Chapter 356 Talos Valcolan
In order to regain a battleship, they lost another battleship and their leader. After breaking away from the pursuit, the warriors of the Broken Eagle felt that they were trapped. In a dark and ironic joke.
He was the only one walking in the dark cabin with complicated emotions.
Finally, he came to the navigation room.
The lighting in the navigation room is stronger than that in other rooms and corridors of the ship, illuminated by the grainy light of nearly thirty display screens used for external image feedback.
They cast their gray glare across the navigation room, bleaching the central circular platform like snow. The smell of nutrient solution wafts in the air.
She is not in the water.
In the months since they captured the Cursed Echo, when she needed to maintain the deepest connection with the ship's machine spirit, even if half of the ship's hull had been scraped or cleansed by flames. When contacted, Navigator Octavia will use the Nutrient Pool.
Former Eighth Legion pharmacist, current leader of the Broken Eagle warband and prophet, Talos Valcoran, nicknamed "Soul Hunter", has contacted and understood the former prisoners of the Navigation Room, and he can also I deeply understand the reason why most navigators refuse to stay in the nutrient solution for too long.
The air in Octavia's private space is a mixture of subtle leaks of chemical smells, the ticking sound of sweat, the moldy edges of her books and the not unpleasant natural oils in her hair. The smell even though she was freshly washed.
Talos walked around the pool and approached the seat facing the monitor.
Each screen shows a different position of the ship's hull, as well as the void above them, as well as several worlds showing their orbits, and the contrasting moon.
"Ottavia."
She opened her eyes and looked at him with some vague sleepiness, but it quickly disappeared.
Ottavia's black hair was tied into a ponytail, hanging down from the silk handkerchief.
"You're awake."
She said without stopping.
"Same as you."
"Yes, even though I don't want to wake up."
Her lips revealed a half smile.
"What did you dream about?"
"I remember basically nothing."
The warrior pointed to her at the world on the screen in front of him.
"Do you know the name of this world?"
She nodded.
"Thetimus told me, I don't know why you want to come back here."
Talos shook his head.
“I don’t know either, my memory is still in the fragments before I was knocked unconscious by the vision.”
He sighed softly.
“Home, at least our second home, is in Nostram
After that, it’s Sargu LS, a world of decay. ”
“It has been colonized, albeit with only a small population, and colonization has only begun recently. ”
“I know. "
"So what do you want to do? ”
“I don’t know. ”
Octavia turned and sat in her seat, still wrapped in her silken blanket.
"This room is always cold."
She looked up at him, waiting for him to speak.
When he was speechless, he realized that he had nothing to say.
"Sailing here is difficult, the Star Torch does not shine this far from Terra, and the Fringe is darker than darkness."
"Can I ask what this feels like?"
The navigator played with the hairpins in her hair as she spoke.
"The subspace is dark here, completely dark. The colors here are all black. Can you imagine a thousand black shadows, each one darker than the last?"
He shook his head.
“You are asking me to imagine a different concept than the physical universe.”
"It's very cold.
" she said, turning her face sideways.
“How can a color become cold? In the darkness, I can feel the existence that is intolerable to common sense: the screams of souls rushing straight into the hull, and the indifferent tumors that travel alone Objects."
"Tubs?"
"I can only describe them this way, huge, indescribable entities of venom and pain, similar to something malicious. Intelligent body.”
Talos nodded, as if he understood.
“Maybe they are the souls of false gods.”
“How can their real existence be called hypocrisy?”
“I don’t know.”
< br>She shivered.
"The place we sailed before, even if it was far away from the Star Torch, was still illuminated by the Emperor's light. No matter how far we sailed, you could always see shadows streaking across the edges, invisible demons swimming through the liquid torment... But I can't see anything here. It doesn't mean that I can't find a way through the storm. I have been well trained, but now it is like a blind man looking for a way, and everything seems to have been wiped out by the sudden disappearance of the wind. "
At this moment, he was disturbed by the similarity between her experience and his own hallucination
“But we still got here, and it was beautifully done.”
“I also found that To other things, tiny creations, things that are gentler than the warp around them, like eyes, things that watch me when I bring the ship closer."
"We are concerned about this. Should we pay attention? ”
Octavia shrugged.
“I don’t know, maybe this is just one of hundreds of crazy people.”
“We are here, and this is what matters.”
Another silence Attacked between the two of them.
This time, it was Talos who spoke first.
"A long time ago, we had a fortress here, a castle made of black stone and twisted spiers. Our primarch dreamed of it one night, and then it took hundreds of thousands of slaves to build it. It took more than twenty years "
He paused, and Octavia stared at the cold-faced skull on his faceplate, waiting for him to continue.
Talos took a rough breath, which turned into a roar from the loudspeaker. "The core sanctuary is called the Screaming Corridor. Has anyone ever mentioned this?"
She shook her head.
"No, never."
