The magnificent giant ship rumbled softly, which was nothing short of a small earthquake for the pilgrims within.
The Far Voyage Pilgrimage was not a particularly excellent ship.
It was not a nimble Luna-class cruiser, nor a magnificent Universe-class super transport, nor a secretive Rogue Trader cruiser, nor a luxury Ambition-class cruiser exclusive to the wealthy; it was just an ordinary cargo transport.
Cheap, inexpensive, and unremarkable, it appeared so tiny and insignificant in the galaxy.
Even among other cargo transports, the Far Voyage Pilgrimage seemed so crude and common.
When Greylina was still a Macragge noble, she had traveled among the stars on more luxurious ships, visiting those paradise or feudal worlds for brief stays.
But after Sanguinius rescued her from the clutches of the Arch-Pillager and preached the glory of Saint Doraemon to her, she had donated all her wealth, dedicating herself to the fervent faith in Saint Doraemon.
Greylina was one of the initial organizers of the Saint Doraemon Church; she used her savings to build the first temple dedicated to Saint Doraemon, and it was she who, on that quiet night, listened to the teachings of Saint Doraemon beneath his magnificent statue.
Greylina did not regret abandoning her noble status and property; on this dilapidated but faith-filled ship, Greylina felt far more satisfied than she ever had on a luxurious starship.
She piously cupped one hand into a circle, touched it to the ship's hull, and whispered a prayer:
"Twenty-two praises to your name, Saint Doraemon, you were born in humanity's pure and noble twenty-second century, you are the wielder of all machines, the hope brought by miraculous tools, and original power of the Omnissiah's triple mystery."
"I implore you for the most imperceptible fragment of your magnificent power, to soothe this trembling ship."
Hearing Greylina's prayer, the other pilgrims around her, clad in burlap, also knelt and quietly joined Greylina in prayer.
As Greylina prayed, the trembling, dilapidated ship slowly calmed, and the machine spirit within emitted faint pleasure and excitement.
At the same time, Greylina felt a dizzy spell.
A dream, she seemed to sink into a profound, great dream.
" 22,214 dreams."
" Deceptive, ever-changing anti-Warp field reversal."
" Void Dragon... complete apotheosis."
" Dark King born."
" Failure, retrying, beginning."
Fragmented whispers echoed in Greylina's ears.
She did not understand those sounds; the whispers seemed to be murmuring to themselves in some ancient language.
But Greylina knew whose dream she was perceiving... Saint Doraemon's phantom dream.
Saint Doraemon, a great being walking among mortals, he claimed not to be a god, just like the Emperor of old.
When humble believers prayed to him with sincerity, they could always perceive his presence, and a fervent hope would surge in their hearts, and when the most dangerous moments arrived, Saint Doraemon would even emerge himself from a pinkish-red wooden door to save his poor believers.
But then, at some point in the past, prayers could no longer perceive Saint Doraemon's clear, bright, and humorous will; only a series of long phantom dreams could be felt.
In those dreams, Saint Doraemon seemed to be repeating and wandering again and again, searching for an answer again and again, but in the end, all he found was a profound darkness and the annihilation of everything.
And Saint Doraemon himself had never reappeared in reality.
Even the most sincere prayers or the most dangerous situations could not summon Saint Doraemon; Saint Doraemon's avatar, Nobita, occasionally appeared, but besides him, only a tall hooded man would lead a group of equally hooded, mysterious Astartes to eradicate evil in the name of Doraemon and the Emperor.
This, of course, caused panic; countless devout believers sobbed in the deep night, like poor children without their parents.
They all thought of an incredibly sad possibility.
Saint Doraemon had embarked on a path similar to the Emperor's; he had disappeared into the galaxy, no longer walking among mortals himself, no longer present with all beings.
This possibility caused countless believers to wail in fear, dreading that they had made the same mistake as people ten thousand years ago, forcing Saint Doraemon to sacrifice himself for humanity.
Until Archmagos Belisarius Cawl and members of the Adeptus Mechanicus wandered the galaxy, bringing the holy decree to believers across the stars.
Saint Doraemon had merely fallen into a temporary slumber; he sought the answer to saving the galaxy and humanity in a long dream.
The day he awoke would be the day he returned with that answer, the day hope was rekindled in the galaxy.
He would one day awaken; humanity only needed to be full of hope and wait, without fear, without panic, Saint Doraemon would never abandon his believers.
But as a high-ranking member of the Saint Doraemon Church, as one of its initial founders and one of the earliest believers to receive divine revelation from Saint Doraemon, Greylina had the privilege of boarding the Explorer King and personally meeting Archmagos Belisarius Dora Cawl.
In that vast laboratory, Greylina saw a host of Adeptus Mechanicus Archmagos, Mars Fabricator-General Oudia, and Archmagos Belisarius Dora.
