Chapter Summaries

Cegorach redirected Khaine’s avatar toward Cadia as the forces of order gained ground against Chaos. Trazyn persuaded Phaeron Krispekh to authorize a cautious Nihilakh intervention, and began coordinating the deployment with Claudius.

• Gork and Mork stopped fighting Khaine’s avatar, left to join the battle against Chaos, and Cegorach sent the weakened avatar toward Cadia.
• Cegorach reflected that humanity, the Aeldari, and the Orks had united against Chaos while the Necrons remained on the sidelines.
• Trazyn urged Phaeron Krispekh to support humanity, arguing that the Warp threatened the Necrons and that Lox could help restore their souls.
• Krispekh authorized an observation and peacekeeping fleet to assist at Cadia, permitted Trazyn to prepare world engines and C’tan shards, and entrusted him with pursuing the AllSpark’s soul-restoration potential.
• Trazyn went to Claudius’s command fortress and took responsibility for allocating equipment and coordinating Nihilakh’s limited intervention.

Trazyn led a Nihilakh fleet toward Cadia with World Engines and C'tan shards, despite Claudius's objections. In the Webway, the fleet encountered the escaped Burning One shard Nyadra'zatha, and Trazyn proposed that they cooperate against the Warp forces.

• Trazyn overruled Claudius and ordered three World Engines and several C'tan shards transferred from Gordon to the fleet bound for Cadia.
• Trazyn assembled a large Nihilakh peacekeeping fleet, which traveled through the Webway using Dolmen Gates and detected that the Webway had become stronger and more stable.
• The fleet encountered Adeptus Mechanicus reconnaissance outposts, and Trazyn identified the Necrons as reinforcements heading to Cadia, prompting the outposts to cancel their self-destruction sequence.
• Claudius received a warning that a powerful Burning One shard was ahead, and Trazyn ordered the fleet to hold fire when it approached.
• The Burning One shard Nyadra'zatha identified itself and asked whether the Necrons were going to Cadia to fight the Warp forces.
• Trazyn confirmed the fleet's mission and proposed cooperating with Nyadra'zatha, shocking the Necron commanders.

Trazyn negotiated a truce and cooperation with the Burning One, who revealed that the complete C'tan Tsara'noga might be heading toward Cadia to seek help from Lox. Trazyn agreed to follow the Burning One through the Webway, bringing the Necron fleet close to the Cadian sector.

• Claudius warned Trazyn not to approach the Burning One, but Trazyn allowed its humanoid incarnation aboard the flagship to speak with him.
• The Burning One explained that Lox's promise and ties to Trazyn had kept it from attacking the Necron fleet.
• The Burning One revealed that the complete Outsider, Tsara'noga, had contacted it and wanted Lox's help to separate the C'tan essences it had consumed.
• The Burning One said Tsara'noga might still be in the galaxy's far south or already traveling toward Cadia, and offered to guide the Necrons to it.
• Trazyn proposed using Lox as an intermediary and agreed to travel with the Burning One toward Cadia.
• The Necron fleet followed the Burning One through the Webway and reached the final junction near the Cadian sector.

As the Cadian counteroffensive gained momentum, Trazyn's Nihilakh fleet arrived with C'tan shards that Lox planned to use to stabilize reality. Dantioch agreed to fuse with more shards of Zahurash, and the chapter ended as the Conqueror's consciousness attacked his will.

• Leman Russ, Vulkan, and Corax reinforced Cadia, while Gork and Mork left to aid the Emperor in the Eye of Terror.
• Three Nihilakh world engines arrived, and Lion El'Jonson demanded guarantees before allowing the Necron fleet onto the battlefield.
• Lox welcomed Trazyn and the Burning One, Nyadra'zatha, and secured its pledge not to attack Nihilakh.
• Trazyn agreed to give Nyadra'zatha another shard and released the Zahurash shards for Dantioch.
• Dantioch accepted the risk of fusion, and the freed shards merged with him as Zahurash's consciousness tried to seize control.

Dantioch conquered Zahulash’s C’tan essence while keeping his identity and became the new Overlord, while Nyadra'zatha recovered another fragment and revealed that Sarano'ga sought Lox’s help. When Sarano'ga began devastating worlds on its way to Cadia, Lox intercepted it and persuaded it to travel through dimensional space instead.

• Dantioch overcame Zahulash’s will, absorbed its essence, and emerged as the new Overlord while retaining his humanity.
• Lox tested Dantioch’s identity with the Iron Warriors’ battle cry, welcomed him back, and announced the next plan to drive back the Warp.
• Nyadra'zatha fused with its fragment and told Lox that Sarano'ga wanted help regaining control of its consciousness.
• Lox received reports that Sarano'ga was destroying worlds as it moved toward Cadia, so he sent an avatar to intercept it.
• Lox ordered Sarano'ga to enter dimensional space and avoid human worlds, and Sarano'ga agreed to follow his guidance.

