Chapter 503 Old Cadia
This is not the first time that Fulgrim knows that the terrifying eye hangs not far above Medusa.
The warnings and perceptions of the Navigator family and the Astropathic Choir are unforgettable. Mortals with keen minds listen to the distant noises on the back of the world from the universe. On the brightest days of the Star Torch, there is silence here, Only in the occasional subspace storm, the noisy storm screams and the terrible wails will echo behind the terrifying waves of the vast world.
However, whenever they passed near Medusa - which was not that uncommon for the Emperor's Children, when they were trying to orbit around in an area that encompassed hundreds of star systems, When passing through the swirling vortex of the warp ocean currents, even Fulgrim himself could faintly hear the resounding noise and the howling of the warp entities.
Even sometimes, he wondered whether there was some kind of existence in this storm calling his and Ferus' names.
He had questioned the psychically proficient Magnus about this, and the latter used this to once again emphasize to him the filth and danger of the truth about the Warp.
"I think this is a newly formed area." Magnus had told him. "I have never seen this place in the classics. This dangerous place was not marked in the star maps left over from the old night... You know they like to draw strange creatures and sunken ships on the charts... I didn't hear it either. There are ancient rumors about the natives here with purple eyes. Although there is such a thing in the report given by Aurelion... But don't touch it, Fulgrim, no matter what it says to you. .”
Now he had to step into it.
No, it is not really entering the inside of the eye of the storm. He just discovered something that went against the common sense of astronomy, that is, the closer he got to the core of the secret chamber satellite above Medusa, the closer he would get to that eye - the eye in the sky.
The surrounding air gradually shattered at the edge of darkness. Fulgrim clenched the flaming sword with a solemn expression, trying to scatter some enemies in the shadows, until he found someone who wanted to peel off the shell of his soul. It is the endless storm itself. The eye wanted to transform him into something else to be cannibalized, a cluster of crushed fragments.
And he had to carefully resist all this, paying attention to the dark and shiny stone slabs under his feet in the real world, as well as the flowing dark green light fractals. The clear perception these entities brought him was one of the reasons why he dared to continue moving forward.
If he is completely unable to touch the reality, then he will never continue to move forward rashly.
Where is Ferrus Manus? Fulgrim couldn't help but think so. In the fire in his heart, he clearly saw Ferus somewhere in front of him, reflecting a very clear silhouette, still moving further forward. But where is he?
What on earth did he go through? Does the experience of the Iron Hands outside have anything to do with him? Or...
He wiped away a worrying conjecture, unwilling to examine in detail whether Ferus was the solver of the accident or the reason for Medusa's current situation. Then, he heard the sound array communication signal built into the armor automatically begin to receive, and a voice came from it.
A voice that was familiar to him but could not reassure him.
"Fulgrim?" said a mechanically synthesized voice, and the tone of calling his name was that of Ferrus.
Fulgrim did not answer for a moment, and the voice spiraled into the distance in the depths of the world. His face became heavier and heavier, and the light flowing on the surrounding walls became more intense in color, gradually turning towards deep purple, and the mist condensed like flowing clouds.
He stopped and looked at the world around him: the thick fog, like delirium's scribblings, surged toward him, with scarlet threads permeating it. Multiple crowns made of amethyst and turquoise necklaces jingled at his feet. Every aspect was flawless. No matter how talented human craftsmen were, they couldn't imitate the appearance of these exquisite jewelry with their mundane skills. Every penny.
Fulgrim's boots easily crushed the gems beneath his feet. That's not what he cares about.
"Ferrus?" He replied softly and swallowed.
No one responded.
The sound of a drop of water brushed against his cheek, and he heard the deep sound of wind, cold and moist, surging from below. Suddenly, he smelled the surging water vapor of the river, rising, rising, floating, and curling in the distant drumbeats, mixed with tiny prayers and chants. Yes, he heard the low chants belonging to another world. Chanting, it is not that he does not know those languages...
