The smell of rotten eggs from the not so distant volcanic pits filled the air in an obnoxious haze as Initiate Jeria Yon ran barefooted through the black gritty sands of Nocturne, home world of the Salamanders Space Marine Chapter whose Bastion resided on the oversized moon of Prometheus.
He was one of three Initiates undergoing trials, a trial of endurance at the present, one of many for proper entrance into the Salamanders Chapter. Together with Xavier Kain and Kiddion Faust, the trio of young men bulked up in muscles way beyond their years from gene-seed implantation, ran across the arid landscape of Nocturne, from canyon wall to canyon wall forged from millennia long volcanic eruptions.
One of the trio, Kain as he was known amongst the young men, wielded a small hand dagger and was the only one in the group properly armed for the trials. Faust held several canteens of water, and Yon carried their rations. The purpose of the survival trial was for all three men to work together. As such, Yon was forbidden to carry the water or the knife. Likewise, Kain and Faust could not carry his rations.
Under optimal circumstances a Space Marines physiology could go several consecutive days without food or water, but… these were not normal circumstances. Their implants were new, barely fully integrated either physically or genetically. As such, any fresh Initiate such as themselves couldn't go more than ten hours without some sort of nourishment.
Thus the trial, 'Group Survival,' learn to trust your fellow Battlebrothers when you are at your weakest. If they could survive now… then they could survive much later on when the odds were even more horrifically stacked against them.
"Are we close Kain?" asked Faust to a fellow dark skinned Initiate dressed in rags around his waist who lead his fellow Initiates up a sand dune of black and red sand with yellow glass crystals that crunched beneath their heavy feet. Bloody footprints lay behind the Initiates across the sandy crag as they continued forward to their objective on the direct opposite side of the long and deep valley.
This particular lesson wasn't about outwitting hostile wildlife so the trio didn't have to worry about predators following them through their scent of blood left wet upon the sands. Oh no, this lesson was simple; endure, don't give up, cross the ravine as a group without resting. As such, they were being heavily monitored by numerous proctors… including… the merciful Ba'Ken.
The knife… served another purpose. Given the lack of wildlife capable of delivering a killing blow, the knife was meant to illustrate another far more important detail of this training. People… who are desperate… can be tempted into betrayal. When the trial was first set into motion the proctors lay down the first rule with crystal clarity, 'No matter what happens… we won't come to help you.' Thus, the knife… should someone drop their rations or water into a volcanic pit… then the only course of survival would be to murder another fellow Initiate for sustenance. Such a thing was frowned upon… but not against the rules. So, in a way, all three Initiates carried one another's lives in their own hands… with one person deemed defacto leader by the presence of a blade.
All three initiates continued up the side of the black glassy sand dune when suddenly Yon felt something… He quickly looked over his shoulder and saw a brief glimpse, a short lived flash of a person… yes it was a man… wearing what briefly appeared to be a light grey tunic. He was walking down the opposite side of a distant sand dune, out of sight…
"Who was that?" he asked out loud to no one else in particular. At once both of his fellow initiates turned around to stare at him in both frustration and anger.
"Not know Yon… we're almost there. It must have been the heat messing with your head," said Faust. Yon shock his head from side to side and turned around to continue his trek back up the sand dune, "I guess you're right. It was probably a figment of my imagination."
The remainder of the trial was easy once they started up the opposite side of the valley and out of the geographically trapped sweltering volcanic heat. In fact, a proctor greeted them on the opposite side, Al-Sai-Kem, a Battlebrother dressed in his traditional green combat armor with golden embroidery.
"Well done Initiates, you have all passed this trial. I will accompany you back to the barracks for your medical examinations…" he motioned towards a nearby speeder. The trio, their dark skins glistening with sweat, their primitive rags blackened from human waste and toxic ground chemicals, all bowed their heads as a display of respect before climbing aboard the speeder for their trip back to the planet side city of Heliosa.
