The Artifact

Concluding his intense training arc, Varian took a week to decompress and adjust to the dramatic transformations he had undergone. The physical enhancements had left him feeling like a new person, stronger and more capable, but he knew the importance of allowing his body and mind to adapt to these changes.

During this time, Varian fell into a routine that balanced rest with activity. Mornings were for light physical exercises, not only to maintain his fitness but also to test the limits of his new abilities in a controlled environment.

Afternoons were often spent with Aurelia, who took a keen interest in monitoring his progress and discussing the potential applications of his skills in various military scenarios. Oftentimes, she would disclose news updates on various matters pertaining to the war between the seven xeno races.

Their sessions, while informative, also grew more personal. This made way to strengthening their bond and providing Varian with a deeper understanding of this woman whom she calls his creator.

Aurelia also arranged a few real-world tests for Varian. One such test involved a simulated rescue operation in a controlled environment, where Varian had to navigate through smoke and debris to locate and retrieve injured civilians.

His enhanced senses and physical prowess were put to the test, and he excelled, impressing both Aurelia and the overseeing officials with his efficiency and calm under pressure.

In his downtime, Varian explored the local area, familiarizing himself with the surroundings and the people. He found solace in small coffee shops and old bookstores, enjoying moments of solitude that contrasted sharply with the rigorous life he was about to re-enter.

Two days before his recruitment was finalized, Varian decided to spend the day shopping in the market area, seeking out gifts for Aurelia and some of his new comrades as tokens of gratitude.

He wandered through bustling streets lined with vendors, the air filled with the scent of street food and the murmur of countless conversations.

As the day wound down, Varian stumbled upon an antiquated store tucked away in a quieter part of the market. The shop, named "Echoes of the Past," was housed in an old building with faded red brick walls and a moss-covered wooden sign.

The window displays were filled with an eclectic assortment of items ranging from ancient books to bizarre mechanical devices, casting an aura of mystery and inviting the curious to explore its depths.

Inside, the store was like stepping back in time. Dimly lit by vintage lamps, the air was thick with the musty smell of old paper and metal. Narrow aisles were crammed with shelves that groaned under the weight of relics from different eras.

Every surface was covered with items that seemed to hold stories from centuries gone by, from dusty vinyl records and old military uniforms to strange gadgets and worn-out maps of long-forgotten places.

In the quaint shop crammed with artifacts from various epochs of mankind, Varian's gaze settled on a metallic cube, no larger than an orange, its surface etched with symbols similar to the lasgun he had found months ago. Its curious design sparked his interest, contrasting sharply with the surrounding relics.

The store clerk's sudden appearance made Varian jump slightly. Varian hadn't picked up any sound more smell from him. This slightly disturbed Varian.

The man was a caricature of eccentricity: his hair was a wild, greying tangle, and his eyes, bright under thick, oversized spectacles, surveyed Varian with a mischievous twinkle.

His attire was an eclectic mix of eras—part Victorian dandy, part cyberpunk rebel—which somehow added to the shop's charm. Despite his off-putting first impression, the clerk's demeanor was unexpectedly warm.

"Ah, you've found one of our more mysterious pieces," the clerk said, adjusting his thick glasses as he eyed the cube in Varian's hand. "That relic is from the Age of Technology. Just been gathering dust here since my family started this shop a millennium ago. It never quite caught anyone's fancy. Curious, isn't it? How it never found its partner until perhaps, today."

Varian, intrigued by the clerk's cryptic tone, replied with a light chuckle, "Why has no one taken it before? This is quite extraordinary. The design alone makes one question its origins."

"It seems," the clerk paused, his eyes closed, "it was waiting for the right soul to awaken it. Take it for no charge—if you find other items of interest of course. Consider it fate."

Their conversation drifted to other items as Varian browsed, picking out augmented reality glasses with capabilities far beyond current tech, a translocation device similar to a certain voluptuous woman from a battle royale game, and a rusted axe pulsing faintly with warp energy. Varian could tell the right craftsman could turn that axe into the deadliest weapon.

