Author's note: Im sorry for the long absence folks! Ill try to get back to writing this little heresy of ours from now on! I thank all of you for your patients and for all these lovely reviews which give me ideas. In either case, stay tuned and enjoy!
"URGH!" Severath screamed so hard that not even the gas mask was able to distort his voice. Of course none of the dark Eldar vendors, consumers or any other of their ilk so much bore him a glance, for death was so common around these parts and the best way to avoid it was to mind your own business. Severath gasped before he hit a ground and he screamed once more as the agony was too much to bare and he couldnt even gasp at the impact as his body collided with the floor. Behind him he heard a soulless chatter and giggling as he twitched on the ground. His entire body ached and he couldnt feel his limbs which were limp at best, twitching on their own. He caught a bit and felt a kick to his side but despite the force and the metal on the boot he barely felt it. His assailants commented something and Severath began praying to the emperor as he felt the end was near. Just then... his prayers were answered as a miracle happened. Hearing the whizzing sounds of splinter rounds fly followed by shrieks and thuds of falling corpses, mixed with the shocked gasps and shouts from onlookers, Severath breathed deep not knowing what to expect.
"Please dont tell me that was your first backstabbing?" He heard a voice which was all too familiar, a fact which he was thankful for. Hearing the figure take a few steps Sevearth moved his head sideways and through the visors on his mask he saw a familiar figure.
"ARAD!" he proclaimed beneath the mask, thanking the emperor for his salvation. Funny... for either the Emperor commands these xenos or he was... ah fuck it, the emperor works in mysterious ways.
"The one and only!" Arad smirked and spoke something in Eldar to the person on the other side. "If I had known all it took was a back stab I would have snuck up to you on our first meeting." he said as he grabbed the human, pulling him up despite the very audible protests which the mon'keigh was giving. "Oh come now, your armor may be made from crap but that fancy cape of yours prevented the blade from cutting into you. Really quality stuff that." he said, yet Severath honestly couldnt care less. Wait... if the blade didnt pierce him then what the... The human looked down at the three bodies of his assailants and once more he was horrified. Two of the bastards were normal, but the third was a mutant of some sorts standing, or now lying, more then 2 and a half meters easily and being way thicker than a normal Eldar and that was putting it lightly. Since when did Eldar cross breed with Ogryns of all things. As if somehow seeing his confused stare beneath his helm Arad threw himself in the conversation. "Mutations and gene mods, the all time favorites of Commorragh!" So the aliens, in all their supremacist bigotry, liked to mutated themselves the damne- wait... his mother was a mutant... no she wasnt... And thats when Severath pulled off his helm and threw up on the ground, his back aching violently. "Oh come now!" Arad said, clearly enjoying this. Still the alien gasped when Severath looked at him, the unfiltered air protruding his senses.
"What?" Severath said, his face betraying his sickness.
"Nothing." Arad was quick to stabilize himself and act normally. "Its just that... well I didnt imagine you looked like that." He said, pointing at the human's face. He was about to continue but Severath cut in, finally seeing that the kid they rescued was still with the uptight alien.
"Have you seen the state of your face, sunshine?" Severath protested. Giggling at his remark yet ignoring him Arad continued.
"Honestly nothing goes with that face. The cape makes you look... I dont know, like a noble wannabe fashion disaster area." Oh the irony. Standing closer and accidentally placing his foot on the massive piece of alien metal that compromised the huge saber that the brute used to crush his back, if not pierce it.
"aham!" Severath pointed to the camera mounted on his visor as he returned it to his head. "Can you tell that a bit louder, I am not sure that the trueborn noble lord who had given me this cloak heard you well enough!" He said in a annoyed manner and Arad obviously stiffened with anxiety. Sighing and ignoring him Severath let things calm down as his scapula hurt like mad. Thankfully the xeno seemed to be left handed and has accordingly stabbed him in the left side and now every time he moved his left arm it hurt like a bitch. Not wanting to think of the consequences of such injuries he focused on Arad, the black haired xeno eying him inquisitively. "Arad... why?". Cocking his chin and then eyebrow at him Arad gave him a resounding 'hmmm' . "Why did you save me?" the question was one Severath really shouldnt ask... but he wanted to know. Blessed be the mind too small for doubt true but... he was a filthy xeno, one who thrived, no, needed suffering of human kind to survive, so why did he save him. Again... he really shouldnt have asked such a question but... cursed be the human heart for wanted the best out of everything. Eying him and doing the mental, Eldar equivalent of rubbing ones chin in thought Arad thought before answering, yet this happened in a very short space of time as the Eldar mind processed the information faster than Severath could care to know. Also the fact that the archon was probably watching and hearing his response didnt help either.
