This is my first Warhammer chapter. I intend to continue this story only when enough people (yes, that's you) want me to continue the story of Creidann Eshairr.
Yaoi(Gay) but only at the end of the prologue. If you despise homo utterly then go away cuz I don't need your ignorant spiteful comments on my page. If you love stories regardless of sexual orientation than plz enjoy. Remember to review, all constructive criticism is welcome! Also when reviewing let me know if you want another chapter! THX for reading :)
Creidann Eshairr hovered high into the air, his last victims being headless tyranid gargoyles. He landed on the hard desert earth where the Tyrannic horde surged as one under its dominable hive mind. Three space marines, Borign, Thorindir, and Flaris, were retreating into the metal facility as the enromous doors were closing shut.
"Eldar!' shouted Thorindir through his helm. "If you wish to live to kill more I suggest you join our brothers at the walls."
Creidann examined the Tyrannic horde only meters away from his current position. With a nod of his head toward Thorindir the warrior darted across large rocks and pockets of quicksand. Inside the facility he rushed to the sunbleached walls that gave him a horrifying vision. The facility was built between three mountains with only two ravines that served as roads all the way across the six mile desert vestibule. Each ravine was shaking under the heavy hooves of the Tyranids, the desert earth vanishing as the sea washes sand. Gargantuan beasts screamed into the air wading through the lesser ranks, the warrior organisms leading a massive force of gaunts toward the walls. Gargoyles flew overhead in circles, their capricious appetites craving for mortal flesh. Not even the sun could break through the thick clouds of volatile airborne spores.
"Will you betray us?" asked Borign to the Eldar. The alien being did not respond. Creidann was preoccupied taking mental notes of the psychic leaders of the organisms. "Answer me you wretched alien!"
A blade appeared under Borign's throat; Creidann's hair was the only thing that told the marines that he moved at all.
"I here you mon'kai," spoke Creidann in that monotone voice the Eldar were famous for. It showed the scope of their cold intellect, their voices, and just how inhumane they really were. Chilled minds with chilled hearts; not even the void of space could freeze them over. "Stay out of my way."
"How dare you point a weapon at a child of the..."
The blade was pressed deeper against his skin. "I point my weapon at my enemies. Do not make yourself one."
"Understood," nodded Thorindir. "Borign, to your post."
Grumbling the space marine stepped back. He rushed to the far end of the wall; Flaris, hefting a heavy bolter, strode to the opposite end. Thorindir locked his eyes with the red screens on Creidann's helm.
"Have you ever witnessed a Tyranid invasion before?" he asked.
"Have you?" returned Creidann.
Thorindir noted the spiteful tinge to that cold voice. "Yes, in fact I was there on the day of Macragge's invasion."
"Yes," began Creidann. "I have seen an invasion of such scale. I was there at Lyanden aiding my faithful kin. We slew many Tyranids but many died before our victory."
"Pray to the Emperor for ours."
"I pray to none."
Thorindir glanced down at the intriguing Eldar...
An electric green orb zoomed between their heads. The Tyranids had reached the walls. Loading and cocking his bolter Thorindir aimed with his battle brothers at the horrific enemy. They fired a constrant stream of bullets into the horde's wake. Gaunts collapsed only to be crushed by their kin, tiny rippers slithering below now feasting on a scrumptous meal of their own blood. The bolter fire was nowhere near the needed firepower to keep the horde back. The guants reached the base of the walls firing up into the space marine ranks. Borer beetles splatted against the blue armor of the Ultramarines in vain. Laughing the marines slaughtered the ranged Tyranid units before the swarm spewed forth hormogaunts, the termagant cousins that began to scale the wall with their long scythe-arms. Firing the marines kept them at the base. However, these hormogaunts served as a planned distraction. From above gargoyles swooped down slicing away at skulls and even carrying the two ton marines into the air screaming for their God Emperor. The termagants down below fired from their guns whole broods of borer beetles that began to eat away at the weak points in the marines' armor.
"Damn!" muttered Thorindir as beetles began to eat through the joint in his right arm.
Creidann, using two shurken knives, surgically removed each creature at lightning speed. Thorindir stared at the wound already being healed by his augmented suit repair system.
"Goodness!" he cried. "You Eldar are truly..." Creidann vanished. "...useful."
