A forest, an endless forest.
The lush canopy stretched to the horizon like a green ocean. Sunlight filtered through gaps in the leaves, casting dappled shadows. It was primal and vibrant.
Caelan took a deep breath. The air was fresh with the scent of earth and foliage. A long-lost sense of tranquility washed over him.
"First, eliminate Prospero."
Prospero was a desolate world, incapable of nurturing such a lush ecosystem.
So, this had to be either Macragge or Caliban.
As for the Second and Eleventh, Caelan's expectations were low.
Some intuition, beyond logic, was faintly warning him that they might not be on the list.
Whatever the answer, he would find out from Neoth himself eventually.
For now, he had to focus on his mission: find the Primarch.
Whomever it was, that child was waiting for him.
Crunch!
The forest was silent, save for the soft rustle of wind through leaves and the crisp crackle of twigs and dry leaves under Caelan's feet.
Caelan enjoyed this atmosphere. Peaceful and serene.
There was no one here.
Sometimes, Caelan felt he was just as socially anxious as Neoth.
Occasionally, he wanted to be alone, to have time that was just his own.
Not necessarily doing anything meaningful, even just spacing out, letting his mind wander aimlessly, wasting time, that too was a luxurious indulgence.
Unfortunately, he rarely had such opportunities.
Caelan caught a glimpse of golden sunlight through a gap in the dense canopy. He adjusted his direction, following the sun's guidance.
The biodiversity of this primeval forest was exceptionally rich. A hare darted from a burrow, a fox with a bushy tail chasing it into the undergrowth.
Above them, in the shadowy branches, a leopard tensed its muscles, waiting to hunt.
When Caelan's gaze fell upon it, the beast's animal instincts gave it an ominous feeling. This seemingly gentle, harmless mortal seemed to possess some terrible power.
Its tail twitched nervously, and it eventually gave up, lying docilely on the branch like an oversized cat.
Caelan moved through the forest with ease, leaving his back exposed to the leopard without a care.
He didn't care if he was ambushed. Take it up with his psychic powers.
Leopards are intelligent. They know how to assess a situation.
Though hungry, it chose to wait patiently for the next hunt.
Before he knew it, following the sunlight's guidance, Caelan discovered an artificially cleared path in the forest.
This road had clearly been carefully cleared, with trees and brush removed neatly, forming a straight path several meters wide.
Suddenly, a faint tremor ran through the ground, startling flocks of birds from the trees.
At first, Caelan thought it was an earthquake, but then he caught a mixture of sounds.
He looked towards the noise and saw a group of richly dressed riders galloping towards him.
They wore hunting clothes embroidered with gold thread, jeweled short swords at their waists, clearly an aristocratic hunting party.
The tall rider at the lead carried an ornate longbow, the arrows in his quiver making crisp clinking sounds with the horse's gait.
The hunting party also saw Caelan but didn't approach rashly. They reined in their horses neatly about ten meters away.
The horses neighed, rearing up on their hind legs, kicking up clouds of dust.
The nobles carried arrows; their guards carried laser carbines. Primitive and technological coexisted.
The guards now pressed their muzzles down, but their fingers remained on the triggers.
Caelan smiled and proactively waved to them. "Hello."
The lead rider wore a deep blue robe, its cuffs and collar embroidered with intricate gold thread.
His gaze fell on Caelan. His attire wasn't flashy, but he had an extraordinary bearing—not something an ordinary civilian could cultivate.
But he had never seen this man among the noble circles of their city.
The rider asked in a deep voice, "Are you a stranger?"
Caelan nodded, "More or less. I'm lost. Can you tell me where this is?"
"Macragge. I am Konor Guilliman. Stranger, your name is?"
"Caelan."
Konor frowned. "An odd name. You have no family name?"
Caelan indeed had no family name, but since Konor asked, "Consider it Octavian."
Konor asked, "Why are you here?"
"I'm looking for a meteorite. It should have fallen somewhere around here recently. Have you seen it?"
Konor's gaze towards Caelan changed. He stared at the stranger. "What is your relationship with that child?"
Caelan looked at Konor, his voice gentle and soft. "So you've found him. I suppose you could call me the child's godfather. Can you take me to see him?"
"What if we say no?"
It wasn't Konor who spoke, but a rider behind him. His hand rested on his sword hilt.
From his attire, he was clearly not a guard, but another noble.
And his status was presumably high, as he rode alongside Konor, while the others were half a meter behind.
"That's fine. I'll just follow you myself."
Caelan's tone was relaxed, showing no fear despite their numbers.
He had to find the Primarch. Their agreement or disagreement wouldn't change that.
"Gallan." Konor's gaze flickered slightly. He shook his head at the noble beside him and raised a hand to stop his guards' defensive postures. Then he looked back at Caelan. "The child is with our party. Do you know how to ride?"
"A bit. I learned on Chogoris."
"Give him a horse." Konor gestured to a guard. A sturdy warhorse was led to Caelan.
"We're returning to the city now. Where are you headed?"
Caelan mounted the horse nimbly. "I'll probably settle down on Macragge."