"Well... To be honest it was a whim." The xeno replied and Severath was torn between blinking in surprise, being angry at the fact and coldly laughing at the clearly normal, expected answer. "You see, you help me sustain my family and honestly as long as there is a possibility of you being as useful to me as you were yesterday, I dont mind lowering myself to help a mon'keigh such as you one or two times." There was but a moments pause in the aliens tone as he pointed to the magical short sword (or knife, depending on who you ask). Shifting his eyes to it and not taking off the grin from his face Arad continued. "On top of it your doing a bit better for yourself I see... if you keep this up, you can make a lot of people happy."
"Well if by better you hopefully mean 'not still being in this shithole' then yeah..." Severath sighed under his helm, wincing at the spreading pain. It still took getting used to the fact that virtually none of the passer bys gave a glance to them and the dead bodies... probably for the best. "Bah!.." the human protested. "Where are you headed?" he asked the alien.
"Oh me? Just getting some groceries for the family BUUUT!" the sly bastard responded "I guess I can escort you... dont want you to end up dead before you could be of further use to me." he proclaimed with a snicker.
"Well in that case, do you have any idea what a spoiled princess who owns everything and just who happens to be of different race if not species then me, would like?" Severath instantly responded, not even bothering to sigh at the xeno's comments. To his, somewhat, pleasant surprise the said xeno genuinely looked deep in thought.
"That blade that hangs on you looks already decent enough. Still, you should hide it to prevent muggings like the last one. Then again dont be too surprised, basically every street in Commoragh has a artifact weapon of its own!" Arad said, slightly depressing Severath as his gift suddenly lost a lot of impact. Still if he can gather enough of these alien artifacts it just might impress his master... eh.. his new patron enough to let him live a few days more. Suddenly cocking his eyebrow at him Arad grabbed him by the collar and started dragging him to a more private place, the kid in tow behind him.
"H-HEY! LET GO YOU ASSHOLE!" Severath protested but with his left arm responding weakly and his footing not the best he offered too little of resistance to Arad to be able to free himself.
"Take your helmet off." Arad commanded and, not waiting for a response, he proceeded to take the human's helmet off himself.
"Whats this all about-?" Severath tried to fight but the Eldar male grabbed him by the chin whit his long, elegant fingers as their gazes locked and what appeared blue lightning started connecting them. Severath wanted to scream but he couldnt.
"We dont want the Archon to find out now want we?" he heard Arad say but... his lips didnt move and the voice... it came from his own head. SORCERY! Sevarath spasmed, unable to fight back. "Oh do relax now I am quite sure I know what Im doing..." oh how reassuring... Thankfully Severath didnt know how much the xeno was untrained in this art and how unstable the entire thing was. "Oh come now, just a peak... do try and relax... Ahhhh..." The xeno seemingly exhaled at some sort of revelation before pushing the human away.
"WHAT THE FUCK!" Severath said in a high pitch voice as he started frantically locating his helm before the xeno tried that again, or before the toxic fumes killed all the hairs in his nose.
"Was just checking your recent memories thats all. It will help us you know." Arad boasted with a smile before turning to see the kid with a hanging jaw as he was shocked to see this and the two started arguing in their native speech as Severath placed his helm on, taking a deep breath of a slightly more clean air.
"You could have asked..." The ex storm trooper said coldly.
"Eh..." was the only thing Arad said as they were on their way. "Junior here was having a tantrum for my use of psychic powers." Arad told him in a hushed voice. Not that the human actually cared, with him being in a literal hell of its own, what was sorcery compared to the heresy he has already committed? "Oh well for my second time doing that I did a rather good job at it." Arad boasted.
"Wait! Sorcery is banned in this place?" Severath asked, just to start a conversation of any sorts as they proceeded down the market.
"Oh yes most strictly... then again it depends on the district and kabals at hand. For instance we Eldar, in all our superiority, cant use a lot of our technology without our psychic powers. Some of our guns wont fire at all if we dont psychically make them fire and such. Also, arts like telepathy are rather useful in conflict dont you think?" Arad indulged him as he began explaining. "Again some districts and kabals forbid the use of it, ANY OF IT!" he over emphasized. "While others, like our fair archon are much more lenient towards it. Vect I even heard he once petitioned the arch archon himself to lift the ban on it!" Now Severath was slowly getting lost.
"The who?" he asked. Arad shook his head.
