‘You must tell us everything!’

‘Everything? No living creature in the universe knows everything. Probably not even the Creator of this world knows everything…’

‘Don’t mess with me, man, with your primitive reasoning. Tell me about Morgana. I want to know everything you know about Morgana.’

‘Ah, so that’s what interests you. Was it necessary to torture me with the most sophisticated tortures for so long? Or is it that in your world you cannot cause pain to other beings?’

‘Communication through pain, human, is the sincerest form of interaction between any living beings. Pain is a stream of pure energy capable of changing worlds. We have lived with pain for hundreds of thousands of years. It has changed us, making us an almighty race throughout the universe.’ The eyes of Lord Nurgle flashed with a bright green flame. ‘Speak, human. Morgana!’

‘Morgana,’ the man said, overcoming the incredible pain that pierced his entire body and mind. ‘The planet. A ship drifting through the vastness of the universe…’

For a moment, the man stopped moving and breathing, hanging helplessly like an insect on a web of wires and tubes connected to his thin, tortured body.

The man jerked awake in a huge, dimly lit room. From the darkness of oblivion, the green eyes of a huge horned creature, which resembled both a living dead man and a demon, continued to stare at him.

‘Ah, yes. Morgana,’ the man finally came to his senses and continued his story. “Several thousand years ago, people from the past received a signal from distant space. At the time, they were very happy, thinking that they had received a message from another intelligent race. But after analyzing it, they were very surprised. The signal was not sent from our galaxy, or even from another galaxy. It was sent from the void. No one knew who sent it or when.

We understood that a messenger was travelling towards us from the dark part of the universe. It turned out that the unknown messenger was an entire planet, wandering alone between worlds. We named it Morgana.

She showed all the signs of not just life, but intelligent life. From the data we received, we learned that the entire surface of the planet was covered with a liquid as black as oil and as viscous as tar. Whenever the planet approached a particular planetary system, the liquid changed its properties.

‘Hold on, mate. Are you saying that Morgana has an atmosphere and oceans?’

‘No. There is no atmosphere or oceans there. But, as we understand it, everything that happens on Morgana is a kind of physical process that takes place in our dimension and looks exactly as I have described it to you.’

‘Then I have another question. How and who transmitted the signal from Morgana? Are you saying that the black liquid is intelligent?’

‘That’s an interesting thought. But you’re wrong again. Much later, we realized that Morgana was not a single planet, but a spaceship. The black liquid on its surface is both its protection and its fuel. To understand all this, you need to know that by liquid I mean a substance that no intelligent race possesses. We called this liquid ‘the liquid plasma of the universe.’

‘It is human nature to give names to things you do not understand and are incapable of understanding. Tell me everything you know about the spaceship. Where is it going? What is its mission?’

‘We learned that the spaceship is flying to meet any intelligent life it may encounter. And its mission is very simple: to show the shortest path to a galaxy where life in all its forms is possible on billions of planets. This galaxy has room for all known intelligent beings in the universe. It is a new home for all living things.’  

‘As I understand you, human, Morgana is the key to other inhabited worlds. Morgana will open the way for Chaos to the new Garden of the afterlife! I have learned everything I wanted to know from you.’ At that moment, the horned monster quickly turned and headed towards the green portal. Then it stopped abruptly in front of the entrance. ‘Yes, I completely forgot to ask you, human, why did you name the planet “Morgana”?’

Behind Nurgl, laughter rang out.

Nurgl was prepared to hear anything but laughter. He clenched his clawed hand tightly and prepared to cut what remained of the man in two with one swift, sweeping motion. But he did not have time to do so.

Behind him stood the same exhausted and emaciated prisoner. Only his body glowed with a bright blue light. It seemed as if everything around him had frozen and time had stopped. The man’s body slowly rose from the ground and hovered at the monster’s height. The man placed his glowing palms on the monster’s head and silently said:

‘You are the Lord of Decay and the Master of Plague and Pestilence, mocking mankind. Of course, you are unaware of our myths and legends. Morgana, in ancient human lore, is an ancient goddess who brings hope and healing to people. Morgana is also a message…’

The man’s glowing hands grasped Nurgle’s horned skull. Not to attack, but to convey a message.

An image flashed into Nurgle’s mind. It was Morgana, but not as a navigator. She was like a key inserted into the lock of the greatest prison. The new garden of the afterlife was not a new home. It was a trap for Nurgle.

Morgana did not bring him salvation. She brought the final, absolute Judgement for all the gods of Chaos.

The glow faded. The emaciated body of the man collapsed to the floor, life finally leaving him. Nurgle stood as if paralyzed. For the first time in thousands of years, he experienced unbearable pain and fear.

Morgana sailed on.

The message had been delivered.