Chapter 502: The Eye of Terror

Asuryan's plea went unheeded.

The Laughing God, Cegorach, lingered a moment longer, eyes fixed on the void. He felt a terrible threat racing closer—one that would leave nothing but death if met head on.

In the end, knowing the odds, Cegorach tore open a rift and slipped into the Webway, fleeing toward the sanctuary called the Black Library. He had been hiding knowledge and supplies there for years, and as its architect he could receive limited boons. Combined with the Webway's natural isolation, he trusted it might conceal him from that terrible pursuer.

As Cegorach's silhouette vanished, Asuryan sighed and turned to his wife. He spoke with quiet apology:

"I am sorry I have brought this upon you."

If he were any other god, perhaps escape would still be possible. But Asuryan was the Aeldari's sovereign deity—bound by destiny to their fate. From the moment Slaanesh was born, a special link had formed between Asuryan and that Chaos god. No corner of the cosmos could hide him forever; the only choice left was to stand and fight.

Asuryan' wife, calm and resolute, answered softly:

"It's all right. Khaine has likely already met misfortune. Let us take with us the honor of the Aeldari gods and meet our fate together."

As she spoke, she dissolved into a thousand motes of radiant light and merged with Asuryan—offering him every ounce of strength she could spare.

That final gift restored Asuryan beyond his former peak; strengthened by his wife's essence, he now shone even brighter than before. Still, his face could not hide a quiet sorrow.

Far off, a magnificent figure stepped out of the Webway and into realspace. Because of Slaanesh's immense nature, only a fragment of that god could penetrate the material world—a simulacrum rather than the whole. The manifestation flexed and muttered with mild annoyance: "So cumbersome…"

Even as a fragment, Slaanesh felt the oppressive constraints of realspace. The being glanced at Asuryan with a mocking tone and said:

"You are marginally smarter than those fools hiding in the Webway."

Had Asuryan confronted Slaanesh inside the Webway, even the bolstered god would have been overwhelmed. Only here, in the material universe where both were limited, did Asuryan have some chance to struggle.

Slaanesh inhaled the delicious scent rising from Asuryan and smirked:

"Two prey joined as one—far more delectable."

Slaanesh's manner left no doubt about how little it regarded Asuryan. The sovereign god did not answer with words. Instead, he drew his sword in silence—and launched himself at Slaanesh with all the force of a being who had accepted his fate.

Asuryan's endless lifespan and godly status flared like a blazing sun. Golden radiance poured from the blade, as if a miniature star had appeared out of nowhere. That divine light spread across tens of light-years, igniting planets that Slaanesh had besmirched like so many candles.

Further afield, dozens of stars within a large portion of the Aeldari domain answered Asuryan's call. He had secretly prepared this contingency long ago—hidden hands placed among many suns now awaiting his signal. As the gold spread, those buried stars flared, moved, and locked into position like pieces on a cosmic board.

Linked together by Asuryan's will, they formed an immense stellar glyph: a golden pattern visible across the Galaxy. From any corner of the galaxy, a watcher could lift their gaze and read the massive sigil blazing in the firmament. Only the most powerful beings could perceive the source of that surge.

On the battlefield, Asuryan's final curse rang out, thick with enmity:

"I curse you! When the Aeldari fall, a new god shall rise from our carcasses—revived by our hatred. That god will obliterate you!"

With those words, Asuryan's form dissolved. All his remaining power poured into the stellar pattern.

Instantly, the glyph's stars shattered.

A hundred-billion-kilometer-wide pillar of blinding light slammed down from the void. Its unstoppable force sliced across the galaxy, a direct, single-minded strike aimed at Slaanesh.

Slaanesh felt the hatred in that blow but only covered their mouth with a hand and laughed, disdainful.

"Is that all you have?"

Then Slaanesh erupted in power. In an instant purple energies radiated outward—warping space, time, fate, matter, and energy across thousands of light-years of Aeldari territory. Every force and fabric of reality within that span was twisted into a great sanguine maelstrom.

The plum-colored vortex met the golden column head-on.

The collision shook the very galaxy; sound and sight were swallowed by blinding conflagration. For a while the cosmos itself looked drained—colors wiped away—until a tide of bloody light washed across space and color returned.

When the light receded, the stellar glyph and the golden column had both vanished. In their place remained a vast, blood-red whirlpool: a great eye, like an ancient horror left behind.

Any who looked upon it felt immediate dread.

They named it—eventually—the Eye of Terror.

Shortly after, with the Aeldari Empire lying shattered, that terrible, baleful remnant occupying their former heart was given the fearful name by many races across the galaxy.

...

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