Chapter Summaries

Horus led the Space Marines through Trazyn’s museum to a vault holding enough gene-seed to rebuild the Adeptus Astartes. As the group began taking it, baby Fulgrim spotted an overlooked crystal dataslate that left Horus breathless.

• Horus showed the Space Marines displays of Tyranids and Aeldari, then said humanity’s interests determined who counted as friend or enemy.
• Horus opened the Gene-seed Vault and revealed gene-seed from the Legions and their successors across the ages.
• Letorion wept at seeing untainted Emperor’s Children gene-seed, and the Space Marines celebrated the hope of rebuilding their Legions.
• Horus told the group the vault was Trazyn’s achievement and ordered them to take every gene-seed container.
• Horus set baby Fulgrim on a console and began explaining how to claim an inheritance.
• Baby Fulgrim pointed out an overlooked crystal dataslate, and Horus stopped short when he saw it.

Horus found a complete STC printout in Trazyn’s collection and led his troops aboard a Sword-class frigate. As they escaped Solemnace, he deactivated the stasis fields across the galleries and ordered the ship to bombard the chaos erupting inside.

• Horus recognized the chip as a complete Standard Template Construct printout and carefully stored it.
• Horus and his troops boarded a Sword-class frigate, took control of it, and prepared to leave Solemnace.
• Horus ordered the stasis fields across the galleries deactivated, awakening the Krork, the C’tan Shard, and countless other exhibits.
• As alarms reported widespread energy, biological, psychic, WAAAGH!, and Hive Mind activity, Horus ordered the frigate to fire on Solemnace’s central spire and other buildings.
• The frigate destroyed the central spire and bombarded the galleries before Horus steered it into space.

Horus refused to return to Terra immediately, but the frigate encountered the newly formed Great Rift and was caught in its warp storm. The ship and its crew vanished into the vortex as the Indomitus era began.

• Alcato and the other Space Marines urged Horus to return to Terra, while Valerian said their duty was to the Emperor.
• Horus said they would return to Terra, but not yet.
• The Ultramarine at the helm spotted a massive, galaxy-spanning wound in space and warned Horus.
• The Great Rift’s psychic horrors struck the crew, and Valerian shielded them while the ship’s Gellar Field overloaded.
• Horus recognized that Cadia had fallen and the Great Rift had opened.
• Horus clutched baby Fulgrim as the warp storm swept the frigate away.

After Horus's fleet emerged from a Warp Storm above the besieged planet Zelanis, he ordered an assault to secure the planet and its resources. As the defenders of Hope's Grasp faced imminent defeat, Imperial drop pods struck the Ork horde.

• Horus regained consciousness aboard his damaged fleet and learned that its position was unknown and its systems were crippled.
• The fleet received a Low Gothic distress signal from Zelanis, where Orks were overrunning the planet.
• Horus ordered repairs and prepared the Ultramarines, Vostroyans, Catachans, and Space Marines to seize the strongest human fortress.
• At Hope's Grasp, Commissar Oli and the exhausted defenders struggled to hold back the Orks while awaiting help.
• Imperial drop pods slammed into the Ork formation, and Aurelian's adjutant recognized them as the Emperor's angels.

Space Marines, Catachans, and Vostroyan soldiers broke the Ork assault at Hope's Grasp as Horus Lupercal arrived with the Adeptus Custodes and announced his return. Meanwhile, Trazyn discovered that Solemnace had become a chaotic battlefield and recruited Creed to help restore order.

• Space Marines, Catachans, and Vostroyan soldiers attacked the Orks and began turning the battle at Hope's Grasp.
• Valerian led the Adeptus Custodes from a Stormbird, and Commissar Oli rushed to greet them.
• Horus Lupercal emerged from the gunship, shocking Oli, then declared himself to the defenders of Hope's Grasp.
• Trazyn watched his Krork, Deceiver shard, Aeldari, Tyranids, and Freeblade Knights fight amid the ruins of Solemnace.
• Trazyn traced the security breach to a taunting signal, freed Creed from stasis, and asked him to advise his Wardens on quelling the museum riot.

Horus returned to Hope's Grasp with the Adeptus Custodes and demanded the planet's submission, leaving its leaders stunned and uncertain. He offered Sage Malthus a Data Crystal containing a complete STC as evidence of his authority.

