Chapter 25 Return
If any of the Ruinous Powers embodies the true essence of Chaos, it is undoubtedly Tzeentch.
The Architect of Fate.
The Changer of Ways.
The Lord of Paradox.
Tzeentch delights in plans layered upon plans, schemes nested within schemes, destinies folded into impossible geometries.
Yet until the final moment arrives, no being can fully perceive the shape of his design.
Sometimes…
not even Tzeentch himself.
The Emperor's grand design — the unification of humanity and the severing of the Warp's influence — had long existed as one possible thread in Tzeentch's infinite tapestry.
And the current course of events aligned… beautifully.
But alignment alone is dull.
Predictability is stagnation.
Stagnation is decay.
Decay is Nurgle's domain.
Tzeentch desires change.
Thus he nurtures plans…
and sabotages them.
Guides…
and disrupts.
Builds…
and unravels.
Then Yuki appeared.
The future splintered.
Paths multiplied.
Outcomes dissolved into uncertainty.
Tzeentch was delighted.
Excellent.
This was interesting.
Even if the Emperor's designs might now fail…
that too was part of the great unfolding.
But Yuki must not be lost.
Not yet.
Not while she could still reshape the skein of fate.
And now—
his brutish colleague and the Plague Father had intervened first?
Unacceptable.
If she vanished, the future would stagnate again.
This time, Tzeentch truly came to retrieve her.
Not to claim.
Not to corrupt.
To preserve the variable.
To return the piece to the board.
Unfortunately…
Yuki did not know that.
She saw the blue rift tear open across the arena sky and nearly exploded with fury.
"First the poop spirits, then the dog-headed brute, and now the idiot bird too?!"
Her voice echoed through the Warp.
"What are you doing here, you feathered fraud? You babble nonsense, contradict yourself, and call it wisdom! You can fool children, but that's about it!"
Somewhere in the skein of unreality, a voice groaned.
"Sis… I came to save you…"
Yuki raised both middle fingers toward the sky.
"You dog-headed butcher, stupid blue bird, sewage spirit, and—oh right—the not-yet-born snake of indecency! You're all pearls buried in a cesspit! Want the material universe? Dream on! As long as I live, you get nothing!"
Slaanesh (somewhere in the unborn future): I have done nothing and am already insulted.
Khorne, who had moments ago been incandescent with rage, burst into booming laughter.
Yes, she had insulted him.
But she had insulted the others too.
And she had done so without fear.
Khorne respected courage.
Tzeentch, for his part, did not react.
Countless beings cursed him every moment.
Some of his own daemons did so.
This was irrelevant.
What mattered was extraction.
A vast psychic hand of blue-white energy extended from the rift, grasping toward Yuki to pull her free of the Blood God's arena.
Yuki resisted immediately.
Her psychic powers surged back to life in the presence of Tzeentch's intervention, and she recoiled instinctively from the touch of the most insidious of the Ruinous Powers.
Khorne's crimson aura flared, locking her in place.
Blue and red energies collided around her like opposing storms.
Tzeentch spoke directly into her mind:
Come with me. I will return you to the material universe.
"Heh. You expect me to believe you?"
For once, the Architect of Fate spoke the unvarnished truth.
And was not believed.
Reality froze.
Red and blue energies wrapped Yuki like opposing tides.
One voice promised slaughter without end.
Another promised escape.
"Get out of my head!" Yuki roared.
Pure white fire erupted from her body.
It did not burn like ordinary flame.
It did not consume.
It clung.
It illuminated.
It purified.
"Warp filth!" she shouted.
"You call yourselves gods, yet you are parasites feeding on weakness!"
"I am the Emperor's daughter — the first Primarch born into this world — and none of you will ever possess me!"
The white flames spread across the arena floor, across the shattered ruins, across the sand and stone.
Nothing burned.
Nothing turned to ash.
Instead, the fire adhered to reality itself, radiating unbearable purity.
Khorne roared.
Tzeentch recoiled.
Pain.
They felt pain.
Impossible.
Warp entities did not feel pain from matter.
Yet this flame scorched the immaterial essence that sustained their domains.
Yuki raised her hand.
Columns of white fire erupted skyward.
Khorne's arena trembled.
This realm was part of him.
And it was burning.
The Blood God roared in fury as reality convulsed.
Then—
with a violent wrench—
Yuki was expelled from his domain.
She drifted in the Warp.
Alone.
Daemons circled cautiously.
She waved a hand.
White fire blossomed.
They fled shrieking.
Time lost meaning again.
Distance had no shape.
Then—
a golden light appeared.
Warm.
Familiar.
"Father…?"
Her voice cracked.
"Father, save me!"
She swam toward the light like a drowning swimmer toward the surface.
The Warp spun.
Reality snapped.
She collapsed into steady arms.
She looked up.
The Emperor.
She tried to speak.
"Sleep first, child."
Her eyes closed instantly.
Her body still bore the wounds of the material world: charred wings, drained psychic reserves, exhaustion carved into bone and soul.
It was a miracle she had remained conscious at all.
The Emperor laid Yuki gently upon a bed.
Golden psychic light flowed from his hand, soothing her brow and stabilizing her spirit.
Behind him, Constantin Valdor stood in silence, hesitant.
"Ask, Valdor."
"My lord… what occurred?"
Valdor had witnessed only the aftermath: the Emperor engaged in battle… and then suddenly returning with Yuki grievously wounded.
The Emperor spoke quietly.
"She defied the Ruinous Powers."
"She wagered her life to prove her loyalty… and her love for humanity."
From the moment she entered the Warp, Yuki had accepted death.
That was why she dared curse the gods.
Why she refused their power.
Why she chose defiance over survival.
Even in death, she would not become their puppet.
Yet she returned.
By will.
By defiance.
By something that even the Warp could not consume.
Tzeentch (somewhere in the immaterium):
No one appreciates good timing.