The Lost Primarch Quest

Chogoris was a strange world, Auro mused to himself in the privacy of his mind as he stared down at the lush jewel of a world. To his sight into the teeming fractal world of the dreaming land he could see more, the aegis of hope and security that echoed into the dreamlands. So very different from many other worlds, the realm was fierce and deadly without question, he could feel the daggers of dreams upon his soul, but the logical matrix deflected and blunted them with impunity. Perhaps to another without his protections it would be a disturbing world to visit, it did not appreciate his arrival.

It was in the flow of water, the shape of the dreaming images, the dance of photons upon the atmosphere, and a million other subtitles that told the story of the dislike that the world below held for him in its own right. Worlds could be more than mere rock, ever since he had fought upon Fenris all those years ago he knew such, but this was the second time that that a world seemed truly aware of him in a fashion. It was no action to be taken, no imminent danger, but upon the geological the world would turn upon him.

Others might not care for their work would soon be completed, but if the people of the world cleaved to the model of Fenrisians they would feel the distain that their world itself held for him. He peered into the Dreaming and saw that it was not him, but all that came from far shores to this world seeking to exploit it in their own way. Even he had come with hostile intent in a manner against its populace for he sought secrets mastered through arduous eons of study and effort for nothing more than his own personal gain.

The whispers of the Dreaming faded as Shandra stepped closer to him, her aura shrouding this small section of the ship away from the light of the Dreaming. Where once the aura of a Blank had disturbed even him, and then it became his eternal refuge, now it was but the chill of night against the light of the day. A welcome reprieve indeed.

"Are you sure of this Crescum? Would not Primarch Magnus be able to provide what you seek?" Her voice echoed unnaturally a remnant of her time under the strain of time itself, brining with it the chill of the final. He lifted a hand impassively towards the world below pondering the question for a time with metronome precision, "Assistance from Magnus is secured, suggestion to investigate Chogorian practices reason of presence." Shandra nodded simply as she peered down at the world through the window of the ship, sighing slightly, "Regret?" Auro's voice broke the silence that had fallen and perhaps one that did not know him so well would have been puzzled but Shandra simply shook her head.

"I do not regret leaving my world, I became a Keyholder far too long ago, we both were repulsed from the world. Yet, I do wish that I could see it heal in full, the dreary ash fields pale to the life below." Auro simply nodded in acceptance turning back to studying Chogoris below, working as always to understand the aura of Shandra that shrouded all around her, while continuing to chip away at the undying cycle and the other projects that consumed his time.

A faint movement that in any other astartes or perhaps even primarch would have been dismissed drew the eye, "Spontaneous?" Shandra asked before she could refrain. "Negative, pondering value of research, combat, time, projects, mnemonic movement." Shandra simply nodded as she stood next to the strangest psyker she had ever met and she had met several extremely strange psykers over the eons in that wretched cycle.

Crescum defied everything she knew about psykers and yet in the beginning she had wanted to believe that it was merely because he was something else, something removed from humanity or the iron as he termed it. But that faint hope was dashed when she met another astartes psyker or librarian and they were repulsed by her all the same as a normal human would be.

Auro instead welcomed her presence, seemingly content to be cut off from the warp. Humans in the past described it as alien, unnatural and unholy, while psykers felt as if it was flaying their skin or melting them in acid. It was a lonely life being born a powerful blank, one able to see the changing of the cycles, but Crescum, said that her aura was like the night. Cold and reserved, but painless and natural perhaps the most appreciative statement ever given to a blank by a psyker.

In a comfortable silence the two stood together, both pondering things that the other could not understand in truth, but each accepting of the other. A psyker of gamma power, risen high by the might of an astartes, burdened with terrors now gone and a blank of omega intensity once trapped in a cycle of decaying time and hopelessness now friend to the natural prey of the blank.

Neither of them were in a rush to land upon the world below, the rites had to be observed for this was no normal world but a Primarch homeworld for all that mattered not to the people of the world. Yet, to the adeptus terra it mattered a great deal and neither of them had the permission of the White Scars nor of the Primarch to land upon the world so mundane bureaucracy would take the wheel for now.

Eventually the arcane and byzantine papers were filled and passage secured. To the world below they descended, the flicker of light upon the sky, the aura of the sun through the upper reaches telling all that was needed for Auro. Hatred was omnipresent, but it would not deter him from the actions at hand, but as always preparations had been made for this.

Perhaps others of the legion would not read much into the history of a world or its nature, but for all that Chogoris was a homeworld of one of the primarchs, it was still in many ways a feral/feudal world. Technology far from the pinnacle of the imperium, the world conserved as it had been for countless centuries. Upon its surface there would be little in the form of repairing complex devices such as the armor of an astartes.

The few clerks that shared the descent with them steered around the pair of outsiders, even outside of the armor an astartes was difficult to miss and Auro was no exception. Shandra noted to her faint amusement a handful of the women in the background seeming to find him attractive, even through his perfectly blank expression. All he wore was a simple robe covered in sigils both mundane and esoteric, with a container that she knew held an armor that had been shaped in accordance with designs from feudal worlds in the image of an armored knight.

No moving parts, no sacrifice for appearance over function and yet it was forged not of mundane metal, but of Nechroanl alloys. Along with it he had brought the twin altars, which had been remade several times over to improve the connection that each could support with the Ouroboros slotted within. It was perhaps strange for an astartes to be the one with the lesser amount of gear than a blank, but it was fitting for Crescum, Shandra mused as she glanced around the hold once more.

As the ship slipped through the border of space and into the atmosphere proper, Auro felt the slumbering being within the world turn towards him ever so slightly. A flicker of hatred welled forth in the Dreaming before fading away, as soon as it came. Yet, it did not disturb him this time as he watched the Dreaming realm change, in orbit it had been strange but now it took on a different form. Paths formed and were unmade, channels carved forth out of starlight before being filled with water, flowers of blood bloomed from fields watered with honor. Yet, among it all was the wind, ever present and ever eager, it whipped the Dreaming into vicious storms that faded within moments or lasted for subjective eons, and yet a tranquil peace held sway over it all.

He was no one given to questioning actions taken, when an action had been done it was done and there was nothing more to do. Yet, now seeing the Dreaming of Chogoris the action of discarding the armor that he wore in favor of something crafted by his own hands and efforts felt all the more correct. There was a degree of perhaps honor in such things, to rely only on what one had made themselves. Everything that he had brought with him, came in the end from his efforts hard won and bled for and within the Dreaming, his eyes could see the echoes of that choice and it seemed as if a faint approval colored the hatred for a moment.

"Sight?" A twitch of a finger answered the question as Shandra broke the silence between the two of them as was her nature. She nodded slightly in turn as the slight movement conveyed all the information that could be conveyed on such alien considerations. Silence was their natural state it seemed at points and the clerks looking inward, could only wonder about their most unusual passengers.

Eventually the hours passed and Tung-ak came into view in full, Auro considered that perhaps he should have gotten a more rapid transport, but in the end the travel was done and perhaps the lack of pollution was more valuable to his future endeavor than speed would have been. The city as the pair entered into it was small for the headquarters of a world, but one had to recall that this world was lacking in population compared to so many and even more lacked national states that would require complex administrative nodes.

In the end Auro saw in the city a grand example of efficient usage of resources, no wasted value had been spent and pollution was carefully managed within. There were few rented zones, but enough for their purposes as Auro walked with assurance through the streets towards the location given to him by the clerks above in space. It would serve as an adequate base to prepare for the expedition into the outer reaches of the world, in search of a sage that could aid him in his quest.

The next day came with the dawn, the city awakening, except for a single Astartes that had spent the night in meditation within the liminal realm of time and death, speaking with the Timeless One. Yet, as the dawn came, the communion ended as Auro left the temporary housing trying to decide how to seek out a sage. Efficiency would demand that he simply find someone and force them to give to him the secrets, Dreams would suggest to wait for a path to reveal itself, neither were correct and yet neither were incorrect. The path to be taken would be the middle, the whims of Dreams would guide him to the guide for as much as it felt hubristic to state he was important enough to have the arrival divined.

Wearing the cloth robes that were his standard fare out of battle, Auro explored the simple city, it was the primary manufacturing hub of the world, but it was small and barely productive. Only through the aegis of the primarch did this world remain so pristine, but as much as the old drives for efficiency demanded its exploitation, Auro shrugged it off for there was a greater value here than mere rocks.

The skill of the psykers trained upon this world could provide more to the imperium than any mundane supply of gold or iron ever would. Perhaps, more advanced manufacturing would contest, but the investment would force a debt that could be ill born at the current time and so he simply accepted the state even as a part of his mind envisioned a different world. So many plans rose in his mind as he wandered the city, seeing nature in a context far removed from all others.

In the past he could not appreciate beauty in things, now walking through nature the Dreaming contrasting the static, Auro felt tranquil for a time. A flower emerged from the ground in front of him, with deft fingers he touched the petals and traced into the air the molecular formulas for its scent. He could see in the dreaming that a reflection existed, of sunlight and hearty durability.

The sound of a human walking through the world reached him, senses crafted through genetic and warp empowered flesh felt and heard the shift of leather and cloth upon skin. Auro remained focused upon the flower, tracing its thin yet strong leaves and petals, seeing the evolutionary history that had played out to give rise to this species. Yet, through it all he kept the human in mind, a statue unmoving to outward appearance, a non breathing mountain of gene forged muscle standing over a humble flower. A strange sight he knew, but cared not to correct for it would not be efficient to waste energy if it would not further his own purposes.

"Are you a brother of the Angel of Humility?" The silence of the early dawn was broken by the human. Auro shifted not as he processed the information against the backdrop of what references could be made and came to a conclusion with greater than fifty percent accuracy. His head inclined by the most minute of degrees in acknowledgment, "You are a strange family." Auro if he had been any other astartes might have reacted physically to that statement of boldness, but it was a fact that was only true in the end and thus needed no response.

With the soft footfalls of one not trying to sneak but one well trained the human emerged from the shadows and into Auro's sight. A weathered man wearing leather and cloth of the native style stood to the side, peering at him before a faint twitch occurred. Auro noted the aborted nod as a data point before returning his focus to the flower studying its nature once more. So many ideas burned in his mind, was this what primarch Perturabo and Fulgrim suffered when they prepared, he wondered before removing the useless thoughts.

"You're studying the Chrysanthemum as if it holds the secrets to more than just good tea." The strange man spoke once more as he peered down at the flower in question, its hundreds of petals shimmering gold in the light of the rising sun.

