Sondheim VIII, the trench encircling the equator.
Nareth brought only three others: Mikael, Adams, and Nicholas.
He followed the gleaming adamantium vein to its end at the cliff, looking down into the deep trench.
He saw tentacle-like vines entwining the churches. Specters shrieked.
Light and shadow flickered in the Primarch's eyes. He took in the entire planet's structure.
The trench below was the world's center, both in reality and the supernatural.
In the physical dimension, its depth was bottomless. It was calm, without a ripple, truly a dead sea.
The "Mentor of Disorder" activated his Spirit Vision. All he saw was a vast whiteness.
Nicholas walked to the cliff's edge, standing a step behind the Black Emperor, gazing into the abyss.
"My Lord, this place reminds me of Krakagad, of the legends of Fenris's underworld."
"On the last day of summer, when the Wolf's Eye is closest, as the Wolf Moon rises, the specters of the Heroes' Barrow return to the world where they made their legends."
"Legend says, if you pass through the Siltir Gate at Krakagad then, you can reach the underworld, the realm of the dead."
Nareth nodded. He knew the Wolf's Eye was the star of the Fenris system.
The last day of summer was Fenris's perihelion.
He also remembered that passing through the underworld gate was not easy.
During the Heresy, seeking a way to defeat Horus, Russ returned to Fenris. Almost all the Wolves' Stormseers sacrificed their lives to open a path for him.
'Could this world of specters also have an underworld?'
'Or, is the underworld itself a dimension of the Warp, but on worlds like Fenris and Sondheim VIII, the veil is thinner, and death overlaps with reality?'
'If it is indeed connected to the underworld, then it's no wonder the psychic phenomena make people see themselves as xenos. After all, one of the "Death" authorities is enslavement. He is the enslaver of all things.'
The "Spirit Guide's" ability to control and enslave specters was a manifestation of that authority at Sequence 6.
With a rough idea of the trench, Nareth immediately decided to investigate.
The specters and adamantium of Sondheim VIII were immensely valuable. Considering his poor relationship with Russ, it was more convenient for the "Death" Pathway beyonders, the "Gatekeepers," to operate on his own turf.
Once he confirmed the trench held an underworld entrance, Adams and the others could advance quickly.
With ten-thousand-armed banshees found under every dome, he had no shortage of "Gatekeeper" potion ingredients.
"Descend." As he gave the order, living metal rapidly spread, covering his black armor.
His wings beat. He dove into the deep trench.
The moment he entered the water, a bone-deep chill enveloped him. His body trembled slightly.
With a thought, the warmth from the Burning One fragment dispelled the cold.
The "Spirit Guide" Adams felt nothing. His body was colder than ice.
Nicholas shuddered. The supernatural cold slowed his thoughts.
The "Wind-Blessed" extended his spiritual energy, trying to control the surrounding water.
The moment his spiritual energy touched the water, it felt as heavy and cold as ice.
Piercing shrieks sounded. Countless sharp-beaked faces lunged at him.
The venomous faces grew closer. Their beaks swelled like ice picks.
The water under the "Wind-Blessed's" control began to spin slowly.
The beaks struck the indistinct water screen, producing a piercing screech.
Then, the attacking specters vanished. The surrounding water receded.
He found himself in a hive city. Warm sunlight shone on his quivering wing membranes.
The calls of the sharp-beaked creatures around him were warm and familiar.
'I have "grown" wing membranes. I have become a xeno.'
'I am trapped in psychic hallucinations.'
In an instant, Nicholas ascended to the third level of the Thelema mindstate.
The illusory, towering buildings shattered like mirrors. He was back in the cold water.
Mikael, the only Sequence 5 beyonder besides Nareth, felt his body stiffen. His terrifying speed slowed.
The "Scarlet Scholar" activated his Spirit Vision, looking at the surrounding sea. He saw thick, green-tinged spiritual energy.
Knowing the moon, he knew he should make it disappear.
He extended his spiritual energy. The moon reflected in the water vanished.
In their Spirit Vision, the green rapidly dimmed. The specters vanished.
The vines entwining the xenos churches loosened, drifting in the water.
The cold receded. The "Scarlet Scholar" consumed his spiritual energy to keep the surrounding area clear.
Their speed suddenly increased. They dodged the churches, accelerating downward.
