Chapter 550: Ten Years
After sending the old monk off to buy tea seed, Kian ran on foot to Snowflake Mountain by himself.
He went into the cave at the summit, the Three-Eyed Sorcerer received him, and Kian told him straight out what he needed.
The Three-Eyed Sorcerer led him to a special chamber in the cave, where a dozen or so blind people stood with cloths bound over their eyes. These were the Astropaths.
A single Astropath could make a psychic call. If the distance was great, dozens of Astropaths had to chant together to carry the connection farther.
These lost Astropaths knew their leader, the Three-Eyed Sorcerer, had already sworn loyalty to Kian, so they didn't hesitate. Dozens of them began channelling together to make the call.
Before long, the connection went through.
One of the Astropaths said to Kian:
"My lord, we've found the psychic signature you described and established a stable link with their Astropath. The delay is under a minute each way.
"They've confirmed your identity and say Inquisitor Trasolh is already at their Astropath's side and can speak with you in real time."
With only a minute's delay, Kian figured Inquisitor Trasolh couldn't be far away.
So he said casually:
"Tell Inquisitor Trasolh to point his auspex at bearing such-and-such and see if he can find Feudal World 481.
"The Warp fog over this planet has lifted. They should be able to find it now."
Two minutes later, the Astropath reported:
"My lord, Inquisitor Trasolh says he has indeed found the planet and will arrive in four months."
Kian frowned. Why four months?
He remembered that when Tzeentch had thrown him into the Warp storm, Inquisitor Trasolh's fleet had already been close to this planet.
All they should need was a small course adjustment, and they'd be here in a day or two. Why so long?
Kian asked, and two minutes later the Astropath answered:
"My lord, Inquisitor Trasolh replies that it has been a full ten years since you left his ship. He asks where you've been for the past ten years."
Something exploded in Kian's head. Ten years. Ten goddamn years!!
He was stunned. But then he understood. He'd run into the classic must-have Warp experience: time distortion!
Feudal World 481, where Kian was now, had apparently been dragged into the Warp by Tzeentch and wrapped in Warp clouds so no one could find it.
He remembered that at Inquisitor Trasolh's meeting, they'd said this planet had vanished eighty years ago. But according to the planet's own histories, more than three hundred and eighty years had passed since the Great Forgetting!
And for Kian, from the moment Tzeentch flung him off Trasolh's warship onto this planet, it had only felt like a couple of months.
Yet when he took down the Book of Truth, the Chaos God's power faded, and the planet slid out of the Warp back into realspace, a full ten years had passed out there?!
He'd been gone for ten whole years. A chill ran down his spine!
Damn it, who knew what had happened out there? His forces, his retainers, his warship, who knew what had become of any of it!
And Nightingale, and his kids. The second one must be ten damn years old by now!
He'd missed the most important ten years of both his kids' lives. Damn it, what if he came home to a "Grand Birthday Salute" incident?
He remembered giving Butch that sky-pointing topknot. What if the kid's brain had plugged straight into the Warp and he was about to pull a Horus on his loving father?
At that thought, Kian couldn't wait any longer. He ran straight to the summit of Snowflake Mountain and leapt off.
When he regained consciousness, he was back in the Underhive of Agri-World 496b, in the Sanctum where he'd made his start!
Ten years had passed. The Sanctum's generator had long since run dry, and every piece of equipment inside had stopped.
The supplies he'd queued up for production before he left were still sitting on the "production complete" screen, unclaimed for ten whole years.
Kian dug a flashlight out from under the bed and switched it on. Ten years later, and the batteries still worked!
He looked around. The Sanctum was grey and dingy now, the floor thick with dust.
He pulled a faded but still wearable set of clothes out from under the bed, threw them on, pushed open the Sanctum door, and walked out.
He expected to see the Underhive passage. But to his surprise, when he opened the door, there was a huge, spotless white room on the other side!
The room was full of expensive furniture and potted plants.
The windows had projectors imitating the natural world. Looking out, you saw a forest, and a natural breeze even blew in through them.
There were three people in this pristine room. One was Nightingale, lying on a sofa reading a book.
Some of the girlishness had faded from her face. Time had left its mark on her.
The other two were boys of ten-something, and both had sky-pointing topknots.
All three of them stared at Kian, stunned. They clearly hadn't expected him to suddenly push open that door, which had been shut for ten years, and walk in!
The white room went silent, until Nightingale set down her book, got up from the sofa, and walked over to Kian.
"You're back!"
Kian swallowed, feeling guilty.
"I'm back."
Nightingale smiled.
"Let's eat first."
"Okay."
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