The church was silent, save for the thuds of heavy ceramite boots upon its tarnished ground. Unholy symbols were present all along the walls, protruding with the menacing spikes and evil aura. Yet this had not affected the Astartes who were plodding through the empty corridor, their weapons held at waist level. Behind them laid many cultists who were slaughtered ruthlessly, mercy and quarter unknown to their corpses.

"Ammo used?" adept Logios inquired of his fellow Astartes through the vox within his helmet. Whilst they could communicate, the silence outside the suits would stay. The Astartes in question was in front of him, a purity seal upon his pauldron.

"Twenty rounds. I still have ten left, brother," responded his battle brother, Markais. His tone was near jovial, as if attempting to make a joke.

"Perhaps it is best for you to reload," Logios returned, boltgun still trailing any nooks and crannies.

A dark chuckle came from his brother. "They are but mere men, what harm could they do? The worst I saw was a rifle that came from a manufactorum rather than a backroom," he shot back.

His need to shake his head was fierce, yet he kept his eyes forward as he stated, "You don't know what they have. It is best to be safe."

There was a pause before Markias reloaded slowly. It was far too slow to possibly be safe while advancing. Logios would never be pleased with his battle brother, and this was always why.

"Be alert," he growled whilst coming up on a large opening, barred off by two large wooden doors.

"What if I just kicked it in?" he asked.

"Don't."

"I'm afraid you're correct," he conceded, a glimmer of hope in him yet. "We should blow it open with a fragmenta-"

"No!" Markais shouted. "Let us not ruin our element of surprise like this. Standard breaching protocol should be employed."

"And waste time on petty cultists? If we get this resolved quickly, we may yet be there for more important objectives."

Markais steeled his face, though whatever effect it would have would be for not with the helmet. "What could be more important than protecting the Imperium against the spread of the taint?"

"Simple: Protecting it at large from an invasion of it," he quickly responded before nearly touching the door. "Breaching!" he shouted, raising his leg.

"By the Emp-"

The door was blasted back from the force of the power armored superhuman kick, and inside laid many cultists who were caught unawares. They were gathered into a circle, underneath them lay some sort of ritual of blood. Hooks adorned the ceiling, some with imperial corpses suspended on them.

Immediately, Logios pulled back the trigger of his boltgun, producing a loud burst of fire from the muzzle. The bullet had sailed directly into the surprised face of a corrupted human, digging in and blowing up horrendously.

Yet Logios had no time to focus on details, instead letting loose a storm of bolt rounds faster than the humans could react. Several more had holes blown within their bodies as they attempted to retreat. With ammo still in his magazine, it was over before they knew what hit them.

"Hah!" Markais barked, "See? This is much quicker."

"You're lucky they weren't prepared."

"Luck had nothing to do with it, brother. That brings me up to thirty three."

Logios could not help a snort at that. He was still keeping track of that, yet probably lost count of his magazine. "And-"

"Two left," he interrupted, answering his question before it came. He seemed to giggle as he advanced casually through the room, scanning it for threats.

Logios did the same, albeit ready to jump at a moment's notice, as his companion should be. He advanced behind him, as per usual, though this room had felt more revolting than the other. He could not explain why, but he was on edge.

"I sense something off. Stay alert," he warned his compatriot.

Markias swiveled around, his shoulder now facing Logios. Another purity seal was stamped onto his breastplate, a sign of his experience in these matters. "You said that before, and yet, here we are, still facing inadequate foes."

"I seem to repeat myself around you far too often. Perhaps I am not the issue here!"

"You simply rely on the codex far too much, as if it is a higher scripture than any other. 'Caution' this, 'cautious' that, can you not abandon protocols for one moment to adapt yourself?"

Logios stood, taken aback. His gun slightly dropped in his awe. "I cannot believe you would simply throw away all that which we are based upon!"

"Brother, believe me, I would rely on the tome if it was worth something here, but it is not."

How could he have received two purity seals, yet is this ignorant? "It is worth-"

Suddenly, Logios flew backwards as a massive force slammed against the front of his armor. A rush of relief flooded through his body as he crashed into a wall, falling down to the ground. He immediately attempted to evaluate his weaponry, but found that his hand was free of his boltgun.

