9 Chapter 8

(Uriah Olathaire POV)

He was old, not only physically but also mentally and spiritually. he could feel the weight of the years in his bones and on his soul.

He was alone in the Lightning Stone church, and these thoughts occupied him as he blew out the candles and cleaned the corridor.

He joined the faith as a young man and watched his congregation dwindle each year. The emperor's "truth" took care of that.

Religion has been declared an enemy, a source of trouble and misery. Every month there were new reports of looting, conversion and demolition of great cathedrals and temples.

Horror stories of clerics and cardinals being dragged off into the night continued, and many religious buildings were abandoned as their clergy fled from the emperor's subjects. Some of the more pious asked and even begged to help him avoid the purges. He refused every one of them. He will stay alone and die if he has to.

He had been alone in the ancient building for the past few weeks. Nothing but crashing waves and ancient scriptures for company.

He sighed deeply and went to lock the large oak doors of the building. As he approached them, there was a knock.

He opened the door, wondering who could have come at this late hour. The door opened and in front of him stood two people, a man and a woman.

They were both dressed in long coats that obscured their faces.

The man moved a little and saw that he had long raven hair.

"I wasn't expecting visitors tonight." he said.

The stranger at the door stopped , extended his hand to shake, and said, "You are Father Uriah Olathaire, priest of the Church of the Lightning Stone. I would like to confess, father." The hood shrouded his face in shadow, but two needles of yellow light could be seen from within.

He took the stranger's hand and answered: "Yes, and you?" The stranger said, "You can only call me Revelation." ... "and this woman next to me is Angela," said the stranger.

"Then follow me." He showed the stranger to enter the church.

Uriah led the company towards the pews and noticed that the Stranger was examining the various frescoes and paintings that adorned the Church. Uriah smiled, the art of the church had long been something he enjoyed and loved to share with his fans. The discovery pointed to a trinity of paintings occupying one of the walls "The work of Isandula Verona? Some of them I haven't seen in years."

Happiness crossed his face, someone recognized the author "It's been decades since anyone recognized her work. One of my predecessors got the piece after attending one of his sermons." Three paintings depict iconic scenes from church belief. The first depicted naked figures inside a utopian garden. The second is an epic duel between the Golden Knight and the Silver Dragon, and the last one featured a being made of light surrounded by a mechanical halo.

The stranger continued to stare for a minute before turning to the priest and saying, "Do you know the fate of the great churches and temples of Terra?" Uriah looked at the Revelation and began to wonder if this visitation was more sinister in nature than first thought. thought

The old priest sighed and said, "Yes, they were destroyed by the emperor and his legions.

Revelation approached the altar and continued to speak: "Do you know how many Churches there are on Terra? How many priests are left?"

He replied "Several hundred? A few thousand? From what I've heard, the emperor is done with his mission." Then the stranger gave a snort of derision "There's only one of each left." He pointed to Urijah and the building that housed "The last church and the last priest of Terra"

He felt as if the blow of a hammer had fallen on his forehead. Could he really be the Last Priest? Can all traces of faith be so easily exhumed from the Cradle of Humanity? A mixture of sadness and anger filled him.

"Better move on to your confession, unfortunately the confessional is too dirty due to lack of maintenance due to lack of funds, so I have to hear you here," he said.

"I've done a lot of things I'm not proud of." The stranger lowered his head. "But I never lost sight of the greater good. But now I wonder if I've been wrong all this time."

He continued to speak. "I was the one who created the Hundred Year Empire, I created the Imperium. I started countless gene pogroms. I have killed thousands, millions, billions in my mission. I broke promises to those I loved and slaughtered people who called me friends. With my own hand I destroyed alien empires and raised armies of mindless soldiers who called me master."

"And yet all this pales in comparison to what is to come. I am the one who will begin a great crusade to conquer the galaxy in my name and save humanity and the galaxy from destruction.

Resentment filled the stranger's face as he continued to speak, "I want to know if I was wrong? I concluded that religion is a poisonous dangerous thing a long time ago and

I concluded that religion was a poisonously dangerous thing a long time ago and that conclusion has been backed up time and time again by the countless acts of madness and fervor I have witnessed." Anger filled the stranger's face as he finished.

