THOUSAND ENGINE HEARTS

[The-Black-Aengel-Mrk7]

Thousand Engine Hearts

Prologue

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It is a time of legend.

Mighty heroes battle for the right to rule the galaxy. The vast armies of the Emperor of Earth have conquered the galaxy in a Great Crusade - the myriad of alien races have been smashed by the Emperor's elite warriors and wiped from the face of history.

The dawn of a new age of supremacy for humanity beckons.

Gleaming citadels of marble and gold celebrate the many victories of the Emperor. Triumphs are raised on a million worlds to record the epic deeds of his most powerful and deadly warriors.

First and foremost amongst these are the Primarchs, super-heroic beings who have led the Emperor's armies of Space Marines in victory after victory. They are magnificent, the pinnacle of the Emperor's genetic experimentation. The Space Marines are the mightiest human warriors the galaxy has ever known, each capable of besting a hundred normal men or more in combat.

Organized into vast armies of tens of thousands called Legions, the Space Marines and their Primarch leaders conquer the galaxy in the name of the Emperor and humanity.

That was until Magnus' folly.

But an unforeseen piece will change the tale of the galaxy forever. Prospero will burn, but will not be defeated, for a legend from ages past has returned to a galaxy in the cusp of destruction and it alone will defy the decree of the Dark Gods and the script they had written upon the Skeins of Fate.

The last Scion of the Iron Legion has returned.

The Age of Iron dawns.

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The Orb of Nauthius Prime.

Or at the very least, that was what was referred to the massive spherical object that a Prosperan Expeditionary fleet found on Nauthius Prime.

The world of Nauthius Prime was nothing more than a barren rock drifting across the void of space in dull orbit around a red dwarf star. The planet itself had nothing of interest, save very ancient ruins that had withered down to being completely unrecognizable of its origin. Aside from that it was on the very star side edges of the Habitable Zone, bathed in a perpetual heat that would have made it almost completely uninhabitable. Even scans showed a rather pathetic amount of valuable minerals and metals.

No one would have taken a second look at the planet… if it wasn't for the faint aetheric field presence that emanated from one of the planet's ruins.

Such a phenomena had caused interest on the part of the Thousand Sons, and Magnus the Red himself, and it was thanks to their curiosity that the Orb was unearthed and brought back to Prospero for further study.

And what a marvel it was, if it wasn't so resilient against any and all attempts at deciphering its secrets.

Time and time again trying to peer into its depths with any form of witch sight resulted in the vision simple inverting and the viewer's sight returning upon themselves. It was akin to an aetheric mirror, reflecting all aetheric forces back onto themselves, though if what Tamun heard from the various reports, Magnus elucidated that it was much more complex than that, though ultimately the result would be similar to a mirror.

However, even he could not circumvent its unique properties.

It was a puzzle the Primarch of the Thousand Sons wanted to invest himself completely into, yet found his duties stealing him away not too far ago and advancement on the Orb had slowed to a standstill.

Occasionally a handful of the Thousand Son's Librarians would come by the station and perform their studies on the Orb for their Primarch's stead… yet their results oftentimes came back as empty as the rest of the mortal academics that performed their failing experiments on the Orb.

None had found the mechanism in which the Orb utilized to keep its secrets tucked within, and more mundane forms of analysis were just as likely to provide nothing of importance as many of the methods of sampling tended to turn whatever extracted from the Orb into little more than inert and mundane matter.

It was not that the Orb could be sampled to study under the microscope. Its hard shell was seemingly impervious to almost all forms of harm and scrapping off just a fragment of dust was a costly endeavor that resulted in the equipment chipping away faster than the rock that made the Orb of Nauthius' crust.

It was a difficult puzzle, one that Tamun doubted would be deciphered until Magnus was done with his duties. She sighed as she gazed at the pile of paperwork at her desk on the far side of the study hall, all of them proposals for how to untangle the nob of secrets this Orb contained.

All of them failures to one degree or another and she had been witness to yet another disappointing proposal not five minutes ago, which resulted in the team who was in charge of it to leave the chambers in shame.

Tamun thought that a break was in order before she wrote down the report for this experiment's non-accomplishment, when she suddenly felt a chill run down her spine, filling her with a sensation of dread.

But just as quickly as it came, that sensation vanished.

However, any musings as to the nature of that momentary impression were quickly brushed aside when she heard one of her colleagues shout with equal parts excitement and dread.

"The Orb!" He shouted and Tamun turned to see its aetheric field having vanished in its totality, leaving behind nothing but a smooth sphere of blackened stone.

A change in its state! Finally something had transpired after so long of incessant experimentation providing nothing but scraps of information, even if Tamun was distraught that it probably was not due to any of their efforts.

"Ramnsis! Hurry and call the others! Let Magnus know of this new development!" She instructed and her colleague nodded vigorously before running off to spread his words as far and as wide as possible, leaving Tamun alone with the now, seemingly, more mundane Orb.

It may still hold deeper secrets within and how it generated such a strange aetheric field that befuddled their senses and sensors. However… since it lacked the same presence as before, perhaps using her Third Eye this time may result in learning something of genuine value.

Centering herself in her mind as she spoke into her being what few mantras for clarity and analysis she could conjure, she opened her mind's eye and peered into the Orb, seeking for… was that…

Deeper, into its depths… she felt. The presence… of someone. A subtle aetheric field… yet… its shape was that of a man… but different. As if it were made of fire… flames of crimson ones and abyssal zeros… yet shifting into complex arcane shapes.

A vortex of scarlet code and ruby light.

She felt it… rousing.

Waking…

Then… after a moment of observation… she felt its heart stir… in confusion… then bone chilling fear.

She could see the flames shift in terror, confusion, despair and anger before… before… the presence turned its attention upon her, and no sooner it had done so the flames vanished and in their stead she saw a wall of triangles and hexagons locking her sight and forcibly throwing her back into her body. As if being punched on her head, a strike so direct and brutal in its simplicity that Tamun lost her balance for a moment, and almost fell to the floor.

"Tamun! Are you alright?" She heard the voice of her colleague from behind her. Before she could reply she felt a pair of arms hold her from underneath her armpits and steadying her stance and posture. "What happened?" He asked, his worry radiating off his presence like a deep bodily odour.

She turned to him, meeting his green orbs with her brown ones. Worry met determination from opposing sides. "The Orb is not empty." She breathed, before turning back to the object of their collective analysis for the last month and a half. "There is… someone inside of it."

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To be Continued