Chapter 4.8 Alone in the Dark

John Grammaticus shivered in the pale moon light. The planet had atmosphere but at night it was cold, very cold. Around him were the ruins of an ancient city, one that looked almost human in its design. Large towering blocks outlined the sky and roads and pavements made it clear that originally this place had once been a busy metropolis.

But it wasn't human. This world was devoid of all life, and had been so longer before humanity had emerged crawling for their distant sun into the space beyond. These ruins had sat here, quietly undisturbed, as the millennia rolled by. John suspected they were probably the first life that had been seen on the planet for eons. Certainly the first humans to ever set foot here.

His companion could be called human, but only in the same way a chihuahua and a great dane were both dogs. He towered over John as he always did, his sea green armour in the plain, unadorned pattern of a standard Alpha Legion Astartes gave no secrets away to his real identity. But John knew Omegon carried a few nonstandard weapons about his person, some of which he suspected of being xenos in origin. Alpharius and Omegon were practical men, as much as one could call them men.

Omegon tapped away on his tablet that he held in a gauntleted hand as he waited for this contacts to arrive. In the distance John could see figures moving through the city blocks, warily checking every building for traps or ambushers.

They would find none, John knew. This meeting wasn't about conflict. In fact, it was an attempt to end one, or plan the ending before it even started.

They wore colourful armour, wielding weapons not seen within Imperium space. Aeldari, more commonly known as Eldar. Their Guardians were spread out, ensuring a clear path through for their leaders, Farseers, the most powerful psykers of their race.

Eldrad Ulthran was his name. Scion of the Craftworld Ulthwe, Eldrad was arguably one of the most powerful psykers in the entire Eldar species since their fall. John knew of him through the Cabal, and whilst they had never conversed much John had respect for what he heard about the Farseer. Perhaps if Eldrad had been a louder voice amongst the members of the Cabal, this disaster might never have occurred.

"Or perhaps it might still have happened! The play goes on and on! The performers may change but the dance remains the same!"

A voice came from behind John ear, and he spun around and staggered back in surprise. Omegon grasped a pistol from a holster and pointed at the newcomer, his finger resting gently on the trigger. The figure raised its hands in gesture of apologies, a large staff held in its right. A hood covered the figure's face, but from its slender form it was clearly Aeldari.

"Forgive me, Last Son! I sought only a little fun with the Cabal's pet Mon-Keigh! He does seem very well trained."

"Oh brilliant," snapped John, dusting off his robes, "I didn't know Eldrad was bring bloody Harlequins with him."

"I come to see the play, because the Laughing God has great interest in what is to be!" said the figure, jumping on top of its staff and resting there like a crouched avian, "The dance that was performed before may well yet come again! Though perhaps if we are lucky it will have a different ending. After all, we do not want She Who Thirsts to have a younger sibling! You may call me Sylandri Veilwalker, if it pleases you."

"Do not sneak up on us again, Veilwalker," said Omegon, lowering his weapon, "I would hate to upset Eldrad by accidently removing your head before our meeting."

"Do not worry, Last Son!" laughed Veilwalker, bouncing off its staff and sidling up to the 2 humans, "The Laughing God sees many roles for me in the years to come! And we shall have many journeys together, you and I, with our friend who Sees Far. I am sad I will not get to dance with the King of Feathers, but his role is different now. That play will not be performed, it is not to be. It is a great joke that he will now hatch the egg that may save all of your kind! Imagine! A Mon-Keigh hatched from an egg!"

"By the throne how I hate Harlequins," grumbled John, "Nothing but riddles and rhymes and you can never get a straight answer. They're worse than dealing with you, 'Alpharius'."

Veilwalker turned their expressionless veiled face to John and raised their staff high, bringing it down upon his head with enough force to hurt, but not enough to cause damage.

"Bad Mon-Keigh!"

"Ahh! What in the hells?!"

"You need to stop playing with things you do not understand," said Veilwalker, like a parent telling off a naughty child, "Mon-Keighs play with fire and do not understand they risk burning down the whole forest! You are fortunate we are here to help you. When we burned down the forest our homes and children burned with them. We may yet be able to save the forest this time. But you need to behave Mon-Keigh!"

"I'll keep my bloody mouth shut then," growled John, rubbing his head.

"Probably for the best John," said Omegon, nodding towards the figures approaching, "Our other… contacts… have arrived."

Eldrad and his entourage finally arrived, a splendid group of various Aeldari and a number of other species, all wearing some form of battle plate. Eldrad held his spear in his grasp but with the point directed towards the sky in a sign of neutrality. He gave Omegon a polite nod as he stopped within several paces of the Primarch. He spoke High Gothic well, but with a notable accent which was not human by any measure.

"Greetings to you, Alpharius, Son of the Emperor of Mankind, Lord of the Alpha Legion. I am Eldrad Ulthran of the Ulthwe. I see you have already met one of our number," he said, glancing to the side at Veilwalker who waved a gloved hand at him, "I thank you for agreeing to meet with me."

