Prologue
Asdrubael Vect sat in his throne room alone deep in thought. On the walls around him mon-keigh slaves screamed and groaned in the automated torture slabs that made this room such a pleasure to be in. As their anguish flooded over Vect he pondered the newest upstart in the dark city. His dark city. The formation of any new Kabal was enough to warrant his attention but this particular Kabal was even more so. The Kabal of the Last Act wasn't anything truly special, but it's leader was. Archon Khanra had too many unknowns in his past, and for Vect there was nothing more problematic than unknowns.
As soon as the young upstart had started his climb to power Vect had begun finding everything there was to know about Khanra Jin. He was a true born Drukhari, the offspring of an archon of the Kabal of the Broken Sigil and a Succubus of the Cult of the Red Grief. Normally Jin would grow up to be his fathers right hand but his father was foolish, and insulted a Haemonculus of the Dark Creed. The imbecile died screaming and Jin's mother took her newborn child into the web way.
Most Drukhari would have left their screaming children but Khanra's mother saw him as an opportunity for vengeance. She began training the boy before he could walk. And before he reached 200 years of age he had mastered every weapon the Wych Cults of Commorragh had to offer. But that wasn't enough for his mother. In order to take revenge on a Haemonculus of the Dark Creed, Jin would need to be a near perfect warrior. So she took him to The Incubus Shrine of the Swift Departure. Barely a man in Drukhari standards, he was one of the youngest Incubi to ever take up the Armor. Predictably, without her son to protect her, Khanra's mother tried to make a foolish deal with a rival Haemonculus of the Hex and got herself turned into whatever experiment that was needed that given day. Not that Jin cared, he had his own aspirations. After 250 years in service to the Swift Departure, he tried to earn the title of Klaivex. As per tradition he was told to attack a heavily defended fortress, kill its leader, and escape before reinforcements could arrive.
For his mission Khanra decided to cut his way through an Iyanden fort on a besieged expedite world and slay the Spiritseer inside. While the test allows for the attack of any race, attacking the hated Asuryani will earn the respect of all Incubi. Khanra had mastered the ways of the Incubi and possessed all the grace and speed of a Bloodbride when he attacked the fort. He made it all the way to the inner sanctum before a distress call had even been made. But when he kicked open those doors he was not greeted by the spiritseer he had been expecting. Inside he beheld Baharoth, Phoenix Lord of the Swooping Hawks. As cocky as Jin was, he knew he couldn't beat such a foe. So he ran. Injured and close to death, he knew his Shrine would not take him back after his defeat. To the Incubi there are no acceptable excuses. After that he disappeared into the webway, and that is what troubled Vect so much.
No matter how many agents Vect sent out, none could find out what Jin had done in that time. He had spent 800 years in exile and as far as Vect could tell he had disappeared from both the webway and realspace. It was only in the shattering of Khaine's gate and the chaos that followed that Khanra reappeared.
When the Great rift shook the galaxy, the Dark City of Commorragh was thrown into chaos. Constant Daemon incursions created vast potential to climb Commorraghs ranks quickly for the skilled and cunning. Wherever Jin had been for the past 8 centuries, it had forged him into one of the Dark Cities Apex predators. His skill with the blades was only matched by his ferocity and cunning. Rumors of him spilled forth. An entire gang of hellion's slaughtered as they tried to raid one of the supply chains heading towards the Chasm of Woe. An archon saved from a gang of mandrakes after devoting forces to beat back Daemons. Entire gangs wiped from existence for seemingly no reason, but Vect had pieced it together. In his own way, Jin was supporting the fight against the Daemons while also gaining the fear and admiration of thousands of Druchari. So when Jin formed his Kabal, Vect was not surprised in the slightest.
Suddenly Vect was ripped from his train of thought by a sudden change in the room. He looked up sharply and realized one of the vermin had died on its torture slab. Curling his lip in disdain he punched a key on his throne, and 2 whimpering slaves were pushed into the room. Their terrified eyes beheld their screaming kin and one of them fell to their knees in prayer.
