Warhammer: In the Name of the Emperor

Vito passed through the corridor, carrying something in his hand, walked through the hall of the giant rock, and came to the dark door. The Dark Angel guard guarding here saw him coming.

They talked for a while, and then at Vito's command, they opened the door behind them, the dungeon door.

After the trial, Luther was brought here, to the cell, to await his execution the next day.

There is a prison underground under Caliban, which was once the prison of the Knights, where illegals, unruly people, murderers, and traitors were imprisoned.

As it happens, Luther falls into all of the above categories.

He has been imprisoned here for ten thousand years in the past.

This place is very special, time seems to not pass, there are no stars, no sun and moon, only the cold loneliness deep underground, day after day, year after year.

For most of his life, Luther was here. He thought here. This was the only thing he could do. He figured out a lot of things.

Luther was sitting on the bed in the prison, surrounded by dim walls and closed corridors separated by iron windows. The flickering firelight made the place dark but damp, but this environment was already familiar to Luther.

He closed his eyes, but did not fall asleep. The sound of wings flapping sounded in his ears. Luther opened his eyes and someone was coming.

He was locked up here alone, waiting for dawn. He heard the sound of the door opening, and someone came over. His footsteps echoed in the corridor. With his footsteps, some kind of iron pieces made noise on his boots from time to time. , and soon he appeared outside the bars.

Vito stood there, taking off the gorgeous robe, but still wearing the marshal's clothes. He looked at Luther here.

"Luthor."

"Marshal." Luther said with a smile.

"He didn't come."

"I know he won't come." Luther still smiled and looked very calm. "That kid has been like this since he was a child. He hasn't changed at all. It's great."

"Do you hate him?" Vito asked standing outside, Luther shook his head.

"How could it be? I found the child and took him back. I taught him everything, and he was just doing what I taught him."

"He learned very well, always has, and makes me proud."

Luther said calmly, Vito looked at him in silence for a moment, while Luther smiled, leaning against the cold wall behind the bed, recalling many things.

He remembered that day, the day he found Ryan, the tree hole, the killed beast, and the moment he pulled him out, as well as Lawn's previous appearance, the dirty one who only knew how to roar. look.

And the days in the castle, when he taught him, taught him how to speak, how to use a sword, and everything else, those days seemed like an eternity, but they seemed like a lifetime ago.

"At first, I hated the Emperor. I felt that he took away Ryan, and I found the child." Luther said, "But now, I don't hate him. I know that he didn't change anything about Ryan."

Luther sat in the cell in silence for a while. Vito looked at him from the outside without saying a word. It was not until a while later that Luther finally spoke, "What are you doing here? I thought it would be tomorrow."

"I'm curious," Vito replied in a low voice.

"What are you curious about?"

"Do you regret it?"

After Vito said this, Luther fell silent. He sat in the shadow of the firelight and spoke after a long time.

"What do you regret? Find that child, teach him everything, regret, why did I take him back?" Luther said calmly, "Or regret, become a knight, swear an oath, and pay the due price for it. ?”

"You know what I mean."

There was silence for a while, and there was only the sound of the beating flames. They were the only two people in the whole underground, and they could hear each other's breathing.

White mist spit out bits and pieces from the darkness, followed by Luther's voice.

"Do you regret it? Let me think about it. I want to find and talk to the young man at that time, talk to him, and tell him not to do stupid things. He almost killed the child he regarded as his own and destroyed his own home."

"But he's gone. That young man, that kid in the field, the young man on horseback is gone. I don't even know when he heard about it. There's just an old thing left."

Luther was sitting in prison. His voice was very soft, old but extremely calm. "He once swore to be the best knight. He failed to do it, but I think he is not a bad person."

"I will not repent of the betrayal itself, the Emperor is not the savior." Luther said without hesitation after a moment, "I will not go to his heaven, nor to ours, but I will not repent."

"Do you want to refute me?" Luther asked.

Vito was silent for a moment, "No."

Luther turned his head, looked at Vito in the shadows, and looked at him for a long time, "I want to thank you, Marshal."

"Why?"

"You set me free," he said. "After that, after all this time, finally, freedom."

Suddenly, for a moment, Vito felt that he could understand him. He looked into those old eyes, the flickering thoughts, memories and traces of time itself.

"Do you still love him? Ryan."

"forever."

"Even if he wants you to die."

Vito stood speechless for a while, then raised his head, "Do you have any last wishes?"

Luther smiled again and stood up, "It's nothing, but if you want me to wish, I hope it's you who will do it to all of us."

"I am honored to die in your hands, Marshal, Sword Bearer." Luther smiled, which was not the smile of a dying man. Vito looked at him in silence for a moment, and then took out a bottle of wine from his arms.

It was a bottle of wine with the date and place of origin stamped on the surface. Luther looked at it and said, "Caliban's red wine? You still keep it?"

"I left it when Ruth and I ransacked Lane's Winery many years ago. I haven't drank it. Today seems like it's time."

"A farewell drink?" Luther asked with a smile.

"No, we haven't met yet. I'm not familiar with you, so I thought, maybe tonight." Vito said, opening the mouth of the bottle and taking a sip himself, then stretched out the iron cage and handed it to Luther. .

The latter took over, "Knowing a dead person? Is it too late?"

"It's never too late."

In this way, the two people sat by the iron window, drinking from the bottle of wine alternately. When they finished drinking, Vito would bring another bottle, including the red wine of Caliban and the secret wine of Fenris. They talked about different wines. good or bad.

Chatting stories and telling each other's experiences, they eventually became friends.

When the night ended, Vito opened the iron cage with his own hands and took Luther out of the dungeon to the end of 10,000 years.

Send this new and old friend on his last journey.