Chapter Summaries

After returning from a battle in another universe, the Emperor discovered that the relic he had brought back was a baby with immense psychic power and ancient genetic sequences. He named the infant Bona Plena and joined Malcador in planning to hide and protect him from the Chaos Gods.

• The Emperor returned from the Warp after three days and told Malcador that he had entered another universe where humanity was extinct and stolen a relic from a guarded sanctuary.
• The Emperor revealed that the relic was a baby, and he and Malcador used their psychic power to conceal the infant’s presence.
• Malcador recognized the baby’s ancient genetic sequences as a possible key to restoring and surpassing humanity’s former technological age.
• The Emperor named the infant Bona Plena, and he and Malcador resolved to keep him hidden from the Chaos Gods and protect him with Custodians and Sisters of Silence.
• As the Emperor soothed the crying baby, Malcador asked whether they could win; the Emperor said their chances were better than before.

Bona felt useless under the constant protection of the Custodians and asked Malcador to help him learn to fight. Malcador recommended Malak, but told Bona he would have to persuade him sincerely, leaving Bona determined to win Malak over.

• The Emperor departed to confront the Boeotians, and Bona watched his ship leave before returning inside with the Custodians.
• Bona asked the Custodians how they became powerful and whether he could undergo genetic modification, but they refused and explained that they had been altered to serve the Emperor.
• Bona told the Custodians he wanted to contribute to humanity instead of remaining protected and unable to help others.
• Bona told Malcador he wanted to learn to fight so he could help his father and described how the Custodians had stopped him from helping an injured child.
• Malcador recommended that Bona ask the skilled Custodian Malak to teach him, but explained that Bona would need to approach him sincerely rather than command him.

Bona repeatedly pestered Malak for martial arts lessons until he finally struck the Custodian with a wooden stick and won their bet. Malak began training him under orders from Valdor, while Malcador noticed Bona’s suppressed psychic talent emerging through his uncanny intuition.

• Bona pursued Malak until Malak agreed to teach him if he could land a hit with a stick, but Malak knocked him down before he could succeed.
• Bona continued challenging Malak every day and eventually dodged his punch, struck his knee armor, and claimed victory under their agreement.
• Valdor returned from the front, berated Malak for failing to protect Bona, and ordered him to honor the agreement and teach the boy martial arts.
• Malak began Bona’s formal training the next day and beat him badly enough that he had to be carried away.
• During Bona’s next lesson, Malcador watched him closely and realized his suppressed psychic talent let him sense space and briefly alter the flow of time.

Bona joined the Emperor at the front and witnessed the suffering of the Thunder Warriors, then volunteered to lead the Emperor’s Custodes toward the exposed northern flank. The Emperor reluctantly let him go as the battle against the Reaper threatened to break the line.

• The Emperor allowed Bona to accompany him to the front after Malcador encouraged him to support the boy’s wish to learn about war.
• Bona sensed a wounded Thunder Warrior’s agony and watched the man be shot, then demanded to know why he had been killed.
• The Emperor learned that the Reaper had nearly destroyed forces in the northern sector, leaving the flank exposed and few troops available to respond.
• Bona offered the eighteen Custodes guarding him as a force for the northern front, arguing that the Emperor needed to remain at headquarters to steady the troops.
• The Emperor warned Bona that the Custodes could not rally the scattered soldiers, but ultimately gave him permission to leave.

Bona rallied the fleeing soldiers and helped the Imperial forces hold their line against a brutal assault by the Nordics. As the enemy broke through the first defenses, Malak went into battle and Bona was left to manage supplies under the Sisters of Silence’s watch.

• Bona climbed onto a transport and rallied the routed soldiers, who charged back to the front and helped stabilize the defensive line.
• After the Nordics paused their advance, Malak warned Bona that another attack was coming and promised to keep him safe.
• The Nordics attacked through a heavy bombardment, and cyborgs and gene-warriors tore through the Imperial defenses.
• The first two defensive lines fell, and the Adeptus Custodes joined the battle while Astartes and Thunder Warriors fought to hold back the enemy.
• Malak forbade Bona from joining the fighting and went to battle himself, leaving Bona to distribute ammunition and food under the Sisters of Silence’s watch.

Bona’s forces lost their final defensive line when the Nordics deployed a War Fortress, which destroyed the town he had been trying to protect. Overwhelmed by the deaths and the voices of the dead, Bona walked toward the fortress as the Emperor rushed north.

