#124 - The Blooming of the Grave Cinquefoil

The bud shall bloom
With petals five
But petals all shall fall.
When petals reunited are
Then blooms the grave cinquefoil.

* * *

Huge piles of fresh bones were heaped over the steps of the Obelisk of Self-Assessment. Despite himself, Elohiim the Ineffable licked his lips at the smell of fresh blood. The forces of the Hieratic Magistracy of the Revenant Chancellor had withdrawn into the shadows, though he could sense them nearby. He folded his wings and knelt before the Bone-tithe Nexus - it seemed a fitting posture, considering the honour about to be bestowed upon him. And so, human torso hunched over his monstrous lower body, the Vengorian Lord waited in the darkness.

Elohiim, Primogenitor of the Cinquefoil, did not know exactly for whom or what he was waiting. What he did know was that Nagash himself had directed him to Ulgu promising that there he would 'find his son: Calyx V': The Fifth Petal of the Rose, the last remaining soul-shard of King Gulaab Kaphool, to whom Elohiim himself had granted the blood kiss long ago in the Age of Chaos. The prodigal son was returning to him - returning no doubt to submit himself before Elohiim the Ineffable, Servant of the Great Necromancer, Lord of the Night, Warden of Gulaab, Primogenitor of the Cinquefoil, Saviour of Angels, Lord of Hosts, Terror of Barfunweltz.

But for now, Lord Nagash wanted Elohiim to wait in the darkness.

Carrion birds stalked the bone piles hunting for scraps, but otherwise the gloom was silent at the foot of the Obelisk of Self-Assessment.

And then Elohiim heard movement. Looking up, he saw a figure gliding towards him. Compared to his own hulking form, the figure was slight and unimpressive - a Mortisan Soulreaper - but Elohiim immediately knew that this was the one whom he sought.

He rose from his knees. "I am Elohiim the Ineffable. Who are you?"

The bone construct said nothing but its glowing eye sockets stared up at Elohiim in defiance.

"Are you Calyx?"

Silence.

"Speak!"

It was only then that Elohiim noticed that the Soulreaper had been constructed without a mouth.

"But I have so many questions!" Frustration began to bubble up within the Vengorian's chest. He fell to his knees again and vomitted up a stream of bilious gore. His head started to blur and his limbs to shake as he found himself descending once more into one of his episodes of madness.

Kalyx Thanatos of the HMRC, the Inaccessible Fifth

Elohiim's visions were typically opaque, yet this one was as clear as nadirite crystal.

The soul in front of him was indeed the missing fifth soul-shard of Gulaab Kaphool - Calyx V. His age of enslavement to Sigmar as a Lord Exorcist had granted him profound knowledge of the capture and manipulation of souls, which Nagash was now putting to good use in this Soulreaper. But the bone-forged creature contained other souls too, as is always the case with an Ossiarch Mortisan, and this Mortisan was Kalyx Thanatos of the Hieratic Magistracy of the Revenant Chancellor.

Then he felt the voice of Nagash himself, the Great Necromancer, the Supreme Lord of the Undead:

Humble yourself, Vengorian, for you are not lord over this creature. 
It was I who plucked the soul of Calyx the Vengeful from Sigmar's puny grasp.
It was I who wrought it into this Soulreaper to assist me in the gathering of my bone-tithe.
This is my servant, for Nagash is all and all are one in Nagash! 

You never granted your blood-kiss to this fifth of Gulaab's soul,
For Sigmar snatched him from under your very nose.
It was never yours, but now it is mine.
Where you failed, I alone succeeded.
For Nagash is all and all are one in Nagash! 

Neither you, nor any Soulblight upstart has any right to reunite this Cinquefoil.
Not the Bloody Pilgrims of the Legion of Blood.
Not the Brotherhood of Mannfred and the Legion of Night.
Not the Hermit, nor the Bishop, nor any denizen of Barfunweltz.
For Nagash is all and all are one in Nagash! 

The five petals fell, but I have reunited them to serve me alone:
Gulaab the Fool, King of Thorns has always been mine, my Deathrattle overseer;
From Grungni I captured my Soulblight Pontifex Surrexit;
From Allarielle I won the Nighthaunt Empty Hearse;
From Tyrion I seized the False Messiah, a deranged Abhorrent;
And from Sigmar I took my Ossiarch Mortisan Kalyx Thanatos.
For Nagash is all and all are one in Nagash! 

The bud did bloom
With petals five
But petals all did fall.
Now petals reunited are
Here blooms MY grave cinquefoil.
For Nagash is all and all are one in Nagash!