"Jaghatai, Jaghatai, it was precisely that untamed nature of yours that I admired."
"If the proud eagle of Chogoris surrendered and submitted, then he would not be the brother I remembered."
Horus used his lightning claw to hook beneath the Khan's shoulder guard, its sharp tips piercing flesh. He led his brother through that endless realm of darkness, murmuring on and on about the beauty of days gone by.
Those joyful years he had spent with his brothers, when all of them had fought tirelessly under the Emperor's command for humanity's reunification—Horus truly missed those days.
Had there been a third-party observer, the scene would likely have seemed horrifying. Horus spoke to Jaghatai as though talking to himself, pouring out the pain and fury in his heart.
As for Jaghatai, impaled upon Horus's claw, he was examining his traitorous brother from closer than ever before.
Horus had entered some unknown state just now and defeated Jaghatai Khan without expending much effort. Yet now, as the influence of the Four Gods temporarily receded, the Warmaster's mental state became worrying once more.
Jaghatai listened as the other man spoke one moment of the golden thirty years spent at the Emperor's side, and the next of his epic victory at Ullanor. It was as though countless figures were conversing around him, yet Jaghatai saw nothing at all.
Even the untamed eagle felt a bone-deep chill. It was not because Horus had defeated him, but because this Horus was already nearing madness.
He understood more clearly now that the original Horus had been killed and shattered. The power of the Warp had occupied his body and fused with most of the memories that had belonged to Horus.
That was why he was so fractured and contradictory. On one hand, he missed the joyful days