1.08- The Council of Three
The Council of Three
The world had once been one of the Eldar’s paradise worlds. Green fields and great forests had swept over the land, the skyline marred only by the occasional curving arch of the xenos architecture. The Eldar had been careful to preserve the land, disturbing it as little as possible save for necessary portals and structures.
That world had died centuries ago, and Magnus stood atop a hill overlooking a scorched, dried wasteland.
The Fallen Primarch made his way down the hill, loose sand slipping beneath his boots as he walked. A dry wind swept in from the east, howling over the barren wastes like a hunting banshee. Magnus paid it no mind; the terrors of the Warp had long dulled his reactions to such petty things as wind. And there were more important matters to deal with.
The structure he approached had once been a great amphitheater. Now the only song to be sung was that of the wind, the only performance the finishing moves of a Game thrown into disarray. Magnus shored up his power as he stepped into the circle, keenly aware that he had come under watch from a new source.
“You’ve come alone, Brother.” a low voice hissed from behind Magnus.
“I need no guards to watch over me, Fulgrim,” Magnus countered, staring straight ahead as the Primarch of the Emperor’s Children circled him. Magnus had always been a giant among his brothers, but Fulgrim could easily meet Magnus eye to eye as he slithered from the darkness. “Do you mean to threaten me?”
“What makes you so certain, Brother?” Fulgrim replied, a smirk breaking out across his face. Of course his face would be the one thing he left unchanged. “I hold no sway over you, regretful as it is. But the Warp is in flux, is it not? You know as well as I do the changes that occur within.”
“What makes you think I would be so willing to follow you?” at this, Fulgrim laughed.
“These are trying times, Magnus.” he said, sliding behind Magnus once more. “And tell me; since when has Tzeentch ever showed true favor towards you, you poor, abused creature.”
“And I suppose your position is any better?” Magnus shot back. Fulgrim was about to respond when a second voice cut through.
“Quiet, both of you!” Magnus and Fulgrim turned as a third Primarch stepped out of the shadows. He was shorter than the other two, dressed in dark red and black armor, and an otherworldly light surrounded his head as he walked. “We have had our squabbles in the past, but I did not call you here to watch you bicker, amusing as it might be.”
“Then why did you call us here, Lorgar?” Magnus asked. “And why just us two?”
“I have my reasons,” Lorgar replied, stopping a fair distance from Magnus and Fulgrim. “I will speak with Perturabo and Mortarion separately. As for Angron, he will see reason in due time.”
“Reason for what?”
“I need not explain much, Fulgrim,” Lorgar said. “You know as well as I do the message that has rung through the Warp.”
“The Game is broken; only Destruction remains.” Magnus said. “I suppose your ‘insight’ was able to succeed where my divination failed?”
“You sell yourself too short, Magnus.” Lorgar countered. “I do not mean to boast, but I have discovered... certain avenues that perhaps you have overlooked.” Magnus raised an eyebrow. He was the most powerful “human” psyker, and he had missed something? What are you hiding, Lorgar?
“What have you seen, Lorgar?”
“Many things, Magnus; I see the Imperium, flickering like a dying candle as the darkness closes in. I see the Great Devourer drawing ever closer, clawing at the dregs of reality. And I bring most interesting news,” Lorgar smiled. “The Emperor has returned.” Magnus said nothing. Fulgrim, however, was not so constrained.
“Where is He?” he hissed. “Does he truly think He can hide from the truth? Where is He, so we can end His life once more!”
“Temper, Fulgrim, temper,” Lorgar chided. “I know not where He is, but rest assured once our plans are ready, you may have the first strike against His precious Imperium.”
“And your plans are...?” Magnus asked.
“The Emperor is in hiding, but he will soon reveal himself,” Lorgar started. “On our own, we stand little chance to oppose him, but as one, as we struck against him under Horus’ banner, and with the might of Chaos on our side? We may yet overcome him.”
“And what of the others?” Magnus asked. “Not all of our brothers turned, and many are still alive.”
