"Father, I swear I was only observing."
"You were swimming."
"I was conducting experiential research."
"You attempted to befriend a warp predator."
"…it looked friendly."
Horus watched in silence as the Emperor held a chess piece between two fingers, his expression colder than the void between stars.
Horus had seen battle rage, orbital bombardments, and the annihilation of entire civilizations.
He had never seen his father look like this.
The Emperor was tired.
Very tired.
Long ago, he had discovered Magnus wandering the Warp. At first, their conversations had been enlightening. Magnus possessed prodigious intellect and limitless curiosity. The Emperor had explained the Immaterium's dangers, its predatory intelligences, and its corrosive influence.
Magnus had listened attentively.
Agreed.
Shown admirable restraint.
Then, the moment the Emperor withdrew his attention, Magnus resumed his explorations — diving deeper, experimenting with projection forms, attempting to map non-Euclidean currents…
…and at one point, attempting to greet what he described as a "magnificent astral leviathan."
The Emperor had decided that this required intervention.
Immediate intervention.
Prospero — City of Tizca
Magnus felt it before the sky changed.
He rose abruptly from his seat.
"My father approaches," he said.
The scholars around him froze.
Servitors halted mid-task.
Psykers across the city looked upward as if sensing a pressure change in reality itself.
Prospero was a world of psykers, scholars, and seekers of knowledge — a fragile civilization besieged for generations by warp predators known as psychneuein, creatures that preyed upon psychic minds.
Magnus had not merely defended Tizca.
He had saved Prospero.
He had hunted the predators across the desert wastes, sealed breaches in reality, unified rival factions, and transformed the city into a beacon of learning.
Now that beacon awaited its maker.
Arrival
The sky burned with impossible light.
Auroras rippled across the atmosphere.
Reality seemed to bow.
The Emperor descended.
Magnus stared in awe. He had imagined his father's psychic presence countless times.
Reality exceeded imagination.
The Emperor approached him.
And embraced him.
Nearby, Yuki watched with quiet surprise.
The Emperor did not embrace lightly.
Magnus's eyes widened.
His spine protested.
Before he could speak, the Emperor's voice sounded directly within his mind:
If I find you wandering unsupervised in the Warp again, you will regret it.
Magnus wilted instantly.
Perhaps restraint had merit.
He stepped away and immediately reached toward Yuki.
"Sister! I am Magnus! At last we meet!"
The Emperor released him.
Magnus nearly collapsed to one knee in his enthusiasm.
"I have heard so much about you."
Yuki smiled.
"And I about you."
Magnus brightened.
"What did Father say about me?"
She leaned closer, seized his collar, and bent him forward slightly.
"He said if I catch you wandering in the Warp," she whispered, "I may break your legs."
Magnus froze.
"…may I remain on Prospero?"
Yuki silently pointed toward the Emperor.
Magnus swallowed.
"I was joking."
Reunion of Brothers
"Brother, you are enormous!" Magnus exclaimed.
Vulkan chuckled.
"I thought myself the largest among us."
Magnus lifted his chin proudly.
"Oh, not at all. You are impressive in both stature and musculature."
Yuki suppressed laughter.
Magnus was not naturally the tallest.
But after learning his brothers' heights, he had adjusted his physical projection to match.
Scholarly pride was a powerful motivator.
Fulgrim joined the conversation eagerly. This new brother was lively, articulate, and intellectually stimulating — a refreshing contrast to Dorn's granite stoicism and Guilliman's administrative precision.
Magnus listened hungrily to stories of campaigns and victories, subtly steering discussion toward the Warp — the Great Ocean, as Prospero's scholars called it.
He hoped to elevate their understanding.
Instead, he encountered polite discomfort.
Guilliman listened but did not engage.
Vulkan nodded without enthusiasm.
Fulgrim changed subjects.
Russ watched with narrowed eyes.
Finally Guilliman spoke carefully:
"Brother… did our sister speak to you of the dangers?"
Magnus smiled with serene confidence.
"She did. But I assure you, nothing within the Great Ocean could deceive me."
Malcador, standing nearby, steadied Yuki psychically as she nearly collapsed from restrained exasperation.
The Imperium no longer persecuted psykers as blindly as it once had — Yuki had ensured that — but caution remained universal.
And Magnus radiated reckless curiosity.
The Fifteenth Legion
The gathered Primarchs were curious.
The Fifteenth Legion had remained absent from major campaigns.
Small.
Secluded.
Psychically active.
Official explanations cited genetic instability and the need for containment.
Unofficially, they were a mystery.
Today that mystery would end.
Gene Vaults of Prospero
Magnus stood before rows of sealed stasis cylinders.
Silver.
Silent.
Watching.
"Sister… these are my sons?"
"Of course," Yuki replied.
He studied them carefully.
"They feel… altered."
Not impure.
But changed.
He was not wrong.
After Terra's unification, Yuki's earliest genetic reforms targeted the instability that plagued Magnus's gene-line. Warp resonance, psychic overload, and mutation cascades threatened the Legion's viability.
Solutions had failed.
Succeeded.
Failed again.
Tzeentch's interference was not subtle.
Finally, the Emperor intervened directly.
Each gene-seed carried a psychic stabilizing imprint — subtle, precise, and resilient.
The resulting Astartes possessed:
enhanced psychic control
increased Warp resistance
improved stability thresholds
Selection standards were extreme.
Every aspirant underwent exhaustive psychic screening, indoctrination, and exposure conditioning to ensure resilience against Warp predation.
They knew the truth.
They feared it.
They would never worship it.
They were not merely psykers.
They were safeguards.
Yuki's first restraint upon Magnus's curiosity.
She winked at one of the armored figures.
Two Astartes burst forward and dropped to their knees, each seizing one of Magnus's legs.
"Father!" cried Ahzek Ahriman, acting commander of the Legion.
"We have awaited you!"
His twin brother Ormuzd clung to the other leg dramatically.
"A child without a father is like a star without light!"
Magnus looked desperately at Yuki.
She patted his shoulder.
"If you refuse them, I can find another Primarch."
"No!"
Ahriman looked up in horror.
"Father, do not abandon us!"
Magnus exhaled.
"I do not abandon you. I am… pleased to meet you."
Relief erupted.
Magnus turned slowly.
His brothers watched in silence.
Oh no.
This was profoundly embarrassing.
Across the chamber, several Primarchs shared the same thought:
Thank Terra they are not mine.
Vulkan, however, watched with warm approval.
"What a moving reunion," he murmured.
Magnus leaned toward him.
"Would you like to adopt them?"
Vulkan smiled politely.
"I must decline."
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