Auric Gods

Epilogue Several months later…

Vorganthian howled into the night, a wounded beast needing to lash out at its pain. Lawlessness plagued its streets and though the armies of neighbouring cities had begun to assert some form of order at the fringes, its heart remained in turmoil. Gangs roamed freely. Murder cults rose up from the ashes of unbelief. Its badly outnumbered peacekeepers found themselves beleaguered. It would yet be months before the greater Imperium came to reclaim the city.

The Eyes of the Emperor watched it all keenly, ever vigilant for a true threat to the Throne.

‘Order will return…’ a figure murmured, his face half lit by banks of pict screens, his attention split across manifold vox-channels and data-feeds. He saw all. He knew all.

‘And in the meantime?’ asked a second figure, much slighter and much shorter than the first.

‘We watch, Gedd,’ said Cartovandis, a shrewd smile turning the corners of his mouth, ‘and we listen.’

The Vexen Cage returned to Terra in a warded casket, thrice blessed by the most potent psykers of the Ordo Hereticus. Santic runes had been inscribed into the metal. Six belts of chain were wrapped tightly around the sides.

No triumphal fanfare greeted its successful recapture. It came back in secret, brought in via gunship with a guard of twelve Grey Knights swathed in black cloaks.

They met the Shadowkeepers at the subterranean gate to the Dark Cells, one group barely acknowledging the other during the silent transfer of responsibility. As the Grey Knights departed as clandestinely as they had arrived, the casket was placed upon a grav-sled and taken in solemn procession to its empty cell, where a Custodian armoured in black awaited it.

As the other Shadowkeepers went to their duties, he was left alone. Grasping Vigilance in both hands he stood with his back to the cell, determined to honour his brother’s sacrifice.

At the Tower of Heroes, the Bell of Lost Souls would be tolling.

‘For you, Varo,’ said Adio.