AN : And as I said in the last chapter of the Forsaken Sons, here is a new short story. This one was inspired by a suggestion of Alpha70 : telling a story where the Imperium is an unstoppable invader.
This chapter is written using the Sandy Mitchell approach. To those of you who haven't read the Ciaphas Cain novels, it means that I have used a lot of footnotes, all of which are at the end of the chapter. So I recommend you to open this story in two separate tabs and scroll all down with the second one, so that you don't have to scroll up and down all the time. This should be the only chapter of this fic with this feature.
As always, I thanks those who have given this story reviews. If you have any idea for another story, tell me in yours for this one ! Now, I return to the Forsaken Sons. I have a lot of ideas (already six different ideas for as many chapters, in fact), but it will take a while to choose the next one and give it form.
Zahariel out.
I do not own the Warhammer 40000 universe nor any of its characters. They belong to Games Workshop.
Access to this file is reserved to Ordo personnel with a Zeta-level and above clearance only. Unauthorized consultation will result in mind-wiping and/or execution.
Thought for the day : 'Knowledge is power. Guard it well.'
Preamble :
In my many decades of service as an agent of the God-Emperor's will, I have seen many men and women fall to the lure and snares of Chaos. On an individual scale, the reasons that led them to their damnation may seem unique, but as all my colleagues will know, there are patterns in such things. It is as if the Ruinous Powers relish in seeing the same tragedies unfold again and again.
Our Ordo cares little about the reason of such falls, as it our task to punish the crime and not to prevent it (that task belongs to the Ecclesiarchy). Yet in the case of heresies that engulf whole worlds, I believe it is wise for us to know how they appear and spread, so that we may avoid repeating the mistakes of the past. This is why I have sent this file to the Ordos for safe-keeping and consultation for those of my fellows Inquisitors with the required wisdom, despite its utterly heretical contents.
I found this document while purging a relatively minor cult of the Dark Powers, stopping them as they were preparing to summon a creature from the Warp. After ordering the contents transcribed, I incinerated the servitors responsible, destroyed the original – a foul thing if there ever was – and began to study the test itself. Of course, I used all possible precautions to avoid contamination while doing so, but as I have found, the corrupting potential of this particular text lies not in any sorcerous ability but in the deception woven in its every word.
I have added my own observations to it, so that my colleagues will not have to do the same tedious work of research I had to. You who read this, steel your heart against the lies of the Arch-Enemy, and let your faith in the God-Emperor be the shield of your soul.
Inquisitor Markus Terkarch, Ordo Hereticus.
For hundreds of years, Zacheren, our world, had been in peace. It had remained isolated, forgotten by those who had once claimed to be its masters (1). The knowledge that we had once been part of a greater whole had, for us people of the planet, quickly faded into legend. Despite archives of contact with the so-called 'Imperium of Man' spanning several millennia, Humanity already doubted that this time had ever been. Like the myths of distant Terra, such tales were seen as no more than stories told by old men already half-senile.
In our ignorance, though, we prospered. The world was fertile and rich, and now that we no longer had to focus on harvesting kilotons of food for the outsiders, culture and civilization expanded. Vast cities were built from the stone of the mountains, and the population grew. Instead of worshipping a distant divinity sitting on a throne on a world none of them would ever see, the people put their faith in each other (2). As kingdoms rose from the settlements that had been allowed to exist, tensions grew, but peace was maintained. The tales of the prior epoch, which spoke of endless wars that were being fought across the stars, were enough to quell any such thing from happening on Zacheren.
Then the Imperium returned, and war came back with it. From the stars came a single ship, carrying word from the old empire as well as demands. A man descended from it, fat with arrogance and a life of privilegied comfort, and proclaimed himself master of the world (3). He ordered a grand palace be built for him, and that our people give what they had to him and to the Imperium. We refused, and rejected the self-proclaimed tyrant. We didn't kill him then, nor did we harm him in any way. Yet the so-called 'Governor' repaied that clemency by calling the fury of the Imperium on those people he had pretended to rule.
