The First Heretic

‘The Bloodied Visage,’ Phi-44 confirmed, ‘and the Crescent Moon. And Chaplain Xaphen is incorrect. The 3,855th Expeditionary Fleet is between thirteen and fifteen months distant, depending on the vagaries of the warp.’

Silence fell.

‘A year,’ said Lorgar. ‘How far we have come, to serve as humanity’s eyes in the dark. No other Imperials have spread themselves this far apart, nor travelled this far from Terra and its conquered territories.’

A year. Argel Tal was struck by the distance put into such terms. We are over a year’s flight distant from our nearest brothers, and even farther from the Imperium’s true edge.

‘So we’re well and truly alone,’ Arric echoed the captain’s thoughts, and the ship punctuated his words with another savage tremor.

‘Sire,’ Argel Tal began again.

‘Peace, my son,’ the primarch cut him off with a gentle lift of his hand. ‘Master Delvir? Can you offer Captain Argel Tal the solace he seeks?’

The Master of Astropaths was a watery-eyed rake of a man, clad in a robe of colourless grey that hung off his shoulders in velvet waves. He regarded the room with a kicked dog’s expression as he realised more and more faces were turning his way.

‘Our auguries are... That is to say... Our senses are... I can hear the world we move towards. It’s difficult to put into words.’

Lorgar cleared his throat to draw the man’s attention. ‘Master Delvir?’

‘My lord?’ the man asked in his whispery voice.

‘You are among equals, here. Friends. We all sympathise with the pressures the storm has placed upon you. Do not be nervous or hesitant in explaining the details.’

Shosa Delvir, Master of Astropaths, bowed without much in the way of grace. But it was sincere. Lorgar returned the bow, not to same depth, but with a smile.

‘Sometimes,’ the astropath began slowly, ‘mere chance is enough to bring an Imperial fleet to one of humanity’s lost worlds. Blessed are those occasions. More often, we rely upon the few ancient star charts that endured the chaos of Long Night and the Unification Wars that ravaged Terra. But when you rely upon us – when you call upon the astropathic choir – I... I will explain it as best I can.’

‘That,’ Argel Tal watched his father writing the words down, ‘was the first moment my blood ran cold. Anchored above the world, when the astropath told us how his kind saw through the storm.’

Lorgar nodded. ‘It was the moment I first knew we were reaching the end of the Pilgrimage,’ he said.

‘There’s truth in that,’ the captain sighed.

No longer did their eyes meet as Argel Tal spoke. The delicate scratching of a feather quill on parchment provided the only accompaniment to Argel Tal’s spoken words.

The Master of Astropaths only hesitated for a moment.

‘We hear voices in the void,’ he said. ‘A world is a hive of sound, the buzzing of locusts or flies, but far, far in the distance. It is never easy to make out one world in the endless reaches of space. The Imperium is an ocean of silence, and only the most intense focus allows us to hear the hum of human sentience. Imagine yourselves beneath the water of a great sea. All sound is muted, while the silence is powerfully oppressive. Now try to listen for voices in the nothingness, when all you can hear is your own heartbeat.’

‘Sire...’ Deumos interrupted. ‘Must we listen to this crude prose?’

Lorgar’s answer was to press a golden finger to his smile. ‘Let Master Delvir speak. I find his words enlightening.’

The astropath pressed on, avoiding any of their gazes. ‘If you focus too hard on listening for voices, you will forget to swim. You’ll drown. If you devote all your energy to swimming for the surface and breathing once more... you will hear none of the ocean’s sounds.’

‘You strive for balance,’ said Argel Tal. ‘That does not sound easy.’

‘It is not, but no soul in this room can lay claim to an easy existence.’ The astropath offered a respectful bow to the gathered warriors. Several acknowledged his respect with a salute. Argel Tal was one of them. He liked the scrawny little man.

‘What has changed?’ the captain asked. He felt the primarch’s eyes upon him.

‘This region of space is like no other we’ve seen in our travels. The warp is savage, and our ships are slaves to raging tides of aetheric energies.’