"The Primarch transformed this eternal world to match the original sin in his mind, building walls with flesh and blood... Living people were cast into the style of this building, as if by a witch. The craftsmanship was exquisite, and the ground was covered with living faces made by the servitors.
He shook his head, this memory was so strong that it would never fade.
"Those sharp points. Call, Octavia, you'll never hear a sound like that, they never stop! People cast into the walls cried out to come out, and faces on the floor wailed and cried. ”
She forced herself to show an unfeelable smile.
"That sounds like the Warp."
He glanced at her and muttered a thank you.
“I’m sorry, you know exactly what that sounds like,”
She nodded but said nothing more.
"The most evil thing is that you will gradually become immune to this chorus of weeping, those painful sounds become tolerable, and after a while, you find yourself enjoying it, surrounded by sin around you At this time, thinking became simpler, and the original torture began to be meaningless, and later, it became music. ”
The prophet was silent for a while.
"...Of course this is what he wants, he wants us to understand the Legion's teachings, just like he believes in."
When Talos knelt by the seat, Orta Via started to panic again.
"I learned nothing from this senseless atrocity."
He unlocked the collar around his neck with a sigh and took off his helmet.
She was shocked again.
He was originally very handsome - if it weren't for his cold eyes and corpse-like pale complexion.
Talos is like a statue, a demigod carved from marble, charming because of his monotony, but also not suitable for viewing.
"This is not a senseless atrocity, this is a lesson. The Primarch understands law and order - civilization only continues based on fear of punishment. Humanity is not a peaceful animal, but a creature of war and conflict. Creation, who wants to force these beasts to civilize, must have someone to remind those who harm the common people that they will be tortured... Once upon a time, we were sure that the Emperor wanted us to take on this important task. He wanted us to be the Angels of Death. Once upon a time, we were Angel of Death."
It took about a minute before she blinked.
In many long conversations in the past, he had never revealed so many details.
“Please keep talking.”
She pushed for more.
“But some say he betrayed us, once our role was fulfilled, and others claim that the collar should be loosened, that we have gone too far in our role. , we ourselves have become the beasts we were meant to suppress."
He saw a flash of doubt in her eyes.
"None of this is important. What matters is how it starts and how it ends."
The lights flashed at this time and then went out.
The warrior and the navigator maintained a few heartbeats in the darkness, only enveloped by the armor's eyepieces and the dim light on the gray screen.
"This has been happening more and more recently. Before the Blood Covenant hated me, now the Cursed Echo hates all of us."
"Interesting superstition."
He responded, and suddenly the lights came back on, and the topic was not continued.
For a long time, the two faced each other in silence for a long time.
"Have you no one to lead the Legion after your father's death?"
"The Legion was scattered into companies and warbands, each following his own master... The Primarch's presence inspired us to unite , without him, many plundering war gangs traveled further out from Sargu LS and stayed outside longer."
When Talos said this, he couldn't hide his sadness in his words.
"...Over the years, many have not returned. There have been many captains or lords who have claimed that they are the descendants of the Midnight Haunter, but each claim has been refuted by others. Now no one can unite the rebel legions. , the fact is that, although I hate him, Abaddon's success makes him stand out among us, and his name spreads throughout the Imperium, Abaddon the Despoiler, Abaddon the Chosen, not Horus. "< br>
Ottavia couldn't help trembling, she knew this name, she had heard it in whispers in the halls of power on Terra.
Abaddon, the Enemy, the Death of the Imperium, words of his triumph in the last centuries of humanity flowed from beneath the throne of the Emperor.
“Only one person.”
Talos changed the subject.
"Only one person can keep his title without being betrayed by his brothers. At least he can survive the betrayal of his brothers so far. But even he has struggled to reunite the legion, but there are too many ideas in the legion. There are too many conflicts and expectations.”
“His name?”
“Iago Severtalion”
The prophet said quietly:
"We call him the Crow Prince, but it is said that he died during the siege of the Palace of Terra, long after my father died."
She hesitated before speaking.
"Marcusen and I talked about him."
"Marcusen came to talk to you?"
The navigator grinned; Every member of the team is white. It seems that her time as a slave is still too short.
“You’re not the only one here to tell stories, you know.”
"What did he say?"
"He is your brother, and he is someone you have never bothered to kill. You should be able to guess it."
The reason for the prophet's black eyes There were flashes of suppressed emotions that she couldn't call happy or bored.
"I still don't quite understand Machu Shen."
"He most often recounted the Great Rebellion, telling me about his brothers dying on the walls of the Emperor's palace, or The Holy War against the Angels and the centuries that followed, he loved to write about it, what they did and how they died, you know?”
Talos shook his head, he had no idea.
"How did he tell of the Prince of Crows?"
"He said that Sevatar was not dead."
These words made the prophet's lips A ghostly smile broke out.
"That's a really funny lie. Every legion has its secrets and myths. The World Eaters also said that one of their captains was promoted to the Chosen by the blood-thirsty gods."
Octavia didn't smile.
"When will you land?"
"Right away."
(End of this chapter)