9 Sons and Nephews on the Horizon
Baldur emerged from the dungeon to the surprised looks of his family members save for his mother who already knew he had taken the test. What she didn't know was that he had unlocked the hidden storage of Imperial Knights due to his performance.
Imperial Knights were small to medium-sized walkers that were typically between 9 and 12 meters. Each was piloted by a human pilot with the assistance of a machine spirit. Imperial Knights moved in squads because they were much smaller than the typical Titans used on battlefields, using their speed and heavy firepower to bring down enemies from afar or up close.
Most Imperial Knights could be divided into two types offensive and defensive. Both were usually around the same size but offensive knights usually had lighter armor and were faster than their defensive counterparts.
The hangar that Baldur entered had neither. Instead, it had some of the rarer variants of Imperial Knights that planets would wage war over. They were all of the Questoris and Acastus sub-types which were also the largest, standing between 13 and 17 meters in height. A single one of these could stop a planetary invasion if it had some light support in the form of ground groups.
Baldur looked around the room before finding a control console. There, a large amount of information was stored about the current location and gave Baldur a better understanding of where he stood.
The initial test was meant to find someone worthy of king and help decide who would sit on the throne in the least violent way possible. But when a Psyker or Witch took the test, it was something else entirely.
It meant that Feluc had openly accepted Psykers or that the person who passed the test was planning to take the throne even though they were outlawed. That was why there were so many Imperial Knights.
In the case of the first situation, the ancestors wanted to reward their descendants for being progressive and accepting a Psyker as their leader. But if the case of the latter, they were to be used as a show of force and defeat any Imperial Walker that came their way.
Besides the information about the purpose of the test and the purpose of the Imperial Knight units present, there was also a large amount of information on Feluc, going back thousands of years in the console as well as a small library off to the side that had a large number of grimoires containing information on chaos gifts and various spells from the different schools of magic based off the 8 winds and demonology. There was even an STC among the piles of texts.
Baldur was amazed by all the books and scrolls down there so he began to dig into them in earnest, only taking a break to look at the information on the console every now and then. Baldur spent weeks down there, luckily being able to replenish himself with spells and his power physique.
But what Baldur hadn't taken into account was that his mother and the rest of the nobles above were waiting for him to leave the dungeon. The fact that he didn't come up after a few hours made many of them worried, including Jendi. But after thinking about it for a few moments, Jendi realized it was impossible for Baldur to die.
All of her worries turned into a ball of rage in her chest that got denser and denser as more time went by. After 4 entire weeks, her rage was comparable to a sun.
Baldur was reading through a grimoire and one spell mentioned a mother, causing him to finally realize that he was supposed to return to the surface.
'Looks like I am going to be in deep trouble,' Baldur sighed to himself
He began to put away the books before returning through the various doors that he had originally come through. As long as he was alive, he could enter and exit through the area without having to do the trials anymore.
As soon as he exited the doors to the trial grounds, Baldur was greeted by Dogan. The teen did not appear surprised, instead, he had a change of clothes for Baldur in his hands. He eyed the spear in Baldur's hands but said nothing else otherwise.
"Here you are, your highness. Your mother is extremely angry," Dogan informed him, turning around to allow Baldur to change in peace
"I figured. That's why I came out," Baldur replied, not sure whether he should have stayed inside or not
"Something interesting in there?"
"20 Imperial Knights, an STC, and a bunch of grimoires," Baldur finished putting on the black and blue clothes that Dogan had provided, coincidentally matching his new spear
Dogan looked shocked at the rare items that Baldur had mentioned so casually but when he remembered that it was his prince that said it, he could only nod with a wry smile on his face.
The pair walked up from the basement of the dungeon and back into the castle where they met with Jendi's glare. The woman marched up to her son and tried to reach for his ear but her arms were too short. Her glare intensified, causing Baldur to sigh, lower his head, and allow his mother to pull on his ear.
He then had to practically drag himself to her where she was bringing, afraid that if he were too slow, she would dislocate her shoulder from trying to pull on his body.
She 'dragged' him outside of the throne room before releasing his ear and having Baldur stand straight. She dusted off the obviously clean clothes and patted down any wrinkles that she imagined. Once he was up to her standards, Jendi gave him a couple more pats.
"Perfect. Your father and the Barons are inside. They are in the middle of a meeting but with your new status, you can easily enter now if you please. Assert yourself and they will love you," Jendi advised him while looking over his body, worried that she had missed something
Baldur bent over and gave his mother a hug, calming down the panicking woman.
"Don't worry. I'll show them all how great of a king I will be," Baldur promised her before standing up straight and giving his mother a small, cheeky grin
Jendi smacked her son's arm before nodding and standing facing the door. The pair opened it and revealed themselves to the court, ready to take Feluc by storm.
