Genesis ducks a blow of the crackling warhammer wielded by the massive ork that dwarfs him by about a ton. The thing is wrapped in around the same amount of armor as a battle tank, and all of its weapons are about the size of an average human. Truly a remarkable being in every aspect of the world. The entire race is quite remarkable, in fact. Genesis remembers when they first came into being. Creations of the psychically advanced lizards known by some of the galaxies today as the Old Ones who were themselves creations of his brother Zed on one of his more upbeat days. The Krorks, as the Orks were known back then, were, in fact, nothing like the battle-obsessed beasts the Orks have become, but they, like the Aeldari, who are also creations of the Old Ones, were used as soldiers. The Krorks were bred to fight the doomed war between the Old Ones and the Warp beasts known as Enslavers, who fed on the minds of psykers, who were the majority back then.
After the Old Ones got themselves eaten or Zed added them to his game preserve, their creations kept living. Most went extinct eventually. Others, like the Aeldari, let their immortality and dominance go to their heads and ended up self-destructing most spectacularly. In their case, sinking so deeply into their worlds of pleasure and excess, they created an entirely new Warp, being determined to possess their souls. Then there are those like the Orks who evolved into an entirely new species. A species that evolves with every battle, getting bigger, stronger, and, despite what the Imperium wanted to believe, smarter. Overall, they are a fucking ball to scrap with. And like the Boyz, Genesis is always down for a scrap.
He raises a hand and stops the kick the Ork warboss tries to catch him off guard with. The thing's massive armored boot is as big as Genesis's whole body, but the impact, which causes a boom like a cannon being fired, doesn't move him. The ork stares at him with confusion, but that is an Ork's default expression when they are not scowling. Genesis smiles under his mask before gripping the ork's boot, which crumples under his grip. He begins to spin with the ork, using his armor grav jets to start spinning with him like a tornado, using the warboss like a club to smash the horde surrounding them. The boss had called for a one-on-one fight, but hundreds were surrounding them. Blood, guts, body parts, armor, and vehicles go flying in every direction. By the time he stops the spin, all that is left of the warboss is his foot, which Genesis tosses over his shoulder to the bodies of his broken warband. The few orks left standing run for it. Genesis lets them. He is not on Rethian X for the Orks.
Rethian X is on the very edge of Imperial space and fell to an ork waaagh hundreds of years. It was once a Mechanicus Forge World but is now home to a few million Orks and the scrapped and repurposed everything they could get their hands on. The Mek Boyz, their version of Tech-Priests, have been having a ball turning the place into a massive one-stop shop for ork tech. This particular area is run by Big Mek Iron Mangler, who is the most powerful and popular of the world's Mek Boyz. The Orks he just killed either worked for him or were customers. The Orks can have the planet; he is here to act as a welcoming party.
"Genesis," says Sio over their mental link, "Roboute and every Unshackled Raven Guard not engaged are ready for teleport to your location."
"Thank you, Sio, send them," replies Genesis.
A few seconds later, he is joined by his grandson and enough Unshackled to take this planet ten times over. His crusade has expanded far in the last few months, but he has yet to break through the other side of the Great Rift into what Roboute has dubbed Imperium Nihilus, keeping his actions and forces limited to what is known as Imperium Sanctus. Not because he doesn't have the power to, but because it isn't yet time. There are events there that have to happen without his intervention. But soon. For now, though, he has plenty to occupy his time. The crusade reached the Raven Guard homeworld of Deliverance and converted Chapter Master Kayvaan Shrike and his chapter to Unshackled before the recreation of the Raven Guard Legion by incorporating Firstborn from their successor chapters and new Primaris into their ranks.
"Grandfather," says Roboute with a fist-to-chest salute, "You always find the nicest spots for us to meet."
"Oh, come on, we were just on a paradise world a few weeks ago," replies Genesis with a laugh.
"One infested by Plague Marines and daemons," retorts Roboute, "Oh, and you probably already heard, but the Death Guard have made incursions southern Ultramar. I have sent forces to handle it, but I have a feeling it is just a probing strike. No sign of Mortarion or that cur Typhus as of yet."