"Hallucinogenic compounds detected, inflammatory counter agents detected, seeds intended for animal and wind dispersal, wide zone of growth permissible, no sign of genetic cultivation. Summation of aspects intriguing." Auro spoke for the first time as he carefully leveraged his powers to harvest a single ready seed from the flower, it would be an interesting plant to cultivate on his own in the future and perhaps something that could one day be used as a reagent in a ritual or to pass through the Engine. The human blinked at the response as expected, before shrugging, "That makes sense, the tea is good when fever hits or one wants to commune with the spirits. My presence here isn't random, I was looking for you."

If the human wanted him to be surprised, they would be disappointed as Auro simply inclined his head, "Divination expected. Understanding of culture minimal, but prediction true. Trial to be requested prior to meeting, correct?" His words were firm and emotionless as ever, the human frowning slightly as if they had expected a greater response, before sighing. "Correct, your trial is to retrieve the horns of 5 Oryavar whales, without the usage of your armor or powers."

Auro processed the trial, referencing what little he knew of the local animals through his mind before finding that he lacked the needed information. "Clarification." The request was clear and obvious, yet the native man frowned as if it was not processed correctly for him. Eventually the man shrugged, "Below the waves of the frigid Tovg the whales swim, eacb of them a great animal. From their heads a grand horn grows, the children of the Khan of Khans seek them out to bring honor to themselves before they partake of his blood." The words were spoken in a strange cadence, Auro noted even as he processed the clear information of this being a trial that aspirants and neophytes of the White Scars undertook at least in part for it would be unlikely for such a deadly ritual to be universal.

Yet, it would be too easy for him thus resulting in the proscribed limits. If those to be of the legion could bring low the whales then an astartes full grown with their gear in full would find them no threat. Auro nodded to himself in his mind as he considered the matter, before dismissing it. The trial would be done and completed as demanded. There would be no question of his actions here, already the power armor had been left behind in favor of his personally crafted suit of Nechronal Alloy metal, leaving it behind would be only a moderate hardship. Not using his powers, perhaps for another psyker or Librarian that would be a point to balk at, but for him it was nothing new for even now he preferred to limit his usage of power.

Another sound broke the silence of the dawn as Shandra entered the area, her footsteps clear to his hearing as the particulars of her nature were familiar. The man shifted uneasily upon his feet, both of them noted the action, but cared not to react to it. "One shrouded from the trial of heavens does walk with you, I had thought that the sage was over indulging when he mentioned that."

"For any other, that would be correct." Shandra spoke as she enshrouded Auro in her field of chill night. Auro relaxed slightly into the aura of chill as it washed away his spectral senses, turning to face the man in full for the first time. He was young, not yet beyond the prime of his life, yet with a level of caution that seemed to be ill fitting for a native of a world that had given rise to the Khan.

The man nodded slightly to her before turning back to Auro, "Once the horns are gathered in honorable battle, seek Altak one there shall be waiting as the heavens will to lead you on." With the words said the man began to turn away before turning back for a moment, "The mechanisms of the world beyond find poor grip upon the soil of the land, yet hasten not your step with power unneeded for the winds steer travelers astray." Auro remained passive as he heard the warning, already processing and understanding the unspoken intention behind it.

The first was a warning to not use machines to travel to the site of the test, which in and of itself was a test. It would be simple to charter a plane or space capable transport, but that would rob some of the intent and weight from the trial, the second was more nebulous but most likely revolved around his powers and to husband their usage upon the world to what was only needed. Auro frowned in his own fashion as he considered that, coming to a compromise, he would not use his abilities to shift energy in his favor but he would remain dedicated to his work that was currently in progress.

"Acceptance?" Shandra asked as she twisted her face slightly, Auro let one of his eyelids flicker for a moment as he indicated acceptance in turn. The strange pair slowly made their way back towards the temporary housing unit communing in their silent and effortless language of motion and pulses of energy and time. Shandra might not be a psyker, but traces of the temporal cycles remained and she was one of the few that could feel time.

With powers limited and machinery denied as expected upon this trial Auro knew that the only solution would be to acquire horses to transverse the world to the location needed. It would be a journey of several weeks at the shortest, but if there was a crisis to be, one could easily reconnect with him and lead them back to the stars and to it. If he was alone, perhaps he could run on foot all the way, but with Shandra no matter her skill and expertise in many things, she was human with all that implied.

What would pose no challenge to him would reduce her to a broken wreck of a woman, and that would be inefficient and unnecessarily cruel. Auro frowned slightly as the aura brushed against his mind again, noting that he should attempt to connect with the adeptus mechanicum to source biological enhancements for Shandra to improve her efficiency and skill. With a flick of eyes, a note was created in his mind to begin the work to induct her into the Night Watch on a technical basis which would in turn entitle her to the enhancements of the group.

Faint amusement drifted across him as Shandra's aura flickered in a known form, only for his to respond to her's. A silent conversation spoken in the waves of auras of invisible energy danced between the silent pair as they both considered the future and what it would hold. Both coming to the same conclusion as uneasy slipped into Shandra's aura as the simple fact of the blank aura pushing away animals came to sharp relief only for Auro to counteract with a silent support. It was not a true language, but it was also more than just mere empathic understanding, both understood the other and their bodies combined with auras a personal language had formed.

From the temporary housing Auro retrieved his gear and so did Shandra before both of them began to walk towards the stables where horses were held ready for either natives or travelers to use to wander the plains of the world.

The stables were not the typical construction on so many worlds, instead a large open pasture waited before them with nearly a hundred horses wandering the grassland within. Corralled by several natives on horseback at all times, Auro stared at the horses with a discerning eye. He had never ridden an animal before, but he had studied biology and biomechanical motion for many thousand of hours with various tech priests and techmarines in the past. His augmented eyes could pick out slight flaws in several horses that even the best of humans would be blind too, one horse biased ever so slightly to its left, another to its back left hoof and other such flaws. Such minute issues would be of no concern for a standard journey and would most likely pose no concern even for this journey, but there was no need to take on greater challenge for no reward.

The journey itself would be time consuming enough without risking a minor concern becoming greater in time. "Beautiful." Shandra whispered as she leaned on the fence staring at the dappled coats of the animals, their aversion to her clear but trained well enough to not shy away in truth. Auro tilted his head noting her aura and body posture, "Memory?" A soft laugh twinkling in the morning came from Shandra for the first time that he had known her. "I grew up on a city farm in a tarnished golden age, the horses were some of the few animals I could interact with. Almost forgotten those ancient memories under the pall of ash." Auro simply stood silent as Shandra smiled broadly for the first time examining the horses with a dim light in her eyes that had been missing so recently.

A native horseman galloped up to the pair as they continued their examinations, wearing leather and cloth and clearly in their prime of life, the native smiled. "Travelers from afar, what can we the aduun keepers do for you this golden day?" His voice was cheerful but there was an edge to it that neither of them failed to hear.

Shandra shrugged slightly not sure who would take lead, before the flickering of their auras resolved the minor confusion. "Honored herdmaster, we seek several aduun for a journey to the Tovg Ocean." Her words were overly formal drawing from her nearly forgotten past upon the world of ash and failure, but to prevent insult from being taken due to her nature it was needed. The native laughed softly, "I am no herdmaster, I simply guide this herd with my fellows to ensure that the aduun are ready to race the dragon winds. It is a grand journey you have embarked upon." Auro noted that it was said as an afterthought more than anything else, a thought occurred to him that he should ensure an understanding of the native tongue before leaving the city, for even if those within the region could speak gothic that did not mean all tribes would.

Shandra nodded, "It is a journey without our machines, but the horses of this world are renowned." A statement without qualification allowing any to draw their own conclusion from, perhaps normally a statement poorly chosen for a blank, but Shandra's honestly slipped through her aura of coldness. The tribesman glanced at the boxes around them seeming to consider aspects before nodding, "For a journey of such distance with such supplies, you will need at least five aduun but I would suggest seven to share the burden for a burden shared is a burden halved even for the mighty aduun." Auro flared his aura slightly in understanding and approval of the concept to ensure a lack of inefficiency from over-stressing the horses only for Shandra to return with a flare of amusement and confirmation that she had come to the same conclusion.

Shandra nodded, "Your wisdom is well founded, it would be a poor choice to take only the minimum required for a challenge that requires it not. What shall we do to conclude this meeting?"

The native frowned peering up towards the sky as unease crossed his face, "A spirit of vengeance has possessed one of the heaven's eagles. It has avoided our bows with mocking ease as the spirit defies the natural order." His hands gripped tight to the reigns of the horse for a moment before releasing, "Bring it to peace and seven aduun will be yours, honored guests." Inclining his head before returning at a gallop to the rest of the Chogorians managing the herd.

Auro turned towards Shandra asking without words if the task was worth their time or if it would be more efficent to find another means of gaining the horses. A pulse returned of confirmation and he turned towards the plains beyond. It would not be something overly mundane to track a psychic avian, especially not one that had managed to escape the hunters of the local tribes. But, he was a champion of humanity and it would die in the end, yet preparations had to be made.

Returning to the temporary housing, a simple ritual to home in on the subject of the hunt rising to his mind. It would take far longer than mere hours or days, but with the local Dreaming being at peace in a strange manner the flows of ritual came easily to him. Shandra's aura woven into the matrixes to attempt to defy any divination of the ritual to come to the target.

With metronomic precision, the ritual was carved into stone under the open sky. Runes not sourced from the Starlight Basin but from humanity's cultural depths, from the echos of the ancient empires of Old Earth, fragments rising from the Dreaming and of his own creation into the language of concepts were carved into stone. The power of the natural world, brought to bear, chains of grinding gravity, lenses of planetary fire, the darkness of the shroud of night weaving forth into a prismatic glory.

For three days and three nights Auro worked through the cycling of the world the ritual taking shape before him. Concepts interlocking with mundane sigils, and then into other more meaningful sigils, until at last a grand mandala carved into stone perfect unto the atomic stood before him. Shandra stepped carefully around as her aura risked bleeding away the significance that was being so slowly and carefully etched into mundane stone and sigils, yet her aura of chill night was part of the ritual in its own right at this junction.

Auro silent and unforgiving as stone, a golem of flesh colored granite as he carved with hand and power without the weakness that would plague those of the Iron. One eye ever turned towards the flows of the Dreaming, the design ever shifting with a perfection impossible for any other to achieve with the shifts seen beyond. Then the final strike was placed and the completion of the first step arrived, a grand mandala of carved stone that to one attuned to the weaves of the Dreaming would gleam with faint starlight, yet it was far from complete at the moment.

