A Knight's Crusade
Grandmaster Mandulis opened his eyes after what felt like an eternity. He took purchase of his surroundings, noticing he is now is in an unfamiliar place. He trawls through his well disciplined mind, trying to make sense of what has happened. He remembers when he banished Ghargatuloth on Khorion IX and the grievous wounds that had been inflicted upon him. He recalls a hallucination he had while waiting for his end, a golden figure of pure majesty appearing before him, but only for a second before he lost consciousness.
The venerable Grey Knight slowly rises, noticing that all of his wounds have been miraculously healed and the rents in his armour repaired to the highest calibre. As he rises he notices this is no time for laxity. He can feel the wards on his skin burning, the place he is in being rife with the corruption of the Ruinous Powers. His helmet's autosenses reveal to him that he is in a cave, dark and damp, with no idea how far underground he is. Knowing that being alive is a great enough blessing from the Emperor he heads up the ascending path that he spots.
For hours Mandulis wandered, always heading upwards, but the taint of Chaos did not dissipate as he did so. Finally he found something to give him direction. He could hear the distant echoes of bolter fire and the terrible roar of what he knew could only be a warp spawned monstrosity. He quickly dashes towards the source of the battle as fast as his genetically enhanced body and cumbersome suit of Terminator armour allows.
As the Grandmaster rounded a corner he finally came to a stop. All the noise except the mewling of the warp spawn had stopped. In front of him nine Astartes lay broken on the ground, limbs ripped from torsos and rib cages torn open. However the model of power armour being worn piqued the Grey Knight's curiosity. It is Crusade-era power armour, and while not unheard of for some chapter to still maintain a few of these artifacts, none would ever equip an entire squad with these most sacred relics. The colour and iconography of the armour also drew his attention. They matched that of the pre-Heresy Luna Wolves, but surely this was a trick being played by the Ruinous Powers. The Luna Wolves betrayed the Emperor over 10,000 years ago, surely none that were loyal still remained.
However, what drew his attention most was the eldritch monstrosity. It also wore the power armour but it was torn and worn only in small patches. The thing was definitely a possessed Astartes and Mandulis had dealt with many of them before. In an instant and without doubt he knew that he must uphold his oath the Emperor.
"Daemon!", Mandulis' voice boomed, augmented by the vox system in his suit, "in the name of the Emperor of Mankind I shall banish your foul presence from this plane!"
The daemonhost let out a monstrous roar that would have shattered the sanity of lesser men but Mandulis held his ground. Compared to the other horrors that Mandulis had faced this was like child's play. However Mandulis quickly reprimanded himself for taking pride in his victories. That was the cause of Horus' fall and only the slightest crack was needed in one's mental armour for the corruption of the warp to take hold.
"Why do you not quake stranger?" asked the daemon. "You know what fate awaits you, it is the same as these wretches that lay before me."
"I have defeated your kind before and by the Will of the Emperor I will do so as long as I still draw breath." responded Mandulis, as he slowly raised his Nemesis Force Weapon, readying for the coming melee.
"Well, you shall draw breath no longer!" shrieked the daemon as it charged towards the Grandmaster.
And the battle was joined.
Gavriel Loken was worried. He had a received garbled vox message from Jubal's squad describing what could only be pure nonsense and then beyond that one message. After receiving the message, he quickly gathered up squad Brakespur and headed towards Jubal's last known location. As he dashed forwards he kept hearing terrible sounds of what seemed like some long forgotten mythical creature. Loken knew this couldn't be the case though, the Imperial Truth denied such superstitious thoughts.
When Loken finally arrived at the squad's location he had a hard time believing that the Imperial Truth wasn't a lie. In front of him was a charnel house, nine members of his company dead, bodies mutilated and torn apart. But what really drew his attention was the combatants locked in melee before him. One of them was Jubal, or at least used to be Jubal. The only thing that gave he monster's identity away was the warped visage, a mockery of Jubal's face. Past that there was no resemblance. The power armour was only covering patches of the abomination's gargantuan frame, no longer able to fit the creature inside.
The other combatant though, Loken had no idea who it was. He was Astartes, that was most certain but past that Loken had no idea what he was looking at. The warrior was wearing an ornate suit of what appeared to be some model of Terminator armour that Loken had never seen before, the beautiful craftsmanship of it and design putting the suits of the Justerian to shame. It's colour of resplendent silver inlaid with gold harkened back to the old Terran stories of knights in shining armour. The weapon he wielded was like none he had ever seen before. It was a sword of the highest calibre and it was surrounded by a blue glow. Loken was completely sure it wasn't a power field, seeing as there were no arcs of lightning running across the blade.
