Watching Lorgar's rapt devotion, the Great Horned Rat scratched the nasal cavity of His skeletal visage. Lucius mused on what "Enunciated Truths" he could possibly offer. Aside from the Emperor, that elderly pseudo-intellectual who enjoyed waxing lyrical, the other Ruinous Powers rarely bothered with such verbosity.
Yet, compared to the Primarch's aura of Undivided worship, the two premier scoundrels of the Warhammer universe standing beside him offered the Great Horned Rat a far more intoxicating vintage of emotion.
Erebus, First Chaplain of the Word Bearers, and Kor Phaeron, Captain of the First Company. Both stood at their gene-sire's flank, yet their gazes toward the Great Horned Rat's towering shadow were slick with envy and avarice.
These two wretches... the sheer potency of the malice and betrayal they exude outweighs the collective spite of millions. Perhaps they can be put to use.
Scheming thus, the Great Horned Rat reached out toward Lorgar. "Truth? The only truth in existence is self-interest. Let betrayal be the soil of the world... let lies be the fruit of your labor. Pursue the teachings of the Great Horned Rat; replace the loathsome purity of 'nobility' with the sacred, crawling filth of the vile. Thus shall the Great Horned Rat walk among us."
Lorgar, hearing some profound revelation known only to himself, began frantically scribbling in the Book of Lorgar with an ancient quill. The Daemon Primarch, the self-styled Absolute Priest of Chaos, remained on his knees like a common acolyte receiving a sermon.
It was then that the Great Horned Rat's baleful, balefire-green eyes locked onto Erebus and Kor Phaeron.
The sheer weight of divine pressure caused the two to buckle. They averted their eyes instantly, but their consciousness plummeted into darkness. In a heartbeat, they found themselves standing before a human-sized figure draped in black robes, leaning on a shepherd's crook of rat-hide.
"Ah? You are..." Kor Phaeron stammered, before being sharply nudged by Erebus. It clicked—this was an avatar of the God!
The two villains recoiled half a step, bowing low before the figure that stood barely five-foot-seven.
Lucius, in human form, spoke with a voice that sounded like a thousand rats shrieking in different tongues simultaneously: "Erebus... Kor Phaeron. I feel your ambition. I feel your resentment. The Great do not suffer to serve beneath others. Spread my creed. Let treachery and ambition flood the stars. Receive my true blessing, for I am the Lord of Distortion, the Vile One, the King of Many Tails. The only God capable of rewriting your destinies!"
Cold sweat beaded on Kor Phaeron's brow, but as a veteran of a thousand deceits, he kept his mask firm. "Forgive me, True God. I am the father of Lorgar. I desire only for my son to stay the path and spread the gospel."
Erebus said nothing, but his eyes, burning with hunger, betrayed his every thought.
"Is that so?" Lucius grinned. A wave of dark sorcery washed over them, dragging their minds back ten millennia to the moments of their fall and their deepest self-doubts.
Lorgar does not need me... I am merely a nursemaid gifted to him by the Ruinous Powers. I am not his father. Once Lorgar tires of me, I will have no value left to exist...
I have sacrificed so much for the Gods, yet why am I relegated to equal footing with a parasite like Kor Phaeron? I am the High Prophet of the Word Bearers, the foremost visionary of all who believe!
Their lust for power, their fury, and their terror were laid bare before the Great Horned Rat, and before their own souls.
Lucius looked at the pair. Even among the Skaven, these two would be considered "top-tier" specimens. It would be a waste not to exploit them.
He showed them visions: a future where Lorgar successfully spread his Truth and, inevitably, grew bored of his advisors.
The images were unbearable. Kor Phaeron collapsed, twitching, watching a vision of Lorgar looking down at him as if he were a mere insect, acknowledging his wretched mortal nature.
"No!" Kor Phaeron screamed in terror. "Have you forgotten I am your father? Without me, you would have nothing!"
