There were always those who hungered for power beyond their appointed measure, even amongst the Space Marine Legions long before the dark days of the Horus Heresy was this true. After their humiliation and censure by the Emperor and the Ultramarines, this became doubly so within the Word Bearers Legion as the sting of their fall left many within their ranks feeling powerless and cast adrift from the bedrock of their beliefs. For the Legion as a whole this would mark the start of a perilous path and for some within its ranks, it ignited a hunger that could not be denied. It was on such morbid cravings that Zardu Layak, the Crimson Apostle of the Chapter of the Unspeaking, preyed, with baleful gifts in mind to bestow on those whose ambition outweighed their caution, and whose hubris overwhel