AN: Chronologically this takes place before Amberly's meetup with him.
Eldrad came into the hall of the Seers, face resolute. He had not imagined something like this would… ever happen. "My fellow Seers… I have discovered a path to free ourselves!" he announced. This got confused looks.
"Are we not already on such a path?" one mused.
"How long will it take?" Eldrad countered. "I have discovered a path that will provide us both Ynnead and our lives!" he declared. "And it should awaken Ynnead sooner as well!" Now came the hard part- the sale. "All it takes… is our pride."
"Our pride?" One of his fellow Seers asked.
"We… we have to throw our pride away forever. To renounce our claims to the Galaxy." This was the bitter pill. The Bel-Tan emissary (Many had come for his emergency summons through the Webway portals) scoffed.
"Renounce our claims to what is ours? What our ancestors-"
"Our ancestors got us into this mess!" Eldrad spat. "We had the galaxy for millions of years! We had everything! And WHAT did we do with it?! We squandered it! Destroyed ourselves!"
"A minor setback. We learned from this. Once Ynnead awakens, we will reclaim the galaxy."
"We won't be alive to do it!" Eldrad exclaimed.
There was silence.
"Explain, Uthleen."
"None of us will live to see it! And that's the best-case scenario! If the human's Emperor-"
"Oh, not this again," one of the other Farseers muttered.
"If He dies before Ynnead is born, or gods forbid, the human's world of Cadia falls, there won't BE an Eldar race, with the exception of our urban-dwelling cousins!" he spat. "How many thousands of years do we have left!? Our population falls, and has never risen above what we had the day after the Fall! There may not BE enough Eldar souls to awaken Ynnead! Not unless we seek protection from others!"
"Others? The mon-kei?" the Bel-Tan emissary spat.
"...That… that is the way out." Eldrad swallowed. It wasn't fear, no. It was his pride. "To offer our services to the humans. From now until the end of time. To become a part of their Imperium. That… that is how we can be free from the Thirst."
For a moment, there was silence.
Then came the shouts. First, there was laughter. At Eldrad's stoic face, they realized he wasn't joking. Then, there came the accusations of treason. Of turning against their own kind out of his foolish belief that the humans had value.
That did it. With a snarl, Eldrad tore his soulstone from his neck, and threw it to the ground, and slammed his foot over it, shattering it. There were gasps, as Eldrad knelt down.
"I renounce the idea that the Empire of old can ever rise again," he began. "I renounce the call for the destruction of humanity and of the lives of humans for an Eldar. I renounce my claims to superiority to humans. I pledge my loyalty to the Emperor of Mankind, Anathema of Chaos, and to the Imperium of Man. I vow to aid Mankind until the day I finally die, and offer my soul to Him on Terra."
"TRAITOR!" the Bel-Tan emissary began, beginning to rise… but Eldrad didn't see it. Instead, he was in a room of golden light. He looked down at himself. He was there in spirit, and stared at a throne of gold and rust. Upon it, a skeleton sat. And said skeleton had a familiar signature.
"What the FUCK, Eldrad!? Why are you here?!" the Emperor of Mankind exclaimed.
"Revelation… I see you lost some weight," Eldrad quipped, getting over his shock. He felt… something. The gnawing. The Thirst. It was… lessening?
"What are you doing?" The Emperor asked him. "What brand of dickishness brought you here?"
"She Who Thirsts offered a way out," Eldrad replied. "And apparently, it leads to you."
"...A way out?"
"One of your Commissars offered her the Darkstone. She added that apparently, the way to avoid the Thirst was to bend the knee to your Imperium."
"Okay… as much as I like the idea of her not getting another soul… why should I allow you in?"
"The Webway," Eldrad stated.
"Fuck it, I'm in." Then they both paused. "Are you… soul-bound to me?" The Emperor whispered, as Eldrad began to dissipate.
"I… I think I am… it's… it's gone! Expect more, Rev!" he called to his old friend, before vanishing.
"Fuck," The Emperor of Mankind groaned.
Eldrad was back in his body, as the Bel-Tan emissary leapt at him. He drew upon the full strength of the Eldar's natural psychic might- and threw him back. There was no subtle pull on his soul.
"I am free!" he shouted. Many of the other Farseers were staring in shock. Eldrad's soul had a thin gold line tethering it. It was almost invisible, but it was there. "I Thirst no more!" There was no lie in his voice. "For the first time in almost eleven thousand years, I don't feel She Who Thirsts!"
"You lie!"
"Then I'll prove it! SLAANESH! COME AND GET ME!" Eldrad shouted, using his considerable power to amplify that taunt into the Sea of Souls. Even speaking the name of the Youngest of the Four would be a death sentence that a soulstone would only BARELY be able to prevent- a taunt like that? There was no quicker and more painful death. A moment passed. Then another. Then… Eldrad began to laugh.
"You can't touch me! You can't touch my soul!" he cackled. Slowly, another Farseer knelt, and proceeded to follow the Oath. He paused for a moment at the end, and removed his soulstone. Tears began to fall from his face.
"We… we're free…" he whispered, before running into the nearest webway portal. More began to kneel, while the Bel-Tan emissary scoffed. A few others did as well. But more and more knelt. Messagers would spread the news.
There was a new Path: The Path of Humility. There was a way out.
Across the Craftworlds, dozens, then hundreds, and then thousands of Eldar knelt and took the oath. Immediately afterwards, many would try tears of joy. Others would embrace their partners. Now free of needing soulstones, their numbers would be able to grow more rapidly. More and more, the Eldar, for the first time since the Fall, celebrated. Cheers came from across the craftworlds. Even craftworlds that refused had those who followed the Path- in many cases, such as Bel-Tan, this was seen as heresy. They were exiled, but decided to go to the world of Freedom- Swakensberg. And they would deify the human who had offered them salvation- Ciaphas Cain, the Slavhreenur. A few Harlequins had told of the being who would free them from She Who Thirsts. Many had wondered why the play had 'being', but those questions had been answered. Thus, the Day of Liberation rang through the Craftworlds.
Eldrad was staring at a photo. He had kept it ever since he had recovered it from the Golden halls of the Imperial Palace after leading Vulkan there. It was him, and a female Eldar. She was smiling shyly, as he laughed. The taker of the picture, a certain throne-bound human, wasn't shown. They were on a Paradise world. He traced his hands over the figure- a figure that only the Nulls would see.
"Sister…" he whispered. "We're free. I hope… I hope that one day, you can join us in this freedom." It was a fool's hope. Even if his beloved sister could be freed… there was little chance that the rest of the galaxy would allow it. The reason? It was the caption.
Eldrad and Slaanesh celebrating before my trip to Moloch. I'll miss them.