• After the first day of battle, Bona gave rations to a refugee mother and her daughter and ordered supplies shared with other refugees.
• On the second day, Bona’s forces repelled nighttime attacks, but a War Fortress arrived and obliterated their defensive line.
• The War Fortress destroyed the town, and Bona found the little girl’s burned toy dog among the wreckage.
• Bona became overwhelmed by the dead’s memories and cries for revenge, then walked toward the War Fortress despite Malak’s attempts to stop him.
• The Emperor flashed northward, while Malcador watched from the rear and wondered if this was fate.

Bona unleashed a devastating psychic storm that destroyed the Nordic war fortress, then recovered under Malcador’s care as the Emperor and Malcador resolved to help him control his power. The psychic disturbance drew the attention of the four Chaos Gods, who fought over Bona and sent their followers into battle against one another.

• Bona used his psychic power to devastate the battlefield, twist the war fortress’s gun barrel, tear off its limbs, and trigger an explosion that destroyed it.
• Bona collapsed from exhaustion and fell asleep in his father’s arms; the blast killed nearly all nearby forces, including most of the Adeptus Custodes, Astartes recruits, and Thunder Warriors.
• After sleeping for a month, Bona woke and told Malcador that he could feel the dead; Malcador agreed to teach him to control his psychic power.
• The Emperor told Malcador he would infuse Bona with some of his power because Bona’s psychic abilities could no longer be suppressed.
• Khorne sensed Bona’s psychic storm and heard the other Chaos Gods claim him, so he ordered Ang'grath to attack their lairs.
• Khorne’s cultists abandoned their fighting against humans, Orks, Aeldari, and Necrons and charged the followers of the other three Chaos Gods.

Bona found a Dark Age of Technology book that appeared to contain a way to repair the Thunder Warriors’ genetic defects, but its shifting pages also unsettled him with a reference to an Omniscient and Omnipotent God. The chapter ended with Bona reading about the Thunder Warriors’ unstable genes and failing neural structures.

• Bona searched the library for a way to save the Thunder Warriors and discovered a white-covered book containing detailed genetic modification procedures attributed to the Ninety-Ninth Gene Science Research Institute.
• Bona decided to bring the book to Grandpa Malcador, but its pages turned to a passage about the Omniscient and Omnipotent God, making Bona doubt the book’s reliability.
• In the Warp, Khorne confronted the furious Tzeentch, who had woven new threads of fate toward Terra and struggled to reach Bona because of the power within him.
• Bona read the book in his room and learned that the Thunder Warriors’ combat-focused genetic modifications had left their genes unstable and their brains’ neural structures prone to premature breakdown.

Bona studied a dead Thunder Warrior and began redesigning the warrior’s genes after discovering his own genetic sequences were nearly unmodified. In the Warp, the four gods fought over him before agreeing to let him visit them all and choose for himself, though Slaanesh bit Tzeentch again.

• Bona learned that Malak could not be awakened easily, so he returned to the laboratory and dissected a dead Thunder Warrior to study the warrior’s damaged nervous system.
• After failing to find a fix within the Thunder Warriors’ genes, Bona analyzed his own blood and found his genetic sequences virtually unmodified.
• Bona read the six-pointed-star book’s description of psyker power, while four colored mists emerged and fought until a golden light dispersed them.
• Bona concluded his psyker power was separate from his genes and began removing harmful genetic traits from the Thunder Warrior design.
• Khorne, Nurgle, Slaanesh, and Tzeentch fought in the Warp, then accepted Tzeentch’s plan for Bona to visit all four and choose among them.
• Slaanesh bit Tzeentch’s other wing while the gods discussed the plan.

Bona successfully treated Scher, restoring his memory and improving the Thunder Warriors’ health, though their reflexes and strength remained diminished. After Captain Dakan spread the news among the companies, the Emperor destroyed his order to execute the uncontrollable Thunder Warriors.

• Dakan welcomed Bona into the camp and sent Nevado and several warriors to assist him with a new treatment.
• Bona injected Scher with the solution, and Scher regained his memory and recognized his fellow warriors.
• Dakan and the Fifth Company thanked Bona, then tested Scher’s abilities and learned that the treatment had improved his vitality but reduced his reflexes and strength.
• Dakan led a group to visit the other Thunder Warriors companies as a report on Bona’s treatment reached the Emperor through Malcador.
• The Emperor tore up his order to execute the uncontrollable Thunder Warriors and walked out toward the rising sun.

