After returning to the material world, Nareth was about to resume his official duties when Arsena entered the chamber.
"My lord, word has arrived from Mars. The Gloriana-class battleship is expected to be completed in five Terran weeks."
Nareth nodded and gave his orders.
"Have the Arbiter Lord lead the First Chapter and set course for Mars."
"Instruct the Eleventh Chapter to prepare; they will accompany me to the Sol System."
"Order the Seventh Chapter to regroup on Catachan."
The promotion to sequence 6, Baron of Corruption, required two main materials: a Randan Brain-Eater and an Osirian Psybrid.
In one year's time, in the year 833.M30, the eleven systems of the Osiris Subsector would declare independence. Behind this rebellion were the Osirian Psybrid, who had enslaved the local human population to rise against the Imperium.
Nareth recalled that Commander Gren Vosotho of the Thirteenth Legion would lead the 12th Expeditionary Fleet to suppress the uprising. Due to faulty intelligence, their planned decapitation strike failed.
The campaign devolved into a brutal war of attrition, a suicidal struggle against the xenos-controlled human slaves.
Legion Master Vosotho perished in battle, and the Thirteenth Legion's flagship Thunder of Thessalan was lost.
Knowing the Psybird's power to enslave entire systems, Nareth would not take them lightly. He decided that once the Gloriana-class battleship was received, he would lead the First and Eleventh Chapters to rendezvous with the Seventh in the Outer Rim.
The Primarch's aide recorded the orders, then spoke again:
"My lord, the Seventh Chapter's Third Company, while pursuing Drukhari pirates, discovered a binary star system southeast of Catachan on the galactic map. Within it lies a planet the locals call Nocturne, orbited by a massive moon known as Prometheus."
Upon hearing Nocturne, Nareth immediately guessed the Seventh's Third Company had found the Eighteenth Legion's lost Primarch, Vulkan.
"The giant led the natives in driving off the raiding Aeldari, slaying over a hundred xenos with only a hammer in his hand."
After listening to the report, Nareth said calmly, "Send this news to the Emperor. I believe He will be most pleased."
.....
Four days later, as the Eleventh Legion fleet departed from Vostroya, on Terra, in the hive city of Molvault Hive, near the great Library.
A handsome man in white robes stood at a street corner. From his chest burst a grotesquely muscular arm, strangling a tall woman. Shattered lasgun fragments lay at his feet.
A voice growled from within him: "Speak. Who ordered you to move against us?"
Tsvetlana had only ever seen such monstrous strength in her lord, the Black Emperor himself.
The sheer power radiating from the arm left no doubt; with a flick, it could crush her throat.
Even facing death, she refused to yield or betray her master. Her voice trembled but did not falter:
"Traitor… you dare spread lies about two of the Primarchs… and their Legions-"
She never finished. From the direction of the Library came the sound of rapid gunfire.
The "Instigator" grinned; the librarian she had manipulated was now likely executing their sinful comrades with righteous bullets.
"Damn it!" snarled the inhuman voice within him. He tightened his grip, and Tsvetlana's neck and head exploded into a mist of blood. Her black mask was blown apart.
The man sprinted toward the Library with unnatural speed, far beyond what his frail form suggested. In his brown eyes flickered flashes of resistance, of a mind not wholly his own.
In a blink, he entered the Library. There, the librarian he had brainwashed stood holding a lasgun, surrounded by the corpses of a dozen other librarians.
"Damn it!" he roared again, his plan was in ruins.
Unlike miners, who could be easily replaced, these librarians were handpicked, gathered over decades to form the foundation of his secret organization, The Enlightened. Now it was destroyed.
The man charged the surviving librarian, but as he closed to four meters, he sensed mortal danger. The librarian pressed a detonator.
BOOM!
Explosions tore through the Library, shredding the man's body into bloody fragments.
"Damn it…" growled the inhuman voice through his dying lips. "Controlled again, was it the Shadows of Order? Or the Thousand Sons'?"
