It is the start of the 31st millenium. Under the leadership of the Emperor of mankind,
the Imperium’s great crusade has been conquering and uniting humanity's lost colonies for more
than 200 years. The Ullanor Campaign has just come to an end. The combined forces of a hundred thousand
space marines, more than eight million troops of the imperial army as well as almost a hundred
titans of the Collegia Titanica successfully defeated the largest force of Orks the Imperium
had ever faced. The Ork overlord Urrlak Urg had been killed
in hand to hand combat by Horus Lupercal, Primarch of the 16th Legion called the Lunar
Wolves. With their leader slain the Greenskin empire
disintegrated into smaller warbands. The splintered remnants of the Orks were ruthlessly
hunted down across the Ullanor system and ultimately destroyed. After this overwhelming victory it was believed
that the Orks would never again be able to pose a serious threat to the Imperium of mankind. And so this important battle marked a new
high point for humanity's great crusade. Confident in their success and ready to transfer
responsibilities, the Emperor raised Horus to the rank of Imperial warmaster, granting
him the authority to command his brother Primarchs and their astartes legions in the great crusade. In light of this majestic event The Emperor
also suggested that the Luna Wolves should be renamed to the Sons of Horus. But the ever diplomatically minded Horus humbly
refused the honor so as not to agitate his brother Primarchs. At the same time the Emperor established the
council of Terra, entrusting Malcador the Sigillite, a powerful psyker, to lay the foundations
for the Imperium’s first large scale bureaucracy that we would come to know as the Administratum. One of their first orders was the increased
involvement of remembrancers to document the achievements of the great crusade in detail. The transfer of responsibilities freed the
Emperor from his direct command duties allowing him to return to the Imperial palace to continue
working on his secret webway project. However, in this moment of victorious glory
the Emperor’s announcement had come unexpectedly, and his decisions bewildered the assembled
primarchs. The mystery around the Emperor’s sudden
retirement and the blatant preferential treatment of Horus would mark this moment as the beginning
of tensions between the Astartes legions. However after the extensive victory celebrations
on Ullanor had come to an end, the great crusade would resume and the Space Marine legions
continued their conquest amongst the stars once more. The 63rd expeditionary fleet under the personal
command of Horus himself had since subjugated 18 systems. By chance their scouting elements ahead of
the expeditionary fleet had recently discovered a new human inhabited system comprising nine
civilized planets. The 63rd fleet made their way towards the
system, which they simply designated as 63-19, as it would soon become the 19th tally of
their conquest. According to protocol, upon arrival in a new
system the fleet would make the newly discovered humans an offer to join the Imperium out of
their own free volition. And so a diplomatic delegation led by the
popular Luna Wolves Captain lHastur Sejanus was sent to the surface to negotiate a treaty. The planet’s local leader, who surprisingly
enough also called himself the Emperor of Mankind, was delighted to receive these ambassadors
of the expeditionary fleet. However once he was informed of their purpose
to bring their small civilization into the fold he immediately refused their proposal. In their isolation and ignorance, the small
empire of 63-19 ironically considered itself to be the epitome of civilization and the
true origin of humanity. In his misguided grandeur the false Emperor
was in fact insulted when Sejanus refused to swear fealty to him. He ordered his elite palace guards, the so-called
invisibles, to kill the space marine delegation. This unprovoked hostility would of course
not go unanswered. The death of his favorite captain enraged
Horus and left him with no choice but to establish Imperial rule by military force. A new delegation was sent to the planet in
a final attempt to convince the planet to capitulate without bloodshed. But this time it was accompanied by a huge
armed force to enforce the subjugation. It would be their final chance to surrender. But before any further contact could be established
the invaders were already fired upon by the planetary defenses. And so a combination of Astartes and Imperial
army forces swiftly made planetfall and ruthlessly assaulted the capital of system 63-19. Stormbirds and drop pods started landing on
the surface. The invader’s firepower was overwhelming
and before long almost the entire city was in control of the Luna Wolves. While the Imperial Army units secured the