The water pressure on Adams and the others' helmet displays increased rapidly. But as beyonders who had enhanced their bodies, they far surpassed ordinary Astartes. Natural pressure was not a major obstacle.
The "Wind-Blessed" was as agile as a fish, following close behind Nareth.
Nareth noticed that after entering the water, there were no living creatures, only vines and specters.
No sea life. No coral.
In the desolation, as the depth gauge on their helmets passed four thousand meters, a pale light caught Nareth's eye.
A chill, rotting, decaying aura rushed towards them. Nareth immediately knew he had found it.
The aura of the underworld.
With a thought, the space simian began rapidly concocting the Sequence 5 "Gatekeeper" potion, using the crystal core and remaining powder from the ten-thousand-armed banshee and other materials.
The "Scarlet Scholar" suddenly felt his spiritual energy drain twice as fast as before.
As his temples throbbed, a bottle of ethereal liquid appeared in Nareth's right hand.
Light flickered in the Primarch's eyes. A telekinetic hand slammed into Adams.
The irresistible, mountain-like pressure pushed him forward.
He shot like a torpedo, reaching the pale light in an instant.
Since becoming a "Corpse Collector," Adams had never felt cold.
For the first time in decades, he felt cold.
As a bone-deep chill enveloped his body, freezing his thoughts, a potion appeared before him. A voice sounded in his mind.
"Drink it."
He understood. Though he didn't know why the Black Emperor wanted him to drink it here, he knew he was receiving another bestowal.
The vox link was long broken. He couldn't voice his thanks. He calmly took the potion.
A dark vortex spiraled from the bottle's mouth to its base.
He opened it and drank.
The potion felt like it was tearing him apart.
Not only his body, but his spirit.
He saw a pale vortex appear in the silent trench.
Within the vortex, thousands of xenos faces shrieked.
The vortex led straight to the seafloor, growing wider the deeper it went.
His gaze passed through the entire vortex, seeing a realm of the dead.
Walking corpses walked. Banshees shrieked in unison...
The vortex within Adams grew. An ethereal gate appeared.
The surrounding specters involuntarily surged towards him.
A pale form shot up from the vortex's depths.
As the first specter neared Adams, the pale form's arm reached out, its arm and forearm extending.
In an instant, its fingers were below the specter.
Its sharp beak let out a terrified cry. Its wing membranes beat, fleeing in panic.
Specters fled in panic. The pale hand eagerly reached for the ethereal gate.
It grasped the gate, pulling.
The pale form shot up like a spring, throwing itself into the gate.
Adams's body trembled. The gate closed.
Feeling the powerful banshee within him, combined with the information flooding his mind, he understood his abilities as a newly advanced "Gatekeeper."
A "Gatekeeper" uses his own body as a cage, creating a small, personal underworld.
He can house a certain number of spirits, specters, and nature spirits within him, gaining various abilities from them, powerful allies.
He no longer needed to lead a conspicuous army of the dead, as he had for the past dozen days.
As Adams organized the information in his mind, the chill rose again.
The "Scarlet Scholar's" spiritual energy was depleted. He could no longer keep the area clear.
The bone-deep cold enveloped Nicholas and Mikael, nearly freezing them.
Seeing this, Nareth used telekinesis to envelop the three.
The "Mentor of Disorder" extended his spiritual energy. He stepped, sometimes rising a hundred meters, sometimes crossing a kilometer.
In seconds, he was out of the water.
Adams stepped onto the cliff, immediately kneeling.
"Thank You, my Lord, for Your gift."
Nareth nodded slightly, his gaze fixed on the trench. He instructed.
"No one without death power is to approach within five kilometers of the equator."
"By Your will." Adams acknowledged, then walked down the cliff, towards the spectral army obeying his command.
The "Gatekeeper" extended his spiritual energy, ordering them to approach.
Specter after specter entered his body.
The next day, Nareth again entered the trench, taking 1st Company Captain Oliver, Fifth Company Captain Keon, and fourteen others, to advance to "Gatekeeper" where they could feel the underworld's aura.
Knowing he could not yet control the underworld, even if it was limited to the Sondheim system, and having become a Perpetual and unlocked the eleventh layer, giving him some 'recklessness' ability, he did not investigate further.
The prerequisite for 'recklessnes'" is a reasonable chance of success, not impossibility.
Nareth decided to go to another pre-selected 'reckless' location on the return journey.
.....
If you enjoy the story, my p@treon is 30 chapters ahead.
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