Imperium Ascendant

Chapter Ten: Let there be Light

Date: 782.M30

Location: Project Beacon a.k.a. The Hollow Mountain a.k.a Restricted Zone Everest

Malcador was an old man, a very old man. He had lived for millennia and seen much. The end of the Golden Age, the countless horrors of the Old Night and now he was both architect and witness to the next stage of human history. The Age of Imperium was coming and he was helping usher it in.

These thoughts drifted through the Sigillites mind as he wandered the topmost layer of the amphitheater-like structure that was known as the Hollow Mountain. A good chunk of Mt. Everest and the surrounding Himalazia's had been hollowed out to provide a location for the next stage of the Great Work to begin.

Ancient Vaults were being carved out of the deepest bedrock to contain the most horrific artifacts of the Old Night. Psi-War ruins had been rediscovered and were being rebuilt as a massive center of Psyker training and housing. A massive chunk of Eurasia was being prepared for the construction of one of the largest terrestrial structures in human history. All of these projects were under Malcadors purview and were parts of the greater overarching plan he and his Liege had crafted over the centuries.

Yet the prime project within the tallest of Terra's peak worried him more than any other. A massive Psychic device was being carefully constructed within Mount Everest. Huge quantities of manpower, arcane lore and beyond priceless relic from before the Fall of the Federation were being used in the construction of the titanic machine.

Malcador has taken more direct control over most of the governing of the Imperium along with oversight of the numerous secondary projects while the Emperor devoted himself to finishing the Primarchs and modifying the work within the Hollow Mountain. This had not been the first time the Emperor had thrown himself into a project obsessively but some of the Emperors behavior had worried Malcador.

The Message had seemed to restore parts of the Emperor and the once disturbingly stoic Ubermensch seemed disquietingly human. When Malcador had first met Revelation he had seemed inhuman and more akin to a machine than man in both temperament and behavior. When the idea of the ritual to cast aside what was left of his humanity to empower the Primarchs was first discussed Malcador could not help himself from thinking "What will be different?"

Malcador had at first believed he had been accurate in his prediction. With the Emperor barely if at all changing in mindset or behavior. When the contents of the message from the so-called "God-Emperor" was revealed to Malcador he had been both horrified and strangely relieved. The future he had been shown and how close they had come to it had brought genuine fear to the Ancient Sigillite yet it confirmed something he had long suspected and hoped. Below the Emperors millennia of trauma, stress, and fear was a genuine human heart and a good one at that.

The Emperor of Mankind had tried to discard his humanity many times but now it had returned to him full force and the effects were startling. Major changes to the Primarch project had been made. Certain inbuilt weaknesses had been discarded, countless genetic defects were being corrected and the maturing fetuses had been linked psychically in an incredible display of warpcraft. Yet despite what seemed to be great leaps and bounds being made, worries crept into Malcadors mind.

The Primarchs were being perfected, not as weapons but as humans. Perfect humans meant to conquer and rule. Such things had been attempted before throughout history. Malcador had seen the records and the Emperors own memories of the events. The results had been horrific and the Emperor's "Sons" were leagues beyond the various Gene-Tyrants of the distant past. Even if a galaxy-burning civil war was averted and Chaos was thwarted they may be stuck with a whole new host of problems created by entitled self-declared heirs to the Imperium.

Contingencies for that eventuality were being developed and Malcador could only hope the progeny of the Anathema inherited his love of humanity and desire to protect and shepherd the species. The Last Priest was to apparently be involved with this effort to humanize the Primarchs, along with the Assa-Matrari. Another thing the Emperor had drafted up to hopefully ensure the functionality of the Primarchs. Maternal Figures to help raise the Primarchs into healthy functioning humans. Psychological profiles had been written up on the ideal mothers for each Primarch based and a search was on to find these women before the Primarchs finished gestation.

The other project worried him even more, for there seemed to be far too few contingencies in place in regard to the machine within Everest. Last Minute changes to the design had baffled even the greatest minds of the Terrawatt clan and Malcador had to draw upon the full brunt of his considerable intellect and knowledge base in order to understand.

