Edit 1: fixed a few lore inconsistencies.

Edit 2: moar fixes, some issues that were pointed out

Cegorach: Good point, might have to patch that up. I figured that he's not a noble to them since a noble of their world would not be dressed in that manner, nor would Louise summon a noble as a servant.

NoGutsNoGlory: He's got a use for him, hehe, read on!

Disclaimer: I do not own Familiar of Zero, Warhammer 40,000, or anything related or pertaining to those universes.

Chapter 3: A...Friend!?

Glacius bolted upright from his resting position, his eyes quickly regaining focus from the lucid sleep. Ah, he was still in this world, but felt a little shaken from the dream he had just witnessed.

It was almost the exact same one he had been having for the past few weeks since he had abandoned his chapter: A massive, bird-like creature erupting from a portal before him. It had blue feathers, wings, and wore a white robe while carrying a staff, and as Glacius looked upon it in his dreams, he felt everything he had known, all concrete ideas, concepts, and constants begin to erode away. It was if his sanity was slowly being devoured by simply the mere presence of the thing. This time in his dream however, it spoke before him. It was in daemonic tongue, so he had no clue what it could be talking about, but the dream always ended the same: with his skin darkening slowly but surely until he was pitch black like the void, all while the daemon stared him down from high above, its eyes completely devoid of emotion.

Was the Changer of Ways sharing his vision with him? Or was some daemon trying to get in his mind? Daemons were treacherous creatures; none of them could be trusted at all. Generally they were to be enslaved or exterminated, no exceptions.

Glacius was sitting upright outside of Louise's chambers, meditating to calm himself down. That recurring dream had kept him awake many times before, but it wasn't out of fear. It was more of trying to decipher the meaning behind it, trying to understand the 'why?' His enhanced hearing suddenly picked up footsteps from down the hallway, and he noticed Guiche approaching him with Louise's folded and clean clothes.

"H-Here you go," Guiche stammered as he handed him the clothes. Ever since the fight, Guiche pretty much became Glacius' b***h, doing all of the menial tasks that he couldn't stand such as washing his master's clothes. Guiche seemed to enjoy handling them however, so it was a win-win situation anyway.

Glacius simply grunted as he accepted them and proceeded into his master's room. She was sleeping in late of course, so he went with the usual ritual of tossing the clothes on her face to awaken her for her classes.

"Hmpfrh!" Louise stifled as her snoring was cut off temporarily.

"Come. You wouldn't want to miss class, eh?" Glacius stated as Lousie awoke. He walked out of the room to await her before she could even yell at him for such a rude awakening. That's not how you were supposed to wake up the nobility!

Louise didn't even bother scolding him anymore. He was so thick-headed that it probably wouldn't even matter what she said, no matter how loud she got. What she did do however, was take away his meals for every smart-ass comment he made about her, which was quite often in fact. Surprisingly he didn't even care though, almost as if he lacked an appetite completely. Louise began to wonder herself what the hell was under that armor, as it was becoming clear that her first assumptions of him were so wrong...

Glacius continued to surprise her even further during her first class about using magic, as her familiar was listening rather intently, more so than herself! What was this guy's deal anyway?

"Fire, earth, water, and wind, combine to make an even stronger affect," The teacher began. She talked further about the structure of the elemental powers and how they were used by mages. Glacius enjoyed knowledge and learning, a trait that got him in trouble with the Imperium to begin with. He was actually kind of starting to like this a little bit, being free of the wretched Imperium and in a world that embraced knowledge.

"Unless I'm mistaken, most of you can only deal with one element at a time, is that correct?" the teacher then asked.

"Pardon me ma'am," Kirche interjected with a sly voice, "but there is a student here who can't even use one element. A student that has a zero percentage-"

WHAM!

Glacius slammed his fist on the desk lightly, bending it inwards slightly and interrupting Kirche's comment. She and the other students tensed up, the memories of that brutal duel still vivid in their long-term memory.

"Some of us…" Glacius began, "are actually trying to listen. So why don't you just SHUT UP!?"

The room fell silent from the chaos marine's sudden outburst. It took a few seconds before the teacher gathered the strength to continue with the lecture, and the class was quiet for the rest of the lecture. Everyone finally realized that Louise had done one thing right: the summoning of a familiar that wouldn't take any of their crap. Louise herself was surprised at how her familiar had stood up for her. Hell, no one would dare insult her now!

