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TalOS took a moment and thought to himself. His thoughts were in the clouds as he tried to find a way to repay this man for his error. It was a hard thought since TalOS did not have anything that was directly equal to this man’s brother.
After all, it would be similar to TalOS’s loss of Particep Semper or UZ1. This was a person who could truly be called a brother and a friend who helped them through thick and thin. What was TalOS to give for that?
The answer became simple, “Ahriman, if there is ever a time that you need my assistance, that you can do so without fear of recourse or repayment.”
Ahriman looked up with concern laced in his face, “You… a favor of that grandeur is not befitting of someone of my rank. I may be helping Magnus these days, but I am still an Astartes.”
TalOS took in a breath and released the breath, “I made an agreement, a vow, to heal your brother. I failed in that. It is because of my failure that he is dead. Thus, so I can have penance for the actions which led to that outcome that I grant you this boon.”
It was then that TalOS noticed the chance in Ahriman’s eyes. That he understood the blight that TalOS spoke of and the issues that came of it. It was an odd look of a man somehow understanding a Primarch like TalOS on a deeper level.
He understood that TalOS grieved for him and his brother.
“It… I thank you for this boon in the memory of my brother. Know that I will only call upon you in the moment that my brother would have.” Ahriman said as he placed a hand upon his chest in the symbol of Unification, “I guarantee you this, TalOS.”
“Good.” TalOS rose to his full height with the will of the Motive Force within his veins, “I can only pray that your brother’s soul for it is now the Warp’s.”
TalOS noticed a small discomfort with Ahriman for him to speak the next few words, “It's all I can do as well now.”
The Priest easily caught the meaning of the words said there, thus showing to the Primarch an issue that he knew was in the Imperial Truth. You can align with it during the times when things are good, but it does not answer what is a truth of the Universe that the Mechanicum knows.
The state of one’s own soul. That it does not need to face the oblivion of the Warp. Prayer, if to the Machine God, might grant one of the safety the Machine God gives.