• Horus announced his return in Hope's Grasp, shocking the defenders who recognized him as the Arch-Traitor.
• A junior Commissar urged the soldiers to fire, but Valerian deflected their shots and a Custodian threatened the Commissar into silence.
• Oli confronted Horus and demanded an explanation, but Horus declared that he was the explanation and that the people of the planet would become his subjects.
• Oli said he would only believe Horus if the Emperor spoke to him, so Horus summoned the highest-ranking Tech-Priest.
• Horus gave Sage Malthus a Data Crystal containing a complete STC, and Malthus connected a probe to examine it.

Horus secured the Adeptus Mechanicus and Commissar Oli’s allegiance, then led a strategy meeting to plan a strike against the Orks. The commanders identified Warboss Ugrul’s fortress as their target and discovered an unfinished Gargant there.

• Malthus recognized Horus’s complete STC and led the Adeptus Mechanicus in declaring their devotion to the Machine God and Horus.
• Horus ordered Oli to lead his soldiers against the routed Orks, and Oli accepted his command as Warmaster.
• At the Hope’s Grasp fortress conference, the Raven Guard captain reported that millions of Orks followed Warboss Ugrul, whose stronghold contained their arms factory and Big Mek’s laboratory.
• Alcato proposed killing Ugrul, while the Catachan Colonel urged a direct march through the southern swamps and the Raven Guard captain warned of its dangers.
• Horus showed the commanders an unfinished twenty-meter Gargant being assembled beside Ugrul’s volcanic fortress.

Horus devised a plan to destroy Ugrul’s prized Gargant and lure the Warboss out of his fortress, then led an elite strike team toward the volcano garage. The team reached the heavily guarded site and prepared to infiltrate it.

• Horus explained that destroying Ugrul’s Gargant would provoke the Warboss into leaving his fortress, and the Space Wolf confirmed the plan could work.
• Horus ordered Alcato to stage a major assault on an Ork mining site while he led the White Scars, Raven Guard, and Space Wolves to plant Melta Bombs on the Gargant; Valerian was assigned to look after Fulgrim.
• At midnight, Alcato’s diversionary assault lit the eastern horizon as Horus’s strike team crossed Death’s Jaw toward the Volcano Fortress.
• The Space Wolves and other Astartes silently eliminated Ork patrols along the route without raising the alarm.
• Horus’s team reached the fortress and spotted the garage, where elite Tinboyz guarded the entrances and Gretchin and Mekboyz worked on the Gargant.

Horus and his allies infiltrated an Ork fortress and destroyed the nearly completed Gargant, provoking Warboss Ugrul to charge after them. Horus waited at Death’s Jaw canyon as Ugrul and his bodyguards approached, ready to spring an ambush.

• The Raven Guard captain killed the Big Mek while the White Scars silently eliminated the Ork sentries and seized the watchtowers.
• Horus led Valerian and the Space Wolves into the garage, where the Salamanders prepared Melta Bombs to destroy the Gargant’s unstable reactor.
• Horus spray-painted “[Horus was here]” and a mocking Aquila onto the Gargant before the team withdrew.
• The explosion destroyed the Gargant and devastated the volcanic fortress, leaving Ugrul grieving and furious.
• After finding Horus’s painted message on a piece of armor, Ugrul charged toward Death’s Jaw canyon with hundreds of elite Nob bodyguards.
• Horus positioned himself at the canyon entrance and ordered his allies into ambush positions as Ugrul approached.

Horus killed Ugrul Big Stinkfoot, causing the Orks’ united psychic field to collapse and their army to turn on itself. Alcato ordered the Imperial Fists to advance and bombard the fighting Orks.

• Ugrul charged Horus, while Horus signaled the Space Wolves, White Scars, and Raven Guard to wipe out Ugrul’s Nob bodyguards with a volley of fire.
• Horus fought Ugrul in the canyon, breaking his leg and axe-wielding wrist before killing him with Worldbreaker.
• Ugrul’s death caused the Orks’ psychic field to collapse, leaving their formations confused.
• The Orks began fighting each other over who would become the next boss.
• Alcato ordered the Imperial Fists to contract their shield wall, advance their weapons, and bombard the areas where the Orks were fighting.