However, the truth was that Glacius was far more interested in spells that didn't utilize the warp than he was in his master's honor. That was all just trivial nonsense that people with too much time on their hands worried about, and it was pretty funny at times, but now was neither the time nor place. He continued to listen intently, aware of a few of the girls, including Louise, eyeing him. He could feel their stares, but didn't care enough to think any more of them beyond that.

"Wow, he actually stood up for her?"

"Whoa, that was unexpected."

"I wonder what he looks like under that armor…"

The pitiful babbling of the other classmates was easily picked up by Glacius' hyper-enhanced senses, but it was just useless rabble anyways, so he ignored it. The class was over after about another two hours, but the chaos marine would have to wait for more answers regarding these strange elements of power. Louise was beckoning him over to escort her to the next class.

As the two walked in silence, Louise was the first to speak, "Thanks for standing up for me," she said in a much softer tone than Glacius was used to.

"My pleasure," he lied.

That caught Louise by even more surprise. "Y-you really mean that?"

"Heh, no." Glacius said as he began snickering to himself. Louise tensed up and her rage returned immediately.

"Oh you think you're funny huh!? WELL NO MEALS FOR YOU MISTER!" she shouted in his face.

"Umm...Okay?" Glacius stated sarcastically. He hadn't even eaten since the day he left his world, but if he really needed to eat, he was positive he could find something lying around. He didn't care too much about flavors and whatnot, as long as it was edible and would keep his body moving.

Later that night…

His master had finally fallen asleep, thank Tzeentch. It was time to do a little more exploring, as there was much to be done, such as learning more about the elemental powers, finding a forge and some steel so he could build more weapons, such as a bolter (he field-stripped enough to know how they work), and learning more about the overall world he was in. He would need all of that to face the daemon, hidden away somewhere on the globe.

As he began walking towards the exit, a familiar voice called out to him.

"Um, Mr. Glacius?"

"Hmm?" Glacius turned around to see the servant girl from earlier, Siesta.

Siesta halted and a big smile grew across her face. How the hell could one be so friendly to a member of Chaos? Girl's got guts, that's for sure. Or she was just dumb, that was always a possibility.

"Umm, I wasn't sure if you've had anything to eat, so I brought you leftovers from the dining hall from earlier today," she stated, that silly smile still on her face.

Before Glacius could answer her, his stomach spoke for him. Damn, the leftovers of what those nobles eat? This meal alone was probably going to be the best he had ever had in his whole life. Space Marine food basically tasted like cardboard, but at least it kept you alive. Glacius didn't even want to think of what the minions of Tzeentch put in their food…yuck!

"Thanks," Glacius stated quickly as he accepted the food. He proceeded to head outside to eat, but that little maid was still following him for some reason. The heck did she want anyway?

"Soooo…anything else?" Glacius asked slowly, a little annoyed by her intrusion as he sat down outside, the moonlight bouncing off of his armor.

"Forgive me for asking something so personal, but I'm really curious. Where exactly did you come from? You're obviously not of this world," Siesta said bluntly as she sat down across from him.

"Interesting. You're actually the first person to ask that question…" Glacius stated as his hands reached behind his head to remove his helmet. The metal hissed as it became separated for the first time since arriving in this new world, and it soon fell to the ground, the chaos marine taking in a deep breathe of the unpolluted air.

Siesta's eyes grew wide at the sight of his unobstructed face. His skin was almost entirely pale from wearing the suit for so long, completely devoid of any natural color. It was also marked by a few deep scars that simply would not heal. His hair was short and pitch black, cut in a 'jarhead' style that would have looked professional, but it was obvious he had not taken care of it in the last few days.

The scariest part were his light purple eyes; an extremely unnatural color. It even looked as if there were moving parts inside of them, like the eyes themselves weren't even real to begin with. And where they...changing colors?! They then changed into a light blue, then pink, oscillating around that region of the spectrum. He had a rugged yet young look, and everything combined made him look simply...sinister. The one thing that caught her attention mostly was the strange tattoo on his forehead that looked like some kind of eye with curved points coming out of it. The symbol of Tzeentch.

Siesta managed to catch herself gawking after Glacius addressed it, "So, you wanna hear the story, or you just gonna stare all day?" he asked with impatience. She quickly blushed and tried to cover up.

"O-Oh I'm so sorry! Please tell me!" she stammered, noticing that his voice was a bit different without the helmet. He sounded more natural instead of mechanized, but that aura of hate was still there. What could drive a man to such hatred? Well, she was about to find out.

