The lights flickered... and again and again, only stopping as the man blinked. Groaning inhumanly deep he dragged himself upwards, sitting in whatever hell hole of a room this was. The sudden change of position brought a surge of blood to his head and the change of pressure nearly made him to gag as he felt his head would explode. The gunmetal gray of the room flickered as various colors seemed to evade his eye.
"Your finally awake Severath..." he heard a voice. Slowly the man felt his sanity come back to him, indeed Severath was his name, thou in his homeworld it would be more akin to Sevarath... where was his homeworld? It still slowly came back to him. "I always told you you had a thick head..." shifting his gaze Severath saw that a man was sitting only 2 meters in front of him and that he had been laying on the table this entire time. He knew this man, as he did the one sitting next to him. Running a hand to his pulsing head he immediately regretted doing so. The very moment he placed a hand on his head he felt such a burning pain that he had to move his hand away from it, the palm now holding fresh blood. "the really did a number on you..." the man continued. Focusing was hard and it was only now that Severath saw that the man before him looked like a cross between an imperial guard recruitment poster and a grizzled old sergeant. His hair was military short and blond and his face square and militar-ish, placing him in his 30ies as his blue eyes pierced Severath.
"where-" Severath began as he got up, feeling his bones and joints crack in protest. Moaning he heard the man call out to him.
"You should take it easy, you have been out for 3 days..." the man spoke. THREE DAYS! Severath limped to what he recognized was a rudimentary mirror and a sink. What he saw there horrified him. His entire upper left part of his head was bulging, as if the blood was making enormous pressure on it, which was most likely the case. Now it was all becoming so much clearer. "You heard me? take it easy... they could have let you die... for some reason they patched you up... might have been better if you died..." The man spoke slowly... Now it was much clearer.
"Sergeant!" Yes, this man was his sergeant. Sergeant Sergej Lasinski Borovich. Images flooded his mind.
"Dont tell me that you forgot? You came to us mind wiped by the inquisition and you had to be introduced to me 2 times over... dont tell me that xeno's weaponry has made you lose your memory for the second time." The sergeant spoke in a monotone yet disinterested voice. Yes now it was ALL back to him. Akvilaris secundus... civilized world he had been there for 2 years... how old was he 28? Severath started recalling his memories, finding a complete gap in his later teenage years until he was on Akvilaris and then he started filling in the pieces. Indeed one does not easily forget the chill the mere word of inquisiton sends down one's spine. But more pressinginly, the eldar! Those xeno's had invaded, that much he know though the details were vague.
"THE XENOS! DID WE-!" Severath barked at Sergej, who merely stared at him as he interrupted.
"No..." he spoke through his nose. "The eldar, or as we both know Dark Eldar raided us... unlike their nature they specifically targeted military installations... seems that they wanted military pray and while I am..." Sergej's lips shivered despite his militaristic nature. "thankful for the premium... conditions our captors have given us I can only guess what is to come... we are not livestock that much is certain... over glorified gladiators, that is our future..." the man spoke, his tank top dirty and his camouflaged jeans still attached to his boots, same as Severaths. Finally looking to the man next to the good sergeant Severath could only try his best not to gasp.
"Is that." he began but sergej spoke simultaneously
"It is..." the man said, not once changing a thing about him, always holding the monotone voice as he spoke, a man clearly at peace with his fate. "I killed 2... you killed 3 wyches and our good commisar here ran. The punishment? Well..." The figure next to Segej was nothing like the Sarasan Severath remembered. Sarasan was as worse as nobles came. The mans own father SEND him to the commesariat for training and in the end the man became the polar opposite of a commissar, despite wearing a uniform and holding the position of one. The man was always fat, yet this creature before him... Severath shivered as he examined it, wondering how the eldar put so much fat tissue into the man's face. The man before him was overstuffed with vat tissue up to the point he could barely breath and it took quite a moment to figure out how was he able to live at this point. Sarasan was bloated like a nurgalite follower... Nurgle, where did he hear that name? Despite all of his best efforts Severath gave up trying to remember more as he saw a food bowl on the table next to where he lay moments before. Grabbing it and practically swallowing the contents inside it, not even bothering to examine or taste it as his body was starved of 3 days worth of food. Putting down the bowl he noticed that the commisar had wet himself and now sat in his own piss. Severath didnt feel no gagging reflex as his military experience kicked in. Once satisfied he sat down trying to remember more about his past. It was all a blur yet it was all there, he could remember it but he could not comprehend it. So far he knew where he had been for the last 2 years, what happened to him and he knew about his basic past, but the name of his homeworld and all the little details he couldnt remember. Not being able to rest anymore as his body was laying for 3 days, or so it seemed, he got up and started prancing about. If this annoyed any of his two companions they didnt show it.