Bona was transported from the library to the Warp, where the four gods revealed the Imperium’s future ten thousand years ahead. After showing him its wars and religious oppression, they left him facing the grim state of humanity.

• The Emperor returned to the library and found Bona gone, with a book bearing a glaring Hexagram left on the desk.
• Bona awoke in a grassy realm, met the four gods, and learned that he was in the Warp.
• Bona confirmed the Warp’s existence in the Imperial Truth Codex and said he wanted to tell his father about it.
• Tzeentch showed Bona visions of the Imperium fighting Tyranids, Orks, and Necrons, then briefly showed a T’au fleet being defeated.
• The four gods revealed an Ecclesiarchy World where believers prayed while priests and Flagellants punished people whose faith wavered.

Tzeentch showed Bona the Horus Heresy, and Bona agreed to accept the Four Powers’ help so he could prevent it. On Terra, Horus began the Great Crusade as the Emperor’s favored son, then learned about the missing Bona and became determined to surpass him.

• Tzeentch showed Bona the Emperor’s defeat and the devastation of the Horus Heresy, leading Bona to believe he could stop the disaster by killing the black-armoured traitor.
• Bona accepted the Four Powers’ offer of power, though the Warp’s voices and the strange golden power inside him confused him.
• Tzeentch tried to arrange combat training for Bona but found Slaanesh distracted and Nurgle indifferent.
• At the Great Crusade’s opening ceremony, the Emperor appointed Horus to oversee military and civil affairs while he searched for his other sons.
• Horus investigated his father’s past and learned that Bona was admired by the Emperor, Malcador, the Adeptus Custodes, and the Thunder Warriors.
• Horus resented Bona’s reputation and resolved to prove that he was the son the Emperor was proudest of.

Khorne brought Bona to a vast city where warriors fought in arenas, hoping the boy would hone his skills. Bona entered the dueling arena and waited in line, determined to grow stronger and kill Horus to save his father.

• Bona arrived with Khorne at a heavily guarded city where private fights were forbidden and warriors battled in arenas.
• Bona watched a human and an Ork kill each other in a fierce arena fight.
• Bona picked up an Imperial Chainsword and joined the queue to enter the arena.
• An Aeldari questioned Bona about his unusually pure psychic power, then backed down after Bona threw him aside and a Bloodthirster intervened.
• Bona waited for his turn, wiped his Chainsword, and resolved to grow strong enough to kill Horus and save his father.

Bona completed the Trial of the God of Courage and Justice and entered Slaanesh’s domain, resisting its first five rings of temptation. In the Sixth Ring, he rejected the lure of rest and left to continue his journey.

• Bona defeated an Ork Warboss in the eighth arena, then left the Red Sanctum after a Bloodthirster told him he could visit the castle at its center.
• Bona entered Slaanesh’s First Ring, took a few gold coins as collectibles, and ignored the wealth that turned to dust behind him.
• Bona passed through the Second, Third, and Fourth Rings, rejecting their feasts, seductive dancers, and visions of ruling a glorious Imperium.
• Bona recognized the Emperor in the Fifth Ring as an impostor and destroyed the false figure with psychic lightning.
• Bona resisted the Sixth Ring’s invitation to sleep, cut his finger to dispel his drowsiness, and left the collapsing illusion.

Bona met Tzeentch, received forbidden books and a strange sword said to be able to kill Horus, while Kairos foretold that Bona would kill the Emperor and Chaos. Meanwhile, Horus prepared to attack Davin, troubled by the Emperor’s treatment of the Primarchs and Astartes.

• Bona entered a portal and appeared beside Tzeentch in the deepest part of the Crystal Labyrinth.
• Tzeentch gave Bona piles of forbidden books and a twisting sword, then sent him back outside the labyrinth.
• Tzeentch asked Kairos how far Bona would go, and Kairos foretold that Bona would kill the Emperor and Chaos before collapsing.
• Tzeentch found that fate’s threads could not reach Bona and called him the Breaker of Fate.
• Horus read Roboute Guilliman’s letter and brooded over the Emperor’s Council of Terra and the Primarchs’ exclusion from it.
• After Abaddon reported that the fleet had reached attack orbit above Davin, Horus ordered an assault and said he would lead it himself.