Rushing along the walls Eshairr held out a long sword that sliced through Tyranid arms and heads as they began to reach the top. Black ichar spilled over the wall barriers, the alien screams richocheting against the mountains. In a flash the speedy warrior reached Borign's post. The space marine, the half of his face still flesh and not cybernetic material, snarled at Creidann's presence.
"Stay out of my..." he began. The warrior retraced his steps toward the far opposite end of the wall. "...way...blasted alien! He should be killed!"
Slaying Tyranids in the same fashion previously he reached Flaris's post. The marine lugging the heavy bolter over the wall acknowledged the Eldar's presence with a nod. "Today is a good day to kill my friend," he said in that deep rumbling voice.
Creidann remained silent and observed the battlefield. The swarm was building its way up the wall using the corpses of its loyal dead. The hive mind was relentless; it wouldn't stop until all mortal life was exterminated and absorbed into its entity.
"I see squads of warriors moving up," pointed Flaris using the scope in his visor. "No tyrant yet but I assure you, one is bound to appear."
"Keep the walls clean," said Creidann. "I shall destroy their psychic control."
"Hurry if you can."
Launching himslef into the air once more Creidann flew into the middle of the swarm. He whipped out his spear; he released energized disks from his other hand into a group of hormagaunts, their eyes white and blinded. Their alien bodies fell in pieces at the mercy of Creidann's spear. Fast and ruthless the Eldar cut a swathe through the swarm, dodging alien organisms as they were fired into the air from bio weapons on his way to a cluster of about ten warrior organisms.
Each warrior was designed the exact same way: on the bottom pair of arms were enormous claws used for rending limbs; the top pair was raised so that the scythe blades that grew from their arms could gleam in the spare sunlight; barbed extensions grewg out of their ribcages in order to latch onto prey and drag it back to an inevitable death. Creidann lowered himself so that he could slide on a leg, his spear raised, the end running through a warrior's torso before it could sense his presence. In a flash three Tyranids were slain; Creidann stood crouched in a defensive stance.
The remaining seven beasts charged. One released the barbed extensions but Ceiddan successfully dodged by doing a backflip into the air. In this moving position he sliced off these extensions at their middles with the spear. Now back on his feet behind the lumbering beasts he sliced two down the middle and another by the waist. The remaining four turned, charged, roared, and lowered their scythes for Creidann's skull. Placing two fingers before his skull he closed his eyes and chanted a short prayer to his blood god Khaine. A cone of psychic energy belched from his forehead where the symbol of his god was etched. The three warriors and a section of gaunts were incinerated by his pure psychic energy.
From behind a lictor appeared from its camouflage. Gurgle, spit, dead. Creidann stood where the creature stood, its head buried under sand, its body twitching two feet behind his current stance. His red hair once more flew out behind him, his face toward the mountainside. There biovores lumbered up a steep slope. With their gorilla hands they climbed up to a perch where they aimed the bio-cannons that grew out of their backs at the facility.
Taking an objective of his own accord Creidann jumped up the mountainside in less than ten seconds. The biovores ignored him, their psychic orders clear to eradicate the population of the mining facility. Creidann attached detonation devices from his belt onto each biovore's side being a total of twenty biovores. He jumped into the sky and landed at Borign's post; an enormous petal of fire bloomed from behind, a shockwave running through the air, the Eldar's hair slapping against Borign's face.
"Bloody Eldar!" he spat.
"No thanks necessary," stated Creidann.
"My snipers were about to take those biovores out!"
"Hush mon'kai." Creidann lowered his voice to a whsiper. "If you despise my existence so much then try to kill me. Ah but you see, you mon'kai know that against my majestic prowess there is no hope for victory. Yet you all are far too stubborn to realize it."
Borign raised a bolt pistol to Creidann's face. "I bet your damned soul now that you couldn't dodge this bullet before it runs through the back of your alien skull!"
Creidann remained stoic.
BANG. "What?" shrieked Borign.
"You are far too stubborn to realize it," repeated Creidann. He stood at the marine's back, the human's eyes wide and his brows quivering in pure terror. "Filthy mon'kai."
"Stay away from me!" gasped Borign.
Creidann leaned into the human's neck. "Then do not tempt me to kill you here and now." He dug a blade up into the marine's lower back opening.
"Warriors!" shouted a marine.
Organisms were ripping apart space marines one by one. The warriors had reached the walls, the gaunts all exhausted at the expense of the human's ammunition. Now the battle begins.
