Crack, the bone mirror shattered.
Slaanesh was running hot.
Damn it all.
Incompetent Greater Daemons.
A complete disgrace.
Slaanesh had always considered the Keepers of Secrets to be useless, providing less and less entertainment as time went on.
But this useless was something else entirely.
Bonar had never left Terra his whole life.
The farthest Bonar had ever gone was probably the front lines.
And yet, with all of that, the Greater Daemons had thrown everything they had at him and still failed.
They had even provoked Bonar’s displeasure, almost getting the entire Fifth Circle blown apart.
Slaanesh made up its mind, it had been far too lenient with these wastes of existence.
Once Bonar left, they would learn what true suffering really meant.
“Hello there, um…
Miss Goddess of Love?”
Slaanesh spun around instantly, greeting him with a radiant smile.
“Hello, little one.
I’ve been waiting for you quite a while.”
“Sorry, I got held up on the way.
Ran into some strange things.”
Look at that, these useless wretches, and the guest hadn’t even bothered to take them seriously.
The Goddess of Love before him, whose beauty surpassed the entire universe, seemed to be oscillating between fury and delight.
Bonar found it strange.
This one’s temperament…
might not be entirely stable.
“Could I ask…
what my trial is?
Do I need to cut someone down?” Bonar raised his Chainsword and asked.
“Oh, no, no, no.”
Slaanesh nearly teleported to Bonar’s side in an instant, pressed his Chainsword down, and gently placed a hand on his shoulder.
“My trial is nothing like that madman’s hack-and-slash business.”
“That one is just a mentally unhinged brute who only ever thinks about cutting, cutting, cutting.”
“We ought to appreciate that there is so much beauty in this universe.”
“Such as…”
Slaanesh snapped its fingers.
The instruments inside the palace began to play on their own, filling the air with exquisite notes.
The paintings on the walls came to life, step by step revealing the process of their own creation.
And the flowers in the vases began to bloom, opening outward from within the bud, six magnificent colors unfurling from the inside out, combining into something extraordinarily beautiful.
“This universe is a dark place.
Almost everyone is thinking about how to kill everyone else.”
“But if we look at it from a different angle — even this rotten, blackened universe holds a great deal of beauty waiting to be discovered.”
“And what we need to do…”
Slaanesh leaned against Bonar’s shoulder and lightly poked at his heart with one finger.
“Is feel it.”
Bonar seemed stunned by the sheer overwhelming quantity of artwork filling the palace.
“It truly is beautiful.
I just don’t quite understand it yet.”
“Heh.”
Slaanesh laughed softly.
“That’s alright.
This kind of feeling is indeed too refined for someone who hasn’t yet experienced the world.
Not being able to feel it is perfectly normal.”
“But we can start with some simpler pleasures.
For instance…”
“The physical kind.”
That bold presence pressed against him, a scent that reached straight into the most primal human instincts, tangled with the sensation of soft warmth.
Bonar stepped away hurriedly.
“Apologies.
I still have responsibilities to attend to right now.”
“I’m pressed for time.
And then, as if in full flight, he left.
Slaanesh made no move to stop him, only slowly extending a tongue, drawing it across a pointed fang, savoring the flow of blood.
Hehehe…
No rush.
This sort of thing had to be savored slowly, one bite at a time, that was where the real pleasure lay.
Come to think of it, Slaanesh hadn’t experienced this kind of innocent, oblivious sensation in a very long time.
Musing on that, Slaanesh reached into a nearby jar, plucked out a few Aeldari, and snacked on them.
…
Bonar sprinted out, one hand pressed over his heart, face flushed, breathing in ragged gasps.
If he had been even a little slower, his body would have overruled his head entirely.
He slapped his own face a few times to clear his mind and took a moment to recover.
That Goddess of Love really was bold.
Never mind.
He needed to get moving.
Bonar spent who knows how long searching through the Warp before finally finding the sacred domain of the God of Life.
Honestly, this place had been hard to find.
Along the way he had spotted two enormous Orks standing there bashing each other with giant clubs.
While bashing, they were bellowing at the top of their lungs…
“Me gonna do a frontal ambush!”
“Me gonna do a rear assault!”
One look was enough to tell him those two oversized Orks were not to be messed with.
Bonar took a very long detour around them.
Arriving at the next sacred domain, Bonar spotted it from a long way off.
A banner.
A banner strung between two towering trees, bearing the words:
“Welcome, new family member, to the family.”
