In the grim darkness of the Warhammer 40,000 universe, the notion of crime extends beyond the exploitation of the downtrodden, murder, and other forms of robbery. In the eyes of one cruel, yet evidently effective arbiter of justice, even suicide is deemed an act punishable by law, an accelerant to the decay of culture and an affront to the supposed impossibility of societal change. This arbiter of justice goes by the name of Night Haunter, a name that echoes with the promise of salvation to those who dare to hope.
But what if history had taken a different turn? What if Conrad Kur, the man behind the Night Haunter, had fallen victim to his own personality, succumbing to the whims of chance? For Kur is cursed with the gift of foresight, plagued by visions of a grim future, prophetic images of death and destruction. He sees how others are fated to die, how the future would blaze, and how all existence would crumble to ruins. This harsh understanding of cause and effect, devoid of the merciful touch of prophecy, is a constant torment to him.
He delves into the bloody dreams and waking visions, immersing himself in the glimpses of the future that are laid before him. But the path from the present to this bleak future is obscured, hidden from him like a distant, sharp horror on the horizon of time. He sees the deaths of friends, brothers, and sons, boiling in blood and fire. He even sees his own death at the hands of his father, a vision that haunts him relentlessly.
During one of his pursuits, Night Haunter corners a prey on a rooftop. But then, a torrent of visions of various possible futures for his prey, a boy named Nosto, floods his mind. His senses are assaulted with the force of a collapsing building, and he collapses in a drift of ragged black cloth. His prey escapes, becoming a tiny black dot amidst the visions that burgeon in his place.
Two possible futures unravel before Night Haunter. In one, he sees himself taken with a moment’s doubt, pausing as the boy pushes himself backwards along the rooftop. Instead of delivering the executioner’s blow, Night Haunter extends a savior’s hand. The boy stops, reaches out, and under Night Haunter’s guidance, his horizons expand beyond the criminal margins that had confined him. He transforms from a killer to a mentor, spreading the word of the Night Haunter and changing the lives of others like him. A new social contract takes hold, and the boy thanks Night Haunter, who is loved for the change he brings.
In the other future, the boy seizes his chance and rams a knife into Night Haunter’s side. The boy survives and prospers, his legend as the man who faced the terror in the dark growing. He ascends to power, leaving a trail of blood and a ladder made of raw bones in his wake. As the fear of Night Haunter diminishes, his task becomes harder. By the time the man the boy has become is tracked down, many innocents have perished. “You made me,” says the grown man, in both visions, through strangulation and grateful tears.
In the end, Night Haunter is left with a chilling realization – there can only ever be one future. The kinder fate is dimmed, obscured, and extinguished by the darker one. If only he had stopped for a moment to ponder these visions, he might have understood the truth of choice, that both futures were valid. But in the grim darkness of the future, there is only war.
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