Cypher

The story is told from the perspective of Cypher. So take it with whatever amount of salt you wish.

-A Dark Angel warship, Absolution,  sailed from Fenris toward Terra, hoping to reach it in time to bring a warning on the return of Magnus and the unfolding disaster. They were too late, but they came in time to learn of the return of the Avenging Son, Roboute Guilliman. Their monitoring of in-system communication and broadcasts revealed unknown marines among the retinue of the Primarch. The name Cypher appeared.

-The unknown marines and Cypher were captured and handed over to the Custodes. Realizing that the Custodes would take them to the Dark Cells, the Dark Angels commander Epistolary Mordachi ordered the recorded communications be erased, the serfs that heard them be killed, and for his marines to prepare for war.

-There is little that connects Custodes and the Space Marines. Marines are mutilated humans cut open and stuffed with the fragments of demigods. Custodes, on the other hand, are created not through the butchery of cutting open their beings to insert portions of meat. The mysteries of their creation are threaded into their being as they grow from infancy.

-Space Marines are trained to belong to a group, to think and fight as battle brothers. Whereas, Custodes are solitary beings. They think, act, and fight alone. They are more akin to princes than soldiers. They are capable of being bright of mind and ruthless in equal measure. They are humanity tuned and refined to the point of inhumanity.

-The Dark Cells contain things that the Custodes will not or cannot destroy, Living beings, machines, and objects. Some are named. The Eater of Gods, the Serpent of Ending, The Unmaker of Thrones. And some were never named and shall never be.

-Among the imprisoned beings is an old man whose words can kill billions. Another prisoner is a darkness that has no shape unless seen. An object contained in the cells is a black cube without lid or hinge.

-The Dark Cells are not a set of chambers. It's a maze filled with dead ends and lethal traps, forever remaking and reordering itself. The Custodes hold the entire Dark Cells and their movements in their minds. They move in tandem with their shifts and restructuring. A feat that displays the inhumanity of their minds. Sometimes the Custodes let their lesser prisoners escape to test their systems. The result is never freedom.

-The Emperor is the most powerful psychic psyker to ever exist. He sits on the Golden Throne, a machine that drains the powers of thousands of psykers until they are nothing but ash and screaming shades drained into the machine and the Emperor himself. It is power cast unto power to the point that the Warp beyond is set ablaze, and the flame reaches forth to the edge of existence.

-The Golden Throne and the belief of countless masses of humanity on Terra and throughout the Imperium makes the Imperial Palace the center of a Warp inferno. And this inferno bleeds into the reality of Terra and the minds on it. The Imperial Palace is a world within a world, it's the concentrated essence of the Imperium. As a consequence, miracles keep manifesting on Terra. They are constant and happen too often to be noted. Images of angels appeared before flocks of pilgrims. Eight of ten that saw the manifestation combusted. A dying woman rose screaming from her deathbed and fled. She shouted that the stars are gods. All those around her were struck blind. Water froze on hot pans. The dead spoke to the living. These and many more miracles happen in the Imperial Palace, where the ideas, beliefs, and very souls of humanity converge.

-The Dark Angels' dropships slipped past Terra's defenses and security systems unnoticed. Such a feat would have been impossible, but thanks to the daemonic invasion and the ongoing riots, the defenders of Terra were distracted. Even still, the pilots of the Dark Angels had to use every ounce of their skill to evade detection.

-Sixteen Dark Angels were aboard. Mordachi squad were Deathwing, five chapter veterans, and members of the inner circle. They were dark green terminator armor that was shorn of any emblems and honor marks, anything that would identify them. Their heads were bowed over their weapons. Their minds were filled with shame for what they must do.

-Mordachi was hit by g-forces that would have been lethal to a baseline human. For him, it caused him to blackout for a moment. Within his inner darkness he heard the sound of countless voices being swallowed up by a storm. The sound was coming from below, the Imperial Palace. It was reaching up to pull him into its embrace and annihilate him. Mordachi realized that it was the Golden Throne. The mind that was strong enough to light the galaxy. A life that devoured the souls of living to sustain itself.

-One of the four dropships was detected and hit by defensive fire. Rather than crash and leave behind evidence of their presence, the pilot ignites his craft's fuel and weapons, transforming the dropshit into a ball of fire that got obliterated when it hit the ground.

-The dropships blast a breach into a deserted sector within the Palace and land. There are no signs that they have detected, allowing the Dark Angels to disembark.

-Mordachi felt pain flooding his mind. He was feeling a vast presence pressing down on his mind. Mordachi knows what it is. It's the Emperor. Mordachi just stepped within the shadow of the most powerful psyker in existence. Space Marines Librarians are powerful psykers, but here on Terra, they were nothing but candles before a raging inferno. Mordachi, in his mind, could hear the screaming of the Golden Throne and could see the presence of the Emperor in the Warp like a blazing sun in the desert sky.

-Cypher was unarmed and unarmored. But he was unchained. There was no need for chains in this prison. The cell was a cube of basalt stone, wide and tall enough for him to stand. It was a perfectly smooth black box whose door fit seamlessly into the wall leaving no mark. It was held shut by locks beyond the comprehension of mortal men. The walls of the cell could withstand the fire of a plasma cannon, and it obscures its prisoner from the sight of the Dark Gods. There are more secure cells still, but the Custodes are unsure of the Fallen and what to do with them. So they were kept in their cells until judgment was passed.