The Warp-Beacon aspect of the machine had its projection elements modified to allow for more concentrated amounts of psychic energy to envelop the galaxy at the cost of efficiency. It appeared the Emperor intended to sacrifice broadcasting radius in exchange for a stronger radiant effect.

Slightly more understandably the Astra-Telepathica nexus had received upgrades in order for much larger and focused psychic linkage. Malcador theorized that these psi-uplinks were to allow secondary beacons to be created or allow other beings to power or influence it. Lastly and perhaps strangest of all the Deep-Warp linkage now allowed for excess psychic energy coming from the beacon or being focused on to it to be injected into Warp in strange patterned bursts that would inevitably lead to some form of God-Forging.

These changes worried Malcador, especially the fact that Terrawatt Warp-Sages were changing their estimates on how much Energy the so-called Astronomicon would take to operate. The original design would have already been intensely draining upon the operator but the changes increased the required Psychic power significantly. A truly massive amount of the Emperors power was going to be dedicated solely on keeping it lit and that drain was only going to increase once the Emperor left Terra.

The machine had already been a dangerous gamble on the Emperors part that required a solid chunk of his psychic power but this seemed less like a gamble but more of a mistake to Malcador. Especially with a certain trend Malcador had noticed. Ever since the Emperor had returned from the beacon his psychic power seemed dimmer. Not enough for a normal human to detect and not enough for most psykers but Malcadors warp-senses were some of the sharpest in human history.

A light temporary dimming would be little to worry about but the lessening of the Emperors power had not ended. If anything it had gotten worse. In the few years since the message Malcador had noted an approximately 1% decrease in his Lieges power, and with no sign of this downward trajectory stopping. He had tried to bring it up with the Emperor on numerous occasions and had gotten vague non-answers that typically could be summed up as "It is not something to worry about and it's under control"

These worries plagued Malcadors mind and nothing could put them to rest. Had they dodged a bullet with the message from the future or had they simply exposed themselves to other dangers? Malcador had walked about a quarter of the circumference of the amphitheater that formed the peak of the Astronomicon as he mentally debated his worrying thoughts. Within hours the Emperor would arrive from Luna and the next step would unfold.

Malcador shut his wizened eyes and simply hoped that he was wrong and all would go smoothly. Eventually an Adept entered the chamber and reached Malcador. He brought various tidings for the Sigillite to mull over. Two more highly probably Assa-Matrari candidates had been found. Initial reports from Uriah about Orioc were worrying and Chaotic taint was suspected. The last preparations for ignitions were going smoothly and the Emperor had left Luna along with highly classified Cargo. Soon the Master of Mankind would arrive and the next step upon the Shining Path would be taken.

Final nervous preparations were made and eventually, the private shuttle of the Emperor made Vox contact. The Auric Aquilla was inbound and additional menial servitors were requested for unloading extremely precious cargo. In a scene that mirrored the incident on Luna, the Emperor of Mankind arrived within the Hollow Mountain and was greeted by Malcador.

Yet much to Malcadors surprise, the Emperor was not accompanied solely by his Custodes. The minute the Dropships doors opened Malcador could sense them. Twenty Infant Demigods had come with their Father. The Sigillite simply raised an Eyebrow as he knelt before the Emperor "My Lord, why have you brought them?" asked Malcador in a slightly worried voice.

The Emperor simply smiled as twenty Gestation Capsules were emptied from his vessel. A Capsule marked I was moved by the servitors in between the Emperor and Malcador. Both peered at the sleeping fetus and Malcador realized his Masters intent. The Primarch floating inside was not a fetus any longer but an infant ready to be born.

"You intend to bring them into reality with the Astronomicon?" Malcador was shocked at first but soon the Emperor's logic dawned upon them. The Lighting of the Astronomicon would mark the beginning of a new age, the Age of Imperium. The Primarchs would be born with it forever binding them in the myth-forms of the Warp as champions of humanity and wardens of the Shining Path. This would dissolve any claim real or imagined the Ruinous Powers had to the Primarchs and break countless chains of fate bound around the infants and their destinies.

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