Chapter Summaries

Horus and Bona uncovered Alpharius's plan to keep the Imperium and Chaos locked in war, then set out to aid besieged systems. Meanwhile, a mixed group reached Macragge, where Yvraine and Cawl agreed on a method to resurrect the young god.

• Horus realized Alpharius was sustaining conflict between the Imperium and Chaos to fuel the Golden Throne, and Bona said a human god could protect humanity from the Warp gods even at the cost of every human life.
• Bona ended the discussion and led Horus on a campaign, while asking Captain Dakan, Admiral Spire, and Colonel Sakot to aid nearby systems.
• After escaping shattered Cadia through an Aeldari Webway gate, a group including Cawl, Greyfax, Celestine, and Aeldari arrived at war-torn Macragge.
• Greyfax suspected Celestine might be a heretic, while Yvraine explained that Ynnead had made her his chosen and was now being hunted by Slaanesh.
• Yvraine told Cawl that a sword must sever the young god's connection to the world before Cawl could use his treasure to resurrect him, and Cawl agreed.

As Chaos forces besieged the Fortress of Hera, Belisarius Cawl revealed his plan to resurrect Roboute Guilliman with the Armour of Fate, but Yvraine’s explanation that she must sever Guilliman’s connection to life enraged Marneus Calgar. Just as Calgar prepared to stop the visitors, a crashing Thunderhawk struck him and Respawned Monsters poured into the hall.

• Calgar questioned Cawl and the other visitors while the Chaos fleet attacked Macragge.
• Tigurius vouched for Cawl’s party and led Calgar to the Primarch’s Shrine, despite the presence of Aeldari.
• Cawl revealed that he had spent ten thousand years creating the Armour of Fate to resurrect Guilliman.
• Yvraine said she would use the God of Death’s power to sever Guilliman’s connection to life, prompting Calgar and the other armed factions to turn on the visitors.
• Tigurius tried to calm Calgar as he denounced the visitors, but a Thunderhawk crashed through the ceiling and struck him down.
• Respawned Monsters dropped into the hall and shouted praise to Khorne.

Yvraine severed the Stasis Field cable, awakening Roboute Guilliman, who destroyed the Chaos forces and led the defenders to victory on Macragge. With the invasion defeated, Guilliman turned to the strange sights and questions facing him in the Imperium.

• Yvraine, Cawl, Celestine, and Tigurius carried the Iron Casket to Guilliman’s Throne while the Ultramarines and Chaos forces fought around them.
• Yvraine cut the Stasis Field’s power cable, and Guilliman awakened after ten thousand years.
• Guilliman killed the Chaos warriors in the hall, and the Imperial defenders rallied around him.
• Guilliman took command, led an orderly counterattack, and helped defeat the Chaos invasion of Macragge.
• Guilliman began asking questions about the Imperium, including why people could fly and what the hovering Ghost Head was.

Guilliman learned that Horus Lupercal led the Dawn Army, a rebel faction backed by the Thunderhawk Empire, then met the Aeldari emissary Yvraine. Their awkward attraction left Slaaneshi fuming as she watched them from the Empyrean.

• Guilliman praised the Ultramarines commanders and learned that Horus Lupercal was still alive and commanded the Dawn Army, backed by the Thunderhawk Empire.
• Agemman explained that the Ultramarines' Deep Space Expedition had failed, though they had stopped Horus's faction from joining forces with the Black Legion.
• Guilliman dismissed the Ultramarines commanders and received Yvraine, whose presence left both of them flustered and uncertain how to speak.
• Guilliman and Yvraine began an awkward conversation while Slaaneshi watched through the Bone Mirror and angrily urged him to kiss her.

While the expeditionary fleet studied the Necron Obelisk on Modok, Bona and Horus discovered that a Tech-Priest was actually Trazyn the Infinite. Trazyn was decapitated but continued speaking before his head went dark, leaving Bona unsure whether he was dead.

• Bona explained that the Obelisks could calm the Warp, and Horus hoped their technology would help the fleet reach Terra in time.
• Bona noticed that he could not sense a Tech-Priest's presence, so the Luna Wolves surrounded him.
• The disguised figure revealed himself as Trazyn the Infinite, who said he collected historical events and found Horus worth collecting.
• Trazyn recognized Bona as the one who had slaughtered a third of Commorragh's living inhabitants and offered gifts in exchange for his intrusion.
• Bona shot Trazyn in the knee and severed his head with a Chainsword, but the head kept speaking before its light went out.
• Bona tossed Trazyn's head to Archmagos Antonia and told Horus he did not think the Necron was dead.

