The LyRiax Conflict - Invitation To Madness
By Frans van Berendonk
Deep the Daemonic prince pondered. An ambassador of Ahriman, in his own court? How did this Magus person enter the courtyard of the Nightkeep, without being brutally slain by the chained daemon wolves? How did he pass the gates of Nightmares, the pitch-black Maze of Despair? He truly must be chosen by the Dark Gods as Ahriman’s voice. Yet, the Daemon was very displeased with Lord Ahriman’s requests.
“Now I wonder…” the Daemon whispered. “I wonder what Ahriman has concocted with this little scheme. The Legio Inxentas in prolonged combat?” The two Terminator-armoured bodyguards next to Inxentas chuckled behind their death-masks, untill Inxentas himself started to laugh heartily. “We descend from the Night Lords directly, our successor chapter was founded as soon as we lost the assault on Terra. And you know why, Magus?” The Daemonprince stood up, his mighty bulk almost dissapearing in the eternal darkness that enveloped the throne room. He flexed his wings, and step by hammering step he came closer to the Red Magus. “Because we are Night Lords! We come as whispers, we leave as ghosts. Our Legion has survived through hardships and setbacks through our pin-point strikes, deep into Imperial territory. We have secured a mass of wealth and Imperial technology unlike any other of those disorganised Legions of Chaos, which we freely distribute across the entire Eye of Terror for Abaddon’s Black Crusades. And Ahriman asks us to hold a stupid city!?” The daemon bellowed in anger after having spoken those final words. Then, he sat himself on his brass throne and thought hard about this deal. Finally, after a few minutes of intense silence, Inxentas’ voice filled the room again.
“You can tell your master this,” he started to whisper. “He can have that festering thing he calls a planet and do with it whatever he wants. The only thing I want in return is for Ahriman to make the neccesary… physical sacrifices for me, as to return to the Materium immediately without the need to secure these souls myself. Only when I can lead them personally, I will allow the Legion to leave the Nightkeep’s inner sanctum and training grounds.” This the Daemon utterly demanded, the Terminator-clad bodyguards knew. The last person to have banished Inxentas to the Warp was Captain Hamman of the Emperor’s Castellan’s Chapter of Space Marines. “Also, I want Bellerophon on the field”. The room almost seemed to become even darker as it already was, just by the mentioning of that name. “The only fools crazy enough for your dubious endeavour to work are those Khornecrazy sons of whores that call themselves the Berzerkers. I have little interest in what your master would think of their contribution, only that adding those suicidal maniacs to your little cocktail of lies would give it much, much needed flavour. I will patiently await your master’s reply as usual, but I am sure he will see the irony of getting Bellerophon’s goons get mashed to bits and respond swiftly. Who cares if a little blood for Khorne flows? As long as it’s Imperial and madmen that are dying, the Legion will be happy to provide the neccecary defensive units to channel our combined daemonic forces into the material realm. Now go, and inform your master.”
The Red Magus dissapeared in cloud of mysterious vapours and sounds.