"John is the one to thank," said Omegon, "He was the one who suggested prior to departing to Terra that we should speak with you."

"Indeed, there is much to thank you for, John Grammaticus," nodded Eldrad addressing the base line human, "Your services were invaluable during your time at the Cabal, and even now you fight Chaos in your own way."

"Pity that everything went to hell in the end, eh?" said John, ruefully.

"Quiet so. In fact I was surprised at your willingness, Alpharius, given that you took great efforts to hunt down almost all of the members of the Cabal. To be honest I wasn't even sure I should contact you at all given some of the… techniques… you were reported to have made use of when interrogating members you managed to capture. Many of them were friends, allies I had known before you kind ever made it out this far into the galaxy."

"I sure you understand the situation," said Omegon, his tone icy cold, "After all, your Cabal did murder my brother Horus, one of the sons of the Emperor. Had we done the same to you, you might well have acted the same."

"You HAVE done the same to us," said Eldrad, tersely, "Many of the Aeldari have been crushed beneath the boots of the Astartes as you march across the galaxy. Entire worlds have been purged by your kind, not to mention what you have done to some of our craftworlds. But we do not have time to assign blame for the horrors we have inflicted on each other. We must make common cause, lest the galaxy burn again in the fires of Chaos. What you call Old Night will be as nothing if we cannot find a path away from the oncoming storm."

"You are right, of course," acquiesced Omegon, "Our mutual friend John has been working with us for some time in trying to predict a new model of the future, now Horus is no longer in the picture. Whilst we still don't have a clear view of what is to come certain flash points have been uncovered."

"Our own scrying of the future has show us much the same," said Eldrad, "We might not be able to fully prevent what is to come, but we can at least ensure Chaos does not gain a total victory. We must pool our resources to uncover the path that leads us from disaster."

"We must make a Firebreak!" exclaimed Veilwalker, "The forest may yet burn, but if the tree line is broken it can be contained! The rest of the forest may yet be saved, but we must break and burn now so that we do not all burn later!"

"Do you understand her words?" asked Omegon to Eldrad, his tone one of mild annoyance.

"The Harlequin are the only of our kin that still retain their God, deep within the webway," replied Eldrad, "They can see much that we cannot, though the Laughing God enjoys his jokes. Rarely does he make the answer clear. But it is foolish to dismiss the words of a Harlequin. If you can decipher their meaning the information they provide can be invaluable."

"Eldrad of Ulthwe, so serious is he!" mocked Veilwalker, making a voice that implied a pouting face if it were not completely covered, "Yes the Laughing God keeps the punch line to himself, but he has no desire to see the forest from his window ablaze! That is why I am here! We shall dance together and keep the forest green and vibrant! As much as we can at any rate."

"I think the point is," interjected John, trying to get the conversation back on topic, "We can all see the warp storms gathering. Before too long the entire galaxy will be almost impossible to navigate via warp. We need to get to Terra before the first calamity occurs."

"What calamity is that?" asked Eldrad, "We came here because we thought we could coordinate our scrying of the future. You have seen some event clearly enough to know it must be managed?"

"Yes," said John, his patience running thin, "We have only vague understandings. We can't really scry as you would, but we can predict. We know SOMETHING will happen on Terra, something that will break all of the Emperor's plans. When this occurs, we need to be there, or be close enough we can hold back a flood of Chaos. The Emperor will need soldiers, that we can be sure of, but he will also need powerful psykers. There is no guarantee we can STOP the event, but we might be able to delay it long enough to prevent the worst of all futures occurring."

"Those worst futures being…"

"The death of the Emperor and the complete and total victory of Chaos," said John, simply, "The probability of the entire galaxy being absorbed by the warp reaches near one hundred percent if the Emperor dies on Terra."

"The Lord of the Sun, Master of Lightning, tears fall as he sits upon the throne of woes!" said Veilwalker, stabbing at the sky with her staff, "Will his tower crumble beneath him or will he rise once more to stride across his Kingdom?"

"We make for your world of Terra then," agreed Eldrad, "Though we will need you to ensure we are not assaulted by your Imperium's forces. I do not think they would take kindly to the Aeldari turning up uninvited to the seat of power within the Imperium."

"I will speak with any who stand in our way," confirmed Omegon, "Our brother Rogal might be the most difficult to persuade, but if we time our arrival for immediately after the calamity begins I suspect he will accept any aid that comes."

"The Keeper of the Door will not reject the Shining Spear or the Last Son when his cellar has sprung a leak," said Veilwalker, leaping atop her staff again, standing on one leg with other limbs spread wide like a star, "His surprises at visitors shall be thrice! First the Last Son shall bring a merry carnival to his home. Then, the broken Duke shall bleed his heart out on floor before the Master of Lightning. And then, as the clock strikes Midnight, the Lord of the Sun shall rise from his slumbers to see the Wordsmith give his last!"

"Very helpful," grunted John.