Warhammer: In the Name of the Emperor

The silent room reverberated with the sound of the pendulum. The retro-style Gothic pendulum had a golden sun centerpiece, and the two gold-copper hands had two skulls at the end. One was One with human bones and one with a semi-mechanical skull, they moved little by little in cooperation with each other, just like the empire itself.

The sound of the bell was so hard to ignore in this quiet room. The sound of the bell echoed on the books, scrolls, and huge furniture, and shuttled between the potion jars stored on the shelves.

Dim pale lights illuminated the table with the Imperial Sky Eagle logo. A person sat on the table, his legs suspended in the air due to the huge furniture, like a child playing around on an adult's table.

But don't think that he is really as ignorant and weak as a child. He made an appearance on the docking deck not long ago, shocking everyone on the ship to the point of almost cardiac arrest.

Vito Constantine, the Supreme Marshal of the Empire, sat on the table with his hands on his knees and looked at the Astartes in front of him. He looked at the book in his hand and lowered his head. The cyan armor flashed in the light. A tiny flicker of light.

They have been here for a long time. Combining the books that Vito spent thousands of years writing and his stories, this warrior who has been sleeping for thousands of years has learned about the current empire, a fact that makes people feel disappointed and desperate.

Garvill Loken, the last Luna Wolf, closed the book in his hand. He raised his head, and the pale light shone on the forehead of the young and resolute face. His eyes were still shrouded under the eyebrows. In the dark, and his mood couldn't be more appropriate.

Loken let out a long sigh, and that voice contained all the sadness, shock, and disappointment. Vito knew he would be like this, and anyone who remembered everything from ten thousand years ago would be like this when they see the empire today.

"How I wish this was a nightmare, Vito, I really wish I was still dreaming." Loken's voice came from the lower part of the dark face, and he lowered his eyes and remained silent in the darkness.

"How can humans be like this in today's empire? How could we have shed blood and sacrificed our lives for such an empire during our expedition to the Star Sea?" Loken said, lost in thought.

Vito didn't speak but just sat on the table and listened silently, listening to this warrior who had shed blood and sacrificed his life for the Empire, and even turned against his traitorous brothers without hesitation when his father chose to betray the Emperor and the Empire. He was once so Believe in the Imperial Truth and believe that all the sacrifices they have made will bear fruit in the future.

He used to believe that they were creating a paradise, a beautiful paradise belonging to the people of the empire. For that paradise, they bled and sacrificed on countless nameless planets in the galaxy, sleeping under the stars forever, but now in exchange for What is?

"Religious fanaticism, heresy hunting, a forging world without humanity, greedy officials, and an abyss-like life of despair. You have to eat junk food all your life, and live in the lower levels of the hive where you can't see the sun or the blue sky."

Loken said, holding his head, "The truth of the empire has been forgotten, rationality and civilization have also been forgotten, the empire is like sitting in a hanging basket and plummeting towards hell. This is a nightmare, the real nightmare Vito ”

"Why am I still alive? Why did I wake up? You should have let them kill me on the deck. I would rather die than face the current empire."

Vito looked at Loken in front of him. This was a veteran's thoughts on the current empire, a simple but filled with infinite emotions. Everything he once believed in had disappeared. The country that respected truth and science had become Nowadays, people are fanatical about religion and regard science as a country of superstition.

He knew that feeling, Vito knew it well and understood it, because he had looked at the Empire like this for ten thousand years, exactly ten thousand years.

Vito sighed and looked at Loken. He jumped off the table and took two steps forward to hold his shoulders. Both of them were under the pale light, with the tranquil and dark environment as the background, as if they were a painting created in Oil painting of the gap between time.

"Why did we survive, Vito, why didn't I die on Istvan, along with my brothers." Loken lowered his head and spoke, his lips speaking in the dim light, Vito stood under the light, his back completely shrouded in darkness.

The marshal looked sideways at Loken, whose face seemed to be forever shrouded in darkness. Only the upper part of his hair was lit up in the light and the outline was lit. He looked at Loken who was hanging his head.

"Sometimes I also think about this question, Loken, I have lived for forty thousand years, why am I still alive to watch all this instead of dying." Vito said, his voice echoing through the pale mist. In the dark room, "For ten thousand years, I have watched the empire go into the abyss step by step, and everything we have built is destroyed. I also want to die."

"Do you know why I'm still here? Loken." Vito asked, the face looking at Loken in the darkness. Gavier Loken slightly raised his head and looked at the man in the darkness in front of him. He only had arms. Completely illuminated, the rest of the body was completely shrouded in gloom at the arms.

Vito took a step forward and walked out of the darkness, his face and body reappeared in the light. He looked at Loken, "Because I know that even in the deepest night, hope still exists, Loken, hope does not exist in turtlenecks." The Council of the Lord does not exist within the mighty powers of the Warp and physical universe."

