Be'lakor, the cunning Original Daemon Prince, had seized Annomyn's body. Taking the flesh of the pasha's son for himself, he had successfully manifested in the Realms once more.
Be'lakor had never been a fool. As the first Original Daemon Prince chosen by the Chaos Gods, he was actually very clever. In those long-forgotten ancient years, he had once grasped the tastes of the Chaos Gods with uncanny precision, repeatedly profiting from their Great Chaos. When he fought Khorne, he sought Slaanesh's support; when he attacked Tzeentch, he pledged his loyalty to Nurgle. This ensured that the Chaos Gods never all despised him at once, allowing him to remain foremost beneath the four gods for quite some time.
Likewise, Be'lakor had prepared a fallback for his invasion of the Realms.
Before entering Myth Drannor, Be'lakor had separated a small portion of his power and left it outside the Mythal. After his incarnation within the Mythal was destroyed, the Original Daemon Prince's surviving power had heard Annomyn's prayers.
The corruption of Myth Drannor's Mythal had left it unable to fully contain Be'lakor, while Annomyn had no idea that Be'lakor had already possessed him.
"Didn't expect that, did you? I'm back!"
Although Be'lakor's body had manifested again, his power had not returned to its peak.
The earlier encounter in Lady Firehair's temple had cost Be'lakor dearly. The Original Daemon Prince now possessed only forty or fifty percent of his fighting strength at his peak.
More fatally, Be'lakor had no divine realm. As a foreign deity, he could neither connect to the Warp nor communicate with the Chaos Domain, and he had no home of his own in the Outer Planes. Every bit of power he used was gone for good, with no way to replenish it.
Yet even at forty or fifty percent