Thus Did The Imperium of Mankind Fight There

Part 29 Enlightenment

Ghota: Yes Sir. 

Ghota left the room with the remaining members of the command staff confused as to who this princess was. 

Arik was aware introducing the abhuman girl would lead to some controversy over his decision. 

Some would not be distrustful of a native in a position of influence and power within the army. Others would point out her youth, believing her to be too immature to be in a role of leadership.

However, Arik knew the princess possessed potential even she herself was not aware of. He had seen the look of determination in her eyes when she introduced herself. 

The fire of a soul who'd given up before realizing there was still hope. He believed the princess would prove herself, if not out of gratitude for saving her life, then for her people and her family. 

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Alice had been waiting outside in front of the large twin doors of the headquarters room, wide and tall enough to permit the giants she'd seen entry, for some time. 

She had been kept in the same building as the rest of the demi-humans these newcomers had captured. Alice was given her own room though, due to her status as a local royal. Her former status as a royal, she cynically mused. 

With the offer of cooperation from the massive general of this army of otherworlders though, she was determined to change that. 

Alice had been anxiously waiting for news, pondering on how she would reestablish the bunny kingdom with her Aunt if these humans really intended to save her as the giant said. 

Would her people be allowed to create their own country or integrated? Would they be treated any better than they were in the Empire? Or would they truly be made citizens of this "Imperium" and treated as equals? 

Alice knew that these people from the Gate were more than powerful enough to completely obliterate the Empire. 

In her nightmares, she would relive that battle when they slaughtered the Saderan Legions in minutes. Flashing lights, constant explosions, the sounds of death and the miserable noise of the dying. 

After she'd agreed to an alliance with Lord Taranis and led to her new room, a man who called himself an "Iterator" entered and told her he had been tasked with giving a general overview of the "Imperium" which this army came from and answer any question she may have. 

When he spoke, Alice blanked out from all the information she was told. 

AN EMPIRE IN THE SEA OF STARS!!!???  

A MILLION WORLDS!!!??? 

TRILLIONS OF PEOPLE!!!???  

AN IMMORTAL EMPEROR WHO FOUNDED AND MADE THIS CELESTIAL REALM IN ONLY TWO CENTURIES!!!??? 

ENTIRE LEGIONS OF HULKING APOSTLES!!!???

When the Iterator finished his recitation, there was utter silence in the room. Alice struggled to process the unbelievable knowledge she'd been given. 

The man noticed this and took out what he called a "data-slate". 

Alice jumped when the strange rectangular metal and glass device glowed. She was only further surprised by the images she saw. 

Towering cities, entirely constructed from metal and as large as mountains, with millions if not billions living in each one, according to her educator.  

She was shown pictures of worlds taken from the void itself, some beautifully natural artwork of green and blue with wisps of white clouds. 

Others were ghastly red or appeared to be nothing more than dust balls. 

Then there were the moving castles, "voidships" as the man called them, that sailed the space between the stars. Every one of them, multiple leagues long and carrying tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of crew members. 

Alice was in awe, in a state of stunned disbelief. 

Finally, she remembered how the behemoth actually offered for her kind to join this incredible hegemon. Would her people truthfully share in this Imperium's wealth, splendor and glory or was this a ruse so they would accept being second-class citizens? 

The scholar saw the wariness in her expression and shifted to another image. 

Alice verily gasped in shock, displayed were demi-humans of numerous kinds. Some were shown to be working alongside regular human laborers. Some, battling against enemies as comrades, not disposable meat, with regular human soldiers. 

After some questioning from her and answers given by the iterator, Alice was convinced with absolute surety that she had made the right choice in joining these new Imperials, so long as they kept their word and saved her Aunt. 

Over the next day, she studied all she could of the Imperium she now dearly wished for her people to be a part of. Reading texts and books given to her by the Iterator. 

She found it too difficult to properly handle a cogitator. Luckily, such problems had been encountered by the Imperial Corps of Iterators before with those from technologically backwards societies and so the organization had compiled all the need-to-know data on the Imperium for newly compliant peoples in concise transcripts. 

Fortuitously, the inhabitants of this world spoke high-gothic (Latin) and the writing systems were much the same as well. 

The more she discovered about the Imperium the more she grew to admire it, even idealize it. 

True, she realized it was not perfect, there was slavery and overall governance were in the hands of a relative few, much like the Saderan Empire. 

The difference was that this society sought to change that, its end goal was for all of humanity and those who would follow it to unite and reach a golden age. 

Leading this endeavor was the Emperor, the Master of Mankind. At first, she felt misgivings towards this figure. 

Many rulers had given themselves grandiose titles, only for those titles to be proven worth little, their holders falling far short of worthy. 

She found though, that this was not the case for this sovereign. If anything, the titles he was primarily known by severely underscored his achievements. 

Who else could achieve what he had? Match the feats he had accomplished. The deeds he'd done.

Even the gods she'd worshiped were nothing more than self-inflated mongrels when compared to this one man, who denied any claims of godhood and refused to accept any worship in his name. 

When reading of this unmatched ruler, Alice had an epiphany. 

Before, she thought it was only right to worship deities in exchange for gifts and rewards. 

But why was this? What could be achieved if people were not shackled to gods? If power such as that of this Imperium could be gained while fully denying the divine, how could the meager powers the gods gifted their followers compare. All while these gods gained more and more power from undeserved adoration, the people were held back.  

Whether Alice realized it, she had become a firm adherent of the Imperial Truth and would spread it far and wide across Falmart. First, to her own kind, and then to all the believers of the false gods in the name of the one true lord...the Emperor. 

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