Bona saw Horus leading the XVI Legion in a massacre and went to stop him, but a monstrous figure emerged and overwhelmed Horus and his forces. Horus was dragged through a Warp Rift, marking the fall of the first loyalist Primarch and the beginning of the Horus Heresy.

• Bona witnessed the XVI Legion and Horus slaughtering people, then set out to kill Horus and avert the prophecy.
• Horus ordered his forces to advance through the corrupted world as strange, deadly rebels attacked them.
• A monstrous figure emerged from a rift, ignored the army's fire, and killed Astartes, Titans, and Knights while fighting Horus.
• The monster defeated Horus, impaled him with the Twisted Longsword, and tossed him through a Warp Rift.
• The XVI Legion fell silent as the Horus Heresy began, with Horus Lupercal becoming the first loyalist Primarch to fall.

The Four Gods corrupted Horus and sent him back to lead a rebellion against the Emperor, while Magnus tried to warn Terra. After the loyalist Legions were betrayed and destroyed at Isstvan V, Horus brought his forces to Terra and vowed to make the world burn.

• The Four Gods brainwashed Horus, while a fragment of his shattered soul slipped into Bona; the altered Horus returned to the XVI Legion and began plotting against Magnus.
• Magnus learned that Horus had become a puppet and gathered the Thousand Sons to send a powerful psychic warning to Terra, which Bona noticed passing through the Warp.
• Horus convinced Angron and Fulgrim to join his rebellion, while Mortarion remained silent, and planned to purge loyalists from their Legions.
• Rogal Dorn learned that Horus's forces had rebelled and ordered seven Legions to Istvaan, but four of them betrayed the loyalists; Fulgrim killed Manus as the three loyalist Legions were massacred at Isstvan V.
• Horus led the remaining traitor forces aboard the Vengeful Spirit toward Terra and declared that he would free it from the Emperor's rule.

As Horus sought more power, a colossal Chaos monster emerged through a warp rift and attacked the Gate of the End, overwhelming the loyal defenders. A golden Dreadnought struck the monster with a holy spear, and a voice called, “Awake, son.”

• Perturabo demanded support from Horus as his assault on Dorn’s defenses stalled, and Horus turned to the dark gods for power.
• A warp rift opened before the Gate of the End, unleashing a monstrous being and a flood of daemons.
• Sanguinius charged the monster but was thrown aside, while Thunder Warriors Captain Dakan recognized the creature and murmured, “Your Highness...”.
• Dorn prepared to face the monster, but a golden Dreadnought stepped forward and charged with a squad of Adeptus Custodes buying him time.
• The monster shattered the Dreadnought’s arm and impaled him, but the Dreadnought drove his holy spear into its forehead as a voice said, “Awake, son.”

Bona realized he had been deceived into attacking the Imperium, then killed Fulgrim and the Emperor's Children responsible for massacring civilians. As the Emperor prepared to confront Horus, Malcador took his place on the Golden Throne and the loyalists assembled for their final assault.

• Bona recognized Uncle Malak and, seeing his reflection and the battle around him, used his psychic power to learn the truth about the Heresy and his atrocities.
• Bona's psychic shriek killed nearby daemons, rebels, Imperial Army troops, and Chaos Sorcerers, and he tried to mutilate his mutated body.
• Bona teleported to Fulgrim, killed him, and slaughtered the Emperor's Children.
• The Emperor prepared to leave for the final confrontation as a thousand volunteer Psykers sacrificed themselves to buy him time.
• Malcador bid the Emperor farewell, sat upon the Golden Throne, and the Emperor joined Sanguinius and Rogal Dorn's assembled warriors to end the rebellion.

Bona battled his way to the Vengeful Spirit and found the Emperor dying, then escaped to Khorne’s Sanctuary and challenged the Blood God. After Khorne defeated him, Bona vanished through a warp rift, and Khorne returned to his Brass Throne.

• Bona killed the remaining Greater Daemons, foresaw the Emperor’s mortal wounds, and launched himself from a Macro-cannon onto the Vengeful Spirit.
• Bona reached the bridge and tried to save the Emperor, but left through a warp rift after the Emperor stopped him from attacking Dorn and Guilliman.
• Bona arrived in Khorne’s Sanctuary dragging the severed Angron and challenged Khorne, who drew the Sword of War.
• Bona fought Khorne fiercely but was wounded and defeated, while Khorne suffered only a shallow cut.
• Khorne turned away, and Bona fell through a sudden warp rift before Khorne returned to the Brass Throne.