IMPERIAL REPORT #01-2015-11-30-1007

FROM: Lord Inquisitor Arotias

Inquisitor Zorelnam was a man of a kind, he didn't hate Xenos like his fellow Inquisitors did, instead he believed in the use of their power against the chaos heretic's, all of the ones under his command were as children to a father, and he was willing to die for any of them at any given time. Some of his men disagreed with his methods, some even going as far as to disliking the inquisitor himself, but in the end they all shared a deep love for what he stood for...

My name doesn't matter, neither does my rank, for today I am not here to tell you my story, but his, regardless I deeply respected and cared for Zorelnam, I would go as far as calling him a dear friend.

I have received all of his recordings this morning in a sealed package which beard the seal of the imperial inquisition; I was surprised and completely terrorized of what was inside. What terrorized me the most was the emblem that was in the inside; it was not a message of the inquisition, it was disguised as one, but wasn't one. The emblem in the inside was that of the Zorelnam's retinue, I believed I would never see that emblem again after he disappeared without a trace left behind, and what would of made the most sense would of been that his retinue had disbanded after their leader vanished.

The package itself only contained two things: the first was the device with all the recordings in it, the second one was a message which only stated "dawn is alive", I shudded at the cryptic message, only wondering what it could possibly mean. Regardless, that is a matter that shall not be attended in this report. The purpose of this report is to let his brave actions live on and be remembered as the man he was. I will re-estate this once again for further clarification: the fate of the inquisitor has not yet been discovered, we do not know whether he lives or his life has ended.

Across his various missions given to him by the inquisition he came to form a well-rounded retinue of men and woman who believed in him and his abilities to achieve a better future. In the following report I shall tell one of his many victories.

The inquisitor placed a device inside his head which recorded absolutely everything the inquisitor saw, felt, heard and thought. The following paragraphs will be me attempting to describe with words all of these things, I will attempt to be as accurate as possible and describe as much as words allow me to. I will also happen to write in first person, this I believe will make for an easier understanding of the inquisitor's point of view.

It should also be noted that the device had been already in place long before he became an inquisitor, this has created countless rumours.

I plugged the device, soon I was in his skin, feeling what he felt, seeing what he saw.

It was a sunny day, skirmishers flanking… done, grenadiers charging… done, cavalry engaging enemy commander… done, line infantry attacking the sides of enemy formation… done. The battle would soon be over, the enemy lines where broken, the enemy commander… dead, it was a sunny day, but not for me, for me it was just another day in front of my monitor, nothing matters for me, "people never change", I think to myself depressingly, every day passes in front of my eyes like shadows, time passes, and I don't care. I don't care because I am aware that I hold no power, in this place filled with treacheries and false allies there is only darkness…

What am I? Nothing, I am nothing, I know nothing, I do not matter, whether I exist or not doesn't change anything. A lie in your eyes, I am not real, for how could such a being as me be real, no I am not real, I only exist in your mind, I am not here, your mind is deceiving you, your eyes lie to you.

I snapped out of my thoughts to the sound of someone knocking on my door, I headed towards the door and asked in a high tone "who is it?" no answer came back; I peeped through the keyhole and saw no one. It wasn't a surprise to me really, it was not the first time I heard things which were not there, perhaps people was right after all, videogames do affect your mental health when you do them in long periods, in fact I had grown so used to using my peripheral vision to predict incoming attackers that I often times would react to people just simply doing sudden moves around me.

Long periods of time spent in front of my monitor with nothing but my pc and thoughts had lead me to the darkest pits of self-consciousness, my mind is chaos, it spirals from the most ridiculous over blown conspiracy theories to the most cold thought plans on how to take over the world.

Suddenly I heard again the knock in my door, I ignored it, I could bet my life it was my brain messing with me again. Suddenly the knocking became more frequent and deeper, as if it was piercing my brain. I got up from my chair annoyed at the knocking, suddenly the door blew to pieces, nothing, I could see nothing; my view became completely white, the only thing I felt was the floor when my back hit it.

I could see at a close proximity a black stain moving in front of me, it drew closer and closer until I could see nothing but darkness.

