Warhammer: Start with a dog

Chapter 569 Belia IV-

*Warning: This article involves the Eldar part later, so it is a popular science part with a lot of simple explanations of related terms (otherwise many readers may not understand it at all later). Those who don’t like to read a lot of explanations or know what the Eldar are about can skip it.

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Belia IV is located somewhere deep in the Eye of Terror. It is an extremely large planet. It was once the core planet of the ancient Eldar Empire and is now a Crone World.

Crone World is the name of the first batch of colonial home worlds created by the Eldar when they first prospered, developed and became powerful after being swallowed by the Eye of Terror in the Great Fall.

Their "Crone" meaning is named after the crone goddess Morai-Heg of the Eldar, the ruler of mortal souls and destiny in the myths and legends of the Eldar. In contrast, the Maiden of the Maiden World also refers to an Eldar goddess, Lilith, who represents wealth and dreams. The Maiden World refers to those planets that were transformed from uninhabitable worlds into paradise worlds during the ancient Eldar Empire and escaped the Great Fall because they were far away from the core home world.

The reason why the concept of how to describe the history of the Eldar is rarely mentioned in the tone of history books is that the sudden disaster that destroyed the Eldar Empire caused most of the historical records and memories of the Eldar to be lost or lost in the "Great Fall". Therefore, the descriptions of the Eldar history known to humans so far are all colored with myths and legends - but not the oldest Haemonculi among the Dark Eldar. What most living people don't know is that those most ancient and powerful Haemonculi were one of the initiators of the activities that caused the collapse of the Eldar Empire.

By the way, Murray Heg is the wife of the famous Eldar God of War, Bloody Hand Kane, and the mother of Bloody Hand Kane's two daughters. Murray Heg wanted to obtain the wisdom and power contained in her blood, but she knew that only Kane could hurt her, so she let her two daughters torture Kane with endless sharp howls until Kane finally agreed to cut off the five fingers of the old goddess so that she could obtain the power in her blood. In return, the two daughters were given to Kane by Heg, and the Howling Banshee Warrior Path was named after this.

The Crone Sword that Ivreene told Malcador and Eldrad to seek on Belia IV was forged from one of the fingers of the goddess of fate, Mori Hag, that was cut off by the god of war, Cain. The Crone Sword corresponds to the cut-off finger of the goddess, and there are five of them. The revelation that Ivreene got from the god of death who had not yet awakened was that collecting the five Crone Swords would awaken the last god of the Eldar, the god of death, Innid, who would save them from the eternal thirst of the Lady of Hunger. Her army of death was named after this. With the blood of the Crone Priest as the trigger, she who was resurrected from the dead was also called the Daughter of Shadows and the Daughter of Innid.

Belia IV was once prosperous, luxurious, beautiful and rich beyond imagination. So much so that their rulers, the Eldar, could arbitrarily turn every one of their most secret and twisted desires into reality, from trivial things such as depraved enjoyment that cannot be described in words, to the feat of moving stars at will and forging the sun.

It was so brilliant and powerful, and the carnival and pursuit of the ultimate experience lasted for dozens of centuries. In this paradise where the night would never come, their decadent enjoyment finally made Slaanesh cry for the first time. Most of the planets within the scope of the Ancient Eldar Empire, that is, within the scope of the Eye of Terror, all the life, soul and vitality on them were devoured by the birth of the Dark Prince in an instant, becoming his first sacrifice and nutrients.

Now, according to limited legends, except for Belia IV, all other Eldar Empire worlds have been swallowed up by the Eye of Terror and become the world of death and demons.

There are neither plants nor animals, no water sources or geological activities on it, only stone cliffs and Gobi deserts that are gradually weathered and broken by the invisible pressure and coldness of the Eye of Terror, collapsed ruins where resentful ghosts or subspace demons entrench themselves, whistling winds, and priceless treasures scattered in these black Gobi deserts of death - Soul Stones.

Unlike the Dark Eldar who use the intense pain and souls of others to torture their bodies and minds as their scapegoats to feed the Hungry Lady to escape their own fate, the Soul Stone is a means for the Ark Eldar to keep their souls after death and not be eaten as desserts by the Hungry Lady who is always greedily watching every Eldar. (However, it still cannot prevent hunters who hunt the Ark Eldar, such as the Dark Eldar or the Emperor's Children, from eating them as delicious candies and desserts.)

When an Ark Eldar wearing a processed Soul Stone dies, their soul will enter the Soul Stone that has been prepared on their body and be retained in the material world. Those who are particularly wise will also resonate with the infinite circuit crystal of an Ark world through the rituals of the Ark Prophet Elders.

The only known place where Soul Stones are produced is these old woman worlds.

In view of this, it is not surprising to hear rumors that the Ark Eldar disguise themselves and hire human captains and ships who are desperate for money and have nowhere else to go to enter a planet in the Eye of Terror. These aliens will even provide very detailed route maps or intelligence - perhaps spoils from Comoros, relics of the old world, or perhaps from the divination of a prophet.

However, even so, this kind of journey is still a 100% sure thing, and there is almost no return. Even if there are people who return by chance to deliver the order, their wealth cannot protect their souls for too long.

However, its demand is strong, and there are always adventurers who take risks and think that they are equally lucky and daring to go looking for this precious ore, because even if they sell it to human collectors, the profit is already so great that a decent soul stone can buy an ordinary merchant ship and all the sailors on it.

When Ivreni claimed that they had to go to Belia IV to get a Crone Sword, Malcador had already made an estimate in advance, and then asked all non-eldar members to wait where they were. He would go to this Crone World alone with the Death Army, the Ark Eldar, and the pirates.

