Baal-
As the homeworld of the Blood Angels, it had suffered no shortage of calamities since the beginning of the forty-first millennium.
Not long ago, almost a century earlier, Baal had come under attack by the Tyranids.
That war had been brutal. Many successor Chapters of the Blood Angels had been wiped out, and their helmets remained on display in the Chapter Monastery to this day.
Yet their victory in that war had owed much to luck.
First, the sudden opening of the Great Rift had dealt the attacking Hive Fleet a devastating blow.
Then the Bloodthirster Ka'Bandha had appeared and dealt the Tyranids another devastating blow.
Finally, Imperial Regent Guilliman had arrived with a great host of Blue Elves and struck yet another devastating blow.
After speaking with the Primarch Guilliman, Dante, Chapter Master of the Blood Angels, had been appointed Regent of Imperium Nihilus.
Yes, the burden on Dante's shoulders had grown heavier once again.
Dante knelt before the statue of his Gene-Father, Sanguinius. Its enormous wings spread wide, it held a burning sword and gazed into the distance.
"Father, please guide me once more."
Dante had lived for over a thousand years. Apart from the honoured warriors interred within Dreadnoughts, he was already the oldest living Space Marine.
For a thousand years, countless responsibilities had weighed upon him, crashing like boulders onto the shoulders of the man named Dante.
Even steel could groan under strain, but Dante could only endure in silence.
There was a secret unknown to many Blood Angels: Dante knew exactly why the Tyranids had suddenly attacked Baal with such madness.
A Blood Angels veteran had been devoured by the Tyranids, and he had known the secret beneath the Chapter Monastery.
Beyond those layers of heavy doors, the remains of their Gene-Father, Sanguinius, lay