Chapter Summaries

Leman Russ failed the Netherworld’s trials but answered the Black Wolf’s final question by naming it as himself, causing the realm to collapse. He awoke in an Eldar-like ruin with the Spear of Leman Russ and found Horus Lupercal beneath a massive door, bleeding from his eyes and saying that Angel had hurt him.

• Leman Russ lost the drinking contest and failed to lift the giant wolf’s paw, earning three scars from the Black Wolf.
• The Black Wolf asked Leman Russ who it was, and Russ answered that it was himself with an ancient true name.
• The Netherworld collapsed as winter roared, burying Russ beneath the stones.
• Russ escaped the rubble in a dim Eldar-like corridor and found the Spear of Leman Russ among the debris.
• Russ reached a massive door and found Horus Lupercal stroking little birds; Horus said he was dreaming and that Angel had hurt him.

Leman Russ met a vision of Horus in the Webway, where Horus warned that the Emperor had been deceived and would be grievously wounded by a monster. After the vision vanished, Russ sensed Magnus’s Psychic Power and followed the trail toward the Crimson Sinners in Fenris’s blizzard.

• Leman Russ encountered Horus in a vast structure within the Webway and challenged him with his sword.
• Horus told Russ that the Emperor’s Webway project had been deceived by Malcador and "it," and asked what Russ would do if ordered to kill the Emperor.
• Horus warned that a monster would descend upon Fenris and said it had wounded and killed the Emperor in what he had seen.
• Horus used the Spear of Leman Russ to test his understanding, then said he would not let the Emperor be hurt again before his vision dissolved.
• Russ recognized Magnus’s Psychic Power, charged through the collapsing Webway, and emerged in Fenris’s blizzard.
• Russ caught the scent of the Crimson Sinners and pursued them into the storm.

On Fenris, Magnus betrayed the Soul of Fenris and invoked the altered spell given by Tzeentch, trading Fenris’s power for the Lord of Change’s aid. She defeated Leman Russ and declared her intention to sacrifice him, as the Warp’s darkness began invading the Webway.

• Magnus approached Fenris’s altar while secretly preparing Tzeentch’s altered incantation to sacrifice Fenris and claim its power.
• As Leman Russ drew near, Magnus relived the Council of Nikaea and accused him of failing to defend her despite Fenris’s evidence.
• Magnus began the ritual, and Leman Russ tackled her in the snow while the darkness spread into Fenris’s Webway.
• Magnus uttered the altered ninth syllable, unleashing a blast that threw Leman Russ away and surrounded her with blue light.
• Empowered by Tzeentch, Magnus promised to offer Leman Russ to her master in exchange for her true rebirth.

Magnus used a brief moment of clarity to sacrifice herself and divert Tzeentch’s power, preventing the Webway breach from becoming catastrophic. As Magnus and Tzeentch fled from the pursuing darkness, Leman Russ collapsed on Fenris, still unsure whether Magnus had truly been a traitor.

• Magnus overwhelmed Leman Russ, but he wounded her with the Spear of Leman Russ and tried to use Magnus's Eye to break her control.
• Magnus explained that the Emperor's power in her eye had given her only thirteen milliseconds of clarity, then offered her heart and soul to Tzeentch to draw the Underking's attention.
• Magnus sacrificed herself, and her fragments and Fenris scattered as the darkness pursued Tzeentch and Magnus through the Warp.
• The Emperor returned to the Golden Throne and found the Webway damage repairable, then called Magnus his fifteenth child and shed a tear.
• The storm subsided on Fenris, where Leman Russ saw Magnus frozen as an ice statue and lost consciousness wondering whether she had truly been a traitor.

Mortarion and Malcador prepared to sail for the Eye of Terror after Magnus’s starry fragments appeared, while Fenris’s winter ended. Leman Russ returned changed by his encounter with Magnus, ordered the Space Wolves to the Eye of Terror, then disappeared with the Thirteenth Company.

• Malcador concluded that Russ had stopped Magnus’s folly and told Mortarion to prepare for war in the Eye of Terror.
• Fenris’s winter vanished, but a deadly blizzard persisted in the land where Russ had gone.
• Russ emerged wounded and grieving, forbade the Space Wolves from entering the blizzard, and spent nine months searching Fenris with trusted warriors and Runepriests.
• Russ saw the red-and-white river of stars and agonized over Magnus, reconsidering his sibling’s choices and his own role in their past.
• Russ ordered the Space Wolves to depart for the Eye of Terror, then vanished with the Thirteenth Company into tunnels beneath Fenris.