Horus’s forces eliminated the Orks on Zelanis, ending the planet’s long Green-Skin Plague, while its people celebrated their liberation. Horus then set Zelanis on a path to become an arsenal and instructed Sage Malthus to combine the STC with alien technologies to create new weapons and equipment.

• Alcato’s forces and the White Scars and Raven Guard hunted down the Orks across Zelanis and destroyed the last tribe in an abandoned mining valley.
• The people of Hope’s Grasp celebrated the victory, while Horus watched Fulgrim play with the star map and considered Zelanis’s future.
• Horus told the leaders gathered at Hope’s Grasp that Zelanis would become the foundation and arsenal for his plans.
• Horus gave Sage Malthus the complete STC and ordered him to analyze, replicate, and improve upon it.
• Horus shared principles of living metal, phase technology, and Gauss energy transfer, and Malthus pledged to pursue what he called sacred fusion.

Horus appointed Commissar Oli to reorganize Zelanis’s mortal forces and proposed rebuilding all eighteen Space Marine Legions, including those that had fallen to Chaos. After defending the plan as a chance for redemption, he began with the Emperor’s Children and Luna Wolves, leaving the Loyalist commanders to consider his decision.

• Horus appointed Commissar Oli Commissar-General of the Zelanis Defense Force and tasked him with reorganizing its Astra Militarum and militia.
• Horus announced that he intended to rebuild all eighteen Legiones Astartes, including the traitor Legions, prompting Alcato and other Loyalists to protest.
• Horus argued that the Legions had fallen through their choices rather than their genes, and held up baby Fulgrim as proof that their genetic heritage did not make them inherently corrupt.
• Horus named the rebuilt traitor Legions the Penitent Legions and said they would redeem their forebears’ shame through loyalty and service.
• Alcato asked for time to consider Horus’s proposal, while Horus said the effort would begin on a small, supervised scale with the Emperor’s Children and Luna Wolves.
• Horus left the command room carrying Fulgrim, while the remaining Loyalists stayed behind in doubt and contemplation.

Valerian persuaded Alcato to accept the Emperor’s will and follow Horus’s new path. Fifteen years later, Zelanis had become a thriving technological power, where Malthus showcased a powerful new rifle.

• The Salamanders, Space Wolves, and Raven Guard captains defended Letorion and argued that loyalty should be judged by character, not lineage.
• Valerian said the Emperor’s will was for them to follow Horus, and that their duty was to follow, witness, and protect the new path.
• Alcato reluctantly agreed, unable to question the Emperor’s will.
• Fifteen years later, Zelanis had grown into the heart of an emerging empire, with Malthus leading its rapidly advancing Mechanicum.
• Malthus unveiled the Storm Mk-III Gauss Impact Rifle, combining Imperial, Necron, and 30K-era technologies.

After fifteen years, Horus’s Penitent Legions remained free of Chaos corruption, and Fulgrim struggled with memories of a darker self. Horus’s growing empire had become a major power, but the galaxy-wide Great Rift showed that their work was far from over.

• Horus showed Alcato that recruits implanted with traitor gene-seed had matured without signs of Chaos corruption, and Alcato admitted Horus had been right.
• Fulgrim confided to Horus that visions of his other self made him fear he might become corrupted, and Horus reassured him that he was his own person.
• Horus assembled his commanders and described the forces and industrial worlds built around Zelanis over fifteen years.
• Horus enlarged the star map to reveal the Great Rift stretching across the galaxy.

Horus announced the Dawn expedition to Vigilus and named Fulgrim Lord Regent during his absence. Fulgrim won the council’s loyalty, then farewelled Horus as the expeditionary fleet departed for the Great Rift.

• Horus declared that he would lead the Dawn expedition to Vigilus to secure the Nachmund Gauntlet and reconnect with Guilliman.
• Horus named Fulgrim Lord Regent, prompting Alcato to object that Fulgrim was too young.
• Fulgrim described his visions of the Heresy and pledged to protect the Imperium as its shield while Horus served as its sword.
• Alcato, Valerian, and the council knelt and recognized Fulgrim as Lord Regent.
• At Zelanis, Horus advised Fulgrim to trust his allies without trusting anyone completely, then boarded the Unyielding Spirit.
• Fulgrim bade Horus farewell as the battleship led the Dawn fleet away from the starport.

