In the agony of having her chest pierced through and the chill of death, Gavo abruptly opened her eyes.
It was still deep night, and for some reason she was inside her own tent.
Her memory of what happened before sleep was blurry, and she had no mind to dig through it.
She gasped for breath in great lungfuls, while sweat soaked through the clothes on her back.
Her adoptive father had once told her a story about prophecy.
Two Primarchs had both foreseen their own deaths, yet their attitudes toward those prophecies had been completely different.
And now, her long-dormant psychic gift had suddenly given her a similar vision.
Hearing a story was one thing.
Living through it yourself was another.
Now that she had personally faced a vision of certain death, her heart was nowhere near as calm as she had once imagined it would be.
Gavo clenched her fists hard.
Her dream had not yet been fulfilled. Her life in this world had not even truly begun.
How could she possibly accept dying like this?
"Damn it, what exactly is that symbol?!"
Gavo desperately tried to remember what those eight blood roads represented, but no matter how hard she pushed herself to recall, she still could not break through that strange fog over her memories.
That fog had troubled her for a very, very long time. She had always assumed it would fade as she grew older.
But only now did she realize that the mist covering the depths of her mind had not weakened in the slightest.
It had actually been growing stronger.
That was a terrifying thought, because before this moment, she had never once noticed that there was anything abnormal about it.
What exactly was it?
What memories had it hidden from her?
Why was it doing this?
And why had she never noticed anything wrong before?
All those questions erupted at once, but Gavo could not answer a single one of them.
Fear of the unknown was humanity's oldest instinct.
And now, that fear, combined with the suffocating weight of the death prophecy, raged through Gavo's heart like a storm.
Just as she was beginning to sink into panic, a hand gently rested on her back.
When she turned her bewildered, helpless eyes toward it, a warm and gentle gaze, like winter sunlight, tore through the uneasy night and shone over Gavo's frightened soul like the brightest star in the sky.
In order to protect her adoptive father during their campaigns, Gavo had always slept in the same tent as him.
The moment she woke from her dream of death in a panic, he immediately sensed her distress.
He had no idea what Gavo had experienced, nor did he possess any extraordinary power like emotional visualization.
But through more than ten years of knowing her, he could tell the shift in her state of mind just from the change in her breathing.
And right now, Gavo was radiating the strongest fear he had ever felt from her.
That fear was so dense it was like a web of despair, wrapping around the once-unshakable heart of his daughter.
He had known from the time Gavo was very young that she was different, and because of that, he had never once interfered with her growth. He had always given his love in silence, like spring rain nourishing everything without a sound.
After he fell into his long sleep, Gavo had grown at an extraordinary pace, until she became the current leader of the Tearblood Gang's First Warband.
He understood that he could never provide the proper guidance for a fledgling eagle destined to soar across the sky.
But if that eagle was trapped in the drying marsh of fate, then he would throw himself forward without hesitation and become the harbor that sheltered her from storm and wind.
"My child, tell me, what happened to you?"
Under the dim moonlight, he propped up his crippled body and signed the question with a gentle expression.
Gavo was silent for a long while before finally speaking in a hoarse voice.
"I dreamed of my own death, Father."
"It felt so real that even after waking, it still presses on my back like the heaviest of stones, so heavily that even my soul feels suffocated by it..."
"I'm afraid. I still haven't fulfilled your hopes for me, Father. I don't want to die..."
Seeing the dark mist of fear thick around Gavo, the gentle tenderness in his eyes filled with infinite pity.
He could tell that her fear of death had already settled deep in her heart, to the point that even the light in her eyes, which had never once wavered before, was now flickering beneath that shadow.
"Tell me, child. What did the death you saw look like?"
When Gavo saw that question, the hopeless near-death sensation from her dream surged through her body again, making her tremble.
After a long pause, she took a deep breath and slowly described the details of the death dream.
"I saw ruins burning with fire. I saw a crimson pillar of light stabbing up into the sky. I saw an attack coming from above... and I saw a symbol so evil it made my skin crawl."
She had thought that revisiting her death would be painful, but after pouring out that despair to her father, she found herself feeling strangely lighter.
Her adoptive father looked at her, reached out, and removed her mask, then gently stroked that lovely face, which was filled with confusion and fear.
The baby she once had been had now grown into a spirited young girl. Perhaps because of all the fighting, the hard, masculine edge in Gavo's face had become more pronounced over the years.
But no matter what, in his eyes, she was still a child.
Her father slowly opened his arms and offered her his embrace.
This mutant man's arms were neither powerful nor strong, and his embrace was neither broad nor especially warm.
But it would always be Gavo's haven.
Gavo, who had lived two lives, originally wanted to hold herself back just a little, but she discovered that she could not suppress the urge to throw herself into her father's arms.
Like a wounded little beast, she curled herself into his embrace.
He removed the crude Aquila badge from around his neck and held it tightly in his palm, then began praying silently in his heart just as he had done in countless ordinary daily prayers before.
"Great God-Emperor, You are the bright light that illuminates the road before mankind, the blade that cuts through the darkness of the world. I beg You to hear the plea of Your lowliest servant."
"I know that I will never be able to serve You in this life, but I firmly believe that my child will become one of Your arms."
"May You grant her mercy. May You show her compassion. Please give her a brighter road ahead."
"I am willing to give up everything, if only You will answer the prayer of one as low as dust..."
As her father prayed in silence, Gavo's heart gradually calmed down.
His embrace was bony and cold from years of pain and hardship, yet to Gavo it was the warmest, most comfortable place in the world.
Even without opening her eyes, she could sense that she was surrounded by those golden spheres from her father, the ones that represented pure love.
Beneath their light, the fearful darkness wrapped around her heart gradually began to fade.
Her breathing, once hurried, slowly softened and became steady.
Once the panic in her heart ebbed away, sleep came chasing after her again.
And just before she slipped back into dreams, she seemed to hear her father speak aloud in a faint whisper.
"You'll be alright, my child."
"I promise you."
(End of Chapter)
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