Emperor's Bane

Chapter 22 Ballads
People are always trapped in real problems, so they have imagination.

People are always trapped by the boundaries of imagination, so there is exploration.

People are always trapped in the slowness of exploration, so there is a shortcut.

And when countless shortcuts criss-cross the deep forest, rumors of going astray and getting lost will arise, and there will be creatures with malicious intentions lying in wait here, waiting for another arrogant and confident traveler to try to use shortcuts to escape. Solve real-world puzzles.

And the ultimate embodiment of this dark place is the vast ocean called [subspace] in the void.

It was born of the fantasy of all things, but in turn devoured the living pain of all things, and achieved its terrible reputation among countless civilizations and races.

But there are always newly-promoted idiots who will question this. They think they are great talents who are destined to break the world. The history and theory of overthrowing the characters who start again.

Just like...

------

"Don't trust time and space, my children."

"The basic principles of time, space, latitude and even geometry and numbers are all invalid in the vast ocean, and because of this, it has become the greatest and richest treasure trove of knowledge, because you will never Really know what kind of treasure will be buried in the next cave, it may come from the ancient times when the dawn of any civilization has not bloomed, or it may be a short reenactment of a certain fragment of the future in front of your eyes."

The projection of Magnus is shining, like a newly born star, showing off its own light and heat unscrupulously.

The Primarch is like a king who has just finished receiving his courtiers and taking a nap in the misty garden in the palace. He casually squeezes the majestic power and lets them spread out around him.

Magnus testifies to the words with his own will: on the invisible scroll he unfolded, the Thousand Sons can see things they have never imagined: this perspective is like the gods overlooking the world from the clouds, Astarte We have witnessed everything starting from barrenness, until the jubilation of the air, the jump of the water, the breathing of creatures, the conception of civilization...

Running, communicating, fire, farming, family, property, kingship, war...

The Thousand Sons witnessed the growth of this oversimplified alien civilization, and witnessed the appearance of elegant diplomatic words and wine glasses containing poison. Seeing the emergence of monotheistic high temples and knight kingdoms in various forms, wars in the name of land, faith, and honor broke out one after another, cities and caravans began to rise, and waves of wealth continued to impact the kingdom that originally belonged to dukes and bishops.

It seems that thousands of years have passed, and it seems that only an insignificant moment has passed. The vision of the sons of Magnus is disturbed by the chaotic future: they have seen the tragic war among the natives, the reckless application of thermonuclear weapons The deadly dust filled the sky; they saw the starry sky full of malice, and the huge invader fleet crushed the emerging race into slaves; The sense of identity between each other was kneaded into pieces.

Everything is changing, everything is burning, everything is rolling in the unpredictable future, until it falls into the unexpected and reasonable ending.

With the closure of Magnus' palm, everything disappeared again.

"It's just a tiny drop in the endless river of time. My children, there is no need to be surprised and nostalgic. In the days to come, we will encounter and observe more."

The Primarch's soft laughter came, and he casually put aside the picture scroll that recorded the rise and fall of a race, obviously not interested. After all, as early as in Prospero's observatory, he had just begun to observe Magnus of the Warp had seen hundreds of the same things.

"Is this history? Father, or the future?"

Some of the Thousand Sons couldn't suppress their curiosity, and Magnus first showed a seductive smile before slowly opening his mouth to explain.

"Those that have been determined and have not developed more choices and forks are the history that has already happened, and those that cannot be determined and have various consequences are naturally the future. History has been determined, and the future There are countless possibilities, even the smallest and most absurd options among them all have their own unique underlying logic and reason for existence."

"Of course, all of this is from our subjective point of view. The concept of time does not exist in the vast ocean. Here, as long as everything appears, it is always in a state of existence, and this state will even all the way to a time when it wasn't there yet."

"More specifically, it's like the alien civilization in front of us. Since the first life of this race was officially born, its existence, continuation, future and destruction have completely existed in the subspace. But when we visitors from the physical universe visit this civilization, this friendly place will codify it into what we can normally interpret according to the concept of [time] as we understand it."

