Chapter Summaries

Qin Xa and the Librarians fought daemons that entered the White Knight after the Grey Knight wreckage struck the ship, while the Farseer battled Communion elsewhere. In the wreckage, Qin Xa found the two Grey Knights who had escorted him, still alive and believing they needed to continue their mission.

• The Grey Knight wreckage rammed the White Knight, briefly extinguishing its Geller field and allowing warp entities to enter before the field was restored.
• Qin Xa sent Varius and the other Librarians to face the Farseer, then led Kamas and five Librarians toward the prow, where daemons had attacked the sailors.
• Qin Xa taught the group that psychic attacks and Blank-like powers could harm daemons, while Quadrant distributed experimental rifles to help the others fight.
• Qin Xa and his companions cleared daemons from the prow and pushed into a church structure, where Communion fought the Farseer while Qin Xa dealt with the daemons.
• Qin Xa found two Grey Knights trapped in a mass of flesh and blood; they were alive and urged him to return to their chamber and continue their mission.

Qin Xa rescued two nearly mad Grey Knights from a demon-infested warship and arranged medical care before rejoining the battle against the Farseer. The defeated Farseer warned that the Grey Knights’ arrival from ten thousand years in the future would unravel the Threads of Fate, but Qin Xa suspected his own passage through the Immaterium had already bypassed that danger.

• Qin Xa burned away the flesh covering two Grey Knights, learned they wanted release, and chose to save them until they could decide their own fate.
• Qin Xa led the Grey Knights through the demons, where they fought with blood-coated bolter rounds and mistook him for their Grand Master and a ship crewman.
• Qin Xa’s companions cleared the demons, and the Captain ordered the White Knight to fire on the infested warship before Quadrant took the Grey Knights for treatment.
• Qin Xa returned to the Librarians’ battle and watched Varius and Tethys use Communion to pin the Farseer to the ground.
• The Farseer warned Qin Xa that the Grey Knights came from ten thousand years in the future and that their arrival would unravel the Threads of Fate.
• Qin Xa reasoned that his passage through the Immaterium may have bypassed the restrictions that would otherwise cause those consequences.

After Qin Xa stripped the Farseer of the Agony Circuit’s protection, the Farseer’s soul was dragged into Slaanesh’s torment. Qin Xa later examined two traumatized Grey Knights with Quadrant, and one of them finally spoke while staring at their damaged armor.

• Qin Xa removed the Farseer’s soul-protecting ornament, and Slaanesh drew the Farseer into eternal torment.
• Varius mocked the Farseer’s shortsightedness, while Olena warned Qin Xa not to rely too heavily on prophecy; Qin Xa agreed that her warning was a lesson.
• Aboard the White Knight, Qin Xa decided to study the Agony Circuit’s soul-binding structure and reproduce that function.
• Quadrant reported that the Grey Knights’ madness appeared to protect them from horrors they had witnessed in the Immaterium, and Qin Xa confirmed that daemons existed despite the Imperial Truth.
• Quadrant showed Qin Xa the Grey Knights’ recovered armor, weapons, and armor fragments, and one Grey Knight stared at the armor and said, “Yours.”

Qin Xa learned that a standing order had brought him to the Grey Knights, though no one knew why, and that one of the Grey Knights had worn his original armor during a disastrous struggle in the Immaterium. Meanwhile, Angron worried about Qin Xa and dreamed of a tender moment from the Nuceria uprising before waking aboard the Resolute Determination, where a Space Marine summoned him to the Legion conference.

• Qin Xa read a Grey Knight's memories and learned that the knight had worn Qin Xa's original armor while fighting aboard a warp-lost ship, where most survivors died and the Grey Knights eventually went mad.
• Qin Xa read another Grey Knight's memories and learned that the Grand Master had followed an unexplained order to find Qin Xa and send him to the front lines.
• Qin Xa told Quadrant to monitor the Grey Knights' lucidity and avoid operating on them, then left as the White Knight entered the Immaterium.
• Angron worried about Qin Xa's delayed return and dreamed of Qin Xa teaching him to shave during the Nuceria Uprising, when Angron tried to express that Qin Xa was like a father to him before a surprise attack interrupted them.
• Angron woke aboard the Resolute Determination, and the 1st Company Standard Bearer told him it was time for the weekly Legion conference.

