A/N: I've decided to shorten the prologue to two parts, as it shaves off unnecessary elements in the story and gets right to the good stuff. Once again, you have ANY questions whatsoever-direct them to my PM box, leaving questions in the review section will not earn you a response like most authors do.
This is Part II of II of the prologue.
IMPORTANT: This part of the prologue takes place many years after the first part. Let that sink in...
Deep within the Webway, the Laughing God screamed out his laughter through its tunnels and passageways, occasionally some of his servants would hear it too, and were powerless to stop themselves from collapsing into fits of laughter at their master's influence.
He twisted and turned-going this way and that, to and fro, and up and down. Knowing the Webway as well as the back of his hand, he traveled effortlessly through its spirals and ever glowing hallways. The knowledge that he knew it just as well as the ones that created it made him laugh even more at the irony. Nevertheless, it was a far more peaceful place for him to make his home than that squabble of souls in the Immaterium.
For a great long while, he simply glided, never remaining in the same place for more than a second not out of apprehension, but out of sheer joy and happiness. It was something he only felt when he defeated She Who Thirsts every time a good Solitaire fell from his grasp. The look of sheer anger and rage at being denied was more than enough for him to fill her domain with ravenous laughter every time it occurred.
This time however...it was different.
He soon came to rest in a spot more random then fate and looked around and he knew that not another pair of eyes were peering his way in the galaxy. It was at that time that he reached into his skin with his massive ethereal hands, seemingly digging into his right palm with his razor like talons for nails. He did not bleed and he did not feel pain but nevertheless he found the experience somewhat unnerving, even to a God.
Bands of light emerged from his palm where his nails had pulled back skin and he looked over his hand to see a glowing light coming from within his very hand. He pulled back his dissecting hand and the strands of energy came with it, pulling the source of light out from the safety of its incubation within his hand.
With a snap of his off-hand fingers, the strands dissipated and the small, round source of light that was still glowing brilliantly now fell through the air and into his newly healed hand. The God leaned in with eyes bulging in curiosity and wonder at this small glowing source.
On closer inspection, he saw that it was in fact an oval-like gem with strands of similar ethereal energy running through its insides. One could barely see what was on the inside because it was glowing so brightly, but that feat was nothing for the God. Its structure was geometrically perfect in every aspect and looked no different from any ordinary sapphire.
Except for the fact that its purpose was all too dissimilar.
For awhile he simply watched its light rays shift in accordance with the bands of unimaginable energy running within the gem. His head moved this way and that as he tried to get some angle where he could see it even more perfectly.
Then, he spoke, "Such an enormous sacrifice...for the chance that you may come to fruition...young one."
With that, the Laughing God began to move through the extra-dimension again, his body seemingly evaporating into waves of shadowy energy and flowing as if he were traveling through the sky of some planet. All that remained whole was his massive blue head and bony fingers that smoothed and caressed the gem as he moved.
"Priceless...absolutely priceless." he said as he shot upward, allowing a giggle to escape his increasingly widening smile.
He turned over and held the gem between two fingers on his right hand, holding it up towards the top barrier of the webway as if to hold it up to a sun and it was then that he had his perfect view. The Laughing God let out a burst of ravenous laughter before hugging the gem close to his cheek.
"Its you! It's really you!" he exclaimed.
He spun and twisted with uncharacteristic happiness before slowing down again with a sigh as he continued, "Oh no prophecy or foretelling even comes close! Oh...well...maybe that of the human's but he has not been seen for a great while wouldn't you say child?"
The God held his head in his hand while he held the gem in the other, still moving and twisting effortlessly through the webway.
"Shall I begin your first teaching?" he chuckled before whisking his way down another corridor, occasionally letting out a flurry of giggles. He opened his hands like wings as he slowed to a halt and looked at the gem in his right hand, "Oh if only my brothers and sisters could see you now...how they would faun over you and adore you like no other...except...well for the one yet to appear." he said.
