Eidolon panted in a mixture of shock and terror, his pale, bloated flesh tumbling through the tides of Chaos before crashing onto the surface of a resort planet made entirely of the delicate skin of young maidens.
Feeling the fine skin he had shattered upon impact, the sickly eyes in his sockets nearly wept with joy. He cried out—he had survived; he had escaped.
The moment he saw that divine figure descend, surrounded by Mini-Doraamons and Chestnut Buns, Eidolon knew it was over. In his desperation, he had abandoned the other Emperor's Children, plunging headlong into the surging torrents of the Warp, praying for a way out.
It seemed the Gods' attention had been drawn away by that terrifying Black Sun; no one cared for him, and no one stopped him. By pure luck, he had drifted back to his own resort planet on the Warp's current.
Eidolon struggled to crawl up from the ground. Even as a Chaos Lord, soaking in the surging tides of the Warp for so long had left him weakened. Deformed flesh sprouted beneath his skin, and the threads stitching his body together had turned into slimy tentacles. Eidolon let out a roar, ripping several tentacles from his own body and flinging them onto the ground.
"I must find a reliable Apothecary to heal this body."
Watching the tentacles twitch on the shattered skin-floor, Eidolon's mind immediately went to Fabius Bile. Though Bile was cunning and eerie, his skills as an Apothecary were unrivaled.
Years ago, when Fulgrim had beheaded Eidolon and soaked his head in wine for the other Emperor's Children to drink, Bile had managed to sew the head back onto the body, bringing him back to life—even if it turned Eidolon into a monster that had to endure constant pain and pleasure...
But Bile was dead. Eidolon felt a strange, inexplicable surge of sorrow. Yet, following the sorrow, a wave of twisted pleasure rose within him. Fabius Bile was dead, and Fulgrim was dead too. Therefore, as the Master of the Phoenix Guard, Eidolon was now the most favored son of the Dark Prince. He might even have the chance to consolidate the entire Legion and take Fulgrim's former place.
At this thought, his mood brightened considerably. Humming a fragmented melody, he dragged his wounded body toward his palace. The journey wasn't long, but he was truly weak. Panting and twisting his heavy frame, he crawled up the sixty-six steps to the throne.
He collapsed onto his seat, his fat, bloated, pale body sprawling out. His pale, worm-like fingers stroked the delicate skin covering the throne. He closed his eyes, waiting for the flayed handmaidens to bring him wine. One second, two seconds, three... thirteen seconds...
After thirteen full seconds of waiting, the wine he craved had not arrived. His throat felt parched, sparking a sudden, violent rage. He slammed his hand against the throne, his pale eyes snapping open to glare at his surroundings. He decided then to kill half of those foolish abhumans to vent his fury...
Hmm?
Eidolon's eyes twitched slightly. His gaze drifted downward toward the mosaic floor made of different-colored skins. There, before his throne at the bottom of the steps, stood a few thin figures. It was a young girl—but she was distinctly different from the abhumans Fabius had bred for him.
Her frame wasn't "beautiful" by his standards; she lacked the modification of muscle or fat. Her skin wasn't a rosy, delicate pink, but a slightly brownish, coarse texture, like a peasant who had worked long in the wheat fields. She wasn't tall, roughly the height of a twelve or thirteen-year-old girl.
Her face shared that age, neither beautiful nor ugly, possessing an indescribable sense of "averageness." It was as if she were the standard, average human. Her eyes were golden, yet they weren't bright; instead, they held a hollow, deathly stillness.
Eidolon lunged to his feet, his flesh trembling. He felt a primal, instinctive fear. The moment he stood, he stumbled, rolling down the steps until he landed on the floor at the girl's bare feet.
He didn't understand why he was afraid. Shaking, he lifted his head to look at the girl. She was looking down at him...
The Sun...
A scalding, pitch-black sunlight poured from behind the girl's head. Pure divinity, bright and lethal, blurred her human features. She stood beyond time and the mundane, leaving only the presence of silent death.
Now, Eidolon knew why he was afraid.
"Gah!!"
Eidolon scurried backward like a giant fat maggot, cowering at the foot of the stairs. His worm-like fingers pointed at the girl. The light, heat, divinity, and death from a moment ago seemed like an illusion; the girl had reverted to a mortal-looking child with nothing special about her. "You're dead! You should be dead!"
"The currents of the Warp say as much."
The girl opened her mouth slightly. No sound came out, yet Eidolon heard it clearly.
+Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain.+
+But if it dies, it bears much fruit.+
The girl took a gentle step forward. +He who loves his life loses it.+
+And he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.+
"Get away!" Eidolon screamed hysterically, drawing the Gilded Hammer from his waist and pointing it at the seemingly frail girl.
+Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out.+
+And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.+
Eidolon spat a curse and swung the Gilded Hammer at the girl's face. +My son.+ The girl's silent call echoed.
A hand reached out from behind the girl. A grey-green cloak fluttered in the wind, covering a robust, unarmored frame. The hand caught Eidolon's Gilded Hammer barehanded.
Eidolon let out a desperate wail, "Are the dead crawling out of their graves?!"
+The dead shall live; their bodies shall rise.+
+You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy.+
The robust man in the grey-green cloak swung a fist into Eidolon's face. His skull shattered instantly. He collapsed, howling, only for a few more punches to land, crushing every bone in his body to powder.
