Immaterium
518.M32
Sanguinius
Their bodies, entwined in combat, tore through intertwining, chaotic rivers of energy, the mere contact of which would instantly incinerate most beings.
Both Sorrow and Angel Pride were far behind, and that was Sanguinius's goal. To draw the attention of the Ruinous Powers, who had been watching him closely ever since he metaphorically set foot in the Warp, along with the battle.
Though he had initially come only to retrieve his sons from this place, he was not about to waste the opportunity to annihilate his enemy and send a signal to the chaos gods that all was not going according to plan.
Was it risky and rash? Surely it was, and his mentors would have already scolded him for it. But seeing Kha'banda's hideous face before him, with half his teeth and fangs knocked out, he couldn't help but think it was the right thing to do.
It was time for Chaos to receive a blow, no matter how small. At the same time, he hoped this fight would provoke yet another presence in the Immaterium that he could confront.
He tightened his grip on the Greater Daemon's head, seeing his target. It seemed to be a ruined planet, engulfed by some Warp Storm in the past. However, it was far more than just an ideal place for combat.
When he reached it, he dived, feeling gravity soon begin to affect them. His opponent, seeing his intention, tried even harder to break free from his grasp, but Sanguinius's hands didn't even budge.
Exceeding the speed of sound many times over, they tore through the atmosphere, only to crash with a tremendous, deafening impact onto one of the planet's black mountain peaks.
And at the last moment, Sanguinius positioned himself so that Kha'banda would bear the brunt of the impact. In addition, she created a psychic field around herself that absorbed kinetic energy.
The impact was so powerful that it levelled practically the entire mountain range in an instant, then created a crater hundreds of miles deep.
The shockwave was so powerful that it covered the entire planet, virtually disintegrating the numerous factories, forges, Daemon Engines, and lesser daemons that inhabited this, one of Vashtorra's few fortresses.
The planet's crust began to crack, and rivers of magma began to pour from the fissures.
The Greater Daemon of Chaos will not be enraged when he learns what has become of this place. If he didn't already know, he already knew.
Sanguinius felt the dark will of the Chaos gods tightening around the planet. Khorne's presence seemed excited by the battle and destruction, Tzneetch was clearly intrigued, Slaneesh was full of lust, and Nurgle was simply bored.
Leaving his opponent in the miles-deep crater, Sanguinius rose into the air, high above the landscape, waiting.
He knew Kha'banda wouldn't surrender so easily, and he would need much more to permanently destroy the daemon in the Immaterium.
And indeed, a terrifying roar echoed from the crater, trembling the air.
"GRRAAAAARH!!! SAAANGUINIUUUS!!!"
The Primarch felt Khorne's blessing resting on the Greater Daemon, empowering his servant more and more.
The crater floor erupted as Kha'banda surged upward and, like a great red missile, struck the hovering Sanguinius.
However, all that awaited him was a wall of compressed space created by Sanguinius. The impact reverberated like a deafening gong. Daemon's body, if not for the pure energy of chaos, would have been reduced to a wet mess.
Yet Kha'banda felt it acutely. Broken wings and shattered bones instantly regenerated, even the previously broken horn and teeth.
Sanguinius wasted no time, harnessing the warp energy filling the air and catching the falling Greater Daemon Khorne, halting him in mid-air, before soaring even higher and, increasing his mass several hundredfold, descending towards his enemy again.
With his legs straight, he struck Kha'banda, sending him crashing towards the ground once more, enlarging the crater already formed.
The energies of the Immaterium began to gather in Sanguinius's right hand in enormous quantities, compressing into a clearly unstable spear of light. His trembling hand struggled to hold it steady.
Grinding his teeth, Sanguinius hurled it down toward Kha'banda, who was already emerging from the rubble. He sensed the incoming projectile. Daemon's eyes widened, trying to flee, sensing the scale of this attack was greater than he could have imagined.
However, he had barely taken half a step when Sanguinius caught him in a telekinetic grip, and by then it was too late.
