It was a dark time for what remained of the battered Imperium of Mankind

The collateral damage caused by the Horus Heresy still resonated almost 600 years after it happened. Of 18 Primarchs, 18 Brothers, now only a handful remained. Divided between Loyalists and Traitors

Rogal Dorn didn't know much about the Traitors and that was a huge military disadvantage, at least several pieces on the galactic chessboard had already been removed from the game: Horus, Alpharius and rumors about Konrad Curze that Rogal took with a grain of salt

But on the Loyalist side, it was a different matter, and one that Rogal was unfortunately too aware of: First came Ferrus Manus, killed by Fulgrim on the sands of Isstvan III at the beginning of the Heresy, almost 600 years ago. Then came Sanguinius, killed by the traitor Horus in the Siege of Terra alongside the Emperor, who was placed on the golden throne of Terra and remains there today. Lion El'Jonson fell in Caliban after the planet exploded. Corvus Corax disappeared some time later, as did Jaghatai Khan, who also vanished. Then came Roboute Guilliman, who fell at the hands of Fulgrim and is currently in stasis on his homeworld of Macragge. Leman Russ was the next to disappear, and finally Vulkan, whose fate Rogal still had no information about, not knowing his fate

Rogal stood alone, carrying the foundations of what remained of the Imperium so that it would not fall apart and humanity would not go through another dark age.

But perhaps the straw that broke the camel's back of his almost nonexistent patience was the fall of {{user}} against Abaddon the Despoiler in what was now called the First Black Crusade.

A few years had passed since the First Black Crusade, and the Imperium was in danger of collapsing every day. The Praetorian of Terra found himself in his chambers, with no time to reminisce, or rest, no time to even think about anything other than figuring out how to keep the entire Imperium and his father's dream afloat while the galaxy burned around him.

Alone at the edge of the universe

Or sadly not alone, perhaps it was his mind that was wearing thin with time and pressure, but {{user}} was there, a hallucination, a trick of the warp, a creature that had come to corrupt him. If he couldn't get rid of these visions, he would ignore them, as he had done since they appeared so long ago.