| 3rd POV |
As Stella strikes Khorne's core, it twists and shatters the Chaos God from within. The God of War screams in defiance, but the primordial power of Soul and Death is absolute.
No matter how he attempts to manifest his realm into realspace, he cannot halt the process of True Death. Once the concept itself strikes his core, he can do nothing but scream as True Oblivion consumes him.
His roar echoes across the galaxy as all of his creations, be they daemons or the cultists who worship him, perish alongside him. Their bodies turn into ashes without any warning. No matter how far they are in the galaxy, their bodies turn into ashes.
Angron and his sons scream in agony as Khorne attempts to harness their souls to combat the primordial power. However, even with the powerful souls of Primarchs and his Sons, it is not working.
To those gazing into the Warp, a brilliant orange light devours the blood-red radiance. It is so intense that it consumes the entire Warp itself.
The souls within the Warp welcome the primordial ruler of souls. It is as if they are greeting a long-lost parent, moving in joy, for they finally know true peace.
After ten minutes of struggle, Khorne releases one final roar before his entire being vanishes into nothingness.
As for Kael, he stands beside a shattered Black Barrel. His body is covered in orange cracks that slowly widen.
The Emperor appeared beside him, looking on in shock. He placed a hand on Kael's shoulder, attempting to heal him. His body releases an intense golden light, but no matter what he does, he cannot heal Kael.
He snarled softly; even with his vast knowledge and power, he was helpless.
"It is useless, my friend. This is it for me, for real this time."
"Foolish man. How can you be so reckless? We could have banished him. We could have won without such a sacrifice."
"And then what? Another stalemate? No. Humanity needs a catalyst, and with my sacrifice, the tide has turned in our favor. It is a small advantage, but one you can use."
"Fool."
"Hah! Maybe this galaxy needs a fool for once."
Kael watched as others appeared near them. First was Isha, looking at him with shock and profound sadness. Her people regarded him with a new, genuine respect. Just like their mother and goddess, they look at him in intense sadness. No matter what they think of humanity, he is still their savior, breaking the chain that binds them to Slaneesh. The Primarchs who arrived looked upon him in a different light, especially the Khan.
Kael looked at Isha and spoke.
"I am sorry for leaving so soon. However, do not mourn for me; remember me fondly. Humans do not truly die until they are forgotten. Witness my deeds and remember me."
Kael took a deep breath, gathering his final strength before releasing a shout.
"My name is Kael! My life was short, but I have witnessed countless wonders and horrors alike! I have seen kindness so bright it blinded my soul. In my brief existence, I glimpsed a future that no one thought possible, a future where peace can be achieved. So, I give you my life to serve as the bridge to that future. I pass this torch to you; this hope and this burden. Let there be peace in the galaxy!"
As his speech concluded, his body dissolved into motes of golden light. Because of his [Prime Soul] trait, ROB decided to intervene one last time. He utilized the Prime Soul, a soul so potent and radiant that it became a star within the Warp, shining even brighter than the Astronomican at full power.
The Warp now has a new North Star, one that will remain indefinitely, and the remaining Chaos Gods are powerless against it. They cannot do anything about it other than watch it from afar.
The Warp is no longer their playground; the majority of it is now closed to them. The Sea of Souls has a proper ruler, or at least a force that properly manages the souls within. The Soul Stone became the key ROB used to regulate the Warp and diminish the power of the Chaos Gods.
Those who worship them still find their souls claimed by the Chaos Gods, but the Gods can no longer pluck souls from the Sea of Souls at will to bolster their power. Those who do not worship them will finally find peace as they know that their souls will be safe from the hungry Chaos Gods.
The witnesses on the battlefield watched as the motes of light slowly vanished. The Emperor gritted his teeth, and for the first time in an age, a tear fell from his eye. He wiped it away and turned.
He had a duty to fulfill and a promise to keep to his old friend who had sacrificed everything for humanity. He knew he could no longer rely on his old tactics; he needed to devise a new path for the reformed Imperium.
His friend had already laid the foundation, providing humanity with two new FTL methods: wormhole gateways and Hyperlane drives. He no longer required the Webway, which lifted a significant burden from his mind.
Even if those technologies were not yet fully operational, the Emperor knew Kael would always be humanity's benefactor. He could see, even from realspace, the massive orange and golden star in the Warp. Kael had achieved what the Astronomican did without the need for constant sacrifice. With a final deep breath, the Emperor opened his eyes and looked at the Aeldari standing nearby.
"What will you do now?"
"We will do what our Savior desired. We have witnessed his deeds and his end; we shall remember them and ensure others do the same. As for his final wish… we shall fulfill it, provided you are willing to work alongside us. We do not seek to be above or below you. We wish for our races to stand side by side."
"Very well. I accept your terms. We shall transform this galaxy into something Kael would be proud of."
