The pain filled everything and tore me apart. My soul no longer groaned, but silently gave up its last breath. I did not even have the strength to move, but in spite of everything, something suddenly tore me out of the warp storm and returned me to the physical world.
With a hellish scream, which due to the many wounds turned into a weak wheeze, I opened my eyes. My hands and feet were chained to the cage, my neck was shackled by a collar with four pins melted to the floor, and around there were some seals, magical drawings and papers with prayers. Judging by the sounds, the cage was in some kind of transport.
In front of me I saw that same mysterious wanderer, who was sitting silently and clutching the medallion in his hand. He was looking straight at me and did not move, it seemed he was sleeping. However, there was also an understanding that at any moment, having noticed something strange, he was ready to chop off my head, blow up the cage or simply shoot me with a bolt pistol.
"Who are you?" asked the now not mysterious ally, but a real enemy.
— I just… accidentally found myself in the wrong place at the wrong time…
And immediately the pain overshadowed everything again. I didn't know how long exactly I had to stay in agony, and as soon as I came to my senses again, I had already forgotten how I had woken up before. Time after time he asked me the same questions, and I answered, lost consciousness and then returned to it again. In this hellish torture, all the information was pulled out of me, which then had to be processed and the lies separated from the grains of truth.
How many times have I begged for mercy? How often have I asked for a merciful death? Only the one who watched from the side and did nothing, and the master of torture himself, knew all this. Here it is, a fate worse than death, they did not let me die and tortured me, turning my soul inside out. At some point, everything became so bad that I simply withdrew into myself and stopped responding.
Although in reality not much time had passed. At some point the torture had moved to the underground shelter, and then another transportation began. There I woke up again, hearing the roar of the engines, but no longer reacting to it.
— Who do you serve?
I remained silent again. There was no point in answering, because this torture would continue anyway. Pain had become the norm for me, and my consciousness was broken. At some point, I thought that this was it, Tzeentch's punishment for insolence. He took revenge on me for every stupidity, for all the mistakes, for my failure to perform, and demonstrated his power.
Suddenly I smelled change in the air. And my captor also tensed up, and then said:
"Cherubael, take care of them," he said, after which the transport stopped right next to the shuttle hangar.
A burst of warp lightly blinded me, and then the captor ran outside. A moment later, a series of explosions rang out, hundreds of shrapnel riddled the transport I was in, and one of them pierced my head, ending this torment. The Radical Inquisitor acted alone, but he underestimated the Angels of Redemption, who were going to destroy all enemies, including traitors.
It was hard to say whether I flew through the warp for a long time or not, because time as such did not exist in it. However, in the end, wounded and exhausted, I again found myself in the domain of Tzeentch. For some time, perhaps an hour, or maybe a year, I simply wandered aimlessly, then experienced what had happened and twitched at every rustle, but in the end I managed to calm my feelings, accept what had happened and get used to the next changes. My soul was healing all this time, thanks to the influence of this place.
At some point, moving through the crystal labyrinth, I came out into its center, where Tzeentch himself was waiting for me. And the fact that I went through the entire labyrinth spoke of only one thing: Tzeentch himself directed me and wanted to meet, because there was no other way to do such a thing. In his domains, Tzeentch had absolute and unshakable power.
"So… it all ended like this?" I asked, looking at the warp storm playing with different colors in the truth-distorting crystal.
The warp itself began to change immediately, adapting to my weakness. Tzeentch appeared again in the form I knew, and then thousands of mouths began to spew forth streams of ever-changing lies. However, as soon as the central mouth moved its lips, the sounds of the others faded.
- What surprises you? You have fulfilled your goal, helped me, you will receive a reward and then go to a new reincarnation, where you will be able to use your experience and knowledge. However, you should not think that my gifts will remain with you. Unfortunately, your soul is still too weak, as is your psychic potential. Without my help, you are nobody. You are nothing, worthless. However, you are capable of change. This is obvious, because otherwise you would not be here.
I looked down to avoid looking at Tzeentch, because even though he had assumed a form I could understand, the prolonged study was making me feel sick and my brain was jammed. After all, all the details were changing right before my eyes, his entire body was turning into crooked lines, the beginning and end of which were impossible to trace. This distracted me from my thoughts, which were also confused, but for different reasons.
"What about Drakernour?" I asked, feeling a little empty.
- It has already burned in the flames of war. There remains only a wasteland that no one needs anymore.
I stayed in the body of the mercenary Lex for a very short time, just as I had to stay in the new world for a very short time. However, this time was full of events and... I even got used to it. Yes, there was probably little good in this reincarnation, but still, something tied me to it.
Perhaps it was the emerging kinship with Lex's soul, because one way or another I was placed in his memory. I could not describe many feelings, nor understand the origins of their causes. However, I managed to refresh and see a lot. And it's not that I'm sentimental, no, not at all. Frankly, it was always harder for me than others to put myself in the place of those I had never seen.
