Silence reigned again as this information soaked in, confusion was evident on many of the exposed faces present. There was murmuring as the force leaders spoke to one another and their close subordinates in hushed tones. This was broken by a sudden explosion and screams of dying men, causing most to swivel around and face the doorway that was in front of and to the left of the bottom of the stairs. The Imperium started gearing up for another fight. The captain of the Imperial Fists roared.
"REPORT!"
Guardsmen were rushing back through the doorway, many sporting injuries. A lead guardsman cried out.
"Sir! We follow those xenos back and discovered an extremely fortified base! But right as it came into sight, they attacked!
"I knew those scum were being too quiet. Let us purge the xeno filth from this place!"
"""FOR THE EMP-"""
"WOULD YOU JUST STOP?!"
Percy thanked his lucky stars that his voice was loud enough to be heard over these guys, but such an ability was now forcing him to face the ire of literally thousands of heavily armed individuals. But he knew that if he let them run off now, he would never get them back in line.
"If you keep fighting, you'll literally bring this whole place down around you! I mean, look at what you guys have done!"
He gestured to the even greater structural damage that plagued the basement walls.
"As if the dwell of one person would possibly stop the-"
Another casual smack silenced the Commissar.
"Sir Percival, it is our sworn duty to purge all xeno and heretics that threaten the Imperium of man no matter the cost. As much as it grieves me to say so, if we must bring down your dwelling on top of us all to meet that goal, we will."
Percy was once again saved by the polite Salamanders, who actually had the decency to explain why. He thought fast as the Imperium started to march through the doorway, with a few forces staying where they were on the stairs, probably to keep an eye on him and the Tau. Suddenly it came to him.
"WAIT! W-what if I can remove the threat itself? Will you stop fighting?"
The great army paused again at the sound of his voice, then looked at each other with confused expressions. The same Salamander called out again, Percy identified him as the company captain from his armor.
"If you can remove the threat of death and corruption, we Salamanders will return to our base peacefully. You have my word as Brother Captain of the Salamanders."
He and his company (although it wasn't even remotely close a full one) nodded resolutely. Percy smiled at them and turned to the others, hoping they also followed. The two other space marine chapters seemed to discuss things with the Salamanders before also agreeing to the same terms. The Sisters of Battle just glared at Percy, along with all the Commissars that weren't still reeling on the ground from the slap of a space marine. But just as Percy began to relax, a Grey Knight stepped forward.
"If we are to trust you, is it not fair if you allow us to see if you are actually telling us the truth?"
Percy blinked, realizing that they had not actually had any reason to trust him beyond the power of his size, quickly agreed.
"Uh, yah. But how would you go about that?"
The Knight pointed to an Imperial psyker, who jumped with fear when the space marine suddenly turned to him.
"You, search this 'Percival' for deamonic taint."
The poor man started shuddering as he looked between the Grey Knight, his looming Commissar, and the alien titan towering over them all. But the man's fear of the known was greater than that of the unknown, it didn't take a genius to figure out what would happen to him if he said no.
Percy frowned at this development, but couldn't hold it against the space marine logically, but it still rubbed him the wrong way. The poor robed man fiercely clutched his staff as he hobbled forward, is pale skin going white as a sheet of paper. Percy noticed that the area had fallen still as the gather host awaited to verdict (or the fate) of the psyker.
Percy watched as the 'lucky' man had to slowly make his way through the ranks of soldiers too him, and realized that he was still at the top of the stairs. He tried to be as slow and non-threatening as possible as he descended the stairs, but being the relative size of an Imperator Titan makes 'non-threatening movement' basically impossible. Percy could hear the clicks and clanks of arming weapons as he got closer. When he reached the bottom of the stairs, the Imperial forces there had already retreated back and created a space for him. Although that space may have not been made with such kind thoughts, but more along the lines 'getting out of the way of being stepped on'. The shivering man approached him in that space as he knelt to not force the man to look up so far.
