False Gods

He looked up into the sky, half expecting to see curi­ous faces looking down on him from above like students studying an ant colony, but the sky was empty, though it was darkening at an unnatural rate. The world around him was changing before his eyes from the Earth that had once existed to the barren wasteland of Terra.

Sejanus followed his gaze and said, 'It's beginning.'

'What is?' asked Horus.

'Your mind and body are dying and this world is beginning to collapse into Chaos. That's why they sent me back, to guide you to the truth that will allow you to return to your body.'

Even as Sejanus spoke, the sky began to waver and he could see hints of the roiling sea of the Immaterium seething behind die clouds.

You keep saying 'they',' said Horus. 'Who are 'they' and why are they interested in me?'

'Great intelligences dwell in the warp,' explained Sejanus, casting wary glances at the dissolution of die sky. 'They do not communicate as we do and this is the only way they could reach you.'

'I don't like the sound of this, Hastur,’ warned Horus.

There is no malice in this place. There is power and potential, yes, but no malice, simply the desire to exist. Events in our galaxy are destroying this realm and these powers have chosen you to be their emissary in their dealings with the material world.'

'And what if I don't want to be their emissary?'

Then you will die,' said Sejanus. 'Only they are pow­erful enough to save your life now'

'If they're so powerful, what do they need me for?'

They are powerful, but they cannot exist in the mate­rial universe and must work through emissaries,’ replied Sejanus. 'You are a man of strength and ambition and they know there is no other being in the galaxy powerful enough or worthy enough to do what must be done.'

Despite his satisfaction at being so described, Horus did not like what he was hearing. He sensed no deceit in Sejanus, though a warning voice in his head reminded him that the silver-eyed warrior standing before him could not truly be Sejanus.

They have no interest in the material universe, it is anathema to them, they simply wish to preserve their own realm from destruction,' continued Sejanus as the chemical reek of the world beyond the illusion returned, and a stink­ing wind arose. 'In return for your aid, they can give you a measure of their power and the means to realise your every ambition.'

Horus saw the lurking world of brazen iron become more substantial as the warp and weft of reality began to buckle beneath his feet. Cracks of dark light shimmered through the splitting earth and Horus could hear the sound of howling wolves drawing near.

We have to move!' shouted Sejanus as the wolf pack loped from a disintegrating copse of trees. To Horus, it sounded as though their howls desperately called his name.

Sejanus ran back to the river and a shimmering flat oblong of light rose from the boiling water. Horus heard whispers and strange mutterings issuing from beyond it, and a sense of dark premonition seized him as he switched his gaze between this strange light and the wolves.

Tm not sure about this,' said Horus as the sky shed fat droplets of acid rain.

'Come on, the gateway is our only way out!' cried Sejanus, heading towards the light. 'As a great man once said, 'Towering genius disdains the beaten path; it seeks regions hitherto unexplored'.'

You're quoting me back to myself?' said Horus as the wind blew in howling gusts.

'Why not? Your words will be quoted for centuries to come,’

Horus smiled, liking the idea of being quotable, and set off after Sejanus.

Where does this gate lead?' shouted Horus over the wind and the howling of wolves.

'To the truth,’ replied Sejanus.

The crater began to fill as the sun finally set, hundreds of vehicles of all descriptions finally completing their journey from the Imperial deployment zone to this place of pilgrimage. The Davinites watched the arrival of these convoys with a mixture of surprise and confusion, incredulous as each vehicle was abandoned, and its pas­sengers made their way towards the Delphos.

Within the hour, thousands of people had gathered, and more were arriving every minute. Most of these new arrivals milled about in an undirected mass until the Davinites began circulating amongst them, helping to find somewhere that belongings could be set down and arranging shelter as a hard rain began to fall.

Headlights stretched all the way along the forgotten causeway and through the valley to the plains below. As night closed in on Davin, songs in praise of the War-master filled the air, and the flickering glow of thousands of candles joined the light of the torches ring­ing the gold-skinned Delphos.

FOURTEEN

The forgotten

Living mythology

Primogenesis

Passing through the gate of light was akin to stepping from one room to another. Where once had been a world, on the verge of dissolution, now Horus found himself standing amid a heaving mass of people, in a huge circular plaza surrounded by soaring towers and magnificently appointed buildings of marble. Thou­sands of people filled the square, and since he was half again as tall as the tallest, Horus could see that thou­sands more waited to enter from nine arterial boulevards.

Strangely, none of these people remarked on the sud­den arrival of two giant warriors in their midst. A cluster of statues stood at the centre of the plaza, and droning chants drifted from corroded speakers set on the build­ings, as the mass of humanity marched in mindless procession around them. A pealing clangour of bells tolled from each building.

'Where are we?' asked Horus, looking up at the great eagle-fronted buildings, their golden spires and their

colossal stained glass rosary windows. Each structure vied with its neighbour for supremacy of height and ostentation, and Horas's eye for architectural proportion and elegance saw them as vulgar expressions of devo­tion.

'I do not know the name of this palace,’ said Sejanus. 'I know only what I have seen here, but I believe it to be some kind of shrine world.'

'A shrine world? A shrine to what?'

'Not what,’ said Sejanus, pointing to the statues in the centre of the plaza. 'Who,’

Horus looked more closely at the enormous statues, encircled by the thronged masses. The outer ring of stat­ues was carved from white marble, and each gleaming warrior was clad in full Astartes battle plate. They sur­rounded the central figure, which was likewise armoured in a magnificent suit of gold armour that gleamed and sparkled with precious gems. This figure carried a flam­ing torch high, the light of it illuminating everything around him. The symbolism was clear – this central fig­ure was bringing his light to the people, and his warriors were there to protect him.

The gold warrior was clearly a king or hero of some kind, his features regal and patrician, though the sculp­tor had exaggerated them to ludicrous proportions. The proportions of the statues surrounding the central figure were similarly grotesque.

'Who is the gold statue meant to be?' asked Horus.

'You don't recognise him?' asked Sejanus.