"Wait what's that?!"
Hades opened his eyes wide, and he saw that incredible being, with a short Q-version figure, struggling in Trazyn's hands. It was simply a being that should not exist in this world.
Hades, a chess piece enthusiast, did have a blank moment in his brain at one point. His instinct took precedence over his reason, and as an extension of his perception, he explored the Black Domain first.
This time, the little Death Guard really let out a sharper cry, and smashed Trazyn's hand with all its might, actually earning a glimmer of chance to escape!
clang!
The little death guard landed on the ground and ran on the floor with extremely sharp speed.
"Wait!" Trazyn yelled, "Put away your big black tongue from the warp, you're scaring my little collection!!!"
"What?!"
Hades thought that the matter of Trazyn could be put aside for the time being. His entire attention had been attracted by the little death guard, which was something that no chess piece party would refuse - although the proportions were a little wrong, the details were very rich, not to mention that it was still alive.
Therein lies the aura of Mortarion - by the Emperor, how could the Pale Lord have such a thing
He wants to play.
!
Could it be--Could it be--Nurgling? !
Mo-Motaling?!
Hades continued to be shocked. He saw the little guy was about to get into the cables of a bunch of equipment.
"Hey! Hey! Don't go in there! It's dangerous!"
Hades decided to show his helpful spirit, and it was definitely not because he wanted to catch a little Motaling to play with.
However, his words obviously made Motaling even more frightened. The little guy waved his short legs and tried hard to get into the corner.
Trazyn began to put on protective gear, and Hades stood up. He walked to the location of the Motaling, squatted down, and tried to fish the Motaling out of the equipment with his hands.
Behind the pile of messy cables, a scream was heard. Hades assumed that it was the normal voice of Motaling, not the sound of being scared.
In order not to continue to leave psychological shadows for these little creatures, Hades deliberately did not use liquid metal and directly rolled out the Motaling.
He dug and dug hard, and felt the little Death Guard's armor brushing against his fingertips several times. The texture was like the common material of the Death Guard mk3 armor, but a little slippery, as if covered with a layer of dead moss.
The equipment was piled too deep, and Motaling was hiding too far inside, so Hades had to continue reaching in, with his face pressed against the gap between the equipment. He heard the sound of knives breaking through the wind and screams behind him, but nothing could stop Hades' determination to touch the little deathly hider today.
Finally, Hades felt a huge shadow looming over him.
The little guard at his fingertips escaped again, running out with a squeak and scream. Hades's gaze followed the Motaling reluctantly.
He saw it emerge from the shadows of the cables, running and running on its short legs, running and running, into the white mist - its cloak hanging to the ground in the mist. Hades looked up and saw a gaze that was staring death at him.
Ah, it's Mortarion.
[What are you doing?]
Death said, Hades saw the cloak at his shoulders move, and the Mortal spirit appeared at the shoulders of Death.
"Rescue the little one who was imprisoned by the alien..."
Hades got stuck.
"Little... uh... little Motaling?"
[…]
Mortarion looked away without blinking, and Death shook his head, as if to say there was no hope.
Hades vaguely heard a Barbarus curse, but it might be an illusion. Death turned around and sat down opposite Trazyn naturally.
One third of the Necromancer's body was now damaged, as if it had been chopped directly by a scythe, with cables and chip fragments exposed, and Trazyn collapsed in a chair.
Mortarion sat in the chair that Hades had taken before. He looked at the Necrons with eyes as calm as autumn water, and ignored Hades's question about what the little death guard was. The god of death spoke,
[Long time no see,] he nodded slightly, [Tarasim the Endless.]
[Excuse me for being so rude in our previous meeting, which seems to have led to our poor communication over the past ten thousand years.]
Mortarion paused, then casually reached out and touched the little Death Guard on his shoulder.
[I'm glad we can meet again.]
"Your Excellency thinks this meeting is polite?"
Trazyn, hissing with electricity, stretched out in a chair and said, "It seems that you have been holding a grudge against me for a long time."
[It's just a return gift to you.]
Mortarion said, "After all, your method of contact this time was a little indecent."
"It's an emergency, please understand."
The door was pushed open, and the figure king opposite the primarch completely lost his life. The new Trazyn walked in, looking at Mortarion intact.
Realizing that there might be something going on between the two, Hades had already prepared a new chair, picked a suitable viewing position, sat down, and poured himself a glass.
Mortarion and Trazyn also automatically ignored Hades, and tensions between the two became tense.
Trazyn pressed down the head of the scepter, and the body on the chair disappeared. The Infinite sat down gracefully, staring at the Primarch.
"But it seems we can still talk?"
Mortarion closed his eyes, then opened them again.
[Personally,] he said, [I don't want anything to do with you—but publicly, speak up, Endless.]
Trazyn waved his hand, and it opened its right hand. Under its arm were six intact little Death Guards in different poses.