"Um, s-sir? Could you please extend your hand?"
Percy frowned with confusion, then remembered most psykers loss potency over distance, and the relative distance between him and the man was actually rather vast. Dutifully, he nodded placed his hand down next to the man, who placed his own against it.
Suddenly, Percy felt something brush against him. But not physically, nothing had actually touched him. He realized he was feeling something brush against his mind. The sensation was akin to someone dragging lines of string against his skin, an almost tickling sensation. But it wasn't just a surface feeling, he could feel those strings going inside his own thoughts, searching for something. As Percy marveled at the sensation, the psyker started shuddering and exclaimed.
"W-what is power?!"
He suddenly stumbled back before falling over entirely. The man just lay there shuddering, before looking up at a very confused and frightened Percy, with a mixture of confusion and awe.
"J-just what are you?"
While Percy was glad that the man hadn't gone off screaming 'HERESY!' or 'DEAMON!', he didn't know if this reaction was much better. Immediately, and gather host pointed their weapons at him again, before the same Grey Knight roared.
"HOLD!"
The marine confidently strode forward and approached the prone man. He spoke down to him in a low tone.
"Well? What did you see?"
The man snapped out of his daze and quickly stumbled to his feet and stammering.
"I-it's unlike anything I have ever felt before! This much untamed psychic power should not exist without daemonic attention, but it does! This young man, which he is by the way, was a greater presence than even you, noble knight."
The knight stared at the man through his helmet for a long time, while the guardsmen around them whispered amongst themselves, before being yelled at by their commanding officers. The space marine slowly looked up at an extremely nervous Percy, who tried to look as innocent as possible.
"May I?"
The Grey Knight simply asked, with Percy quickly nodding, thoroughly knowing that only the word of a space marine could save him for being branded a witch rather than a daemon. The soldier placed his cold armored hand against his, and Percy immediately felt a difference.
While the imperial psyker had been like aimless strings of yarn, the space marine was similar to purposeful metal wires. While it wasn't painful, it was immensely uncomfortable. He had to use all his will just not to move from the discomfort, and send the poor marine flying by accidently. After a few agonizing minutes, he suddenly heard a low male voice in his very thoughts.
"Do not be afraid Percival, I have found no taint within you, as well as any lies. But I am afraid you do indeed need to discuss many things with us in the near future."
Percy thought that it was similar to the voice of the space marine, before realizing it was the voice of the space marine, but inside his very mind. The Grey Knight pulled his hand away and broke the connection.
"He is free of taint, and of lies. We can trust his words."
There was a great murmur amongst the figurines before an Imperial Fist called out.
"While it is the Emperor's blessing that he has given us a living Titan to aid us, there is still the matter of the Eldar."
Percy nodded at the reminder and stood back up.
"Yes, I would like to speak to them. I would ask you to return to your bases, but you may here if you wish. All I ask is that you give me time, and please stay out here."
He finished with a plea, knowing that the Imperial's wouldn't budge if it meant possible losing the geographic advantage if this returned hostile. A few more agonizing minutes passes as the leader met up and discussed things amongst themselves, before they turned and the Salamander spoke, his voice obviously brighter, probably due to it being confirmed that Percy wasn't a daemon or a heretic.
"Thank you for letting us discuss this matter Sir Percival. We would like to stay here in the outcome that you cannot make those xenos submit to your demands. But we must ask, what happened to those Tau up there? They retreated just before you arrived."
Percy smiled and pointed up the stairs.
"Well, I already got them to submit to my demands, so you have nothing to fear from them for now."
This had a great response from the Imperium, earning him some gazes of awe and respect from the guardsmen. The Salamander chuckled as his brothers nodded in approval.
"I expected nothing less from a titan. Now brothers, let us make a way for our new companion!"