city the Space marines made their way to the Imperial palace to find this False Emperor. After fierce hand to hand combat the Astartes
completely wiped out the stealth cloaked palace guards. While these invisibles had been a formidable
fighting force in their own right, and even managed to take the lives of a few astartes,
they ultimately proved no match for the battle ready Luna Wolves. Garviel Loken, captain of the 10th company,
ascended to the highest levels of the palace and was the first to reach the throne room. It was a beautiful structure made of enormous
white plastered walls and glass roofs. In the throne room of the false Emperor stood
a massive golden throne. The impressive architecture of the royal structures
would become inspiration for parts of the Imperial palace back on Terra that were still
under construction. And many of the splendid ornaments here would
later even be moved to Holy Terra to decorate it. In the Throne Room he found a single old man,
assumed to be the misguided Emperor of the besieged world. Without his bodyguards he posed no threat. Loken tried convincing him of the ignorance
of his resistance. But the false emperor would not believe that
a far grander empire of humanity was already uniting amongst the stars beyond his own system,
and still refused to surrender. When other Astartes arrived on the scene he
demanded an audience with the highest person of rank. Some of the Astartes suggested simply killing
the ignorant old fool right there, but as a sign of respect for this soon to be dismantled
empire Garviel Loken chose to honor the old man’s request. And so Warmaster Horus himself was summoned
to come to the surface of 63-19 in person. But a glimmer of refracting light on top of
the golden throne betrayed a figure hidden by a cloaking device to be sitting there. Loken realized the old man wasn’t really
the Emperor he claimed to be, but probably just a decoy. It was likely that the request for an audience
with the Warmaster was a trap designed to kill him. He decided to end the deception and shot the
imposter with his bolter, then made his way towards the large golden throne. But before he could reach it a sudden powerful
blastwave filled the throne room. Because his ruse had been uncovered, the invisible
emperor had no choice but to prematurely activate the throne room's defense mechanism. The golden throne he sat upon emitted an unstoppable
gravimetric force, throwing all the Astartes warriors to the ground. Several of them were blasted against the walls
with such a force that it crushed their bones. Others were knocked through the glass windows
and fell down the high spires of the palace. But before anything else could occur, the
upheaval was interrupted by a tremendous shock. With a blinding flash someone violently teleported
into the throne room in front of the golden throne. It was Horus Lupercal himself. His huge mastercrafted Power Armour easily
withstanding the throne’s debilitating blastwaves. Due to the close proximity to the teleportation’s
location, the sudden warping of reality had caused a rupture that brutally tore off the
false emperor's cloaking device and revealed the previously invisible figure sitting on
the throne. Horus instantly shot him, and before so much
as a blink could happen only the smoldering remnants of his charred skeleton lay there. The bones of his arms still clutched onto
his destroyed throne. As the Astartes got to their feet Garviel
Loken looked up at the splendid Warmaster in massive bright white armor towering over
him. Horus spoke. “So will I deal with all tyrants and deceivers”
He had just personally teleported into the throneroom…. and slain the false Emperor. After the assault was over and the city secured,
a large number of remembrancers, many of which had only recently joined the great crusade,
were sent to the surface to record the victory. Although the Astartes were already known to
be ruthlessly effective warriors, what the remembrancers witnessed in the capital that
day seemed particularly gruesome. Most buildings in the city were severely damaged
by overwhelming amounts of explosions and shrapnel. Everywhere the torn apart corpses of the defenders
still lay scattered in the streets. Wherever the remembrancers looked they witnessed
gory puddles of blood and body parts. In retaliation for the cowardly slaughter
of Sejanus and his delegation, the Luna Wolves had not bothered taking any prisoners. They had completely ravaged the defenders
without any mercy. Sejanus had been part of the Luna Wolves Mournival,
a close knit group of high ranking space marines that served as the personal advisors to Warmaster
Horus. Sejanus' unfortunate murder meant a replacement
had to be found. Garviel Loken had already been rising through
the ranks, and his recent achievement of being the first to reach the throne room had brought
him to the attention of his battle brothers. And so, on a night lit by the crescent moon
