CAOS
A/N: I always wanted to do RWBY fic. Plus, I need to do Warhammer fanfic once in awhile to keep my sanity in check. Then again, sanity is for the weak. Anyway, let's get on with it.
Also in memory of Monty Oum. May The Emperor of Mankind take good care of him...oh screw it, may he work a good work in the Garden of Plague Father...along with Pyrrha and Penny.
Chaos Thought of The Day: The minds of gods are not for mortals to know or to judge - Magnus the Red, Primarch of The Thousand Sons.
Prologue
Void Expanse, Inner Eurepus System.
Imperial Light Cruiser Golden Glory
"Are you sure about this, Inquisitor Hecarus? I still have doubts about sending our man on a suicide vessel," the captain of the ship asked his leader.
"Yes, Captain Otto. The Magos Gilian have spent years developing this weapon. If it can work in the manner that they claim it can, then this will be a much better alternative than exterminatus." The captain shivered.
Exterminatus. That single word sent chills up and down his augmented spine and caused power fluctuations along the dorsal point defense turrets. The power and authority to perform the most horrendous and damming of all crimes lay in the hands of an Inquisitor: to consign a billion (often more) souls to death to deny enemy or the Enemy territory.
"I see your point. If it can do what it can do, then a single vessel and a few crews above it is worth the risk then," Captain replied.
"Yes, a sacrifice must be made, and when we weigh billion—no, trillions—of souls that would be saved if this weapon works and just a few people on board to man it? There is no math in that," the Inquisitor said. Then his mouth turned up in a small smile. "Perhaps we could even put the Adeptus Astartes out of a job if we are successful enough."
"Then let us get on with it before the Enemy can catch up," the captain urged. The Inquisitor nodded.
"Disembark the Cleanser, let it hit into the world of Eurepus and destroy all the psyker and mutant on it."
"May the Emperor protect those who are still loyal to him down there."
"If there are any left," the Inquisitor finished.
The two officers stared as the small craft departed and headed toward the grey world ahead.
xxx
"The planet Eurepus. Once a mighty hive world of the Imperium, now but a playground for us," said a man donned in gigantic armor with a horned helmet and a staff at his side. This labeled him as a fallen Adeptus Astartes sorcerer. "Caesar, fetch me writing utensils! This glorious moment calls for a poem!" the sorcerer ordered as he stared out from his newly acquired balcony over the fallen and war torn planet. In the distance, he could still see fires from the few remaining Loyalist camps. The cultists he led in the assault would see to their destruction presently.
"Yes, my Lord Augustus," a voice replied from behind the balcony curtain.
A minute later, a person stepped out from behind the curtain. He was a teenage boy dressed in a blue rope with long black hair tied back in a short ponytail. His olive skin was covered in dirt and dried blood, and deep blue eyes were filled with charm and hidden ambition.
"That which you requested, my Lord," the teen said as he laid the objects on the table beside his master's chair.
"Hold. Come here," the sorcerer ordered.
Caesar stopped before he could retreat back behind the curtain, turned around, and reluctantly walked to his master's side.
"How else might I be of service, my Lord?" the teen asked, bowing his head in humility to the sorcerer.
"What did you see?" The Space Marine asked while pointing at the ruinous city.
All the buildings were either aflame, destroyed, looted, or being claimed by some high-ranking cultists. The sound of people screaming, fighting, and yelling rang around the hive, echoing up to the balcony. In the boy's eyes, he only saw one thing.
"Chaos," he answered.
"Yes, Chaos. Good, that was the right answer." The master was silent for a minute. "Hmm, I nearly forgot you are my student and not a servant, again," the sorcerer said.
"It is fine, master. After all, you did not call for me much, which allowed me to study from your texts and tomes to make up for your—um, my lack of proper instruction," the apprentice answered.
"Hmm, well then, let's have a little lesson today. A lesson on how to use art to call forth the Blessing of Slaanesh," the master said to his apprentice.
"Of course, master, of course," Caesar said and tried to contain his joy.
"Speaking of Slaanesh, do you have any idea where in the city those hedonism-seeking cultists settled themselves?" his master asked.
