I released a pained groan as my consciousness returned. Finding myself still in the Boss Room, I forced my aching body up and rushed over to my companions. A great weight fell off my shoulders when I confirmed they were still breathing. They were out cold, but knowing they were alive eased my heart.
“These four women mean a great deal to you, Aremus. What are they to you?”
The familiar voice questioned from the shadows as the speaker hobbled toward me.
I turned to look. The man I had considered a father figure during my service in the Great Crusade gave me a weary smile. Over ten thousand years had passed since we last saw one another, yet I still held him in high regard.
“It is good to see you again… Malcador.” I looked at his weary face, now visible to me. “These are my precious, irreplaceable companions. It is quite upsetting to see the poor state you left them. Out of respect for our shared history, I will allow you to explain yourself.”
“It was the only way I could think of to restore your memories quickly, Aremus.” Malcador hung his head. “Your brothers and the Imperium of Man need you more than ever. Roboute and Lion are—”
I raised an icy hand, gesturing for him to stop.
While my newly unlocked memories contained no details about the last few millennia, I knew the overall situation from the video games I had played in my past life. The Imperium of Man—a human-supremacist galactic empire—was on the verge of collapse. It had been on a steady decline since a brutal civil war in the past.
“There is no need to tell me what I already know. Did I not foretell this would happen?” I met his gaze with a frosty glare. “A corrupted Horus led a bloody campaign against our Father, taking half of my foolish brothers with him. My brothers who stayed faithful fought with everything they had to stop the traitors. In the end, Horus fell to the Emperor’s hand, and the loyalists won, but it came at a substantial cost. Ferrus and Sanguinius fell during the fighting; the Emperor was interred upon his precious Golden Throne, mortally wounded during the last duel with Horus, and my idiotic loyalist brothers could not overcome their differences to chase after the traitors who survived.”
Grief and sadness darkened the old man’s face. The cold indifference in my voice stabbed him like a knife.
I took a step toward him, my anger palpable. “Since the killing blow was never dealt, my traitor brothers and their legions have reorganized and returned to finish what they started. You come to me, the reborn black sheep of my family, asking me to return home and help fix things. In my past life, I endured endless abuse and pain from them. Why should I go back for more?”
My overarching goal in this life was to save this universe from total collapse. As the Emperor’s son, if I saved the Imperium of Man, I could leverage its massive resources to expedite that mission. That said, if I simply accepted what this man was requesting, it would leave a bitter taste in my mouth. The old Aremus might have submitted, but I was nobody’s doormat. If they wanted my help, things would be on my terms.
“Yes, I am acutely aware of what you endured. I was there, beside the Emperor, when he passed judgment upon you.” Malcador’s grip on his staff tightened. “While his actions speak to the contrary, I assure you that your father loved you. At that point in his plans, he had shed much of his humanity to increase his power. The man you knew during the Great Crusade was not the one who created you. Back then, he viewed all of you as his beloved sons.”
The origins of my twenty brothers and me started in a cold, sterile laboratory on Terra. To expedite his conquest of the galaxy, the Emperor of Mankind created us to be his ultimate weapons and lead his forces. He used his own DNA and that of a woman named Erda as our genetic base, combining science and Warp sorcery to forge us into demigods. But while he was content to use us like pawns, Erda loved us as her own. To spite the Emperor and grant us a chance at a real life, she conspired with the powers of the Warp to scatter our incubation pods across the galaxy.
“Ha!” A mocking laugh escaped my lips. “My fragmented memories say he was a coldhearted man who looked upon me with contempt and disappointment. It was my refusal to take part in the wholesale slaughter of aliens and their human allies that upset him most. Even in this life, my disdain for such wanton slaughter rings true. Unlike my brothers and father, I can proudly say my blade has never once tasted the blood of the innocent.”
Malcador’s expression softened. In the past, Aremus had made identical declarations to his father and brothers, much to their displeasure. But while the Primarchs had despised his empathy, he had been adored by the galaxy’s outcasts—the few alien races the Emperor tolerated, and the Abhumans, a category of heavily mutated humans officially sanctioned by the Imperium. Aside from his Space Marines, Aremus’s expeditionary fleet had been manned almost exclusively by them. They had followed him into the jaws of death countless times, and not one had ever abandoned their post.
“I cannot fault you for believing that, but it is true. When his plans were realized, he intended to reclaim the fragments of humanity he had shed and make amends with all of you,” Malcador said, recognizing my viewpoint would not change in a single afternoon. “If you will not return for family, would you return for this old man? I understand your anger, but the people of the Imperium need you. What can I do to persuade you?”
