The Mythril Lords, children of unknowable power, their name chosen from an ancient terran text. They were born after the second founding in secret, the father hidden from the Imperium at large and in time forgotten by many, but those who held them close. For twenty twos centuries they scoured the Imperium searching for worlds to reclaim and to correct the sins of their past.
They took a single flame from Terra, itself, on the day that they were born. The last true spark of the crusades, a tiny shard of The Emperor's soul made manifest. His dreams a gift to them. They wreathed themselves in it to rise from the ash. They have borne the single flame for hundreds of years to world after world as they purged those that would deny the imperial truth that the emperor once spread.
Now though, it is the thirty third millennium, the Imperium is in a state of flux. The Astropath Wars and the Third Black Crusade has ended at great cost to the Imperium. The Adeptus Ministorum is growing in power as the Imperium falls into faith. They search for a larger purpose in an galaxy that slowly beginning to reject them, even as old darkness is born a new. It is a time of great change and some are foolish enough to have hope.
Khonsu moved down the open halls of Requiem Star, the flagship of the Mythril Lords fleet. It served as as their fortress monastery and the greatest of all their ships. He found himself in the bowels of the ship, where the oldest devices were stored and sect of their Chapter practiced their arts. He could feel a stirring in his mind and soul. He had felt it for some time now, all the Chapter had, yet with each step he could feel it growing louder, growing stronger than ever before. He focused his mind inward assuring his mental defenses against such incursion and yet he could not push away all that assailed him. Fury and sorrow flooded over him and grinded at his mind.
The hallway soon enough opened upon into a large if mostly empty chamber. A vast gate stood in front of him in the chamber. Great and majestic imagery was embossed in the mix of adamantium. It showed the story of their Chapters birth and the two twin brothers that once led their Chapter and then their fall to save the Chapter. There are two reasons why man built such walls and gate. The first was common, it was to protect those that were inside. The next is all the more rare and terrifying, to contain something within it to protect all from it. This gate was the later.
There stood fifteen of his brothers in front of the grand gate. The fifteen looked to their new arrival and bowed. They were the brothers of the elder slumber, those who alone had the power to control that which rested beyond the great gate. Each and every one of them slowly bowed and slid out of the way. The gates slowly began to slide open with the quiet hiss of pneumatics, the silent sound and pressure pushing against his mind turned deafening. It opened only enough to allow one to enter.
Inside the chamber stood one man. The Chapter Master Iah, known as the Moon Guard. He stood to the side of the first of the great coffins in the tomb. It was a shrine of sorts for it held the body of their first Chapter Master, Nyarlathotep. The second stood at the end of the chamber, its grand body held in stasis and chains, though they could do little. It was a dreadnought, Azoth The Sleeping One.
Without a word, Khonsu passed into the chamber having to fight the screams barreling against him each step. The great doors sealing behind him, as he finally made his way inside. The pneumatic and tech arcana locks slowly moving into place. It left the two figures trapped in another world, safe from prying eyes and ears. The chamber was a storm of invisible energies
"The ancient one is crying out for his brother, trying to break free." Iah reflected aloud as he looked over the the large sarcophagus shines where the ancient ones rested. He could not bring his eyes away from them. He seemed to be listening to the world even in the quite. The psychic roar from the room was his music.
"Who awake him." Khonsu asked. He was unsure why his lord had brought him here. It was not that he minded though. Iah had once been his mentor and his friend, his ascension to Chapter Master all those years ago had not changed that fact.
"He did himself, he still slumbers physically." Master Iah clarified for his brother. "That is the best we have been able to keep him. His mind screams for answers and his rage is powerful" He shook in his his robes as if to give emphasis and yet Khonsu knew. Much of the Chapter could feel it at this time.
"Can the sons of the slumber not bring him about to sleep once again." The ancient one was not meant to be awoken unless in war, even then such act was rare. Azoth's furry was a struggle to constrain, although worlds were know to fall under it. Khonsu had once in his life been either lucky or misfortunate enough to bear witness to the warrior. The captain had for that singular moment know pity for those enemies that stood before the venerable one.