Without words the pair worked for another two days and nights, the number that Kesar had once found connected to the Emperor and Humanity being called into resounding existence within this minor ritual of tracking. Marble and gems harvested from the world below with a carefulness that no one other than Auro or a Geokinetic could have achieved were turned into Pentahedrons to further the alignment towards humanity. The marble and gemstones poured into the mandala as a shimmering stream of reflecting light as the completion neared.

With a final infusion of purpose and energy the ritual activated for the first and final time. Revealing to Auro where their prey hides and where it would be in two days and one night. As the ritual closed to completion, the mandala became solid, an eternal marking of a ritual undertaken with a care and precision so rarely seen in visitors from afar.

Within the mountains nearby to the plains, the prey roosted in cloud strewn aeries, the glimmering of the light of the world shrouding it from even the master hunters of the tribes that prowled the lands. Within the stone peaks of the world it made its lair now revealed to one that stood far above the men of iron, refined and ascended above in a crucible of pain and fire. Within the dreaming realm the strands of fate wove forth to any that could see them, declaring the end of the psychic predator.

Auro might not be a diviner, yet his eyes forever seeing what lay beyond the veil of the world of the static and into the land of dreams, saw the path to walk laid forth by the ritual he had so crudely designed and enacted. It was not something he would be proud of, it was of no value, a ritual of the hunt that must be made anew for every target that one would seek.

Shandra stepped closer, her aura of the night dimming the dreaming world as Auro finished the last of his calculations. "Trial, four days." The curt simple statement was all that was needed as the pair turned towards the plains before the mountains at the horizon and began to walk with the cases carrying their supplies floating behind them propelled by gravity itself.

Perhaps, another would see a surpassing wild beauty of the world as they marched through the plains. Yet, the silent march broken only by the wailing of the winds, belied the truth of the journey. The empathic bond between the two flared and waned at times as both considered events in their own ways, two silent and stoic figures marching against the wind. One feeling the ever present dislike of the world against their soul, the winds of the world manifested as tornados of dreams within the Dreaming realm, fractal purifying winds ripping away at the taint of Chaos. The other simply remembering better times from her distant past, all but forgotten under the march of time.

Yet, together the pair worked to ensure their victory.

It was a slow march, almost funeral in nature as the mismatched pair climbed the peaks towards the aerie where the battle would be fought. Far now from the plains below, snow crunching under foot, stones worn smooth and jagged by the passage of eons untouched by the hands of man all that pierced the cover of snow. Auro marched forth without care for the impact of the snow, for it would be more inefficient to care than it was to push forth through the meaningless resistance, while Shandra danced along the surface ever careful to ensure that her fragile form would not find itself trapped within the frigid depths.

To the tick tock of time did they march, the march of time heralding their arrival as the Mythril Ouroboros drank deep of the liminal realm, Auro's mind far afield communing with the Timeless One even as they marched, secrets were not shared, but understanding could be improved even with the distractions at hand. Shandra watched the heavens above to ensure that the prey they sought would not find them and turn the hunt upon them, even if she knew even she could almost surely bring it low, the trials within the ever shifting Ages had trained her to never become overconfident.

Through valleys and peaks they marched, until at last the journey came to its fated conclusion the thread of starlight followed had run its course. Their prey revealed and the hunt entering its final moments, questions empathic danced between the two as they spoke without words, and without gestures until it was decided in their own way.

With grace born of countless eons dueling the champions of her world, Shandra brought to bear a plasma weapon forged by Auro's own hands from the Nechronal Alloys that he had made, laced with Nechronal Phase Iron, a challenge to craft but so very potent in the hands of an omega blank.

In her other hand she unsheathed the power sword forged from Nechronal Moonsilver and Nechronal Phase Iron, forged by Auro with all the power at his disposal, in a crucible of purest flame and darkest dream. Armed with weapons suited for her dread presence Shandra took the first strike, Auro seeing beyond the veil to witness the obliteration of the dreaming land as she fought in full. The target, a grand avian with wings wider than three astartes shrieked in pain as plasma burned through it all touched with infinitesimal flakes of purified Phase Iron, crippling it before the fight could begin.

With a shriek of denial the grand beast tore into the air, the winds and snow answering its call as ice hammered down upon the pair. Auro lifted a hand and all was deflected away from its path, inexorable force applied to the projectiles denying them any chance of success. "Telekinetic, subset cryokinetic primary, secondary aerokinetic. Injury chance; 6.109%. Success of mission: 100%. Conclusion inevitable." Shandra smirked as another bolt of dark plasma raced towards the sky above, the weapon the only technological item they had in truth upon this world and only because it was her's. With unerring aim, the bolt struck home to one of the great wings and the beast screamed its pain, yet it had failed to realize that neither would be harmed by such telepathic means.

Upon the logical matrix, an infinite sphere of mathematical and ethereal formula brisling with a million million defenses against far more potent and absolute intrusions the simple shriek was torn asunder without Auro being affected in any form. Shandra simply walked through the aura of the night that forever cradled her consuming the madness touched shriek as an ocean would a pebble. "Do you wish to slay it?"

Shandra asked uncaring if the beast above would hear her blasé words as to its might, only for Auro to be unmoving and a smile flicker onto her face as a third bolt of plasma flew forth, only to grow a hundred fold as energy was torn from the atoms of the world to feed the incarnate fury of the bolt. Snow fell upon the aerie as the final wailing howl of the fight met its mark. A fatal wound dealt with death now held only in abeyance by will and might of mind the once grand creature slowly fell back to the earth below, its ruined wings trying in vain to hold onto the air.

With a final crash the once majestic bird impacted the snow banks of the aerie and struggled towards it feet, but it was too late as with five efficient and perfect steps Auro swung the Mythril Ouroboros and cleaved head from body. The soul within falling into the Dreaming as life faded away, Auro reached towards the once luminous soul and traced along its form without truly touching it even as he sealed the head within a container removed of atmosphere and purged of all microbes and viral particles, before chilled to ensure perseveration.

A short nod towards Shandra was all that was needed, a smile on her face as the two rejoined each other walking at only a short distance removed as they began to tread back down the path they had walked. Through the mountains and valleys once more. Preparing for the start of the true journey ahead, now with the horses in waiting, there was little enough to hold back their progress beyond mere time and effort.

Auro pondered on the revealed history of Shandra as they descended from the aeries of the mountains. She had ever been reticent to speak of her past or the world in general, but not he had learned more of her past in but a few days than years before. "Training." His harsh static voice broke the silence of the land, as he remained in his steady march downward.

A pulse of confusion touched his soul, before it faded. "Of course." Shandra replied in turn both understanding the other as plans were made between them. The grasslands that divided the single spaceport of the world from the mountain aeries welcomed them back as the winds blew ever onward. The knowledge of the future that was to come ever present in mind. With the horses to be gained, it would be possible to make their way to the location of the trial that was set forth.

It was not nominally efficient to follow the steps laid forth, nor was it practical, and yet for once Auro found that the apparent defiance of such principles would gain more than cleaving to them. The ever present Dreaming was clear enough that to bring strife to this world would be returned with danger ten fold. Thus, was the normally inefficient made efficient, yet he wondered to himself how many of his brothers would understand the simple calculus driving his actions even now.

"This reminds me of my childhood." Shandra's voice broke the returned silence as the pair strode through the tall grass with the ever blowing wind battering at them. A pulse of interest was all that Auro sent, but that was enough for them. A small smile formed on her normally weary face as she stopped by a flowering plant, "I was born in a Tarnished Age, there was a harsh wonder to the world in my youth. This world, Chogoris reminds me of the harsh but noble beauty of the world when I was a child working on her parent's farm."

With deft motions the flowering heads was cut cleanly from the plant, "Yet, this world has a vibrance to it that mine never did. The colors brighter, scents more vivid and multifaceted and the environment healthy." Shandra smiled faintly as she smelled the flower she had so cleanly plucked from the plant, before turning to the mountains they had just descended from.

"I was there when the first ash falls began. It was a festival, a million people from all over the land came together to celebrate the turning of a century. Nomad, city dweller, farmer, rancher, craftsman, noble, king, everyone came together for a single day without regard for social class just to be together. Yet, as if to spite us all the predicted light rain turned to ash, the festival ended in a massacre. I alone was free of the madness, those that I touched broke free only to fall back into bloodlust when I left." A half broken cry escaped her lips as half formed tears lingered on her eyes without falling, "My parents cut each other apart and with their guts drenching the ground with blood and offal tried to kill others. I hid, and by the time the sun rose the next morning a million people had become a million bodies pouring their lifeblood into the ground. Only a handful survived and of those few only I could be considered still human." A tear gleaming in the morning light fell at her final word, as the flower was crushed in her hand carelessly.

A harsh broken laugh escaped her lips as she turned towards to look up at the star in the sky, "What a champion I was. Unable to save even her own parents from themselves." For the first time in decades Auro was unsure of what to do, and for a single heart stopping moment the endless calculations that ruled his existence ceased to click ever on. With a wave of his hand, the world shifted slightly as the grass around them bloomed anew with life drawn from the future to the now.

"Champion?" His voice broke through her light sobs, if only barely as he stood a distance away his body for once revealing emotion. A choked sobbing laugh was all that answered him, "I was trained by perhaps the last sane people of my age, to do what you did. Find my way to the linchpin of the ages and end it all. Experiments were done to my flesh and mind to enable me to survive and to fight beyond human limits. I do not even recall my birth name anymore, The name Shandra was, and still is, a name of meaning to my home. Shandra Eveningsong, was the greatest hero and legend of my world, everyone venerated her story. She slew the monsters of the end, brought fire back to the people, protected the cities from the falling stars. No one would dream of naming their child with her name, but a weapon? A weapon could hold that name, for it wasn't a name but a mark. I was a Shandra type weapon nothing more or less." Sobs broke the tranquil peace of the world as emotions were unleashed, Auro found himself fidgeting for the first time he could remember in his life as an astartes unsure of what to do when the flowers had failed to gain so much as a mention.

"A weapon lacks self determination." The simple statement cut through the sound of sobbing as a ray of light through darkness. Auro, fidgeting, stepped forward with what one would note to be a human gait, "I understand." Shandra could feel that he wished to say more, that he wanted to do more but lacked the understanding of how to do so, and perhaps if it came from anyone else it would have only infuriated her, but from an Astartes it rang differently. "How? How do you reconcile what you are with what you were?" A shiver almost a flinch ran through Auro's form at that question.

"Impossible. Personal existence unique, lesser conflict due to younger age and lower familia bonding." Auro stated simply as he put a hand on her shoulder even as she clawed at the dirt below her knees, "Why did coming here have to remind me? Why?"