"Hope exists on the dinner table, in every family's house, in the hand of the Astra Militarum holding the laser gun, in the hammer of the worker, in the sickle of the farmer harvesting the wheat in the agricultural world. middle."

Loken looked at Vito, the demigod in front of him who had been respected by countless Astartes, and the ancient warrior who had watched over the empire for tens of millions of years and human civilization for 40,000 years.

Vito pressed Loken's shoulder and looked at the shining eyes under the dark brows of the last Luna Wolf in front of him, "I watched them win in desperate battles, and I witnessed Krieg's fearlessness. I rushed to the Pyramid of the Dead, witnessed the destruction beam of the Imperial Navy rushing towards the Black Market Fortress, and saw the Astra Militarum soldiers who even lost one hand without putting down their weapons in the face of the Chaos traitors.”

"No, Loken, there is not only despair and pain in this dark galaxy, but the fire of hope is still burning brightly."

"It exists in the world, in the heart of a loyal person. Even in the darkest night, the candle of hope is still burning. The flame burns in the hearts of mankind and has never been extinguished. Because of that flame, our people After this long night, dawn is about to come.”

"Dawn? Marshal, is dawn coming soon?" Loken asked softly, with sincere hope in his words. Vito looked at Loken and said meaningfully, which was the life experience of a 40,000-year veteran. Words, "Guilliman is about to wake up. That guy will finally wake up after sleeping for ten thousand years."

"Lord Guilliman? Is he about to wake up? I read that he was asleep in Macragge because of Fulgrim's poisonous blade." Loken raised his head and said, and Vito smiled.

"Yes, we are on the way to Macragge. You, me, and Guilliman, the three of us who are more than 10,000 years old, are all coming back, and hope is finally really burning."

Vito pressed Loken's shoulders and looked into his eyes, looking at him seriously and passionately, "Loken, you didn't die because your mission, like us, has not yet ended, and your destiny is not on Istvan. You will not die under fire because you need to regain the honor of your brothers who died in battle.”

"Ten thousand years have passed, and the current empire has forgotten the sacrifices on Istvan, the sacrifices of Thor Tarvitz, Nathaniel Gallo and all loyal brothers. They have forgotten that loyalty. The Luna Wolf, now that glorious name has been occupied by the Sons of Horus, the Black Legion, bringing only fear and shame. "

"And you, Garviel Loken, the last Luna Wolf will let everyone re-understand what a Luna Wolf is. You will bring the hymn of honor and loyalty back to the fallen warriors, in glory. Regain your life and let them, you and the name of the Luna Wolf be remembered by the galaxy again. This is your mission."

Vito said, taking a step back. He turned around and patted the bolter on the table in the light. The bolter flashed with the Imperial Sky Eagle.

"Captain Gavir Loken, are you ready?" Vito asked. Loken looked at him in the darkness. After a moment, the burly warrior stood up. He stepped forward and looked at the table. That bolter in the light.

He held the bolter, raised it and pulled the bolt. Loken raised his head and let the bright light illuminate the face, the face that had awakened again from a ten-year sleep. He looked at Vito, "I will make the galaxy hear our howl again, the howl of the Luna Wolves."

Vito nodded affirmatively, "Come on, company commander, we still have a lot to do."

——

——

The remaining five Astartes were sitting on the benches on the training ground outside the gate, and Captain Cole was leaning on the weapons rack on the side. Everyone was silently thinking about what happened on the deck. It's too shocking, and it's definitely not that simple to understand.

Lancelot lowered his head and looked at the Dark Angel pendant in his hand. The pendant of the Winged Knight Sword shone coldly in his palm. Knight Caliban held the pendant and raised his head, "I didn't expect that. Since the Supreme Marshal has always been with us, and since we didn’t recognize him.”

"He disguises himself well, my brother, and I don't think anyone can recognize him." Olaf said on the bench opposite, and Eisenstein sat beside him, thinking silently.

"Father, since we have been living together with a demigod for decades, I really didn't expect that the legendary Supreme Marshal is such a snake-skin. He even secretly drank the wine I hid some time ago!"

Ragnar complained, but with a smile on his face, "But Father, this is such a fucking surprise. Lancelot, please give me a punch to see if I'm drunk."

Lancelot smiled and raised his fist, "Quite pleased, brother."

"You don't need Lancelot to beat you up. You're awake and you know it very well." Bell sat on the bench next to the two of them and wiped his gun. He was obviously not surprised at all, but there was nothing strange about it. I already knew it and was surprised.

"Damn it, Bell, you are so boring. You know that Vito is the Supreme Marshal himself and you don't tell us." Ragnar waved his fist in protest, and Lancelot also looked at him and nodded in agreement, and the two of them sang in harmony. The fit is quite good.

