Chapter 4.3 The Nature of Gods

Sanguinius watched as Lorgar waltzed into the makeshift meeting room within the Pyramid of Photep. Magnus was busy studying a scroll, and beside him sat Perturabo performing some form of advanced statistical analysis. Magnus had invited Perturabo to the meeting, and whilst Perturabo had been against the Librarius during the Council of Nikaea there was a tremendous amount of respect between the Lord of Iron and the Crimson King.

Magnus had informed Perturabo that secrets were being kept from the Legions by the Emperor, the true nature of elements within the warp. Whilst Perturabo remained skeptical of anything to do with sorcery, he was willing to hear out his friend. He had no love for the Emperor's grand plans and the Master of Mankind's lack of respect for the Fourth Legion continued to grate the Lord of Iron. If his old friend would present him with some truth then he would listen and come to his own conclusions.

Sanguinius didn't object. Perturabo was a blunt as you could get when it came to the Primarchs and their Legions, and there was no love lost between them, however Sanguinius recognized Perturabo's mastery of Siege craft was beyond anyone other than perhaps Dorn. The Great Angel was happy to keep him close, for now. At the very least if conversations turned towards the trustworthiness of the Emperor Perturabo wouldn't accuse them of treason, unlike many of the brothers he was closer to.

Lorgar approached the congregation of his brothers, a broad smile on his face. That smile abruptly faded as he saw Sanguinius' new visage.

"My Lord Warmaster! It is- By all on Terra, what happened to you my brother?" exclaimed Lorgar.

Sanguinius reached up and ran a pair of gauntleted fingers across his new scars. The blood and scabs had long since faded, the advantages of the advanced metabolism of a Primarch, but a pair of pink lines distorted his handsome face.

"Curze," said Sanguinius curtly, "The Night Haunter apparently wants to kill me."

"We will need to provide better protections for you," responded Lorgar, dripping with deference, "We cannot have the Warmaster so accosted."

"Yes… speaking of that…"

Sanguinius turned over to Magnus and gave a gesture of a raised finger. Magnus nodded in reply, and tapped into his personal vox unit.

"Bring him in."

Within moments, a trio of Thousand Sons Astartes entered the chamber, escorting another of their kind out of armour wearing a simple clean white robe with no adornment. Even without his formidable grey warplate, he was instantly recognizable, no less for the tattoos that covered a significant part of his exposed flesh. Erebus was shackled, the bindings thin and elegant, but clearly with purpose to restrict him. A chain was held by the lead Astartes who carefully kept an even pace so the length neither slackened excessively, nor tightened to drag the prisoner unwillingly. For his part, Erebus appeared to be cooperating fully.

"Brother?..." questioned Lorgar with uncertainty, "What is the meaning of this? Why do you have my Chaplain in chains?"

Sanguinius stood, extending his brilliant wings out fully and tucked his hands behind his back. He walked slowly and purposefully until he stood within arms reach of Lorgar who's nervousness seemed to elevate even higher than it was before.

"Brother of mine," said Sanguinius in a tone that could break bolders, "Did you instruct your son to perform sorceries on me without my consent? Did you command him to perform vile witchery which defies the Edicts of Nikaea?"

Confusion spread across Lorgar's face. This wasn't how this conversation was supposed to go. Erebus had promised he had a plan to enlighten the Warmaster as to the grand truth of the Four. This was the very purpose he had permitted his integration into the Ninth for such a long period. When he received the summons by Sanguinius to Prospero all had been taken care of. Clearly his assumptions had been premature…

"Absolutely not brother!" fumbled Lorgar, raising his hands in protest, "My Chaplains were only ever to assist your Legion in unveiling the truth! That was always the purpose of my Chaplaincy!"

Sanguinius slowly paced forward and placed his arms on Lorgar's shoulder's, his baleful blue eyes gazing deeping to Lorgar's own. Lorgar could feel almost as if his very soul was being read, and his spirit squirmed at the attention.

