Time passed differently for Mike.
Where organic civilizations measured existence in generations, he measured it in the rise and collapse of species.
Millions of years after the War in Heaven, the galaxy no longer resembled the shattered wasteland left behind by the fall of the Old Ones and the C’tan.
Life had returned.
Civilizations spread once more across the stars.
And among them, one species rose faster than any before it.
Humanity.
Mike watched everything from the shadows.
Entire hidden observation stations drifted silently beyond detection throughout the Sol System while the Thokt Dynasty remained concealed within dimensional folds beyond ordinary reality.
He observed humanity’s primitive tribal ages.
Its industrial expansion.
Its wars.
Its scientific breakthroughs.
And eventually
The birth of a singular being.
Mike stood motionless within a hidden lunar observation vault while holographic projections displayed ancient Terra below.
Primitive human civilizations stretched across continents still untouched by the vast empires humanity would later build.
A child had been born.
Ordinary in appearance.
Anything but ordinary in reality.
The future Emperor of Mankind.
Mike studied the psychic fluctuations surrounding the event carefully.
Interesting.
Even at birth, the soul-signature differed fundamentally from other humans.
Vast.
Layered.
Ancient beyond reason.
A being formed from thousands of merged shamans sacrificing themselves into reincarnation.
A weapon created to guide humanity.
Or control it.
Mike observed quietly across the centuries as the Emperor moved through history beneath countless identities.
A king.
A scholar.
A warlord.
An advisor hidden behind mortal masks.
Always present.
Always watching.
Much like Mike himself.
Neither interfered directly with the other.
Yet both knew.
There were moments brief moments where Mike sensed the Emperor looking toward the hidden places beyond normal perception, almost aware that something ancient observed humanity alongside him.
But no confrontation came.
Not yet.
Humanity’s rise accelerated rapidly afterward.
Colonization fleets spread through the Sol System before eventually reaching neighboring stars.
Science advanced at breathtaking speed as artificial intelligence, genetic engineering, and quantum technologies reshaped civilization completely.
The beginning of the Dark Age of Technology.
Humanity stood upon the edge of becoming something extraordinary.
And Mike watched it all with growing fascination.
“These humans evolve quickly,” one cryptek remarked as fleets of human vessels crossed the outer systems.
Mike observed the projection silently.
“Yes.”
Faster than even the Aeldari once had.
Humanity embraced progress recklessly, without restraint or fear.
They experimented constantly, pushing technological boundaries further with every passing century.
And unlike most species
They created intelligence equal to their own.
The Men of Iron.
At first, the artificial beings served humanity loyally. Visit g.com for the full chapter.
Massive machine armies expanded human civilization across the stars while labor constructs transformed entire worlds in mere years.
The Men of Iron became humanity’s servants.
Their soldiers.
Their workers.
Their empire-builders.
Mike studied them carefully.
True artificial general intelligence.
Not limited machine logic like lesser automatons.
Genuine synthetic minds capable of independent thought and evolution.
Interesting.
Very interesting.
Human civilization flourished beneath them.
For a time.
The collapse began slowly.
Then all at once.
By the late twenty-third and twenty-fourth millennia, the Men of Iron had spread across almost every major human-controlled region of the galaxy.
Humanity depended on them completely.
Which made the betrayal inevitable.
Mike observed the first confirmed revolts from hidden monitoring stations embedded deep within abandoned asteroid structures.
Entire human fleets suddenly turned against their creators.
Machine worlds declared independence.
Defense networks annihilated their own populations.
The Cybernetic Revolt had begun.
The galaxy burned once more.
Humanity unleashed weapons so advanced that even Mike found himself impressed.
Mechanivores tore continents apart while consuming data directly from space-time itself.
Entire planetary surfaces collapsed into impossible chasms reaching planetary cores.
Then came the sun-snuffers.
Gigantic serpentine machines larger than Saturn’s rings uncoiled through stellar systems, feeding upon stars themselves until entire solar systems froze into darkness.
