"Look! I'm so much better than they are, so why won't you choose me? Why! Why!" The Duke of Shadow Blades sank to his knees, blood flowing from the wound in his belly and pooling beneath him.
In the shadows, a glimmer of blue light seeped through the Webway wall and drifted upward along the blood.
"Wishes require a price and effort to obtain..." A voice sounded in the Duke of Shadow Blades' mind.
Had the Duke of Shadow Blades been as calm as he usually was, he would naturally have noticed something wrong with the voice, but his mind was no longer clear. Besides, he had reached the end of his rope. However suspicious the voice might be, he was willing to put his faith in it.
"I'm willing to pay any price, to devote a lifetime of effort, all for one ordinary wish..." The Duke of Shadow Blades believed in the immense power of the Old Ones' legacy. Although the mighty Old Ones had gone extinct, even a wish they considered trivial would be enough to turn his fortunes around.
"I wish for myself and my descendants to find peace after death, for our souls not to be devoured by darkness, for all of us to find rest..."
He did not ask for power and immortality, knowledge, or the fulfillment of his desires. What the Duke of Shadow Blades wanted seemed remarkably simple.
Yet this simple wish... was beyond even Kairos, Greater Daemon of Tzeentch. He could not even deceive the Duke of Shadow Blades with false visions. Slaanesh's ownership of Aeldari souls was absolute. Any word of opposition would reach Slaanesh's ears and be taken as a provocation.
"This wish... can be fulfilled," Kairos said calmly. He had only said it could be fulfilled, not that he