Currently, inside Justinian's living quarters, he and his family gathered together. The attack on one of the border worlds of the Imperium, by Apokolips had been dealt with by the planet's Planetary Defense Force and backup from the greater Imperium.
After that, Justinian had prepared for many attacks to come, but none came. In his mind, this meant that either Darkseid was probing his response or it was a message. As such, the main attack that he had planned was still scheduled.
He had called back each of his crusading fleets which now were poised and ready for a grand assault on the home world of Darkseid. Justinian didn't plan to give Darkseid more than a months time which had already been cut down to three weeks.
Before then, he gathered his entire family, which included his wives, Remnosh, Lauralina, Magna, Leona, and Sangunia, and his daughter Leginstrasse. Erda was, of course, here along with his brothers Albion and Ddraig. With Ddraig was his wife Alicenia and their daughter Eldora.
Alicenia was still dressed in her Lord Inquisitor garb, but even with her technically being Justinian's sister-in-law, she still felt a feeling of reverence for her God Emperor.
Justinian stood up still in his full gear as he was never entirely comfortable without his trusty armor and Guardian Spear by his side. Once he stood up everyone went quite as he began to speak.
"I gathered every member of my family here because in three weeks we will be dealing a great blow to Darkseid and his planet. With the exception of my niece Eldora, we will all be present in the battle.
Now, Alicenia, do you have any idea why you were called here?"
Alicenia was currently sitting with her daughter, Eldora, on her lap, who had a big smile since she was with both her parents. When she heard her Emperor and God speak to her directly, she shook her head.
"No, my liege. Does it have to do with Eldora or my husband?"
Ddraig who was sitting next to her shook his head. She was married to the brother of the Emperor and yet the moment Justinian showed up she became like this.
"Honestly Alicenia, you don't need to call him liege or Lord. He is my brother, you are now the sister-in-law to Justinian. You are family to the royal family."
She ignored him as she placed a hand over her chest.
"I am an Inquisitor before that, Ddraig. My oath is a part of who I am."
Ddraig shook his head as Justinian explained why he brought her.
"He is right you know, if you want you can just call me brother. If that is too forward you could call me by any of my names. Regardless, there were two reasons I brought you here.
The members of my Honor Guard and their children are the only members who are Burning Martians. Jack, who serves you, is the only Burning Martian Kryptonian clone, but after I returned, I gave the same enhancement to Eldora.
After talking to Ddraig, I have decided to grant you this same blessing. This will elevate you to a higher level in The Imperium. This ensures your safety in the carnage to come and will elevate your service to the Imperium.
In all honesty, this will also ensure Eldora doesn't lose her Mother."
After hearing his words, Alicenia seemed to go quiet. Hearing that she would receive ascension to an exalted Burning Martian race filled her with pride. She would better serve the Imperium and protect what she cared about.
"I am beyond honored, my lord. Lord Justinian."
"That is a start, now receive your blessing."
With just a thought, his biomancy, enhanced by two laws, instantly took effect on Alicenia. As an Inquisitor Lord, she had received extensive, ritual enhancements and genetic engineering, making her stronger than any Elite White Martian.
However, now those enhancements fused with her genetics as her DNA combusted. The true power of the Burning Martian race burst out from her body, causing her to grow. Rather than stay at 12 feet, she grew to 15 feet tall.
Her features seemed to undergo a qualitative change, and her magics and psychic abillities were elevated beyond what she could have ever hoped to reach. As she burst into dark crimson flames, Eldora watched on as her Mother quickly took control of the fire to revert to her human form.
She gasped for air as Ddraig placed his hand on her back.
"How do you feel?"
"I feel invigorated, stronger than ever."
Eldora hugged her mom tight.
"Mommy got even prettier."
Justinian chuckled as Eldora was the light of their family. Since she was the only child, everyone spoiled her.
"Why do you think you were so cute, little one?"
Eldora suddenly jumped out of her Mother's lap before she quickly flew over to him. He quickly caught her and held her in his arms.
"Uncle, you are the best."
He did not miss that his wives and Erda were giving him particular looks. Regardless, he went on to his next point as it was something he hadn't done even after spending centuries locked in Time Dilation Fields.
"The next point is that I remembered something special about today. On Earth, where I was born, the day is November 5th, 2022. I almost can't remember what year I really was born, but today is the day of my birth.
It's my birthday today, and in my thousands of years of life, I don't think I have celebrated a birthday in that entire time."
Albion instantly went quiet before he realized that was true. When Justinian was still a man, still Marcus, he always celebrated his birthday with his family. After he became a Custode, the 40,000 years of memories of four Custodes had made him as cold as the Custodes.
Eventually, he became a Perpetual, became like the Emperor of Mankind, and he rose above even that. Hundreds of years had passed in the many times he isolated himself in training, but his birthday had become a blur until now.
