Beyond the Milky Way Galaxy lay an endless void where even light and time seemed frozen.
In that utterly silent abyss, Silent King Szarekh had drifted for tens of millions of years. Sixty million years ago, as supreme commander, he had pressed that devastating button, selling the flesh and souls of the entire Necrontyr race to the C'tan in exchange for cold, immortal mechanical bodies. After winning the War in Heaven and shattering the C'tan, he had exiled himself beyond the sea of stars, burdened by unspeakable guilt, and sworn to find a way to restore his people's flesh.
During his long exile, Szarekh had encountered the ultimate horror in the void, one capable of plunging the entire universe into deathly silence-the Great Devourer.
To stop this catastrophe destined to consume the entire galaxy, the Silent King had finally begun the long journey home, bringing his vast Royal Guard fleet of countless magnificent tomb ships. His mechanical core had simulated countless versions of the Milky Way Galaxy's current devastation. In his projections, the Great Devourer's tendrils must already have burrowed deep into the galaxy. When his fleet emerged from the void, he should have been greeted by countless depleted, dead worlds, devoured down to their last scraps, their atmospheres and even their microorganisms drained away.
But when the Silent King's fleet, vast as a moving planet, finally crossed the dimensional boundary and projected optical signals from the edge of the Milky Way Galaxy back into his visual receptors...
The mechanical heart of this supreme ruler of the Necrons, silent for sixty million years and forged from the finest living metal, suffered an extraordinarily rare surge of violent energy disruption that nearly brought it to a standstill.
There were no lifeless planets ahead, no hive tendrils spreading unchecked.
Szarekh saw a