Loken was summoned to a ceremonious meeting where he would meet the other members and
be inducted into the Mournival. The other members were Ezekyle Abaddon, first
captain of the Luna Wolves and second in command after Horus. Horus Aximand, nicknamed Little Horus for
his uncanny physical likeness to the Warmaster, and captain of 5th the company. And finally Tarik Torgaddon, Captain of the
2nd company. After taking his vows Loken became an official
member of the Luna Wolves war council and a trusted advisor to Warmaster Horus. This new responsibility meant he would no
longer be available to lead the troops of the 10th company into battle at all times
himself, so he would have to assign someone else to substitute his command. Although battle brother Xavyer Jubal had been
second in command to him, Loken personally preferred his close companion Nero Vipus instead. Loken’s new rank as a prestigious member
of the Mournival bestowed him the authority to bypass the usual chain of command, and
so following his intuition he chose to to promote Nero instead. The planet's last remnants of resistance had
a last holdout in a place called the Whisperhead mountains. It was a strong fortress on top of a high
mountain that the inhospitable terrain made difficult to reach. Over the span of several weeks units of the
Imperial Army had been attempting to defeat this last bastion of resistance but were met
with little success. After some deliberation, command considered
Astartes intervention necessary. Garviel Loken and his 10th Company were ordered
to capture the Whisperheads holdout and swiftly bring the conflict to an end. Their stormbird transports loaded up with
tactical and terminator squads and departed towards the enemy defenses on the mountaintops. On the way there they noticed mysterious Vox
interference. It was believed that the enemy disturbed their
signals by broadcasting a whispering voice saying the follow thing: “Samus. That's the only name you'll hear. Samus. It means the end and the death. Samus. I am Samus. Samus is all around you. Samus is the man beside you. Samus will gnaw on your bones. Look out! Samus is here.'” For now they concluded that the enemy had
somehow managed to hack into their vox systems to spread their propaganda. And so they ignored the sinister voice and
went on with their mission. The combat on the mountaintop turned out to
be completely one sided as the Astartes made short work of the resistance, and suffered
not a single loss. Once they had achieved victory Gavriel Loken
ordered his space marines to regroup, but one of the tactical squads had gone missing
and did not respond to any vox communications. They set out to investigate the situation,
and before long they arrived at a horrible scene. Xavyer Jubal, the missing element’s sergeant,
had murdered all of the battle brothers in his squad. Loken told his troops to detain Jubal, but
he resisted the arrest and shrugged off the other Astartes like it was nothing, killing
several more space marines in the process. He looked demonically possessed and kept shouting
“Watch out, Samus is here”. Loken drew his combat knife and dueled the
renegade astartes. It was a hard fought battle but he eventually
managed to kill Jubal with a stab through the chest. After the incident the bodies of the dead
Astartes were taken back to Horus Flagship the vengeful spirit for investigation. Back on the flagship Loken summoned his close
friend Kyril Sindermann to him for a debriefing. Sindermann was an old man, and one of the
most prestigious Iterators that accompanied the 63rd expeditionary fleet. The body of Jubal and the other dead space
marines present in the room surprised Sinderman, as had been told there had been no losses
during the assault on the Whisperhead mountains. That much was true, the defenders had not
managed a single kill and their resistance was easily destroyed. Loken instructed him that this would continue
to be the official record. No mention of a fight between Astartes brothers
was allowed to spread as it would be devastating for morale. Whatever had happened to Jubal according to
the Imperium’s secular truth, demonic possession did not exist. Instead Sindermann was told to come up with
a story of a stormbird landing accident. But privately between these two men, Sindermann
suggested that it might have been a disease. Of Course astartes were immune to almost any
virulent kind of plague, but perhaps a virus had somehow corrupted Jubal’s mind and caused
his violent outburst. They both agreed that given the circumstances
this was the most logical explanation. But before they had finished their conversation
suddenly the corpse of Jubal opened his eyes and once again screamed about Samus. With weird contorted motions his corpse rose
to his feet. Before they could process what had just happened,