“Let me deal with the specifics, Magnus,” Lorgar said. “For now, call out through the Warp. Gather your legions to your worlds and prepare them for the crusade that is to come. When the time is right, and when the Emperor is at His weakest, we will strike and bring the glory of Chaos to all who have been misled.
“Your rhetoric is as persistent as ever, Lorgar,” Fulgrim said. “But I will need more than words to convince me. What else do you have to offer?”
“Oh, there is something planned; a ‘demonstration’ of sorts, for you,” Lorgar smirked. “In a few months time, you will see that my plan holds a powerful force behind it. All I ask is that you remain patient.”
“My patience can only be stretched so far,” Fulgrim growled. “The Emperor has returned and you ask me to wait? This is not the time to wait!”
“And that is why Guilliman nearly killed you all those years ago,” Magnus countered. “Though Fulgrim does have a valid point; your promises comprise much, but you have not given us anything more than assurances. My forces can be ready at a moment’s notice, but I too will wait to see what your glorious plan is, Lorgar.”
“Neither of you have any faith in your own brother,” Lorgar scoffed. “I’m wounded. But no matter, soon you will see the truth.”
“No doubt.” Magnus turned to leave. “Farewell, Brother.” Magnus doubted the soundness of Lorgar’s plan; the Primarch was a great speechmaker, but not always the best for grand strategy. The other Primarchs would be interesting to observe; Fulgrim and perhaps Angron would be willing to listen to Lorgar once his “demonstration” was finished, while Perturabo and Mortarion might be more hesitant.
So many possible paths... it would take time to sift through them all.
“Still unconvinced, Magnus?” Fulgrim asked, sliding up alongside the Primarch.
“Not all of Lorgar’s prophecies have born substantial fruit.” Magnus replied. “And you? You were the one who asked for a sign.”
“And I expect much from Lorgar,” Fulgrim moved to cut off Magnus. “But if the Emperor has returned, now is not the time for caution. He will strike quickly, and all that we have fought for will be undone.” As if what we’ve created is worth defending. “You, though, have travelled outside the Warp to strike the Emperor’s lapdogs. You were not subservient to Lorgar.”
“Those were for my own personal grievances,” Magnus countered. “This is different. My power is considerable, but the Emperor’s even more so; as Lorgar said, any of us striking alone will only bring disaster on us. If you want to rush into this, go ahead; perhaps you’ll share more in common with Ferrus.” Magnus had barely finished when Fulgrim drew his swords, the daemonic blades mere inches away from the Primarch’s throat.
“Do not speak of matters that do not concern you.” Fulgrim growled.
“On the contrary; they concern me a great deal.” Magnus sidestepped Fulgrim’s threat and continued on. “I tire of this conversation. Seek me out when you have more pressing matters to discuss.” Fulgrim made no effort to stop Magnus, much to the Primarch’s relief; dealing with the others always had its share of delicacies, and Magnus knew better than to listen to all of them at face value.
As he prepared to return to the Warp, Magnus cast a glance through time and space. He searched on, looking about the “dying light” of the Imperium for the one light that mattered. That of the Emperor.
Our path draws ever closer, Emperor, he thought, sweeping the Immaterium once more. Revealing yourself further will only expedite our encounter. Hide all you want, but we will face each other... soon.
As Magnus stepped into the Warp, the darkness rose to meet him.
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Boy are they in for a surprise when they meet the Emperor! I get the feeling that Twilight will just man handle these guys. Great to see two chapters in a day!
Awesome work Iowa. Though, granted, since I have seen Magnus speak in If the Emperor Had a Text to Speech device, I read all his lines in that voice, which kind of removed some of his imposing Daemon Princess-ness.
Let´s see, Leman Russ is still alive, I think, unless that Dreadnought from The God Empress was him, hmm, which non Chaosed Primarchs are still alive....
