The shadowy figure, its hood and cowl not quite hiding its height, stood motionless for a moment, as though assessing. Seething with frustration, its remaining great gauntlet clenched, as though knowledge could simply be throttled from the universe.
'There's nothing more in the record? That can't be it. We haven't... We haven't found...' The figure's voice trailed off.
The other figure murmured. 'The thirty-three imprecations... rebinding of its mequetaria... Nammuan splines reticulated ... invocations to the divine princes... One after another. This one can't find anything more...' It trailed off, and gave a resigned shrug; the motion under the strange cloth revealing too many shoulders to be human.
Speaking as much to itself as to the other, this one seemed equally at a loss – though coldly calm, as though the answer could be plucked from the aether like a result from a logarithmic scale. 'We have not found anything new in many-many cycles. This is not a concern. But there is no more. We have emptied all that is here.'
The first was insistent, the scrape of ceramite audible as its armoured fist tightened further.
'It can't just stop. There must be more.'
The pair had spent more than three years in this cobweb-haunted outpost of the stars beyond the Imperium's edge. Screeds of information – patchy, uncertain, incomplete – had been drawn, like thread from a loom, from the strange cogitators. When they had run dry, the two had turned to desiccated manuscripts – then to... other means. Neither was unmarred. The second's robe was clotted and damp; the first's gunmetal plate scarred and scattered with the lacy web indicative of ionic coronal discharge, not quite scouring it of the ancient turquoise and yellow markings.
'This one has... an idea.'
Slowly, it turned in its seat, until it was facing the first figure. Its hollow eyes betrayed a dim luminosity. Then, it unfolded, all its gaunt and attenuated limbs emerging in the shallow gloom.
'Beyond this, things are different. It is not a step to be retreaded, nor a portal from which one can return.'
The first figure faced it, head bowed, unshaking. After a moment, it drew back its hood in the darkness, and looked to meet the Other's gaze.
The second figure cocked its inhuman head, like a sparrow. There was a hesitation.
'This one regrets... This one regrets that there is no reward for Faith.'
'There are no regrets. Only the Truth.'
There was a long pause, before the first figure finished its sentence.
'What happened to it... what happened to them all... Do it. I want to know.'
***
It all spilled out.
All at once.
***
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| [//Death Eagle II+] [//@natedungeon+] |
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| [//Afterevent: Jade Talon+] [//adam_s/@adam_james_creates+] |
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| [//The Judge+] [//@magos_nexnbo+] |
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| [//Annulus Umbra protocal enacted+] [//edward_r/@death_of_a_rubricist+] |
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| [//Carcharodons fleet+] [//@the_iron_within+]
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| [//Inquisitor Selvaine: parley at Myriad Prime+] [//6pluspainting+] |
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| [//Govvan Volk, 8th Company Captain, Red Talons+] [//martycarcosa+] |
+++
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| [//REDACTION REVERTED – SPOOLING+] [//@battle_brother_jimmy+] |
+++
Do You Remember Now?
There is much to learn, if you want to know.
Gather your armies. Steel your mind. Prepare for Ending.
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