Sighing, he continued, "Even so, new evidence has come to light. Proof that no matter what is done, humanity will look for something or someone to worship and that faith can be used. It is used to ward off darkness."

"I witnessed the creation of this religion on this very earth. I was there on Calvary when Christ of Nazareth died on the cross. I was there when the first religions were born. What right does any God or gods have to judge me, Father? " the stranger finished his confession.

Shock passed over Uriah's face as he absorbed the stranger's confession.

"Who…are…you" Uriah stammered.

"I am the Emperor of Mankind," said the stranger, dropping his psychic mask and revealing his true form. The woman next to the Emperor also let go of her mask, transforming into a being of fire and golden light.

At the Emperor's Word, Uriah flinched and took a few steps back in the shock until he regained his composure and returned to his old position.

"Tell me, my son, what has caused this change in your plans?" he said to the emperor.

"I have seen the future," said the emperor. "I have seen a future where I am worshiped as a god, where everything I stand for is perverted into a colossal theocratic nightmare where trillions of screaming fanatics live and die under my immortal rule.

"But worst of all, the worst aspect of that nightmarish future where hope, reason and logic were butchered in the name of dogma, zealotry and oppression, was that it worked. Humanity was indeed united under the 'Imperial Creed'. Faith protected from horrors beyond imagination, inspired heroic deeds and strengthened the loyalists of mankind."

"Mankind has tried to believe in a higher power for as long as we have existed. Faith offers both protection and answers to countless questions. It provides comfort, and if that comfort is denied, the longing for it simply becomes greater." Uriah answered

"Even if you offer an alternative to what religion offers and show the world everything negative about it, people will still want it. Religion and faith are as old as mankind, even at the height of the golden age they still existed when they were almost all evil and darkness in our species has been eradicated. It is not an evil thing, but it is just as corruptible as what is human. Humanity needs to believe in a higher power and denying it will only lead to destruction."

"You are right in what you say, but you are certainly wrong in one thing, religion is not as old as mankind. I have lived countless eons and remember when the first cults and tribal religions appeared."

The emperor approached him "And the idea that religion is a constant is also wrong. I am responsible for the creation of countless religions and the inspiration of countless gods, and it is only fair that I am responsible for their destruction.

"I will show you what my eyes have seen and show you why I am ready to build an empire on the foundation of butchered children. The reason why I don't have time to woo and reason with everyone".

"I want you to answer the last question I'm going to ask you when you see them all, do you agree?" .asked the emperor.

"I agree," Uriah replied.

The emperor placed the tips of his fingers on Urijah's forehead.

Uriah felt energy tingle through those fingers and spots swam in his eyes. Uriah heard the scream of a woman. He smelled something nasty. Reality began to bend and slip from his grasp, launching Urich into the Emperor's memories.

"This could do better." The emperor declared.

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(First Vision)

Darkness. I was floating in the dark.

I felt gravity on me, pulling away from me in all directions. Every cell in the body was disintegrating.

I roared in agony.

Then I burned into energy that condensed into lightning and shot through space and time.

I squeezed myself to a point and screamed horribly, wishing for death for what seemed like ten thousand years.

+Sorry about this. I am truly sorry.+ said the Emperor from a distance.

I screamed in response.

I was teleported by lightning to some strange planet, purple sky above.

I was breathing hard. I looked down. I was in my body.

I looked to my side, the emperor was there wearing a simple white dress and he was the size of a man.

He looked around. We were above the pit. I coughed. It smelled horrible, the worst smell I've ever smelled in my life.

Cloaked xenos were throwing lines of people into the pit.

"What are they doing?" I asked him, horrified.

"Aging meat. Adding flavor like any good cook." The Emperor replied. Then he pushed me into the pit.

I fell on the swollen, rotting bodies, cutting them open. Bad-smelling blood and other body fluids come out of their mouths, noses and other openings. Some splashed my face.

I struggled to breathe in the stench and heat of the bacteria growing in and on and under the great mound of human bodies that filled the huge pit.

I tried to get up, but the chest of the man I put my foot on broke through, and my bare feet sank into the lake of pus and necrotizing bits of tissue his body hid inside.

