The warm-up had begun.
Chaos sects everywhere grew increasingly rampant. With Space Marine forces withdrawing on a massive scale, the Imperial Navy was run ragged.
Originally, this should have been a good time. The situation had almost returned to what it had been just after the Primarchs disappeared. The Black Templars under Sigismund had wiped out most of the Imperium's enemies, and the Imperium had flourished.
But under the Lord Regent's orders, pressure across the galaxy had surged. Surrounding worlds had to risk their trade routes being severed to ship all manner of supplies to Terra, while their own military strength...
It could not be called weakening. Rather, both sides were growing stronger, because the Eye of Terror was increasing the power of psykers on both sides.
Every day, the Imperium uncovered numerous attempts to smuggle Chaos Relics into the Solar Sanctum. The skulls Khorne favored were genuinely difficult to distinguish from the remains of Imperial saints. The latest discovery had already approached the Solar Sanctum's border before the Adeptus Mechanicus on Mars intercepted and destroyed it.
Well, given that they refused to say anything, it was reasonable to assume the Adeptus Mechanicus had brought it back themselves by mistake.
Guilliman was preparing a grand welcoming ceremony. A gathering on Terra required an enormous amount of planning.
Exactly whom they would be welcoming... was not entirely settled.
The first ancient figure returned before Guilliman could finish planning every detail of the festivities. The Primarch had not even completed all his schedules when a dust-covered golden figure stood before him again.
"It's been a long time. Time seems to have changed you considerably."
Alpharius did his best to flesh out his impression of the man from Guilliman's memories. It was not that he did not know him, but that Guilliman's knowledge