The next day, Tzeentch had gathered Leman and Admu in the courtyard of his mountain monastery. Despite the sun shining overhead, the sky remained black and starry as if they were on the deck of a void ship.
"Uncle, where are the Halls of Hesperides?" Admu asked.
"On the far side of this world, beyond Khorne's desert and Nurgle's forest, past shimmering seas of liquid crystal, in a place where the land itself merges with the sky. Across rivers, valleys, mountain passes, dense swamps… it could take months, possibly even years to reach on foot." Tzeentch said.
"We will need extensive provisions." Leman said. "If this expedition is as long and treacherous as you have described, it will be more difficult than all our previous travels combined."
"Oh no no no, I wouldn't make you walk all that way!" Tzeentch said, scoffing. He reached into a pouch in his robe, rummaging for a few moments before pulling out something enclosed in his fist. "You two may want to close your eyes and noses." Suddenly he threw the unknown substance at the ground, engulfing all three of them in a sparkling cloud of pink and violet dust. Leman and Admu coughed, waving away the irritating, glittery clouds with their hands. Leman rubbed his eyes, blinking a few times to remove the irritants from his eyes. With his vision clear, he looked around as the dust dissipated to reveal the new landscape.
The ground seemed to be some kind of gravel or sand, coated in a light sea of white fog. This thin layer seemed to ebb and flow into the distance, rolling into plume-like clouds merged seamlessly with the sky. He scooped up some of the dirt in his hand, feeling the dry sand pour through his fingers while the larger particles rolled in his palm. Leman didn't know how or why, but something deep inside told him that what he was holding was impossibly ancient, like the weathered remnants of the universe itself.
Now I know… Leman thought. What I am searching for is here. I am sure of it.
The sky was clear blue but filtered by a kind of white haze. He could smell that it was not pollution, rather it was as if the air itself was so old that it had faded with time. Great mountains of snow-white marble rose out of the clouds, their color making it nearly indistinguishable where cloud and mountain began. They were incredibly tall, but also worn and rounded. There were no towering peaks or sheer cliffs, only gradual inclines and mounds of weathered stone.
"What took you so long?" a woman's voice said. Leman turned to see the gentle but mischievous smile of Slaanesh, dressed in a billowing silk gown and adorned with gold and silver jewelry. To her right stood Khorne, holding his 4-horned helmet under his arm while his red hair swayed gently in the breeze, his face bearing a stoic. Nurgle stood to their left, his bare feet and rustic clothes still covered in a thin layer of fresh dirt. His mossy, slightly unkempt beard filled with sprouting flowers framed his rosy face, which sported a wide and friendly grin.
"Papa!" Admu shouted, running over to her father.
"My little daffodil, how I've missed you!" he said, outstretching his arms. She leapt into his embrace, causing him to stumble backwards a bit and grunt from the exertion of holding her. He gently put her down on her feet, catching his breath before smiling warmly again. "Oh, I was so worried about you, Admu… but now I know that my fears were unfounded. You've grown so much, and I simply couldn't see it."
"I wasn't worried at all because I had Mister Russ by my side! Isn't that right, Leman?" she said, looking towards him with a beaming smile on her rosy face.
"Truth be told, it was she who saved my skin more often than not." Leman said. "I'd most likely not be standing here if Admu had not been my companion on this journey."
"I have to say, Wolfie, your presence has been the most entertaining thing to happen to this place in millennia. I will surely miss your company when you are gone." Slaanesh said, reclining on a rock with her legs crossed.
"Oh yes, watching your journey from afar has been fascinating! Much more engrossing than the occasional blurred glimpses of realspace I get from time to time." Tzeentch said.
"I will remember your performance in the arena for a very long time, Leman Russ. As for your equipment, I am still in the process of repairing it after the damage it sustained during our battle. I will return it to you as expediently as possible." Khorne said.
"The little ones back in the forest already miss you, every other day another one comes to me and asks when the wolf-man will be coming back to town." Nurgle said with a hearty chuckle.
