Editing The 13th Black Crusade (section)

==The Fall of Cadia==

===End's-Day Light Show===

The force of the impact of the Blackstone fragment jolted Cadia from its eons-old orbit, while the heat of the artificial meteor's entry into the atmosphere alone flash-fried everything before it, and reduced those surviving defenders who were unlucky enough to fall under its harsh glare to ash in moments. A crater hundreds of miles long and wide was gouged into the flesh of the continent, and mountains crumbled to dush in its wake. Seas boiled away to steam in the backwash, while continental plates buckled and shifted, releasing all the pent-up energies they'd held since Cadia was still young.

Massive tectonic upheaval spread outward from the point of impact, and powerful tsunamis and screeching winds heralded their arrival. Coastal bastions that had endured through the traitor bombardment and subsequent invasion vanished underneath the unnaturally tall waves of the seas that surrounded them. Even on far away Cadia Secundus, fortresses like Kasr Vark that were located more than a thousand miles inland were swallowed up by the violently onrushing waters.

Forests as old as the world burned away in the atmospheric heat, while crustal magma issued forth from the planet's rent skin, and long-dormant volcanoes flared to life across the planet, their fiery fury consuming all in their path.

Half a world away from the impact site, those who were still alive at the Elysion Fields heard the roar of the incoming winds, as well beheld the black clouds obscure the sun. Many sought shelter in the shadows of the pylons and ruined war machines there, and lived through the superheated winds that followed, while those down below had to dodge falling debris as the cavern opening yawned even wider.

The winds grew powerful enough to pick up and hurl tanks, dooming those who took shelter within, and ancient pylons found themselves uprooted, before toppling over like rotted cordwood. The black beams of light that they had been throwing into space flickered and died, and with this the Immaterium slowly came rushing back in.

The storm raged for many long minutes, but gradually lost their power, their strength downgrading from "apocalyptic" to merely hurricane-like, and they blew over a world forever changed. Cadia Tertius was gone, the majority of its center a massive glowing crater, while the rest was drowned beneath the waves. Cadia Primus was half-covered in water, with its mountains now turned into isolated islands. Cadia Secundus was wreathed in fire, as its continental plates shifted uncontrollably.

===The Worse Yet===

Cadia was dying, but the worse was yet to come. All across the planet minor Pylon fields toppled, and with each destroyed pylon, the dark light beam that had shot into the sky flickered, then finally stopped. To Belisarius Cawl, who still continued to monitor the Pylons' dying functions, it was a frustrating experience, especially when they had come so close to closing the Eye once and for all.

Scarce moments passed, before a new and unwelcome sound joined the howling winds. To those alive, it sounded like the dark laughter of gods long-denied their prize, and as the Eye of Terror pulsed high above the burning Cadian skies, it took the planet into its baleful embrace.

Without the Pylons holding the Warp back, Daemons were able to finally manifest at full strength on the savaged planet. They first started on Cadia Tertius, but soon spread through every continent as Cadia was awash in the energies of the Immaterium. The Imperial Psykers still alive after found themselves under assault from perils of the Warp, and the weak-willed found themselves gunned down by their former comrades as Daemons found them ''excellent'' flesh suits. A few iron-willed individuals managed to hold off possession, although only Inquisitor Greyfax forcefully repelled the Daemons from her mind entirely.

And yet at this darkest of moments hope flared anew, as with the return of the Immaterium so did Saint Celestine's and the Geminae Superia's Emperor-given radiance. She led the ragged survivors of the battle in the caverns back to the surface, and beheld a world that was much changed -- rivers of magma wound around the fallen pylons and consumed both the dead and their abandoned armaments, and the stacatto beat of gunfire gradually grew in tempo as the first Daemons returned to the battlefield.

As the Elysion Fields survivors used Celestine's light as a rallying point, the Cadian 8th once more looked to Creed for guidance, but for the first time ever none was forthcoming, for the Lord Castellan had viewed the ruin of their world, and felt his heart collapse at the sight.

Creed's hesitation gave Greyfax the opportunity to take the initiative, and the Inquisitor commandeered what remained of Cadia's vox-net, then ordered a general evacuation of the planet to all those still alive to hear it. She expected resistance from the Living Saint, but there was surprisingly none as Celestine's attention was drawn northward, to where surviving Battle Sisters were now fighting against returned Daemons.

===Frantic Flight===

And so the Cadian Exodus began. From across the planet survivors boarded landing craft and transport vessels of all shape, size, and maintenance level, and these thundered hard into the atmosphere toward the [[Phalanx]] and the remnants of the Imperial Navy that huddled in its shadow. Many didn't make it, as their overburdened engines failed, dooming their living cargo, or were ripped apart by flying Daemons, or simply crashed as their pilots succumbed to warp madness.

Flights of Helldrakes and Harbingers risked being left behind by the Black Fleet to get more kills for the Dark Gods, and dogfights erupted between them and the few remaining [[Imperial Fists]] Stormhawk Interceptors that were determined to keep the skies above the Elysion Fields secure.

Everywhere else the evacuation of Cadia proceeded with varying levels of success, as the surviving population was overcome with panic and terror. Whole regiments struggled to maintain order, or became disorderly mobs in their rush to board overloaded transports. In places where the Kasrkin had to fire into the crowds to quell disorder, full-blown riots erupted instead.

At the Elysion Fields the evacuation soon turned into a fighting retreat, as Daemons began to swarm the transports still intact on that battlefield. In the North, Celestine and the Sisters slowly gave ground, while in the south it was the same, but with lines of Guardsmen and women reinforced by the remaining Imperial Fists and Black Templars under Tor Garadon's leadership. For all this heroism, even Greyfax could see that the Imperials and their transports were in danger of being overrun. If any of them were to survive, some will have to stay behind and hold the landing field.

===Last Stand of the Cadian 8th===

It was at this point Lord Castellan Creed shook off the despair he had felt, and ordered his soldiers to hold the line, one last time. Everyone in the Cadian 8th knew what this meant, but even so they would still buy everyone else there the time that they needed to get off-world. They owed Creed that much.

The Black Templars and the Sisters of Our Martyred Lady were the last to board the last remaining transport. Together with Inquisitor Greyfax and the battered remnants of the Knights of House Taranis, this transport was the last to depart, but as they escaped the battlefield Greyfax thought that she heard a defiant battlecry that somehow stood out over the sounds of the wind and cannonfire -- the legacy of a planet that would not go down without a fight.

''Cadia Stands!''