40 Thousand Reasons

Slowly, the space battles in and around the Solar System began to grow in magnitude, despite the valiant efforts of Battlefleet Solar, the numerous defense platforms and the additional ships belonging to various other forces of the Imperium.

For every Warp portal we managed to close, two more opened. At the same time, the astropath choirs were reporting major Chaos incursions at many strategic points in the galaxy, from Hive World Vigilus and Cadia to Armageddon and Baal, almost in a direct line trying to bisect half the galaxy from the Eye of Terror to the Maelstrom and beyond. Warp Storms were opening all along this invisible line, unleashing hell into the galaxy.

I can't say I was surprised learning about all this activity. I had worked all my new life to try to prevent the worst effects of this inevitable event, but I knew I wouldn't be able to stop it completely. Future knowledge was something available in abundance to most of the players in this universe, gods, demigods and their avatars alike. What I knew, others knew as well, and unlike me these beings were able to effect change on a large scale, reshaping reality to fit their wishes.

However, no matter how strong and insidious these beings were, I had faith in the Emperor. Not the Emperor-that-Was, human and prone to human mistakes, nor the Emperor-what-Is, a creature of Warp and miracles, pretty much driven insane by inhabiting the Warp for too long with a feeble anchor tying him to humanity. No, I what I believed in was the Emperor-to-Be.

I hoped for a human Avatar, with access to higher powers via his domain in the Warp.

Funnily enough, Lady Yvraine, the Emissary of Ynnead was much the same, except her god-to-be wasn't fully born yet, while my Emperor wasn't yet alive.

His Avatar body was ready, repaired and restored to peak condition, decoupled from the strain of the Golden Throne and ready to take a new breath again.

Only He wasn't. He lay lifeless in his wheelchair, even if somehow puppeting his Custodes to observe or demand things.

Even worse, everything I could do to help him I've already done, and it hadn't been enough. A good try, and some hopeful results, but restoring a god back to life was not in my powers.

Magos Belisarius was preparing a new armor suit for the Emperor, something he claimed would sustain the Emperor for decades even when detached from the failing Golden Throne, but I was highly skeptical of his chances.

Technology would not be enough, so it would come down to faith.

Faith was a powerful tool, and one that would sustain a god very well, as other species proved it constantly with their own Warp gods, but Adam wasn't even aware of his own divinity. In fact, he hated all religions and had tried to obliterate any trace of religion in the galaxy, purging temples and churches of every kind, human or alien, with his Great Crusade.

The second the Eldar Emissary stepped inside my Fortress, I retrieved the Pariah Harlequin as a means of balancing out the mental pressure emitted by Yvraine.

"Cover me, messenger. I feel kinda small, all of a sudden." I muttered in a pained voice, as an aura of death splashed over me and nearly made me crash to the floor. The woman was tall enough, but her presence was like a raging sea, nearly drowning me in death and pain.

The Eldar Harlequin chuckled amused, and patted my arm. "She's not very pleased to meet you, Pef Lancefire. Might you have done something to enrage the God of the Dead?" the creepy Solitare asked in light voice, while making his words rhyme somehow, by adding strange intonations to his words.

I blinked for a moment, then smiled as well. "Ah. Commorragh." I did kinda exterminate most of the Dark Eldar, after all.

The Eldar woman locked her eyes on me. "There are many Drukhari among the Ynnari, Astartes. Perhaps half of them, from what's left." she declared in a melodious voice, which nevertheless scratched at my ears and my soul.

I smiled sweetly in response. "So you're saying, I missed some Dark Eldar?" I asked rhetorically then gestured politely towards the main hallway. "Let's try and keep this meeting short."

The Emissary of the God of Death snorted in contempt and walked onwards, without sparing me another look.

Behind her, a Phoenix Lord glared at me with deadly eyes, then followed his mistress.

To his side, a scantly clad Succubus smiled at me and patted her blade at the nice hips. "That is the famed duelist Lelith Hesperax. I think she likes you." the Solitare commented in wry voice.

I glanced at him and sighed inward. "You really think so?" I asked faking a hopeful smile.

"No. She follows the God of the Dead." he explained in a sour voice.

Just like I thought. Yet another potential enemy, if things went sour.