the undead Jubal started running towards them. Loken was knocked aside by the rampaging charge
and Jubal grabbed Kyril Sindermann and then lifted him off the ground. But the daemonic screams had alerted Nero
Vipus, who entered the room and started shooting his bolter at the undead Space marine. Jubal threw the body of Sindermann in his
direction. The old remembrancer would have died right
there if Nero had not managed to catch him and break his fall. But the rescue allowed the daemon to escape
the room. Jubal made his way through the hallway where
he encountered the pictrecorder Euphrati Keeler and several other remembrancers. He killed two of them in a brutal fashion,
ripping their guts out and with a wide gaping demonic mouth bit one of their heads straight
off. Before he could kill the other remembrancer
Loken and Nero chased it down and began shooting their bolters on full auto. It took ninety bolter rounds before the monstrosity
would stop moving. Not that there was much left of the mangled
corpse of Jubal, but they decided to use a flamer to incinerate his remains nonetheless
to make sure he wouldn’t get up again. After the horrific event, Warmaster Horus
came to speak with Loken. Despite being only a new member of the Mournival,
he would be trusted with the truth. Horus explained to him that Jubal had been
possessed by the warp. Lokan was surprised, as such a concept seemed
to be against the Imperial truth. But Horus explained to him that a daemon like
Samus is essentially nothing more than a poorly understood warp entity. The word Daemon was simply a non-scientific
superstitious term for some kind of alien species from the warp. Although it has no physical manifestation,
ultimately it was not so much different to the Eldar, or the Orks. Although the Emperor had not explained this
to Horus directly, the warmaster speculated that after the triumph of Ullanor the Emperor
entrusted him to lead the great Crusade and his brother primarchs so that the Emperor
would have time to study and understand the warp. He told Loken that although the warp works
in mysterious ways, it isn’t sorcery. Surely the almighty Emperor would eventually
find a way to bring the entities of the warp to their knees, just like everything else
that had stood in the Imperiums way before. Rational mastery over the warp would soon
dispel any superstitions about daemons and gods. Although confusing, all of this was in accordance
with the Imperial truth. What Horus did not tell Loken however was
that he was already harboring doubts about these truths himself. His trust in the Emperor’s decisions was
waning. His insecurities had led the Warmaster to
seek more advisors than just the four members of his mornival. Most notably amongst his new counselors was
Erebus, the first chaplain of the Word Bearers Legion. Their Primarch Lorgar and his legion had a
proclivity for the religious. Although this went against the rules of the
secular Imperium they had worshiped the Emperor himself. For this disobedience they would eventually
be severely punished when the Emperor ordered Roboute Guilliman, Primarch of the Ultramarines
to assault the Word Bearers Capital Monarchia and have all of its sacred sites destroyed. After this humiliating event the Word Bearers
chose to focus their attention on other deities instead. In their search for the divine, the Word bearers
came to develop a deeper understanding of the warp and its demonic entities than most. In order to effectively counsel the Warmaster
on these matters First Chaplain Erebus had been invited to personally accompany the 63rd
expeditionary fleet. Although frowned upon, the concept of private
warrior lodges where Astartes of the great crusade could circumvent the strict hierarchy
of rank and instead speak from man to man had spread throughout many of the legions. These unofficial lodges were a way for the
soldiers to fraternize and speak their minds without fear of repercussion. Garviel Loken was against these sorts of secret
gatherings. He believed that the secrecy of the lodges
would lead to even more secrecy, and eventually to division within the Legion itself. After he had found a lodge membership badge
on Jubal’s dead body, he began to question to what extent the Lodges had taken hold within
the Luna Wolves legion. To find out he attended a lodge meeting where
his second in Command Nero Vipus was present. But after experiencing for himself the positive
effects on brotherhood these private conversations could have, he somewhat softened up to the
idea of the warrior lodges. The expeditionary fleet received a distress
call from a planet that had aptly been named Murder. The Blood Angels legion had already attempted
to conquer the planet, but had run into fierce resistance against an alien force called the
megarachnids. These spider-like aliens had hard exoskeleton
armor able to withstand bolter fire and their claws were sharp enough to cut the ceramite