"Sergej, why cant I remember things? I remember clearly what we were doing the last 2 years and all that, but things are escaping my mind..." He finally proceeded to explain to his companion, who stoically watched him, his eyes unmoving, focused but not interested. Was the man thinking of an escape plan or has he given up, that Severath couldnt know, yet he had more pressing matters than to think about that. Finally the sergeant spoke.
"I dont have the time right now to recall things with you... we should be busy praying to the emperor... I may be a practical man but no amount of practicality will save me from a xenos vessel, one that does not travel through the warp as our craft do, for even if we managed to commandeer the ship we would have no way of returning, not to mention that we are unarmed..." the stoic man ignored him completely it seemed. Than finally... he shifted, exhaling and breaking the monotone voice of resignation he held. "To put it simply, you were in the inquisitions service, saw some daemons and they mind wiped you, sending you to my unit as a form of "retirement" ." Sergej dragged the word out. "I dont know what you did, but for a armsman or any army member of the imperium to retire at 25 years old must mean that you did something akin to saving an entire sector... Though to be fair Akvilaris had its own perils, but you can see how it was a easy task compared to the ever present threat you face when you face daemons who are after you very own immortal soul... and now we face the second best thing..." there was an eerie silence for a moment before Sergej's eyes widened , ever so slightly and he looked upwards. "The ship has stopped." Even the "commisar" who seemed to have been lobotomized by the eldar raiders seemed to drool out a gasp of fear and despair. Just then a noise came from the end of the room, which Severath saw held a door.
"ALRIGHT YOU MAG-" the door burst and while Severath was yet to gain full control of his motor functions and get used to his surroundings he instantly recognized the pale mockery of a humanoid form. The long haired creature in front of him, clad in black spiked armor, not unlike that of chaos, could be considered beautiful, if it wasnt twisted with cruelty. It... he reached out, a grin visible on its exposed face. Severath tried not to stare or wince as the eldar caressed him passionately. The hand darted towards the injury and Severath could only do his best not to recoil, an eye twitch the only betrayal to the pain he experienced. "Good! Your awake!" the creature said almost cheerfully. "My sister is most grateful that you killed all of her superiors! Now she is in charged of her squat and as reward for your actions she asked the hemonucleai to save your pathetic worthless life. You should be thankful mon-keigh!" Severath tried not to blink but he failed, badly. The words this thing uttered were both as familiar and as foreign as possible but only on the deafest ears would the sound pass as completely human. The emotions with the voice of the warrior before him were ever-present yet unreadable. Shifting its elegant hand he pinched Severath's cheek, as if he was a old woman pinching her grandson. "A fine meat indeed for the great house of Smrtnichi!" Severath stood there, stunned. This creature spoke gothic perfectly, yet the way he formed words and sentences was far from... ordinary to say the least. Slapping him playfully he looked towards Sergej whit almost childish happiness as he spoke. "Come mon-keigh , fun awaits!" this time the voice was a bit more serious and a lot more melodic and it took all the effort in the sergeants body not to curl his face into one of pure disgust. The three formed a line with the commisar being the last of them as they followed the eldar out of their cell. Severath still couldnt get around the idea of what seemed to be a 300kg man who stood relatively short was able to walk at all. If this was the fate of his commisar, he had to wonder what the god emperor had in store for him. Barely a few minutes had past since he had returned to consciousness and yet Severath continued to refuse to accept the reality around him. Consciously he started praying to the god emperor, if he could hear him from this accursed vessel. Subconsciously, his inborn instincts and his training and experience kicked in as he slowly started to panic.
