Tizca, Eastern Mountains, Scholar's Tower.
The gold-and-silver bookshelves were packed with massive tomes, transparent data-crystals, carved prints, inscribed bones, and scrolls bound in leather.
The gilded hall felt cramped, especially with two giants standing inside it.
Magnus the Red, his crimson hair gleaming, stood tall. His single eye glowed an inspired pale blue, speckled with traces of brown.
"Azhek Ahriman told me," Magnus began, "that there are those in the War Council who despise the psychic might of our two Legions, who slander us as witches abusing unclean sorcery."
"Yet Father once described to me a vision of the future, a new human age of enlightenment and progress, where scientists, philosophers, and warriors would build a glorious tomorrow together."
"Tragically, some still wander in fog, blind to truth. They doubt what is precious and mistrust those brave enough to seek the unknown."
Magnus turned his gaze to Nareth, his single eye full of light.
"We could walk side by side in many fields, to seek that radiant, enlightened future."
"We could find common ground against those narrow-minded souls."
Magnus extended his right hand expectantly.
Nareth took it. "Indeed," he said.
"And we will not be alone."
He thought silently:
'Sanguinius will return in 843, and Jaghatai Khan not long after.'
'Magnus's rebirth and the Thousand Sons' rise will draw the eyes of many, giving my beyonders a chance to hide within the Librarius once more.'
"Our cooperation," Nareth said aloud, "should not be limited to fending off others' accusations."
"When you saved your sons, I traveled into the wastelands."
Magnus's gaze dimmed to gray; his tone grew sorrowful.
"If there truly exists such a thing as a curse of talent, then the Psychneuein are that curse, upon all who grasp the secrets of the aether."
"Many I knew were slain by them. I still remember the males swarmed together a storm of claws and stingers. Fifty men died in an instant. Then came the females, their abdomens swollen with phantasmal eggs, and dozens of my friends fell to their knees in terror as those eggs were implanted in their minds."
He paused, lost in the memory.
"Even now, their screams echo in my head. That cruelty will never fade."
"That," Nareth said softly, "is exactly why the threat of the Psychneuein must be dealt with."
Magnus shook his head.
"They are too dangerous, even for Astartes. Let Tizca remain a Kingdom of light and leave the wasteland to them. That is the best course."
"My sons should not waste themselves fighting the Psychneuein. Our duty is to collect and record all knowledge we can, to bring enlightenment to more of our human kin."
"No," Nareth replied, his amber eyes gleaming with conviction.
"Before conquering the stars, one must first conquer one's home, to leave behind a safe Kingdom for your people."
"The Thousand Sons, gifted with psychic talent, will face immense trouble if they attempt to purge the Psychneuein. I am willing to help you, to cleanse them."
Magnus's eye brightened instantly. He thought for a few seconds before answering:
"But that will come at a great cost. Many of your Shadows of Order will die."
"There will be sacrifices," Nareth acknowledged, "but not as many as you imagine."
The beyonders were not like the Thousand Sons; they did not shine like beacons to the Shadows.
That meant, with proper tactics, the number of enemies faced could be kept within limits.
The Shadows of Order could use their supernatural gifts to hunt and cleanse them, a trial for their kind, a forge for hunters to hone their power.
"Such sacrifices are worth it," Nareth said with a smile. "My sons will aid the people of Prospero, and in this city of scholars, they too will learn wisdom."
He expected a reward in kind, the future treasure of Prospero's knowledge.
He remembered that after the Burning of Prospero, Magnus rebuilt the Pergamon Hall and restored around sixty million volumes from memory, yet even that number could not compare to the countless libraries of Tizca.
"On behalf of Prospero and all her people," Magnus said, bowing slightly, "I thank you and your Shadows of Order."
"They shall be treated as equals to my Thousand Sons, and knowledge will make them wiser."
Magnus's eye gleamed again.
"Now, let us begin our exchange."
Moments later, Amon entered with several apprentices, carrying silver trays.
"These fresh fruits," Amon said, "were grown using psionic array fields deep within the mountain caverns. They are as sweet and juicy as any on other worlds."
When Amon departed, Nareth sat down on a stone chair and picked up a fragrant mango.
He bit into it. Sweet nectar filled his mouth.
"Remarkable," he said. "Even underground, deprived of sunlight, you can grow fruit of such flavor."
Magnus smiled.
"That is the power of knowledge, a miracle the ignorant will never understand."
As they ate, Magnus spoke of his travels through the wastelands after exhausting the knowledge within Tizca.
"I crossed one ruined city after another until I reached a settlement clinging to a cliffside."
"Climbing a mountain path, I saw a tall stone statue at a turn in the road, a magnificent multicolored bird, wings spread as if ready to soar. Its long neck was graceful. It stood at the cliff's edge."
