[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-warhammer-the-11th-primarch-the-black-emperor":3,"chapter-warhammer-the-11th-primarch-the-black-emperor-warhammer-the-11th-primarch-the-black-emperor-chapter-215":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"english","Warhammer: The 11th Primarch - The Black Emperor",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},1511014,1962,"Chapter 215: The Mystery Pryer Suffer From the Corruption of Slaneesh","warhammer-the-11th-primarch-the-black-emperor-chapter-215",215,"\u003Cp>Thomas climbed eleven steps and mounted the altar.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After inspecting the ritual implements, he dripped a single drop of consecrated oil onto each candle, then lit them with spiritual flame.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With a ritual knife, Thomas carved out a closed spiritual domain, knelt upon a slab of black onyx, and began chanting the Dunnic incantations:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Black Emperor of the Shadows of Order,\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Mysterious Sovereign of the Kingdom of Disorder,\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Monarch of Light and Shadow, who governs and holds the rules.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Pryer used his \"Eyes of Mystery Prying,\" perceiving the environment. Within the spiritual barrier, invisible waves of power stirred.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As the head archivist, he immediately recognized this energy did not come from the Warp.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was of another source, the same alien resonance as the whispers he had heard within the Crystal Mirage.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Shock flashed through the Pryer's gaze, nearly breaking his concentration. He forced his mind to steady and continued:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I beseech Thy gaze.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I beseech Thy favor.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I beseech Thee, to tell me the origins of the Heart-Slayer, worshiped by the natives of the Crystal Mirage.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"O Balance, foundation of the Kingdom of Disorder, grant strength to my invocation.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"O Iron Laws of Monarchs, basis of the Kingdom of Disorder, grant strength to my invocation.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Pryer had encountered dozens of faiths across the expedition, but only in the Crystal Mirage did he meet a god that was undeniably real.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And from that brief contact, he felt with instinctive dread that the Heart-Slayer had already noticed him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To anticipate his enemy, Thomas needed knowledge.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In his office, Nareth suddenly heard faint whispers in his ear. They lasted a dozen seconds, then faded.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>'Thomas is performing a ritual.'\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Nareth closed his documents, shifted his focus, and entered the Kingdom of Disorder.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There, on the side of Shadow, a pulsing orb of violet light flickered before him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It expanded and contracted like a heartbeat, ceaselessly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Unfolding his psychic perception, Nareth extended toward it,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Instantly, distorted images and overlapping, phantom voices surged into his mind:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Black Emperor of the Shadow of Order,\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Tell me of the Heart-Slayer, god of the Crystal Mirage natives.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Nareth's eyes narrowed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>'I know this answer… this is the perfect chance to prepare the divination for Catachan.'\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He resolved to grant Thomas not only the truth of the Heart-Slayer, but also the knowledge of Slaanesh and its greater daemon, the Keeper of Secrets.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For the Imperium, save a handful like the Emperor, knowledge of the Warp was almost nonexistent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Imperial Truth denied the Warp's gods, and even Horus mocked Leman Russ for believing in a \"heaven.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But Thomas, the librarian, and Mystery Pryer was bound to face Chaos often. He needed the truth.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Nareth pressed selective knowledge into the violet sphere.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On the lower decks, Thomas's mind suddenly filled with roiling black mist.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>From within that gloom, a blurred figure loomed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The instant his \"Eyes of Mystery Prying\" perceived it, instinct slammed it shut.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Terror wracked his body; he dared not look upon the Black Emperor again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Instead, he received the torrent of information. Even his Astartes-forged mind reeled under the deluge.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It shattered everything he had been taught since youth, overturning Imperial Truth itself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Within his soul, stars burst one after another.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"The Four Chaos Gods… the Immaterium truly has gods…\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Slaanesh, the Aeldar call their nemesis She Who Thirsts.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"The Keeper of Secrets… a greater daemon who knows the most intimate desires of mortals, twisting them into irresistible whispers and promises…\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then, among the flood, Thomas found the answer he sought:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"The Heart-Slayer is a Keeper of Secrets.