These beings have a far more pleasant recollection of my trials and tribulations here than I do… Leman thought. Though it is hard to argue that my time here has not been a welcome reprieve from the Plains of Chaos or even the sorry state of the galaxy following the Heresy.
"I will remember fondly my time here as well." Leman said. "However, my duty is above all else. My father sent me here with one task, to find a tree and retrieve its fruit. Everything I have done up until now has led me here, meaning that whatever I am searching for is undoubtedly at the end of this path I have taken. I could spend many years in this place, indulging in its comforts and luxuries, but in doing so I would be abandoning my father, my people, and my sons."
"We understand, Wolf King." Khorne said. "You are a good man. Beyond this gate lies the Halls of Hesperides, the place in which you have been prophesied to find." he gestured to a large stone archway, the inside of which seemed to shimmer and fluctuate as if holding an invisible liquid. "We cannot journey beyond this point, but you can."
"I hope that you find all that you have been searching for, Leman Russ." Tzeentch said.
Leman turned and approached the stone archway. It was ancient and weathered, appearing more like a natural formation than anything made by intelligent hands. Admu moved to follow him but was stopped by Khorne.
"What's wrong?" she said.
"I am afraid you cannot go with him." Khorne said.
"But… why not?" she said.
"We have no idea what's beyond that gate…" Nurgle said.
"I thought you said I had grown? Am I not old enough to make my own decisions?" she said, her brow furrowed in frustration.
"Yes but… while you're in here we can at least keep an eye on you. Help you if you ever get into danger. Out there it's…" Admu stared daggers at her father, a clear look of betrayal cast upon her face. Slaanesh stepped forth, putting her hand on Nurgle's shoulder. Reading her intent, he stepped back. Slaanesh placed her hand on Admu's cheek and looked into her disappointed niece's eyes.
"Admu, dear, I implore you to listen to your father and uncle. You have shown immense bravery, but the world out there is nothing like the one in here. We do not hold you back because we look down upon you… even we fear it. Please, understand." she said, her voice overflowing with sympathy. Admu sighed and looked away.
"I… understand, auntie." she said. Slaanesh wrapped her arms around her niece in a warm embrace.
Nurgle looked at Leman as he stood at the threshold to the barrier. The primarch simply nodded his head, and Nurgle nodded back with a relieved smile. Leman turned to face the stone gate, the shimmering surface of the veil only a few inches from his face. He tentatively reached out with his hand, touching the psychic boundary. It rippled upon contact but was otherwise intangible. Resolutely, he breathed in the ancient mountain air and stepped forward into the breach.
Admu broke off from Slaanesh to sulk away from her family, which the goddess had the good sense to allow her some personal space. Nurgle looked at her with some reservation, affected by her sullen demeanor. Tzeentch walked up behind him, placing a feathered hand on his shoulder.
"She will understand, brother. She knows that we have only her safety and wellbeing in mind." Tzeentch said.
"I hope you are right." Nurgle said, the two turning away to give her some time alone.
"She is very fond of him." Khorne said, just out of earshot of Admu. His expression was characteristically stoic and unchanging.
"You think?" Slaanesh said. She sighed, pulling a crystal glass from thin air and taking a sip. "I worry about her, you know. This isn't where she truly belongs."
"None of us belong here." Tzeentch said. "We're prisoners, remember?"
"I know that better than anyone." Slaanesh said, her tone slightly sharper than before. She took another drink. "Do you really think he is the one? He does not even know why he is here."
"He is." Khorne said. "He must be."
"Not to interrupt, but…" Nurgle said, a hint of worry in his voice. "Did anyone see where Admu went?"
Leman's soles tread roughly upon the irregular gravel and stone dust which coated the mountain trail. A cold wind blew down from the heights of the worn, rounded peaks, carrying the scent of ages long past. He stopped suddenly, and the air was silent once again.
