Volume 2 Episode 1 - Whirlwinds of Danger

Prologue

In the heart of the Palace of Terra, in the old Tower of Hegemon silence reigned ever after the victory that had been too much of a defeat. Lord Mentor passed between rows of control terminals where quiet serfs of the Ten Thousand were browsing unending lists of report files. He avoided the place since the Day. But for the rare guest, he would have preferred to work over his plans in his own quarters. Serfs wrapped their cloaks tighter around their shoulders as he walked by, his chilling null field too powerful to be fully absorbed by his inhibitor.

He entered the shaded room behind the terminal chamber and bowed down to a worn man in shabby armour. Gold flecked through the battered layers of black and grey. The guest could have repaired it but hadn't bothered to do that for reasons unknown to Lord Mentor.

'You seldom visit us, lord.' Every time Constantin Valdor, the former Captain-General, returned to Terra, another calamity would happen. Lord Mentor had felt cold, like on the Day, when the astropaths had reported about his teacher's message in the mailbox for special occasions. Things were going wrong, it was stupid to deny that.

'I've been to Cadia and beyond.' Valdor's voice was calm. Born in a peaceful age Lord Mentor would call naive, he had learned to be still a better soldier than Lord Mentor's peers. The Age of Strife had both forged and broken them. Unlike them, Valdor had had a war to fight and a goal to follow for long millennia. He would overlive them all.

'My agents send me reports on the traitors' advance daily. The self-proclaimed Pirate King has fortified his positions in four sectors around the Cadian sector, mostly focused on blackstone-mining areas of the Botian sector. I have dispatched Periophtalmus and Praecox to do reconnaissance in immediate proximity to Cadia.'

'I know.' Valdor pulled a sad smile and shook his head. 'All I witnessed in that fateful trip millennia ago is coming back. Whirlwinds of danger are racing around us, overwhelming forces of darkness assail,' he recited the last phrases in a poetical manner.

'Words of ancient wisdom?' Lord Mentor valued old lore more than all that bullshit modern thinkers could invent.

'You wouldn't like the lyrics if you knew more about their origin. The master of the Nineteenth liked them though.'

Lord Mentor's mood grew darker than he thought about the main purpose of his visit. 'I have not mentioned that before. Even Valoris's men swore to keep it secret until we met in person. News for the tacit warning. Two survivors we found in the remains of the manifested shrine of Chaos. Our stool pigeon and a tag-along rascal. The most suspicious things were…' he stopped, barely believing the discovery himself, 'their mutation and mark. Both were gone. Have there been any cases in the past?'

For the first time in centuries, Valdor's face moved. 'A sign indeed.'

Lord Mentor clenched his fists and recalled a combat litany to suppress growing paranoia. 'We have examined them. Both ready to be sent back to the battlefields.'

'What about other objects?'

'Two in close proximity to the main theatre of operations. The pirate is our primary object. He is close to completing his mission so we have to stop it by all means. The inquisitor is remarkable in the sense that she was present in the shrine before the storm. I ordered to capture her as she was going out of control but Crinitus decided otherwise.'

'Do whatever you think is right,' said Valdor. 'But there's use for the two foundlings as well. Observe the reaction of the other marked when they encounter their former buddy-in-mishap.'

On leaving, Lord Mentor activated the data screen of his armour and found the contacts of his astropath choir in the list. 'Send that to Lord Crinitus immediately. New instructions to arrive with two special agents. Let the puppets and the puppeteers clash.'