Magnus sat with Hades in a dark wilderness and confessed that he had deceived everyone, sacrificing Fenris to thwart a greater power. He accepted that he remained trapped in his fate, vanished into the darkness, and left Hades with a quiet thank-you.

• Magnus found Hades beside a bonfire and drank Mortarion's poisonous brew, then insisted he did not regret his actions.
• Magnus recalled how he had prepared his plan during his imprisonment and deceived both his enemies and a being that trusted his apparent motives.
• Magnus admitted that he had sacrificed Fenris and betrayed the one that believed in him, lamenting that he had become the one who crushed hope.
• Magnus declared that he would remain a puppet of the gods and challenged Hades to cut his fate.
• Magnus vanished into the darkness after whispering his thanks.

The Khan and Corax reached Cadia, where a battered Silent Sisterhood vessel and Grand Sage Trazyn warned them that Hades was missing and the Eye of Terror had swallowed half the Imperium. Trazyn urged them to rescue Hades before hostile forces arrived, while secretly watching the storm over Cadia and hoping Hades was still alive.

• The Khan and Corax examined the Psychic Storm above Cadia and wondered what had happened to the Imperium and the missing Master of the Silent Sisterhood.
• The White Scars and Raven Guard reached Cadia after fighting Warp turbulence and attacks from former Imperial ships.
• The Khan boarded a shattered Silent Sisterhood vessel and learned that a Mechanicus Magos had kept its exhausted survivors alive with supplies.
• Grand Sage Trazyn urged the primarchs to rescue Hades, explaining that Hades's presence suppressed the Warp and that half the Imperium had fallen into hell.
• The Khan challenged Trazyn's claim, while Trazyn privately watched Cadia and hoped Hades had survived.

Angerthas and the surviving Word Bearers fought an endless daemon tide at the boundary around The Deceased, while Lorgar endured the curse and corruption left by her sacrifice. Angerthas kept fighting and hoped The Deceased would awaken to end their ordeal.

• Angerthas killed daemons one after another, relying on power drawn from the Warp and Lorgar.
• Angerthas saw that Lorgar's head floated above her severed neck as she fought Chaos's control and the daemon tide.
• The possessed Word Bearers guarded the boundary around the place where The Deceased had fallen, protecting humanity's continued existence.
• Angerthas wondered whether the daemons could reach The Deceased, but chose to follow Lorgar and keep fighting.
• Angerthas charged into the daemon tide for the 1,955th time and silently urged The Deceased to wake.

Jagatai Khan led White Scars and Dark Ravens into Cadia’s storm clouds to investigate the hidden enemy, while he and Corax discussed the broken balance between Cadia and Elysium. Grand Sage Trazyn warned that friendly signals showed far more troops than Khan had brought, and missiles began striking as Khan realized someone was impersonating his warriors.

• Malcador watched the fleets depart from Macragge and dismissed the sight as nothing special.
• Jagatai Khan told Corax that opposing powers had broken the balance between their world and Elysium, and Corax confirmed that his legion was ready to fight.
• Khan asked the Silent Sisterhood to explain the local taboos, then led elite White Scars and Dark Ravens through Cadia’s clouds to investigate.
• Grand Sage Trazyn detected numerous friendly signals with machine-codes identical to Khan’s troops, despite the mismatched numbers.
• Khan realized that someone was impersonating his warriors as missiles screamed past the gunship.

Horus received Alpharius and Omegon aboard the Vengeful Spirit and learned that the twins had visited Molech to understand the Emperor’s plans. He welcomed them beneath his banner, while a shadow fleet above Cadia moved toward Corax’s forces.

• Horus recognized that the two kneeling figures were both primarchs and learned that they were Alpharius and Omegon.
• Horus reflected on the Emperor’s bargain at Molech and questioned why he had been chosen as Warmaster instead of Sanguinius or the Lion.
• Horus considered returning to Terra after defeating the Warp’s enemies while avoiding the Second Imperium’s forces.
• Alpharius and Omegon said they had visited Molech to discover humanity’s true path and declared their support for Horus.
• Horus said whoever was right would come to him, as a shadow fleet above Cadia pointed toward Corax’s force.

Jagatai returned from Cadia to find the White Scars fleet in turmoil after Abaddon tried to recruit them for Horus and Hasik led a mutiny. She killed Hasik after learning Horus had invited her to his fleet, then received word that something was trying to contact the Stormseers.

