40 Thousand Reasons

I can't really describe the atmosphere on Cadia when I arrived in the capital.

Perhaps bewildered joy? Confused hope? Either way, Cadia still stood, although its purpose was gone.

No longer would its walls and guns be needed to defend the Cadian Gate against endless Chaos incursions. Occasional attacks and various other xenos raids would still test the Cadians, but the Eye of Terror was gone.

The sky was no longer illuminated by the horrors of the Warp, and psykers and astropaths were rendered powerless by the activated interdiction field.

Pariahs had a difficult time as well, with the main source of their powers being shut off. However, unlike the normal psykers, a skilled Pariah could still draw energy from other sources, like light and electricity and even life itself. I know, because I could still make shadows, with some effort.

But that still wasn't important. Necron technology was right now the most important thing, being able to operate at peak efficiency in the nullification zone created by the Cadian pylons.

And a certain Necron Lord was gleefully having a parade of captured Titans and Astartes along the main avenue of the capital, with Imperial officials and officers blissfully unaware of the falseness of the display.

I appeared at the side of Captain Semnai and Lord Creed, the local commander. Next to them, a Dominus Archmagos from Forge Venatoria was bombastically proclaiming the triumph of Omnissiah over the Immaterium pretenders.

"And here he is, Pef Lancefire! The Hero of Cadia, the Godslayer and the Lance of Omnissiah!" the mind-controlled techpriest announced with a generous bow.

I just waved off the exaggerated claims. I had strong doubts about the actual causal events that took place at Cadia, with at least two gods directly opposing the dead Chaos Gods, and a few other gods with vested interests in this affair.

"Lord Creed, there are a hundred Hell Forges and thousands of Demon Worlds laying exposed in realspace right now, with the Eye closed. But, the Enemy will not wait long to regain initiative." I said in a level but clear voice.

Lord Castellan Ursarkar_E._Creed smiled grimly at me, then nodded at the Sergeant at his side. The man simply ran off towards the command bunker without further orders.

"I take it you'll be leaving right away, my lord?" he asked politely in reply.

"Today, yes. I'll open a pathway straight to Forge Mordax, via the Navy base at Belis_Corona. I'll request they send whatever floating docks they have free, to install Warpless engines on the capital ships of Battlefleet Cadia. Also, the Venatoria techpriests can set up a repair facility at Vigilantum base." I explained in a firm tone, with my eyes glancing for a second towards the nearby techpriest.

"Of course, Lord Lancefire. Your words are gospel for any loyal priest of Mars." the Archmagos replied in a strangely obedient voice. 'Meet me in one hour' was the second message he replied on the Manifold circuit, without giving away the theater.

I just sighed inward, then waved towards the gathered crowds, my gesture reproduced on giant pict-screens all along the parade highway. The locals cheered and seemed really happy to see me wave, for some reason.

I stood there for a minute, if only to admire the Titans of Forge Venatoria taking large strides to cross the city. Nothing was as it seemed though, the victory celebrated here feeling hollow and quite bitter.

Sometimes knowledge of truth could be a curse indeed.

A minute later, I teleported away and stepped inside the Venatoria Blackstone Fortress.

"Pef, he's leaving me!" Lady Grayfax complained out loud, while pointing outraged at her companion Custodes.

I had to chuckle at her entitled anger. "Finally had enough of her antics, Brother?" I wondered with a knowing smile.

But the Custodes simply shrugged, unfazed. "My watch has ended." he quipped in a careless tone.

"We will be honored to become your guardians, Lady Greyfax." A Soul Drinker Sergeant intervened, and gestured curtly at his squad. Ten Space Marines would be a nice escort for her, and they even volunteered.

The Inquisitor scoffed and turned her nose. "I rather not be seen with defectors, thank you."

I sighed again and snapped my fingers. A Company of captured Astral Claws, armors painted black, unfolded from the tesseract at my call. "You can have these guys, my dear. As long as you don't poke too deeply at their former allegiance, these brave Deathwatch marines will walk through blades and fire for you. Right?"

"Yes, sire!" the mind-controlled Astartes proclaimed in a single voice.