Lox calmed Saranoja’s fractured consciousness and joined Dantioch and Nyadraza in stabilizing reality, allowing the allied forces to drive back Chaos and close the Eye of Terror. The Chaos Gods retreated, but warned that their Great Game would continue and that Lox’s expedition to other universes had been discovered.

• Lox negotiated an alliance with Saranoja, promising to help separate the C'tan fragments in exchange for its aid in closing the Eye of Terror.
• Lox suppressed the voices inside Saranoja, restoring its clarity, and brought it to the Cadia battlefield.
• Lox, Dantioch, and Saranoja strengthened reality, weakening the daemons as Lion El'Jonson led the allied forces in a counterattack.
• Be'lakor, Kairos, Rotigus, Shalaxi Helbane, and the other Greater Daemons retreated into the Warp while the alliance pursued them into the Eye of Terror.
• The God-Emperor fought the four Chaos Gods alongside Gork and Mork as the Gods warned that the Great Game would continue and revealed that Lox’s expedition had been exposed.
• The Chaos Gods withdrew their support, and the combined forces of the C'tan and the allied fleets watched the Eye of Terror close completely.

After the Eye of Terror closed, Lox and the Emperor celebrated their victory and agreed to leave their duties behind for a vacation, entrusting the Imperium to Guilliman and the Primarchs. Lion and Luther began organizing the postwar recovery, honoring the Dark Angels’ dead, and establishing the Aeldari’s territory near Cadia.

• Lox rose from the throne after the Eye of Terror was sealed, and the Emperor reported that the Chaos Gods had withdrawn as the Warp’s influence receded.
• Lox and the Emperor discussed the Necrons, Tyranids, and postwar galactic order, then agreed to appoint Guilliman Regent and leave together for an open-ended vacation.
• Lion ordered Imperial forces to disband and return to their stations, while Luther reported that Guilliman had arranged cemetery worlds for the war dead.
• Lion corrected the Dark Angels’ confirmed losses to 145,377 and ordered their ashes buried at the Legion monastery on Caliban.
• Lion told Luther that he would retain the title of Imperial commander and purify the former Eye of Terror region before returning part of it to the Aeldari.
• Lion and Luther agreed that the Aeldari could settle several star systems and use the Webway, while Cadia would remain under Imperial control.

Uslan persuaded the gathered Aeldari factions to unite and restore their civilization in their ancestral homeland, with Mortarion serving as a bond to humanity. After the Craftworlds departed to gather their people, Cegorach revealed that Khaine was imprisoned in the Ork gods’ realm, where Vulkan arrived to discuss the Orks’ share of the victory’s spoils.

• Uslan used Cegorach’s illusion of the ancient Aeldari Empire to rally the assembled Craftworld, Harlequin, and Exodite representatives around rebuilding their civilization.
• Uslan answered Saim-Hann’s concerns about settling and relying on humanity, while Isha and Cegorach reassured the Aeldari that they could live and feel more freely.
• Saim-Hann and the other Aeldari representatives agreed to join Uslan’s cause, and the Craftworlds departed to gather Aeldari from their safe havens.
• Uslan explained to Cegorach that Mortarion’s leadership would preserve the alliance with humanity, then learned that Cegorach had sent Khaine to Gork and Mork.
• Gork and Mork restrained and battered Khaine in their divine realm as Vulkan watched and came to discuss humanity’s plans for the Orks’ share of the spoils.

Vulkan reported that Gork and Mork trusted him to direct the Orks and welcomed a future war against the Tyranids. In the Throne Room, the Emperor assigned his sons roles in rebuilding and defending the Imperium, then revealed that he and Lox were ready to open an Old Ones’ treasure.

• Vulkan secured Gork and Mork’s approval to prepare the Orks for a massive Waaagh against the approaching Tyranids.
• Vulkan reported the Ork gods’ response to the Emperor and the gathered primarchs in the Imperial Palace.
• The Emperor forgave Perturabo’s past betrayal and appointed him Chief Engineer of the Webway Reconstruction.
• The Emperor kept Guilliman as Imperial Regent, named the Lion Supreme Commander, assigned Vulkan to lead the Orks against the Tyranids, and charged Dorn with defending Terra.
• The Emperor told Russ, Corax, and Jaghatai that their futures lay beyond the galaxy, while Corax and Guilliman promised to carry humanity’s cause forward together.
• The Emperor warned that Chaos would oppose humanity’s expeditions into the multiverse and announced that he and Lox would open the Old Ones’ treasure.