"If you would have my guess, I would say in the red light district," the apprentice answered.
xxx
In the lower level of the hive city, a teenage girl with emerald eyes, white fair skin, and purple hair with several black hairlines, was leaning against an alleyway wall while smoking. On her feet was a dead body. The body was full of cuts and wounds. The face was stabbed many times until there was nothing left to identify the dead man.
"I see you killed someone again, boss." Another girl walked up to her.
"Sorry, but this guy started it," the girl replied with a melodious voice to her gang member and gestured her hand toward the body.
"Yeah, guess anyone would be caught by that charm of yours, Anna," her subordinate said.
"Of course, my mother wouldn't ascend to become Daemon Prince of Slaanesh with an ugly daughter," she replied.
"I guess. Anyway, I heard there is going to be a gathering of Slaanesh cultists at the brothel. They are going to try to summon several Daemonettes for 'entertainment,'" she finished.
"That should be worth a look, let's go then," she said and started walking off with her subordinate. "Let's just pray to Slaanesh we don't come across any of those Nurgle worshippers," she said with disgust in her voice.
xxx
On the same level of the city was a church. Its wall was crumbling; its garden and graveyard were full of strange plants, and its priests wore ragged white robes that decayed till they turned sickly yellow and a gas mask linked to twin gas tanks attached to their back.
This, this is the Church of Fly Lord, the church dedicated to Nurgle the god of rot, decay, plague, and death.
Inside the main building, there was a large gathering of people.
"Are you ready for your first preach, Orpheus?" a man donned in Astartes armor painted in the color of sick green and ridden with diseases, which cause his gut to bloat out of his armor in disgusting manner, asked a priest who looked like he was still a human.
"Yes, my lord, I am ready to give my first sermon and prove that I am ready to serve our Grandfather Nurgle," Orpheus replied.
"Good. Then may our decay lord be with you and be inspired your speech, little Orpheus," the Plague Marine blessed the younger man. As the young man walked to the sermon altar, he heard a faint cheer of the crowd from a distance far away from the building.
'I remember when I first joined. Back then it was much quieter without that arena,' the young man thought.
He shook that thought off and focused back on his task.
xxx
In the makeshift arena, the combat was taking place. Bodies and blood of the Imperial Guards and the gladiators littered the ground; there were only two who were left standing. One was a teenage boy, but his body size would make people think otherwise. He had tan skin with short brown hair and brown eyes.
The boy's opponent charged at the last remaining Imperial Guardsman. The man thrust his spear forward, but the boy was faster. He used his great axe to split the spear in half before punching the man in the face. He stepped on top of the man and pinned him down. He pointed his axe at the man. He looked to the crowd.
"Skull for the skull throne? Or blood for the blood god?" He asked the crowd.
The answer the crowd screamed at him was differ, but in the end one prevail. The skull for the skull throne. The teen raise his axe and swung down at the man neck. He pick up the decapitated head and showed it to the crowd.
"SEVERUS! SEVERUS! SEVERUS!" The crowd cheered his name.
"BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!" The boy yelled back to the crowd and they shouted back "SKULL FOR THE SKULL THRONE." [1]
xxx
Above the planet sky, a small vessel was burning as it was entering the orbit. Within a few minute the vessel was closing to hit the planet.
Finally, it hit its target.
At that moment, the world went white.
And all four young people would remember was the white hot fires of annihilation and recreation and the maniacal laughter of the Gods. [2]
xxx
Chapter 1
Arrival
Ozpin, the headmaster of Beacon academy, was drinking his coffee in his office, as usual.
It was nearly time for another semester, unlike most school years, however, he was actually looking forward to this one. Particularly because Qrow's nieces would be attending this year, of course there were also the heiress of the Schnee Company, a trouble faunus girl, a famous gladiator, and a descendant of a legendary hero but those he had dealt with at least once before.
In any event, he still needed to go through all the profiles of new students. He continued to read and drink his coffee, but then his scroll suddenly rang up. He answered it.
"Hello?" He asked.
"Professor Ozpin," The voice of Bartholomew Oobleck, a teacher of the academy, answered.
"What is it Doctor Oobleck?" he asked.
"We have detected some kind of energy surge coming from the Emerald Forest, the like of which we never see before," He explained. "This might be new kind of Grimm activity, or some unknown natural phenomenon. Do I have a permission to investigate?" He asked with eagerness.
Ozpin thought of the options he had here. He came up with the best option he could think of.