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"She Who Thirsts has set her gaze upon the Craftworld Il-Kaithe.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"The Heart-Slayer was summoned as one of many daemons to break its defenses.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only the psychic key of its Warlocks can open its webway gates, which are guarded by mighty wards.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As the revelation completed, the last of his soul-stars collapsed into ash. Thomas was reborn; he had truly become the Pryer.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With reverence, he spoke in Dunnic:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I thank my Lord for His gift.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But at once, his inner sea roared. More violently than ever before, a storm of Warp-pressure surged, then vanished.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Instead, he was submerged in intoxicating, hallucinatory perfume, whispers coiling around his thoughts.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His eyes, once black, clouded with violet mist. Countless illusions filled his mind.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Treasures, pleasures, delights beyond mortal comprehension, he refused them all.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But whispers of forbidden knowledge… these pierced him directly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I can tell you of the true Emperor, how He forged the Primarchs and you, the Astartes.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I can tell you the secret of the Voynich Manuscript…\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"…\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Pryer's thoughts reeled, hungry for knowledge. But memory of the Black Emperor's warnings struck him like thunder.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was Slaanesh. This was corruption.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He clenched his mind into an iron bastion, resisting the infection.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Within the Kingdom of Disorder, Nareth sensed the violet corruption seeping into Thomas's black mist.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His heart jolted. 'Slaanesh's taint, already?'\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Without hesitation, he snapped back to the material world, extending his consciousness to Thomas's mind-door.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thomas was drowning, struggling desperately, unable to resist.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Link with me,\" Nareth commanded.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Like a man grasping at salvation, Thomas opened his soul.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The link formed, and Nareth immediately flooded him with the First Layer of Thelema, his mental bulwark.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Together, they repelled most of the daemonic hallucinations. But still Thomas's defenses buckled.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Nareth sprinted through the decks, his thoughts racing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>'Even as a psychic, a Pryer, gifted with heightened perception, Thomas is more vulnerable to Warp incursion. And becoming a true Mystery Pryer magnified that risk… right when I told him of Slaanesh.'\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He understood now. The Apotheosis into Mystery Pryer had flung Thomas wide open to Chaos's whispers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Nareth forced his pace faster. 'If not for the link, I'd have had to drag him into the Kingdom of Disorder itself.'\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He broke through elevator doors, startled enforcers scattering before him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But then, through the link, he felt Thomas awaken the \"True Will.\" A wall of resolve rose within the Librarian.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Stand down,\" Nareth told the enforcers coolly. \"There is no danger.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thomas gasped as the illusions faded. The whispers died away.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And then, new knowledge surged into him: the Second Layer of Thelema.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Primarch severed the link, leaving Thomas to step back from the First Layer.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wiping the sweat from his brow, the Pryer steadied himself. He bowed with a ritual knife in hand.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Father, you have labored for me.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"It is nothing,\" Nareth replied, and projected a thought into his mind:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Master the Second Layer quickly, and pass the First to the other Librarians.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For the Pryers' path, Scholar, then Warlock, carried far greater risk of madness than most.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Again, Nareth impressed upon him:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"If you cannot resist… then pray to the Black Emperor.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thomas had a stable link now. He would be heard.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Nareth, however, frowned inwardly. 'But could I summon him into the Kingdom without revealing its nature? That must remain secret… perhaps future strata will grant such power.'\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With that thought, he returned to his office and once more into the Kingdom of Disorder, where the Prophecy Dice awaited to chart the path to Catachan.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>.....\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If you enjoy the story, my p@treon is 30 chapters ahead.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[email protected]\u002FDaoistJinzu\u003C\u002Fp>",1198,"2026-06-06T05:05:10.769Z",1,"novelbin.me","9ac749ed15c0d99e0f26655e1e917718cfd98fb84af25e1ca344bbaa359a0490","warhammer-the-11th-primarch-the-black-emperor-chapter-216","warhammer-the-11th-primarch-the-black-emperor-chapter-214",698,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fwarhammer-the-11th-primarch-the-black-emperor-cover.jpg"]