Trazyn bargained with Amarkun to capture Bona in exchange for the Dark Throne Control Code. Guilliman’s expedition to Terra was trapped in the Maelstrom by Magnus, leaving the fleet devastated and marked by Kairos.

• Trazyn offered Amarkun the Dark Throne Control Code if Amarkun captured Bona, and Amarkun demanded a written agreement.
• Guilliman’s fleet departed Macragge for Terra to save the Imperium, despite violent warp storms separating ships from the expedition.
• Magnus ambushed the fleet and used the Towers of Shattered Wisdom to hurl it into the Maelstrom system.
• Guilliman ordered the fleet to assess its losses and search for a route out while his forces attacked the Red Corsairs.
• Kairos possessed a Red Corsairs commander and taunted Guilliman before Guilliman killed the commander.
• Celestine identified Kairos and warned Guilliman that the group had been marked.

Kairos trapped Roboute Guilliman in visions of the Imperium’s destruction and nearly defeated him during the Red Corsairs’ attack on the Expeditionary Force. Guilliman broke free when Horus appeared and challenged him over the Imperium’s fate.

• The Red Corsairs ambushed the Expeditionary Force, and Kairos appeared with Tzeentch Daemons and attacked Guilliman’s fleet.
• Guilliman charged Kairos, but the daemon’s sorcery overwhelmed him and left him kneeling under visions of his failures.
• Kairos threatened to kill Guilliman unless the Imperial forces stopped fighting, and the battle fell silent.
• Guilliman broke free of the illusion after hearing a voice criticize his resolve.
• Horus emerged from the smoke and declared that he would take the Imperium’s fate into his own hands, shocking Guilliman.

Bona stayed behind aboard the Macragge's Honour to face Skarbrand while Horus led Guilliman and the Imperial warriors out of the Maelstrom. After a devastating battle, Bona defeated Skarbrand and tore off one of his horns.

• Horus rescued Guilliman from Kairos's daemons, freed him from psychic chains, and returned the Emperor's Sword.
• Bona arrived with a brain-fried Aeldari Shadowseer, then warned Guilliman that a blood-red meteor was coming for him and urged him to leave.
• Horus led the Luna Wolves and Guilliman's warriors through the Warp Rift while Bona remained aboard the Macragge's Honour.
• Skarbrand entered the ship's chapel and attacked Bona, hurling him through the vessel into the void.
• Bona unleashed his power and fought Skarbrand across a planet of flesh, then defeated him in a magma-filled ravine and tore off his horn.
• Kairos watched Bona's victory from afar and left.

Guilliman and Horus found Terra under attack and joined forces against Magnus and the Thousand Sons. While Magnus fought the two Primarchs, Titus and Naruf helped turn the battle below, leaving the fighting still underway.

• Guilliman, Horus, and their forces emerged from the Webway gate on Luna and saw Terra burning beneath a vast altar to Khorne.
• Magnus appeared with the Thousand Sons, mocked Guilliman and Horus, and unleashed sorcery that devastated the Expeditionary Force.
• Horus and Guilliman agreed to set aside their differences and charged Magnus, but he fought them both off with overwhelming power.
• Titus and Naruf joined forces to push a wrecked Rhino uphill, then led the counterattack against the Thousand Sons.
• Titus overloaded a Tzeentch Sorcerer's shield with a plasma shot and killed him with his Chainsword, while Naruf helped him back to his feet.

Bona drained Magnus of his psychic power, fracturing Luna before collapsing himself, and Horus carried them both through the Webway gate. Guilliman let Horus leave, then turned to the war-torn Terra and ordered Cawl to study the fallen Astartes.

• Bona emerged through the Webway gate, and Magnus and the Tzeentch sorcerers reacted in terror.
• Magnus unleashed his psychic power at Bona, but Bona drained it, causing Luna to fracture and the Thousand Sons and sorcerers to perish or be banished.
• Bona collapsed, and Horus carried him and dragged the motionless Magnus through the gate despite Guilliman demanding that he hand Bona over.
• Guilliman let the Luna Wolves depart, then learned from a Custodian Centurion that the Blood God had attacked Terra and the Imperial Palace was under threat.
• Guilliman ordered Cawl to collect fallen Astartes for study and returned to Terra with the Grey Knights, Adeptus Custodes, and Celestine, reflecting on Horus's distinction between the Emperor and the God-Emperor.

Magnus awoke from a vision and was restrained by the Luna Wolves, while Voldus told Guilliman that countless people had consumed the Daemon Primarch and joined with Magnus. Guilliman reached the Emperor on Terra, received a flood of knowledge, and learned that Bona must not be allowed to see him before the “final moment.”