"I don't see any need to sacrifice humans for their purpose." He told several companions, and asked them to swear to wait for them to return where they were, instead of relying on their own passion and bravery to kill (attract) all directions (monsters) during their stay.

His companions swore an oath using names they valued, and Malcador secretly issued a surveillance order to one of the groups. Only after this arrangement was completed did he board the Eldar starship to protect them as they entered the depths of the Eye of Terror.

Although the Death Army had witnessed the new possibilities brought to them by the Daughter of Shadows and the upcoming God of Death, as well as the new salvation brought by human psykers, the long-term navigation and search for targets in this overlap between the real world and the Warp was beyond the imagination of most Ark Eldar.

Around this place where Slaanesh was born, the stars might be ghosts that greedily wanted to devour anyone who approached, and the planets might be living beings that were never satisfied. The climate here was completely contrary to any natural law. In the empty space, hailstones formed by blood would blow up, and hurricanes with teeth would appear to grind everything flesh and metal into powder.

What allowed them to pass all this was not only the power of the God of Death as Iphrenee called it, but also the fact that their companions this time, powerful human psykers, drove away the evil spirits in front of them. This impressed many Eldar very much.

Now, they finally stood on the surface of Belia IV. As expected, it was still full of demons and ghosts of the past, but if it was just these enemies, they could still deal with them.

The old man who once had the name of Kaduer and was more known as Malcador found that as he left the Iron Blood, which now also went by the name of Destiny Steel, time and space became more and more "distant". Although he could still rely on the token secretly handed to him by a black and white plush tyrant to maintain his strength and thinking, some traces of past emotions inevitably took the opportunity to stir up the residue from the sediment of memory.

He was holding a staff, standing behind the battlefield, staring at the Eldar fighting with the Keepers of Secrets, Chariots of Pain, Whippers or others in front.

Now there were the Eldar pirates and her bloody bride brought by Ivrene from Commorra, the subordinates of the Pirate Prince, the Eldar of the Ark who were willing to believe in them, and the mysterious clowns even among the Eldar.

There weren't too many of them, but all the aliens were wrapped in exquisite close-fitting armor. These armors were now decorated with additional gods of the dead and strange alien totems in a new way. The complex and elegantly rhythmic lines and dot patterns were inlaid with soul stones with the souls of the dead in the center. There was an extra comma. This practice had been criticized by many princes, ladies, and prophets before. Only Ivreni, the Death God Army, and Eldrad supported him. But when they entered the Eye of Terror and experienced how well this improved practice protected the soul in battle, the voices of opposition gradually became sparse.

This reminded him of someone's comment that the Eldar were actually a race that was arrogant and self-confident to the point of being assholes, but in some ways they were extremely pragmatic, and it was not impossible for them to be dogs for the so-called "monkeys" for some "charming things" that others thought were incredible - of course, there was also a sentence that it was better not to believe the words of the Eldar, because before you successfully become their master, they always feel that they are qualified and should be your master.

However, unlike the rough and straightforward power and oppression on the faces of the Primarchs, Custodians and Astartes that Malcador had always been used to seeing, even these remnants of the Eldar Empire who were lingering on were still as elegant as their ancestors when they fought.

These aliens still did not forget to rotate their limbs in battle, as if they were dancing. Their limbs were taller than most humans, and their movement had a fluid and smooth feeling, more like gliding on ice than walking, and more like the posture of cats than human steps.

This reminded him of some extinct or not extinct cat predators he had seen before. If a raptor or strong brain cat was wearing the skin of a bipedal upright creature, it might walk like this. Their double blades and weapons were as deadly as the claws of predators. With the protection of Malcador and the improved soul stone, they were harvesting demons and ghosts on their way like a whirlwind.

And the actions of the most mysterious group among the Eldar, the Eldar clowns, were closer to a stage sound and light effect in his eyes.

In some seemingly empty places, they seemed to peek behind clouds of smoke and light or suddenly fire at a beam; but in places where the fighting was most concentrated, they rarely set foot.

Read the error-free version! 6=9+Book_bar first published this novel.

On the main roads of the dead city and palace, the Eldar covered the stone floor with the blood and debris of the demons with strange luster. "It's almost there." Iverene said, the lady who was once a star in the Comoros Arena was not idle either. Her fan blade was stained with smelly blood, waiting for her to gently shake it into the dust.

The fragments of the star darts and the stimulated psychic shocks and flames filled the entire route forward. The ruins began to narrow and the terrain on both sides began to rise. Purple fox fire whistled out of the darkness, reaching to the dancers spinning in the air and the sides of the advancing warriors.

At some points, the clowns jumped to the ceiling, like a drop of crystal falling to the ground and then jumping lightly.

Gem-like light scattered behind their path, the mark of the broken star darts. The only thing visible to the naked eye was the inexplicable smoke and fire, which was the phenomenon of annihilating the unliving here. The heat of the living life shone in the inhuman sight.

But at least not to Malcador, in his eyes with psychic vision, the Harlequins revealed their true face in another form, they were neither light and shadow in flowery clothes nor flesh and blood that could not be seen clearly.

They were illusions formed by particles of light that were re-endowed and constructed from the realm of the ether, so they could move at the speed of thought, but no matter how they crossed the tapestry of fate, they would only penetrate like light and could not leave any trace on it.

Their lives and souls had been sacrificed in advance, just to escape the final fate with an eternally frozen smile, their laughter was extremely cheerful but so empty and hollow that none of these Eldar knew what they would face in the end except Eldrad. Although each outcome was just a causal outcome, he actually felt a little pity for them when he thought of those outcomes.

However, the square they were advancing to was really a good place to set up an ambush.

The old man narrowed his eyes and clenched his staff.

Their real opponent was about to appear.