958.M30.
Cyclops Cluster, Rebo system.
On the bridge of the Sixth Chapter's flagship, Fortune, Chapter Master Flamini stood before the hololithic strategic table.
The projection flickered.
All the lumen lights went out.
A chorus of stifled gasps rose from the bridge.
Flamini opened a comm channel. "No need for alarm."
"Adjust power distribution. Reduce weapons systems supply by thirty percent. Prioritize lighting and the augur array."
The light flickered, playing across Flamini's smooth face.
Fizz!
After a moment of flickering, the overhead lumen lights stabilized, illuminating the bridge.
Flamini studied the augur report on the view screen.
[Anomalous magnetic interference.]
[Cause unknown.]
His gaze returned to the holographic image.
The immense construct lay within a debris field, surrounded by the wreckage of countless ships.
A point of light rapidly expanded.
Spiral rings and nodes, like a genetic helix formed from electrostatic cut light, slowly gyrated.
Flamini's superhuman mind raced, trying to discern a pattern, to map the planes and vertices.
A strange vision materialized in his mind.
The "Winner" leaned forward, staring at the unfolding image.
A dance of artistry.
Planes shifting.
Stone columns pushing and pulling.
The "Winner" was captivated. He gave the order: "Open the viewports."
Motors groaned. The shutters descended.
Flamini strode to the full wall of viewports.
As they drew closer, the menacing, prison-like structure silenced the officers who had been tensely examining their reports.
The Shadows of Order stared solemnly at the approaching inverted pyramid.
Massive columns began hundreds of kilometers from the structure, ending at its black surface, like the teeth of a shadow-bound great hound.
Passing to the sides of the columns was impossible. Ships would have to fly straight down the center, like a funeral procession.
The diviner-psyker stared at the majestic construct in the void. Suddenly, a vision flooded his obsidian eyes: A foul sewer. He, a child, leading ragged human refugees through a sump.
The vision vanished.
A memory, not recalled for decades, suddenly surfaced, making the "Winner" uneasy, as if the stone knew something of his past.
The diviner-psyker gathered his thoughts, entering the First Level of the Magnus state, and tried to find a mooring point.
Moments later, he gave up in frustration.
The black structure, as if carved from a single block of obsidian by some master craftsman, was seamless.
It had no doors, no platforms for docking.
The communicator built into his helmet buzzed.
Flamini answered. The authoritative voice of the Black Emperor sounded over the vox channel.
"Flamini, board an Aquila Lander. Accompany me to the fortress prepared for you."
"By your will." Flamini acknowledged instinctively, his eyes fixed on the unsettling polyhedron.
The profound shadow cast by the structure opened like a gaping maw.
The "Winner" suppressed the urge to assemble his entire Chapter and issued the order.
The elegant Aquila Lander flew from the Fortune.
The "Winner" Flamini rose uneasily from his comfortable seat. A strange, alien substance seemed to coat the icy, gleaming light.
A terrifying, malevolent entity stared into his eyes, into his soul.
Golden wings reflected in his eyes. The "Winner" felt the Black Emperor's majestic presence pierce the icy, terrifying void, shining into the cabin.
Through the viewport, Flamini saw the majestic, black-armored, golden-winged form of the Black Emperor, looking at him with a smile.
His tense body gradually relaxed.
Nareth withdrew his gaze, staring at the Blackstone Fortress.
'Blackstone Fortress, your sealed doors, closed for countless ages, are now about to open.'
'I've gone to great lengths. I won't just scratch the surface, like the Mechanicum.'
In Nareth's memory, the Mechanicus's utilization of the Blackstone Fortress over thousands of years was, literally, superficial.
They had never penetrated the interior of any Fortress.
The naval bases and orbital facilities they'd built were all on the surface.
The only Fortress the Imperium had ever entered was the seventh, discovered on the edge of the Segmentum Pacificus.
There, the portal had been open all along, with xenos like the Psychneuein making their homes within the immense construct.