At that time, these priests of the Adeptus Mechanicus were buried amidst a large number of wires, pinkish-red wood, and stacks of blueprints, their faces simultaneously filled with exhaustion, pain, and extreme euphoria. Although it sounds strange to describe it this way, Greylina once knew some extremely debauched nobles, and the expressions those nobles wore after a seven-day and seven-night silver party were pretty much like that.
Greylina had seen Archmagos Belisarius Dora Cawl's figure from afar a few times; even then, his figure was extremely inhuman.
But whether it was an illusion or not, the Archmagos Greylina saw on the Explorer King seemed even uglier than before.
Even when conversing with Greylina, Archmagos Belisarius Dora Cawl did not look up from the wires and wood, only muttering to Greylina that Saint Doraemon would return.
Greylina actually understood Archmagos Belisarius Dora Cawl very well.
She had read the Doraemon Holy Scripture every day and night, and this scripture contained the Belisarius Book, personally written by Archmagos Belisarius Cawl.
That Belisarius Book expounded on Belisarius Dora Cawl's thoughts, full of his views on technology, intelligence, and innovation, but what most influenced the entire church was the phrase: "When our Lord descends to the mortal world, walking as a man, and declares 'I am not a god,' we should only faithfully believe, for what the Lord says is truth."
This passage greatly influenced the Saint Doraemon Church, making it distinctly different from the Adeptus Ministorum.
One example is that when someone says the Emperor is a god, Adeptus Ministorum believers would say it is self-evident, a matter of course.
But when someone says Saint Doraemon is a god, Saint Doraemon believers would cup their hands into circles, clap them on the idiot's face, and demand, "Who are you calling a god? Who are you calling a god?! Who are you calling a god!!"
Greylina fully understood the wisdom in Archmagos Belisarius Dora Cawl's guidance.
Believers should fully believe what their object of faith says; if the object of faith claims not to be a god, then when the object of faith states he is not a god, then whatever the god says, that's what it is.
But this time, when Archmagos Belisarius Dora Cawl mentioned that Saint Doraemon would eventually return, there was an imperceptible hesitation in his tone.
Greylina keenly noticed that hesitation; furthermore, she felt the fear in Archmagos Belisarius Dora Cawl's soul.
Even this Archmagos was afraid, afraid that Saint Doraemon would not return, afraid that he would fall into the same fate as the Emperor.
Greylina silently left the Explorer King; she did not speak of the fear she had felt from Archmagos Belisarius Dora Cawl but instead declared to the believers that Saint Doraemon would eventually return, and hope would endure.
Then she herself boarded this Far Voyage Pilgrimage, embarking on a pilgrimage to Terra.
The situation in the Warp was very bad now; cargo ships like the Far Voyage Pilgrimage could only cross the stars with repeated short-distance Warp journeys.
Although not like those pilgrimage ships without even Warp Engines, which required decades of generations to complete a pilgrimage, it still required a lifetime of travel.
How long had Greylina been on her journey?
Ten years? It must have been longer than that.
Twenty years? Perhaps it had passed.
Thirty years? Maybe even more.
They had drifted in the Warp so many times that they had long lost their basic concept of time.
And the hardships endured during this process were even harder to describe.
If not for having traveled with the Cadia 184th Regiment for some days in the most chaotic Warp,
if not for the sudden mist that drifted when genestealers attacked, with hooded figures emerging from the mist to banish evil,
if not for the respect the Aeldari pirates showed due to the faith in Saint Doraemon when they encountered them,
if not for coincidentally meeting the polite and elegant Phoenix Son Chapter when they were almost attacked by a Chaos warband,
the Far Voyage Pilgrimage would probably have disappeared among the stars long ago.
They truly had to thank the loyalists who had helped them along the way, and thank Saint Doraemon and the Emperor for their protection.
After a long journey, they finally arrived at Terra.
Greylina's body trembled slightly as she looked at the planet before her with inexpressible emotion.
At first glance, this planet was unremarkable; from the perspective of the entire galaxy, the Third Arm where she was located was a remote place.
But at this moment, this planet was the center of every star map; this planet was made great by human expansion, from the Sol System to the Five Hundred Worlds, from Baal to Macragge, every human praised the glory of this planet.
"Terra."
A calm smile appeared on Greylina's wrinkled face; she recalled what was recorded in the thickest book of the Doraemon Holy Scripture, the Guilliman Book: when Saint Doraemon stood on the Moon, looking at Terra, he once said,
"By the time Terra is rediscovered, humanity will be far removed from the form of its ancestors."
And in the Doraemon Holy Scripture: Sanguinius Book, the Archangel commented on this sentence:
"And at this time, the sun was in its prime."
The sun's radiance shone on the Far Voyage Pilgrimage, and it also shone on Greylina's face.
Just as it had, four tens of thousands of years ago, when it shone on the faces of Greylina's ancestors.