Alexander reviewed all records concerning Mon-keigh in the Black Library and directly questioned Cegorach, who had witnessed those events firsthand. With these fragmented pieces of information, Alexander finally pieced together the true picture of what happened.
The reason Mon-keigh appeared so abruptly in the Aeldari's history was because they indeed suddenly emerged in the galaxy after the War in Heaven. The Aeldari knew nothing of this species' origins, but the subsequent accounts differed from what was stated in Aeldari history.
Mon-keigh were recorded in Aeldari history as having invaded Aeldari territory, but the truth was that the Aeldari's so-called territory encompassed the entire 'galaxy.' At that time, the Aeldari regarded the galaxy as one of the legacies left to them by the Old Ones. The Mon-keigh, who suddenly appeared in the galaxy and began collecting resources and energy, were thus considered invaders by the Aeldari.
So, the Aeldari launched a sneak attack on the Mon-keigh.
And then, shamefully, lost the battle.
According to Cegorach, this was mainly because the Mon-keigh had mastered a peculiar technology that controlled and suppressed the Warp.
This technology could extract the Psyker energy of one or a group of psyker, forming a kind of psyker collective Psyker entity that automatically suppressed Warp reactions within a certain area.
This technology was a direct blow to the Aeldari's lifeline; even the Aeldari Gods could only watch helplessly as the Aeldari were beaten, unable to break through that technology to intervene.
This technology gave Alexander a strong sense of déjà vu, feeling that it was somehow related to the technology of the Golden Throne. The Emperor also provided information that the Dragon States had indeed contributed significantly to the development of the Golden Throne's technology.
At the same time, Alexander clearly remembered that there was a similar machine on the CNSA's colony, Dawn Star, and it was precisely by relying on that device that they survived the Old Night unscathed.
Furthermore, the Aeldari were not massacred by the Mon-keigh at that time. According to records from that period, the Aeldari were merely captured and forced to work by the Mon-keigh.
According to the notes of the Aeldari who worked for the Mon-keigh, the Aeldari had to start work at nine in the morning and finish at nine in the evening, working twelve hours a day, six or more days a week. Their contact methods could not be turned off for 24 hours, and they were always on standby for work. All promised high-temperature subsidies turned into two bottles of Huoxiang Zhengqi water. From time to time, Mon-keigh leaders would also occupy their off-duty hours to hold morning meetings, evening meetings, weekly meetings, and summary meetings, constantly hyping up and making grand promises to the Aeldari.
This was absolutely the Dragon States!
Through the Aeldari's tearful notes from that time, Alexander could almost smell the scent of home.
So now, it seems the true situation should be that the Dragon States, at the end of the Unification Wars, migrated their entire civilization to the past through some means, briefly stopping in the period after the War in Heaven, and then continued migrating to an even more distant past.
Alexander was convinced that the period after the War in Heaven was not the Dragon States' final destination because, in Aeldari records, the Mon-keigh's disappearance was as sudden as their arrival.
The Dragon States must have only made a brief stop at that point in time to collect resources and energy. The Aeldari were essentially asking for trouble, insisting on provoking them, and ended up serving as their beasts of burden for so many years.
However, it's also clear that the Dragon States left a considerable psychological scar on the Aeldari. Even after so many years, any mention of Mon-keigh still evokes descriptions of brutality, savagery, and cannibalism.
Thus, Alexander, Cegorach, Cawl, and the Emperor merged Human and Aeldari technology to create an instrument capable of sending messages to the past.
The flaw in this instrument was that the recipient needed to have sufficient understanding of the Warp and the nature of spacetime to capture the message from the torrents of time and the Warp.
They hoped that the Dragon States possessed such technology. They appealed to the Dragon States for help. Cegorach sent an entire dramatic piece describing the current tragedy of the galaxy, the Emperor wrote a lengthy letter, and Alexander hoped the Dragon States would help a 'fellow countryman.' Eventually, they did receive a reply.
"We await at the beginning of the universe, time, and space, awaiting the end of the universe, time, and space."
"We await heat death and rebirth, awaiting the cultivation of new gardens."
"Do not long for old friends or old lands; instead, try new tea with new fire. Enjoy poetry and wine while youth lasts."
"Attached with the reply: Homecoming Plan (1.0).pdf, Homeland Plan (2.0).pdf."
Based on the Dragon States' reply, Alexander roughly understood what the Dragon States intended to do.
They had indeed migrated to the past, all the way back to the very beginning of the universe's birth.
At that time, the real universe, like the Warp, was filled only with pure energy, and the entire universe was in an extremely hot state, where only nascent C'tan existed. They could not even be called 'existing' because it was difficult to distinguish the environment of the universe at that time from the individual C'tan.