Barton Drake, whom Nareth had cultivated within the Solar Auxilia, had a collateral branch of his family elevated to Rogue Trader status.
Ten thousand years later, the son of the then-Rogue Trader, young Drake, would be the first human to set foot in a Blackstone Fortress's control chamber.
Nareth did not count Abaddon, or Huron to whom Abaddon gifted a Fortress, as human.
As he pondered, black mist coalesced in both his palms. An object appeared in each.
Nareth raised his gauntlet, holding the jet-black eyeball, and looked towards the Blackstone Fortress.
The Eye of Night turned, emitting a faint glow.
As the pale light flickered, a miniature Blackstone Fortress reflected in his eyes.
A vision unfolded, vastly different from the naked eye view, revealing mysteries beyond even the perception of the Warp.
Countless Aeldari runes, some never seen in Slau Dha's deepest memories, projected onto his retinas. Nareth instantly understood their meaning.
His Primarch mind raced, comprehending the functions of the control runes.
Warp energy cannons.
Sealed docking bays. Vast hangars.
...
Nareth held the Hand of Darkness in his right hand. With a thought, a finger slid.
In the void, the colossal columns rotated.
A dazzling light flared in the darkness.
The "Winner" Flamini looked out his viewport, following the light.
A diamond-shaped portal slowly opened, revealing dozens of faintly glowing platforms.
He gazed with awe at the Black Emperor's majestic form, watching the black Aquila fly towards the nearest platform.
The "Winner" Flamini stepped onto a platform. As he approached the Black Emperor standing before a massive door, his obsidian eyes filled with visions:
Blood-soaked Manachia. Glowing anemones. Tentacles holding psykers as fuel for weapons aimed at him.
In his moment of despair, a black-armored, golden-winged figure descended from the sky.
Twisted visions unfolded before him, blurring Flamini's perception of past and future.
In a daze, he saw the Black Emperor raise a black claw, its middle finger flicking.
Fwoosh!
The twisted, psychic projections vanished.
"You will secretly dispatch Shadows of Order and crew to take control of and familiarize yourselves with the Blackstone Fortress."
With the Hand of Darkness and the Eye of Night, Nareth could locate a Blackstone Fortress and, using his psychic powers, manipulate it remotely.
But he would not move this Fortress.
Although Tzeentch would likely discover it and might secretly cause trouble, He was unlikely to directly reveal the Blackstone Fortress's existence in the Cyclops Cluster to Horus.
Firstly, He is an entity of riddles, rarely making things clear to His followers.
Speaking plainly would be most un-Tzeentchian.
The only examples Nareth knew of were Kairos reminding Lorgar of a choice, and His actions during the Plague Wars to hinder Nurgle.
Secondly, even after his fall, Horus had always resisted total corruption.
The last vestige of that resistance was after he was wounded by Leman Russ, when Lorgar seized control.
The Primarch's attendant, the Corruptor Maloghurst, discovered that a part of the Warmaster's soul, a part that was good, refused to submit to the Chaos Gods, keeping him in a perpetual coma.
Maloghurst knew Horus only wanted to use Chaos to overthrow the Yellow Emperor, refusing to become a slave to the Four.
To resolve this crisis, Maloghurst entered Horus's Warp-imago, sacrificing his life to extinguish the last of Horus's good soul.
Only then did Horus truly master the power of Chaos, but also become a slave to the Four.
Nareth did not believe Tzeentch would reveal the Fortress to Horus before he became a true slave.
Even if he failed to anticipate the ever-changing Tzeentch, it wouldn't matter. The Blackstone Fortress's power would be unaffected.
It would remain a weapon capable of influencing the course of the war.
In the Empyrean, Tzeentch shifted His gaze from Magnus, whose one eye had changed from yellow to blue, to the Blackstone Fortress.
"Blackstone Fortress..."
"Fate..."
"Change..."
....
If you enjoy the story, my p@treon is 30 chapters ahead.
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