Chapter 28

(MC POV)

At the moment close to two hundred and forty five small tribal nations make up Fenris. This is nothing unusual, because they all had self-government under the condition that they were subjects to the Imperium. If someone were to see my inner monologue, they would think that I have finally gone mad and would wonder why I am debating the geopolitics of a conquered planet.

The answer is very simple, after returning from the kraken hunt I had to talk to almost all the tribal leaders because they all wanted to see the AllFather.

I'm damned for indulging them, but I've had nothing better to do here in the last couple of weeks. It's not like I didn't do anything during that time. I met Brenda, my new daughter-in-law. Leman didn't lie to me when he said she was brave and fierce.

Well, in more important matters, the frameworks for the recruitment of new Astartes have been established. All the tribes of Fenris will compete for the privilege of having their sons recruited into the Wild Hunt. Every ten Fenresian years, the greatest warriors make a pilgrimage to the Thrudvang Mountains for a great festival and competition known as the Moot. I didn't notice any deviations from the events in the original timeline, which is good for me in a way.

One of the biggest problems of the old Imperium was that it controlled 1 million worlds throughout the galaxy that were often scattered far from each other. In the Fenris System itself, there are several planets suitable for potential life, and only Fenris is inhabited. I don't repeat mistakes, so I ordered the creation of plans to terraform Frostheim and Midgardia into more habitable ones, although they will still be ice worlds. The funnier fact is that all Fenrisians are actually Abhumans, nothing better than the subspecies of Abhumans, that were found in the most brutal and unforgiving wild places of Terra, created as hybrids of man and beast in the self-renewing armies of particularly insane techno-barbarian warlord and now become the greatest heroes of the Imperium.

Besides, one of the funniest facts about my empire is that it is not capitalist or socialist or any other ideology, philosophy or even economic model. The Imperium is a strange amalgamation of feudalism, federalism, imperialism, and hundreds of other systems that function in a bizarre mix that would give anyone with a political compass a headache. The fact that the Imperium practices a bunch of ideas from all sides of the political spectrum and almost every religion, philosophy, culture and everything else in a massive soup made the task of qualifying the Imperium anywhere on the political spectrum impossible because the Imperium was everywhere inside or even outside of it.

That put the biggest smile on my face because I did the impossible. I have created a belief that is a mixture of almost every belief that has existed or still exists in human history.

In some more important philosophical notes, some things cannot be avoided.

As I walk with Leman through this vast network of tunnels, my memories play out like a movie.

"Here, my Emperor," the Apothecary replied, looking very uncomfortable, but pressed a button on the control panel. I looked at the screen and the holographic video was showing the medical capsule that contained the being.

There was a man in the medical capsule... Or was it a wolf? The creature stood on two legs like a human, but it definitely looked very hairy and had a wolf-like head.

[Image Here]

"Father" said Leman "This was Chief Elrlic Wulfen. He was the first to volunteer to become an Astarte since my arrival in Fenris. Unfortunately, as you can see, something went wrong and caused massive mutations in his body, his the mental state has completely degraded to that of a predatory animal."

The chief who first accepted Leman Russ's offer to become a transhuman space marine, but due to his secret ambition and jealousy towards Russ, the geneseed turned him into a vicious monster instead. His name just reminds me of another individual whose title is similar to mine.

I just confirmed that the rumor about the first appearance of the Wuffen is true.

"Do we know what caused this rapid devolution from man to beast?" Leman asked, watching the former human try to find a way out of his pod.

"Their nature that makes most of the population good candidates for Space Marine training also makes them very unstable to any biological improvings. In layman's terms their true Abhuman nature comes out and they revert to their true form" I replied as I looked away from the screen because I've seen enough.

"But that would mean that devolution to a beast state is the fate of all space marines in my legion," Leman said looking at me worriedly.

"Your legion will not degrade" I said to Leman after a few moments looking into his eyes "The genetic fluidity of Geneseed mixes with Fenrisian genetics and it takes a strong mind to control a person and prevent such a massive degradation from happening".

A few minutes passed while we just looked at each other. I just wonder what Leman is thinking.

