Webway, Ilmarin
Orain Droh
161.M32
The training ground was filled with the din of a fierce battle, the sounds of which echoed off the walls made entirely of wraithbone, dyed blue. It belonged to the Krorks after all, and it was undoubtedly their favourite colour. A lucky colour.
At this thought, he just shook his head and silently watched the duel taking place before him, or rather, he should say, the fight between Sanguinius, currently on the defensive, and his three opponents.
Melyth and Aleshia, abnormally agile, were constantly pressing on him from all sides, attacking and retreating to strike from another place, their Force swords searching for other weak points.
Meanwhile, Varok was pressing on the former primarch with all his strength and mass. His huge top made entirely of wraithbone was the size of Sanguinius, who tried to avoid being hit at all costs, especially since they couldn't use their psychic powers, and the man himself couldn't use his wings either.
Although even without them, Sanguinius would probably have dealt with Varok if not for the constant biting attacks from the two Eldar females. Despite being half his size, the angel was stronger and certainly faster than even old Krork.
The pace of the fight was so fast that even he sometimes had difficulty tracking the movements of his student, which would probably be invisible to most beings in the galaxy. Just a blurred silhouette here and there.
A moment later, he sensed the presence of one of his own masters flying into the hall. A moment later, a ball of white energy stopped right next to him to also watch the fight taking place before them.
After a few minutes, Prophet finally spoke, "Impressive. Sanguinius has made great strides in controlling his form with the energy of Yngir. If only the power of Mag'ladroth itself could be controlled as smoothly."
Orain looked at him in surprise, then asked, "Does that surprise you, Master? The fact that he is able to use this energy in any way is a miracle. That the C'tan energy is connected to his soul and not his physical body, yet does not conflict with his psychic powers, is another."
"Sigh. You are right," the Old One admitted with a sigh, then added, "It's just that after so many millions of years of waiting, when our goal finally seems within reach, I am starting to forget myself and grow impatient. I feel an excitement and energy surging through me that I haven't felt in aeons."
He simply nodded at these words, understanding his master's feelings perfectly. Everyone felt that all the planning, preparation, and waiting were finally beginning to bear fruit.
He suddenly remembered one thing that he had wanted to ask one of his creators before: "So now that he is able to manifest a material form with the power of the Void Dragon, will he be able to go to the Materium?"
"Not entirely, for all he would have to do was lose control of the C'tan energy and have Black Rage take control of him for his body to disintegrate again. It's difficult to say what would happen to his soul then." Prophet explained, taking on his mentoring tone, which, after so long, was already making Orain laugh.
"However, if certain circumstances were to arise..." his master added, and Eldar had the strange feeling that Prophet hadn't just happened to show up at that moment. They knew each other well enough to sense when one of the Old Ones had an agenda or wasn't saying something.
"Should I understand that these particular circumstances have just occurred? I doubt you would have mentioned them at all if you hadn't planned something," he replied, which immediately elicited a laugh from the Old One, a rather characteristic kind of laugh, since they, while not having a body, manifested it through their psychic powers.
"You know me too well," Prophet replied after a moment. "And yes, you are right that something did happen. For I had a vision of a planet, or it was a moon, that was struck by a warp storm. And yes, before you say that this happens on thousands of planets, this one is different. More important, but I don't know why."
"Relax, Master Olórin. I understand perfectly well how rare and yet accurate your prophecies are. If you have seen this place, then it is either important or will become so if we intervene, because I suspect that is what you want."
"I would ask you not to call me that anymore," the Old One said, with a mixture of slight irritation and nostalgia. "That name belonged to a powerful member of an even more powerful race. This fragment is not worthy of being called that."
Orain bowed his head slightly, understanding the reasoning behind those words, and replied, "Forgive me, Master. I forgot myself."
"It is well, my friend. I am not even angry; it is simply better to leave the past where it belongs. Let us learn from it and look to what lies ahead. Ichtar IX"
"It is an Imperial mining planet. What happened?" The serious voice of Sanguinius intervened, who had apparently heard their conversation with his inhuman senses, had stopped fighting, and was heading towards them.
He stopped before them expectantly and asked once more, "What is it with Ichtar IX?"
"It is, or will be, consumed by the Warp Storm and become a feeding ground for daemons," Prophet replied, then added in explanation, "I had a vision of this place, and Seeker helped me find it. I feel it may be a key location for our plans, a flashpoint."
When he fell silent, Sanguinius did not press on but instead became lost in his own thoughts, causing several minutes of silence. Neither Prophet nor Orain himself allowed him to think calmly, fully aware of the extraordinary mind and tactical genius of their apprentice.
The old Aeldari had to admit to the Emperor that the creation of the primarchs had been a work of genius but also of incredible luck. And Sanguinius was the embodiment of that, with his practically infinite potential.
"So you think..." Sanguinius finally spoke thoughtfully, "That it's possible for me to go to Ichtar IX? How? I thought the Materium was out of reach for now? "What's changed?"
"No, nothing has changed in that regard. The risk is still too great. But if the planet were to actually be swallowed by the Warp Storm, you theoretically wouldn't be in real space. Much like the Gellar Field creates real space within itself, the opposite is true in the Warp Storm, which directly connects the Materium and Immaterium, capable of pulling a planet into the Warp, for example, or allowing something to pass from it to the planet."