The spear of light pierced Kha'banda completely, but it didn't explode; instead, it began to grow. First dozens, then hundreds, then thousands, then millions of luminous golden branches began to grow from it, engulfing not only Daemon's body but the entire planet.
It all lasted perhaps a dozen seconds, or perhaps an hour. It's hard to say in the Immaterium. The attack completely shattered the planet, sending fragments into the Immaterium, where they began to disintegrate under the onslaught of Warp energy.
In its place now remained a tangle of billions, trillions of luminous roots, of various sizes, which a moment later began to fade and disperse into the Warp.
Sanguinius was left alone, floating in the Immaterium, and no trace of his opponent remained. He had expected to feel something more at the destruction of his enemy, but he had to admit he felt little more than a faint sense of satisfaction.
In the war he now fought, Kha'banda was merely a pawn. Relatively strong, but a pawn nonetheless. And his true enemies were now surrounding him.
Sanguinius grasped the seed of fear and doubt growing within him, then crushed it, strengthening the fortress of his mind.
If worst comes to worst, he will allow them to feel why the Old Ones so feared Mag'ladroth and his terrible Void power. Even if it means the annihilation of his soul. Perhaps the unleashed Void will consume the Chaos Gods.
The four presences circled him like prey, blocking all escape routes. Even with his immense power, he couldn't teleport now. The Ruinous Powers had trapped him in an invisible bubble from which he could now escape.
He could almost feel their palpable desire, even that of the previously indifferent Nurgle. His strength had impressed them, and now each likely wanted to make him their champion.
Suddenly, Sanguinius felt a tremor in the energies surrounding him and smiled faintly.
"Be gone!" he said firmly, his voice calm and low, yet it filled the Immaterium like a scream. "I will not become your hound. Not now, nor ever. Thus I speak, in my name, Sanguinius."
But they did not react to his words. They had another, more pressing problem, for they sensed the approaching presence that a moment later flared up behind Sanguinius like a blazing sun of psychic energy, obscuring the entire horizon.
The Emperor. God-Emperor of Mankind. His father... Or at least his creator.
His presence was overwhelming for Sanguinius, for where the unnatural minds of the four Chaos Gods seemed relatively stable, the Emperor's mind seemed shattered, composed of thousands of fragments, voices struggling with each other.
What he sensed confirmed what the Old Ones had told him. His father was on the verge of becoming a god. If the body on the Golden Throne were destroyed, he felt that such a damaged Emperor's mind could only follow one path.
Sanguinius sensed a distinct hesitation from the Ruinous Powers. They did not take the Emperor lightly. They hated him on a scale even he could not fathom. What's more, they feared him.
Sanguinius sensed their hesitation. If they joined forces, they would, of course, force the Emperor to retreat, but that would leave them open to attack from each other, especially since Tzeentch was the god of deceit and lies.
Khorne was clearly eager for battle, but he was not foolhardy enough to risk an attack.
The Emperor sent a provocative psychic attack, but the Chaos Gods were clearly unwilling to rise to the challenge. The stalemate continued, and Sanguinius felt the pressure mounting.
The Immaterium between the five divine entities began to boil. The chaotic energies became a terrifying storm, and Sanguinius knew that if he had arrived here before his rebirth, he would not have survived.
He also realised what he had truly undertaken when he decided to destroy the Ruinous Powers. And what power would be needed to even equal their might? Gaining control over Mag'ladroth's powers became an absolute necessity for him at this point.
Nurgle was the first to abandon the fight, withdrawing his presence back to his Garden. He was soon followed by the Changer of Ways and the Prince of Pleasure. Khorne, however, lingered a moment longer.
His mind drifted closer to Sanguinius. "YOU WILL BE MY CHAMPION, BLOOD ANGEL! FOR SO I HAVE DECIDED!"
With these words, the Blood God also relented, leaving him alone with the gargantuan presence of his father, if he could even call the being before him that.
He had often wondered what he would say to the Emperor if he met him again. He would reproach him for all his mistakes. But now, standing before this being, not the Emperor, his father, but the God-Emperor of Mankind, born from the faith of trillions of men.