"You're right, when was the last time anyone so much wished you a happy birthday?"
Remnosh, who had been around him the longest, realized that too.
"You never told us when you were born. We thought something like a birthday was something you didn't care about."
He nodded.
"That is true, I didn't, but after so many years alive, it came back to me. Today was the day I was born, my date of birth. I, too, was once just a normal baby and now, look at what I have become."
Eldora tilted her head.
"Uncle, you were a baby too?"
Justinian sat himself down on his couch, built for his huge weight and size.
"Yes, I was. I was born on Earth many, many years ago. In my view, it's been a long time in the past. For you all, many, many years in the future. Time travel is weird, but I was just a normal human at one point. Hard to believe, right?"
Eldora nodded.
"Are you sure?"
Ddraig began to laugh as to Eldora, Justinian was not just her uncle. He was a God so to hear that he had been just a human was hard for her to believe.
"Hard to believe, but your uncle Justinian was born like any other. Weak and defenseless, he then became what you see now. Justinian, in your memories, you got an image."
Remnosh, Leona, Magna, Sanguini, Erda, Leginstrasse, and Lauralina instantly wanted to see what Justinian looked like as a baby. Lauralina held his hand before she smiled at him.
"You have to show us what you looked like."
While she didn't show it even Leona looked like she wanted to know. He sighed as he brought a hand up to his head. He then drew out a memory of himself when he was still Marcus.
He projected it for all to see, which caused everyone to quiet down as they looked at the vivid image. It was a memory that Justinian kept from his human life. It was of him as a newborn, just hours old, being held by his Father. His real father.
Everyone went quiet as they had never heard Justinian speak of his past before he became a Custodes. Then again, there wasn't much. Justinian also didn't remember much of his life as a human, as those memories had quickly fade,d taken over by 40,000 years of memories of four Custodes.
However, this was something that had stuck with him.
"This is me and my Father Thomas. I think I was only five hours old."
Eldora leaned forward to look at what her uncle looked like as a baby. What she saw made her laugh.
"Uncle, you really were a baby."
He nodded as he looked at the picture.
"Told you, not something I think about all that often. Guess I am becoming sentimental in my old age."
He was about to undo the projection when Remnosh stopped him.
"Hold on, we should make a portrait of him. It is obvious that your Father mattered to you if you kept this memory even after 10,000 years."
Erda had to agree.
"Right. He is the man who conceived you; without him, there is no you. What about your Mom?"
Justinian waved his hand and created a second projection. It was a picture of his Mother and Father together with him.
"This is the only memory I can remember of them both. Months later, I was handed over to the Imperial Palace to undergo the initiation into the Custodes. My Mother's name was Samantha. From a normal child to kin to The Emperor Of Mankind.
Now, I am what you see now. Then again, it was many lifetimes ago."
He waved the projections away as any portraits and pictures could be taken later.
"We can delve into them later as we have other things to talk about. Once we complete our assault on Apokolyps, I will be taking a short-term trip with Ddraig and Albion to another reality.
I never said this, but Ddraig and Albion here are from another dimension. They ended up appearing in the future after they had a particularly bad fight. Then the Emperor killed them and sealed them within me.
Later, we became true brothers so we have decided to go back to their Home Dimension as they have some things they want to do."
Ddraig nodded.
"There is a friend I have that I owe something to."
Albion, though had someone he wanted to murder.
"As for me, I want to go back as I have to murder someone who wronged me in the past."
Justinian hadn't asked before, but now he was curious.
"Who? You never said."
Albion smirked as he thought back to that person.
"Rizevim."
Justinian wondered why Albion wanted to kill him. Albion had never been bonded to Vali, so why did he want to kill Rizevim?
"He owes me a debt for what his Father did. Consider it me being petty. So when are we going?"
Justinian felt it was perfect right after the attack.
"At the latest after the attack."
Albion nodded.
"Good, until then, let's celebrate your first birthday in millennia."
Erda clapped her hands and instantly she used her advanced reality warping powers to prepare a massive feast with a cake as tall as Justinian.
"We have to take plenty of pictures for the home. This place doesn't have a single photo."
Leginstrasse came next to him before she held his hand.
"She is right, dad. If this is your first real birthday in so many years let's make it special."
He smirked as he decided to enjoy this with his family.
"You're right. Now, how many candles is that? In total, I think I have spent an extra 1,234 years in Time Dilation fields training so I am now 11,234 years old."
Erda shook her head.
"Let's not go that far. We would be here forever."
Justinian gave a true hearty laugh. However, while he was here, he decided to call his entire Honor Guard as they deserved to be here as well. Just for today, he would enjoy a relatively normal birthday.
After all, in just a few weeks, he would face Darkseid once more. Hopefully dealing a major blow to the New God. Until then, he would prepare to wipe Apokolyps from the face of the universe.
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