"Sio told me," says Genesis, "I agree about it being a probe. They pop their heads up soon enough. When they do, we will chop them off. Today, though, there is another score I think you will enjoy setting and someone you will be very happy to see."
Roboute raises an eyebrow, but it is Kayvaan who speaks, "Are we to start prosecution of the Orks, Lord First? We have a large incoming force headed our way from the south."
"We aren't here for them," says Genesis, already knowing about the few thousand Orks headed their way, "Feel free to break off a chapter to deal with them, but I think you might want to be here for this Kayvaan."
"Understood," he replies before sending out orders.
They are standing in the middle of a boulevard for one of the city-sized factory complexes. Nothing special to look at, and other than the Orks, no reason to bring a force capable of toppling civilizations.
"So, if not for the Orks, why are we here?" asks Roboute.
Genesis smiles as he feels the slight change in the material energy of the planet, "Rethian X is a special planet because the divide between realspace and the Warp has always been weak here. With the opening of the Rift, it is weaker than ever. This means if someone had a mind to, they could break through rather easily. And someone has a mind to."
The polluted skies suddenly darken, cutting off further questions. Lightning of unnatural colors ripples through the dark clouds. A bolt lances out and strikes rhe ground a mile up, but the bolt doesn't fade after the strike. It remains there like a tether between sky and ground. Really, it is a tether between the two realms. It is a Warp Gate. As they watch, a huge flying black form is forced out of it, followed by hundreds of figures in crimson and silver, all firing warped Bolters at the creature, which lets out a shriek of pain that sounds like a thousand dying ravens. It attempts to flee, but coming out of the Warp into realspace seems to weaken it. It crashes into the side of a structure, chased by the Warp-charged ammo being fired into it before hitting the ground. The onslaught stops as more and more figures march from the gate, but they all part for one. A golden-skinned giant wrapped in a cloak of throbbing Chaos runes and holding a vicious spiked mace. The once proud son of the Emperor and defender of Mankind now turned Daemon Prince of Chaos Undivided, Lorgar Aurelian, Primarch of the Word Bearers, walks to the head of his army toward the fallen shadow, ready to deliver the final blow with his Warp powered mace only to stop once he looks past the fallen shadow at the legion arrayed before him.
"Roboute," says Lorgar in utter disbelief, "But how?"
"Lorgar," growls Roboute, his voice so cold it could freeze a sun.
The animosity between these two brothers runs deep. Lorgar and his Word Bearers were the driving force behind the Horus Heresy, which tore the early Imperium and left it on a slow slide to ruin. However, not many know that Lorgar's contribution to the slow death of the Imperium goes far deeper than the Hersey. He is the one who penned the Lectitio Divinitatus, the work of which became the foundation of the poisonous religion that slowly rotted the Imperium from the inside. Lorgar is also ultimately responsible for leading Horus Lupercal the Warmaster down the path of Chaos and treason. The Word Bearers' first open act of treason was the Calth Atrocity, where they ambushed the Ultramarines and ultimately nuked the planet, killing billions and dooming those who call it home to live underground. Calth lives again thanks to Genesis, but the animosity between the brothers will never fade.
As the unexpected reunion takes place, Genesis raises his hand, and the black form that has gone almost forgotten in the moment vanishes and reappears at this feet. None of the loyalists there would recognize him in this form of living shadows and blades, but Genesis does. He kneels and reaches in the past the shadows that have consumed his physical body and touches his Warp-drowned soul. Raw and flayed down to its most primal state, it should not be possible to heal, but Genesis has a deeper understanding of creation than any other, especially his own. Be grabs the damaged soul and pumps his power into it, purging it of the Warp's corrosive touch.
The shadows are burned away by the fires of creation a new form takes their place. When the flames fade, lying before them all, clad in sleek armor of midnight black and snow white bearing the golden mark of the New Imperium on his breastplate, is the second Primarch to return unshackled, Primarch of the Raven Guard, the Raven Lord, Corvus Corax opens ink black eyes.