"I cling to that which remains. The dream, even if it is ashes. A better humanity, the few brothers I still have. Garro..." He pauses, and blinks a few times. "Only Nathaniel, now, in truth. All the others I served with have stepped beyond the present war, preparing for something worse. A battle I refused."

For just a moment, the hint of a moment, a sliver of time, she sees Loken refusing the Emperor's request to become a Grey Knight, to leave the Heresy war behind and hide and wait for the wars that will come in the future. The presence dwarfs even Horus', in a way, though there is a sadness to it. The Emperor, and his shadow Malcador already know what is lost, what will be lost. She sees him turn his back and choose the battle in front of him.

"I remember the friends I had, the friends I loved. Euphrati, Mersadie, Ignace, Kyril, Nero, Tarik..."

He shakes his head. So many are lost to him, like Euphrati and Kyril, or dead, like Nero, Tarik, Mersadie.

"I remember the promises I made, the promises that still mean something. I cling to that."