On Lorgar's orders, a covert infiltration operation against the Raven Guard Legion quietly began.
Of course, though it was called an "espionage mission," the Word Bearers' leadership would never leave any trace of direct involvement.
There were no official transfer orders, no written records, no traceable clues pointing back to the Law of Faith.
Every plan targeting Corax unfolded in the shadows, advanced by the most inconspicuous, easily overlooked pawns.
Will Victor was one such pawn.
He was an engineering worker in the lower decks of the Shadow of the Emperor, number 7,421, responsible for routine maintenance and pipe inspections on the third auxiliary engine unit.
Aboard the twenty-kilometer-long vessel, there were tens of thousands of Mortals technicians like him, each a screw in a vast machine that never rusted and never drew notice.
He was slight, unremarkable in appearance, and taciturn. He never stood out in a crowd, which was precisely why he had been chosen.
Yet beneath that ordinary exterior beat a heart from Colchis.
That land, steeped in faith, had forged his unwavering loyalty to Lorgar.
He was not an Astartes. He had undergone no genetic modification and possessed neither great strength nor a long lifespan, but he had a heart willing to offer everything to his lord.
The instant he received that secret instruction, an unprecedented fire blazed in that heart.
He and several other Mortals, all from Colchis and all embedded in various posts aboard the Shadow of the Emperor, had been activated through highly covert means by an intermediary who never showed his face.
The instructions were simple and clear: gather intelligence.
It did not need to be accurate. It required no in-depth analysis, nor even verification.
He only needed to regularly transmit, through prearranged secure channels, any scraps of information that might relate