-The Fallen are called traitors and slaves of the Dark Gods by the chapter that inherited their name. Some are this. Others are repentant. Some of the eleven Fallen Angels that joined Cypher on his quest with the Primarch fall on both sides of the extreme, and some are in the between. One of the Fallen replays the battles of long lost Caliban in his broken mind. One speaks words of penance that he knows will never be heard or heeded, but he speaks them nonetheless. One whose mind was given to madness by the promises of the Ruinous Powers.


-The Dark Angels smash their way into a service complex and slaughter the guardsmen before they can react.  Mordachi uses his psychic power to freeze the serfs and workers in place, but not before they manage to send out a distress signal. Mordachi walks toward the complex's Prefect Primus. He asks the man to forgive him before using his powers to unravel the Prefect's mind. He burns everything that is not the information he seeks until the Prefect's sense of self and memories die, followed by his mind. Having extracted the information, Mordachi thanks the corpse before him. They have the location of the Dark Cells.

-Mordachi then gives the order to kill the remaining serfs. Bolter fire rings out, and the complex is set on fire before the Dark Angels move on.

-Hekkarron was one of the few Custodian Wardens left to guard the Dark Cells, after most were called to join the ongoing battle. A figure came into his presence without him knowing. Few beings can pull this feat. It would have been the Sisters of Silence long ago, but that bond was broken. The figure that intruded on Hekkarron was a member of Psykana Ordo Auxilia Custodes, also known as the Doomscryers.  They are an order of powerful psykers whose task is to scry the threads of fate, divine the future for any threats to the Palace, and extract the truth from unwilling minds. All of the Doomscyers are Primaris-grade psykers whose future is narrowed down on one soul, that of the Emperor of Mankind. The figure's name was Ancia. Hekkarron does not consider Ancia, a friend. Custodes have no friends. Nor does he trust her, for trust does not factor into his existence as a Custodes. However, she aided him in thwarting a plot that would have damaged the Golden Throne itself. For that, she has earned his respect.

-Cypher comments that even on Terra, the Warp is present. It's the psykers that are both the doom of mankind and the means of survival for a species that loathes and hates them. Cypher sympathizes with the Psykers, for humanity's hypocrisy is boundless.

-Ancia warns Hekkarron of an emerging threat. A being locked within the Dark Cells. A choice will cause a forking in fate. That being will either be the agent of ruin for all the Custodes seek to protect or an agent of hope.  It's an unfolding and convergence of events. The Warp rages, and there are things in its tides waiting to be born.  And it's already happening.

*Note: "The Principal" is the term Custodes use to refer to the Emperor in the presence of outsiders.


-Three hundred years ago, there was a Martian serf assigned with one stage of the thousands of stages in the creation of electro switches.  Throughout his life, he repeated the same process a million times. But he was getting old, and he wasn't important enough to get augmentation. He knew that should his Tech-priest overseers detect that he could no longer fulfill his function, he would be sent to flesh reclamation to be butchered and have his body parts reused. His fear made him work harder in spite of his failing body. The effort was too much for his old heart, and it gave out just before he could complete his task. His incomplete work looked complete to his overseers, so they forwarded it on the assembly line.

-In the present, the Dark Angels blew up one of the power stations feeding the Dark Cells. It was to blind the defenses of the Dark Cells to their approach. However, it would do more than that. The loss of power activated the secondary power systems, but as the power surged to compensate for the loss, the faulty electro-switch regulating the power flow burned out, resulting in a cascade that saw the upper third of the Dark Cells bereft of power.

-This wasn't the only disaster. The Great Rift rage was still battering Terra. The Dark Cells stood resolute against the flood of Warp energy, but this was a storm of epic proportions. The null and anti-psychic technology of the Dark Cells guttered and shut down before its rage. The wards that guarded the Dark Cells shattered.

-As Hekkarron ran through the Dark Cell passages, he encountered one of its prisoners. A nameless horror of empty darkness that has no shape but stole one from Hekkarron's mind. It becomes a creature of molten iron with a face of pure bone on which eyes of blue fire open. It does not move as much as it wills itself to be where it wants. In an instant, it was on Hekkarron with machine claws.

-Hekkarron kicks off the floor before the thing becomes it and clashes his spear with the thing's claws causing it to recoil. The thing changes its form into a tornado of stone fragments and black ice. Then it collapses on Hekkarron, slowly crushing him and slicing into his armor. Hekkarron could feel through the creature's touch its hunger for annihilation and freedom. In his mind, he falls through his memories all the way back to when he was an infant being taken away from his burning home.

-Hekkarron snaps back from his memories, and in a perfectly harmonious spasm of armor and muscles, he sends a ripple powerful enough to shatter the creature into a cloud. Before the creature could take another form, Hekkarron took out a black icosahedron object. The creature knew what it was and lunged toward Hekkarron. He threw the object at the creature.

-The black icosahedron unfolded through the dimensions, causing the distances around it to extend almost to infinity, then everything collapsed inward toward the object. The creature was caught by the effect and was folded and dragged into the nothingness inside the object. Hekkarron then picks up the icosahedron and continues his run through the passages.

-Cypher is freed from his cell. He takes the time to free his Fallen brethren. He even frees the mad Fallen, whose soul and mind were lost to the Chaos Gods. He explains that he has many reasons for doing this. And all these reasons orbit a single truth; he is not a hypocrite.

-Cypher and the Fallen fight their way to the Door of Cogs. The entrance to the road leads to the Admech embassy on Terra. It's one of the few openings to the Dark Cells. It's a place where the Admech come and go in their tasks to help maintain and run the Dark Cells. The Fallen weapons were given to the Admech there for analysis and disposal. The Fallen managed to locate their weapons—all but Cypher's sword. It's not there.

