Warhammer [570-572] (Patreon)

Chapter 570: The Lost Khan, Ten Millennia Have Passed

The sudden appearance of the Laughing God startled the bike-borne warband. The White Scars Space Marine accompanying Jaghatai Khan snapped up his bolter and leveled it at the clownish xenos in a plaid shirt.

"Don't get the wrong idea! I'm here to get you out," the Laughing God, Cegorach, said quickly, raising both hands.

"We don't trust a single word out of a xenos' mouth! We came here precisely to deal with those Dark Eldar," one of the White Scars barked.

"You've been trapped here a very long time. The terrain is extremely complex, and I know this place best. Every tunnel, every corner—I know them all. Only I can lead you out," the Laughing God replied.

He was doing his best to avoid provoking them, to lead them out safely. These guys had been wandering the Webway for so many years, and yet had no sense of time passing.

"We'll find our own way," Jaghatai Khan said.

He had brought his personal guard into this place to hunt these so-called Dark Eldar. They weren't the Drukhari he was familiar with, but probably Harlequins.

He'd glimpsed their kind before, while racing through the Webway.

"Listen, lads, you don't even know how long you've been stuck here. If I tell you, you might jump out of your saddles. Don't you feel like you've been away for a very, very long time?" the Laughing God asked.

Sometimes the Warp is like that. The Webway isn't the Warp, but it's carved through the interstice between the Warp and realspace. There is no real concept of time in here.

Otherwise, those Space Marines with the Khan would never have lasted ten thousand years—they'd have grown old and died long ago.

"Xenos, what do you mean by that?" Jaghatai frowned.

They had indeed been riding for a long while—well, not more than a year or two, surely. Could something have happened outside in those one or two years in the Webway?

"How long do you think you've been here?" the Laughing God asked.

"A year at most, maybe just a few months," Jaghatai said.

The Laughing God nearly choked, then burst out laughing, rolling on the ground. These guys were hilarious—no more than a year?

How did you conclude that? In the Webway, you can't feel time slip by at all.

"Xenos! What are you laughing at? Are you mocking me?" Jaghatai demanded.

"I'm laughing at the joke of it. You haven't been here a year. It's been far, far longer—so long you can hardly believe it.

Friend, you've been away from your Legion for a full ten thousand years. By your human calendar, it is now the 42nd Millennium.

You've been riding here for ten millennia," the Laughing God, Cegorach, said with a sigh.

At that, the White Scars went wide-eyed, then stared in disbelief at the Laughing God.

This garish clown must be lying. How could ten thousand years have passed?

If it had, the Primarch could survive, sure—but they themselves could not. Astartes live at most a thousand years.

"Is this a joke, clown? I know how long I've been here—we haven't been gone for ten thousand years," Jaghatai said.

"You know there is no time in the Warp. Enter the Warp without the Astronomican, without Navigators, and you might be lost—emerge who knows when. Even with the Astronomican and Navigators, you can still be lost.

Where you are now was carved by an ancient species over sixty million years ago.

It lies in the seam between Warp and realspace, deeply bound to the Warp. So there's no real sense of time here either," the Laughing God patiently explained the relation between the Warp and the Webway.

"Nonsense. If that much time had passed, our bikes and gear would have rotted away.

We ourselves would have grown old and died. We couldn't possibly live that long," a White Scar protested.

"I'm not lying. Didn't I just explain? Time has no meaning here. You don't feel your actions at all.

You've been riding for a full ten thousand years—running without cease, never feeling hunger, never even resting," the Laughing God said.

In truth, in the Webway, the Aeldari had encountered this White Scars Khan and his forces before.

Their records noted several raiding parties that had crossed paths with these White Scars.

Half of those raiders were annihilated by the White Scars; the rest fled. A Primarch leading his gene-sons can unleash unimaginable might—the Drukhari wanted no part of this Khan thundering through the Webway.

So, when he entered the Webway to make trouble, they sent teams to lure him deeper into older, more complex sections, until the human Primarch became thoroughly lost.

These ancient Webway systems—besides their creators, the Old Ones—the only one truly familiar with them is me. Only I could find Jaghatai Khan; no one else could!

The White Scars exchanged glances, then turned as one to their gene-father, Jaghatai Khan, awaiting his judgment.

"If we have truly been here ten thousand years—what of the Imperium? What of my father? Has he risen from the Golden Throne?" Jaghatai asked.

"For the first ten thousand years, your father fared poorly. His body suffered irreversible damage in the duel with Horus—he was on the brink of physical death.

