Kaeliu was burning.
Steiroel regarded the mon-keigh city with passive eyes. The planetary invasion had gone successfully; the Thousand Sons were defiling the soil, as they often did, and unleashing various daemons.
Combating them would be wise in some ways, but Chaos too had its uses. The Farseers had said that the Great Enemy would not be able to use this world; it had been poisoned, and the Warp traces would in the long run only weaken Tzeentch. Simultaneously, a prosperous agri-world would be destroyed, slowing the Imperium's advance and preventing them from launching a potential assault on Ulthwe itself. The mon-keigh had gotten too… rowdy recently. Alaitoc…
All of this, of course, would only happen if the rituals succeeded. Thus, the Blood Ravens battle-barge currently in orbit was quite worrying.
With a final whiff of the polluted smoke, Steiroel walked onto the lander's surface. It would lift off in seconds, and yet there was time to discreetly probe the dying city. Psychic screams erupted into the Warp- not from the civilians, but from the Astartes. The stench of corpses was only slightly tangible on the growing wind. Below, the living metal of the spacecraft. Above, an eye in the heavens.
An eye that would remind Steiroel, always, of the infinite folly of his race.
The Autarch climbed into his personal vessel as it left the failing atmosphere of the agri-world behind.
The ascent took minutes, and the growing storm spreading from Kaeliu was clearly visible even from a low altitude. It was a vivid splotch that pained the eye, though not nearly as much as some other incantations of Chaos. At the same time, a spot of white was visible, faintly growing through the hurricane.
The lander attached to Steiroel's flagship, and he walked onto the deck, bearing towards the point where his pilots were going to dock the Blood Ravens. Jaeris had agreed to meet with them- a convenient courtesy, and one that saved his life.
Kent Jaeris, Captain of the Blood Ravens, walked onto the xeno vessel with some trepidation and hate. Koan had insisted that this was completely safe, but given that these were the Eldar Jaeris could never feel completely safe.
Besides, that had been Koan.
The leader- at least, Jaeris assumed the one with the fancy helmet leader- seemed to smile under his helmet. "Now, will we discuss the situations here or-"
"Here," Jaeris said abruptly, "unless you have anything classified to tell me."
"The information I will supply is not secret, but quite straightforward. I would simply like to tell you that you need to return to the Aurelia subsector. A civil war is beginning within your Chapter."
That was indeed quite straightforward- and quite unbelievable. Azariah Kyras had the Blood Ravens well in hand!
"What you are suggesting is heresy!"
"No, heresy is what threatens your integrity."
Jaeris nodded, and turned around. "This discussion is complete. Incidentally, how do you know?"
"The Seers. Moreover, we do have contact with our brethren closer to the disaster zone."
"Seers lie."
"Not to… this extent."
Jaeris left without further comment, walking back onto the Battle Barge.
"Captain?"
"Yes, Librarian Jekir?"
"You're not actually going to return, are you?"
Jaeris responded by keeping his blank stare.
"Captain?"
"The seed of doubt, once planted, grows into a powerful tree. I doubt that there is indeed a Chapter war, but we must be prepared for anything. Librarian Koan Jekir, you did not see impending doom, yet you have been wrong before."
"Captain Jaeris…"
"I doubt them. I really do. But this world needs us less than our own. The Warp is clear, and if we will return we should do so now. And we must return. I cannot win this with the knowledge that I might doom my Chapter and fail Kyras."
"The idea has infected your mind, has it not?"
"Yes," Kent admitted, "but I cannot do anything else. Doubt is a powerful contagion, and the ways of the Eldar are such that I doubt them. We will go back."
The receding whispers of the Astartes were perfectly audible to Autarch Steiroel's ears. The machines and armor of the mon-keigh whirred, and with their leaders the Blood Ravens began disengaging.
Steiroel left. This was not the time for action; getting rid of the Blood Ravens had been even easier than predicted, and it was now time to use the Warhost he led.
Still, there was something. The Librarian- Koan- had been too weak to discern the calamity about to befall his Chapter. Yet Jaeris had made the right choice nevertheless.
"Seers lie."
He had been a Seer himself once. He hadn't been very good at it, though: there was always the fear, not so much of the Warp as of failure. He was not perfect, and those above him were often even less so.
"Seers lie."
But they did. Prediction of the future often hurt the Eldar more than it helped them. The same, of course, was true of the mon-keigh. Overconfidence and pride- they had been the downfall of the Empire.
The Empire that was now contained within the red eye, gazing at Steiroel between the stars. Red shadows seemed to move within it, a signal to any stargazers not to look any closer.
They had failed then. They had failed to realize the weaknesses of their own kind, of the gifts bestowed on them by the Old Ones.
"Seers lie."
Steiroel pushed the thoughts away. Though it was unreliable, foresight was a great gift. Ulthwe was still the most powerful Craftworld, and it was led by Farseers. It was the Farseers that now steered the Autarch, after all.
Yet through all of it, the seed remained.