Auro simply left his hand on her shoulder, even as his face twitched. Her aura covering them both at its full potency and yet he let it wash over him without moving. "The Dreaming feels similar." Auro rarely wished that he was better at speaking with others, for it was an inefficient usage of time and effort to train as people were illogical and rational hard facts were superior, but just now he wished that he was more like his silver tongued brother or Raz. He understood his limitations and this was far beyond him, letting his mind drift he tried to find anything that would aid Shandra in this moment, before finding an idea.

Slipping back out of the field, he drew light together and then sand to glass formed. A diorama formed before him, created in as fine of a detail as he could from ancient memories over a century old. Revealing his own history, as a child of merely five awakening to the whispers of the warp, the incessant visions that would come to plague him and then the years of near starvation and insanity in the bowels of Mars before the coming of the Legions. Then the process by which a sickly child of ten, nearly broken and insane was transformed into a mighty Astartes in all its glory and gore recreated with the greatest perfection he could muster with light and glass.

Putting it gently on the ground, Auro in defiance of anyone that ever knew he gently brought Shandra to it, "I understand. Memories repressed to protect, memory connection renewed awareness, pain. Strength." Shandra gasped as she saw the model before her before she turned to stare at Auro in horror and understanding etched clearly upon her face. "What was done to you?" Her voice a whisper as empathic pain echoed through her aura, "What was needed." Was all that Auro could say for astartes were needed for all the pain that those chosen went through, trillions of lives were saved by their hands, and Shandra nodded sadly understanding.

Auro stared down at Shandra, noting the tears flowing down her face and extended his hand. Fragility, a sense of uncertainty that he had never seen in her before as she gently took his offered hand. Her eyes never leaving the diorama he had created, "Do you recall your original name?" Her voice was a whisper almost consumed by the thundering winds, but he heard her question clearly, a soft aborted chuckle answered her. "I do. Menial 001981756 phi delta barrack 0911871, identification code in Martian systems. Auramite, familia name, sourced from lore fragment. Auro link to original name, Crescum statement of fact." His voice was quiet almost solemn as he shared a secret that even the Legion did not know and he was unsure if even Oriacarius knew of his original name or the link that it held with his current name.

Shandra smiled, but it was tainted with sadness, "Why did you willing give up your identity?" Auro looked to the horizon as he pulled her to her feet before answering, "Unworthy, broken, name from ancient lore carries burdens. Not Auramite by then, am not now, aspirational name, failed aspiration, name discarded." Shandra shook her head sadly, as she stood up to stare him in the eye for a moment before settling down to her feet again. "You carry the same pain." She realized as she stared up at Auro's face, carven from marble once more even as another set of tears fell from her eyes. Auro met her eyes evenly, "I do." A broken laugh erupted from Shandra as she stared up at the noon sun in the sky before shaking herself, "We have a mission to complete, let us move."

Auro inclined his head in acceptance but both of them could feel the other spending more effort on understanding the other, more focus put into examining their respective auras. As they walked Auro made plans for when they returned to Terra, there was an Assassin Temple founded on Blanks, he would ensure that their gear would be available to Shandra in time.

Yet, that was not all, designs for power armor drifted in his mind, a stripped down suit one that could be used by a human. A pale echo of what his own armor was, but great indeed for a mere human to use, if he had to personally design and construct it all he would do so. The Nechronal Engine would be the crucible that would provide the materials for it in time, the same alloy that he had forged her sword from he would use again in this suit of armor. A relic forged by the hands of a Gamma for a Blank in the fires of Death, Time and Undying would gird her life well.

It was painful in a way that he had never encountered before to watch as Shandra stumbled or choked out a sob intermittently as memories returned to her awareness. Hands tightening into fists at the sight, even as equations simple and nigh divine raced through his mind trying to find the solution. Concepts being considered and discarded at speeds beggaring thought, pondering on Death, Time and Undying resolving some questions and revealing a thousand more. A realization came, he felt hatred at the fact that he could not do anything here. Emotion identified, the logical matrix closed down seeking to understand what had caused such a disturbance, warp influence was ruled out, psychic influence similarly dismissed, leaving only personal reasons.

The question remained, why did seeing Shandra suffer infuriate him so much when he had watched thousands of brothers die on countless worlds and calmly walked over their fallen bodies? He had waded through oceans of blood of allies and foes, even those that he had worked with for years when they died failed to elicit even a fraction of a fraction of this fury. Auro could not determine the answer, Shandra was simply an efficient ally nothing more, but then why did her pain tear his soul.

Shandra stumbled and with a burst of speed from Shift he was there before she could fall, giving support even as her aura tore away his momentum. They had time, this mission would always have a long timeframe due to the nature of warp travel, "Rest." Was all he spoke as he as gently as one such as him close her eyes, before gathering their supplies. Leaving her for a moment, Auro walked into the world and reached down and gently with delicate hands forged chains of metal from the power of the world itself. If she could not walk then he would carry them all back to the city and wait for her to recover, it was the efficient thing to do.

Looping the chains around the containers with them and their weapons, he lifted Shandra into his arms and began to march. Day and night, without rest, trusting in the power of the astartes he marched carrying all their materials with him back to the spaceport. Every time when Shandra roused he pushed her gently back to rest, her mind still so very unstable even he could tell, memories rising from the darkness of dreams of the forgotten to plague the waking mind. Much the same had happened to him so many decades ago and when it had, he had wished for someone to help him, but no one had, now though he could assist another that suffered so.

Auro paced within their room, hating this uncertainty that had gripped him. Shandra ever since they had returned several days ago had been writhing in pain. He didn't know what to do, he had gathered the horses as expected, stabled them and ensured that they would be maintained for a time, but nothing made sense. Logically speaking Shandra was stronger than him, she came from a superior background, one that was clearly kinder and more caring than even his first few years of life. She had apparent family that cared for her even with her nature, he had had no one to support him for half a decade.

Why then was she crippled by the returning memories of those better times? Could it be that those kinder years were the cause thereof this problem? If that was the case then would it not be efficient and practical to utilize the Imperium's technology to purge the source of the pain. Yet, why then could he not force himself to contact the ships in orbit that had access to such memory technology or the ability to enable him to create it himself.

The logical matrix groaned and cracked as he struggled with something that he had never had to confront before. The blanks he had met in the past were nothing in truth, merely opportune moments of rest and relaxation, a relationship known to be short and one that he had no care to go beyond the minimum. Their influence their only worth, but as he stared at Shandra he couldn't bring himself to complete the equations. Simple and harsh truth flowed mathematically through his mind, but something stood against his will in completing them.

He knew somehow that neither of them would return to the Imperium unchanged when they left this world and its Dreaming Lands. He had known when they set forth for it that change would come, but the nature of the change had been hidden from his sight even if he looked away whenever he saw glimpses of times yet to be. As what he was, the future was no longer something he could avoid seeing.

Flashes of times to be came too him now in the corner of his mind, the flow of time itself across his soul whispered of secrets of the future. He was no diviner in truth, but one could never truly ignore such insights when the Dream gave rise to them if one was so attuned to time itself. He had known that this would enforce change upon him and Shandra before they had landed, but he had refused to engage with the Dream to see more than what could not be ignored.

Now he wished that he had never journeyed here, it was efficient and practical, but something within hated this entire chain of events. Shandra writhed in pain as what could only be a memory of greater than average influence returned, and he could do nothing to aid her. A note made in the back of his mind to inform the Legion about the lack of psychological support and care for blanks due to turning over those duties to the Library, another note to request access to the records of the Sisters of Silence and Culexus for any assistance in understanding the underlaying architecture of a blank's psychology.

But for all of the plans for the future he couldn't do anything but wait and pace for Shandra. Taking a seat upon the chair outside of her range, he closed his eyes to rest, knowing that there was nothing on this world that should be able to sneak past him even resting.

The Dream opened for him as he fell into it, the Starlight Basin glittering in the distance as he drifted within the Dreaming Abyss. His soul a sphere of infinite calculations ever flickering into the next sequence, a recursive order that moves ever onward and cycles back to the first. A declaration of identity and order within this orderless place, the logical matrix in full and truth revealed. It was no mere barrier around his mind, it was no minor mental chant that he must maintain, no it was something far deeper and potent. His very soul over the centuries and decades had become the Logical Matrix, an eternal cycle of order and logic that flowed inward and outward, each equation a gear that spun ever onward.

His spiritual form drifted within the currents for a time, but the peace was disrupted as shadows emerged within the outer bound of the Matrix. Nothing of the outside could infiltrate the Matrix. As they took form he understood what he beheld, fragments of his own mind. The first to form was a child, gleaming and pure, an expression of joy and happiness upon his young face, an echo of his first five years of life yet unburdened by the pain of work in the factories of Mars. The next to form was a figure of mist and chaos, all but gone, only but an echo of an echo remained, Auro dismissed it with a thought the mist being thrown aside. The third to arise was himself as an astartes but newly ascended, young but also old, as he looked upon himself of that era, he could see the insanity that had gripped him then and for so many decades in harsh light.

The echo of the Astartes came to solidly first, "Weakness, purge, efficient, practical, Calculation 91.7618% correct, servitorization superior option 71%. Emotion weakness, remove." Each word a perfect monotone, absent any and all care, only following the most perfect logic imaginable. "Inefficient time use, legion, warrior slave/servant, Chaos impossible to fight, Emotion means suicide."

Auro stared at the echo of his past, noting all the thousand of aspects that he now saw in harsh light. Some he still held dear, efficiency and practicality were indeed noble aspects to hold sacred, but to consider any emotion as a cause for suicide was insane. To enforce servitorization for simple practicality was similarly something he had never truly advocated for as such creations invariably failed, the echo before him cared not for the long term, only the immediate he could see.

Manifesting himself to confront these echoes of the past, Auro manifested as an astartes draped in starlight, mathematical and ethereal equations gleaming on his flesh. "Logic flawed, nature of warp/reality, calculations incorrect." His words spoken in starlight danced across the shade of the past, it uncaring of the truth shown to it, "Meaningless, conform warp to reality, exterminate unreal, force real to primacy." A flinch showed that it had scored a point in this duel of self, "Understanding gained, balance superior, victory through duality, growth." The shade in turned shifted back as the starlight gained a foothold within its hearts of mundanity. "Logic over emotion, emotion foolish, care foolish, calculation of action superior calculated at 99.8165%."

Auro nodded in agreement, "Logic above emotion, balance, calculation of action superior." The shade expecting another silent victory stumbled backwards as another spear of starlight tore into its shadowy flesh, Auro moved forward closer, starlight paving his path. "Pure logic fails, pure emotion fails, balance." He grabbed the echo of his past by its throat, "I have grown beyond you." A representation of the Mythril Ouroboros materialized in hand and in a flash of moonlight tore through the heart of the shade, its scraps of shadow giving rise to the younger and more fragile echo of the distant past.

