{oOo}

Smoke clouded the sky, coming from the shattered ground and the broken bodies that lay upon it. Wretched men and women, their bodies warped willingly by eldritch powers, bleed out in rivers of blood and gore. Their forms perverted, the followers of Chaos had known no pain as they raged against their enemies. But it had done them no good, in the end, for despite this their bodies fell apart all the same. Among them lay slimmer, more elegant forms, armor made of a material not unlike ivory. When they bled, the crimson fluid changed to red gem stones, shimmering in the morning light.

"I can feel the call… of the Infinite…" a deep, sonorous voice called, coming from a slender giant. Its body was riddled with cracks, and one leg had been blown off completely. It right arm was a charred lump, attached to the body only because it had been fused there, and a huge hole rested where its chest armor once was.

Beside it, a smaller form garbed in flowing black robes and the same ivory armor knelt, energy crackling off her fingers as she tried desperately to repair the fallen colossus. Her black hair covered her face as she bent down, drawing on more and more power to fix the broken body of the maimed construct. But she was not a Bonsinger. The ways of manipulating the wraiththbone were beyond her. At best she just delayed the inevitable, like holding back a river with just her two hands.

"No, Father! Please, don't go!"

"Dear child… My wraithbone is cracked… My will fades."

"I can repair you! You can't leave me again!"

"So young… I left you so young. I'm so sorry… my dear child."

She buried her face in his armor, the cold of it making her tears burn even hotter. She shook her head. "It's not your fault, Father. It was never your fault."

The Wraithlord was silent, for a time, before gently lifting his child's face with his remaining arm. With a large, impossibly long finger it brushed the tears away. She grasped it, holding it as long as she could before the weight of it took it from her grip.

"My… soul stone… Please take it."

"Of course, Father."

The long, tapered head leaned back, the intelligence leaving the broken shell. The cracks grew, like the sound of bones snapping. Already she could feel what little warmth his spirit gave leaving the ruined body he had worn for so long.

"Save… the others…"

The light faded from its eyes, and the Warlock sobbed as she gently took the soul stone from its place of reverence.

"Father…"

She screamed to the sky, her power creating a small storm all around her that tore up the ground and sent some nearby corpses flying.

"Why! Why is this happening! What more do you want!" The storm grew in size, and the ground trembled as she wailed. "Haven't we suffered enough?"

She collapsed, clutching her Father's crystalized spirit, holding it close. All around her psychic might faded, the atmosphere returning to normal as the ground ceased its shaking. It left her exhausted, her power gushing out uncontrolled like that, but she hardly noticed it. She shuddered and cried, having lost her parent for the second time in her relatively short life.

A rasping laugh took her attention, and she looked to see one of the cultists. Mortally wounded, yet not dead, he looked at her with eyes full of madness. He lifted his head and spoke, his voice more pitched than it should have been, like he was high on some narcotic.

"She desires your souls, Xeno," he said through a gurgle of blood. "Slaanesh desires the souls of every Eldar, and She will have them. That is your fate, the destiny of your race!"

He let out a cackle, the sound of it steeped in insanity, before with a furious roar the Warlock plunged her blade into his throat, nearly taking off his head. Even as he died, the man smiled, the rictus grin still chuckling at the futility of her anger. With a grunt, she pulled the sword out and stabbed the corpse again through the eye before finally her rage left her, replaced with a grim determination.

"No," she whispered. "I deny this fate! I deny it! I deny you, Thirster!"

She stood, her father's soul clutched to her chest and her bloodied sword at her side. She strode forth, her fathers words ringing in her mind, begging for her to save the others. Begging her to save her species from an end far worse than death.

"I will save them, Father," she closed her eyes to keep the tears back. There was no time for crying now. "I will save them."

And on the blasted earth and ash filled air, the web of fate shifted, and the destiny of two species changed as the Warlock followed the silver song she heard so far away.

{oOo}