Lorgar Aurelian sat upright in a chamber of reinforced glass aboard his flagship. Through the thin barrier of the heavens, he could see sparks constantly igniting amid the sea of stars.
Fire had driven away ignorance. In the primitive age, humanity had used fire to create civilization, and only then had mankind come to flourish throughout the galaxy.
The master of the Word Bearers closed his eyes and listened to the tides of the Warp stirring beside his ears.
Yes, what he was doing now was igniting another great fire. He was the Prometheus of a new age. He would lead humanity out from beneath the enslavement of the false Emperor. He had already found the primordial truth.
When Roboute Guilliman and the Emperor consigned the Perfect City to flames, when Lorgar Aurelian found true divine beings within the Warp, the image of mankind's master as a god collapsed within the Word Bearer's heart.
He was a false god! He was a liar!
Only he could lead humanity down the path of ascension and transcendence. Embracing the Warp was the true future.
The galaxy was burning. The Shadow Crusade launched by Lorgar and Angron had already destroyed more than twenty worlds across the Five Hundred Worlds. Hundreds of billions of souls had become sacrifices, and Lorgar could see their tormented faces and hands still struggling for release.
This was necessary.
Lorgar did not care about those mortals. The only thing he cared for was the pulse of the Warp. The symphony composed by the tides of the Empyrean was filled with mystery, constantly rising. Every conquest, every sacrifice, could drive its melody higher.
The primordial truth was very pleased with his offerings, but it demanded more. It urged Lorgar to seize the crucial point before him. Then, the tides of