"So let's talk about how I can get to Ichtar IX and what our plan is for the planet. But we'll do that over dinner, because after training I have to meet with Ezraes and hear what his spies have to say about Commorragh. "That's all this galaxy needs: the Drukhari united in one place and under one leadership."
Yes, Orain had to agree with that completely. The mere thought of this degenerate part of his race, which remained alive, uniting forces to sow even more pain and destruction, stirred in him a mixture of negative feelings that he found it hard to describe.
They had already received news from the Eyes of Sanguinius, his spies, that the Drukhari were organising thousands of bands and cabals into one united force, of course, as for them, a poisoned blade aimed at the rest of the galaxy.
Sooner or later, they would have to face its inhabitants, or rather fight for dominance in the Webway and survival. His depraved cousins would either submit to the young Sanguinius or completely die out. There was simply no place for them in their plans in the form they were in now.
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Eye of the Terror,
Sortiarius - Planet of Sorcerers
Magnus The Red
161.M32
He watched the rites of his new ritual carefully when he sensed an alien presence that appeared on his planet, carrying with it the stench of corruption that only the spawn of Slaanesh could.
And this one he recognised in particular. What did this snake bastard want from him? He had the pleasure of not seeing him for a thousand years, but all good things had to come to an end. He mentally signalled his sons to let his unfortunate brother, or what was left of him, pass.
He looked around his chamber and ran his eyes over the numerous books, scrolls and artefacts, wondering if they would not be permeated with the stench of Slaanesh's depravity, then with a snap of his fingers he moved them to another room and waited.
After a dozen or so minutes, the gates to the chamber opened, and through them entered two legionnaires of the Thousand Sons, followed by the disgusting and large snakelike silhouette of Fulgrim.
Seeing him, Magnus was personally glad that his mutations weren't even a tenth as drastic as his brother's, who, along with Agron, had come out the worst in this whole service of the chaos gods.
"Magnus, brother, why do I feel like I'm not welcome here?" Fulgrim's first words upon entering had already irritated him, and his tone of voice didn't help at all, making him – the Daemon Prince – feel dirty.
"Fulgrim," he greeted him. "What do you want?" he asked, not wanting to play any games.
The demonic face of the Primarch of the III Legion twisted into a parody of a smile. "My dear brother, I bring news. Unheard of and exciting at the same time. Though this information means many unforeseen consequences. "It is such a gift from my god."
Magnus frowned and slowly walked over to the throne standing against the wall, adapted to his figure and wings, on which he sat.
He then looked at the other Daemonic Prince and said, "The very fact that the Prince of Pleasure is offering some information for free means that he either has an agenda or has encountered a problem that he cannot solve on his own. Speak, then. Let's just say that I am intrigued."
Fulgrim laughed, his voice more like the hiss of a snake that so irritated the Crimson King. "It's like you, Magnus. You analyse everything; you look for a second meaning, motives, but what can you say? You are the champion of the god of magic, secrets and change. So it's natural, I guess.
"But you got it all wrong." He added, "It wasn't the Dark Prince who sent me here, but he passed on this news to me, and I came to you of my own free will to share this very happy news." Our dear winged brother is alive." Saying this, Fulgrim's face twisted into such a sinister, yet ecstatic, expression that Magnus felt almost nauseous.
However, his mind was already analysing the other's words. The winged brother who was dead? Suddenly Magnus froze. It couldn't be possible. Not him; they could feel him dying. The backlash carried far into both the Materium and the Immaterium.
Magnus jumped up from the throne and quickly approached the standing Fulgrim, "It can't be possible. Sanguinius died at the hands of Horus. We all felt it. Tzeentch confirmed it."
Fulgrim suddenly grew serious, as if it had only just dawned on him what Sanguinius' survival meant. He would not forgive them and would pursue them until he or they were utterly destroyed. Righteous and Just Great Angel. Absurdly powerful angel. What he did in the defence of Terra was beyond even what the Primarchs should be capable of.
"Not only is that not impossible, it is absolutely true. My master has known of his survival for some time now. When she tried to absorb the souls of several Drukhari, all she found was the silhouette of an angel, Sanguinius, shielding them from his sight, who not only blocked her access to the souls but was himself unattainable to her."
Magnus began to pace nervously around the chamber as he listened to Fulgrim's further words.
"But in addition to those few dark Eldar souls, there were thousands more from the same place, from the same battle, and the memories that She Who Thirst had extracted from them only confirmed that Sanguinius was indeed alive and hiding in the Webway."
"Moreover, he has allies, orks, but larger, stronger, and disciplined in powerful armour and with advanced weaponry of Eldar origin. As my master claimed, they were the Krorks, the ancestors of the orks from millions of years ago, a race forged in the fires of an ancient war."
Magnus pondered. If Sanguinius was in the Webway, he must have had some Aeldari allies, and there were even the long-extinct ancestors of the Orks. Something was happening that they did not understand. Unknown forces were making moves beyond their field of vision. In hiding, in the darkness.
He did not like it when something surprised him. It was one of the traits that connected him to Tzneesh.
"I understand that you came with more than just this information. I can see it in your eyes." He turned to his brother.
Fulgrim laughed and then proposed, "What do you say we hunt our little brother before he hunts us?"
Magnus looked at him more closely. "What do you propose? "Do you have a plan?"
He just shook his head, "I was more counting on you being able to come up with something."