"But you do believe in these so called 'Four Gods' that Erebus has prattled on about to no end, don't you brother?" asked Sanguinius in a deathly cold tone.

"Well…" muttered Lorgar, "Yes… its true I have… discovered… certain… universal truths."

"Do you. Or do you not. Believe in gods," pressed Sanguinius, his grip on Lorgar's shoulder's tightening.

"Yes," hiss Lorgar hoarsely, "Yes! Brother, yes. The Four have come before me and I have seen the truth! The light! They exist brother, the Gods are REAL!"

This elicited a snort from Perturabo and Magnus simply shook his head. Sanguinius however simply relaxed his grip and withdrew back to his chair, folding his wings back into a resting position.

"I shall release Erebus back to your Legion, Lorgar, but should he cross my path again, I will not responsible for the consequences that befall him."

"Duly noted, my Warmaster," said Lorgar, bowing low and attempting to conceal his relief, "Return to my transport, Erebus. I shall meet you there once this business is concluded."

"As you command," nodded Erebus with as much deference as he could muster despite his internal distain. Escorted by the Thousand Sons, the First Chaplain of the Word Bearers withdrew from the Pyramid of Photep, enraged of being cut out from the circle that now surrounded the lynchpin of his devotions to Chaos. He would have to come up with a new plan to reinsert himself back into the Warmaster's confidences...

"I see the truth in your eyes brother," said Sanguinius, sitting and gesturing Lorgar to take a seat to his left, "For all your sins, you do believe in your so called gods. They are real to you at least."

"As I have said brother, there are no gods," said Magnus dismissively, "He cavorts with neverborn, creatures of thought manifested in the immaterium and he calls them 'gods'. It is like a child staring at a storm and thinking it is made by an angry man in the sky rather than a natural phenomenon."

"Magnus, as always with one eye closed you only ever perceive HALF a truth," retorted Lorgar, "The neverborn serve the Four. They are their agents, their disciples, their servants. The gods themselves are far greater than mere spirits you can summon with your cheap conjuration rituals."

"I have been doing my own research, Lorgar," replied Magnus, waving a hand and summoning to him a pair of scrolls with which he used to gesture at Lorgar, like a teacher admonishing a student with a cane, "I believe there can be three sources of… etheric energy, which can be confirmed throughout history. So called Primordial… Essences. Some call them Primordial Truths, or Primordial Annihilators but that is overly dramatic. A fourth was created during the fall of the Eldar in their wasteful decadence, much to the benefit of humanity. But that is what you mistakenly attribute godhood too. They are sources of power, emotional tethers to channel psychic energies. But they are no more thinking or alive than a power cell is on a transport. They are not gods, Lorgar."

"The Eldar with their ignorant warp craft are part of the reason the Ocularis Terribus exists," interjected Perturabo, "It is one of the many reasons I have not had much patience for the… sorceries of our brother here. It defies reason and analysis. Such things should be left alone and not tampered with."

"It follows an etheric reasoning brother," chided Magnus, sighing, "One I would gladly teach you if you would but let me. You can predict warp currents as you can clouds in the sky. You can manipulate the energies as you would channel water from a river."

"Let us not go through this again, Magnus," interrupted Perturabo, "We have been through this and my answer is still No. I will not accept lessons in witchery, and I will not aid you in your explorations. I am here to hear the supposed truths our Father hid from us and to hear what you plan to do about them. Nothing more."

"So I have one brother whose lack of vision lets him see that there is something greater than our Father but refuses to accept it as Divine, and another who closes his iron eyes entirely," sighed Lorgar, "Sanguinius, can I at least hope you see some truth in this all."

"To me it seems you use different words and methods for essentially the same description," replied Sanguinius, thoughtfully, "What you would call a god Lorgar, Magnus calls a Primordial Essence. What Magnus would call a ritual, a spell, a conjuration, you Lorgar might call a prayer, a plea or appeal to what you consider 'Divine'. Different names for similar methods for accessing the same source of power."

"A power that should rightfully be left alone," grumbled Perturabo again.