Like lightning Creidann rushed the wall returning his spear to his belt and extending a wristblade from his right arm. The lithe warrior ran, ducked, and swiped an uppercut through a warrior's neck and through its skull. Black ichar spewed over the majestic Eldar's armor yet none of it touched its radiant beauty. Creidann loaded and aimed his shuriken pistol at another organism. Its psychic brain flew out of the back of its skull. Executing a melee hand to hand combat foreign to humanity Creidann removed spines from four warriors at once, his weapons suddenly returning to his hands from the air. Whatever marine that was not at the front firing line gaped behind their helmets at this warrior's perfect movements.
Gargoyles swooped low screaming their unbearable screams. Creidann holstered his pistol and cast a cluster of golden disks at the assaulting force. The disks were self activated creating a net formed by blue lasers. Shreds of meat that were once gargoyles splattered to the wall and into the swarm.
"We have to retreat!" shouted Thorindir. He pointed to three carnifexes wading through the lesser ranks. "Away from the walls!"
The adeptus astartes followed their commander's orders. The carnifexes were looming closer. In the center of the facility the ground suddenly rose and crashed back into an underground crater. From this plume of sand and dust rose an oversized ravener known as a trygon. It rose above the mortals, its six arms wriggling into the air spasmodically. Now lowering itself it hacked an entire platoon of marines to pieces. Creidann chose the gargantuan trygon as his next target.
Jumping into the air he landed onto the beast's back. While it sliced away humans and devoured them Creidann dug his now energized wristblade into the back of its neck. He was searching for its spinal cord when a second trygon rose out of the ground behind the former. It opened its maw wide and launched forward like a snake. Creidann just barely escaped, the creatures now bickering in snarls and brutal bites.
On the ground Creidann launched another cluster of disks that formed an energized net up at the former's face. It screamed for the disks proved ineffective but in retaliation a green orb of plasma spewed from its mouth; the latter began to devour more men. The impact blast knocked Creidann off his feet and sending him through the air into a group of fuel barrels. Luckily nothing sent them off.
From a high perch on the wall stood Flaris, a wall of space marines defending him, sending a stream of bolter fire at the first trygon. The monstrosity reared its head up casting its unnatural shadow over him. A green light began to illuminate its open maw. Creidann dashed forward to run vertically up its erect body. Using his energized wristblade he kept it slicing through the alien's carapace as he ran; the green light disappeared to be replaced by a high pitched shreik. Creidann reached its open maw where he threw a detonator. The second trygon improvised. It slammed itself into the first so that the detonator landed harmlessly onto the metal floor of the facility. Creidann only had time to curse before the same trygon slammed its skull into him sending him flying into the wall.
"Creidann!" cried Flaris. The giant armored marine jumped down from the high wall landing at the warrior's side. He stood his ground and fired a stream of bolter fire into the trygon's maw. "Get up Creidann Eshairr!"
Carefully the Eldar rose to his feet, his tall sleek helm bent at the tip, his colorful armor gleaming against a now red sun. His shallow breathing told him that the planet's oxygen levels were being dissolved by the airborne decomposers released by either spores or enormous beasts with their large stacks rising from their backs. His hair billowed out as a calm breeze swept through the facility enabling the stench of blood and carrion death to enter his nostrils.
Creidann placed his forefinger and his middle finger together on his forehead against the etched symbol of his craftworld. He kept his eyes open making sure that the trygon will be struck the deadly blow he had in mind. A white light pulsed from his forehead that drowned out the light around him making the world go dark. He pulled this single bright star out until he formed a whip of temporal psychic energy between his fingers.
"What manner of psychic ability do you harness?" asked Flaris in shock.
"As an ex farseer I am adept at all powers of the mind," replied Creidann in his cool voice. "I am capable of many things but as a smart warrior should I do not use my powerful mind attacks for every battle. My energies must be conserved in order to produce this."
"What exactly is it?"
"The Khalli'had is a skill that takes many years mastering. It requires every sense to be deadened except the sixth which requires the ability to open the eye of Isha. With the sixth sense activated and after many years of training the mind to cope with the required energy and focus then can the Khalli'had be used. Only three other farseers have been able to use it, Eldrad Ulthran one of them."
"Are you the first outcast then?"
"Of a farseer capable of this maneouver? Yes, indeed."
