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Prologue: The Sentencing

"In the many millenia that we have governed this land, nothing has ever apalled us more than your actions." Mordoc's voice reverberated across the Great Hall like rolling thunder. "You, Erebus, Agent of Chaos, have disgraced your position and have threatened our standing as rulers here. For this dishonor you shall be banished."

The Hall went silent then. Everyone knew of the sentence, it had been given before, but never to one of the Elders themselves.

"Speak, Erebus, do you have anything to say in your defense?"

The Agent of Chaos stood in silent defiance of Mordoc's question. No one expected a defense, they all knew than the banishment was a fitting punishment. No one dared speak out against it.

"Then the banishment will commence," Erebus began to turn, preparing to face the dark gateway that led to Tartarus, the banishment realm. "But first, I require another sacrifice."

A low murmur began to ease its way across the Hall, never before had punishment gone beyond a simple banishment.

"For your treason, Erebus, banishment alone is not sufficient. I require you to go through the Darkening." That low murmur broke out in a deluge of gasps and startled cries at the announcement. A Darkening was unheard of for any crime. Only the gravest of evil was ever Darkened, and even then it was never publicly announced, never for an Elder.

The Darkening was the never spoken of process of removing one's essence from the body and binding it into a magical artifact. In theory, when a being dies, its essence is freed from the physical and allowed to travel across the dimensional planes. In this state it can possess any other of weaker essence and take over the body, continuing whatever deeds it had left unfinished in the living. It was this belief that made the Darkening a necessary process for the greater evils of the universe. The Darkening prematurely removes the essence from the physical and magically binds it into an artifact. This artifact acts as the new 'body', one which does not die, and the essence stays trapped within. Even if the artifact is shattered, the essence fragments with it, further preventing any escape.

Erebus showed no reaction to his new fate, but simply stood staring at the gateway to Tartarus, a dark, swirling pool of black.

The unease of the crowd settled down after a few seconds, anticipation over Erebus's reaction silenced even the most outspoken of the onlookers.

Mordoc, Vanguard of Order, stepped down from his dais and moved smoothly over to where Erebus now stood. He slowly bent forward, bringing his mouth closer to the ear of his one-time companion. In a whisper barely audible even for the Agent of Chaos, Mordoc spoke.

"You have betrayed me, old friend. But more importantly, you have betrayed this land. You know that none of us left can safely harness the powers of Chaos without you. You know that the Chaos Sphere is a tool that you alone understand. You have weakened our reign considerably by your treason, and I will not stand to let you continue in the physical." He stopped, as if thinking of what to say next. "Erebus, we were one brothers in arms, but you have stripped all that was pleasant from those memories. From this day forth, I will make sure you suffer the fate I assign to you."

Mordoc took a deep breath, and straightened up. He turned once again toward to crowd and sighed. "Erebus's treason was not done alone, his Honor Guard, D'Sparil, Korax, and Eidolon, aided him in his futile campaign. They shall accompany their master to Tartarus. I will not, however, require their Darkening."

The three's reaction to the Vanguard's proclamation elicited as much of a reaction as it did from their liege, which is to say: none.

"A'Liriam, prepare the device for the Darkening."

"Yes, my Lord of Order," A'Liriam bowed gracefully, her slender frame moving quietly over to where the Darkening device stood. "My lord, what is to be the vessel?"

"Erebus, the Agent of Chaos, should be bound into that which he once controlled. Let the artifact that he once treasured so dearly hold him prisoner until the end of the ages."

"My lord?"

"A'Liriam, bind Erebus into the Chaos Sphere."

Chaos Unleashed

Darkness. Nothing. Absence. Tartarus was the personification of emptiness, a prison realm created to be void of everything. It was a realm manifested of pure Order, a place where Chaos had no control. Tartarus, the place of banishment.

However, something soon pierced this darkness. A fissure in the boundaries of the reality spilled immense light into the void. The light of another universe, the light of Chaos.