Thousands of soldiers came to force the population to submit – tortured souls enslaved to the will of their overseers by chemicals and explosive collars, driven to madness by the poisons coursing through their blood (4). Horrified, we fought back, refusing to bow to a tyranny that would do such things to its own children. Armies were raised, equiped with the few relics of museums that were still functionnal and what weapons they could gather, and went to war with all the strength and courage of those who defend their home. With great losses, they managed to defeat the horde sent by the Imperium, but it was only the beginning of Zacheren's trials. The cruel overlords of the Imperium could not allow our defiance of their unlawful authority, lest their weakness be revealed to the rest of their oppressed subjects, who would then raise against them in turn (5).
More troops were sent : masked soldiers and engines of war that rained death from afar (6). Unlike the savage monsters previously fought, these were disciplined warriors, and the inexperienced defenders could not stop their advance. City after city fell, until salvation came from the same stars that had brought doom. Warriors, giant in stature and clad in crimson armor, descended from the skies like the angels of legends and laid waste to the invaders (7).
The angels told us that the forces of tyranny would return, and under their guidance we prepared to fight to the last. There was little hope of victory, but the angels taught us that this shouldn't deter us. By our defiance of the False Emperor and the tyrants who oppressed Mankind in his name, we would live forever.
As we had been warned, the Imperium returned, having marshalled yet a greater force of enslaved soldiers and corrupt generals. They found us prepared, however. At the angels' direction, great bastions had been built in which we massed our resources and our people, preparing for the sieges that would inevitably follow. In the skies, the angels and their celestial allies fought against the leviathans of the False Emperor's fleets. Despite their best efforts, and the destruction of many ships, eventually some of the enemy troops made planetfall, and the last war for Zacheren began. For years and years it raged on, and the number of the defenders decreased, slowly crushed by the blunt and merciless press of Imperial tyranny.
In despair, we turned to the angels, begging them to grant us more support in our war for freedom. Reluctantly (8), they agreed, byt warned us that there would be a price to their aid, for the lords they served were bound by ancient laws. There would be consequences, and sacrifices would have to be made. But at this point, with several bastions already fallen to the enemy and tales circulating of the undiscriminate slaughter committed there upon the civilians (9), we had nothing to lose.
The angels revealed to us the rituals by which the children of the true gods themselves could be called upon, and the most devout amongst us willingly gave their lives to fuel them. The barrier between the heavens and the mundane reality was torn in a dozen places across the world, and the divine hosts manifested. With their aid, the tide of war was turned for a time. The scions of the War God, enraged by the honorless massacre of innocents, fought agaisnt the invaders with blades of vengeance and fury. The agents of the Prince of Hope sowed confusion in the unimaginative minds of their commanders, punishing them for their blind obediance to sterile tyranny. The maidens of the Lord of Delight showed the slaves of the False Emperor the pleasures they had been denied all their lives, turning thousands to the side of freedom. The children of the Father of All blessed our warriors with strength and endurance, while the weakness of the invaders' souls was reflected by the plagues that spread through their ranks (10).
It was at that time that the first of us began to exhibit the signs of the true gods' favor. The flesh of those who had proved their valor was reshaped to better suit the truth of their souls (11), and the angels praised them for their devotion. The Changed Ones and the Neverborn fought back to back with the angels on the fields of Zacheren, and for a time it seemed that the Imperium would have no choice but to retreat. But the wrath of tyrants can be terrible indeed, and they care naught for the lives of their servants they have to sacrifice so long as ultimate victory is theirs. So it was that, in their fury at seeing their hunger for domination thwarted, the lords of the Imperium called upon their deadliest tools.
Twisted parodies of the noble angels, more beasts than men (12), came alongside a new wave of sacrificial victims for the pyres of war. For all their monstrosity, though, these warriors in grey were powerful, and slew many of the angels in combat, forcing them to abandon their flesh and return to the gods. Faced once more with annihilation, we offered the gods more and more of ourselves, giving them footholds in this universe so that they might help us fight the forces of oppression. The best of our warriors relinquished their flesh to the Dwellers of the Great Ocean, and our greatest scholars and priests studied the teachings of the angels to bring forth the gods' miracles (13). With them, we managed to hold, until it was revealed that, in one last, petty and bitter decision, the Imperium had decided to destroy the planet entirely. A conclave of the dreadful thought-police that binds the souls of Mankind as much as its tyrants bind their freedom had gathered, and such had been its self-righteous verdict. If they couldn't have Zacheren, then no one would.
