Chapter Summaries

Curze taught the Night Haunter basic Terran writing while Han Mingxuan considered asking the Necrons to move Nostramo. Trazyn arrived with a new Necrontyr body, and Han Mingxuan checked that his soul remained stable.

• Curze began teaching the Night Haunter, starting with the Terran character for “person,” and asked him to share what happened in his future.
• Han Mingxuan rejected moving Nostramo through the Warp and considered asking the Necrons for help.
• A year earlier, Trazyn sent Szarekh a message about Han Mingxuan and began creating a body made from Necrontyr genes.
• After completing the body, Trazyn used a phase portal to return to Han Mingxuan, where Curze and the Night Haunter mistook him for a threat.
• Han Mingxuan introduced Trazyn as a Necron overlord and collector, and Curze left to make tea.
• Han Mingxuan asked whether Trazyn's soul was stable, and Trazyn confirmed that it was.

Han Mingxuan prepared to restore Trazyn’s soul, explaining that the process served his own need to recover his soul’s projection from the Warp. As Trazyn secured the procedure, the Emperor and Horus reacted to Curze’s influence, and Horus gathered his brothers to meet their soon-to-be-found sibling.

• Trazyn questioned Han Mingxuan’s motives, then agreed to proceed after hearing about Han Mingxuan’s efforts to retrieve his soul from the Warp.
• Trazyn left to prepare security measures, while Curze and Han Mingxuan discussed the risks and Curze wished he were strong enough to protect his father.
• The Emperor sensed Curze talking about him, felt a sharp pain, and ordered Horus to speed up the fleet.
• Horus contacted his brothers and urged them to meet the Primarch they were about to find, prompting Jonson to call him mad.

The Emperor organized a large party of Primarchs to welcome Konrad on Nostramo, while Curze foresaw a fleet approaching and warned Han Mingxuan that the Huangpizi was coming. Han Mingxuan and Trazyn began the next phase of Nostramo’s reconstruction, and Han used a brush to draw Trazyn’s soul from his prepared body.

• Horus proposed giving the returning brother a grand welcome, and the Emperor named Horus, Magnus, Ferrus Manus, Fulgrim, Dorn, Lorgar, and Roboute to accompany him.
• Sanguinius asked to join the reception, and the Emperor agreed while hoping Old Han might help with the Blood Angels’ genetic flaw.
• Curze experienced a vision of a fleet and a golden sun, then told Han Mingxuan that the Huangpizi was coming.
• Trazyn told Han Mingxuan that his elite troops had entered Nostramo, and Han directed him and Curze to proceed with the second phase of the project.
• Han Mingxuan brought Trazyn to the Evolutionists’ Technology Building, where Archmagos Angrak helped prepare Trazyn’s body for examination.
• Han Mingxuan waved a brush and drew out Trazyn’s golden soul, still surrounded by strands of the C’tan’s curse.

Han Mingxuan restored Trazyn to a living body, and Trazyn discovered the joys of eating again. The chapter ended with Trazyn and the Night Lords feasting at Han Mingxuan’s home.

• Han Mingxuan used the Warp to stabilize Trazyn’s restored body, and Trazyn woke up in it.
• Trazyn dressed, drank green apple juice, and eagerly ate an apple after Han Mingxuan gave it to him.
• Trazyn stored his old metal body and collected supplies, then went home with Han Mingxuan to eat.
• Han Mingxuan began cooking a celebratory feast and called Curze to invite Sevatar and the others.
• Sevatar, Talos, Curze, and the others joined Trazyn for the meal, while Trazyn devoured the food and Konrad laughed at the sight.

Han Mingxuan explained that Trazyn’s new soul was fragile and arranged for Curze and the other young men to teach him literacy while he taught them science and combat. Trazyn began training them with Necrons in a dimensional space, while he went out to enjoy food.

• After the meal, Han Mingxuan gave Trazyn recipes and asked what he would do with his old metal body.
• Han Mingxuan warned Trazyn that his new soul was fragile and said reading his specially written literature would strengthen it.
• Han Mingxuan introduced Curze, Sevatar, Talos, Shen, Cyrion, and the other young men to Trazyn, and arranged for them to teach him literacy in exchange for lessons in science.
• Han Mingxuan showed Trazyn the faint golden soul mark on his wrist and explained that it would become complete when his soul was healthy.
• Trazyn decided to use his old metal body to help train the young men and began combat acclimation with Necrons in a dimensional space.
• Trazyn took money from Han Mingxuan and went out to eat while the young men faced the dangerous training.

