Yuki quietly revised her earlier judgment.
Ezra's childhood had not merely been harsh.
It had been catastrophic.
Most Primarchs were scattered across hostile worlds.
Ezra had not even been granted that mercy.
Born Into Vacuum
After the Warp breach that tore the Primarch project apart, each gestation capsule was hurled across reality toward distant worlds.
All but one.
Ezra's capsule did not make planetary descent.
It drifted.
Lost in the void between systems.
His earliest recorded memory was darkness.
Asteroids tumbling past the viewport.
Impacts.
Microfractures.
The capsule's structural integrity holding—barely.
Unlike mortal infants, Primarchs awaken cognitively aware. Their neural architecture forms at impossible speed. Even at days old, they possess analytical faculties surpassing archmagos-tier intellect.
Ezra calculated survival probabilities.
The capsule could sustain oxygen for a limited duration.
Asteroid collision probability: rising.
Passive drifting: unacceptable.
So he dismantled his own life-support cradle.
From inside.
He reconfigured propulsion lines, repurposed energy cells, and converted the stasis pod into a minimal maneuvering vessel.
Even as an infant.
The trajectory he plotted would intersect the gravitational well of Bartleyra.
Fuel margin: insufficient but possible.
Then—
An asteroid struck.
Course deviation exceeded correction tolerance.
Fuel reserves dropped below threshold.
For the first time, Ezra encountered despair.
He sealed himself inside the reinforced core.
And waited.
The Iron Man
A small, ancient craft detected the anomaly.
It was not a rescue ship.
It was a relic.
One of the Men of Iron.
Bartleyra had once been a battleground during the Cybernetic Revolt.
Unlike most human worlds, its population had chosen to combat rebelling machine intelligences by creating counter-intelligences.
They believed the flaw lay in corrupted logic—not artificial minds themselves.
For a time, their strategy worked.
Then recursive instability began.
Newly forged Iron Men rebelled faster than old ones were destroyed.
Eventually, humanity abandoned machine reliance entirely.
They fought with flesh and steel.
Victory came at obscene cost.
Population reduced to single digits.
Civilization collapsed.
Subspace knowledge vanished.
Generations later, myth replaced history.
One damaged Iron Man survived underground.
Its last directive before burial:
Protect Bartleyra.
Centuries later, it reactivated.
It repaired itself using buried manufactoria.
Its database still contained pre-rebellion knowledge.
It observed that Bartleyra's population had shifted genetically.
Blank births—Pariah gene expression—had increased exponentially.
This Warp-null saturation isolated the planet from Immaterium interference.
The Iron Man did not understand why.
It only recognized strategic advantage.
Then it detected Ezra's capsule.
At first, it interpreted it as threat.
Then as biological life.
Then as human.
It retrieved the capsule.
The Misalignment
The Iron Man delivered Ezra to a human settlement.
The infant returned within hours.
"I feel unwell."
Of course he did.
He was a psyker by design.
Bartleyra's null field was suffocating.
The Iron Man lacked psychic framework.
Its database did not contain experiential data for "Warp sensitivity discomfort."
It relocated.
Ezra followed.
It sealed entrances.
Ezra bypassed them.
It ignored him.
Ezra remained.
Eventually, the Iron Man ceased attempting relocation.
It provided shelter.
Nutrition.
Medical stabilization.
Nothing else.
It did not understand affection.
It did not comprehend parenthood.
It provided survival variables.
Ezra adapted.
He named himself:
Ezra Cassandra — "Saved One."
He named the Iron Man:
Izana Cassandra — "Saved One."
They coexisted.
Izana treated Ezra as a biological variable.
Ezra treated Izana as father.
A Strange Upbringing
Ezra never learned social exchange.
He learned data.
Engineering.
Systems architecture.
Defensive networks.
He assisted Izana in planetary defense.
Izana deployed listening grids, surveillance swarms, and localized AI constructs to ensure Bartleyra's security.
When the Imperial fleet arrived—
Izana prepared for conflict.
The Almost-War
Magnus exhaled slowly after hearing the story.
"If we had arrived aggressively…"
Ezra lowered his head.
"Then Izana would have initiated planetary defense protocols."
Given Bartleyra's Warp-null saturation—
Magnus would have been crippled.
Astropathy unusable.
Battle-psyker deployment ineffective.
The confrontation would have been… embarrassing.
Ezra's Abilities
Magnus, recovering composure, asked cautiously:
"You mentioned psychic ability. What form does it take?"
Ezra adjusted his glasses.
"I possess eidetic retention."
Magnus blinked.
"That's… impressive."
Ezra continued softly.
"I can also externalize stored memories."
Pause.
"And perceive the memories of others."
Magnus vanished instantly.
"I suddenly recall urgent business aboard the Radiant!"
He was gone before finishing the sentence.
If Yuki learned about certain Warp excursions—
Disaster.
Ezra replaced his glasses slowly.
He felt Magnus' fear.
It hurt.
The Glasses
Yuki removed them gently.
"There's no need to wear these here."
Ezra hesitated.
"I may see things I should not."
"That's fine," she said calmly.
"I have nothing I regret."
He looked at her.
Carefully.
Testing.
She did not flinch.
The glasses suppressed most of his empathic intrusion.
Without them, he could perceive memory resonance through direct eye contact.
He avoided eye contact intentionally.
Not out of fear.
Out of morality.
He believed intrusion was wrong.
Yuki sighed.
"Stay aboard the Empire Wings for now."
He nodded.
"Do not reveal your ability to read memories," she added. "Not to anyone. Not even your brothers."
He nodded again.
"And within Imperial territory, you will not develop AI constructs. That is non-negotiable."
He nodded once more.
Yuki clutched her chest dramatically.
Was this real?
An obedient Primarch?
She reached psychically toward the Emperor.
"Father… are you certain this one is yours?"
Emperor: ?
The Dangerous Idea
Yuki leaned closer conspiratorially.
"Little brother… I have a small request."
Ezra tilted his head.
"You will eventually see Father's memories, yes?"
He hesitated.
"His mind is… shielded. But I can attempt surface recall."
"Nothing extensive!" she whispered. "Just the third century BC. His appearance. And do not tell him I asked."
Ezra squinted.
"…I cannot."
"Why not?"
Yuki slowly turned.
The Emperor stood behind her.
Silent.
Watching.
She swallowed.
"Father! What perfect timing!"
He grabbed her before she could escape.
He did not speak.
He laughed.
Not loudly.
Not warmly.
But undeniably.
It was the second time she had provoked that reaction.
"Are you going to flick my forehead?" she asked carefully.
Silence.
"…You're going to flick my forehead, aren't you?"
Silence.
Ezra stood abruptly.
Concern rising.
"Where did they go?"
The Custodians exchanged glances.
Then sighed in unison.
"Ah… tragedy." ×n
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