The spirits all sung the same word, over and over : Exterminatus. Dark ships that had spent their entire existence murdering worlds were sailing through the ether, drawing ever closer. How could any sane soul blame us for resisting a tyranny that would use such abominable weapons ? What benevolent kingdom could possibly enforce its rule with the threat of the rebelling planets' destruction ? At the same time as we lamented over our fate, we knew that our resistance was just, that it was the only possible way that allowed us to remain humans and not slaves.
Yet there were some who refused to accept this destiny, who sought to save our world and our people by the use of the greatest sorcery. With the advice of one of the last angels, they called upon the greatest children of the gods, and begged for their aid. Moved by their pleas, the spirits told them of a way to save Zacheren. If a great ritual was conducted, the gods would drag Zacheren into their domain, forever protected from the Imperium's co-called 'retribution'. Should they succeed, the spirits promised to reward the angell who led the cabal for the salvation of so many souls : they would elevate him to their own ranks, one of the gods' exalted children rather than their blessed agent (15). The price in blood would be huge, for only life can buy life, as it is the most sacred of things that cannot be traded for anyghing else, no matter the views of the lords of Terra. In the last standing bastion, where millions had fled as the war went on, preparations were made in haste. Thousands gave their life willingly, while others had to be forced to sacrifice themselves for the good of the majority.
But somehow, the cursed Imperials must have felt we were about to escape them (16), and they sent one last attack to disturb the ritual before it could be completed. By fell malefices, a group of inhuman monsters appeared in the ritual chamber, wearing armor drenched in the blood of thousands of innocents and wielding weapons forged with the souls of the true blessed. The faithful fell upon them in a great tide, but the intruders were too strong, their power increased by blasphemies and denial of self that had left nothing of the men they had once been (17). The silver warriors appreached from the leader of the angels, and his brothers valiantly laid down their lives to protect him long enough to complete the ritual. But it was in vain, for the ritual had already been perturbed beyond recuperation by the monstrous killers' presence. Already the powers that had been gathered were escaping the control of the cabal. Reality itself was torn apart, and all of us who still lived felt Zacheren itself die. Yet even in that moment of failure, the Great Gods showed mercy. They saved the last surviving angels, bringing them and the bodies of their fallen brothers back to their celestial realm. A few of us, chosen by Their unfathomable wisdom, were similarly spared.
I was among them, and saw a world of many wonders, filled with monuments to the glory of the Pantheon. Great towers rose too high for the eye to see, temples the size of mountains were filled with choirs endlessly singing the praises of the gods. The skies above were reflections of Their glory, and I had to force myself to look away, tears of regret rolling down my cheeks as I did so, lest I was consumed by such beauty.
There were thousands and thousands of angels there (18), leading the prayers of billions and billions of faithful souls. I saw lines of men and women stretching out from horizon to horizon, waiting to be offered to the Gods so that they may be united. Even from a great distance I could hear their cries of joy at being blessed thusly, and me and the other survivors of Zacheren fell on our knees and began to pay hommage. It was then that the angels approached us, and told us that even if our world had fallen in the endless war against the False Emperor, we could still be of use.
They took my eyes, so that I would never see anything else than the glory of this kingdom. They took my ears, so that I may never listen to anything but the praise of the gods. They took the memory of my name, that I may be no one else than the servant of the gods. Then they gave me ink and parchment (19) and told me in my mind to write the tale of Zacheren. This is this tale : how a people living in peace were forced to war by the Imperium of Man, and how the attempts of tyrants to destroy then instead led them to illumination. We died and our world was destroyed, but we died free and that is all one can ever wish for. May the tale of our death spread in the domain of the False Emperor, and reveal the truth of his tyranny to the slaves, so that they in turn rise against the oppressors (20).
For the freedom of Man and the glory of Chaos.
(1) Zacheren was lost to the Imperium due to a misfiled report in the Administratum, somewhere near the end of the fortieth millenium. While this is hardly an uncommon occurrence in a bureaucracy this size, in this case the consequences were grave and far-reaching. Where the responsible not of the Administratum, and thus already living one of the most miserable existences possible in the galaxy, no doubt retribution would have been terrible.
