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Author's Note: I will be going on a road trip through Tuscany from Sept. 29 till Oct. 5. This will probably mean that there will be two missed updates on 09. 30. and 08. 03. Before that, we still have a full week, though, so we have next Wednesday's chapter, then next Saturday's chapter a week from now, and the break will only come after that. 

As always, if anyone wants a refund because of this, hmu in the DMs.

Also, by popular request: Cliff Warning!

*****

Well, this is awkward. I thought to myself as the two ancient psykers stared at each other without a word. Valenith was there too, despite having made an effort to avoid ever being in the same room as Alex up until now. 

This was their first meeting, and both acted like the other didn't exist, though I assumed Alex was just acting that way to indulge Val. 

I thought Val was wary of being near Alex, and that he wanted to avoid exposing himself to him in any way. There was something … caring about his behaviour, though, so I didn’t call it out. He probably wanted to avoid being affected by any subtle auric powers Alex had, so he could give me a heads up if I ever began acting strange. 

Considering that Alex had spent most of the last few weeks keeping track of the incoming Craftworld tutoring me about something — psyker stuff, or just mundane scientific knowledge I was lacking — this was the first time I’d seen him in person in weeks. 

He also only had eyes for his former master, though. There was tension there, well concealed but very much present. 

Hmmmmmm. This could be a problem. Eldrad had been cordial so far, and from what I knew of the Eldar, this was them doing their very best to appear diplomatic and peaceful. I mean, none of them were throwing slurs or threatening us yet. Heck, I couldn’t sense a single arrogant sneer on any of their faces, even hidden under their ridiculous helmets. 

They were focused. They also kept their weapons either holstered or pointing down at the ground. Eldrad himself was entirely unarmed, his staff and blade held by another Eldar staying back by the shuttle.

Alright, time to defuse … whatever this situation is. I feel like every second of suspenseful silence is bringing us closer to a fight. 

“You can have your dramatic duel to the death or whatever later, but would I be wrong to guess in saying that you came to meet me and not him?” I spoke with a sharp clap of my hands and a polite smile, the kind that sent shivers down the spines of lesser men. I may or may not have practised in front of a mirror for a few hours. 

Eldrad’s sharp gaze finally tore itself away from Alex, turning to study me with renewed intensity.

“I knew not what I would find; what I had heard was so outlandish that I decided the only prudent thing to do was to believe nothing I hadn’t had the chance to confirm with my own eyes,” Eldrad said levelly, his eyes flickering over to Valenith for a moment, making the subject of his attention stiffen ever so slightly. Then he turned back to me without a word. “Am I to believe you are responsible for my erstwhile apprentice’s current … state?”

“You can believe whatever you choose to believe,” I said, unable to help myself as I gave him an imperious huff. “But before anything, let’s keep things civil, yes? From what I know of your people, you have been exceptionally diplomatic so far. Let’s not ruin it now right at the finish line.”

Barely concealed barbed jabs were scattered through my words, but whatever. Eldrad was one of the most powerful and experienced psykers around, and I'd be wary of facing him in combat, even with the power difference between us. He was subtle, and used strange Aeldari sorceries that may or may not be able to thoroughly fuck me over.

Then again, he’d gotten his ass handed to him by some random Space Marines in that one book, hadn’t he? Maybe I was being overly paranoid with my assessment. Or, maybe the author of that book really just hated Eldar and wanted to write an entire novel about giving them hope of salvation only to tear it away because a single ultra-racist Space Marine couldn’t fathom not killing the Xeno right in front of him. Even if said Xeno was halfway through a ritual that might have defeated Slaanesh.

Okay. Now that I think about it like that, all the paranoia is deserved. This dude almost single-handedly awakened Ynnead … but I have a Pocket Emperor.

That was the primary source of my confidence. Alex was frustratingly adept at the subtle, insidious aspects of psyker powers even in his reduced state. Or maybe those were just the small slice of powers he was adept at that he could still use as he was. Subtle mental bullshit leaned extremely heavily on control, finesse and ingenuity while barely taking any energy at all. 

In comparison, my own telepathic attacks were the equivalent of ballistic missiles, sledgehammers, crowbars, drills and priers.

“True,” Eldrad allowed, then a silent wave swept through the armed Eldar behind him, making them relax slightly. Coiled muscles untensed, fingers left the triggers, hands let swords hang loose and stances turned more casual. “I can see that neither of us takes being surprised well. You have my apologies for intruding upon your domain without notice, but our information was limited, and we did not wish to be held up by shortsighted bureaucrats who know little or less. A single low-ranking fool can ruin diplomatic endeavours with a bad impression, even if they do not represent their leader.”

Alex didn’t roll his eyes at what must have been some not-so-subtle jab, but I was pretty sure he wanted to. Or maybe he wanted to wince, or grimace. Who knew? He wore that wooden, awkward smile that could have convinced anyone it was genuine. Anyone who didn’t have half a dozen countermeasures against filtering out exactly that specific kind of mental interference, that is. 

Or maybe it was layered, and I was seeing a better illusion hidden under a shitty illusion meant to be seen through? 

As if reacting to my thoughts, he glanced at me with his face hidden under the illusion and winked. 

If I could still have a migraine, I would have probably gotten one from my paranoid worrying about mind games that may or may not even exist.

“So, should we continue out here or are you amenable to taking the rest of our talks to somewhere more comfortable?” I asked. 

Eldrad stared at me for a long moment, then nodded. “Very well.”

I had the feeling he wasn’t especially willing, but I felt like adding all those Eldar behind him wouldn’t change the outcome of the battle anyway if we ended up coming to blows. 