armourplate of the astartes. The planet’s atmospheric storms disrupted
travel and communications with the surface, and many Blood Angel companies had already
gone missing in action. The legions of the Emperor’s Children and
Luna Wolves sent forces to the planet to help their Blood Angels cousins. The Emperor’s children were the first to
deploy, and made planetfall with their droppods. But due to the turbulent atmosphere the attacking
force scattered. They soon found out that the planet was a
deathtrap with no way out. The megarachnids attacked in devastating waves,
killing many astartes. Just like the Blood Angels before them, the
Space marines of the Emperor’s Children would soon be wiped out if it hadn’t been
for Captain Saul Tarvitz of the 10th Company. When the flying megarachnids started impaling
dead astartes on the surrounding trees, he gave the order to have these destroyed. This led him to discover that the large treelike
structures on the surface were not actually part of the planet’s biosphere, but instead
weather control structures causing the storms. Realizing this they quickly demolished more
of them, opening a gap in the storm for more reinforcements to safely arrive and establish
a defensive stronghold. Sanguinius, Primarch of the Blood Angels,
personally came to the surface. Upon seeing so many of his legion massacred
he wept. He asked Horus for assistance to avenge the
fallen space marines. And so together the three legions started
a campaign to wipe out the abominable spider xenos. In this ruthless six month campaign they were
even assisted by a titan legio of the Mechanicum. Before they had been able to wipe out the
megarachnids completely they were contacted by an advanced human civilization called the
Interex, asking the Astartes to call off their war against the megarachnids. The interex appeared peaceful and so their
request was obliged for the time being. Diplomatic negotiations were taking place
on their homeplanet Xenobia, but the Interex were hesitant to join the Imperium. Although they initially wanted to, their fear
that the Imperium of mankind might be tainted by the forces of chaos slowed down diplomacy. Meanwhile Erebus secretly infiltrated the
Interex Museum of Technology and stole a powerful alien artifact called the Anathame.This ancient
sword was imbued with the power of a curse to mortally wound any chosen individual, harming
it beyond any hope of recovery. The theft of the weapons seemed to confirm
the Interex earlier suspicions that the Imperium could not be trusted. They blamed the Warmaster for the missing
weapon and declared war upon the Imperium. The accusation towards the warmaster was a
grave insult. The Astartes forgot the megarachnids on planet
murder, and instead focused their complete attention towards fighting the Interex. After a lengthy strenuous battle they eventually
managed to wipe out the Interex civilization completely. After the war of extermination on Xenobia,
Sanguinius convinced Horus to finally rename the Luna Wolves Legion as the Emperor had
initially suggested. Directly encouraged by his brother, this time
Horus agreed. And so the 16th Legion became known as the
Sons of Horus. They changed the color of their armor from
white to green. Their symbol of a moon crested wolf was discarded
and they adopted the Eye of Terra, symbolizing the Emperor’s eternal vigilance. Although the legion’s change of name in
the honor of the Warmaster was a celebrated event, the war with the Interex had been a
bitter affair. Despite the bloody conflict, their civilization
had been a model society of advanced human technology and the Warmaster lamented having
to destroy such a world over such a foolish misunderstanding. But he wouldn’t have much time to contemplate
the recent events. They received a request for support from the
World of Davin. Davin had been one of the first worlds the
63rd expeditionary fleet had conquered. The Sons of Horus, back then the Luna Wolves,
still harbored proud memories of fighting and defeating the Davinite Warriors. After their initial victory Horus had assigned
the task of bringing the world to further Imperial compliance to his trusted friend
and Imperial Army Commander Eugen Temba, assisted by a small detachment of the Word Bearers
Legion. However, the Imperial Army elements led by
Eugen Temba had renounced their loyalty to the Imperium and established a rebel base
on the moon of Davin. Chaplain Erebus had already returned to Davin
to deal with the uprising, but found the rebels were too numerous for his small contingent
of Word Bearers to deal with, and so he had requested support. It was the first large-scale rebellion by
Imperial forces that had taken place since the start of the great Crusade, and a considerable
blemish on the Warmasters otherwise impeccable records. Since the 16th Legion had initially conquered