"I know you're there." he said. Admu stuck her head out from behind a large boulder, pouting at having been caught.
"No fair! I wanted to surprise you." she said. She ran up to him bearing a wide smile and bent down at her hips, so she was at eye level with him. "Surprise!"
"Does your father know you're here?" he said flatly.
"Oh, they're all just overreacting. You and I are a team! There's nothing out here we can't beat together. Besides, we started this journey together, so it's only natural I'd be with you at the destination." she said. Leman sighed.
"I won't presume to tell you what to do. If you'd like to accompany me, then so be it." he said. Admu clapped her hands in jubilation, and the two continued climbing up the mountain path together.
"So, where are we headed anyway? I think you said something about a fruit or a tree earlier." she said.
"I am not entirely sure… but over my time here I have begun to recollect, remember things that I had forgotten during my travails. On Fenris there was an old legend, among the oldest of all the tales the rune priests told. It spoke of a tree in the underworld that bore magical fruit, fruit that could restore one's body no matter how grievously injured… perhaps even resurrect the dead." he said.
"Is there someone you want to heal?" she said.
"Upon arriving in this place, I saw my father for the first time in millennia… it was terrible. He was naught but a corpse, kept alive by arcane technology and forbidden soulcraft." he paused, the image still seared into his memory.
"You want to save your father…" Admu said. Leman braced for a moment, hearing the sentimentality in her voice and expecting her to wrap her arms around him without warning as he had become begrudgingly accustomed to. Instead, he felt her fingers wrap around his hand. She held his hand in hers and looked into Leman's eyes with a determined expression. "I'll help you mister Russ, no matter what it takes." he looked at her with a hint of surprise, then his lips curled into a slight smile.
The two walked a great distance, climbing up and down the rounded slopes of the ancient mountains, before coming across a great chasm. It spread out in both directions and its bottom was beyond sight, only leading down into an unending darkness. Luckily, there was a natural bridge of rock which spanned across the canyon, about the width of a Fenrisian Kraken. He stepped foot on the bridge, only for the earth to begin trembling underneath him. Without warning, Leman found himself rising into the air with the rest of the bridge, the encrusted rock falling away to reveal glossy black scales of immense size.
"Mister Russ!" Admu said, stranded on one side of the gap and unable to help her friend. On the far side of the chasm, the rock and gravel crumbled and gave way to an impossibly giant figure, rising from the earth like a whale breaching the ocean waves. It was a great black wyrm, carrying its titanic scaly form on trunk-like legs which splayed outwards. It pulled its immense head covered in eight gnarled horns out from the crumbling rock and turned towards Leman, who was stuck on the beast's girthy tail. He stared at the thing with disbelief, every bone in his body screaming to seek some kind of shelter or avenue of escape. Alas, the only escape which awaited him was the black depths of the chasm below. The great wyrm began breathing into its cavernous nostrils, creating a strong gust that caused both Leman and Admu to struggle against it. The creature's chest expanded, until the gust slowed to a halt. Suddenly a plume of multicolored fire poured forth from the wyrm's scaly lips, engulfing Leman in a conflagration that scoured the mountainside. Admu fell to the ground and covered her head with her arms, both to protect herself and out of fear of what she might see if she looked.
Leman saw darkness… and then he opened his eyes. The kaleidoscopic flames surrounded his entire body, curling around him like currents of water. It was cool to the touch and brushed against his hands harmlessly, the rainbow tongues of fire lapping against and flowing between his fingers. Eventually the stream of fire dissipated, leaving Leman untouched. With the fire no longer obscuring his vision, he looked into the wizened eyes of the colossal dragon. It stared at him with a scrutinizing gaze, piercing his soul with its deep purple irises and inky black pupils. With a deliberate slowness, the creature blinked and began turning its cumbersome head away from him. Its tail began to move again, falling against the far side of the canyon with a loud 'thud' and opening the way across once again. The wyrm's body collapsed into the rock and rubble, burying itself in a cavalcade of landslides and rockfalls. When the dust had settled, it appeared as though the creature had blended back into the mountainous terrain leaving only its scaled spine above ground to act as a living bridge to the last stretch of alpine trail. Admu rushed over to Leman on the middle of the bridge.
