Leorus was your normal kid, well at least as normal as one with no family could be. He lived in the local church of his valley with his best friend Eklan. Oh yes, and he had a friend who most of the grown-ups called "imaginary" and "not real", but Leorus and Eklan knew differently. He was real. Leorus could not remember when the black-haired man was not with him, neither could Eklan. Sometimes he was a man, sometime he was something else, not quite human, but not totally anything else.

But that was a while ago. When Eklan had left one or two years ago, some people called the local priest, who had served the village for countless seasons. They wanted to know where Eklan was going, and what impact her belief in an imaginary friend would have.

"Do not fret," the bald man told his flock. "The Throne has called her, a war orphan, to a higher purpose. She will meet the Drill Abbots, who are His servants in the stars."

The priest said no more, and the villagers returned to their farms and homes. The only one who knew the truth was Leorus, thanks to his friend. "Don't sit there," the odd being said as the boy tried to sit on the couch of his hovel. "That's my spot. Eklan is going to become a supersoldier, one better than everyone on this world, except those who join the ranks of my sons. It's shameful that her new friends will be under the universal delusion."

"Will we see each other again?"

"Yes."

Soon, it was time to move on. The star warriors of the Departmento Munitorum were once again recruiting for the Guard. Unlike the bigger world, the one with better technology and apartment blocks reaching the skies, Avrolanc IIIa contributed less in soldiers and more in animals. The huge, leathery-winged reptiles known as the 2-Legs were the most common, but so were the Cold One giant lizards and the huge Night Dragons. Nonetheless, a few of the peasants and townspeople could join the ranks of the Imperial Guard, serving as grooms for the beasts and as assistant to the nobility.


"COME ON, RECRUIT, DO YOU WANT THOSE XENO SCUM TO BEAT US?", shouted the sergeant.

I scrambled up the hill trying to not get shot by the eldar, as I heard them being called, my legs felt like hell came and burnt them to a crisp, but I kept running. Because if I did not then I would be shot by them, I could feel all the explosions around me. I jumped to the ground trying to make myself a smaller target, bringing my lasgun to bear I shot wildly into the approaching xenos, trying to hit them, but every shot seemed to miss, and every one that hit seemed to just bounce off their armour, I could feel Tiglath shouting encouragement to him, but it was drowned out by screaming of men around him and the fire of lasguns and whatever the enemy fired.

Then a large blast went off and he flew away, as one of the half naked ones came up to him slowly, the way she moved would normally make him very uncertain and freeze up, but now he only had adrenaline coursing through him, then the xeno talked. "Well, well well, what do we have here", she said as she cracked her whip near to me, "a nice little Mon'keigh all for me, how lovely".

I could only look on in defiance as I tried to move towards my rifle, but I was too wounded to move. "Explosion must of messed me up more than I thought", I thought in my head, wincing from the pain, then a sudden moment of clarity came, like everything just faded away except for me and the eldar in front of me, then I had a plan, though it would hurt like the seven hells.

As she approached me she bent down and looked at my eyes, and only seeing defiance she raised her whip.

"NOW", I heard Tiglath shout, though it felt like miles away.

I dodged the whip then pushed my foot out making the eldar fall, while she was falling she lost grip of her whip, so I jumped up and grabbed her whip, then when gravity started to take effect I pulled the whip around the eldar's throat and pulled as hard as he could, I could feel his hand start to burn but ignored it. The eldar started to scramble shouting out what sounded like curses and begging but i paid it no heed, and just strengthened how hard I pulled.

After a few more seconds, I could feel the eldar stop scrambling, so I let go of the rope. Then it hit me, the tiredness, and the weariness falling on me, and with that I fell down and slept for what felt like the first time in a hundred years.


As I slowly came to, I could feel the soft bedsheets on the bed I was sleeping on, trying to pull my eyes open, which felt like lead, I looked around and noticed I was in the medical tent, for a moment I wondered why I was here, until I remembered the past 24 hours. And at that point I laughed, laughed at the absurdity that I was able to kill one of the bastards who killed so many of my friends, then I put my head back onto the pillow. I had only been here once or twice, and even then only for broken noses from fights, so i laid my head back down and closed my eyes allowing sleep to overtake me once more.

I awoke once more and felt even more refreshed, feeling like a million shillings. I smiled as I got up and looked around, the only person that was there was a man who looked like he was straight out of one of the recruiting posters, perfectly shaven face, and head, with a uniform which was perfectly worn, like he was born to be in the Guard. On his blue suit was 2 blue stripes and a large grey one in the middle- the insignia of a Flight Lieutenant.

"Good to see you're still alive chap", he said with a warm smile. He held his arm out and I put mine out.

Shaking my hand, he sat back down. "So, chap, we saw what you did out there, pretty impressive if I so say so myself."

"Thank you, sir", I said as I tried to sit up, grunting from the pain. I continued going up till I could look the man in the face. "Respectfully sir, who are you?" I asked with an inquisitive look.

"Well, lad, we saw what you did and I want to give you an offer".

"What sort of offer?" I asked,

"Taking into account your skills in HR and what just happened, you are now a LAC."

"LAC?" I asked.

"Leading Airman..""Ah don't worry, you've had a bit of a wizard prang. You've also proved ace and so we may

"Oh yes, I forgot about the ranks for a moment."

send you behind enemy lines, killing the enemy's commanders, and being a mild inconvenience."

"But what was that offer?" I asked, perplexed at why would someone who seemed so important would come to me.

"Well, lad, we saw what you did and decided that we needed you to up your game and get outside the office. Being able to defeat a eldar by yourself is no mean feat. Whizzo, you were able to survive the whip's poison so that gives you another point in my books".

I looked down to my hand to see it was scarred terribly, not enough to kill me or warrant a new hand but certainly enough to scar it horribly. It shocked me that I did not realise my hand was like that sooner.

"So, chap, do you want to join? The pays' the same but you do the Emperor's work."

I looked back up to the man, and said the words that would seal my fate for the rest of my life.

"Yes"