“Portal?” I asked, waving my hand to conjure a rift in space shaped like a large double door. “I’d understand if you didn’t want to trust a random portal, or didn’t want to leave your escorts behind.”

“It’s quite alright,” he said, striding forwards. “May I take a squad with me?”

“All of them can come along if they want; most of them just won’t fit comfortably into a room.”

 I shrugged.

Eldrad nodded curtly, then the squad of five Eldar that’d been following him, along with the one carrying his weapons, stepped up to follow behind him. 

Five minutes later, we were getting comfortable in my best meeting room, a lounge on the top floor of Arcology#1 — the one in the Capital — with a majestic panoramic view surrounding us on all sides. This room was built almost like an observatory, sitting at the very peak of Arcology. There were other similar rooms, but only this one had a full 360-degree panoramic window on all sides. All the others had at least one wall where the view was cut off. One of those was my ‘office’, though I tended to use different rooms whenever I needed some space. It wasn’t like it took more than a thought to furnish them, and 90% of the Arcology was still empty. 

The nascent government agencies and bureaucrats had opted to set up shop in the Capital’s many buildings instead of taking over a floor of the Arcology. They set up smaller offices as close to the upper floors I’d claimed for myself as possible. They probably didn’t want to be in my basement, if only to maintain the illusion of autonomy, but they still wanted to be seen as wanting to be at my service or whatever. 

Eh, they could do whatever they wanted so long as it didn’t scrape my bottom line. They were starting to figure that out as the months went by, with me being very hands-off on all the internal matters they discussed. They sent stuff to me, and I stamped it. So far, I’d only vetoed a grand total of two bills, one of which had been to legalise bribery — there won’t be any fucking lobbying in any world I ruled — and the other was attempting to ban an emergent political party just because it was a bit radical. 

Which would have been stupid. Banning radical political parties is how you make domestic terrorists, and then I would have had to handle them myself, which would have been a bother. 

We ended up with Alex and me on one sinfully comfortable couch — kudos to my mind-cores for designing that, totally worth the processing power! — and Eldrad sitting opposite us in an armchair, with only a small coffee table full of refreshments and bite-sized snacks to separate us. Val had taken a spot behind the couch before I could even nudge him into a seat, and Eldrad’s followers had taken that as a cue: one stood behind him while the rest retreated a bit farther back, spreading out. 

“So! Seeing as you are not partaking in my food, drinks or small talk, let’s get to the point,” I said before the awkward silence could stretch on too long. “I’m going to assume this isn’t just a visit to check on your erstwhile apprentice? I very much doubt you would have dragged along your entire Craftworld for that, or come yourself. What is it that you are hoping to achieve here?”

“My primary goal has already been achieved: I’ve found what was causing the ripples in Fate, despite it being hidden from my sight,” Eldrad said, staring at me meaningfully. “But seeing Valenith again prompts another question I’d like to find an answer to.”

“And what would that question be?” I asked, playing along with the dramatics.

Eldrad leaned forward in his seat, eyes fixed on mine, and I devoted 80% of my processing power to scouring my mind for any telepathic interference. I found none and returned half my processing power to their previous tasks, while keeping the rest on lookout. I also channelled a bit of psychic energy into my mental constructs to give them extra mojo.

“What would it take to have the Mark of She-Who-Thirsts removed from our souls?” Eldrad asked. 

“Removing it from you, or a handful of others, would be one thing,” I said with a polite smile. “Protecting your souls from retaliation afterwards? Now that would be another thing entirely. I can burn away the Mark, but I refuse to give shelter to just any random soul in my Realm. The Warp would tear apart any soul I freed from the Mark; it craves to taint and unmake anything pure.”

Maybe. Probably. I wasn’t exactly sure; it wasn’t like I was in the habit of throwing vulnerable purified souls into the Daemon-infested Warp for shits and giggles. Still, I was pretty sure that if I purified a random Eldar soul and threw it back into the Warp afterwards, they wouldn't find their new existence very fun … or long. It was only a guess, but an educated guess.

“Your Realm?” He asked, though it was clearly rhetorical, as he squinted at me and I could almost feel the ephemeral sensation of his attention. He was seeing through me, peering at something beyond the physical, but if the slight frown on his face is anything to go by, he was having some trouble. 

“Should I show you?” I asked. 

“I don’t suppose you could remove whatever’s concealing you from my sight?” He asked, almost ruefully.

“I could, I suppose, but it’s a side effect of what protects my Realm from the greater Warp, so I’d have to deal with another swarm of daemons trying to eat my soul,” I said. “I’d much rather give you a … window, a peek behind the curtain. That option is much less … fussy.”

“Very well,” he said, tilting his head slightly, and I think I saw a glimmer of professional interest in his eyes, though his face was back to being a stoic mask that gave nothing away. 

“I’m going to close my eyes; when I open them next, they will be open windows into my Realm,” I said, letting my eyes fall shut as my bio-energy got to work putting a pair of Navigator eyeballs into my eye sockets. “Staring into them is not nearly as dangerous as it is looking into the third eye of a Navigator, but it’s not healthy for the mind of anyone but those with the strongest of wills. I’d recommend all your followers look away.”

The difference was that my soul was in my own tiny Realm, while Navigators had their souls in the Warp. Seeing the Warp in its entirety was an altogether different experience than witnessing my Realm. Still, it could be overwhelming enough to lead to braindeath, catatonic states or severe migraines from the sheer mental overload. From my experience, two in five people survived, and one in ten could shrug it off with only a grimace. 

But those were regular, run-of-the-mill humans. Not Eldar. I had no baseline for Eldar, so it paid to be careful. Now that I’d warned them, if any of them got harmed from staring into my eyes, they could only blame themselves. 

Then I opened my eyes.