The shuttle ride back to Graia-Theta-9 was long, silent. The Black File had seen worse deployments, but the look in their eyes was different now. They weren't just weighing logistics — they were watching Elias.
Lirae's optic whirred every time she glanced at him. Malk scowled, arms folded, lips pressed like iron. Volst sat forward in her harness, gaze steady as if she could pin him...
And Kairon. Kairon watched Elias the way priests watch flames — reverence edged with hunger.
When they landed, Elias felt the weight of it all. The forges were half-dead, and hope was more precious than ore. As they passed through cracked manufactoria halls, serfs and priests stopped their work just to stare. Not at Volst, not at the Black File — at him. At the orange burning in his eyes.
Whispers followed them down every corridor. The Flame. The prophecy. The eyes.
"We will move tommorow.. get the plans checked" Volst said..
As everyone separated, Elias asked him to bring someone loyal, someone who can get things done, someone he could use.. Without much though Kairon nodded his head..
That night, in a sealed sub-vault Kairon still controlled,
Kairon presented him with a name: Selene Varro.
"She was once a forge-supervisor," he explained, mechadendrites twitching nervously. "Efficient. Loyal. Until the Rustbound infection took her son. She broke ranks, slew three corrupted priests herself with nothing but a spanner. They marked her defective, stripped her rank. But the serfs still whisper her name with awe. If she is remade… others will follow."
Elias studied her when she entered.
Tall, gaunt, scars across her cheek where an augmetic had been ripped out. Her hands shook slightly as she stood before him, but her eyes didn't waver.
"Flame," she whispered, bowing her head. "Give me the strength to kill them all. I'll burn every Rustbound nest myself if you will it."
The System stirred, as if it had been waiting for this.
> NEW FUNCTION: PERMANENT APOSTOLIC BLESSING (One time use -> THE FIRST APOSTLE)
> Cost: 50 Faith Units
> Option: Kekkei Genkai Unlock – Ice Release
> Effect: Chosen Apostle permanently bound to user's flame.
> Warning: Irreversible. Exposure Risk: High if revealed.
Elias felt his chest tighten. Fifty units — the pool would be emptied in a single act. All of Kairon's whispered prayers, all of the bowed head, all of the small sparks of belief gathered like embers — spent here.
But the first stone must be laid deep, he thought. One apostle, living proof. A foundation others can never deny once the avalanche begins.
He stepped closer. Selene dropped to her knees, trembling but resolute.
"Selene Varro," Elias said, his voice carrying not just command but something heavier. "Do you swear your life, your blood, your faith — all that you are — to my flame?"
Her eyes glistened. "Until my last breath."
He placed his hand on her brow.
The System whispered, clinical and cold, but he felt heat and ice shatter together as he willed it through her.
Faith drained from him like water from a broken vessel. His vision dimmed at the edges.
Selene gasped. Frost bloomed across the vault floor in spirals, white steam curling off her skin. Her breath turned into clouds of mist. When she rose, her eyes were rimmed with frost, her veins faintly glowing blue-white.
She raised a hand — and shards of ice formed, fractal and sharp, hovering in the air before shattering against the stone.
She stared at her own hands in awe, then dropped again to her knees.
"Flame," she whispered, tears freezing on her cheeks. "I am yours. My body, my breath, my soul — I am your weapon."
Kairon's mechadendrites trembled as he bowed. "The First Apostle. The prophecy breathes."
Elias's thoughts ran like fire through a forge. Selene can spread the faith. Kairon can give her legitimacy. Together, they can build in the shadows: recruits, weapons, ships. I'll remain the symbol. They'll do the work. Secrecy first — until secrecy is no longer possible.
He looked down at Selene. "Then rise, Apostle. You and Kairon will gather quietly. Spread the word to those who are desperate enough to keep silent, strong enough to be useful. Build power, weapons, ships. Whatever you can muster. Do it in the dark. When the light comes, it must be too late for anyone to stop us."
Kairon bowed lower. "It shall be so."
Volst cornered Elias later that day. Her face was carved from stone, her voice like a blade pressed to his throat. She could see what Kairon was trying to do.
"You're letting them crown you. Call it destiny if you want, but I've seen war cults before. They all end the same — in fire and screaming. Don't think I won't burn you myself if you let this spiral."
She sighed..
"You know what this looks like. Three cycles — maybe less — before the Inquisition burns you for it."
Volst leaned in closer, whispering like a knife. "Do you even believe this, or are you just using it?"
Elias met her eyes, his own burning steady orange. He said nothing.
Because the truth — the ice he had planted — was something she could never know.
And far above, across the Immaterium's shifting tides, a pair of unseen eyes opened.
The Golden Throne flickered.
For the first time in an age, the Emperor moved — so subtle the Custodians didn't notice, so small the priests in Terra's halls of echoing hymns mistook it for machine-noise.
A single thought pushed outward, threads of fate tugged in silence.
If this is what you desire…
The Inquisition's reports delayed, their ciphers tangled. Just enough time bought, nothing more.
The Emperor leaned back into stillness.
And the galaxy waited.
[END OF PART 3: The First Apostle]