"Except our Father has already used this power, stole it from the Gods," countered Lorgar, "But you have already found out that truth yourself, haven't you Magnus."

"Yes," nodded Magnus, "It is undeniable given all I have read that our Father has taken some… portion of the Primordial Essence into himself. It has become blatantly obvious to me he used to be far less powerful than he is now. He always was beyond what a mere mortal could ever have been, but looking back through the histories he has left a trail of acquired strength and stolen knowledge and powers he has gathered to himself. Some of them warp based, some of them xenos. Despite restricting us he has never failed to make use of something regardless of its origin."

"So our Father's hypocrisy is laid bare," said Perturabo darkly, "I may have my objections with the works of Magnus but our Father toys with the very things he claims are too dangerous for us…"

"Even now I see him building something in the warp," said Magnus, placing down the scrolls he held, "Whatever it is he protects it fiercely. I discovered it many years ago before our Father returned to Terra and asked if I could assist him with the work, but he refused. I have probed the edges of its extension into the warp but it is highly shielded. I have yet to find any source of power other than one as powerful as the Primordial Essences that could generate such a protection. Its exact design and the purpose our Father has for it I cannot be certain. But he is devoting his energy to it entirely."

"It is a weapon," proclaimed Lorgar, "A weapon that will devastate the Great Four. Our Father turned against them, and now seeks to supplant them with his own false godhood."

"Of course, brother," said Sanguinius dismissively, "Magnus, this device in the warp, would you say the power required to construct it was comparable to the power needed to revive me?"

"Hard to say for certain," admitted Magnus, "But certainly its on the same scale at least. The shield alone I do not think I could penetrate without drawing from the warp, or even one of the Primordial Essences."

"So it would not be unreasonable to conclude our Father did have the power to save Horus, but instead used that power for his project in the warp?"

"That would be a fair assumption," agreed Magnus.

"It seems what I always held to be true is proven right," growled Perturabo, "Our Father has no care for us. We are tools for war, to be discarded when broken or no longer convenient."

"Can we tap into the same powers?" asked Sanguinius, a heavy heart settling in his chest.

"Devotion to the Four will always reap rewards," recited Lorgar which received another snort of derision from Perturabo.

"Theoretically yes," Magnus nodded, "Though I cannot say the consequences of attempting to seize such power in one go."

"I can."

In through the entrance to the chamber came a stomping of armoured boots. Eight Astartes, all in gleaming white battle plate and red trim marched smartly in, carrying a large palanquin between 2 groups of 4. They turned sharply so the side of their carried device was exposed, the curtain drawing back to reveal Jagahatai Khan, sat atop a mound of pillows. On his fingers were lines of rings made of many previous metals all gleaming in the bright lights. Around him were scattered jewels, gold disks, rare archeotech devices, a large plate containing candied fruits, and in his hand (and also his mouth) sat the tip of a smoking Hookah billowing a faint purple smoke.

Jagahatai drew in a deep breath from his pipe and blew out a sickly sweet smelling cloud that caused Perturabo, Magnus and Sanguinius cough and recoil with revulsion. Lorgar smiled broadly as he saw his brother, letting the cloud wash over him like a cooling rain.

"Who invited the War Hawk to our gathering?" asked Magnus, waving away the smoke from his face.

"Not I," said Sanguinius, looking over at Lorgar, who merely shrugged.

All turned to look at Perturabo, who simply replied, "The first one to ask is the biggest idiot here."

"I was guided here by the spirits," said Jagahatai, picking a small piece of fruit from the plate and examining it thoroughly before popping it into his mouth, "They… came to me. To my Legion, with many offerings of secrets and truths. They said I should be here. That I could gain much by being in league with this… event."

"Fascinating…" said Magnus slowly rising and pacing around Jagahatai in his palanquin, "Our brother here is actively drawing upon one of the Primordial Essences. I see his shadow in the warp clear as day and it is much changed from our last encounter. It is… for want of a better word… stronger. More vibrant. Yet, not as he was. Something has been lost."