"The story of me is the story of the Imperium of Man as it exists in the 41st millennium. Hold all questions until the end. Now, not much is known about what came before the 30th millennium, but one event changed everything in our universe: the Horus Heresy. It all started with…"

Glacius explained everything, from the Horus Heresy and the conflicts between humans, Chaos, Orks, Eldar, Tau, and other xeno races across the galaxy up to the point of his last chapter, The Crimson Fists. He talked about the decaying technology, the warp, and the Emperor of Mankind.

He must have been speaking for at least two hours in between nomming his food. He became more animated as his strength returned, and surprisingly to him, Siesta was completely enthralled with his story.

"Wait, so uh, what side are you on exactly?" she finally asked.

"Chaos," Glacius said without skipping a beat, taking pride in his answer.

"Huh? Why is that? I mean, you're a human right? Wouldn't you be with the Emperor of Mankind?"

Glacius chuckled a bit before continuing. "Well, as I said before, the Imperium is against new knowledge. A few weeks ago my brothers and I were clearing out a hive city infested with cultists, and I found something peculiar..."

"What was it?"

"A book. A simple, little, book with knowledge about the warp, information on how to control it to your will. Any normal, subservient space marine would have screamed 'HERESY!' and torn it to shreds immediately. But…I…was curious. So I held on to it."

Glacius' facial expression turned to one of anger as he continued on, staring at the ground with a scowl on his face. "My 'brothers' found it and reported me immediately to the Chaplain as a 'moral threat'. The damn thing was harmless; it could have even helped fight Chaos if used properly. But I guess the Chaplain didn't trust his own Space Marines. The Corpse-Emperor had everyone running scared of knowledge…"

Siesta continued to listen closely, staring at the traitor marine as he continued his story with further interest.

"I was thrown in isolation for a few days, under guard. It was during those days that I could think of everything in detail, and I realized just how corrupt the Imperium was. Keeping its citizens oppressed for their own 'safety', burning them alive for even thinking of not following their predetermined paths blindly and without question. The worst part was, all this suffering and oppression was the result of pure and simple fear. Fear that the population would be free to think on its own."

"The Inquisition came for me, telling me that my sentence was 'death by dismemberment'. I simply said 'no' and broke free of their grasp while en route to their torture ship. I hijacked the shuttle, taking my armor and the book with me. I knew things had to change…which is what led me to Chaos…and Tzeentch."

"Unfortunately, my job was short lived as a Chaos Marine, as I, hehe, kinda pissed off my latest master, a Chaos Sorcerer, and he banished me to this world as a slave."

"So," Glacius finished as he raised his arms up, "here I am."

"Is that why you hate them? The nobles I mean?" Siesta immediately inquired.

"What do you mean?"

"They remind you of the Imperium?"

Glacius closed his eyes and took a deep breath before continuing. "Yes. I don't understand how you deal with it so well though."

Siesta smiled before answering him. "Well, I consider it an honor to serve the nobility!" Her smile disappeared when she looked back at Glacius however, who was shaking his head in disappointment. He then looked at her with his bionic eyes, twirling around with warp energies.

"You are just a tool to them. Once your usefulness is gone, they will simply discard you. You know that right?"

"Um, well I don't think so but-"

"Siesta!" a voice called to her from across the dark field.

"Oh, pardon me, but I've got to go now. I would like to talk to you more in the future if that's alright?"

Glacius generally didn't like the people of this world that much. Siesta was different however, as she actually had a very open mind. Eh, why not?

"Sure," Glacius stated as he reached for his helmet. As Siesta took off, Glacius gave her a few parting words.

"Oh, Siesta?"

"Yes?" she asked while turning around.

"Don't tell anyone else what I've told you. Knowledge is power…," he said as he lowered his helmet on, activating the external vox speakers.

"…hide it well."

Somewhere else…

The walls of the room were all contorted towards each other, making it seem as if the power centered it in had a gravity of its own that bent them to its will. Faint blue light was providing a beacon in the darkness, just enough to guide the types of beings that would traverse this kind of space. Heavy footsteps then echoed off of the stone halls, amplified throughout the darkness as something entered the area.

Two massive, armored figures were walking through the room that was filled ancient texts. Thousands of them. The armor of the beings was similar to Space Marine armor, or what it was back in the days of the Horus Heresy. Robe-like attachments were across the blue and yellow-striped plating as well, easily indicating their identity. Thousand Sons.

"Lord Hexlend, I have news from the Exalted One," the chaos marine on the left said, his chaos staff held down at his side.

