The Night Haunter
Chapter 1: Beginning of the night
Konrad Curze, was the eighth son of the Emperor of Mankind, one of the twenty brothers created by the Emperor to lead a mighty crusade to reunite the scattered worlds of the Human Empire at the dawn of the 30th Millenium.
Like his brothers, he was a marvel of genetic engineering and manipulation. Over thirteen feet tall at the shoulder, a cold and calculating tactical mind that rarely, if ever, made a mistake, and a psychic residual ability. Unfortunately, he, like his brothers were scattered all over the galaxy by the Gods of Chaos.
He landed on planet Nostramo, a planet shrouded in darkness, where the dying sun's light never reached its surface; where crime and corruption reigned unchecked.
Konrad grew up in the eternal night of Nostramo, feeding on vermin of the hive city, and when those meager rations were not enough then he fed on the corpses left in the wake of the corruption. It did not help that he was plagued with visions, courtesy of his Father's genetic heritage, of the worst possible outcome of any event in the future. He had nightmares of war, a Great War on a place he didn't even know and every night, he would wake up with the screams of dying soldiers ringing in his ear.
In his initial years on Nostramo, he was alone. He was forced to survive in the dark, damp, cruel sewers by his wits and skills alone. But he did something more dangerous that that: He learned. Speech was a craft he learned from the leaders of the numerous gangs and mafias that inhabited the sewers with him. He learned how to kill from the murders that dumped their prey in his home.
But in spite of everything, Konrad was set in his mind. He would never join these men, even with his dying breath, he would serve the righteous. They were inherently evil, a plague that needed to be dealt with and brought to justice. Proper justice; the kind the wrought permanent and lasting effect, not the kind dispensed with by the current corrupt judges. Every sin cried out for retribution, and he would be the one to dispense with it. At any cost.
He began with the low-lifes, thugs and gangers. Those that would not be missed for long by anyone. As he worked his way up, he found himself venturing out into the upper world more and more. To the streets, and when the streets were not an option, the rooftops. Nothing would stop his crusade. Because he lived in the sewers, he was naturally agile and quiet, having to stay one step ahead of people who had sought him out; to try and kill him. There was no challenge in tracking and ambushing his target from the rooftops. The trouble was how to send a clear message to the rest.
Most that he killed were found mutilated and crucified on the walls of buildings. Sometimes, flayed sheets of skin hung from bridges or severed heads grinned from the railings.
Soon the people gave him a name; The Night Haunter. At first it was a name of hope, feared yet filled with promise; a promise that finally Nostramo could be rid of corruption. But as time went, the punishment of criminals became more horrific as Konrad expanded the list of the guilty. As nobles and members of the upper-classes began to be found in the same mutilated ways, the name 'The Night Haunter' lost the luster of hope and became a word that was feared by all who heard it.
Then Konrad became a public figure in an instant, annihilating the ruling class in one session for all manner of crimes from murder, corruption and treachery to adultery and treason. Before the corpses could be dragged from the hall, Konrad declared himself the new monarch of the planet. None contested his claim.
The crime rate dropped to zero. The streets at night were so silent that a drop of a needle could be heard at two kilometers.
But as soon as he arrived on the throne of Nostramo, his father, the Emperor of Mankind arrived. Konrad felt the glow of the Emperor's psychic power as the two stood face to face and knelt before him. It was as he had foreseen it. Konrad joined his father and brothers in Great Crusade; rather unwilling to just leave Nostramo behind. He was given command of VIII legion, which he re-named the Night Lords. But as soon as he left for the Great Crusade, his world became corrupted once again.
As his legion waged war on distant planets, the recruits for his legion began to fill with criminals; thieves, thugs, rapists, and everything else he despised. Finally, plagued by his dark visions and his corrupted legion, he snapped. He ordered the Exterminatus over Nostramo, destroyed it completely.
But before the Imperium could take action, the greatest civil war in mankind's history happened; Horus Heresy.
Already banded as a renegade, Konrad and his legion took the side of Horus; an action he came to regret. When the war ended with the death of Horus, he and his legion settled on neighbor planet of Nostramo; Tasagualsa. There, Konrad was waiting for one, a person in his vision, an assassin that would kill him.
Finally, his wait was over. Before he died, he told the assassin that he had become what he trying to fight all his life; the corruption. Finally, as the assassin leapt toward him, blade ready to strike, he prepared to die. But then the light consumed him…
…and fate was intervened…with the maniacal laughter of a cruel god.
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Konrad picks himself up from the ground; shocking from what happened. Konrad tried to figure what happen. Then he remembered, while he was unconscious, he could hear one thing; laughter, not of mortal for certain. It must be someone, or something that saved him.
Was it his father who intervenes? No, he is a traitor, the Emperor would not save him.
Was it the Chaos god? Likely, but which one. For he remembers there are 4.
Nurgle, the Plague Lord? Not likely, he never did anything that could involve Nurgle
Slaanesh, the Prince of Pleasure? Possible, but still not likely, he did not enjoy his life enough to attract him/her/it attention.
Khorne, the Blood God? Maybe, he had shed a river of blood during his time with his legion.
Tzeentch, the Changer of the Ways? Yes, it must be this one, he had been plagued by visions of what that suppose to happen. Tzeentch was wanting to bring change, so it alters his fate; he supposed to die, but Tzeentch prevented it. Just as it planned.
Konrad grit his teeth. It seems that siding with Horus was even more of a bad idea now. He shook the thought out; right now he needed to know where he was.
He observed his surroundings, he was in an alleyway. The building surrounding him was made out of stone, so he obviously wasn't on any hive world, but rather some civilized world, or somewhere else entirely; that was how hard it was to predict Chaos.
He looked at the ground, there were some of his equipment. His pair of power claw; Mercy and Forgiveness. His dagger; The Widowmakers. [1] There are also other weapons laid there. A Storm Bolter and a Stalker Bolter. Konrad picked them all up.
That was when he noticed, there is a jump pack near him, with a Night Lord's helmet placed on it. [2] He walked closer to it; it was a type of jump pack he had never seen before. It looked much more advance than the one his legion used.
Suddenly, he heard someone screaming.
"Somebody help!" the voice spoke in one of Terra old language; English. He remembered studying about it during his time with Fulgrim, one of his brothers. Not to mention that some of his legion members came from the world that used this as main language. To make it short, he could talk, speak, listen, and write in this language; not fluently of course.
Konrad followed the voice until he finally came across a woman being robbed by a man. Konrad shook his head. No matter where he went, there would always be a criminal. Not wasting any time, he walked behind the robber.
The woman who was robbed, looked at Konrad with fear beyond imagining. Finally the robber turned back to see what the woman was staring at, what he saw root him to the spot. There stood a giant, about 9 feet tall, wearing dark blue armor with lightning bolts running across and out of its metal skin. The face is the only visible parts; the giant face is pale and feral with long and sharp teeth, jet black eyes and hair.
The giant's hand grabbed the robber's head and pulled it out effortlessly. The woman let out a scream before ran away in terror. Konrad dropped the head and walked back to pick up the jump pack and helmet. The first thing he had to do was hide, maybe in the sewer like he used to back at Nostramo. Then when he knew more about this place, he would decide what to do next.
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[1] Consider Konrad about 9-10 feet tall with muscle and power armor, the dagger in his view is like a great sword to normal humans.
[2] It was decorated with a pair of red bat wing, both jump pack and helmet.
Beta by InquisitorMarek