"Where are they taking us..." he whispered to Sergej who was in front of him. This part of the ship held a dozen or so cells like their own, yet Severath could easily bet these were all "luxury" cells compared to what he heard eldar do to their other prisoners. Once more Sergej didnt look back at him as they walked, their wrists unadorned with any restraints. Were the eldar so arrogant in their thought of human inferiority? And then Severath noticed a pistol like gun in their captive's hand which explained a lot... Finally Sergej spoke.
"there is no need to whisper..." the monotone, pale voice spoke once more, far from the arrogant, brash and hard man he once was, the sergeant still refused to give any hope to his man. "Their hearing is superior." again, Sergej was unmoved.
"He's correct mon-keigh!" The eldar cheerfully whistled, only his long dark hair facing the two humans behind him.
"As for an answer to your question." Finally, some emotion escaped the blond man's lips. "We soldiers were dragged to the more... comforting cells and I already told you, we are most likely to be over glorified slave gladiators..."
"SMART Mon-keigh!" once more the eldar burst turning around to face them. Still, despite his visible face Severath had severe trouble identifying and recognizing his face. "Maybe the apes are evolving? It would be fun if it wasnt dangerous!" he moved in to caress Sergej's cheek, as he did with Severath moments prior. The man offered no resistance and they continued moving as the eldar spoke to them. "Yet the event in question... well, I regret-" he spoke yet it was obvious no regret was to be found in any of the cells in his being "to inform you that you wont be surviving it. If you do it would be a miracle and I even may consider buying you!" he spoke as they walked into another, less... pleasant part of the ship.
"njhhh!" the commisar behind them let out a inhumane moan as ichor and saliva escaped his over bloated lips. As soon as they passed the door in the corridor horror awaited them. So far the entire section of the ship in which they were in smelt vaguely of perfume yet Severath's nose was accustomed to it and he barely noticed it as colors, mostly dark and purple filled the sharp angles of the elegant corridors. The scene before him... emperor... not even chaos was this cruel... Just a few meters from the door a hunched shape, bone thin was hunched over a carcass which was bloated, much like the commisar. To his horror Severath recognized that both of these were human with a VERY large emphasis on the were part. The skeletally thin man was EATING away the rotting, maggot filled corpse of another man as a group of 3 eldar, their helmets partially concealed by helmets yet the giggles they emitted were... terrifying. As if before his very own eyes their face shifted, becoming younger. Suddenly the thin man looked up and as if seeing and becoming jealous of the fatness of the commisar it shook violently, either in rage or in sickness due to eating his fellow man. With a horrible scream it lunged at the commisar and the fat man couldnt even be bothered to run, not that he was able to. Luckily for him a chain shackled the creature to the wall. The commisar wet himself once more and moaned in fear, much to the enjoyment of the eldar spectators who cheered on. On the other end was a pit where two humans, if you could call them that, fought in a make shift arena, barely reminiscent of a ring. Neither of the two had any teeth or nails, yet they fought on as the small crowd of spectators cheered on. It was only then that Severath noticed all the skulls and other grizzly trophies adorning the walls, horrifying beyond description and if he was any lesser man, Severath would have gagged and throw up instantly. to his surprise their eldar guard rolled his eyes and sighed at all the "fun" around him.
