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"Раскрывающийся текст"Firstoff this Novel is basically 3 books in one, it covers the fall of the Death Guard to Nurgle, Mortarion's flashbacks to his days on Barbarus, as well as the final days of the Knights-Errant and the founding of the Grey Knights. They're all intermingled together but I'll describe the events in the same general order.
*The book starts with Mortarion purging the Mechanicum world of Ynyx of loyalists. It's here that Typhon decides to make himself known again. Previously, Typhon had been sent to battle the Dark Angels at Perditus by Mortarion with a sizable portion of the DG. Morty is quite happy to see Typhon but he has changed a bit. Mortarion orders Typhon to come to Terra with him for the final battle. Typhon agrees but secretly reveals that he has only returned because Erebus told him that the time is right for their plan. Typhon is also secretly disappointed that Mortarion's portion of the Death Guard has yet to embrace Nurgle.
*Mortarion's flagship ''Endurance'' has a nifty ability to segment a part of itself off. Known as the ''Greenheart'', it's an enormous atmospheric craft that can do anything from bombardment to landing on a planet's surface directly. Typhon asks Mortarion to attach ''Greenheart'' to the ''Terminus Est'' for the journey to Terra, to which Mortarion agrees. Command of the ''Endurance'' is left to Gremus Kalgaor, the #3 of the Legion by this point. The Death Guard fleet enters into the Warp for Terra.
*The first portion of Mortion's flashbacks to Barbarus again. He was taken in by the Overlords, a race of possibly warp-corrupted Xenos. The highest of them is Necare who is Mortarion's brutal father. The armies of the Overlords are undead behemoths known as Golems. He was out with his father one day in the mountains when he saw mechanical harvesters capturing human slaves to be dragged off for the Overlods "experiments". The brutality of it horrifies Mortarion, who storms down the hill and knocks over the harvester. The humans all run out but die to either the toxin or golems. Under attack from the Golems, Mortarion flees below and a young child takes him into a hidden shelter. This child calls himself Calas Typhon and he has special gifts and better endurance to Barbarus' toxins much like Mortarion. Typhon reveals that he's a half-breed, the product of an Overlord raping his human mother. For this, the angry villagers drowned his mother and left him an outcast. The two become committed to defeating the Overlords and form a strong bond.
*Meanwhile on Terra, the Knights-Errant are busy little beavers fighting against Chaos Cultists which have become tremendously active in preparation for Horus' arrival. Garro, Loken, Macer Varren, Helig Gallor, the Space Wolf Yotun, and the newly-revealed-to-be Blood Angel Vardas Ison fight against cultists in a Terran district while Rubio is with Malcador investigating something else. Sisters of Silence have been disappearing across Terra then reappearing, mutilated and near-comatose but chanting nonsense. During their talk, Malcador's servant Ael Wyntor gets increasingly nervous before jumping off the walls of the Imperial Palace. Malcador seems a bit bummed out about it but otherwise doesn't care much. The new mission of the Knights-Errant is to investigate these Sisters of Silence abductions.
*Back in the Warp, Typhon has gathered all of the ''Terminus Est'' Navigators onto the bridge with his Grave Warden terminator elite. Mortarion storms in and demands to know what is happening, to which Typhon shows them crystal badges that he says are from Malcador. Typhon states the Navigators were agents of Malcador and plotting to send the DG fleet in the wrong direction. The navigators deny all charges but before they can explain themselves further, the Grave Wardens kill them. Typhon gives an order and his Grave Wardens do the same throughout the whole DG fleet. Mortarion is angry and horrified and begins to distrust Typhon despite their former bond. Typhon states that he can navigate the fleet through the warp with his "specialists", and it is revealed that he has been secretly training Librarians in the Death Guard despite them being outlawed by Mortarion. With no other choice, Mortarion agrees. It is quite obvious that Typhon framed the Navigators though not to Mortarion for some reason.
