-Planet: Trantey II -Year: 914.M34 -Location: Segmentum Obscurus, Gothic Sector -POV: Adamus Rogelius captain of the fifth company, Dark angels chapter
The talk with Inquisitor William went as well as most would expect, from all of the people within the imperial hierarchy, the inquisition is most difficult to deal with, these mortals were different from most others, prideful, merciless, and cruel, and the worst part is, their death does not go unnoticed, so, if Inquisitor William knows of the fallen, he had to plan another way to deal with him, IF he knows!
Captain Adamus looked at the burnt corpse of the traitor Astarte, his previously dark green and black armor was now completely charcoal black, and one of the old symbols of Caliban that have been corrupted could be seen on his chest plate, it has been combined with a chaos symbol of Tzeentch, fortunately, the symbol is not recognized by anyone but few within the inner circle so he didn't have to worry for its discovery. It was a shame for Captain that he could not bring the fallen for interrogation but what's done is done, the fallen was dead and his mission was over, the body of the fallen will turn into ash and after dealing with what was left of daemons on the planet he could leave with his company.
Still, something bothered him, the way the fallen had died was suspicious, the burns were from inside rather than outside 'Did Inquisitor use Voltkite?' Adamus questioned himself, most voltkite weapons are property of Mechanicus and they did not like to share such high-tech weaponry too often, so captain only took note of the idea as only a possibility and continued to observe the corps currently being tended by the apothecary.
"Captain" An arcane voice called out his title, Adamus turned towards the voice and saw the chapter librarian looking at him "I wish to talk to you" said the librarian then looked towards his other battle-brothers present at the scene "In private" he added, Adamus nodded and walked towards the librarian
The two moved outside and into another building, after making sure no one was near the librarian spoke again "The traitor has been killed with warp fire" The librarian informed the captain, This gathered the captain's attention who signed him to continue his explaining "Captain, have you noticed the masked man who stood beside the Inquisitor when you spoke with him?" The librarian asked
Adamus recalled his memories, the image of the Inquisitor and his retinue was crystal clear in his mind, unlike that of mortals, marine's mind was blessed with perfect photographic memory "I do remember brother, what of it?" Captain asked
"Did you not sense anything from him, captain?" Librarian asked, Adamus shook his head "Nothing? nothing at all?" he asked again only to receive the same answer again
"I did not see anything odd brother, Inquisitors tend to have odd people as retinue, a masked man is hardly odd compare to some who have Xenos in their ranks" captain folded his arms and continued "What is it about this figure that bothers you, brother librarian?" Captain asked
Librarian sighed "He is a psyker brother captain" Adamus looked confused for a second, almost every Inquisitor has a psyker to fulfill certain tasks so what was different in this case? "The problem, however, is that he is a powerful psyker, unlike any mortal I have seen, I can't confirm this for sure but that man, in terms of raw power is far superior to me!"
Adamus was shocked though he did not show any expression of it on his face, he was sure the Librarian knew how he felt "That is impossible brother, you are an Alpha grade are you not? and for a mortal to surpass that?" Captain shook his head in denial, the idea of Alpha plus psyker to stay sane was ridiculous on its own, after all, only a few librarians had accomplished such feats and they were treated with veneration by their chapter, no mortal can do that "If he is as powerful as you said, how come Inquisition did nothing about the matter? surely even the most radical of inquisitors can see the danger within them" Adamus argued
"I know this may sound absurd brother captain, but if that mortal somehow managed to discipline himself then most if not all inquisitor would like to have such acolyte" Librarian said then looked towards where the fallen's corps was, he may not have a line of sight thanks to the walls between them but his abilities allowed him to see through most things "If my theories are correct then he was more than capable to kill him" the librarian said
Captain Adamus considered the librarian's words for a few seconds, although it was unheard of, there is always a first time, just because something did not happen, it doesn't mean it won't ever happen in the future, but still, how can a mortal control such power? even if he trained his entire life, he would still lack in training, he would wither away before his skills are honed enough. The thought seemed impossible but the slight possibility still bothered him.
