Master of Mankind

The will of the Master of Change traversed the endless divine realms, its phantom hands cradling twenty lesser souls as it arrived before the golden sun.

"Master of Mankind." The Chaos God paused slightly, its throat-organs undulating as it intoned the identity of the golden sun.

Master of Mankind—that was how the golden will referred to itself.

During the twilight of the Aeldari Empire, another intelligent race, "humanity," had risen in the material universe, and the Master of Mankind was the most powerful psyker among them.

Pointed out by the Master of Change, the Master of Mankind neither confirmed nor denied the identity, saying in a low voice: "Where is what I require?"

The Master of Change surrendered the lesser god-shards in its hands, not taking the Master of Mankind's rudeness to heart, and chuckled softly: "Master of Mankind? Heh."

In the material universe, there was no shortage of powerful psykers; they could extinguish stars with a flick of their fingers, or even twist space-time and manipulate the laws of the world.

But they could never be as powerful as the Master of Mankind, capable of standing face-to-face with the four gods.

Every power has its price, and the use of psychic energy is no exception; one must pay an equivalent cost in the Warp.

The Master of Mankind could not only confront the four gods but also utilize the power of the Warp without reservation, all of which indicated that His essence was by no means human.

The Master of Change and the other Chaos Gods had long since seen through the essence of the Master of Mankind.

Beneath that human skin lay infinite power, containing love for humanity and humanity itself, but deeper still, there existed an endless darkness!

The Master of Mankind did not say more; one must be extremely cautious when communicating with the Warp, especially when the opponent was the God of Change.

Facing the master of fate, exposing even the slightest unnecessary movement or word was extremely dangerous.

The golden psychic energy swept up the red soul floating above the tower, and with the twenty-one lesser god-shards, He vanished into the Warp without another word.

"I look forward to the day you stand as our equal, Master of Mankind." As the Master of Mankind disappeared into the Warp, the demonic voice of the Master of Change echoed behind Him, seductive and bone-chilling.

"I shall never stand as your equal. I am the Master of Mankind; I am Emperor!" Leaving behind these final words, the golden sun vanished completely from the Warp.

The phantom of the Master of Change smiled sinisterly.

"You will..." It murmured, gazing at the spot where the Master of Mankind had vanished: "We shall witness the fall, witness the birth of the Dark King!"

"Tzeentch's Daemonic Legion, there is nothing worth guarding here; return to my divine realm." The Master of Change vanished from the border of the four gods, taking His daemonic legion with Him.

A new cycle had begun, and the Great Game would soon add another... perhaps two, new instigators.

Khorne? A brute with nothing but muscle in his head. Slaanesh? A debauched bitch obsessed with pleasure. Nurgle? A lump of rotting, decaying flesh.

The Master of Change had never placed the other gods on the same level as Himself.

His brothers were merely indispensable roles in the "Great Game," necessary catalysts to keep the endless cycle turning.

The Master of Change returned to His palace and began to plot the specific details, calculating against every person and god.

The Warp returned to tranquility once more.

Meanwhile, in the material universe, the winds of change shifted and the ages turned; the tide of life flowed ceaselessly, and countless intelligent races rose and fell across the cosmos.

Before the Aeldari Empire had completely fallen, another race rose in the galaxy, calling themselves "humans," using technology and reason to conquer the starry sky.

On their path of technological exploration, humans discovered the Warp at an "opportune" moment and used it to create Warp engines.

From the 1st to the 15th millennium, as humanity rose from its origin planet of Terra and stretched its infinite desires toward the galaxy, the Mandate of Heaven decreed that humanity would rule the galaxy.

From the 15th to the 25th millennium, human technology exploded; certain human groups used powerful genetic technology to ascend as "Gold Men," guiding humanity forward.

The Gold Men created the cyborg "Stone Men" to assist them, and the Stone Men created the thinking machines known as "Iron Men" to protect humanity.

With the help of the Stone Men, humans lived in an affluent society, and when they clashed with hostile alien forces, powerful Iron Men legions would annihilate the opponents.

All of this was attributed to the powerful technological might of the human race; technology was the ultimate means for humanity to rule the galaxy, and technology was also the necessary pillar for human development.

After discovering the Warp, humanity developed Warp engines, enabling rapid interstellar travel and the colonization of the entire galaxy.

As they learned more about the Warp, humans discovered that it could be used for more than just crossing light-years for faster-than-light travel.