"I fear he no longer sees their father visage in them." Iah spoke moving away from the tomb of Nyarlathotep and close to his captain. He brought a firm hand onto the brothers shoulder. His dour expression becoming more carefree and jovial, for even the briefest moment he had reassurance. "It is good to see you again my friend, it has been far too long"
The captain of the third was frowning. If the sons of Nyarlathotep could not put to rest Azoth, then the great destroyer may never sleep again. He could feel it even now. The screams of a lost soul looking for his brother, never to return. Taking his thoughts from the matter, Khonsu looked to his former mentor and nodded with the smallest of smiled "It has, the war of Narizem. The rank of Chapter Master still worried you"
"As the rank of captain did you." Iah retorted at the thought, although he could not have truthfully denied such statements "You had the simpler of the two tasks." Iah laughed at the thought. His thoughts though were elsewhere despite this bound and show of camaraderie, Khonsu could feel it even without prying into his mentor's mind.
"Why is it that you have brought me here." Khonsu asked having a feeling that this was more than just a meeting between old friends, although he did appreciate the gesture, if he was of greater need than he would hear it.
Knowing that he had no choice if he wanted to continue, Iah began, "because I fear, a word I do not use lightly, we have dark days to come and this is but a sign."
"Our kind are not unaccustomed to such" Khonsu pointed out "we have see the blade of death many a time, escaping it each time." They have endured and they would always endure. It was their nature, in his belief.
"And we were left broken again and again." Iah looked to his captain with a grim look. There was a question in his eyes, and asking for reassurance
"And yet we endure." Khonsu nodded at his Chapter Master, he was right yet they there was more to it than that. "We must endure if we are to see the day man knows peace.."
"The seers have been able to pierce the veil of the great sea." Iah said getting to the truth of the matter. "They see a world we once set foot upon, and the bloody shadows that mean to consume it."
"What world?" Khonsu asked, such an omen was ill and yet in these times many a world once saved were falling to new tyrannies. It was not uncommon even if it was an annoyance.
With a low sigh, the Chapter Master admitted, "We can not recall its name, but the seers say it burns in our blood."
"What would could we have forgotten" The Chapter' s scribes were meticulous since the date of their birth. They could not forget the past unless they were doomed to repeat it, thus was the first lesson every Mythril Lord was taught. It was the most important lesson that Khonsu think of.
Iah only looked to the dreadnought that stood behind them"A world before the sun was swallowed by Apophis." Khonsu nodded calmly though it was clear from his features that his was a surprise to him. A time from before the great heresy. Before the galaxy burned. "I want the third company to investigate, I trust that you are capable of finding the truth that escapes us." Iah said turning to the door of the tomb, with a wave of his hand the door's once again began to open, the brothers of the slumber undoing the locks from beyond. "We must let the brothers continue though, they are the only ones keeping him in the state he is now." Iah did his best to change his disposition, feigning a jovial nature, "Now come, I would see a feast in honor of our Chapter's gathering."
The third captain nodded as knew that his mentor wanted no more questions on the matter, and would answer nothing. He simply followed his Chapter Master. The two brothers strode from chamber as the gates open quitely. The Brothers of the Slumber bowing in quiet reflection as they passed the two others Lords. It was an honored tasked among the Chapter and yet, Khonsu was still would not wish their job.
Khonsu turned back right as the doors began to close once again and watched as a chapter of the Mythril Lords was drawing to a close, an era drawing to an end. He could only wonder what could come next. "May the light of the flame guide us all."
What a 40k story not in the 40k. why yes? It is the story of one of the first characters I ever created for my Chapter and one of the key features of my Chapter which takes one singular event in 40k history that was never expanded up and uses it to make the universe bigger.
Check out my other works on fiction press, particularly my main story: Trials of the Witch Hunter
I can not promise I will release often as original works go above fanfics but I am on a writers block with orginal for now