Chapter 1
+Aboard the Desolate Faith, Word Bearers strike cruiser above the Eye of Terror+
The warrior gasped as his lungs filled with air and his helm flickered into life. He tried to move his body and despite his best efforts, his body refused to budge. He looked down to see what was stopping him and saw a defiled statue of the Emperor had toppled during the cruiser engagement and had impaled him through the side. The Emperor protects he thought.
"The Emperor had a funny way of showing his protection these days." He hacked coughing blood into the inside of his face plate.
Shit, that's not good he thought. Maybe the plan could have gone a little smoother than what had happened.
+2 hours earlier+
The starboard side guns had smashed the enemy vessels engine and warp drive essentially leaving it a float wreck in space. Balthizar grinned at their target hanging in space assessing where the best place to enter the vessel to take out the commander and ensure disorder among the traitor's ranks.
"Have you finally finished your infernal planning Luperian? The codex already provides us with a perfect way to assault the ship and reduce casualties and destroy these heretics." The interruption came from the usual culprit, Captain Calgar of the Ultramarines.
"Well Calgar if you didn't have your face stapled to that book you wouldn't know how to conduct war." He chuckled. "We cannot keep repeating the same methods each and every time we attack someone. It would lead to predictability." Calgar sneered at the former Sons of Horus. Calgar had always despised Balthizar for being part of the Ultramarines purging unit.
Though not all the troops were Ultramarines they made up the majority of the force.
"Those words sound awfully familiar to what Horus said back on a campaign the Ultramarines helped the Luna Wolves."
The Ultramarine spat. "I am commander and we will follow the codex not the ways of war that lead to corruption." Balthizar sighed at the ignorance of the Captain. With men like him the Astartes would be reduced to cannon fodder. He looked once more at the ship floating in the void and closed his eyes and whispered silently.
"Funny how life works, isn't it brothers?" He chuckled, clutching the exquisitely crafted blade he had received from the very Word Bearers he now fought. He knew they would not be happy to see him.
He smiled as his thoughts focus on the present and how he was going to escape.
Apart from the side wound he was in fine shape.
"Well at least we killed all the bloody Word Bearers." His retinal display was flashing showing his body was in need of an apothecary and his armour tried to pump more chemicals into his system to try and stave death from taking his life.
Balthizar grunted and the flashing within his helm disappeared and he felt happy for the silence that greeted his ears. He felt as a stream of blood coursed its way down his face across his pale skin.
"Even pretending to die causes uproar by the Throne this suit doesn't give me a moment's peace." He knew that his brothers would come get him.
He still had his beacon on and they could easily find him. He turned his head to try and get a better view of his surroundings.
He was in the bridge, surrounded by the corpses of the Word Bearers with their Dark Apostle and could see out of the occulus into space and the glaring eye stared back at him and to the side he saw the Ultramarines ship...starting to turn but not towards the ship but away towards Terra. He felt sweat trickle down his brow. He quickly got to his vox and attempted to hail the departing ship. He finally found one of the squad frequencies, strangely the warp increased the range of his vox. His hail was returned after a few seconds.
"Who are you? How did you get this channel?"
"Cousins of Ultramar! I am still aboard the Desolate Faith, I hope you haven't forgotten me." He tried to force humour into his chuckle but it came out as a cough instead. "I'll live to see another day. Don't you worry."
He awaited a reply from those who he called brother for almost 7 years. He had fought with them against the legions of Horus and helped purge their taint from the Imperium once the siege of Terra had ended. He had been their brother in oath though not in blood. He was glad he was finally doing something meaningful with himself. The Ultramarines reply finally came and Balthizar smiled predicting their fast arrival. But that was not what he received.
"Ah, Balthizar it seems that you still survive." Captain Calgar words crackled across the vox and he could feel the Captain's sadistic smile. "I thought you'd be dead by now. I'm surprised they haven't found you by now." Balthizar felt a chill spread through his body.
"What do you mean brother? Cal stop speaking in riddles and answer me!"
