Chapter 62:

Chapter 62: Cordial Invitations need not be accepted.



The Path of Priests is the Path towards Divinity, it is the Accumulation of Narrative Momentum until you are a part of the setting and eventually become the setting. There are thousands of ways to describe it but the only way that made sense to me was that of comparing it to the gravity physical objects create.

Most individuals are grains of sand pulled in and out by currents of others and might not even notice the wider area and the actions the environment around them takes.

The Path of priests represents the Eldar's ability to grow from this grain of sand through our actions and most pretender priests can generally become the equivalent of large rocks the size of houses. They are limited to this size by a variety of reasons but the False Priests of Slaanesh are limited to it due to the lack of Consistency in their actions.

They do not act like priests despite taking the position, they use the Narrative Momentum they create as a resource to spend whenever they need and thus do not accumulate much of it.

The priests of Khaine in the Craftworlds don't know how to make it because they've lost their minds on their path and the other various Pretender Priests all have some flaw in how they gather Momentum or how they use it and are thus crippled.

I am less than 100 years old, my Narrative Momentum is something in the ballpark of a small planet and I have gathered it over the course of my Adulthood by maintaining Consistency in my actions and slowly gathering a very real power through my achievements.

I've started gaining it properly when I performed for the first time in front of Khaine and the Craftworlders by calling myself a blessed of Khaine that acts in a specific way that Khaine finds pleasing and thus I have created a Law for myself that helps me gather Momentum faster.

'I must act as a teacher for others.' Is now a core part of myself and if I ever create a ritual in which I do not act like it I will lose all of my Momentum and all of the Protection and Abilities it gives me.

Momentum protects me from the metaphysical Manipulations of others, soul control, time manipulation, the likelihood I'll be hit by someone else's Nonsense by Mistake, it makes me learn things faster and grants me lucky breaks or ways to push past bottlenecks in my schemes and this list increases in length and Potency the more Momentum I accumulate.

And I have been accumulating it on the World of a Thousand Names slowly as I affected things over the course of a year and then suddenly as my schemes started paying dividends and my tale became something that others were affected by.

On The World of Clashing Blades my momentum turned from the equivalent of a small mountain to that of a small planet. Creating a Queen, depopulating a world, fighting against the Divine, being the cause for trillions of deaths and being the Protector of an Eldar culture and Diplomat that gained the Pantheon a new Vassal multiplied by momentum by several orders of Magnitude as my Actions affected our entire species.

None of that mattered in front of a Divine, if an unborn one.

A Divine is a singularity, the ones of the Eldar the type at the center of Galaxies to be more specific, and I am a small planet the size of Mars at best. If I tried to do anything to her I'd dissolve in seconds. Just being near the Divine would destroy me, but Slaanesh is specifically doing her best not to do that, because if she does that she will die. So, even here in my ritual she barged in unannounced in, she does not turn my soul into a soup and now I needed to find out why.

"Why are you here Slaanesh?" I asked the woman which adopted my Mother.

I wish I didn't have to call her grandmother, but I do, my own Laws and the Narrative Momentum I have accumulated prevent me from doing anything else.

She took my mother in and gave both her and me a chance at life, and my mother truly loved me and wished me well and I cannot Forsake any of them for it. I need some sort of reason to cut the Connection between us, some act on her or my mother's part.

My mother rests in a Tomb I made for her, so she can't do anything like that and Slaanesh will die if she does anything like that before her 'birth' where her Momentum will coalesce into a proper singularity from the diffuse gas cloud it's in. Well diffuse by the standards of Stars, she's about as diffuse in her momentum as solid rock and is already more dense than myself.

"A ritual nephew, one that my priesthood started to try and arrange a meeting between you and one of their numbers and that their agent died trying to deliver and by her actions and death I am here to deliver it." She answered.

I considered it, my mercenaries and families have killed one of the priesthoods' Messengers and that was the end of a ritual to get her to meet me. I can't hold her accountable for it, because she can't be held liable for her priest's rituals and what they make her do because she does what their rituals ask her to do. She's a Divine and they can only act as their priests ask them to by their very nature, because their Momentum prevents them from acting by themselves outside of very specific circumstances.