As Varian brought his selections to the counter, the clerk rang them up in an old register that someone still works, his curiosity apparent. "Quite the selection here. Planning your own little adventure?"

"Something like that," Varian replied, smiling. "Seems I'm always on one these days."

"You have an eye for the unique, my friend," the clerk complimented Varian. "These pieces aren't just artifacts; they're stories waiting to be part of new adventures."

Varian chuckled, paying for the items. "Thanks for the cube. I'm curious to see if it has any stories for me."

"Ah, every item has a tale," the clerk replied, wrapping Varian's purchases. "Especially those that choose their owners. Safe travels, and may your adventures be grand! I'll want to hear stories of a little boy who turned out to be a Great Hero throughout the Imperium."

—

At home, Varian greeted Aurelia to which he then went to his room. He set the other items he bought aside and examined the cube closely, its surface cold and smooth under his fingers. As he turned it over, a hidden sharp edge pricked his thumb, and a drop of blood welled up, falling onto the cube.

The blood seemed to act as a catalyst—the cube vibrated subtly and began to glow with a soft, pink light. Suddenly, it started to transform, sections of it shifting and moving with a precise, mechanical fluidity, much like a highly complex puzzle locking into a new configuration.

'Ayo, what the f*ck. It just ate my blood. And why does it look like the Transformers All-Spark?' Varian thought to himself after seeing this small cube twist and flip while smaller cubes overlap on themselves.

The cube's surface became translucent, revealing intricate circuits and glowing runes within. It expanded, contracting rhythmically like a mechanical heart.

Varian watched, mesmerized, the cube transformed into a half crown-like object. The energy intensified, and suddenly it levitated, aligning itself with Varian's head. With a resonant metallic hum, it attached itself, feeling almost symbiotic.

The device seemed to tap directly into his neural pathways, enhancing his senses and flooding him with a barrage of information—diagrams, languages, and concepts far beyond modern understanding.

Shocked, Varian touched his temple, feeling the cool, smooth surface of the cube-turned-crown-device. "This... this is beyond advanced. It's like a blend of arcane magic and technology; something straight out of a sci-fi fantasy, not just in the future."

Varian adjusted to this neuro-linked device. His surroundings became sharper, and details he had previously overlooked now stood out vividly.

The device, seemingly sentient, began to communicate to him in a series of intuitive flashes, images and sensations that surpassed language but were perfectly understandable to him.

Intrigued by the device's potential, Varian began experimenting with its capabilities. Over the course of eight hours, he discovered that the crown allowed him to visualize architectural and mechanical blueprints in three dimensions merely by thinking about them.

He could manipulate these visualizations, disassembling and reassembling complex machinery in his mind's eye. Additionally, the device seemed to augment his physical reflexes, giving him the ability to react to stimuli with superhuman speed; more so than his previous enhanced senses.

Varian surmised that the crown might have enhanced his brain's capabilities further once it was equipped.

The next evening, while exploring the device's functions, Varian experienced a sudden, involuntary projection of his consciousness. His vision blurred and shifted, and he found himself seeing through the eyes of another entity somewhere across time and space. There was no indication of it was real or fake.

This entity was navigating a starship through a nebula, or more precisely, the Warp, its hands moving over controls that Varian instinctively understood despite never having seen them before.

Varian noticed that the entity's hands weren't fully human in the sense of skin. Strange bands made of the same material as the cube were on its wrists. It had five fingers and all, but its skin was translucent.

Pink, purple, blue, green, orange, and yellow colors shifted about along its entire arm, like a swirling nebulae within space.

The entity then looks down and Varian could see it's entire chest has the same material.

'F*ck, this thing is entirely outfitted in the cube material! Who the hell is this?' Varian's thoughts were jumbled at the realization that this things entire fit is highly advanced.

Right when the creature turns around due to a sound from behind, Varian briefly sees a human face.

However, before he could fully see it, his consciousness was pulled back to reality.

The thing he just experienced was startling and raised several questions within his mind about the device's origins and its intentions. It was clear that the technology was not only about enhancing physical or cognitive abilities but also had deeper, possibly interstellar connections.