"Never mind, we are here!" he declared as they stood in front of an elaborate, exotic and flamboyant building from which came the most exotic smells. Hell, Severath could smell them even through the filter. "Just remember. Our lord is rather ok with psychic powers while his rival the archon of levati is not, that is just one of the many things they are conflicted on." Arad said as they entered. "Let me do the talking!" he lastly proclaimed as Severath took a moment to take this all in. With little noise they entered through the flamboyant doorway above which stood an even more flamboyant sign of some sorts.
Emperor... Severath had been to quite a few imperial palaces during his time in the inquisitorial service... or at least he remembered he was there, even if his entire memory was not intact but he was quite sure nothing he saw made by human hands could measure what he saw in her. Such extravagance such color... such sensation. The poor human didnt know just how toxic his stay here was as a slow vaporizing, burning sensation, so subtle he didnt even feel it, started attaching to his shoulder in the form of a pink symbol of the unholy prince of darkness... the dark prince of chaos. Any man could be fooled into thinking this was a place of pure innocent pleasure, where humans and Eldar, most either naked or only barely covered, danced together in a sort of trance, with the Eldar naturally dancing in a more elegant manner which their human compatriots couldnt hope to match. Still this was no place of equality or peace. Nor was this a nightclub. This was a store of some sorts, for hidden behind the fabrics the smells and the rather attractive scenery stood a Eldar, the most androgynous by far, who had an entire array of bottles, potions and other goods behind him. He and Arad exchanged words as Severath tried to compose himself, barely holding onto reality as the sensation took over him. He was so tempted to take off his helmet... to breath in the wonders, to see them with his own eyes, to listen to the calming music with his own ears. Junior as well seemed to have gotten the idea as he was drooling over the women here. Holy Emperor... why... why did these creatures exhibit such beauty yet were so cruel? Were the stories of frontier worlds true? Were the Eldar actual reincarnations of humans who lost and damned themselves to pleasures forbidden to men? In that case he understood why these humans fell in their previous lives.
"Ah yes the human that was promised!" The androgynous Eldar said as he surprisingly bowed to Severath before going behind the counter to pick something up, returning with a bottle full of violet fluid. This managed to snap Severath out of his trance. "Just one drop of this mixed in a pool will cause even the most... dull of species to reach the highest orgasm they ever felt. Of course we give this willingly to our lord archon. We hope he finds it satisfactory. Do send him our regards." Once more the Eldar bowed and gave Severath the potion at which point the human barely managed to murmur a thanks to the shop keeper with him only remembering that afterwards Arad was dragging both him and the kid outside as he placed the potion in his back pack.
"You two are a bunch of pussies, you know that?" he told them with a snicker on the outside as Severath sweat and panted like mad, falling to his knees. This caused joy in the Eldar, as he started laughing.
"Arad... why?" Severath managed to utter.
"I beg your inferiority?" Arad asked him as the human tried to come to his senses.
"Why? For the love of the Emperor why? You claim superiority but you are a race who has the ability to create things like that!" He pointed to the place from which they emerged with his head. "And at the same time you are capable of committing the most heinous crimes against my kin. Why are you mentally cutting through to our spine? What have we done to you?" He continued to protest, shaking uncontrollably as the drugs located in the shop continued to rock his body with after effects, making his speech and grammar much more fallible. He was angry and sad. To top it all off he was so confused. He wanted to express his anger at all these atrocities but he couldnt and what angered him the most was the fact that he didnt understand any of it. Arad's response was to angrily proceed to Severath and agilely slip his hand underneath the human's helmet with such speed that the later had no chance to resist as the alien held him and made him lock their eyes. The visor was large enough for Severath to see the aliens face and mouth, but he was captivated on his eyes too much to pay attention to his moving mouth.
"Oh dont fret yourself human... Its not YOUR fault you are inferior. Its not your fault that we are so unreachably superior to you, but in the case you didnt know, let me spell this out for you, so your tiny brain can understand once and for all. My soul and the souls of my family and being drained every day by a creature more morbid and perverse than all of Commoragh put together. My entire essence and the essence of my family is doomed, predestined to be eaten and devoured by a daemon. Now I can assure you that is not the nicest of sensations to experience, in fact I dare say it is one of the worst. The only way I or any of my kind can alleviate the symptoms of this curse is to feast on others, their emotions, their very souls even..." Finally the Eldar male took a moment of pause before continuing. "That or to deny ourselves what it means to be Eldar, like our craftworld cousins do." He proceeded to retract his arm and push Severath down as the human still struggled to regain his senses. "You think we are monsters, I agree, but if you think we are born evil then you are wrong. You think we are created to love torturing you and your kin, as well as other aliens? Well let me tell you that the sole reason why most of the Eldar in this city are psychopathic bastards is because they want to survive! Those who show mercy tend not to feed and those who dont feed starve..." he knelt before the fatigued human. "And those who starve... they wither and die..." Severath managed to gather himself enough to know that withering and dying werent the worst fates to suffer in this city as Arad helped him up. "Now lets get back to my place, we will pass a few good shops on our way there and quite honestly I dont want to see your dumb mon'keigh ass on the line again..."Now that was a odd choice for words, then again Arad probably meant something that wasnt easily translated into gothic.
