Chapter 135: The Secret Underground Passage Beneath Terra’s Imperial Palace

Nareth issued orders through the Astropath, commanding the 3rd and 8th Chapters to begin exploratory missions from the northeast and southeast of Vostroya, respectively, pushing eastward according to the galactic star map.

Then he set off with two members of the Honor Guard: Hollis from the 1st Chapter and Bradshaw from the 11th. These two, Shadows of Order, were prime candidates for a future mission to Luna.

Nareth walked back and forth along the path near the lakeside of the courtyard, simultaneously using both natural and supernatural perception to scan the area.

At last, during his second circuit, the Primarch detected something off in the environment, subtle, almost imperceptibly out of place.

Even with his heightened senses, it took careful comparison to notice.

Nareth walked toward the source of this irregularity and entered an unnatural passage.

The two Shadows of Order followed. As they stepped through, they felt as though they were passing through a curtain of water.

The heavy scent of lake water, the damp smell of rock, and the chill in the air all vanished instantly. It was as though they had entered another layer of reality.

Looking around in awe, Hollis, shouldering a boltgun and with a power sword at his waist, muttered in surprise:

"We didn't feel anything at all before this."

"These tunnels aren't naturally formed. They weren't shaped by tectonic activity or mountain-building forces." Bradshaw murmured.

With the superhuman senses inherited from their gene-father, they should have been able to detect it from miles away. But until the very moment they stepped in, they had sensed nothing.

"It's no surprise you didn't notice. Even a Primarch could miss it," Nareth replied calmly.

Bradshaw scanned their surroundings and asked with curiosity, "Was this built by the Emperor?"

"No," Nareth said. "But the Emperor placed a psy-barrier here."

The two Shadows of Order stopped wondering and turned their attention to the corridor, running their hands along the eerily glowing tiled walls, watching faint bioluminescence drift through the air.

Overhead, the dim light from the lakebed above rippled across the ceiling, which was covered in hanging stalactites. Crystalline filaments snaked through fissures in the rock above, shimmering like distant stars, an alien beauty far removed from the surface of Terra.

The two warriors became mesmerized.

Their pupils dilated as they stared, entranced by the crystals, as though something within was pulling them in, gripping their eyes and their senses.

Nareth noticed their slowed movements, legs lifting and falling as if in slow motion.

He looked to the ceiling and sensed the supernatural allure radiating from the luminous crystals.

He didn't break the spell, not because of the Emperor's psy-barrier.

That psy-barrier, while potent enough to suppress average psykers or even the Thousand Sons, was no obstacle to a Primarch.

He could have used his will to awaken them, but he chose not to.

'This is your final test, whether your will can overcome the illusions of the senses.'

Countless strange lights flickered in their dark eyes as the two warriors seemed to enter another world.

They lingered, enraptured, for what seemed like ages.

Suddenly, the same thought surfaced in both their minds:

'We are the chosen, tasked with guarding our gene-father on his journey between Terra and the stars. Where is the gene-father now?'

The panic jolted them awake, as if a mirror shattered before their eyes, and they snapped back to awareness.

"I…"

"You've conquered your senses with your will."

The praise from the Primarch made them stand tall and proud once again as they followed Nareth deeper into the tunnels.

With that near-entrancement experience behind them, their awareness remained razor-sharp as they pressed on.

The deeper they ventured into the labyrinth beneath the lakebed, the more they realized how difficult it was to find the correct path.

Each tunnel felt strange, their senses unable to differentiate one from another.

They appeared distinct, yet somehow the same.

They had no choice but to follow their gene-father; they never doubted his ability to navigate this bizarre maze.

Suddenly, Nareth halted, his eyes catching sight of a faintly glowing green stone by the tiled wall.

'Coldstone? A secondary material related to the Sequence 8 "Gravedigger" of the Death pathway?'

He bent down and picked up a palm-sized, oval-shaped stone.

He hadn't expected to find potion ingredients on this spontaneous detour through the Imperial Palace's underground maze en route to the Grand Observatory.

Scanning the area, he noticed that these glowing stones were not part of the tunnel design, nor did they carry the Emperor's psy-barrier markings.

'Taking these coldstones won't have any consequences.'

While he pondered, the two Shadows naturally stopped beside him.

Knowing their father's interests well, they also crouched and began collecting coldstones.

Nareth continued forward, the route clearly etched in his mind. The unnatural architecture could not disrupt his perception.

He led his sons out of the tunnel and up a staircase before they stretched a wide boulevard lined with silver birches and plane trees.

Nareth surveyed the area. The Grand Observatory stood atop a black rocky outcrop, its grandeur unmatched by any ancient Terran structure and rivaling even the vast mega-structures of future millennia.

The white marble outer walls stood over 2,000 meters tall, carved with violet-red veins and intricate engravings.

Massive flying buttresses, sculpted as winged angels, extended from the rocky base of the structure, arms outstretched in supplication toward the heavens.

The surrounding walls of the observatory were adorned with depictions of astronomy's great pioneers and their monumental achievements.

In niches and on pedestals stood statues of Agnik, Sakhov, the heliocentric heretic, Hypatia, the alchemist of Scania, Suleiman, the Mother of Comets, and more, each one a scientific legend deserving of such honor.

A vast telescope once used by the Emperor himself to observe distant galaxies still hung from chains in the central dome. Its obsidian lens shimmered darkly under sunlight.

Nareth ascended the 300-meter-wide staircase made of Osleth stone toward the grand entrance.

"Primarch!"

Gasps of awe echoed from the entrance as people beheld the towering figure approaching as if witnessing a dream.

Moments later, the giant's shadow loomed over them.

"I wish to visit the observatory," he said.

"Of course…" stammered a research staff member, "I'll notify the director to attend to you."

"No need," Nareth shook his head slightly. "If I require anything, I'll call him."

With that, Nareth walked past them and entered the Grand Observatory.

He passed through four observation rooms without incident.

But upon entering the fifth, a sudden flash of inspiration struck him.

.....

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