6969126 Quite a few of them (half of which are missing)
6969143 Yeah, though I don´t recall who. If you´ve played Fallout 4, or heard of Elder Maxson, people have joked he´s one of the missing Primarchs, since he leads a bunch of people in Power Armor, hates mutants and whatnot with a passion, and wears a badass outfit.
Loving this story
6969152 Corax, Vulkan, Russ, and Khan are missing. The Lion's asleep in the Rock. Guilliman's technically alive, but in stasis so Fulgrim's poison doesn't kill him
6969167 Isn´t one of the Primarchs in a Dreadnought? Or am I confusing another member, maybe Bjorn, for Leman. I don´t know why, but for some reason I´m imagining the missing Primarchs in some kind of Imperial van dicking around the universe to unwind. Yeah, Gulliman, head of the Ultrasmurfs, is on life support if I recall.
Hmm, maybe we can see Sanguinius return, even though I´m pretty sure Horus killed him. Maybe Horus can lend a helping hand....or claw, or whatever. Or maybe a missing Primarch, like Vulcan. Like, I can imagine him going all MGS Fury on this, and riding in on a melta cannon spraying fiery death on any Daemon scum
6969178 Bjorn's the one in the Dreadnought. Also Dante, as I mentioned in my blog a few weeks back
not just two primarchs... but three in one place!? Truly the game is afoot
(why isn't there a devilish smirk emote?!)
and three chapters within days of each other!
you spoil us iowa, it's almost as if you're a follower of slaanesh 
6969122 i'd love to see those three getting thrown around by a small purple unicorn
6969203 Hope to see more soon
6969167
It's unfortunate that it is all but confirmed that Dorn was indeed blown up. The Emperor will need as many of his sons as possible.
Though I only care about one ... The Wolf Who Stalks the Stars!
6968913 ohhh... you're evil... I like it
Oh please let Cypher be loyal to the emperor and be lion El'Jonson as well.
Considerate should be considerable.
And it's good to see I'm not the only one who has been ruined by Text-To-Speech Device where Magnus is concerned
6969277 ... and of course, I had to go look that up and see what you meant. Thanks...
Uh oh... The traitor primarchs gathering together? Something doesn't seem right...
Holy crap, you are suddenly pumping these out like mad!
6969438 It might slow down for a bit, though; I'm running out of material and have a few school related things to take care of
6969277 We all love our whiny former Daemon Prince, and his new motorcycle dear old Empy got him. I will never take Magnus serious ever again
6969167
Vulkan lives! Vulkan lives!
But you need to gather artefacts through the power of Friendship to bring him back .... and probably some help from Smurfs (aka Ultramarines).
He will bring peace and Friendship to the entire Imperium. No matter what the voices in his head tell him.
...
"If the Emperor had a Text-to-Speech Device" is messing with my head, but its to hilarious not to mention it. Sorry.
6969298
Go watch it, it is very hilarious.
So Tzeentch is basically confirmed as the messenger by the raven dreams, I guess. Unless someone wants them to think it's him, which is possible for whatever reason.
Also the Daemon Primarchs meeting is never good, although I can't help but notice that Lorgar's only meeting with the four God-aligned Primarchs and ignored Perturabo and Alpharius/Omegon (one of whom is still alive, the other of which could be).
Why can't I shake the feeling Twilight is the reincarnation of one of the primarchs?
I have visions on the inquisitors getting it wrong and thinking "Tara" is the emperor reborn with celeste her guard.
6969152
More likely Sigmar from Warhammer Fantasy and Varian Wrynn of WoW considering Blizzard's from former Games Workshop employees, and they have their own Warp in the Twisting Nether. But not Maxson. D:
6970558 It would be funny if they put in an Easter Egg where its stated he was. Sigmar, I´ve heard theories he was
So the Emperor is keeping herself in the shadows still. I can see why.
Twilight keeps finding new possible suitors it seems. This should be a fun time for her. You know, apart from all the grim darkness that's going on.
Putting a tracker on this, just because the idea seems to be interesting and amusing at the same time.