"But why save me? I see no reason to-" Severath said as he scrambled to follow the Eldar male, who still proudly wore his Sybarite armor, the kid they 'rescued' still by his side as Arad cut him off.
"I told you mortal." Arad responded with a snicker as he lead the group through the narrow, overcrowded and murder ridden streets that made up the frontier marketplace. "The only thing I care about is my family, my wife and my son. I dont care about the war, I dont care about who lives or dies and I most certainly dont care about the human race enough to be bothered. All I want is to be safe and happy with my family and I would kill every single human to be with them... BUT! Given how you have helped my family, I see it fit to return the favor." Arad said, snickering with pure joy as Severath could have sworn he was feeding off of his emotions.
"You do a really bad 'bad guy' impression, you know that?" Severath told him as he finally got his shit together. He was still sweating but at least he felt well enough to proceed, the drugs at least numbing the pain he felt on his shoulder and back.
"Eh... dont care too much honestly. The human who's memories I read, the first one, the one before you." Arad opened his mouth to continue but Severath stepped in.
"I know... I mean you said that Im the second human whos mind you... poked into." Seeing the Eldar eye him in an odd way, Severath was quick to add. "Im not that dumb you xeno! Now continue, for I see that you like to talk and I am in need of time killers and distractions in this place!" He proclaimed, causing the Eldar to giggle menacingly.
"Very well! My point was... he was quite happy to be here!" Even before Severath could give him a risen eyebrow the Eldar continued. "Honest! He came from what we call a Tomb World. You see... and-" Arad was getting all theatrical before Severath cut him off once more.
"It was full of necrons?" he asked. Arad blinked in response, before laughing.
"Oh no no no no! That would be-" At this point he said something in Eldar. "While this was-" Once more he spoke in Eldar. "There is a difference, a huge one but we translate both of them as Tomb worlds! The human thought of his own as Death world. I do believe that is the term you humans use for it!" The Eldar explained and elaborated, clearly full of himself.
"I see." Severath nodded in confirmation.
"His was an irradiated world, full of echoes and souls of the past, trapped in a hellish landscape as they blew themselves up millennia ago!" The fact that the xeno's voice was cheerful and snobbish was... eerie at best. "It was so wasted in fact that the Imperium gave up on it and he would live a miserable existence if his planet wasnt raided and he captured!" he continued.
"So it was a good thing his planet was raided?" Severath spoke softly, trying not to bark in anger.
"Oh yes, quite!" Arad said cheerfully, either ignorant or not caring of the humans remark. "If it wasnt for the raid the Imperium wouldnt have paid attention to the world and the catch was soo poor that they were all let loose in the streets of Commoragh!" Arad continued.
"Why?" Severath intervened. "I mean why not just torture and feed on them if they couldnt sell them?" He asked. Arad shrugged.
"It isnt worth torturing someone if you will get radiation poisoning from them and at least this way they will do harm to their enemies in an attempt to survive!" The xeno proclaimed. "The human was happy with his new life and I do believe he is still around, making a name for himself!"
"So your trying to wash the accusations- no facts of your kins doing away? Even if I did trust you, what is the happiness of one soul compared to the horrors that go on here every day!?" Severath was getting angry.
"Meh! I dont care. Believe thou wilt! I am just speaking the truth. Commoragh is hell, I dont deny that, but if you have come here to purge without brains I highly advise you to take my words into consideration... for nothing is as black and white as your precious Imperium believes." They stopped at an intersection before turning left. "But enough of this now. I enjoyed our debate and I wish to continue it, for despite the... un advancement of your brain you provide a good talker to human! Now lets find one last shop before we head home!" Arad continued to parade his cheerful attitude everywhere as he most likely believed he won this debate, even if it wasnt one in the first. Severath on the other hand couldnt help but smile at the fact of just how much the xeno loved the sound of his voice. Perhaps he just thought of him so stupid that he could talk of anything before him? Or maybe the Eldar language and their brains were just so hardwired to speak so much? But at that moment Severath couldnt care less... he was on a pointless quest to save his miserable, pointless existence... if only the Emperor is seeing him now... what must he be thinking?