-The Sword is the one reason why the Fallen are willing to follow Cypher.

-Cypher orders his Fallen brothers to arm themselves and prepare to retrieve the sword. And after the Sword was reclaimed, they will take it where it's needed.

-The Unforgiven call Cypher and his brothers the Fallen as if they are of one mind and purpose. The truth is that the Fallen are divided and broken. There have been Fallen that hunted Cypher for centuries.  There were those who wished nothing more than to bow before the Emperor and be forgiven. Some believed in the gods, and some believed in nihilism. All were divided, and they hated and judged each other.

-Dark Cells were resecured. Most of the escaped prisoners were either slain or recaptured. However, not all were captured. Among the escaped captors that one day end Terra, were the Fallen.

-Hekkarron brings Ancia to Cypher's cell to psychically probe it. She manifests images into the air. A figure with a broken sword. A king on a throne. A knight sleeping on a bed of rock. The images shift and dissolve in a parade. Ancia explains that these are unborn destinies waiting to happen. It's unclear which of these destinies will happen, for their certainty changes from one instance to the next. It was unlike anything she had experienced before.  Cypher, rather than following a single path, is following several paths. Each one is possible and leads to a complete and different future. Cypher was carrying the future with him. But eventually, possible futures must collapse into one truth.

-Ancia tells Hekkarron that Cypher seeks the Sword like how a father seeks his child. The strange sword that was ill-fitting even for a Space Marine. Hekkarron wouldn't be able to find Cypher, but with the Sword in hand, Cypher will find him.

-Cypher comments about the speculation about the Sword.  Perhaps it's a broken sword. A metaphor for the Dark Angel legion that was broken into two halves that yearned to be united and reforged into a single purpose.

-The idea that a Primarch would use the same weapon and armor for hundreds of years is laughable. The Lion used many weapons, some for their styles and others for their symbolism. However, when Cypher talks about a sword and the Lion he is referring to the Lion Sword. If it was the Sword Cypher carried for so long, then what does he intend to do with it? Does he seek to offer it to the Emperor and ask for forgiveness and to be made whole again? Or does he intend to use it to render judgment on the Emperor for His crimes against mankind by plunging it into His corpse?

-Perhaps it's not the Lion's Sword but the sword that was wielded to kill him. Perhaps It's the Luther's Sword. A thing of hate and retribution, a slayer of tyrants that echoed with a power older than the Imperium.  A weapon of a man, created to slay gods and their offspring.

-Perhaps it's none of these things. Perhaps it's a Heaven-Fall blade. Both a weapon and a key. A key to a door to one last secret that was hidden from the Unforgiven.

-Cypher and the Fallen are ambushed by the Dark Angels as they are crossing a bridge over a canyon created by a long-ago conflict. Mordachi screams into the mind of the Fallen that if they yield, they will find redemption. The Fallen have no interest in the false absolution offered by the Dark Angels. They charge forward.

-Cypher can feel the awe and hate that the Dark Angels feel toward him. He is the apex of their quest for the Fallen. He is the representation of all they hate, fear, and hope for.

-Cypher, in the blink of an eye, sends three shots into one of the Dark Angels. One shot disarms him,  the second pushes him backward, and the last shot from his plasma pistol hits him in the head, killing him.

-Mordachi responds by immobilizing the entire Fallen group with his mind and holding them in place. Then he orders his marines to destroy the bridge. As the bridge crumbles, Mordachi keeps the Fallen..from falling, holding them in the air.

-The Chaos-corrupted mad Fallen bursts into flames and is surrounded by a inferno. He smashes his mind into Mordachi, sending him reeling in pain and releasing his grip on the Fallen. He lifts the ruins of the bridge allowing the Fallen to land on them and continue their run. Realizing it's too risky to capture the Fallen, Mordachi orders his men to fire.

-Two of the Fallen are blasted to pieces by the Dark Angels' fire. Before the rest of the Fallen could be gunned down. The corrupted Fallen levitates into the air and draws rubble into the flaming tornado surrounding him, and then sends the rock shards at the Dark Angels at supersonic speeds. The rocks maim and kill some of the Dark Angels.

-Cypher and the Fallen reach the other side. Cypher mercy kills one of the injured Dark Angels and then kills another Dark Angel out of spite. Finally, the Fallen break free of the ambush and flee. However, Azkhar, a Fallen consumed by rage and bitterness, is too slow to flee. He lingers too long fighting against the pursuing Dark Angels, allowing Mordachi to grip him with his mind and pull him away. The Fallen have no choice but to leave him behind.

-Hekkarron and Ancia head to where the Sword was taken, the Court of Assassins. As they make their way there, they detect they were being spied upon. A vindicare watches their movements with his scope. A Callidus has been trailing behind them. Ancia senses their emotions. The assassins, she notes, are not as disciplined in reining their emotions as they themselves would believe. The assassins radiate fear. Ancia comments that they are right to fear, for if they deny them what they want, she and Hekkarron will kill them all.

-A masked figure, armed with an axe as tall as he, met them. The mask covers the entirety of his face except for his mouth, obscuring his vision. But he has no need for his eyes to perceive the world around him. He is old. His ancient body no longer barely tolerates the polymorphine drug that once allowed him to change body and form. However, the displayed infirmity of old age was merely a facade. He was still deadly. His name was Cradus, the Keeper of the Court of Assassins.

