Warhammer: Lord of the Endless Monster Horde

The Dark Portal is a special interworld portal created by the Horde in Azeroth, able to link two worlds.

Since I'm already nearly creating the Warlock class from Azeroth, it's only reasonable to make a Dark Portal, right?

"Dark Portal? That's not quite right. I think Warp Gate, Chaos Gate, or even Rhodes' Gate would be better," Aisha said.

Naming it after a gate is fine, but Chaos Gate or Warp Gate, or after Rhodes, would be better. Why call it the Dark Portal—it sounds so lame.

"If you call it Chaos Gate or Warp Gate, everyone will know what it's for—summoning Daemons or opening the Warp! That's stupidly obvious," Rhodes said bluntly.

"Fine! If those names are out, what about Rhodes' Gate? You helped create it—it should have your name," Isha argued.

Like the Book of Magnus, the Plaguehorn, the Laughing Armor, or the War Axe—artifacts are often named for their creators. The name should evoke you.

"Rhodes' Gate—how dumb do you have to be to think that's a good name! No wonder your Eldar gods were killed. If you're this dumb and survived, your fellow gods must've been even dumber," Rhodes retorted.

"Did you just call me dumb?" Isha glared at him.

"If you weren't, you wouldn't want to put your name on the gate. I want this secret. Even if discovered, it can't be traced back to me, you fool—oh, sorry, goddess," Rhodes said.

After all these years, no one's ever talked to her like that—but for some reason, Isha felt a strange excitement!

Maybe once she becomes a god of order, things will improve. Order gods aren't slaves to their own divinity.

As a Chaos god, Isha had realized that the Warp was corrupted or polluted. All gods in the universe had become abnormal.

The four Chaos gods corresponded to four rules of corruption, but also to four orderly rules.

Sometimes, Chaos divinity would affect their judgment. Her soul, having left the Warp to reside in this Eldar body, had improved her temperament; she no longer had constant evil, filthy, depraved thoughts.

When trapped in the Warp, the Chaos gods were always bound or controlled by their own divinity.

The Eldar gods had been right to infuse their souls and divinity into her, helping her resist Chaos' corruption; with a body to walk the mortal world, she hadn't been completely enslaved.

"What are you thinking?" Rhodes asked, seeing Isha spacing out after storing the portal.

"Nothing. I just realized a few things. That cosmic beast power is amazing. If one of them absorbed C'tan energy, it'd be even stronger," Isha replied.

Cosmic beast power could suppress Chaos divinity, helping her stay sane.

Cosmic beasts are special intangible lifeforms of realspace, similar to the C'tan, though the C'tan have physical bodies.

If Rhodes' beasts could gain C'tan power, they'd be much stronger, making it easier for her to resist Chaos.

"C'tan? Good idea, but cosmic beasts haven't reached their full potential yet. For certain reasons, they haven't fully grown, but their power will keep increasing. Maybe someday I'll let them absorb a C'tan shard," Rhodes mused.

Isha's idea was good—cosmic beasts are, in some ways, close to Warhammer's C'tan.

In terms of power, human Primarchs are nothing compared to C'tan. A full C'tan could swallow stars and eat suns.

A C'tan walking realspace would make even the Chaos gods retreat.

The Old Ones, though strong, were wiped out by the C'tan and Necrons together.

The Necrons did the heavy lifting, but the C'tan were the main force.

After the War in Heaven, the C'tan were so weakened by victory that the Necrons turned on them. If the C'tan had been at full strength, the Necrons wouldn't have dared.

Rhodes considered maxing out a cosmic beast, then hunting a Necron for a C'tan shard to let the beast devour.

"All the C'tan are now shattered, their shards kept by the Necron Phaerons and Overlords. In big dynasties, the Phaeron distributes the shards to powerful Overlords; in smaller ones, the king keeps them. To get a shard, you have to fight the Necrons," Isha said.

"I know. The Necrons are a huge threat to the galaxy, maybe humanity's greatest. I'll deal with them," Rhodes replied.

The Necrons see all other galactic races as primitive brutes—they're even more arrogant than the Eldar.

But they have the strength to back it up—they're the most powerful force in the galaxy.

If the Necrons all awoke and united, humanity would have no chance.

Before crossing over, many fans debated that only the Necrons could stand against the Tyranids.

In a true war, even Orks couldn't match the Tyranids. Orks have numbers, but no brains, while Tyranids adapt quickly.

Like in the Octarius sector—soon the Orks would lose.

Then a terrifying Leviathan tendril would emerge, and Rhodes would have to deal with it.

The good news: the Orks could hold out a while longer.

"So, what will you tell the Emperor when we get back to Terra?" Isha asked.

With the Fenris affair nearly done, when Rhodes returned to Terra, she couldn't hide her pregnancy. The child's soul grew stronger daily—within the Emperor's psychic range, he'd sense it.

He couldn't sense it now due to her shielding, but if she dropped it, he'd find out. He'd see through her identity and the child's mother.

One solution: she could retreat into the Warp, giving Lelith full control of the body—but Rhodes would have to convince the Emperor to accept her.

"I've thought about it. Your life energy can help repair the Emperor's body, and since he's allied with Eldar gods now, I think he'll accept you," Rhodes replied.

The child was his—the Emperor had no reason to object, especially now that he'd allied with the Laughing God and Death God. Their shared enemies were the four Chaos gods and the Tyranids' mysterious Devourer.

"Why don't we delay a bit? While I can still use some god power, let's go hunt a C'tan shard together?" Isha suggested.

She wanted more time in this body, to absorb cosmic beast energy and cleanse her Chaos corruption.

Once awake, she never wanted to return to the muddled, enslaved days of Chaos godhood.

Rhodes needed to quickly upgrade the cosmic beasts to help her resist Chaos.

Chaos divinity is not a good thing—now that there's a way to resist, she wouldn't let it go.