Transformation.

Everything around Mace was covered in pitch black darkness. There were no moons orbiting the planet Tantixa, and he didn't dare ignite his Light Orb or even turn on his night vision as they would give off enough light to give him away. He had been searching for over an hour now, and still hadn't found any sign of the enemy. However, as he listened more intently, he thought he could hear screams and insane laughter in the distance.

Off in the distance he began to see a small glow, like the one given off by a Gravity Orb. Since they had neutralised the Crogcrags, all of the men had had a promotion, and miraculously all been lucky enough to still be in the same squad. Yet now as their ranks were sufficient enough for them to be Dark Veterans, Mace now wielded a command pistol and a power sword.

As he drew closer to where the light was he saw the shape of the Chaos Space Lords, but then suddenly another creature swooped down and grabbed hold of an enemy soldier, plucking it off the ground like an eagle taking hold of its' prey. Mace ducked down behind one of the tents in the camp. The Chaos Space Lords had been ambushed by hundreds of Dessert Witches. The air was so thick with them it was almost impossible to breathe. Like the Greek mythological creatures, thousands of centuries ago, from the plant Earth, the Dessert Witches resembled the body of a Furies and the head of a Phoenix moulded into one body. Their bat like wings carried them around the camp set up by the forces of Chaos, flying them over any and finishing them off if they became separated from the group that had been formed. The air filled with smoke as more and more boltgun bullets were fired.

As the fight continued some Witches flew off, not willing to risk their lives anymore. Then, out of nowhere, giant forks of lightning began to spurt from a staff one of the soldiers on the ground was holding. Screams began to echo as the remaining Dessert Witches began to fall from the sky and land dead upon the ground.

Soon there were no more of the creatures and the air became breathable again. Mace had seen enough, believing that he didn't need to slow down the enemy as it would take time for them to regain their strength. He turned on the spot and began to creep silently away.

Suddenly, after he'd taken about one step, his legs were grasped by a Dessert Witch, who bared its talons and sunk them in through the armour and into the skin. Mace held back the yell that was now balanced on the edge of his tongue. He reached for his knife, but failing to take hold of it he saw he had only one way of escaping. With his mechanical hand he took hold of the creatures' head and simply squeezed. The Witch let out an agonising scream, which Mace tried to silence by clutching the mouth of the creature, but he wasn't fast enough. As the creature fell silent, and its blood stained the sand Mace heard a voice.

"Atselec, go and see what that noise was," said the voice.

"Right away, my lord," came a reply, who Mace suspected was the one named Atselec.

"Wait!" There was a long pause and Mace guessed that their leader had just spoken, "There's no need to go and get him. He'll come to us. He already trusts us."

There was another long pause. Then the same voice spoke again.

"Come on out now. Come out, Mace. You want revenge, so come and join us. Join Chaos and have revenge for what your friends did to you."

Mace wanted vengeance. His mind had become so twisted by what had been said to him in the past by the forces of Chaos that he could feel himself going mad as he tried to fight off the growing desire of revenge. He closed his eyes and thought. But when he next opened them he was no longer Mace on the inside. He had been consumed.

-X-

He stood up from behind the tent, wincing in pain as he did. After straightening up, he took a deep breath, and Mace stepped slowly out from behind his cover and faced his new allies.

"What do you want of me?" he asked with a snarl. His remaining human eye had changed to a piercing blood red colour and his voice had become like the scraping of metal upon metal.

"We need you to work as a spy for us, until the time is right," whispered a voice that Mace had not heard for a long time.

Slowly the flames from the fires around the camp began to darken, as a blackish mist began to swirl around the tips of them; being moulded... shaped together into a figure. As the mists grew greater in size as well as becoming increasingly opaque, the Chaos soldiers around him began to kneel, showing their respect to their grand leader. The mists picked up speed and started to pull the dead bodies of the Dessert Witches in towards it like an immense bulking creature drawing in food with great sweeping arms.

As the mists began to clear, the figure of the Chaos Space Lord God, Belial, stepped out, and the mists and flames dispersed.

The God of Chaos looked at Mace for a good few moments through the piercing blood red lends of his helmet. Mace felt like he was being scanned to see whether he was speaking the truth.

"Will you carry out this and any other task set out before you?" said Belial.

"I will," replied Mace.

"Will you forsake your loyalty to your friends, your 'God of Light' and swear allegiance to the Black Scar of Chaos?"

"I will."

"Will you join me at my side and take command as the God of Chaos if I fall in battle?"

"I will."

"And if I should fall at any time, and command is given to you, will you continue to follow the path that is now laid before you?"

Mace looked up this time into the eyes of his new master.

"I will."

"Then, now, you will be known as Mace, Lord of Terror.

Mace stood up straight.

"What is your will, master?"