"You have my permission and be careful," Ozpin ordered.
"Understood, headmaster," Oobleck replied before hang up.
'That was certainly interesting,' Ozpin thought.
While he was definitely NOT looking forward to the report Oobleck would give him on this event, mainly because it would only increase his already large amount of work. It would also be interesting to see what was this unknown phenomenon.
xxx
Orpheus slowly opened his eyes. His last memory was him giving a sermon before the world went white. He looked around and discovering that he was in forest. He got off the ground and observed his surrounding further.
Wherever he was, this place was definitely not Eurepus; the hive world did not possess any forest this lush, or any at all. He walked around to see if there were anything to give him a clue of where he was.
Then he spotted something, a scythe, a rusty blade wooden handle scythe. He remembered it belonging to his fellow priest back at the church.
He pick it up. He would return this to the Church of Fly Lord as soon as he could, but now he needed it in case he was attacked. Suddenly a bush nearby began to shake. He readied himself in case he needed to fight. Then something came out of the bush, a person dressed in street gang cloth with purple-mixing-black hair and slender well-endowed figure that he would surely fell for if he was not devoted to Nurgle.
She looked at him.
"Guess my nose was right. There is a Nurgle worshipper around here," Anna said to Orpheus, half-insulting and half-amusing. Orpheus gave her a once over before replying.
"And Slaanesh worshipper will forever be overly colorful," He said.
"I mean no rudeness in interrupting your conversation, but may I have your attention?" They suddenly heard a voice calling from above and looked up. They saw a teen in a blue robe stuck upside-down from the tree. "Can you aid me please?" He asked with a smile. The two, however, could see that it was fake.
The two looked at each other. Orpheus spoke first.
"The tank on my back renders me unable to help him," he said.
"Then loose it. I'm not climbing a dirty tree," she replied.
"Grandfather Nurgle's traditions forbid me from doing so," The purple haired girl frowned at that.
"Ugh, fine I will get him," she scoffed as she began to climb the tree.
As the girl began climbing up the tall tree, but when she was halfway to Caesar, however, a loud roar of a beast could be heard following by a loud footsteps heading toward their location.
"What in the name of Dark Gods was that?" Anna asked Orpheus, while she was still on her way to get Caesar down.
"Something is heading toward us," Orpheus replied as he readied his scythe. The sound of the steps was getting closer until finally something came into his view. A beast made out of pure blackness that resembling bear with bone spikes and bone mask was heading toward them.
Orpheus readied himself, he might be a priest, but he certainly knew how to fight. The beast was upon him, but rather than attack, it fell down to the ground. That was when he spotted a person stepping down from the beast back onto its head and then onto the ground.
"Bah, bloodless creature, what a waste for it to ever exist," The armored teen with a greataxe said as he looked at the beast. He shifted his head to Orpheus, who was lowering his weapon. "Don't let your guard down yet, Plague Priest. More of them are on their way," Severus said and pointed his axe at the edge of their view.
In his sight, Orpheus spotted more of those black creatures heading toward. Some resembling bear like the dead one, while some resembling a boar, and some resembling something else entirely.
"Hmm, this is NOT a good day to die for Grandfather Nurgle," Orpheus said.
"Huh, a plague priest with sense of humor. What's next? A Slaaneshis drug addict helping a Tzeentch sorcerer down from a tree?" Severus said.
Then he heard a sound of 'ahem' coming from above his head. He looked up to see a girl with dyed hair dressed in street gang cloth reaching for a boy hanging from a small branch who wore a rope identical to sorcerer on the tree.
"By Khorne, I've seen everything," he said.
He soon ignored the sight and focused back on the horde of hell that was approaching them. The first creature, a lupine beast standing on two legs, lunged at Orpheus. With great strength, he swung his scythe downward and struck it in the head, the blade tearing through its bone mask and killing it.
"A fine blow, priest!" The gladiator said as he began to swing his axe at several bear creatures charging in at him, most went down in one swing.
Up on the tree line, Caesar could only look down at the fight down on the ground then at the creatures that were charging in. Intriguing those creature are. Something about them was special, they were not flesh, but something else, something...from the warp.
"Hey, wizard boy," Anna said as she still tried to reach for Caesar without falling down herself. "How about being useful and see how I can get you down from there," she said.