The second Echo that had come forth now stood solidly before him, Auro looked upon the appearance he had when he had yet to awaken his powers and suffer the trials of the labors of Mars. With the eyes of an aged Astartes he could see the features that would have perhaps become handsome at one point, and even now he did carry them forth but cast into a different mold in part. Hair the color of platinum gold and eyes of shining silver stared back at eyes of tinted silver and hair shown away in full, the echo stared at him before smiling faintly, "We were never as lost as you believed yourself to be." The words echoed with glimmers of starlight as memories played upon the backdrop of his own soul, interactions outside of pure logic, the growth of the silent war between him and Oriacarius, giving his knowledge and assistance where possible even if through a lens of dispassionate coldness, refusing to accept efficient short term gains where not viable in the long term and other such moments throughout his life.

Even the Kill Team he had trained for the Maelstrom was subject to this truth, they believed him to hate them, but if he had truly considered them beyond improvement he would have been silent. Instead he had given them all the aid he could to improve even at cost to his own preparations and he could easily calculate the value of them against his own to be minimal at best.

The echo of his youth smiled once more, "Take my hand and become Auramite once more." It prodded gently as it reached out towards him, Auro stared at the hand tempted to reach for it, but it was not the truth anymore. "I was Auramite once, I am not anymore. I am Auro." The starlight flared around him as the echo nodded and clapped before fading away with no words.

Auro understood what this all was, his soul and mind giving form to his internal strife to enable him to heal. Balance of logic and emotion, balance of the Dream and Reality.

The Logical Matrix shifted, nonsensical aspects added to its gleaming perfection. Sigils for Emotions itself along with Logic joining the Mathematical and Ethereal sigils already present. The three fold sets joining together as the Logical Matrix expanded and grew ever stronger, a more complete and balanced protection for his mind.

Lines of thought no longer barred from his consideration, he would never truly understand emotions as others did, but at least he could no longer fight himself over the mere concept of caring for others.

Returning to awareness he stared at Shandra and could now understand what was going on, he considered her a friend. Something that was alien to him, but somehow he felt connected to her in a strange way from the shared experiences of the world ritual. Standing from the chair, Auro carefully touched her hand to hopefully give an anchor for her mind to grab onto. Perhaps, it was just luck or his actions truly assisted her, but her eyes opened filled with tears as they stared up at him, "I.....remember." Her voice a whisper, but laced with pain, more pain, than he had ever heard compressed into only two simple words.

He remained still unjudging waiting for her to make the first move, as the ancient and nearly forgotten training he had been forced to take for interpersonal relations swam through his mind again. "My name was Kina Darklight." Auro stared impassively down at her even as her eyes bled tears without restraint, "My aura pushed people away, but my parents managed to fight through it enough to give me a puppy. Shadowsong, I named him, the group that found me forced me to kill him. Why?" He didn't know what to do in truth, for he had never had any companion animal, but he knew enough to understand this, "To break you." The words were as soft as he could say them, but that wasn't all that soft all things considered, Auro noticed and slotted in training to assist in any possible future cases were softer words would be beneficial.

With a groan Shandra pushed her way off the bed, even as Auro watched her expression, "Shandra or Kina?" A faint grimace of a smile flickered onto her face as she considered the matter. "Shandra, I can never be Kina again." Auro nodded solemnly for it was much the same with him, he could never turn back the clock and feel comfortable taking the name Auramite again after so much time moving away from it. "Does the group still exist?"

It was an almost spontaneous question from him, but if it did then the Imperium would almost certainty seek to bring their expertise into the fold. Perhaps it was inefficient and unpractical to sabotage the Imperium, but he would attempt to ensure that their research and technology was preserved but they themselves were not. A dark laugh softly came from Shandra, "They do not, I made sure of that. When everything was done, I slaughtered them all to the last. The loss of my memories was the only final legacy of their's and now even that is gone." Auro could see the mask she wore to pretend that she was not all but breaking internally, but he ran the numbers and came to the conclusion to let her breach the subject, but "Shandra Darklight?" He asked prodding her with a possibility. A flinch before a tear fell from her eyes but a faint nod and firming of her muscles, "Thanks." Auro simply inclined his head glad to be on safer ground once more.

As they left the building to fetch the horses for the journey, Auro could feel that she was unsettled still but doing her best to present an unaffected view to the world. It wouldn't work for long, he knew well just how fragile such masks were unless they became real and that was too much of a risk to allow Shandra to fall into.

Regardless, entering the paddock with the seven horses that had been rented or perhaps bought, Auro frowned for he disliked how ambiguous the status of the horses were in that regard. No matter, he watched as Shandra carefully and easily walked among the small herd, patting the animals on the necks and brushing their coats gently. Even going as far to check the hooves, he had done his best to select the best horses from the greater herd, but a skilled eye might see something that he would miss.

"Any ranch or farm would be proud to have these horses. Where is the gear that came with them?" Shandra broke the silence as she finished her inspection and Auro simply nodded before pointing towards where the gear had been carefully arranged. A frown emerged onto her face as he watched her examine the gear and her aura echoed it as well, "Concern?" He made no true attempt to hide the deeper intonations to his question or in his aura, a notable change that Shandra noticed he knew.

"Not as such." Shaking her head she carefully examined the saddle and other tackle provided, "I was expecting a style similar to what I was raised with. I think I can work with this though." Conviction and certainty spread through her aura and Auro nodded, silently watching intently as Shandra quickly saddled a pair of horses taking exceptional care to ensure that they would be safe. "I think we chose a number one too few, but it should work."

"I can serve." A faint laugh entered her aura at the statement, "Even an Astartes can not carry the same load as a horse for weeks on end, not without external power." Auro frowned slightly at her statement before recalling the true meaning of it as a reference to the prohibition on pointless psychic usage during the trial and being forced to nod in agreement. He could in fact pull the same load as a horse, but it would be a miserable and annoying experience without the physical support from his powered armor or his abilities over the Dream.

As he was getting prepared, Shandra had brought the most timid of the horses to him. "A novice should begin with a calm horse and even if you can learn the skill in hours, no reason to take unneeded risks." Before handing the reigns over to Auro and beginning the process of explaining the process of mounting and riding adapting where possible for the different style of tact used on this world.

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He watched the winds ripple across the land as the Outlander journeyed towards the frozen north to undertake a trial of power. He was not the one that had foreseen this in the winds, nor was he whom the spirits spoke too, but he had his own reasons for interfering. A trial of combat that would challenge any of the hordes, and even the newly blooded children of the Great Khan was ill fitting for a champion of ages.

The Outlander came to the world seeking their lore, and yet they would be tested with little that would truly prove their worth. His words of caution were denied and though he could understand the reason thereof, with the ever careful balance between themselves and the outlanders, especially now with the Great Khan ranging far afield, he had decided to act.

It was a simple matter to find two hordes within this region that shared a blood feud with each other, from a bygone age. Yet, time had not yet dulled the wound upon honor and the spirits of the hordes, walking at their sides ever hungry. With careful words and misdirections the hordes would cross paths with the Outlander caught within the feud.

He had seen the Outlander in his dreams, a sphere of tarnished yet brilliant gold, engraved with sigils of silver without end. A matrix of order imposed over the dreams and spirits with cruel indifference, he knew well the touch of the Outlander's soul, its imposition of order upon that which lay beyond mortality. Chaining that which was meant to be eternally free as the winds, he had read in the winds the echoes of the past and seen what this Outlander truly was.

When the feuding hordes halted his progress, he would slay them all. Crushing them with might beyond the mortal, drenching himself in their blood, uncaring of the spirits and legacies therein. The silver blade ever hungering for souls would feast upon the spirits of the families with the Hordes. In the end all that would remain would be a blood soaked field, and the trial would have been failed.

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The clash of men alerted him to the oncoming fight, it was a whisper carried by the ever moving winds of the grass plains. Auro frowned ever so minutely that not even Shandra could have noticed if she had been looking at him, for he knew that this would slow his path without question. However, even if it increased the travel time it could perhaps lead to a superior foundation for the trial to come. The two of them crossed the small ridge and saw the battle.

Tribal forces riding horses against each other with sword and arrows flying across the land, shouts in the native language that even now was alien to Shandra's ears and barely understandable to Auro's. Yet, he could understand enough to realize that this was a fight that would only end with the obliteration of one of the tribes. There was no quarter being given or asked for, horses were trampling fallen men without honor as they fell from their saddles. Men and women on foot walked and brutally slew anyone that survived the maelstrom of horses in the center.

From the corner of his eye Auro saw Shandra flinch as she drew her sword in a trembling hand. He reached over and shook his head slightly as he reached outward to the Dream, raising the Mythril Ouroboros into the sky as the focus for the coming act. Power gathered, carefully drawn from a thousand sources, to affect none directly, the natural balance of the world and Dream remained untouched as Auro displayed the skill that mastery of control brought.

Spectral chains of time forged from the bending of spacetime itself lashed forth from the blade raised above, ensnaring all within the field in an unbreakable grip. With but a thought they were all gently pulled aside as Auro dismounted his horse and marched inward, the blade blazing with a thousand chains as it anchored the working.

Coming to a stop before one of the few yet mounted and uninjured men, Auro stared up into his eyes uncaring for the fear seen within them. "Explain." There was no gesture or explanation to refine the statement for it was self evident. The man licked his lips as he stared at the chains of time that had bound him, tugging at them without success. As the man spoke Auro found himself for the first time truly experiencing the honor bound cultures of primitive worlds, thousands died all because centuries ago a son of a chief stabbed a chief with a poison laced dagger before consecrating the body and death to a dark god or perhaps spirit, the language was difficult to parse. The horde with the smaller amount of dead was the one that had done this foul deed centuries ago, generations pass and even now the horde that he was facing down had spent much effort in seeking to exterminate the other from the world.

"Enough. Bring your leaders here." Auro commanded as he released a few men on both sides before waiting, Shandra coming near to him but not letting her aura disrupt his working. He could feel faintly from her confusion and interest, he tried to send back reassurance but was not sure if it was felt correctly.

Regardless, soon the sound of horses could be heard and two groups came over the hills opposing the other, the one towards the setting sun had a large razorwing avian similar to the one they had hunted mere weeks ago flying behind him. The other leader was aged, white hair entering his dusty brown, scars covered his massive chest and figure almost the stature of an astartes while mortal. He unlike the others walked through the blood-soaked mud without concern as he simply pushed away dying men and horses.

