Chapter Summaries

Yago Sevatarion and the Night Lords seized Jeremiah Blitz's merchant cruiser, the Favored by Fate, as it drifted through the Warp toward Terra. Jeremiah hid in the ventilation ducts and watched the intruders until Yago discovered him.

• Yago Sevatarion led the Black Guard in taking control of the Favored by Fate and ordered the ship secured.
• Jeremiah Blitz recognized the boarding Astartes as Night Lords after they killed the guards who resisted.
• Jeremiah hid in a ventilation duct and contacted his men while monitoring the cruiser’s cameras.
• Jeremiah saw Yago remove his helmet beside a mortal woman and speculated about their relationship.
• A ghostlike voice beneath Jeremiah asked whether he had seen enough.

Sevatar forced Jeremiah to take the Night Lords aboard the Gift of Destiny to Terra, where Sevatar needed to deliver Konrad Kuz's message to Lox. The ship reached the edge of the Solar System, as Magnus was being delayed while Terra prepared a trap for him.

• Sevatar found Jeremiah hiding in a ventilation duct and ordered him to take the Night Lords to Terra.
• Jeremiah agreed to cooperate outwardly but feared the Night Lords planned to betray humanity on Terra.
• Sevatar privately recalled that Konrad Kuz had contacted Magnus and revealed that the final fragment of Magnus's soul was on Terra.
• Sevatar carried Night Haunter's orders to tell Lox the news, while Magnus was delayed to give Terra time to prepare a trap that would place him on the Golden Throne.
• The Gift of Destiny crossed the Warp for three Terran days and returned to realspace near the Solar System.

After five years adrift in the Warp, Jeremiah Blitz and the Divine Providence returned to realspace near the Solar System, where an Imperial fleet surrounded them for inspection. Jeremiah worried that the Night Lords aboard would be discovered and that the inspection would turn violent as he went to face the Imperial Fists.

• The Divine Providence emerged from the Warp, and its relieved crew celebrated their return to realspace.
• Jeremiah signaled his subordinates to follow their plan against the Night Lords, who were traveling aboard the cruiser under Sevatar's command.
• The crew saw the Solar System's immense defenses, and an Imperial Fists fleet ordered them to reduce engine output and submit to boarding inspection.
• Jeremiah cooperated as Imperial auxiliaries and three Imperial Fists boarded the Divine Providence.
• The inspectors began checking the ship's records while Jeremiah worried about the hidden Night Lords and walked toward the Imperial Fists for questioning.

Jeremiah warned the Imperial Fists that enemies were aboard his ship, prompting a fight with Sevatar and the Night Lords. After defeating and capturing the Imperial Fists, Sevatar identified himself and surrendered.

• Jeremiah told the Imperial Fists that there was a problem aboard his ship, and the lead Astartes asked how many enemies were present.
• The Imperial Fists and mortal soldiers prepared for an attack, but the Blessed Destiny's power failed and plunged the corridors into darkness.
• Sevatar and the Night Lords attacked, and Sevatar used psychic force and strength to incapacitate and overpower the Imperial Fists.
• The Blackguard veterans captured the Imperial Fists, who recognized Sevatar as the Prince of Crows.
• Sevatar removed their helmets, introduced himself, and declared that he surrendered.

Sevatar persuaded the Imperial Fists that he had brought top-secret intelligence about freeing the Emperor from the Golden Throne, and they agreed to escort him to Lox. Lox learned Sevatar had arrived on Ganymede and summoned the primarchs to begin preparations for the mission.

• Sevatar declared his surrender, then told Wylde Dominic that he had returned under Lox's orders with intelligence about freeing the Emperor from the Golden Throne.
• Wylde Dominic swore by the Emperor and Dorn to take Sevatar and his companions to Lox, despite his struggle to trust traitors.
• Dominic stopped Imperial Fist reinforcements from attacking Sevatar, and they shackled the Night Lords and escorted them aboard their warship.
• Jeremiah was ordered to remain under quarantine and surveillance for allegedly collaborating with traitors.
• Lox learned from Angie that Sevatar had arrived, ordered the Imperial Fists to bring him in, and summoned the primarchs to prepare for the mission.
• Pollux escorted Sevatar and his companions to Ganymede, trusting Lox's judgment.

