Jonson's calls went unanswered. No matter how many times he silently repeated Tzeentch's name, he got nothing in return. Perhaps Tzeentch was sick of being called. After Jonson had tried 99 times, Tzeentch finally responded:
"This is all part of the plan. Kairos has had a litter, and I have to go deliver the babies. Lion, you're the best. Hold the fort for now."
"Wait, you want me to fight the Emperor?!"
Jonson, slumped on the library floor, couldn't take it anymore. Kairos was a Greater Daemon, for crying out loud. How the hell could he have a litter? Besides, Kairos was a birdman. Even if he did lay anything, it'd be eggs! So that was how Tzeentch was going to play it?
Thinking back to when Tzeentch had sweet-talked him, calling him "my sweet," only to call him Lion now, Jonson realized everyone was every man for himself when disaster struck. No wonder the Demon Realm had been so quiet lately. Tzeentch had run off with everyone. Damn it.
Tzeentch had shamefully bailed—and not only had he run, he'd taken his entire staff with him, leaving Jonson, the unlucky bastard, to take the fall.
Perhaps it had all been planned in advance. Many of Tzeentch's daemons hadn't even heard the news before their own boss sold them out, leaving them to serve as bait alongside Jonson.
It wasn't that Tzeentch was a coward. The past was the past, and the present was the present. Tzeentch had once been in his heyday, at least the leader among the Chaos Gods. But the other Chaos Gods later joined forces and fought him, and that was how he fell from his throne as their leader.
By the time Hogg and the Emperor had merged, the balance of power had already shifted. The