"Then you might as well ride with us."
Konor never mentioned handing the child over to Caelan, but neither did he rashly make an enemy of him.
Since the stranger dared to face over a hundred of them alone, he must have some advantage.
Moreover, while his clothing wasn't flashy, it was well-tailored from fine silk.
His every movement also displayed the poise and bearing of someone accustomed to a position of authority.
Konor saw no reason to antagonise him needlessly.
As for the child, Konor wasn't unwilling to return him.
But Konor had to confirm the child was indeed Caelan's. Caelan couldn't just claim him with mere words.
If Caelan could prove his relationship to the child, Konor certainly wouldn't try to keep him.
But the child had come from the sky, so this stranger probably had too.
Caelan rode his horse, merging smoothly into the group, ignoring the guards' vigilance.
His gaze swept over the infant in a woman's arms, then turned to Konor. "Where did you find him?"
"About five kilometers away." Konor asked tentatively, "Where do you come from?"
"Terra."
"That's on the other side of the galaxy!" Konor's voice became low, tinged with caution. "How did you get to Macragge?"
Though Macragge was remote, its people were not bumpkins.
Macragge's political system might be primitive, but they still retained technological legacies from the Dark Age of Technology.
Macragge possessed a fleet capable of Warp travel, ruled over multiple worlds in the Macragge system, and maintained long-term contact and trade with worlds in surrounding systems.
And Terra was a word that existed only in legends.
In ancient myths, Terra was the cradle of humanity, but it had gradually faded from Macragge's history over the long Age of Strife.
Only Macragge's nobles still harbored a longing for Terra, learning about it from their textbooks.
'The stranger claimed to be from Terra. But how did he get here?'
'Even travelling a few light-years through the Warp was dangerous for Macragge's fleet, and Macragge was at least a hundred thousand light-years from Terra!'
"You can understand all of this as an elaborately orchestrated conspiracy. This child is the rightful heir to a vast human Imperium, but certain beings did not wish to see him grow up healthily. They kidnapped him and his brothers, scattering and abandoning them across every corner of the galaxy. I am tasked with finding them."
Konor asked, "So, you've found other children?"
"Yes. He is the fourteenth. Or he could be the fifteenth."
"How long have you been searching for them?"
"Almost half a century."
Konor looked Caelan up and down. He couldn't believe this man was over fifty. He looked like he had only just come of age.
"How old are you?"
Caelan said, "Just turned eighteen."
No matter who asked, the answer was always eighteen.
"Then why is the child still an infant?"
"You must understand, the galaxy is vast and boundless. Time is not synchronous across different worlds. The timing of their arrivals is not consistent either."
"Full of lies," the noble sneered.
This was the same noble who had questioned Caelan earlier.
Konor reluctantly raised a hand to stop him. "Gallan, don't treat our guest that way."
Caelan's gaze shifted between the two. "You two seem quite close?"
Konor laughed heartily at that, patting Gallan's shoulder. "We are both Consuls of Macragge, jointly leading the people of Macragge. We are as close as brothers."
"Even close brothers should keep their accounts clear, or it's easy to have conflicts."
Konor felt Caelan was implying something, but Caelan didn't elaborate.
What else could he say?
Say, 'You're going to die at Gallan's hands sooner or later'?
Telling Konor that now wouldn't earn Konor's gratitude. Instead, he would be accused of sowing discord.
They were still strangers. The first step was to build mutual trust. Only fools lack such boundaries.
Though he had taught 'Stone' that, he wasn't Stone himself.
Konor glanced back at the child in the woman's arms, then looked at Caelan. "You don't seem concerned about the child at all?"
Caelan questioned, "Are you going to mistreat him or abandon him?"
Konor paused, then shook his head instinctively.
"Since you aren't, why should I worry?"
"That makes sense." Konor was silent for a moment, then laughed.
Caelan was right there with them. Not focusing on the child actually showed trust in them.
If he had been staring at the child, Konor might have suspected Caelan intended to snatch the child and flee into the forest.
And Caelan truly wasn't worried about the Primarch's safety. Even as an infant, a Primarch was far from weak.
Killing Calibanian great beasts bare-handed, stoning a squad of Aeldar to death, putting on a 'fine head' show, these were the impressive feats of young Primarchs.
Even if the Thirteenth was slightly less formidable, that was only compared to other Primarchs.
Against mortals, all Primarchs were equally powerful, equally efficient at slaughter. The differences were hardly noticeable.
Caelan asked, "How was your hunt today?"
Konor patted the tiger carcass draped over his horse's back, his tone slightly proud. "Deer, rabbits, and this tiger."
"Our haul would have been bigger, but we found the child and had to head back early."
He turned to Caelan. "Do Terrans also hunt in their spare time?"
Caelan answered, "People where I come from usually don't relax that way. But not necessarily."
"What do you mean?"
"Terra's ecosystem was shattered long ago in the endless wars of the Age of Strife. The forests and grasslands of old have become irradiated wastelands. The seas have been drained. Wild animals are nearly extinct."
"But hunting isn't entirely absent. Warlords hunted refugees, butchering ordinary people for sport."