"He bathes in the power of She Who Thirsts," interjected Lorgar, "The Prince of Pleasures, or as is widely known to their followers… Slaanesh. The Chaos God of Desire."

"Well whomever or whatever my patron is," said Jagahatai lazily, popping another candied fruit into his mouth, "They have excellent taste."

"How… do you feel… brother?" asked Sanguinius cautiously.

"Better than ever, my Warmaster," replied Jagahatai smiling broadly in a way that was not entirely pleasant, "My senses are heightened. My blade has never been keener. And the tribute I have collected from the worlds I have conquered, well… you can see for yourself. Are you not jealous of the riches I possess, my brothers?"

"You never used to be one for displays of such… opulence," said Sanguinius, doubtfully, "I am not certain if this is a change for the better."

"How could it not be?" asked Jagahatai, grinning, "Surely there is no immorality in enjoying that which is rightly deserved. We have all drunk the finest wines, we have all tasted the finest feasts provided by those grateful for our liberations. I simply keep it with me instead of denying myself as I withdraw from my victories. You should also consider doing so as well, my brothers. There is no shame of enjoying the pleasures that life naturally brings!"

"I have never been one for decadence," rumbled Perturabo, "Nor do I intend to start now. You are the best argument against it."

With a flash of violet behind his eyes, Jagahatai leapt from the palanquin, almost causing the White Scars that carried it to collapse beneath the force. It was a move beyond any Primarch even with their enhanced physiology, beyond even the normally agile War Hawk. It was almost if the White Scars Primarch phased through the warp itself in a purple haze. A blade impaled the data slate Perturabo had been working from faster than any of the other Primarchs could see. Jagahatai leaned forward, crouching on the table in front of Perturabo a wicked smirk on his face.

"Do not mistake my decadence for sloth, Iron Lord. It is a mistake I will graciously only allow you to make once."

And then in a flash Jagahatai was back, sat on his pillows eating another candied fruit, the palanquin again rocking with the force. Perturabo bitterly pulled the blade from his data slate and disdainfully tossed it aside. Pulling another from about his person he glared over at the War Hawk replying, "And you should also not forget I always have contingencies, War Hawk."

"Well, once again we cannot dismiss the power afforded by these… Primordial Essences, or Gods, or whatever they might be," said Sanguinius observing Jagahatai carefully, "How come by you this power, Jagahatai?"

"That would be my blade," said the War Hawk, patting the sword at his waist, "The Djinn inside tried to control me. Tried to convince me to let it take over my mind. Foolish thing thought itself smarter than the Khagan, the Khan of Khans. The deception was on my part, and I have since enslaved it to my will. It allowed me to establish my connection to this… God… and call upon its favours. It has been most generous, far more generous than our Father has ever been in his rewards."

"He speaks the truth," agreed Lorgar, "The spirit of blade is… enslaved. It is possessed by a Daemon, a servant of Slaanesh of great power. I am impressed, Jagahatai that you managed to overpower it with such ease."

"It is nothing," said Jagahatai carelessly, "The tribute bringers sing much of you Lorgar. They call you Herald."

"I am gracious to be recognized by the Four," replied Lorgar feigning humility.

"Not the Four," said Jagahatai shaking his head, "You are the Herald of the Fifth. As are you… Magnus."

"Wait, What?" exclaimed Magnus and Lorgar in unison with confusion.

Jagahatai chuckled as he shifted his position on the pillows, admiring a new ring he had picked up from the collection surrounding him.

"Yes, brothers. The Devotee and the Non-Believer will Herald the Path of the Fifth to Ascend. Or so they say… Maybe they are just talking about how you will improve the fortunes of my Legion. Who can say."

"A Fifth God…" whispered Lorgar, reaching down and grabbing a large tome at his waist and desperately paging through it, "The War against the Anathema was all that has been spoken to me. Never have the spirits whispered of a Fifth God…"

"I do not know much detail, it was not a secret I cared for," continued Jagahatai with an uninterested tone, "But they did say their Great Game had changed its dimensions due to the death of Horus. Destroying their Anathema is still their desire, but a new path has emerged which would allow them to do so in a more… spectacular fashion."