The Salamanders gave a shout as the parted to make a path for Percy, quickly followed in suit by the rest of the Imperium. Percy gulped as his nervousness hit him again, but a supportive nod from the Salamander captain helped. With a deep breath, he slowly strode forward, watching his steps so he didn't accidentally squish on of his new friends. He reached the doorway into the larger of his house's two garages, and the new domain of the Eldar.
A quick looked revealed extensive battle damage, but since the walls of the basement itself were primarily brick and the floor concrete, there was no immediate problems. While around the stairway, he could see the casualties from the imperium, that he purposely tried to ignore due to them being humans and didn't trust himself to keep it together at the sight of dismembered members of his own race. Here, he would see casualties of mysterious members of the Aeldari race. Their normally beautiful and colorful bodies lying broken and stained with muck. Percy gathered his courage, and walked in.
The garage was rather large, being long enough to hold roughly three vehicles in a row with a bit of space left over and plenty it on the sides. The back held the Eldar diorama, from which Percy didn't see any movement, until he realized that was because any Eldar that could be seen with his height were being completely still. He then took note of the fortifications they had already erected on the two storage counters on either side of the rooms center. He didn't doubt for a second, that even from this distance, they would still hit him somewhere painful.
"You are surprisingly wise for believing that, Mon'keigh."
A melodious female voice suddenly spoke within his mind. He was momentarily startled, before the basic knowledge of Eldars filled in the gaps, and quickly gather himself. If he knew one thing from all that he had gathered from their lore, is that talking fast, but politely, is the best way not to lose your head, literally.
"I suppose I am speaking to a Farseer, who is acting as the representative for the Aeldari?"
There was a quick chuckle, probably about his earlier thought before the Eldar responded with an obviously pleased tone.
"You are once again quite wise for thinking such. I am Farseer Denhina, and I am speaking on behalf of my people with you, Percival."
While he knew that Farseers could effortlessly read an unshielded mind, it was still very odd for him to hear a disembodied voice speak inside his head and know things about him that he never told it. But this did make explaining much easier, so he couldn't complain.
There was a laugh this time. Although it was slightly condescending, it was still exotic and beautiful beyond anything the boy had ever heard in his life. Percy had to use all of the fear and confusion that was within him not be fall entranced by that laugh. Instead, he got slightly annoyed at the still hidden speaker.
"If we are to discuss matters, should we not do it face to face?"
"Very well. Considered yourself honored to be the only human allowed to approach this fortress."
Percy slowly picked his way through the battled field, which ended between the two work counters. He noticed that the Eldar he passed did in fact move, if it was only to keep their guns trained on him. As he went by, he managed to grabbed chair that fortunately didn't have any aliens currently on it. He faced the edge of the fortress that the Eldar were now probably going to call home some time. At the thought, he felt a bit sad for them. While he gathered that their bases were completely functional, for all he knew, they had no way of returning from their actual worlds. Granted, their fortress was the largest in both size and scale, modeled to look like the surface of the Maiden World turned fortress.
So, imagine an alien paradise world with strange plants and crystal-clear rivers running here and there, that also has buildings seemingly made out of smooth bone like material with large gems of great beauty in massive geometric patterns. That was the masterpiece before him. While Percy had seen it before and was floored by his uncle's creative power and skill, seeing it brought to life and added to, almost made Percy forget what his main reason was down here in the first place. It was just so beautiful, he could stare at it for what felt like hours and still be entranced by it. This was strengthened by the sheer size of the thing. The whole fortress was, honest-to-god-shit-you-not, a staggering 10' x 20' singular piece. Anything even trying to pick a fight with this place would have a very bad day.
He suddenly heard laughter, same enchanting kind he heard from Denhina, but less condescending, and prouder. He turned and saw three figures walk out from between the frozen ranks of Eldar manning this side of this paradise fortress. There was the yellow and blue of the Iyanden, the red and white of the Saim-Hann, and the black and white of the Ulthwé. All of them were Farseers, but only the Ulthwe stepped forward from the group and nodded to him. He could see that it was female under the robes and armor, along with the Iyanden as well.
