The witch opened her mouth to retort, her pride demandiance. But the moment she tried, she felt it—a suffog power pressing down on her, beyond anything she had ever experienced. Her legs buckled, and before she realized it, she was on her krembling before him.

  Among daemons, hierarchy isn’t determined by titles or birthright, as it is among mortals. In the realm of Chaos, power is everything. Strength, ing, legions under one’s and—all serve as measures of worth. The weak are crushed and ehe strong asd to rule. The red-haired witch had always believed she could climb higher, that she would one day reach the upper echelons of Chaos. She had faced aed powerful foes before. Even now, Kayvaan’s strength—though overwhelming—shouldn’t have been enough to make her bow. But this wasn’t just power. It was something else entirely.

  The purity of the Chaos energy radiating from Kayvaan was beyond prehension. Its essence was untainted, refio a level she had never entered. Even the Freat Powers of Chaos themselves seldom dispyed suadulterated might. The oppressive aura pelled her to kneel, not through fear of death, but through an instinctive, primal reverence. Her thoughts spiraled. ’Who is this man? How his power feel this pure, this absolute?’

  An idea formed in her mind, terrifying in its implications. Beads of sweat formed on her brow, her back damp with cold. “Please five my boldness,” the witch stammered, her voice trembling. “Am I standing before… His Highhe Prince?”

  Sanesh, the Prince of Pleasure, the Dark God of Excess, had many names. One of them was the Daemon Prince. Kayvaan paused, momentarily stunned by her question, before a smirk curved his lips. “Me? That guy?” He chuckled. “No, I’m not him. But I don’t bme you for the mistake. Without him, there wouldn’t be me. Do you uand?”

  The witodded, her expression bnk with fusion. In truth, she uood nothing, but she dared not press further. Kayvaan’s words echoed in her mind. ‘Not Sanesh, but created by him? What does that mean? Was he fed by the Dark God’s will?’

  She quickly abahe thought. Whatever he was, the power radiating from him was real. Its oppressive nature wasn’t just overwhelming—it was i wasn’t something that could be faked. It was the differeween a predator and prey, like a mouse instinctively c before a cat.

  Unbeknownst to her, the red-haired witch’s kiss had triggered something dormant within Kayvaan—a gift left behind by Sanesh. Millennia ago, the Dark God had pced a curse on Kayvaan, binding him for housand years. When Kayvaan finally met his end, the curse dissipated, leaving behind a fragment of Sanesh’s power. This fragment, a "gift," ure Chaos energy. Uypical Chaos blessings, it carried no i malice or corruption—only raw, unbridled power.

  Yet, using this power came at a steep cost. It amplified the darkness within its wielder, drawing out their worst impulses and magnifying their fws. For years, this energy y dormant in Kayvaan’s body, unnoticed. But now, with his mental defenses eroded by relentless bat, grave injuries, and the effects of the stimunt, the witch’s kiss had unlocked it.

  The darkness surged, flooding Kayvaan’s body and awakening a part of him that had long been buried. In the depths of his mind, another preseirred. This was not the first time su awakening had occurred. Just as Sanesh’s first words decred, ‘The old Kayvaan’s death was not the end. It was only the beginning.’

  Kayvaan now stood face-to-face with the same oppo his mentor otled—the most powerful enemy he would ever enter: himself. Of course, the red-haired witch could never prehend such depths of introspe. “Fet it,” Kayvaan muttered, shaking his head. “I am who I am. I am Kayvaan. Uhe fools who came before, I’ll bee the true Kayvaan. My life will shih the most brilliant light, and I’ll make the entire universe tremble at the sound of my name.” His pierg, abyssal gaze fixed och. “And you, you’re my first servant. Be proud of that. From now on, your purpose is to serve me.”

  The red-haired witch, trembling, bowed her head to the ground. “Yes, Master. I uand.”

  Kayvaan smirked. “Well, you’re obedient, I’ll give you that. The more I look at you, the more I think it’s a miracle you’re here at all. Without you, I might’ve stayed locked away forever. This fool,” Kayvaaured vaguely to himself, “didn’t even know I existed. He fot about the gift entirely.” He ughed softly. “Loyalty and sacrifice? What nonsehat blind faith nearly got us killed. Fortunately, I’m here now to fix everything. Better te than never.”

  Kayvaan stood up. As he did, every trace of his injuries vanished. His skin was fwless, without so much as a scar, and his features radiated a striking, almost supernatural beauty. “Now,” he anded, his voice sharp and authoritative, “expihing. What is this underground city? Why are you here? What is Chaos after, and what’s the deal with these Eldar? Spill it, witch.”

  The red-haired witch cast a nervous g Rosina, who stood with her long knife raised, guarding Sydria. The two Eldar women exged bewildered looks, their eyes filled with disbelief.

  Moments ago, they had watched their queen domihe battlefield, only to see her now groveling at the feet of a man who had been on the brink of death. Worse still, the man’s aura had transformed into something dark and oppressive, oozing pure evil that even they could sense. “What’s the hesitation?” Kayvaan’s voiapped the witch back to reality. “Is there something you ’t tell me?”

  The witch panicked, bowing lower. “No, Master! I was just thinking of the best way to expin it. I’ll tell you everything—everything!”

  The witch begaale, sparing ail. “So,” Kayvaan summarized after listening carefully, “you came here to retrieve something, and Rosina was your vanguard. She set up the altar and the coordinates for your portal, opening the way for you to arrive and cim it.”

  The witodded quickly. “Yes, that’s correct.”

  “Strange,” Kayvaan muttered, frowning. “I know about the Bckstone Fortress, but wasn’t it built by the Eldar? If you need key pos to activate it, why would you e to a lost human y to retrieve them? How could what you’re after be here?”

  The witch hesitated before replying. “Acc to what I’ve uncovered, this a city wasn’t inally human. It wasn’t even a hive city. It was an Eldar Craftworld.”

  Kayvaan stamped his foot on the grouh him. “This?” he asked incredulously. “You’re saying this was an Craftworld?”

  “Yes, inally,” the witch expined. “Long before the birth of Sanesh, some Eldar foresaw their civilization’s doom. While some fled to the far edges of the gaxy, settling oe ps, others boarded the Craftworlds and drifted through space, seeking sanctuary.

  “But when Sanesh was born, the psychi of her emergence swept across the gaxy, annihiting tless Eldar. Even the Craftworlds weren’t immuhis Ark was thrown off course, crashing onto the phe ists who ter discovered it transformed it into a hive city.”