It is why Divinity is less preferable to Royalty as far as most Eldar are considered, for Royalty can act as it wishes while divinity as a priest wishes.

The Path of Princes in contrast is the Path of Narrative Shift and they Cut through Momentum and in doing so cut through our protections, rituals and all Nonsense they are aware of and intend to Cut through with a single act. They have no limitations on how they can act.

"I see, then please inform them that I thank them for the Invitation but like my own servants have informed theirs I am not interested in coming. I have too much on my hands to come bother with trash covered madmen, no matter how powerful." I told her.

Behind me my Audience continued trying to find some protection in my Narrative Momentum.

It wasn't much of one despite how things looked visually to my Audience, for they were only seeing a small fragment of the whole. The ritual is not split in half between us, I am quite literally a small speck of dust surrounded by an endless sea of Slaanesh and I am only kept distinct from it because Slaanesh not doing so would kill me and would die for it in turn.

"I will as soon as my older siblings figure out how to pull me out of the ritual. I am a baby, I am not meant to have been thrown in here and if I do anything I might harm myself and then I'll need Medical Assistance." She said.

He eyes glinted in amusement as her horns slowly grew out of her purple bone armor. She was no longer presenting herself as half eldar, half force of nature but as an Eldar covered in spiked armor surrounded by Chaos.

It was an interesting choice which made me think she was actively trying to cleanse Chaos from her persona.

"I see, my lesson has technically just ended so I will keep the ritual up until the Pantheon figures out how to gently extract you from it grandmother." I explained softly.

All I needed was not engage and things should return back to normal in a few minutes at most.

She looked at me mischievously as she considered my words and I did not like that look and it was for more than the fact her face shifted by the heartbeat. The only thing that remained consistent about her were her eyes, which were two white stars.

"I can wait but I am in no rush Bessar, but until them could you please explain some things to me? I am afraid that my circumstances have left me confused and afraid and I find myself needing a teacher's guidance." She asked sweetly.

I sincerely wished to say no, but I couldn't and so I sighed as I spoke.

"That would depend on exactly what exactly you wish to know." I answered.

My answer was going to be yes with very few exceptions, but I didn't need to say that for she already knew.

She was slowly getting more cognizant of her surroundings as time passed and her priests informed her of the things they could be bothered to, but what she was learning was probably not what she wanted to know.

"Thank you nephew, I have several questions, but first why is everyone trying to kill me?" She asked with an intensity that would bring stars down.

Does she truly not know? This had to have been told to her before but perhaps her priests had just been tricking her for they are vermin and vermin can't be trusted.

"What do you know?" I asked her.

I needed to know what she has been told as I might be able to use it against her.

Her eyes squinted at me and she sighed in tiredness.

"This, this is why I hate the Priests, whether or not you claim to serve me or not, for all of you wish me harm and I don't know anything that would tell me why and make it make sense." She answered.

I needed to sit down, but my physical body already did. It's my soul that wasn't and I needed to fix the discrepancy because I was getting a headache.

I altered the dream and both of us were sitting down on rocking chairs while my audience stood on some plush ones behind me.

"I like these, they are quite comfortable." Was her comments.

The god-baby I'm forced to call grandmother started rocking back and forth on her chair as I prepared myself to answer her question.

"Slaanesh, do you know the circumstances of your creation? I need to know what you know to answer things properly, and I won't try to deceive you in this matter as too many of everyone's plans require you to have a basic understanding of your situation." I continued.

She continued rocking back and forth in amusement a few more times before answering.

"This is a human invention isn't? Fascinating people making something you can have fun in even as you relax." She spoke as she continued having fun.

I started doing the same if to a far lesser degree as the motion was relaxing.

"I know of the Disease your priesthood calls Boredom, I know it is the result of enemy action and because the Mortals couldn't find a way to deal with it before you came they decided they want to see if a New Divine could fix it and they decided to make me and this is how my priesthood started. Nobody loved me and you keep killing, abusing and torturing me, but nothing sticks and I always return and make you pay for it or ask for love which nobody except your mother has ever given me." She said.