"It means that I can finally get rid of the corruption that has plagued my chapter for 7 long years. Which would be you Balthizar. I loathed it every time you were in my sight, your laugh, how you stand even your very face reminds me of the Warmaster. I hate you with a passion and it seems only fitting that you die aboard that vessel along with the other Word Bearers that still live."
Batlthizar was stunned and whispered.
"You left some alive?"
"Of course we only wanted to leave you there to die. Now we can say you died by a Word Bearer's hand and your corpse was sucked into the warp storm that is about to engulf that ship." Laughter was heard through the vox and it grated across Balthizar's eardrums and a deep anger surged through him, he had been betrayed by those he called his brothers. He couldn't believe that after all that blood and loss that they could abandon him like this. He heard the clang of Word Bearer boots against the metal decks running towards the bridge.
The first Word Bearer to enter saw Balthizar and walked slowly towards him.
He traitor lifted the Crozius from where Balthizar had left it after killing its previous owner. The Demagogue smiled and showed the corruption that had infested his soul.
"Brother." The Word Bearer knelt next to Balthizar's head and purred. "You have no idea how glad I am that you survived the battle, now I can show you the most horrific pain which you deserve for slaying an apostle of Lorgar." The Word Bearer was a warped and twisted mockery of the Adeptus Astartes.
Daemon carvings leered from the shoulder guards and faces contorted within the breastplate screaming for release, while the face was scarred and burnt.
Balthizar looked and saw the warp churn, quick as lightning his knife whipped out intent on cutting the traitors throat but the Demagogue's hand caught the blade before it even struck.
Balthizar felt useless at not being able to do anything. His blade lay out of reach and the Demagogue picked it up and thrust it through Balthizar's hand.
The Emperor didn't care just like the Ultramarines hadn't cared about him.
These disappeared as pain shot through him and finally anger swallowed up everything else and he knew why Horus had done what he had done and Balthizar realised he had made the biggest mistake in his life, by not joining Horus he had thrown away the only chance he had had at freedom.
Now his freedom had been cruelly snatched away. He hoped the Emperor would forgive him and the first wave of the storm struck the ship. Without the Gellar field protecting it, the warp washed through the ship and it struck Balthizar and burned like acid across his skin. The Word Bearers stood as if not effected and carried on with their duties and chanted as they were drawn deeper into the warp.
Balthizar screamed and the laughter of the Ultramarines only grew louder. He looked down and saw the warp was melting his armour and it revealed the eye of Horus he had hidden staring at him in pity not anger. He knew Horus was with him. A true father always looked after his children. Even if the children did not heed the father.
"I will find you! You traitorous scum and kill you all!" Balthizar howled. "I will skin you and make you swallow your eyes! I will devour your gene-seed and you will hear my name as you scream for mer..." the vox cut out and Balthizar howled his hatred into the ship as the warp storm swallowed the ship into the Eye of Terror while echoes of the Word Bearers silently faded.
Calgar stared at the Desolate Faith as the warp storm embraced it and drew it towards its screaming bosom. He smirked and spat onto the deck.
"Good riddance to that filth." He said to the other Ultramarines and was greeted by a cheer. He knew everyone had despised the traitor in their midst and although he had not betrayed them, he knew it was not far off, treachery was within the blood of the Son's of Horus no matter who they sided with. It was common sense and thus he had removed the danger in their flock.
"Now we head back to Ultramar to honour the dead." His crew acted quickly and efficiently as was expected of an Ultramarine vessel. He was pleased with their success against the Word Bearers and had left their corpses and filthy gene-seed onboard that corrupt vessel to rot. The only thing that troubled Calgar was that Balthizar's beacon had not stopped flashing even though thee warp storm had destroyed the ship and annihilated everything within. He knew they had not engaged their Gellar field due to everyone being dead besides Balth who was stuck under a statue. He dismissed it quickly before doubt set in.
"Just the damned interference from the warp." He whispered as the glided towards home.