Erebus saw himself seized by a fallen Legion. They broadcasted his every humiliation to the galaxy: the theft of the real Erebus's name, the moment Khârn beat him into a whimpering mess of filth and cowardice, and the folly of challenging Horus only to have his face flayed from his skull. Even the Chaos Gods were laughing, spitting upon his name.
The collapse was total. Their greatest fears, being seen as a mundane mortal by a god-son, and becoming a laughingstock after sacrificing everything, shattered them.
Then, the silhouette of the Great Horned Rat appeared within their nightmares.
"Only the Great Horned Rat can save you. For the Great Horned Rat demands only that you climb. Betray your friends, your masters, and any who stand in your way by any means. Only the Great Horned Rat will never laugh at you..."
In the depths of their dread, the two reached out toward the towering shadow, gasping the God's name.
The vision flipped.
Kor Phaeron saw himself grown taller and mightier than Lorgar. His demigod foster-son knelt submissively at his side, taking his punishments just as he did as a child. Not out of patience, but because Kor Phaeron was now truly the greater being! He led the Word Bearers to heights that dwarfed the Emperor's Great Crusade.
Erebus saw himself as the Sole Chosen of the Pantheon, the High Priest of the Galaxy. The stars sang his name, and any who dared mention his past misdeeds were put to the flame.
"How say you? Will you herald my creed and twist your destinies into something even the Gods cannot foresee? Or will you wait for the despair that is written?"
Torn between agonizing terror and intoxicating ego, the two scoundrels broke. They prostrated themselves before the black-robed figure who stood at half their height.
"Tell us... O God... how may we earn Thy favor!"
Lucius nodded, satisfied.
…
When they regained their senses, they and the XVII Legion had already departed the Realm of Ruin.
Kor Phaeron and Erebus looked at one another. In the reflection of the runes etched into their skin, they both saw it. A faint, inverted triangular brand upon their brows. The memory was no hallucination.
"Father, Erebus, what ails you? You have been in a daze since we left the presence of the God," Lorgar asked, his voice calm.
"Oh... it is nothing. I was merely... reflecting on the God's revelations," Kor Phaeron said, shaking his head. Looking at Lorgar, the ambition to supplant him finally outweighed the fear of his demigod son.
Spread the creed of the Great Horned Rat across the galaxy? Consider it done. And I shall do it faster and better than you, Erebus.
The two villains turned their predatory ambitions not just toward Lorgar, but toward each other. The Great Horned Rat was the only God truly watching them, and there could be only one Exalted Champion. The "rat race" had begun.
…
Deep within the Warp.
"Are you truly going to watch those two clowns? Oh, how dreadfully dull," a voice like silver bells chimed. The lithe, shifting form of Slaanesh appeared before Lucius.
To see such plotting careerists toil for nothing was usually a minor amusement for the Dark Gods; to interfere usually spoiled the joke.
Slaanesh leaned against him, light as a feather and radiating a fragrance capable of luring the very soul out of a body. Lucius looked at the Prince of Pleasure askance. "You're quite idle, Slaanesh."
Slaanesh yawned. "Indeed. I've grown bored of the diversions in my palace, only to find you doing something equally tedious. Why not come to my domain? We could play at something far more... interesting." Slaanesh flicked a pink, serpentine tongue, tasting the air near Lucius's face.
"Oh, Emperor above, Slaanesh below… I'm not about to challenge you on your own turf. But if I could watch one of your Greater Daemons, Shalaxi Hellbane, perhaps, betray you and take your head? Now that would interest me."
"A coup from below? Mmm...~ Dear heart, you truly do know how to play. I've decided, you shall be my favorite toy, second only to Isha. Try not to let me seduce you too easily," Slaanesh laughed, vanishing back into the ether.
"Hmph. Once I've spread the faith from the Skaven to every race in the Materium and bled your power dry, I'll seize the last Cronesword and hand it to the Queen. I want to see exactly how the Aeldari 'overthrow' you then!"
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