Once again, Mortarion ignored the sound of Hades's gasp. Without looking back, the Primarch knew that someone was about to make a move.
He comforted his children again and listened to Trazyn.
"I only want to ask one thing," Trazyn said, his eyes glowing green as he stared at Mortarion. "That is... our conversation ten thousand years ago. You know what it was, Mortarion."
"certainly,"
Before Mortarion could speak, Trazyn added, "You can choose to remain silent. I have never threatened you with this. You can also use lies, but the wisdom of Nihilak will make the final decision. But if you answer my questions sincerely, then these collections will be yours."
Mortarion said calmly,
[They were originally mine.]
Trazyn raised an undeniably anthropomorphic eyebrow, but did not speak.
The room fell into a brief silence, with only Hades' eyes glued to the six Mortals. On the one hand, he was thinking about what happened between Mortarion and Trazyn. On the other hand, Hades' thoughts inevitably slid to the Mortals - he should acknowledge Trazyn's talent and aesthetics in arranging models, but perhaps he could change the paint job.
He now also has living metal, and can directly pinch different third-party accessories.
Hades felt his dominant hand holding the painting pen trembling, but the atmosphere was rather solemn, so he had to suppress himself.
To Hades, it was like there was a super straight stick on the ground and he couldn't pick it up.
Compared to Mortarion, Mortarion pales in comparison—even becoming the culprit that prevents Hades from capturing Mortarion.
Hades raised his trembling hand and took two sips of the poisoned wine to suppress the urge to reach out.
Mortarion remained silent.
Death stared at Trazyn, the alien he had thought of countless times and hoped to tear apart with his sickle countless times. Countless times, he gasped in the busy and desperate reality, remembered this alien for a moment, and then went to work angrily.
It was it that took Hades away directly on Cadia.
Mortarion scolded himself for his ignorance. Why did he not really pay attention to this race until Malcador introduced him to Trazyn
Once the Necrontyr... Now the Necrons.
Poisonous gas gushed out from the mask of the god of death. He spent a thousand years diluting his anger, and another thousand years searching for the truth. The closer he got to the truth, the more he had to accept and let go.
Death gradually realized that it was completely reasonable and appropriate for Hades to stay with Trazyn.
At that time, there was no suitable environment for Hades in the empire. Mortals would be afraid, the powerful would question it, and the crazy people of the Mechanicus would destroy the so-called gods in the name of faith.
Mortarion walked in the desert of truth. Initially, he was driven by anger and unwillingness, but the sharp edges would eventually be smoothed out by time. He had to begin to understand the alien. Between the difficulty in accepting and complete letting go, or giving up torturing himself, Mortarion wavered for a long enough time.
Until he was completely silent.
Mortarion accepted the fact that the aliens might not return to Hades, and began to study the Necrons, trying to use the bargaining chip of [recovering the souls of the Necrons] to lure the Infinite to reappear.
And the more he walked and stepped into the truth, the more shocked he was.
He is still too small.
Necrons... Mortarion dug for answers above the tomb. A force far larger than the current empire was sleeping. The owners of the tomb were in charge of unimaginable technology. These dead were older and more mysterious.
Following the thin spider thread of the Necrons, Mortarion began to climb up. How could such a brilliant race become a puppet in the end? They had so much, but they were completely dead.
He touched the Star God.
Because of Hades, Mortarion had a deeper understanding of the Star Gods - but he did not expect that this kind of "creature" would appear in the history of the Necrons and be the culprit that caused them to become what they are now.
That night, Death sat silently at his desk, thinking of Malcador, who had come in the name of the Emperor to ask him to negotiate with the Necrons Trazyn - all of this was not accidental, he just didn't understand it at the time.
He wanted to ask how much the Lord of Humanity had concealed
The C'tan gifted the Necrontyr with technology, and the Necrontyr provided for the C'tan, but the C'tan ultimately deceived them, and the gods devoured the souls of the former Necrontyr.
It would have been enough to stop here. Mortarion knew why the souls of the Necrontyr disappeared - he did stop at this stage for some time, but the Primarch eventually moved on because some questions were not answered and because of his fear after he glimpsed the truth.
Finally, he caught a glimpse of...
Battle in Heaven.
Ancient saint.
The Primarch remained silent about this and did not tell anyone about it. In today's world where the Empire rules the galaxy, the old War in Heaven is obviously difficult for humans to understand and bear.
And... the Ancient Saints...
They were completely missing.
The Primarch was briefly overwhelmed and shocked by the truth, but reality still pushed him forward firmly. Mortarion finally pulled himself out and began to deal with the mess of the Empire.
But he still remembers his original intention.
Death seemed to be in a trance for a moment. He looked at Trazyn who was waiting for his answer in front of him. Feeling Hades's eager gaze behind him, the heir under the cloak felt uneasy because of Hades' gaze. His hand on the armrest was not holding a weapon.
