Prologue
Darkness. The inky blackness loomed overhead, only a few stars shone dimly in the dark night sky. No moon hovered reassuringly in the sky as a comforting beacon of light to shine down upon the jungle world of Omacron Primus. The only sources of light came from the separate manufactorums scattered across the planet's dense jungle. There was a total of one-hundred and twenty four manufactorums. They were gathered into thirty one settlements to increase productivity. Each settlement was home to close to hundreds of thousands of inhabitants including the local planetary defence force garrisoned at each settlement. Huge outer walls guarded the settlements from the outside enviroment of the jungle though it had long been cleansed of any xenos presence. The walls encompassed four manufactorums, sometimes have a diamter of hundreds of kilometers. The settlements worked in sectors. Out on Omacron Primus it was a lonely existence. While it provided vital materials to the imperial in the variety of technological means to cure some ailments of battle it was very much cut off from the rest of the Imperium.
Jozor looked round the dense undergrowth that surrounded his patrol. His eyes were a little heavy with sleep and his legs felt weary from the huge distance that they had been walking. Their patrol had covered then entire perimeter of sector twenty seven, the largest sector on the whole planet spanning hundreds of kilometers. There were often several patrols out at once in order to cover the ground and they were often forced to camp out in the jungle as patrolling the sector took several days. Jozor let out a tired sigh as his boots softly thudded off of the brown earth beneath his feet. This was their fourth day on patrol. They went at a gruelling pace and had only a day or two left before their patrol would be complete. He smiled a little and his pace became easier to maintain as he thought of his rack back inside Sector twenty seven.
"Hold up here lads" called the sergeant back to them. All ten of the men let out sighs of relief, many of them sitting down onto the ground at a nearby tree, "set up camp quick" said the Sergeant turning round to face them, his grizzled features hidden by the darkness, "and without the belly-aching this time".
Jozor could only see the silhouettes of his men as they set up camp. He brushed some thick leaves aside as he laid down his las-rifle and took his pack off of his back. The men said nothing as they got out their water and sleeping gear, each exhausted from the pace the sergeant had been keeping them at all day. Jozor felt a nudge at his back and slowly turned his head. "Come on" came a familiar voice, Jozor recognised it as Aidar, "need to take a leak" the voice added before releasing him.
Jozor sighed again and picked up his las-rifle again. The cold metal felt heavier in his hands than it had before in his tired arms. He followed the silhouette of Aidar muttering under his breath. The silhouette stopped and Jozor stopped behind him. He turned away as he heard the undoing of a zip. The foliage rustled gently yet the air was still. He scanned around with his las-rifle for the source of the sound. "Hurry up you slow bastard" muttered Jozor back to his comrade.
"Give me a sec" came the irritated reply and the sound of the zip came again.
"If you were any slower the grass would've grown some" he hissed back. There was more rustling then a sharp intake of air from behind him. "What now?" groaned Jozor turning round to face the silhouette, the rustling had stopped, "come on seriously by all that is..". Then the silhouette rose, it grew taller and taller until it stood over two feet taller than him. A set of gleaming yellow eyes shone through the darkness, two huge tendrils rose up and off the creatures shoulder. Jozor wished that they'd been better equipped as he longed for a set of night-vision goggles. Something fell out of the creature's right hand and squelched wetly as it hit the ground.
Jozor let out a shout and immediately started backing up, firing his las-rifle at the creature. The slim bright orange beams lit up the surrounding jungle, they pricked the creature in the shoulder and chest but had no effect on it. The two huge tendrils dug into the ground as the creature let out a terrifying sound. Jozor took off, running towards the sounds of shouting coming from the men who had been on patrol with him. He could hear nothing from the creature behind him, his heart was pounding in his ears, legs pumping as his feet thudded off of the ground. Panting, he burst through the bushes and nearly bumped into one of the men as he skidded to a halt.
"What the hell is going on?" came the gruff voice of the sergeant, his flashlight on the end of his bolt pistol illuminating the area.
"Aidar..." panted Jozor, "Aidar...is...dead", he doubled over trying to catch his breath before quickly looking in the direction that he had come from and raising his rifle.
