The skies above Earth shimmered with golden auroras, unnatural, beautiful, and divine. Across every continent, every ocean, and every hidden land, the psychic presence of the Emperor of Mankind echoed like thunder within the minds of those who held power, potential, and purpose.
Cities that once lay fractured by war and poverty now buzzed with impossible technologies. Massive construction drones of unknown design lifted monolithic structures into place, their engines silent and clean. Energy shields shimmered over the skies of key capitals. Roads pulsed with soft light, guiding automated convoys and repurposed armies. This was no longer the world of men. This was the dawning of Terra.
From Rome, the heart of this transformation, the Emperor stood on a raised dais at the center of a colossal amphitheater constructed in mere days. Millions had gathered in person, and billions more watched through psychic broadcasts that bypassed all conventional communication. The very air trembled with anticipation.
He raised his hand, golden eyes burning like twin suns.
>"I am the Emperor of Humanity. You have seen my light, felt my will. I did not rise for conquest, nor for dominion, but for unity. No more shall mankind be broken by false kings, by corrupt ideologies And Corrupt tyrant."
He stepped forward. The Custodes, gleaming like statues of ancient gods, flanked him, silent and unmoving.
>"For millennia, I watched your world decay from the shadows. I saw nations fall, men butchered in wars born of pride and ignorance. But no longer. I have returned, not as a god, but as a guardian. This world, our world shall be forged anew."
He extended his hand, and from behind, a hundred youths marched forward, each clad in crimson robes. Their bodies still bore the marks of transformation: surgical scars, bionic implants, reinforced bones, and glowing eyes. These were the first of his Astartes.
>"You shall be the blades of humanity," he spoke directly to them, and through them, to every soul watching. "You shall be its shield, its wrath, and its hope. You will walk where no man dares, carry burdens no soul can bear, and fight wars that must be won."
Then his voice thundered across the world, carried by psychic might:
>"Become my angels. Not of heaven, but of war. Not of faith, but of will. Stand above the ashes of the old world, and build with me a new one, unshackled, eternal."
The crowd erupted into awe. Some wept. Others dropped to their knees. Even world leaders, puppets now of his psychic command, whispered the words in unison:
"For Terra. For Humanity. For the Emperor."
Transformation of Flesh and Soul
Across Earth, hidden vaults and cathedrals of science, now pulsing with arcane machines the Emperor had brought with him, began preparing thousands more for the Astartes project. Youths with potential were summoned by name through psychic resonance. They did not resist. They followed.
Inside those great halls, the process began.
Gene-seed implantation. Organ transference. Bone reinforcement. Muscle regeneration. Neural expansion. All done under the careful eye of the Custodes and the few scientists the Emperor had personally enhanced. None of these technologies belonged to this world. And none would ever be seen again outside the Emperor's will.
Where others would die, these chosen did not. His psychic light guided them through the pain, through the fear, through the screams of becoming more than human.
They emerged, no longer boys, no longer just soldiers. They were Astartes, superhuman giants in ceramite armor, their eyes burning with loyalty and fire.
And in the skies above Earth, the first black ships began to rise. Their hulls bore no flags, only the Imperial Aquila, reborn for a new age.
The World Watches
Across the globe, religions were reeling. Nations were kneeling. Some rebelled, briefly. Their resistance was smothered before it ever ignited.
And in the shadows of the Vatican, of Mecca, of the East and West, the silent leaders of old faiths gathered. But even they could not deny what they saw. The Emperor had not demanded worship, but his presence eclipsed the divine.
The era of gods was ending.
The age of the Emperor had begun.