Aethernus Vhal and the older lady entered into the command center. Immediately, he learned that it did not look like he expected.

  From the exterior, the Imperium would have misclassified it at a glance. Nothing but a feudal keep, low-threat architecture, negligible technological value, with touches of the strange energy that touched upon the buildings exterior. Inside, the assessment failed immediately. All of the stones that were used to build this structure looked old and well worn, yet the systems within glowed bright and vibrant with flowing energy.

  Turning this place from a defensible position into what he assumed was an impregnable fortress based on their standards so far.

  The ceiling rose 12.7 meters overhead, supported by broad stone arches that should have been purely structural. They were not. Thin circuit-veins ran through each curve, pulsing with that energy. The floor beneath his boots was polished stone inlayed with embossed patterns that pulsed with powerful energy. Each one was perfectly placed in a sequence of repeating shapes.

  His damaged helm systems tried to make sense of it, yet he could already see it failing to do so.

  None of them aligned with any schema in his extensive combat archives. This was not primitive architecture hiding crude consoles. It was a mature integration of structure and system, designed from inception rather than retrofitted. They had diverged considerably compared to humanity as he knew it. Yet, no matter how far their technology had moved, they still lacked interstellar capabilities.

  Making them sitting ducks to any force that could bombard them with orbital shells or planet destroying weapons.

  Unless these Watchers were more special than he assumed they were.

  This place had a tendency to exceed expectation.

  A circular table dominated the centre of the chamber. One figure stood before it. Eleven more sat around its circumference, their posture attentive, their expressions sharpened by urgency.

  They all looked at him with deference and awe.

  The old lady beside him entered the room and immediately dropped to her knees at seeing him. “L-Lord Warden. We were not expecting you.”

  “None ever do, Mira. None ever do.” The figure was taller than the rest. Wider shoulders, carved out of stone figure. It reminded Aethernus Vhal of his youngest Knights of the Order he had been part of. Smaller though. “It would not be wise for us to so blatantly announce our arrival. It would cause chaos and a mob forming to see and touch us. I would be displeased with such frivolties.”

  “Of course, Lord Warden.”

  The Warden shifted his gaze toward Aethernus Vhal. Studying him just as he was studying the Warden.

  Aethernus’ tactical assessment engaged automatically.

  Aethernus Vhal wanted to use his newly acquired [Mythical Analyze] skill, but decided otherwise.

  These Wardens likely had greater access to the world-system than he did as a foreign entity upon their world.

  It would not be wise to use their strengths when he had no idea what weaknesses it carried.

  The Warden did the same tactical assessment. A deep frown graced his battle scar covered face. “Were you the one that arrived in a fit of fire from above?”

  Aethernus Vhal tilted his head. It was strange to see them unable to figure out what had entered their atmosphere and crash landed only a few kilometers away. Maybe it was the clinging energies of the Warp that obscured his landing so much. Or maybe their scanning and locating abilities were far subpar compared to their structural engraving and embossment.

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  Some civilizations did tend to hyper focus on certain aspects and forget others.

  The Warden matched his tilt of the head.

  Aethernus Vhal dismissed him and took a moment to study the rest of the council.

  The eleven members formed a ring around the table. Six men, five women. Apparent ages between thirty and seventy. Their clothing did not match as uniforms, but shared motifs. Embossed patterning sympathetic to the floor inlays on metal, fabrics that caught and refracted light at unusual angles underneath their larger pieces of armor. The table had holograms floating upon it from more engravings filled with power.

  Showing that this new energy had practical uses as well.

  The Warden smiled at his lack of response. Taking information from it without Aethernus Vhal ever speaking. “You fell from the sky…” His voice was resonant without shouting, the room’s design returning the sound with clean amplification. “You killed dozens of high-level territorial beasts with improvised weapons. Then slaughtered a couple Dungeon Boss level monsters as well. You now wear their skin and bones as gear–”

  He stepped around the large table, studying Aethernus’ towering bulk, the scavenged bone plating, the crystal-edged weapons taken from the apex predator.