"Creating a Primordial Essence…" muttered Magnus, who had since stood up and was pulling scrolls, books and other texts off a nearby bookshelf at a rapid pace, looking for passages and then dismissing them, casting the texts aside with reckless abandon, "I mean focusing etheric energy into a condensed form and manifesting a Prime Source from which to tap… I won't say it's impossible… almost ANYTHING would be possible in the warp… but it would be like trying to start a solar nuclear reaction in a cloud of hydrogen with a match from half the distanced away from the system's centre. At least right now. But if we could create the appropriate circumstances…"

"Let us assume we could create a Primordial Essence," asked Sanguinius, attempting to follow the different trains of thought each brother was having, "How could we tap into this power? Could we use it much like Father has? Is there a limit to what could be done with it?"

"Theoretically… no," admitted Magnus excitedly, "I must admit such a thing had never occurred to me. Especially after Father's… restrictions. But it would produce a near unlimited source of psychic energy, and it would be self-sustaining. We could all manifest strengths like our brother Jagahatai but the costs to our… personalities, our individualities… would be far lesser. And we could use ritual and focus to channel that power into accomplishing near anything."

"Could we… could we… bring back the dead," asked Sanguinius, his voice catching slightly in his throat.

Magnus paused as he pulled a book from a shelf. Lorgar turned to look over at the Great Angel, his fingers still hovering of his tome with a fresh quill held within his hand. Slowly, Magnus released his grip on the tome, turning to his brother.

"Yes," said Magnus slowly, "It would be possible, with enough research and ritual development to return Horus to life. It certainly would not be an easy thing to do. Your own revival was done whilst you were still alive. Horus has been dead some many years, his spirit was scattered into the warp, much like the souls of all those who have passed before. It would be difficult, my brother, to find the pieces of his essence and restored them to some physical shell. But I do believe we could do this thing. Together."

"I know you have no belief in my Gods, Sanguinius," said Lorgar gently, "But what esoteric knowledge I possess and knowledge of the Gods within the warp, I will put at your service, so we might bring back our lost brother."

"I want my brother back," whispered Sanguinius, his wings shivering again like many times before these last few years, "Is it such a crime to want to look upon his face again, to hear his laugh, to see his smile?"

"No brother," said Lorgar tenderly, "The power is within our grasp. We need only take it."

"BUT WHY MUST I BE FORCED TO CHOOSE?!" wailed Sanguinius, tears falling from his eyes, "I MUST CHOOSE BETWEEN LOYALTY TO OUR FATHER, TO STAND FOR EVERYTHING I HAVE FOUGHT FOR! Or for my brother's return. Our Father will never stand for this. He will label us as traitors, and we may end up stricken from history like our missing siblings of the Second and Eleventh…"

"Why should we stand for loyalty to the Emperor," pointed out Perturabo, "He clearly is not loyal to us. He has the power to heal us, to bind our wounds and save us from death, yet he uses us for his needs and never shows so much as gratitude. I care not for this gossip of necromancy… but if we can restore our lost brothers, ALL of them… it would be a far better thing than our so called 'Father' has ever done for us. I have made my opinions on witchery clear from the beginning, I despise the warp and sorcery in all its forms… but a Warlord cannot deny when a tool is effective for a solution that cannot be found otherwise. I will not stand for a puppet corpse however. We must restore our brothers to as they were. Not some plaything of meat held together by majiks. TRUE revival, requiring no constant ritual, no repeated spell that must be performed to save them from fading again. They must be made whole. Can you do that, brothers?"

"Yes," said Magnus, with a quiet confidence and a grim determination.

