Russ crouched in readiness to leap as the whirlwind lessened. The last fragments of the hall sped away. Upon the plain of snow were Russ, his host and the great wolf Morkai, still sleeping as if nothing had occurred. Behind the death wolf the Spear of the Emperor flew from the remnants of the disintegrating wall and impaled the ground, the shaft pointing to the stars. The shadow wolves were gone, and their hall so thoroughly disassembled it was as if neither they nor the building had ever been. The hearthstone alone remained to attest to its existence, the last embers upon it burning themselves out.

The figure steamed. Blood obscured its face and garb. It took a step closer to Russ. He stepped back. Adrenal compounds and other, more esoteric chemicals swelled his muscles.

The being took another step. The blood flickered off him, as if it were shadow and he had simply stepped into the sunlight, and he was revealed.

Russ was confronted with a version of himself. This one had none of the barbaric trappings of Fenrisian life. No wolf pelts or charms, no tattoos. His hair was cropped in a short, military style to match the smart grey uniform he wore. His clothes were perfectly made but undecorated save for a pair of collar studs fashioned in the shape of the numeral VI.

'So you spoke the truth of it, now see the truth of it,' said the false Russ. His teeth were flat and square like a normal man's. He had none of Leman Russ' fangs.

'What are you?' said Russ.

'Like this? I am you, as you named me. A version of you that could have been, were you not brought to the world of winter and wolves. I am you, shaped by another world and another father.'

'A Terran Leman Russ,' said Russ. He looked at himself in wonder. The man was the same as him, but utterly different. Only the cold light of his blue eyes, hard as a winter's sky, was the same.

'We both know that is not our name.'

'You are as I should have been,' said Russ.

The false Russ displayed his human teeth in a perfect smile, as if lecturing a student who had, in their naivety, said something foolish but amusing.

'I did not say that. I appear to you as you supposed you should have been, not necessarily as wyrd demanded. Has it never occurred to you that you are as you were intended to be?'

'I was stolen away,' said Leman Russ. 'I was taken from my father's laboratories along with my brothers.'