"Librarian, we will observe him for now, however, even if your words were to be true don't take any action until we are certain he does not know of the fallen, we cannot risk alerting the Inquisition, but worry not, I will think of a way to deal with this matter, now let us return to our brothers before they suspect something" Captain ordered, librarian gave a nod then left the building, whatever the truth is, it will one day reveal itself to him and for now he will hold his judgment
-Inquisitorial vessel Fatorum ruptor -Year: 914.M34 -Location: Segmentum Obscurus, Gothic Sector -POV: William Husan
"INQUISITORIAL MESSAGE/ CLARIFICATION REQUIRED!/ INQUISITIROAL AGENT DETECTED/ WELCOME INQUISITOR"
William activated his cogitator unite and read through the ordo's archives, the recent activities of the Astartes in 'Trantey II' were too suspicious for his taste, they are hiding something from him and by the throne he will find out what it is, if they had something to do with the ruinous powers he had to know it even if this kind of work is not within the jurisdiction of the ordo malleus. He worked through the archives until he reached the dark angels Astartes chapter.
The history of the chapter had nothing that suggests anything but loyalty. After a few hours of reading he gave up on the archives when he couldn't find anything, perhaps he was too paranoid, perhaps he was too quick to judge, but then again, his job required him to do as such. William sighed, he had been researching about dark angels since his meeting with them, he learned most of their history, at least what the ordo's archives contained about them which wasn't a lot thanks to the secretive nature of space marine chapters. This secretive nature of the marine chapters always bothered him, investigating a space marine chapter always has been a tedious job for everyone involved yet it was necessary.
After seeing that his research bore no fruit William decided to tend to his other tasks, for time being, he sought a greyknight to test his new psyker, he could use other methods to see if he was corrupted or not, but they were less pleasant and he didn't wish to put his future retinue through such painful methods unless it's necessary, that is how much psyker of this level meant for him. From what he has seen thus far, Anon was a great psyker, most of the imperial psykers were bothersome at best, they needed time to use their powers, they needed to be protected whenever they start using non-offensive abilities and most of them couldn't even compare to librarians and Eldar psykers in terms of raw power and even less in concentration and skill, despite all these things that plagued human psykers, Anon had managed to reach a new level of power, it seemed like that the curse of warp did not bother him at all, he had shown William great opportunities to not only improve his own mission success chance but also improve imperium as a whole.
William imagined an imperial psyker thought by Anon, sure they might not reach Anon's level of control over his powers but they could improve and be more stable and reliable, this was the reason William had not executed him for being a rogue psyker, this was the reason he did not wish to interrogate him by normal means, William wanted to secure his knowledge for the imperium and luckily for him, Anon was willing to do the same as well.
"Lord Inquisitor, this is Ishmael do you hear me?" a voice echoed in his ears, it was his vox
"I hear you, what is it?" Inquisitor replied as he moved through the corridors of his ship
"We have a message from Inquisitor greyfax, the message says that she wants to visit you in a few days, in-person" Ishmael revealed through the vox
"That's... quite unusual of her... has she stated her reason, Ishmael?" William asked
The vox stood silent for a bit "I believe it's about the parchments you have sent her my lord" The arbite replied
'The parchments?' Inquisitor asked himself and remembered the books he has sent her to read through them, he thought those books were of some value, and he has sent them to her because he thought a psyker would be better to evaluate them but to think that greyfax herself would come to visit because of them... William grinned, his face was like that of a devil who has found his prey, 'Looks like you more than make up for the time I wasted on Thule' William thought to himself as his grin toned down a bit.
"Acknowledged Ishmael, tell her she is welcome and order to clean the interrogation room just in case we might need it" William then closed the vox and moved towards Anon's room.
(15 minutes later)
William was about to knock on the door but a voice came from the inside, which allowed him to enter the room, 'Bloody psykers' William muttered to himself as he entered the room, the room was medium-sized and sparsely furnished, it wasn't the best room in the ship but not a bad one either, the reason for choosing this room for Anon was its distance from other crew, William's crew were not most welcoming bunch towards mutants thanks to their previous experiences them, so thought this room would be perfect for Anon because this part of the ship also contained astropaths and navigators. William entered the room, inside the room, a figure was sitting on the floor, meditating.