That is half Colchis and half the language of Medusa. Two kinds of grammar and vocabulary were mixed together, but either one of them surprised and confused Phoenix.
What is this? Phoenix said to himself.
The golden red fire burning on the flaming sword shot up, illuminating a larger area.
He saw a stone road inside the mountain. The chisels inside seemed rough and primitive, some metal ornaments were rusty and collided, and half of the road collapsed into the underground river below.
Metal dust and frankincense-smelling stone chips were scattered everywhere. Many fallen venerated objects were thrown casually beside the road. Some of them were crosses made of copper wire, or double-headed eagles simply carved out of stone. In addition, there were some utensils that represented fertility worship, and some entangled wood carvings that Fulgrim simply couldn't bear to look at.
He lowered his head and realized that he was still standing on the solid and flat obsidian ground of the Medusa satellite. But taking another step forward, the ground suddenly transitioned to the ancient stone slabs deep in the cave, and the long path Covered with a layer of moist mist.
This means that going deeper - it is the realm of unreality, at least it must not be Medusa. Fulgrim thought calmly... And that's probably where Ferrus Manus is.
Just in front of him, he saw an old woman wearing coarse clothes, kneeling in the shadow of the roadside, as if floating in the darkness. When Fulgrim noticed her, she looked up at him, her violet eyes staring blankly at the glowing steel of his cave, the wrinkles moving into an expression of confusion.
"Are you the Iron Hand?" the old woman said leisurely in the language of Medusa, her voice as hoarse as a late-flying crow. "Are you the Iron Hand?"
Fulgrim stretched out his sword a little and stared at the flame burning in the darkness of the other half of the world: it was still blazing and hot, and the light and shadow were dazzling. It was as swaying as the sunlight, but it was enough to make many tiny insects hidden in the darkness fall down with flapping wings like veils.
He retracted his sword, his steel hand brushed over the burning blade, and a cluster of flames spread to his arm. "Where is this?" he asked.
“This is our temple,” said the old woman.
She stood up, shaky, with deep purple mist in her eyes. Her hair is bald and her skin hangs loosely on her frame, but her expression is unusually young, and her smile is as if she is still a young and radiant girl.
She bowed devoutly, half of Fulgrim's silver face reflected in her purple eyes, seemingly immersed in Fulgrim's exquisite appearance and unable to extricate herself.
"This is our home, my lord. We await you, Ferrus Manus," she said softly, compassionately.
Fulgrim heard his teeth bite each other angrily, "Where is this?" "This world? Her name is Cardia, my lord. It is near your world. , not far from the Eye of Heaven. Your brother Aurelion found us, but Cadia was not created for him, and the Gates of the Dark Mother were not prepared for him."
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The old woman said, stroking a string of metal bone chains hanging between her fingers, and knelt down to Fulgrim in a well-trained manner.
“I am Suryani, the destined maid of Ferus Manus. Come, my lord, let’s go to the depths, even though I have already seen you going to the depths. I will give you Bring you the long-awaited blessing, which your father left in the cradle of fertility before you were born, and forgot to take it away."
"Has Ferus come?" Fulgrim stared at the Handmaiden, the fire on his blade reflecting on Suryani's silver-grey robes. "Have you seen him?"
"Shortly before you came here, my lord, Ferrus Manus came." Suryani said attentively, "This is probably the Dark Mother. With his will, he finally returned to the place where this sacred ceremony will be held. "My lord, you will become whole again here."
Fulgrim lowered his eyes and suddenly raised the blazing sword. Stab into Suryani's chest.
The maid looked at him in surprise and giggled: "Sir, if you want my flesh and blood, then take it! Steel and flesh and blood, you have to weigh them separately to give to your heirs, so that you can pursue perfection. ! Although you are still resisting its completion in our ceremony, haven't you already accepted it?"
" Go to hell." Fulgrim cursed.
