Warhammer: In the Name of the Emperor

"Do you know the city Sodom?"

"I've heard that in ancient Terra, there was a legend called the Bible believed by the western barbarian tribes about a city that was destroyed by fire from the sky."

"Then do you know whose Sky Fire is it? This is the story I want to tell you."

——

1100 BC

Middle East, by the Euphrates River

The towering city gate stands on the street, and the Mesopotamian July sun shines obliquely on the walls and streets. Vendors selling goods and from the East are shouting on the street, attracting people coming and going. Passersby stopped to watch.

"When we moved here, we have done very few right things in our lives."

"I'm glad you finally realize it after all this time."

The crowd gathered in front of the stall to watch. They were admiring a man holding a torch. He inserted the torch into his mouth and spit out long flames in exclamation, causing the children to shout and the adults to shout. Pointing in surprise.

A lot of copper plates were gradually thrown into the bucket in front of the man, and another one was thrown in. The fire-spitting man smiled and nodded at the man who was giving the reward, and said something in a strange and distant language.

"You still reward him? With this little trick, you can finally become a great person. What is your name now? Damn, you have too many names, I forgot them."

"How many times have I told you that you should change your identity like me so that you won't be exposed."

"So what if we're exposed? Let's just play a little trick. Tomorrow we can move into the temple and eat and drink, instead of being crowded in that shabby house."

"Vito."

"Okay, okay, I know. Stop preaching. It's annoying."

The two walked side by side on the street. The narrow street was lined with stalls on both sides, and in the middle were Mesopotamian residents coming and going. Their skin was brown. Vito looked at them and raised his eyebrows slightly.

"There are more and more people here, Tiberius, that one is the Taj, and the one that breathed fire just now is... an Indian? It should be, what is that one? Damn it, it's as black as briquettes."

"Africans, there are a lot of outsiders here, that's why I brought us here so that your skin won't be so conspicuous, considering that you don't need transfiguration."

"Hey, you idiot invented that broken transformation technique. Do you know that every time you use it, it makes people feel like their whole body has been burned? How did I meet you, a retard?"

"Then you are an idiot, then we are quite a match."

The two walked in silence for a long time, and then Vito laughed suddenly. He patted the shoulder of the tall man next to him. His brown shoulders were hidden under the linen clothes that crossed his shoulders.

"That girl has changed you a lot. You see, you are finally not so boring now. What is her name? Maria, is this love?"

"She and I are not lovers, Vito."

"When you were with her, did you feel your heart speeding up, and when you were chatting, did you feel like the whole damn world was getting better? And every time we went out hunting, you always slapped the prey to death, which hurt every one of us. All the fun was gone? You even dragged me back from chatting with the shepherd’s daughter.”

Vito patted the oversized bison carried on the man's shoulder. The monster-like thing had a broken neck and was being carried by him while rolling his eyes.

"This is called love, my old man, believe me, I am an expert in this field." Vito smiled, put his hands on his hips, and picked up an apple from the fruit stand on the roadside without paying. In the past, The old fool would definitely criticize Vito, but now, he didn't.

Vito laughed, took a bite of the apple, and said vaguely while chewing, "You are also lucky, since you have met such a good girl."

"It should be said that it is our good luck. After we eliminated the monster that time, without her, we would have died a long time ago.", "Yes, it's a pity that you are not dead, you are the first one to wake up, and get there first." "She stayed with you for the next three months, but, well, I wasn't interested in the things you talked about." "So you went to hook up with the miller's wife and then harmed us." "Evicted?", "Hey, can you move here without me?"

The two looked at each other and smiled. This time, he did not argue with Vito, "She is a learned woman. Considering that she is only the daughter of a herbalist, this is really rare. She has unique insights on issues in many fields." ”

"Yes, that's right. You can even impress this old bastard and have feelings for someone for the first time in a century, although he still refuses to admit it."

He shrugged, shook the bison on his shoulders, and continued on his way without stopping, walking through the streets and paths, all the way toward the place he longed to return to as soon as possible, where there were people he wanted to see.

