Realm of Madness

by Lukas-the-Trickster

Some time ago I wrote this short story based on the Sisters of Battle. I'd say its sort of a tragic horror story and started simply as a test to see if the re-invented version of the character Sister Damasious worked. Since then I've written a much longer story about this character and I am currently working on another sequel. Realm of Madness is the first of these three stories.

Beneath her boots the ground had turned to slurry. Once there had been lush grassland, glittering with pale green bioluminescence, now a wasteland lay in its place. She had never seen this world in its full glory and as she lifted a foot to reveal a fallen flower, still glowing weakly in the dying daylight, she wished she could have. For a brief moment she imagined what it could have been, in her mind's eye she saw a myriad of multicoloured flowers swaying in a gentle morning breeze, heard the soft buzzing of glittering insects collecting pollen. Birds chirped in the distance and far across the plains she saw the dark outlines of grazing animals. With a bare hand she reached out to touch one of the blades of grass, it was soft and cool against her skin. When she let go the tips of her fingers came away damp with dew. It had a sweet scent, one that reminded her of sugared chews from when she was a child. It was an odd thing to remember now, an old memory and a painful one. It brought tears to her hazel eyes.

Whatever had been, whether the things she saw had once been true or not, mattered little now. Rain fell from the darkening sky and thunder rolled across the fields. There were still glittering lights in the rapidly thickening mist but they were not naturally occurring. No, these flashes came from the repeating thud of gunfire and the rumble of engines. In place of grazing animals she could see shadows of duelling figures. It was war that had brought ruin to this world and it was blood that stained the once rich soil.

An inhuman wail pierced the air, growing in volume as it drew closer. Mutated lungs projecting the keening screech across the battle field, effectively drowning out all other sound. It was a weapon; as much as it was a battle cry, the sound pierced the soul of any mortal who heard it, destroying their will and paralysing them with fear. Whole companies of battle hardened men had been reduced to whimpering children, ripe for the slaughter, upon the hearing such a terrible noise. It goaded its followers into a furious rage, boiling their blood in their veins and driving them to acts of insane violence. They would fall upon their enemies as tide of death and destruction, swords and claws rising and falling in great arcs of sparkling blood.

It was not the ears of a man that the creatures howl fell upon this time but those of a woman and it did not strike fear into her heart as it intended. Instead it caused only anger to churn in her guts. She was a Battle Sister of Adepta Sororitas. Upon her right cheek a tattoo of a black rose stood prominent on her pale flesh, a single blood drop falling from its petals had been covered by streaks of black liner, drawn down her face by the falling of her tears. Black hair, streaked with blue dye and heavy with rain water, clung to her face and she pushed it aside. With a grunt of effort the Battle Sister dragged herself out of the mire, her lithe frame, encased in matte black power armour, cut an impressive silhouette as a flash of white lightning blazed across the sky. She snarled through black painted lips, the snake bite piercings she wore glinting as they caught in the light. She raised a gauntleted hand at the mutant and beckoned it nearer.

This gesture of defiance gave the creature pause. As it lumbered alongside its chanting followers it realised that this human was not like others it had encountered before. Where all previous had sunk trembling to their knees she stared him down, despite the screaming horde that charged towards her. There was indeed something different about this one. They would certainly meet in combat although almost a hundred cultists stood between the human and the mutant; it knew that would not be enough to bring her down. It smiled grimly to itself, even as its second mouth unleashed another ululating cry, it was going to be a battle worth savouring.

In her right hand the Battle Sister gripped a weapon far older than she was. Its pommel was a silver wolf's head, its teeth bared in a savage snarl and its eyes glittering sapphires. Its two handed grip was wrapped in pale blue leather, though this had worn away and been replaced many times before. It casing was black inlaid with silver scripture in a language she could not read, she had been told its meaning on the day it had been given to her and she had remembered it perfectly but had never spoken it aloud since. Its ice cold teeth were onyx black and stronger than any metal known to man, they glittered like diamonds and where the rain fell upon them it froze instantly. It was a Frost blade, it was longer than she was tall and its name was Storm Fang. It had been a gift to her from a warrior in his last breath and she had wielded it with deadly purpose ever since. Every life it took was vengeance in his name, it would claim many more in the minutes yet to come.

