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He could see the subtle change in the eyes of the Emperor when the Omnissiah presented his words and Sanguiniussupported it. It was not that he failed to expect it, for the Emperor knew so many possibilities at this very moment that could happen. What stunned him was that his two favored sons, TalOS and Sanguineous, were also going against his word.
“Why?” He asked simply, for he valued them enough to hear their pleas.
The Omnissiah stepped up, seeing as he was the one who placed the issue forward to the Emperor, “Fulgrim and Lorgar both hate me with the same spite that I now hate them. They had wrecked a bloody toll upon not only my people, my realm, but my friends. So many sacrifices, so many souls lost, and I know the name of every one of them.”
TalOS looked at his father with a focused glare as he spoke his thesis, “I wish to deliver my Vengeance to them.”
The Emperor understood. He did. Did he place enough value in the words of his son that remained to be seen. His ire turned towards Sanguinius with the unspoken suggestion to speak came across his visage.
The Angel looked solemn for a moment, his eyes looking across the people within the room to study them. It was like a child about ready to spill an embarrassing secret in front of his friends. It was far more damning than that though.
“Father,” The Primarch of the Blood Angels spoke firmly, “I have always seen it ever since I was but a boy. Only when I joined the Great Crusade did I gain understanding of my Vision. Now, I have been illuminated by it. I am to die at the hands of Horus.”
The Emperor was, beyond all things, saddened upon hearing those words.
“I am to take the place of TalOS upon the spearhead strike of the Vengeful Spirit. If I am not there to die by the hands of Horus then you will not kill him Father. Horus will survive so that he can kill me.” Sanguiniusannounced, “Sacrifice me so that the Imperium Survives.”
Selflessness was the trait of a martyr. The Omnissiah, TalOS, could understand just how powerful of a statement that one made would be. He would remember it and he would make the Mechanicus also remember it. To remember the sacrifice of the one who saved the Imperium.
“Do so.” The Emperor spoke with a firm voice, but his soul was never so divorced from the words he spoke.
