Battle of Prospero - Magnus' Final Command: Magnus the Red finally answered the pleas of his dying sons as he made his presence known. He presented a glorious sight, clad in golden Artificer Armour, his wild red hair ablaze with psychic energy. His flesh burned with the touch of immense power, greater than anything it had ever contained before. His bladed staff threw off blinding arcs of lightning that destroyed armoured vehicles in thunderous explosions. Magnus swept his one good eye across the horrified Space Wolves, and all who met his gaze died in an instant as they were driven to madness by the stygian depths of infinite Chaos they saw there. Only Leman Russ and his Fenrisian Wolf companions stood unfazed by the sorcerous power of Magnus, a gleam of anticipation in the Wolf King’s eyes, as though he relished the idea of the coming conflict with his brother.Using his powerful sorcery, Magnus slowed time down in order to issue his final orders to his most favoured son and senior Captain, bidding Ahriman to lead the surviving Astartes of the Thousand Sons within the Pyramid of Photep. There, Magnus' Equerry Amon awaited him, bearing a priceless gift for Ahriman to bear away from Prospero. The Primarch reached down and touched the jade scarab in the centre of Ahriman’s breast-plate. The crystal shone with a pale light, and Ahriman felt the immense power resting within it. Magnus explained that this crystal had been cut from the Reflecting Caves of Prospero, and that every Astartes of the Thousand Sons Legion bore one set in his Power Armour. When the moment came, Ahriman would know what it was meant to do, and that he was to concentrate all of his psychic energies on the this crystal and those of his Battle-Brothers. Not fully comprehending his Primarch's cryptic words, Ahriman reluctantly withdrew within the pyramid as instructed, followed by the remaining Thousand Sons as Magnus once more restored the flow of time to its proper course.Masses of people filled the Pyramid of Photep, terrified civilians and exhausted soldiers of the Spireguard. The Thousand Sons poured inside, their armour black and dripping from the nightmarish deluge of ash drowning the world beyond. The horrifying scale of the loss staggered Ahzek Ahriman -- at a conservative estimate, he guessed that just over a thousand Astartes had escaped the attack of the Wulfen. Only a tenth of the Thousand Sons Legion had survived the Spaces Wolves' furious assault. Pushing down his grief, Ahriman searched for Amon. The Equerry held a chest up for Ahriman to open. Ahriman reached up and took hold of the lock, which snapped open at his touch. He opened the lid and drew in a breath as he saw the book within, its cover red and cracked with age, for it was none other than the legendary Book of Magnus, the complete summation of his Primarch's knowledge of sorcery and the Warp. Ahriman was now its guardian. Ahriman understood with sudden clarity that Magnus had no expectation of surviving his duel with Leman Russ.Ahriman soon found out that other senior members of the Thousand Sons had survived the Wolves' assault, including such Veterans as Amon, Hathor Maat and Sobek. But it soon became clear that a number of his fellow Thousand Sons had succumbed to the Flesh-Change during the height of the battle, including the Lore-Keeper of the Corvidae Cult. Dozens of Thousand Sons Battle-Brothers had to be put down due to the sudden return of rampant mutation. All told, only 1,242 Thousand Sons Astartes had survived the razing of Prospero.