There were only two ways to save him. One was to abandon his flesh and enter the Warp, ascending as a fifth Chaos God."

"You lie. My father would never do that."

The Laughing God hadn't finished before Jaghatai cut him off. He knew his father too well—no matter what, his father would never sink to becoming a Warp god, the very thing he despised most.

If he'd intended that, he would've done it before the duel with Horus.

"So I'll give the second possibility: he took the Golden Throne, and his body began to decay. After ten thousand years he became a mummified corpse.

Your enemies even call him the 'Corpse-Emperor.' In those ten millennia, the Imperium changed beyond recognition.

The world you knew is gone. What lies ahead is unknown—but I think you can adapt," the Laughing God said.

Since Rhodes appeared, he'd found the Primarchs one by one. Vulcan was found by him personally, but the others owed their return to this figure.

Now was the best time for Jaghatai Khan to return. Had he returned a few years earlier, he might have thought his father's Imperium had been usurped.

"If you want, I can tell you in detail what happened to the Imperium in these ten thousand years."

"Have we truly been lost here for ten millennia, and the Imperium is now like this?" Jaghatai murmured.

Deep down, he sensed the clown wasn't lying. They truly had been here a very, very long time—so long he himself had forgotten.

It was a feeling beyond words—the psychic intuition of a Primarch.

Jaghatai looked back. Of those who'd ridden into the Webway with him, only a dozen remained from the hundreds.

These were his personal guard, yet one by one, comrades had fallen as they went deeper, until they forgot the very concept of time.

Looking back now, he realized he had lost so many gene-sons—that he was far from where he began.

"Not all news has been bad in recent decades. Someone named Rhodes saved your Imperium and created new Primarchs, even helped your father, the Emperor of Mankind,

regain some strength—he can even speak upon the Throne. You'll see for yourself," the Laughing God said.

"We really should go back. My sons—it's time to go home. I can feel it—my father needs me.

He needed me long ago, but I've been lost—lost in here," Jaghatai said.

"But gene-father, can we trust this xenos? Why would he help us?"

"Don't misunderstand. Helping you helps me. The Aeldari and humanity are allied now. You may use our Webway. That's why I came to take you out," the Laughing God said,

and opened a rift.

Chapter 571: The Khan Returns, Reunited on Terra

That passage led straight to Holy Terra, where Rhodes and the Emperor were stripping away a Chaos god-fragment. The Laughing God could open this path thanks to Tartarus' help on Rhodes's side.

As soon as he found Jaghatai Khan, the Laughing God notified Rhodes.

Rhodes thought well of this little god. The clown knew how to read the room.

The Death God of the Aeldari had caused some friction, but the Laughing God's handling left Rhodes satisfied. His message was simple: don't kill, keep our alliance intact, and we're fine.

"Where does that lead? Is that Holy Terra? Are we—" Jaghatai's lips trembled.

The Laughing God's grin vanished. The painted mask turned unusually solemn. "Listen, Jaghatai. While hunting Drukhari, you rode into a forgotten web—an Old One living labyrinth used to imprison C'tan.

Each circuit consumes the hunter's sense of time, like—" He flipped out a deck of cards; the top card showed a serpent chasing its tail.

"You've been trapped, unable to sense the flow of time. Now our peoples are allied—we fight Chaos together!

We stand against every doom species in the galaxy. Our cooperation is going well. I was commissioned by the Lord of Humanity and the Primarchs to save you.

I even rescued another Primarch—the Lord of the Salamanders—from the Ork gods," the Laughing God continued, explaining the current situation and his efforts.

"Gene-father, what should we do? Is that really Holy Terra?" a White Scar asked.

Could the warp-tunnel truly take them home? Back to realspace?

Was this an evil xenos' plot? An illusion?

"This eternal chase—this endless ride—is over!

I believe you. I'll trust you xenos this once," Jaghatai said.

If so much time had passed, he had to return to the Imperium, to his sons, to his Chapter.

"Come! Follow me. I'll take you home, son of the Emperor," the Laughing God said.

The White Scars took one last look at the endless road of the Hunt. Engines roared like thunder.

As the column plunged into the prismatic tunnel, they didn't notice their armor shedding ten millennia of dust, nor their packs suddenly showing the correct date—M42.028.

It was the thirty-oddth year since Rhodes arrived in the 40K universe, and ten-plus thousand years since the White Scars' Primarch disappeared.

Seeing that date, every White Scar was struck dumb with shock.

They had truly raced through the Webway for over ten thousand years. Unbelievable—impossible—in their minds, hardly any time had passed!