"Maybe, my lord," starting from the chest, the handmaid's body gradually burned into a big empty hole. She was still smiling sadly, "Maybe, I will die by your hands. , just as the body must decay and the steel must decay, this is the same reason. If we are not blessed, all struggles will flow into the void of nothingness, and all perfection will decay under the erosion of time, and I am. Not as good as one of the thousands of lives you have been blessed with, but your promotion will not last long, as long as you are willing to accept it..."
In the middle of her words, her own existence was incinerated. Exhausted, three-quarters of the way through the words, her soul had been burned to nothing by Fulgrim's merciless fire, but her voice finished her words, or it was not her voice.
"Cadia welcomes you, my lord." Her voice echoed in the cave, gradually turning into an echo chanted by hundreds of mortals, creating ripples in the air of the cave. .
Fulgrim stood quietly on the spot, neither moving forward nor backward. He seemed to know a lot and yet he seemed to know nothing.
Cadia, he knows that this is indeed a planet that Lorgar Aurelion once recovered within the empire's territory. With the fanaticism of that fanatical believer, didn't it wash away the blasphemous beliefs of the native people of Cadia? So, the people here are very good at enduring and hiding.
He closed his eyes and thought about how Ferrus Manus had arrived here and how he had gone deeper and deeper in his quest to confront the warp invasion...
No, Is this really the order? Or, in fact, it was Ferus who penetrated the depths of the Key of Hel first. Since the Great Crusade was coming to an end, he planned to immediately start fulfilling that promise - to change the trend of competition within the Iron Hands where only machines are supreme. Woolen cloth?
Fulgrim's eyelids trembled slightly in pain. If the truth was the latter, he would probably regret his joking words to persuade Ferus to make changes early.
He stood, listening to the cry of the warp, to the chants that chanted in praise of the Holy Dark Mother. Gradually he saw a dazzling gem rising before him, a ruby expanding into six, and still growing in number. Except for the sound of the soft wind sent through the long darkness and the low chant, he could no longer hear any other sounds.
He has stayed here too long, and this darkness has begun to envelope his soul.
An accident? A deception? Or is it a long-standing trap?
Either go back now and wait for Rogal Dorn, who is not good at psychic powers, to accompany him here, and wait for the think tank of the Imperial Fist, which is more than willing but not powerful enough, to explore this connection. A cave deep in Cadia.
He can't go alone to find his brother, can he?
"Ferrus?" He whispered to the sound array, "Ferrus, are you there?"
There was no response. Perhaps the previous conversation with Ferus was his last echo in this world.
Fulgrim took a step back, blood diamonds and lapis lazuli crunching under his boots, and the firelight was stretched very long along the blade of his sword, extending deep into the cave.
The singing voice coming from the depths of the cave gradually resonated in his bone marrow. The depths of the cave were no longer dark. The light of amber and onyx complemented each other, as well as the metallic colors of gold, silver, copper and iron. Various arcs of light flowed dazzlingly on the water below like oil paint.
The longer he stood here, the more turbulent the light and shadow around him became, and the calmer his heart became.
Soon, he could no longer stay here, because the natives of Cadia noticed him, and because the eye of heaven must also notice him. Soon. soon.
Fulgrim smiled, then raised his sword and walked deeper into the cave.
"Ferrus, are you there? Don't listen to this dark temptation, I'm coming to find you."
He asked loudly, his voice drowning out the water of the river. The din overwhelmed the echoes of the dark hymn.
The sound of his boots hitting the ground shattered the ever-changing pearls. On his back, wings of bright red fire feathers gradually formed. Each feather was a moment of his former heir. He swore that if he didn't give up his pursuit, his heir would never leave him, no matter where he was going. This is what they had agreed upon long ago.
He walked deeper step by step, listening to the noise coming from the warp getting louder, but Ferrus Manus still did not respond to him. He was not discouraged, he just raised his sword, holding the sharp blade in the steel hand given to him by Ferus, using it as a torch, and moved forward along the grotto. Reality slipped away from him, and he gradually recognized the haunting feeling of déjà vu.
He has walked out of the evil realm of chaos once. If there is a second time, let it be a second time.
"My brother, where are you?"
(End of this chapter)