• Magnus awoke on a bed surrounded by Luna Wolves Terminators and Blanks' staves, and Horus questioned whether he had broken free of his madness.
• Voldus told Guilliman that countless people had killed the Daemon Primarch and become part of Magnus.
• Guilliman entered the Throne Room and found the Emperor's corpse connected to Life-Support Tubes.
• The Emperor spoke to Guilliman through a storm of voices, praised him, and urged him to fight for humanity's destiny.
• Guilliman asked about Bona, and the Emperor warned him not to let Bona come to see him before the “final moment.”

Bona confronted Magnus with the truth about his past, showing that the Emperor had ordered him captured rather than killed and had considered taking Magnus’s place on the Golden Throne. Afterward, Admiral Spire reported that the Aeldari had destroyed Zadek, leaving no survivors.

• Bona woke after losing control, silenced the voices in his head with the Imperial Holy Relic, and calmly reattached his arm after canned ant-cow severed it.
• Horus told Bona that Magnus had awakened, and they visited him in his holding chamber.
• Magnus mocked Bona and accused him of seeking Magnus’s allegiance to kill the Emperor, so Bona dragged him to the shuttle bay and showed him visions of his fall and the Golden Throne.
• Bona used an Origin-Tracing Spell to reveal the Emperor’s past order to bring Magnus back alive and the Emperor’s claim that the Throne was his own fate.
• Bona left the shuttle bay, weakened by the spell, and Admiral Spire reported that the Aeldari had destroyed the Hive World of Zadek with no survivors.

After learning that the Aeldari had destroyed Zadek, Bona sought revenge and obtained Kaelor Craftworld’s location from Tzeentch in exchange for destroying a Tyranid nexus. Kaelor was already reeling from a Tyranid attack when Effenrich realized danger was approaching and ordered the Craftworld to flee.

• Bona used his blood and a crystal orb to witness Aeldari Farseers leave Zadek’s survivors to die, then ordered Horus to prepare an assault on their Craftworld.
• Bona confronted Tzeentch, who gave him Kaelor Craftworld’s location and demanded that he destroy a Tyranid nexus in the Menshilo Gulf.
• A Tyranid detachment emerged from a Warp Rift near Kaelor and attacked, damaging the Craftworld’s fleet and solar sails before its forces were defeated.
• Farseer Effenrich recognized that Tzeentch’s interference had concealed an approaching threat and shouted for Kaelor Craftworld to leave.
• Majestic Warships emerged from the Warp behind Kaelor Craftworld and advanced toward it.

Yvraine realized Kaelor Craftworld was heading toward humanity and urgently tried to stop its people from harming humans. The Imperial Navy and Astartes attacked Kaelor, and Bona halted plans to destroy the Craftworld because he intended to kill the presence within it himself.

• Yvraine told Eldarion that she sensed darkness growing and asked where Kaelor Craftworld had gone; when she learned it was in the Eastern Fringe, she rushed to warn its people not to harm humans.
• Imperial and Aeldari fleets fought without retreating as Kaelor Craftworld fled, and Imperial ships and boarding forces began assaulting the Craftworld.
• Company Captain Naruf destroyed Kaelor’s shield system, allowing the Dawn Navy to bombard it and land more troops.
• The Luna Wolves and other Imperial forces fought Kaelor’s Guardians and aspect warriors across the Craftworld, while Imperial warships attacked at close range.
• Colonel Sakot reported that only two demolition sites had been captured, and Admiral Spire proposed striking the remaining sites with Cyclonic Torpedoes.
• Bona forbade the Craftworld’s destruction, sensed its anger rising, and declared that he would kill it himself.

As human forces overwhelmed the Aeldari defenses, Autarch Skayor brought the Young King to the Temple of Khaine, where she took up The Wailing Doom and entered the shrine. Supreme Farseer Effenrich rallied the battlefield against Magnus, but the Avatar of Khaine emerged as the Craftworld shook.

• Autarch Skayor led the surviving Aspect Warriors to the Temple of Khaine as the Aeldari defenses crumbled.
• Autarch Skayor, Farseer Effenrich, and the other Farseers prepared the Young King through an ancient ritual, carving war runes into her back and bathing her in starlit water.
• The Young King accepted The Wailing Doom and drank her blood from the golden chalice before entering Khaine’s shrine.
• Supreme Farseer Effenrich arrived on the battlefield, destroyed human armor with lightning, and steadied the Aeldari lines.
• Magnus attacked Effenrich and the Craftworld with sorcery, sending Wraith Constructs into the Warp and disrupting Aeldari psykers.
• Horus felt the Craftworld tremble and saw the Avatar of Khaine overturn a distant temple.

