"Nachiel Selene," he answered in a rough, halting Low Gothic, his pronunciation slightly stiff.
Beneath the massive ram skull mask, amber eyes flickered with probing caution and deep suspicion, yet beneath it all lay an even stronger undercurrent of curiosity.
Selene stared at the beautiful anomaly standing before him—clad in dazzling armor and bearing pure white wings—feeling a strange, distinct sense of familiarity welling up within his heart. On this wasteland world, he had never experienced such a sensation.
Even among baseline humanity, the immense disparity in his biological capabilities had always rendered him an outcast among his own kind. There were times when Selene had even questioned whether he was truly human at all.
Beneath his human exterior, he possessed a strength beyond imagination, wielding the raw power to slaughter every xenos on the entire planet. And in truth, he had done precisely that—to protect humanity, he had personally slain every single xenos organism across this wasteland world.
Yet today, from this towering figure bearing pure white wings, Selene sensed a subtle threat alongside that innate familiarity. The star-faring visitor who called himself "Sanguinius" possessed a power no lesser than his own.
The Imperium of Man?
Was it a domain established by the human race, capable of commanding voidships to cross interstellar space? Yet in those fragmented, ancient records, the human ancestors who had arrived on this world belonged to an entity that was not called the Imperium of Man. It had been an open, prosperous interstellar realm that bore the title of "The Alliance," an entity that declared enmity against all oppressors.
As his thoughts shifted rapidly, Selene's gaze passed beyond Sanguinius, landing upon the blood-red ranks behind him. Those warriors were magnificently equipped, standing tall with a haughty, dazzling posture.
"Selene, there is no need for tension."
The voice was immensely soft, falling upon the ears like a heavenly melody, making one feel as though they were bathed in a spring breeze, instinctively relaxing.
Seeing his muscles tense as he subconsciously shifted to shield the mortals behind him, Sanguinius slowly spread his hands to demonstrate that he bore no ill intent.
"I am human, as are we all," the Angel said softly, his voice carrying a calming magic. "We hail from a mighty Imperium."
He turned, leaving his back completely exposed to Selene, and raised his hand toward the sky: "My fleet is currently engaged in war; a tactical maneuver brought us to this location."
Selene relaxed slightly. A stranger willing to turn his back demonstrated sufficient sincerity. Looking in the direction of his raised finger, it was clear he was telling the truth. The massive voidfleet above was awe-inspiring, yet its hulls were scarred by battle, clearly having just endured a brutal confrontation.
"Why have you come here?" he asked, his voice remaining clear, though stripped of some of its former stiffness and caution.
"Ah————"
Realizing a potential ambiguity, Selene felt he had not expressed himself clearly: "Why descend to this world?"
"Your fleet is actively at war. You should be seizing every moment to depart rather than descending to the surface."
He possessed an extraordinary intuition for warfare, concisely laying bare the most urgent matter at hand with a single sentence.
"Yes," Sanguinius nodded, offering no denial to the assessment. "From a tactical perspective, we should indeed depart post-haste."
"However, our fleet's scanners detected your presence."
The Great Angel turned his palm upward, his sapphire eyes gleaming with absolute sincerity as he spoke earnestly to Selene: "You must come with me to escape a total catastrophe."
"This sector lies deep within the rear of a xenos empire, making it exceedingly dangerous. The Rangdan Empire harbors a deep-seated hatred for humanity; they bring only slavery and annihilation. As fellow humans, it is my duty to offer you sanctuary and deliver you from this feral world."
A stir rippled through the crowd upon hearing the warm, soothing explanation. Under the influence of Sanguinius's transcendent charisma, they already believed most of his words, exchanging anxious glances as they contemplated their future. A xenos empire capable of pursuing a fleet of this magnitude possessed immense strength; destroying this world would be trivial for them.
"Is that truly all?" Selene shook his head, the ram skull mask shifting with the motion.
He detected no falsehood in the words, yet he sensed a degree of omission. As the leader chosen by his tribe, it was necessary for him to uncover what was being withheld.
At that moment, Raldoron stepped forward hastily, approaching his genetic father's side. The First Captain opened a tactical data-slate, displaying intelligence transmitted from the fleet. A holographic projection revealed a Rangdan battlefleet pursuing them out of the Warp.
The rapid Rangdan pursuit caused Sanguinius's expression to tighten as he looked up at the towering figure before him. There was no time left for a detailed explanation; only by taking his lost brother away immediately could he ensure his safety.
Indeed, from the moment Sanguinius had laid eyes on Selene, he had felt a deep certainty that the man before him was his brother. He had intended to take a gradual approach to reveal everything to him, but time was no longer on their side.