But in this case, I literally climbed into Lex's skin. He was not a good person, rather an utter villain. Most people, having learned of his deeds, would want to kill him. But I had completely different feelings, I felt sorry for him, because I saw the reasons why he became like this. For me, Lex was not a villain, he was a man broken by circumstances, in whose life there was only misfortune.
And thinking about this, I continued to reflect... Vindoria, Mologost, Detrius - all of them and other participants in this insane war most likely also rarely made choices. All their actions were already determined by a series of events that did not obey the will. After all, we do not even choose our character and a choleric will never be calm, and gushing testosterone will always be the cause of unnecessary outbursts of anger. And although they did not directly decide everything for us, everyone could only act within a limited range, also determined if not by Tzeentch, then certainly not by us.
Is it fair? Is it fair that the hopes of millions were trampled into the dirt? Is it fair that no one gave them the opportunity to resist the lies poured into their heads by the puppeteers? Is it fair that they died simply because the powers that be once again had a disagreement? Is it fair that the untouchables were turned into weapons and bombs with a fiery mixture were dropped on houses full of children and women, just to stop the spread of the plague of Nurgle? Fair?
"I don't know," Tzeentch replied, and perhaps he was lying, or perhaps he decided to confuse everything by telling the truth. "Justice was invented by people. And not only it."
— What did Drakernor die for?
— Before asking questions, you must learn to ask them correctly. After all, Drakernor died not "for", but "because of". Because of his own vices, because of others' ambitions, because of the thirst for power, because of the unwillingness to accept humility, because of hatred that reached its limit, because of zeal for perfection.
- And you? Didn't you create the warp storm that destroyed everything?
- And because of me too. And because of you. And because of everyone who was there or for some reason wasn't there. There are no innocents, there are different degrees of guilt. Just as the world is not black and white, it absorbs all sorts of colors and constantly creates new ones... - Tzeentch said, and rainbows began to play around him, some of the colors of which human vision and the human soul could not perceive.
- Yes, perhaps you are right... or wrong... in this life I have only been able to understand that I don't understand anything, - I answered and sat down on the crystal floor. - And will I become like that?
— Changes are inevitable, but what they will lead to is rarely known one hundred percent in advance. I do not see the future, I see probabilities and accurately place bets, winning over the long term. Time is basically not subject to anyone. You can at least look into the past using memory. The present can be seen in the moment, but the future... even the gods have no power over it. Although I will not lie, I have never been wrong in my predictions.
I continued to sit and think. At first, I was most worried about being captured by the inquisitor. And yes, it still scared me, even though my psyche itself blocked access to these memories that could harm me. However, the most important thing was that I could become someone even more terrible. After all, even this one reincarnation had a huge effect on me. I killed a person for the first time and realized that there was nothing complicated about it. My conscience was silent time after time, proving that my self-control was low. And the obvious examples of others... everyone was once a pathetic "student". Everyone once did not know how to lie and betray.
"The fact that you take this so seriously proves that you are already on a different level than other mortals," Tzeentch suddenly decided to cheer me up, but his other faces immediately found hidden subtexts and intentions in these words, which made me feel even more uneasy. "And it is time for you to choose your reward. Thanks to you, I was able to look at that day through someone else's prism.
— To the past?
- Yes, through someone else's past, which may have been changed or distorted by the prism of someone else's consciousness. Therefore, I still need to understand what I saw. However, a different point of view made me think about even more moments of those old events.
And then Tzeentch waved his hand and created three gifts that no mortal could dream of, and the mighty could only dream of. All I had to do was choose.
The first option was a sword whose steel was blacker than the void. The blade of this sword could cut through any armor and dealt equally devastating damage to souls, allowing it to kill even higher demons. In addition, the weapon had a personality and experience. All I had to do was take it and I would immediately gain hundreds of years of fencing experience. Then I would continue to improve.
"With it, you can become the strongest swordsman in the Galaxy," Tzeentch said, sometimes using his speech apparatus, sometimes simply transmitting information into my mind.
Immediately after that, my attention switched to the staff. If the sword was stolen by Tzeentch, then he created the staff himself. Inaccessible knowledge was stored in this powerful artifact, with its help you could subjugate gravity itself, tear souls apart or simply immediately increase your level of psychic powers to alpha level, and in the future become alpha+, standing on the same level with the strongest demons and the Emperor.
"With it, you will even be able to throw planets at each other, and your potential will become immeasurable," Tzeentch added, but then the third gift demanded attention.
A woman of unprecedented beauty stood at a distance from the staff. Her pointed ears gave away that she was an Eldar and she looked at me with the most tender of glances. Inaccessible to any mortal, she could become mine, all I had to do was stretch out my hand. This was the only chance, because there was nothing more perfect in this world. She became the perfect complement to me, ready to fulfill any desire and adapt to me. Her experience and wisdom would allow me to protect myself from most threats, but at the same time, alone, she would be meek and obedient. Ideally convenient .