Lox and the loyal primarchs agreed to let Curze atone by bringing Magnus back to Terra to replace the Emperor on the Golden Throne. They planned to use Sevatar’s infiltration and Magnus’s arrival to capture him, with the primarchs ready to suppress his psychic powers and force him into custody.

• Vulkan agreed to set aside his hatred of Curze temporarily if Curze remained loyal and redeemed his crimes by helping humanity.
• Sevatar told the primarchs that Curze had gained Magnus’s trust and intended to bring him to Terra through a ritual and a teleportation array in the Dark Cells.
• Lox ordered Dorn to arrange an opening in Terra’s security, while Dorn secured Valdor’s and the Custodes’ cooperation and Kheria Casryn’s support.
• Russ, Lion El'Jonson, Sanguinius, and Vulkan pledged forces and measures to capture Magnus and prevent him from using his psychic powers.
• The loyal primarchs prepared to overwhelm Magnus and imprison him so he could take the Emperor’s place on the Golden Throne.

Lox learned that Horus had fallen unconscious and ordered Sevatar to bring Magnus to Terra as part of Curze’s plan. At the Imperial Palace, Tribune Decimus reluctantly obeyed Valdor’s command to let ten Night Lords infiltrate and perform a Warp ritual, disabling the defenses prepared through the Custodes’ Blood Games.

• Sevatar told Lox that Horus had been unconscious after his old wounds flared up, and that Aximand and Maloghurst had taken him away.
• Sevatar revealed that Horus had ordered the rebel forces to gather at Ullanor before attacking Terra.
• Lox ordered Sevatar to take his Atramentar, follow Curze’s plan, and summon Magnus.
• Valdor ordered Decimus to let ten Night Lords infiltrate the Imperial Palace and complete their Warp ritual.
• Decimus suppressed his outrage and led the Custodes in disabling the Palace’s traps and defenses.

Sevatar and the Black Guard infiltrated the Imperial Palace by descending through a gap in the Aegis defense system and entering its conduits. They reached the Shadow Cells, where Sevatar discovered that the Custodians had imprisoned Greater Daemons of all four Chaos Gods.

• Sevatar led the Black Guard in an orbital insertion toward the Imperial Palace, thinking of Atani as they fell.
• The squad passed through the Aegis using a gap provided by Lox's intelligence and landed inside the Palace.
• Sevatar and his warriors activated their stealth coatings and navigated the Palace conduits while Custodians secretly watched and disabled defenses under Marshal Valdor's orders.
• The Night Lords entered the Shadow Cells, where Sevatar sensed four Greater Daemons imprisoned in adjacent rooms.

Sevatar and the Black Guard opened a sealed cell in the Shadow Prison, creating a Warp corridor for Curze and Magnus. Magnus raced into the tunnel after Curze told him the way was open.

• Sevatar led the Black Guard through the Shadow Prison and used Curze's token to open the target cell.
• More than a hundred black Shadow Prison Custodians appeared, but they let Sevatar and his men proceed while guarding the cell.
• The cell's blue energy mist resonated with the token and transformed into a Warp rift.
• Aboard a Thousand Sons warship, Curze and Magnus discussed Horus's condition and their brothers' pursuit of power.
• Curze sensed the corridor opening, seized Magnus's hand, and told him to move; Magnus darted into the tunnel.

Curze brought Magnus through a Warp bridge to Terra, where Magnus expected to recover the final fragment of his soul. Instead, he arrived in a shadow prison and found several primarchs and Imperial forces waiting to confront him.

• Magnus trusted Curze because he believed Curze had shown genuine brotherly concern by helping him search for his soul fragments.
• During the journey, Magnus insisted that the Emperor was more to blame than he was for the Webway disaster and vowed to prove humanity should embrace psychic ascension.
• Curze pretended to share Magnus's excitement while privately expecting him to face the consequences of his mistakes.
• Magnus and Curze reached Terra through the Warp bridge and forced their way through the Emperor's protective barrier.
• Magnus discovered they were inside a dark shadow prison, where Leman Russ, the Dark Angels, Jaghatai Khan, the Great Angel, the Custodes, the Imperial Fists, and Vulkan had surrounded them.