"There are precedents. Human ships have wandered the Warp for a thousand years. We merely lost our way for ten thousand," Jaghatai clapped a son's shoulder.

Truth be told, he too was shaken. He had been gone for a millennium of millennia. But as a leader, he had to remain composed.

If he faltered, what of his sons?

Within the Imperial Palace, a squad of Custodes awaited them.

At the sight, Jaghatai finally relaxed.

Those guards never leave his father's side. If they were here, he hadn't trusted the wrong being—they truly were back on Holy Terra.

"Jaghatai Khan, welcome home—to the Imperium, to Holy Terra, to the sacred heart of mankind," said the leading Custodian, Ultraman, with a bow.

"Yes. You are my father's Custodes. Is it truly the 42nd Millennium?" Jaghatai asked.

He'd missed over ten thousand birthdays—in a blink, the not-yet-millennial Khan had become a man of ten thousand years.

"It's complicated. You truly were lost in the Webway for ten millennia. Much has happened. But first, I'll take you to the Emperor," Ultraman said.

Jaghatai dismounted from his great white bike. The dozen White Scars followed close behind, gazing at this palace both familiar and strange.

Led by the Custodes, they went deeper into the palace. Besides Custodes, there were Space Marines—massive, nearly matching the Custodes in stature!

"They are the new-era Astartes—Primaris Super Space Marines. They merge advantages from Lord Rhodes's Supers and Belisarius Cawl's Primaris, with added superhuman organs,

and improved gene-seed. Each one can match an ordinary Custodian," Ultraman explained.

The new Astartes' combat power far exceeded what the old-era Firstborn imagined. Even mortal auxilia now nearly rivaled Firstborn in physique.

"Incredible. Can my sons undergo this upgrade?" Jaghatai asked.

"Of course. It's open to all Legions. Your Legion already uses it—over eighty percent have been upgraded.

But the new perfect gene-seed needs your cooperation to extract. The old seed is somewhat outdated," Ultraman said.

Rhodes had found the Primarchs; all had fused with Cosmic Beast, gaining gigantification and overwhelming power in realspace.

Their gene-seeds were vastly improved. Marines born of the new, perfect seed would be stronger and more efficient.

"How do we extract this perfect gene-seed?" Jaghatai asked.

"His Majesty and Lord Rhodes will brief you. All Primarchs have completed their upgrades—you're stronger than before," Ultraman said.

Some things he could tell this long-lost Khan; others only the Emperor and lords could say.

The Cosmic Beast project was classified; only those recognized by Rhodes and meritorious to the Imperium could wield it. Another route to gigantification was the ultrasaur surgical augmentations.

Soon they stood before the Golden Throne. After ten thousand years, Jaghatai saw his father again—and several strangers.

One giant in black, dangerous armor. A slender female glowing with white light.

Darkness and light—a strange pairing.

Another was a green-aura Aeldari woman—the life-goddess, it seemed, confirming the Laughing God's claim of an alliance. And a man shining crimson—likely Rhodes, the new-era Primarch.

"Father!" Jaghatai knelt before the Throne.

They seemed to be doing something. Below, a figure in purple armor lay indistinct, while above him a diamond-shaped object was being pulled free.

"We are in the midst of a critical task, Jaghatai. I can spare only a moment. Guilliman will brief you on the ten millennia and prepare a Cosmic Beast for you," the Emperor said.

When Rhodes told him Jaghatai would return, the Emperor had already arranged with Rhodes to prepare a suitable beast. The Khan's return meant another Primarch back for the Imperium.

At this critical juncture against Chaos, Jaghatai's strength was vital.

"Father, why are you so gaunt?" Jaghatai asked.

The Emperor was emaciated, frail—a far cry from the towering, mighty figure he remembered.

"He's well now. You didn't see him twenty years ago—he wasn't even a proper mummy," a voice said behind Jaghatai.

At that voice, Jaghatai's expression changed. His white saber flashed free.

He would never forget that voice—Magnus, the traitor to mankind and the Imperium.

"How dare you appear here! Who let you in?" Jaghatai thundered.

"Easy, brother. I've returned to the Imperium. Things weren't as you think. I went to Chaos as Father's infiltrator," Magnus blurted.

Every returning Primarch reacted like this upon seeing him.

"Jaghatai, it's as Magnus says. He accepted my special task to infiltrate the Chaos Powers and completed it perfectly.

He endured disgrace for years until I brought him back. Without him periodically taking the Throne's burden, I wouldn't look like this—I'd be a bare skeleton," the Emperor said.

Jaghatai eased, sheathing his blade.