"Then what are we to do, master" The Apothecary next to us said, interrupting our silence.

"Genetic abnormalities in Geneseed we can correct, wrong states of mind we cannot." I replied emotionlessly.

Leman nodded his head "So we are continuing everything as planned, we are not changing anything".

"Yes" I answered immediately.

The apothecary nodded in agreement before saying "As you wish my lord. What shall we do with the Wulfen?"

Looking back at the screen I shook my head "Since the change is irreversible...Wuffens are welcome in the Imperium. The more intelligent specimens can easily be recruited to command the more mindless specimens".

I come out of my memories and continue walking with Leman behind me.

The cave descended, branching off in countless directions, but we continued to follow the path we felt was the right one.

As the tunnels became more and more humid, we came across more and more small life forms. Slime molds meandered across the rocky surface like patches of ropey scar tissue and emitted a faint bioluminescence. Glowworms spun water chandeliers from the ceiling and released pulsing light from their tails, setting the bait for tiny paper mites that rolled through the gusts of warm air like confetti.

We just ignored them and passed straight on our way. Despite theirs palpable ugliness, I couldn't help but find them beautiful in a creepy way.

After a while we found ourselves around a wide cliff following the sound of dripping water and suddenly we found ourselves at the place where the water goes. There was even more slimy mold everywhere, growing on broken clumps of cloudy white crystal and patches of oddly smooth surfaces. After some thought, I realized where we were, and looking at Leman, I knew he understood too. Mold was growing on fragments of what I knew for sure were ship parts. We were close.

I could correctly conclude that the remains of the ship were probably useless as everything had already begun to crumple and corrode from thousands of years of burial in volcanic rock. The warm water that probably dripped onto the remains and probably soaked some parts of the remains didn't help.

As we walked the tunnel narrowed forcing the two of us to slow down. To our left was a huge body of water.

Phosphorescent algae swirled like a trapped mist on the black and oily surface of the water. They just gave off a greenish-yellow glow. The waves spread from the place where balls of moisture, like saliva dripping from the huge stalactite fangs of the ceiling, disturbed the surface. It almost seemed to me that the mountain was alive, and we were going deeper and deeper into the stomach for digestion.

The only sound that followed us was the soft dripping of water from certain openings.

We continue our journey without a single spoken word further along the network of caves until we reach what we are looking for.

The walls were covered in squiggly scribbled runes that looked like they had been made by a madman. One look was enough for me to know that the drawn runes are useless because they are a bunch of meaningless nonsense.

Leman put his hand on the runes and held them for several minutes until he scratched his head. Soon after, he just looked at the runes one more time before he too concluded that the runes were a bunch of nonsense.

What they came for was in the center of the runes. Carved into the middle, it was a symbol.

The mark of a circle twisted into a twisted crescent was there, radiating its unnaturalness and malice.

[Image Here]

Looking at the symbol, I only feel pure hatred overwhelming me. I knew what to expect here but I was still furious because the chaos symbol radiated malevolence.

"We have arrived" I said and stopped.

Leman stopped and opened his mouth, but before he could say it, we were interrupted by inhuman screams. I turned my head towards one of the tunnels near us and I saw. A group of hundreds of howling creatures headed towards us.

They were beastly. They had bodies roughly humanoid in outline, but hunched over and ape-like. Huge saucer-shaped eyes evolved to catch even the tiniest glimmer of light dominated their ape-like faces. Their skins were pale white and leprous, stained in places with bizarre birthmarks and stigmata of mutation and disease.

I've seen all kinds of mutations but I couldn't help but be shocked now that I discovered how mutated they were. Some of those wretched creatures were covered with fur, some had horns sticking out of their heads, some had hooves and claws in their horribly spread jaws and rows of teeth like a shark, among them were even worse mutations too terrible to describe. They were like aberrations from the wildest depths of a nightmare. These were the Nightgangers.

And yet the most disgusting thing was that these creatures were quite obviously, or had once been, human. Their ancestors were just as human as everyone else. One more reason why he hates Tzeentch.

The Nightgangers noticed us and with a loud howl of frenzied fury rushed towards us.

