"Hm…" Vulkan droned to himself, touching the newly reformed ceramite coating his chest, "I must admit, that is the first time I've seen simple iron pierce armor of my own design! I must speak with these construction witches Luz had mentioned."

Vulkan found himself on a gray-sanded shore on the outskirts of Bonesborough, overlooking the vast Boiling Sea. He walked towards the shoreline and began stretching his arms and legs, attempting to relieve the innate stiffness that comes with his body being resurrected. Once properly limber, Vulkan laid down his hammer and sat beside the sea, letting out a deep sigh as he contemplated recent events.

"I hope the children weren't harmed." Vulkan relented, "I couldn't risk any Drukhari sweat-goblins harming Luz, but I wouldn't dare cause such damage to these innocents, mutant or not! I've failed as a Salamander…"

"You are weak, Vulkan!" a rattling whisper chided into Vulkan's right ear.

"Shut up, Ghost Ferrus!" Vulkan grunted, slamming his fists into the sand, "You are not a friend!"

"You destroyed Bonesborough…" the image of Ferrus Manus groaned, "You harmed these people…"

"The Iron Hands do that all of the time!" Vulkan retorted, "At least when I did it, it was an accident! My Salamanders don't go wiping out imperial worlds for the crime of being 'weak!'"

"OI, 'DA LAD BRINGZ UP A GUD POINT!" a gravelly voice shouted in Vulkan's left ear. Vulkan turned his head towards his right shoulder, seeing a small ork perched upon it.

"Ohohoho, Tiny-Beast!" Vulkan guffawed, placing the small creature in the palm of his hand, "I have not seen you before! Welcome to the cavalcade of strange voices polluting my head!"

"SHUT IT, YA GIT!" Tiny-Beast shouted, "'DA GHOSTY-BOY ERE'S ONTO SUMFIN!"

"Weeeeeeeeak…" Ferrus whispered.

"Shut your stupid skull-face, Ferrus!" Vulkan demanded.

"AHAHAHA, YEAH! SHUT IT YA ZOGGIN' SNOTLING!" Tiny-Beast replied, "BOY'S RIGHT, BUT YA AIN'T WEAK FOR FOIGHTIN'. YA WEAK CUZ YA ACT TOO QUICK! YA FINK I GOT 'DA BIGGEST WAAAGH GOIN' CUZ I WAS STUPID? NO! I HAD ME DIPLOMATS, PRIMEORKS! I EVEN LEARNED DAT "HIGH-GOFFIC" YA 'UMIES IZ ALWAYS RAVIN' ABOUT!"

"I'm sorry, Tiny-Friend, but I'm not so sure I understand what you mean." Vulkan admitted.

Meanwhile, a short distance away…

"What is he doing?" Steve asked, peaking his head out from behind a large boulder on the shore. In the distance he saw the perpetrator Kikimora had mentioned, talking to his empty hand.

"Isn't it obvious?" one of the several coven members in his entourage replied, "Look at him, he's distracted! We need to ambush him now!"

"But look at what happened to the town!" Steve rebutted, gesturing to Bonesborough which – unbeknownst to him – was actively being repaired by a contingent of Imperial Fists, "We don't know what'll set this guy off. He's been talking to his hand for the past five minutes, he's clearly crazy! I'm not just going to waltz up to some psycho, armored giant! Ugh, this would be so much easier if…"

"Don't say it!" one of the coven members interrupted.

"No!" Steve defiantly replied, "I'm sick of pretending, I miss Lilith! What was the worst that happened when she was around? Me getting body-swapped with an old lady? If anything, that was kind of funny! Now we've got to deal with an eleven-foot-tall murder machine fresh off of a temper tantrum? I hate this!"