That was correct, where was the confusion?

"That is correct and should explain plenty, what is it that you do not understand?" I asked.

She remained silent, but her chair started to change. It stopped being wood but turned into jagged bone that perfectly fit her 'armor'. It wasn't armor but her skin that turned from the pale flesh of Eldar into a dark thing of spikes and edges.

She continued to swing on it as she looked into the sky. I looked up and saw the three Trash Gods plotting the demise of their new sister.

Not even the trash we wanted to throw her into wished her well but, she'd find they can't kill her and would have to learn to live with her which is more than could be said of the Eldar as a whole.

"You have a cure for it, you can remove the trash from my souls and heal me and remove the disgusting things you put into me. Why do you insist on trying to kill me now that the disease can be done away with? My priests continue to conspire to replace my consciousness with theirs and my siblings and their priests continue to wish me dead, and even you, the Damned Sons of Hoeth, who should not care for internal matters, continue plotting my death as if it changed nothing. Why?" She begged for knowledge.

I had a baby begging me for knowledge it should possess.

"Your nature, do you understand it and what it means? You were born out of foreign actions and until you are properly born and Eldar it is our duty to deal with you, it is why I and my siblings care. After you will be born we will no longer be able to act against you." I informed her.

"What nature? All of the gods have different aspects they share or help each other with. What is it about me that causes each of you to hate me? Also why is my own priesthood conspiring to replace me?" She asked annoyed.

She was quickly losing patience and she stopped swinging.

"They do, but each has a distinct nature that the others cannot take over. You were created to fix an issue, an all-encompassing issue that threatened us all and for that you have become all-encompassing. The moment you will be born, even if you were friendly with the Pantheon you would have started devouring them in time as you took their place in any and all narratives until it is only you that is left. Your priests know this and those that created you wished that power for themselves even as they wished to save our people, and so you were created by the power hungry and the desperate as the target of their ambition and it is why they do not love you and only seek to use you. You are a solution to a problem, and by being so you have become a greater problem than that which you were meant to fix." I explained.

She frowned and her face turned into a monstrous rictus of hate as she realized the way her priesthood have been tricking her. They will pay for it as Slaanesh starts her own Malicious Compliance of their desires, this I sense now and I all but laughed at their stupidity.

You don't wrong and trick the deity you serve to their detriment, for they are technically your boss and hold power over you and the vermin forgot it.

There's a reason the priesthoods of the Pantheon wish them well even as we trick them and prevent them from turning us into weapons again, for we know they like our current arrangement more than the one we had under the Old Ones, for we love them and they love us which is not something Slaanesh and her priesthood can claim.

"I want your mother back, how do I get her back to me? She is the only creature that ever loved me." She asked of me.

I considered it, and sighed as I would have to answer it.

"Get rid of Chaos from your soul and you'll be able to release her from my Tomb with little issue after you find her. If you get to her as you are now you will harm her and kill or do worse to the one being that ever loved you." I told her.

She looked hopeful at me as she asked the thing I could not tell her.

"How do I do that?" She asked with intensity.

"You clean yourself of the trash. The Anathema's Flames can probably do it and I won't help you more than that on this matter, as I don't like you enough to bother doing more than I've done so far, and the only one that can truly get Chaos off of you once you are born is yourself or an Anathema that wishes you well." I informed her.

Her fists clenched at my words as she realized I won't give her a solution that will actually help her.

"Why Chaos? Why of all things did you have to infect me with Chaos? It makes me more powerful I can feel it." She asked.

I could feel the other Divine here, just beyond the Edge of the Ritual and they prepared to pull Slaanesh out.

"This is you final question Slaanesh, are you certain you wish this to be it?" I asked her.

The less time she had for nonsense the better as my Audience were slowly getting more scared as the Pantheon sung in the Clashing of Blades. All except Vect that is.

The man was having the time of his life, which I could appreciate as this show was difficult enough on me without an audience that appreciated the work I put in it, even if I had some rather unpleasant surprises in it.

