V2 Chapter 140: That Is Not Enough. You Must Help Us Save the Chosen of Fate.
After hearing the terms Sylandri had laid out, every human in the hall fell quiet.
The Men of Iron still stood where they were. The fabricator held its silence. But everyone understood that a new variable had entered the room.
The Eldar offer.
Cawl's primary attention was not on the offer itself.
An alien species proposing terms was the kind of thing that could generate endless argument within the Imperium. What the Archmagos was more interested in right now was a different phrase.
The Cronesword.
He turned his optical sensors toward Duvette, who was still thinking.
"Duvette Erdmann."
Cawl's voice moved through the hall.
"Explain that term."
Duvette looked at him, then at the others around them, all of them alert and uncertain in equal measure. Venus had understood enough from the word "Lady" to know this was dangerous, but clearly had no context for the Cronesword. Werner, despite his open hostility toward the Eldar, was keeping his silence for now and watching how this developed, which was its own kind of deference to Duvette's reaction.
The 112th Combat Group soldiers and the Carpé household guard knew only that they were listening to a conversation they were not supposed to be hearing.
Duvette chose his words carefully.
Some names should not be spoken directly here, particularly inside this hall that had just been purified.
He looked at Cawl.
"Archmagos. How much do you know of Eldar history?"
Cawl was quiet for a moment.
"Enough."
Duvette gave a nod.
"Then that will do."
He looked at Sylandri and Yvraine, then brought his gaze back to Cawl.
"The Eldar once held a civilisation that spanned the galaxy. Then they walked into ruin through the error they made themselves, and that excess, that ultimate indulgence, gave rise to the Hungry Lady."
Several expressions in the hall changed.
Duvette did not speak the deity's name.
"The purpose of the Ynnari is to awaken the Eldar death god, and to bring an end to that Lady."
Cawl's optical sensors shifted in brightness slightly.
"In the original Eldar apocalypse prophecy, the death god would not fully wake until the Aeldari had reached their final end. In other words, that path required the death of the entire Eldar species."
Duvette paused, and his gaze went to the weapon at Yvraine's hip.
"They have found another way."
"Gather five Croneswords. Wake the death god ahead of time."
"And end the Lady."
Sylandri continued to wear the same smile she had been wearing since she arrived.
She inclined her head toward Cawl and Duvette.
"You have described it precisely."
"This is our purpose."
She looked back at Duvette.
"What I am asking is that you help us find the remaining four Croneswords."
Duvette did not answer immediately.
He walked toward the two Eldar emissaries.
The floor still held the scattered metal debris from the earlier battle. Several of the Men of Iron frames that Cawl had destroyed lay to the side, severed limbs and burned-out chest cavities a reminder of what this hall had contained minutes ago.
Duvette stopped in front of Sylandri and Yvraine.
"So you have found the first one."
Sylandri gave a nod.
"Yes."
She glanced at Yvraine, and there was a subtle pause in her phrasing.
"This is the first sword Yvraine received through the power of Ynnead when she was pulled back from the edge of death, the last time you brought her close to it."
Hearing this, Yvraine's expression cooled noticeably. Something unpleasant was clearly surfacing in her memory, and a dull ache had begun in her abdomen, which made the look she turned on Duvette considerably less friendly than it had been.
Duvette did not concern himself with her reaction.
He simply looked at the Shadowseer and said flatly: "Not enough."
Sylandri's smile paused.
Duvette continued. "Your offer is not enough."
"If you are confirming that I can perceive the threads of fate, then you also know I understand how much danger this involves."
His voice was level.
"The remaining four Croneswords are considerably harder to obtain than the first one."
"The Lady will not simply allow you to gather all five without interference."
Sylandri was quiet for a moment.
"Then you are declining our offer?"
Duvette shook his head.
"Help us complete one more thing."
"And I will agree to help you walk toward the path fate has laid out."
He let the certainty come into his voice as he said what followed.
"I may even be able to help you avoid the disasters and failures that path would otherwise bring."
"I am certain there is no one else in this entire universe who could do that."
It was an extraordinarily bold claim.
Even Yvraine, standing to the side, frowned and looked at him properly for the first time. She studied the human who had once driven her to the edge of death, her expression carrying scrutiny and suppressed displeasure in equal measure. Then she spoke.
"What thing?"
Duvette looked at the sword at her hip.
"Help us revive the Chosen of Fate."
He said it simply.
"Using the power of Ynnead that is in you. Using that sword as the medium."
Cawl's optical sensors locked on Duvette at once.
"Wait, Duvette Erdmann."
His vast frame began moving in this direction, mechanical limbs striking the floor with a heavy, measured sound.
"What does this mean?"
"You want the alien to intervene in—"
"Archmagos. Trust me."
Duvette turned to look at him.
"I will explain after."
Cawl's mechadendrites held still in the air.
He looked at Duvette, and multiple lines of analysis opened in his processors simultaneously. Alien. Death god's power. Primarch. Resurrect. Chosen of Fate. These words in combination should have triggered his highest risk classification immediately.
But that same quality of persuasion that had been present before surfaced again, and even though Cawl had not agreed, his counter-argument did not come.
Sylandri, on hearing Duvette's condition, allowed herself a quiet breath.
"This was already written in fate."
Duvette looked at her.
"I want fate to happen sooner."
Sylandri was still for a moment.
She turned and looked at Yvraine.
Yvraine's expression remained reluctant. But she understood that what Duvette was proposing intersected with where their path was already leading. This human knew too much. He could change too much.
Sylandri looked back at Duvette and gave a slow nod.
"I accept this request."
Duvette extended his hand.
"Then we have a basis to work from."
Sylandri looked at his hand. Something briefly amused passed through her eyes. She extended her slender fingers and held his hand for a moment.
It was not trust in any human sense of the word. But it was a transaction that held, for now.
Duvette withdrew his hand and turned toward Cawl.
"Archmagos."
He said.
"Come with me."
Cawl looked once at Sylandri, then once at Yvraine. Then his vast frame turned slowly toward Duvette.
Duvette gestured toward a corner of the hall on the far side.
Away from the Eldar. Away from the still-silent Men of Iron formations.
What came next was the explanation he owed Cawl: why Yvraine's involvement in Guilliman's awakening was not a choice but a necessity.
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