Luckily, the retinue of the High Priestess of Ynnead wasn't too large, and did not contain an actual Avatar, which would have been a much bigger problem.

"I don't see the Yncarne." I noted in a soft voice, while following the guests towards the reception room. Perhaps it was invisible or in another dimension. Gods did have plenty of tricks up their sleeve.

The Solitaire tilted his head in a curious manner, and all sound died around us. "You know too much, human. The Yncarne hasn't been found, not yet. But somehow, you expected the Avatar to be present?"

I poked at the surrounding air, finding a solid but transparent wall of negative-psi, much stronger than even Sister Ordela could manifest with her Null Shields.

"If the restoration works, you can visit me at Illevar, and help train the new Pariahs. Your Null Shields are much better than even a minus-Omega Sister can generate." I offered with a small nod.

"And if it doesn't?" he asked with faint amusement.

"That would be very unfortunate, Solitaire. I might have to bring them to your Library." I explained in a level voice, following a small hint from my memories.

The messenger of Cegoragh laughed like I said an amazing joke, and patted my arm again. "Then let's hope this restoration works."

I wish to say I was witness to the following events, but things don't always work my way.

Primarch Guilliman stopped me at the door, and shook his head. "She doesn't want you here, Lord Lancefire. Perhaps it's better if you focus your attention on the invaders."

Then he slammed the blackstone door in my face, making the Solitaire burst in laughter once more, not that I felt it was anything funny about this moment.

"You are indeed a funny person to watch, Pef Lancefire. Perhaps I will visit your planet, if my student also agrees." the Harlequin commented in a joking tone, while I turned dejectedly away.

"Miss Stern, huh? She is quite the miracle, isnt she?" I mused to myself while turning my vision into the tesseract to observe her feats at the Eternity Gate.

The woman was a walking lightning storm, destroying thousands of demons every second without needing to stop and recharge, and running out of energy.

With every step down the stairs, her Warp aura was simply obliterating minor demons while larger ones needed a bolt or two to be vanquished. And she made it look easy, her steps graceful and elegant yet confident and powerful at the same time.

Perhaps one day, I could have Lamenter Librarians with the same skill and strength, if this joking Solitaire was willing to train them.

"She is amazing, that is true. The only one of her kind in the entire galaxy. But, she is also amazingly dangerous, Pef Lancefire. My Pariah shields were not this strong, when I first met her." the Solitaire explained in a warning tone, with nuances of pain in his alien inflection.

I nodded in understanding. The Demonifuge would have been a difficult student to train, with Alpha-plus powers flaring unexpectedly and striking at random all around her, driven by unconscious thoughts or dreams. Standing inside that lightning storm would mean death for everyone without Warp protection, and I doubted I could resist a lightning bolt capable of evaporating a Greater Demon, even with my own Blank powers.

"She needs a Blank child, and then I can obtain a Null Rod for her." I answered in a softer voice, then turned to meet the latest visitors.

"Lord Pef. This is Menelau." the woman said in a warm voice, presenting a young teenager at her side, dressed in a military uniform. Not sure the rank on his shoulder was correct, at his age.

"Lady Inquisitor, welcome to my home. And you too, Menelau. You have my eyes." I said in my warmest voice, and offered my hands to both of them.

"Lord father. I heard so much about you, I thought you'd be a giant." the boy muttered in a disappointed voice, then shook my hand a bit hesitantly.

A Warp current coursed through his hand into mine, some kind of biokinetic spell, but blocked by the Null aura. "What was that, genetic testing?" I asked with a smile.

Menelau lowered his eyes in shame. "... It works on most people."

To my side, the Solitaire laughed again and elbowed me like we were old friends. "I see now. Blank children with psyker powers. Now this would be something of interest, even to Cegorach."

"You have the strangest friends, Lord Pef. From an Eldar Avatar, to a Fenrisian Wolf then a C'tan, a few Primarchs and now a Solitaire Harlequin. What's next, a Necron Lord?" Lady Ramaeus asked at random, while playing with her own Necron Nexus cube.

Probably scanning the Blackstone Fortress with the extra dimensional senses, just like I was.

I sobbed inward and patted my son on his head. Women intuition was a frightening thing.