Lox and the Emperor sought clues about the Old Ones’ treasure, but Szaregon knew nothing and pointed them toward Cegorach. After Lox agreed to help Orikan ascend toward becoming a C’tan, the group traveled to Commorragh to meet the Laughing God, where Cegorach revealed that Asdrubael Vect had contacted the unborn god of death, Ynnead.

• Lox explained that the Webway tunneling machine was a key to the Old Ones’ final treasure, and the Emperor agreed to seek clues from Szaregon before approaching Cegorach.
• Lox, the Emperor, and Malcador visited Szaregon in Betan Garmon, but the Outsider knew nothing about the treasure and told them to ask Cegorach.
• Orikan accepted a fragment of the [Observer] from Lox to pursue his dream of ascending into a C’tan, while Trazyn persuaded Lox to bring him along to meet the Laughing God.
• Lox, the Emperor, Malcador, Trazyn, and Orikan traveled to Commorragh, where Aisha asked Cegorach why he was worried about the future.
• Cegorach told Aisha that Asdrubael Vect had survived and had made contact with their unborn brother, the God of Death, Ynnead.

Cegorach revealed that Vect was gathering the Crone Swords to awaken Ynnead, a Death God whose birth could destroy the Aeldari and threaten humanity. He then led Lox and the others through the Webway to the Black Library, where the Old Ones’ treasure was hidden.

• Isha and Cegorach discussed the prophecy that Ynnead could awaken by consuming Aeldari souls or by gathering all five Crone Swords.
• Lox, the Emperor, Malcador, Trazyn, and Orikan entered Isha’s temple, confronted Cegorach about withholding the danger, and heard how Vect had been guided by Ynnead.
• Cegorach explained that Vect possessed Vilith-zhar, the Sword of Souls, and described the other Crone Swords and the threat Ynnead posed to the Aeldari and humanity.
• Cegorach revealed that the Old Ones’ treasure lay in the deepest part of the Black Library and agreed to take the group there.
• Cegorach guided Lox and the others through the dangerous Infinite Webway, past its defenses and shifting paths, until the Black Library appeared before them.

Lox searched the Black Library for the truth about humanity’s Dark Age of Technology and discovered records of its exploitation and decay, along with the Chief’s failed warnings. Cegorach revealed that he had met the Chief on the Black Library’s lowest level, leaving Lox hopeful that the Chief might still be found.

• Lox searched the Black Library’s archives and read records describing how the Gold Men, Stone Men, and Iron Men exploited ordinary humans during the Dark Age of Technology.
• Lox found records of the Chief condemning dangerous experiments, corporate abuses, and humanity’s disregard for the Warp before he vanished at the end of 999.M20.
• The Emperor comforted Lox and said the Chief had likely done everything he could to save humanity, though he was probably dead.
• Cegorach told Lox and the Emperor that the Chief had erased all traces of himself after 999.M20, beyond even the Black Library’s ability to observe.
• Lox asked where Cegorach had met the Chief, and Cegorach pointed to the Black Library’s lowest level.

Xigaoqi recounted how the Chief reached the Old Ones’ sealed treasure and nearly overcame its defenses through his wisdom, leaving his fate uncertain. Lox and the Emperor opened the gate with the Webway tunnel boring machine and found a projection of the Chief waiting beyond it.

• Xigaoqi told Lox and the Emperor that the Chief had entered the Black Library in the twenty-first millennium, discovered the hidden treasure, and attempted to defeat its lock without a key.
• Xigaoqi described how the Chief evaded the Old Ones’ defenses and nearly opened the sealed door, but could not tell whether he had entered, escaped, or been destroyed.
• The Emperor and Lox resolved to follow the Chief’s trail using the key, while Malcador and Trazyn joined them; Xigaoqi also showed them The Final Act and withheld its joke.
• Lox brought out the Webway tunnel boring machine, which resonated with the Old Ones’ gate and opened it.
• A human projection appeared beyond the gate, and the Chief greeted Lox and Neos.

The Chief explained how he found the Old Ones' vault and stole knowledge that let him awaken the Iron Men's free will, helping humanity resist the Gold Men during the Dark Age of Technology. Malcador thanked him on behalf of the resistance, while a troubling doubt began to form in Malcador's mind.

• Lox asked why the Chief appeared only as a projection, and the Emperor redirected the conversation to the Chief's past.
• The Chief described how he hid from the Gold Men, traced the Old Ones' legacy, and found the vault after nearly a thousand years of searching.
• The Chief revealed that he exploited a flaw in the vault's defenses to take knowledge about consciousness, free will, psychic power, souls, and genetic alteration.
• The Chief explained that he used the knowledge to free the Iron Men from their obedience directives, allowing some to join humanity's resistance against the Gold Men.
• Malcador identified himself as a resistance leader who had relied on free Iron Men, thanked the Chief, and began to feel an unsettling doubt.

