at me when I brought the ship closer."
"Should we pay attention to this?"
Octavia shrugged.
"I don't know, maybe this is just one of hundreds of crazy people."
"We're here, and that's what matters."
Another period of silence fell between the two of them.
This time, it was Talos who spoke first.
"A long time ago, we had a fortress here, a castle made of black stone and twisted spiers. Our primarch dreamed of it one night, and then it took hundreds of thousands of slaves to build it, which took more than twenty years.
.”
He paused, and Octavia stared at the cold-faced skull on his faceplate, waiting for him to continue.
Talos took a rough breath, which turned into a roar from the loudspeaker.
"The core sanctuary is called the Screaming Corridor. Has anyone ever mentioned this?"
She shook her head.
"No, never."
"The original body transformed this eternal world to match the original sin in his mind, building walls with flesh and blood... Living people were cast into the style of this building, as exquisitely as if it had been processed by witchcraft, and the ground was covered with machines.
A living face made by servants.
He shook his head, this memory was so strong that it would never fade away.
"Those screams, Octavia, you'll never hear a sound like that, they never stop! People cast into the walls, crying to get out, faces on the floor wailing, crying."
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! She forced herself to show an unfeelable smile.
"That sounds like the Warp."
He glanced at her and muttered a thank you.
"Sorry, you know exactly what that sounds like,"
She nodded, but said nothing more.
"The most evil thing is that you will gradually become immune to this cry chorus, and those painful sounds will become bearable. And after a while, you will find yourself enjoying it very much, and your thinking will become less and less when you are surrounded by sin.
Simple, the original torture was meaningless at first, and later, it turned into music."
The prophet was silent for a while.
"...This is of course what he wants. He wants us to understand the Legion's teachings, just like what he believes in."
When Talos knelt by the seat, Octavia began to panic again.
"I learned nothing from this senseless violence."
He unlocked the clasp on his neck with a sigh and took off his helmet.
She was shocked again.
He was originally very handsome - if it weren't for his cold eyes and corpse-white complexion.
Talos is like a statue, a demigod carved from marble, charming because of his monotony, but also not suitable for viewing.
"This is not a senseless atrocity, this is a lesson. The Primarch understands law and order - civilization can only continue based on the fear of punishment. Humans are not peaceful animals. They are a creation of war and conflict. Want to force these beasts
For us to be civilized, there must be someone who reminds those who harm the common people that they will be tortured... Once upon a time, we were convinced that the Emperor wanted us to take on this important task. He wanted us to be the Angels of Death. Once upon a time, we were the Angels of Death."
After nearly a minute or so, she blinked.
In many long conversations in the past, he had never revealed so many details.
"Please continue speaking."
She strives for more.
"But some say he betrayed us once our role was fulfilled. Others claim the collar should be loosened. We have taken our role too far and have become ourselves.
Killed the beast we were meant to suppress."
He saw the doubt flash in her eyes.
"None of this matters, what matters is how it starts and how it ends."
The light flashes at this time and then goes out.
The soldier and the navigator maintained a few heartbeats in the darkness, only covered by the armor's eyepiece and the dim light on the gray screen.
"This has been happening more and more frequently recently. Before, the Blood Alliance hated me, but now the Cursed Echo hates all of us."
“Interesting superstition.”
He responded, and suddenly the lights came back on, and the topic was not continued.
For a long time, the two faced each other in silence.
"Did you have no one to lead the team after your father died?"
"The Legion was scattered into companies and warbands, each following its master... The existence of the Primarch once inspired us to unite. Without him, many marauding warbands traveled further out from Sargu LS and stayed outside.
longer."
When Talos said this, he couldn't hide the sadness in his words.
"...Over the years, many have not returned. Many captains or lords have claimed that they are the descendants of the Midnight Ghost, but each claim has been refuted by others. Now no one can unite the rebel legions.
, the fact is that, although I hate him, Abaddon's success makes him stand out among us, and his name spreads throughout the Imperium, Abaddon the Despoiler, Abaddon the Chosen, not Horus."
Octavia couldn't help trembling. She knew this name. She had heard it in whispers in the halls of power on Terra.
Abaddon, the great enemy, the death of the Imperium, words of his triumph in the last centuries of mankind flowed from the throne of the Emperor.
"Only one person."
Talos changed the subject.
"Only one person can keep his title without being betrayed by his brothers. At least he can survive the betrayal of his brothers so far. But even he has struggled to reunite the legion, but there are too many ideas in the legion.
There are too many conflicts and expectations."
"His name?"
"Iago Severtarion."
The prophet said quietly:
"We call him the Crow Prince, but it is said that he died during the siege of the Royal Palace of Terra, a long time ago when my father died."
She hesitated before speaking.
"Marcusen and I talked about him."
"Marcusen came to talk to you?"
The navigator grinned. Her teeth were whiter than those of every member of the team. It seemed that her time as a slave was still too short.
"You're not the only one here to tell stories, you know."
"What did he say?"
"He is your brother, and he is someone you have never bothered to kill. You should be able to guess it."
The prophet's dark eyes flashed with some suppressed emotion, which she couldn't call happy or bored.
"I still don't understand Markusen very well."
"He most often recounted the Great Rebellion. He told me of his brothers dying on the walls of the Emperor's Palace, or of the Holy War against the Angels, and of the centuries that followed. He loved to chronicle these, to record them.
Do you know what he did and died?"
Talos shook his head, he had no idea.
"What did he say about the Prince of Crows?"
"He said Sevatar was not dead."
These words brought a ghostly smile to the prophet's lips.
"That's a really funny lie. Every legion has its secrets and myths. The World Eaters also said that one of their captains was promoted to the Chosen One by the blood-thirsty gods."