Pulling the whip all the way from his forehead the beam of energy crackled wildly. Flaris was shoved into the wall by the shear scale of energy that emanated off of it. Deciding to finish this battle Creidann ran forward, the energy whip out behind him. The trygon surged forward bearing its scything blades. Creidann was launched into the air as the beast's maw struck the earth giving him the necessary space for the ability. Holding onto the whip with both fingers he swirled them in a circular motion, the whip extending in length as he did this. The warrior allowed the whip to wrap itself around the Tyranid's body. Once it was taught round the body Creidann pulled his strong arm back so that the whip sliced through the beast. It screamed horribly as pieces of itself simply fell apart, the edges of the pieces smoking and charred.
The second trygon turned around but it was too late. It was encased in the whip, its loud shrieking threatening Creidann's concentration. As the trygon squirmed against its binding it pulled itself out of the ground it was anchored in revealing that the two creatures were actually combined. Now knowing this Creidann noticed that the first beast's severed end was beginning to twitch. Creidann pulled and the trygon was ripped apart.
"Creidann!" called Thorindir from the facility ground. "The Tyranids are about to..."
A single carnifex grafted with enormous scythes and gargantuan pinchers rammed through the even larger stone gate. Tyranid warriors, leapers, and rippers poured in an unstoppable tide. The vultures overhead were ordered to swoop down to tear the men to pieces. Fortunately the space marines were able to retreat inside the facility structure. Creidann ran for the structure but from the hole the trygons had dug through three venomthropes hovered into the air, their tentacles flailing madly. The Eldar readied a third disk net and cast the cluster at these new foes. Before the disks could activate the venomthropes knocked them aside with their lengthy tendrils.
Cursing Creidann rolled to the side now wielding two shuriken pistols. He fired white lasers at the three beasts hovering with their psychic abilities. Their malevolent soulless eyes stared at Creidann hatefully; a group of tentacles lashed out for the Eldar who made a cartwheel. He escaped the toxic barbed tendrils by a hairsbreath and charged the Tyranids. Creidann flew into the air and landed on one venomthrope's head. He fired rounds through its skull following suite to the other two.
"They're right behind you!" shouted Flaris in the safety of the facility doors that were quickly closing.
Thorindir held his bolter at eye level firing into the ranks of warriors behind Creidann. "Creidann Eshairr! I order you to get inside this facility!"
Behind the helmet Creidann sneared at this arrogant mon'kai. His hatred for the humans did not stop him from leaving the Tyranids behind. He cast clusters of explosive disks into the hordes behind him, his hair flowing wildly. Screams, cries, and moans came from the horrific creatures as they rested on the metal floor in their last death throws. Five carnifexes entered the vicinity and charged forth. Creidann was only yards from the doors before a wracking pain erupted in his skull.
"I am here," hissed a voice inside. "I shall devour you."
Creidann knew that he was a direct target of the hive mind. He fell to the ground in pain. Thorindir marched from the doors firing his bolter into the ranks of Tyranids. Eventually he reached Creidann kneeling at his side.
"Get up Creidann Eshairr!" he roared. "You are a warrior if not for the God Emperor but for me! I have not orderd you to stop yet, have I?"
Eshairr glared up at the adeptus astartes. "Filthy mon'kai!"
"Touche'. Now rise warrior!" Thorindir fired rounds into a Tyranid warrior's face.
Eshairr observed Thorindir's chiseled broad face, his black hair gleaming with sweat while the rest of his body beneath the blue armor stayed cool because of the installed insto-cooling systems. He despised this mon'kai's luxury in the fires of war. He found it insulting.
"Rise Creidann Eshairr!" thundered Thorindir.
"I do not need your filthy mon'kai words..."
Before Creidann could finish speaking he was dragged up to his feet. The two ran for the facility, their differences forgotten as their common enemy surged forth. Thorindir fired rounds into the enemy but most of his focus was spent on running for dear life. They reached the doors only a split second before they closed. Screaming the Tyranids slammed into the doors at full speed so that their skulls could crack and black ichar could run down the metal walls.
"The carnifexes will break through soon," observed Borign. "We have to escape. Is there not a back exit?"
"There is sir," said a scout unit. "I know the way."
"Good. Communicate the thunderhawks and set up an LZ outside."
"Yes sir!" The scout vanished through the metal hangar and into the labrynthine halls.
Creidann just then took notice of the chamber. A hangar full of fuel barrels and crates packed with ore.