Upon looking up, he saw an emanating purple-red cloud and knew the chaotic warp was involved here. He saw Markais, lying against the wall, his helmet facing downwards. There was no conceivable way a blast like that could have killed a space marine, or even knock one unconscious.

Suddenly, he saw the boot of another marine approach. However, instead of the ceramite sabaton leading up to a leg, it instead lead to the bottom of a robe. Further up laid the tell-tale signs of power armor, though the way it looked, it was covered in a scale-like substances and a tainted icon laid in the middle of the breastplate. The helmet had unnaturally glowing green eyes, and had spiralling horns topping it.

"And I thought I was just hearing things," a silky voice had announced, loud and clear.

"For the Emperor!" Logios screamed, raising to a knee and grabbing the knife out of the scabbard on his left leg.

However, for all his battle vigor, it was for naught as a force had grasped his hand, seizing it in place. Logios had grit his teeth, attempting to push forward with all his might, but it was of no use.

"Yes, yes, continue with your practiced diatribe. It affects me not, brother," he continued, his words dripping with venom. "You have lost, simple as that. Your fate is officially mine to choose."

Whilst Logios still attempted against the force, his eyes caught the form of Markias moving. He had lifted his boltgun up, and had it pointed directly at the sorcerer's head. He had prayed for him to fire as quickly as possible rather than letting the traitor continue.

"Now, you've provided me with-"

His speech was halted as a click rang out in the room. Another click. Once more. A look of horror grazed Logios' face for a moment, but he immediately rectified this.

Markais looked at his weapon for a moment before stating, "I miscounted. I actually fired two at-"

Another interruption rang out as his helmet fell, his vox cut short. A large hole was present in it, and it was leaking fresh blood. Looking back at the sorcerer, a hand of his held a smoking bolt pistol. "Now," he emphasized, "You've provided me with an interesting choice. Just what to do with you?"

"My faith in the Emperor shall prevail, you traitor. I shall break these bounds and destroy you!"

The sorcerer seemed to chuckle as his staff bent downward. The force pulled his hand painfully, despite the drugs that had kicked in. His knife clattered against the ground, leaving him with only a bolt pistol, though the force prevented him from doing anything.

"I had quite the gathering here. In fact, I was so close to achieving my ascension. So. Very. Close," he accentuated every pause with a step forward and a dipping of his staff. "What ever shall I do with you?"

Logios lifted himself as best as he could, attempting his hardest to refuse to give in to his fate.

"Hm. I do not know what would fit, so I'll tell you what: I'll let the warp decide."

"No!" he screamed, his will to defeat the sorcerer undaunted.

The sorcerer laughed as the vision of Logios filled with a haze of purple-red. His entire body felt a shifting, as if parts of his body that were not meant to move a certain way were shifting to do so. His skin crawled as his bones seemed to set into new shapes, and his power armor began to crack.

There was a pain for a brief moment before a world of darkness faded over him. The Astartes welcomed the darkness as he knew he would. Death by battle, his natural end.

The silence was broken quickly by a scratching sound. Logios' eyes snapped open, letting a very colorful world into his vision. It was as if it was a paradise world. He seemed to be atop some sort of plateau, overviewing some sort of green land with some snowy caps nearby. In front of him laid a large, reptilian creature with wings. It was silvery in color, and was quite sleek in appearance.

His threat assessment out of the way, he quickly attempted to get to his feet, ready to attack the foul looking creature should it prove hostile. However, he felt the ground, oddly enough, and felt as though his armor was not present.

This was not a problem for an Astartes, however, and he quickly adjusted. He searched for a weapon to use, peering down momentarily as he was getting up.

What he saw was less than desirable. Instead of his human hands were the talons of a reptilian creature. He moved a finger, and one of the talons had moved, just as if it were his finger. Knowing this was a part of his body, given the expectation of warp taint, he was planning on using that as his weapon.

When he was shifting to stand, he could only find himself upon his four appendages, seemingly unable to actually stand. His back legs felt extremely odd, as if they were disjointed in some way and over jointed in another. This would not deter him. He could evaluate this and get such problems resolved with an apothecary later.