"I didn't take for a person who would knock on a door before entering my lord" The masked man said without looking at the inquisitor
"I'm an Inquisitor, not an uncultured barbarian, I would not break someone's door unless there is suspicion of heresy inside" William retorted
"I'm sure that trait of yours will come in handy when dealing with aeldari Inquisitor" Anon said, his voice was emotionless but somehow Inquisitor felt sarcasm "May I ask the reason for your visit?" Anon asked
"Nothing so grand Anon, I came here to inform you about your trial" William said while looking around the room, there was a new addition to the room, a bookshelf which gathered Inquisitor's attention
After hearing his real name the masked man slightly moved then continued to his meditation "To think our lord himself come to deliver a message... you honor me, my lord" Said the masked man standing up and shaking the dust from his cloth "I would be more honored if you would use my other name rather than my real name as for our agreement" Anon said then moved towards a rather large pot containing a small plant which had more leaves than usual
"I see, very well Jermai" William corrected himself and grabbed a book to read, they were about me metallurgy "As you said, no Inquisitor would come all this way just to deliver a message, I had another reason to come here, I came for here to talk with you" William sat on a chair and put some of the books on the table in front of him
"About the Astartes? or my trail?" Anon asked as he was cutting some of the leaves from the small plant
"Both" William read through the books as he was talking to Anon "The nature of your trial will change, Another Inquisitor will come here soon, she has certain skills which make her excellent for this sort of work, she will decide if you are trustworthy or not" As he was talking the masked man put two cups on the table and filled them with boiled water with some leaves from the planet earlier, Inquisitor looked at the cup then to masked man, his face was asking for an answer
"Don't worry Inquisitor, it's not poisonous, just a tea plant I found on Thule, it makes for great tea" Anon said and sat on a chair in front of him
William looked back at the book he was reading "As I was saying, Inquisitor Greyfax is an acquaintance I made during my career, she is a psyker just like you, and I want to ask her to grade you and test you, she will be here in few days so prepare yourself. As for my other question, the Astartes" Inquisitor said as he closed the book and put it aside then turned his head towards the masked man "What do you think?" William asked
"I think you should not investigate them" Anon's words caught the Inquisitor by surprise "They are not corrupted my lord, I did not sense anything unusual from them although the reality of my words will come after my trial since I don't think that you will accept them as truth before that" Anon said and pulled up his mask slightly to take a sip from the tea "Every Astartes chapter have their own secrets in one way or another, the sons of lion are no different, their recorded history suggests only loyalty, an investigation will only cause feud and a feud with a space marine chapter is never good, for both sides" Anon said and drank the tea
"True enough" William admitted and decided to try Anon's tea, immediately after drinking, a sense of calm came to William's mind, a sense he had not felt since before the inquisition, he felt more relaxed and the tea had a pleasant taste "How are you so sure of their purity Jermai? there are only a few within the imperium with such ability and these abilities are artificial rather than natural, there are some people who are born with such abilities like Greyfax, but her kind is so rare that we don't bother putting it in our calculations, do you have such ability" the inquisitor asked
"An instinct perhaps? a natural ability which I have been training to improve for many years now, and frankly I am proud of how much I managed to improve it" Anon said with a smile, William had to admit, seeing Anon without a mask was strange, the mask always concealed his expression, it was hard to see a human underneath
"If that is the case it will be very advantageous for the Inquisition, such talents must be used for the betterment of the imperium" Hearing William's words Anon nods "I will heed your advice, for now, though the truth of your words will reveal itself after your trail" said the Inquisitor
A few minutes pass and silence takes control of the room, the only sound is that of the plasma engines running the ship, William continues to read the content of the books to see if he can find anything suspicious but all he found is information about metallurgy and small, power conduit systems.