He tapped his angular chin with a finger and pursed his lips, "I do wonder however what the bloody handed one's impression of you will be. The lord of all Phoenixes was generous to his brother...but even I had to admit that his allowance to let the goddess of fertility and the god of the hunt to be tortured was one of his more...serious blunders."
The God leaned his head back and slowly flipped end over end, his body trailing him in its shadowy form, "He was a good father to his children...peaceful...and just. As I said however his refusal to intervene in the affairs of his children was a most serious regret of his...now...he like the rest of them are gone forever."
Tilting his head at the gem he continued, "But he would not be denied one last victory..."
He began to move again while saying, "Are you familiar with his curse that he laid upon his very people?"
The gem simply pulsed its internal light.
"Very well, I will explain it to you. It is quite simply really...even a human could understand it if it got past their tiny perspectives..." he shifted upward and continued, "While the Phoenix King managed to dissipate himself into his children in order to increase their power, it took away the much-needed ability to reproduce...hence they are dying...do you see it now?"
He stopped at an intersection and allowed the gem to float in front of him as he grinned, "But he did something that only a select few would ever know...something extraordinary...something...wondrous..." his voice hissed at the end.
"In the process of his dissolution he told his Hand to build a hidden shrine on a particular planet and it is there that his unfathomable power remains...hidden...even from the dark ones...even from the human." the God said as he twisted around the gem, almost in a teasing manner.
He floated upside down and came very close to the gem, "There the Asurya guarded it and still do to this very day but there is a twist...young one..." his smile widening.
"One day...before the great fall that came upon our race...a lone Eldar came across the shrine. He carried little with him but his sword and shield!" he laughed as he imitated the gestures of a warrior.
"Do you know his name young one?" the God teased as he ran his finger across the blemish free surface of the gem, "I'll give you a hint...he is the first of your kind..."
The gem was silent.
"Oh..." Cegorach gleamed again, his smile widening as he floated around the stationary gem again. He continued, sneaking in a giggle now and then, "You have still much to learn about your great and noble predecessors don't you young one?"
The God pressed his hands against his cheeks and spoke in a mocking worried tone, "Oh...it will take some time young one but it is in time that you will learn...not just from I...but from others as well. Nevertheless...let us talk together now...very simply...as King and God."
He spoke up, "His name...was...Aenarion, the greatest of all mortal Eldar warriors and unmatched by any being that could pick up a sword. Descendant of the great first one Eldanesh himself! Come to challenge the Hand of Asuryan..." the God ended the sentence on a sarcastic note.
"He spoke only of his birth right to enter that shrine...but the Hand...would not be so understanding. A great battle unlike any other took place between the descendant of Eldanesh and the Hand of Asuryan himself for dominion over the flame of Asuryan." the God said as he mimicked battle movements and pretended to act nobly but couldn't help from mocking the gestures.
The Laughing God gleamed his white eyes down at the gem and smiled, "To think...an armor filled with dust that would never tire and never bleed to death against a flesh and blood mortal...who would have guessed? Certainly I!" he laughed out loud and his voice echoed throughout the corridors of the webway.
"But...Aenarion had something that the Hand didn't...something the latter did not expect to enter the fray...and it was then that the Hand realized why his master had created this shrine in the first place." he said as he uncurled one of his hands and with the strands of energy emerging from his finger tips, he formed the image of a great four legged winged beast with a snarling maw, long neck and teeth that could bite through worlds.
"Oh Aenarion...you great and noble warrior...called down your mighty Indraugnir from the skies...unseen by the Hand until he was already defeated." the God said as he glanced back at the floating gem and continued, "With his victory assured he walked as naked as the day he was born into the shrine, overcome quickly by the all consuming fire that would make the fire of the bloody handed one look like a candle's flame. Painful as it was, it became clear to the gathered Phoenix Lords that their patron God had made a plan all along."
He grinned maniacally, "Can you guess?"
The gem did not answer.
"Why Aenarion became the avatar of Asuryan himself of course!" he boomed and laughed as he flew around the gem with intense speeds before picking it out of the air and traveling down another corridor, all the while his laughter filling the passages he past.