Curze’s squad endured thousands of deaths in Trazyn’s adaptation training, while Trazyn secretly repaired their genetic flaws. Trazyn then began transforming a star system into a habitable home for Han Mingxuan and the people of Nostramo, and two weeks later told Han it was ready.

• Curze’s squad changed their combat tactics during training, barely passed adaptation training, and learned that Curze still had more to do.
• Trazyn offered to help Han Mingxuan improve the group’s magic resistance and discussed relocating Nostramo and its people to a transformed star system.
• Han Mingxuan described an Earth-inspired planetary design, and Trazyn promised to move Nostramo, transform the system, and provide a portal for its people.
• Trazyn returned to the Tomb World, added Han Mingxuan and his nephews to its protocols, and ordered the Crypteks to transform the star system.
• The Crypteks completed the transformation within two weeks, and Trazyn told Han Mingxuan that the new home was ready for inspection.

Trazyn showed Han Mingxuan the remodeled binary star system and its new Earth, then promised to protect or destroy the sector if disaster befell it. Back on Nostramo, Han Mingxuan announced an interstellar migration to give its people a future beyond their dying planet.

• Trazyn showed Han Mingxuan the twelve-planet system, including a blue planet modeled after Earth, and gave him a control device with a dead hand system.
• Han Mingxuan asked Trazyn to destroy the sector or add it to his collection if it became hellish, and Trazyn promised to honor his request; Han named it the Peaceful Star System.
• Curze told Han Mingxuan that Pationa had withdrawn from public view and was reportedly ill, and Han dismissed the need for further investigation.
• After three days of preparations at Light-Bathed Square, Han Mingxuan told the people of Nostramo that they would migrate using ancient technology to seek a brighter future.

Han Mingxuan oversaw Nostramo’s orderly evacuation as a strange force of pure order gathered in the Warp around the planet. After the population left, he and Trazyn said goodbye to Nostramo and sealed the portal, leaving the planet empty.

• Han Mingxuan announced that Nostramans could register to leave for a peaceful star system, and the people acclaimed him as the Father of Night.
• Trazyn’s phase portals appeared across Nostramo, and the population began relocating in an orderly fashion.
• A new Warp storm formed around Nostramo, compressing its energy into a sphere of pure order as Slaanesh reacted to the emotions flourishing there.
• Magnus told the Emperor that Nostramo was the source of the Warp’s changes, and they redirected their journey toward the planet.
• Slaanesh punished Pationa by making her a lamp, while Han Mingxuan sensed an unexplained chill.
• After everyone had evacuated, Han Mingxuan and Trazyn remained on Nostramo; they said goodbye, and Han closed the phase portal.

On the restored Nostramo, residents enjoyed peaceful lives while Curze and Han Mingxuan learned that the Emperor of the Imperium of Man was approaching sooner than expected. They decided to receive him without interrupting the planet’s daily life or production.

• Martha, Hawk, and Kara experienced the safety and opportunities of new Nostramo as its residents gathered in Light-Bathed Square to honor Han Mingxuan and Curze.
• The Night Haunter told Han Mingxuan and Curze that Huangpizi had come to ask for a title and that the Peaceful Star System lay directly on his route.
• The Night Haunter explained that Huangpizi could arrive in a week, much sooner than expected because the system now sat between Segmentum Obscurus and Segmentum Solar.
• Curze and the others discussed arranging a welcome for the Emperor of the Imperium of Man, but Han Mingxuan said Nostramo could not afford a costly ceremony.
• Han Mingxuan instructed them to receive Huangpizi without disrupting Nostramo’s daily life and production.

Han Mingxuan equipped the Eternal Night Justiciar Legion’s original five thousand members with enchanted armor as Nostramo prepared to welcome the Emperor. The Emperor’s fleet arrived at the Peaceful Star System, where he and the Primarchs saw an azure planet that seemed like a dream.

• Han Mingxuan finished forging and enchanting five thousand sets of armor and weapons with the Evernight Code.
• Han Mingxuan presented the armor to the Eternal Night Justiciar Legion and told them to greet the Emperor standing up, without kneeling.
• The Emperor ordered the fleet to head at full speed toward Curze after Dorn reported a technologically modified, habitable star system ahead.
• Horus, Magnus, Fulgrim, Sanguinius, and the other Primarchs discussed the strange reports, while Sanguinius said his visions showed peace and tranquility.
• The Emperor’s fleet arrived at the Peaceful Star System, and the Emperor and Primarchs beheld its azure planet.