I draw a flaming sword and immediately rush towards the horde. Leman started a few moments after me.

Both of us literally fly through the tightly packed mass of flesh and only bloody pulp remains. Screams of pain mingled with howls of beastly fury.

And yet, though distorted, the night watchmen did not lack courage Or it would be folly.

Our weapons and especially my flaming sword went through the crowd like scissors through paper. They had no chance because they were armed only with crude axes, clubs with stone tips and spears. The few blows I took broke the hands of the attackers. I was aware of their blows in much the same way as a man would be aware of the rain beating on his cloak.

My enjoyment is interrupted by the realization that there are no more enemies to fight. I realize that Leman has already finished the fight and I stop and look around. There was nothing left of the corpses except a bloody mess and we were standing in the middle of a pile of bodies that we had turned into mush due to excessive force. Due to the composition of our armor, blood and entrails did not stick to our armor, making our equipment completely clean.

I got too carried away this time.

"It was too easy," Leman said with boredom in his voice.

"It is" I answer and nod my head.

"Welcome, dear guests," said an amused voice behind us. Turning as quickly as possible, I saw that it was an old man. He wore a gray robe and had a ravens on his shoulders.

[Image Here]

"Welcome to the cave cities of Fenris, my lord," the old man continued with a smile.

Something was wrong with the old man and I realized he didn't exist in the Warp. This would mean that the old man does not actually exist in a physical state, but that he is an artificial intelligence.

"Are you an AI." Leman asked, eyeing the old man warily.

I didn't know what my son was thinking, but I was absolutely sure that the old man was an AI.

The old man laughed at the question and said "No, not really. At least not in the way artificial intelligence works. I'm more of a virtual intelligence."

"What's the difference between artificial intelligence and you?" Leman asked.

"Compared to ordinary artificial intelligence, I am not truly self-aware or possess a personality in any way. My sole purpose is to sustain human life in cave cities or to serve my master," the old man said, pointing a finger at me.

"Could you have done anything to prevent the downfall of the inhabitants of the underground cities?" this time I asked.

"Unfortunately no. I am not programmed for any kind of struggle, my programming only serves to maintain these cities and advise those who seek answers from me. When the inhabitants began to degrade en masse, I could only watch from the sidelines what was happening".

Now I understand. It is simply a very advanced virtual program without any personality. He is not even alive, but a bunch of programmed commands and codes.

"Why do you call me your master?" I asked again. I guessed an answer that I knew was true but I was waiting for confirmation.

"I am programmed to answer to all my creators. You are the only one currently alive. I recognized you by your voice and the general information you implanted in me to recognize you under another identity".

"HAHAHAHA" Leman laughed "You worked in an amusement park, other won't believe me when I tell them".

"My son" I began shyly "That was a period of my life in which I was truly happy for a short time. Don't tell anyone about this. You promise"

"I promise not to tell anyone" Leman replied.

I turn my head towards the old man and order "If I am your master then I want a general overview of the state of all the underground cities and their resources. I also want to know your name".

"My full name is Odin-1 and I am the only one in my serial production." the old man answered and shrugged his shoulders in disappointment and said "Most of the underground cities have already merged with the mountains and their resources do not justify the effort put into acquiring them. The caves are vast and there is a city under almost every major mountain on the main continent. Kill the creatures from one city and sooner or later it will be colonized by those from another city".

I'm not disappointed at all because I expected it, I just needed confirmation.

"You are much more at ease with us compared to the legends where you rarely interact with anyone" Leman replied breaking the silence.

"The programs for my activities on the surface and the programs that allow me to talk down here are a little different. Up there I have to be secretive, avoid all attempts at communication. I can tell anyone who has made it this far down there anything they want to know even if it's not my master."

A few minutes later and a few commands later we were already at the exit of the cave system. In our armor, we had stored the entire map of the underworld of Fenris with all its characteristics. Letting Chaos mutants live freely is a bad idea, so my son has a lot of cleanups work to do when I leave.

While it only takes us half an hour to return to the surface, thanks to the precise map what we found on the surface was not predictable.

The being was waiting for us at the entrance. Very old being.

Erlking was patiently waiting for us.