Magnus and Konrad Curze emerged into the Imperial Palace’s shadow prison, where loyalist Primarchs and the Emperor’s forces had prepared to capture Magnus. After Curze stabbed him and the others demanded his surrender, Magnus rejected them and raised his weapon against Leman Russ.

• Magnus recognized Leman Russ among the Primarchs and urged Curze to escape while he maintained their collapsing Warp corridor.
• The loyalist Primarchs, Custodians, and Sisters of Silence surrounded Magnus and suppressed his psychic power.
• Curze stabbed Magnus in the kidney with Mercy and Forgiveness, revealing that he had lured Magnus into a trap.
• Magnus threw Curze away and listened as Jaghatai Khan, Sanguinius, and Lion El'Jonson demanded that he surrender and take the Emperor’s place on the Golden Throne.
• Magnus refused to submit and pointed his golden scimitar at Leman Russ.

Magnus refused to surrender and used Warp power to drag the battle into the Webway, where he summoned daemons and fought the loyalist primarchs for his missing soul fragment. Leman Russ and Vulkan brought him down with the Spear of Dionysus, and the primarchs chained him.

• Magnus drew on the Warp, broke through the Sisters of Silence’s suppression, and transported the battlefield from the Shadow Vault into the Webway.
• Magnus restored Tizca and summoned Tzeentch’s daemons, while Lox recognized a Chaos power was manipulating them and empowering Magnus.
• Vulkan, Lion El'Jonson, Chaghatai Khan, Sanguinius, and Leman Russ attacked Magnus, but his annihilation storm drove most of them back.
• Vulkan endured the storm and struck Magnus, creating an opening for Leman Russ to hurl the Spear of Dionysus through Magnus’s shoulder.
• The Spear of Dionysus scattered Tzeentch’s power, and the primarchs subdued Magnus and chained him.

Leman Russ's Spear of Dionysus stripped away Tzeentch's corruption and forced Magnus to confront his guilt and his false memories of the Emperor offering forgiveness. After Lox revealed the truth about Magnus's lost soul fragment, the broken primarch was carried toward the Golden Throne.

• Leman Russ pierced Magnus with the Spear of Dionysus, dispelling the Chaos corruption and revealing how Tzeentch had manipulated him.
• Magnus saw the Emperor on the Golden Throne and imagined him offering forgiveness and a new Legion, but rejected the offer because he would not abandon the Thousand Sons.
• Vulkan struck Magnus with the Burning Hand, shattering his armor and breaking him out of his delusion.
• Lox arrived with Malcador the Sigillite and Janus, revealing that Magnus's benevolent soul fragment had begged the Emperor for forgiveness and been fused into Revuel Arvida's body.
• Magnus broke down after learning the Emperor had never forgiven him, and the primarchs carried him toward the Golden Throne.

The primarchs brought the captured Magnus to the Golden Throne, planning to use him as its psychic power source and free the Emperor. Magnus realized his fate and begged for death, but Lion El'Jonson knocked him unconscious as they prepared to proceed.

• Lox worried that Magnus's connection to Tzeentch could endanger the Golden Throne, but Malcador explained that the Spear of Dionysus could reset Magnus's soul while remaining embedded in him.
• Leman Russ kept the Spear of Dionysus lodged in Magnus's shoulder, preventing Chaos from exploiting its removal while the primarchs escorted their captive toward the Throne Room.
• Valdor and more than a hundred Custodians joined the primarchs as they ascended toward the Golden Throne, hoping to free the Emperor.
• Magnus woke, realized the primarchs intended to place him on the Golden Throne, and screamed for them to kill him.
• Lion El'Jonson headbutted Magnus and knocked him unconscious.

Lox and the Primarchs brought Magnus to the Golden Throne so Malcador could begin exchanging him for the Emperor, while Lox steadied the throne’s Machine Spirit. The ritual began as a Warp storm gathered near Terra and the Astronomican flickered.

• Lox ascended the Golden Throne for the third time, intending to liberate the Emperor by placing Magnus in his stead.
• Leman Russ silenced Magnus with a bottle of Fenrisian mead as the Primarchs carried him toward the throne.
• The Primarchs, Lox, Malcador, and Valdor reached the Emperor, who opened his eyes as his children called to him.
• Malcador began the exchange ritual while Lox tried to keep the Golden Throne stable and the Primarchs forced Magnus beside the Emperor.
• A Warp storm rose near Terra, and the Astronomican began to flicker.

