The fleet that moved over the world that had once been Krieg was as vast a fleet as any that anyone in the thunderhawk had ever served beside. Over one hundred ships, with thousands of troop transports and perhaps millions of fighting men in their sprawling metal bellies, drifted like clouds over the world below them. Proud imperial symbols stuck defiantly out against the crushing depths of space, challenging the unholy world below them. Prows shaped like eagles, beautiful spites atop the larger battleships and long, carved cannon were what the fleet presented to the pale ball below them. Amongst the fleet were battleships from three space marine chapters. These were the Raven Guard, the Space Wolves, and the Dark Angels. Of the Dark Angel ships, there was only a single small escort craft. From its ancient launch tube had come Usoran's thunderhawk.

"Are you sure this is the proper course of action?" asked Brother librarian Jailarian to Usoran. "Perhaps it would be best to consult first with inquisitorial reports."

"My dreams have been…clear. I hate to say it, but they are what promise me this place," replied Usoran. Under any other circumstances, he would be investigated. But the sword that had since replaced his chainsword, the sword of Cypher, had been extensively examined by the chapter and by the inquisiton. It was pure and there was mounting evidence that it was indeed the Lion Sword as Usoran believed.

"Since you picked up that sword, you have spoken of visions," Brother Ryanson said from the back. "How do you know that what you see is not Tzeench himself?" Usoran fingered the hilt of the sword, of the Lion Sword. He was sure of it.

"My faith is in the Emperor. And were this blade cursed, I might have reason to doubt the words I have heard," Usoran looked at Ryanson. "Brother, these are my orders. We are to land in the northlands of Krieg, where my dream told me I would find a prize. Do not doubt that." Ryanson sighed as the thunderhawk entered the daemon world's clouds and entered into a punishing dive to the surface. Usoran's stomach lurched and his hearts raced.

"Dark angels," Usoran spoke, "lord we offer our lives."

"Our courage and our faith," rumbled the thunderhawk's compartment as the Dark Angels replied together.

"By our gods and our Emperor," said Usoran. Over the speakers, Usoran heard the pilot warn him that a crashed ship had been sighted on the coordinates that Usoran had passed to him

"So be it the day," finished the others. Usoran patted his sword, it had to have been Lion El'Jonson's in the past, and prepared to rise up. With a shake, the thunderhawk landed, the distant pops of its guns laying suppressive fire across the snow, which quickly stopped when no shots were returned from behind the blizzard. The hatch opened and the two squads of marines raced out, bolters raised. Usoran was last out, emerging into the blasting snow, his face growing cold, his hair whipping around his head like a halo, his eyes stung by the lashing flakes of the world's snow. He spat when some of it dribbled onto his lips. This damned cold bit right through his power armor. He'd be shivering next.

"North clear."

"South clear."

"West clear."

"My lord, our scanners pick up no signs of life," reported the sergeant of second squad. All eyes turned to the fallen starship. It was, or had been, a sword class frigate. Even under all the evil chaos insignias, it was still recognizable. The hallmarks of imperial architecture shone through it like a candle in a heretical temple. To explore the whole thing could potentially take days.

"Come brothers," said the librarian over the snow, "let us probe the depths of this beast." The natural entry point was a gash in the side of the ship that they had landed beside. As one, the two squads filed in. Usoran regarded his blade and shook his head, sending snow from his hair, which was quickly replaced.

'"Brothers, I must see to the thunderhawk," Usoran said as he returned to the ship. There was something about the snow, in that patch right there by the thunderhawk's port landing gears. Judging by the depression in it, something was there. Usoran approached the slight depression and reached his powered fingers in and lifting forth a shard of a type of pearly metal. It was hot despite the weather, very hot, hot enough to melt the snow. Looking over the splinter of pearly metal, Usoran quickly noticed another depression. In front of the thunderhawk. A search yielded more metal.

"Brothers…" the two squads were gone. He searched the area, uncovering more and more depressions, further and further from the crashed chaos ship and the thunderhawk. It was then when he made his discovery.

Deep in a nest of in snow, its features half hidden by a curtain of white, lay the rear elements of an eldar bomber. It had been there for as long as the chaos ship: potentially a few weeks or even months. Usoran discarded the hot metal: a fragment of the ship, and approached the craft's remnants. The most prominent features were the two sweeping fans that reached our from the tail. The craft's pearly colour made it all but invisible against the snow. Blood coloured jewels lay in patterns across its sleek frame. She was beautiful even in death. There was no sign of the cockpit.