"Careful, Steve." his associate warned, "If Belos heard about this…"

"F**k Belos!" Steve growled, prompting a unified gasp from his compatriots, "And f**k this! I'm not putting my life on the line for this stupid crap anymore! I'm going home, maybe I'll open up a crêpe shop or something…"

Steve continued to angrily mumble as he stormed off back towards town, tossing his mask to the ground. The group of Emperor's Coven members stared nervously at the one who had just confronted Steve, unsure of how to proceed.

Back to Vulkan…

"YA PROBLEM'S DAT YA DUM!" Tiny-Beast bluntly told Vulkan, "DEM ELFIES LOOK NUTHIN' LIKE 'UMIES! DEYZ TALLER AND PROPA WEIRD, BUT YA JUST SAW DEM POINTY-EARS N' YA WENT KRUMPIN' ON DEM! YA GOTZ TA FINK, VULKAN! YA DA SECOND-ORKIEST HUMIE I KNOW, YA GOT 'DA BRUTAL KUNNIN' UV GORK! BUT SOMETIMES YA NEED 'DA KUNNIN' BRUTALITY UV MORK!"

"Tiny-Beast!" Vulkan gasped, "You cannot just use that word all willy-nilly!"

"NO, YA GIT!" an annoyed Tiny-Beast sighed, slapping his face, "I SAID KUNNIN'! YA 'EAR ME? KUNNIN'!"

"Um… excuse me? Sir?" a voice beckoned from the distance.

Vulkan stood up and turned to see a group in uniform. They were adorned in dark-gray uniforms and white cloaks, and their faces were concealed by avian masks. Vulkan tightly grasped his thunder-hammer, prepared for combat.

"Foul bird-servants of Tzeentch…" he growled.

"EY, 'OLD ON A TICK!" Tiny-Beast cried from Vulkan's shoulder, "REMEMBER! FINK, 'UMIE, FINK!"

Vulkan took a deep breath and calmed himself. He set the end of his hammer's staff into the ground, though while still gripping it tightly in his right hand.

"You approach Vulkan: Primarch of the Salamanders space marine legion." he sternly responded, "How may I be of service?"

"Um, well…" the masked individual leading the group began, shaking in his boots, "You see, um, Emperor Belos sort of, um… requests your presence?"

"Belos…" Vulkan thought to himself, "That's the one Luz told me about! The vile false emperor of this realm."

"AHA, NOW YA GETTING' IT!" Tiny-Beast enthusiastically interjected, "DIS RIGHT 'ERE IS YA CHANCE TA GET CLOSE AND SMASH DAT GIT!"

"Dohohoho!" Vulkan cheerfully roared, "I am honored that your totally-legitimate emperor would request my humble presence! I must admit, I have felt quite lost ever since I arrived in this strange realm. Surely this 'Belos' could help me understand the ways of such a wonderful group of people!"

"Oh, well, that's great to hear!" the group's leader replied in a cheerful tone attempting to mask his anxiety, "If it's alright, however, I don't think Emperor Belos would appreciate you entering his palace armed. If at all possible, could we, erm… take custody of your hammer?"

Vulkan looked towards his thunder-hammer, then back at the emperor's minions. He surmised that even without his weapon they were no match for him. He rose him hammer from the ground and gripped it with both hands, slowly approaching the group. They fearfully started to back away until Vulkan kneeled before them, presenting his hammer in open hands.

"Feel free, my friends." Vulkan replied in a warm tone, "But I must warn you, it will take several to carry it!"

Three of the masked men approached. They kneeled before Vulkan and placed their open hands under his hammer. Vulkan released the hammer into their hands, sending them to the ground as the heavy article plummeted to the sand. The trio struggled with all of their might to lift the hammer but could barely do more than rise it an inch before falling back onto the sand.

"Well…" the coven leader began, staring at the struggling trio, "As long as you're unarmed, I suppose Belos won't be disappointed. Let's get to the palace. I appreciate your compliance, giant, I… really didn't want to see things get violent."

"YA HAVE NO IDEA YA GIT!" Vulkan somehow managed to whisper in all-caps.