Khalophis - Burning of Prospero: When Magnus the Red learned of Horus' betrayal of the Imperium and his decision to give his loyalty to the Dark Gods, he used his own psychic abilities to get a message to the Imperial Palace on Terra by directly contacting the Emperor mind-to-mind, though this ruptured the Palace's considerable psychic defenses and killed thousands of people whose minds were unable to handle Magnus' potent psychic call. But the Emperor refused to believe that His favorite son Horus would ever betray His trust and so He assumed that it was Magnus who had been corrupted by the Chaos Gods since he was once again using the sorcerous powers that had been banned by the Council of Nikaea. Believing that Magnus sought to sow dissension in the Imperium to serve his masters in the Warp, the Emperor ordered the Space Wolves Legion to go to Prospero and bring back Magnus to Terra, so he could give account for his actions. But this was not to be, as the corrupted Warmaster Horus had intercepted the Emperor's communique with Russ' Legion and subtly manipulated their orders. Instead of just arresting the offending Primarch Magnus for his transgressions and bringing him back to the Emperor for censure and punishment for breaking his oath never to use his psychic powers again, Horus changed their orders to read that the Space Wolves were to assault the Thousand Sons' homeworld of Prospero. Magnus had psychically foreseen the Loyalist Space Marines' attack on Prospero, which was eventually carried out by the Space Wolves Legion, elements of the Emperor's Legio Custodes, and millions of Imperial Army troops, all assisted by the Sisters of Silence acting as psychic "blanks" in order to nullify the Thousand Sons' psychic abilities.Magnus had finally understood, after his forced psychic entry into the Hall of the Golden Throne and his direct mental communication with the Emperor, that he had been manipulated by Tzeentch, with whom he had apparently unknowingly consorted with while desperately looking for a way to stop the emergence of the psychic mutations that were threatening to destroy his Legion. In an act of repentance and sacrifice, and to show his father that he and his Legion were loyal to the end, he did not warn the defenders of the planet or his Legion of the coming Imperial attack; on the contrary, he imposed a psychic veil on the planet so the Thousand Sons would have no clue of the impending assault. He also dispersed the Thousand Sons' Legion fleet far away from Prospero. He knew that Tzeentch wanted the Thousand Sons and Space Wolves to slaughter each other, and he wanted to stop these plans, even if it meant the sacrifice of his Legion and homeworld. Therefore, the Space Wolves' attack on the Thousand Sons' homeworld of Prospero came as a complete surprise. Because there was no warning, the invading fleet translated from the Warp into realspace practically on top of the planet, and quickly destroyed its orbital defences, initiating the great campaign of the Horus Heresy known as the Fall of Prospero to Imperial historians.Hot on the heels of the orbital bombardment, the invaders came in their thousands. The invaders quickly established a beachhead in the spaceport area and the Space Wolves began slaughtering thousands of Prosperines, burning everything in sight. Yet the Thousand Sons' rank-and-file did not share Magnus' acceptance of defeat and punishment, so they took up arms against the Loyalist invaders. Khalophis was one of the first of the XV Legion's Fellowship Captains to advocate fighting back against the invading Space Wolves, despite their Primarch's pleas to accept their fate. When Ahzek Ahriman assumed command of the XV Legion in the Primarch's absence, he proposed a plan of fierce resistance to those that would dare invade their homeworld. T'Kar immediately offered his support to the First Captain. The Thousand Sons managed to hold Tizca (the only surviving city on the planet) for a period of time before they were eventually pushed back. Among the warriors of Fenris were warriors in gold and red. They carried long spears with ebony hafts and shimmering blades. These were the Emperor's praetorians, warriors of the Legio Custodes.Khalophis raged at the Space Wolves, calling them treacherous bastards, but Chief Librarian Ahzek Ahriman knew the master of the Pyrae Cult had it wrong. In this conflict, it was not the Space Wolves who would be thought of as Traitors, it would be the Thousand Sons. Ahriman knew that since they had killed warriors of a brother Legion there was no going back from what had occurred. The Thousand Sons were now at war, and he knew that one fought a war until the bitter end. Either way, the Thousand Sons had to defeat the Space Wolves or else Prospero would be their tomb. Either way they would