"I have been meaning to ask this Jermai" the silence was broken by Williams, after seeing that Anon's attention was on him he continued "You know that daemons cannot learn your name by looking at your face right? so why do you insist on wearing a mask?" William asked, Anon thought for a few seconds before answering
"The mask is indeed unnecessary, even hiding my name is unnecessary, when I was younger I thought using a psyker's true name gives you dominance over them, it was only after reading through some of your archives that I realized it was only true on daemons and those who were corrupted by chaos and not psykers" Anon said then put his mask on again after finishing his tea
"And?" William said
"It's a habit, I have been living with a mask for so long that it has grown on me, wearing it gives me comfort" Anon said then offered to fill his cup again which William politely denied "Besides, I expect to make some enemies during my lifetime, so not knowing my name or my face will hinder they search efforts on me" Anon revealed, William raised an eyebrow "Daemons and heretics my lord, perhaps even aliens if that is necessary to achieve my goals"
"And your goal being?" William asked
"I have a particular hate for chaos my lord, I wish to see them eradicated" Anon answered
"A little hate for enemy never hurts anyone" William said as he stood up "I will head your words until the truth or falsehood of your words is revealed to me Jermai" William moved towards the door but before he exits he looked back "Thanks for the tea, maybe you care to share it with magos?" William asked, the plant was clearly unique to Thule so having such exotic tea with calming effect for guests would be great
"As you wish my lord" said the masked man in the room
-Inquisitorial vessel Fatorum ruptor -Year: 914.M34 -Location: Segmentum Obscurus, Gothic Sector -POV: Anon
Anon was talking with Ishmael, the old arbite have been warming up to Anon, at least there were fewer insults than before, perhaps it was because he had saved him during their last mission, Anon could read his thought to see if his theory was correct or not, but he decided against it, just reading the surface thought of tens of thousands of people were tiring and it wasn't intentional either, his natural talent in telepathy allowed him to do things that other psykers cannot do, for one they cannot read his thoughts while he could read theirs without them even noticing, for some reason this particular discipline was easy for him.
While others damaged the minds of their enemies by searching through their minds, Anon did so without them even noticing what happened, the minds with high mental resistance, like the Astartes, psykers, and Inquisitorial agents were more difficult but still manageable if not a bit tricky, still if given enough time, he could break through anyone's minds except the minds with the most resistance.
However unlike the Telepathy discipline, he was terrible at others, he was decent in biomancy and Telekanthises but terrible at pyromancy and divination, he was bad at pyromancy to the point where it was dangerous to cast pyromancy abilities, his ability to see the future wasn't any better, the best he could do was see few seconds into the future which only slightly helped him in in melee.
Anon and Ishmael were doing their daily PT training, they were running on treadmills beside each other, since Ishmael was his trainer and also because no one inside was willing to go near Anon, having a possibility of turning into a living portal to hell tend to keep the people away from you. The duo have been running at full speed for almost two hours now, Anon was always shocked to see how Ishmael could keep up with him, sure he was an arbite and had been training since childhood but Anon was perpetual, unlike him who was in his prime all the time, others aged and weakened as time passed, also he has been training for a few centuries now, he was simply in better physical condition than most, and after listening to Ishmael's advice about diet and training, Anon's body was in excellent condition.
"Are you ready for your trial Jermai?" The arbite asked while breathing heavily, Inquisitor Greyfax was already talking with William and after a few hours, she will put him to trial.
Inquisitor Greyfax also had a natural-born ability just like Anon, she was a psyker of rare ability, she could detect lies and truth which come in handy since she was in ordo hereticus, this made her perfect for Anon's trail since even with a psychic barrier he cannot hide anything from her.
"I have nothing to hide arbite" Anon said
"Except your face" Said the arbite
"Except... my face" Anon confimered him
"Well" Ishmael stopped his treadmill and stepped down "If you are a heretic it will make our job a lot easier" said the Arbite as he used a towel to clean his sweat
"In that case, I will be replaced, and trust me, you won't find a psyker as stable as I am" Anon responded, his shirt was wet with sweat, his shirt did not show any skin and he wore gloves, even during training since the permanent burns on his hands were an ugly sight to see, also they hurt when exposed to air
Ishmael scoffed then turned towards the shooting range, Anon went to his room as well, even if its an interrogation, he wanted to smell nice and change his cloth.