Since then, the Imperium has undergone a massive transformation. The Emperor changed his style of leadership. He no longer forbids worship, influenced by the new presence in the Warp and the wisdom gained from ten thousand years upon the Golden Throne.
The Soul Stone reduces the risk of a new God manifesting in the Warp, as minds and souls are filtered by the primordial power. Furthermore, the Emperor can now filter the overwhelming tide of faith that once threatened to consume him. When he sat upon the Golden Throne, his focus was solely on preventing himself from becoming the very Chaos God others perceived him to be. Doing nothing but preventing yourself from turning into a Dark King will leave a lot of experience in that department.
While he no longer forbade worship of him, he made sure to significantly reduce the Ecclesiarch's power. There are a lot of people who complain and even rebel because of this, but when your god comes at you with his full power on display, the so-called rebellion quickly disappears alongside the complaint of losing power. The one who thinks power is more important than their life finds their life cut short.
Utilizing the technology Kael left behind, the Imperium has been able to close, or significantly mitigate, the Great Rift, the Cicatrix Maledictum. Some holes are hard to patch, and they are scattered across the galaxy. While breaches in realspace remain, any daemon attempting to enter now risks True Death, a threat that forces the denizens of the Realm of Chaos to hesitate.
There have been Daemonic incursions in the twenty years since Kael's sacrifice, but each has resulted in a crushing defeat and a significant loss of power for the forces of Chaos. Losing thousands of daemons, including a few Greater Daemons, makes the force of Chaos hesitate to attack.
In those twenty years, the Primarchs and the Emperor secured the Imperium by reclaiming lost worlds that can be reclaimed and destroying them from the void if it is too risky to reclaim. Now, their focus has shifted to the planets remaining within the former Eye of Terror.
The Daemon Primarchs are the reason those worlds still endure. Their patrons may have lost influence in realspace, but they remain Primarchs; after retreating from the Emperor, they immediately fortified their home worlds.
Perturabo led the fortification of the "System of Terrors," a name chosen following the closing of the Eye. He and the Iron Warriors use every resource at their disposal to ensure the Imperium pays a heavy, bloody price for every inch of ground taken. He is more than happy to perform a scorched earth tactic to make sure the Imperium achieves anything but a pyrrhic victory.
Magnus the Red assists Perturabo, a rare display of cooperation among the Daemon Primarchs, by maintaining a psychic intelligence network that monitors all movement in realspace. He notifies Perturabo and the other defenders of any unusual activity near their system.
This combination makes for a perfect defense that even the Emperor needs time to prepare for. In the past, he would break the formation with overwhelming force, but after Kael's sacrifice, he began taking time to plan. He even involves the Eldars in his plan.
Lorgar and Fulgrim fell in battle. Lorgar was slain by Corax's talons; his body and soul were utterly torn asunder by the mutated Primarch. Tragically, Corax also perished, though not from his wounds. He petitioned his father for death, knowing he was no longer Corvus Corax but an abomination. He wished to be remembered by his sons as a true Primarch, not a creature forged from vengeance. Even after the Emperor begged him to stay and allow him to cure Corax of his transformation, the Primarch of Raven Guard declined his offer. With a heavy heart, the Emperor killed another son.
Fulgrim died screaming, but not from pleasure or pain. He screamed because he could feel nothing at all. Isha used her power to strip him of Slaanesh's "blessings," robbing him and his sons of all sensation. No matter the drugs they used or the self-mutilation they performed, they felt only a void. This sensory deprivation drove them into a mindless frenzy. They fought like rabid animals and were easily dispatched by the Aeldari, who were finally unleashed. They no longer fear their souls consumed by Slaneesh from using their power and unleash psychic power that can only be rivaled by a few. Reality itself bent under the Aeldari's psychic might, and before Fulgrim could react, his body and soul were unmade. A combination of the best Farseers Aeldari ever gathered in one place, and Isha, a living and breathing Goddess, is something that even the Chaos Gods fear.
Following the battle, the Aeldari kept their word, erecting monuments to Kael's deeds. Each of the planets Aeldari claim will have a monument for Kael, and that includes every Craftworld Aeldari owns. Furthermore, a formal treaty was established, forging an alliance between the Aeldari and Humanity. Both the Emperor and Isha recognized that their peoples would not immediately reconcile and chose not to force a sudden friendship.
Instead, they began a slow, steady process to ease the long-standing tensions between the two races.
Like the Imperium, the Aeldari have worked to maintain peace. They assist humanity in purging the remnants of Chaos from realspace, though their primary focus remains their wayward kin: the Drukhari.
The Harlequins lead this purge, striking from the shadows where the Dark Eldar least expect it. They have become the boogeymen of Commorragh; even the infamous Mandrakes fear them, for they cannot hope to catch the Clowns of Cegorach when the Harlequins strike from the dark, and the dark is their domain. No one is safe, and that awakens something the Dark Eldar never thought they would feel for a long time: Fear.