Then there was a faint rustling from the direction he had just came from and all guns were pointed that way. Jozor didn't realise he was holding his breath as he aimed down the sights. Icy fear had gripped him, he felt like he could barely move or breath and yet fought the impulse to run straight back the Manufactorum wall. He would never make it though, it was easily fifty clicks away and the creature would surely get him before then.
"There!" shouted one of the guardsmen.
Jozor looked, then man was aiming straight up but Jozor never got the chance to search the sky as the creature landed straight behind them. A guardsmen fell to the ground with the force that the creature landed. The sergeant's flashlight swung round wildly making the darkness around them only seem even blacker. Jozor could see the silhouette of the fallen man being ripped apart before the poor bastard could even raise his rifle. A sickening scream rang out and he fired his las-rifle striking the creature in the back. The orange pinpricks once again having no effect on the creature. The other men turned and fired as the sergeant turned his own weapons upon the creature.
In the light from the flashlight mounted on the bolt pistol the creature became truly visible. It's skin had an inky black colour to it, it's carapace was a shadowy grey. Curved grey claws extended from where finger's would have been, a lash-like tail flowed behind it and where a mouth should have been upon its face, black tentacles draped down to just below it's shoulder. They yellow eyes turned to bore into all of the men.
Two men fired their guns quickly before fleeing into the jungle at the sight of it, once again the rifles proved useless as the sergeant cursed loudly at the before firing his bolt pistol at the creature. In contrast to the las-rfiles the bolt pistol was deafening. "For the Emperor!" he shouted as one of the weapon's deadly explosive rounds punched through the creatures shoulder, purple ichor spattered a tree and the ground behind it as the light moved on and off the creature as the sergeant fought against the recoil of the powerful pistol. Jozor continued to fired as the monster of the dark let out another deafening sound of it's own, dodging the other rounds.
Hooks burst from the creature's chest reaching forward and stabbing into the sergeant's chest. The man let out a howl of agony and dropped both the chainsword and bolt pistol he was holding as he was flung towards the creature. He tried to grab onto something to slow his advance and pulled another man with him. The end result being that as soon as the two of them reached the monster they both let out shouts of pain before being silenced.
Jozor ran towards the Sergeant's fallen weapons missing with his las-rifle as the creature leapt towards yet another man, it's carapace seemed to render it all but invulnerable to las-fire. Another ripping sound from behind him told Jozor there was only three of them left. He scooped up the bolt pistol and chainsword aiming around wildly trying to find out where the creature was. A tiny beam of las-fire stabbed into the creature's bolt wound and it seemed temporarily stunned by the blow. Jozor raised the pistol, "die demon!" he shouted before pulling the trigger. Click click. Out of ammo, only the sergeant had the ammo and Jozor had no idea where his body was. "Use grenades!" he called to the men not sure where they were.
He heard someone fumbling with some catches then another sickly wet sound and a soft thud but Jozor could just see the silhouette of the creature. He knew all too well he would die here tonight, what mattered was the manner in which he would perish. The bolt pistol was gone, he only had the chainsword. He turned on the CAM in his helmet. "With the luck of them emperor someone will see this" he thought to himself and let out a fierce shout. He raised the chainsword over his head with tired arms, the blade's gnashing teeth growled to life as he charged at the monster but before he could get close it batted him aside with a huge tendril. He was sent flying into a tree, losing his grip on the chainsword and hearing something crack inside of him. He lay in a heap on the ground as another tearing sound told him he was alone. He lay in a heap on the ground, gasping for air, he reached out trying to grasp for anything that could help him, tears of pain filled his eyes. The his hands found a diveted cylindrical surface. He almost gasped with relief at the grenade but then cried out as a huge hoofed foot slammed down onto his hand. He felt ever bone shatter and called out in agony. A clawed hand picked him up, slashing into his skin as he was brought face to face with the monster. The yellow eyes seemed to glare at him almost studying. Jozor couldn't breath, blood seeped from his fresh wounds as the other hand came up and he was ripped in half.