6969298
What SPudRum said. Do watch it. The creator of the series certainly has a sense of humour, although I personally don't find some of the jokes amusing.
But the Emperor is one goddamn best troll. My favourite line:
I WOULD LAUGH AT HOW SILLY AND FULL OF ANGST THIS IDEA SOUNDS IF IT WERE NOT FOR IT BEING TRUE.
ACTUALLY, FUCK IT - I WILL LAUGH ANYWAY.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
What psyker Twilight is? Primaris or an Alpha?
6972820 At this point she's probably a Gamma; powerful, but nowhere close to Celestia or Magnus
6972843
Cant wait to see faces of inquisition when they will measure her psyhic power. Twilight look and behave steadily despite everything.
6972843
I suspect that she rates somewhere less than Malcador, but better than a Primaris or possibly Librarian. If I had to put it into tabletop terms, maybe ML 3? Is that about right?
Also: Magnus is the best primarch, even with Text to Speech's voice. (Ended up reading A Thousand Sons in the voice, too.)
If the Iron Warriors aren't in this fic I will be excessively.....Perturbed
6977105 eventually. As she's still figuring things out, she's about Mastery Level 1 or 2
6977314 Don't worry; they'll show up
I simply can't wait to read more! I loved the first one, was a tad disappointed when second about Luna didn't go far, but I'm loving this one so far! Keep 'em coming!
Who knew you could binge-read so fast you had no idea you went through so many chapters?
6969167 Though not canonically loyal, there's also Alpharius and Omegon to consider... and who even knows which side they'll back?
And even though I'm an Alpha Legion fan boy, I'm actually most curious about how the Adepta Sororitas will react to the Emperor's return. Or rather, I want to see Saint Celestine squee and hug the Emperor and just breathlessly gush about how beautiful her hair is and how very very happy she is to have gotten to meet her.
Well, that's gripping as hell! I cant wait to see Celeste explaining Tara (doesnt sound even half that stupid I thought it would ;) ) how human should behave to be threatening or... dunno, any scene with Twilight ordering Imperials or even Space Marines will be glorious. As she's a right hand of the Emperor...sic, Empress, she should be bossing around. Damn, speech about Friendship and Tolerance adressed to Astartes. Sorry, I' m just excited to see new chapter, coz you've developed really interesting characters here and ways they act upon each other are... very, very persuasive, for lack of better word to say I love them :P Will we have to wait long for next chapter to appear? Just say - week/s, month/s... ;)
6969528 MY LITTLE PRIMARCH: FRIENDSHIP REMAINS MAGIC.
VULKAN+TWILIGHT OTP
I wonder how Magnus would react if he learned that Chaos had manipulated Leman Russ into attacking Prospero strictly against the Emperor's explicit orders. Would he and his legion rejoin the Imperium? Hmmm...
I watch too much if the Emperor had a text to speech device. Magnus is now read as that voice.
I wonder how Twilight (and the Emperor) would react to learning of the Breath of the Gods. Long story short, a heretek Tech-Priest combined some Necron Tech with some super epic Dark Age technology to create a device that fed off the past and future of the universe. If it wasn't stopped then very soon (and we're talking race-against-time soon, not centuries soon) it would erase the past, present, and future of the universe such that the universe would have never existed at all.
Moral of the story: Humans are as stupidly good at making doomsday devices as we are stupid. And that DAoT humanity was so advanced the Necrons and Old Ones alike would think it was magic. I mean, we built machines that ate the data of the universe as some sort of freakish causality weapon (standard for our war robots back then, it seems) and machines larger than the rings of Saturn that ate stars as well as machines larger than planets that ate planets and shat murder machines.
Or the Empyrean Bomb, perhaps the only genuinely purely Dark Age technology we know the Imperium can build reliably. What's an Empyrean Bomb? Think psychic phosphex and possessing a disturbing degree of intelligence and cunning. It's what you'd use if you ever needed to exterminatus a Daemon World.