-Planet: ? -Year: ? -Location: ? -POV: ?
"Not everything goes according to plan now does it my fathers?" a voice echoed through the empty halls, on top of a great wall that surrounded the palace, four statues of incredible height towered over everything, even the palace itself
A palace of sorrow and oblivion, where no soul dares to enter, NO! no one could even enter! after all, even if they find this barren palace why would they enter? why would they seek it in the first place? The questions resonated within his head, the same question he has been asking ever since he was born, was it 10 thousand years ago? or was it 10 trillion years? it did not matter, for there is no time, there is no beginning and no end only an eternity.
The master of the empty palace, stood up and walked through the hallways until he reached a portrait of a man with black hair and red hands, he was wearing a suit with exotic colors, the sword he was carrying had an elegant beauty that was not seen since the stars took mortal form and fought amongst each other.
"A bastard child crippled by his progenitors, destined to rule all, yet..." he composed himself lest the screams resume "Master of the empty halls... come little one, I will wait for your arrival, let us see how you will play the game" he grinned
A dark cloud surrounded the portrait and engulfed it whole, then the only things that could be heard were screams, screams of an unborn child.
-Inquisitorial vessel Fatorum ruptor -Year: 914.M34 -Location: Segmentum Obscurus, Gothic Sector -POV: Anon
A woman clad in power armor stood across the room as Anon's arms and legs were chained to a chair, the chains contained small amounts of blank's blood which reduced Anon's power and concentration, it was also extremely uncomfortable, the mental pain of the chains was worse than being ripped off limb by limb, and nobody knew how being torn apart more than Anon since he had a first-hand experience with feral orks on Thule.
Greyfax seemed unconcern about the chains, or perhaps she was and Anon was too crippled to sense her discomfort, her intimidating face did not help to relieve Anon's discomfort. Greyfax was around 50 years old but looked rather young, she had short brown hair that looked messy, a scar was visible across her face that started from her lips till her left bionic eye that shined blue, she was wearing a rather large witch hunter hat with Inquisitorial symbol on it.
Unlike her however Anon wore simple ragged robes worn by serfs, at least he still had his mask thanks to William, it seems he is willing to keep his part of the bargain.
"Looks like Inquisitor Husan has found an Alpha plus psyker who is somehow sane... and with a great skill I might add" Greyfax said "I was shocked when I learned that it was you who wrote some of those books, I was expecting someone... older" Inquisitor remarked, despite the discomfort, a ghost of a smile comes to Anon's face, only if she knew how old he truly was "But the matter of you age is not of concern here, now, we must begin our trial, may the emperor judge you worthy" Greyfax prayed as she pulled out a device
"Wait, I thought you wanted to question me!" Anon protested
"I will, After your purification" Greyfax said as she pushed a button from the device in her hand
A sudden surge of pain took control of Anon's body, his blood veins were visible on his neck and on his burnt arms, his arms started spewing blood from more damaged parts, his body started to shake as chains barely held it in its place, the pain in his head was even worse, it was as if someone poking it with hundreds of needles, Anon clenched his teeth and tried not to make a sound, the pressure on his teeth was almost enough to break them.
"No screams? well I will break you eventually" said the armored woman as she closed her distance with Anon "You are an unsanctioned psyker, let us purify you before the trail" Greyfax said in a cold tone
'Could she not use her power to see the truth in my words?' Anon asked himself as he fought against the pain, was she doing this because she was enjoying it? he couldn't tell, his abilities were crippled by the chains, Anon looked into Greyfax's eye, her face was emotionless.
Seeing this, Inquisitor brought a hand-shaped device, except these were made from metal, and put it on Anon's hands, a few seconds later several needles pierced both of his hands as the devices closed themselves around Anon's hands, covering them like a glove, his hands were already causing pain for him since he burnt them when he banished his first daemon on Thule but the gloves amplified the pain and caused even more bleeding.