"Next time you allow your hatred to get in the way it will be the last," threatened Thorindir.
"Then keep your filthy monky hide out of my business!" snapped Creidann.
"This is our business. You show up looking for a fight against something you cannot fight by yourself. I suggest you take allies in this situation."
"I will when I need them!" Creidann removed his sleek helmet for emphasis from his face. It was chiseled, beautiful, glimmered with a heavenly light that brightened his already heavenly blue eyes, but the most intriguing thing was just how androgynous he was behind the masculine fighting and armor. "Do not threaten an Eldar again mon'kai!"
Thorindir frowned. "Creidann Eshairr, what are you looking for?"
They locked eyes for quite some time when loud bangings came from the closed doors.
"Freedom."
"What freedom?"
"A very good question."
"Commander Thorindir!" cried Flaris. "Battleship Orion has breached the atmosphere. Thunderhawks will be deployed momentarily."
"Excellent," said Thorindir, his frown remaining. "Begin heading in that direction."
Outside the Tyranids continued to throw themselves at the doors. From the view of the battleship Orion the facility was half buried in squirming bodies. Tyranids scrambled for their prey in a brutal competition of numbers. So high were the aliens that the top layer literally crushed the bottom. Only the miniscule rippers slithering at their hooves somehow survived to feast on their dead kindred.
Four of the five carnifexes found large doors that formed the exit for aerial transportation. These tank-like beasts crushed warriors in their wake as they blundered forward. Now that the doors were in range of their powerful pinchers they began to pull them apart. The lone carnifex remained hunched over the facility entry doors. It charged up a green plasma bolt within its gullet and spewed it into the doors.
They were now open.
A high pitched shriek and the smoke drew the marines' attention. Tyranid warriors swarmed in, their height equalling each marine, their strength equalling every two marines.
"Fire!" raged Thorindir.
Bolter fire was unleashed into the wall of bodies. Hundreds fell while thousands began to take their place without head of the deadly punishment they were receiving. Flaris held the trigger on his heavy bolter the entire time while the rest of Thorindir's platoon managed controlled fire. Guttural screams of hatred were silenced while more were spawned.
"Retreat!" ordered Thorindir. "To the LZ!"
Warriors reached the marines' backs. A poor unlucky few were hacked down to bloody rags left behind in hollow armor. Entire broods of rippers buried marines, their bodies and armor vanishing as the little creatures consumed both.
"Creidann!" began Thorindir. "Hold them off!"
The Eldar turned and released a pocketful of tiny black orbs. They rolled along the ground causing the Tyranids to lose their balance and collapse to the floor. Fire erupted from each orb incinerating the entire brood that rushed into the hangar. However, the entire retinue of creatures were still forcing their bloody way inside.
Deep inside the facility the marines ran keeping check with the holographic maps for the backdoor exit. They passed large generators, assembly lines, and control panels seeing from below in the black caves raveners slithering forth. These miniature trygons surged upward from the bottom of generators to drag hapless soldiers to their doom. Many cried for their Emperor while others accepted their doomed fates. Thorindir cursed the Tyranids' existence for stealing their precious geneseed.
A handful of soldiers ended up lost in the halls waiting now as hapless prey against the agile raveners. The six limbed creatures dragged the loyal men of the Emperor off into the darkness and up vents to toss them from external ventilation systems into the mass of aliens.
Eventually a large pair of metal doors were visible for Thorindir, Creidann, Flaris, Borign, and their platoon. Accessing a control panel the doors swished open to reveal a small valley bordered by sun burnt mountains. High above the Orion hovered in the clouds, its cannons extending from the starboard side.
"Why is it preparing for battle?" asked Borign.
To their immediate left were large hangar doors that were suddenly ripped apart by four carnifexes. They roared and stomped forward. Creidann ran against them, his spear in hand, jumping onto their heads before they could physically devour him. Using the blade end of his spear two of the enormous beasts lost their heads while the other two had detonators crammed into the space between their carapace and necks. Creidann's hair flew into his own face because of the detonators popping off Tyranid heads. Slowly he returned his helmet to his head.
"Show off!" muttered Borign.
"Do you mind shutting up?" asked Flaris matter of factly.
Borign looked to his friend with a snarl. "We're in the midst of a traitorous witch! An alien! A being that has no purity!"
"Anyone willing to aid another and slay the soulless Tyranids are pure in my eyes."