Vect spoke through his translator, "You will fight. The weaker shall take that place on the slab." He nodded toward the limp body to the right, still being sliced into and shocked by the automated system. "the other shall return to the cells with a meal."
The silly little creatures stared for a second in shock, then the one on it's knees realized what was at stake. In a brief but brutal fight, it won victory. Vect punched in the controls and the lifeless body fell to the floor. Vect nodded towards the defeated mon-keigh, then looked at the now empty slab. Even the pitiful human understood that, as he dragged his Kinsman toward this horrid fate. As the machine got back to work, the doors opened. The mon-keigh looked up in surprise.
"You promised me a meal," Vect heard through his translator.
Vect looked back up and saw the malnourished creature staring at him expectantly.
"And I have delivered," Vect replied, nodding towards the blood covered corpse on the ground. Vect watched as surprise, horror, revulsion, spite, desperation, and acceptance crossed the creatures eyes in a split second, drinking in every emotion like a draft of fine wine. He smiled as the pitiful man grabbed the carcass and dragged it out of the room. He basked in the once again complete aura of misery and continued pondering the arrival of this new player in the dark game.
Chapter 1
Khanra Jin stood in his apartment, looking out over Commorragh. With the creation of the Obsidian Circlet, some semblance of normal had returned to the city. Incubi bodyguards had returned to the service of the Archons and a huge wave of realspace raids had been conducted. Commorragh was once again returning to is dark and beautiful self.
Which meant it was time to join in on the fun. The Kabal of the Last Act had continued fighting the Daemons back until even after the Incubi had been called off, but now it was time to raid with all the rest of their kin. Which meant that new weapons of war were needed. Jin turned away from the Balcony and stepped into the comfortable room. It wasn't nearly as macabre as most archons living quarters but what it lacked in gore, it made up for in finery. Everything in the room was the finest craftmanship the galaxy had to offer. Elegance was not what he needed right now though. Where he was going, less attention was better. He removed his ornate armor in favor of a common reaver suit. Knowing that there were spies everywhere, he stepped into a secret passage he had commissioned when he took over this tower and walked down to a small hanger. He mounted a reaver bike and took off, zipping into the dark skies.
Once he was certain no one had followed him, Khanra dived into the underworld. As he streaked over the heads of slobbering Ur-Ghuls and other horrors, excitement, or at least something close to it, fluttered through him. This new project would raise his Kabal to dizzying heights, and the prospect of that warmed his frozen heart. He swerved his bike towards a pile of rubble and passed through it to a sub realm that few knew about, and even fewer had ever been. Inside, countless slaves worked on a project that Khanra had started mere days after the formation of his Kabal. Khanra landed his bike at the control center for the assembly yard and walked inside.
"Ozuron," Jin called out, "what is the status."
An ancient Drukhari stepped forward, "The Eclipse is almost ready my lord, but with no way of powering it this seems like an effort in futility."
Khanra glared and Ozuron and his hunched form bent more under Jin's withering gaze. "Of course you have told me not to worry about such things my lord."
Khanra looked back up at the ongoing construction, "I actually have news on that front. I have found a solution to our problem."
Ozuron looked up, "Is that so my Lord?"
"Yes," Khanra stated. "there is an ancient Aeldari relic on the crone world of Iydris that will suit our needs." He smiled as he felt fear ripple off of Ozuron.
"M-My lord," the old builder stuttered, "we cannot possibly hope to-"
Khanra cut him off with a glare. "The retrieval of this Artefact is none of your concern my friend. Just have The Eclipse ready for deployment when I get it."
Ozuron bowed again, "yes my lord, it shall be ready.
Khanra turned and walked away. As he mounted his bike he thought to himself of how he was going to accomplish this goal. While Ozuron was a coward, he was also right. Traveling to Crone worlds was an excellent way to die screaming as She Who Thirsts dragged your soul into her ever devouring maw. Khanra did have the formings of a plan however, and he sighed as he prepared himself for what was next.