Once this leg of their voyage was underway, Yon couldn't help but sense that he was being 'watched.' On numerous occasions he jerked his head to the side, just quick enough to catch a glimpse, a flash of grey clothe as it turned a corner out of eyesight.
This… was becoming unnerving. Yon wasn't afraid. On the contrary, he thought there was something defective with him. Perhaps, speaking to the Chaplain would ease his mind later on. Perhaps, it was really nothing.
The speeder continued down a stretch of sandy terrain until something suddenly exploded from underneath. What happened next occurred all at once, fire, smoke, screaming, animal like cries as blood and metal spun through the air.
Yon fell into darkness and opened his eyes much later on to see his fellow Initiates and Brother Al-Sai-Kem being feasted upon by Salamanders. Their speeder lay upended nearby, partially melted from a volcanic jet of molten rock that suddenly erupted without explanation or forewarning.
Yon could hear the lizards, their teeth clawing at stubborn muscles, bone, and steel, as they peeled away Al-Sai-Kem's armor and feasted upon the dense meaty tissue therein. They were hungry and while Al-Sai-Kem was certainly a main course mill, they were not ignoring Faust and Kain. Both of his fellow Initiates were also being devoured by the blood thirsty creatures, their dark skin being torn and skinned for the pink and red beneath, the creatures salvia soaking into the sands as they feasted.
One of the Salamanders suddenly noticed him. It started to waddle across the ground and come within striking range, hissing, and salvia dripping from its sharpened white teeth.
He could smell its dark dank breath and sense its oily skin as it came closer and closer, each footstep shifting the sands beneath its large scaly bulk. The creature came before him, opened its mouth, and…
Time slowed to a crawl and eventually stopped as the Salamander came face to face with Yon, halting mere seconds before it would have actually mauled him. He couldn't move, but was acutely aware of everything around him as the sky seemed to darken and a single white door opened just out of the corner of his eye. From this door emerged a man… moving in long calculated strides.
"Mr. Jeria Yon, I do so hate to inter-rupt upon these pleasant-ries, but… you have drawn my ac-ute interests in these… how should we say… important mat-ters," said a slow monotone voice, stalling briefly for a hissing breath.
Yon tried to lift his arms… but they were like lead. What had this person done to him? Was he some sort of foul Xeno? Could Xenos do things like this? In fact, it seemed like this Xeno-man had indeed stopped time with the exclusion of his minds ability to think, whereas Yon had earlier thought of this sudden halt in all things real as a mere matter of perception. Furthermore, everything seemed to darken into a primitive grey color as this single man stepped fully into view.
He was strange, wearing a grey suit with a red tie, his hair neatly trimmed, two sharp green eyes, and he held what appeared to be some sort of leather bound case in his left hand. This man, he stooped over the Salamanders Initiate and straightened out his red tie before motioning towards the man eating Salamander beasts behind him.
"You need not fear our… gues-ts. I have made them otherwise indisposed of for this little conversation… then again to call this a conversation would be to imp-ly that you can respond to anything that I am say-ing. In that context, I must apolo-gize."
Yon watched this strange man walk over to the bloody remains of Al-Sao-Kem, his torso broken and strewn out across the sands, numerous Salamanders surrounding his body feasting upon clumps of tattered meat.
"Such prim-itive creatures," he motioned comically towards the giant carnivorous beasts, "I know of much sim-ilar creatures… many more ac-ross…" he stopped briefly and turned his glance back at Yon with a hint of determination in his stare, "Well… I am not quite at liberty to say."
Once more this strange man hissed a shallow breath and approached the Initiate, "Mr. Jeria Yon, I find myself in need of… ex-cell-ent talent, talent you seem cap-ab-le of providing. Please do not misconstrue my mean-ing… you have no real op-tion in this delicate matter. Now then… shall we be-gin."
At that instant… everything turned white… and Yon felt himself disappear… perhaps forever.