"I… but…" muttered Sanguinius, his grief still overflowing, "To turn against Father… or to have my beloved brother back… How… How do I choose…"

Magnus walked over to the weeping Angel and laid a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"Brother, this is the most difficult decision any of us will ever have to make. To choose our loyalty to our Father, or to our brothers, both alive and dead. It is not a choice I envy. Know that if we reach a decision here today, I will stand with you. No matter the costs, through good and bad. If you choose to stand by our Father, I shall lay down my books and resume the Edicts of Nikaea. I shall serve you as your role of Warmaster and we shall move on. But if you choose this hope of restoring our brother, I shall devote all my energies to this cause and to providing you with whatever you require to save him, and all of us, from our Father's wrath."

"Likewise, brother," said Lorgar, approaching the sat Sanguinius and kneeling before him, "If you choose to uphold our Father's law I shall obey all your commands and speak no more of my Gods. But if you should walk this path, I shall walk it with you as far as it will go, come what may."

"As long as the Warmaster allows me my tributes, and bestows his own when the occasion arises, he has my support," called Jagahatai from his Palanquin, toying with a piece of archeotech.

"If my brothers will honour, respect and prove loyal to me…" said Perturabo with some gruffness in his tone, "I shall be loyal to them in return."

Sanguinius looked around at his brothers, some with earnest faces, some cold or disinterested, but all willing to stand with his decisions, however he resolved to act. In them all he saw a small piece of Horus, the brother who would have stood by him no matter what. And now, he must choose whether he would do the same.

"I…" began Sanguinius with a wavering voice, "I shall have my brother back. Sometimes… sometimes the Father does not know best. I do not know anymore whether he truly cares for us, or whether we are just pawns. But we must have Horus returned to us. And if it angers our Father… then so be it. We must prepare for his ire, and for the rage of those of our brothers who will not understand why we do this thing. However, any brother who does not stand against us, even if he does not stand with us... no harm shall come to them, and any brother who submits in defeat shall be allowed to remain. No more death. No more lost brothers, no matter how they may harm us. This is a Crusade for Life. Life for Horus, life for us all, and life for all our brothers. The Crusade Vitae."

"The Crusade Vitae!" proclaimed Lorgar in a loud voice.

"The Crusade Vitae," agreed Magnus nodding.

"We stand with Six Legions between us," said Perturabo, "Assuming you can rally both of yours, Warmaster. We will need several more if we are to match those who will stand against us. For there will be many."

Sanguinius nodded, standing and walking over to Perturabo until he was within an arms reach of the Iron Lord. He stared his brother deep in the eyes with a grim determination.

"Brother, you are the finest Siege Crafter among us here. You are a master of statistics and analysis. Your knowledge and intelligence is above reproach. I hear by name YOU, Perturabo, Lord of Iron and Master of the Fourth Legion, I name you Chief Architect of the Crusade Vitae. We will need weapons. We will need supplies. We will need secure logistics. We will need a calculated plan of surgical strikes whilst our conspiracy is still unknown. I trust this task to you, brother. Take any resources you need, from my Legion or any of those here present. Ask for any data or aid you require. Deliver us a plan so that we might bring the galaxy under our control and continue our quest for our brothers' return."

"I… I shall provide, Warmaster," said Perturabo. His face was grim and stern, but Magnus could see the hint of a smile on his old friend's lips.

"I believe I can find ways to bring additional Legions to us," said Lorgar, a triumphant grin on his face, "But it will require your assistance, Warmaster, Magnus. There are many prayers- I mean, rituals, that can be performed to enlighten our brothers. Whilst some may cause… discomfort… they will not harm any of our kin in the long term. Much like exposure to a disease breeds resistance, so must we expose our brothers to the truths of the warp. In time they will come to understand as we have."

"I blanch at the thought of causing pain or injury to our brothers," said Sanguinius, a frown on his face, "But much with my own awakening to the truth perhaps there is no other way. As long as you swear, Lorgar, no lasting harm shall befall our brothers, we shall explore your plan."

"I so swear, brother," said Lorgar, bowing before the Great Angel, "The purpose of the Crusade Vitae is not death, but life. Not ignorance, but truth. We shall enlighten our brothers, and bring them together in peace and harmony. And we shall restore what has been taken from us, by fate, or by our Father."