Battle Sister Damasious the Ever Silent, lowered her battle stance, bringing the blade up in a two handed grip and thumbed its activation rune. Chips of ice spiralled outwards with the sound of shattering glass as the teeth began to turn and with a throaty growl the weapon was alive. Damasious said nothing as the horde fell upon her. These things that were once honourable men were nothing more than drones now. Their minds poisoned with false promises and their flesh tainted with excess. Through this they had turned their backs on the Imperium and the people they had once called friends. Damasious had no pity for them, they were weak and feeble and now they would die for that mistake.

Storm Fang emitted a wolfish howl as it bit into the flesh of the first cultist to come within range, the man's dark purple carapace armour buckled then shattered before his innards were pulped beneath the churning teeth. Damasious side stepped around the falling corpse, she lashed out with a powerful side kick catching another cultish in the throat and crushing his windpipe. She dropped her foot; swinging Strom Fang in a swift horizontal arc that decapitated a third cultist and tore open the chest of a fourth. She let out a wordless cry and lunged forwards into the mass of stinking bodies.

Storm Fang rose and fell, streamers of pink steam and frozen blood crystals trailing in its wake. Where it landed limbs were severed, flesh ruptured and bones splintered. A dozen cultists were torn asunder in less than ten seconds. Damasious moved with practiced ease, war was an art form to her and it was one she had perfected. Despite its appearance Storm Fang was light and graceful. It had been crafted by a master Iron Priest using truly ancient techniques she couldn't fathom and completely unique in its design. Damasious had trained herself to use it with the same level of skill as its former master, for anything less would be an insult to both him and its creator. Countless hours in the training cages and many more on the battlefield had made her an expert. No battle Sister, not even the Canoness herself could match Damasious in close combat with Strom Fang in her hands. It was as if she and the weapon had become one. She could feel its spirit and those who wielded it before her, coursing in her veins, filling her with righteous fury.

A jet of hot blood vented across her face and Damasious spat a gobbet of the wretched stuff into the eyes of the next cultists to attack her. Momentarily blinded the man stumbled forwards swinging madly with his sword. Damasious dodged each strike and ran him through the sternum. Storm Fang erupted from his back in a geyser of semi frozen blood and mangled bone chips. She heaved the weapon up and out of his shoulder, using the momentum to help spin her on the spot and drop the weapon down into the face of a cultist stalking up behind her, catching him with the very tip of the chain blade. He made no sound as he fell, Strom Fang had ravaged his bottom jaw and most of his neck leaving his eyes untouched, and they were wide with unbridled terror. Perhaps in his last few moments before the darkness over took him the man had realised his mistake? Damasious thought nothing else of it and turned to dispatch one last opponent, her diagonal strike splitting his body from shoulder to groin and emptying his pulverised entrails onto the sodden ground.

Damasious paused in her deathly dance. Dozens of cultists bodies lay at her feet and the ground was stained utterly crimson. She had added to the destruction of this once beautiful planet and the thought saddened her. In this brief respite she realised that the usual constant stream of background Vox chatter in her ear piece had fallen silent. She looked up, past the final mutant stalking towards her and saw no muzzle flashes in the distance. She heard no Bolter discharge and the realisation of those facts hit her painfully hard. Was she the final Battle Sister left on this world? In the corner of her eye she could see the cultist's leader advancing on her. All other thoughts were pushed aside, she had one final enemy to deal with then she could go looking for her sisters.

