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Chapter 114: The Darkening Void
The Raven spoke his final words, then transformed into streams of light. Reality bent around him as he wove a temporal tunnel through the very fabric of spacetime.
Everyone watched as the Emperor and Valdor stepped through the chronological gateway. The portal sealed behind them, leaving only ripples in the air. In the vast void beyond, only cold darkness remained eternal.
While back in Ultraman Universe, far from Earth, an unknown world faced its final hour.
Billions of beings stared up at the approaching shadow. Their faces showed pure despair; mothers clutched their children, and elders whispered final prayers. They called out to their gods, but no miracles came.
Minutes later, absolute darkness enveloped the planet.
The planet wasn't enough. The shadow consumed the system's star too, snuffing out light that had burned for eons. After its feast, the massive entity searched for new prey.
This was Gransphere, the Dark Planet, a cosmic horror whose hunger knew no satisfaction. It detected a vibrant blue world teeming with life. The life force there was unimaginable. If it could devour that world, the feast would be beyond all reckoning.
The dark mass began its inexorable journey toward that brilliant blue star, toward Earth.
…
The moment the Master of Mankind's party appeared, they immediately sensed piercing gazes. Four sets of immortal eyes, blazing with madness, decay, rage, and dark desire, locked onto him.
Beyond the material realm, the four Chaos Gods watched everything from their thrones of corruption. Their stares burned with the bitter resentment of spurned lovers.
They had once been his greatest enemies in a war that spanned millennia. But as his journeys to other universes became frequent, his attention to their eternal struggle had faded.
'That faithless bastard!'
'He courts new paramours now. He ignores us completely.'
The Emperor sensed their malevolent scrutiny. He raised his head and met their combined gaze with perfect composure, his eyes looking at them not as his mortal enemies anymore, but as a nuisance he will get rid of eventually.
This tranquility and the look in the Emperor's eyes only intensified their divine rage.
'SCUMBAG'
How passionate his regard had been in ages past. Love and hate intertwined in glorious, complex warfare. Now his ancient eyes held all the warmth of stagnant water. He clearly no longer cared about their cosmic dance of destruction.
"So you don't even bother hiding your infidelity anymore!" Slaanesh snarled across dimensions.
"Such arrogance!" Khorne bellowed.
"Feasting alone will bring you nothing but ruin," Nurgle chuckled wetly.
"Change comes to all," Tzeentch whispered with a thousand voices.
The Master of Mankind returned to the material universe. The barrier between reality and the Warp blocked their resentful glares like a curtain drawn against the storm. He withdrew his gaze with characteristic stoicism.
"They've noticed our travels," he said. "They're even willing to suspend hostilities over it. They must be orchestrating a terrible conspiracy."
"It doesn't matter, we'll discover their schemes eventually," the Raven replied, his voice carrying none of its usual levity. "Our primary objective remains unchanged: accumulate power and grow stronger as fast as possible."
"We need to accelerate the Imperium's expansion," the Lord of Terra agreed, though weariness touched his words. Even a being like him could feel the weight of endless preparation.
"Yes, our current capabilities are still insufficient," the Raven nodded solemnly.
Their recent travels had yielded numerous technologies from other realities. But advanced science alone couldn't strengthen a civilisation. It required competent leadership, sound educational principles, and dedicated individuals willing to sacrifice for the greater good.
Civilisations grew far slower than individuals, a frustrating truth that even immortals couldn't escape.
…
Back at the Imperial Macro, the Emperor, after returning smoothly, activated the communication array.
Energy flowed through intricate patterns carved into the chamber walls. Mechanical skulls and twin-headed aquilae lit up in sequence. The communication matrix pulsed to life as electricity surged through bio-mechanical components.
Wetware suspended in nutrient tanks responded to the power surge. The bio-components opened their mouths in unison, emitting unintelligible vox-cant. The eyes embedded in their modified flesh spun rapidly, creating cascades of bubbles that rushed to the surface of their life-sustaining fluids.
Projection beams flickered through the air, coalescing into the familiar image of Malcador the Sigillite.
"Your Majesty, my Eternal King, Everlasting Lord of Terra, Omniscient and Omnipotent Sovereign of Humanity."
Malcador bowed with the practised reverence of his companionship with the Emperor, though his voice carried undertones only his master could detect.
"Such elaborate titles are unnecessary, old friend," the Emperor said gently. "I have new technological data to transmit."
"You've journeyed to other universes again?" Malcador's voice carried more than a hint of reproach; it held the pain of abandonment barely held in check.
"Yes. The expedition proceeded smoothly, and I've acquired some remarkable new sciences."
"Perhaps next time you might consider taking me along," the Sigillite suggested, his tone carefully measured. "Terra would not collapse from a single day's absence."
Genuine surprise crossed the Emperor's features at this request. In all their years together, Malcador had never expressed such desires. "I assumed you held no interest in interdimensional travel."
"Few would lack such curiosity. I, too, would witness what lies beyond our reality," his tone grew earnest, revealing depths of longing he'd kept hidden. "I've served as your regent for centuries, yet I know nothing of these other worlds you visit."
"When the Great Crusade enters a more stable phase, you shall accompany me," came the promise, recognising the genuine need in his oldest friend's voice. "Currently, the distances prove a hindrance."
"The Raven possesses the ability to transcend space and appear anywhere at will. Distance should pose no obstacle," Malcador observed, glancing at the entity currently studying French fries with scientific intensity.