Caesar looked around him for any tool that could help him out of this situation. Then he spotted it, one thing that could help him down and more, his master staff.
"Get me that staff," he told her while pointing at the staff stuck on the branch above them.
"Plan on casting some warpcraft, eh?" She remarked before climb up to get it then tossed them at Caesar.
He got hold of the staff and immediately he cast a levitation spell. He flew down from the tree and not one second later one of the creatures tried to attack him. He simply waved his staff and it was sent flying across the sky by the invisible force.
"Bah, magic," Severus said as he continued to hack any creatures that came in front of him.
Caesar ignored him as he watched the creatures they were fighting and attacking only when one of them was foolish enough to charge him. Soon Anna came back to the ground. She looked around and spotting that a small pack of the beasts that had decided to attack.
"Ugh, I hate a fight with no watchers. It is so...boring," she said. Nevertheless, she took out her pistol and dagger and made short work of the strange, bloodless beasts.
The group continued to fight on until finally there were no more left.
"What were those creatures?" Orpheus asked, particularly at Caesar.
"I'm not sure. I can sense that they are made of warp energy, but that is all I can make out of them," Caesar replied.
"I don't care about that," Anna interrupted them. "What I want to know is where am I and how did I get here?" She asked.
"And you better not have anything to do with this, Changeling!" Severus said as he looked around to see if there were anymore creatures left to kill.
"The last thing I could remember was the world became white and then the warp tore o-" Caesar suddenly stopped.
He closed his eyes and concentrating his mind. Something was not right about this place, no, not just this place, but everything was wrong. He peeked into the warp to find answer, but he got none. There were no respond, no signal, nothing. He tried to peek in further only to discover that the warp was...small; exist, but he would go as far as to say barely.
There were no any sign of its old inhibitors. There was no Khorne. There was no Nurgle. The was no Slaanesh. Worst of all, there was no Tzeentch.
"No...It is impossible," He said as he opened his eyes.
"What is it, psyker?" Anna asked him.
"The Gods...they're gone," Caesar said in shock. The other looked at him in disbelief.
"What do you mean they're gone?! They are gods! They don't just disappear!" Anna shouted.
"They're...gone?...no, but we...we might," He said solemnly. The other looked at each other in confusion.
"Start making sense, sorcerer," Orpheus said. Caesar took a deep breath before answered.
"The warp...it lack the present of the Dark Gods, but gods do not simply disappear, especially when there are four of them. Which can only mean we are the one being 'displace'," He explained. "Wherever we are, it is not Eurepus, I might even go as far as to say that we might not be in our universe anymore," he said.
"What do you mean not in our universe?" Anna asked.
"Similar to how there are the warp and material realm, there are many other universes that exist beside those of us. Some mimic our, some mimic the warp, some is something else entirely. Whatever that white light was it took us away from our universe and placed us here, or at least that's what my master's books said and I couldn't really argue; it matching the description," he finished. "What I don't understand is what could have cause this, by the theory the spell required to achieve this feast took maybe up to a century to prepare."
"Is it not clear to you?" Severus spoke up and caught everyone attention. "If our gods do not have power here then it must be them who sent us, to pave way for their coming. We are their heralds!" Severus said with determination.
"Ha! As if Tzeentch would ever done thing that simply. If it's your brutal god maybe, but the Lord of Change? Doubtful," Caesar countered.
"It true though," Orpheus said. "If it was not them then what else. The corpse-emperor? Never. The Imperium? Unlikely,"
"There is also the Eldar," Anna said.
Orpheus went silence after that. The possibility that the Eldar was the one sent them here exist as well.
"Look, whatever sent us here is, as of now it doesn't matter. We need to survive from this forest first then we can talk about what to d-" Severus suddenly put his hand on Caesar's mouth.
"I hear a machine in the distance," he warned.
As they waited, they started to hear it as well. It was a sound very similar to to Imperial Guard Valkyrie, but after it came into view, they could see it was lacking the armor, colors, and sigils of the Corpse Emperor
"What do we do?" Orpheus asked.
"What do you think, plague priest. We fight!" Severus said as he readied his axe.
"Is that all you Khornate can think of?" Anna asked in mocking tone.
"Better than what you Slaaneshis do all the time," Severus replied.
"At least it's more...productive than your kind. Also, on the matter at hand, I would said we talk, or better yet let me talk," Anna said.