"Let the purification begin, today the emperor will be your judge" Greyfax said then pushed a button on her hand
Anon's world became pain as the needles within the metal gloves sent a shock wave to his nervous system, the skin on his burnt hands start to open and revealed the flesh within. Anon's agony continued until the door to the room was opened, William stood within the door frame, his was showed anger.
"What do you think you're doing?" William asked, there was a bold pistol in his hand
"Purifying of course" Greyfax answered as if she bore no guilt
"I called you here because of your ability to see the truth, if I wanted to torture him I would have done so myself" William growled "He is part of my future retinue" the anger grew in William's face
Greyfax paid no heed to William's anger "He needs to be purified before the trail, this is the price all rouge psyker must pay to show their control" Greyfax turned her head towards the open door where William stood "This is the law Inquisitor Husan, if he fails to control his abilities during the torment, then he must be purged, and if he endures it, well I will begin the trail" Greyfax said
William looked furious at this point "I Don't remember giving you such permission, you dare question my authority, ON MY SHIP?" with these words his grip on his bolter pistol hardened
Anon quickly tried to process the situation, it seems that William is going to do something that he will regret if Anon did not intervene, but what he could do? he didn't want to be hunted down by the inquisition forever for being a rogue psyker and part of his mind screamed at him to do something about the painful torture.
Anon was running out of time, and before anything could happen he let out a voice "My lord" two inquisitors looked towards the chained man in unison "Let her finish her task, if this is the way to prove my innocence then so be it, I will take it without question" Anon's words shocked both of them, especially William
"No Jermai!" William shouted "This is not necessary" William protested, Greyfax stood silent as two talked
"My lord" Anon breathed heavily "If she doesn't do this, someone else will" the masked man said as blood dipped from his arms
Anon knew he was going to regret this, the options before him were bad and worse. Anon could heal his own physical body, the only thing he needed to do was to keep his mind sane during the process 'You are not a child Anon! you have been living for almost a thousand years now and if you want to accomplish something in this damned galaxy, you must get used to this amount of pain and even more, look, the emperor suffered far worse for 10 thousand years, this is nothing compared to what he went through' Anon thought to himself, it almost made him laugh, I mean, he just compared himself to the Emperor!
"Looks like your retinue is more reasonable than you William" Greyfax said as she tried not to be sarcastic
William glared at her then turned towards Anon and looked at the bloody mess that he was in, seconds later, William made his mind "Very well but if he dies, someone will pay for it" William glanced at Greyfax before leaving the room, he was clutching his fist the whole time
After the door closed Greyfax looked at the masked man in chains and studied him, then after a minute, she continued her work, the situation became worse and worse for Anon as he endured it for two days.
-Planet: Red Rok -Year: 914.M34 -Location: Segmentum Tempestus/ Heraclus Sector -POV: Autarch Ila Shamaq
"We do not have much time Farseer!" autarch Shamaq shouted as she sliced through an ork nob
The planet they were on was infested with greenskins, recently an ork waaagh! has been sent out from this world within a space hulk, their task was to change the course of the space hulk from a maiden world to a mon-keigh world and let them deal with the orkish waaagh!
The council had no problem redirecting the space hulk and sacrificing millions of mon-keighs, after all these maiden worlds will one day be home for the new aeldari empire and these worlds were rare, unlike mon-keigh who had infested the galaxy. Better they die for their betters than live miserable lives under the rule of their barbaric imperium.
"The ritual is almost complete! stand your ground Autarch!" Shouted the farseer, their mission was supposed to be completed in silence, but somehow Orks moved out of the system sooner than intended, thus forcing them to resort to such crude tactics
Hundreds of orks charged towards their position only to meet the unrelenting fury of the autarch Shamaq and her warriors, one after another orks fell to the point where they could not see the ground which was buried under ork bodies. Seeing this, orks charged with greater numbers, excited to see such good foes, their morale was high. Ila cursed the greenskins in her ancient tongue, many proud asuryans had died today.