"Mister Russ, are you alright?" she said, gripped with panic.
"Yes, I'm fine." he said, examining his hands which had just moments before been engulfed by fire. "I believe that was some kind of judgment… and I appear to have been judged worthy."
After crossing the dragon's back, the mountains around them began to grow taller and taller. The air was thin, though luckily Leman's enhanced physiology allowed him to manage just fine. Admu seemed unaffected as well, as her chipper attitude did not diminish even slightly.
"Mister Russ, I've been thinking… once my family finds a way to break out of here, then that means I can come visit you, right?" she said.
"Well, I'm not sure they even know when that will be-" he said
"I could come see your home, with all the ice and the big mountain that stretches into space!" she said, oblivious to Leman's apprehensions. "I could meet all your sons, and when you help your father get better, I could meet him too!"
Leman exhaled, his head spinning as he imagined himself trying to explain this to his men. Or worse, explaining it to his father. Granted, it was he who sent him here in the first place, but he had a hard time imagining his father approving of him cavorting with strange gods.
"I could even meet your brothers! Or… at least the ones that are still good… even though you don't know where they are…" she said, her expression darkening as she remembered the tragic tale Leman had recounted to her earlier. Suddenly her face lit up with a look of optimism. "Oh, I know!" she exclaimed. "I could help you find your brothers! It'll be just like our journeys here, only bigger and better!" she said, her eyes starry and wide with dreams of future adventures in the world outside her small bubble of unreality. Leman felt a pang of pity, knowing that in all likelihood such a thing was impossible.
I'll let the girl have her dreams. He thought. That much she has earned.
The path led them through mountain passes and precarious cliffs, with pieces of worn and collapsed architecture beginning to litter the landscape. A translucent fog wafted through the air, pouring down from the sides of the mountains like silent waterfalls. Columns and arches now lined the path, the rough gravel slowly giving way to carved stone. They reached a staircase which climbed up onto a great platform overlooking a vast, mountainous landscape. There were irregular groupings of worn pillars, collonades, and half-ruined entablatures which gave the impression of a long-forgotten temple, reduced to nothing more than a collection of disparate free-standing columns and archways. Small patches of grass and flowers emerged from cracks in the rocky soil like puddles of green in the gray landscape. At the center of the ruined structure, at the far side of the grand platform atop the cliff, lay a small bent-over tree nestled in a bed of green sward. The sea of fog surrounding the platform obscured the walls of rock, making it feel as though they were somehow nestled within a great complex of clouds suspended in the sky.
"That must be it… but I do not see any fruit." Leman said. He began walking forward through the glade of pillars. Admu stopped however, struck with an indescribable feeling crawling up along her spine. Her tail fur stood on end, and she felt as though her antlers were ringing through her skull. She felt momentarily paralyzed, before her eyes shot open and she leaped into action.
"Leman!" she shouted. The shape in the fog moved so quickly it barely registered in his vision, and before his reflexes could kick in, he felt himself shoved to the side with great force. Leman fell to the ground, feeling a woosh of air inches from his face as the tail swung at them with hypersonic speed. The attack meant for him slammed into Admu, launching her backwards through ruined walls until she struck the opposing rockface with such force that it fractured upon impact. She fell limp to the ground, the sound of her antlers clattering against the cold stone sending shivers up Leman's spine.