"With her you will find true happiness," Tzeentch finished, and his voice no longer sounded in my mind, and he himself began to secretly observe my every emotion, thought, action.
And my soul began to tear itself apart. Tzeentch read me and saw through my every mortal weakness. What man has not dreamed of the deeds and victories that a sword could give? Who has not at least once desired knowledge that could change the world to suit themselves? Wasn't the lack of warmth of love the stumbling block for most lives? And having nothing, I wanted it all even more, to feel for once in my life... what it would be like to not be me.
But very quickly the desire to get some of this was replaced by anger, hatred and disgust. Anger at Tzeentch, who all this time continued to look at me as shit, dirt under his fingernails, trash incapable of having any other desires. Hatred for everything that made me so wretched, desiring only animal primitiveness. Disgust at myself, because my desire was the most sincere and only I myself was to blame for it.
A sword to satisfy my weakling complexes. A staff to easily attain knowledge, since I myself have no will to gnaw at the granite of science. A love that hid only a selfish desire to be loved, but not to love. Tzeentch simply shoved my muzzle into all this filth, like a dog into its urine.
"No…" I answered, turning away from all three gifts, unable to hold back the tears full of bitterness from the pain that tore at my soul, because I really wanted to take at least something, this desire was unimaginably strong, going against which was more difficult than against the fear of death.
- This sword is even better than the one I slipped to one of the primarchs...
- No.
— With the staff, you will have the opportunity to change the galaxy, to save other worlds that are facing a fate far more terrible than that which befell Drakernor.
- No!
- And with her...
- NO!!! - I screamed in incredible rage, literally tearing something out of myself. - ALL YOUR GIFTS ARE POISONED!!! THE SWORD WILL TAKE MY SOUL AND MAKE ME A LOONG-WILLING SLAVE, IF THEY DON'T OPEN MY THROAT WHILE I SLEEP!!! THE STAFF WAS CREATED BY YOU, BUT DO NOT THINK THAT ONLY YOU KNOW WHAT I WILL DOOMED THE GALAXY TO WITH SUCH POWER!!! AND YOU WILL BE FREE TO TAKE HAPPINESS SO EASILY, WHICH WILL MAKE ME YOUR SLAVE FOREVER!!! I'D BETTER BE LEFT WITH NOTHING THAN TAKE ANY OF THIS!!!
And then I broke into a run to get as far away from temptation as possible. I understood that I could break down at any moment and then lose. So I ran again, because I actually didn't know how to do anything else. In fact, what was I doing all the time on Draekernor? Running, retreating, hiding… damn, these thoughts made me want to take up at least a sword or a staff even more. However, this was a mistake, an obvious and painfully stupid provocation by Tzeentch, who laughed after me.
I lowered my head, closed my eyes and just ran straight. However, the labyrinth itself adjusted to me, because Tzeentch decided to let me out. And I overcame it rather quickly, or maybe an eternity passed. In the warp, time was perceived completely differently, although it always flowed in a unidirectional stream, neither the end nor the beginning of which anyone could see.
However, the entire planet consisted of glass. Different and sometimes painfully creepy, in the reflections of which you could see anything. The demons did not touch me either, curiously watching one of their master's toys. Gradually, trees and animals began to appear, all of them as one personified constant changes and absorbed many colors and curved lines.
And at some point I finally stopped and looked around. The world around me became a little simpler and more understandable, there was no temptation around and even though there was still glass under my feet, I sat down near the crystal tree and began to digest what had happened. I needed time to calm down. However, after this run I felt much better, and some pride appeared that at least I did not screw up here and did not allow myself to be deceived by these damned gifts.
"He stole this sword from Khorne," came the bird's rapid chirping, which was surprisingly understandable to me. "He made the staff himself. And the Eldar was artificially created by Slaanesh and given to Tzeentch, to also see your reaction.
"What?" I asked, starting to look for the source of the sound.
- And the fourth gift? You have already chosen the fourth gift one way or another. True, Tzeentch will do everything to ensure that Nurgle does not find out about it.
And looking up, I saw a small bird with rainbow feathers made of ice. Snowflakes of different patterns were constantly falling from it, and it itself was slightly iridescent, like all the demons of Tzeentch. After chirping once more, it jumped down from the branch and settled on my knee.
- I know everything. Everything. And what I don't know now, I'll definitely find out, - said the bird. - Why are you sad? Did he upset you? And why don't you have feathers? Are you a demon or a human? Do you want to know where you'll be reborn next time? Do you want to know my name?
"Yes," I answered only the last question, but it seemed the bird didn't care.
"Me too," the bird replied, looking at me with its unblinking eyes. "But I know how to help you. Should I tell you? Should I tell you? Should I tell.
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