"I am Ochri. Who are you to prevent me from taking the vengeance that the spirits have promised?" The massive man rumbled, as he came to a stop before Auro and Shandra. His body aged but unburdened by the ravages of time clear to see. Auro was unmoved as he stared at the massive man, trying to determine how to explain things in the language of the world. It lacked various concepts that would enable a clear explanation, but perhaps it was still possible. "Emchi Auro of the Ordu na Kesar, one of the Kena Avdagh." The words were foreign and their meaning barely understood in full, but the basics were known and referenced both his nature as a psyker and astartes in a hopefully approachable means. Ochri frowned his fury dying a cold death, calcifying into a mask of confused undirected anger, "What does a Kena Avdagh seek with my Ordu?" Auro remained absolutely still his mask in place without flaw once more.

"Understanding of the Jazag of the clans." Ochri smiled a grim smile as he met Auro eye to eye, "No one that has not been born into the Ordu or the people can truly understand the Jazag. Yet, that is not all you seek is it, the winds whispered to me in dreams of your trial to be done. You seek to entreat with the Zadyin Arga. Your words are fumbling, bludgeons, but you do have honor. Unlike these pathetic children of one that desecrated my ancestor's son's body perverting his kal damarg and worst of all becoming a sagyar mazan in the act. If you seek to protect the Ordu and the others that follow the descendant of the man that enacted this desecration, I will fight even a Kena Avdagh." Ochri declared, his voice echoing over the blood soaked fields without a tremble to it, and even Auro could see that he was willing to die to see his foes water the ground with their blood.

Perhaps, if he had time, months or years he could untangle the mess at hand, but it was not efficent, nor was it practical, and it was not even his place to interfere upon the Lord Khan's world. Yet, a thought came to mind, "Who claims the burden of the sins of the past?" Auro carefully spoke, his words perfect but emotionless and his body unmoving.

"Hah, clever, expected for a Kena Avdagh. This sin has plagued both our Ordus for too long." Ochri turned towards the other tribe that had arrived at the same time as him and raised his voice once more into a booming thunder, "If you carry the blood of the sagyar mazan, lay down your daos and swear the oath of the sagyar mazan." A cry of rage and defiance rose from the others that watched on the side even as Auro remained unmoving as Shandra shifted into a battle ready position from which her weapons were at easy reach.

"I see that you are as stubborn as an aduu still and as foolish as the spirits that you welcome into your dreams. A Kena Avdagh from another Ordu stands before you and yet only lies dribble from your lips, a mockery of your supposed kesh. One could never become a sagyar mazan for slaying one so hated by the spirits." The old man with two birds circling above spoke for the first time as he sneered down at Ochri, "Walking through the blood-soaked mud is a fitting place for one such as you indeed."

Auro shifted in a movement impossibly small for a human to notice, yet Shandra did and prepared her weapons being drawn ever so slightly. The two leaders sneered at each other but made no attempt to strike, but it was only from his presence that they restrained themselves it was clear. Auro reached out to the minds of the others around, he was no trained telepath, and was unable to do what his more proficient brothers could with the arts of the mind, but for reading the thoughts of uneducated tribal men he was sufficient in power and skill.

From his touch it was clear that neither tribe would dream of letting go of this feud, there was nothing he could do to bring it to a neat resolution. Ochri and Alizion were both respected and their feud between bloodlines ran deep indeed, it would be the work of months to even begin resolving the situation. Yet, he cared not for the idea of being party to the extermination of an entire tribe through inaction.

"Kena Avdagh Auro." Alizion's voice rang clarion over the field, as Auro turned his head slightly to bring him in sight and nothing more, "What would you wish for us?" He remained unmoving before coming to the conclusion that was both clear and simple, "Disperse." With a flicker of power two arrows of light formed pointing in opposing directions, the meaning clear and with a thought the chains of time that had bound the armies faded away into sparklingly ether.

Alizion and Ochri both frowned clearly wishing for a more direct claim of his favor, but the former had a tinge of brightness to it. "I saw in my dreams a meeting upon which the winds turned, either to a whirlwind or a solemn emptiness. If the fate of my people is to fade, then let our legacy continue." His words were soft but carried as far as Ochri's clarion voice had reached even as one of those that had arrived with him, moved towards Auro and handed over a strange container that had a single fertilized egg in it. Alizion smiled once more as Auro took the strange gift before turning and following the arrow into the setting sun.

Ochri snarled and made to chase but sighed as the last of the light faded and it was clear that tonight both moons were in shadow casting the world into darkness that no human could see within. He stared at Auro and Shandra before grunting as he trudged back through the now dried blood of the battlefield towards the distant fires of his people. It was clear to Auro that this was not the end, but it was a stay of execution for Alizion's people and that was all he could hope for and perhaps if the dreamers were truly prophetic it was survival indeed.

But, as the final tribemans left the region with only the blood and dead to remain, the two wanders mounted their horses and set forth once more to the north where the ocean and the whales within dwelled.

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The watcher frowned as the winds blew across the lands, the Outlander had refused to play his part within this challenge. Blood was to be spilled, the Outlander's nature to be revealed without detail, to show to all why they were unworthy of learning from the sages of the sacred mountain. Yet, he had defied the path that the winds and spirits spoke of. The tribe would flee into the night and be safe indeed for generations to come without effort expended from the watcher, yet there was no reason to interfere anymore. The Outlander already moved onward, a relentless march towards the frigid north sea.

Determination was clear in the winds and spirits that whispered to the watcher, the Outlander would not turn away from their quest for any reason unless it was required. They would not use their might over the spirit realm without control and for a central reason. Yet, perhaps their friend, the other outlander would be their weakness, they care for her, the watcher could not understand why one would care for a spirit forsaken individual but the Outlander was strange. Perhaps, if she was slain or injured such that only complex medicines could save her life, the Outlander would cease their journey and prove themselves unworthy once more.

Rising their staff to the sky above, they roused the Winds. The dragon winds answered their call as ever, swirling together and rising into a fierce windstorm that would only be the herald of the trials to come. Thunderstorms and blizzards would be what would await the Outlander and his friend, the closer to their destination they reached, the more the very life of the world would resist their march.

He knew that he must succeed for the Outlander could not be allowed to pass their trial and steal the secrets that the people had gathered over so many eons. It would be shameful to have to admit failure even if only he would know of the failure. If only more had seen what he saw, and had listened to the spirits this could be ended.

The watcher simply sighed as he looked into the realm beyond, seeing the path of heaven laid forth and the steps that he must tread to remain firmly upon it. The Outlander would never truly understand what it meant to stand the trial of heaven, all of them exploring their power in full, pushing it beyond their limits. The Outlander was merely better at obscuring this simple truth, the others from the Great Khan had told them this simple truth and yet now, his peers refused to deny an Outlander a chance.

What had things become if an Outlander was given a chance to learn from them and then seal their doom. He could see in flashes doom to come to the world. Fire and ash chocking the land as the Outlander lead a legion to consume it all, to harvest what secrets he had missed the first time. To empower himself at the expense of millions. He did not know why the spirits showed him such visions, but he had passed the trials and knew that they were not the Yaksha.

He turned away from the Outlander as the first of the infinite storms began to pound upon them. If the Outlander purged the storm system with power he would fail and a chance to declare him unworthy gained, if the friend suffered then the Outlander would turn aside proving himself unworthy, if the Outlander pressed forth through the storm he would fall prey to the oncoming grander storms. It was a display of control over power, a small change to spark a grand event indeed, the cornerstone of their training and it would be the end of the Outlander's hubris infused attempt to prove themselves worthy of learning at the sacred mountain.

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The ever present wind had turned into endless storms, raging without end as they pushed forward towards the north sea. Auro could feel the touch of a hand within this fury of the world, the slumbering hatred that was ever present for all that would dare defile the world, urged to life against them by a mortal hand. The storms were natural, but the nucleus of their formation inspired by one that drew upon the power of the Dreaming.

Given form and fury by that ever decaying touch, it was no grand spell or working of power. It was simple manipulation of weather currents and the natural world following apace. Cold and hot winds mixed together with the aid of the Dreaming to give rise to these endless storms. Yet, whoever had sparked this trial underestimated their conviction and purpose, they would have been as nothing to them if they carried their true gear with them into the depths of Chogoris. The storms failed to reach the fury of those that Auro had experienced upon the countless death worlds he had fought upon in his century of life and they could not compare to the blood and ash storms of Shandra's home.

Together they pushed forward, unbending before the winds, unbowed and unhindered. The horses protected as much as could be done, but cleaving to the warning given weeks ago, Auro restricted his use of the Dream to as light of a touch as possible. It would not be a challenge to bypass it all if he simply used his full power, the entire journey cleaved asunder if he so choose, but that would fail the trial and so it would not be done.

Shandra suffered more than him, his body reforged from the iron of mortality into the steel of the astartes was inured to the trials of the storms, but Shandra for all her augmentations was yet more mortal than him and her skin suffered under the unrelenting onslaught of rain and wind. However, there was a difference between something being less impervious and being mortal and Shandra was far stronger than any mundane human.

Thus did their journey continue into the north as the storms raged unabated, rain turning to hail as the temperature fell as they neared the frigid ocean where the whales lived and the true trial would take place. The storms unceasing onslaught never quit proving without question that a mind was behind it all, carefully orchestrating the currents of weather to give rise to the systems that ravaged the land. The animals of the world hide in their burrows and as they passed Auro could feel the sparks of their existence in the Dreaming, ever flickering with the spark of life that was so ever present.

They spoke little for the storms raged, but their empathic connection grew ever more detailed, reaching to where more complex ideas could be transferred through fluctuation of auras and every rest period Auro communed with the Timeless One, exploring the wonders of Time from a perspective so far removed as to be truly alien. Even a few times he worked upon the Incarnate Rune of Nechronal when all else failed, the Undying storms giving insight into some of the mysteries of Undying, the state of eternity and false eternity that they held conceptually interesting to him.

While Auro pondered the mysteries of the universe and the Dream, Shandra turned towards more mundane pursuits, mastering the weapons that Auro had forged for her and finding her new point of equilibrium for much had changed in such a short time. That as the journey neared its end, both of them wished that it had taken longer in their own ways to give more time for refinement.