Bell shrugged and raised the bolt gun to look at the cleanliness in the barrel. He put the gun cleaning cloth into the barrel and wiped it. "The marshal asked me to keep it strictly confidential. I must obey the order and promise."

"Gan! You are as boring as your holy book!" Ragnar yelled, while his calm old wolf brother understood the truth more clearly. He nodded and looked at Bell, "How long have you known that he is the Supreme Marshal? "

"It didn't take long. I just found out before he went to Comorro. I believe not many people know his identity." Bell said, and Ragnar laughed and pointed to Lilith not far away. She was standing alone. Holding the sword in his hand, he flexibly rotated and thrust, as if he was practicing, or maybe he was just passing the time out of boredom.

"Lilith! You must know his identity, right?" Ragna said loudly, which attracted the attention of everyone, including Cole, who all looked at the beautiful female judge with dancing silver hair.

Lilith stood up on her tiptoes and spun around. She put the blade against her slender arm and looked at them, "Yes, I know."

"How long have you known?" Lancelot then asked. Lilith shrugged and continued to wave the blade, "It's just been longer than you."

"Has he told anyone his identity? You know, those other women he has." "No, he doesn't have Lancelot. Just take this as a manifestation of our mutual cherishment."

Lilith turned back, and her slender body landed smoothly on the ground. She swung a sword with her big arm, and slashed forward with the shining cold light blade. Olaf looked at her and nodded.

"He must trust you quite a bit." "Maybe."

Lilith replied, while Ragna rubbed his neck and laughed, "What about you? Do you have any secrets that you have told him? I'm sure you all have a lot of little secrets!"

Lilith looked at Ragnar with a sweet smile, raised the blade and put it against her chin, "Actually, I am a demon, the Demon Queen."

As soon as these words came out, the situation suddenly became awkward. Several Astartes looked at each other, and even Cole looked at Lilith with a strange expression. But almost instantly Ragna burst out laughing and slapped Lancelot. thigh.

"Okay, I like this joke. Next time we will make up more jokes to prank those boring veterans, especially you Lancelot. Remember, go back and give your boring Dark Angels some fun. ”

"I would like to thank you on behalf of the whole team. Next time, hit your own leg." Lancelot complained and looked at the jingling sound of his leg armor, which seemed to be dented a little.

"Remember when making up jokes, don't use names like traitors. People in the first and second companies, especially priests, will be more sensitive." Vito's voice came from a distance, and everyone looked over and saw the person coming from Bell's private preparation room. Two people came out.

Everyone stood up and knelt down to salute Vito. The latter looked at them with extremely embarrassed expressions as if they were constipated. He smiled bitterly and looked at Lilith, who was walking by with her hands on her hips, and then looked at everyone in front of them.

"Don't give me this set. You're making me so embarrassed that I want to get into the barrel. I just took it from the deck just to bluff. The Emperor may like this set but I don't. Get up."

Vito said and went up directly to pull Cole up. He patted the captain's clothes in front of him and looked at the others who also got up. Eisenstein took a step forward and looked at Vito seriously.

"Command Marshal, we await your new orders."

"Order? I don't like this word. We are still friends. Don't make it so awkward in private." Vito said with a wry smile. Eisenstein nodded to him seriously. He must not have listened.

Vito smiled bitterly and rubbed his head, "Okay, as long as you are happy, Cole." Vito said and looked at Cole in front of him, and he held Cole's shoulders.

"Take us to Macragge, where our help is urgently needed." "Marshal." "I told you not to call me marshal."

Vito said speechlessly and patted Cole's shoulder to indicate that he could leave. Cole also saluted a serious military salute and turned to leave. Vito suddenly got goosebumps all over his body. He turned around and hugged him. Lilith walked towards the exit of the training ground on her shoulders.

"Take Loken to familiarize yourself with the situation on the ship." Vito said and walked past Ragna. The latter saluted Vito with a playful smile and responded with a pinched voice, "Yes! Marshal!"

"Go away! Go to hell, sir." Vito waved his hand and said, hugging Lilith towards the exit. The latter smiled jokingly and crossed her arms in his arms, "Oh, it will definitely be interesting later."

"Yes, except that it embarrasses me to death." Vito complained and looked at the Astartes behind him. Loken had already mingled with a few of them, especially Ragnar who came up without any hesitation. He greeted Loken, put his arm around his shoulders and started to brag, while Lancelot was bickering with him.

Vito looked at the natural smile on Loken's face. He looked at them as if he had returned to the past. For a moment, he seemed to see Togaton, Tavitz and the others, watching them and Loken laughing together.

Vito also laughed and turned around, "Other than that, everything is fine."