"It's really rare." Vito smiled and took a bite of the apple, and then followed him. Vito followed him from a distance, eating apples and saying hello to the women in their neighborhood.

But gradually, the streets on both sides seemed to have undergone some changes. There were some broken wood on both sides of the road, the doors of some houses were closed, and the tops of the windows were tightly sealed. There were also many silver tableware that had been spilled on the road. Knife and fork, Vito knew the cauldron that he had given to Maria.

"Damn it, I have a bad feeling." Vito walked out of the alley. He saw him at the end and stopped in front of a small wooden house. He was stunned when he looked at the house. The door was pried open. Open, various herbs were scattered at the door, as if it had been looted.

"Vito! Gilmore!"

An old woman emerged from the roadside. She held her bleeding arm and ran towards them with a tired and hurried look. Her weak body fell down and fortunately Vito held her in time.

"Masa Barrera? Aren't you supposed to be in Maria's clinic? Why did you come out? What happened here?"

"They! Temple guards, they came, they captured Maria, they said she was a godless demon who poisoned this place with evil herbs, they captured him and killed everyone in the clinic."

"What? Are they crazy? We agreed." Vito exclaimed. He looked at the old bastard, his face was also full of shock, "I heard about the temple changing hands before. It was a battle between polytheists, in which a faction of gods had just come to power and they were eager to establish their authority. Maria and I had argued with them before about their beliefs."

Masha Barrera took Vito's arm and fell to her knees weakly. She was crying, her tears wet her eye makeup and it seemed like black tears were shed on her face, "They took her to the temple. They are going to kill her, treat her as a heretic, and burn her alive.”

"Oh shit."

Vito cursed, and before he finished speaking, he heard a heavy crash. He turned around suddenly and saw only the bison head that fell to the ground. The guy was gone.

"Damn it! Wait, Gil Ogum! Damn it, wait! Don't do it when you're not clear-headed." Vito yelled after him. Although he always said that he was always not clear-headed and was prone to impulsive actions. He causes all kinds of destruction, but he, the kind of person who is usually the calmest, is the one who is most likely to explode when he is really angered.

A person like Vito is like gunpowder with a long fuse that keeps burning, so you see that he is always impulsive, but he, he is just the opposite, he is calm and usually says nothing, but that is because of his The shortest fuse will either not explode or explode instantly.

Vito chased after him and looked at his back from a distance, "Ogom, wait, don't go anywhere. Damn it, there are too many people there. It's not suitable to do anything. You will affect many people, including..."

The guards under the arch leading to the square rushed towards him with their swords drawn. Then he waved his hand gently and the guards were knocked to the wall. When they fell, their heads had been broken or broken, and the sticky brains were still there. Remaining on the wall, Vito froze as he looked at the people whose heads had exploded.

"Damn it."

Vito cursed and followed him. He got into the dense crowd in the square. Half of the city's people were here. They were huddled together in the square, looking at the platform in the distance, where there were high piles of buildings. There was firewood, and a woman was tied to it, her head lowered, her face covered in blood.

Her skirt was dyed red with blood, and a man stood aside. He was wearing the clothes of the god of the polytheistic temple behind him, surrounded by many sacrifices. He raised his hand high, holding a ceremonial dagger.

"Today is a holy day, a day of purification. This witch, she does not believe in God, does not respect God, our God. She believes in pagan beliefs and worships those dirty gods, and she is still using her evil witchcraft in the city. It poisons our people, pollutes our water sources, and brings disaster and disputes.”

"But there is no need to worry, because today, under the guidance of the great gods, we, the servants of the new Lord of the Pantheon, will bring her to justice. The pious people will be saved, and those who do not worship the gods will receive the same reward as her. Punishment! The gods cut off her hand!"

The priest raised the hand, the severed hand. Vito stopped and looked at the slender, white palm with wide eyes. The priest held it high for everyone in the square to see, including the believers in the crowd. They cheered, and even those outsiders who did not believe in God also followed suit and roared.

Everyone can see it, Vito can, he can, see the bracelet on the severed hand, the gold ring he forged and gave to her.