"You are to tell Citrus what happened here, except you will also tell him that you heard about where I am currently hiding. Say to him that the main leaders of Chaos are at this time, in the city of Esuoh Yab, on the planet Malai. Advise Citrus to inform the Council and send their forces to the city, so as to wipe out our commanders. The Great Lord, Naganemnom, will choose to come and destroy me himself, and that is when I strike. I shall destroy him and leave the Space Lords power and leaderless."

"It shall be done, sir."

"Then go Mace, and bring destruction. And when the time is right, let them know who you really are."

-X-

Naganemnom opened his eyes. The clock next to him read 19:36. He had been meditating in the Hall of Peace, and was now awake. He brought his hands up and rubbed his face, so as to clear his vision some more. He stared at the blank walls around him, and struck a thinking pose; pondering to himself.

"I need to speak to Citrus," he whispered to himself, "he needs to know what must be done."

He clicked his fingers and instantly the walls turned to glass. Naganemnom looked out through the giant window of the tower, round at the city of Oiprocs. The Tower of Dawn gave full view of the city to someone if they were right at the pinnacle. He could see the sun starting to slither behind the Aidni Mountains in the West. He gazed over the city and let his eyes carry themselves to the Caidoz River to the East of the metropolis.

"It's coming. It can't be stopped. And this… is where it ends. But, not with a bang or a crash, but with a whimper."

Then, suddenly there was a flash of light behind him. Naganemnom turned round to face the newcomer, and smiled.

"So, you've finally come," Naganemnom said to them, looking over at the clock which now read 19:40. "Where is it we are heading?"

Then, the flash of light returned and the room was completely empty. Ten seconds passed. The sun continued to just slowly slide down behind the mountains. Everything was peaceful.

At that moment, out of no-where, the flash of light appeared. When it had faded, Naganemnom was standing in the tower again. He glanced over at the clock.

"19:41," he said to him self quietly, "Its true. I've been gone for two years, and yet only a minute has passed here."

He looked back out across the city, wishing that everything he had seen would never come, but knowing that it was all inevitable. He sighed and closed his eyes.

"There's still hope," he whispered, as the sun drifted slowly out of view.

-X-

Being trapped in the middle of a dessert was one thing, but when their communications equipment started to become defective, it really pissed Citrus and his men off. Torosa was sitting in front of the transport beacon, examining the wires and systems inside it, whilst Citrus tried to contact Mace to obtain his planetary coordinates.

"Shit!" yelled Torosa, as one of the electrical systems in the beacon exploded in his face.

"What is it?" asked Carma.

"The power core's just blown! There's no way of contacting the battle cruiser without a new one, but we don't have one powerful enough. The only one that would work for us now is the one powering Mace's eye!"

"If it determines whether we live or die then I'm defiantly up for it," cried out Mace, as he ran towards them all out of the surrounding darkness.

"Mace!" shouted Torosa, "quickly, take out your eye and chuck it here!"

Skidding to a halt, and sending dust everywhere, Mace reached up to his left eye, turned it until it clicked, and he could pull it out of its socket. Tossing it to Torosa, who caught it and began to strip it to the core, Mace turned and began helping Carma finish restoring Skree and Brom to a better state.

"Citrus," he said quickly, "they weren't far behind me; we need to leave now!"

"Torosa," Citrus called out. He had switched on the night vision lends on his helmet, and was now scanning the encircling shadows. He could just begin to see shapes moving across the earth towards them, "How long?"

"It should take another minute."

"That had better be all, as any longer and they'll be here."

Mace quickly finished off bandaging Skree's blood covered leg, and then grabbing his pistol, made ready for the enemy in case everything went down the drain.

They could start to hear the shouts and yells from the oncoming mass of shadows.

"TOROSA!" shouted Citrus, "you done yet?"

"Done in three, two, one," he said at the top of his voice, just as he finished with the last wire. Hastily, he slammed the door of the beacon closed as it burst into light.

"Delta Romeo, this is Tango Foxtrot twelve, requesting emergency transport from beacon at coordinates; sigma, sixty, kilo, mike. Do you read me?" bellowed Citrus into the radio system he'd finally got working.

"I hear you number twelve. Transport is in ten seconds, stand by for my mark." came the reply, which was barely audible.

"Make ready, men."

Carma was standing right next to Citrus with a rifle deep in his shoulder, ready to fire. One of the enemies had broken off from the rest of the group and was racing towards them at a much greater speed. Picking the new target and taking aim, Carma steadied the rifle as he held his breath, and gently squeezed the trigger. The bang lingered on, pressing down on the men's ears more and more. The shot had been a direct hit, and just in time as well, as the beacon released a high pitched tone.

"Number twelve," came the voice from the radio Citrus held, "Welcome back to the Light."