The battle continued for hours until the farseer ordered a retreat, soon after that the entire battle host moved towards the webway gate, gathering the soul stone of the lost warriors they teleported back to craftworld.
From 50 warriors who left for the mission, only 32 remained which left a bitter taste in the autarch's tongue, if the mission had gone without greenskins notice, all of them would've survived, but the past is past, it cannot be changed, at least the maiden world was safe from orks and the mon-keigh can be trusted to deal with the space hulk.
"I believe your mission was a success?" A feminine voice questioned from behind, Ila looked back, it was Kaedra with whom she had recently become friends with
"Most of our warriors are unharmed but many have lost their lives, our plan should have gone unnoticed, this is unacceptable" Ila shook her head
"Loses are unavoidable even if they are unacceptable Ila" Farseer tried to comfort her "Others would have fared far worse if they were in your place Autarch" Kaedra spoke, her long black hair waved with the wind caused by teleporters
"No need to comfort me Kaedra" Ila said as she removed her helmet, Ila breathed the air without her helmet then spoke again "This is a waste of time, our priority should be Farseer Anath's vision, not a maiden world, as important as they are, they are nothing compare to what is to come!" Ila said, she was disappointed at the council's decision, it was true that a maiden world was important for the aeldari but surely not as important as entire craftworlds!
The vision that Anath showed to the council was very disturbing, it showed then the destruction of not only one but two craftworlds! one of them being Biel-tan, whoever was the cause of this should be eliminated before he could rise to power, lest they witness their own deaths in the future, but the question remains, who is it? where he is? why he would do such a thing? all of these questions remained unanswered and many exarchs were losing patience.
"I understand Ila, we farseers are trying our utmost to decipher its meaning, but even with all the warlocks and the farseers it will take time, we simply don't know what the mask stands for, it's not related to the laughing god and his followers, it's not related to the great enemy nor is it related to necrontyr or the mon-keigh, even our kin from ulthwe could not provide us with any answers" Kaedra explained
"Could not or they didn't wish to do so?" Ila asked, Kaedra looked at her after hearing her question
"What are you implying Ila? we are not mon-keigh are we? why would our kin hide something from us when said thing can cause our destruction?" Kaedra asked
"I'm not implying anything Kaerda, they may be our kin but those seers from ulthwe have a different vision for our race than us, while we are trying to reignite the flames of our empire, they wish for something else, they don't want us to know something that might change that" Ila argued, after all, it was not the first time an Eldar tricks another of his kin to achieve his goal
Kaedra turned her head towards the path they were moving on and answered "While it is true that farseers manipulate even other seers if it means it will achieve their goal, but only in certain circumstances, the sacrifices made must not surpass the profits that are achieved, in this issue, sacrifices are far outweighing any gain our kin from ulthwe might achieve" Kaedra answered
"I know, I know, it's just that... I still have my doubts, the responsibility of two craftworld or maybe, even more, depends on us! I'm afraid that in the time we use to search for the cause, we might be reducing our chances of eliminating it!" Ila said
Kaedra noded to her words "We still have time Ila, be patient, we will not allow such fate to happen, you have my word" Kaedra promised with determination, seeing her serious face made Ila chuckle, Kaedra's cheeks became red "Why are you laughing? I'm trying to comfort you yet you are laughing!" Kaedra said with an embarrassed tone, seeing a thousand years old farseer be embarrassed like that, outright made her laugh while holding her stomach "You are the worst friend there is, I hope a wraith lord steps on you" Kaedra insulted Ila
"O Isha bless your heart Kaedra, it's been ages since I have laughed in this manner" Ila said while wiping her tears "Let us go and have dinner" Ila suggested, Kaedra gave 'Hmph' sound and reluctantly agreed which made Ila start laughing again
Ila tread through the craftworld laughing as a thousand years old ancient farseer was scolding her, little did they know, the web of fates that bounded everything in this universe of horror, has not accounted for an outsider.