"Is it…from the frontlines? Or…is it a future fate…that we must take note of?" The much larger Chaos Sorcerer asked. Lord Hexlend was a true monstrosity underneath his armor, and his hideous voice reflected that. He had been on the receiving end of Tzeentch's gifts from the Horus Heresy before the rubric was cast, as he was an extremely devout follower of the Changer of Ways, and wanted more than anything to fulfill his role in the final dance. The one that ended with the Imperium broken, and all the other Chaos Gods at the will of his master.

"The Exalted One detected the release of a teleportation spell…"

"And what…does that…have to do…with us?" Hexlend spoke in a dark voice as he flipped through one of the ancient texts that was held together by warp magic.

"It transported a follower of Tzeentch…onto the Void World," the sorcerer completed.

Hexlend dropped the ancient book, causing it to break apart beneath him. He stood frozen for a second, revelations running through his chaotic mind.

"Then…" he slowly began, "…the time…has come. The prophecy is dawning upon us once again."

"It has been six thousand years my lord," the other sorcerer replied, barely able to hide his glee. Well, actually, he didn't have emotions, but if he did he would show glee!

Hexlend turned to face him, purple flames burning in his eyes underneath his helmet. "Alkazeri, we shall inform the others. There are preparations to be made so that we will be ready when the time comes."

"I agree lord, I will gather the ones who need to know," Alkazeri stated as he turned to depart the room.

"Be swift brother. All is dust," Hexlend stated as he used his psyker abilities to lift up the tattered book and repair it piece by piece.

"Yes my lord. All is dust."

Hexlend could only do so much from his end however, but he planned to fulfill his step to the utmost of his ability. He could not fail his master, as this would be the opportunity of eons for the forces of Chaos. The 13th Black Crusade and the forces of Man were in a stalemate, and all that was needed to shift the balance was just a small push. However, it was mostly up to that lone Chaos Marine embedded on the Void World to fulfill his destiny, as the fate of the crusade depended on it.

"Tzeentch watch over you," Hexlend muttered in awe of the fate before him and Chaos. A great change was coming, he could feel it…

Back at the academy…

The next day followed a very similar routine. Glacius woke his master up, followed by a day of learning about the non-warp powers, pissed his master off for his own amusement, rinse, and repeat.

However, one thing did strike him as odd. That maid girl, Siesta, was nowhere to be found. Normally he would see her wandering around, carrying out the tasks of the nobles appointed over her, but strangely he had not seen her since last night. Something was up, and Glacius did not like mysteries.

Guiche was walking down the hallway late at night with a different girl this time, bragging about another of his conquests that didn't even matter. "So then, I had Verdande take them out! Not only is he beautiful, but he's an expectional fighter as we-EEEK!" Guiche screamed as an armored gauntlet came out of nowhere and hefted him up. Before he knew it, those same red lenses were staring him in the face.

"W-Wha-What is i-it?" the pretty boy stammered, completely surprised by what just happened.

"I need information. Come," was all the chaos marine stated as he dropped Guiche back down. Glacius then took off to head outside, expecting the young boy to follow him. A look of disbelief was on Guiche's face as he stared at Louise's familiar. Now? He needed him now? He would plead with him, as the young girl he was with was staring into his eyes; eyes that said "Stay with me! I neeeeeeeeeeeeeed you!" Guiche had a brain though, and he listened to it as he followed Glacius outside.

"Ugh, it's windy out here! What do you need to know?" Guiche asked.

"What happened to Siesta?" Glacius demanded.

"Huh? Oh, Count Mott came and took her to be his mistress!"

"Count Mott? Mistress? Explain."

"He's a messenger from the palace who comes by every now and then. Heh, if you think I'm cocky, you haven't seen anything yet, " Guiche stated with a smug look.

Glacius sighed beneath his helmet. "Thanks for the heads up. Now what's this 'mistress' business all about?"

"Well, it's a common thing that nobles do, taking young women to serve as their mistress to-"

"Where is Count Mott?"

Guiche gave him the basic directions, and with that Glacius took off. He had heard enough. He wasn't about to let the only decent person on this campus be taken away to do…unspeakable things. He also had some edging notion in the back of his mind that her fate was not to serve as some aristocrat's sex slave; that is was much, much grander. Plus, she knew his story, and he didn't want that to get out too far.

Louise would probably be pissed off if she found out that he ran off to save a simple peasant. Meh, she was asleep, so technically he wasn't breaking her will. What the master don't know won't hurt her eh?

To be continued…

Hooyah! Fight scene coming! Get ready, for the dark gods will be pleased!