Hades finally came back, as naturally as the head of an enemy falling off, and the Necrons did not threaten him with this, although the Primarch had been prepared for this.
Mortarion was silent. He could feel the condition of his offspring. He was a little frightened, but that was the negative emotion that just came from Hades. Other than that, everything was fine.
Did Trazyn do this on purpose? Or didn't she
Are there really benevolent alien races in this galaxy
Child's play... Mortarion thought, ignoring the winks from Hades and Trazyn. Without him saying anything, the two began to question each other with their eyes.
[… Do you want to hear the truth? ]
Mortarion finally spoke hoarsely, "Can you accept the reality, Endless?"
He felt the Necron tense a little. Perhaps Trazyn knew the answer to this question better than anyone else present.
"Of course," Trazyn said nonchalantly, even poking the little Death Guard.
"After all, the dead are emotionally stable," Tarasim joked.
Mortarion ignored it, [Hades, use black domain to block. ]
"It's already open!" Hades's relaxed voice sounded, "It was only closed for a moment when you came in just now."
Good, Mortarion thought, and he stretched out his hand. A drop of crystal liquid was suspended in his palm. Thousands of morning suns gathered here, reflecting a small and hazy light in the room.
Let’s see if this works…
He motioned for Trazyn to hold out his hand. The Infinite One stared at the liquid between Mortarion's hands with interest, then held out his hand.
"Elsa's tears?"
Trazyn asked, and Mortarion nodded.
[Yes and no, this is the most precious drop... mixed with Aisha's blood. ]
Death thought about it and tears fell, dripping onto Tarasim's hand. The tiny drops of water splashed, and the place where the tears splashed began to sparkle visibly.
Trazyn's eyes widened. "Hmm? It feels weird, isn't it?"
Mortarion paid no attention to Trazyn. He closed his eyes and chanted a spell. Frost began to spread. Mortarion immersed himself in the warp. He tried hard to sense and capture any new waves...
…
Mortarion slowly opened his eyes.
[invalid.]
He said, "I didn't feel any energy fluctuations... Now I can tell you clearly, Trazyn, that your souls have completely disappeared. At least in the current subspace, your souls do not exist."
Trazyn paused, then withdrew his hand.
"Not surprisingly, if I had known I would have kept it and not wasted this precious tear of Aisha."
Trazyn said indifferently, it released the stasis stance, and the six little guys stumbled towards Mortarion.
Mortarion glanced at Trazyn, then bent down and pulled the little Deathwatcher up,
[There is another possibility. Your souls still exist within the Star God? But I am not an expert in this area.]
Trazyn propped up his head, watching the actions of the little Death Guards, but he smiled and shook his head.
"If there really was, we would have done that when we shattered the imprisoned Star God."
The room fell silent again.
Mortarion waited slowly for the little guards to find a comfortable place. The Primarch looked at Trazyn, with a hint of gold in his eyes.
"I am grateful for your care of Hades," Mortarion said calmly, "and it looks like we can continue to work together."
"It's just a small favor," Trazyn waved her hand. "It's a collaboration... I guess you don't want to connect with me?"
[I really don't want to meet you,] Mortarion lowered his eyes, [but there are dead souls.]
[…]
White mist gushed out of Mortarion's respirator, and silence fell again. Even though the Necrons were unwilling to show it, the God of Death still felt a sense of loss.
"Because of Hades's affairs," Mortarion said, "I have searched alone for thousands of years to find the souls of the Necrontyr."
"Don't accuse me," Trazyn raised her hand. "I didn't force you to do that."
Mortarion ignored him and continued talking.
[I mean... for the Necrontyr, there is another possibility.]
He tilted his head to touch the little guard who was seeking comfort from the Primarch. His hood fell down, covering half of the Primarch's face.
"What?"
Trazyn asked, and it laughed, "What else? Even the newborns in Nurgle can't save us, what else can we do?"
[…]
[Ancient Saint.]
Mortarion spoke slowly.
[Tarasim, have you ever thought that... as your former enemy, whether out of war or mercy, the Old Ones collected some of the souls of the feared? ]
Hades watched as Trazyn froze completely.
[I guess you don't want to think about this possibility, do you? ]
Mortarion said calmly, [After all, thinking about your former enemies... may be a shame for you.]
"W-why did you say that?"
Trazyn almost stood up. "Besides, the Old Ones have completely disappeared! They haven't appeared in the Milky Way since then!!!"
"I am only offering a solution," Mortarion said. "There are traces of the Old Ones' auras from hundreds of thousands of years ago in the Warp. I have smelled some of them. I think some of them are from the Old Ones... some... may be other races, including the Eldar, the Greenskins, and others..."
[You know this is a big possibility, right? ]
Mortarion asked, across from Trazyn who looked like he was overheating.
(End of this chapter)