I have seen with mine own eyes many long and terrible wars. I have met brave men and good men whose deaths have weighed heavily upon my soul. On Anathasia I was witness to the Conquests of Zhar and the burning ruins of Ramnion haunt me still. On Badab I watched as the Tyrant’s own fortress fell in dark ruin after so many years of unholy war. Even then I was not glad, for too many had fallen who were needed elsewhere. Too many lives extinguished whilst our enemies grew ever more powerful.
Yet in all my many years I have never seen a sight as terrible as that great battle at the Gates of Athan. That horde of Chaos came on as a sea of blood that stretched from horizon to horizon without end. Over it hung a stink of death, a black cloud of evil which tainted the sky with its obscenity. I cannot think of it still without terror, and must endure a moment's panic to write even these few words. Even so, the Eldar did not flinch but stood their ground with a determination that exceeded human resolve as the strength of stee] outmatches mortal flesh. And that was when | witnessed for the first and only time the strange secret of that race, seeing then what few humans have seen, the thing beyond human comprehension, the great daemon that is the Avatar of the Eldar.
Historicus Ostalan Varus