*Rubio and Yotun are investigating the disappearing Sisters when they are attacked by a group of Chaos Cultists and Yotun apparently sacrifices himself to save the others.
*More flashbacks to Mortarion's war against the Overlords on Barbarus. It is during this time that he meets future DG leaders such as Rask, Sune, Skorvall, and etc.. Barbarus seems to be quasi-steampunk, with blunderbuss', and steam-driven machines being used in the war. Mortarion has dubbed his forces the Death Guard. Typhon is his trusted #2 and it shows them slaying their first Overlord directly.
*Inside the Death Guard fleet shit has begun to hit the fan. Typhon and his Libarians are navigating but a weird plague has begun to erupt throughout the fleet. Most of the human crew has already succumb to either the plague or madness, and now even Space Marines are beginning to be afflicted. The infected display signs of severs welts, then maggot-like insects begin to burst from their skin. The apothecaries have no idea what it is and no cure. Mortarion is brought before a Marine in the last stages of the disease, Zurrieq. He's in complete agony that has broken even a stern Death Guard warrior. He begs for death, and Mortarion calls him an honorable son and slices him up. However Zurrieq still can't die, and bursts back to life crying and begging for death. Mortarion is unable to give it and has no idea what to do as he notics a welt has now appeared on his hand as well. There are reports of the disease now spreading through the entire Death Guard fleet and several ships are lost in the ensuing madness.
*On Terra, the Knights-Errant and Malcador go to White Mountain. This used to be a tall snow-covered mountain on Terra but has now become a radiation-blasted wasteland from a war long ago. The Imperials have built a prison for psykers here, complete with a cage to hold Magnus the Red. The mutilated Sisters of Silence are being held here, in rows of cages at their lowest level. Malcador has with him Ael Wyntor, who is apparently still alive and looking uncomfortable as [черт]. Malcador brings Rubio with him to examine the Sisters while the rest of the Knights-Errant are dispatched to hold off an incoming force of Chaos Cultists, who are deploying from stolen aircraft.
*Taken below, Malcador and Rubio discover that their chanting is individually nonsensical but together produces audible phrases. Malcador states that Horus himself has initiated this, and the chanting is a request for parlay. The chanting Sisters state that Horus is interested in peace and has seen too much destruction. Malcador is skeptical and thinks it's another ploy. Rubio suddenly snaps and has a memory unlocked. In it, Malcador brainwashes him after Rubio had discovered his plan to usurp the Emperor and take over the Imperium. In a rage, Rubio tries to kill Malcador, who is powerless due to the null-field of the Sisters. However Malcador activates the collar around his neck, which is an obscenely powerful force field generator from the Dark Age of Technology. Rubio's attacks are useless against it and Malcador redirects the field to crush Rubio into the ground and restrain him.
*Outside, Garro, Loken, Gellor, Varren, and Ison are battling the Cultists who are revealed to be led by the Lord of the Flies, the same daemon that possessed Solun Decius in the book flight of the Eisenstein. The Daemon now possesses the body of Meric Voyen, one of the surviving loyalist Death Guard of the Eisenstein who Garro had previously killed after he became unwittingly infected with a Nurgle disease. Garro and Loken are able to kill Voyen, but the Lord of the Flies comes back by possessing Macer Varren. Varren is about to attack the group but freezes when Loken pleads to remember who he is. Varren is able to resist the Daemonic control long enough to grab a belt of grenades from Loken's armor and set them off as an act of defiance to the Lord of the Flies. However the Lord of the Flies just comes back, this time inhabiting the body of a mutant cultist.