This mutant was a horrid thing and twice her size, though by no means the worst of its kind she had faced. Its head was that of a man but it's eyes had turned to a glowing yellow and in its neck a second mouth, filled with razor sharp teeth, had grown. An additional set of arms had sprouted beneath the original, one ending in a vicious looking bone sword and the other a crab like claw. All of its muscles seemed disproportionally bigger than they should be and Damasious could see pulsing black veins beneath its pallid flesh. She noticed it was grinning at her with one mouth and giggling madly with the second. Damasious bared her teeth and emitted a wet wolfish snarl; she levelled Storm Fang, feeling its anger at the mutant surging through her body.

"Come get me little girl!" the mutant yelled in a disturbing dual voice.

Damasious did as she was told, an amused smile flashing briefly across her lips. Storm Fang growled and she hurled herself forward. Giggling like a child the mutant lashed out with its bone sword, Damasious turned on her toes, easily dodging the strike and tore a ragged wound across its ribs. Black blood poured forth but the mutant didn't flinch, instead it crashed its bone claw against her breast plate. Damasious was thrown into the air, her limbs flailing but she never lost her grip on Storm Fang. Mud sprayed as the Battle Sister landed hard on her left shoulder and slid through the dirt. Spitting filth, Damasious was back on her feet a heartbeat later, ignoring the dull ache spreading down her arm and left ribs. At least nothing was broken, yet.

Damasious met the mutant head on once again. Ducking its frenzied swipes she cut two more deep gashes across its stomach and back. Seemingly oblivious to the loops of intestines beginning to show in the belly wound the mutant attacked relentlessly, all the while its mad laughter filled the Battle Sisters ears. Storm Fang scraped along the claw as she deflected a strike intended to decapitate her, hot bone chips bounced against her armour and peppered her cheeks. She ducked a swing from the bone sword but took a punch in the face from one its original hands instead. Damasious rolled with the blow, lashing out one handed with Storm Fang she caught the claw arm at the elbow and severed it. Still the beast did not falter, stabbing for her midriff with the sword. Damasious pivoted on the spot and let the blade pass by; she lowered Storm Fang and pointed the blade upwards. Now she was inside the mutants guard there was little it could do to stop her from ramming the chain blade into its second mouth. Abruptly the laughing stopped and its yellow eyes grew wide in surprise. Damasious jumped, using the mutants bent knee as a step to propel herself into a graceful summersault, Storm Fang still held tightly in her fists. As she passed over the beasts head, Storm Fang's tip turned down, slicing cleanly through its spine, while its base rose up and into the creature's chin. With a hideous crunching of bone and the squelching of mangled flesh the mutant's torso and head were shredded apart as easily as wet paper. Damasious landed in a crouch, Storm Fang held over her head. Behind her the mutant collapsed in a welter of stinking innards and thick black ichor. Satisfied she rose to her feet. Storm Fang grew silent for the moment and she stalked away into the mist.

Death surrounded her as she walked its scent hot in her nostrils. Sorrow weighed heavy in her heart as Damasious crossed the killing fields. Thousands of dead cultists were spread around her but amongst them were the bodies of her Battle Sisters. She recognised almost all of them but some were so badly mutilated it was impossible to tell who they had once been. Piles of spent Bolter casings clattered loudly as her boots knocked them aside. She could smell the discharge of las rifles mixed with the coppery tang of blood and the holy oils the Battle Sisters used to anoint their weapons. It seemed she was indeed the last survivor and there would be no extraction from this hell hole. There would be vengeance instead. Damasious could feel the rage building inside her as she passed the wreck of an Immolator. Smoke poured from its top hatch, bringing with it the stench of burnt flesh.

Her boots suddenly found solid ground and Damasious looked up. A shadow towered above her in the mist. By now the rain had stopped but somewhere far off thunder still boomed. Damasious looked down again; she stood upon a smooth platform of white stone. There were more bodies and the bright crimson of their blood stood more prominent here than anywhere else, she felt like that should mean something but grief clouded her thoughts. Damasious skilfully stepped around the corpses, making her way towards the centre of the platform.

