Chapter 114 Alpharius (4k)
I am Alpharius.
This is a lie.
Not everyone can climb that tower.
This is a lie.
The above lies are all lies.
Alfaris looked at the Tower of Astartes that stood on Terra. The tower is white, clean and shining, digging out a pale shadow in the sky, like the ancient Terran art collected in the cold hall, with the white tower and the night contrasting with each other.
The window that can see the Tower of Astartes is the window he passes by most often in the palace, because every time the Tower of Astartes opens, it means that one of his people returns to his brothers. Go away.
This was the first and last test the Emperor gave the Primarch upon his return to Terra.
On the eve of committing his whole body and soul to the greatest journey in human history, the Primarch must climb the Tower of Astartes and complete his audience and vow to the Lord of Mankind at the top.
Long stairs and sky-high heights cannot stop a Primarch. What can really stop them midway is the psychic pressure from the Emperor. The entire tower is shrouded in the pressure of the great soul of the Lord of Mankind, and every step is a struggle that goes deep into the soul.
But since Horus Luperkar passed through the tower with ease, Alpharius no longer felt that the Tower Astartes could stop any Primarch.
The Emperor set up difficulties for the Primarch from top to bottom. From another perspective, it also meant that their father was quietly waiting for their arrival at the top of the tower.
Just climb that tower and the Father will accept you, hold your hand, and share a part of His soul with you.
He shares his wishes with you and trusts you. He injects the sad luster from his deep eyes into your eyes. From then on, you become one with the beam of light shed by the Father. .
Who can say no?
A week ago, he was wearing golden armor at this window, standing above his head like a long tassel of blood, watching the red Magnus climb the marble tower.
Magnus and the Emperor sat on the highest peak of the spire. It is not difficult to imagine how their bodies of light rose together, traveling through the dry valleys and middle of the Atlantic Ocean again from a new perspective. The dust basins of Terra, flying across the arid straits and returning from the Ural Mountains.
As Magnus left, Alpharius saw a pensive Red Primarch, so immersed in his thoughts that he forgot a single tear slid down his soft face. .
At that time Constantine Waldo passed by behind him, so Alpharius turned around and stopped looking there. A few hours later, the sun of thousands of dusts rushed on the journey.
Today, Perturabo has entered the minaret.
He waited for the brother to climb to the top of the tower, meet his father, and leave after a pleasant conversation. He repeated this process that he had seen several times, imagining whether he would one day step into that white tower. In the tower.
Ever since that golden thunderbolt fell from the sky and the glowing giants led him back to Terra, he had sometimes thought about it, mustering up the courage to imagine how he would gaze into the light and once again accept the Emperor as more than he could bear. Review of abilities.
However, before Perturabo left, another person came to him, like a black shadow, a piece of sand and fog that was not huge but cold enough, a hollow disguised as a mortal.
He stood beside Alpharius, not asking his name or identity, even though he obviously knew that those standing here were not the Emperor's Custodes. On some level, Alpharius felt that he was being hurt.
"What do you think of him?" the man asked.
Alfaris knows that man's current name, Morse. Malcador told him.
The Terra Archives told him that this term came from the name of the god of death in the myth of the old night. He had not thought it was anything special.
A name is just a tool, a string of convenient syllables. A name has no power. The power of a name is determined by the actions of the name's owner and the ways in which others use the name.
Alfaris does not care about the meaning of his name. The pride born of his name is more fragile than the dust of Zarinan Highlands.
However, at this moment, he couldn't help but think of the meaning behind the codename Morse. Even though he knew that this friend of the Emperor had no murderous intention towards him, he could still feel the presence of death from the power hidden in this inhuman body.
"Who are you asking?" Alpharius said, looking into Morse's dark and cold eyes.
"Any name that crosses your mind."
Alfaris remained silent. He plays the role of an Imperial Watcher, so he observes in silence, understanding, becoming a golden sculpture before acting.
Morse was in no rush for an answer, and Alpharius wasn't really sure if Morse really needed one anymore.
The voice of the man in black robe reached his mind simultaneously through the physical universe and the spiritual contact beyond matter. He immediately knew that Morse was at least not weaker than Malcador in the field of spiritual energy.
A silent mind reader. Alpharius thought of snakes.
Hide your thoughts, Malcador once said to him. Hide your thoughts from anyone.
