Chapter 190: The Discordant Engine
"How did you know?" Cegorach asked. "These three items are fragments of a Harmonic Engine. The Old Ones built it ages ago. Some disaster destroyed it, and the pieces were hidden across the galaxy."
"Does the Black Library contain the secret of how the Chaos Gods were born?" Raven asked.
Cegorach nodded. "The Black Library holds knowledge beyond mortal understanding. It records the birth of the Ruinous Powers. It explains the true nature of the C'tan. It even documents the origins of Chaos itself."
"I see." Raven understood now.
No wonder Vashtorr had been so obsessed with collecting the fragments in the original timeline. The Black Library held the secret to apotheosis, the path to godhood.
Once he obtained it, Vashtorr would have everything he needed to ascend. He could stand as an equal to the Chaos Gods.
If the Black Library truly contained such secrets, the Imperium could do far more than just defend against the Warp. The Immaterium wasn't just the domain of the four Ruinous Powers.
Many other entities existed there. 'Vashtorr the Arkifane'. 'Malice the Renegade God'. And countless others.
They fed on mortal emotion. They drew strength from events in real space.
The Chaos Gods corrupted the ignorant and desperate. Why couldn't the Imperium offer deals to those daemons who hungered for divinity?
If the enemy used such tactics, why shouldn't the Imperium?
"Why were they hidden?" the Emperor asked. His golden eyes fixed on the Laughing God's avatar.
Cegorach was silent for a moment. "You already know about the War in Heaven, the conflict between the Old Ones and the C'tan. Two races possessed the fundamental truths of reality. Both wielded godlike power."
"That war twisted the Immaterium beyond recognition. The despair and hatred of countless slave-races allowed the Chaos Gods to form from the psychic maelstrom."
"The Old Ones lost control of the Warp. They fell into disadvantage against the Star Gods. Ultimately, they were defeated in the War in Heaven."
"The Harmonic Engine was corrupted during this process. It became the Discordant Engine. It gained malevolent sentience and became something terrible."
"Before their final defeat, the Old Ones recognized the danger. They disassembled the Engine. They gave their fragments to their most loyal servants."
"After some time, those servants recognized the peril these devices represented. They sealed them away. Over millions of years, the former guardians declined one by one. Some were swept into the dust of history. The locations of the seals were lost."
"To enter the deepest vaults of the Black Library, you must gather those three components. You must reassemble the Discordant Engine. Only by using it to open the Webway can you reach the Black Library's heart."
Cegorach's expression grew grave. "But understand this. The Discordant Engine is corrupted. You must possess absolute certainty before wielding it, or it will control you instead."
"Caliban itself is Ouroboros, the Serpent That Eats Its Tail. It's the shell of the Discordant Engine. The Old Ones originally gave it to one of their most valued races. Beings of terrible power that even daemons feared."
"So those robed figures on Caliban are guardians left by the Old Ones?" Understanding flashed across Raven's mind.
"No wonder the Tzeentchian daemons were hunted down by the Watchers after they invaded The Rock. The Watchers in the Dark have been fighting daemons since the War in Heaven."
He finally understood why the Watchers assisted the Dark Angels but never revealed Caliban's true nature.
Caliban itself was a weapon of immense power. If its secret were exposed, it could easily be exploited. That would lead to a catastrophe.
"What of the other two fragments?" the Emperor asked.
Cegorach shook his head. "That knowledge is lost to me. They must be sought."
"I shall dispatch agents to locate them," the Emperor declared.
"Let Lion El'Jonson handle the recovery," Raven whispered telepathically to the Emperor. "Caliban is his homeworld, after all."
"The Lion is currently campaigning in the outer reaches. When he returns to find Caliban has been assembled into the Discordant Engine, he'll be furious."
The Emperor weighed the implications. Then he agreed to Raven's suggestion.
Acquiring the Old Ones' legacy was important, but this matter required a delicate touch. Not the Master of Mankind's personal intervention.
He would have Malcador coordinate the effort. The population of Caliban would need to be relocated.
Cegorach and the Emperor continued their discussions. The Laughing God recounted events surrounding Slaanesh's birth in terrible detail.
Few could share with the Emperor the experience of battling the Chaos Gods directly. Cegorach was the sole surviving member of the Aeldari Pantheon from that event. He had faced She Who Thirsts in direct combat.
His experience was invaluable.
Raven ignored their conversation. He launched himself from the Emperor's shoulder. He landed on a nearby Aeldari Farseer, one who possessed a slender frame and a graceful bearing.
"Yvraine?" Raven called out.
"Honored Lord Raven, you know of me?"
At this time, Yvraine had only recently completed her trials on the Path of the Seer. She had not yet become the renowned Emissary of Ynnead. The Whispering God's power had not touched her.
When Raven addressed her, she seemed startled and uncertain.
"Of course, I know you. Who doesn't know Yvraine, future companion of Roboute Guilliman, Lord of the Five Hundred Worlds," Raven muttered under his breath.
He certainly couldn't say that aloud.
If the Emperor learned this Aeldari Farseer would develop complicated relations with the Thirteenth Primarch in the future, He'd probably draw the Emperor's Sword and go after His own son.
He'd spent centuries creating the Primarchs. Only to have one seduced by a xenos witch.
Just imagining the Thirteenth Primarch holding Yvraine's hand and saying, "Father, you don't understand her. She's different from other Aeldari, " the Emperor would have a heart attack.