As Usoran approached the wreck he blinked and there was suddenly a man sitting atop it. He wore a black cloak and a black hood with black boots and matching gloves. His face was hidden by a mask. There was only darkness looking back from behind those eyeholes. He was sitting on one of those beautiful fans, his feet hanging down, and his body was shaking as though sobbing. His head was sunken.

"Stranger?" Usoran called, his instincts warning him against tricks. "I am Usoran…" The man looked at him, his shaking stopped. Usoran found himself breathless before that eyeless stare. To meet twin pools of void was worse than the hottest stare. "Are you eldar?" Silence. "The primarch Lion El'Jonson has led me here. Do you know why?" The man leapt down and shifted through the snow. Usoran readied himself, but the stranger walked right by him, leading him to the Alpha Legion ship. After walking one score meters alone, the stranger looked back at Usoran as if asking him to follow. Usoran found himself complying.

"The primarch appeared to me as an angel, stranger," Usoran said once they reached the Alpha Legion ship. Both entered it through a small hatch. "Stranger, why have I come here?" Usoran still got no answer as the stranger led him through the halls. "Are you Lion El'Jonson?" Usoran asked abruptly. The stranger stopped, looked into Usoran's eyes, and shook his head. "Can you speak?"

[i]"Yehn Ay Yad,"[/i] The voice came from far off.

"What does that mean, stranger?"

[i]"Yehn Ay Yad,"[/i]

"Is it all you can say?" Usoran squinted at the man's mask. "Can you take off your mask and let me see your face?" The stranger shook his head and led Usoran deeper into the ship. They once had to pass a fallen chaos marine, his throat cut open. The stranger paused to stomp on the corpse's helmet in disrespect before continuing on.

"Will you come with me to my fleet, stranger?" Usoran asked as they came into a room filled with collapsed crates, their silver skins were grey in the dark. "If you are an enemy of chaos, you are better with us." Again, the stranger shook his head. "Do you not want my trust? You can understand me but say nothing. You wear a mask like a pariah. What are you?" The last words were forceful. When the stranger stopped and turned to Usoran, the Dark Angel drew his sword and held it defensively. "Please stranger, I want answers. I will go no further until."

In response, the stranger drew his own sword, lifting it out of a flap in his cloak even though it could not logically fit beneath it. It was long and made of grey metal. It lacked a crossguard or finger guards. The splinter shape of its blade brought a shattered bone to mind, as did the eloquent runes woven into the blade's metal. Its pommel was crafted to look like a skull. He held it aloft, parallel to the floor.

"For the Emperor…" Usoran's warcry fell short when he realized the stranger was not threatening him, but pointing the blade at something amidst the boxes. Usoran shifted over to the place where the stranger pointed, not taking his eyes from him, before sniffing the scent of warm human flesh.

"Help, I hear you…" came a rasping voice beneath a pile of crates. Beneath it, Usoran discovered a bulky man with a wild beard, dressed only in a loincloth. His body carried more scars than Usoran's. His teeth were long and pointed. "Brother marine…" the bulky man laughed. "That I should get rescued by a Dark Angel…" The man grinned at Usoran through his beard and there was some light in his purple-bruised eyes.

"You're a space marine," Usoran said. "A Space Wolf. I am Brother Captain Usoran of the Dark Angels."

"We've met. I am Odeen. My kinsman lies nearby. We have a lot to talk about. How did you find me?" When Usoran looked behind himself, he saw no sign of the stranger. Even when he searched the chamber after calling his brother marines in, he found no sign of him. They found another Space Wolf, but no sign of the stranger.

"You were away from your squads," Odeen remarked again as they flew back to the fleet a few hours later. He sat with the Dark Angels, though his companion carried more injuries and could not sit. "Why? Did you know I was there? You never answered my question."

"There was someone else down there," Usoran replied. He looked at his sword, now innocently by his side. "Perhaps I must just be content to know that there are things I may never understand."

"I know much about the enemy's plans. My companion, a scout named Afennor Zodan of the Ultramarines, spied on the Alpha Legion while we hid, looking for their lord," Odeen explained. Usoran nodded.

"I can now see why I was led there," he muttered.

"The lord he hunted, Vashuss of the Alpha Legion, slew the Black Tomb. I do not know where Afennor is now."

Afennor was aboard a chaos ship, one of dozens, which had just entered warp space and was presently catapulting murderously towards an unsuspecting Terra. Inside each was a vast army of the dark god's finest, the champions of chaos, and the heralds of the end of mortals. With them was Abaddon and all the daemon primarchs.