This era had no beings with souls, the connection with the Warp was extremely weak, and reality was more robust than in any subsequent era.
The Dragon States built a pocket universe there and gathered all the psyker, using that technology similar to the Golden Throne to sever their direct connection with the Warp, ensuring that the Warp's influence on that era was minimized.
However, this technology could only allow the Dragon States themselves to escape, because if too many people arrived in that era, and the 'candle flame' of souls became too conspicuous, it would cause the Warp's influence on reality to rise to a level similar to Humanity's 40th Millennium.
In fact, this Homecoming Plan was only a temporary one. The Dragon States' true intention was, on the theoretically approaching day of cosmic heat death and rebirth, to push the new reality away from the Warp in the instant before the birth of the material universe, when reality and the Warp had no contact whatsoever, and rebuild a world without Warp influence within it.
In other words, the Dragon States could not offer any help to Humanity's 40th Millennium.
By this point, they had already expended too much time and energy on the Dragon States.
The Golden Throne was on the verge of its limits, and the Emperor was almost unable to bear the increasingly strong desires for self-destruction.
But it doesn't matter.
This is just a dream.
Alexander told himself this, watching the universe be consumed by the Dark King's ascending black flames, stars falling, suns extinguishing, with only a black sun hanging high in the Warp.
Ultimately, the galaxy was destroyed, the universe fell silent, and all things returned to death.
But Alexander could continue to try.
A thousand times, two thousand times, three thousand times, five thousand times, ten thousand times, fifteen thousand times, twenty thousand times.
More and more dreams flashed before Alexander. Again and again, he watched the Dark King ascend, watched everything in the universe perish in fire, until finally, only that black sun in the void watched him as he entered the next dream.
The long dream was boundless; he became increasingly skilled. Gradually, he drew closer and closer to the goal he desired, to that answer.
The twenty-two thousand two hundred twenty-first dream.
This time, Alexander made no choice.
He paid no attention to the Necron, nor the Tyranids, nor the Emperor.
He went to a Paradise World he had carefully selected over these twenty thousand-plus dreams, lay on the soft grass of this planet, and stared blankly at the clouds drifting across the sky.
He had chosen this Paradise World long ago, but in over twenty thousand dreams, only after experiencing the most difficult, arduous, and headache-inducing dreams would he come to this Paradise World, attempting to live out a dream peacefully and stably.
Of course, those attempts at living in seclusion on a Paradise World ultimately did not yield good results.
Finally.
Twenty-two thousand two hundred twenty times, he felt he was very close to that answer.
The last few dreams had already helped him find the final pieces of information needed to obtain that answer.
He could clearly sense that in the next dream, he would get that answer.
But was that answer truly what he wanted?
Even if he got this answer, would he necessarily be able to save this galaxy?
Reality is not a dream; there are no do-overs.
Even knowing the answer, if he made even one small mistake, if even a tiny butterfly effect occurred, everything could fall apart.
And this answer, once the first step was taken, was almost irreversible.
Why did it have to be him?
Why couldn't it be someone more excellent than him?
Sanguinius? Guilliman? Lion?
But these had all been tried in dreams.
Only Alexander could seek that answer; Alexander himself was an indispensable part of that answer.
Not because he could do it so well, but because it could only be him, only him.
Others could only prolong their suffering but could not change the outcome of the Dark King's ascension.
At this moment, lying on this lawn, Alexander understood the Emperor like never before.
But no matter what decision he made upon waking, since Alexander had already had over twenty thousand dreams, he naturally still had to go and get that answer.
So, he peacefully lived out a lifetime on this Paradise World, for the first time.
Perhaps it was the Emperor's blessing, or perhaps fate had finally shown him some favor.
But if he did nothing, the outcome would naturally not change.
He stood on the burning grass, watching the Dark King of this dream be born, watching the black sun hang above the Warp and reality.
He watched as billions upon billions of Human corpses lifted that black sun high, and within the black sun was the shattered body of the Emperor.
The Emperor burned fiercely, wailing and roaring. He was the Dark King, and also the sacrifice for the Dark King's birth.
He was the first person to die in the galaxy, and also the last person to die in the galaxy.
He gazed at Alexander, seemingly asking if Alexander had found the answer.
Alexander calmly turned around, allowing the consuming flames of destruction to engulf him.
But it doesn't matter.
It's just a dream.
The galaxy was destroyed, the universe fell silent, and all things returned to death.
Alexander could still try.
The twenty-two thousand two hundred twenty-second dream.
This time, he chose