Space War: City of Light.

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restia, Arx A

ged from reliquaries and scriptoria, their voices raised in memory of a fallen Lord. Ivory masks gleamed under crimson robes and as the procession moved slo

s, his body twisted as he drove a spear into a writhing serpent. The Blood Angels were resplendent in full battle-plate, carrying newly stitched banners and freshly painted honour markings. A precession wa

a flame, his armour a blaze of golden ceramite. His mask was a likeness of Sanguinius and as he strode from the shadows there was no sign of the trials that had recently bef

n the middle distance, but where the Chapter Master looked noble in his flawless mask, Mephiston's face was cold and defiant, as though daring the congregation to look his way. His hair trailed behind him, so fair it was almost white and his features were a sharp caricature of the usual Blood Angels countenance. He bore all the hallmarks – impo

rought iron limbs and an ivory mask like those worn by the blood thralls. The servitor was borne and frail, mecha

hem as members of Mephiston's inner circle, the Quorum Empyrric. The first of them was a young blond woman, who had the looks of the Primarch. Her armour was deep crimson and black ceramite with a gold trim and polished to such a sheen that it looked slick. Her shoul

s gilded as his chapter master. His tightly cropped hair and beard were silver-grey and his eyes were like sapphires, gleaming mementos of long years gazing into t

l version of the Chapter's angelic beauty were it not for the mass of scar tissue that covered one whole side of it. He had

brutal-looking collection of chainblades and drills that Albinus used to save his fallen brothers when he could, and to harvest their valuable gene-seed when he could not. The assembled blood thralls glanced at Albinus with almost as much awe as Dante and Mephiston. During the recent attacks on Baal, it was Albinus who had been tasked with protecting the Chapters gene-seed

of armour roused Mephiston from his reverie and he realised how far his mind had wandered from Baal. He forced himself to focus. His

dy was laid out in state: a Blood Angel, divested of his armour but unmistaka

dicer Peloris died month ago and the surgery had been preformed moments after death, while the progenoid gland was still warm. Albinus moved the shroud slightly and a

their knees, clasping their hands in prayer. Dante took a book from a thrall and flicked through the pages until his h

angely through the sepulchre. "You knew Codicer P

uded corpse, still lost in thought. He loo

remonies. And it is now many months since Peloris and the o

Dante's way. Incredibly, despite everything that had taken place during their recent campaigns,

um and warp-born horrors. But it was not xenos that had killed Peloris. Nor was it daemonic hosts. It was Mephiston. When the moment came, when the chapter had most needed him, the C

ance, the tech-priests of Mars given him and Mariah a new chance at redemption – a second rebirth. Everyone believed the process a resounding success. Only Mephiston and Mariah understood wha

tched hi

s eyes but before he could speak, Mephiston Placed his hand on Peloris' shroud a

ead and his memory was faultless. He held Dante's gaze as he spoke but he could feel the others watching him, waiting to see is he would falter. With each line his voic