'He-He-He', even if this relationship was just in memes, wouldn't it be fun to have it in reality? Just imagining everyone's face...Hi-Hi...Mu-Ha-Ha-Ha'
"I have glimpsed your fate-line," Raven said carefully. "It is complex. Filled with hardship and trial. But if you persevere, you will achieve something remarkable."
"My fate-line?"
As a Farseer, Yvraine could perceive fragments of possible futures. But she had never seen anything concerning her own destiny.
"Yes," Raven nodded. "You may even become key to peaceful coexistence between humanity and the Aeldari."
"I don't understand."
"You don't need to. In time, you will," Raven said.
After the alliance discussions concluded, the Emperor ordered a banquet to honor the Aeldari delegation.
Taihou, Richelieu, and the other Kanmusu were invited to attend.
When these guests from another universe manifested their ship-forms, Cegorach's eyes widened in astonishment.
Eldrad Ulthran, Yvraine, and the other Aeldari Farseers were equally shocked.
Even at the height of their empire, the Aeldari had merely dominated the galaxy. They had never ventured beyond it and much less traveled to alternate realities.
Perhaps the Old Ones had achieved such feats. Their technology was sufficiently advanced. Their understanding is profound enough. Traversing to other galaxies or parallel universes would not have been beyond them.
But humanity?
Humanity had ventured into another universe and allied with its inhabitants?
The Aeldari of this fallen age could barely aspire to match humanity, much less surpass them.
Raven remained at the banquet only briefly. He ate several servings of the latest French fry flavoring. Then he departed.
He obtained a document from Malcador. Then he tore through the spatial barrier. He crossed instantly to the far side of the galaxy. He appeared on the World Eaters' flagship, the Conqueror.
Angron stood on the bridge. He was discussing the next military campaign with his company commanders, auxiliary army generals, ship captains, and other senior officers of the expeditionary force.
Raven materialized out of thin air, landing softly on Angron's shoulder guard.
The noisy bridge fell instantly silent; only the hum of machinery continued.
"Master Raven," Angron was first to react. He saluted the raven and simultaneously opened the Legion vox to order French fries and ketchup brought to the bridge.
The others quickly followed suit, offering their respects.
"Little Choppy, you've got a new assignment."
Raven passed Angron the document. The document bore the biometric seals of Malcador and the Emperor.
Angron opened it and carefully reviewed the contents. Raven was probably the laziest figurehead in the Imperium, leaving others behind in pursuit of laziness by severalfold. If he was here to deliver a document, it must be something important; these were the angers' thoughts.
"I'm to travel to the Galactic Core and persuade the Demiurg to join the Imperium."
The new orders from Terra disrupted Angron and his officers' original plans.
They'd been preparing to launch an offensive against a newly discovered xenos species. To purge them from Imperial space.
Now they'd have to complete Terra's assignment first.
"What do we know about the Demiurg?"
Angron looked at Raven, hoping for intelligence.
Raven shook his head. "Honestly, not much. It was the Emperor who glimpsed their existence while using the Golden Throne's enhanced perception."
"According to him, they possess technology from the dark ages. They're a stable abhuman strain. The preference would be for a peaceful integration. All we know currently is that they've established a powerful civilization in the Galactic Core."
Raven opened a holographic panel. It displayed the galaxy's structure.
The galaxy consisted of five primary regions. The Core, the nuclear bulge, the galactic disk, the stellar halo, and the galactic corona. An elliptical disk rotating around the supermassive black hole at its heart.
The Core had a diameter of twenty thousand light-years. Its thickness was ten thousand. This region was composed of densely packed stellar masses. Mainly red stars over ten billion years old.
In the holographic projection, the Core region showed red markers. They indicated the Demiurg's sphere of influence.
"They're approximately somewhere in this area."
Raven ate a French fry. He pointed to the markers.
"That region is saturated with massive stellar bodies, my lord. The Warp navigation will be challenging," Lotara Sarrin frowned as she observed the map.
Her uniform still bore bloodstains from the last boarding action. Despite being a baseline human woman, she was one of the Imperium's youngest ship captains and Angron's most trusted void officer.
Her exceptional command abilities earned her respect throughout the World Eaters Legion. She could even persuade Angron to abandon his gladiator's mindset. To think like a Primarch. Like a true commander.
Lotara approached the holographic projection. She manipulated the display. It revealed the overlapping gravitational influence ranges of the Core's stars.
Different stellar masses created interlocking gravity wells. They left only narrow corridors for safe Warp translation points.
The immense gravitational forces were sufficient to distort the barrier between realspace and the Immaterium. Even a minor miscalculation could tear a ship apart. All hands lost.
"Second-generation warships can ignore those limitations," Khârn offered. "They can transit safely within stellar gravity wells."
"But only a quarter of our fleet consists of second-generation vessels," Lotara countered. "The rest are first-generation designs. Those ships must translate beyond the Mandeville Point or be torn apart."
"This is a diplomatic mission," Librarian Varis interjected. "Not a war. There's no need to bring the entire fleet."
"Overwhelming force is the foundation of successful negotiation," Lotara said as she met his gaze. "We must make the Demiurg understand the consequences of opposing the Imperium."
"Only by demonstrating that the Imperium possesses sufficient strength to crush them will they willingly negotiate in good faith. And sign a treaty."
"That's a narrow perspective," Varis replied. "Displaying military might doesn't guarantee peace."
[End of Chapter]
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