Yet, in the end they came upon the oceans that contained the horned Oryavar whales and so the trial began in truth. Five horns to be gathered without the use of his powers over the Dream or armor that had been left behind upon arrival to this world.
Auro stared into the water of the ocean, ice could be seen floating in the distance disturbed by the waves. There was little threat at hand, but there was always threat especially when it would involve a trial of physicality. Astartes he might be, but not all astartes were equal. His body would tire and succumb to the fragility of flesh within the icy waters before him, where his brother Maticus could fight for an eternity within such conditions, he was not so implacable. With his powers over the Dream, he could easily weave away the cold drawing from it warmth and heat to chill the waters ever more, in turn to fuel his energies.

But, the conditions were clear, only that which he had made himself could be allowed to proceed. The Dream whispered at the back of his mind, the foolish fractals of the broken dream ever present and ever foolish indeed. He ignored them as he walked to the shore and turned towards Shandra, frowning internally. He could not give her protection passively as her aura of umbral night would consume the light of the dream, he could not forge a ritual to give protection to her or a zone within which she lived for the same reason at the end.

Yet, he could do this with ease enough and if the iron sages of this world would condemn him for the act then so be it. In defiance of practicality and efficiency he reached down into the heart of the world and felt for stone, metal, gems and heat. He would not construct a grand design upon this world, but he would design a simple building of solid make that would be open to all with an eternal hot-spring within.

The ground shook faintly as he worked his will upon the land, gently peeling it apart. Where a geokinetic would cause spires of rock to erupt from the ground, he was slower and yet ever more controlled. Rocks and metal shifted upward into his design, guided not by the telekinetic wrath of the warp, but by the gentle caressed of gravity and heat woven from the planet's own heart.

The metal and rock flowed together a perfect harmony of design and materials, taking the best from both. Armored in a hull of carbon diamond polished to a transparent shine, with alloys of the finest make under giving detail to the flawless marble and gemstone walls beneath. It was not so mundane as to be wrought with ostentatious designs, but instead the sweeping designs of the Dream, purged of all that was corrupted, a silent monument to the beauty that Auro now saw within the realm beyond the veil.

It was both alien and natural to the world around, somehow at peace within the wilderness and yet would be equally at home in the spire of a Hive world. A dichotomy of design brought to life through the careful application of the power of the realm beyond. Yet, Auro continued to work, a channel carved below into the ocean nearby, a careful balancing system of a hundred thin chasms and passageways that would change with time but never truly change for they too were armored in diamond. With the water set and prepared, he reached down into the heart of the world, where rock became molten and ever burning and drew the currents to a spot, a small bubble of magna that would be self sustaining, a gentle pocket that would not affect the world at large in all that he could see.

It would give its heat to the water above and within the house steam rose from the water pool as the heat entered, an eternal rest stop at the edge of the icy ocean in the north now ready for any to seek it out and rest. Built for both human and astartes usage, it gleamed faintly in the light of the day as the final pieces were slid into place with careful modulation of power and effort, no seam could be seen and it grew from the ground below as if it was a plant rather than a construction in and of itself.

She watched as Auro entered the waters, the small chunks of ice being pushed away as he delved deeper into the tides. As he waded out into the distance slowly shrinking until he dived below the surface she watched, a pain in her heart as the only friend she had had for uncountable ages left her to tend to the horses for a time unknown. It wasn't fair to him, she knew that he would leave her when it came time to undertake the trial given, but it came sooner than she had wanted. Shandra shook her head sadly as she quickly stabled the horses and entered the house that he had fashioned for her.

It was somehow not unpleasant to the eye with all the glitter and gilding that it contained. The designs both bold and understated, the colors shimmering and dull, a paradox of design much like this world and yet welcoming. Of course part of that was the warmth within, where the outside was frigid the inside was the perfect temperature for those from temperate worlds.

Taking out her weapons she began to undertake maintenance that had been undone for several days. The first true gift that she had been given in all her life past her first few years of life. Crafted by Auro's own from the materials used in the tests for the Engine, an impossible alloy shaped and forged into something truly unique and designed solely for her. The sword fit her hand and body with a perfection that no artisan upon her homeworld could have matched beyond perhaps at the apex of a golden age, its blade forged from Phase Iron and Moonsilver with the circuitry and manifolds fashioned from electrum to further bend it towards the goal that Auro had seen in its creation.

All of its parts tempered through the crucible of the Engine that was his greatest invention thus far. Where normal phase iron was a dull dark grey, the iron of her blade was the color of the void impervious to light and color, a shard of the eternal void made manifest. Entwined with the darkness was moonsilver, a normally pale white chrome metal that glowed softly under light, yet the metal within her sword gleamed a luminous silver countering the darkness with its own glorious light. A blade forged of reforged metals given to her, and she knew that the electrum buried within shimmered prismatically the colors of gold and silver. The touch of Time and Death upon the sword something that she could ever so faintly feel at the edge of her mind when it was in her hand.

With careful actions she followed the steps that Auro taught to her in maintaining the blade, ensuring that its deadly form would never falter over the course of use. It was a slow process, the strange metals requiring more care than others would have. But, for the first gift since her youth she would gladly pay the price and more to ensure that it would last for her life and beyond.

Hours passed slowly as Shandra carefully unmade the sword where possible, examining all the parts to ensure no flaws had arisen and carefully cleaning what was needed, before reassembling the weapon. It had yet to truly be used in battle, but when it came time, she would be damned to the fires of the warp before she would let his work fail from her own inaction.

As she worked her mind wandered to Auro, when he had first entered her Arena, she had thought little of him. Hundreds had come to her in the past, winning past through victory in combat or her letting them through. Yet, she had always slipped away from the killing blow knowing that it would doom the world and prevent a true end. It was not cowardice that caused her to act such, but understanding, she saw the cycles and understood that they could not end.

When he had entered, she thought him to just be another creation like her. A child taken from a blood soaked plain and uplifted into a warrior, but even so that would not yield victory. She had given him passage only because it was better than fighting for a pointless outcome. Then everything twisted and the ritual was undone, Auro victorious and she was free, along with Natasha.

Natasha, a name she had not considered since everything ended. The other one that bore the weight of the world upon her shoulders and was freed by Auro. Yet, she had joined the Imperial Army directly, seeking to give her skills where possible. Shandra did not know where she was or if she still lived, but she hoped that Natasha yet lived somewhere. Yet, where Natasha had joined the greater Imperium, she had followed Auro, and he simply accepted it and thus did everyone else.

There was no declaration of her being under his command, there was no order to join him, it just was. Auro accepted her and so did the Imperium. Shandra smiled faintly as she continued to work upon the sword, as he thoughts flowed on. It was not fair to him, but she saw a fair bit more than he expected or would desire to be known. She understood that at some deep level he was envious of blanks even now, but it was something he had not brought up and so she let him think she did not see the faint signs of envy when he looked at her, although they were fading as time passed.

A frown came to her as she carefully unboxed the diorama that he had made some weeks ago on this world, staring at the visceral scene of his transformation into an Astartes. She was not so naive to believe that the process of creation for such warriors to be kind or even gentle, but the harshness that was laid bare before her was equal to everything she went through if only of a different purpose.

Nineteen implants, that was how many true augments separated a male human from an astartes. Where they were flayed only twenty times, she had suffered more over longer period and yet the results were the same in the result. She shook her head at those thoughts, suffering was not a competition in this, nineteen or hundreds it mattered not beyond that it had happened. A thought came to her as she peered into the images, her augments were near entirely genetic with only moderate implants mostly designed to enable proper genetic acceptance, rather than the brutal biological reconfiguration of the astartes.

Regardless of who had suffered more, both suffered and yet there was one indignity that no astartes could be made to suffer. She killed those that created her for both the pain they inflicted and also for one of their goals, they did seek to use her to end the decaying of the world, but that was only one of the goals. A hand twisted into a fist as her mind shied away from considering that plan, but she pushed on for it could not happen anymore, not after she had bathed in their blood.

With a click the final piece was returned to the sword and she drew herself back from that edge, carefully checking her work on the sword and nodding as it was perfect. With slow actions she slipped it back into its scabbard and pulled free the matching plasma pistol; crafted from nechronal alloys of phase iron, moonsilver and electrum. Auro had mentioned that he wanted to determine a method by which to infuse even gases with the Engine and to provide nechronal ammo for the weapon in time, but had yet to truly crack the code. A faint smile came to her lips as she drew out a single canister of nechronal hydrogen, enough for only five rounds from the pistol, but it was the fact that it existed that revealed how much that Auro had invested into her weapons.

Falling into the depths of routine she began to clean and prepare the pistol for future use.

Time passed slowly without anything to do now that Auro was below the waves and her gear had been maintained. The heated building more than sufficient for her needs and the horses for that matter. Leaving nothing beyond remembering the past, something that had crippled her not long ago. Memories floating just out of reach, drenched in either hope or misery. Yet, jewels all the same to her.

Recalling her families' farm, the across the old mountains that had bordered it on one end. The streams and rivers that she had played in during her few years of childhood. It was perhaps the kindest life for a blank of her power, her parents truly did their best, but in those days she didn't understand why they seemed to hate her so much when near, but from afar they loved her all the same. The animals on the farm were her friends, the cows, sheep and horses all unaffected by her presence, simply there.

A smile broke on her face as she finally remembered in full that night, a time of memorial for Shandra Eveningsong and her victory over the chaos of the end. it was both a day and night of merriment and also solemn reflection upon the past and a look towards the future. Her eigth year saw her parents give her a single gift, a puppy from one of the farm dogs. The final true gift she had ever received until Auro gifted her sword and pistol.

Tears entered her eyes as she remembered those days as a child with her newfound pet running at her side. Her aura unaffecting it and the simple pure affection that only a dog could provide. Two years later they went to the festival, a centennial event, it was the biggest event on the world or at least in her nation. Everyone that could came to it, from the vagrants and beggars to the kings and priests, all together. Her memories tossed and turned as she remembered the horror that everyone felt as out of the darkness the ash began to fall and everyone was consumed by rage.

It was a horror that few things could truly compare to even in the Imperium itself. Men and women that had just been feasting together tore each other apart. There was no grace to it, and her aura was only potent enough to protect those she touched directly at the time.

Perhaps the worst was that it was not something unknown. The Night of Ash was a legend, it was a know fact of life that one day the skies would darken and ash would rain down. It was the beginning of the end of the world, this history that remained through the cycles clear upon it. Both the curse inherent to the Ash and the knowledge of what it would mean worked together to drive all to madness.

The memories marched on, the Night of Ash proceeding, blood and offal decorating the grounds, everything a weapon. Her nature was her unbreakable shield, a child crying as the adults fell into savagery. From the horror monsters in the form of humans rose up, those that had slain the most and had consumed enough of the Ash becoming corrupted wielders of Blood and Ash. The Ashen Blood as they were called in legend, those that wielded blood and ash as weapons of horror. Out of the million people at the festival, a hundred monsters rose to power, gorging on the Blood spilled forming a lake of blood mud.