"Perturabo deserves praise." Alpharius replied, "Magnus has a great future, Leman Russ is a sharp blade, and Horus Luperkar shines. Horse Cardo is the shadow of the Emperor, and the Emperor is the Lord of Humanity."
"What about the 20th Primarch?" Morse continued to ask, "The child who crawled out of the XX breeding chamber. What?”
Malcador once taught Alpharius how to accommodate countless thoughts in a huge mind at the same time, and select the one he needs to show it to the object of his performance.
Morse had recognized him, so he was so shocked that his breathing became disordered, and an incredible voice buzzed under the filter of the helmet: "Do you recognize me?"
Morse looked at him with an expression like a craftsman holding a carving knife, and the man in black robe did not hide his emotions.
His eyes clearly express a stinging irony that goes deep into Alpharius and is directed at the creator who shaped Alpharius.
The Emperor's old friend looked through him and the Emperor across time, and he became an empty window or door. Alpharius did not disobey this.
He thought about Lions Gate. He once passed through it while lurking in a shipping container and killed one of his father's Custodes, his first kill.
There are many things Alpharius does not understand about his father, such as whether he intentionally left his children the freedom to think; and the characteristics associated with the Emperor in the term "Friends of the Emperor" , giving him legitimacy for his incomprehension of Morse's behavior.
"Your creator informed me of your identity." Morse said, "My curiosity about you is second only to my curiosity about Horus Luperkar because of your specialness. You A hidden card, a black chess piece hidden in the palm of your hand, a seventh bullet sprinkled with holy water, covered with a dark cloak by the Emperor himself. "What is your name, the twentieth Primarch?" br>
How should he answer? Alpharius asked himself. He wondered who had led Morse to find him.
He did not think of Constantine Valdor as the will of the Lord of the Custodes as an extension of the Emperor's will. This characteristic was almost engraved in his mind or genes. Maybe it was Malcador, who didn't understand Malcador's relationship with Morse.
But he believed that Morse had found him himself and that it would have been an accident. This conjecture became more and more accurate over time.
Because Morse and his chat were just a side dish for the man in black, what he was really paying attention to was the Fourth Primarch in the Tower of Astartes - his sight had never been Really leaving the White Tower visible in the window.
"I am Omega." Alpharius said.
Alfaris is the starting point of all letters, and he is the last primarch. He sometimes thinks about why his name is not the end of letters. He has a special yearning for the character Omega, as if it is his missing other half.
"Very good." Morse's eyes slipped from his golden armor, "Omegan. Have you climbed that tower?"
"No." Alpharius replied. This is a true statement.
"You are his child." Morse's eyes became focused, and his voice was gentle in the night. "Why did he hide you?"
"I bided my time." Alpharius said, knowing that his golden visor was expressionless.
Before anyone returned, the Emperor spoke to him several times, as they walked through the laboratories beneath the Palace Mountains and saw the birthplace of his brothers. The hollow mountains of Terra were the womb that gave birth to them, just as the mythical Mother Earth gave birth to the gods. Alpharius was the first to realize this. His oath was spoken at the Emperor's command, before anyone else's.
He would not need to swear a second time, for if he ever climbed the Tower of Astartes, that would be the moment the Emperor decided to place him on the chessboard.
Morse stopped questioning him, and Alpharius felt his fingers on the halberd relax. They looked quietly at the Tower of Astartes, paying attention to the Emperor at the top and the Primarch inside.
The Fourth Primarch, Son of the Second Return, Lord of the Iron Warriors Legion, Lord of Iron. Alpharius wondered how he would talk to the Emperor.
This brother regards his father as a true god no more than the other brothers - or at least believes that the Emperor is a demigod.
His irises that included the ice and snow of Mount Olympia Typholus contained another set of prudent reason. Such a person's willingness to follow the Emperor only shows that he agrees with the Emperor's path, not Kneeling blindly on the checkerboard the Emperor had set for him. Alpharius admired him for it.
Soon after, Constantine Valdo arrived, standing on the other side of Alpharius.
Alfaris knew that he did not look exactly like a Custodian today, and he intentionally wore golden armor with the wrong decorations and crests.
He waited for Valdo to come here to find him, because he wanted to know how the Golden Warder, who was close to the Inhumans, would view another Primarch who had left.
