Chapter 40: Malcador and the Emperor
The lights flickered once, then stabilized into a steady glow. Malcador, the grey-robed elder, gazed upon the Eleventh Primarch with deep regret etched across his weathered features.
"Your existence is nearly perfect, filled with wisdom and grace. Yet you were born into the Rangdan civilization and received a flawed, corrupted education. The environment in which one grows shapes character and thought; this applies to Primarchs as surely as to lesser beings."
Malcador paused, his voice heavy with sorrow. "Still, seeing you now...I feel profound regret. Why do you not stand with humanity? Why do you not remain loyal to the Emperor?"
The Eleventh Primarch rose slowly to his feet, his movements measured and deliberate, those of a contemplative sage. He approached the chamber door and looked at the old man with an unsettling calm.
"Perhaps I am wrong in your eyes and the Emperor's. But understand this: the Rangdan built a great and glorious civilization spanning vast star fields. It is in no way inferior to the current Imperium. Humans and countless xenos races lived together peacefully, communicating and progressing as one."
He continued with quiet conviction. "There are many humans within that Grand Alliance. I cannot see that growing up in such an environment was fundamentally wrong."
"The Emperor has never attempted genuine peaceful coexistence with the xenos. While rare in the galaxy, alliances and cooperation between xenos races are not uncommon. Humans and xenos can coexist as a unified civilization. I have seen this with my own eyes."
Malcador heard these words and released a weary sigh.
"Do you not see the evil in what the Rangdan have done? They enslaved other races for their own gain, child. You have walked down a path far too corrupted."
The Eleventh Primarch gave a soft, bitter laugh. Tears formed at the corners of his eyes as he responded with sudden vehemence.
"That is infinitely better than your Imperium's endless wars of annihilation. You have completely destroyed a great civilization. All of this...stems from the Emperor's naked ambition. HE is the true enemy and demon to countless worlds."
"Do you have any inkling of how many alien civilizations have been obliterated? Those were living beings, Malcador. Entire worlds of sentient life."
His voice rose with barely contained emotion. "YOUR species is cruel beyond measure. YOUR ideology of human supremacy is nothing but arrogance, a catastrophic mistake from its very inception. It has birthed only endless war."
"ENOUGH!!"
A majestic voice suddenly thundered through the corridor with overwhelming power. The entire palace shook violently. Dust cascaded from the ceiling, and Malcador's oil lamp trembled in his grip, its flame flickering dangerously as if it might extinguish at any moment.
All these signs betrayed the unimaginable fury radiating from the newcomer.
When the trembling ceased, a three-meter-tall figure in gleaming golden armor materialized beside Malcador. Muscular and imposing, radiating sacred and godlike majesty, the Emperor of Mankind had arrived.
The Emperor gazed upon his son. The Eleventh Primarch gazed back. They faced each other across the threshold, both utterly calm and completely unyielding.
The Emperor spoke with absolute firmness. "You should don armor and take up your sword. Lead your own legion and fight for humanity. This is the path you must walk."
The Eleventh Primarch shook his head with equal resolve. "This was nothing more than a selfish father's carefully constructed destiny for his son. But I embarked upon my own righteous path long ago, and I have my own fate to fulfill. I once commanded my own legion, but they all fell beneath the swords of the Imperium."
He paused, his voice hardening. "Yet I do not believe I was wrong. This merely proves the brutality of you and your Imperium. I say this plainly: cease this endless war. We can coexist peacefully with the alien races among the stars. We can understand one another. This too is a fight for humanity."
The Emperor's expression turned to ice.
"So you fight for humanity as well? I have poured my very essence into you. I believed you were my perfect son, yet you have disappointed me beyond measure."
His voice grew colder with each word. "The more perfect you appear now, the more rotten I perceive you to be. Countless enemies may stand against us on the battlefield. They may kill us. But they cannot destroy our thoughts and will. Yet in you, I see the corruption and decay of everything we stand for."
The Emperor paused, then turned away with finality. "I have nothing more to say to you."
The Eleventh Primarch remained silent, offering no response.
The Emperor's magnificent figure disappeared into the surrounding darkness. His presence, once so dominating, evaporated like a shadow at dawn.
Malcador stood holding his oil lamp, gazing upon the now expressionless Primarch before him. He felt a mixture of reluctance and profound disappointment.
The Emperor was, in truth, remarkably tolerant of the Primarchs, but this one, Malcador believed, had lost his mind entirely.