lose. Even if they somehow managed to miraculously survive the invasion, the Thousand Sons would no longer be able to remain on Prospero. Others would come and finish what Russ had begun. Desperate to find an edge against the feral invaders, Khalophis made his way towards the crystal throne at the heart of the Pyrae temple.Utilising the arcane technology within, the gathered Astartes of the Pyrae Cult activated the throne which blazed with light, and Khalophis fought to direct the raging power that threatened to consume him. Concentrating with all the powers at his disposal, his Tutelary (Familiar) Sioda swept down and enveloped his body. Khalophis felt his consciousness torn from his flesh to fill another body, one of iron and steel, of crystal and rage. Like a mighty dragon woken from centuries of slumber, Canis Vertex marched into battle once more. Khalophis surveyed the battlefield with the eyes of a god, a towering avatar of battle roused to fight once more. Though his body lay recumbent on a crystal throne of golden fire, Khalophis marched through the ruins of Tizca with the strides of a mighty giant. The guns of Canis Vertex were functional, but with his Tutelary's connection to the Great Ocean, his pyrokinetic abilities were boosted a hundredfold and he had no need of them. The mighty fists of the Titan were wreathed in flames, and with every gesture, tank-sized fireballs slammed intothe enemy. Khalophis laughed as he spat tongues of flame from both arms, burning the invaders back to their dropships. The attacking forces had cut a deep wound into Tizca, but Khalophis saw how far the invaders had extended themselves in their urgent need to break the defenders in two. Canis Vertex could cut them off from their reserves, and the Thousand Sons’ lines would drive them back to the ocean. Without voids, he would have been vulnerable, but a shield of flame turned shells to moltendroplets of lead and detonated missiles before they could impact. He felt his Tutelary's savage joy, its power jostling for control, and he clamped down his authority.Khalophis marched Canis Vertex towards the smoking, fire-blackened ruin of the Corvidae Cult's pyramid. Thick columns of smoke poured from the giant building as its priceless and irreplaceable tomes burned. Tiny figures in gold and grey fled from his titanic strides. Missiles and hard rounds melted on his fire shield. He was invulnerable and invincible. What his weapons did not burn, his enormous, splay-clawed feet crushed, and he left a trail of devastation more thorough than any the Space Wolves might have made. Khalophis did not care. He forced himself to concentrate on the battle, sweeping his gaze over the city to see where hisimmense firepower and strength would be best employed, quickly realising the port was the key. Heavy transports bearing yet more soldiers from orbit swooped low overthe sea to debark warriors by the hundred with every passing minute. Further out, Tizca's northern perimeter was still holding. Ahriman and the Corvidae stood shoulder to shoulder with the Athanaean Astartes and the troops of the Prospero Spireguard, fighting with rare courage to hold the seaborne invaders at bay. To destroy the port would deny the invaders the beachhead they needed to complete the destruction of the Thousand Sons. Khalophis steered his mighty charge towards the port, fists spitting flame and death with every stride.Khalophis did not perceive the environment around Canis Vertex as its long-dead Princeps once had. He felt the ebb and flow of battle more keenly than any Moderati. Warp energy washed from the battle at the Raptora pyramid and he smiled to know such power. No sooner had he attuned his senses to the battles raging below him than he felt the sudden surge of energy on the far side of the Corvidae Pyramid. He felt Phael Toron's presence, but his eyes snapped open as he felt the incredible power building in the Captain of the 7th. Too late, he halted Canis Vertex's forward momentum. During the defence of their homeworld, Toron, like many of his fellow Battle-Brothers, lost control of his Tutelary, Dtoaa, who became his devourer and filled him with more power than the greatest master of the Warp could contain. Unable to control the pent-up Warp energy within his body, Toron died spectacularly when his body exploded with the violence of a newborn star. Canis Vertex was caught in the tremendous explosion of pent-up Warp energy released by the dying Phael Toron. He drew on all his power as Magister Templi of the Pyrae to hold back the aetheric fire, but no power in the galaxy could withstand so monstrous a force. Khalophis had a moment to savour the irony of his death before the fire consumed him utterly, and the entire pyramid of the Pyrae Cult exploded in a searing fireball of glass and steel.