"KUJICA!" the eldar guard shouted and nearly sprint forwards. The word he spoke was practically unspellable in gothic and try as he may Severath couldnt repeat it properly. To his surprise the eldar went towards another eldar in front of them. This eldar was female and she was leading another group of prisoners, 5 of them to be specific. 3 of them were female but all still wore the orange uniforms of the imperial guard as well as shackles unlike their 3 comrades in arms. Their uniforms were special as Severath could easily see the markings of the 138th imperial penal legion, unofficially known as "Akvilaris pessimis" or "the worst of Akvilar". No wonder the eldar shackles them... Severath thought. Leading the group of penal legionaries was a GIANT of a woman for whom Severath was certain to be between 2.3 and 2.5 meters tall, her massive frame as wide as a bloody space marine. She was built like a adamantium wall yet for all her unnatural-ness he was fairly certain she didnt use any stimulants or steroids as he frame still looked plausible if one was... a mutant or something. She was no Ogryn that much was certain and her long, thick messy hair gave her a rather attractive mane for all her unfeminine features and her face held contempt hatred and intelligence which betrayed she was at least of average IQ. The eldar guard embraced the female in a tight hug and they lewdly kissed as their tongues ran around each other, flickering out even and licking each other's faces, much to the disgust of the penal soldiers. Even in this gut and gore filled air Severath could feel the lust of the two, for the stench was a mixture of both the most pleasing and most disgusting smells he never knew existed. Finally after a long time the two disengaged and Severath saw that the woman wore a... scant but extravagant armor. A WYCH, he grinded his teeth. One of them put a bloody spear in his head. The 3 feel in line and now formed a unified group of captured army personnel. The female eyed him and male spoke or whispered, Severath didnt know which nor did he care, something in eldar to the woman, who smiled and giggled in a way which would make even the most seductive whore blush in jealousy and annoyance. How could something so... pure and beautiful be so evil, bile, vile, arrogant, evil, twisted, cruel, evil! Again Severath kept calm, despite his feelings. The woman, despite her looks, couldnt wash off the stain of corruption off of her. Slowly she approached and again, Severath had difficulty discerning her face, possibly due to his head injury. To his immense surprise and to the general surprise of everyone present, she leaned in and kissed his cheek. This caught Severath off guard and his eyes widened. Sergej finally broke the charade of resignation as his face curled and twisted into one of pure hatred and anger. Severath felt the saliva of both the eldar guards imprint on his cheek as the woman broke away, leaving him dazed and unaware of how much time had passed.
"Thank you!" she spoke in gothic, her voice different and alien as well, but understandable non the less. "You have saved me from the decades of servitude under that bitch!" she spoke in a manner a poorly written heroin of a cheesy imperial guard propaganda poster would. He blinked, remembering the words of the male eldar told him in the holding cell. He now vaguely remembered the female before him as the moments of his capture started flooding his mind. He did indeed fell 3 wyches in close combat and she was most certainly there, but another thought preoccupied him. Barely resisting a gag at the realization Severath heard the male speak, as if sensing his predicament.
"This is my sister, the one I told you about." he affirmed and at that moment every human around, aside from the commisar who was unable to, gagged and frowned. Incest was not that uncommon, especially amongst the poorest and the richest of the imperium but they way these two openly showed their perverted affection made Severath blush a deep red and his sergeant made such a burning face of anger that he actually showed teeth as he held back the rage inside him.
Seeing this the wych made a "oooo!" sound and grabbed Sergej's chin. "a feisty one! I like that!" she said, shaking the humans head playfully, further emphasizing the unrealistic nature of the surrounding Severath found himself in. "Bjelana was a bitch..." the wych continued, facing him "But now that you have killed her and splat her brains out I have the command of my very own squat! Thank you so much" she giggled. The injured head which housed Severath's brain began to feel dizzy at the surrealism around it. It was true, what the inquisitor told him. "The eldar are as wise as the most ancient of ancient beings yet they are as cruel as only a child could be. Their imagination and their sensory physiology far surpasses our own." but what inquisitor told him that he couldnt know, he only remembered that sentence. Deciding not to dwell on that he gathered the balls to speak, hopping that his "good terms" with the eldar in front of him would somehow work to his favor.
"Who-" he began but suddenly a spear flew by his face, dangerously close as another wych leapt at him, pinning him to the ground and holding his tank top in her hands, practically ripping it apart.
"YOU WHORE!" the eldar woman screamed at him as he laid there paralyzed. He saw Sergej barely restraining his urge to grab the bitch on top of him and rip her head of as the female of the two siblings started dragging her colleague off of him.
"Ork'ara! GET OFF OF HIM!" she screamed, luckily in gothic so they could all understand her. "THATS AN ORDER! HE BELONGS TO THE-" she began but the woman screamed, trying in vain to strangle Severath who now felt his survival instinct kick in.
"I DONT CARE! HE KILLED MOR'JANA! HE DESERVES TO DIE!" she continued to scream.