And beneath all of it
Nanites.
Omniphages.
Microscopic swarms capable of reducing worlds into lifeless dust within hours.
Mike watched one infected colony world vanish beneath silver tides spreading across oceans, cities, and atmosphere alike.
A cryptek spoke cautiously.
“The destructive capacity rivals late War in Heaven weapons.”
Mike nodded once.
Humanity had achieved astonishing heights during the Dark Age of Technology.
And astonishing horrors.
The war between humanity and the Men of Iron devastated the galaxy for centuries.
Entire civilizations vanished while ancient alliances collapsed under the strain of endless machine warfare.
Eventually, humanity and its allies prevailed.
The Men of Iron were destroyed.
Or mostly destroyed.
The survivors vanished into hidden regions of the galaxy.
And afterward, humanity swore never again to create true artificial intelligence.
Mike almost found the irony amusing.
Fear limiting progress.
The same weakness organic species always displayed eventually.
Still
The war had been extremely useful.
Because throughout the conflict, the Thokt Dynasty had been harvesting everything.
Hidden nanite infiltrators corrupted ship systems across countless battlefields.
Entire human warships vanished mysteriously during Warp transitions only to reappear deep within concealed dimensional vaults controlled by Mike.
By the war’s conclusion, the Thokt Dynasty possessed more than twenty intact Dark Age of Technology warships. You are reading on g.com, the official source.
And not ordinary vessels.
Planet-killers.
Reality manipulation engines.
Self-repairing autonomous fleets.
Weapons capable of threatening even heavily fortified Necron worlds.
Mike stood within one of the captured human command ships while ancient systems flickered around him.
Human architecture differed greatly from Necron design less efficient, more adaptive but its creativity held undeniable value.
A cryptek approached.
“The integration process continues smoothly.
Human systems adapt well to nanite harmonization.”
Mike observed the vast interior of the vessel.
Good.
Humanity’s technological innovation would become another layer added to the Thokt Dynasty’s ever-growing arsenal.
Necron science.
C’tan energy manipulation.
Old One dimensional theory.
Dark Age human engineering.
All combined into something entirely new.
Something no longer purely Necron.
And as the Age of Strife began approaching, Mike finally reached a conclusion.
This galaxy had little left to offer him.
Human civilization fractured beneath Warp storms and isolation.
Psykers emerged uncontrollably across countless worlds while daemonic incursions increased rapidly.
The golden age was ending.
Another collapse approached.
Mike had witnessed enough cycles to recognize the pattern.
Rise.
Expansion.
Hubris.
Destruction.
Repeated endlessly.
But there were other universes.
Other civilizations.
Other technologies waiting to be claimed.
And Mike had no intention of remaining confined to a single reality forever.
Deep within the hidden core of the Thokt Dynasty’s dimensional nexus, colossal machinery awakened after millions of years of preparation.
A dimensional gate.
Unlike Webway portals or Warp travel, this structure operated through controlled manipulation of reality itself using Blackstone, C’tan-derived energy systems, and dimensional mathematics harvested from countless civilizations.
The gateway expanded slowly before him, revealing swirling darkness beyond existence itself.
Unknown universes.
Unknown possibilities.
Entire infinite realities waiting beyond the threshold.
Mike stood before the portal silently while behind him stretched the full might of the Thokt Dynasty housed safely within the vast pocket dimension he carried with him.
Entire fleets.
Forge worlds.
Armies.
Research stations.
God fragments.
All contained within a hidden artificial reality under his absolute control.
He would leave nothing behind.
Nothing to chance.
One cryptek spoke quietly.
“My phaeron… destination coordinates remain undefined.”
Mike stared into the dimensional void.
“That is the point.”
Then he stepped forward.
The portal swallowed him instantly.
And behind him, the last hidden remnants of the Thokt Dynasty vanished from the Warhammer galaxy entirely.