The Avatar of Khaine overwhelmed Magnus after the Aeldari sacrificed their dead to strengthen it, but Bona intervened and killed the god. With Kaelor Craftworld defeated, Bona ordered it destroyed as more figures appeared through a Webway gate.

• The Avatar of Khaine attacked Magnus, who bound it with Warp chains until the kneeling Aeldari and their dead empowered it and broke the chains.
• As Khaine charged Magnus, Bona struck the god down, severed its leg, and crushed its skull.
• The human troops rallied and defeated the Aeldari, while the navy destroyed the fleeing ships from Kaelor Craftworld.
• Bona warned Magnus not to let emotion consume him, and Magnus accepted his hand before Horus joined them.
• Bona silenced Archmagos Antonia and ordered Kaelor Craftworld destroyed and its destruction recorded for the citizens of the Thunderhawk.
• A nearby ritual gateway blazed with light, and numerous figures appeared inside the Webway gate.

Yvraine tried to negotiate peace for Kaelor, but Bona rejected her offer and vowed that the Aeldari would pay for Zadek’s destruction. After Kaelor fell, the Reaper Host evacuated its children, while Bona explained that he intended to use fear to deter the Aeldari from attacking again.

• Yvraine met Bona, Magnus, and Horus at the Webway gate and offered peace and compensation for Kaelor’s actions.
• Bona shattered Farseer Effenrich’s Spirit Stone, condemned Yvraine’s assumptions, and threatened to execute captured Aeldari Corsairs.
• The Astartes completed the purge of Kaelor and found its surviving children, whom they carried out while human forces secured the ruins.
• The Reaper Host restrained itself at the gate and received the children as the last survivors of Kaelor.
• Bona told Horus that spreading fear and rage among the Aeldari would make them think twice before attacking humanity again.

Sister Olivia and the Thirty-Eighth Engineering Battalion protested when automated machines replaced them at a construction site, but Moore explained their slow work endangered residents ahead of severe storms. Back at the prisoner-of-war camp, Olivia saw the thriving city and began questioning how she could serve the God-Emperor as the camp neared disbandment.

• The Thirty-Eighth Engineering Battalion arrived at its worksite and found automated machines and local residents continuing the construction.
• Sister Olivia accused Moore of letting abominable intelligences take over, while Moore told her the residents had to make up for the battalion’s slow progress.
• The soldiers condemned Moore and the machines, but nearby border guards warned them to behave.
• Moore warned Olivia that a dust storm and possible acid rain would soon endanger the planet’s people, then left the worksite.
• Olivia returned to the prisoner-of-war camp and saw the city’s prosperity, the camp sign being removed, and civilians openly informed about Chaos.
• As the camp neared disbandment, Olivia lost her sense of direction and considered visiting the Ecclesiarchy church.

Bona met with Fabricator-General Antonia and the Archmagoses to review technology for the expanding Thunderhawk Empire, including a planetary psychic broadcast system. A recovered Age of Technology film revealed a weapon capable of destroying star systems, and Bona ordered Antonia to recreate it.

• Bona attended a secret meeting where Fabricator-General Antonia presented a planetary ring psychic broadcast system designed to send reliable messages across the Empire.
• Bona rejected proposals to expand Daemon Engine production, loosen restrictions on Abominable Intelligences, and deploy Chaos Daemons on a large scale.
• Fabricator-General Antonia showed Bona a damaged military propaganda film recovered from the Kaelor Craftworld.
• The film depicted an enormous planet-sized weapon firing beams that destroyed several star systems, stunning Bona and the Tech-Priests.
• Bona ordered Fabricator-General Antonia to recreate the Age of Technology weapon and agreed to provide the resources she needed.

Rogal Dorn arrived on Terra and sought out his brother Roboute Guilliman, who was struggling to defend the Imperium from threats within and without. Dorn explained that he had exiled himself to atone for sending Imperial Fists to their deaths, but returned because the Imperium needed them.

• Rogal Dorn disappeared from a pilgrim ship and walked through the Pilgrim's Way toward the Imperial Palace.
• Dorn defeated the guards and Custodians blocking his path and told them he was looking for his brother, Roboute Guilliman.
• Sicarius informed Guilliman that a man claiming to be his brother had arrived, and Guilliman learned that the visitor was Rogal Dorn.
• Guilliman greeted Dorn and asked what he had endured, while the Custodians confirmed Dorn posed no immediate threat.
• Dorn said he had exiled himself to atone for sacrificing dissenting Imperial Fists, but had returned because the Imperium needed them.