"I woke up?" I asked myself in confusion, in front of me is someone wearing a black overcoat and a round hat which blocked my view of its face, I could tell the gender for the shape of the body, it was a woman.

I tried getting up, but failed, I am locked in place by multiple handcuffs in my arms and legs, I can't get up. The woman turned around and stated in surprise "oh it seems you have awoken finally… good it's time we begin"

I fail to understand what was going on, regardless I remain calm and analyse the situation, a woman in black clothes, in her wrist she carries the seal of the inquisition, and therefore she must be an inquisitor. Behind her is what seems to be an operating table, fully equipped to dissect a body. "Surely she isn't going to dissect me, or is she?" I shudded at the thought. At my left and right there is nothing but the thick rusted metal walls, they are leaking some kind of liquid which I fail to recognize, based on the structural integrity of the walls and them being rusty I suppose this building must have been here for quite some time. The back of my skull still hurts, as if something would have been inserted in it.

I stared closely at the dissection tools and realized they were bloodied, with fresh blood, as if they had been used recently. The woman, now closer to me, removed her hat. She had a scar which went all the way from her right cheek upwards towards the eye, black hair as it was usual for most woman of our sector. Except for her steps around the room the entire building was completely quiet, eerily so, not a fly could be heard, it was so quiet I almost considered being in space.

The woman spoke "you have been discovered to have indulged in acts of heretical nature, how do you declare yourself", I was completely frozen; the word heresy is not used lightly by anyone, even more by the fact she is an inquisitor. I thought "one wrong word and ill end up dead".

She spoke swiftly "should I consider your silence a yes?"

I realized what she was doing, she was trying to overburden me with questions so as to not give me time to think a proper answer, my objective was to win time right now to further analyse the situation, I answered in a high tone so as not to show fear "I am not familiar with the word heresy, please explain me what you consider a heretical act".

She began laughing hysterically, while she laughed I realized a minor detail which I had not seen before, there was a second person in the room, the person was sitting in the darkest corner so as not to be seen, this person was dressed in full black as well, I did not had time to think so I took a wild guess and supposed it was another inquisitor, this meant I had to be extra careful with what I said.

After she stopped laughing she pulled her lasgun out and aimed it at my face, the person in the corner didn't seem to react, as if it was expected, this gave me a hint it was a test. I kept silent and did my best to not show fear, maintaining eye contact constantly.

A couple seconds later she pulled the lasgun down, the person in the corner wrote something down; the woman seemed annoyed at me, her tone changed and started speaking aggressively towards me.

She asked in an imperative voice "Do you possess knowledge about the inquisition?" I thought to myself "The inquisition is feared by most and everyone knows what they do, this must be another test".

Feigning ignorance would probably be a terrible idea, they know I know, and I know they know I know what the inquisition is, I raised my voice and answered her question. Yes I am aware of what the inquisition is.

She replied "Then tell me, are you afraid?"

I thought to myself "afraid? Ha, death is only a part of this life; fear is a rudimentary emotion which I can't allow, yet I cannot reply I am fearless, she would sense it as a challenge"

No I am not afraid of the inquisition, for I know they exist to protect us, regardless I am in fact afraid of you, for I do not know who you are.

She smirked, the person in the corner wrote something again, he leapt by a few seconds towards the light, in this second I could see his cybernetic eye.

Suddenly she began speaking in a much lower tone, almost as if she was whispering, she said "ahh you have seen the one in darkness, I see you have a keen eye and a fast mind.

The woman directed herself towards the door and unlocked it, the person in the corner got up and left the room in this moments I could see him clearly, it was a man, he was wearing a black attire similar to the one the woman was wearing, once again the inquisition emblem in the wrist, she looked at me one last time before exiting the room and stated "See you tomorrow" after that she smiled in a horrendous way, as if she was already planning all the ways she would dissect me.

I am still locked in place on the chair, and start thinking, if they would have proof of me being a heretic I would be dead already, no they would have already killed me if they suspected me, something is off here.

I slowly closed my eyes, for some reason I felt incredible sleepy.

IMPERIAL REPORT ENDING #01 2015-11-30 1213