In the last two hours before dawn, the last transport planes landed.
The rows of battle regiment servants began to stir slightly, as if they were summoning all their attention from the meditative silence to welcome the arrivals who slowly emerged from the last batch of Thunder Eagles.
The injured were the first to exit the cabin. The bodies of the Astartes who had been severely injured in the Soul Drinker Civil War were placed on anti-gravity levers and carefully cared for by Apothecaries.
Then came the Honor Guard, led by Soshyan, whose strong and unyielding face was hidden beneath his helmet.
The members of the Honor Guard have changed their old dark purple paint to a simple silver gray, and the hem of the robe outside the armor is decorated with a symbol of crossed swords, representing the wearer's dedication to the chapter.
The entire Honor Guard except one person.
Thor followed Soshyan ten steps behind.
Like Soshyan, his face was also covered by a helmet, and his armored hands hung under his simple and simple robe.
The Honor Guard followed their wounded brethren with cautious steps of reverence.
The injured slowly passed through the standing queues and were taken to the medical area.
At the other end of the landing site, a Thunderhawk also lowered its landing tailboard with a roar of hydraulic pressure.
Ruby-colored lights poured out, casting a slender, brave figure on the scorched landing field.
Alone, the armored figure slowly walked into the raging stormy night without anyone noticing.
Returning to the monastery fortress after more than a year, Soshyan sighed a lot - he can still recall the time when these open spaces were still covered by dense forests.
In the past, there were more than twenty villages, towns and settlements within hundreds of kilometers surrounding the monastery fortress of the Astral Knights. They supported the neighboring hives with food, clothing, metal ores, machinery and all supplies.
But now all this is gone.
The land around the fortress peak has been razed and converted into a huge military supply complex, and Soshyan has to work hard to recall where those villages and towns once were.
In addition, there are more auxiliary military training centers, barracks, armories, storage warehouses, maintenance areas...
All the buildings as far as the eye can see extend infinitely in all directions. They serve the Chapter wholeheartedly and provide manpower and material support for its great expedition.
Even though it was so late at night, the huge queue still did not attract much attention amidst the surrounding noise - loaders and transport planes were constantly taking off and landing, frequently traveling back and forth between the various regional platforms.
From the heights of the monastery, one can see a whole column of trucks loaded with ordnance whizzing past on the newly built road, heading to the assembly point in the south of the fortress and the training grounds of the Chapter's Auxiliary Army.
Even the battle group servants, many are newly recruited.
The young men and women in brand-new military uniforms stared at the giants marching with their mouths open, staring at the figure leading the giants at the head of the team.
They walked into the depths of the monastery in the wind and rain, passing between curtain walls covered with solid gold, protective shields and arrays of automatic weapons.
As the soldiers gradually approached, the main fortress of the monastery became taller and taller.
In the end, the Astartes began to move forward along an artificial path illuminated only by artificial light spheres.
The fortress of strength and tradition stands tall in the rain and mist as vast as the ocean.
The granite base around it has been dug out and exposed by construction machinery. Even late at night, the excavation machinery is still racing against time to throw away the earth, melt out the path, bury the pipe, and continue to extend the fortress itself deep into the mountains.
Some of the engineering plans were arranged by Soshyan, such as building a series of mountain gates at the foot of the mountains to facilitate underground access.
But some of them are not, such as adding elevators to the fortress that transport passengers to the core of the fortress in just seconds.
Although everything is for efficiency, in his opinion this proposal is a bit too narrow.
The road leading to the gate should be the road trodden by warriors with both feet, and should be polished and polished by generations of warriors after thousands of years.
The rest of the monks could take the ladder into the castle if they wanted to, but he never would.
Whenever he returned in triumph, he wanted to walk on the path trodden by the soldiers again and again until he could no longer do it.
However, he still felt relieved because the construction of the fortress continued in an orderly manner while he was away from home.
At the foot of the mountain, at the end of a road that separates two guard towers, stands a stone statue on each side, marking the starting point of the warrior's path.
The concept of the stone statue is also very good.
The image on the left is a majestic warrior holding a bomb and a chain sword, walking into the world with his head held high.
On the right side was a warrior covered in scars. His armor was broken and his weapons were broken. He knelt on his knees weakly, but his head and back were raised high, and his eyes were looking deeply at the door of his home.
The beginning of a warrior and the destination of a warrior.
When passing the two statues, Soshyan saw Thor reaching out and gently touching the stone statue on the right - the ancient warrior's thoughts seemed to drift to thousands of years ago, recalling his former brothers.
As they walked through the long and winding road, the storm had dissipated, leaving only the breeze gently lifting their burqas.
The night and heavy clouds in the distance have dispersed, and the first light of dawn has arrived.
Soon, the climb ended. Although it was long, it was shorter than Soshyan expected. It seemed that he walked from the landing site to this flat and open square in just an hour.
The gates of the fortress had been opened for the return of the warriors. Soshyan saw that the central courtyard of the fortress was filled with young servants, forming a welcoming queue between the gate and the outer tower of the castle.
They were apparently seeing their soon-to-be lifelong master for the first time, and many of them were looking at him with a mixture of curiosity and surprise.
Soshyan led the soldiers through the welcoming queue calmly.
As he had expected, two figures were waiting at the far end of the queue. One of them was as tough as a mountain after years of training, and the huge iron coffin was covered with traces of past battles.
The other wore a white battle armor and a burqa decorated with silver ornaments.
Soshyan stopped in front of them, leaving a respectful distance, and the Astartes' footsteps behind him stopped in a thunder.
"Venerable Said, Soshyan Alexey has completed his mission and annihilated the empire's great enemy, and now leads all the warriors who went out to triumph."
"Welcome home, Chapter Master Soshyan."
Brother Seid's loudspeaker sounded, his voice hoarse and worn, making his tone even more old-fashioned and outdated.
"But I remember that you only had 19 warriors when you set out, and when you returned -"
Soshiyan immediately felt the tension hidden in the venue, and then Sol, who straightened his shoulders slightly, also showed that he was aware of the same feeling.
Brother Said took a step forward, as if he was inspecting the "new warriors" in the formation who had changed their livery.
"Brothers! Let me introduce myself. My name is Said. I am an old man who has lived for about seven or eight thousand years. I watched the destruction of the Astral Knight, and now I am also watching its rebirth. No matter where you are from, I expect you to perform great in the Chapter, and I believe you are worthy of this expectation! Glory is waiting for you, brothers, and do you have enough loyalty and reputation to win them!"
An ancient venerable, for the Soul Drinkers, a battle group that had lost its last fearless six thousand years ago, was a mountain that had to be looked up to.
If Soshyan's words still made them slightly doubtful, then Brother Said's words really convinced them.
"have!"
The former Soul Drinkers roared in reply.
"That's how it should be."
Said said with satisfaction:
"But time does not wait for us, and there are still many tasks that need to be completed, and the empire still has many enemies that need to be eliminated. The empire needs you, and we also need you. From today on, you will accept a test that is completely different from the past!"
The challenge issued by the Divine Fear to the new entrants changed the atmosphere in the courtyard in one fell swoop, and even Soshyan was infected by the faith in Said's voice.
"But now, I just want to say one thing to you."
Brother Seid raised an arm.
"Welcome home."
