Lucius observed the Aeldar's flight path with detached interest. Slaaneshi daemons were in relentless pursuit, yet he had no intention of intervening.
However, to say the Great Horned Rat had done nothing would be inaccurate.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAARGH—!!"
A horrific shriek tore through the Warp. The Prince of Darkness, unable to endure Isha so brazenly intercepting his "delicacies," reached out personally to drag her back.
But as Slaanesh's great hand manifested, Lucius swatted it back instantly. Had he not, Isha would have been reclaimed long ago.
Though consumed by fury, Slaanesh did not engage the Great Horned Rat in open combat. After a fit of rage, the Dark Prince withdrew into the Palace of Pleasure, likely still nursing the memory of their last confrontation.
"Heh, grabbing is so... tasteless. Slaanesh, let me show you what true art looks like," Lucius chuckled.
The Aeldar retreat converged upon an industrial city in the southern continent of the planet Dulan. The site had already been reduced to a labyrinth of scorched steel and rubble by preliminary Imperial bombardments.
By all rights, a massive force of the Astra Militarum should have been stationed here to oversee the sector's handover, yet when the Aeldar Wraithknights strode into the ruins, they found no sign of the Imperial presence.
"Praise Ynnead. Praise Isha," Yvraine murmured upon receiving the scouts' report. The prayer felt somewhat surreal given that Isha herself stood beside her.
"It was not my protection, child," Isha replied with a bittersweet smile, declining the credit. Ninety-nine percent of her Aetheric essence remained shackled within the Warp; what stood before them was merely a vessel containing a fraction of her divine power.
This was, of course, because the Great Horned Rat had usurped the lion's share of her godhood. Otherwise, how could a deity manifest in the mortal realm and converse so freely with her children?
Isha still remembered the Great Horned Rat's words before she was cast out of the Warp:
"If your children can rescue you, I shall aid you and the Aeldari. I shall let your race rise again."
"And... if they cannot?"
"If they fail, and you wish not to be snatched by Slaanesh... then pray to me. I shall still aid you... and I shall grant you the dignity befitting a god."
Isha didn't fully grasp the implication. Would he truly leave her be? Unlikely. She knew all too well her chances of survival should Slaanesh's talons close around her again.
But for now, it seemed her children's efforts were not in vain.
"That does not diminish our gratitude, Mother Goddess," Yvraine said. She immediately signaled the Exodites to locate the Webway Gate.
Mounted upon their reptilian beasts, the Exodites plunged into the eerie, silent expanse of the steel ruins.
Suddenly, the silence was shattered by the sound of heavy impacts and the frantic roars of dragons. Hundreds of Exodite souls began to drift into the Aether.
"Enemies!" Lelith Hesperax barked, instantly alert. She leaped in front of Isha and Yvraine, and the entire Aeldar host fell into a defensive posture.
Isha reached out, catching the souls of the fallen. Using the remnants of her divine power, she drew them into herself to witness their final moments.
Her silver-white brows furrowed. "It is the rats... as expected, they will not let us depart so easily."
…
Beneath the rusted ruins, before a Webway Gate disguised as a dilapidated warehouse entrance, a Grey Seer was pacing around the Old One miracle with intense curiosity.
"No-no... Old One-thing's Webway is a desecration of the Great Horned Rat! Yes-yes, desecration!"
The Grey Seer wore tattered yet ornate white robes. His massive horns signaled his supreme status. Beside him, a four-armed Rat Ogre Bonebreaker, waited restlessly, its small mind unable to comprehend its master's work but its loyalty absolute.
Squeak-squeak-squeak—!
"Go-go! Do not pester-annoy the Great Thanquol!" The lesser rats, their eyes gleaming with malevolent intelligence and worship, chattered at his feet until the Grey Seer irritably kicked them aside.
Indeed, the "beloved" Prophet of the Horned Rat, Thanquol, had arrived.
It was well known that the Order of Grey Seers held the responsibility of recording the Great Horned Rat's glorious achievements. Thus, when the Horned Rat began this "play," Seer Lord Kritislik had immediately flattered his master, promising to chronicle the conquest of the Aeldari.
The Seer Lord had then promptly kicked Thanquol, who had been busy lording over his "inspection tour" of the galaxy's shrines, straight to the front lines.
Given Thanquol's nature, it was impossible for him not to stir up trouble. He had immediately taken an interest in the Webway... or rather, he had taken offense to it.
Thanquol viewed the Webway as a blatant imitation of the Great Horned Rat's divine Gnawholes. To him, it was heresy!
Of course, compared to the Webway, a vast, illuminated, and meticulously engineered highway of the Old Ones, a Gnawhole was more like a high-speed sewer system with no safety rails, zero maintenance, and a tendency to lead into the unknown.
But that didn't matter. How could the Great Horned Rat's work be compared to "lesser-things"? Thanquol decided he must destroy this gate to claim credit before his god.
While this wasn't part of Lucius's plan, it had to be said: when it came to causing misery, Thanquol was an equal-opportunity disaster; unless, of course, a certain high-king dwarf happened to show up.
"What? Pointy-ear things are coming? No, no-no! Thanquol needs time! You, go kill-slay them!" Thanquol chattered, shaking his head in annoyance at the reports from his scouts.
And so, the rats, descendants of those who had arrived on Dulan from Holy Terra over ten thousand years ago, rushed out in a frenzied tide.
Driven by Skaven instinct, they deferred to the prophet of the Horned Rat. Clutching grenades and ammunition scavenged from the slaughtered Astra Militarum, they swarmed the Exodite search parties from every shadow.
The Exodites, mounted on Triceratops and Raptors, were suddenly surrounded by thousands of glowing red eyes. A sea of fur and teeth overwhelmed the great beasts.
The dragons, apex predators on ancient worlds, were tragically vulnerable to the vermin. The rats scurried into nostrils, vents, and other orifices, detonating stolen explosives from within.
In a terrifyingly short span of time, the Exodite vanguard was annihilated.
However, with Slaanesh's host at their backs, the Aeldar could not afford to delay. After Isha absorbed the fallen souls, Yvraine consulted with Eldrad and Lelith. They decided to send a strike force of the Ynnari to seize the gate.
Under the grace of Ynnead, the Ynnari grew stronger as their comrades fell, their souls empowering the survivors. Yvraine believed this was their best hope.
A strike team of hundreds, comprised of elite Howling Banshees, Striking Scorpions, Fire Dragons, Wyches, and Incubi, plunged into the silent ruins.
Meanwhile, Thanquol, having failed for the umpteenth time to destroy the gate with his "mighty" psychic might, stood there with a face covered in soot from his own backfiring spells.
——————
If you want to read ahead of everyone, go to my pat-reon: pat-re-on.c-om/magnor (remove the hyphen to access normally)