Angron held the Twelfth Legion’s weekly discussion to encourage his sons to resolve conflicts through open communication. The meeting ended with Hal repeating his objection that Angron’s rescue missions strayed from the Legion’s intended assault role.

• Angron led his sons into Triumph Hall, where nearly 150,000 warriors gathered for the Legion’s weekly talk.
• Angron explained that the gathering was meant to encourage free conversation, and Kharn agreed that even close companions inevitably had conflicts.
• Yochula described how the Gladiators openly discussed personal matters and resolved problems before they could divide them.
• Angron said regular discussions could prevent conflicts from escalating into duels and shared his foster father’s advice about speaking up.
• Hal argued that the Legion was neglecting its assault mission by rescuing civilians and allies, and Angron sensed that some warriors agreed with him.

Angron confronted Hal about the Twelfth Legion’s past brutality, then learned from Perturabo that the Legions faced a dangerous Greenskin warlord with powerful psychic abilities. Perturabo said Kuros would arrive in a week to aid them, and that The Emperor might come if the battle went badly.

• Angron told Hal he could leave the Legion or remain without punishment, and Hal chose to fight in the Twelfth Legion until death.
• The Twelfth Legion reached a new battlefield in the Ounus Sector, where Perturabo’s Fourth Legion fleet arrived and began deploying troops.
• Perturabo told Angron that a Psyker from Magnus’s Legion had warned him to fight alongside the Twelfth Legion against a psychic Greenskin warlord.
• Perturabo said Kuros would arrive in a week and could foresee distant future events, while The Emperor might personally join the battle if needed.
• Angron asked about Kuros and Ahriman, and Perturabo joked that Qin Xa must have come from the Thousand Sons Legion.

Perturabo’s forces attacked the Greenskin-occupied planet, where Dantiok’s Tridents encountered deadly Psykers and an endless horde. Qin Xa rescued Dantiok and his surviving battle-brothers through the Immaterium and returned them to the White Knight.

• Perturabo ordered the planet bombarded and sent the Fourth and Twelfth Legions to attack after destroying the system’s other planets.
• Dantiok led the Tridents across the ruined surface and encountered a frail Greenskin Psyker, who killed Lando Aige before the Space Marines shot it down.
• Greenskins appeared in overwhelming numbers and charged as their Psykers used psychic power to attack Dantiok’s squad.
• Qin Xa emerged through a blizzard, led Dantiok and the surviving Tridents to safety, and brought them aboard the White Knight.
• Qin Xa contacted Angron and Perturabo, telling them he had returned with the Tridents.

Qin Xa warned Perturabo that the Greenskins wielded powerful psychic forces and urged him to halt the assault until they could bring in more support. Perturabo reluctantly agreed to wait for The Emperor and the Silent Sisters after Qin Xa proposed ways to counter the enemy.

• Perturabo cut off Qin Xa’s warnings and explained that his Tridents had been testing a device designed to detect psychic organisms.
• Qin Xa and Dantiok suspected that a collective psychic consciousness was granting psychic powers to otherwise ordinary Orks.
• After the first offensive failed and the ground forces began withdrawing, Qin Xa told Perturabo that the Greenskins might be using individual Orks as mediums for collective psychic power.
• Qin Xa proposed deploying Blanks or organizing units around Librarians, but pointed out that the Legions lacked enough of either to win alone.
• Angron supported Qin Xa’s suggestion to wait for The Emperor and the Silent Sisters, and Perturabo reluctantly agreed before leaving the Command Deck.

