The King of the Forest lay in eternal slumber upon the megalith, his eyes closed, his face sculpted by the winds of time like an igneous rock in a dense forest—deep, ancient, and resolute.
His face was etched with the wrinkles of time, seemingly holding endless contemplation and sorrow. His nose was quite high, giving him an air of proud arrogance, and his mouth was downturned, as if filled with suspicion and dissatisfaction with everything in the world. However, the grey-yellow beard covering the lower half of his face softened his pride, arrogance, and suspicion with maturity, making his face less aggressive.
The man's hair, like his beard, was streaked with grey and white, appearing as if woven from gold and silver. He must have had a head of dark golden hair in his youth, but it too had succumbed to the passage of time.
The man wore Power Armor, black with an elusive dark green hue. A golden Lion was embedded on his shoulder pad, baring its fangs and roaring at the sky. A winged helmet rested in the man's arms.
Silence spread through the forest. The Blood Angels stood speechless, staring blankly at this profoundly impactful scene.
Was the sight before them an illusion? Had their minds malfunctioned?
Why was it so sudden and coincidental? Why did they encounter him here?
They were Blood Angels, not Dark Angels!
Mephiston felt an urge to immediately send a Psyker message to Ezekiel, the Chief Librarian of the Dark Angels, a message powerful enough to shatter the megalith's Void Shield, informing the Dark Angels of the scene before him.
Undoubtedly, the one lying on the megalith was a Primarch.
If it had been Dorn, Corax, or Vulkan lying on the megalith, the Blood Angels would probably only have felt joy and been satisfied to gain the friendship of the Imperial Fists or the Salamanders.
Even if it were Leman Russ, Mephiston would not have hesitated so much.
But... but this was clearly Lion El'Jonson.
Mephiston felt dizzy. As the second most powerful psyker of the Blood Angels, he had heard Sanguinius speak of the Lion's character and deeds. Later, on Macragge, he had also seen Guilliman's expression, like he had eaten something foul, when the Lion was mentioned.
And Alexander. Alexander had once told Mephiston a joke:
The Lion, Khan, and the Wolf King were walking down the road when a person suddenly jumped out and shouted at them: 'Barbarians!'
Leman Russ laughed heartily, for the men of Fenris had their own definition of civilization.
Khan was unconcerned; he knew he wasn't one, but enjoyed the sense of detachment that came with being seen as a barbarian.
The Lion was furious, rising to his feet and punching the person's head off, then turning to tell Khan and the Wolf King that it was to keep their secret.
The Wolf King used the image of a barbarian to disguise himself, Khan was happy to be seen as a barbarian to maintain his distance from the Imperium, and the Lion... the Lion was a savage beast hidden beneath the skin of a knight.
'The Lion is loyal, the Lion is strong, the Lion is noble, the Lion is brave. The Lion believes his power is a responsibility, and he should lend it to fragile mortals to protect the weak until they no longer need him.'
Sanguinius had once said to Mephiston one night:
'The Lion is also cunning, suspicious, terrifying, and unfathomable. No one knows what the Lion is thinking, no one knows if the Lion is an enemy, no one knows what decisions the Lion will make.'
'If everything is at stake, everything will be irreversible, and the play is only complete darkness, then I hope the Lion is by my side.'
'But now, I would rather the next one to return be Horus.'
Mephiston was sweating. Lion El'Jonson was a dangerous individual; even Sanguinius could not see through him, could not understand him, and even feared him.
And Mephiston's powerful Warp perception also allowed him to vaguely sense the non-human entity lurking beneath the Lion's flesh and blood body.
Although terrified, Mephiston gritted his teeth and stepped forward. After all, this was a Primarch. Even if Sanguinius and Guilliman had many grievances with him, they would surely welcome his return, right?
With some unease, Mephiston approached the megalith. But as he drew closer, Mephiston noticed something amiss.
Scars. Lion El'Jonson's body was covered in scars, as if he had been blasted to pieces by cyclone torpedoes and then reassembled.
But most of these scars had healed, with only a few remaining wounds, which were also slowly healing.
Not only physically, Mephiston could perceive that within the Lion's flesh and blood body, a deeper, more essential existence had also been severely wounded.
Mephiston vaguely saw a dense forest. Giant beasts lurked within it, and the endless forest stretched infinitely, connecting every corner of the galaxy, hidden beneath reality.
And then, an explosion from the future arrived, exploding in the dense forest, shattering everything, sweeping the giant beasts, the dense forest, the knights, and everything else, scattering them throughout the galaxy.
This... this...
Mephiston trembled at the horrifying sight he had witnessed.
An attack from the future had destroyed Caliban, the homeworld of the Dark Angels, severely wounded Lion El'Jonson, and scattered countless Dark Angels across the galaxy.
Who was it? Who launched an attack on Caliban during the Great Crusade from the future?
To be so cruel and terrifying, how much hatred for the Dark Angels and Lion El'Jonson must one possess to commit such a crime?