*Inside the White Mountain's dungeon, Malcador uses Rubio's sword to kill enough jailed Sisters until his powers can manifest again. He then looks inside Rubio's mind and sees the truth. Before he was recruited into the Knights-Errant, Rubio was fighting in the Battle of Calth but was captured by Word Bearers. They brought him before Erebus, who psychically conditioned him to kill Malcador once a trigger phrase is uttered. Rubio had no memory of the tampering, but the trigger was initiated by the chanting Sisters. Rather than kill Rubio Malcador feels bad for him and carefully undoes all the damage Erebus did to his mind. When Rubio wakes up Malcador states that the sisters went crazy and attacked, and Rubio was wounded saving Malcador's life. Rubio has short term memory loss so doesn't even know what happened. Malcador and Rubio go outside, and Malcador casually dispatches the entire cultist horde and the Lord of the Flies by shooting an atomic blast from his staff (yes really). Malcador states that they are to meet him in a special chamber of the Imperial Palace shortly.
*Out of options, Mortarion goes to visit the imprisoned Ignatius Grulgor, who is now a Daemon made up of the Life Eater virus (see: the book Vengeful Spirit). Mortarion states that Grulgor can be set free and kill again, as long as he pledges to kill Typhon should the need arise. Grulgor agrees but calls Typhon "Typhus", which Mortarion is confused by.
*Garro is uncertain of the future especially after seeing Varren die, and visits Euphratii Keeler in prison. She tells him she's well and will still have a role to play as does Garro. She also says Kyrill Sindermann has managed to infiltrate the palace regularly to visit her. Garro has no idea how Sindermann can do this but is implied that the human guards of the palace are helping him as fellow Imperial Cult members. Garro leaves but pledges to get Keeler out someday.
*Inside another part of the Imperial Palace, Ael Wyntor is beginning to unlock fragments of his memory. He comes across a secret chamber in Malcador's lab where there are bodies and genetic samples of him everywhere. Malcador reveals that Ael Wyntor was originally an Eldar who was found by Imperials working on the Webway Project half-dead. He was brought into the Imperial Palace but died shortly after. Malcador used his genetic samples and combined them with human DNA, creating an Eldar-Human hybrid. Looking for someone to talk to, Malcador would confide in Wyntor his deepest secrets. The knowledge would drive Wyntor insane and he would kill himself. Malcador would then just make a new clone, and the cycle begins anew. The process has repeated itself hundreds of times. This time Wyntor destroys all of the machinery and samples Malcador has collected, and Malcador states that he no longer has a need for someone to talk to. He psychically wipes Wyntor's mind and states his true purpose is at hand.
*Back in the Warp, Mortarion and the Deathshroud have confronted Typhon and his Grave Wardens. Mortarion demands Typhon speak the truth, and he reveals that he indeed framed the Navigators and has set all this. Mortarion doesn't know who Typhon is anymore, and he reveals that he learned of the Primordial Truth at the hands of an old human witch on Zaramund during the Great Crusade. A battle breaks out, and Typhon and Mortarion fight. Due to his psychic abilities Typhon is able to hold off Mortarion for a bit, but is eventually gutted with his scythe. Typhon quickly comes back to life due to the plague, stating that they can basically play this game forever unless Mortarion accepts Grandfather Nurgle's embrace. Out of desperation Mortarion releases Grulgor and says to fulfill his oath to kill Typhon. Grulgor obeys, and strangles Typhon to death. However Typhon just comes back again, and both him and Grulgor laugh. Grulgor has fulfilled his end of the bargain and now has to play his more important role to his true master: Nurgle. He turns into a cloud of slime-stuff and flies inside Typhon's armor, transforming him into a host of insects. The insects spread throughout the whole ship and then the whole death guard fleet. The insects bring the plague on much faster, and every death guard in the fleet is brought down in agony. Typhon is unaffected and stands back up, proclaiming himself Typhus Herald of Nurgle.
*A new flashback shows Mortarion and his army on Barbarus receiving a visitor dubbed The Newcomer. The Newcomer fills Typhon with a sense of disgust instead of awe like everyone else has. He offers Mortarion a place in his new empire, but Mortarion refuses and wishes to battle the Overlords instead. The Newcomer goads Mortarion, stating that if he can climb his father's fortress and slay him then he's free to be but if he fails he has to join him. Typhon begs Mortarion not to go but he does anyway.