She remembered the hope that had formed in her heart as the night turned to day and the sound of horns echoed across the wind and she saw in the distance an army marching. She had thought them saviors, protectors, and they were in part. Most of the Ashen Bloods were put to the sword their newfound might unable to handle the might of an army, but enough survived. Leaving her and her puppy to the mercy of the army. The face of the one whom condemned her to misery swam into focus, the clinical expression, emotionless mask without even the merest hint of warmth focused upon her, with only interest in clinical value. He did not ask, he did not offer, just a statement of truth, she would be remade by his order. An ultimatum was given, either she kill her puppy or watch it be fed tortured and healed until it finally died. With tears she gave it the only mercy a child of ten could in the situation and carefully broke its neck to prevent any pain.

Dredging her way out of the memories, she found tears to have fallen upon the desk. She could not find it in her heart to care, ancient wounds reopened. Auro acted as if he felt nothing, but she now recalled why she had never truly distrusted him, for she had seem one entirely absent emotions. One to whom Auro was as emotional as any human, the one that had remade her was less human in mind than Auro ever could be. There was no consideration of action to him, Auro pondered and thought deeply if one could see, but that one did not even consider such things. He was an empty husk of mind, logical unto the very end.

Pushing away the memories was hard, but she managed and carefully finished the maintenance on her weapons and armor, before letting her mind drift into dream.

Time passed unnoticed, there was nothing to manage within this place. Auro had prepared the house well for her afterall, the storm that yet raged on outside could not affect the diamond glazed walls or chill that which was warmed by the mantle below. Memories plagued her waking and dreaming, flashes of nightmares of ages past returned and awakened even as she pushed through them with the will that had seen her tear apart those that had remade her in an orgy of violence.

The long forgotten pain of the injections returned to her mind, she could remember the burning sensation that had plagued her and from the depths of her mind swam memories of what was done to her. Not enough to recreate it even if she was a master of the sciences, but enough to give such a master a guideline to follow to recreating her augmentations. Along with such memories came renewed memory on where she had been forged and that she had not torn the complex apart, merely all that worked within and those nearby. It would not be inconceivable for it to yet remain buried under layers of Ash and Blood.

A letter took form, one to Primarch Kesar regarding what she was recalling of her creation and also the complex wherein that had been done. Auro would assist her in ensuring that his blood-liege would receive it and take it in the context intended. It was not a simple process that had been undertaken to transform her flesh from human to a being a half step below Astartes in physical terms alone, but it could perhaps be useful to the Wardens or their allies and that was enough to write the message. A repayment of a blood debt incurred before it could be called to account.

The sound of waves crashing was what drew her from sleep and into the darkness of the morning. From the waves Auro marched, the water flowing off of his body and armor even as massive chains of metal reached into the water behind him. Five horns each longer than his body was tall and as thick as her wrist in width held loosely behind him, their ends shattered from physical force and exertion rather than the cut of a blade or his powers. Trudging through the water and mud of the shore, she watched as he walked as if carrying a great burdern upon his shoulders, a feat of strength fully inhuman. Then it emerged, a great container of metal and rock behind him, not weightless for that was not his way, but the weight was being defrayed outward for not even thirty Astartes could carry the mass that he was moving.

"Success." His voice was firm as he saw her, his eyes flashing with some unknown emotion as she nodded staring at what rested behind him. "Harvested remains. Efficient." Shandra smiled faintly as she parsed the information and realized that Auro had decided to harvest the remains of the whales that he had slain and had bound them into this great sack. As he touched dry land and heaved, his powers shown as the massive several story tall sack drifted out of the sea. "Seven tons. Bone, flesh, organ." She blinked at that calm statement not in disbelief but simple incredulity for only he would bother to count the remains of the whales that he had harvested.

Seeming to misunderstand he shrugged, "Pickled, ritual" leaving all she could do was sigh. Hopefully the tribes would enjoy pickled whale meat. Within the week they set forth on the journey to the mountains where the stormseers waited.

As the days past from the haze of the horizon the mountain range slowly broke the sky in the distance as they marched on, Auro finding it hard to be overly impressed with the great mountains, but it was where the stormseers of the world gathered mortal and astartes alike. The great sacks of meat and other parts harvested from the whales given freely to the tribes that had found them on the journey to speed their march and to ensure no interruption.

Now, only the last leg remained and everything was reaching towards its conclusion as the great mountains drew ever closer. The land thick with power, vibrant energy flowing under foot to those that could see it. The Dreaming flowed close to the surface here, a place of metaphysical note lay before, the mountains a nexus point of the Dream upon this world.

Below at the foots of the mountains tents lay, mortal housing for the stormseers that had not left for the stars above with the Khan. Auro could feel upon the wind that none remained in their cavernous aeries far above where men of iron could tread. With the falling of night they found their way to the base of the mountains and a pair of warriors met them leading them inward.

Auro watched learning what he could from the Dream and how the ones he shaped it. They were perhaps crude in some fashion, but elegant in others, a philosophy of control evident in their actions. Seeking to use only that which was required than what one could do with their maximum might. Yet, they chained themselves not, unlike he had done for so many decades and even now, their souls free of bindings and yet still protected against the touch of Chaos and the lure of power.

Shandra, he could tell was uncomfortable in this place, but bore it with stoicism and also because it was all she could do. A flicker of aura to comfort her was easy and Auro noticed the relaxation that triggered before returning to his examination. As they were led to a tent larger than the others, sized for an Astartes in truth.

In the tent a man waited, wizened with age and hair solid grey and fading from his scalp. Yet, his body was strong for his age to Auro's eyes as he stared up with an emotion that he could not parse. "The spirits spoke of your coming, Breaker of the Yaksha. You and your blood brother, the Angel of Humility, both came to our world for differing reasons, but both seek the same." The sage let incense and herbs fall into the flame of an incense burner inscribed with sigils glowing with the fire held within.

"You and him, different yet of the same mold, seeking understanding to further your own path against the Yaksha. He sought to assist the Great Khan, to pay the debt of blood and honor incurred in the great hunt, but he will learn much of his own path in due course. The Khan's victory will be his in due time." Auro remained still listening but presenting no such expression of intent as the sage stared into his eyes without any fear. "You come to us, seeking to learn to see the spirits of the world. To walk the land of dreams and what lies beyond the limitations of normality. You have payed the toil set for you, proved your worth and honor, even if in the end we would have extended our hand to you without challenge if you had refused. A debt would have incurred, but honor would demand we give what we could." The sage spoke carefully his voice whispering in the incense rich air of the tent.

His eyes looking beyond Auro into the other world, seeing something that not even he could see clearly within the Dream. "It is traditional to offer a prophecy, but all that we see of you is shrouded and uncertain. Your path is less set than that of your brother, but we have transcribed several prophecies that revolve around you. Take them with you when you leave and I hope they serve you well." The unnamed sage spoke as he removed several sheets of animal hide with letters carefully printed onto their surfaces from the back of the tent handing them over to Auro.

The sage smiled as he withdrew a concoction of some sort from a vial of glass. "Those that share our gift, partake of this drink to prove their control. They walk the paths of dreams and spirit, to be tempted by the Yaksha Kings and prove their control to be strong enough to bear the gift. For you it will open you to the world of the spirits and let you walk those same paths to find that which you have sought from us. This is both the first and final step, but of a journey that shall never end." A goblet of the substance was prepared, Auro could tell that it had been brewed with psychically active herbs, but that was all he could determine.

With mechanical precision of body bordering on the perfect, he lifted the offered goblet and consumed it. Before replacing it upon the ground and waited for the effects to begin. It was a slow shift from waking to a resting dream, there was no sudden lurch of cognition, merely a slow slide from one state to another. The world unfolded into the Dream, a fractal image folding in and out overlayed upon the mundane world in which he rested.

He could see more than he had before, within the Dream he blazed as a star, order and stability echoing from his existence, forcing conformity upon the warp itself. Stability brought to the lands of madness eternal in a true sense around him, the warp flowed with his actions as he watched, letting his fingers drift and seeing the fractals that they birthed. Upon a road of dreams, time and order he walked a mindless path, down through the twisting gardens of corruption through the rivers of burning blood and the tortured dreams of perfection and into the court of fate where a loom had been struck through. Before returning in a blink to another place, one of starlight carved and falling, the Starlight Basin seen in full glory.

The runes eternal and infinite, a Rune of every concept one could imagine and many more waiting to be risen to existence. Yet, a call came to him and he answered.

He beheld a sprite, a small mote of power given form within the warp, it was not of him, but it was tied to him. It was perhaps a fragment of his mind splintered off and given power and life without the predation of daemons to consume it. Regardless of source, it was what it was, a sphere of changing iron, with runes of order and stability upon its surface. It was nothing, not even a lesser daemon, not even a chaos fury would consider it more than a free floating collection of warp energy, but to him it was something more.

A spirit of Stability, pure of corruption, balanced and whole, a remnant of an era long since past. An echo returned to life within his aura. He let it reach him and through a bond of stability and order, understanding bloomed. It was young and weak but strong, in time it could grow and as it grew it would aid him in understanding the Dream and further his skills in guiding the Dream back to Stability. As the influence faded, the last impressions came of it seeking others like itself; echoes restored.

Yet, as the final touches faded, a memory of the sensation remained. A key to return to the state of being gained and that perhaps was the greatest gain of all, a state of unbound dream shaped and directed, but unmoored from the normal chaos of dreams as would be the case of normal time. Auro shifted as he returned in full to the waking world, his eyes clear as he looked upon the sage who smiled faintly, "You see now with eyes opened to the spirits. Tend to them and they will tend to you, listen to their guidance and they will lead you to what you seek. Stay with us for a while and learn what you can, but remember the true dream." Auro inclined his head as he accepted the offer and left the tent linking auras with Shandra to inform her of what had occurred.

There was no great pressing matter at hand, but it would not be long before he was called back to the fight, the last years of peace had healed the wounds inflicted over time. To battle his blood called and he would answer in time, but for now he would enjoy the last few days of Dreams untouched by conflict to learn more of what true Stability meant to the warp. To watch what the Stormseers of Chogoris did when they called forth their powers, it would not be long enough to learn their arts, but that was not the intent. It would never fit for him to use their arts directly, but to learn from them was something reasonable and from this he would refine his own works. Shandra smiled up at him as she stepped to his side, the aura of chill night embracing him as the fires of the warp receded into distant stars, promising their warmth but for now content to remain far removed with their starlight.