Nareth's eyes flickered. The colorful bird sparked a suspicion and a memory of this journey.
"As I admired its beauty, it toppled from its base."
"The sight filled me with inexplicable grief, yet at the spot where it fell, the fragments formed a distinct pattern."
"Three large pieces formed a perfect equilateral triangle. Four white ones made a flawless square."
"Then, by removing two white pieces and adding two gray fragments a meter away, it became a perfect diamond."
"Using five pieces, I could form a pentagon equal in area to the triangle, and within it, a smaller hexagon.
"There were also decagons, intersecting triangles, concentric circles, and tricolored red-gray-white designs."
Magnus retrieved a tome from the shelf.
"I recorded all of them in this codex."
"When I began writing the second, Amon found me; he had once been my mentor.
At first, he dismissed them as random stones, but after reading my notes, he was deeply moved."
"I returned to Tizca and shared my findings with my former teachers. They were enthralled, awed by the beauty of natural geometry."
"But, as in all moments of revelation, they forgot discipline… and then came the Psychneuein."
"I can understand that," Nareth said.
Having gained the power of Geometry after ascending to the Baron of Corruption, he had done similar research, even probing the minds of slain psykers like Slau Dha for their insights into natural patterns.
He knew there was power in shapes.
Magnus's eye burned bright orange-red.
"When the Psychneuein attacked, the power within me awoke. I raised my hand, and hundreds of them turned to dust."
"Menphia and Sesegar saw the red geometric forms, and by their command, walls of flame rose into the air."
Nareth nodded; 'That was the origin of the future Pyrae Cult.'
"Attep and Raxentep saw white spiral shapes and brought beasts down from the sky."
'The Raptora Cult,' Nareth thought.
"Hastar and Ihoten saw octagons, and the fluids beneath the Psychneuein's carapaces boiled at once."
'The Pavoni Cult, Hathor Maat would inherit their legacy.'
"Phanek and Sosmes saw the intertwined lines and arcs of squares, circles, and triangles, and they perceived the Bees' mad desire to implant eggs within our minds."
The Athanaean Cult''
"Amon was the first besides me to see all the shapes. Visions of the future flashed in his mind; he foresaw our peril."
Nareth knew Amon was most skilled in the Corvidae Cult's art, but had also mastered others.
"Thus were born the Five Great Cults," Magnus concluded.
Nareth thought silently:
'It must have been Tzeentch who showed him the link between geometry and psychic force… quite a generous gift.'
Magnus handed him the codex. Nareth flipped through the strange diagrams.
'Pure knowledge, harmless in itself, yet bait to lure Magnus and his sons into seeking ever-deeper mysteries.'
'The price of destiny's gifts is always written beforehand.'
He knew Tzeentch's gift held no direct corruption, not enough to taint a Primarch.
The arts derived from it were no more perilous than those of the Aeldar or the future human psykers.
In time, he knew, Revuel Arvida of the Curvidae cult, first Supreme Grand Master of the Grey Knights, would pass down these arts.
And Lemuel Gaumon, Ahriman's friend and apprentice, would carry them into the Inquisition itself.
Drawing his thoughts back from the future, Nareth examined the diagrams again.
'They are linked to psychic energy, not directly usable for my own beyonder ability, Geometry, but still… enlightening.'
He continued exchanging techniques with Magnus, finding the Primarch's aetheric mastery superior even to that of the Fra'al.
He compared their powers:
'Magnus's psychic scope is broader, but my focus on two domains keeps me his equal.'
'In telekinesis, I've just ascended to Baron of Corruption, I'll soon match his Raptora mastery.'
'In mental control, with the Osiris Psybrid, I already surpass his Athanaean art.'
Finally, their conversation turned to the mind itself.
Magnus listened intently as Nareth explained what he had learned from the Thelema doctrine, the discipline of shaping the mind's strength through will alone.
"The power of the mind surpasses the flesh," Magnus admitted.
"Compared to my mental disciplines, your three-layered mind offers stronger defense, and it can be trained even by those without psychic talent, a means, perhaps, to prevent your sons' heightened perception from driving them mad."
Nareth nodded slightly. Through their dialogue, he had mastered the first three lower layers of Magnus's psychic meditations and even begun to grasp the middle three.
"Your mental art," Nareth said, "can only be used by psykers. Mine allows anyone to reach their potential."
He remained on Prospero for a month, exchanging knowledge with Magnus, before finally departing.
When the Throne of Shadow's Sovereignity departed, he casually left behind the Dionysian Spear and set course for the Kingdom of Disorder.
He intended to divine the fate of Calth, the future jewel of the Eastern Galaxy.
.....
If you enjoy the story, my p@treon is 30 chapters ahead.
[email protected]/DaoistJinzu