"You must come with us!" The Great Angel's gentle voice took on a firm edge. "The xenos fleet has arrived."
"Nachiel Selene, I know you harbor reservations." He raised his hand toward outer space, where motes of distorted light were beginning to manifest within the system.
Beneath the mask, Selene's features hardened as he felt the anomaly; the planet's gravitational pull was being warped by some supernatural force.
"You fell from the sky, did you not?" Sanguinius continued. "A gestating pod brought you to this world!"
Upon hearing those words, Selene's frame shuddered violently. He raised his head sharply, a flash of profound shock gleaming in his eyes. He had never spoken of this secret to a single living soul; it was a truth known to him alone.
Just as the strange entity before him had stated, he had indeed fallen from the heavens, crawling out from a pod inscribed with the numeral "XI." He had buried that pod with his own hands, wandering the wasteland in a state of primitive confusion until his interactions with baseline humans solidified his identity as a "human."
Sanguinius caught that flash of inner turmoil, immediately confirming that the individual before him was indeed one of his twenty-one brothers.
"My lost brother!" Unable to conceal his inner excitement, Sanguinius used his words to further shake Selene's unsettled mind: "The exact same bloodline flows through our veins."
Clank! Clank! Clank!
The Blood Angels warriors dropped to one knee in unison, offering their most primal reverence to another gene-primarch. Ever since beholding the towering figure, the Legion battle-brothers had harbored their suspicions, feeling the distinct pressure of bloodline dominance emanating from him. Now that their genetic father had personally confirmed it, they immediately rendered the honor due to him.
The screech of armor plate brought Selene back from his shock. He looked toward the sky, where the xenos fleet was slowly tearing into realspace from the void. Before him stood an anomaly calling himself "brother," extending an invitation, while red-armored warriors knelt in respectful deferment that bore no hint of deceit.
"I will go with you," his voice was stiff, laced with profound discomfort.
A flash of joyful surprise lit up Sanguinius's eyes. He took a broad step forward, opening his arms to embrace his long-lost brother. Yet Selene instinctively took a step back, dodging the intimate gesture meant to foster connection.
"My apologies————" He raised a hand, waving it as he explained to Sanguinius: "I am deeply disoriented by the present reality."
Sanguinius lowered his arms, concealing the awkwardness with a gentle smile: "It matters not. We will have ample time to know one another." He pointed toward outer space, where the Rangdan fleet was actively emerging from the Warp: "Board the craft quickly. We must leave this place."
"Very well," Selene nodded, turning toward his tribal people as he subtly suppressed a rising surge of revulsion.
His instinctual retreat from his brother's warm embrace had stemmed from his deepest genetic nature. In Selene's eyes, wings were the ultimate symbol of non-human impurity, triggering a revulsion that permeated his very DNA. Ever since he had crawled out of the amniotic pod and opened his eyes, an innate hatred for genetic anomalies had awakened within him, seeping outward from the depths of his soul into every single cell of his body.
"Follow the off-worlders onto the craft. We are leaving."
After issuing the directive to his people, he strode quickly into his tent, grabbing a set of tools to dig furiously into the ground. A moment later, Selene emerged from the tent bearing a hide backpack, holding a damaged gestation pod in his left hand and a bone scepter in his right.
Striding up to the boarding ramp of the landing craft, Selene offered Sanguinius a polite nod before turning to look back at his homeland one last time. He raised his head, his gaze sweeping along the angle of the hatchway to behold the xenos fleet revealing its full, terrifying form.
"I will leave nothing behind for the xenos."
With a low murmur, the ram-headed scepter in his grip emitted a strange vibration. Within the hollow eye sockets of the skull, a silver-white flame flared to life.
Sanguinius narrowed his eyes, sensing a profound purity within those flames—a force devoid of a single impurity, as if possessing the absolute power to purge all things.
Selene raised the scepter. Wherever the hollow sockets of the skull swept, silver-white fire erupted out of thin air, setting the entire tribal settlement ablaze.
The landing craft's thrusters released a massive plume of backwash, fanning the silver flames until the settlement was reduced to ash in an instant. As the alloy hatch sealed shut, a massive scorched scar was left upon the earth below.
Observing the silver flames fade, Sanguinius finally understood the origin of those scattered, scorched zones he had seen within the xenos temple and the ruins earlier. His lost brother, through his power alone, had utterly eradicated the native species spawned by this living world.
The landing craft docked within the Red Tear, and the Blood Angels fleet immediately set sail, transitioning into the Warp from within the solar system. Before the Rangdan fleet could lock onto them, the Legion departed realspace at maximum velocity, heading toward safer reaches.