The Emperor sat down in his personal room. The entire place devoid of anything, asides from a massive desk and himself. From out of nowhere, he made a folder appear, with that, he opened the files allowing the first few photos to come out, each marked with a name in red marker.
Alexander the Great
Napolean Bonaparte
Ghandi
Martin Luther King Jr.
Jesus
Muhammad
The names went on. Every single one of them, a great contributor to society, to which then, The Emperor took out his final stack. Many names. All of whom he put to the side.
He finally came to his last one. It wasn't a photo.... rather a painting, or sketch.
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[15,000 years ago, Terran time, 2500 years ago, Equestrian time]
"Greetings, my name is Sigmar, I am a traveler, I am very tired, starving and weak from my travels, will you help me?"
"Cut the act." The alicorn said narrowing her eyes. "You're no traveler."
"Clever." The hooded creature replied throwing off it's cloak. It stood on two legs and was dressed finely for a "traveler". It took about two seconds for Galaxia to deduce that this so-called traveler was actually a god.
Just like her.
"So why do you come here?" Galaxia asked Sigmar as he stood, watching the sunrise. "You've come for something. I know of it."
"I have. What that is, I know not yet." Sigmar replied. "Tell me about yourself, I am sure an immortal has tales to share."
"For a lack of a better term, I am a star god." Galaxia said recalling her birth. "Unlike the others, I was born perhaps, several thousand years ago, and I don't feed off of stars to live."
"I see." The Emperor said. "My story too goes back.... about forty thousand years. I was born when my people needed something that would battle the vile, fledging gods of chaos. They have grown to be a full threat, that the galaxy can no longer ignore."
"The fall of the Eldar is true then?" Galaxia asked.
"Sadly. Not many of them escaped destruction." Sigmar replied. "The fate of the galaxy rests upon our shoulders....."
"What do you mean?"
"Don't play dumb. You know exactly why this world is sealed off from the rest of them, you are the only thing that can make that happen."
"Well.........."
"Anyways, I've devised a method to subdue these devils." The Emperor said holding out a seed, that glowed like a soulstone. "This is the seed that when planted, will grow into the tree of harmony. It's fruit will yield something that will defeat the dark gods, Isha has provided this to me, I searched far and wide for a place that chaos couldn't hope to reach. This is it. The only place that would ever be free of taint. I assure you, it costs nothing to plant a seed in the ground, but something else about it will."
"What is it?"
"I'll tell you later." The future Emperor said. "It's not time yet."
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Galaxia was for lack of a better term, a C'tan. Unlike the rest of the star gods, she wasn't exactly interested in cheating entire worlds of their souls or feeding off of stars, if anything, she made a few of the latter out of sheer will.
Even Sigmar was impressed at that.
The two became fast friends, she was the second divine being he had met, after the Eldar gods whom most, happened to be dead. With his list of allies ever dwindling, The Emperor knew it wouldn't be long before he would have to confront the chaos gods, to do it alone, was something that chilled his soul, yet for odd reasons unknown to him, he felt like it was going to happen.
The two gazed into the warp, it's birth, it's growth and how it became what it is, a dark miasma that poisoned and corrupted. They both hated it. Where Galaxia had decided to hide, Sigmar decided he wanted to kill this thing, or banish it forever.
A strange pair of friends, Galaxia refused to harm any being that got in her way, Sigmar was more than ready to kill at all times. Galaxia could build worlds and make them grow, Sigmar could tear them down in moments with his mind.
"So what's your plan?" Sigmar asked Galaxia as the two sat down by the Equestrian ocean.
"My children will soon be ready. Soon, they will spawn and fill this earth. Their souls, a candle in the darkness of the warp. Free of having to face it's dangers. They will be safe. Forever. This place will be the final bastion, a place where the dark gods would keep away. Your's?"
"They shall be my finest warriors." Sigmar said dreamingly.
"These men who give of themselves to me."
Like clay I shall mould them,
and in the furnace of war forge them.
They will be of iron will and steely muscle.
In great armour shall I clad them
and with the mightiest guns will they be armed.
They will be untouched by plague or disease,
no sickness will blight them.
They will have tactics,
strategies and machines
so that no foe can beat them in battle.
They are my bulwark against the Terror.
They are the Defenders of Humanity.
They are my Space Marines .."
Galaxia chuckled, wondering how this future-tense Emperor of humanity was going to wage his war. She was content on hiding here.
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"Well, it's time." The Emperor said. "You said yesterday you were certain even without you, your children may survive."
"Have you been waiting for this?!" Galaxia snapped. He had stayed with her for a long time, aiding in her hard job of building a race. Always wondering what motivated him to help. Was he going to murder her?
"I have." The Emperor said. "You're not going to like this at all."
Galaxia took a step back, expecting that Sigmar draw his sword and kill her where she stood. He made no such move, in fact, there was something about this. The way he addressed all of this.
He didn't like it either.
"I'll need you. There's something about you that Isha, Khaine, Cegorach and I all lack. Perhaps it's what allowed you to create a race immune to chaos out of thin air. The odds of you surviving.... I don't know. I don't want to know."
"If I refuse, will you attempt to use force upon me?" Galaxia asked. Perfectly recalling the time when Sigmar killed a dragon with as much as a glance. She certainly wasn't a fighter. There would be no way she could resist him.
"No." The Future Emperor said looking at the ground. "If I do that, then we've lost. There'd be no difference between myself or my enemies. I can only ask you. No. Beg of you. To do so. And I would gladly do so on my knees."
"No need. I'll do it." Galaxia said. He truly does do credit of his race. He's a god after all.
"Your actions will humble the most powerful god." Sigmar said as he prepared. "Good luck."
A single tear slid down his cheek.
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You know what was most surprising? Galaxia survived losing a portion of her soul in the process. The better portion as a matter of fact.
Not for long though. She soon found she'd bleed out at one point. Perhaps a thousand years may need to pass before so, but she was on borrowed time.
Sigmar stayed for as long as he could, but he eventually had to leave to take care of his own business.
She had lived a life of almost complete solitude for thousands of years. Yet this new god showed her the way. She was content on teaching it. Life was better with friends.
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[~1000 years ago Equestrian time. Post-Horus heresy.]
"Malcador.... Can you hear me?!" Galaxia shrieked at the top of her lungs as the human's heartbeat began to slow. He managed to cough up what seemed like a few liters of blood before getting back up in a sitting position.
"For now." The sigilite said looking at her swollen belly. "You know..... Harmony is dead. I saw him go down against Discord. The good news, Discord seems to have gotten some brain damage. Good for us."
"Aye, but what can we do now? You're injured, there's no way I am going to be able to battle him like this."
"Well, I am bleeding out anyways, and Harmony just gave his soul to the tree.......... that leaves one last candidate."
The immortal looked at Galaxia's unborn child. He was always special, he never had a father. Which led Malcador to have many speculations. He would be the savior however. That was the only thing he was certain about.
"He will do what needs to be done." Malcador said resolutely. "I will give my soul to him, he will know what has happened, he will gain great power from me as well. You think you can teach him the true way?"
"I'll do my best."
"Good. My fire will be going out soon. I must being."
Malcador had no clue that Galaxia, bleeding out from all this time, would not survive childbirth.
Her last words were heard only by The Emperor.
"I am a god. I can't die."
A stained glass painting would be the only thing left to mourn her.
But hope remained. Gods may not be able to defeat fate.
But could they cheat it?
The Emperor was intent on bringing Galaxia back. No matter the cost.
[You didn't REALLY think that he doesn't have his own stash of souls somewhere?]
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