The Damaged Webway

Watching the humans before him brimming with passion, Uslan felt a little bitter.

If only the Aeldari could be like this too.

How magnificent and great the ancient Aeldari Empire had once been. Their great enemy, the C’tan, had been shattered into countless fragments; the Necrons had retreated into slumber to avoid their edge; the Orks had fallen into stagnation and decline, devolving from the mighty Krork into the primitive, savage creatures they were today.

And the Aeldari had survived to the end, becoming the greatest victors of the War in Heaven.

But what about now? Most Aeldari, including the legendary Aeldari gods, had been devoured by Slaanesh, leaving only this scant remnant struggling desperately across the galaxy.

As far as Uslan knew, fewer than thirty Aeldari craftworlds remained in the galaxy. For a civilization, that was unspeakably tragic.

Thirty craftworlds—even if each one could rival a planet in size, what use was that?

A mere thirty planets, while humanity occupied more than a million worlds throughout the galaxy.

Too small a population made it difficult even to pass down a civilization’s legacy. Even humanity in the second millennium had tens of thousands of disciplines requiring people to study and preserve them, let alone the Aeldari, whose psychic arts and science had both flourished to their utmost heights.

Yet the craftworld Aeldari had only a population on the brink of extinction, and some of them still had to train in the various Paths to defend their homes. Naturally, most technologies and knowledge would be lost.

They had never had, nor ever would have had, the chance to consider whether their forces might become numerous enough to clog the Webway.

Uslan felt both envy and sorrow. He consoled himself that the stronger their allies were, the safer the Aeldari would be, using that thought to brush aside his dejection.

"Emperor’s Children, I must warn you: the Webway may no longer be able to handle that much traffic. Many matters must be laid out clearly, lest unequal information place us in an awkward position and damage the relationship between our two sides."

The Aeldari seer’s grave demeanor cooled the Primarchs’ soaring morale somewhat. They had seemed ready to bring every last scrap of strength they possessed and slaughter those damned traitors without mercy.

"If it were the Webway controlled by the Old Ones in ancient times, let alone forces of your size—even the military might of the Krork at their height, enough to fill several star systems, could have been transported with ease."

"Relying on the Webway’s unmatched mobility, we nearly drove our enemies into complete collapse."

"And what about now?" Lox vaguely sensed that Uslan was about to give him bad news.

"Now, although the Webway still functions, our observations indicate that its carrying capacity is weakening. This is related to the War in Heaven of old. Of course, the human civil war currently unfolding has also increased the Webway’s burden."

Uslan was being too evasive, and Lox’s face filled with impatience as he told him to make himself clearer.

Guilliman even thoughtfully handed Uslan a cup of tea. Being served tea by a Primarch clearly pleased this Aeldari.

"That is a long story. Allow me to explain in detail."

"To overcome the advantage our Webway granted us in speed, the Necrons once joined forces with a C’tan called Nyadra’zatha the Burning One. Through violence and C’tan technology, they breached our Webway. They used a blasphemous construct known as the Dolmen Gate to open it."

"The Webway was built in the gap between the material universe and the Warp. It existed neither on the far shore nor on this one, but in a higher-dimensional state. The C’tan’s forcible breach damaged its integrity, making it more fragile and unstable."

Uslan was about to show off his knowledge of the Webway again, but Lox stopped him.

"Just give us an analogy and make it clear."

Lox could not understand theories that were too complicated, but Uslan’s analogy was simple and easy to grasp.

The seer was instantly speechless. These listeners truly had no respect for those imparting knowledge.

With no other choice, he explained the Webway’s present condition in plain language.

"You could have said that from the start. So what you mean is that the Webway is currently damaged and awaiting repairs, but the Aeldari now have great difficulty repairing its abnormal breaches. All you can do is close the affected Webway passages to reduce the damage’s impact on the whole."

