Gather

Under the scintillating moonlight, a beautiful woman was sitting on a swing beneath an old maple tree.

In her bosom was a child wrapped tightly in a white sheet.

She gently swung back and forth on the swing while humming a tune.

"Mhmmhmmhmm~ sleep my little angel, we have a long day ahead of us," she whispered softly.

Footsteps came from the left, coming to a stop behind her.

"Let me take her, you go rest. Marcus is already sleeping," Lyon bent down and whispered in Aida's ear so as not to wake up the child.

Aida looked down at the face of her darling daughter and shook her head, "No, I'm okay. I want to stay like this for a little while longer."

Powerless at his wife's refusal, Lyon could do nothing but stand beside her and wait until she was too tired to even sit upright. He couldn't blame her for being so overprotective anyway.

It was just a couple of weeks ago that she had given birth to a stillborn. Yet by some miracle, now she was able to hold onto her daughter that should not even be alive.

A look of determination flashed past Lyon's face upon recalling the scenes from that day.

He clearly remembered everything, but no one else did. In fact, they didn't even realize something had happened.

Yet the birthmark on his daughter's chest was a clear reminder of it.

A black mark above her heart in the shape of a seed.

Half an hour later Aida was starting to doze off, so halfheartedly, she handed her over to Lyon and went inside.

"Don't take too long, come in as soon as she falls asleep," she reminded him.

It was a strange happening.

Since the moment the child started crying, she did not stop until Lyon accidentally wandered off towards the forest behind their house and came to a stop near this maple tree.

It was the only tree of its kind here. It didn't have any special features or any strange legends or myths related to it.

The only thing of note was its age. It had been here for as long as anyone could remember.

Which was why everyone was confused as to why she would only stop crying when she was near it.

But Lyon had a pretty good idea why.

The dream he had two weeks ago which he could still recall clearly, had the same kind of tree.

He sat down on the swing and pushed against the ground.

His gaze drifted downwards at the two crystal clear eyes staring back at him. He couldn't help but smile staring at the cute little face.

"Hi sweety, did you miss papa? Huh? Did you~?" he talked in a baby voice, making the child beam.

"Oh my lord you are so cute! There will be lines of boys at our doorstep asking for your hand in no time! Papa will have to beat all of them away," he gasped in mock anger.

*Sigh*

"So much has happened that we even forgot to give you a name," he looked at her apologetically, "What do you think about 'Vera'? It means faith in the old language."

The child obviously couldn't understand him so she just laughed along with everything Lyon said. And seeing her innocent smile, Lyon could not help but feel a little guilty.

"It is by the Emperor's will that you are with us today. I prayed from the bottom of my heart, and he listened, so I must fulfill my promise as well."

A dull flash of light passed over their heads, catching both of their attention.

Lyon looked up towards the moon and saw what had caused it.

A massive battleship hovered in the atmosphere, with the moon as its backdrop.

It was at least 150-200 kilometers in length. Its two sides lined with hundreds of anti-matter cannons facing every direction. (Reference image in authors notes)

Aesthetically it wasn't too pleasing to the eyes but then again, that wasn't its function.

This was the personal Warship of the 11th Holy Son of the Immortal Emperor. He was the person in charge of this entire sector.

"Woah, would you look at that? Looks like the 11th Holy Son himself is here," Lyon mumbled in awe and wonder, "If only I could serve aboard his majesty's vessel, I wouldn't have any regrets if I died the next day!"

But soon after he let out a defeated sigh.

"But somethings are meant to be just dreams..." he looked down towards Vera.

Her eyes were glued to the gigantic red ship as well.

"That is one of the ships designed by the Emperor himself, and that vision brought into this world on the spaceports of 'Dues Mechanica' that reside in the moons of the Imperial Capital, Solum."

"Each of the Emperor's Sons has a similar Warship, gifted to them when they took charge of their respective Legions. They are the foundations of the Empire and the very reason it still stands against the never-ending tide of enemies even after the Emperor's long absence."

Lyon had a look of veneration and worship bordering on fanaticism on his face as he talked about the heroes of the Empire.

"One day I hope you and Marcus can join the Imperial Navy just like me and serve the empire. Or even join the Great Legions of the Holy Sons and be a part of the core forces of the empire!"

Lyon continued talking to himself long after Vera fell asleep in his embrace.

He was a true believer in the cause and a devout follower of the Empire's teachings through and through.

But even he would not have ever dared dreamed what the child he had in his grasp right now meant to the great Empire.

Yet throughout the vast galaxy, even outside the reaches of the Imperium, things had been put into motion along with Vera's birth.

****

The Dark Sector, 300,000 lightyears away from Earth.

A construct floated in the void. At approximately 14,000 KM in length, it dwarfed even most planets.

It was oval in shape, without any protrusions whatsoever. It was completely smooth and looked like a single piece of rock from afar.

But upon a closer examination, billions of smaller parts could be seen that all fit together seamlessly to create one behemoth structure.

At the very core of this construct was a dark room. And in the center of this room was a sphere of black liquid floating above a platform.

The platform was connected to the sphere through hundreds of electrical wires and four of these wires were connected to a humanoid cloaked figure sitting beside it.

The sphere's liquid surface vibrated, creating wave after wave.

The cloaked figure twitched with every wave. This continued for over a minute before the surface calmed down once again.

The cloaked figure turned its head slightly to the left. A robotic voice came from underneath the hood.

"We have received word. 'His' spiritual signature has been detected. Life signs unconfirmed."

"The Princes want us to move against the Holy Sons now."

"Begin preparations. Unleash the cursed ones, the traitors, the dark worshippers. Assemble the armies of the Lost and the Damned, we are to strike swiftly and deeply."