"So that's how it is. My apologies, Magnus. I thought you'd betrayed Father like Horus," Jaghatai said.

Rhodes shook his head silently. Brother, you might not know—Horus has returned too. He was the first revived by the Emperor.

In truth, the first Primarch to fall wasn't Ferrus Manus, but Horus. The instant Chaos corrupted him, the Four tore apart his soul, erasing his feelings, turning him into a perfect war engine against the Emperor.

"Come, Jaghatai. I'll take you to Guilliman. He can't come greet you himself. I can also show you another brother—though he's not in a good state," Magnus said.

"Father, what are you doing? That presence below feels familiar. And that diamond thing—it fills me with dread," Jaghatai asked.

A Primarch shouldn't question the Emperor's work, but curiosity burned—whatever it was, it was formidable.

"A Chaos god-shard. The one below is Fulgrim—though he's already dead," Rhodes answered for the Emperor.

The Emperor had to focus on stripping the shard; the main force here was Emperor, a Chaos-god-level being. No one else matched that.

"I understand. New brother, Father, allies—carry on. I'll let no one disturb you," Jaghatai nodded, then left the palace with Magnus.

Next, they met Guilliman and Malcador, both hard at work.

Seeing Malcador alive, Jaghatai was overwhelmed—he never thought his old friend had returned.

"Haha! I did die—but for certain reasons was revived. All thanks to Rhodes," Malcador said.

"Welcome home, brother," Guilliman nodded to Jaghatai.

"I have many questions!"

"I'm busy, but I can talk while I work," Guilliman said.

In the exchange that followed, Jaghatai learned what had befallen the Imperium.

Chapter 572: Raptor Beast Horoboros, the Night Fang

"I didn't expect Horus and Lorgar—or rather, that clone—to return to the Imperium," Jaghatai said.

Magnus' return made sense—an undercover assignment. But Horus was the Arch-Traitor!

And yet Father had forgiven him and restored him to the Primarchs.

"There's a lot to it. Father says whoever sat as Warmaster would have been corrupted. Horus was, in a sense, the first Primarch to fall," Guilliman said.

"And Lorgar's clone—why not Lorgar himself?" Jaghatai asked.

"Impossible. You know him. He once worshiped Father as a god, but afterward his only god was another," Guilliman said.

They spoke of Guilliman's resurrection, fighting alongside Rhodes at Baal, the Terran Crusade, the liberation of Terra,

the defeat of the Tyranids and Orks, the alliance with the Aeldari,

the foiling of the Death God of Chaos, the gradual return of the Primarchs, the Indomitus Crusade's triumph over a Chaos god at Vigilus, and the destruction of Fulgrim.

"Stirring battles. Just hearing them makes me want to join," Jaghatai said, eyes alight.

These decades were more epic than the Imperium's prior ten thousand years—one great war after another.

Especially the new threat—Tyranids. From Guilliman's tone, their danger to humanity was immense.

"Now, we face an unprecedented trial. Chaos ravages the Imperium Nihilus. All our brothers have gone there to fight.

We must win—and annihilate a Chaos god," Guilliman said.

"Hahaha! For Humanity, for the Imperium, for Father!

I'll join this war. I'll return to Chogoris at once, rally my gene-sons, and launch a grand crusade into the Imperium Nihilus to aid our brothers," Jaghatai declared.

Where the Imperium needs him and his riders, they will go.

"Many White Scars are already in the Indomitus fleets and the Nihilus crusades. Though their Primarch was absent, your sons have never ceased to fight.

With you to lead them, they'll blaze even brighter, and the Imperium will be more united than ever," Guilliman said.

Jaghatai's return would lift morale again. But first, an upgrade—like Corax.

Otherwise, in his current state, he might be weaker than a dreadnought with ultrasaur augmentation.

"Rhodes has a Cosmic Beast ready for you. Fuse with it, master its power,

then extract a new perfect gene-seed. Take special organs home, and muster the Legion," Guilliman said.

As he spoke with Jaghatai, Guilliman contacted Rhodes via psychic link.

Unlike Corax, who needed Chaos purged first, Jaghatai was intact and could fuse immediately.

"Rhodes, how's Jaghatai's beast? What will you give him?" Guilliman asked.

"I'm still considering. Ask his preferences—what attributes, what form—and I'll prepare it," Rhodes said.

Speed type? Power type? What element? Let him choose.

Guilliman nodded and relayed the question, also describing his own Black Tortoise—ultimate defense.

"I'm not picky. If I must choose—eagles, grey wolves, white stags. A mighty raptor or a wolf," Jaghatai said.