-Cradus ushers in Hekkarron and tells him that the witch should remain outside because the company inside the court might not be to her liking. This angers Ancia, and in a voice of absolute scorn, she tells him that she is coming inside with the Custodes, and if Cradus doesn't address her properly, she is going tear his mind. Cradus laughs softly and apologies. But he restates his warning. She might not like what awaits inside.

-It's said that the Court of Assassins was created in the image of the Death Courts of Old Night, where the queens and emperors of Old Terra petitioned for the death of their enemies and the protection of all they cared for.  The pair were brought where these royals once stood before the Court.

-Ancia felt a spreading pain and icy numbness spread in her mind and body. This was the cold dead stars, the nothingness of the void. Though it terrified her, she did not display it. Hekkarron felt it after her. A needling of cold and dread that even his ascended soul could feel. It was the cold of the nothingness that would devour all hope and light and leave behind only night.

-Two figures enter the court. The first was named Noor. She wore an avian skull mask bedecked with technological sensory devices. She was the Observer of the Court.

-The second figure was as tall as Hekkarron. She wore a human skull mask. She was a member of the Culexus Temple. The temple whose craft was to take those cursed by the Pariah gene and turn their absence in the Warp into a walking vortex of oblivion and despair. Her name was Theta, and she was the Voice of the Abyss. She rarely spoke; when she did, it meant life or death.

-Hekkarron demands the Sword that was delivered to the Court. The Court refuses. This isn't the first calamity that struck Terra, nor is it the first time its protectors came to the assassins to demand their secrets. The Sword is for the assassins to keep, as it is their duty.

-Hekkarron made to leave, but Ancia refused. She said she didn't care about the excrement issued from the Keeper's mouth. Duty mandates that they hand over the Sword.

-Cradus said even if Hekkarron and Ancia killed all of them, they would not get the Sword. Ancia responded that she didn't mean they would take it from them. She meant that the assassins were going to give up the Sword willingly.

-Ancia explains that the assassins are honor bound to fulfill their execution orders. There is one execution order that was issued thousands of years ago for the unknown Space Marine Cypher. It was reissued again and again over the millennia. The assassins failed to eliminate their target and lost four agents in the process. Here is a chance to correct this failure. Cypher was here on Terra, and he seeks the Sword. If the Sword was given to Hekkarron, then it would lure out Cypher for the assassins. The assassins agree to this deal, but the Voice of the Abyss warns Hekkarron that this is a gift and that all gifts have a price.

-Azkhar awakens to find himself on Caliban. It was Caliban before the coming of the Emperor. Before the Lion even. He realizes that he is in his own mind, taken there by the Dark Angel Librarian. Mordachi appears before Azkhar. Mordachi tells Azkhar he still belongs to the Dark Angels. Even though he strayed and fell, he is still a brother of the Dark Angels. He can repent, and redemption can be his.  Azkhar asks if this redemption is his or theirs.

-Mordachi says that his conscience is clear. Azkhar replies by saying as is his. The Lion and the Legion brothers that sided with him were liars and fools. To betray someone, they must be worthy of loyalty.

-Azkhar demands that Mordachi get to the point of it. It's not the job of Librarians to grant redemption. It's the grim skull-faced Chaplains of the Dark Angels. He has learned of their existence and practices from the Fallen that escaped the Dark Angels. Mordachi wants something, and  Azkhar knows he is running out of time. The pressure of the Golden Throne and the souls it's devouring is wearing down Mordachi. It's only a matter of time before his iron will breaks before this psychic flood. That something is someone. It's Cypher.

-Azkhar had hunted Cypher before and had failed. He still hates Cypher and always will. Azkhar has one more betrayal in him before the end. Smiling, He asks Mordachi if he wants to know a secret.

-After Azkhar tells Mordachi everything, The Librarian asks him if he wants absolution. Azkhar responds by saying that the secrets he revealed cast him further away from forgiveness. Redemption is not as simple as the Dark Angels make it.

-Mordachi begins killing Azkhar's mind. The dying Azkhar tells Mordachi that none of them deserve to survive and none of them will. But there is hope that they would capture Cypher. He deserves the kind of redemption bestowed by the Dark Angels.

-The Azkhar turns to the forests of Caliban and says that it was better long ago, It was better then. Mordachi holds his thoughts a moment longer and senses that something has changed in his soul. He knows it but doesn't know how. He asks Azkhar if he has more to say. Azkhar replies more than you ever know. Then with one last smile, Azkhar of Caliban disappears.

-Back in the real world, Morachi awakens. He tells his brothers that the Fallen told him everything. Cypher is heading to the Throne Room. He orders his men to burn the Fallen's body and armor before heading out.

-Every face and form a Callidus takes has an element of truth in it. They become the person whose skin and face they take. They become two persons in one body. The pain of their existence, the language, everything. It becomes them. How else would the Callidus become so undetectable. The Imperial assassins do not compromoise.

-Cradus begins the Callidus ritual by saying "Must I do this deed?". The Assassin temples are called temples for a reason. Callidus, Venenum, Eversor, and all the others were entities that were old when the Emperor united Terra. They were not names for methods of murder; they were creeds for adoration. It's not simple murder. It's murder in a style that conforms to an art that must be prepared and executed. Murder for the Imperial Assassins is a ritualistic art where every detail matters.