The woman measured the newly produced Astartes with a dubious eye. "Hmph. I guess I can take them, and use them somehow. They seem a little creepy though."

Couldn't argue with that, could I?

Luckily, the awkward moment was interrupted by a certain Necron skeleton appearing from thin air, with a Primarch at his side.

If you guess his name, you would be correct. It was Fulgrim, the only sane clone remaining from Fabius Bile's experiments. Also, the Force polearm in his hand was the former weapon of Primarch Dorn, the Soulspear.

"I kept my word, Custodes. Just remember that, the next time your Emperor needs someone whacked." Trazyn said almost spitting his words. Probably didn't like parting with valuable trophies.

The Warden Custodes simply nodded and pointed at me. "Lord Lancefire is empowered to trade with xenos, Necron." Then his eyes glowed golden and he simply waved Fulgrim to his side. "Come, Fulgrim. We'll take the Webway to Terra. Your Father wants to see you."

A green portal opened right in front of them, and they stepped into an alabaster hallway, then vanished.

Should I be envious that important people got to save months of travel due to a god's favor? I personally wouldn't want to be in Fulgrim's fancy armor right now.

Even if this clone wasn't responsible for what his main body did.

"I feel used..." Lady Greyfax muttered a bit sad. She wasn't wrong though.

"And I suspect you want answers now, puppy stranger?" Trazyn asked and slammed his staff down on the blackstone floor, possibly to sound more important.

"... I have my suspicions, Lord Trazyn. Some scheming god plotted the demise of his fellow gods, and you agreed to help, in exchange for a unique artifact?" I wondered in a lazy voice.

The Necron laughed in a superior tone, while moving us in a different part of his labyrinth, where a swirling garden of yellow ichor swamps, and toothy plants formed a cage with a glowing hologram inside.

"This is only a model, reconstructed from bits of memories and visions, mostly Eldar. But that is my future prize, human friend. I can give away a Primarch, even a precious Avatar for the real thing. A god!" the Necron Overlord proclaimed in a maniacal voice.

I mean, there weren't that many gods kept prisoner in a garden, were they?

"You want to steal Isha?" I asked a bit amazed at his unfathomable boldness. He was bugfuck insane too. Isha was truly the most guarded item in the universe.

"Well...not quite. We need to kill Nurgle, in order to acquire the Aeldari Goddess." Trazyn continued in a carefree voice, which sounded even worse coming from an undead robot.

I should have walked away right then. You know it, and I know it. This wasn't a daring raid, ending with a boss fight and rescuing the princess.

This was literally breaking into Hell and killing Entropy to steal eternal life. But I was curious. Sometime insane people had a genius idea. Like one in a trillion, maybe?

"Tell me more!" I said with a fake smile.

So I listened for an entire hour, without even breathing too much. The Necron was insane, but he was also a genius scientist that took part in the War in Heaven, and won.

I could almost imagine myself jumping though a dimensional portal with a divine beauty in my arms, when he finished his exposition.

"You might overestimate me, Lord Trazyn. I mean, I'm slightly flattered you think so well of me...but we'd need actual competent fighters for such a quest. Subterfuge experts, illusionists and seers and counter-seers and a giant army...to start with. Those six guys from the Templar Psikologis could barely create an opening in the first layer. Behind that there will be Greater Demons. Unclean Ones." I grumbled with a slight shudder.

We simply did not have the resources for such an operation.

However, the Necron's greed was possibly a stronger force in this galaxy than gravity itself.

"A minor setback. You have possibly heard of the 7428 Hive Fleets awaiting new instructions from their Hive Mind? Once I find a way to capture them, all you'll need to do is direct them into battle. It's just that Tesseracts are too feeble for this many Tyranids..."

the Necron Lord said in displeased voice.

Perhaps I am an idiot. But I had a solution for that problem, and couldn't keep my mouth shut.

"I know where we can find a Tesseract Vault." I answered instead, almost eager to jump feet first into hell.

"I knew you were the right man for the job, strange human! Now, do you think you can convince a couple of Primarchs to join this quest?" Trazyn asked with an enticing voice.

I knew I could. I should have ran like hell though.