The Hoard

After Baldur sent the Knights and Witches away, he turned to Selene and the Chapter Masters. His stoic expression made the Chapter Masters subconsciously back away for fear that they had upset their Primarch but Selene waltzed forward with confidence in her step. 

"Don't scare them like that. They aren't used to your face," Selene chided Baldur, remembering how scary she thought of him when they first met. She nearly pissed her pants when she met his cold, grey eyes. 

It wasn't until she had spent some months around him that she realized his face was pretty much frozen like that but he wasn't that bad. At least when one wasn't fighting him or going against his words. 

Baldur frowned and tried to soften his expression, looking a little gentler but still very cold. Even still, it at least let the Chapter Masters relax. The 12 men stepped forward and gave their greetings to Baldur.

"Hello, Sir. We haven't seen you much so we went to Lady Selene to try and get in contact with you," Jelan explained why they were present.

Baldur frowned when he heard them, causing Jelan to worry that he had overstepped.

"Apologies," Baldur bowed his head slightly. "I assumed that you all needed more time to get settled and wanted your space. I shall do better with taking time out of my schedule so I can spend some with my sons."

The men were surprised that Baldur so easily admitted his fault in the matter. They had expected him to be difficult to speak with. He was their gene-seed father and they naturally felt a deep respect for him. The fact that Baldur had also conquered several planets without them also made this respect deepen but formed a wedge as well. Many thought that he did not even need them and found them burdensome. 

But apparently, that had just been them overthinking. Their Primarch was simply a busy man who thought they were doing fine. 

"No need to worry, Primarch," Eratus yelled out. "We just didn't want to be a burden to you."

Baldur tilted his head, wondering how the army of super soldiers could think of themselves as a burden but he stopped thinking about it after a few moments. 

"I'm assuming that you guys haven't seen the Hoard yet. Let's go visit there," Baldur offered to show his sons.

"Apologies to you both but this is a location where only members of our legion can enter. It contains secrets about our strengths and weaknesses," Selene apologized to the two Thousand Sons members, not wanting Baldur to be the one to break the bad news. The duo agreed and walked away, not minding it at all. The fact that he had shown them the secret practice his members undertook showed he trusted them plenty.

Selene led the way, skipping ahead of the group. But those who paid careful attention would notice that her feet did not touch the ground and the air under her feet would ripple like water. 

Baldur nearly grinned as he saw Selene subtly showing off her skill. Even without being able to become an Astartes, she was a powerful Psyker who had mastered 2 Lores of Magic and had even started going down one of the Forbidden Lores. She had only gotten permission from Baldur after battling hundreds of daemons and staying to warp energy for long periods without showing signs of corruption.

The group soon arrived outside of a set of grey doors with thousands of different patterns on them. Selene pressed one of her hands on it and pushed out some of her energy, making it follow a secret path.

This was the key or password in order to open the door but it was very dangerous. If one made a slight mistake, they would activate one of the runes that would fire some spell at the person trying to enter. 

Selene was able to easily pass her energy through until she reached the 'lock', causing it to become illuminated with purple light. The doors opened and revealed a small room filled to the brim with countless books, scrolls, and datapads.

The Chapter Masters could feel the pure energy coming from the room as they entered and felt saturated by it. The men picked up the various books that were divided into 8 sections on each side of the room. 

Each item was a grimoire, filled with raw warp energy from the words inscribed in them. 

"This is the Hoard. Where we collect every spell and important text as well as write Feluc's history," Selene explained the room while she pressed her hand on another set of doors. 

"Anyone who is a Psyker can enter that area. This next area is where Chapter Masters or those with special permissions can enter," Baldur explained as they entered the next room.

This room was an armory that had various weapons stored on one side while the other side had 5 bookshelves with texts on it. 

"To the right, we have Force Weapons. These are weapons that are amplified by one's psychic energy. To normal men, these are weaker than Power Swords. But in the hands of a powerful Psyker, even a Primarch would fall under it," Baldur explained one side of the wall before pointing to the other. 

"Those are texts related to more powerful but also more dangerous Lores. We bring out a few for those that show some interest but these are heavily monitored."

Baldur allowed them to look over the books but warned them not to try out anything they might see within, for fear that it might be something that would cause them to lose control. 

While he introduced that room, Selene opened the door to the final room where there was nothing but a single console in the room. Selene and Baldur stood outside, allowing the Chapter Masters to enter. 

"That console contains all the history of Feluc, the Noble Houses, the planets we have conquered as well as the Grey Knights' history since you first landed here. It will contain the rest of the information for the Grey Knights for the rest of time as well," Baldur told them, letting them know that he and the rest of Feluc had truly accepted them as natives of Feluc and members of their community

The Chapter Masters all knew that they had misunderstood their Primarch. The man was actually quite different compared to the initial impression that he gave off. All the men looked at each other awkwardly, not sure what to say or do next.

Selene laughed as she saw the interaction between Baldur and his Chapter Masters, glad that she had been recording the entire interaction.

"Let's go, boys! Let's get you guys each Force Weapon," she said, finding a way to move on and get them out of the awkward atmosphere

"That would be too soon," Zane Cressy, Chapter Master of the 7th Chapter denied on their behalf. "These weapons are the trump cards of our Legion. We shouldn't bring them out so casually."

Baldur and the others agreed, no longer pushing it. They left the Hoard and returned back to the higher levels, with a new beginning between Baldur and the Grey Knights. All thanks to a little witch who loved getting involved in others' matters