Prologue
approximately 155.M36
Space Station Eyria 3
near the galactic core, Segmentum Ultima
The great doors slowly slid open, allowing entrance to the observatorium of the Eyria 3 space station. A young boy in white pants and a white shirt, calmly waited behind a tall man also clad entirely in white who wore a curved blade at his side. Immediately upon the great doors fully sliding apart and ceasing to move, the tall man snapped into motion and marched into the observatorium. The young boy nervously marched behind him into the great chamber.
The dome shaped ceiling rose to a great height and granted a view to the star-filled void of the galactic core. Near the middle of the observatorium there was an ancient instrument of the Adeptus Mechanicus. The relic was mounted onto a clockwork device allowing the operator to set the altitude and azimuth of the of the instrument so as to view the varied phenomena of the core, be they solar systems or the great Warp storm known as the Maelstrom. The walls of the great room were lined with shelves of books and many strange instruments of the Adeptus Mechanicus, the followers of the Machine God.
These sites would have been more than enough to occupy the mind of any normal boy for a good deal of time under normal circumstances. However, the young boy in white was not any normal boy and these were not normal circumstances. He was fixated upon the three figures in the room as he followed the tall man in front of him. The figure in the middle of the observatorium was obviously some servant of the Machine God as he wore a red robe which partly covered a long mechanical appendage extending from his back and a hood covered his head. Upon further inspection the young boy recognized him as Aarskog, the Genetor of Clan Ryu. The other two figures were off to one side. One was a young girl, dressed in white as was he, but with a hood pulled over her head. The other was a remarkably tall and elegant woman, also dressed in white and with a curved blade at her side like that of the man he was following. She was thin and long-limbed with long straight black hair fashioned into a bun that covered her ears. She shone like a Sun to him.
The tall man snapped around to face the boy and dropped to one knee. "Mikhel, listen to me carefully," he began. The man's face was calm and his third eye was gently closed, unlike the third eye of the boy to which he was speaking. The eye which the boy had clenched tightly closed in order to avoid being blinded by the light radiating from the third eye of the tall woman in white. "I do this for you and for our Clan. It is an honour for me to do this. Novator Terasu is an honourable woman and I expect that you will honour her regardless of what happens this day. If you do not honour her, you will dishonor me." Mikhel shrank from the thought of dishonouring his father.
The man waited for his words to sink into his son's mind before continuing. The boy was distraught for he had seen so much in the past ten standard days. His father, the man who knelt before him, had slain in ritual combat all of their clan whose Navigator gene had allowed their inner eye to open without trepanation. All save him. Those who remained had years ago received their trepanation at the hand of the Genetor standing in the middle of the observatorium, opening their third eye so as to be able to navigate the Warp. Slaying his cousins had changed his father who seemed to grow taller and faster with each life he took. The boy's father continued, "Mikhel, all our Clan is descended from the Ryu Clan. If I succeed today, their wealth and power will be ours. If I fail, you and the rest of our Clan will be drawn under the safety of the dragon's wings as a part of Clan Ryu. It will be an honour. If such happens, you can honour my memory by honouring Terasu." With that, he turned and strode toward the Genetor. Simultaneously, Terasu turned from the girl in white and strode smoothly toward the Genetor, like a serpent. Both Terasu and Mikhel's father kept their third eye closed as they neared Aarskog.
"Halt," boomed the command from the Genetor. Both Terasu and Mikhel's father instantly came to a stop. The Genetor's outstretched human hands held a sheathe with a dragon-headed hilt extending from it. His mechadendrite took the dragon's head and drew forth the blade. Mikhel's young eyes had never seen anything of its like before and his third eye was fixed upon the blade. Aarskog's mechadendrite turned the blade down and released it. The blade hung in the air, point down. "The finishing blow must be performed with Mikazuki, the sorei of the great Clan Ryu," continued the Genetor. This confused Mikhel as he was always told the power blade his father wore was their sorei, the ancestral blade of the Marshal Clan and he assumed the power blade on Terasu's side was the sorei of Clan Ryu. But, his father's blade was nothing like this Mikazuki and his third eye was drawn to its blade. Terasu and Mikhel's father bowed deeply to one another.
"All listen to me," commanded Aarskog's voice. "Focus on calming the Warp and becoming one." Mikhel began to do as he had been instructed. He focused upon the tumultuous Warp and forced it to calm in an ever expanding radius from him. He saw that the others did the same. The girl was strong, but not compared to his father. The strength which emanated from Terasu was terrible for Mikhel to behold. The four radii of power expanded and overlapped, with the eddies and currents of the Warp tapering into a stillness. Mikhel had never felt such peace, and he felt the others within it. He felt as one with his father, and with the young girl opposite him, and with the great power that was Terasu.
"Master Marshal. Mistress Ryu.," Aarskog said and paused. "Begin!" he shouted.
Suddenly, the two sprang into motion like the Warp lightnings Mikhel had seen while navigating the storms near the Maelstrom. Each drew Clan sorei and rapidly flowed into an attack. The Master sweeping low and across while the Mistress swept overhand and down. She swept the Master's blade down, with their power fields momentarily comingling and came up with a rapid backstroke he barely dodged by leaning back beyond the blade's arc. Moving fluidly he returned a brilliant overhand stroke only to have it batted away with her sorei through grace and speed. Each was testing the other's physical reflexes while their minds focused on continuing the calmness and the oneness of the Warp.
The two continued to move with speed and grace but began to take control of the envelope of the calmed Warp within which they fought. Lightning danced through the spaces between them and was batted away, sometimes with the blade held in held and sometimes with but a thought. There were blinding flashes of light followed by pure darkness. It was all poor Mikhel could do to remain in control, forcing his envelope of the Warp to remain calm, untouched by corrupting forces from without while mayhem was wrought from within.
Suddenly there was clarity and all within the Warp was calm. Mikhel's father was doubled over and transfixed by Terasu's sorei. His sorei lay on the ground. Terasu released her blade. Then, with speed so great Mikhel could barely follow her, she swept in a circle and took Mikazuki. Without the slightest pause in her motion, she continued into an overhand arc and decapitated his father, the Master of the Marshal Clan. Blood arced from his neck and lightnings danced through the envelope of stillness in the Warp. Mikhel thought he had seen something pass from his father's headless body through Mikazuki and into Terasu. Was that my father's soul? The thought danced in his head for a moment.
Mikhel closed all his eyes tightly, not able to bear the vision of his father's death in the Warp or in the spectrum of visible light. When he opened his eyes again, they stared into the almond shaped emerald eyes of Terasu, her beautiful face framed by her long black hair. She was crouched in front of him so that her great height would not tower over him. Her mouth began to move and her voice was soft, yet powerful. "Your father was a great and honourable man. I expect that you will do your best to honour his memory," she calmly stated. "You have great potential. You are barely a decade of standard years in age and can already traverse the dangers of the Warp in the vicinity of the Maelstrom."
Looking down, Mikhel saw that Terasu held the Marshal Clan's sheathed sorei horizontally in her two palms and was presenting it to him. He reached for it with his right hand, but heard the whisper of the girl in white at Terasu's side before he took it. Both hands, she said in a barely audible whisper. Realizing his error of protocol, he took the blade with both hands and removed it from the open palms of Mistress Terasu.
"It will be an honour to serve," Mikhel stated and dropped to one knee before her.
Mistress Terasu, Novator of Clan Ryu, stood to her great height and towered over Mikhel, spattered in his father's blood, a smile on her lips.
Hopefully, this will be expanded into a larger story without too much delay