Alfaris knew that Constantine Valdor harbored a dislike for the Primarch, and had he not been a Custodian created by the Emperor himself, Alpharius would have believed that this rejection was due to jealousy.
Of course, this emotion now sounds unique to Horus. As for the arrogance that others sometimes attributed to Constantine, Alpharius believed that this was a problem common to the Primarch rather than to the Custodes.
"He made you." Morse was the first to speak, because the other two played the role of taciturn figures. "You two."
"The Emperor shaped us," the Custodes-Marshal said, though his "we" sounded like he was referring to himself and the other Custodes.
Alfaris thought of Malcador saying that the black-robed man was a craftsman who came out of the old night. It seemed natural that he would pay attention to craftsmanship.
"The Emperor forged me, and all the other Primarchs." Alpharius said.
“With your own hands?”
"With my own hands," Constantine replied. "Most of the genetic fathers of the Astartes are lost, but not the Custodes."
Alfaris tried to dig out a hint of sarcasm against the Primarch from the cold and solemn tone of the Custodes Marshal. This attempt was failed.
"Then he did build a lot," Morse said, "thousands of Watchers, and he still wasn't at ease. It seemed like he knew he was half-foot off the cliff. ”
Constantine did not emphasize that Morse should maintain respect for the Emperor, which Alpharius thought he would do.
“And you,” Morse said by name, “Omegon.”
Unfortunately, Alpharius realized that Constantin Valdor knew his real name, but fortunately the Custodes Marshal turned away after hearing a lie, perhaps to maintain his armor or do something else.
After the hum of the power armor faded away, Morse continued: "The thoughts accumulated in your mind are buzzing in my ears."
When independent thoughts appear , talents realize their existence.
Alfaris thought, and said, "You spied on me."
"I spied on a ghost. If nothing else, I quite like the Secret Service." Maul Si smiled, his smile easier to judge than that of any Custodes because it appeared directly on his face rather than behind his helmet.
Alpharius smiled equally. A ghost, this is the highest recognition for him.
"When is your debut?" Morse asked. "Omegon?"
Similarly, he enjoys being asked questions, which implies a rejection of rigidity and a thirst for self-reflection.
"Wait until Omegon's time." Alpharius said.
"He has entrusted you with an important task." Morse's tone was thoughtful. This time it doesn't feel like a compliment.
Another reason why a craftsman never hides his positive emotions is that he doesn't like to expose his negative emotions. Alpharius could not read what was hidden in Morse's observation of him.
He felt a sense of discomfort again, and discomfort meant danger.
"I have my mission." Alpharius said.
“Even without honor?”
“My honor is hidden in every victory I will contribute to,” said Alpharius. “When we emerge from the shadows, we will impress everyone. .”
"'We', are you talking about a plural person?"
We are all Alpharius. Alpharius thought to himself, and spoke: "I will have a legion."
He had a vision for his legion, an vision derived from the responsibilities he had been assigned. He obeyed the orders given to him by the Emperor, but now the words coming out of his mouth frightened him.
He also wants honor and recognition, which is a matter of course. Even Perturabo, who is farthest from the Emperor among the four returning brothers, undoubtedly needs the Emperor's approval.
But he didn’t really know whether the Twentieth Legion in his vision would really be approved by those brothers who stood in the light and were awarded the title.
So he will not easily step out of the shadow behind the glory of the empire.
Morse looked away from him again. "I often feel that honor is a punishment, at least for me."
He paused and said: "Perturabo has reached the top of the tower."
Alfaris together He stared there, although he couldn't actually see his father and brothers.
Morse had no expression on his face. He looked like a stone sculpture, a still painting, or something else frozen.
The omen of danger disappeared from the black-robed craftsman, replaced by a kind of emptiness.
"He was talking to his son," Morse said.
There was a long pause before he spoke his next words.
Then he whispered the last part of the sentence: "I really hope he can devote some of his energy and intelligence to normal communication."
"You will follow Perturabo Leave?" Alpharius asked.
"No," Mors replied, "You will see me, Perturabo, and Magnus often."
Alfaris was rarely so confused.
"Anyway, it's a pleasure to meet you, Primarch." Morse said, "I hope you will live up to the Emperor's trust."
The prophet once said: This article has a daily update limit of 4k , so if a big chapter appears, then it will be one chapter that day...
(End of this chapter)