~ Every 100 Power Stones = Bonus Chapter! Your votes keep this climbing. Thanks!
Guilliman's emotions ca fast and faded just as fast. He was Konor's son, and the first lesson that forr Consul of Macragge had drilled into him was restraint. Guilliman had always kept himself willingly caged within a cell he called Reason.
More importantly, he was not alone.
That was enough. For a primarch who had awakened ten thousand years late, all he needed was a familiar face to talk to, soone to swap old stories with, to laugh about the past, to rember what glory had felt like.
For Horus, though, he had only arrived from the latter days of the Great Crusade. Compared to Guilliman's eager nostalgia, the Warmaster was considerably more composed. Still, to keep his brother's spirits up, he played along willingly.
It was also the first ti the two of them had set aside their titles as Legion masters and simply talked as brothers. In the old days, that would have been unthinkable.
[Ding! Congratulations, Host, for witnessing the awakening of the Lord of Ultramar.]
[Reward points distributed. A new Salvage Opportunity has been granted.]
Kaelen had been listening with genuine interest as the two primarchs traded stories from the old campaigns. Then the system notification yanked his attention sideways.
A new Salvage Opportunity?
His heart skipped a beat.
A new Salvage Opportunity?
This was a massive surprise. Last ti, the system had fumbled and dragged over a dying Horus, which had single-handedly redirected the course of the entire galaxy. So what about this ti? Which poor soul was about to get hauled into this disaster?
He ran the numbers fast.
Couldn't be Leman Russ, could it? The Wolf King had gone missing in this tiline, sure, but he'd left word, he'd return at the Wolfti. Even if Kaelen fished him over, what would he actually get? A glorified bruiser, at best.
And when it ca to putting the fear of the Emperor into the current crop of traitors, daemons, and general nightmares, Russ wouldn't hold a candle to that perfect Great Angel...
Right. Sanguinius.
Kaelen's breath caught.
The idle chatter between the two primarchs trailed off. Guilliman turned to look at him.
"Lord Kaelen."
"Ah — here." Kaelen reined in his thoughts and looked up.
"There is one thing I have never been able to work out."
Guilliman pointed at Horus beside him, expression completely serious.
"What thod did you actually use to bring my brother into this era?"
It wasn't just Guilliman who wanted to know. Even Kullen, standing off to the side, had gone very still and very attentive.
Kaelen cleared his throat. He had absolutely no intention of telling them about the system.
"Ahem. This is... difficult to explain through science. Not really convenient to get into the specifics. If you need a way to think about it, just consider it a miracle from the old man on the Golden Throne."
Kaelen smoothly offloaded the responsibility onto the Emperor of Mankind.
Guilliman nodded and didn't push.
"I understand. There are far too many things in this galaxy that defy rational explanation. If you have your reasons, I won't press."
"There is one thing I can tell you, though." Kaelen held up a finger. "I do have the ability to pull people from the past into the present. But it's wildly unstable. I can't target anyone specifically."
He reached for an analogy to make it land.
"Think of it like a blind box. Pure luck. Honestly, I never expected to pull Horus over in the first place."
The atmosphere in the room shifted.
Horus raised an eyebrow and looked at Kaelen. "My friend. What exactly do you an by that?"
"Want the honest answer, my Wolf God?"
"Speak."
"I genuinely wasn't trying to fish for you." Kaelen spread his hands, expression completely sincere. "I wanted muscle to keep alive. I was thinking of pulling Leman Russ over as a stopgap. Then you showed up instead."
Russ.
Leman Russ.
The Warmaster was not pleased.
The Emperor had gone looking for Russ second, out of all his sons. And now his own friend had been thinking of Russ too.
How did that Fenrisian savage command so much attention?
"Are you angry, my Wolf God?" Kaelen asked.
"No." The flicker of resentnt faded almost as quickly as it ca. "How could I hold it against him — a savage... a Wolf King raised on Fenris. He's stronger than in so respects. He unified Fenris in the early years. And he sees things clearly."
Kaelen nearly choked trying not to laugh. He had absolutely been about to say 'savage' just now.
Beside him, Guilliman was already struggling to keep a straight face.
"Honestly, the Wolf King was always just a fallback option for . My Wolf God, you have far more going for you than he does. If I'd actually pulled Russ over, I'd have spent every day getting drinks forced down my throat. That Fenrisian is universally recognized across the entire Imperium as its number one glutton and drunkard."
"Lord Kaelen, that assessnt of Russ seems rather harsh." Guilliman interjected with obvious interest. "But what makes you say so?"
Kullen leaned in closer. The Dark Angels and the Space Wolves had been bitter rivals for ten thousand years, unable to stand the sight of each other.
Getting to hear dirt on the gene-father of the Space Wolves? Kullen could not have asked for a better gift.
"Well, it goes back to when the Emperor first went looking for him. He traveled to Fenris to demand Russ's fealty. Russ said he'd comply — but only if the Emperor competed with him in eating, drinking, and wrestling first."
"And then?"
"The Emperor lost to Russ in the eating and drinking. When it ca to wrestling, Russ had the nerve to announce that he could still throw the Emperor even drunk. The final result was the Emperor putting Russ to sleep for three days with a single punch."
Kaelen even mid the punch as he said it.
The three of them in the room wore very different expressions as they pictured the scene.
Kullen thought the Emperor's punch had been perfectly delivered. Truly worthy of the Master of Mankind.
Horus and Guilliman, however, exchanged a glance, their thoughts running in the exact sa direction. Their father had lost to his own son in a drinking contest, then lost his temper and resorted to direct physical persuasion. That had more than a hint of wounded pride to it.
"Russ certainly had his accomplishnts as a warrior." Kaelen clicked his tongue. "I just never imagined he was equally accomplished at putting drinks away."
That summary broke Guilliman.
The Lord of Ultramar leaned back in his chair and let out a low, rumbling laugh.
Horus's eyes shifted, a new thought clearly forming.
"Roboute. Sothing just occurred to ."
"What?"
"If Sanguinius had spent years brewing wine from grapes on Baal, and Russ drank every last drop of it, what do you think would happen to Russ?"
Guilliman knew Baal's environnt well enough. Grapes were common on Macragge, but on Baal they were a rarity, scarce, and sour enough to make your eyes water.
If Sanguinius had actually turned those grapes into wine, he would have guarded every bottle with his life.
And for Russ to ruin all of it.
By the Throne.
"I can guarantee you, brother." Guilliman said it with complete seriousness. "Sanguinius would beat him senseless. Just like the Emperor knocked him out with one punch."
The words were barely out of his mouth before both primarchs lost it entirely, laughter breaking free all at once.
Kaelen and Kullen followed. The command room, which had carried the weight of ten thousand years of grief and silence, filled with sothing it had not held in a very long ti.
Laughter.
➤ Next: Horus: Need I Be Surprised? I Already Know About You Founding the Second Impe...
— .—— .—— .—— .—— .——
Enjoying the story?
Read 60 chapters ahead on Patreon.
Join the free community tier for early access to the latest updates:
patreon(.)com/DarkGolds
Reviews
All reviews (0)