"No sign of warp corruption… the woman's power was elusive, likely one of the Shadows of Order. Their psykers are subtle and deadly."
He heard footsteps approaching from afar. "Too much noise. That dog Malcador might take notice."
"I'll have to delay dealing with Nareth and his Shadows… until Magnus and his Thousand Sons are dealt with first."
Then the bald giant vanished into thin air.
....
When the Lex Imperialis investigators arrived, they found only collapsed shelves, burning books, and torn bodies.
From a dark corner, a tall woman emerged, Maria Kurnikova. She gazed at Tsvetlana's corpse, sorrow flickering in her eyes before she forced it away.
She picked up the broken mask, then disappeared into the shadows before the Arbites could arrive.
.....
When the Throne of Shadow's Sovereignity emerged from the Warp into the Sol System, Nareth was reviewing reports in his office when he heard faint prayers.
'A woman's voice… Marlena Skala on Catachan? Or Maria, one of the three from Terra?'
He tossed the Dionysian Spear into the armory and stepped into the Kingdom of Disorder.
Two purple soul-orbs pulsed before him; the third had vanished.
'So, one of the "Instigators" is dead?'
His spirit extended, drawing forth the two who prayed, Maria and Dementyeva.
"Is Tsvetlana dead?" Nareth asked.
"My lord sees all, yes," Maria replied calmly. Trained from youth as an assassin, she had long accepted death as the cost of devotion.
"Tsvetlana died during her mission in Molvault Hive's library. When I arrived, her body was already destroyed; only half of her black mask remained."
A flicker of sorrow passed through Nareth's golden eyes as he gazed at the shattered mask. It could cover only a third of a normal face, jagged, uneven, riddled with small holes like a tattered relic.
But to his spirit-sight, it shimmered faintly with psychic light.
'At her death, the "Instigator's" beyonder essence fused with her mask, creating a relic.'
"What happened?" Nareth asked. Moments later, his eyes narrowed.
"So, after Tsvetlana's death, all rumors defaming the Shadows of Order ceased; now only the whispers accusing the Thousand Sons of witchcraft remain."
Nareth thought to himself, 'Then her death was not in vain. At least she disrupted Horus's plan to turn the lies against me.'
"Indeed," Maria replied. "My lord, shall we hunt down the ones responsible?"
Nareth, recalling the Osiris Mindseeds, shook his head.
"No need. Gather your followers and board the Throne of Shadow's Sovereignity."
'No sense risking more lives, I've already done Magnus a favor. The rest is up to him. When he returns in 840.M30, he'll have more pressing problems, the Flesh-Change.'
'He'll bargain with Tzeentch, trading one eye to halt the mutation… only then will the Thousand Sons rejoin the Great Crusade.'
Returning to the real world, Nareth summoned his attendant.
"Has the Arbiter Lord arrived in the Sol System?"
"Yes, my lord, he has," the attendant replied.
"Then set course for Mars. Have him meet us there to receive the Gloriana-class battleship."
...
On Mars, Nareth met with Howard Fender, whom he had not seen for some time. He smiled.
"Howard, my Arbiter, are you ready to claim your ship?"
"Father, I thank you for this gift. I shall wield it to bring ruin to your enemies," Howard replied reverently.
They approached the Martian Magos overseeing the transfer. The Tech-Priest's augmetic eyes glowed as a vox-emitter droned out in binaric tones:
[Asset: Gloriana-class Battleship//Length: 25.81 kilometers//Mass: 140.61 megatons.]
[Per treaty clause, at this time, Mars is authorized to deliver said vessel to Primarch Nareth// Confirm receipt?"]
"Confirmed," Nareth replied.
[Acknowledged//Proceed to Dock 33 for transfer] intoned the Magos.
Nareth turned to Howard and said, "Go, Howard, take command of your ship."
.....
If you enjoy the story, my p@treon is 30 chapters ahead.
[email protected]/DaoistJinzu