He flipped the gem between his fingers and called out, "And after he was gone came the Explorer! The Conqueror after him! The Warrior succeeded him! The Peacemaker and all the rest of this small retinue until...the Seafarer...most recent...of the kings...but all long forgotten. Not a single Eldar lives that remembers any of these kings for their record has been lost. Well...perhaps maybe two but that is besides the point."
The God made a pouting face as he came to a stop, "Such a pity...the Seafarer...last of your predecessors and last beholder of the knowledge that their would need to be one last king. One last king to lead them on the final day..." he said in prophetic voice.
"But..." he raised a finger and pursed his lips to emphasize the point, "...where does that leave you?" he cupped his head in his hands and moved around the gem in a circle, "Why are you like this? More importantly...what...are you?"
He raised a hand and shook it at the gem, "Do not be so concerned about with that question dear child...after all you are just a child...what more can be expected of you?"
The God took hold of the gem once again and floated away into yet another corridor, drifting aimlessly for a while as he held the gem close, studying it and running his fingers over it gently.
"In his final days, in the days darkest after the fall, even the Seafarer began to succumb to the inevitably of death." He said coolly as he moved through a shimmering passageway, staring down this nearly endless highway before looking back at the glowing gem, "It is known only to Asuryan of how the Seafarer managed to form you from the fires of Asuryan, and place you in this...prison. What is known to my servants is that he hid you on the world of Somoner...unknowing...that it lay host to the soulless machines."
Suddenly, he stopped and leaned it, his face as close as can be without directly touching the gem and said, "You ask why he would hide such a being? It is quite simple really." he looked away for a moment for quickly turning back and grinning again, "There are others who would seek to use you for their own...malevolent...gains."
He leaned back, still smiling but more proudly this time, "It was my servant that convinced the chosen of Asuryan to aid my children in laying siege to this world while the soulless machines began to reawake. Without the chosen of Asuryan it would not have been a victory...nevertheless in the folly of battle my servant stole away...and found you...right where I watched the Seafarer place you all those centuries ago."
"Funny...it is...to think that the Seafarer thought he was truly alone...that no one...was watching." the God said, almost scoffing before leaning in again and grinning, "Then again...did I not just...say...that others would use you for their own...gains?!" he reared back his ethereal head and let loose a laugh that echoed deep within the webway, reaching nearly every corner of the extra-dimension before he stopped.
He brought a finger under his eyes as if to wipe away tears, "Forgive me dear child even you must recognize your own innocence at my hands...safe...from the predators like machines, animals, and dark powers. I was never asked to do this...indeed...it was the grand Phoenix King's plan all along, but what does he know of the future? He's dead!" he laughed again.
The God raised an eyebrow and eyed the gem, "Even you have to admit dear child that your predecessor did not have a plan for you to..." he gestured at the gem, "...to come to fruition. The quickness and inevitability of death tends to have that effect on creatures...making them rush their plans and turning them into fool's gambits."
The gem was still.
"No one ever asked me, the Laughing God for help! No one! I could have watched you die under the treads of machines but it seems that some part of the grand king's optimism appeared to have rubbed off on me...so I allowed my servant to retrieve you in the midst of a great victory...and not another living soul knows of you! Oh the longevity!" he said and put a hand against his forehead.
He let the gem float in front of him as he stared at it from comfortable distance, "But...of course...even I cannot deny that I wish to see...better...times. You think that because I do not wield swords or smite entire worlds that I do not care for my children? Inconceivable! Warriors wage war in the ways they know best...why cannot I simply not trick the mindless into their deaths or allow my enemies to die laughing? Is that so...terribly...useless?"
The gem continued pulsing.
"Why thank you dear child...I knew you would have faith in me." the God grinned and giggled, "After all...you will do your entire people a justice while it is I who will allow you to do that in the first place."
He drifted around the gem while never breaking eye contact with it, "I may not see the future but it remains clear to me...the outcome that it is...all that remains is for you to walk that path...whatever it may be."