Guilliman relayed it.

Eagles, grey wolves, white stags—the symbols of the steppe.

So—a great eagle, or a giant wolf.

Rhodes had two wolf-types in hand, earmarked for the Wolves—one had already lent genes to upgrade old Bjorn.

For birds, there was Bemstar or Firebird Birdon—both already bonded. A stronger raptor? There was Terochess from Ultraman—but at only 18,000 tons and a terrestrial origin, too weak even after phantasmization.

Summon a new Bemstar? Or reuse Birdon from the Tyranid war and phantasmize it?

"Rhodes, you can handle Jaghatai's case now. You're not critical here," the Emperor's voice sounded in Rhodes's mind.

Emperor was the main force; the others merely suppressed the shard. Rhodes's job had been to sort Fulgrim's powers, but Fulgrim was dead in body, soul, and spirit.

So Rhodes had been basically redundant, only needed at the end to open a pocket dimension when the shard was stripped.

The Emperor wanted Rhodes to peel off and handle current Imperial issues. Magnus or Malcador could cover Rhodes's share.

"Understood. I'll also purge the Chaos from Corax and bring both Primarchs into the Nihilus war," Rhodes said, leaving the palace and the shard-stripping to the Emperor, the Life Goddess, and his three subordinates.

Soon Rhodes stood before Guilliman and Jaghatai.

"Rhodes, you're not needed for the shard?" Guilliman asked.

Jaghatai nodded a greeting.

"Not urgently. My team and the Emperor can handle it.

I'm here to prepare Jaghatai's cosmic beast and to cleanse Corax of Chaos and prepare his beast as well," Rhodes said.

"Good. I was going to ask you after the shard work," Guilliman said.

"Corax? What happened? Why didn't you tell me?" Jaghatai frowned.

"Apologies. I withheld part of it. Corax has returned, but in a special state. Over the long years,

he lingered in Warp realms, unknowingly transforming fully into Chaos.

Plus Fulgrim's frame-up—he became a Daemon Prince," Guilliman sighed.

"Damn it! How did that happen? Rhodes, you can save him?" Jaghatai asked.

"Of course. I'll summon Emperor Avatars and, with their psychic might and cosmic beast power, purge the Chaos and rebuild him a new body," Rhodes said.

Impossible for others, easy for him.

He could summon the First Emperor Avatar, then dozens more, use their psychic power to scour Corax, protect his soul with phantasm power, utterly purge Chaos,

then use Yapool tech to craft a body stronger than a Primarch's. As for Corax's monster—since he's the Raven Lord, give him a dark or corvid beast.

"I'll list some candidates—discuss and choose," Rhodes said, projecting profiles so the Primarchs could consider temperaments.

"Rhodes, I've decided—I want the raptor beast Horoboros," Jaghatai chose a red-and-white-feathered, powerful bird.

Horoboros first appeared in Ultraman R/B episode 5, fierce and warlike. Max speed Mach 8, vast wings that whip up tornadoes with winds over 90 m/s.

It stands 55 meters tall, 20,000 tons, commands storms.

It wields the power of gales; fully enhanced it reaches 62.5 meters and 30,000 tons.

Price: 100,000 coins; maxing it out costs under 30,000 more—respectable mid-tier.

Great look—though in a real fight, Rhodes reckoned even an unenhanced Bemstar might beat it.

"How about its variant—the Wind Demon King Basser? Stronger and scales better," Rhodes suggested.

Pricier than Horoboros, but slightly stronger—same family, but a king.

"I like the white plumage. Same lineage means similar power—storm either way," Jaghatai said.

Rhodes shrugged. The Khan was saving him money? Fine—same species, with evolution potential.

He redeemed the raptor, maxed its enhancements, spent a million system coins to phantasmize it, then handed it to Jaghatai for fusion.

After fusing, red-and-white wings unfurled from Jaghatai's back. His hands bore eagle talons that could, at a thought, merge into a power scimitar.

He could now gigantify in battle—his strength surged. The raptor suited him perfectly.

"Much obliged, Rhodes. It fits the steppe eagles of home," Jaghatai said, power newly aflame.

"Don't mention it. Next—the other beast. For Corax, I've picked Night Fang, a powerful shadow-type.

Height 62 meters, mass 62,000 tons—poison and darkness attributes, with sonic attacks," Rhodes said.

With Jaghatai set, Rhodes picked a fitting monster for the Raven Lord. It appears in Ultraman Taiga, decent combat power,

and its shadow and venom powers match the Raven Lord well.