As she drew nearer she became aware of eyes following her but they stayed at the edges of her vision and never strayed any closer lest they feel the bite of Storm Fang. What were they waiting for? They were chanting, words that hurt her ears and made her vision swim. She could hear buzzing too there was sorcery at work here. Damasious steeled herself, hardening her resolve she pushed onwards. Eventually she came to foot of a set of stairs. Her gaze travelled upwards and there she saw a great silver effigy raised in defiance of the God Emperor, it appeared to be a combination of the gender symbols. It pulsed with pinkish inner light and threatened to burn her eyes from their sockets. Damasious looked away but what she saw next made her breath die in her throat.

At the top of the steps, in the shadow of the effigy were two figures, one kneeling the other triumphantly holding a sword to the sky. Damasious skin prickled, she could feel a press of bodies behind her but dared not look away from the scene above her. Canoness Audeniana knelt, her armour cracked and bloodied, her once lustrous brown hair matted with filth. Her tanned cheeks were streaked with grime, her lip swollen and purple. She opened her pale grey eyes and saw Damasious below her.

"Go Sister!" she bellowed with what little strength she had left, flecks of blood appearing in her breath. "Flee this place, there can be no victory here, save yourself!" she began to sob. "We are forsaken..."

Damasious felt her heart stop. Never had she believed she would hear a Battle Sister utter those words. To see proud and noble Audeniana reduced to this brought bile to her throat. She had to save her.

Damasious made to climb the stairs but the sword wielding figure emerged from the mist, it was a cultist, though unlike any of the others Damasious had encountered this one was a woman. Clad in nothing but the skin on her bones the girl lowered the glimmering blade and cut Audeniana's throat. As a fountain of rubies splashed down the stone steps she kicked the Canoness's body off the platform. With the clattering of armour Damasious watched her commanders body roll towards her. Time seemed to stand still and the image of Audeniana's face frozen in silent terror had burned itself in Damasious's retinas. After what seemed like an eternity she came to rest wrapped, in a rather undignified manner, in her combat cloak at Damasious feet. Damasious dropped to her knees, openly weeping now as the full horror of what had transpired on this world finally over came her. She closed Audeniana's eyes with her finger tips and laid a single kiss upon her forehead.

Tears painted clean lines in the dirt and blood that smeared her face as Damasious rose to her feet once more. Her breath was ragged and wracked with barely contained sobs but she stood defiant in the face of the cultist woman. Storm Fang howled into life and with a wordless cry of anguish and rage she propelled herself up the steps. At the top the other women smiled at her, pointed teeth dripping with saliva. She beckoned Damasious onwards bouncing from one foot to the other. Damasious reached the top of the stairs, the effigy's presence weighed oppressively against her conscious but she ignored it and charged straight for the cultist.

"Wait! Do not kill the Battle Sister!" Damasious did not hear the voice, rather felt it searing inside her skull. It was a voice she recognised.

Anger crossed the cultists face but she did as commanded, stepping back and lowering the blade. Damasious cut her down anyway, too furious to halt her charge. She struck twice, once vertically and once horizontally the outcome was an eruption of pulverised meat and spinning limbs. Damasious spat on the remains.

"Now that wasn't very nice was it?"

A blinding flash of pink light erupted from the base of the effigy and a shock wave punched the Battle Sister clean off her feet, sending her sprawling on her back. She looked up shielding her eyes from the glare. A silhouette emerged and as the light died away Damasious found herself looking upon a woman she had not seen for fourteen years, a woman she had thought dead.

"Do you remember me Damasious?" she asked.

How could she forget? Damasious blinked and in a heartbeat she remembered everything so vividly it was as if it was happening there and then. She felt the heat of bare female flesh against her own, felt hot breath caressing her neck. She saw her own reflection in eyes like the purest of sapphires, her face contorted with ecstasy and desire. Her fingers were lost in long strands of frost white hair. She heard her own gasping breath as wandering fingers found their desired target. Damasious remembered the taste of her lips, the pain of nails dragging down her skin. Her ears were filled with shuddering moans as she drew her tongue along the others inner thigh and higher. Hands wrapped themselves in her hair and Damasious tasted the bitter sweet tang of amber coloured sin. They writhed together, bodies intertwined in ways neither had ever thought possible, for what felt like a lifetime of bliss. It ended with simultaneous scream of joyful gratification, one neither of them would ever forget.