There was silence for a couple of moments before the Laughing God pointed at himself, "Me? All-knowing?" he let loose a string of hard giggles, "You give me too much credit young one! That is what we have my children...your people for! There are many paths to the future and many ways to change them...paths and futures changing interminably so much that the process of divination remains all the more difficult!"
His face suddenly scrunched seriously, "But you...your future as already been determined...much like another Eldar who is already waiting for you on the path...but more like the human in a sense that you did not choose this path...you will born into it...trapped on it until the last day when my newest brother finally arrives..." he giggled and narrowed his eyes into an almost evil smile.
The God reached forth with a talon and poked the gem in the middle saying, "What remains dear child...is for you to forge your own path to this future...after all...that is what your name means doesn't it? The name the voice of Asuryan through the Seafarer gave you when he hid you on that desert planet? Yes...with his dying breath he gave you a namesake...but even you do not know that yet."
"On this...unknown path...lie the greatest foes and dangers that this existence can throw at a mortal...and you will face them. It is not a matter of if...but when...for your path is as inevitability as the final day is." the God said.
The glowing gem's pulsing light within began to speed up as if to be indicating a tremor of fear.
"Oh sh-sh-sh...it's alright my dear child...I know you're scared, its alright to feel fear especially in your state. The trick though...is not minding that you're scared. Have I been scared? Well...I admit there was one time but at least no one was around to see it!" The massive hands turned the gem over from palm to palm as they moved through the webway.
"No physical body to behold yet...such a bright heart wouldn't you say dear child?" he said as he held the gem and giggled madly as he held it between his long right index finger and thumb.
He looked down at the gem, whose light had stabilized.
"You have nothing to fear from...her...dear child, she will never see you and she can never place her filthy fingers on your soul. What's that? You ask why?" he asked as he brought them gem close to his face but it formed an expression of disappointment, "Oh...I thought you said something and then I remembered...you aren't even alive...yet."
The expression on his face suddenly changed to form a very wide grin.
"Oh She Who Thirsts...how clueless you are to your own demise. Not one...but more avater elements are slowing making their way into the universe and it so very...amusing that you cannot even see them!"
He laughed and spun his ethereal form around within the webway, "Look fourth god! I have one right here! Right here! Look at him! Look how beautiful and strong he is! Look! Come take him from my very hands!" he held the gem up high and thrust it out towards real space.
His booming voice echoed through the vast tunnels before he settled down and his eyes peered in the direction of the massive tear in the warp-oozing out malicious underlings and foul whispers.
"But you cannot see him...can you? You filthy little insect...can you? You're arrogance has blinded you...as ever. And now...I will make sure you will never see him until the day comes when you and your ruffian brothers are wiped clean from existence. Oh how I will laugh at your demise as the specter of the God of the Dead cleaves you in twain...the fire of the Bloody Handed one will cleanse your palace of filth and his revenge will be unstoppable. And finally..."
He looked down and brought the gem towards his face, "With the last light in your eyes you will see every one of my brothers, sisters, and children whose souls you have swallowed burst from your belly like a broken dam into the mind of the God of the Dead. Oh wait...what is this you say? Who are these beings who stand beside him? You recognize one as the avatar of the Goddess that escaped you but this one...who is he?"
Tossing his head in the direction of the Eye as he held the gem up to it as if to compare, he smiled, "Who is this one you say? He who leads all Eldar on the final day? He who confronted and befriended the human? Who is he? Who is he?"
The God brought the gem closer to him one final time, "Oh I know who he is...I know who he is...I know very well who he is..." he said as he cocked his head in the direction of the eye, "Why don't you say hello to him my dear? He is quite lovely isn't he? So fragile...yet so adamant."
There was no other voice but his own within the webway.
"Can't speak fourth god can you? Oh...so unfortunate." he said, "Well then...I suppose I should greet him in my manner."
He spread his hands apart and the gem floated between them, his grin reaching angles never before encountered.
"Hello...Eldaaarrrrrrriiiiiiooonnnn!"
Cegorach roared with maniacal laughter.