by Stinging Light
It is the 41st Millennium. For more than a hundred centuries, the Emperor has sat immobile on the Golden Throne of Earth. He is the Master of Mankind by the will of the gods, and master of a million worlds by the might of His inexhaustible armies. Yet, it is often the ignorance of a single man that invites the end. Planetary governor Hesperus thought he had purchased a pet. He actually bought a student of the Laughing God. As he parades his 'broken' xenos child before the sub-sector's elite, he is blissfully unaware that the boy is a beacon inviting two furious Craftworlds. The summer gala is set, the guests have arrived, and only the "pet" thinks he knows exactly how many seconds remain before the execution. In the shimmering silence of the Webway, the Laughing God lets out a long, theatrical lament. His star pupil, the very heart of the performance, remains blissfully unaware of the true scale of the finale. The stage hasn't just been cleared; it has been vaporized, and the only one left to appreciate the sheer, dark brilliance is the God who wrote the script.
