Editing Darius Cyaxares (section)

==The Heresy==
In the eyes of Darius Cyaxares, the disaster began with the exile of the [[Void Angels|Fifth Legion]] in 004.M31.  As Gaspard Lumey's fellow commander, he argued hard that the Fifth's actions in the Core Worlds Campaign were a military necessity and had reduced, not increased, the level of destruction.  Yet few were prepared to side with him.  When Gaspard himself abandoned the cause of arguing against his own censure, the die was cast.  Darius confided his vision of the future to Gaspard Lumey, saying that he saw the Fifth Legion leading a great fleet to humanity's birthplace and waging a brutal war against the Emperor's most-trusted servants.  Gaspard dismissed the prophecy with a smile and a brotherly embrace, then left for the far reaches of the galaxy.  When the Sand Keepers themselves were ordered out to the south-east of the Ultima Segmentum just a few months after the Fifth Legion's departure, Darius was certain that a civil war was brewing.  He did not doubt that Gaspard Lumey would return with arms in hand, but it remained to be seen whether the difficult Primarch came as a conqueror or liberator.

Regardless of the clouds on the horizon, Darius was determined to acquit himself well in the new assignment.  [[Hektor Cincinnatus]] had dispatched the Sand Keepers to the '''Malluma system'''.  The Warmaster's instructions were to regroup at Malluma and defend the newly-won Imperial worlds there from an imminent [[Orks (Hektor Heresy)|Orkish]] offensive, then to go on the attack and eliminate the greenskin menace at its source.  Some of Darius' veterans voiced concerns that the order effectively banished another Legion from the central reaches of the Imperium.  If the Primarch shared these worries, he did not see fit to protest to the Warmaster and the Sand Keepers duly moved out in accordance with their orders.

[[File:Lewecke-gateport.jpg|thumb|Dodu rises over Malluma]]
As the Legion's fleet warped into the Malluma system, their former Librarians all began to experience headaches.  Darius himself found that his physical vision started to blur shortly after arrival.  The fleet command as a whole were concerned that Malluma did not respond to their communications.  In a brief council of war, the Sand Keepers' senior officers agreed that, in the absence of Ork vessels, the most likely explanation for the lack of signals was that the moon had been gripped by rebellion.  Darius determined to lead his men to subdue the rebels and secure Malluma before continuing his mission.

Moonfall was eerie.  The Sand Keepers vanguard touched down in the green light shed by the gas giant, ''Dodu''.  Fanning out to secure the landing zone for the Legion, they found hardly a trace of human beings.  The moon's largest and most sophisticated facilities, including a massive ferrocrete landing pad, had vanished.  Yet older monuments remained, mysterious and out of proportion to human works.  Once the Primarch had his feet on the soil of Malluma, he determined to seek out and destroy whatever dangers lurked on the foreboding moon.  Darius led a host of his Immortals into the largest structure, seemingly a temple or municipal building.

The Sand Keepers fanned out through the dark complex, sensing that their enemies lurked within.  Despite the warriors' skill and equipment, the unnatural shadows confused their navigation and the Immortals ended up scattered.  Alone, Darius Cyaxares faced a terrible presence that spoke to him.  The entity named itself as the '''Shadow in Time''' and explained that it had granted Darius his visions of the future in order to guide him to this place.  Shadow in Time went on that it, like Darius, was greatly concerned for the fate of the galaxy and slowly attempted to persuade the Primarch into a pact.  Yet the entity's suggestion that the Emperor himself might be a threat was a terrible error in its argument, for Darius knew that his visions had always pointed to his Father as the hope for humanity.

Refusing Shadow in Time was the right course, but it was not easy.  The entity blinded Darius and tore at him with its talons.  The Primarch swung back in vain, mighty ''Shimti'' sailing wide of its mark.  As even his miraculous vitality began to ebb, Darius struck the chamber's floor in desperation, shattering it and sending himself and Shadow in Time tumbling downwards.  Trapped beneath the rubble until his wounds healed, Darius could do no more than listen.  The entity mocked him for his folly and its laughter masked running footsteps, but Darius recognised the approach of faithful Brother '''Caelinus Titus''', the Terran-born Immortal who had carried dying Sasian Terca from the battlefield of Hezuno and repeated his last words to the Legion.  Shadow in Time slew Caelinus Titus effortlessly.  Yet more footsteps followed.  '''Sergeant Penuel Eliyyahu''', the first Sand Keeper of ''Gosheni'' blood to be inducted into the Immortals, and with him his squad; Valerius Aelianus (the son of a Merican warlord), Khaliq Abdullah and Ayman El-Hashem of Sarianidi, and the most recent inductee of the Immortals, Esaias Gad.  Still badly wounded, Darius reached out to his gene-sons and fortified their weapons with his powerful mind.  Only Khaliq Abdullah had time to start firing before the squad was dead.  Then came squads led by Themaseb Afeghana and Keamaar Nafhchea, their bolters roaring in vengeance.  Shadow in Time vented its fury on the Marines but Immortals poured into the chamber, determined to defend their gene-father and fortified by his will.  Aurus Morelia's booming voice raised above the thunder of massed bolter fire.  ''"None shall escape their fate!"''

The Sand Keepers do not boast.  Whatever manner of being Shadow in Time was, it could not withstand the onslaught of the Immortals.  Darius Cyaxares, still blinded and struggling to heal the wounds inflicted by the entity, was helped from the complex by his faithful bodyguard.  Outside, chaos had erupted.  Unspeakable Things had emerged to slaughter the valiant Sand Keepers.  Only the former Librarians, sensing that they faced beings vulnerable to their own powers, were able to stem the tide and allow the Legion to withdraw intact.  No punishment was meted out to the men who had defied the Emperor's decree, for Darius was among them.  Sensing that the hour of decision was at hand, the Primarch ordered his forces to withdraw from doomed Malluma and set course for Terra.