At that moment, from the dark corners of the palace and the doors leading to the pits, skinless women poured out. They were weeping, filled with hatred. Holding blades whetted from the bones of their dead kin, they walked toward Eidolon step by step.
Bone blades fueled by agony and hate pierced Eidolon's body. The women laughed with manic joy, stabbing again and again, letting the blood flow continuously.
The girl and the robust man watched in silence. This was a long revenge. Eidolon's powerful life force made him difficult to kill with such crude weapons, but the pain of each bone blade was agonizingly clear—a deathly, joyless pain of absolute extinction.
After thirteen minutes of torture, the girl slightly raised her hand. The skinless women obediently moved away, leaving only the bone blades protruding from Eidolon's form.
The girl gently reached her hand toward him.
"What do you want to bring now?" Eidolon whimpered in agony, looking at her with dread.
+I will wipe away every tear from their eyes.+
+There will be no more despair, mourning, crying, or pain.+
+For the known and the unknown shall pass away.+
The girl's finger lightly touched the center of Eidolon's brow.
Then, Eidolon died.
A quiet, silent, absolute death.
The skinless women knelt on the ground, weeping, stretching their hands toward the girl in piety. "We beg of you..."
"Grant it to us as well..."
"Let us be free..."
The girl nodded slightly and reached her fingers toward the women. Death diffused through the air as corpse after corpse fell to the floor. The robust man in the grey-green cloak watched in silence until the girl had killed even the newborn infants, until no living thing remained on the planet.
"Father," the man whispered, but then hesitated. "Mother?"
The girl tilted her head slightly and looked at him.
+My son.+
+Sacrifice.+
+Horus.+
+This time, what do you choose?+
"I shall be loyal to you, whatever you require." Horus lowered his head, kneeling on one knee at the girl's feet.
+My Warmaster.+
The girl gave a gentle smile, and a flash of irrepressible joy crossed Horus's eyes.
"Then... Fa... er... Mo... Parent, what shall we do next?"
+Find some of your brothers.+
Horus's face twitched.
+Lorgar, Russ, Omegon... they shall be our allies.+
"Even Russ?" Horus looked startled.
+Even Russ.+
The girl nodded slightly.
+But it cannot be only Russ. I want more.+
+My son, have you heard of Melsher'eyl Atherak'ia?+
Hearing the Aeldari name, Horus dithered for a moment. "Hell-Hawk... End of All Things... the Angel of Extinction?"
"I heard Fulgrim tell the story once. I always thought it was a lie..."
+The Aeldari once ruled the stars, but they were a flawed race.+
Ignoring Horus's doubt, the girl began to tell a story:
+They inherited the legacy of the Old Ones, yet they were nearly defeated by nascent races several times. The so-called Helas-Sela was one of them.+
+The sovereign of Helas-Sela rebuilt his army and, led by their king, began to revolt against Aeldari rule.+
+Aeldari history claims the armies of Helas-Sela were more numerous than the stars. The reality was that Aeldari rule was so unpopular that many new races stood with Helas-Sela.+
+Thus, the Aeldari were on the brink of ruin. The ancestor Eldanesh prayed to their Gods for help.+
+Isha, Goddess of Life, could not bear to see her children suffer. She pleaded with Khaine, the Bloody-Handed, to help the race.+
+But Khaine refused. He delighted in seeing the children of Asuryan suffer and bleed in war.+
+So Isha offered her sacred maidenhood to Khaine. The God of War's heart softened, and he injected the power of blood into Isha's womb.+
+Murder and Life conceived a child at that moment. A fierce and terrifying avatar tore through Isha's belly, killing his mother at birth.+
+That being's power surpassed even his father, Khaine. The moment he was born, the galaxy trembled. The armies of Helas-Sela became a river of blood in the blink of an eye, and their very existence was erased from time and memory.+
+The Angel of Extinction. That is the name of that being.+
"But that is just a legend, a story that is clearly a lie," Horus said, frowning. "The story claims the Angel killed Isha to be born, but Isha still lives. Many details don't align with reality, and many parts make no sense..."
+It is precisely because Isha lives that the Angel of Extinction does not exist.+
Because Isha still lives... A flash of confusion crossed Horus's eyes.
+The Gods and Alexander use a false, pruned reality to oppose me.+
The girl looked up at the vast sea of the Warp beyond the planet. +I can likewise use a false, discarded reality to fight back.+
"I will seize that Angel of Extinction for you," Horus bowed, signaling his obedience.
+Not just one Angel. I want a second.+
Horus looked up sharply. "Sanguinius?" His voice was slightly strained.
+No, my son.+
+I do not wish to face Alexander head-on yet.+
+To fight him, one must bind their own hands and feet. One cannot go all out or play every card.+
"Why?" Horus asked in shock.
+How can you be sure we are not currently in one of His dreams?+
+If I use every means, it means He knows everything about me.+
+I believe that in Alexander's past twenty thousand dreams, I have likely never used every means available to me.+
+That is our chance of victory, my son.+
The girl shook her head gently. +The Angel I want is not Sanguinius.+
"Then who?" Horus asked, confused.
+When none of you had yet returned, he accompanied me through many wars.+
+He was my weapon, my angel, the destroyer I shaped.+
+He was my first son, and he was the first son I destroyed with my own hands.+