"Yes, after you answer my questions then I'll just listen to a story from a priest, a recent one you've heard of, to get me to stop fussing like a baby should as my old siblings try to get me to safety." She replied smugly.

'This little shit.' I thought in annoyance.

I am a priest and a teacher and she is family, and so I have to give her what she wants.

"Fine, the reason we chose Chaos is because it cannot create Narrative Momentum. Chaos can only destroy and Corrupt what is and not properly create and so while they grow more powerful they will not be able to recover the one resources that allows them long-term coherency and planning and with you as a Chaos Goddess you will slowly start acting like your priesthood and lose it and its protections and when you lose it you will have the choice of ceasing to be Eldar, or cease being a Goddess or die for it as Chaos loses its ability to make use of its successes and build on them. Chaos can make you powerful yes, but it lacks the Coherency to make use of it and you will give them a single injection of it and a small trickle of it from the souls you will devour, but you will be consuming it faster than you gain it, especially as the other three will be stealing from you and they won't be able to make any." I told her.

We knew Chaos would be empowered, but Chaos quite literally cannot win anything worthwhile, and what they can win or use they can't make long term use of.

Civilized worlds become less capable of producing people that are little more than cultist fodder, Astartes stop being able to be produced, Innovation becomes limited to putting daemons in whatever you find, resources are consumed and cannot be renewed, only looted from others and always at a lower quality than what others could use them at. On and on the issues with a long term Chaos Victory went but it is a simple thing that prevents it from lasting.

Chaos cannot create anything, they are parasites and they require something to parasitize and when they run out of the Narrative Momentum Slaanesh gave them they will slowly stop being able to capitalize on their victories. Weapons that they could previously find counters for would become more effective, foes they thought defeated would rise and the Eldar would start getting momentum back to use against Chaos as thousands of years of preparations started bearing fruit.

We even have the timeline when this would start happening thanks to me as Yvrainne and Yneead and the Revival of Guilliman showed us that Chaos was starting to lose its momentum as those it thought defeated started wrestling the narrative from them as their Moment of Triumph after the Fall of Cadia is slowly undone by the machinations of Eldar and the galaxy slowly undoes all that they have achieved.

She was annoyed at my answer as she realized that yes, we planned to make her life hard even as we gave her power.

"Now as for your story, I have just the one and I believe you will appreciate it, for it was one made just for you. Now relax and let me tell you the story of the Half-Beast prince." I told her.

She stopped rocking in her chair and I could feel that the hands of The Divine awaited for me to finish my story so that she would 'relax' and let her family take her back to 'safety'.

I spoke and I felt my audience listen enraptured to my plans for the future and why I had come to this cesspit of a world.

"Gather me audience, listen well and let me tell you the story of the half-beast prince.

I will start the story at when he was but a warrior and leader of such, for his life before is of little consequences and a rather dreary story that should probably not be said in polite company.

One day, a great plague and famine reached his people and as his people despaired and starved, he alone gathered them and gave them purpose and a mission and that mission was to take who they could and Found a new city from the failed townships and princedoms of his old world on a new one. This city which he dreamed of and will one day forge in a vision of beauty was called The City of Knives, for they were the favored implement of Murder of its inhabitants and Khaine approved of such and its people loved Khaine for it for he was Mighty and wished them well.

He found the perfect spot near a small and hidden Pirate Port filled with criminals and low-lives devoid of purpose and morals, but when they saw his incredible force of arms and Kindness as he offered them to serve him and a greater purpose than merely raiding fishermen, they knelt in front of him and begged him to take them in and the Prince of the City of Knives did so, for he was kind and generous and would accept all that gave their fealty to him into his heart.

They called their lord of warriors Prince, for he had forged them a beautiful city that the Divine loved and he called them his beloved people, for they loved him and they looked up to him as all subjects should look to their Prince, for he was a Kind Prince that knew what his people needed and what he needed to give them.

Some would say that the City of Knives was called such because its inhabitants liked using them to stab each other in the back too much, but such slander would not allow the fools saying such to survive for long and unfortunately survive they needed to do, for a curse had been levied upon the people of the Prince and turned them from Eldar into Beasts. They could still act like Eldar, they still lived in the trappings of the Greatest Civilization to ever live, but their minds and song were no longer that of Eldar but of Beasts that bleat and bleed too much.