He floated silently before the Emperor, whose immense presence made him seem as small as a speck of dust.
But wasn't that what made him human, at least in part? The courage to face danger and fight even when the odds were slim or even nonexistent? Wasn't that what ordinary citizens of the Imperium did, taking up arms against xenos and traitors?
When they threw themselves into battle against daemons or traitorous Space Marines and Primarchs? If they had found courage, then so must he.
He touched with his mind that shattered chorus of diverse voices that was the God-Emperor and began to speak of what had weighed so heavily on his heart for so long, not even believing he would receive an answer.
"Tell me, Father, why? Why didn't you tell us the truth? About Chaos... your Webway project?"
"We could have been ready, more attentive, and prepared for betrayal. For how could we have believed that Horus or any of our brothers could betray us so easily... but if I had known something could corrupt them, I would not have fallen into such a trap as Signus Prime."
"Why didn't you heal Angron? If pulling out the nails would have killed him, you could have resurrected him like Jaghatai. Why, knowing the risks, did you favour Horus and give him supreme command of the armies when he was an obvious potential target for Chaos!?"
"You humiliated Lorgar when he spoke the truth! You did the same to Magnus, even though I advised against it. It was obvious he and his sons would not stop using the Wasp. It was part of their identity. But instead of guiding him, you allowed someone else to show him the path, the path to destruction!"
"After the Great Crusade, did you even need us anymore!? Would you have gotten rid of us and our sons like you did with the Thunderwarriors!?
"WHY FATHER!? WHY YOU CRUEL AND MANIPULATIVE FOOL!?" He shouted furiously, his eyes filled with the absolute darkness of the Void.
"WHERE IS YOUR DREAM IMPERIUM NOW!? WHERE IS THE NEXT GOLDEN AGE OF HUMANITY!? ALL TURNED TO DUST!? "THEY NOW WORSHIP YOU AS A GOD, O IRONY!"
"BY YOUR ACTIONS, YOU HAVE CAUSED THE SAME THING FOR WHICH YOU PUNISHED LORGAR! THE SAME ONE WHOM THE RUINOUS POWERS FIRST CONVEYED TO THEIR SIDE!!
Suddenly, the Emperor's mind flared with a burning rage and lashed out at Sanguinius, who was saved only by the Void, who counterattacked at the last moment, enveloping Sanguinius in a cocoon of nothingness.
The Emperor recoiled as if scalded, his presence suddenly becoming much calmer. Less chaotic and fractious.
"SON! LOYAL! SACRIFICE! XENOS! ANCIENT! FLAME! ETERNAL! VOID!"
"HOPE! SURVIVAL! MAGNUM OPUS! DESTRUCTION! CHAOS!"
His father's words seemed to pierce his skull with deafening force, and with them, a sea of images was forced into his mind.
The dead body of Sanguinius at Horus' feet. The Emperor in silver armour, battling some mechanical dragon. Then, sealing that same dragon beneath the surface of the red planet. Mars. But he took the dragon's tooth with him.
Then came more images. The Emperor making a pact with the Chaos Gods. Travelling through the Immaterium, collecting the remnants of the souls of dead gods. Finally, he gathered a small, undying golden flame hidden at the edges of the Immaterium.
The next images accompanying the Emperor's words showed him in his laboratory, standing before twenty pods, each labelled with a different number in High Gothic. Inside each pod was an embryo. The embryo, as the Primarchs realised. This was the moment of their creation.
At the very end, his father approached pod number IX, holding in his hands the tooth of the dragon from Mars, Mag'ladroth, Sanguinius realized, and a small golden flame. The remnant of the soul of a dead god. Combining them with the embryo through his psychic powers.
'Can I even call myself human? Could I ever?' Sanguinius thought at that moment. My soul is the soul of a dead god; I no longer have a body, and the rest of me is the shards of the Star God.
Then the images stopped. And the Emperor withdrew more quickly than should have been possible. Leaving Sanguinius floating alone in the vastness of the Immaterium.