“For starters, you could help with the matter you brought to my attention earlier.” I retrieved the document stamped with the Chaos emblem. “As we have both just seen, my control over my psychic powers is abysmal. If you retrain me and offer your guidance to help cleanse my homeworld of Chaos influence, I will rebuild my legion and return to the Imperium.”
Malcador looked confused as he accepted the paper. “Aremus, I don’t know what you are referring to. Before coming to this space, we had never met since your reincarnation.”
“Are you saying that wasn’t you on the tenth floor?” My brow furrowed. “I received this document from someone pretending to be my brother, Leman Russ. They had me pursue them into a snowstorm, commented on my memory loss, and gave me that paper before vanishing. For them to play the part so perfectly, it had to be someone who knew my brother intimately. It wasn’t Magnus—he is allied with the enemy. And if it wasn’t you…”
A sudden realization struck me. If dungeons were in an entirely different plane of existence, only the most powerful psykers could project their consciousness here. In my past life, only a handful of minds fit that description. And only one was still alive who knew the exact cadence of Russ’s voice.
The Emperor.
My fists clenched subconsciously. Even now, trapped on a dying throne ten thousand years later, he was still trying to use me like a pawn.
Not wanting to dwell on my father’s machinations, I returned to the discussion at hand. “As you can see, a cult has set down roots here. I’m unsure how far their influence has spread, but that can be remedied. Luxion, are you up to the task?”
My AI companion appeared next to my head. <Of course, I will take care of it. I will prioritize the Holfort Kingdom first, then proceed to the neighboring countries and beyond.>
I nodded. With the Principality of Fanoss preparing to launch an invasion in a few months, I wanted to secure the home front now. The more obstacles we removed, the smoother the future would be.
Instead of disappearing again, Luxion remained floating above my shoulder, his camera lens fixed on Malcador’s ethereal form as if he were waiting for something.
“I am more than happy to train you once again, Aremus. You may not remember yet, but it was I who took over your training when the Eldar brought you to us.” Malcador kept his gaze affixed on Luxion as he returned the paper to me. “Are you going to tell the boy, or shall I?”
<If you dare, I will not hesitate to annihilate what remains of your pathetic form. When the time is right, he will learn everything.>
The events right before I passed out rushed back to me. Luxion had called out my former wife, referred to me as an irreplaceable person, and teleported in a swarm of combat bots. There was a lot I wanted to ask him about, but it was clear he would divulge nothing until he was ready.
“Luxion, whatever you are hiding, does it pose a risk to my family and friends? If so, I want to hear it now.”
<The information I am restricting holds no bearing on the current situation. In the future, I am certain things will change, and I will divulge everything then.>
Luxion had not steered me wrong thus far, so I was inclined to trust him. At the very least, it would delay further troubles from landing on my plate, even if only for a short time. Now that we had addressed the matter, I needed to get us moving again.
“Is it safe for me to rouse them?” I asked, looking back at Malcador.
The old man shrugged. “I am not sure. They took a powerful psychic blow from both of us. It would be safest to let them recover on their own.”
I nodded and walked over to hoist Olivia and Yunyun onto Solari’s back. Out of the four women, they were the most likely to overreact if they woke up while I was carrying them. Once Lucoa and Roxanne were on my back, I asked Malcador where the teleportation circle was. Since he had killed the boss, he should know where to look.
“It is over by the horse stable, alongside a pile of treasures. Is that normal? Whenever I slew beasts in the past, no such thing occurred.”
“In places like this, beasts and monsters drop rewards for killing them,” I said. “It is peculiar, I admit, but that is just how things work here. My planet is covered in portals to places like this, so rebuilding my legion shouldn’t be too troublesome.”
Intrigued, Malcador asked about the mechanics of this world and my rebirth as we walked. I answered him to the best of my ability until we arrived at the treasure pile. Upon seeing what had dropped, I set Lucoa and Roxanne down and rushed over with excitement. Among the usual gems, gold, and data caches, an unmistakable item rested, glowing.
“Yes! After such a long dry spell, I’ve finally got an amazing piece of technology.” I picked up the Arc Reactor resting on top of the pile and examined it. “With this, I can ditch conventional armor for true power armor. While we wait for my comrades to awaken, we can work on designing a suit for me. I’ve been waiting a long time for this day.”
I tossed the treasure hoard into my item box and picked up the two women again. With a legendary power source in my hands and Malcador’s impending training, a smug smile spread across my face. Things were about to change, and I was ready for it.
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