Warhammer 40K: I Believed in Tzeentch to Save My Brother

To save his younger brother Wen Yi, whom Nurgle has taken to his Garden, archaeologist Wen Gu strikes a deal with Tzeentch and gains the ability to travel between the present day and the Warhammer universe. He goes undercover in the hive city of Biladu, helping the aristocratic youth Sere establish himself in politics. At the same time, he opens a school for the poor in the lower levels, raising and teaching children with all kinds of personalities and giving them hope. But Nurgle’s plague is spreading. Cultists are poisoning the water supply, and the twisted “Daughter of the Grandfather,” Salia, appears with a sickly elegance to offer Wen Gu a deadly bargain: accept her love, and his brother will be free. Meanwhile, old feuds among the hive city’s nobles continue to burn. Drake of House Vokma longs to tear out Sere’s throat, but the plague forces them onto the same side. Ella, who grew up among the gangs of the lower levels, finds a home at Wen Gu’s school, only to face even greater danger as adolescent feelings stir and her psychic powers awaken. The servo-skull “Xiao Qi,” repaired by mechanical prodigy Katya, gradually reveals the horrifying secrets buried beneath the hive city. As Salia’s Plague Knight host tramples over corrupted moss, and Wen Gu foresees a future in which he sits upon Nurgle’s throne, Biladu’s fate hangs by a thread. Will he cling to the faint glimmer of humanity, or embrace eternal decay? In this despairing forty-first millennium, hope is the most dangerous plague, and love is the deadliest weakness.