My Life as A Death Guard
Chapter 518: The Astronomican
[ Terra ]
Dorn knelt on one knee before the steps of the Golden Throne, his face as rigid as stone.
"Father, Vulcan and I are ready to reignite the Astronomican."
The man upon the Throne remained motionless. Dorn raised his head, gazing at the solemn countenance of the Master of Mankind. Countless golden flames roared around the Emperor, yet they paled in comparison to the blinding radiance of the Emperor himself.
+Prepare to reignite.+
Dorn nodded. "Yes."
Without a backward glance, Dorn strode away.
The lumen-globes in the palace corridors cast mottled light upon the stone-faced Primarch. The Imperial Fists waiting outside fell into step behind him, marching through the labyrinthine depths of the palace. They were going to reignite the Astronomican.
Just as Dorn himself had extinguished it.
Back then, the Emperor had commanded him to put out the Astronomican within twenty-four hours.
Dorn had known all too well the consequences of extinguishing the Astronomican. Ships adrift in the Warp would be unable to return; Astropaths would be driven mad; and countless battle lines, relying on their communication links, would collapse in an instant.
This step would cost many lives. Dorn knew this all too well.
But this was the Emperor's command.
He was the Imperial Fist, the defender of the Imperial Palace, the unyielding rock guarding the Emperor's will. Dorn said nothing. He merely asked his question as usual, and after receiving the Emperor's answer, he set out to extinguish the Astronomican.
The journey was far from smooth. He fought Vulcan, who had rushed out in tears, the Lord of Drakes desperately trying to persuade the Emperor to abandon this course of action. Dorn did nothing else; he simply knocked Vulcan down, knocked him unconscious, and continued on his way.
Next, the Perpetuals came to obstruct him. Dorn was forced to fight again, and he succeeded once more.
Finally, the Astropathic Choir stood in his way. Extinguishing the Astronomican would mean the loss of countless skilled, active Astropaths and the Navigator Houses, whose ties to the Astropathic Choir were deeply intertwined.
Faced with the Astropathic Choir's aggressive questioning, accusations, and attacks, Dorn did not yield.
Finally, the psyker, pinned to the wall by the Imperial Fists and bound in a psychic restraint device, glared viciously at Dorn and spat,
"The Astropathic Choir will never serve the Imperial Fists again!"
"Very well," Dorn replied. Then he turned and walked away, having fulfilled his mission before the final second ticked by.
Now, three months after the Astronomican had gone dark and Terra had fallen silent in the absence of war, the Emperor commanded Dorn to reignite the Astronomican.
Dorn, who had been buried in the fortification of Terra's defenses, looked up from his construction site and returned to the Emperor's presence to receive his orders.
No questions. No doubts. No confusion.
For he was Rogal Dorn.
Rogal Dorn, chosen by the Emperor to guard Terra.
Dorn knew war had broken out. He knew that far away, in the Eye of Terror above Terra, brothers were slaughtering brothers on a sea of blood. He knew of the Imperium Nihilus to the east, where the fallen lived in torment.
Countless armies were assembling, marching toward the battlefields in a desperate bid to win this war. But among the armies joining the fray, not a single Imperial Fist would be found—for they had to guard Terra.
Rounding another bend, Dorn saw Vulcan. The Emperor had previously sent Vulcan into the Webway, and though Dorn did not know exactly what he had been sent to do, the Emperor had now ordered Vulcan to assist him in relighting the Astronomican.
Vulcan swallowed hard and approached Dorn, his expression tinged with guilt.
"Forgive me, brother."
"I understand," Dorn said, and together they walked toward the Hollow Mountains. "Did He tell you when to relight the Astronomican?"
Vulcan nodded, but Dorn saw the uncertainty in the Lord of Drakes' eyes. Vulcan hesitated. "He wanted me to see for myself, to discern the truth within the rifts of the Webway. I saw many incomprehensible things—darkness, labyrinths, a shattered and shining Sanguinius... But I think I know when the Astronomican must be relit."
Vulcan opened his mouth, then closed it, then opened it again.
"Beyond the shore where the eternal sun and bright moon set together, beyond the shore where darkness and tide surge in unison, to keep from sleeping forever, people must light the lamps of the stars."
Dorn's brow furrowed imperceptibly. "There are no words describing time in that."
Vulcan opened his mouth wide, then closed it, then opened it again, like a fish out of water. "This is... this is a metaphor. I can't decipher it, but I know that when I see it—I'll know it's the moment."
"What do you think?" Dorn asked.
Vulcan paced back and forth restlessly. "Intuition."
"Very well," Dorn said. "Tell me when to ignite the Astronomican."
Vulcan froze. He stood rooted to the spot for a moment before immediately catching up to Dorn. "Aren't you going to ask me anything else?"
Vulcan watched as Dorn's gaze shifted to his face, studying him for a long moment.
"You are Vulcan. You have not betrayed us. The Emperor commanded me to ask you for the timing."
"What else is there to ask, Vulcan?" Dorn said.
Vulcan looked as if he wanted to say something, but the Lord of Drakes ultimately said nothing. He followed Dorn, his shoulders slumped in dejection.
"...I am sorry for my impulsive actions back then."
"Your actions were indeed wrong, absolutely wrong," Dorn said. "If I had not been stronger than you, you would have caused the entire plan to fail."
Vulcan sighed. Dorn still refused to speak, and Vulcan said no more, following him into the great hall.
There, the Imperial Fists had assembled one hundred thousand psykers.
They were the fuel for the Astronomican.
Vulcan felt his eyes moisten again, but he said nothing. He turned his face away, unable to bear the pleading expressions of the psykers.
In the distance, he saw figures in religious vestments. He wondered why Blood Angels who had been stationed on Terra were guarding them, but this time, he said nothing.
He stood beside Dorn as they boarded the elevator, ascending toward the surface of the Hollow Mountains.
At last, the two Primarchs stood upon the desolate, cold earth of Terra, waiting for the moment the Astronomican would be rekindled.
Above them, the Great Eye flickered.