It was a beautiful garden, lush and verdant, teeming with life in every direction.
Countless Nurglings darted among the vegetation, frolicking and playing, while diligent gardeners tended carefully to every single flower.
When Bonar walked in, all the Nurglings erupted into cheers, leaping about like squirrels, some of them jumping straight up onto his shoulders.
“Our friend is here, our friend is here!”
Bonar was a little flattered.
The entire sacred domain seemed to be welcoming his arrival.
A big, honest, good-natured fellow walked over, smiling with warm benevolence.
“Friend, we’ve been waiting for you for quite some time.”
“Sorry, I got held up quite a bit on the way,” Bonar said apologetically.
The big fellow just smiled that same warm, good-natured smile.
“No matter.
We’re all family here.”
“Come with me.
‘Father’ has been waiting for you for quite a while.”
Bonar followed the big fellow all the way into the garden.
Deep inside, there was a great cauldron set up over a fire, and beside it stood the God of Life, as gentle as any father, happily humming a little tune while stirring a ladle through the soup.
Only, what surprised Bonar was this:
Why was there a Pointy-ears Aeldari here?
Not as beautiful as that previous “Goddess of Love,” perhaps, but still a beauty that rivaled a celestial being.
Isha was one of the very few surviving deities of the Aeldari.
Nurgle spotted Bonar and called out cheerfully:
“Ah, you’ve arrived.”
Nurgle set down the ladle, walked over with great happiness, and pulled Bonar into a big warm hug.
Bonar felt that this deity’s body odor was perhaps a bit strong, but endured it all the same.
“We’ve been waiting for you for quite a while.”
“Sorry.”
“No, no, it’s fine.”
Nurgle walked back to the cauldron.
Noticing that Bonar was paying a great deal of attention to the Aeldari, Nurgle introduced her with a good-natured chuckle:
“This is Isha — also my good friend.
I specially invited Isha here today as well.
You don’t mind, do you?”
“You…
hello.
Bonar extended his hand warmly.
At least Isha looked like a person, already placing Isha above ninety-nine percent of xenos.
“Mm, hello.”
Isha shook hands with some hesitation.
It was then that Bonar noticed the iron chains bound around Isha’s hands.
Hm?
He looked back at Isha.
Those eyes were filled with confusion and incomprehension.
But Bonar had no desire to get involved.
Grandfather Malcador had told him:
When you see an Aeldari, just beat them to death.
That was the right approach.
This was a concession made out of respect for the God of Life.
Outside the sacred domain, Bonar would have already made his move.
“Oh, child — do you know something?
When I see you, I always feel as though I’m looking at my former self.”
Bonar sat down, watching Nurgle stir the cauldron.
“I’m a little flattered.”
“Truly.
I used to be just like you, whenever I saw someone hurt or suffering, I always wanted to lend them a hand.”
“You are merciful indeed.”
“But of course.
I sensed your compassionate heart earlier, and I knew right then that you and we are family.”
The Nurglings all around cried out together:
“Family!
Family!”
The soup was ready.
Nurgle ladled out two generous, full bowls and set them down in front of them.
“The soup is ready.
Drink up.”
“Thank you.”
Bonar took the bowl and noticed that Isha’s expression was full of inner struggle.
Hm?
He looked down at the soup in his hands.
It was just a bowl of thick vegetable and meat broth.
Strange Aeldari.
Bonar shook his head and drank it down in one go.
Isha beside him hesitated for a moment, then drank it all as well.
After finishing, Bonar’s brow twitched slightly.
He perhaps now had some understanding of why Isha had hesitated.
Nurgle’s cooking skills were perhaps genuinely terrible.
Looking at the God of Life who was still smiling away, Bonar forcibly suppressed the churning in his stomach.
“Thank you for the hospitality.”
“Ha ha, don’t mention it.”
The God of Life removed its gloves.
“Knowing you still have your own journey ahead, I won’t keep you here by force.”
“But I can still give you a gift.
Here — extend your left hand.”
Bonar extended his left hand.
Nurgle lightly tapped a finger on the ring finger.
In an instant, a cool, refreshing sensation spread throughout his entire body.
Nurgle smiled and nodded.
“Good, good.”
“From now on, whenever you wish to save someone, just lightly tap your finger, and no one will suffer again.”
Bonar was startled.
He stood up and gave a slight bow.
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome, child.
I wish you a pleasant journey.”
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