"The Emperor hunted warlords, taking two hundred years to end the conflict."
"After Terra was unified, since the warlords were extinct, the Imperium launched a Great Hunt across the entire galaxy."
"Starting from the Sol System, we successively reclaimed Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and other worlds."
"The Great Hunt began in 798.M30 and has continued for decades now. We have hunted countless xenos races and reconquered tens of thousands of colonies."
"That is... truly unbelievable!" Konor was skeptical, simply because Caelan's story was too fantastical.
Gallan sneered, "If unifying Terra took two hundred years, how can you claim to have conquered tens of thousands of worlds in just a few decades?"
Caelan chuckled lightly and shook his head, offering no explanation.
It did sound absurd. It was normal not to believe it.
If he hadn't experienced it himself, if he hadn't known the history, he wouldn't believe it either.
Those techno-warlords on Terra were indeed formidable. The Imperium captured much of its technology from them, like Stormbirds and Dreadnoughts.
Fighting these tech-warlords, Thunder Warriors and Astartes died by the tens of thousands.
During the campaign against the oligarchs of the Caucasus region, the Eighteenth Legion's strength plummeted from 20,000, the largest among the Astartes Legions, to a mere 1,000.
So when they were reunited with Vulkan, they had fewer than 20,000 warriors.
Not all warlords were so tenacious, but similar campaigns were not isolated incidents.
With twenty Thunder Warrior Legions and twenty Astartes Legions, even if each Thunder Warrior Legion only had 5,000 men and each Astartes Legion averaged only 10,000, forty legions would still number 300,000, not to mention genetically modified elite troops like the Old Hundred.
For two hundred years, the Imperium fought these technological madmen.
Until Terra was unified, the Imperium's dominion was precarious every moment.
The sacrifices and costs the Astartes and Thunder Warriors paid to unify Terra were unmatched by any other world.
Konor asked casually, "Those warlords you defeated, were they all executed by your Emperor?"
"Aside from a few utterly insane or heinous individuals, like the water thief, most warlords were pardoned."
"Water thief?"
"He drained Earth's last ocean."
Konor was silent for a long time. "That is indeed monstrous."
"The other warlords reached an agreement with the Emperor. They would receive fleets of hundreds of ships and be sent on expeditions across the galaxy, on the condition that they and their descendants never return to Terra."
"These warlords were the first Rogue Traders, the vanguard of the Great Crusade. Their departure predates the Astartes Legions by far."
"Great Crusade? I thought you said 'Great Hunt'."
"Same thing."
"These old warlords truly initiated the Great Crusade. The worlds they conquer are theirs to rule. Beyond paying the necessary tithe to the Imperium, the Imperium does not interfere in their internal affairs."
"Nearly all worlds conquered by the Imperium can retain their autonomy, unless they resist Imperium rule."
Konor's eyes narrowed slightly, his tone probing. "So, how do you define 'resistance'?"
"Simple. You don't have to join the Imperium, but you cannot be its enemy."
Many worlds were unwilling to join the Imperium. The Imperium was usually patient, sending diplomatic missions for long-term negotiations.
Even if talks failed, the Imperium lost nothing.
Without the protection of a vast empire, without the trade and communication provided by Astropaths and Warp travel, a single world was always vulnerable in the treacherous galaxy. It would eventually capsize, and all aboard would drown.
Even if a world was destroyed, billions dying, it meant nothing to the Imperium.
The Imperium ruled tens of thousands of worlds. The galaxy was huge. It didn't need that one.
But if the world was strategically important, like a Forge World or a Warp route hub, the Imperium usually wouldn't ignore it.
And if someone openly defied the Imperium or colluded with xenos, they had only themselves to blame for the Imperium's heavy hand.
"Your Imperium seems very tolerant."
Konor carefully watched Caelan's expression, the tension in his shoulders loosening slightly.
Though he still thought Caelan's story was fantastical, better to believe it than not.
'What if it was true?'
'This stranger had come for that child. If he truly had a vast empire behind him...'
'That empire would eventually come to Macragge.'
'What would we choose then?'
Fortunately, Caelan's words suggested that even within this Imperium, there might be a place for them.
Caelan smiled gently. "You really don't need to worry. Macragge will have a very special status in the Imperium."
"Because of this child?" Konor looked thoughtfully at the sleeping infant.
They both tacitly avoided the option of refusing to join the Imperium.
For now, it was just talk. When the moment of decision came, there would be more to consider.
If they ultimately decided to submit to the Imperium, it would be understandable.
If they decided to prevaricate, this conversation itself wouldn't cost Macragge anything tangible.
Caelan nodded, "This child is a Primarch, one of the Master of Mankind's own sons."
"As the Primarch's homeworld, Macragge will hold a status second only to Terra itself throughout the entire Imperium."
"Not only will you lose nothing, but you will also receive preferential treatment from all aspects of the Imperium."
"He will become a bridge between Macragge and the Imperium. Macragge will enter an unprecedented golden age of development!"
.....
30 Chapters [email protected]/DaoistJinzu