Lox and Malcador helped the Emperor break free of the Golden Throne, allowing him to face the gods of the Warp and reunite with his loyal sons. Magnus was bound to the throne in the Emperor’s place, where it began draining his psychic power and soul.

• Lox and Malcador severed the Emperor’s connection to the Golden Throne as he struggled to rise.
• The Emperor stood free, wielded the Emperor’s Sword, and faced the Warp gods’ fury as their forces attacked Tzeentch’s domain.
• The Lion, Sanguinius, Dorn, Chaghatai, Leman Russ, and Vulkan knelt before the Emperor, while he exchanged a silent understanding with Lox.
• Magnus was chained to the Golden Throne, and the Emperor’s chosen successor drove the Spear of Dionysus through one of Magnus’s hearts.
• The Golden Throne drained Magnus until he was as thin as a skeleton, while the Emperor watched without pity.

The Emperor condemned Magnus as he suffered on the Golden Throne, while Lox accused him of regretting only the consequences of his choices. Magnus was subdued as a power source, and the Emperor and the Primarchs returned to the Imperial Palace to prepare for the final battle against Horus.

• The Emperor angrily reminded Magnus of his warnings about the Warp and rebuked him for his arrogance and failures.
• Magnus admitted he had been foolish and begged his father and brothers for forgiveness.
• Lox accused Magnus of regretting that he had been caught rather than regretting his crimes, including the ritual sorcery used by his sons.
• The Spear of the Wine God suppressed the corrupted portion of Magnus's soul, leaving him to power the Golden Throne.
• Vulkan vanished into the Golden Throne's shadows to continue his duty, while the Emperor led the Primarchs and defenders back to the Imperial Palace to plan against Horus.

The Emperor left the Golden Throne and returned to the Imperial Palace, where he thanked Malcador for bearing the empire’s burdens. As Lox and Sanguinius reflected on the Emperor’s cold relationship with his sons, the Emperor turned his winning smile on Sanguinius, who recognized it as a way to make troublesome people comply.

• The Custodes and the flame-wreathed warriors in the Webway learned that the Emperor had returned, and their renewed resolve drove them to fight the daemons with greater fury.
• The Emperor embraced Malcador and praised his sacrifice, leaving the Imperial Chancellor unable to voice his plans to relinquish his authority.
• Lox tried to take a feather from Sanguinius, who instead gave him one from his wing.
• Lox told Sanguinius that the Emperor’s failure to express affection had helped drive his sons toward rebellion, and Sanguinius agreed.
• The Emperor praised Sanguinius for his hard work, and Sanguinius recognized his smile as the kind of charm he used to silence troublesome people.

Lox pushed the Emperor to face his sons with affection and honest words. The Emperor embraced and reassured the primarchs, welcoming Konrad Curze back into the Imperium.

• Jaghatai Khan defended the Emperor’s choices, startling Lox and Sanguinius, while Lox called on the Emperor to stop avoiding his sons.
• The Emperor embraced Sanguinius and reassured him that he need not hide his wings or feel ashamed.
• The Emperor praised Sanguinius as Emperor of the Second Imperium, then embraced Lion El'Jonson and affirmed his loyalty.
• Leman Russ rushed to embrace the Emperor, and Jaghatai Khan and Dorn also received his affection and praise.
• The Emperor embraced Konrad Curze, encouraged him to face and correct his mistakes, and welcomed him back into the Imperium.

Lox spoke with Neos after the Emperor’s reunion with his children, and learned why the Emperor believed humanity had to become strong enough to resist Chaos without relying on a savior. The Emperor remained determined to face Horus and kill him, even after being freed from the Golden Throne.

• After the family gathering, Neos withdrew to a quiet corner, and Lox teased him about how exhausted he looked.
• Neos explained that the Warp and the Chaos Gods threatened many universes and could return as long as intelligent life existed.
• The Emperor told Lox that humanity’s dependence on him made its hope fragile, but that he could not step aside before humanity was ready to struggle for itself.
• Lox recognized the Emperor’s ambition and acknowledged his human feelings, while the Emperor said he would give everything to protect humanity.
• The Emperor vowed to face Horus’s challenge and kill him himself for the humanity he loved.