*On Terra, Malcador brings Garro, Loken, Rubio, and Ison to a hidden chamber of the Imperial Palace. In the chamber are 4 other Knights-Errant who remain shrouded. He states that the Knights-Errant true purpose is at hand and their greatest mission will begin. He shows them a vision of the galaxy being consumed by Chaos, which he says is the future that awaits should they fail. They will be the architects of a new order, but now must erase all vestiges of their past and take on a new mantle as Titans. Each is handed a coin with a new name on it.
-Revuel Arvida takes the name Ianius
-Tylos Rubio takes on the name Koios
-Severian takes the name Iapto
-Ison takes the name Satre
-Loken takes the name Crius, but won't say his name aloud and is hesitant about assuming the mantle.
-Yotun reveals he is still alive, stating that it'll take more to kill him. He already has his name, Yotun. Who he is precisely is never revealed, but it's probably the Space Wolf Theodor Ruttveld who was Space Wolves Knight-Errant in an earlier story.
-An unknown Dark Angel takes on the name Epithemius. He states he never had a true name, which leads me to believe that he's The Nemean.
-An unknown Raven Guard takes on the title Ogen. This is probably Antaka Cyvaan, a Knights-Errant introduced in an earlier story who fate remains unknown
-An unknown Night Lord takes on the title Khyron. He is almost definitely Fel Zharost, the chief Librarian of the Night Lords that Malcador recruited in an earlier story.
Garro is there, but receives no coin. Malcador states that his fate is tied to Terra and has an important role to play, though he can't foresee what that is. Malcador formally absolves Garro from the Knights-Errant and states he can now do whatever he pleases with himself. Similarly, the Death Guard Knight-Errant Helig Gallor is dismissed and joins Garro.
*The Nine are brought into a new room, and inside find the Emperor himself in typical glowing gold armor. The Emperor states their new mission is to fight the evil of the Warp. He had always intended the Space Marines to fight the material, and believed he could contain the immaterial. However Malcador convinced the Emperor that a firmer hand was needed and containment was no longer a viable strategy, and this new order was born. The Emperor makes a cute little joke about how Malcador is usually wrong but sometimes he's right, such as on this issue. The Emperor says that their role in the Heresy is over, they will never raise a blade to Horus. Loken is kneeling there shocked, not knowing what to do and conflicted. The Emperor glances over at him and Loken hears ''This does not have to be your fate'' in his head. Loken states that he can't abandon the war just yet, he has to settle things with the Sons of Horus. Malcador is disappointed and says Loken will die horribly if he pursues this fate, but Loken leaves anyway. The Nine are now Eight, and Malcador brings Ael Wyntor over, now basically a comatose servitor-tier zombie. Wyntor uses his Eldar DNA to activate an ancient device the Emperor once found, revealed to activate a Webway Portal. The Knights ask what is on the other side and the Emperor states Titan. He bids them farwell as they step through the portal.
*Loken joins Garro and Gallor on the surface. Garro states that he will continue the fight against Horus, and asks Gallor to collect as many of the surviving 70 veterans from the Eisenstein that he can find. Loken states that he will fight alongside Garro.
*The Epilogue is two bits combined into one with the chapter caption that both are in fact happening simultaneously in the Warp. The first is the flashback of Mortarion attempting to climb his father's fortress alone and enduring the toxins. This is happening again to Mortarion alongside his current agony at the Nurgle plague. Mortarion is laying there and hears the voice of Nurgle himself, who says that he can either submit to him or have his entire legion be in this never ending agony for all eternity. At the same time, Mortarion is back at Barbarus, failing in his attempt to slay his father and being saved by the Emperor. Both Nurgle and the Emperor offer Nurgle new unimaginable power in exchange for service. Mortarion kneels before both Nurgle and the Emperor, and pledges service in a very trippy scene.
THE END!