"Admu!" he shouted. He scrambled to his feet, his hearts pounding with such force that he could hear the blood rushing in his ears. The gaunt, almost skeletal demon whipped its tail back, the blackened spines dripping with fresh blood. It was covered in pale, leathery, almost paper-like skin with sparse patches of thin, wiry hair and plates of corpse-wax coated chitin stretched across its immense, beastly frame, appearing like an unnatural fusion of a diseased mammal with an overgrown insect. It dragged scythe-like protrusions along the stone floor with its spindly forearms, filling the air with an excruciating clangor. Its freakishly emaciated skull snarled, gnashed, and drooled with noxious, discolored blood that dripped over its exposed knife-like fangs. Its eyes were naught but empty black pits, emanating a horrifying aura of deep, unending hatred. Leman reached for something to defend himself with, picking up a large stone from the ground and bringing it to bear against his foe. The demon reared up on its hind hooves, raising its claws into the air and lunging at Leman. He rolled out of the way, ducking as the demon cracked its tail like a whip. It charged him with a flurry of mad slashes, all the time screeching and snarling with its grotesquely dripping maw. It moved not like a living creature, but a piece of carrion puppeted by unseen strings, moving and sliding around in an unsettling manner. Its scythe-like talons sliced through the air with blinding speed, appearing more like flashes of light than slashing blades. After one overzealous strike, the demon had managed to wedge its talon into the earth, stuck. As it tried to wrench itself free, Leman took advantage of his opponent's momentary distraction and hurled the large rock at the creature's head with as much force as he could muster. The stone connected with the demon's skull with a thunderous crack, sending it twisting to such an angle that he could hear the bones in its neck snap and shatter. Its head fell limp, and Leman felt a surge of hope. Then, its head began to twitch, as something slithered and swelled within the skin of its broken neck. With a nauseating series of popping sounds, the demon's head snapped back into place and roared back to life. It cracked its whip-like tail against Leman once again, and while he was quick enough to dodge it he was not quick enough to avoid being backhanded by the demon's right hand. He tumbled to the ground, opening his eyes just as the creature's tooth-filled jaws filled his vision. He grabbed the edges of its mouth, holding the demon's maw away from him with every ounce of strength he had. The primarch howled in pain as the blood-like ooze from its mouth burned the skin of his hands and face when it dripped onto him. The muscles in his arms screamed with pain and exhaustion, and his eyes were becoming blurry from the fumes of the toxic fluid eating away at his skin. No one could save him in this place. He felt almost foolish for having come so far only to be vanquished when his goal was quite literally within sight. He cursed this place. He cursed his cruel fate and the foul gods which had engineered the downfall of his people and his millennia-long torment. Then he thought of Admu, and he cursed himself for failing to keep her safe. Then the demon jerked backwards, releasing Leman's grip on its gnashing teeth. It clawed at the earth, desperately trying to resist being pulled against its will, screeching and howling in distress. No longer trapped beneath the demon, Leman struggled to his feet and regained his bearings. He looked and saw what was restraining his assailant. Holding the demon's tail was a figure wreathed in a flowing coat of orange-gold fire, its head adorned with bolts of cerulean lightning. It gripped the demon's tail in its beast-like claws, drawing it back with the might of its powerful and sinewy limbs. The figure roared with animalistic fury, revealing its fanged mouth and glaring with blazing emerald eyes. The figure released the demon's tail and flung it against a series of pillars, crashing through the ruins and flying into the rock wall with a thunderous crash. The figure panted heavily, its hot breath billowing like steam with each powerful exhale. Leman was having trouble registering what his eyes were seeing, as the figure seemed to phase between beastly and humanoid forms. When his mind finally caught up to his eyes, he gaped in astonishment.
"A-Admu!?" he exclaimed. Before she could acknowledge him, the demon began to stir once more. Its body raised itself from the rubble, seemingly unphased by the beating she had given it. Its skin began to bulge and ripple, like a sack filled with writhing eels. Suddenly the skin on its back tore open, revealing a great black serpent slithering and thrashing within the demon's body like a grotesque puppet master. The snake's black-scaled face was half eaten away to reveal a bleached white skull, and it hissed and howled in anger. The serpent stretched open its malleable jaws and a surge of light began emanating from within its mouth. A beam of multicolored light burst forth, carving erratic burns all over the environment as it curled and twisted its head erratically. Leman dodged out of the way of the barrage, while Admu dug her feet into the ground and exploded into a mad dash towards the demon. She grabbed its head and began grappling it to the ground.