"Aha. So you do remember." Sister Kai smiled.

Damasious regarded her former comrade with barely masked contempt and confusion. How? How was this possible? Damasious had read the killed in action reports herself and yet there she stood. Kai hadn't changed much; her features were still noble but now there was something wicked in her smile and her voice was different somehow, though Damasious could not work out what it was. Kai's eyes glowed with inner fire and her hair shimmered as if made from diamond. Her skin was alabaster white and her frame just as lithe and agile as it always been. Kai's torso was bare save a pair of ring piercings adorning each breast. Around her waist she wore a sash of deep purple fabric so light it seemed to float around her. On top of this a black leather belt carried her sheathed daggers. Damasious noted they were same ones Kai had carried since she had taken the Oath.

Damasious go to her feet, she released grimly she'd spent as much time on the ground as she had standing that day. She stared at Kai, her gaze unflinching. What had happened to the woman? Had this always been her destiny to fall prey to the Warp? Suddenly all those lust filled and secret nights in their joint past somehow seemed sinister. Has she been used? Damasious could feel a war of emotions churning in her stomach. She genuinely didn't know what she felt or how to deal with this bizarre turn of events.

Kai seemed to read her thoughts. "Well aren't you going to ask me where I've been all this time? What I've been doing?" She paused then smiled, such a beautiful smile. "Of course you don't speak anymore do you? What is it that they call you now? The Ever Silent?" Kai chuckled. "Come now, everyone who has ever heard your voice has been dead for over ten years. Except me obviously, surely you would spare of a few words for an old friend... especially one as close as me?"

Kai drew closer, her hands played with the fabric of her sash, moving it aside as if by accident to reveal the silky flesh beneath.

Damasious shuddered as her eyes drawn down. She gulped, though outwardly she appeared in control and calm, inside her body was turmoil.

In her right hand Storm Fang's essence howled and roared fighting tooth and claw with the desire surging in her blood. She needed to feel this woman once again; it had been too long since they had last seen each other. Seeing her after all this time alive and well was more than she could handle. In truth she knew she had to kill her, to save not only Kai's soul from damnation but her own as well. Damasious gritted her teeth. Could she do that? Could she really kill the only person she'd ever...

"Damasious, I need you." Kai said suddenly, some of the arrogance in her voice had gone now. It was her own again.

The Battle Sister blinked, what did she mean?

"Every day I have thought about you, that first night and all those that followed." Kai chewed her bottom lip, a tear glittered briefly in her eye but she blinked and it was gone. "You regret it all don't you?"

Damasious nodded slowly but her eyes betrayed her true answer.

Kai smiled. "I knew it. I know it haunts you though, I can feel the conflict in your soul but if you been truly ashamed you would have joined the Repentia . Yet you didn't and that tells me all I need to know."

Damasious felt her fist tighten around Strom Fang, she had to end this and end it now. Yet her limbs seemed leaden, her body refused the commands of her brain. Her heart rate increased, she could hear it thudding madly in her chest, her pulse pounded like a million drums in her ears.

"You know I've been out there a long time." Kai gestured behind her; Damasious knew she meant the Warp, "It has changed me. I've gained more power than I could have ever dreamed of." She clenched her fist and Damasious saw the veins in her wrists moving, wriggling. Bile surged to her throat but she swallowed it.

Kai's words were poison, she knew that. She was using Damasious, manipulating her. This thing wasn't Kai it was an imposter. Kai was dead.

Dead, yet here she was, breathing, talking and looking more beautiful than ever before.

"I've killed my way across that nightmare and it took a thousand lives to fall here just to bring me back to your realm and I have come looking for you. I've missed you Damasious! All the blood, all the death and all the power in the universe can never make me forget what we had. My new master has helped me appreciate the joys of simple pleasure but only you can slake the thirst I have. I need you by my side. We can achieve so much." Her eyes blazed with passion, Damasious could see sparks of Warp fire cracking at the woman's heels when she moved. There was definitely something else in there.