Davin, Erebus offered Horus the opportunity to personally avenge the betrayal and bring
it into compliance himself. Enraged by the disloyalty of his friend Eugen,
the Warmaster ordered the 63rd expeditionary fleet to make haste towards Davin. The Warmaster and his counsel planned a large-scale
offensive to destroy the rebel base on Davin’s moon. But they soon learned that the surface and
atmosphere of the moon had changed considerably from when they first conquered it so long
ago. What had once been a dry and desert-like terrain
had mysteriously transformed into a planet-wide humid swamp. They had no explanation for what happened
to the moon, but this would not stop their assault. However it did prohibit their heavy tanks
from deploying to the surface, but fortunately the Titans of Legio Mortis, the titan legion
that accompanied the 63rd expeditionary fleet, would have no problems traversing through
the swamps. A massive force of 400 space marines, 4000
Imperial Army units and 3 Titans prepared to make planetfall. The Space marines of the Sons of Horus would
lead the way. But during their descent the Astartes Stormbirds
picked up an audio signal from the surface. A faint daemonic sounding voice was speaking
over the vox network. “The ways of man are folly, they seek doom
of all things. In death and rebirth shall mankind live forever.” To Garviel Loken’s horror the voice had
an eerie similarity to the voice of Samus he heard during the battle of the Whisperhead
mountains. The very same voice that had corrupted Battle
Brother Xavier Jubal on 63-19. He warned the Warmaster, but Horus had no
intention of turning back now. Just like before the voice was simply disregarded
as enemy propaganda, or a cowardly scare tactic. But the origin of the audio signal was traced,
and they adjusted course to where they suspected it was coming from, for that is where the
enemy was most likely to be located. It led them to an old Imperial Battleship
by the name of Emperor’s Glory. The traitors had crash landed it on the planet
and it now served as the rebel base. The Astartes disembarked from their Stormbirds
into knee deep swampy water. The foes they encountered were indeed the
rebel Imperial Army forces under leadership of the traitorous Governor Eugen Temba. But just like the planet, they had changed. Their soldiers had turned into zombie-like
corpses, their former Imperial Army uniforms raggedly hanging from their decaying bodies. They attacked the Sons of Horus in large mindless
waves. Arms came up from the murky waters and dragged
many Space Marines down into the swamps, drowning many of them. Despite the attackers' ghastly lifeless appearance
they possessed a brute force, and it took the Astartes all of their discipline to fight
off the attacks. Horus personally led the speartip of the astartes
force into the downed Starship. But as they battled their way deep into the
belly of the ship, the Emperor’s Glory started to tilt. Enormous waves of swamp water splashed out
of the way as the wreckage of the large ship rolled over. Those on the outside close enough to the ship
were swallowed by the mud or crushed underneath the hull of the ship. Inside Horus and 200 of his Astartes were
tumbled upside down. Rusted steel decklayers gave way to the weight
of the ship and collapsed, crushing many space marines to death despite their protective
power armor. Due to his near indestructible suit of Power
Armour Horus survived the incident, but non the less one of his lungs was punctured by
a steel rod. He pulled it out and his enhanced physiology
almost instantly sealed the wound. But he found himself alone with no response
to his vox signals. Despite hearing many groans and shouts of
wounded Space Marines echo throughout the remnants of the ship, he had no hope of finding
them in the confusing wreckage. He pushed on and soon arrived on what looked
like the command bridge of the ship. The warp was strong here and his vision was
troubled by hallucinations of decay. He felt disturbed. Not even when fighting the menacing Warboss
back on Ullanor had he felt such a thing. For the first time in his life, Horus was
afraid. He was confronted by a walking bloated rotten
corpse wearing the remnants of an old Imperial uniform that belonged to Eugen Temba. Horus realized his old friend was possessed
by the powers of the warp. Unbeknownst to the Warmaster, the demon that
controlled Eugen’s corpse also carried a special sword; The Anathame. The very xenos weapon Erebus had stolen from
the Interex Museum of Technology on Xenobia. With clashing swords they dueled inside of
the ship’s wreckage. Although the rotten body moved with surprising
speed, the demon ultimately proved no match for the mighty Primarch. Horus wanted to bring an end to the horrors
swiftly, and so committed to a murderous but reckless stroke. As he struck down his foe the stolen Anathame