On Zelanis, Fulgrim struggled with the burden of governing until a psychic disturbance revealed that his corrupted counterpart had attacked Oya IV. The Daemon Primarch sensed the order and virtue of his other self, leaving the two Fulgrims poised for a confrontation.

• Fulgrim complained to Oli about his mountain of administrative work and asked to escape to the defenses.
• A cloying psychic aura struck the star system, and Fulgrim recognized it as the presence of his corrupted counterpart near Oya IV.
• On Oya IV, the Emperor's Children's Choir of Ecstasy overwhelmed the defenders with psychic corruption and devastating sonic attacks.
• The Daemon Primarch Fulgrim sensed an unfamiliar aura of order and recognized the irritating presence of his other self.

Fulgrim’s Daemon Primarch attacked Oya 4, where the newly arrived Redeemers and Zelanis forces had begun routing the Noise Marines. After Fulgrim challenged the loyal Fulgrim, a clear voice answered him from the battlefield.

• Fulgrim mocked his resurrection and prepared to confront his loyal counterpart, while Zelanis sent two hundred warships toward Oya 4.
• Twenty thousand Redeemers led by Commander Letorion landed behind the Chaos forces and opened fire on the Noise Marines.
• Letorion and the Zelanis forces turned the battle around with disciplined attacks and advanced weapons.
• Fulgrim arrived, overpowered the Loyalist Space Marines, and taunted Letorion about the loyal Fulgrim.
• An unseen speaker answered Fulgrim, saying, “I’m right here.”

Young Fulgrim confronted Daemon Fulgrim and baited him into a trap that combined Necron technology, automated weapons, and a massed assault. The Daemon Primarch was weakened and wounded, and the mortals’ attack continued with his tail pinned beneath immense gravity.

• Young Fulgrim emerged with four Adeptus Custodes guards and mocked Daemon Fulgrim, provoking his fury.
• Horus’s miniature Necron Obelisks activated a spirit-banishing field, suppressing Daemon Fulgrim’s Warp power and slowing him.
• Captain Letorion, the Custodes, and the Redeemers charged while Oli ordered automated turrets and other forces to fire on Daemon Fulgrim.
• The Custodes wounded Daemon Fulgrim’s lower left arm, drawing dark purple daemon blood.
• Archmagos Malthus’s vehicles locked Daemon Fulgrim’s tail to the ground with a thousandfold gravity field.

Daemon Fulgrim shattered the Necron Obelisk and overwhelmed the defenders, leaving Young Fulgrim to face him. Young Fulgrim called on the Emperor for help, and the Emperor heard him from the Golden Throne.

• Daemon Fulgrim overloaded and shattered the Necron Obelisk, unleashing a psychic shock wave that devastated the defenders.
• Daemon Fulgrim killed a Custodian and broke the militia as he advanced toward Young Fulgrim.
• Young Fulgrim rejected the daemon’s demand to kneel, declared himself human, and ordered the surviving forces to charge.
• Young Fulgrim caught the ancient Aquila that Letorion threw to him and prayed for the Emperor’s help.
• The Emperor heard Young Fulgrim’s plea from Terra and recognized him as the child he had once lost.

On Oya 4, the Emperor empowered young Fulgrim, who defeated Daemon Fulgrim and banished the daemon forces. The victory restored the Emperor’s Children’s honor, and Fulgrim dreamed of a peaceful family scene as the flagship returned to Zelanis.

• The Emperor’s power transformed young Fulgrim’s sword into a blade of golden light.
• Young Fulgrim struck down Daemon Fulgrim for Ferrus Manus, Lyran, and the humans he had slaughtered, then destroyed him and swept the daemons and Noise Marines back into the Warp Rift.
• Young Fulgrim collapsed from the strain, and Letorion helped him stand as he declared that they had won together.
• The battle’s aftermath recorded heavy losses among the Penitent Legions and Imperialis Militia, while Archmagos Malthus rebooted after overheating.
• News of the victory spread across Fulgrim’s worlds, and the Emperor’s Children were hailed as the Sons of the Phoenix.
• Aboard the flagship returning to Zelanis, Fulgrim dreamed of a golden wheat field and a peaceful family scene.