"Farseer Denhina, I presume?"
The veritable space elf gave a mock bow of self-entrance, and spoke normally this time, but Percy got the feeling she was boosting her voice or just sending it straight to his head. This was because, with the others, he had to focus to make out their voices over the rather large distance normally between them, but with Denhina, he could hear her perfectly fine, as if she was normally sized and right in front of him.
"Indeed, mon'keigh. We Aeldari would like to strike a bargain with you: If you are willing to explain the situation to us as much as you can, we will promise to consider your demands of a cease fire with your normal sized brethren."
'Actually, I'm normal sized. All you guys have been shrunk.'
Percy noticed one of the silent Farseers twitch as he thought that. He one again felt pity for them and their predicament.
"I agree to those terms. What would you like to know?"
The Eldar didn't even pause to think of a question.
"When and where are we?"
"You are on the planet Earth, or eventually known as Terra, in 21st century."
While he didn't know if these guys were actually back in time or from another plane of existence entirely, it was easier if he just said they were in the past. One of the powers of the Warp itself is its inconsistency with literally everything, even time. So, one could, theoretically, be swallowed up by it and be spat back out into the past or future all the way across that galaxy. The problem was that they would almost certainly be eaten by daemons the second they entered, and if by chance something survived, it would be horribly mutated upon exit. Percy had no idea what was really going on with these guys, but he was going to stand with the simply idea that they were miraculously sent back in time unharmed.
There was another great pause as the Eldar processed this, before the Saim-Hann Farseer spoke.
"Since he is not lying, this mon'keigh, has either been fooled his entire existence, or what he says is the truth. From what I gathered from his surface thoughts, as confusing as they were, I am inclined to believe the latter. We are currently millennia before the appearance of corpse emperor and the fall of our empire."
The Iyanden spoke next, her voice firmer than Denhina, but still more beautiful than any human's.
"If that is true, perhaps this is our chance to save our race. We should dispose of these barbaric mon'keigh and seek a way to return to our people."
Percy spoke up, not liking where this train of thought was leading. If Warhammer was in fact somehow a glimpse at the future, he most certainly couldn't allow the Eldar to discover Earth before its rise to power. He was also horrified at the notion of what would happen if their technology somehow fell into human hands at this point in time. But a significant piece of information lent its hand to him.
"I am afraid that both of those actions are impossible at this time."
All the Eldar bristled at his comment, many getting serious about actually shooting him. Dehina asked in a serious tone.
"And why, exactly, is that?"
"Because I know for a fact that you, nor anyone on this planet, has interstellar transportation."
The Eldar froze, causing Percy to realize that he just made a mistake. He let slip that he knew quite a bit about them and their current forces, but had just met them. The male Farseer spoke slowly.
"While it is regrettable, it is to be expected that the mon'keigh of the past would be more primitive than that of the future. But the more pressing matter is: how did you know that we don't have such transportation?"
Percy had to think fast of an excuse. A quick glace revealed that there was indeed still no webway gate nor any large space vessels, just like when it was still a lifeless hunk of plastic and foam. His uncle refused to make a webgate, believing it was too easy of a target, and rather cheap escape when under pressure. But Percy couldn't tell them that, it wouldn't mean anything to them. All he could do was state the obvious.
"Because I see neither a shipyard nor a webway gate. Until you build either, you are stranded on this planet not only with your foes, but billions of humans such as myself. I will leave it up to your imaginations what would happen if your people were to fall into the hand of 'barbaric and primitive mon'keigh'. That is why I ask you to please not kill each other until such time as we can figure all this out."
The male Farseer huffed and stood straighter.
"And why should we, the Aeldari, trust you, if our plight is so dire?"
Percy put on his best smile and hoped his thoughts reflected the emotion he put in his words.
"Because, unlike most, I would rather you guys go home than anything else."
END OF CHAPTER 2