Wherever the Webway was leaking, the Aeldari—the Old Ones’ designated repairmen—could only seal off that entire route completely to stop the Sea of Souls from spreading.

Uslan nodded, indicating that this was indeed the case.

As he had said before, the Aeldari were losing the inheritance of their past technologies and memories. One particularly important loss was the knowledge of constructing and maintaining the Webway. The damage wrought by ancient wars, along with the Necrons forcibly hacking into the Webway through Dolmen Gates, had greatly diminished its effectiveness.

It was like an undersea tunnel with leaks in certain places. They had no means of repairing them, so they could only close off those sections and seal them completely to prevent the leaks from spreading.

"But by my estimation, the Webway’s capacity is still considerable. As for exactly how many it can carry, we will have to learn through practice. After all, we Aeldari have never reached its limit."

Though Uslan’s account was not wholly pessimistic, it still poured cold water over everyone’s enthusiasm.

"There are problems, but nothing too serious. No need for everyone to get worked up," Lox decided, telling them not to be overly pessimistic.

"If it comes to it, we can transport our forces in batches. We’ll send an advance contingent to Terra first, then let the remaining troops enter once the Webway has recovered from the overload."

The Lion’s expression shifted uncertainly. He grew ever more suspicious that the Aeldari before them was deceiving them, perhaps plotting some scheme they did not yet know about.

Winning Lion’s true trust was exceedingly difficult. Perhaps he would not even trust his own blood brothers completely.

"Do not look at me like that, Emperor’s Child. In fact, the Webway becoming this terrible has something to do with one of your brothers."

"We Aeldari are the victims in all of this. We have not even demanded an explanation from you, yet you are blaming us instead." Uslan spoke indignantly.

Uslan found that he simply did not get along with this Lion King of Caliban. The other man always seemed to be looking for fault with him. By comparison, Guilliman and Sanguinius were far easier to deal with.

"It has something to do with one of my brothers? Whom do you mean?" Lion raised an eyebrow, his leonine eyes shining sharply.

A flash of insight struck Lox. He recalled someone with little presence, yet somehow involved with him everywhere—the Crimson King, Magnus.

"The Red Devil? The ruler of Prospero?"

Uslan nodded. It was precisely that man.

"When Magnus discovered Horus’s betrayal and fall, he panicked. On Prospero, he conducted a grand ritual, gathered the psychic power of the Thousand Sons, crossed the Warp, and sent a warning to the Emperor far away on Terra."

"Unfortunately, that warning accidentally punched through the Webway beneath the Imperial Palace on Terra, damaging it. Vast numbers of Warp daemons rushed through that opening straight toward Terra. According to my observations, your Emperor expended immense strength to halt their invasion."

"This was all the work of that excellent brother of yours. The suffering he received at the hands of the Space Wolves and Leman Russ was entirely deserved."

Uslan deeply disliked Magnus the Red. His fearless arrogance and overbearing self-confidence were grave taboos for every Psyker. At least, the Warp was now like a cesspit, while that Primarch was swimming butterfly through its sea of filth—and excitedly splashing that foulness onto everyone else.

Ignorance might be bliss, but the catastrophic mess he had caused truly demanded a price from everyone.

Hearing this, Lion could not help shifting his gaze away to ease his embarrassment. After berating the Aeldari for so long, he had discovered that one of his own blood brothers bore responsibility as well. That left the Lion looking somewhat foolish.

"Enough, enough. Stop arguing. We cannot change what has already happened, so we should think about how to break this deadlock instead." Lox stepped in to smooth things over. He had no desire to see this troublesome Calibanite start causing trouble again.

"Set the Webway aside for now. How much use this relic of the Old Ones can offer depends on our luck. What we can do is seize more initiative."

A mysterious smile appeared at the corner of his mouth. There was something he had wanted to do for a long time, and now he finally had the conditions to do it.

"We need to bring out the Hermit. He has spent long enough in that cell atoning for himself. We need him to serve his purpose."