When Lileath, the Aeldari Primarch, transitioned from the Warp into the materium at the head of her new Aeldari Legion, the souls of the ancient scientists within, souls consumed during the Fall and later reshaped, beheld this familiar yet alien universe with a profound sense of dread and trepidation.
Though their memories of the past had long since withered, their peerless technological mastery remained intact. These Aeldari who followed Lileath styled themselves as the True Aeldari, distinguishing themselves from the disparate remnants of their race: the Drukhari, the Asuryani, and the Exodites.
"This galaxy truly is beautiful~"
Lileath sat upon the command throne of her flagship, an Aeldari spacecraft three or four times the size of a standard Craftworld, shifting her hips with a playful, restless energy. This vessel, christened the Lileath's Dream, utilized construction techniques lost since the Fall of the ancient Aeldari Empire, now restored to the physical realm.
"Eldest Daughter Lileath, please, guide our path," implored a Legion Commander clad in a sleek suit of ghost-bone, kneeling in pious supplication.
They held her in a reverence akin to that which the Adeptus Astartes felt for their genetic fathers, yet these reborn warriors addressed Lileath only as the Eldest Daughter, for she was the firstborn child and the elder sister to all of the Aeldari race.
Lileath yawned, appearing somewhat nonchalant regarding the prospect of war. The True Aeldari burned with the desire to immediately reclaim their ancient capital, Commorragh, and every lost city within the Webway.
However, Lileath's large, azure eyes darted about before she spoke: "No. Father gave us his expectations and his goals; it is our duty to fulfill them. And is there not a perfect target right before us?"
With a flick of her slender finger, the holographic projection of the galaxy magnified rapidly, zooming in until it centered upon the Nachmund Gauntlet, the lone, precarious bridge of stability amidst the Great Rift, that rotting scar bisecting the galaxy.
"Father said he wants humanity to accept the reality that they can no longer dominate the galaxy alone. He wants the Imperium to never reclaim its lost half. So…" Lileath said with a beaming smile, "let us begin here~"
"As you command, Eldest Daughter Lileath!"
Since Lileath had issued the decree, the True Aeldari obeyed without question. Thus, a fleet of a magnitude unseen since the Fall plunged from the Warp into the Webway, appearing an instant later within the Nachmund Gauntlet, a theater already consumed by a war so savage it defied description.
Though the Nachmund Gauntlet appeared as a mere thread on a galactic scale, its actual expanse was colossal. Its sectors were vast enough for two entire fleets to pass one another in the void without ever making contact. Naturally, beyond the primary battlegrounds of Vigilus and Sangua Terra at either end of the Gauntlet, countless worlds were occupied by Orks, Aeldari, Tyranids, Necrons, and Skaven.
Take, for instance, the planet Bard, which Clan Skryre had intercepted and converted into a Battle Planet. It had originally been a target for the Drukhari; had the Skaven not intervened, billions of humans would have been dragged to Commorragh as slaves. That they were now instead slaves and livestock for the Skaven could, in a grim sense, be considered a change of fortune.
Due to the prevailing chaos, numerous Kabals from Commorragh had arrived to join the fray. Especially following the fall of Slaanesh and the birth of Ynnead and the Mother Goddess, these Kabals, and even some Craftworld Aeldari, were no longer content with mere raids. They had begun tentatively occupying worlds in realspace.
The ambitious Archons of Commorragh and the radical elements of the Craftworlds viewed this as the prelude to the rebirth of the Aeldari Empire.
…
Urarchia, once an Imperial Garden World, had devolved into a perpetual warzone contested by Orks, Skaven, and a coalition of several Drukhari Kabals. Its original population of tens of millions had long since become nothing more than fertilizer for the soil.
The wilderness was entirely choked by Ork "junk-cities." Factories belching black soot worked ceaselessly to churn out Killa Kans, Gorkanauts, and even Stompas. Beneath the surface, the Skaven struck at will through a global network of tunnels. Ironically, the Drukhari, who held the ruins of the former Hive cities and enslaved several million survivors, appeared to be the most "stable" faction present.
"This has turned into a quagmire. If this continues, we should just take these slaves back to Commorragh. A few million head is enough to break even," suggested one of the three coalition Archons, his voice dripping with defeatism.
"Fool! The Great Enemy has fallen, and the Aeldari Gods walk the stars again! This is our chance to rise!" the most ambitious Archon retorted. As the architect of this alliance, he spoke with righteous fervor. "We must reclaim our ancestral worlds now, or we will be discarded. Do you not wish to become the Vect of a new age?!"
"Hehe~ Vect hasn't lost his grip yet. Your delusions and your death will arrive at the same time." The defeatist Archon stood up abruptly, turning to leave via the planetary Webway portal.
At that moment, the doors were thrown open. The three Archons froze, reaching for their weapons, their Drukhari instincts screaming coup d'état.
The Drukhari entering were indeed their lieutenants and most trusted courtesans. But before the Archons could demand where they found the courage to rebel, they saw these high-ranking officials, second only to themselves in power, split into two lines and drop to one knee as if welcoming a deity.
From behind them, escorted by dozens of Autarchs in ghost-bone, hundreds of Aspect Warriors, and elite Incubi, a young and breathtakingly beautiful Aeldari girl stepped forward.
"Where did this wench come from?!"
One Archon instinctively moved to insult her, but in the next heartbeat, his legs gave out. He knelt involuntarily and crawled toward the girl with a look of pious adoration, as if he were staring at his most cherished dream made flesh.
"This... this is impossible... How could you be...?"
The Archons did not know Lileath by name, but a sensation radiating from the depths of their souls compelled every Aeldari present to prostrate themselves before her slender, elegant form. She was the Eldest Daughter of Isha, the sister of all Aeldari, and the Goddess of their dreams and innocence.
Lileath wore a smile of purest sincerity. She reached out a delicate hand and gently stroked the head of an Archon, despite his jagged, terrifying helm. In that instant, the three Archons felt a sensation that no combat drug or past experience could ever provide, a caress that felt like the warmth of kin and the fulfillment of a magnificent, ancient dream.
Without a word, they pledged their eternal fealty to Lelia.
"Mm-hmm~ Good children. I have come for the sake of Father and Mother's wishes. To save you, my dear brothers and sisters, I shall establish our promised land once more within the galaxy." Lelia's voice, like silver bells, was not loud, yet it instilled in every Aeldari a fearless resolve to die for the sake of their Goddess's whims.
"Is this the Warp-essence of a racial deity?" Lucius remarked as he watched his "daughter" reclaim the Aeldari with such effortless grace, a far cry from the tragic struggles of Angron and the others. "If the Emperor hadn't suppressed the Warp-nature of the Primarchs, each of the twenty-one would have held this kind of terrifying influence over humanity."
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