"It really is quite far," the Raven nodded seriously. "I'd have to pick you up first, then return for Big Guy. Very time-consuming, oh my poor feathers can't take it. "
"I have just been informed of several new flavours of cuisine being brought recently," Malcador mentioned with calculated casualness.
"Oh, well, actually it's not that far, just a few thousand light-years," the Raven declared, puffing up with pride. "For the magnificent Raven, such distances are child's play."
Valdor gently massaged his temples, fighting a familiar headache. Never trust the Raven's principles when French fries enter the equation. His integrity around snacks was as mythical as finding virtue in the realm of the Prince of Pleasure.
"Old friend, you seem genuinely troubled by your inability to travel between realities," the Master of Mankind observed, his psychic senses detecting the unusual emotional turbulence in Malcador's thoughts.
"Valdor accompanies you across the cosmos while I remain bound to Terra, managing vast governmental affairs in solitude." The words came slowly, carefully. "I feel... excluded from the Imperium's innermost circle. As your First Minister, I have the right to understand these other realities. I refuse to labour in ignorance while others shape humanity's future."
The confession hung in the air between them, decades of suppressed frustration finally given voice.
Witnessing Malcador's distress, his master felt something he rarely allowed himself to experience: regret. His oldest friend and most trusted advisor felt abandoned.
"Very well. You shall join the next expedition."
Relief flooded through the Sigillite, though he tried to hide it behind formal composure. "Thank you, my lord."
With this matter resolved, the transmission of acquired technologies began.
The sciences from the Ultraman universe represented extraordinary advances, notably the Dream Transformer technology.
Dreams held unique significance in humanity's understanding of reality. Before the species properly comprehended the Warp's nature, dreams were dismissed as mere neural activity during rest cycles. Only after recognising the immaterium's existence did they realise dreams were the soul's experiences within the Empyrean's chaotic realm.
Since the Warp respected no physical laws, dreams took on absurd and bizarre forms, nightmares and fantasies given substance by psychic energy. The emotions of living beings stirred the immaterium constantly. The stronger the emotion, the greater the disturbance.
The idealistic Chaos Gods fed parasitically on this emotional energy, growing stronger with each passing moment of mortal feeling.
Dream Transformer technology was incredibly sophisticated. In essence, it stole sustenance from the Chaos Gods and their daemonic servants. Once widely implemented, humanity could harness the power to convert dreams into usable energy.
Simultaneously, the Warp would lose access to humanity's unconscious emanations. This would create an ebb and flow effect, gradually weakening the immaterium's stranglehold on reality.
After completing the extensive data transfer, the communication link was severed.
Malcador remained alone in the darkened Communication Sanctum, processing what had just transpired. After a long moment of reflection, he finally stood and departed.
Several Custodian Guards posted outside offered respectful salutes as he passed, but he was too lost in thought to acknowledge them.
Stepping into the open air, he beheld the breathtaking majesty of the Imperial Palace. Countless magnificent structures soared toward the clouds in architectural triumph. Above the Palace complex, several colossal orbital platforms floated in perfect synchronisation.
Each structure rivalled Luna in scale, some approaching small planetary dimensions. From ground level, you could feel the oppressive weight of their immense presence, a testament to the Imperium's growing might.
All of the Imperium's resources were concentrated within the Sol System, which now possessed cutting-edge innovations and technologies far surpassing other Imperial territories. The technological disparity was as vast as that between stone age tribalism and the height of interstellar civilisation.
Malcador understood that all of this advancement stemmed from the Raven's influence. The entity had guided his master to other universes, enabling the Imperium's current accumulation of power and knowledge.
This realisation had bred an inexplicable fear within him recently, a terror that the Lord of Terra might one day abandon their partnership entirely.
The Imperium's development had become almost frighteningly rapid. So swift that Malcador felt as though he lived in a different epoch each day, struggling to keep pace with changes that would have taken centuries to implement in the past.
When they had first unified Terra, they possessed nothing but hope and determination. The Thunder Warriors were spiralling toward genetic collapse, their augmentations failing catastrophically. The newly created Astartes Legions carried unknown variables and instabilities due to the Primarchs' mysterious disappearance.
His master had seemed uncertain about the grand design, even questioning whether to proceed with the Great Crusade as initially conceived.
But then, at a moment of uncertainty, he arrived. Raven, shrouded in mystery, was not human by nature, yet seemed more human than many. He discussed things that Malcador, with his long memory, could trace back to somewhere between 2,000 and 3,000 millennia, a fascinating detail.
And now the Imperium wielded Gene Engines capable of reshaping life itself, celestial computation matrices that dwarfed planets, pocket universe Microcosms, and temporal manipulation technologies that bent time to their will. Should the desire arise, these sciences could annihilate and rebuild the galaxy countless times over.
"Humanity shall ultimately stand above all heavens," Malcador whispered to himself, staring up at the magnificent orbital constructs that represented their species' ascending destiny.
Yet in his heart, he wondered if he would still have a place in that glorious future.
Not long after the return to Terra, welcome news arrived from the void.
The Seventeenth Primarch, Lorgar Aurelian, also known as the Urizen, had been located by a Custodian expedition dispatched to the Segmentum Pacificus. He was found on the desert world of Colchis, a planet steeped in religious tradition and faith.
When the Custodians made contact, Lorgar was in the midst of attempting to unify his world through fervent belief in a golden-armoured messiah, a figure whose description bore an unmistakable resemblance to the Master of Mankind himself.
The irony was not lost on him. Of all his sons, it seemed the most devoutly religious had been the first to sense his presence across the stars.
[End of Chapter]