"Reflect carefully on what has transpired here, child," Malcador said wearily as he began his slow retreat. "Do not force us to exhaust our patience."
The old man walked away, leaving the Eleventh Primarch alone in the shadows.
The Eleventh Primarch gazed out into the empty, dark space beyond the chamber. He stood motionless for a long time, then shook his head slowly. He turned and returned to his meditation cushion.
He sat and fell into contemplation. The Emperor and Malcador would never understand what he had lost. The Rangdan civilization was not merely an ideology; it was the environment in which he had been raised, the world in which he had formed his identity.
Everything he had known existed there.
Now that the Rangdan civilization had perished, he had lost everything.
The Emperor and the Imperium remained completely foreign to him. His only understanding of them came from the endless killing in warfare.
He did not believe his thinking was wrong. If anything was wrong, it was only that he stood on the side of the Rangdan civilization rather than on that of humanity. But that civilization was gone now, destroyed by the very beings who now sought to imprison him.
Within the Imperial Palace, the Emperor had failed once again to reach an accord with the Eleventh Primarch. The Primarch remained imprisoned, with no indication of eventual release.
Yet other Primarchs, Roboute Guilliman, Lion El'Jonson, and Rogal Dorn among them, refused to abandon their brother to this fate.
They had all experienced the grief of losing the Second Primarch to execution. When it became clear the Eleventh faced a similar doom, the other Primarchs made earnest efforts to win him over, to find some path toward reconciliation.
Malcador did not conceal the details of his conversations with the Eleventh from Guilliman, El'Jonson, Dorn, and the other senior Primarchs. When they heard the full account, they fell into troubled silence, each lost in their own contemplation.
All the cities across Terra became bustling and vibrant with celebration. Yet within the Legiones Astartes and the Imperial Palace, the atmosphere grew increasingly eerie and tense.
Rumors about the Eleventh Primarch had begun to spread through the ranks. As time passed, these rumors intensified.
Opposition to the Eleventh Primarch gradually became mainstream discourse, and the dissent began to spread downward to officers of the Imperial Army itself.
For several consecutive days, Omega led the Alpha Legion's Space Marines through mandatory ideological and political instruction.
He taught them to remain loyal to humanity and the Emperor above all else. The relentless repetition made many of them hot-headed with fervor, while Alpharius, who was quietly probing for deeper information about the Eleventh's situation, remained in a genuinely foul mood.
Omega seemed aware of the rumors circulating among the ranks regarding the mysterious Eleventh Primarch, but he displayed little apparent concern. He spent his free time engaged in his favorite pursuit: studying complex physical theoretical models.
One afternoon, Alpharius opened the door to Omega's office and approached his brother, who remained deeply focused on studying physics formulas at his desk.
Alpharius looked genuinely speechless, clutching a sheet of paper covered entirely in complex mathematical notations.
"Brother, you're attempting to master space teleportation technology?"
Omega replied with calm certainty. "The Rangdan have already made substantial progress in space technology. The Imperium should possess this knowledge as well. I happen to find space technology absolutely fascinating."
Alpharius nodded slowly, though his expression suggested deeper contemplation. "The Rangdan civilization mastered space jumps, yes. But so have the green-skinned Orks; they possess functional teleportation technology. The Imperium's true adversaries in future conflicts will be those who command space technology."
"If humanity is to survive and thrive, we must master it as well."
Alpharius paused, then his expression hardened. He spoke with genuine seriousness. "You have remained silent and seemingly unconcerned about the Eleventh Primarch, who is also our brother. What are your true thoughts on this matter?"
"Do you agree with his foolish ideology? Do you believe he is not wrong?"
Omega chuckled, completely untroubled by the direct challenge. He set aside his work and turned to face his brother fully.
"The path the Emperor has marked for humanity is not wrong. I have fought through thirty years of constant warfare, and I know this truth intimately. For the human race to survive and prosper in this cosmos, war is inevitable. We must accept the cost it demands."
Alpharius leaned forward. "Then why do you remain silent about all of this?"
Omega's response was measured and deliberate. "I am a general who commands legions. My responsibility is to achieve victory for humanity on the battlefield. The question of the Eleventh Primarch is not my burden to carry. That matter rests with the Emperor to decide."
He smiled slightly. "As for your comment about learning from the Lion, you are more transparent than you realize, brother."
[End of Chapter]