The Prince still loved them and swore he would look after his people, for he Loved them and while they could not express it properly anymore he knew that they loved him too, but the curse had stolen their ability to tend to the land and farm!

'One cannot have civilization without farms! How are we to feed ourselves?' His people cried as one and turned as always to their prince for guidance and protection from what ailed them.

But the Prince of the City of Knives knew this would come, for he is a wise and kind prince and dearly loved his people who are now beasts and so he set to provide for them as all rulers should and all rulers should expect danger and calamities.

'We HUNT!' The Prince declared and his people rejoiced, for their wise prince had found a way to feed them when they knew not of it as they had never needed to hunt before.

And so the Prince hunted in the name of his people, and with his faithful warriors, which have followed him from their old homes to his new city, he scoured the Stars for Prey to bring back to his people and he was successful and fed them, for he loved them and they loved him back and so it continued for many years as his people settled and their Hunter Prince helped teach them how to hunt.

He, alongside beast masters and surgeons learned to use every single part of their prey to benefit his people, so that they could both clothe and feed themselves, for the curse had taken their minds and now they struggled to do both. The prince still loved them and his people loved him for it, for they knew they were inadequate and yet they saw that their prince's heart was large enough to love them despite of it.

He had lost his ability to sing so that he may be able to speak with his people properly, but his mind unlike theirs was still that of an Eldar, and Eldar are kind and magnanimous souls and they are willing to provide plenty to those who accept their generous rule and The Prince of Knives was nothing if not a generous Eldar to his beastly people.

But all was not well, for beasts without the kind and generous stewardship of an Eldar Mind settled near him and his and they grew jealous and mad of his riches and success even as they tried to emulate the Prince and yet could not achieve the same success.

A half-breed they called him as in their envy they called themselves pure-born, for they had started to believe themselves as people and the Eldar as animals, for they too were afflicted by the Calamity that had befallen the people of the kind Prince. And so they struck when he was not looking and conquered the City of Knives when the Prince and his warriors were away on a Hunt and they made the population so fearful that in their addled mind they forgot of their prince and knew of only fear and pain, for their hearts ached for the love of their prince. Without him to lead them, they now were without his love and were ruled by Beasts and not the kind Stewardship of Eldar and they suffered for it greatly.

The prince despaired when he saw his people brought low again, but he is a Prince and an Eldar, and we do not let Beasts bring us down and keep us there! And so he did as all Eldar are to do and he plotted the downfall of his people's conquerors and swore he would conquer the barbarians that called themselves noble pure-born and teach them to love him too, for he was a kind and compassionate soul and saw that these beasts were the same as his people and only needed proper guidance so that they would thrive and what better revenge can one have than taking someone's possessions and making better use of them than their previous owners?

If such a thing exists then I know not of it, but I am sure the prince would have done so if he knew of it and because he did not this priest will choose the continue to believe so.

And so he started from the bottom again, and he once again called his warriors in the Fellowship of the Black Heart which he created to reconquer his city as they fed it, for such was his vision.

His solution was simple, he should just feed his people more than the beast lords and naturally the addled mind of his people will turn to him for guidance and they will remember his love for them and their love for him, for his people were still hungry and many were one meal away of wasting to death!

And so he did for many years and he was successful, as the Beast Lords kept on failing his people as he fed them more and more and they could say nothing against it, for their failures were obvious and they too needed the food even as they pretended to too have forgotten of the man whom they tried to emulate and stole a princedom from. Some actually did, for they were beasts and not people, but they were the easiest to deal with.

As he hunted, the warrior lord found something he did not expect, he found a woman to love and love not as his servant and subject, but as his woman which was a beautiful woman which had the loveliest voice in the Great Wheel even if she could not sing, for her people had lost the ability to do so properly.

This woman was a chef, one which hunted her own meals before preparing them in front of her customers, for the restaurant that she worked for and had come to lead had learned that this would bring them more customers as the beasts loved a good show and the ladies of the restaurant were very skilled at cooking and showmanship.