I fell forward and grabbed the woman's face, as I moved her cheek went with me, tearing away. He felt like cheese. I scraped it on a little boy's shirt.

I pulled my leg out of the pus in the man's chest and crawled forward.

Through the steam created by the evaporation of body fluids and the heat caused by the growth of bacteria, I could barely see someone crawling towards me.

"Hey! I'm alive! Let's figure out a way out of here-" I said.

The man just looked at me like I didn't exist and walked right through me.

He was a thin, sickly-looking man, more bone than muscle. He must have survived down here by eating the flesh of the living who had just fallen here and drinking their blood. The rotting bodies would kill him if he tried to swallow them.

I spent literally days trapped in a pit of corpses, listening to the screams and cries of the new arrivals and slowly being covered in a layer of new bodies as I sank deeper.

The corpses are rotting. I saw every worm go through the corpses. I could see the intestines swelling from the bacterial stew and the build up of fluid and gas.

And then there were the machines that pulled out huge handfuls of corpses and placed them in shipping containers.

We were escorted out and eventually I found my way to a dinner table of sorts. Dessert with an appetizer of a dead boy and a main course of a seventeen-year-old girl who cried her eyes out.

Our "hosts" were humans made of congealed, wormy white worms that writhed and swayed on the surface of their bodies.

Xeno ate the corpse of the little boy and then slowly, little by little starting from her legs, the living girl.

+These are Slaughter and while dead and rotten humans are considered a delicacy among them, their favorite meal is living, breathing, sentient humans from whom they can extract the most exquisite flavors that come from the sheer agony of being consumed. They know about us and they are starving. We are their sweetest meat they have found in the entire university and as long as they live they will never stop in their mission to put us all in pens and kitchens.+ said the Emperor.

Now I understand. I thought angrily. I'm done.

+Not yet.+

+ Slaughter is far from a great danger to humanity. You have more to see.+ The Emperor announced telepathically.

Hasn't it been long enough? Months passed.

+Only a few moments have passed since this vision began. We could be here for years, decades, if I wanted to.+ The Emperor communicated telepathically.

+I'm sorry for the pain you suffered but you had to see the fate of humanity on one planet and the fate of humanity if I lose+ The Emperor added.

+Time for another vision + The Emperor announced again.

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(Second vision)

+You are the last priest of the last church of Terra. I thought it worthy that you should hear my confession. No one knows this story, not even my closest advisors and friends. Since you are the last priest, it seemed only right that you should hear the story of the First Temple+ The Emperor telepathically announced again.

He found himself in a dry wasteland. Sand and rock stretched as far as the eye could see. He looked up and was shocked. The sky was impossibly blue, and the Sun hung high in the clear sky.

"Where are we?" she asked as the shock of seeing the sky wore off.

"Appearing beside him, the emperor replied, "About thirty-five thousand years ago in the city you know as, Sodom."

"In Old Terra, I roamed spreading knowledge and wisdom to ancient tribes and early civilizations. Nothing major, just slight nudges to aid technological and philosophical development." The emperor said

An ancient city appeared before him on the seashore.

The emperor continued his narration, "I haven't visited this city in about two and a half centuries. The last time I was here I helped treat a minor viral outbreak and explained some basic hygiene. I've done similar work around the world and thought nothing of it. So when I returned to this city on the shores of the Salt Sea and was horrified by what I found."

They followed a large procession of carts and beasts of burden carrying goods towards the city gates.

He watched as the Emperor entered the city with the help of Lot.

He could smell the distinct smell of blood in the air coming from the same place as the crowd shouted. Eventually he pushed through with the Emperor and found the source. A rough pit was dug out of the ground, where hundreds of excavators clamored at its edge to get a better look at its occupants.

Two malnourished shackled slaves savaged each other with crude bone blades as the crowd clamored for blood and gore. Shock filled the faces of Uriah and the past emperor as the old Emperor looked at them grimly.

The Emperor pointed to his younger self and said, "This was the first time we witnessed such an act, but unfortunately not the last...".

They were passing through the ancient city to the Festival of Four.

