Prologue

Emperor, give me strength, thought Vauran, the lone imperial guardsman, as he laid in the middle of the dark room. All around him shadows along the stone walls took the forms of nightmares and demons but nothing could scare him now, not even the evil spawn of the Warp. He tried to move his hands in vain as the chains steadfast. If I ever make it out of this, I will devote my every waking hour to the divine and wise will of the Holy Emperor, he thought in desperation as he tried to move his feet only to be greeted by the rattling of chains once again. After struggling for several minutes with no avail he gave up and just laid there trying to remember how he ended up in the room. As he tried to sort through his jumbled memory of the past several days he became aware of a distant sound.

Click…

Click…

Click…

The sounds were footsteps! Vauran's hopes returned and he instantly yelled, 'Who is there?! Where am I?! Please, for Emperor's sake, let me out of the hellhole!'

Clank…

Clank…

Clank…

The footsteps grew louder and more frequent as if whatever it was started to run towards Vauran's cell. About half a minute later light flooded into the previously dark cell. Vauran was blinded but he was able to make out two figures behind the light, they looked human.

'Emperor damn it! This one is awake!' screamed a voice, most likely one of the figures in the light.

'Please help me, I am Specialist Vauran of the Courren 97th Rifles'

'Calm down, Farren! We will just follow orders and shoot the bastard,' said another calmer and deeper voice almost as if he didn't hear Vauran at all.

'Please don't shoot me, I am just an obedient Emperor-fearing guardsmen.'

'I just can't do it Sarge! He is one of our own, not some disgusting xeno or heretic,' said the first voice also ignoring it.

'Don't be such a bitch Farren, we are guardsmen and all we do is follow orders. I am sure this bastard and the rest of the Courren 97th Rifles did something to deserve this,' said the other man as his silhouette raised what appeared to be a boltpistol.

Suddenly Vauran heard the familiar bang of the boltpistol and felt a blinding pain shoot through his body Only one thought reached his mind before his world went black.

How did I get here, what did I do to deserve this. How did this happen!