"Then they are clouded by this alien's tricks!"
"Enough!" snapped Thorindir. "Be grateful we have such a powerful ally in the midst of war."
A lone thunderhawk lowered itself from the sky landing with a thud a hundred yards away. "Get in!" ordered the driver through a loudspeaker located at the cockpit's exterior.
The sound of an enormous explosion tore at the companions' ears. Looking up three titanic tentacles punctured the sides of the Orion injecting organisms into its hull. A Tyranid bio ship hung in the atmosphere, its low growls reverberating inside craniums causing bleeding ears. The ship had an orifice at its front end, the back end where the tendrils lashed and wrapped themselves around the Orion. The open orifice was ringed with teeth; a green light illuminated its innards, lightning crackling around it. It was then that the starboard cannons opened fire into the Tyranid ship. Huge chunks of biomatter rained down into both the Tyranid mass and around the companions.
"To the thunderhawk now!" raged Thorindir.
Following orders the companions reached the dropship.
Within the Orion captain Solonius sat on the command seat watching with a worried eye the Tyranid ship attempting to coil itself around his hull to releases its bioelectrical shock attack. Beside him stood a member of the Technomagi, Master Locke, always accompanied by a mindless servitor that had an eery skull that seemed to smile even in the knowledge of its own death.
"The machine spirit cannot survive a blow of that magnitude," said Master Locke in his bizarre mechanical voice that came from the metal mask on his face. He was referring to the threat of the bioelectrical shockwave.
"Any ideas on how to stop it?" asked the bald Solonius, his hands clasped before his fare face, the light of the chamber gleaming off his bald head.
"Not in the slightest. I am not a warrior of flesh but a servant of metal."
"Figures. All right then, we'll send a Thunderhawk under remote control into its mouth with a detonator intact. It will incinerate that sack of flesh to nothingness. Magi, keep the starboard cannons in action at least."
"Yes sir."
From behind a tall Tyranid warrior lunged for the ship captain. The skeletal servitor's left arm transformed into a large golden warhammer crackling with arcane energies. The servitor intercepted the warrior crushing its skull deep into its own body. The servitor returned to its position next to Locke.
"Good boy," cooed the Magi.
Creidann watched a thunderhawk exit the starboard hangar of the Orion and make its course straight for the electrical mouth of the Tyranid. He kept his dispassionate gaze on this ship until it came under fire from gargoyles and harpies. Inferring from its crazed movements Creidann came to the conclusion it was remote controlled.
'Smart mon'kai,' he thought.
The thunderhawk, scarred and smoking, zoomed straight into the monstrosity's open maw. Within the detonator went off ripping the beast a new hole in its body. Smoke plumed from its screaming mouth, the pain so unbearable the tendrils left the Orion and crashed into the hordes of organisms below in the ravines. It howled, writhed, and began to fall to the red earth.
"The Emperor is with us!" shouted Borign with his raised chainsword.
The platoon shouted their prayer also.
"Get us out of here pilot," said Thorindir to the man in the cockpit.
"Yes sir..."
A large green crystal shard popped into his skull. Thorindir blinked, blood on his face, in surprise. Quickly he jumped off the thunderhawk screaming for his men to follow suite. Only Creidann, Flaris, and Borign were successful in escaping. The green crystal imploded releasing a mass of smaller crystals that dug their way through armor and steel. The thunderhawk vanished in fire with the screams of the slain marines.
"Damnation!" shouted Borign.
"Brothers," gasped Flaris on his feet. "Behold yonder!"
Creidann followed the human's finger to the exit. Tyranid warriors and hormogaunts stood hissing at their prey but did not make a single move forward. One creature took a single step only to return it to its former place.
"What are they waiting for?" wondered Borign.
"I fear the worst," spoke Thorindir swallowing a frog in his throat.
A psychic connection wracked Creidann's mind once more. It was a myriad of voices, high and low, guttural and human, masculine and feminine. The Hive Mind was penetrating his mental defenses.
"It's here!" he gasped as he knelt into the dry earth. "The Hive Mind! It's here!"
"Yonder!" cried Flaris once more.
Behind the statuesque creatures strode a tall and mighty behemoth. Its back was erect, its shoulders broad under the red carapace that puffed out clouds of destructive microorganisms, each of its four arms ending in gargantuan blades known as bonesabres, and its face grinned with such a malign intelligence it sent chills down the marines' spines.
