Chapter 1081: Guilliman and Magnus's Conversation

"It is merely the worry of a father. You face danger on the front lines. Naturally, I will worry."

Jaghatai nodded.

"Rest assured, Father! The White Scars will complete the Task! Once we finish clearing the Fengqi Fleet in this sector, our next target will be their Core World!"

"I believe in you, Jaghatai."

Yingzhou said.

"Now, go execute your Task. Remember my reminder."

"As you command, Father! For Humanity!"

The communication ended.

It seemed that the Jaghatai of this world was completely normal, unaffected by the parallel world version.

This was good news.

But was it temporary? If the two Jaghatais met again, if the corrupted version influenced this version through some means, what would happen?

He had to prepare for the worst.

Xiuluo Holy Star, Star Alliance Administrative District, Archon Corridor.

After the communication with the Emperor ended, Guilliman handled official business in his office for another two hours.

Reports from various star sectors, the final text of the Terrami Agreement, personnel reviews for the observation group, drafts for the administrative structure of newly liberated worlds...

Closing the last data panel, Guilliman leaned back in his chair and rubbed his temples.

Father's behavior today... was not right.

Guilliman's thoughts returned to the communication just now.

Father had masked it well, almost perfectly.

But Guilliman considered himself to know Father very well.

As the father who taught them and accompanied them as they grew up from childhood.

Guilliman could detect those subtle anomalies.

"Mirror Rift... Reality Anomaly... Mortarion encountering an enemy capable of harming a Primarch..."

These fragments of information swirled in Guilliman's mind.

But he possessed too little data.

Moreover, Father clearly did not want to talk more about it.

Guilliman instinctively respected Father's wishes.

If Father chose to conceal certain information, he must have his reasons.

But as a son, as one of the core pillars of the Star Alliance, Guilliman could not help but worry.

Guilliman stood up, left the office, and took a walk along the Archon Corridor.

Hanging on both sides of the corridor were the flags of the Star Alliance and portraits of the Primarchs.

Horus stood majestically under the Luna Wolves flag, Lion stood with his head held high, and Sanguinius's wings seemed to be truly glowing...

Guilliman continued forward and arrived before a door at the end of the corridor.

The door was not locked.

Guilliman pushed it open gently.

Magnus's study: a hall of knowledge and psychic power.

The space behind the door was completely different from Guilliman's concise, efficient, and orderly office.

This was a huge circular room with a diameter of at least fifty meters.

The walls from floor to ceiling were entirely bookshelves, and the shelves were packed with physical books, data chips, Scrolls, stone tablets... recording media of all forms.

Dozens of glowing crystal balls floated in the air, rotating slowly and projecting different images: star maps, mathematical formulas, psychic Runes, biological structure diagrams...

In the center of the room was only a low, circular platform covered with a soft, deep-red carpet.

Magnus was sitting cross-legged on the carpet, with a dozen open books and floating data panels scattered around him.

"Guilliman. I sense you carry confusion. Encountered a difficult problem?"

Guilliman walked into the room, and the door closed silently behind him.

"You can always sense it, Magnus."

Guilliman found a relatively tidy spot on the edge of the carpet and sat down.

"This is my gift, and also my responsibility."

Magnus looked up and closed the ancient book in his hand.

"Insight, understanding, exploration... So, what is troubling you? Has the trade agreement in the Seventh Star Sector encountered problems? Or has some inefficient link appeared in the Star Alliance's bureaucratic system again?"

Guilliman hesitated for a moment.

Was it appropriate to discuss Father's anomaly directly?

But Magnus was not only a brother, but also the one who understood psychic power and mysterious phenomena the best.

If there really was some "Reality Anomaly," Magnus might be able to provide insight.

"I just communicated with Father. I reported on the progress of the agreement with the Terrami. The agreement itself is going smoothly, but..."

"But Father's reaction left you confused. Yes, I felt it too. When reporting to Father, there was a trace of... an abnormal frequency in his psychic fluctuations."

Guilliman's spirits lifted.

"You sensed it too? When did it start?"

Magnus recalled.

"When you were communicating with Father today, the disturbance appeared. Right when you mentioned Mortarion."

Guilliman leaned forward slightly.

"Did you also communicate with Mortarion?"

"No direct communication, but I monitored his psionic signal."

Magnus said.

"About twelve hours ago, an extremely intense psionic event erupted at Mortarion's location.

The intensity reached Primarch-class, and it was... two Primarch-class levels."

Magnus pulled up another set of data.

"Look, these two psionic signatures are almost completely overlapping. One is Mortarion; I am familiar with his frequency. But the other... is very strange. It has the intensity and characteristics of a Primarch, but the 'flavor' is completely different."

Guilliman recalled his father's words.

"Father said that Mortarion encountered an 'abnormally powerful Alien Psionic'."

"Alien Psionic? No, Guilliman. That psionic energy is not Alien. It has the basic structure of a Human Primarch, only... twisted."

Magnus paused, his voice becoming deep.

"What is even stranger is that there is something in that psionic energy I am familiar with. It is as if... I have felt a similar frequency somewhere before."

"Where?"

Guilliman pressed.

Magnus thought for a long time, then slowly shook his head.

"I cannot recall. That frequency seems as though it should not exist in my memory. It belongs to some kind of 'impossible possibility'."

The two fell into Silence.

"Magnus,"

Guilliman finally spoke, saying cautiously.

"If... I mean if, there were some way for an existence from 'other possibilities' to enter our reality... do you think it is possible?"

A gleam of excitement flashed in Magnus's eyes.

"Theoretically, entirely possible. According to my research, reality is not a single, fixed structure, but a... multi-dimensional fabric.

Different possibilities are like different ways of weaving, producing different patterns.

Most of the time, these 'patterns' are isolated, but in certain circumstances, intense psionic activity, spatial anomalies, or the influence of ancient ruins might create temporary 'seams' or 'Rifts'."

Magnus stood up and paced in the study, his robes dragging on the floor.

"Imagine, Guilliman. You made a decision, for example... eating Nutrient Paste instead of fruit for breakfast today. This decision created a branch of possibility: the you who ate Nutrient Paste, and the you who ate fruit. In the vast majority of cases, these two 'yous' will never meet. But if the structure of reality had a weak point at that specific time and specific location..."

"Two 'mes' might meet."

Guilliman continued, feeling a chill.

"Not just meet. They might interact, or even... conflict. Because although they are essentially the same existence, having experienced different choices and having different memories and beliefs, they are already two independent individuals."

Guilliman remembered the words of the Terrami Eloan.

"'You never know what is on the other side of the Rift'..."

"The Terrami know of this phenomenon. They call it a 'Mirror Rift'. A very fitting name.

On the other side of the Rift is a mirror image of yourself, similar but not exactly the same. It could be better, or it could be worse."

"Then what Mortarion encountered..."

Guilliman dared not finish.

Magnus's expression became serious.

"Very likely a 'mirror image'. A Mortarion from another branch of possibility. But why is it twisted and corrupted? Unless in that possibility, Mortarion made different choices and walked down a... dark path."

This deduction made Guilliman feel extremely uncomfortable.

This theory meant that for each of them, there could potentially exist a "dark version."