"Damaging the body won't stop it…" Leman said in between ragged breaths. "The serpent is the one controlling it." He noticed the snake curling up to strike Admu while she was busy with its puppet and sprang into action. He clambered up a toppled pillar, running across the tops of columns and pieces of architecture to flank the beast as Admu grappled it in place. Running as fast as his legs could carry him, he leapt into the air and landed on the demon's chitinous back. He grabbed onto the edges of the demon's armored plates and held on for dear life as he was shaken and tossed around by the intense struggle. The snake opened its mouth again and began to charge energy within its throat, when Leman hoisted himself up and seized the serpent's thick neck just in time to redirect the beam away from Admu. While Leman was wrestling with the snake atop the demon's back, Admu was busy slamming its head into the ground repeatedly. The demon seemed unphased and simply continued struggling against her grip. It managed to lift her into the air and flung her away, causing her to tumble across the ground until she landed on her hands and feet. She charged at the demon again on all fours as it whipped its tail at her. She slid underneath it, dodging the swipe of its claws and tackled the demon at full speed, goring it on her horns. It recoiled and the snake cried out in pain, releasing more beams of energy as it flailed in all directions. It began snapping at Leman, slicing open his cheek with its fangs.
"Enough!" He shouted, grabbing onto both sides of its mouth with his hands. He mustered every ounce of his strength, feeling a power surge within him just like he had felt back in the arena, only this time he didn't even have his suit to conduct it. He roared with a primal and unrelenting fury, wrenching open the serpent's jaws until they snapped open with a sickening crack. Beams of energy began bursting out of its mouth uncontrollably, forcing Leman to roll off the demon's back. The demon still did not relent, snapping its jaws and swiping its claws at random as the serpent protruding from its back flailed in agony. Admu wrapped her arms around the demon's neck, embedding her feet into the ground and lifting with all her might. The muscles in her legs and arms tightened and bulged as the demon was lifted into the air by its neck. Letting out a primal scream of her own, she flipped the demon over her shoulder and sent it crashing into the ground with a deafening boom that shook the earth. The serpent fell limp, crushed beneath the weight of its own puppet. Leman looked on in astonishment as Admu panted heavily, her legs growing wobbly. She fell to the ground in exhaustion, her ethereal form dissipating as she returned to her normal appearance.
"Admu!" Leman shouted, stumbling on tired legs towards her motionless body.
Youuuuu… fooooool….
Leman turned to the seemingly lifeless snake, its jaws flapping limply yet still producing sound.
Nowwwww…. Chaosssssss… willllll reignnnnnn….. Foreverrrrrrrrr!
The disembodied voice cackled maliciously, fading away as the snake became limp and lifeless once again. Leman scrambled Admu's side, lifting her hand into his. He placed a hand on her neck, and felt a weak pulse. She was breathing, but it was ragged and labored. As his mind reeled over what he should do, he was blinded by a bright light. He looked over in the direction of where the tree had been, and found it was now a beam of pure light which began to encompass his vision. He tried to shield his eyes from the blinding radiance, but soon everything was nothing but a white void.
Leman looked around, seeing nothing in all direction but empty nothingness and the pure light of day. Then he heard a voice behind him.
"It has been a long time, hasn't it?" the voice said.
Leman slowly turned around and beheld a young shepherd boy, with olive, sun-kissed skin and long, raven hair sitting in a bed of grass beneath the bent tree he had seen before. His eyes were gleaming like liquid gold, and in his lap was nestled the head of the immense god-wolf he had come to recognize. The boy spoke with a voice that was at once familiar and unrecognizable to Leman.
"It is good to see you again… son."