blade pierced his arm. The demon lost control of the Xenos sword
and both fell down to the ground. Without the blade the demon was defeated,
and it departed from the decaying body. Relieved of the demonic possession, for a
moment the real Eugen Temba came back to himself. His mortally wounded body still bloated and
rotten, but alive. With his last breath he asked Horus for forgiveness,
and then died right there in the Primarchs arms. In the lonely bowels of the wrecked ship,
Horus was overcome by emotion and wept for his lost friend. Outside of the ship the Legio Mortis had arrived. The titans did what they could to stop the
hordes, but their bulky weapons had been of little assistance to the struggling space
marines fighting in hand-to-hand combat in the swamps below. Dozens of Astartes had already died. But as soon as Horus had defeated the demon,
the attacking undead suddenly stopped. Their bodies collapsed and simply became unmoving
corpses. The warp possession on Davin had lifted, and
the moon started to recover back to its former desert biosphere. The members of the mournival searched the
wreckage and found the Warmaster still bleeding and in shock on the command bridge. They escorted him outside, but to their surprise
he collapsed to the ground and fell unconscious. With great speed they carried his body to
a Stormbird and rushed back to the medicae station on Horus’ Flagship the Vengeful
Spirit. But upon the return of the Stormbirds, a crowd
of remembrancers flocked to the embarkation deck to catch the first news of the anticipated
victory over the rebels. But Horus was in a critical condition and
the mournival was in no mood to slow down for the crowd of people that were now blocking
their way. They violently clubbed and pushed themselves
a path through the assembled mob, killing more than a dozen remembrancers and crewmembers
on their way to the medicae. But unfortunately their haste would not be
rewarded. No matter what the legion’s apothecaries
tried, they could not heal his wound. The mysterious mortal wound caused by the
Anathame was beyond their knowledge. The cut in his arm would not stop bleeding,
and if nothing was done the Warmaster would eventually bleed out, and die. Garviel Loken, Tarick Torgaddon and Nero Vipus
rushed back to the surface in search of the weapon that had caused the wound in hopes
that it would help them find a cure.They found the Anathame In the wreckage next to the rotting
corpse of Eugen Temba where Horus had slain him. Garviel recognized the blade; he had seen
it in the Interex museum on Xenobia before it was stolen. Only one person could have brought it to Davin
before the 63rd Expeditionary fleet had arrived; Erebus. But why? What would anyone have to gain from killing
the Warmaster? Who else was behind this plot? Whatever the answer to these questions might
be, it was already too late. The other two members of the mournival, Abbaddon
and Aximand, had remained on the Vengeful Spirit. While Horus was slowly dying, they had been
summoned to an emergency warrior Lodge meeting by Erebus. The Word bearers Chaplain informed them of
a place where the Warmaster might be healed; A shrine on the moon of Davin called the serpent's
Temple. It was clear the Legion’s Apothecarys would
not be able to save him, and so the arcane healing methods of the Davin Shaman was their
last hope. Desperate for anything that could keep their
beloved Primarch alive they followed Erebus advice. They had put the unconscious body of Horus
in a stasis field to prolong his life, and quickly brought him to the temple on the moon’s
surface. When the others finally arrived at the temple,
the gates had already been locked and sealed. Abaddon, Aximand and several other Sons of
Horus stood guard outside. But Chaplain Erebus was nowhere to be found. The Astartes blocked the way in to prevent
anyone from interrupting the healing ceremony that had already begun. All of them had their bolters ready and loaded
in case of conflict. Loken was reluctant to fight his own sworn
brothers, and was ultimately forced to yield to their questionable decision. Obviously the reliance on some mysterious
shamanistic ritual was a complete abandonment of the secular Imperial truth as it had been
commanded by the Emperor. But the Emperor wasn’t here. He had left the Great crusade and ordered
his favorite son Horus Lupercal to pick up the pieces. The forces of the warp, whatever they may
be, had conspired against him and prevailed. But the Sons of Horus, and the members of
the mournival specifically, could not bear the loss of their genefather. He was on the brink of death, and they had
to make a decision. And so, despite everything the Imperium stood
for, in a desperate move the fate of Horus was put in the hands of these witchdoctors. After eight days the gates would open again,
and the Sons of Horus would find out if the Warmaster would live, or perish.