Suddenly Kai was upon on Damasious, moving with inhuman speed she pressed herself close to the battle Sister, their lips briefly brushed together and for a moment Damasious felt her legs go weak. Storm Fang raged at her, screaming and howling inside her mind.

"I can show you Damasious, all that I have done and all that we can do."

Damasious willed her body to rebel, to break free, to cleave the possessed woman apart and end both their suffering. Instead she stood ramrod straight as Kai pressed her palm to her cheek.

"Look." She smiled.

Damasious twitched as images ran unbidden through her mind. Kai stood alone, far from Damasious, tears falling down her face as all around her Battle Sisters died. All she wanted was to feel Damasious's arms around her again. Nothing else mattered. Despite the blood and the death it was the only thought that kept her moving. Kai surged though the battle, explosions blossomed at her heels, throwing dirt against her back, numbing her ears with pain. She had to survive; she had to see Damasious again. Kai would do anything for that chance.

Then there was a voice in her head, formed by that of a man and a woman. It told her that her desire burned strong and its light blazing across the warp, so bright and perfect. Kai rebelled, crying out prayers to the Emperor in a vain attempt to remove the voice. It had laughed at her, coiling its icy fingers inside her brain. It would not be shaken loose so easily.

"Do not resist." It whispered.

Kai sank to her knees clawing at her face. "Let me go!"

"Listen to me. I can get you back to her."

Kai stopped struggling, "What?"

"I know what you long for. I can give it to you."

Kai sobbed, her stomach churned. "You lie!"

"No. If you deny me you will die here and you will never see her again. Embrace me and I will bring you back to her."

Kai could feel the blood running from her ears and nose. "Get out of my head..."

It laughed again cold and hate filled but when it spoke again their nothing but pity in its voice. "Come now child. I am not as old as some of the things here, I have desires above my station and I need a vessel to aid me in my conquests. You are strong and focussed and I need that strength. Help me and I'll help you."

Kai had given in and she'd allowed a demon to make its home in her body. In return it had made her stronger, faster, and indulged her in all manner of sick and twisted acts of depravity. Some of which were beyond Damasious's comprehension. Together they had burned a path across the other realm all the while growing more powerful with life they took and the demon gaining more followers. Fourteen years in Damasious's realm had been s dozen lifetimes for Kai. Damasious could feel Kai's pain at being so far from her. She knew the burning desire to return to her side.

Kai let go and Damasious crashed to her knees as a flood of thick vomit gushed from her lips.

"I was so weak willed then. I know I turned my back on the Emperor and I know you feel betrayed. Just remember that I did it all for you." Kai explained, her eyes filled with anguish.

Damasious retched again. So this was her fault? She gritted her teeth and wiped her mouth. This would end now! Storm Fang howled and crashed into her veins once more expunging the effects of the demons false words. She activated the blade and surged at Kai, a bestial snarl escaping her lips.

Kai recoiled a terrified expression on her face but she sprang aside and drew her knives. Damasious hammered at her former Sister but Kai's knives had been altered along with her body. Where Storm Fang should have cut the weapons apart instead it was deflected each time in showers of hot white sparks. Blows were traded, neither warrior giving ground. Damasious could see purple fire burning in Kai's eyes and the unnatural way her muscles flexed and writhed beneath her perfect skin. Kai was much faster then she had been before, her skills had indeed improved. As she went on the offensive Damasious realised she wasn't going to win this fight. Her sister was too fast, too strong. Damasious parried desperately at a flurry of blows to quick for her eyes to follow. Kai knocked Storm Fang aside and kicked Damasious hard in the chest. Even with her power armour taking the full force of the blow Damasious was still winded. She felt her feet leave the ground and she was falling.