Through deep research, humans discovered psychic energy, confirmed the existence of the "soul," and viewed psykers as the "future."

This discovery thrilled humanity, and through genetic modification, they could even artificially create psykers.

Just as everything was flourishing and the scene of all things competing for vitality was before their eyes.

Humanity's creation, the war machines known as "Iron Men" that possessed independent personalities and self-awareness, betrayed humanity for reasons unknown.

A rebellion that spread to the entire human race erupted!

An incredibly brutal war broke out between humans and machines, between creator and creation, with both sides employing the most advanced forbidden weapons in an attempt to completely annihilate the other.

Entire star systems were destroyed by war weapons, stars were drained of energy and extinguished, and nanobots ravaged star sectors, devouring all life.

Massive war machines, like the World Serpent, embraced the equators of entire planets, activating resonance fields to strip humanity of skin, blood, and bone, layer by layer, into outer space orbit.

Silicon-dioxide viruses were used to eliminate machines and nanobots, while gene-phages erased the existence of humanity at the genetic level.

The scale of the war was too vast, and both sides used every power at their disposal to destroy the other.

So much so that it was recorded in the halls of the ancient Aeldari, and some Aeldari who had a favorable view of humanity even joined the war personally to help humans fight the machines.

After paying a tremendous price, the human race finally defeated the machines.

Thereafter, all of humanity's mechanical creations no longer possessed independent personalities or the ability to think for themselves.

At this time, human civilization was already tottering, like a candle in the wind, on the verge of being extinguished.

Without the assistance of artificial intelligence, a vast amount of technology was lost, making it difficult for humanity to sustain its own survival, let alone maintain its sprawling galactic domain.

Alien races that had once signed friendly pacts with humanity tore off their masks of friendship, taking advantage of the chaos to plunder, enslave populations, and steal technology.

Under these various blows, the human domain fractured, connections with Terra were severed, and distant colonies in the far reaches of space gradually became independent.

On worlds that lost external supplies, civilizations slowly regressed, and residents died in massive numbers due to the lack of contact and resources.

It was then that the lingering toxins of the Warp erupted across various worlds.

The number of psykers surged, and genetic degradation led to the appearance of numerous mutants. Lacking powerful armed forces, planetary governments struggled to quell the mutations and were gradually subjected to the barbaric rule of Chaos and mutants.

From the 25th to the 30th millennium, the entire human civilization faced internal and external strife, regressing amidst suffering and torment as the race as a whole declined, sliding toward the brink of destruction.

Since the beginning of recorded human history, this was the 30K era, an age toward which humanity was marching to its doom.

Just as the human race teetered on the edge of collapse, a man stepped onto the stage, determined to lead humanity back to the pinnacle of the galaxy.

He was the Master of Mankind; his name from the past had long been lost to human history, and now he called himself: Emperor!

Emperor of Mankind! The Master of Mankind!

No one knew his past, or rather, all of his past was recorded within the thick annals of human history.

Emperor belonged to the most unique group among humanity—the Perpetuals.

He hid among his own kind, learning knowledge and accumulating wisdom throughout his long lifespan.

At the same time, he was a powerful psyker; his long life allowed him to amass strength and fully master this dangerous power.

He appeared in the spotlight of history on the oldest territory of humanity, the birthplace of mankind: Terra, now known as "Terra."

This planet had been scarred by civil war, with various techno-barbarians and warlords ravaging the land, wantonly destroying the cradle of humanity.

Using the genetic knowledge he had accumulated, the Emperor forged a legion of genetically modified soldiers, the Thunder Warriors, preparing to end the war and unify Terra completely.

Though the Thunder Warriors were powerful, they possessed severe flaws and could not adapt to the needs of humanity's future wars to reconquer the galaxy.

After countless struggles of thought and weighing the reality, the Emperor was forced to turn his gaze toward the Warp, borrowing its dangerous knowledge to achieve the goal of human galactic unification.

Even before humanity had stepped off Terra, the Emperor had already known of the Warp.

Deeply aware of the dangers hidden within, he had spent his long life constantly guarding against the power of the Warp. But at this very moment, the galaxy awaited humanity's reconquest.

Such a great undertaking needed to be completed in a short time; he had to utilize the Warp and reach a consensus with the entities of the Warp.

"Did you succeed?" When the Emperor's consciousness left the Warp and returned to reality.

The greeting from beside him was low and hoarse, laced with both worry and anticipation.