Eventually the drumming picked up pace and led the thousands gathered to kneel as one before the bonfire and the Temple. Using some warpcraft, the Emperor stood as the illusion showed him kneeling like the others. Uriah snorted at that "Pride is a constant I believe in you." The emperor only responded with an icy look.

The drum beats peaked and stopped. The High Priest and his inner circle came out of the temple in extravagant clothes. The High Priest stood before the altar and spoke in a booming voice, "Generations ago our city was stuck with divine punishment for our sin! Death and destruction stalked our lands and sought whomever they pleased. Blasphemy!"

The Ancient Emperor raised his eyebrows, was that how they remembered the plague? Then how would they like his intervention? The priest continued: "Then came the Stranger! A Prophet and Sage sent by the gods to lead us on the path of righteousness! We were saved by his holy wisdom and the gods there spared us eternal mercy!"

In an incredible display of controlled psychic power, the Ancient One used a mixture of Psychometry, Precognition, and his own intellect to see into the city's past. Both he and his watchers witnessed how a corrupt few generations had twisted the story to better suit their master's needs...

Uriah watched in shock as the sacrificial ritual continued as mothers threw their babies into the fire.

He watched in shock as the crying mother did not let go of her child and held him to her chest as she sobbed desperate pleas for her child's life. With almost casual contempt, the High Priest cut her throat and pushed her and the child into the fire.

He watched as the Ancient Emperor cast off his kneeling vision and saw the face of the ancient expelling the Warpfyre concentrated into a burst of psychokinetic plasma ejected from the golden eyes in an explosion of raw energy the likes of which would not be seen on earth until the next volcanic eruption.

A wave of psychic power rolled off the bodies of the Ancients in a psychic pulse that moved across the Earth faster than thought. Every human on the entire face of the Earth has been touched by a tidal wave of Psychic Energy. As one every man touched by Chaos and the whisper of the Warp died.

Golden light emanates from the Ancient One. Uriah felt energy wash over him and his legs buckled. He was rawer, crueler and lacked kindness when he healed him, but the Energy was the same. The same as the divine light that healed and saved him in Gaudare. Turning slowly to the emperor, he spoke in a hushed tone: "You, it was you! You not only inspired my religion but also my faith!"

A gloomy expression appeared on the emperor's face as he said, "Yes, you are not the first to find faith when exposed to my power. Of the twelve disciples, the Desert Merchant, the Slave Sage, and the Seventy-two Ascendants found faith and began faiths under my influence in an attempt to stop things like this."

Like marionettes with their strings cut, they simply collapsed. Souls completely destroyed. Even those who are not corrupt felt the touch in their minds and knew without a shadow of a doubt that there was a higher power, that there was something great and golden and powerful. The seeds of every messianic archetype, every king of the gods, every monotheistic deity were sown.

Humanity was touched by what many would call the divine and was forever changed as a result. Shock crossed his face as he watched the scene, the Emperor was outraged and they watched as the Ancient One slowly descended to the temple floor and collapsed to the ground. Every human being for a hundred kilometers lay dead. Two entire cities and countless villages and families were captured for their sins. Every man except Lot and his family.

"Now is the time to see the face of the real enemy," said the Emperor.

Four new visions suddenly appeared before Uriah. Four Storms of Madness and Terror that swirled around him. The projections of the remembered vision dimmed to the mortal mind still seethed with such corruption and cruelty that the Cleric could feel it seeping into his very soul. Each of the monsters touched his soul. Leaving imprints of nightmares and all that is wrong with mortal kind in his memory

The bloody, dog-headed warrior showed visions of madness and violence, where entire worlds were butchered in a psychotic rage. The whispering pillar of smoke spoke of a trillion plots of betrayal and mutation. The unmistakable stench of rot filled Uriah's nostrils as the bloated corpse dripped a sickening poison disguised as love and acceptance. The last of the four was a vision of a great winged serpent feasting on its creators and singing a song of beauty and horror.

Each of the quadruple monsters was unique and terrifying in its own way, but Uriah recognized a similarity between all four. There Hunger, an endless painful hunger for more and more. They were never satisfied, each sought to corrupt and control everything they could. Uriah shuddered as he returned to his surroundings and realized he had fallen to his knees, hitting the sand. Looking up he saw the emperor standing over him and he asked quietly, "What were those…things?"

