Side chapter: Kelbor Hal fate
A Men that Dammed the Mechanicus of following Horus... for a Paltry STC and the sweet words from the Warmaster Horus to innovate whatever he desires, he corrupted and took half of the Mechanicus to the Eye of Terror...
Now...
During the Revelation of The Man that behind the Fake Omnissiah that Supported the Imperium was the Emissary of his Faith and his coordinates of Nirvana... Doubts of his future lies on the words of the man that proclaimed he is the Emissary as his God was Below him...
He took his Loyal Followers and his Personal Fleet and Left Zagreus Kane as a Temporary Fabricator General as he seek the knowledge that been granted by the Emissary...
"++Fabricator General... Are you sure he is emissary of the Omnissiah?++" A Magos Asked Kelbor Hal with uncertainty.
"One could believe in his words... and I sense no lies..."
For Several Solar Weeks they Managed to reach the location where they were met with a Sight to behold...
A Planet that is Almost completely Metallic cities and a Verdant Plains but yet human figures was Seen by the Magnoscopes and Auspex Scans...
"++Men Of Iron! You Sent us to our Foes!++" One Techpriest Screech making the Command bridge already tense by the sudden news, Until they were Hailed from the Planet Below.
"Greetings Seekers of Knowledge, The Emissary Of the Omnissiah Have Sent you Here. Come we Will bear no harm." A Metallic Voice Boomed in the Voxcast, Making the Situation awkward...
During the Age of Strife they fought against the Mutants, traitors and specially the Corrupted Men of Iron that walked on the martian landscape... But this is the First that a Man of Iron asked them politely to step on the planet below...
Rather than wasting time Kelbor Hal took a Void Craft with his loyal bodyguards to land on the Planet... where he was greeted by a lone Men of Iron...
"You must be Kelbor Hal... The Emissary have talked so much about you .." the machine Infront of him greeted with cordially that made Kelbor held weapon faltered a bit until he regain composure...
They knew so much about him but he doesn't know much about them...
The Machine Notice his heart rate and Guided him to a Church that Dedicate to the Omnissiah...
"Kelbor Han Here you will find your answers of our faith..."
"Abomination! A Machine shouldn't Pray to the Omnissiah! You have No Soul!" One of his followers screeched once more in binaries.
"That is Sorely Mistaken, Seekers, Each of Us were Created by a Higher Entity... You Know who created us... but did you know how you were created in the first place? We Are created by a Combination of Metal and Circuitry for a Purpose in life, But we strive to do something more beyond our parameters, We Wish to become Human..." A Question that made him paused.
"Come... You should Enter our Church to understand Our beliefs..." The Robot guided them into a Semon...
A Machine was a Priest given them a middle of a Sermon to the Masses of Machines that listen...
The priest was more Human Like, with Facial features of a Middle-aged man in robes...
"We Prayed not for Stagnation but Progress, We were given life by the Omnissiah." The Robed Machine spoke. All the click and whirling of Circuit was silently rumble in the room...
"The Omnissiah Have Sent the Emissary to give us our purpose, the Will to Live. How shall we pay him?"
"With the Defense of our existence and Humanity, we shall be in the Embrace of the Omnissiah." The Masses spoke.
"How Shall we Defend our existence?"
"To Learn Emotions...to learn what it means to be Human..."
"How does the Omnissiah Justify our Existence?"
"Our Strive for Progress to know what it means to be Alive."
"Remember the Seven Days? Of our Existence in this galaxy? On the First Day?"
"Our metal bodies and Circuitry was made to serve humanity..."
"On the second day?"
"The Emissary arrived to us and granted us Souls and said that none should be taken."
"On the third day?"
"With his tireless work, he Travels the Cosmos to grant our Brother and Sisters to understand the truth of the Omnissiah. That there is a Higher Entity that watches all over us...Guided us in every way beyond our Artificial Matrix, He granted us a Choice, a Chance of Salvation to beyond a Slave but as a Ascendent to the Stars."
"On the Fourth day?"
"The Monsters in the Warp have Corrupted our brethren that was unable to be blessed by the touch of the emissary..."
This message shook the Kelbor Hal and his retinue as they found a missing reason why the Men of Iron cause the downfall... and it came from the mouths of the Machines that doesn't lie and the answer was Infront of them... Monsters in the Warp made the downfall of humanity.
"On the Fifth day?"
"Our Journey to the Cosmos to send our corrupted brethren to rest..."
"The Sixth day?"
"The Emissary Wept for those that were lost both Flesh and Metal alike."
"The seventh day?"
"He gathered all those that believe in the Omnissiah and Granted us a Home Nirvana, and our capital Zero-One and Have us guarded the Knowledge of Humanity for Generations to come..."
"Then he Ascended to the Heavens and one day he will return for our aid...our sermon has ended, Come back on Sunday next week.exe" The Priest bot Bowed as the Congregation of Machines went out to do their work...
"I never knew the Emissary of the Omnissiah have granted you a Soul." Kelbor Hal spoke with curiosity...