Determined to understand more about the cube and why it had chosen to bond with him, Varian decided to revisit the antique store.

However, upon his return, he found the shop closed and the building eerily deserted; as if no one had been there for years.

This deepened the mystery, prompting Varian to consider other means of uncovering the truth such as who was the cryptically mysterious man that sold him the cube. Varian, now enlightened, caught onto the old man's cryptic words.

'He definitely knew something about the cube.'

His next plan was to go to Aurelia and ask who exactly was the old man that owned the antique shop since she seemed to know of everyone in the hive.

Aurelia had no clue who the old man was. In fact, she hadn't even heard of an antique store called Echoes of the Past. Now, things were beginning to become interesting.

However, Varian just decided to chalk this up to the old man finally having enough money to leave Cyclopean Prime. Varian did pay 20,000 credits even though those items amounted to 10,000 credits.

He just wanted to be a bit nice since there was only himself in a store surrounded by others streaming with customers going in and out. Perhaps, that's what caught his attention.

Varian withheld some information from Aurelia, but told her that the crown was an object from the Age of Technology and that he wanted to unlike more of its secretes. Aurelia was both intrigued and cautious at how her son managed to get his hands on such a device, even in an antique store, of such rarity.

Aurelia advised Varian to be mindful of any unforeseen consequences or dangers the device might pose. She suggested consulting with experts in xeno-archaeology and forbidden technologies, potentially those affiliated with the Adeptus Mechanicus or even the Inquisition.

In the late evening, Varian sat in the dim light of his room, the device snug against his skin, vibrating faintly, mirroring his own heartbeat.

As he focused, a series of holographic interfaces that sprang to life around his forearm, each glowing with cryptic symbols and diagrams, he began to manipulate these interfaces with mere thoughts, adjusting parameters and accessing data with an intuitive ease that felt both alien and strangely natural. He did this particularly on the lasgun he'd found.

It turns out that the lasgun was not just a lasgun but also a Warp disintegration gun. After digitally taking apart the entire device, Varian was able to utilize the abilities of the crown and fully understand its inner workings.

The crown also had information on the sizes of the pieces, how they were crafted, the type of metal used, and even the arcane symbols being grafted onto the power core of the gun.

Those particular engravings allowed for a constant stream of Warp energy. Basically, the gun had infinite ammo like this was Resident Evil 4.

By the time his scheduled bedtime arrived, Varian made a mental list of the crown's current abilities.

The first was an obvious answer, Enhanced Cognitive Functions. As Varian delved deeper, he found that the device significantly boosted his cognitive functions.

Calculations and strategic simulations that took hours for the Militarum working together to come up with would normally take hours in a war room, but could now be processed in minutes within his mind.

That wasn't all, as he can simulate multiple battle scenarios simultaneously. The efficiency with which he could now approach tactical planning was unmatched.

The second ability Varian noticed was sensory augmentation. King's Mantle, the name he gave the crown, also enhanced his sensory perceptions to even more minute degrees.

Varian could see extremely clear in low light as if it were day, hear distant sounds with crystal clarity such as a fly buzzing 100 meters away, and even detect subtle changes in air density. It was useful for sensing approaching enemies or environmental hazards.

And the last, and perhaps the most broken of them all, would be spatial and temporal awareness.

Varian could perceive and react to events fractions of a second before they occurred, giving him an almost precognitive edge in combat.

'It's as if I'm living slightly ahead of time. Each moment has such clarity,' Varian pondered, while he acclimated to this new perception without becoming overwhelmed.

Imagine having the ability to catch an object before it even starts to fall. Varian unexpectedly demonstrated this incredible reflex an hour ago when he effortlessly intercepted a dumbbell, preventing it from slamming onto the floor.

This wasn't mere reflex; his body anticipated the downward trajectory of the dumbbell, reacting a fraction of a second before it even began its descent.

'Oh, damn! It's past bedtime. The recruitment day starts tomorrow!!'

Varian says as he deactivates King's Mantle and goes to sleep.