The year is 910 M41 and the Imperium of Man stood as the guardian of Mankind against the countless perils of a dark galaxy. Among its defenders are the Vlka Fenryka, the Space Wolves. Their name is legendary among the servants of the Emperor. One of the greatest chapters of the Adeptus Astartes, they are known for both their ferocity in battle and their complete disregard for any authority but their own. Their love of battle is matched only by their love of feasting and kin. But sometimes, that bond can be broken and reforged into a chain of hatred. That is the fate of one young Bloodclaw. The only survivor of his pack, he has sworn an oath of vengeance against the murderer of his kin. He will hunt this monster from one end of the galaxy to the other if he must. But he should be cautious. The galaxy holds far more terrifying denizens than a single murderer. And many of them look upon a lone wolf far from home not as a dangerous predator, but as prey that is just waiting to fall into their traps. This is the story of one Wolf's quest for redemption and revenge.

Blood. That was the smell that filled his nostrils and pooled in his mouth. His own and that of his pack. Struggling to open one eye, he could see it. His pack, his brothers, all of them, gone. Bjarke, the strongest member was against a boulder with his organs spread out across his legs. Calder, the most stoic bloodclaw of this generation, was impaled with a large spike coming out of his chest plate like it was a piece of cloth. Destin was still smoking from the warp-lightning that had taken his life. The other members of the pack were spread out around him. Even the mighty Wolf-guard that had been assigned to lead them was laying at the feet of the sorcerer. The traitor held the wolf-guard's severed head aloft, as if presenting it to an audience. He said nothing, but seemed to be reveling in his victory. The survivor struggled to move, his super-human body barely responding to his mind's commands. Slowly he pushed his body towards his sword, right where he left it. Weakly reaching, his fingers managed to grasp the sword's hilt before an armoured foot stamped down his hand. Fighting back a howl of pain, he looked up into the sorcerer's eyes, "You are a sorry excuse for a Space Wolf. Come back when you're…" The survivor's vision blurred just as psychic energy built up in the sorcerer's hand, "Stronger…." A flash of light engulfed his vision.

The Space Wolf, Lauf Redclaw snapped awake. His forehead and fire red beard were damp with sweat. His hearts were racing inside his chest. His fists were clenched so tight he thought he would crack the ceramite armour surrounding them. Taking a moment, he steady his hearts and relaxed his hands. But only slightly before he slammed one against the crates next to him. The strike was so hard that it broke the front of the box in two, causing the contents to spill all onto the floor. He sat back and sighed. Every night for the past twenty years it had been the same dream. That same fateful day played over and over in his mind. He had been left alive. Why? Why would that sorcerer, who seemed so intent on killing him, leave him alive? When the Grey Hunters found him, he was still among his pack's corpses. He had been brought back to Fenris, to the great fortress of the Wolves, the Aett or as the rest of the Imperium called it, the Fang. There he had spent solar months recovering his strength and undergoing questions by both his Wolf Lord and the Wolf Priests. When the Wolf priests were satisfied that he had been untainted by Chaos, he had been brought by his lord to the Great Company's armoury. There he had been gifted the same twin-headed frost axe the wolf-guard that led his pack had carried. Along with a set of master-crafted power armour and his frost sword. Before his lord and the priests of his company, Lauf had sworn an oath of vengeance against the traitor sorcerer. He swore that he would not set foot on Fenris again until the traitor's head was in his grasp. From that point, Lauf was truly a lone wolf, leaving his home and company behind as he set off to find this traitor. Since that time he had chased even the faintest rumour that his target was in a system. Sometimes he found evidence that the sorcerer had been there. Sometimes it had turned out to be mistaken identity. But the whole time, Lauf felt the sorcerer just beyond his reach, taunting him. Daring him to keep chasing. That feeling fanned a flame of determination within him and he has never given up the chase.

Now he was entering the Calixis Sector in search of his quarry. The last group of Cultists he had 'interrogated' had told him that the sorcerer was heading for the Hive World of Solomon. As soon as he was able Lauf had boarded a ship bound for that sector. Now he waited while the transport he was on came in to land on one of the upper hive platforms of Solomon. Feeling the ship settle onto solid ground after such an extended time in the Warp, Lauf felt comfortable again. He never liked traveling on ships. He preferred having 'real' ground beneath his feet. But it was the only way to travel to hunt his quarry. So he put aside his dislike and tolerated it. Now though, he readied himself. This would be a period of searching, questioning serfs and minor officials, dodging the powers that be that never like a stranger coming to their world and avoiding the members of the Ecclesiarchy who can be as much a hindrance as a help. Lauf came to these planets only after a trail of clues that he would collect from countless sources including serfs who would not know that their tiny bit of information was valuable to him. Usually he made his presence known as little as possible, preferring to find this information from shadows, always grabbing his sources and quickly interrogating them before tossing them back into their lives, frightened and confused by what had occurred. It disgusted him that he was required to act like a member of the Inquisition to succeed in his hunt. But he had learned that the direct approach always made the sorcerer disappear and move to another world. His presence would not sit well with the nobles, but Lauf did not care. He was an Adeptus Astartes, and some petty noble could not hope to command him and keep his head on his shoulders. Shaking his head to focus on his task, Lauf stepped off of the transport and breathed in the first scents of this polluted, industrial choked planet. He could not pick out the sorcerer's scent with all the other smells filling his nostrils. He knew it would not be that easy, but now it had become routine for him. Taking one last glance at the ship he had used he set off. His first point was to visit an adept of the adminstratium that lived in the upper hive named Decimius. From the description he was a mid-level bureaucrat responsible for compiling the archives of old request forms. Lauf was glad he did not had to stay in the spires. From past experience he knew these nobles were no better than the underhive gangsters they sneered at being literally beneath them. They just hid their rot behind a façade of shiny homes and glittering statues. He never felt right in the spires. There was too many lies there.