• Jagatai killed an Alpha Legion counterfeit on Cadia and ordered her scouts to fall back rather than venture deeper into the daemon advance.
• Jagatai returned to find the White Scars and Raven Guard fleets scattered, with the Raven Guard badly damaged.
• Iliya told Jagatai that Abaddon had urged the White Scars to join Horus and that Hasik was leading half the Legion to support him.
• Jagatai entered the command room and found Hasik dueling Jubal Khan while Shiban protected Iliya.
• Hasik said Horus had ordered an attack on the Raven Guard and invited Jagatai to his fleet; Jagatai killed him after learning the White Scars had stopped the attack.
• The Stormseers told Jagatai that something unusual was trying to contact them.

Jagatai Khan spoke with the wounded Corax, who warned her that Horus had become dangerously mad and planned to withdraw with the Raven Guard. Jagatai decided to accept Horus’s invitation to the Vengeful Spirit and proposed using the visit to find a way out of the anomaly, leaving Corax to decide whether to join her.

• Corax told Jagatai that Horus had attacked him and was more arrogant and hateful than before, and that Magos Trazyn had helped him escape.
• Corax said he would withdraw with the Raven Guard, while Jagatai promised the White Scars would not attack them.
• Jagatai insisted on meeting Horus herself and suggested that Corax seek Sanguinius if Horus had truly gone mad.
• Jagatai proposed that Corax sneak aboard the Vengeful Spirit to find its navigators while she kept Horus occupied.
• Corax questioned whether Jagatai could survive the meeting, and she explained the anomaly discovered by the Stormseer before inviting him to accompany her.

The Khan confronted Horus aboard the Vengeful Spirit over his attack on the Raven Guard and his reliance on Warp powers. As Horus turned hostile, the Khan and Yesugei summoned Mortarion, who appeared in the chamber and defended his alliance with them.

• The Khan arrived aboard the Vengeful Spirit and met Horus in his strategic chamber.
• Horus claimed Corax and other primarchs had betrayed the Imperium, then asked the Khan to help him fight a monster and restore the Astronomican.
• The Khan rejected Horus’s explanation, accused him of relying too deeply on the Path to Heaven, and challenged him over his use of Warp power.
• Horus ordered the Sons of Horus to rise and claimed the power he had drawn from the Warp made him unbeatable.
• Yesugei began an incantation as the Khan fought Horus, and mist spread through the chamber.
• Mortarion emerged from the mist and said he had spoken privately with the Khan and had not known that becoming Warmaster meant treason.

Horus fought Mortarion and the Khan in the Pale Lord’s domain, resisting their attacks while a dark force around him kept him from falling. Mortarion considered ending the fight with a dangerous summons, but Malcador’s warning held him back, and he told the Khan that they had to leave because their enemies had noticed them.

• Mortarion taunted Horus about the source of his power, while the Khan urged Horus to surrender and rest.
• Mortarion attacked Horus with his scythe, and Horus fought back while recognizing that the battle took place partly within Mortarion’s domain.
• Mortarion spoke of wanting to live by his own will and accused Horus of having once found release in death.
• The Khan and Mortarion attacked together, but the darkness around Horus intervened and helped him block their blows.
• Mortarion considered using a powerful summons that would make him perish alongside Horus, but remembered Malcador’s warning not to act for himself.
• Mortarion told the Khan that their enemies had realized what was happening and that it was time to go.

Corax and Trazyn infiltrated the Vengeful Spirit to find information about Sanguinius, but the living ship’s Warp-twisted passages trapped them between two emerging monsters. Corax and Trazyn sent a distress signal and prepared to flee.

• Corax and Trazyn sneaked into the Vengeful Spirit’s secondary command room, where Trazyn cut off its connection to the outside and Corax killed the crew and guards.
• Corax searched the command table, found documents describing Sanguinius’s new religious Imperium, and recorded a tunnel location and the coordinates for finding him.
• Corax and Trazyn became lost as the ship’s Warp currents changed their route, so Trazyn used his Forge World’s detection tools to guide them through the overlapping Warp and physical realm.
• Corax and Trazyn passed a huge insect cocoon and entered a chamber filled with blood and hanging World Eaters corpses.
• Trazyn warned Corax to duck as a Blood Mist burst from the pool, and a monster emerged while the cocoon behind them began to open.
• Trazyn sent a distress signal as Corax told him to retreat with him when he counted to three.