"Ogham? Calm down, she's not dead yet. A broken hand can't kill anyone. She may not be able to be a doctor, but we can still do it."

Vito looked around, searching desperately for him in the crowd. He pushed past the cheering crowd and walked through the sea of ​​people, like a jackal that had fallen into a herd of antelopes. He was looking for another jackal. He got through the sea of ​​people and saw He was standing in front of the altar, looking at the priest waving his severed hand, and Maria behind her with her head lowered and her face covered by long hair.

She remained motionless, drops of blood dripping from her face, and gradually the basin placed under her was filled with blood. Vito rushed to him, stretched out his hand and approached his shoulder, "Calm down, brother, I have fought in the war, I know what it is like to die, and she is still alive."

Before Vito finished speaking, flames exploded all around Ogham's body. His linen was burned in the blink of an eye, and his dark brown hair turned into fire and flew up. In an instant, a wave of fire surged around him. Large swathes of flames.

The person closest to him was swallowed up in an instant. Before he even had time to react, he was still looking towards the altar. The fire rushed into the sky. The flames shot into the sky, stirring the clouds in the sky. They were lit by the fire. , they themselves turned into fire, and the whole sky burned.

"Ogham!" Vito looked towards him, and at the same time he saw the woman on the altar slowly raising her head. Her face hidden by her hair looked at him, and she gently opened her mouth and called out his name. , but he didn't hear it, and neither did Vito, because the entire altar was devoured by fire in the blink of an eye.

The raging sea of ​​fire spread around, the ground cracked instantly, and the blood of the earth spurted out. Vito raised his head and looked at him, and then he was engulfed by the general flames. That was Vito's last vision, that After that, everything disappeared, and after the light, there was darkness.

Vito was in the darkness, as if he was asleep. He felt no pain, no burning sensation, nothing, just like he was asleep.

In his dream, he vaguely heard the sound of buildings collapsing, the collapse of statues in the fire, the hissing of silk cloth under burning, the sound of bones breaking, the sound of flesh vaporizing and evaporating, and...

"Oh what did I do."

Vito opened his eyes suddenly. He took a deep breath and sat up suddenly. Vito coughed violently and covered his chest, but found that he was sitting naked on the ground, anxious. on the land.

"Great, you came back to life. Thank you so much. I almost thought I lost it." Ogum knelt on the side, breathing heavily. He was also naked, but the remaining traces of the fire still did not dissipate. Between his eyes , filled with the afterglow of fire.

Vito looked around, surrounded by a scorched earth, the remains of buildings, charred corpses standing, in short, the whole city turned into a piece of charred charcoal.

"Oh shit."

Vito stood up. He stood in the slight hot fire wind, the ashes flying in the air and blowing on his face. The man also stood up. He staggered over and stepped away from the collapsed front side of the altar. Walking up, there was an upright wooden stake with a person standing on it. She was kneeling on the dark ground with her head held high.

Ogum knelt down weakly. He lowered his head and knelt in front of the figure. Vito walked up and held his shoulders, "Brother.", "What have I done, Vito? What have you done."

He knelt, lowered his head, raised his hand to touch the face tremblingly, that face was dark, but her outline was still clearly visible, as if the gods had deliberately left it for her, silently mocking her.

Vito raised his head and looked at the temple that had long since been reduced to ashes. Nothing was left of it. The ashes were piled high. Only the rickety shadows of the life-long statues in the many temples were left, still stuck in the pile of ruins. The fire wind dissipated along with the entire city, but the wind, the blazing wind, was extremely cold.

"I let anger engulf me, I. I heard your words, she was still alive, but at that moment, anger engulfed my heart. I seemed to have forgotten everything, this world, everything, anger, only What’s left is anger.”

"Oh, forgive me, my dear," he said sadly as he touched the face of the burnt black body with his hand. Vito held his shoulders behind him and sighed silently.

"Ogham."

"Forgive me, Vito, I know there are people you care about in this city, they are innocent, like I always told you before, but I killed them, the whole city, my hands are stained Blood, everyone’s blood.”