Sneaking down into the Upper Hive, Lauf gathered information. At first he was frustrated to learn that many people in this section of the hive had the name Decimius. But he was un-deterred. Fortunately the last informant he had interrogated had given him the scent of the man from a piece of cloth. If the man had aided his prey in anyway, the stink of Chaos would still be on him. And Lauf had learned to recognize that smell long ago. Slowly he worked his way through the section from the shadows, finding a Decimius that was in charge of the work quotas for three manufactorums in the Lower Hive. Another Decimius was responsible for filing the maintenance tunnel crews' promethium request forms. And another Decimius who turned out to be a female prostitute. About prepared to go to another section in his search, Lauf got the wisp of a familiar scent. It was not the sorcerer's. It was the man he was searching for. Following the scent as it got stronger, he spotted the short, balding man walking down the street. Moving as quickly as a Raven guard, he rushed out of his hiding place and grabbed the man and pulled him back into the shadows, "Talk. You know about another Space Marine that came here. Where is he?" Lauf demanded, towering over the short man, "I… I don't know! A serf claimed he had seen a strange Space Marine with blue and gold colourings. I had him sent to the tech-priests and made into a servitor for lying and failing to meet his work quota." Decimius whimpered out before Lauf shoved the man out. This was getting him nowhere. But from what the man said, a serf had seen it, which mean he would had to go deeper into the hive.

Shrinking back into the shadows of the maintenance passages and old tunnels of the Hive City, Lauf moved down towards the Lower Hive. He knew it was still relatively safe here. But he felt uneasy. Normally he would detect a small scent of his quarry by now. But here he could not. The only thing he could smell and sense was a deep fear of….. something. He did not know if it was the sorcerer or something else. But he gripped the hilts of his axe and sword for a small reminder of what he was. Moving through another passage, he stopped when he heard two serfs below him in another passage talking, "So. Aramatus was at it again." "Oh? What this time? He escaped the beast?" "Shhh! Don't make jokes about that! No, this time he claimed to had seen…. A Space Marine!" "One of the Emperor's greatest warriors?! That's impossible!" "I know. But he claimed the Space Marine took elevator 69350 down to the Underhive." Lauf did not wait to hear anymore. He pushed through the passage and through other abandoned sections to get to that elevator. He was certain now. His prey, the murderer of his pack was here. On this world. And soon, Lauf's sword would find his neck.

It took a bit of travelling, but Lauf finally found it. The elevator that the sorcerer had used. He could still smell the small flicker of psychic energy from where he stood. About to step onto the platform he stopped. The area had become strangely quiet. Without thinking he knew. It had been too easy. Too simple. He should had realized it sooner. Spinning around as fast as he could he swung. His axe, yanked off its spot on his hip cut clean through the flesh of the minor daemon of Tzeentch that had transformed behind him. Pulling off his sword at the same time, he plunged its blade into the head of a stupid hiver that thought a large maul used to hammer pipes and nails would be effective against a Space Wolf. Quickly wiping away the blood from both weapons Lauf watched as nearly forty cultists and daemons came out of the structures around him, "Behold brothers and sisters! Our lord and master had foreseen this foolish slave of the Corpse Emperor come after him. And now we are here to bring him to our lord as he demanded. Brothers and Sisters of the new order, bring our master this one's head!" One man shouted, but Lauf could tell the words were not from the man's own mind. He was no psyker, but he had chased this sorcerer long enough to recognize a victim of daemonic possession when he saw it. The man was now nothing more than a puppet for some creature of the warp. As soon as he was done babbling the horde of traitors charged at Lauf.

The lone wolf was not afraid. The daemons may give him some trouble but this mob of hivers carried only scrounged together weapons and auto-guns. He moved through them, cutting and hacking away at anyone that came close enough. He lopped off limbs, decapitated daemon and human-alike all the while avoiding their mass attacks until he reached the 'leader' of this gang. Swinging his sword at its stomach, the possessed human threw up a barrier of psychic energy. Almost as soon as his sword struck, his axe came from the other side and hit the barrier. The combined force of two power weapons hitting the daemon's barrier caused it to crack, then splinter and then, fall apart completely. This happened a fraction of a second before the meat-puppet was bisected by Lauf's swings. Letting the body fall to the ground beside him, Lauf turned around and charged at the remaining cultists. They tried to put up a fight, but it was clear that the courage they had was only a result of their overwhelming number. Now that they were shown how little their large number had mattered, they panicked and tried to react before Lauf reached them. None of them were fast enough it seemed as soon, the only living thing left before the elevator was Lauf. Wiping his blades clean he turned around and walked onto the elevator, You send nothing but trash at me coward. Soon, you won't had anywhere left to hide. Lauf thought to himself as the elevator began its descent into the depths of the Underhive.

Somewhere hidden within the Eye of Terror, several pairs of eyes watched Lauf enter the elevator through a warp spell of ancient origin, "So far everything is going according to plan! "Indeed. Soon the fool will be ready." The second figure spoke after the first had expressed such joy at the success of their plan before the third glanced away from the orb, "At this rate, we will be able to take revenge on the Space Wolves for what they did to us." The figure glanced back at the orb showing Lauf, "And this naïve bloodclaw is going to help us."

TO BE CONTINUED…