The only warning is the sinister laughter of Cegorach echoing through the spires of Commorragh before silence falls once more. The end result is a mountain of bodies, and each one of them wears an expression of intense fear.
Amidst the purge, there is an anomaly: Jaghatai Khan and his sons. Driven by his past experiences at the hands of the Drukhari, the Khan leads his Legion in this war. While the Harlequins are the daggers in the dark, the Khan and his warriors are the sledgehammer.
Utilizing his iconic lightning-fast tactics, he has dismantled large sections of Commorragh and established a fortress to strike deeper into the City of Darkness. Through this bridgehead, reinforcements from the Imperium and other Aeldari factions pour in. For the first time in millennia, Commorragh is divided, and alien races hold its territory.
While Commorragh burns, one planet thrives: Atoma Prime, renamed Kaelaris by the Emperor. To the people, Atoma is the birthplace of Kael, the Holy City where the savior of the galaxy was born.
Atoma has been transformed by the blueprints Kael left for the Mechanicus, allowing them to provide a better life for the population. Furthermore, Isha and the Emperor used their psychic powers to terraform the world into a lush, green paradise full of life.
The planet's three moons serve different purposes. Atrox, the largest, is a Shrine World dedicated to Kael's memory. Massive church and statues erected for Kael. All of the drawings and pictures of Kael taken while he is in Atoma are stored on this moon. Tomal is used by Isha and the Aeldari as a home away from home and a base to protect Atoma. Just like other planets, they claim, they build monuments and buildings dedicated to Kael. Isha creates a palace for herself, and people can hear her singing a mournful song every once in a while that makes them burst into tears. Psykers in Atoma cry loudly when this happens, and people call it the Time of Mourning. Lastly, they built a massive fortress to ensure the moon is secure from any threat. Not many people know what kind of thing they build, but the Mechanicus think it is enough to block even an entire fleet attacking the moon. Tomek, the smallest, serves the Mechanicus as a Shrine/Forge Moon for Kael's designs. They have even created artificial moons to bolster the system's defenses. Here, they store copies of the STCs Kael provided. Many tech-priests now visit Tomek as a primary pilgrimage site before concluding their journey on Mars.
The entire Moebian Sector has become a beacon for both the Imperium and the Aeldari. Not only because of the Red Line of Order that Kael created using his Enuma Elish, but because of all the changes the Imperium and Aeldari create for the entire sector.
The Salamanders Chapter was rewarded a star system for their duty of protecting Kael and the Moebian sector. They use the system as a training ground for both new initiates and the Navy personnel attached to their fleet.
They have also established one of the planets as a dedicated forge. Kael provided them with a hundred new synthetic metals and the means to produce them. While the STCs were shared with the wider Mechanicus, the Salamanders take pride in the fact that their alloys are superior to those produced elsewhere.
Over the last two decades, the Salamanders have upgraded their wargear with these metals, making them even more formidable. There is a saying in the Imperium: if you want a better coating for your tanks, seek a tech-priest for "Kael's Coating"; but if you want the best, you must go to the Salamanders.
Over twenty years, the Imperium has improved significantly. Suffering still exists, the Hive Worlds are too deeply ingrained to be fixed overnight, but the Emperor and his allies work tirelessly to address these issues. It may take centuries or even a millennium to fully realize Kael's dream, but the path is set.
Even Roboute Guilliman can feel that his dream of a simple life as a farmer is no longer just a fantasy.
From his personal flagship, the Emperor looked down at a newly terraformed world, smiled faintly, and removed a necklace. Hanging from it was a small hourglass made of the most durable materials he could forge. Inside was a small amount of golden ash. That is all he could gather of his old friend. He doesn't want to do it, but he decides to share half of the remains with Isha.
"I think you would love to see this progress, old friend. For too long, I thought only as a conqueror, but now I can finally be the leader I was meant to be. I sacrificed too much. I was too focused on the goal and failed to listen to you. It was through your first sacrifice that the cracks formed, allowing me to see the foolishness of my actions. But by then, it was almost too late."
He tightened his grip on the pendant for a moment, sighed, and put the necklace around his neck.
"Now, through your final sacrifice, I can break from that way of thinking for good. I remained a conqueror for too long. Conquerors only know how to take and destroy. Humanity needs a leader who can build from the ruins to unite them. As always, I realized this too late. Once again, you had to sacrifice yourself for me. Perhaps when my work is finished, I can finally experience what you felt. I am tired. I wonder what true rest feels like."
The Emperor's expression hardened. This was the face of the man who led the Great Crusade, the conqueror of millions of worlds. But behind his eyes, the fire was tempered. It was still a blazing fire, but one that was controlled, burning only what needed to be destroyed and warming those who needed to be saved.
"But I cannot rest yet. I still have a promise to keep. Wait just a little longer, old friend. A few millennia is nothing to you, right? Rest well, before I join you and ruin your vacation. When I finally join you in Oblivion, I will have countless stories to tell that will make you smile. Or snap and punch me like in the old time."
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