-Cradus takes a splinter of ceramite that was cut from Cypher during his last encounter with an Imperial assassin. It's a representation of the death-debt that the assassins owe him. Then Cradus injects himself with polymorphine. As his mind unravels and falls into darkness, he holds unto one thread of self. Without this iota of sense of self, his body would dissolve into a puddle of goo and slime, and his mind would give one maddened scream before being extinguished. Polymorphine is deadly for normal humans. It allows the brain to alter the body down to the cellular level. Normal humans would die in agony because the mind and body are not meant to be linked intimately. The mind is fickle, while the body demands constancy. In contrast, Callidus can use the drug to shape their bodies into forms that are far from humanity. It takes years to master the effects of the drug, and most fail and die.

-Cypher gives commentary on the polymorphine and the Callidus. He wonders how the founders of the temple lived long enough to discover this knowledge and pass it on. Polymorphine is lethal, and the way it kills is beyond nightmarish. Did the Callidus predecessors keep taking the drug, knowing its horrid effects until one of them survived as an agony-wracked abomination that survived long enough to teach the others? Cypher would like to know, but he knows that the assassins will never share the secrets of their past.

-Cradus transforms not to another form but his own form. A younger version of himself. He slips his weapons and tools inside his bones and then repeats, "Must I do this deed?". The reason behind this question is that the killer must be reluctant otherwise it is to give in to a murder madness that would stain the stars red. Cradus answers himself, "It is willed. It is written. It must be". He is now ready to hunt and kill Cypher.

-Cypher and the Fallen fall upon a force of fifty Solar Hoplites guarding a communication hub. The attack is meant to attract the attention of Hekkarron. Cypher comments that if the Hoplites were five hundred or even five thousand, it wouldn't have mattered. They were no match for the eight Fallen. Cypher and the Fallen massacre the Hoplites. Cypher comments that he is neither merciful nor kind because no one in this universe is innocent.

-Out of the burning hub emerges a warcry "For Terra" followed by a charging yellow figure. It was an Imperial Fist a breed of marines that Cypher hadn't encountered for thousands of years. The Imperial Fist bears down one of the Fallen with a power fist and shield. The skill and fury of his attack spoke of his veterancy. The Imperial Fist blocks the Fallen marine's attacks with his shield, and then he slams its edge into the Fallen's helmet shattering the lenses.

-Cypher watched the two fight. The glory of the Imperium clashing against its mistake. This conflict was being replayed across the galaxy between individuals and armies. It's a fight fated to never end. But Cypher didn't like fate and his patience was exhausted.

-Cypher sends three shots at the Imperial Fists. A shot to pushes him back, A shot opens his armor. A final plasma shot strikes his exposed chest and burns his hearts. Cypher stands over the corpse of this noble warrior and hears the scream of the innocent around him. He glories in this.  It makes him feel good to be a killer. It fulfills him to be an agent of misrule.

-Turns out that Cypher has mislead Hekkarron and Ancia. The thoughts inside his mind from when he was inside Dark Cell were all lies. To her horror, Ancia realized that Cypher wasn't after the Sword. He was after the Golden Throne.

-Ancia sees a vision of a figure wrapped in gold and cables. Another figure with a sword kneeling before him. The sword is broken. It's a sword that will never break. The eyes open on a face that is a skull. The eyes shut on a face that has not moved for 10K years.

-This should not be happening. The future should be many paths but Cypher is causing the future to converge on two paths and changing from one to the other repeatedly.

-She realizes that this was Cypher plan all along. They imprisoned him where he wanted to go.  Cypher knows a way into the Inner Sanctum. A way that the Custodes missed. There is something that will happen on the Path of Martyrs.

-Hekkarron jumps on a grav tank and orders shaking Ancia back to the Dark Cells. He speeds away after Cypher.

-Cypher and the Fallen reach the catacombs. They are met with crowds of refugees that have fled the fighting and fires in the Imperial Palace. The crowds fled before the Fallen, but there was a brave soul that fired at them. The Fallen ignore him.

-The corrupted Fallen Marine stops and says that they are coming. He hears their song.

-A firelight blazes in the distance and from the light emerges possessed humans. Even in Terra, there are those who give in and let the Warp fill the cracks in their souls. These daemons that wore humans as cloth were here for the crowds. The Fallen were in their way by chance.

-Cypher and the Fallen fight against the possessed horde. During the fighting, a tentacle pierces Cypher's armor and body, pumping venom into him. The venom felt like the sweetness of sugar and the comfort of sleep. The daemon calls Cypher the Divided Son, and it urges him to step over the final inch to his fall, for it's the sweetest.

-Cypher feels the goodness in his soul dying. He feels the call to give in and become what others feared him to be, a Slave to Darkness. But as the light of his soul fades, the Dark Angel within him, the thing bound with vengeance and bitterness, screams, "NO!". Cypher snaps back and blasts apart the daemon with his pistols, releasing himself from its embrace.

-With the possessed horde slain, Cypher turns to the few of the terrified crowds that were too frozen by their fear and awe to flee, and then he crosses his pistols on his chest and bows. He hopes that they will remember him.

-The corrupted mad Fallen marine gets possessed by a daemon and transforms into an abomination of claws and molten fire. The Possessed Fallen leaps at one of his brothers and rams his claws into his chest and head. The flesh of the now-dead Fallen evaporates into a bloody mist and smoke from the daemon's intense heat.

-The possessed Fallen then turns toward Cypher. Cypher can feel its hunger and anger toward him. Cypher has always resisted the call of Chaos. He was a warrior that stood with one foot in the light and the other in the darkness. Light and darkness ever hunger for what they cannot have.