(2) Speculation has it that the origins of that foolish philosophy were surviving texts from Terra's antiquity. How our ancestors ever survived in this galaxy with such naive ideas, we will never know.
(3) Barthelemy von Cezare, the scion of some insignificant and inbreed Terran bloodline. His assignment as Governor of Zacheren was bought by his parents when the planet's existence was rediscovered, but all their money couldn't save him from his execution for gross incompetence later.
(4) The 1034th Penal Legion. Like many such regiments, the psychopaths and criminals that made up its ranks were kept under control by drastic but necessary means, and injected with enough stims to turn the rabble into an effective fighting force.
(5) As much as it pains me to admit it, the heretic is right here. News of Zacheren's rebellion had spread across the sector by that point, and if it wasn't crushed, it would doubtlessly have inspired other uprisings.
(6) This time, a proper regiment was sent, in the hope that the rebellion could be crushed quickly and with as little loss of life and resources as possible. The 425th Calistans were sent, as they had already experience in forcing misguided worlds into the fold of the Imperium.
(7) From the picts taken by the 425th and the testimony of the survivors before they were purged, those were Traitor Marines from the infamous Word Bearers Legion. The following corruption of Zacheren is something of a specialty for this particular breed of abominations, and they have long been enemies of my Ordo (after bringing us to work together with colleagues of the Ordo Malleus). It was probably at this moment that the planet was damned.
(8) I really, really doubt that. Either the author is lying, or the traitors are better actors than most loyal Astartes – which is probably how they were able to hid their betrayal from the God-Emperor until their forces were ready.
(9) Since the taint of Chaos was proved beyond doubt by the Word Bearers' presence, it had been decided to purge the world's population entirely. It is likely the traitors knew their presence would cause this, and took advantage of our logical reaction.
(10) My colleagues will easily recognize here the four major Chaos Gods, behind the lofty names employed. Since the Word Bearers aren't aligned with any of them, instead blindly worshipping all of them equally, the taint of Zacheren was as varied as it proved murderous when the hordes of daemons reached the Imperial forces.
(11) The ironic truth of that statement appears to be lost on the author.
(12) A company of the Space Wolves Chapter. For all the tension that has existed between the sons of Fenris and the Holy Ordos at times, their records in this war were exemplary, no matter what the end result was.
(13) The daemonhosts and sorcerers of Zacheren earned a terrible reputation during the war. Several were taken by other warbands, and still defy the Emperor's judgment to this day. And, according to rumor, a few Radical Inquisitors have captured some as well, though I refuse to even ponder what their motives may be.
(14) The decision of Exterminatus was taken by a group of six Inquisitors who had attached themselves to the war. At this point, they judged, the world was beyond redemption, and too deeply corrupt to be colonized again once its current population was purged. So it was decided to destroy the planet in the most complete fashion, using cyclonic torpedoes to tear it apart entirely.
(15) The individual Word Bearer was known to the Imperial forces as the Dark Apostle Merendes. Seeing that he was about to lose the war (or perhaps seizing the moment he had been waiting for all this time), the Arch-Traitor planned to turn Zacheren into a daemon world, hoping to be elevated to daemonhood in return. While the fickle and treacherous nature of Chaos makes it impossible to know whether or not it would have succeeded, there were already millions of dead on the world, and billions of souls damned to Chaos.
(16) The screams of every psyker and astropath in the system were an obvious enough clue.
(17) The author displays here a rather worrying insight into the nature of the Grey Knights. As secrecy is one of the 666th Chapter's best weapons, this alone would justify this file's clearance requirements.
(18) This was probably Sicarius, the daemon world in the Eye of Terror where the cursed Seventeenth has made its lair after being cast out from the Emperor's light. Knowledge about this most unholy place is scarce (something we can all be thankful for, if this brief description is anything to go by).
(19) Actually, if the original text I found was indeed written by the author's own hands, what they gave him was blood and skin. Both probably came from the other 'survivors'.
(20) Which is how it was being used when I found it. I pray to the God-Emperor that this was the only copy, for the mind of Man is easily deceived and brought into darkness by the lies of Chaos.