"From another point of view, even if this civilization was born 5000 years ago, since it has already appeared in the subspace, tourists even 5 years ago can still read it, but with such spiritual power Individuals have been few and far between in the long history of the galaxy."

"Of course, you can also call this power [prophecy] just like those mortals."

The explanation of the Primarch was trivial and slow, but it did not prevent every Thousand Sons from showing a fascinated look. After all, for an Astartes warrior, what could be better than his own gene? What would be more wonderful if the father were to delve into something together?

And just as Magnus' last words fell, he saw a psychic light flashing from Morgan's position, eager to speak.

"That is to say, Lord Magnus, the alien race we just saw, their [future] is to fall into the last step of the space age, or enter the void, and their [now] is at this moment , are still multiplying on their parent star, that is, in a remote corner of the Milky Way?"

"Yes, indeed."

The Primarch nodded, and then he let out a low, unspoken laugh.

"I don't know which one of my brothers they will meet in the future. Anyway, it is destined to be a tragedy."

As soon as this remark came out, the Thousand Sons also let out a burst of low laughter. In this kind of chuckle, they forgot everything about this unknown alien civilization, and continued to explore the depths of the subspace.

------

In the language of some scholars and civilizations, the Warp is also known as the Great Ocean, and it turns out that this is a very accurate assessment.

Anyone who has actually visited will choose to call this place: so empty, so quiet, so vast, so prosperous, so noisy, so crowded...

The opposite words can be used at the same time just right, this is the wonder of the warp.

Eight souls are moving forward in the silent ocean, one of them is as dazzling as a star, six are as violent as a meteorite, and the last one is like the moon hiding behind the shadow, deliberately restraining its own light.

At the end of their field of vision, the subspace is constantly changing its color and shape. Suddenly, cumulus clouds that have feasted on thunder and electricity wander in the shadows, outlining the shapes of evil beasts and minions, and in the blink of an eye , you will find that it is just mottled dust swept by violent storms, stretching out thousands of broken tiny countries.

But when they concentrated their energy and explored with all their true sights, they found nothing. What the subspace showed was nothing but desolation and death, and the wealth pursued by scholars and explorers was like a muddy river. The gold at the bottom is ordinary, requiring the most careful and experienced picketing and a little luck.

The Primarch paid no heed to the things he was used to. The Lord of Prospero held aloft a beacon of pure psionic energy, illuminating unimaginable expanses. It will attract the ancient inhabitants of the vast ocean. In fact, he is looking forward to their appearance. After all, the new thesis topic still needs more demonstrations.

And it was at this time that those distant, intermittent ballads appeared.

It was the strangest sound, like the wailing of a thousand ravens whose throats were stuck, or the neighing of a huge snake nest being blown to pieces. The tone of this ballad was indistinct, but Bite every word clearly, but when it reaches everyone's ears, it has a completely different content. It is generally a fine poem about the past and the future.

Morgan could hear Ahriman whispering verses about the future and the grape fields, or that Atawa was nostalgic for the old days of Terra.

But when she leaned over her slender neck and listened carefully to her own ballad, she heard something different.

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"Arrogance is beyond measure, self-esteem is like poison."

"Thirsty at midnight, slaves of the gods prostrate."

"A prison produces a trapped beast, and God bestows a heroic force."

"Flying eagles fall to the ground, foxes devour tigers."

"The yin marks the darkness, and the stone marks the loneliness."

"The evil flame is burning, and the emperor's career is gone."

"But see..."

"Great ambition, crying at the end."

"Snake robe and green armor, towards Qin Muchu."

"Black ink is the watch, and the heart is like a pearl."

"Steel heart and iron blood cannot escape rust and corrosion."

"Flying wolf horse, running forever."

"The crown fell to the ground, and there was no owner."

"Ultimately... the blood dance of all nations."

"Eventually...brothers slaughter each other."

"Eventually... the galaxy overturned."

(End of this chapter)