What made Mephiston's blood run cold was the thought that the culprit might still be in the galaxy, or even lurking within the Imperium.
Thinking of this, Mephiston no longer hesitated and reached out to the Lion lying on the megalith, attempting to take away the sleeping Primarch.
But a thin mist suddenly emerged between him and the Lion.
This mist was no different from a soft veil, seemingly easy to break, but Mephiston's fingers could not pass through it, no matter what.
Even Lion El'Jonson's figure, enveloped in the mist, gradually merged with it, slowly disappearing into the air.
Not just the Lion, but everything around them was dissolving, becoming thin, becoming difficult to see, like ice melting in water.
In the blink of an eye, both Lion El'Jonson and the dense jungle around them vanished from Mephiston's sight, disappearing to an unknown location.
Only Mephiston and a group of Blood Angels were left standing dumbfounded in the empty ship's cabin.
"Sir, what should we do next?" Gaius asked from the side.
Mephiston's expression was serious, and he shook his head slightly, saying, "This is no longer something we can decide."
"Report it to Lord Dante, and also send an urgent report to Lord Sanguinius."
"Only the Emperor, the Primarchs, and Lord Saint Doraemon can make a decision on this matter."
"Ah! An attack from the future that destroyed Caliban?"
"Don't worry, that was done by Azrael, the Supreme Grand Master of the Dark Angels Chapter."
On the Light Lord, in Alexander's room, Alexander waved his hand, signaling to Guilliman that there was no need to worry about the attack from the future on Caliban mentioned in Mephiston's report.
This matter was not as complicated as Mephiston thought. There was no enemy launching an attack on the Great Crusade era from the future.
The truth was that under the schemes of Cypher and Typhus, the ouroboros, plagueheart, and the Tuqiaocha Engine, three Old One artifacts, had briefly gathered to some extent not long ago. This directly tore through space-time, opening a rift to Caliban ten thousand years ago, on the day the Lion clashed with Luther.
To close this rift and prevent the Fallen Angels from coming from ten thousand years ago to the present, Azrael launched an attack on the rift, ultimately destroying it. But he also accidentally destroyed Caliban ten thousand years ago.
"..You mean, the Lion's son, the current Chapter Master of the Dark Angels, Azrael, personally destroyed Caliban?" Guilliman's expression was strange, as if he couldn't understand what Alexander was saying.
The real culprit for Caliban's destruction should have been the Lion, right? After all, he ordered the bombardment of Caliban.
Luther also had some responsibility, right? He was the one who first incited the Dark Angels on Caliban to rebel.
Were the Four Gods innocent? This was all their evil scheme.
Holy crap, Azrael got the MVP!?
"Although it's abstract, that's precisely the result. It was Azrael who destroyed Caliban, scattering the Fallen Angels and the Lion into different times and spaces. He also almost killed the Lion... Hmm, this is a very important little secret," Alexander said, nodding.
"We'd better not tell the Lion about this, for Azrael's head's sake," Sanguinius said, shrugging.
Guilliman and Alexander both agreed on this point.
Although, according to Alexander's memory, the old Lion, having now endured the tragedy with Luther and the passage of time, had become much calmer and gentler compared to before.
But this calmness and gentleness were ultimately compared to the Lion of old. The Lion was still the Lion.
If he knew about Azrael's screw-up, it was hard to guarantee that the Lion's flying head punch wouldn't reappear.
"The Lion will eventually discover that the yield of his original bombardment of Caliban was insufficient to destroy a planet."
Guilliman said with some helplessness:
"He is our brother, blessed with an extraordinary mind by our father."
"Then we'll just say Erebus did it," Alexander said, waving his hand.
"Agreed," Sanguinius said, smiling and nodding.
"That's all we can do—do you think Mephiston's accidental discovery of the Lion was a coincidence?" Guilliman asked.
The Lion had always been teleporting randomly across the galaxy. Alexander, Guilliman, and Sanguinius had discovered this before.
The reason they hadn't tried to retrieve the Lion was because Guilliman and Sanguinius unanimously believed that bringing the Lion back and recreating the structure of the Second Imperium was not a good idea.
The psychological trauma left by the Second Imperium was too severe for Guilliman and Sanguinius.
The Lion, Guilliman, and Sanguinius were all exceptional and outstanding Primarchs. They were like scattered stars, but when gathered, they formed a mess like the Second Imperium.
Especially now, with Sanguinius holding the fort in the Imperium's dark side, and no lack of military might, the necessity of the Lion's return was not high.
"Perhaps it was a coincidence, or perhaps Erebus did something?" Alexander asked, raising an eyebrow slightly.
Erebus seemed to have promised Luther something—he wouldn't really be planning to resurrect and corrupt the Lion, would he? Could he really do that?
"I don't think Erebus would be bold enough to try to make the Lion teleport to him," Sanguinius said, shaking his head in denial. "I'll take some people to investigate what Luther is doing—oh, by the way, about the Lion, should we inform the Dark Angels?"
Guilliman and Alexander exchanged glances.
"There's no need!" they said in unison.