-The daemon within the possessed Fallen speaks. It tells Cypher that he belongs to Chaos, willing or not. He will not reach redemption.   Vegenence will be denied to him. Here is where he falls. Then the daemon strikes Cypher and sends him crashing to the floor. Cypher had allowed it to hit. Cypher doesn't know precisely why he allowed that to happen. He speculated that it was his guilt. Perhaps he sought to punish himself for allowing his brother to fall into this state.

-The Possessed Fallen places a hoof on Cypher's broken chest armor. It speaks and calls Cypher the warrior with no name. The soul divided.  It tells him that his quest was over. The only vengeance here is Chaos', and the only redemption lies in Chaos' embrace.

-The other Fallen do nothing but watch except for Korlael, a repentant Fallen that was loyal to the Lion.  He shouts to his Possessed Fallen brother, "Forgive me!" and stabs him in the back. This distracts the daemon allowing Cypher to unload his pistols into the Possessed Fallen.

-The Possessed Fallen legs are blown out. Its arms are vaporized. Its molten blood drips from its mass, but it continues to crawl toward Korlael. The daemon's rage was sustaining the husk it was wearing still. Korlael says that he is sorry and rams his sword into his corrupted brother and rips it up, causing the daemon to flee its host.

-The corrupted Fallen form reverts, becoming that of a broken and dying marine. His voice, after so long, becomes free from the madness of Chaos. He calls out for his brother and begs him. Cypher finishes him off with a shot to the head and two more to his ruined chest.

-Cypher takes time in his narration to talk about Chaos.  There was a time when the terms god and daemon were for those who were backward and superstition. These were naive times. Daemons are real. The Gods are real. Chaos is real. It can be argued that the terms are humanity giving expression to the powers of the Warp, projecting their ancient myths of infernal creatures and gods into the present unknowable horror. And these arguments might have a point. The Chaos Gods are humanity. They are a mirror of humanity's soul. The darkness of humanity reflected back. Nonetheless, it doesn't stop the daemons and the gods from being real.

-The Warp is intimately close to reality. It's in every aspect of humanity's perception of reality.  Humanity's emotions create its tides and storms and give taste to its depths. The Warp is both the spring and reservoir of sentience

-The Chaos Gods are the Warp in the sense that you cannot separate the storm from the sea.  They are the collective darkness of sentience that churns within the depth of the Warp.  They are whirlpools in this Sea of Souls that feed on the actions, thoughts,  and emotions of all beings that lived and will ever live. They were created by life, but they are eternal. They can never break or fade; they will continue to spin with no beginning or end.

-Humans have always attempted to placate things they fear or do not understand. In the past, ancient sailors sacrificed to calm the anger of the sea. They are no different from the Chaos cultists giving bloody offerings to the Chaos Gods. The only difference is that the seas did not answer, whereas the Chaos Gods do. This is why they are named gods.

-The Chaos Gods are not sentient. They are made of sentience. They hunger, desire, and corrupt because that's what the life that spawned them does. The Chaos Gods are not the beings that humanity thinks they are. They destroy, tempt, and torment because that is what they are made of. The Chaos Gods hunger for the reality that created them. They are life's eternal nightmares, ever seeking to enter the waking world.

-Hekkarron reaches the Path of Martyrs and the hidden doorway to the Inner Sanctum. His sight, that's sharper than that of Space Marines', picks up the figures of Space Marines in the shadows.  He calls out to Cypher that it's over. He will not allow him to pass the door. He would offer Cypher a life in chains if he surrendered, but he knows Cypher would never give up his freedom.

-However, when the Space Marines step from the shadows, Hekkarron realizes he played the fool. This wasn't Cypher and the Fallen. Cradus, who was trailing the Custodian, hisses in the vox that Hekkarron has deceived them. This isn't the target.

-The Space Marines standing before Hekkarron were no other than Mordachi and the Dark Angels. They were waiting to ambush Cypher. How did this happen? The Cypher's thoughts that Ancia read in the Dark Cells about the Path of Martyrs were lies.  And Cypher had lied Azkhar, and Azkhar transmitted these lies to the Dark Angels. All these lies misled Cypher's pursuers away from his trail and forced them into this encounter.

-With his course set by his oaths to the chapter and its secrets, Morachi, a loyal warrior of the Emperor, moves to kill one of the Emperor's own with no hesitation. The shocked Hekkarron was a fragment of a moment late to respond as the Dark Angels fired on him.

-Far below the Path of Martyrs, a smiling Cypher stands before another hidden doorway to the Inner Sanctum. He was given its key by Korlael whom he entrusted with it three centuries ago. Cypher opens the door and passes through.

-Hekkarron is confronted by ten Dark Angels. All of them are of the inner circle, the veteran elite of their chapter. They pour fire into him from prepared positions. By all sense, he should be dead. The explosions shattering his armor do nothing but stagger him for a moment before he moves in a blur toward the Dark Angels. Without interpreting his charge, he slashes a Dark Angel's throat with his spear killing him with one blow. He is among them in a flash, two more dead Dark Angels at his feet. Still moving and evading their firing lines, he cleaves another Dark Angel in two. One of the Dark Angels aims his plasma gun at Hekkarron. The Custodian slices the Angel's fingers before he can fire and then moves his spear in an arc to cleave into the skull of another of the Dark Angels.  The Dark Angel with the plasma gun switches his gun to his other hand, but before he can fire Hekkarron already spun his spear and aimed it. Hekkarron fired at the plasma gun, detonating it and reducing the marine into a cloud of ash and metallic dust. Six chapter elites were slain in the span of a few human heartbeats.