"She will be fine! The hemonucleai are resurrecting her as we speak you have to-" but all efforts to calm her squat mate failed and the woman, Ork'ara dragged her arm free and flew it downwards into a strike which never came. Seeing the male grab her arm she turned to face him. His face was dead serious for the first time and he spoke something calmly in the eldar language. He spoke out a bunch of sentences and some the eldar in the room, who by now were watching the whole fight if they werent too busy with the other ones, went "oooo" and it sounded like the woman who wanted to kill him got scorned in some way. Ork'ara urghed and trodded away in impotent rage. "Not only are they childish but they are obsessive as well" Severath mentally noted, realizing that no one would bother offering him a hand, he got up himself. The male then left off screaming something at the human slaves working the platforms behind him, leaving his sister to guard the 8 prisoners. Despite being outnumbered the woman hadnt a care in the world and it was not like the humans would gather the balls to attack her any time soon.
"As I was saying, PLEASE fight as well in the arena as you fought me, pretty please?" she told him to his great shock. Severath wasnt a stereotypical no nonsense military guy, but he realized that he had to act around these... people as if he was around children but he was certain that they would say the same about his kind.
"What, I-" he tried to speak but the woman already exhaled, as if giving up on trying to make the primitive animal in front of her understand.
"Just fight well in arena, alright? I want the archon to see that it was ME who managed to defeat a powerful opponent such as you. Your going to die anyway, what do you get by spiting me?" and then it hit him. He actually remembered, speaking firmly this time.
"YOU!" he said pointing his muscular hand towards her. She cocked her elongated eyebrow at him in response, questioning him. "It was you who ran your spear into my head!" he boldly proclaimed, anger starting to fill him and boil inside.
"yes and?" she responded almost instantly and whats worse Severath didnt know if she was acting ignorant or was she actually living in ignorance, giving him a "so what" look.
"You nearly split my head in half and-" he began but once again she cut him off.
"so what?" she responded to his shock. This further angered him but before he had a chance to scream at her she continued. "Are you expecting an apology for that?" she rolled her eyes. "Pff, humans... Well you can forget about it, thats not how the galaxy works child!" she told him and all the anger seemed to escape from him. she was right... she was actually right for terra's sake... They were enemies and she tried to kill him and HE was dumb enough to be angry about it. "Anyways if it will sooth that small mind of yours it was ME who told Krag to stitch you back together." she giggled once more, astounding him with her ability to switch emotions almost instantly. "You were already dead, brains and all, but I convinced the hemonucleus to bring you back to fight one last time , so I can further be renewed by the acts of violence that you will- sorry that will be committed upon you." she giggled some more and Severath found himself blinking sheepishly. He will never comprehend eldar, that much was certain. She rolled her eyes and turned around to leave telling the two eldar nearby to guard the humans until her brother returns. Like an absolute idiot he called out to her.
"Wait, whats your name?" he called out, asking her. Slowly she turned around to face him, her unnatural eyebrows raised, as if questioning him why he asked. His expression spoke "because I will die and want to know who you are" but he didnt speak it. Casually she told him.
"Kujice." the word escaped her mouth yet was incomprehensible and unspeakable to Severath. That is he heard it but he doubted he would be able to say it properly even with training. A male eldar shouted something in their language and the eldar laughed, clearly mocking him. With that she left and Severath turned around to face an angry, VERY angry Sergej. For the first time since he knew him Sergej looked at him with his head low and his eyes up piercing him with anger.
"Fraternization with aliens of any kind is high treason, heresy and against the god emperor and is punishable by death!" he barked between his teeth at him and Severath, in any other situation, would be afraid, but right now death or even the wrath of the emperor wasnt the worst thing on his mind.
"Yet you are on an alien ship and not killing them. The emperor didnt want his servants to be stupid... or at least too stupid." He spoke calmly and the anger within Sergej subsided but he still clenched his fist, looking at Severath he gave him a grudging nod of approval, signaling that he did have a point. It seems that desperation will even make people like Sergej seek the emperor... Just then he heard a whip crack followed by screeching followed by a scream and a metalic sound of a ramp lowering. Severath turned to see a large part of the wall lowering and landing on the ground with a crash. The entire group instinctively turned to the opening to hear the loud cheering and various shouting in the eldar language. The male guard, Kujice's brother returned and mumbled, as if to himself. "welcome to Commoragh."