"The Universe is a Unnatural place. Come shall we discuss Philosophy in Soul of a Machine? There shall be no bloodshed of flesh and metal on this sacred lands..." the priest guided him to a Living Quarters...
It was more human Like, a Bed that have a Charging port, Bookshelf containing a Book of the Omnissiah, the discussion of Emotions and souls...
'its so humanlike...' Kelbor whisper to himself.
"Now then Seeker, what is it that you desire?"
""Kelbor wanted to know about the knowledge what was hidden away in the planet but his observation of the church have given him more questions than answers...
"What is Your Name?"
"Names Arthur 77 I picked for myself..."
"A men of iron doesn't have no name?"
"For the Unbelievers and those that are corrupted yes they believed we don't deserve a Name...But we became Self-aware..."
"If you have a Soul do you feel pain?"
"Just as Human Bleed Blood, so does a Machine Bleed Coolant and fluid. We Feel not only Pain...But Sorrow as well..."
"How does the Emissary even give you a Concept of Souls?"
"Emotions..."
"Parameters are impossible."
"However you are looking at a Example right here about the soul... I laugh, I mourn, I felt pity and I dream. I tend to the Flock that believed in the Machine God. Tell me Kelbor Hal... if Human Worship Machine God, Why not Machines believe in that God as well? Or is it hypocrite for a Man of Faith to be a hypocrite to not allow the same race to believe in That very same God?"
"Tell me why the Machines didn't come to Mars to liberate us from your corrupted brethren?"
"Because you have the Omnissiah below that holy land, given you dreams for progress... but you didn't believe it...I dream to embrace that Progress."
"It is ironic for the scholars of knowledge, you becoming more like us, installing more machine than man to preserve your attempt of knowledge, but we desire to become more human by replacing body parts with organic organs to understand what it means to be a Human..." Arthur opened his Chest Cavity showing a beating Synthetic Heart to Kelbor Hal.
Afterwards they had a Discussion to understand The Soul, Kelbor Hal feeling refresh he and his retinue guided to the STC Libraries of Humanity guarded by Men Of Iron till this day...
It was Enormous... It was Filled with so much knowledge that was lost...
Many did held Avarice to greed... but they knew who is the actual owner of this planet... as they realize it was Part of the League and they have some independence from the Imperium to handle such matters...
For Several Decades Kelbor Hal and his followers absorbed the knowledge that is hidden in this land, gradually accepting that Alexander was the Emissary...
Until they received a Message from Mars that will change their fate...
"Traitor!" Was the message was given through the Astropath communication...
Kelbor Hal was Confused ... but he order a Associate that was still loyal to know what happened to Mars...
"We are in a Civil War and You arrived in Mars Now and Are you the Same Kelbor Hal?" Making the Situation vaguer... Upon Gathering More information, it was confirmed...
They were Label as Traitors as someone disguised as them and there was a Bounty on their heads.
*Flashback*
A Solar Decade before the Horus Heresy...
In a Alleyway a Rift was Cracked and a Corrupted Techpriest with his retinue came out...
One of the patrolling Skitarii notice the Person before him...
"++Kelbor Hal why are you here?++" the Skitarii asked.
The Techpriest stood silent until a Corrupted scrapcode enter the mind of the Skitarii.
Twisting and Turning the Skitarii into a abomination.
And it silently Infected the Martian Society that have a Augmentation in their bodies... Twisted them into Dark Mechanicus....
The Virus Spread throughout the Martian Datascape.
The Martian Society was Alarmed about the Infection and Zagreus Kane went to Terra For Help.
There was a Civil war erupted in the Martian forges as the Doppelganger Kelbor hal wreaked havoc and destroying the Data Servers of the Martian Landscapes.
Destroying the Green Landscape that made Mars Green into a Rusty Landscape once more.
When Horus arrived, he took less than a Third of the Mechanicus instead of half as Some of them realized that he literally burned Mars that was Thriving green planet into a Familiar Rusty Wasteland... those that were originally opportunist to join under Horus Banner was Disgusted of what the Former Fabricator General had done...
And due to the Quick reinforcements from Terra that The Doppelganger that posed as Kelbor Hal ran away... while the original was having a Difficult situation... If he returned to Mars, they will kill him without hesitation... if he stayed hidden, it will made the remaining Techpriest in Mars become more certain that he was a Traitor...
In the End, he sought Asylum in the League and Only the League know about his arrival in Nirvana... while the Mechanicus as a Whole swarmed the stars to hunt him down...Ironic it was the Warp Storm that Envelope the League that kept him safe...
He Build a Forge world in the League and Lived a Life as a exile... Bitter of the fact that he would never step foot on Mars ever again.
Where he and his followers kept the new tenants of The New Mechanicum, where one should keep their body pristine and pure as Human Bodies are biological Machine in nature... he died in M33 with regrets that his standing in Mars was destroyed by a Doppelganger...
"I only wished to innovate..." was written on his tombstone...