A Light Not Extinguished

Five Thousand Years: Part 5

​"You must buy time, my son."

The Emperor was seated on the Golden Throne, a cascade of searing bright gold pouring out from the artifact. Rogal Mauer and Constantin Valdor knelt before him, while behind them the Hetaeron Guard stood stock still.

"Magnus is halfway across the galaxy in Dark Glass. The others are too far away to make it. The threat will make landfall within the hour." The Praetorian's eyebrows were furrowed together in stress. "Father, we need you."

"I need to properly depower and configure the Golden Throne." The Emperor said. Building the Imperial Webway was a delicate task, and withdrawing from it without preparation would be disastrous. "It cannot be rushed or it will have all been for nothing— You and your brothers must hold the gate. If she is who I think she is, then hopefully it will not come to violence."

"You know her?"

"An old comrade from the Golden Age. Physical prowess won't help. You and your brothers are the only force that could possibly impede her if she has turned from the righteous path." Even with the corona of blinding light surrounding the Emperor, Rogal could see the worry on his father's face.

Valdor listened to a voice in his vox. "It is in the Sol System. We must go."

"I will not fail you, Father," Rogal declared with unwavering determination. Constantin Valdor nodded in agreement beside him, his stoic expression betraying an underlying resolve. The Emperor's gaze bore into Rogal's eyes, filled with a mix of pride and concern. "I trust in your abilities, my son," he said, his voice resonating with a mixture of paternal affection and the weight of centuries. "The fate of the Imperium rests in your hands. Protect it with all your strength."

Rogal rose from his knees, a surge of resolve coursing through his veins. The Hetaeron Guard behind him stood ready, their loyalty evident in their unwavering stances. He exchanged a determined glance with Constantin, their unspoken bond reinforcing their shared purpose.

As he called his brothers to him, Rogal couldn't help but wonder about the identity of this enigmatic figure from his father's past. The Emperor's words resonated in his mind, hinting at a history shrouded in mystery and an ancient alliance. But there was no time for speculation or reflection. The hour was approaching, and the fate of the Imperium hinged on the Emperor's sons.

/-/

The stranger wore nothing but a mass-produced Imperial manufactorum worker uniform. In fact, there was nothing special about her except for a soft blue glow in her eyes. One could have mistaken her for being a normal baseline with a minor genetic mutation.

None of the Primarchs were fooled by her plain appearance. Being psykers themselves, they could all sense the immense pressure that her soul exuded on the Warp, her raw strength bending the currents of the empyrean around her.

"You've come here unannounced and without a name, demanding to speak to the highest of Imperial authority." Marcus, always the first in diplomacy, stepped forward. "Wouldn't you agree that it's a little rude, Miss...?"

"Ah." The psyker looked at herself. "Yes, I suppose so. Well, my name is Kathicia Jorenn. Former High Marshal of the Solar Federation, if that title means anything to you."

The Primarchs exchanged looks with each other. The lore of the old Solar Federation was not unknown to them; the Sigilites had managed to preserve a great deal of the history of the Golden Age. One of the chief branches of that time was the Psykana Militant, the Federation's psychic armies where cyborg psionics marched alongside AGIs to wage war on the many empyrean threats that plagued mankind both within and without, rending apart daemons with ontological weapons and aerythmetic equations. It was where Malcador the Sigilite had once served as Captain of the 1st Psi-Knight Division. And the one that had commanded it all was the High Marshal Kathicia Jorenn.

"That woman is dead." Tyric interrupted. "Hurled into the Warp to save our father. No one can escape the Empyrean unscathed after so long."

"Is that what he told you?" Kathicia shook her head. "I don't blame him. It has been such a long time that even an AGI would have given up hope by now. Nonetheless, it doesn't matter. I'm here now. That Astronomican of his lit the way back."

"And your intentions?"

"Only to talk. I promise." The psyker spread her arms. "I have killed no one on the way here. I mean no harm, truly. Where else am I supposed to go? Frankly, your father is the only person I know who's alive right now. All the others are likely dead. I'm just an old, old woman... trying to find the only person I know of."

"Still, I am afraid we cannot let you into the Imperial Palace, Miss Jorenn." Iskandar said professionally. "With all due respect, an unsanctioned psyker of your caliber is a security risk."

"Iskandar Basileus." Kathicia turned to face him. "Do the Elysian Vines still bloom in the fields of Maremenos?" The psyker asked.

The Elysian Vines were a rare breed of plant only found on the IIIrd Legion's homeworld, scarce even among a sea of rare breeds. The Apothecaries had determined that whatever genework was used to create them was partly psychic in nature; it absorbed the ambient unhappiness of humans in a certain radius, and used it as fuel to produce luminous fruits of a soft gold that when ingested, changed its own chemical composition by attuning to the eater's mind, so that whoever ate it only tasted their foremost favorite food— even forgotten ones.

"...You must be quite an expert in botany." Iskandar replied, while inside his mind raced. The Elysian Vines were not exactly common knowledge in the Imperium; their bounty never left Maremenos.

"I don't claim to be a great botanist. I was merely there when they were first planted, because I was the one who stole the secrets of the Aeldari and gave it to the architects of that place. The sight when that planet sprouted life for the first time..." Kathicia smiled wistfully. "I'm glad that it endured the storm of madness that came after." She cleared her throat. "Now, enough idle talk. I must speak to him."

"The Emperor is not available." Rogal interrupted bluntly. Be ready. The Praetorian warned through the shared Primarch psychic link.

"I am sure he can make time for me, Lord Rogal." Kathicia looked up at the Primarch, unconcerned with the fact that he towered several feet over her. "He knows me."

"The Emperor is unavailable at this moment." Rogal repeated. "He is concerned with matters of state."

"Matters of state..." Kathicia chuckled softly. "Forgive me, Lord Mauer, but I know your Father. What matters of state are so urgent that he isn't responding to the presence of one such as I?" She pointed a thumb at the sky. "Come now, let us not jest." A shadow passed over her face. "What are you hiding from me? He would surely have taken action now. If not to my presence, then to the moon frozen in time right in this system." A blue glow steadily built up in her eyes. "Have you imprisoned your father? Is he infirm? Give me a reason. You must be aware of how this looks to an outsider like me."

"You would accuse us of treason?" Dante Uriael spoke up.

"It's not the first time his creations have betrayed him." Kathicia retorted. "Just give me one reason. One good reason why he isn't coming out of there or answering."

The existence of the Webway Project could not be revealed to a complete stranger, it being the penultimate cornerstone of the Golden Path. The Primarchs knew this. The Custodes knew this.

"Our father is working on a delicate matter." Marcus said shortly. "He is truly unavailable."

"And the name of that matter?" Kathicia took another step forward. "Either answer me, or move aside."

In response, the demigods of the Imperium drew their weapons as one, relic Force Weapons crackling with psychic power. The Custodes hefted their spears, Solar Wardens and Sisters of Silence aiming their weapons.

"Oh. It's like that then." Kathicia looked up at the sky. "May you do the courtesy of answering one more question from me, before we begin? Has your Father ever sparred with you boys before?"

"...a few times in our youth, yes." Marcus said cautiously.

"Well then." Kathicia made a show of inspecting her hands. "I'll try to be an acceptable substitute in his place. Captain-General Valdor. You have an oxygen supply in your power armor? Good."

The psyker threw out a hand. The air around Valdor was instantly transmuted into a cube of solid auramite, before Kathicia swept her hand and slammed it right into Tyric, sending the Primarch flying through one of the Gate's pillars.

Kathicia's eyes burst into blue flames. +Come! Show me the secrets that he wrought unto your blood, forgeflesh!+