Slamming into the white stone hard enough to crack it, Damasious realised she'd fallen from the raised section of the platform. She coughed blood, feeling the broken ends of two ribs grinding together. Kai leapt from the platform and landed gracefully beside her.

"We could have been together again!" Kai yelled slashing downwards with her knives.

Damasious rolled, lashing out at Kai's legs with Storm Fang. Kai leapt over the blade and kicked Damasious again the stomach as she tried to stand. The Battle Sister bounced across the ground, when she came to a halt her breath came like razors in her throat.

"If you come with me we can live with each other forever!" Kai screamed.

Damasious surged upright ignoring her wounds and attacked again. Kai weaved and ducked each blow, not bothering to raise her weapons until she could land a killing blow. At last she flicked out with her left hand, Damasious dodged back but Kai's right hand blade came in from above. The Battle Sister barely avoided having her eye torn out; instead the tip of the weapon sliced open her ear. Damasious kicked Kai in the knee and then again in the top of the thigh causing the woman to buckle. Seizing the moment she took Storm Fang in a two handed grip and ran Kai through the mid riff. Blood rushed from the wound, slick and hot but Kai seemed not to notice. She lashed out with blades raking a cut across Damasious's cheek and another vertically over her lips. Damasious forced Storm Fang deeper and head butted Kai on the bridge of the nose. Kai reeled, sinking a blade through Damasious armour into her thigh and the second into her gut. Damasious sank down screaming but did not let go of Storm Fang even as Kai twisted the dagger.

Damasious felt something pulse between her and Kai. Her arms throbbed with pain as Storm Fang seemed to vibrate in her grip. She heard it howling in triumph. It was answered by a demonic wail. The light in Kai's eyes seemed to fade and her body was wracked by violent seizures. Her knives clattered from her hands and she reached out to hug Damasious, drawing her body down to Storm Fangs gore drenched hilt. Damasious saw purple smoke pouring from the ragged wound in her back and suddenly her sister fell against her breathing heavily. Storm Fang became quiet and the teeth stopped turning, it seemed its own powerful spirit had exercised the demon from Kai's flesh.

There was a moment of silence as the two women held each other. Damasious wept unable to accept what she had done.

"Thank you." Kai whispered her voice so quiet and weak. "I'm so sorry."

She leaned back her face contorted with pain; she looked Damasious in the eye. "I did not want this." She reached up to wipe the tears from Damasious cheeks though her own were pale and shallow now. "Can you forgive me?"

Damasious nodded.

Kai smiled, "Good. I love you." but before Damasious could respond Kai leaned in and kissed her.

It was a passionate moment and Damasious never wanted it to end but the moment their lips parted Kai was dead. Damasious let her body slump against her own and held her close.

Hours passed and Damasious never moved she drifted in out of consciousness her mind full of images of the nights she and Kai had shared. She felt like she was slowly going mad, her grip on reality loosening with every memory. With a sigh she accepted that soon she too would be dead. Damasious offered a prayer to the Emperor that he might forgive Kai and allow the two of them to reunite by his side. It saddened her to know that this would likely not happen.

"Does anyone read me? This is the Fidem et Ignis can anyone hear me?"

Damasious opened her eyes as the new voice swam into her mind. That voice she recognised was Sister Superior Amendera...

"This is the Fidem et Ignis, does anyone read me?"

Damasious tapped her communicator twice. Yes.

"This is... Hello? Is anyone there?"

Damasious tapped twice again.

"Sister Damasious is that you?"

Two more taps.

Amendera could not have sounded more relieved, she let out a long breath, "Thank the Emperor someone is alive. Sister, activate your locator beacon we'll come and get you. Are you wounded?"

Two taps.

"Is there anyone else down there with you?"

Damasious paused; she looked at Kai's body still resting against her shoulder. She tapped once. No.

"Understood." Amendera said solemnly. "Hold on Sister we're coming to get you."

Damasious smiled. Carefully she laid Kai down and folded her arms across her chest. She left a gentle kiss on her lips and sat back against the platform wall. She clicked on her beacon and quietly passed out.