Chapter 22: Escape

"Ha—ha—"

Amurad’s breathing was heavy and trembling; his vision flickered between light and dark, and the sounds in his ears had turned into a distant echo.

He pressed a hand against his wound, but even his advanced Lariman cells could not stem the blood flowing from his torn body. At that moment, he felt a hand beneath his arm helping him to stand.

The servos in his power armor groaned in agony.

The one saving him was Sothian, the man he had been waiting for, but now this mighty neophyte was so weak he could barely grip his bolter; he nearly collapsed while supporting Amurad.

"Hel... helmet."

Amurad tapped lightly on Sothian's helmet with his finger. Though he did not understand the Chapter Master's intent, Sothian held his breath and removed his helmet.

When he saw that Sothian's face was already covered in grey veins, Amurad's eyes widened in shock and terror.

"No... not yet, it is too early."

He then gestured for Sothian to put his helmet back on, before clutching his abdomen and slowly walking toward a Space Marine leaning against a broken pillar. Sothian saw him too, immediately recognizing him as Helarch, the Chapter's Chief Librarian.

But he thought he was a corpse.

At this moment, sporadic fighting continued in various places, but the number of living Space Marines was dwindling. The God-Machines ascending into the high heavens had already torn most of the World Engine apart, leaving only the main body struggling to maintain itself, while the "stars" in the distance were closing in.

"Helarch, Helarch."

Accompanied by Amurad's hoarse calling, the Librarian, who had been motionless against the pillar, gave a sudden twitch of his finger, and then his head slowly turned around.

"Amurad."

Only after Sothian drew closer did he realize that a large hole had been corroded through the Librarian's chest, with two shattered hearts hanging inside, having long since ceased to beat.

In principle, he truly should have been a corpse.

"You... found him."

Helarch stood up with a stiff and slow posture.

"Yes, you can prepare."

"Good."

As he spoke, an extra short scepter flickered into Helarch's hand, its tip shaped like a winged double-headed eagle.

Sothian remained utterly bewildered throughout this process; he looked at his Chapter Master, wondering what kind of expression lay behind that helmet.

So, he spoke up

"Chapter Master, shouldn't we continue the fight?"

"Yes, we must continue to fight, but your battle is over."

"What?"

Sothian could hardly believe his ears.

"Over?"

"Yes, you have a new mission, Sothian Alexei."

As Amurad spoke, he laboriously raised his hand to remove the iron halo from behind him and hung it onto Sothian's power pack.

"You shall be the next Chapter Master."

Sothian froze in place as if struck by lightning, his throat feeling as though it were blocked, unable to utter a single word.

"I know you have many questions, but I cannot answer them now. Return to the Obsidian Fortress, find Brother Serde—"

Amurad's words were interrupted by a violent cough. A spray of crimson blood erupted from the grille of his helmet, staining his entire neck and chest red. Simultaneously, the wound in his abdomen continued to bleed, though the volume was decreasing...

It wasn't that the bleeding had stopped, but that his blood was nearly spent.

"Chapter Master, I will fight with you until the end! I will be buried here with all my battle brothers!"

Finally, Sothian forced out the words he wanted to say most.

But Amurad merely shook his head, carefully pulling a diamond-shaped object resembling a ruby from his power armor's pack; a dark green, ghostly light flowed within it.

"This is the Red Amulet. You must hold onto it tightly. The sacrifice of all of us was solely for this!"

After thrusting the object known as the Red Amulet into Sothian's hands, Amurad looked toward Helarch, who was shrouded in a halo of light.

As if sensing his gaze, a cold whisper drifted from Helarch's helmet.

"It is prepared on the other side as well..."

The voice made Sothian doubt whether the man in the power armor was truly the Chapter's Librarian, for he remembered the man having a clear, crisp voice.

"Helarch has fallen."

Amurad answered Sothian's unspoken doubt.

"But for the sake of the final mission, he has used forbidden powers to temporarily bind his soul to his corpse, but this cannot be maintained for long."

*Dark sorcery*—those four words immediately leapt into Sothian's mind.

Such profane sorcery was strictly forbidden; even an Astartes Librarian was not permitted to touch it.

Perhaps sensing Sothian's erratic breathing, Amurad sighed and said

"For a noble purpose, sometimes we must do things that go against our principles. This might be explained as expediency, but you must remember, Alexei, there is a line between usage and complicity. Never cross that line."

Then, he activated the storage compartment on Sothian's pack, allowing him to tuck the Red Amulet inside.

"You must never tell anyone you have this. Return to the Obsidian Fortress, find Brother Serde, and he will tell you everything!"

A massive tremor surged through the soles of his boots, accompanied by a succession of flashes and explosions—the signal that the distant fleet had begun to destroy the World Engine.

"I am going to open the gateway..."

Hearing that chilling whisper, Sothian spun around abruptly. At that same moment, the scepter in Helarch's hand fell like a cracking whip.

A corner of the veil of reality was torn open.

The scepter slashed through both reality and illusion simultaneously. To mortal eyes, nothing would have appeared to exist in the vacuum.

However, the cut was real. Sothian could feel another distant presence, an indescribable sensation, as if emotions had been blended into a physical entity, emitting a hungry, clamorous roar.

Just as Sothian was stunned by this strangeness, Amurad, behind him, suddenly gave him a violent shove forward.

In an instant, his world plunged into pitch blackness.

He tried to move, but his limbs felt immense pressure as if he were falling into the deep sea; he could feel the crushing weight in every organ.

He tried to open his mouth to speak, but the only response was an indescribable, blurred howling.

A tangible darkness clung to him, wrapping around his neck, wrists, and joints, until the grey veins appeared on his face once more.

Then, the incessant cursing, mockery, and agonized screams he heard were rapidly carried away by the tangible darkness.

His vision returned, revealing only swirling, torn nebulae and asteroids colliding, releasing bursts of white, purple, and a thousand shades of red.

He even thought he had been cast into the void, yet everything had turned into a kaleidoscope of flowing colors—anger, joy, pain... a torrent of countless emotions swept him up, striking his mind with such force that had he not been sufficiently resolute, he would have long since lost his sanity.

But this could not last forever.

Just as he gritted his teeth to endure, everything returned to silence.

He stood on a beach, warm fine sand beneath his feet, with gentle waves lapping at his ankles.

A strange woman opened her arms toward him.

She...

Who was she?

Sothian was confused by the scene, but at least the torment had receded, until—

"He's out!"

A hand clad in steel gripped his shoulder plate, dragging him heavily to the ground.

Sothian's helmet slammed into the floor, the lenses shattering into pieces. Then, his helmet was removed, allowing him to gulp down the stale, recycled air.

Propping himself up with his hands, he lifted his head, only to see the grim, ashen face of the Ultramarines Captain, Venitios.

"Are you Sothian Alexei?"