His face was concealed behind a helmet fashioned in the shape of a death's head skull, decorated by tarnished gilding. He too wore heavy white robes, but unlike the honour guard, Boreas was still armoured. He looked back at the Space Marine who had accompanied him on the shuttle, the one who had been referred to as Brother-Chaplain Boreas. He wore no helmet, and his dark eyes calmly gauged the gathered warriors from beneath a heavy brow, the candlelight reflecting off his shaved head. Suited in his heavy black power armour, he was still taller by a few centimetres than the assembled Space Marines. The great gates in front of Astelan opened inwards, another clanging of the bell drowning out the hiss of hydraulics and creak of ancient hinges, and he took a few steps forward. The solitary toll of a bell brought the assembled guard to attention.

Many were human, but most were not: a mix of subtle, elongated features brutal, bucket-jawed aliens eyeless monstrosities horned, twisted creatures and many other contorted, inhuman stares looked down upon the assembled Dark Angels. The ruddy glow flickered off thousands of skulls adorning the walls and ceiling of the vast sepulchre, gleaming in eyeless sockets and shining off polished lipless grins. Each figure bore a two-handed sword, held upright across its chest and face, the sharp edges of the weapons glinting in the erratic light. They were standing in the shadows between the guttering circles of flame cast by tall candles set around the chamber's walls. In the dark, cavernous room beyond, he could see ten giant figures swathed in thick white robes. They were wrought from black metal in the design of a winged sword that was mirrored on each side. THE TALE OF ASTELAN PART ONE WITH THE WHINE of the shuttle's engines dying behind him, Astelan stood on the landing apron looking at the large, ornate gates in front of him. ʹSince the founding of their Legion at the birth of the Imperium, the Space Marines of the Dark Angels have been dreaded by their enemies and held in awe by those they protect. Stubborn and relentless in battle, ever vigilant and zealous in their pursuit of their duties, the Dark Angels are among the Emperorʹs most faithful servants. Yet, it was not always so. For ten millennia the Dark Angels have harboured a sinister secret, an act so terrible and shameful it threatens everything the Dark Angels hold most dear ‐ and may yet bring them eternal damnation.ʹ ‐ Inquisitor Bastalek Grim Thanks to Rick Priestley, Andy Chambers and Jervis Johnson

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