The battle happening before him was unlike one he had ever seen. While the Jubal-thing fought with pure hatred and rage the lone Astartes fought with skill Loken had never seen before. The warrior parried every blow that was headed in his direction and all the while kept slashing at the Jubal-thing.
A sudden crack of a vox turning on alerted Loken to the first noise the Terminator had made this entire battle.
"I am the hammer, I am the right hand of my Emperor, the tip of His spear, the edge of His sword", roared the warrior, "In vengeance be true, in valour be strong. In vengeance be foremost!"
As he said this he plunged his blade deep into Jubal's chest, causing the creature to writhe in agony before a blinding flash of light occurred. As Loken's autosenses filtered the light away he saw that the Jubal creature was no more, only the patchwork mess of armour the creature wore remained. However Loken was not one to let down his guard.
"Brakespur, be ready to engage the target in case he is hostile." Loken barked over the vox.
"No disrespect sir, but I think he may have just saved all of us. I highly doubt he would harm us now." , replied Nero Vipus, Loken's second in command.
"I am not saying he will, but just be ready. We have no idea what happened here and I don't want to to lose any more men on what should have been an operation with no casualties."
As the highest in command at the scene, it was up to Loken to initiate contact with mystery Astarte. He couldn't identify what legion he belonged to and this worried him. However, Loken spoke, "Stranger, identify yourself."
The Terminator turned to face them, finally taking notice of their presence.
"I will not identify myself until you have. I am but a servant of the Emperor of Mankind and that is all you need to know for now."
"Very well. I am Gavriel Loken, Captain of the Tenth Company of the Luna Wolves and a member of the Mournival of Horus Lupercal."
"Lies!" growled the Terminator, "Horus and his wretched legion betrayed the Emperor. Prepare to die heretic." The Terminator raised his sword and what appeared to be a bolter that was mounted to his wrist and started to charge towards Brakespur.
"Horus has betrayed no one! He is the Emperor's favoured son and the greatest primarch. He has done nothing but push the borders of the Imperium back! He has earned the title of Warmaster for his deeds!" cried Loken, furious at how this stranger so zealously sullied the honour of his father. All of a sudden Loken felt a presence in his mind, going through his memories and thoughts, dissecting him as a whole. The unidentified Astarte was a psyker and he was going through Loken's mind. While this was going on Loken was able to see some of the attacker's mind and was horrified at what he saw. Teleporting into worlds of pure insanity and fighting creatures of pure nightmare. Three hundred members of his order being dropped into a world of pure hellspawn and madness.
"What year is it?" came the grating vox emission from the Astarte's helm.
Loken was stunned. How could an Astarte, especially one of this calibre not know what year it was?
"M30.142." replied Vipus.
"By the Emperor, what has happened!" cried the Terminator, "if this is true it may not be too late! I can save the Emperor. You must take me to him immediately."
Loken's patience was being worn thin. The gall of this stranger to be willing to kill Loken's entire squad then suddenly demand to see the Emperor was unfathomable. Still though, Loken thought it would be prudent to practice some diplomacy to stop more violence from occurring.
"I will see what I can do. But first you must identify yourself."
Mandulis, for the first time in his service to the Emperor was shocked. From what he had gleamed when he read the mind of this Gavriel Loken and later confirmed by another member of the squad, it was the time of the Great Crusade, when the Emperor still walked amongst mortals. In front of him were no traitors, but marines loyal to the Emperor's cause.
"Very well," sighed Mandulis, "I am a Grand Master of the Grey Knights chapter of Space Marines. We exist for the sole purpose of rooting out the daemonic corruption that lies at the Imperium's heart and destroying it with utter ruthlessness and without mercy. I come from a time 10,000 years into the future, where the Emperor is bound to the Golden Throne because of Horus' grand betrayal."
"You are mad. Daemons are just superstitions and hearsay from an older time best left forgotten. The Imperial Truth, dictated by the Emperor, beloved by all, proclaims this." retorted Loken, his patience nearing it's end.
"Believe me when I say daemons are real. I have seen things in my service to the Emperor that would drive the likes of you insane." snapped Mandulis, growing irritated with the constant questioning of the marine. "You must take me out of here though, before it is too late to stop what must not come to pass."
"Follow me then. But know this, do not try to attack my men, for if you do the entire legion shall avenge us." Loken said, hoping it would be enough to keep the Grey Knight in check.
"Torgaddon, I found Jubal's squad, they are all dead. Jubal killed them." Loken's words went unanswered for a moment before a reply came.
"What do you mean he killed them? Did you avenge their deaths?" Torgaddon's voice was uneasy in saying this, but he hid it well.
"I'll explain when we get to surface, also we have something interesting coming up with us. Ready your company at the entrance."