When Nareth thought of the many relics of the Dark Age of Technology upon Medusa, he immediately resolved to answer the Emperor's summons.
After some consideration, he chose his retinue.
"The Fourth Chapter will accompany me to Medusa. Order the Death Lord to withdraw from the surface at once and prepare to depart."
He remembered the Karaashi, the Ice Pinnacle, where Ferrus Manus had fallen. The locals considered the place cursed, haunted by the restless dead of the Long Night and monsters clad in iron hides.
Ferrus Manus had once delved deep into the frozen ruins of Medusa. Within ancient sealed bunkers, he uncovered mutants, the walking dead, and abominable cyborgs of flesh fused with steel.
'Death pathway beyonder could be put to good use on Medusa, alongside the Savant beyonder and techmarines as well.'
"Summon Gabriel to me."
Forge Lord Rosicky was still overseeing the placement of portals and fortress-grade energy shields across seven star systems. Wojciech Bielek remained occupied with developing Cypra Mundi.
Two stellar hours later, Nareth met with the tech-sergeant Gabriel.
"The knightly war machines of House Vextrix, what is their current status?"
Gabriel reported:
"My lord, in accordance with your orders, ever since House Vextrix swore loyalty to you, I have assisted them in restoring their knight armor."
"Before I left the Daxos Twins System, 83 of their 95 engines had been repaired. Twelve remain too heavily damaged for me to restore."
"After arriving in the Wheel of Fire System, I fought alongside the knights of Vextrix. Forty of their machines sustained varying degrees of damage."
"Fourteen could not be repaired, including ten destroyed by Deff Dreads and heavy artillery during the assault on the Ork warlord's fortress."
After hearing the report, Nareth replied:
"You will accompany me to the Sthenelus System."
Through questioning and reading Gabriel's aura, he confirmed that the man had already digested the Savant potion.
He then ordered Arsena to brief Gabriel on Medusa, before returning to the Kingdom of Disorder to have the Jokaero brew a dose of the Archaeologist potion.
When he returned to reality, Gabriel drank the golden draught and advanced to a Sequence 8 beyonder.
Five stellar days later, the Throne Shadow's Sovereignity and the fleet of the Fourth Chapter set off for the Sthenelus System.
Except for the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 7th Chapter, the other eight committed various forces to join the 2nd and 6th Legions in continuing the purge of greenskins from the Wheel ofFire System.
Three weeks of void-sailing later, the fleet entered the Sthenelus System.
Nareth alone boarded a shuttle for the Emperor's flagship, the Bucephalus.
Through the viewports, he gazed upon the system.
Its sun was unique, a colossal blue supergiant. Four planets circled this "Blue Sun."
By any measure, this was not a habitable system. Like Catachan or Fenris, its worlds should have been classified as Death Worlds.
The shuttle soon touched down upon the Bucephalus's hangar deck.
As he disembarked, Nareth immediately saw the Emperor, and figure behind him, Alpharius.
"Nareth," the Emperor said, "once your brother is reclaimed, I shall speak with you at length about your achievements in the Wheel of Fire."
"For now, we depart."
Nareth inclined his head. "By you will."
The three boarded the Emperor's Stormbird, which swiftly launched into the void.
Nareth peered out the viewport, through silicate dust clouds, asteroid belts, and wrecked hulks, toward the colossal planet many times Terra's size, Medusa IV.
The Primarch's eyes narrowed. His senses caught the surge of psychic power radiating from the Emperor, wrapping the Stormbird like a shield.
Ion storms, drifting mines, and ancient but deadly automated defense systems, all rendered blind and harmless as the craft passed.
On Medusa's surface sat a throne wrought of iron, black as shale in winter, austere as stone in a land of shadow. Like all creations of Ferrus Manus's hands, it was beautiful.
The throne rose high, forged with chains of worked metal, its armrests worn, its iron struts coiling like serpents, etched with silver scales.
Upon that throne sat Ferrus Manus himself, conversing with his followers. His liquid-silver eyes glimmered with blinding brilliance as he gazed skyward.
The Medusans followed their Gorgon, their demigod, looking up. They saw the thick heavens split apart as if by lightning.
In their memory, such a sight had occurred only twice. The first was when the Gorgon descended. Now was the second.
Ferrus Manus rose abruptly. His voice boomed through the hall, heavy as lead:
"Make ready."
Without explanation, the Gorgon strode out.
The Iron Fathers scrambled into their colossal engines, vehicles over a hundred meters long.
Engines roared. Santo and the Iron Fathers floored the throttles, sending their steel leviathans racing forward.
But the Gorgon swiftly outpaced them. The war-engines, for all their bulk, jolted like toys across Medusa's scarred terrain, sometimes hurled skyward, sometimes swallowed by craters.
One unlucky war-machine crashed sideways into an abandoned mining shaft plunging to the core, vanishing in an instant with only a resounding crash and terrified screams left behind.
"Stop!" shouted Santo of Clan Avini.
"Trust the Gorgon, he is a demigod. None can threaten him."
An hour later, the Stormbird descended.
Nareth stepped off one pace behind the Emperor; Alpharius, as before, was one pace behind him.
His eyes fell upon Ferrus Manus. His shale-colored hair was cropped short, his silver-coin eyes gave back no light, cold and measuring.
He wore chainmail bound with jagged Medusan iron links, his exposed muscles pale, corded, and scarred.
Unlike the savage Wolf King, Ferrus Manus was like a boning knife, or hand-forged armor, precise, unyielding.
Nareth's gaze finally settled upon his hands: clad in liquid silver, gleaming like molten gauntlets.
His thoughts stirred darkly:
'Asirnoth must truly have been a C'tan shard, or a Necron construct.'
The Emperor spoke:
"Ferrus Manus, my son. I am Master of Mankind. The time has come to return to my side."
Ferrus answered, his leaden voice ringing out:
"You must prove you have the strength to match me."
He clenched his silver fists. Though the star's light was veiled by thick clouds, his iron hands still gleamed with brilliance.
The Emperor's eyes flashed. He declared:
"Your brother Nareth shall fight in my stead."
Nareth's brows twitched. He shot the Emperor a glance and thought grimly:
'Is the Emperor getting addicted to free wins?'
'First, he set me against Leman Russ, now Ferrus Manus.'
'But unlike the Wolf King, bound to clash with me over 'psychic power', I have no quarrel with the Gorgon of Medusa.'
.....
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