Creidann returned to his feet, a hand over his eye exhibiting the pain of the Hive Mind's psychic rape. He pulled out his spear but instead of the blade springing from the end came a green energized scythe.
"How many tricks do you have up your sleeve?" gasped Borign.
"Have you ever met an Eldar before?" inquired Creidann coolly. "Didn't think so."
Charging Creidann held the scythe at his waist, the two forefingers of his left hand hovering over his forehead. The swarmlord screamed a long and terrible challenge, its black beady eyes reflecting Creidann as he accepted the challenge. Now the beast jumped forward, its bonesabres crackling with green bioelectrical energy, the microorganisms fuming from its back following overhead like a black rain cloud.
The Eldar launched, sliced, hacked, and landed on the beast's other side. The swarmlord simply grinned, turned, and fired a bolt of plasma from its mouth. Creidann cartwheeled to the side allowing the blast to strike his body although it did not budge him in his defensive stance. He held the blade at eye level.
At the whim of the Hive Mind the creatures surged past the Eldar toward Thorindir and his men. The valiant soldiers opened fire against the enemy but they knew that their fates were sealed if Creidann did not slay the swarmlord. Creidann knew this as well and decided to use his Khalli'had.
Screaming the swarmlord ran forward on its heavy hooves swinging its two pronged bladed tail in an arcing motion. Creidann backflipped but the creature landed a powerful punch into his stomach. The lithe warrior rolled along the ground, the swarmlord chasing him as a hungry canine after its feline opposite. It huffed, panted, drooled, and shrieked for his very soul.
Still rolling violently along the ground Creidann stabbed the earth with the scythe. He suddenly landed on his feet raising the blade up and down in a vertical motion. The blade slammed into the monstrosity's protective carapace on the top of its skull. Using its two horns it knocked the blade away making a thrust. Creidann hopped onto its head, hopped off, and began another vertical arcing motion to rend its head from its body. Unfortunately one sabre blocked the scythe while the second once again knocked him to the ground.
Thorindir saw that the Eldar was nowhere near winning. Gritting his teeth he ran toward the swarmlord firing his bolter. The behemoth snapped its attention and drooling teeth in his direction. It screamed and charged, the ground cracking under its immense weight. Thorindir pulled from a sheath on his back a crackling energy sword. He jumped into the air slicing away at its face only to leave behind shallow scratches. The bonesabres were raised and were lowered onto the energy sword. Thorindir was crushed under the powerful force.
"Stupid mon'kai," sighed Creidann.
Now Creidann placed his forefingers to his head forming the bright star of the Khalli'had. The whip was formed and once more he launched himself high into the air leaving behind a small crater. He twirled the whip between his fingers until it extended to his desired length. With a twist of the wrist he cracked the blue energy at the swarmlord that struggled against Thorindir's human determination. The man's muscles were so strained that cracks were appearing in the already invincible armor of the Ultramarines. Sensing the use of psychic energy the swarmlord returned its attention to Creidann now hovering in the air. The behemoth rasied a hoof and slammed it into Thorindir's midsection. The man's breath left followed by a fountain of blood.
The Eldar watched the whip trail through the air around the monstrosity. Its grin still did not leave its chiseled alien face. A green psychic energy appeared as an orb around the Tyranid and was pushed outward sending Thorindir off into the wreckage of the thunderhawk and dissipating the psychic whip. Creidann felt a very human chill.
"We are so fucked!" griped Borign as he hacked down a hormogaunt.
"Rally to Thorindir," said Flaris still keeping his finger on the trigger.
Bodies were piled meters high in front of the marines in their two man defence. Seeing hormogaunts at the top readying themselves for a jump the men turned to dash for the injured Thorindir.
Keeping their eyes locked Creidann and the swarmlord began to circle one another. He found it now scary that this brute knew battle stances. He knew that the Hive Mind was burrowing its way into his mind with every second he looked into those black malevolent eyes. The Hive Mind was mimicking his fighting style, adapting, absorbing more information than any amount of water that a sponge could.
A crash that deafened the Eldar's powerful ears was followed by a wall of dust. The bioship had crashed into the body of the Tyrannic army stopping their easy flow of units. Flaris finished off the last of the warrior organisms, his attention now on the wall of dust that loomed overhead.
"Cover Thorindir!" he barked to Borign.