After the offensive was halted, Qin Xa’s team completed a breakthrough in producing psyker-power crystals and prepared to develop a Space Marine weapon, while Qin Xa planned a solo mission to investigate the Greenskin planet. On the Fourth Legion’s flagship, Dantiok mourned Lando Aige and challenged the decisions that had sent their warriors to die, then left without resolving his doubts about Perturabo.

• Qin Xa’s team confirmed that their chemically synthesized crystals were purer and could now be mass-produced, so Qin Xa ordered Quadrant to design an experimental Space Marine weapon.
• Qin Xa proposed that the team analyze a future operation and said he would investigate the Greenskin planet alone before the temporary truce ended, despite Brown’s offer to accompany him.
• Dantiok and the Fourth Legion’s warriors buried their dead and held a private memorial for Lando Aige, whom Dantiok described as an uncaring and obedient soldier.
• A warrior accused Dantiok of resenting their Gene-father, and Dantiok questioned Perturabo’s decision to launch the failed offensive despite warnings to wait.
• Dantiok’s friend said that Dantiok resembled Perturabo in demanding no errors or failures, and Dantiok silently left the memorial room.

Qin Xa led Dantiok, Stoke, and three hundred Iron Warriors to establish a reconnaissance stronghold on the Greenskin-controlled planet. After drilling underground, they discovered a vast technological space that appeared empty beneath their feet, and Dantiok prepared to use a device to detect nearby Psyker Orks.

• Qin Xa asked Dantiok and Stoke to join a mission to build a defensive stronghold and reconnaissance station on the planet below.
• Qin Xa limited the expedition to three hundred Iron Warriors, and the group teleported to the surface before using an Iron Warriors Drop Pod to drill underground.
• Qin Xa found that his psychic senses could not perceive the underground passage or the space beyond it, and he led the warriors onward.
• Stoke shot a Gretchin with a detector, revealing a vast Greenskin-built underground space filled with metal plates that seemed to have no ground beneath them.
• Qin Xa said the space was real but imperceptible to humans, while Stoke realized the planet had literally been hollowed out.
• Dantiok took out Perturabo's device for detecting Psyker Orks as the group prepared to choose a site for the stronghold.

Qin Xa and the Iron Warriors discovered that the planet’s Greenskins were controlled like puppets and chose a defensible site to build a base. Qin Xa used Mad King Tark’s Ring to create a bastion, then angrily confronted Stoke after Stoke admitted he had only wanted to test it.

• Dantiok mounted Perturabo’s detection device, and Qin Xa explained that it was designed to detect Ork Psykers rather than human Psykers.
• Qin Xa sensed psychic threads controlling the disciplined Greenskins, destroyed their attacking force, and told the Iron Warriors that all Greenskins on the planet were being controlled.
• Uneasy about the force behind the control, Qin Xa led the group onward through repeated Greenskin attacks and chose a remote location with only one approach route for their base.
• Qin Xa used Mad King Tark’s Ring to transform Greenskin remains and devices into a small bastion, astonishing Dantiok and Stoke.
• Stoke revealed that he had suggested the bastion merely to test the ring’s functions, prompting Qin Xa to berate him and warn that they might have to repeat the journey if the ring ran out of energy.

Qin Xa and the Iron Warriors completed a fortified base and discussed Dantiok's concerns about Perturabo. Dantiok joined Qin Xa's Human Historical Research Association, and Qin Xa began envisioning it as a network to protect loyalists and prevent future betrayals.

• Stoke helped Qin Xa plan a stronghold, and the Iron Warriors defended it with energy weapons while an artifact disrupted the Greenskins' psychic control.
• Dantiok questioned Qin Xa about the detector and asked for a way to contact him in case Perturabo endangered the Legion; Qin Xa promised him a communication artifact.
• Dantiok offered to join the Human Historical Research Association and share information about ancient relics, and Qin Xa agreed.
• Qin Xa considered expanding the Association into a network of loyalists who could prevent or respond to the Horus Heresy, and he told Dantiok that Angron would oppose Perturabo's growing brutality.
• Qin Xa showed the Iron Warriors prototype weapons designed to counter psychic enemies and explained that the stronghold would also serve as a weapons-testing station.
• Qin Xa explained that the base's defense would rely on a powerful Blank, but the missing man remained somewhere aboard the damaged White Knight while its crew searched for him.