He knelt on the ground and looked at his dusty hands. In an instant, it seemed as if pieces of blood were flowing from that hand. The red blood stained the sky, the city, and the earth red.

Vito didn't speak, he just pressed his shoulders and stood behind him. He knew that he needed time to think, go, and say goodbye.

He stroked Maria's face, and the silence lasted for what seemed like a lifetime, but finally, he slowly stood up and picked up Maria's body.

He turned and left, walking onto the avenue of ashes. Vito followed him, walking with him on the ashes-filled road until they reached the blood-like sky in the distance.

In the shadow of the ruins of the Pantheon, a laughter echoed, and a shadow appeared in the ruins. It looked at the two people walking away from the strange vision, and its voice hissed like a ghost.

"Let the game begin, Emperor, the great game awaits his players, are you right?"

More voices laughed, echoing again and again in the shadows.

——

"Afterwards, we buried Maria on a hill where there were many white flowers. He knew she liked flowers."

Vito leaned on the bench and looked at the golden statue and said. Looking at those eyes, Vito also closed his eyes and sighed. Guilliman on the side lowered his head in thought.

"He looks like a human being."

"Who says it's not? He looked like a human being, a helpless person. I looked at him kneeling there, and I knew at that time that we are actually no different from ordinary people."

"Is that the only person he's ever loved? All his life, all his life."

"Who knows, like I said, we didn't understand each other that well. After that, he left, and then he began to study the soul. The next time I met with you, he had changed. Cold, ruthless, rational, comes to me with matters of the Warp and Daemons."

Vito shrugged and sighed helplessly, "He became that person, the Emperor you are familiar with. Over a hundred or a thousand years, all humanity gradually disappeared."

"After that, he began to study subspace. After that, at first, I guess he just wanted to understand how to resurrect Maria. We all know that the soul can be controlled, but no one has figured it out before. Well, not since. He is the first and probably the only one."

Vito crossed his arms and let out a long sigh, "He spent a lot of time on that matter, a hundred years, two hundred years, centuries. He hid in his corner."

"To resurrect Maria?"

"Of course he hasn't admitted it personally, and he can't admit it. He is a stubborn guy, and he has become the most clumsy old bastard in history. But I believe that's it. Let me go back to you and tell me if you have changed. Regarding the issue, to be honest, I don’t know if he has changed or is a different person.”

Vito scratched his head and leaned on the bench with a self-deprecating smile, "Well, I can't even explain it to myself, but it's ironic, right? What do you think we are for is nobler, greater, flawless? The purpose of embarking on this path? People believe that, people always believe that their leaders are like this, but, no, Guilliman."

Vito looked over, smiled and shrugged, "We are all selfish, he, I, our original purpose was not that noble."

"So I know that he is not a god. Gods are not helpless. They are like mortals. But for him, I have seen his helplessness with my own eyes. He just knelt there and couldn't do anything because of his own mistakes."

Vito said, as if he was talking about him, but also as if he was talking about himself. For a long time, he fell silent, and finally only the sound of gentle breathing and the blinking of his weather-beaten eyes were left.

"Okay, the story is over. I don't know if it will work for you, but I have to admit that I'm not good at telling stories, so let's take a look at this."

As he spoke, he handed a book to Guilliman, who took it in surprise and looked at the book, "What is this?"

"The Book of Holy Words, the original version. Compared to the seven or seventy-eight versions that the empire later revised, this version can tell you more things. Take a look at this, and then think about whether he is a god."

"Let's go, I'm not the original body, so I don't need to sleep."

Vito left, and the silver armored boots stepped on the ground, making a clanging sound in the distance. Guilliman looked at the book in his hand and turned his head, "Vito, then why did you take this road?"

"Want to hear my little dark history story? Ask someone else." Vito smiled and walked away, while Guilliman raised his eyebrows strangely, "Who knows?", "What do you think?"

Guilliman turned his head and looked at the statue, where he sat.

"The chess game is still undecided." Vito said and walked out of the monastery. The door slowly closed behind him, and the stars and darkness disappeared at the other end.

Damn, I forgot to pick up the title, so everyone can pick it up.