  Everyone else in the room jumped back and turned to stare at him. All prepared for battle.

  Aethernus Vhal did not deem him worthy of a proper explanation. Anything he said was out of the kindness of his heart. A mercy upon them.

  It did not seem like they understood exactly what they were dealing with.

  “–now a Breach of unprecedented size threatens to open within hours of your arrival.”

  Aethernus Vhal nodded at the Warden. He understood that this was no accusation from him, but rather a statement of fact.

  His stance shifted, weight slightly forward, centre lowered, hands open but ready. To an untrained eye, it looked relaxed. To Aethernus, it was a combat posture adapted for negotiation: every muscle primed, every angle calculated to allow immediate access to force.

  “Explain. You clearly aren't a Demon Lord,” the Warden said at last.

  “Is that what you call the denizens of the Warp and Chaos?” Aethernus Vhal said without any measure of hurry.

  If the entire planet combined their forces to fight him, he would come out standing tall and victorious. This world was a paradise compared to the hells he had traversed. Entire worlds consumed with hive mind monsters in the billions. Green skinned forces that grew like parasites and fungus. And more heinous things that no sane being ever wanted to encounter.

  “Warp? Chaos? Those terms are unusual to us–”

  “Does this mean you also have Demon Lords where you come from–”

  “Do you carry knowledge of defeating them without such great sacrifices–”

  “...”

  “...”

  Aethernus Vhal continued as though the dozens of questions that rose up were not important. Mostly because they would all be answered in a moment. He just needed to consider what exactly he wanted to tell them. “I am not of this world,” he said. “My arrival was not planned. It forced transit across dimensional boundaries.”

  “Across dimensional boundaries? What mode of transport carried you through impassable universal pathways?” the Warden asked.

  “I rode no object of transport.” He paused, letting the words settle. The Warden’s eyes widened like saucers as he understood the implications. The rest of the council and… Mira, did not seem to comprehend exactly what he said. Aethernus Vhal stowed that away for the future. Likely the existence of the universe outside of their atmosphere was a hidden piece of knowledge that only the Wardens carried. “I did not intend to come here. I did not know of your Breach. Any correlation is unknown to me.”

  Around the table, micro-expressions shifted.

  Doubt in narrowed eyes and tightened jaws. Curiosity in raised brows and fixed stares. Concern in compressed lips and shallow breathing. The shared synchronicity he had observed in the settlement fractured here, individual responses overriding collective patterns under sufficient stress.

  Another piece of information noted. They were not as unified a force as they made it out to be.

  The Warden repeated fragments of the explanation, testing their weight. “A foe capable of forcing dimensional transit. Combat operations against such foe. Surviving dimensional forces without anything to aid you–”

  He began to circle Aethernus, staying just outside optimal striking range, eyes never leaving him.

  Aethernus Vhal was always prepared for battle.

  There was no need to take this seriously. The Warden had no intent on pressing any aggressive actions against him. Aethernus Vhal could sense his desire to understand and learn, not to gather information with the purpose of destroying him.

  Aethernus Vhal… respected that.

  Knowledge gathering was the greatest form of war against the Warp.

  Basic understanding of what they were and how to kill the demented things was an honorable pastime that elevated the Warden in his view.

  “–you speak of things beyond our current understanding, yet claim no link to a Breach that has lain dormant for hundreds of years, and now stirs within hours of your arrival. Your arrival breaks patterns that have held for seventeen generations of Wardens.”

  Aethernus Vhal collected more data. This Breach was not a recent development, but rather something that was part of the paradise world. Seventeen generations, he had said earlier. Centuries of managed containment with specific systems in place to counter it. This town was titled as Breach Defensive Line 188. This thing was likely an active rift they did not understand how to destroy or the ones who created it felt no threat to shut it off from their end.

  He also learned that this Breach was not the only one. There were many.