Chief Librarian Varius led a search through the White Knight’s dangerous lower decks to find a powerful Blank, while his failing psychic senses and the ship’s hidden dangers put the search party at risk. The team found the Blank among isolated ship-dwellers, who agreed to return after learning the vessel now belonged to the Twelfth Legion.

• Varius led the Captain’s Adjutant and a Marine team through the lower decks, where his weakened senses left him unable to detect an approaching young Wild Boar.
• A massive Wild Boar attacked the team, and the Adjutant killed it at close range with a Melta cannon after freezing in terror.
• The captain explained that the White Knight’s hidden lower decks contained dangerous creatures and isolated descendants of former sailors, including an Augmented Tribe.
• Varius and the Adjutant continued through the decks, encountering more threats, until Varius lost consciousness near the Blank and the Marines struggled against its power.
• The Adjutant approached the Blank’s protectors and offered them food rations if they returned with the party.
• The ship-dwellers agreed to return after the Adjutant explained that the White Knight now served Angron and the Twelfth Legion rather than the First Legion.

Qin Xa learned that many refugees aboard the White Knight were Blanks and arranged for the strongest of them to join his outpost. The Blanks reached the outpost safely, where their presence offered protection from the Psyker Greenskins, while Qin Xa and the Iron Warriors departed to bring back supplies.

• The White Knight's Captain told Qin Xa that many refugees aboard the warship were Blanks, including some who had been driven into isolation since the First Legion's time.
• Qin Xa ordered the strongest Blank sent to his outpost and the other Blanks sent to the flagship, then prepared a comfortable room for the newcomer.
• Stoke told Qin Xa that his mother had been a Blank and that he had nearly been tortured to death in the womb before being given to his mother's friend.
• The powerful Blank and his escort crossed the planet as the Greenskins kept their distance, then entered the underground outpost without a fight.
• Qin Xa doubled the escort's promised pay in exchange for staying to care for the powerful Blank, whose presence could protect the outpost from Psyker Greenskins.
• Dantiok reprimanded an Iron Warrior for complaining about the Blanks, and Qin Xa left with the Iron Warriors to bring supplies back to the outpost.

Perturabo met with Angron and Qin Xa aboard the Twelfth Legion’s flagship, where they discussed professional anti-psyker personnel from Nuceria. He learned they were civilian Spirit Hunters hired to support the Legions, and left after Angron promised he could command them when they arrived.

• Perturabo ended his call with Qin Xa by telling him to withdraw, then traveled to the Twelfth Legion flagship for the daily meeting with Angron.
• Qin Xa advised against assigning a Thousand Son to the White Knight, but Angron interrupted Perturabo and Qin Xa’s teasing by dismissing Perturabo in return.
• Angron told Perturabo that professional Anti-Psyker Personnel would arrive in the system and asked the Fourth Legion to cooperate with them.
• Angron and Qin Xa explained that Nuceria’s Spirit Hunters had developed anti-psyker expertise to stop Psykers from manipulating the stock market, and that their guild funded their work through transaction fees.
• Angron agreed to let Perturabo command some of the Spirit Hunters, provided he did not decimate them, then escorted him back to the Fourth Legion transport.

Kiel answered Angron’s summons to the Triumph Hall, where Qin Xa examined candidates for the 12th Legion’s Librarians. Angron and Qin Xa began judging the Psykers, while Kiel saw the future recruits who would strengthen the legion.