-The remaining Dark Angels clear away from Hekkarron, allowing Mordachi to smash him with a wave of Warp lightning and gripping telekinetic force. Hekkarron resists the psychic power that's burning and crushing him. Mordachi pours all his psychic might into containing Hekkarron, but all it does was slow Hekkarron. Blood vessels in Hekkarron's throat and head burst, but he won't stop. He will never stop. However, Mordachi doesn't need to overcome the Custodian with his psychic power. He only needs to slow him down for what comes next.

-The Dark Angels fire two missiles into Hekkarron. Following the explosion the Dark Angels pour more bolter fire into the Custodian for good measure. Mordachi releases his grip on Hekkarron. His mind and body a fire from using such potent power under the blare of the Golden Throne and also because of the sin he just committed.

-The Dark Angels rig and arm plasma bombs on their dead before using the Path of Martyr's doorway to enter the inner Sanctum. The assassins follow them inside.

-Why didn't the assassins help Hekkarron? Because they are the most precise killers in existence. Cypher wasn't there, so this battle didn't concern them. They let Hekkarron meet his fate. There was no unity of purpose in the Imperium and even less in Chaos.

-Hekkarron was dying. In his mind, he is falling into a black sea. As he drowns in the darkness, he hears Cradus' voice. He tells him that he has failed. He failed in the one duty he was created to do. He let Cypher escape. Now Cypher is going to slay the Emperor. Cypher has the will and the means to see it done. Cypher, the death that walks. Cypher the doom of the light that shines at the heart of mankind. He has let death of all slip through the gates like a pilgrim.

-Hekkarron, like all his kind, is unable to feel despair. But he feels pain. He feels the pain of failure as he sinks into the abyss. But then another voice high above the black waters calls his name. He almost grasps it, but then it's gone.

-The Dark Angels make it to the Bridge of Ascension. Beyond it lays the Ultimate Doors, and behind these doors, the Emperor himself. Mordachi finds a cowled figure waiting for him. He knows it's a trap, but Mordachi walks to confront the figure.

-Mordachi tells the figure that he is sorry that his dead brothers had to bear the weight of the Fallen's guilt. The Fallen had dragged their honor and order into darkness. The figure replies what about the honor of honesty? It's the Dark Angels that come now cloaked in shadows.

-Mordachi responds by saying this is what the Fallen's betrayal has forced them into.  The Dark Angels are not ignorant of the dishonor of their deeds and what it made of them.

-Mordachi pleads with the figure. Calling out for Cypher to stop all of this. If Cypher submits and repents, then all this dishonor will end for Cypher himself, the Fallen, and all the Dark Angels.

-The figure asks what about the dead of Caliban. Will the Dark Angels submit and beg them for forgiveness? A disappointed Mordachi, not surprised, says they returned where they began and that this brings him sorrow. The figure replies It shouldn't. It was and will always be this way.

-Unknown to Mordachi, the figure he was talking to was not Cypher. This fact was also unknown to the assassins watching the exchange. Cradus was carrying the Sword on his back with no issue. He and Vindicare monitor the Marines on the bridge. The Vindicare tells him that she has the shot but what about the others? He tells her that they are irrelevant. The primary target must die. The Custodes will take care of the others.

-Suddenly, a bolter shot explodes from the shadows. It tears the Vindicare arm from her shoulder. In a blink, she draws her pistol and turns to the direction of the shot. She sees her shooter—a shadowed power armored figure a quarter mile above her position. One of the Fallen. Before she bleeds out, she fires a shot at the Fallen marine just as he was firing his second bolter round at her. Her shot hits its mark, blowing out the marine's skull. The Fallen's bolter round also hits its mark, sending her flying before exploding her into a shower of blood and bone.

-The sound of gunfire draws Mordachi's attention from the figure in front of him. And his psychic senses were muffled by the blaze of the Golden Throne and the screaming of the psykers; they acted as hammer blows in his skull. So when the figure attacked, he was not forewarned. He had to rely on his instinct and speed to survive the sudden attack. As Mordachi barely evades the figure's attack and crosses swords with him, he realizes the figure is not Cypher.

-It was then that the Fallen launched their ambush. They sent bolter fire into the positions of the Dark Angels, blasting three of them off the bridge to plummet to their deaths.

-Cradus feels humiliated at the loss of his agent and the failure of his mission. He curses Hekkarron for talking him into this folly. He resolves to return the Sword to the assassins' vaults. As he made to leave, he was too slow to react to Cypher's ambush. A bolter round rips him in half. Cypher's experience killing Imperial assassins has him burn the head off Cradus' skull with a plasma shot. It always pays to be sure when it comes to foes like these. Cypher then reclaims the Sword.

-A phantom appears in the mind of Hekkarron. It bids him to see. It calls out to him that he must see. Hekkarron is shown a vision of the Eye of Terror expanding and consuming the stars until there is nothing left of the galaxy but its crimson fire and laughter.

-Hekkarron is then taken to a ruin of a city. Its streets are bone strewn and filled with ash and dust. He knows this place. It's a fading memory of something that has not happened yet.

-A figure emerges. It takes the image of Theta, the voice of the Abyss. She tells Hekkarron that as the age darkens, more and more come here to see what shall become. She asks him for the name of this place.

-Hekkarron knows its name from inquisitorial records and from the ravings of saints and heretics. It's the Desolate City. It's an un-place where dream, vision, and nightmare meet. It's real and not. A destination that hasn't been arrived at yet.

