The only sound that could be heard was the song of death. Mighty titans strode the battlefield, pumping out their visceral fury in the name of the Emperor and the Great Crusade. The warriors of the Deliverance Imperial Army fought alongside the mighty warriors of The Deliverer himself.
They could be seen in the air, like giant missiles, their black and white armour all but a blur as they enacted their father's orders. This world was not going to come to compliance willingly, and as the titans hammered their deathly payload at the citadel walls, the Raven Guard followed their father to victory.
The Imperial Army moved up under the shadow of the Deus Morti, a mighty Emperor Warmonger Titan, which stood like a mighty god. Its plasma reactor heart sang in battle, the ammunition that flew from its massive weapons cutting the air like a hundred thousand rounds of death; and everywhere it hit, it killed.
Corax himself was like a black whirl of obsidian, the flashes of his lightning claws cutting heads from shoulders, limbs from sockets. He was unstoppable. His pale features, like a spectre of death, was all that could be made out as the lord of Deliverance delivered the Imperium's wrath to those who dared stand against it.
He soared into the air like a giant bird of prey, his first company behind him, and hovered over the domed window, directing his first company to their targets. Then, folding his arms across his chest like some ancient Pharaoh, Corax turned himself upside down and accelerated towards the windows of the dome.
As he came down, the glass around him shattered outwards and downwards. The glass was made to shelter from the world's harsh elements and to some degree attacks, but it was not strong enough to withstand the weight of a space marine, and it was most certainly not made to withstand the charging attack of a Primarch. At the last moment he righted himself and cooled his jets, his sons coming to land in rows behind him, their bolters up and ready, trained on the people in the senate house. Corax rose last from the crouch that he had landed in and raised his head.
The superstitious humans backed away from the dark haired pale god that rose before them; his dark eyes - almost inhumanly dark - seemed to bore through them and into their souls.
Although he looked like some pale rider of death, his voice was anything but pale. It was a deep, resonating voice that seemed to carry over the entirety of the room, even though he spoke quietly. "The time of your deliverance is at hand," he said. "You cannot win this war, and we will take more of you until you accept that we are only here to bring you back into humanity's welcoming embrace, as brothers and sisters, not as enemies."
The rest of the senate, men and women, all stepped back, terrified of the giants that walked amongst them and petrified in fear of the giant that seemed to rule over these men in black and white.
"Swear your oath to the Imperium and I shall end this needless death and destruction." He held his arms out, almost as if he were imploring the people to do more than listen to him, to see him not as a destroyer of their culture and their way of life, but more as a man who was going to help them usher in a new dawn.
The ruling members of this world, named Halestron, listened; and as they listened they heard the sound of the Titan, the great monster that had caused so much death and destruction amongst their armed forces, step closer, each step causing the ground to shake beneath its tread.
Stone fell from the buildings around them and their senate house itself shook, as if the very gods that they had believed in all their lives were shaking the very foundations that this great building had been erected upon.
"What will happen to us?" one younger man asked, swallowing his fear and approaching the Primarch directly.
Bolters trained on him for daring to speak to their master without being spoken to first but Corax shook his head and the bolters were lowered.
"You will be re-educated into the arms of the Imperium and become a productive world alongside those of your kinsmen out in the stars. You will become part of a greater endeavour, your sons and daughters will join our armies to march in glory across the heavens, and they will look back and say that this was a good day."
"We were part of a dictatorship once before and you would ask us to give our freedom from one over to another?" The man shook his head. "A man that claims to be the rightful ruler of mankind - what gives him that right?"
Corax studied the man that stood no taller than his waist, his red hair seeming aflame in certain shades of light and his grey eyes boring into the face of the Primarch, showing no fear - Corax had to admire him for that at least.
There were very few humans who could hold the gaze of a Primarch without losing their sensibilities.
"Did he create the heavens? Did he create this world?" the man continued, "he had nothing to do with our world, and yet after centuries of being cut off from this world that our ancestors left, he suddenly steps forth from the night and proclaims himself the rightful ruler of mankind"
Corax cocked his head to one side like a crow sizing up its next meal. "He is the lord of Terra and there is no other like him, there can never be another like him. He is ageless, indeed immortal, and that, my friend, gives him the right"
"Why couldn't he have come himself?" the man finally asked. "Why could he have not come himself and spoken to our liege lord who now lies dead under your army's guns and told us himself about this glorious Imperium of his?"
In truth Corax did not know what to say to the man, this brave man that stood up to him and asked him questions that not many others here would have dared. He liked him and he wished he could simply tell him the truth, but Corax did not know the answer to give that would not be wrong to the man's ears.
Instead he replied as a son, and not a warlord that had come to drag their world into a new empire.
"He has many duties to perform to ensure that all worlds take their place under universal rule; and so I and my brothers, his sons and our sons take the word out to the people ourselves. There are no more gods; humanity does not need the shackles of religion, and it is what has kept them chained in ignorance. I understand why you fought us and fight us you did; your brave warriors all proved that they are loyal to their world. And yet, let us bring you the Imperial Truth, and let us learn from you as you will learn from us."
"And if we do not you will kill us all where we stand?"
"I will do as my father orders to bring this world into the Imperium of Man," Corax replied, "but I do not want this bloodshed to continue. What is your name?"
That wrong footed the man a little and he almost did not reply, yet recovered quickly and held his head high, although looking up into the pale features of the lord of Deliverance almost gave him vertigo.
"My name is Drago."
"And how old are you Drago?"
"I am 19 winters old."
Corax removed one of his lightning talons and rested a hand on Drago's shoulders "Would you like to stride the stars as a warrior of the Emperor, as a warrior without fear and a warrior bringing honour to his world?"
Drago arched an eyebrow "I thought I had already brought honour to my world."
Corax swept his arm round him "Would you like to become one of my Raven Guard, one of my sons, and stride into the unknown fighting the xenos that have plagued your world and others like it?"
Drago turned his gaze to the stoic warriors that surrounded the Primarch and swallowed heavily.
"Your world is not so far from my world of Deliverance," Corax gently spoke. "I believe that many of your world's sons would make fine additions to my sons and our universe-striding armies."
Drago turned to his people and watched as, one by one, they lay down their arms and slowly moved to one knee. The fight had left them; with the monster at their door they had no wish to see any more of their people die, and maybe it would not be too bad, becoming part of this Imperium of Man.
Drago clenched his fists for a moment and slowly he moved to one knee and bowed his head. "Our world is yours…. my lord."
Corax nodded and turned to his First Captain. "Solaro, call it off, have the remembrancers and the iterators come down and begin compliance."
"Yes, my lord."
"And choose twenty of their young to return to Deliverance to begin the process of becoming Astartes…including this young man."
"He may still resent you for taking his world Lord; is that wise?" Solaro cautiously asked.
"It'll make him strong; there is a fire in him that I like, reminds me of when I was that age."
Solaro laughed but behind his vox grill it came out more like the snort of a bullock. "Were you ever that young my lord?"
Corax allowed himself a wry smile and shrugged. "Maybe not, but still I like him."
Solaro nodded and stepped towards the still kneeling Drago and took him gently by the arm. "Say goodbye to your mother and father Drago…"
"They are dead already," he muttered.
Solaro was silent for a moment, then continued. "Then come with me, and soon you will be part of a new brotherhood, one that will teach you how to be a true warrior of mankind."