The Emperor looked at him as he spoke "The great enemy, the four great beings of the Immaterium. Each of them lays claim to godhood and dominion over the universe, but like all things with them, it's a lie. The immaterial is the realm where thoughts take form and reality is subject to the force of will. Those four are the sins and failings of a whole life that has become intelligent and malicious."

Uriah slowly stood up and spoke, "So these things… they feed on worship, and you seek to eliminate religion in order to cripple them?" "Not really, they feed on faith, but not only on it. Every act within their jurisdiction feeds them, but worship is more effective. For example, the so-called "Architect of Fate" is empowered by every plan ever made, but the cults of wizards who worship and serve him are a far greater source of energy for self-indulgence."

Trying to free his mind from the disgusting sights and thoughts that were born from the sight of the Four Uriahs, he asked, "Then why? If they will continue to feed, why eliminate all religions?" To this the emperor said quietly, "Religion offers them an opening. If people pray to the gods, they hope for an answer. What do you think happens when the four listen and answer their prayers ?" New visions then entered Uriah's mind to answer the emperor's rhetorical questions.

*Entire cities fall apart in sick bloody orgies.*

*Sick corpses rising from their graves to devour there friends and family.*

*Holy rituals open the wounds of reality allowing the substance of madness to spill over the world in a tidal wave of damnation. *

*A kind priest in the desert degenerates into a priest-king who sacrifices countless masses in his blasphemous rituals.*

*Countless horrific Chaos induced mutations that plague cultists en masse*

*Legions of golden angels enslave people en masse. Planets made of light and fire where people are forced to walk eternally to death.*

Trembling from the horrific visions, Uriah tried to remain standing, but his knees finally gave way.

The emperor just walked up and directed his energy into him with a wave of his hand. He felt a warm, familiar energy envelop him and he felt he could stand up again.

He stood up.

"Countless gods, the same god I worship, all the myths... it's you, you're the cause of everything. You're the closest thing to God and you receive all human souls after death, right?" Uriah asked with a heavy sigh of shock.

"Yes, I am the cause of everything," replied the Emperor without emotion.

He felt the end of the vision and was in the church again.

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What is a god?" the Emperor asked.

"God is the creator and ruler of the universe and the source of all moral authority; supreme being."

The Emperor replied with a deep chuckle, "That is a textbook description of the deity of your faith." I'm not asking you what is your god, but what is god?"

After some thought he replied "Something powerful, something beyond humanity. A supernatural being that is worshipped."

"Understandably, many beings fit your description and have indeed been worshiped as gods throughout human history. Even so Uriah, would you consider these beings fit for worship?"

Uriah thought for a moment and then replied, "No, it's horrible that such things exist"

The Emperor merely replied "It is time for my final question"..."I feel the belief in my divinity spreading among my subjects. I am not omnipotent or omniscient, but I still claim the title of god and I sense that you are conflicted about the idea of worshiping ".

"My question is, despite everything, do you believe that I should accept the title of God-Emperor of Humanity and act in accordance with it, even though I am not a fan of such an idea and just want more power for myself?"

"Should God be worshipped, though he opposes worshiping?"

Uriah spent ten minutes thinking as ideas clashed in his head.

"You may be arrogant, proud and obviously power-hungry, but you also have a great desire to save humanity and the galaxy. You should accept worship as a way to permanently destroy the influence of the four on humanity." Uriah answered.

"You have proven that religion is a mistake in most cases, but you can correct it so that it corresponds to the protection of humanity and does not follow the flaws you described". Uriah added.

"Thank you for your honest advice," the Emperor thanked him.

"What will happen to me now?" Uriah asked.

The emperor merely placed his armored hand on Uriah's forehead. Golden energy filled Urija's body and soul. He could feel his body healing from a thousand different diseases that time and a hard life had brought him. In turn, his soul was purified by the Four's touch and became an armor against them.

In a voice that commanded armies and ordered the building of empires, he spoke "Uriah Olathaire, you are wise for a man of only a few decades. I will not allow your talent to be forgotten or destroyed. Come with me to this bright future. Our path is hard and so are you you'll help me keep our species on it."

"I accept your offer," Uriah replied calmly.