• Kiel left the training grounds and traveled to the Triumph Hall, recalling the legion’s history and the flagship’s many sailors and prisoners.
• Kiel arrived to find Angron and Qin Xa overseeing more than two thousand candidates for augmentation, including about twenty Psykers.
• Kiel told Angron that the recruits would become the legion’s future backbone, and Angron expressed satisfaction with nearly all of them.
• Qin Xa struck a Psyker who admitted using his powers to hypnotize his neighbors, and Angron sentenced him to wear an Anti-Psyker Collar and work in the engine room.
• Qin Xa examined another Psyker’s tattoo, and Angron sensed that the man had petty theft and cowardice in his past before Qin Xa continued the inspections.

Qin Xa and Angron prepared the second batch of Nu Star recruits for transformation and established the White Knights’ organization in the White Knight’s new Ritual Hall. The chapter ended with Qin Xa presenting two still-unlucid Grey Knights as honorary instructors.

• Angron explained that the remaining ten Psykers had passed earlier checks, while Qin Xa said they still had one final process to undergo.
• Angron described the World Eaters’ honors and sent Kiel to take the selected recruits through transformation and education.
• Qin Xa and Angron discussed testing weapons at the underground base in a week and bringing recruits and Angron’s Blood Drinker Guard along.
• At the Ritual Hall, Qin Xa had Varius explain the White Knights’ four ranks and announced new Grand Librarian and Chief Librarian Instructor positions.
• Qin Xa ordered Kamas to bring in two rescued Grey Knights, who arrived in wheelchairs, still not fully conscious.

Qin Xa explained that the two rescued Grey Knights alternated between lucidity and madness because their souls were being rejected by the world, then asked them to assess ten prospective Librarians. The Grey Knights approved the candidates and granted their armor to Kamas and Varius, though one Grey Knight began raving before he could explain his reasons.

• Qin Xa described the Grey Knights’ condition and their value as experienced instructors to the gathered Librarians and Psykers.
• When the Grey Knights regained their senses, Qin Xa asked them to judge whether ten Psykers could become Grey Knights, and they approved the candidates.
• The Grey Knights recognized that the candidates came from the Twelfth Legion and served Angron, then read the group’s memories and understood the current situation.
• One Grey Knight shouted about becoming an angel, while the lucid Grey Knight asked Varius and Kamas to pass their armor to two worthy people and tried to warn Qin Xa about an arriving Thousand Son.
• Qin Xa gave Kamas and Varius the right to use the Grey Knights’ Aegis Pattern Terminator Armor and told them to train the ten Psykers as Librarians.

Qin Xa investigated the Grey Knights’ memory-bound madness and heard one prophesy that someone important to him had arrived. When two Thousand Sons reached the fleet, Qin Xa recognized the sour-faced one as Avida, the future First Supreme Grand Master of the Grey Knights.

• Qin Xa and Quadrant considered whether the Grey Knights’ minds were trapped in memories because they had traveled through time, while Quadrant suggested Destiny might be involved.
• One Grey Knight briefly regained consciousness, urged Qin Xa to seek someone important, and said he had seen that person at a crossroads of Destiny.
• A red escort ship bearing the Solar Ring emblem arrived, carrying two members of the Fifteenth Legion.
• Perturabo and Angron greeted the visitors, and Perturabo corrected them for addressing both Primarchs together as the lords of the Fourth and Twelfth Legions.
• Qin Xa watched the visitors remove their helmets and recognized the sour-faced warrior as Avida, the future First Supreme Grand Master of the Grey Knights.

Angron brought Asar and Avida to the Command Deck, where Avida used his prophetic abilities to seek a tactical advantage for Perturabo. Qin Xa watched as Avida’s vision showed him a scholar teaching him to find Threads of Fate without assistance, though the lesson came at a cost.

• Angron learned that Asar represented Magnus while Avida accompanied him, and the two Thousand Sons debated Terra’s ancient name and the Eldar.
• Angron teased Perturabo about wanting to contact Magnus, then introduced Qin Xa to Asar and Avida.
• Perturabo asked Avida to perform a Prophecy, and Avida used a Blue Eye Gem to enter a state of Psychic Premonition.
• Avida saw a scholar who taught him to sense Threads of Fate and eventually perceive the past and future without external aid or assistance.