"This is the place."
In the southern region of Byzas, in the central area of the glass wasteland.
As the radiation concentration warning on their helmets climbed to a new high, the two Emperor's Children Astartes stood before an ancient ruin.
This ruin was particularly conspicuous in the desolate wasteland. Compared to the surrounding area, which had been completely vitrified, it seemed to have retained some of the characteristics of a monastery.
Logically, under the high temperature of nuclear weapons, nothing should have been left here.
But somehow, these ruined walls still stood strong. Even though many had been weathered into rubble, their former glory was still visible.
"Tsk, secret societies and cults."
"If we had known they were connected, we should have had the iterants tear them all down in the first place."
As spreaders of the Imperial Truth, the Emperor's Children naturally sneered at this kind of primitive religious architecture.
But it seemed his battle-brother beside him was a little afraid of ghosts.
"Telmar."
"What is it, Thorn?"
"Something's not right here."
"It seems the radiation concentration has suddenly dropped a lot."
The Emperor's Children, Thorn, squatted down and stroked the small grass that was growing tenaciously beside the ruins.
Logically, in a wasteland with such a high concentration of radiation, it was impossible for any ruins to remain.
In this war that had destroyed almost everything, only this monastery-like building with its religious overtones still stood, and according to the readings on his helmet, even weeds could grow here.
An indescribable strangeness welled up in his heart.
"Maybe. Maybe this place just happened to not get bombed during the big war. Who knows?"
Telmar patted Thorn's shoulder mockingly.
"Come on, lad. Have a little courage."
"On our Chemos, if you're this timid, you'll be laughed at by everyone."
"Fine. Let me just take a sample."
As he spoke, Thorn grabbed a handful of weeds from the ground and put them, roots and all, into the backpack behind him.
Just like that Apothecary.
Telmar thought to himself, and turned to walk into the ruins.
"The radiation concentration is still dropping."
As the two of them cautiously stepped into the ruins, an incredible miracle followed.
The deeper they went, the better preserved the interior of the ruins was.
"What is this? A fountain?"
Telmar pushed open a rotting wooden door and looked around the field cautiously.
It was not unusual for a fountain to appear in a monastery.
But for a complete, stone fountain, untouched by the ravages of time, to be in the center of a ruined courtyard that had been bombed by nuclear weapons...
...that was very surprising.
Telmar stepped forward to have a look.
"Sa—ba—zi—us."
"What?"
A familiar name suddenly came from behind him.
It seemed he had heard it somewhere before.
"The words."
Thorn pointed in a daze at the still-intact wall on the side of the ruins.
"There's nothing here."
"How can that be, Telmar? I'm not so far gone that I can't even recognize words."
"See? Sabazius."
"The whole wall is covered with 'Sabazius'."
But when Telmar looked in the direction Thorn was pointing, the wall, apart from some climbing moss and cracks, was still blank.
There was nothing.
"Stop kidding, Thorn. It's not funny."
Telmar turned around, a little annoyed, and looked back at the intact fountain.
However, what he saw made him freeze on the spot.
The fountain, which had been dry for countless ages, was now spouting trickling clear water.
"Thorn, did you see that?"
Telmar swallowed and said to the nervous Thorn behind him.
It seemed things were far more bizarre than he had imagined.
Fortunately, Thorn could still see the fountain.
"You didn't touch anything here?"
"No."
"It just started flowing on its own."
"Then could it be that some kind of water purification facility in the stronghold has started working?"
Even though this place looked like a ruin, it was still a stronghold of those assassins.
It was actually reasonable to install some water purification facilities.
"Indeed..."
"Wait! Thorn, look, there are words on it!"
Telmar had just been about to agree with him, but what appeared next interrupted his thoughts.
It was the dust that had been covering the words in the fountain's pool, which had just been washed away.
It revealed the legend of Sabazius, carved beneath.
As the pioneer who had led the people to this place, he had struck the ground with his sword.
And then, water had instantly gushed from the ground, nourishing the wells around the building.
Telmar read, and looked up at the fountain.
"A familiar story. I've heard a similar legend on Chemos."
"A story of a water goddess saving the world with the clear spring flowing from under her feet."
"Telmar, I know you're a staunch supporter of the Imperial Truth from Chemos. There's no need to emphasize these things in front of me multiple times."
"No, that's not what I wanted to say!"
"What I wanted to say was the name of that water goddess in the legend."
"It's Fulgrim."
A coincidence, wasn't it?
Such coincidences often appear in legends. It was not a big deal.
"Perhaps. But Telmar, we are the Emperor's Children, not some archaeologists."
"This place is indeed a bit strange, but destroying the stronghold is our mission."
"Let's move on."
"Alright... wait, do you hear something?"
It was singing.
"Do you hear some singing?"
More melodious, and more soothing.
But where was it coming from?
Telmar couldn't tell.
Even with his Astartes-level hearing, he still couldn't pinpoint the source of the singing.
It was as if it was coming from all directions, or from the bottom of his own heart.
"I can hear it. I guess those nobles are here, somewhere."
"This way, Thorn."
The floor of the ruins was paved with hexagonal tiles, and every sixth of these tiles was painted an elegant pale purple.
Telmar quickly found the pattern.
As he spoke, Telmar pulled open a well-hidden, movable floor tile in the center of a 6x6 grid.
It revealed a deep, hidden passage beneath.
"It's a bit narrow... I'll go down first."
The passage was naturally not prepared for fully armed Astartes, but fortunately, their size could still squeeze into this narrow secret passage.
But it was basically only single-file.
And this secret passage was far more... comfortable than he had imagined.
The four sides of the tunnel were covered in a very high-grade leather.
The leather wrapping the handrail of the downward tunnel felt particularly smooth, but not so much that he would slip on his way down.
The interior decoration was extremely luxurious.
Looking from the ruins outside, it was impossible to imagine that there would be such a hidden world inside.
"What a bunch of extravagant bastards," Telmar muttered resentfully.
And the singing was getting louder.
-------
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