"You realise we are in another universe where most of our developed language might not even exist and the law of this universe might be so different than our that 2+2 might equal telephone, correct?" Caesar countered her.
"How can 2+2 equal telephone? That doesn't make sense," Orpheus said.
"So YOU say," Caesar replied. "But I still agree with her, let talk, but let me do it. I am more gifted with knowledge to deal with this," he finished.
Anna frowned, but did not counter back. Caesar walked toward to the moving aircraft. He cast a small ball of light into the sky to make sure the aircraft would see them. The aircraft turned to their direction and fly forward. Within a few minutes, it landed in front of them.
"I will talk to you people telepathically if the need arises," Caesar told them.
"Keep your magic out of my head," Severus warned him.
Caesar simply responded with the sound of 'hnn' then turned his attention back to the aircraft. Its door opened. Tall man with a glass and green hair stepped out of the aircraft.
The man came closer to the group; Caesar walked in to greet him. The apprentice stopped in front of him, but did not opened his mouth. He did not know what language the man would speak, thus it would be wiser if the green haired man spoke first.
"Who are you and why are you in the middle of Grim infested forest?" The man asked. Caesar recognized the language, it was the low-gothic, or at least close to the dead Terra language called 'English'.
'What are the odds,' he thought.
Caesar cleared his throat. "Umm well, you see me and my friends here were on a camping trip in hopes of hunting something good, but we got lost."
"Are you a huntsman then? If so then may I see your proofs?" The man asked him suspiciously.
"Well, I'm afraid most of the thing we have was left at our camp,"
"I see…"
The green haired man took a look at each member of Caesar team.
"No offense, mister?"
"Caesar, Caesar Velk Julius the One Hundred Sixth," Caesar said with a small bow then gesture at the green haired man to speak.
"Professor Bartholomew Oobleck," Oobleck replied while adjusting his glass. "Well, mister Caesar. I am afraid, you are terrible at lying,"
No one, however, looked surprise. Caesar laughed out.
"I suppose. It's impossible to lie with little to no knowledge about the basics of this world,"
"Basics of this world? What are you babbling about?" Professor asked.
"It doesn't matter," Caesar said before held the staff in front of him. Then he muttered something in the tongue that no one on Remanent had ever heard of. Within a few second Oobleck a fell unconscious to the ground.
"Coward," Severus said.
"Be quiet. At least we know we could still channeling power of the warp. Now, can someone be kind enough to go take care of the pilot?" Caesar asked and pointing his staff at the aircraft.
"I will get him," Orpheus volunteered. He ventured away from the group and toward the aircraft
"Now what?" Anna asked.
"Now, I will see what this world has in store for us."
Caesar rested his hand on Oobleck forehead then chanting his spell. Soon the blue energy stream was formed on Oobleck's forehead and was slowly being absorbed by Caesar. Within a few minutes, the stream stopped.
"I see," Caesar looked to his fellow Chaos. "I have a plan, but will you follow?"
The others looked at each other then look at Caesar.
"Aye," Anna said.
"If you can lead me back to our world, very well," Orpheus said.
"Hm, the gods must have sent ALL of us for reasons, but know this. If your scheme crosses me serving Khorne, I will spill your blood in his name," Severus said.
He reached for Oobleck's pocket and took something out, a communication device. He showed it to other.
"This is called the Scroll. It is an advance communication device with more functions than just simply long range communication. Now come, I will explain more about the basics of this world as we moved to our destination, but first," Caesar paused. He rested his hand on Oobleck's forehead again before chant another spell, then he did the same on the aircraft pilot. "Now their memory had been altered...I must admit, using warcraft here feel much more...safe than back home,"
"What did you do exactly?" Anna asked him.
"I altered their memory. Now they will think they was attacked by Grim and a...mysterious huntsman come to rescue them."
"What are Grimm?" Orpheus asked.
"The black creatures we just fought, I will explain more in detail later. Now come, I think I know where we must be if we hope to be at the...apex of the event that is to come," He said ominously as he lead his group onward.
xxx
[1] The team have a certain theme to them. Can you guess from their names what kind of theme?
[2] Bored of Chaos being the only villain in any Warhammer fanfic? Look no further, this story have other races as villain, though being Chaos our group will still have their fair share of villainy.