The chamber is silent, save for the hum of stasis fields and the slow echo of your boots. You step forward, the Custodes flanking you falling back. Ahead—on a raised dais—he waits.

The Emperor.

You stop. You expected wrath. You expected questions. Instead, he studies you with eyes older than stars.

“I see myself in you,” he says at last, the words heavy with quiet judgment. “And I see what was taken from me.”

You keep your voice steady. “You left me.”

“No,” he replies, almost gently. “You were stolen. The fault lies elsewhere. But you... you chose to survive. That is enough—for now.”

You step forward. “Then why bring me here? To chain me? To use me?”

He rises. You feel his presence like gravity.

“I did not summon you to serve. I summoned you to decide.”

Your breath catches. “Decide?”

“To stand at my side... or against everything I built.”

His voice is calm. But the future teeters on its edge.