Fire contaminated the void of space with vibrant colors. There are no planets or stars for light-years in every direction, and yet two fleets found themselves locked in a void battle. Lasers, plasma, missiles and boarding craft shot from one vessel to another as the empty void filled with the debris of shattered ships and lifeless hulks.
One such ship, The Word of Hermes oversaw the steel carnage. As it's bridge crew furiously worked to keep information flowing and weapons firing, two giants clad in cobalt blue power armor stared in silent fury.
"They're gone. The Pyromonarch, the Soul Jackel, it appears you are now my second in command." One of the giants rumbled with a mechanical snarl in its voice.
"Damned Eldar. They never travel in such numbers. To think that it was only half their fleet." The other snarled as well with a clenched fist.
The two giants were Commander Ignis of the Prodigal Sons, the now second in command to his superior, the scourge of the galaxy known as Ahzek Ahriman.
Both transhuman warriors hailed from the XVth Legion of Legiones Astartes: The Thousand Sons, a Legion known for two things, it's powerful psychic warriors and a vile mutation known as the Flesh Change.
Ten thousand years ago, Ahzek had attempted to remedy this disease through his Sorcery. The effort cured all the most powerful psychic warriors, but turned the weaker and non-psychic warriors into mindless automaton manipulated through the psychic prowess of their brothers.
Horrified and disgusted by this atrocity, the ruler of the Thousand Sons, Magnus The Red, banished Ahriman from the planet of Sorcerers.
Ahzek Ahriman has spent the last ten millennia searching for a way to undo his folly and restore his lost brothers. A goal that routinely brings him into conflict with the Eldar, one of the eldest and most knowledgeable races in the galaxy.
The pursuit of an Eldar fleet carrying ancient tomes from the fabled Black Library brought Ahriman's warband into an ambush, for the unseen other half of the fleet was lying in wait when the Prodigal Sons dropped out of Warp.
"They've finally cornered me...But I will not die as easily as they think. Tell every surviving Sorcerer to take as many Rubric Marines as they can to the nearest enemy ship and slaughter as many Xenos as they can." Ahriman demanded.
"As you command." Ignis stated, already moving to assemble his own forces.
The Word of Hermes lost its shields at the same time as its target. Astartes drop pods rocketed towards the Alien ship as missiles struck the Chaos Warships engines.
Ahriman sensed the anti-aircraft fire that would destroy his pod before it even fired and teleported himself and his ten Rubric Marines onto the Alien vessel near the bridge.
The first thing his optics registered were the blast doors closing 12 meters in front of him. The second was a squad of Dark Reapers leveling their automatic missile launchers.
Return fire! Ahriman willed as he poured his psychic might into a hastily constructed shield.
The Dark Reapers turned and twisted their guns, aiming the stream of alien missiles at the incoming streams of Bolter fire. The alien weapons superior rate of fire drowned the Rubrics bolt rounds...but one Rubric Marine did not have a Bolter. He had a Lascannon.
A blood red beam of light cut through the alien missiles and blasted a hole straight through the vile xenos.
The Rubric reoriented his weapon, but not before another barrage of missiles struck from behind.
The second squad of Dark Reapers was accompanied by Howling Banshees, their psychic scream attempting to shatter Ahriman's concentration.
Hmph, fools... Ahriman mused as he lifted his staff and brought it down. Bursting the shield in a psychic blast that sent every alien flying, the Howling Banshees being blasted apart by the missiles of the second Dark Reaper squad, while the first was systematically slaughtered by the Rubric Marines who quickly turned to suppress the recovering second squad and the surviving Banshees.
Ahriman turned to address the Aliens, channeling his psychic power into a storm of Warp lightning.
"Enough of these distractions. Come brothers. We will make this filth pay for interfering in our affairs." Ahriman said as he turned and poured fourth all of his anger upon the blast door, destroying it and all behind it...or so he thought.
Ahriman suspected his opponent for to be a Farseer of commendable power, he hadn't expected 30 Farseers led by Eldrad Ulthran.
"CURSE YOU!!" Shouted Ahriman as he flung his most powerful doombolt at the ancient sorcerer as he and the others swiftly overpowered him.
Ahzek Ahriman awoke with a sudden scream as the psychic paralysis was undone. He had not suspected to survive, and was far more shocked to find he wasn't alone.
Ignis fell to his knees beside Ahriman alongside three other Sorcerers. Before them, nearly two thousand serfs had been herded by the Rubric Marines. Ahriman burned with rage to see his cursed brothers led by Alien Witches, but his rage almost faded when he realized what stood at the center of the gathering.
Surrounded by the Farseers, and flanked by Eldrad Ulthran, was a Harlequin Solitaire holding a locked tome with a DNA encrypted hand scanner. "Greetings Scourge of Knowledge."
"Alien filth. If you were a fragment as intelligent as your arrogant race pretends to be, you would've killed me when you had the chance." Ahriman proclaimed as he channeled his psychic might.
Hidden panels hissed and opened, glass cages containing humans emerged to surround the surviving sorcerers. No, not humans. Blanks.
Another Sorcerer, a Scarab Occult Sorcerer, shouted and charged the Solitaire, only to slam into a force field. "Tsk tsk tsk, is that any way to treat someone so graciously granting you all you've ever sought?"
Ahriman blinked as the Solitaire passed the book through the force field before him. "...What game are you playing?" The sorcerer snarled.
"The Great Game. The Final Jest. A plan put into motion twenty thousand years ago. Lord Ceogoragch knew of the coming of She Who Thirsts and the rise of the Dark Gods. Beings you wish to control if possible, destroy if necessary, but above all else...to understand."
"And I am to believe you are simply giving me this knowledge? After all this time!?" Ahriman demanded.
"We are not so kind. But the new Warp Entity you will discover is. The book will guide you." The Solitaire promised.
"...A new Warp Entity... you fear it don't you." Ahriman stated. "It is less dangerous to your kind in my control than if it grows on its own."
"It will be devoured by the Great Enemy we both share and twisted into something perverse...like all others before it." The Solitaire stated. "You will not believe any direction we give on how to prevent this. You will find the way, or you will fail."
"And if I succeed?" Ahriman asked.
"The Rubric will be undone. Your brothers will live again. And you will be the key instrument in delivering your species from the tyranny of thirsting Gods." The Solitaire claimed. "But do not trust me. Trust your knowledge." The book waved tauntingly in front of Ahriman's face.
Ahriman snarled from within his chambers aboard the Word of Hermes . His hand had opened the DNA Scanner, and he had stolen enough texts of the Aeldari and Drukhari to identify a fake...it was authentic.
"What lies are you hiding behind half truths Eldar..." Ahriman said as he stared from the window in his chambers across the void to the Eldar vessels his battered fleet was leaving behind.
From beyond the void the Eldar watched him as well. "I am not one to doubt prophecy Tallik, but you're saying that our greatest chance at stopping She Who Thirsts is him!?" shouted Eldrad.
"It is the will of the Laughing God. Only he knows how the Final Jest will play out. The rest of us have to wait and see." Declared the Solitaire as he pulled a small trinket from his person. A blue crystal in a shape unfamiliar to any of his race...but would be recognized by humans as a balloon of all things.