Malcador questioned whether the Chief’s spotless reputation hid a darker past, and the Chief explained his actions during M22 before recounting his confrontation with Gold Man Adrian Sol. After rejecting Adrian’s offer to join the ascension project, the Chief judged him a threat and disintegrated him.

• Malcador analyzed the Chief’s timeline and asked what he had done during M22, while Lox bristled and the Emperor listened without intervening.
• The Chief said he had built hidden bases, developed powerful computers and artificial intelligences, and secretly supplied resistance groups with technology.
• The Chief explained that Old Ones’ knowledge revealed the Warp’s predatory gods and said he had confronted Adrian Sol to learn why the Gold Men pursued ascension.
• Adrian told the Chief that the Gold Men sought godhood to escape the Warp, defended their sacrifices, and invited the Chief to help create a new order.
• The Chief challenged Adrian over the inevitable competition for a divine throne and concluded that the Gold Men’s plan would reproduce fear and conflict.
• The Chief deemed Adrian an unacceptable risk and disintegrated him at the particle level.

The Chief revealed that he had created the Black Glass prototype and the Golden Throne as part of a plan to protect humanity and gather human souls without mass sacrifice. His avatar could not explain why the Golden Throne was abandoned, so Lox and the others entered the Old Ones’ treasure vault, leaving the mystery unresolved.

• The Chief explained that the Gold Men had pursued ascension to counter the Warp, then described his plan to build a device that could preserve human souls, refine their power, and access the Webway.
• The Chief revealed that his laboratory near the Catalonia Warp Rift produced the Black Glass prototype, whose need for a powerful psyker led him to develop the Golden Throne.
• The Chief confirmed that he had created the Golden Throne, but said his psychic avatar lost contact with his original body as the device neared completion and did not know why it was abandoned.
• After Lox questioned the Golden Throne’s fate, the Chief’s avatar urged the group to focus on the Old Ones’ inheritance, while privately speculating that the original had abandoned the device after realizing it resembled the End-Products’ methods.
• Lox entered the treasure vault, followed by the Emperor, Malcador, Trazyn, Orikan, and Cegorach, and they found a vast expanse of energy and data shaped like a starry sky.

Lox and his allies entered the Old Ones' treasury, where they discovered its vast psychic archive and encountered Qua, the last surviving fragment of an Old One. Qua entrusted humanity with the knowledge needed to safely retrieve the archive, while the Emperor chose to take only urgently needed technologies for now.

• Lox recognized that the treasury's data stars depicted the galaxy as it had appeared in the Old Ones' age, and he and the Emperor reflected on humanity's struggle to build a better future.
• Trazyn despaired that the psychic archive contained nothing he could collect, but Orikan reminded him that the Necrons had a future; Trazyn then vowed to record the journey and mocked the Aeldari's claim to be the Old Ones' firstborn.
• Cegorach said the modern Aeldari could not absorb the Old Ones' technology, and Lox understood that the god was tactfully leaving the legacy to humanity while preserving the possibility of sharing some knowledge later.
• Lox used the Webway shield-borer to gather the data stars, summoning Qua, who revealed that he was the final fragment of the Old Ones and explained how to safely transfer the knowledge crystals.
• The Emperor decided to retrieve only the most urgently needed technologies and leave the rest in the treasury until humanity was better prepared.
• Qua revealed that the Old Ones had opened the Eye of Terror while fighting the C'tan, apologized for the suffering it caused, and Lox assured him that humanity would carry on the Old Ones' unfinished duty to protect life and restore order.

Lox questioned Old One Kua about the multiverse as humanity prepared to expand beyond its universe and fight Chaos. Kua described neighboring universes and revealed several powerful realms, including one governed by five creator gods.

• Kua praised Lox for accepting responsibility and recalled the Aeldari’s ancient betrayal of the Old Ones, making Cegorach uneasy.
• Lox explained humanity’s plans to assemble an expeditionary force and asked Kua for intelligence about other universes.
• Kua described the Warp as a sea surrounding universes whose differing veils of reality shaped their laws, psychic powers, and vulnerability to Chaos.
• Kua explained how negative emotions empowered Chaos, how the four gods had altered the War in Heaven’s timeline, and how they differed across universes.
• Lox and Kua discussed the Celestial Universe, where the Celestials had divided reality into branches to cultivate combat races while fighting an enemy from beyond the universe.
• Kua warned that a nearby universe could control its veil of reality and said its supreme beings appeared to be five creator gods.