= 816 M30 =
Baldur appeared in the golden throne room once again. After all his years of training, his astral had become much more stable, resembling Malcador where his body was solid with his normal features and clothes but not colored like his physical body.
Speaking of the old man, he wasn't present during this meeting. Instead, it was only the Emperor and his younger brother, Magnus. Magnus was the only other member of the Primarchs who was a Psyker, his power rivaling Baldur's with both of them only 2nd to the Emperor.
Magnus and Baldur could be called very similar but very different. Both were curious beings, their thirst for knowledge surpassed only by their Psyker powers and arrogance. But while Magnus was willing to sacrifice anything, including his own eye, to gain more knowledge, Baldur knew his limits. He would never sacrifice anything for power, never willing to compromise himself.
Besides Horus, Magnus was the Emperor's favorite son. His thirst for knowledge made him the perfect son for the Emperor to teach, especially since he could understand his Psyker powers.
On the other hand, Baldur came in 4th place of the 4 Primarchs who had met the Emperor. Both he and Alpharius were secretive but while Alpharius would hide his secrets with deceptions and a smile, Baldur simply told others that he didn't want to tell them or the other party wasn't ready to learn what he knew/planned.
"Baldur!" Magnus cried out in surprise and joy. He hadn't expected Baldur to join them during this discussion, as Baldur had usually ignored them. Ever since he had gained a certain level of control, he would resist their father's summon requests.
"Hmm. 15th," Baldur greeted his younger brother, calling him by his number instead of his name. "What do you want, Emperor?"
The Emperor looked his son in the eye who did not shy away from him. Even though he was the most powerful human that had ever existed, the man before him was fearless in front of the Emperor. It was as if he truly had no fear.
"I wanted to give you both an update on your sons," The Emperor informed them both.
Their 'sons' were the Space Marines that were divided into 20 legions, according to their Primarchs' number. Each Space Marine's Gene-Seed was taken from their Primarch and would determine special characteristics of the members of the Legion.
For the 2nd Legion, their Gene-Seed was very pure for most of their members, not giving them any particular traits except for a lack of personal drive for achievement. Many of the harshest battles were fought by their members, due to not caring about requesting better missions. They could be called the perfect soldiers. As for its Psykers, it gave them an incredible boost to their powers.
The 15th Legion was different. It was a highly mutable Gene-Seed and would give most of those impacted with it Psyker abilities. This came with the downside of many of its members getting random mutations called the 'flesh change' that could turn them into horrific monsters.
Both Baldur and Magnus were worried about their sons, wanting to get them back to them as soon as possible. Magnus, to assist his sons with their flesh change while Baldur wanted to prevent his sons from going through a similar process.
"Baldur, your sons are being taught according to the ways that you have requested, focusing on small squad tactics," The Emperor informed him, confused about why Baldur wanted to teach his sons to fight as they did but it was his choice
"Magnus, there has been an incident. During a joint assault, your sons were battling alongside the Space Wolves. During an ambush, they were left behind by the Wolves, causing them to receive a large number of casualties. Their numbers have reduced once more."
"Damnit!" Magnus raged, unleashing bolts of warp energy in the form of lightning all around. Even in his astral form, he was still able to unleash such power, nearly attacking Horus who couldn't even see his brothers
Baldur put up a barrier next to him, blocking his brother's wrath. He could understand where the anger was coming from though so he didn't judge him. This was 3rd report that he had been around for that the Emperor had informed them of the other Legions abandoning the 15th Legion due to them being mostly Psykers.
Even though he had Psykers in the 2nd Legion, they kept a low profile, acting as normal soldiers under Baldur's command. Not due to fear of persecution but because those could be trump cards in dire situations.
"Calm yourself, 15th," Baldur tried to calm his brother
Magnus was heaving, but he did as Baldur told him. He knew that there was little he could do at the time.
"Brother. May I make a request?" Magnus asked Baldur with pain in his voice
"You can make it. I won't necessarily agree," Baldur told him in his usual tone
Magnus couldn't help but laugh. Even though his brother had just been trying to comfort him, he quickly reverted back to his usual cold attitude.
"You will be meeting with your sons before I can meet with mine. Can I ask that you take them under your wing until I can lead them?"
Thanks to their Psyker powers, both were able to use precognition with enough practice. They knew the order in which each of them would meet the Emperor and their legions. Magnus knew that Baldur would not treat his sons poorly since he never showed any disgust when he heard about his son's issues nor did the Emperor give any report about his men abandoning the Thousand Sons, 15th Legion.