Trazyn weighed the prospect of collecting Corax while reflecting on the primarch’s sense of equality, then fled with him when the fallen Alpha Legion attacked. Corax stayed behind to hold off his pursuers, while Trazyn crashed into Mortarion’s path.

• Trazyn admired Corax’s willingness to protect anyone beside him and imagined displaying the primarch in his museum.
• Corax saw the fallen Alpha Legion emerge and ran, carrying Trazyn as they tried to escape.
• Corax hurled Trazyn toward a corridor and stayed behind to fight the pursuing Alpha Legion with his power whip.
• Trazyn crashed to the ground and found Mortarion standing over him, then pointed behind himself as Mortarion stopped in confusion.

Mortarion found Trazyn, whose complete absence from the Warp unsettled him, then carried the Necron and the wounded Corax through the Vengeful Spirit while fleeing pursuing monsters. The group took flight from a broad hall, with Mortarion still suspecting Trazyn was more than he appeared.

• Mortarion sensed that Trazyn had no reflection in the Warp and wondered what kind of being he was.
• Trazyn pointed Mortarion toward Corax, and Mortarion rushed into the mist to find him.
• Mortarion emerged carrying Trazyn in one hand and the bleeding Corax in the other as monsters pursued them through the corridor.
• Corax reassured Trazyn that Mortarion would keep them safe, while Mortarion silently questioned what Trazyn was.
• Mortarion warned them to prepare, spread his wings, and took flight with both of them.

Hades, Neos, and Malcador chose to spend New Year's Eve on Terra, where the Emperor's gathering with the primarchs spiraled into movies, flying, singing, and drinking. Hades and the Emperor were the last awake, greeting each other after the revelers passed out.

• Hades and Neos proposed skipping work for New Year's Eve, and the Emperor persuaded Malcador to join them in taking a break.
• Hades brought food to a gathering of primarchs, where Russ and Magnus were racing motorcycles; he knocked them over with roasted beef legs before the Emperor arrived in golden loungewear.
• The Emperor played the remastered Great Rebellion films, prompting Russ and Magnus to fight over the movies' ridiculous portrayals of them.
• Sanguinius won a rooftop flying competition, then Mortarion and Hades helped punish Russ and Konrad Curze for mocking him.
• The Emperor, Malcador, and the primarchs sang and drank; Hades sang "Gong Xi Fa Cai" and eventually blacked out after a drinking contest with Mortarion.
• Hades woke to find the Emperor still watching the movie, accepted tea, and exchanged New Year's greetings with him.

Jagatai escaped Horus with Mortarion’s help, but Corax’s attempt to banish Mortarion sent the Raven Lord somewhere unexpected. Corax collapsed in front of an Eldar and a group of terrified people after hearing them praise the Underking.

• Jagatai and the White Scars retreated into Mortarion’s mist domain as Horus remained behind, grieving amid the encroaching Warp.
• Mortarion gave Corax a venomous dagger and told him to stab him once he reached Jagatai, so the banishment would send them away.
• A small Death Guard appeared beneath Mortarion’s cloak and pointed out where Corax should strike.
• Corax stabbed Mortarion after the Pale Lord reached Jagatai, and Mortarion’s banishment hurled the Khan and the White Scars into a room aboard their fleet.
• Mortarion’s power sent Trazyn toward the White Scars, but a prayer to the Underking intercepted Corax and cast him into a place where an Eldar watched over frightened people.
• Corax heard the people praise the Underking, realized he had landed somewhere unexpected, and collapsed from weakness.

Malcador summoned Mortarion back from the Warp, learned of Horus’s betrayal and the scattered Raven Guard, and warned Mortarion about the cost of seeking shortcuts. Trazyn captured a tiny Death Guard and began searching for Corax, whose last known location was near the Emperor’s Children’s fleet.

• Malcador summoned Mortarion through a ritual, and Mortarion returned wounded after choosing to be banished from the Warp.
• Mortarion told Malcador that Horus had betrayed them, two Alpha Legion figures had fallen, and Fulgrim and Magnus might also have turned to Chaos.
• Mortarion said the Khan remained loyal, but Corax’s whereabouts were unknown and only a third of the Raven Guard remained.
• Malcador decided to fold the surviving Raven Guard vessels into the White Scars and said the Imperium was prepared to sacrifice any legion or primarch.
• Trazyn hid a captured tiny Death Guard in his robes after isolating it from the Warp.
• Trazyn sent his informants to search for Corax and learned that the primarch’s last known location was near the Emperor’s Children’s fleet.