Immediately the three Serpent Riders surged forth toward this fissure, widening the gap as they burst into the new realm. They each felt a charge of raw power as their freedom flooded back into them. Even Erebus, trapped as he was inside the Sphere, felt the ecstacy of their refound liberty. They were free once again. Free from Tartarus, free from the Vanguard's sentence, and free from Order.

Korax did not cry out as his younger brother had upon death. No, the cries of all the souls he had consumed were more than enough to make up for his silence. Korax's deformed, chitinous body fell to the stone floor with a sickening thud. Then the many souls taken during his promise of unlife broke free from the corpse, filling the chamber with their cries of agony and hatred.

Baratus, Parias, and Daedolon stood silently watching the death of their quarry. For many long days they had trekked across the vast, corrupted lands of their once beautiful world, slaying those whom they once knew, those whom they once loved, those taken by Korax's vile power. Now it was finally over. Korax was dead.

"It is done," Baratus's deep voice rumbled metallically from behind his horned helm.

"It is done, " Parias agreed, resting the hilt of the WraithVerge on the cold stones beneath his feet.

"It is not, " said Daedolon, who was slouching against Bloodscourge, the legendary staff of the Arcanum.

Both Baratus and Parias watched their companion climb the steps to the swirling ethereal portal at the top. They quickly followed in confusion.

"Whatever lies beyond this gateway," began Daedolon, stopping before the portal,, "is what will determine whether or not it is truly finished."

Baratus and Parias turned toward each other in silence, nodding in assent at their companion's statement. When they faced forward once again, Daedolon had already stepped through the portal.

Throneworld

Erebus walked around his chamber silently, he was still unused to this new physical manifestation, yet he knew he would be in time. An essence out of a physical for so long would never take to a new form so quickly, and even the Agent of Chaos was no exception.

A Heresiarch faded into the room, head bowed. "Master, Eidolon is here at your request."

Erebus stopped his slow pacing and looked at the doorway. "Send him in."

"As you wish, my lord," the air around the creature shimmered as it vanished once again.

A few seconds later, Eidolon entered through the twin steel doors. He marched regally up to the raised dais that held his master's throne and knelt, head bowed and eyes cast to the floor. "I am here, my liege. I have come to do you bidding."

"Rise, Eidolon. I have not called you here to grovel." Erebus walked over to the gilded chair at the center of the dias and sat. He made a motion with his hand signaling Eidolon to his feet. "I have a much more important task for you and your minions."

Straightening, Eidolon still kept his eyes downcast. "Anything you command, great lord. I am your servant for eternity."

"You once served me and my armies across the crystal sphere, Honor Guard. You and your two brothers served me well, yet now only you still stand." Erebus motioned once again with his hand and a panel beside his throne slide back, revealing a small platform with a glimmering sphere that rose up and stopped at arm's level. "I now hand this artifact into your care. Beware, for it holds many secrets and dangers unbeknownst even to me. Korax used this tool for his conquest, and you have seen his fate. You may use it for yours, but take greater care, my child, for the Chaos Sphere is an unforgiving master."

"I hear and obey you, my lord." Eidolon bowed deeply, keeping his eyes eternally downcast. "I will take care."

"Now I charge you with a great task, Eidolon: I have been trapped too long, and that feeling has yet to leave me." Erebus took a deep breath and looked at his surroudings. "Even this place is merely a prison in the guise of a fortress. I can take it no longer. Vengeance boils in my blood, and I feel the need to strike back at Mordoc, the Vanguard of Order." The word 'vanguard' rolled of his tongue heavily laden with contempt.

Eidolon stood and listened silently.

"Yet I need to rebuild my forces before I can make a move. This universe that we have entered feels ideal for that. A natural Chaos permeates all creation here, and I can wield those forces without the help of the Sphere now." Erebus's eyes shone with a firely light. "I will rule this reality, Eidolon, I will rule it with all my power!"

Eidolon, head still downcast, smiled at his master's fury.

"An emperor, however, needs a suitable throne to rule from. Eidolon, I charge you to find me this throne. Go forth and conquer, my child. Go forth and find me a Throneworld!"

That was when Eidolon raised his eyes and locked them with his master's. "As you wish, my liege." They both smiled a darkly sinister grin.