This, the latest extract from the Cain archive which I have prepared and annotated for those of my fellow inquisitors who may care to peruse it, is in much the same format as the first, with a few deviations that will quickly become clear.

Some among you may find this account rather unbelievable, even in comparison to the previous extract from the Cain Archive, largely on account of its depiction of Ciaphas Cain being turned into a xeno psyker and not immediately bestowing the Emperor’s Peace upon himself, his prolonged stay on a newly-formed Daemon World within an otherwise-unnoteworthy sector of the Ultima Segmentum, and the truly stunning plethora of allies he managed to recruit from the local xeno population.

As unbelievable as this may seem, and despite Cain's undeniable status as a somewhat unreliable chronicler of events, this is just as true as Cain’s account of the engagement on Gravalax; I was present for a sizable portion of it, and managed to confirm the parts I hadn’t been present for with the help of a reliable informant. And anyone who has met me or Cain in-person following the events described herein can attest to the fact that a physical transformation from a human into the particular race of xeno Ciaphas Cain can now count himself a member of is a definite possibility. Rest assured that those subjected to such a transformation are still human in mind and soul, if not body, as confirmed by individuals who are far more qualified to make that claim than myself.

As before, I have been largely content to let Cain tell his story in his own words, confining myself to annotating the original text to clarify occasional points and expand upon the wider background to the events he describes in hopes of compensating for Ciaphas' tendency to concentrate almost exclusively on things that affect him personally without much regard for the bigger picture. I have also formalized the loose 'chapters' established by the unique structure of this particular record; Ciaphas seems to have made use of a few more stylistic niceties this time around.

- (Honorary) Inquisitor Amberley Vail, Ordo Xenos.

Author's Note

So… decided to throw in notes from Amberley. The temptation to make a few more affectionate jabs at Cain, his predicament, and some of the formatting choices in most FO:E fics proved too strong to pass up.