The two dragged a ten foot tall piece of metal from the wreckage and propped it up over Thorindir with their backs to block the dust. Thorindir watched Creidann and the swarmlord vanish in the wall. Before he could take another breath the dust had stole away the world around him leaving him alone with Borign and Flaris.
Now the swarmlord and Creidann stood still facing the other in the midst of the dust. Each being silently swore to survive the other; Creidann readied his scythe at eye level while the swarmlord hunched low, its sabres extended out to its sides. The beast charged first this time.
Its sabres crashed into the earth; Creidann appeared at its back. He stabbed his scythe into one of large pillars that grew out of its carapace. The microorganisms began to swarm Creidann yet the Eldar's speed enabled him to survive. Now standing in front of the behemoth, its attention at its back where only seconds the speedy warrior attacked, he fired a cone of psychic energy from his forehead. The blue cone wracked the Tyranid's body in a merciless force that sent it crashing into the earth.
Creidann circled the beast, its four arms preoccupied with getting back to its feet. He charged with his scythe at his waist. The green light of the energized scythe rose high into the air and was brought down deep into the cavity between its steel hard ribcage and its chitinous neck. The swarmlord shrieked; the successful spilling of Tyranid blood sending a psychic pulse through one of Creidann's ear and out the other. Behind the helm his eyes were wide for blood showered out of both eyes and ears.
He collapsed on his back, the swarmlord rising to its feet once more. It raised its four bonesabres preparing for a stabbing motion. From high above bullets the size of baby pigs punctured large wounds through the behemoth's carapace. A second thunderhawk landed closeby in the swirling dust, its top turret releasing heavy rounds of bolter fire into the swarmlord.
Without the need to be told Creidann ran for the pickup. From behind the screeches of the Tyranids became audible. The dust was settling; the Tyranids had returned to their rapid advance. Flaris and Borign hefted Thorindir into the thunderhawk; Flaris held out a hand for Creidann. The four were now seated inside watching the boiling world below vanish under a tide of scythes and claws. The swarmlord could be seen screaming vengeance at the thunderhawk. It was a declaration for their blood, a proclamation that their hunger will never be sated, a statement of evil that has survived since time immemorial.
For a while the only sound beside the engines was the heavy breathing of the four companions resting on the metal floor. In the far sky more spores rained down from the bio ships off in space.
"What a battle, eh?" laughed Flaris. "I thought they had us for a second there."
"Filthy aliens!" grumbled Borign, his arms folded across his shoulder. "Why don't they ever die?"
Creidann rested a hand on Thorindir's breastplate to keep him rested on the metal floor. The marine commander touched the Eldar's gauntlet with his own.
"Thank you Creidann Eshairr," he croaked through blood filled lungs.
"No such thing is necessary," said Creidann. His cold voice did not fluctuate or change. It still remained in its usual monotone. "Rest Thorindir of Terra."
The marine smiled. "Terra. Never in my life have I set foot on that planet."
"Neither have I."
"Of course not, you are alien." Thorindir's fingers tightened round Craidenn's. "Thank you, again."
"If you say such a thing once more I shall skin your mon'kai hide from your bones."
Thorindir grinned at the threat. "You're hollow."
"I do not boast or threaten without truth behind it."
"Then do it. Skin me alive."
Creidann knew that Borign was staring at the alien with his hand on the handle of his chainsword, Flaris watched at ease yet the sense of distress was evident in the air around him.
The Eldar removed his hand from Thorindir's, his eyes downcast. He remained silent the short journey up to the Orion. From watching the Tyranids below Flaris voiced his observation that huge lumbering Tyrannofexes were moving into the area aiming the cannons on their backs up toward the Orion.
"Hurry pilot!" shouted Borign. "We need to get out of here."
"Creidann Eshairr," said Thorindir once more. "Take off you helmet. That is an order."
The Eldar scowled but followed orders. "There."
The commander examined the Eldar's face. Streaks of blood covered his cheeks when the psychic pulse sliced through his brain.
Hot warm lips pressed against Creidann's.
"Thank you," managed the choked Thorindir.
He fell back to the floor struggling to breathe. Flaris and Borign simply sat there, their eyes switching from their commander to the Eldar. Creidann sat there in disbelief. Had a mon'kai male kissed him?
"You are a fool Thorindir," managed Creidann as an infinite sadness suddenly upchucked into his heart.
Memories of a life subdued by a painful will began to appear at the forefront of his mind...