In the end, he stood at the ready against the lone animal that seemed to stare at him. Then, its mouth moved as it stated in a feminine voice, "You are a strange SkyWing."

This creature was no animal, it was a xeno. This must have been a fringe world of some kind. He was alone, without armor, and injured against a xenos foe. This would be difficult, yet there is no challenge an Astartes cannot accomplish.

He carefully thought about what to do. The codex would say…

The codex never said anything about this.

His mind wandered to Markais in his last moments. His actions in this case would probably be unorthodox and would even tread the line between for the Emperor and for himself. He readied himself for a moment, then let the words in his mind slip from his mouth, "What are you?" It was a solid question.

The creature did not appear to let up in its stance, whatever it was. It was not relaxed, but he had a feeling it was not aggressive. Most likely. "Were you born yesterday? I thought everyone knew what an IceWing was."

With the xeno identified, his next question was simple. "Who are you and what is your objective?"

The IceWing took a step back, its face changing. "You are really strange. What're you, some official or something?"

Logios adjusted his feet to prepare to jump into action. "Answer my question, xeno."

It took another step back. "Look, I'm just a scout, I was just on my way out of here. No need to-"

"Scouting what?" he asked, knowing this xeno might just be assisting in the sieging of imperials.

"Just here and there, it's not important. Who even are you?" it asked, clearly stressed.

He had mentally prepped this introduction for any and all who asked of his identity. "Adept Logios of the Angels Revenant Chapter of the Adeptus Astartes of the Imperium of Man," immediately bellowed forth from the alter Astartes, robotically practiced.

The IceWing looked dumbfounded, if its expression was anything like a human's. After a moment's pause, it stated, "Right, yeah, sounds uh… Pretty official. I'll leave you be, then?" It seemed to signal that it wanted to leave.

"No, you will not," Logios slowly said, emphasizing each word with raw power in his voice. One of his feet raised up slightly, and he slammed it down, though the noise it made had hardly been as impressive as his treads would have made.

The IceWing stared at the marine for a moment, whatever it was trying to convey completely lost on him. It then turned around swiftly, running into a sprint towards the edge of the plateau, dust flying behind it.

Logios began pursuit, but ceased when the scout had leapt into the air with its momentum, using its wings to begin flight. If only he had a jetpack, or even a damned boltgun, that xenos would not have even had a chance at escape.

With the pursuit abandoned, Logios quickly surveyed his surrounding once more.

There were certainly mountains littered with snow, lakes and rivers blue as the sky, rolling green hills, and even what appeared to be a jungle-like forest. This was a paradise world, if ever there were any, and no signs of Imperial structure was anywhere. Perhaps this was a planet upon the outer rim of the Imperium.

It made no difference to Logios. He would find and establish human contact eventually. This was significantly more difficult without his power armor, but finding a vox, even on a world such as this, would not be too much to ask for.

His observations were cut short by the white creature that flew away appearing once more over him, as if mocking him. "You know, for all you talk, you don't have a lot of show. It looks like you gave up before you even began!"

"Silence, xeno."

"I'm not even that fast a flier."

The xeno's ceaseless taunting was not appreciated. Still, the Astartes kept up his ready, almost statue-like stance. Whilst it would be recommended to purge the xenos from this planet as soon as possible, it would be useful to obtain something out of this xenos if they were indeed a scout of a faction. "Your incessant insults annoy me. What fa-"

"Annoys you? You talk like some elder, but you're clearly younger than that," it interrupted.

Logios was certainly not the oldest member of his chapter, being incredibly young at the age of 30 years. However, it was clear he was more mature than this petulant child of a xeno. His personal feelings would not get in the way of this matter, though. "What group is it that you scout for?"

"Well, if you wanna know, you'll have to catch me. You know, if your wings work."

Logios kept his gaze on the lazily bobbing creature, keeping itself in place with its flapping wings, "I do not have wings."

The xeno had a shift of expression, its eyes widening a tiny bit. Its mouth even appeared a bit agape. "I can't tell if you're serious or not."

The silence that followed was disturbing.

"You're actually serious, aren't you?"

Once again, the silence was palpable.

"Have I told you that you're strange?"