Both Eldar and beast woman with the lovely voice she rarely uses had found love in each other's arms and together had forged a grand Alliance between hunters and chefs so that they would feed the people of the Prince and teach them once again to receive the love of the Prince who loves them dearly.

But our Prince now turned Hunter and Lord of Warriors was not idle as he learned to love a woman as he should, for his schemes and plots continued and he managed to find the greatest prize he could, for he managed to hunt a clutch of lesser dragons that could still spew flame like their father, even if they were greatly diminished from his rumbling strides and their small flames could not compare to his planet ending infernos.

'This will be the prize that reminds people that I am their lord.' He declared as he and his fellow hunters captured the dragons and brought them back to the city.

One of the Beast Lords grew jealous of the Prince's catch and so he stole it from him, for he was lord and he thought the prince was half a man and a hunter and he forgot he should not slight princes, but the Prince expected this and did not put up a fight as the lord took his catch and did not take the knowledge of how to keep such creatures from eating him. Dragons, even lesser ones, are still prideful, wrathful and deadly creatures and one needs special tools and rituals to take them down, something Eldar know of, but Beasts that have shunned their stewardship do not.

And so the beast lord cried as he tried to cook the dragons and they killed his warriors, his hunters, his slaves and his chefs, for he knew not how to cook dragons and the other lords wished to sabotage him and steal the meal they knew not how to cook for themselves either.

And so the lord of beasts admitted defeat and gave the Prince back his prey to cook it and give to his people, but the Lord had once again erred, for he did not muzzle the dragons and they had called for their brothers to help them, for they were scared and alone and did not wish to be eaten and their brothers were Kind enough to come help the brothers they dearly loved.

The Dragons came in a ship made out of a Mountain they carved for themselves to honor their father and came to burn the cities of the Beast Lords and rescue their siblings before the prince could cook them and they came and slashed and burned and killed the Beast Lords in search for their siblings and helped the prince even if they knew not of it, for when they left it was the prince that put down the fires once the dragons boarded their mountain ship and took their siblings across the sea. It was his leadership that once again guided his people through despair and it was his work that mended his people anew as they learned to love him again and the Prince swore he would never abandon them again.

And so the Prince reforged a realm anew into the Princedom of Knives and brought it to heights of prosperity unheard of in its short history as his city became the capital of a mighty beast people and their prince set his sight on the prosperity of his people, which was a mighty goal and one he would need to forge himself the crown of royalty for in order to ensure their prosperity in perpetuity.

I know not how that story ended however, for I myself have only heard this story from another and they died before they could tell me how it ended and all I know of it is the ending an untrustworthy deceiver told me of that said the prince tried and failed to become king, for he did not heed the advice of priests properly, and so he failed and became a lesser divine that could not guide his people when they needed him.

But pay no heed to his words, as one should not trust the words of deceivers. for they deceive as easily as they breath and do so twice as often and it is better to listen to the words of priests that mean you well."

I finished the story and I could feel Slaanesh be taken out of the dream as it ended. I was once more awake.

My flesh was screaming as the toil of keeping eleven souls safe from Chaos made itself felt in my flesh and soul as both cracked slightly. I was safe from Slaanesh yes, my Audience was not as Slaanesh could not even begin to try and protect them no matter how much she wished to even try.

Moriarty was in the old Dream Crystal I used and I would have to make him a body to control but first sight. I couldn't see or hear but I can feel somebody trying to get my attention as I tried to recover.

I tried to speak and sighed as blood spewed over and I remembered why Priests primary duty was keeping our people safe from the Divine.

'Nothing good ever came from the Divine, we just try to make the best out of a bad situation as we keep the monsters at bay.' Were the distilled words of Wisdom of thousands of generations of priest from multiple species.

They were what every priest with sense thought.

AN: To those aware of it yes, this a... reinterpreted and expanded iteration of the Torturer's Tale where Vect speaks to a slave of Commorragh's origins and how the Dark Eldar came to be. I really just added to it.