-Hekkarron hears a pleading voice. It says "please..". Hekkarron follows the voice until he is met with its speaker. A man in ragged purple robes. Withered and emaciated, sitting on a simple stone throne. This man, to Hekkarron, is the most terrible and greatest thing he has ever seen.

-Hekkarron kneels before the man and says it cannot be. Theta responds that It is and it shall be.

-The man reaches out to Hekkarron with his withered hand and says, "please". It's his dying word. A word of pain. A word of life being swallowed up by what's beyond eternity.

-Hekkarron grasps the man's hand. It turns to dust. The man and the city all turn to clouds of dust, leaving Hekkarron and Theta in the darkness.

-Hekkarron knows that the city is a metaphor for Imperium's future. The fate of the Emperor and mankind. He asks Theta if it's inevitable. Theta replies that if he asking her for the answer, he knows who she really is. Hekkarron says yes.

-Theta explains what Hekkarron must do. At this moment, everything starts to make sense for the Custodian. But it's not enough. Theta would show him the why of it as well.

-Hekkarron is shown a vision. Cypher speculates about this vision. Perhaps He saw a black armored warrior plunging a sword into a figure on a golden throne. Perhaps he saw a robed vagabond kneeling and raising his father's sword in pleading and penance. Perhaps he saw the light blazing into the night. Perhaps he saw the dying of the light. Cypher does not know what Hekkarron saw, nor does he wish to know.

-Hekkarron was drawn back to the waking world by Ancia. She ignored his orders and came after him. He tells her that what he saw was no dream. Ancia tells him that she knows. She was in his mind at the end of the vision.

-Hekkarron tells her it was Him. She dismisses it, saying his wounds brought him to the veil of death. Being this close to death brings things from the darkness. Visions are not truth. She would know.

-Hekkarron asks her to scry the future one last time. She does so. She reports that there is no clear path from here. There are only disasters near and far. The Emperor was dead, and the Imperium was aflame. She cannot differentiate the paths or see if there are multiple.

-After hearing this, Hekkarron rises and goes to do what he must.


-Korlael and Mordachi are still fighting on the Bridge of Ascension. Mordachi is on the back foot. The psychic radiance of the Golden Throne and the screams of those it's consuming is taking a tremendous toll on his mind and body.   Mordachi is wounded and drops to one knee. Korlael prepares to deliver the final blow, and as it descends, both warriors lock eyes. Mordachi sees the pity in his enemy's eyes, and he learns his name. He speaks it. At the sound of his name, Korlael hesitates for a moment. Opening Korlael to an upward thrust from Mordachi's psy-blade. Mordachi channels his psychic power into Korlael, burning him from inside out to ash.

-The death of Korlael was the breaking point for Mordachi. All the shame, all the dishonor, and all the deaths of his brothers are channeled into a wave of psychic fire that washes over the bridge immolating the Fallen and killing them. Cypher watches his Fallen brothers die. He won't mourn them, but he will avenge them.

-Cypher walks on the bridge toward Mordachi. He guns down the last of Mordachi's brothers. He tells Mordachi to ask the question. He knows that he wants the truth. Mordachi asks Cypher why did he come here. Cypher replies because someone had to.

-Cypher fires his bolter pistol at Mordachi. In a flash of lightning, Mordachi does away with the bolter rounds and freezes Cypher in place. He tells Cypher that he isn't going back with him to the chains of the Rock's dungeons. Cypher will burn here in front of the throne he betrayed.

-Cypher invites Mordachi to his mind to find out the truth. Mordachi can't help but look inside Cypher's mind. Now it's Mordachi's turn to be frozen. The truth he saw in Cypher's mind brings him into a complete pause. Now released from his grip, Cypher walks over and shoots him dead.

-As Cypher walks toward the end of the bridge, he is confronted by Hekkarron. Hekkarron tells Cypher that he knows where he is going and perhaps why as well. He has a message for Cypher. A message that he must hear.

-The message is "not yet".

-Hekkarron tells Cypher that now the choice is his. Either he continues or heeds the message and departs Terra.

-Cypher responds that Hekkarron is a Custodian on top of a Warden of the Dark Cells. He cannot let him go. Hekkarron replies that he has his duty and he serves one thing above all.

-Cypher begins to leave, and Hekkarron makes no effort to stop him. Cypher looks back and says that leaving this place will be difficult. Hekkarron replies that he is sure that Cypher will find a way out. He made it this far, so what's one more step?

-After Cypher departs, death catches up to Hekkarron. The wounds that should have seen him dead hours ago bleed the last of his blood, and his heart stills.

-In the aftermath, two Custodians are reviewing what transpired. One reported that Ancia recalls nothing of the visions she reported to Hekkarron and her actions beside him. Probes of her mind confirmed that her loss of the memories of the visions and her actions were true.

-Evidence and probability make it unlikely that Ancia's memory loss was the work of daemons. However, this is possibly the work of an external psychic force. The Custodians note controlling and editing a Doomscyer's mind within the Imperial Palace and the presence of a Custodian indicates a psychic might of alarming potency.

-What is also alarming was Hekkarron's last actions. Hekkarron let Cypher go. It's impossible for a Custodes to let a threat to the Emperor go unless he was ordered to. However, no one can order Custodes to do so. They cannot act against the Emperor's interest or orders.

-Then it dawns on the Custodes. Hekkarron was not acting against the Emperor's will. Therefore, Hekkarron must have....

-The Custodes resolve to hunt down and capture Cypher. They justify it by thinking they are pursuing a threat to the Emperor, who came so close to his target. The real reason is that they have burning questions, and Cypher has the answers to them.