-Inquisitorial vessel Fatorum ruptor -Year: 914.M34 -Location: Segmentum Obscurus, Gothic Sector -POV: Anon
After two days, Anon was on the verge of death, not only did he had to endure the pain but also not heal from them since revealing his perpetual nature would bring more trouble, concentrating his body to stop the healing under the pressure of torture was no easy task, a task which he succeeded at only because of thousand years of training both mentally and physically. However even that was almost not enough, it was only when the chains were removed that Anon realized how close he was to turning mad, if the torture had continued for a few more hours, the inquisitor would have to deal with an Alpha plus psyker running amok in the ship, the worse part, was that Greyfax didn't even apologize after the trial was over, she simply said that Anon's discipline and training books, would greatly improve imperium's psyker situation and left the ship towards holy Terra.
So there he was in the ship's infirmary bed, he had few serums connected to his right hand, many stitchings were visible on his arms and his back, and his hair was shaven so they could remove the pain needles from his brain, they had to replace the damaged skin in several parts of his body. The worst part of this situation, however, was the fact he had to heal naturally so as not to gather unneeded attention to his perpetual hood, he could've used biomancy but the chains did a number in him, Anon won't be able to use advance psychic abilities for few days.
'No wonder people turn to chaos' Anon thought to himself, instead of receiving praise for the valuable information he had given, he was tortured with the cruelest methods he could ever imagine, if he ignored the dark Eldar that is, anything the inquisition could do is far better than being tortured by Dark Eldar. Still, Anon was angry and a little proud at the same time, proud that he had withstood such torture and proven his strength of mind, although he didn't wish to go through it again, at least it has proven his loyalty and he could be accepted as William's retinue.
William was a good inquisitor in an ideologic sense, he didn't care for his retinue, so long as they remained loyal to him, Anon was no different, the only reason he was angry at Greyfax was that she had done something without him allowing it not because he cared for Anon, don't be silly, if she had asked him before doing the "Purification", he would've allowed it, 'Sometimes I'm glad I can read minds' Anon thought to himself, if not his ability he might have trusted William that he cared for him, in this grimdark future such things do not exist.
Normally at this hour, he would be doing his meditation to train his mind but he was in process of healing his psyche as well as his body, so, he had time to think. It was weird how Anon had already accepted his fate, normally people would freak out and try to escape from reality, yet Anon was different, he was a perpetual and a powerful psyker, two gifts that are rare in their own right and he had both of them, on top of that he had an outsider perspective on 40k which gave him a great degree of understanding compare to others, and by everything he held dear, Anon will use them to their utmost limit, if he wished to achieve his goal, if he wants to remove the warp rift that will tear the galaxy in half in M40 he needed to hone his skills to perfection, he could try to prevent the fall of Cadia altogether but that will only push back their eventual fall without allowing the emperor to wake up, or perhaps, even with the help of an outsider, this galaxy will fall regardless.
Anon had thought about it a lot, this galaxy is doomed to fail regardless of what the people inside it did, every victory they gained only pushed back their doom in the slightest, the only thing that was keeping the galaxy together was the emperor's light, not in a religious way but more literal, Emperor's soul acted like a star within the warp that even Anon could feel, it was a light that pushed back the darkness and made it hard for daemons to enter the real space, but even a star is doomed to be extinguished one day and if Emperor is to fail, everything will end, so what better way to prevent that than awakening him, the best part, however, was the fact that he didn't need to do anything, he only needed to let the Cadia shatter so the emperor could be awakened by himself, so all Anon needed to do was to find a way to close the rift that tore the galaxy in half, and help to keep imperium in good shape until Guilliman's return, and find a way to heal the emperor if possible...
He shook his head slightly and cleared his mind from such thoughts, otherwise, the weight of his goals would overwhelm him, he didn't know if the eternalist perspective of time was true or not, so he decided to go with growing block since it depressed him to think that they had no free will, that they are doomed to destruction regardless of their actions.
"I see you can barely move Jermai" an old voice came from the door
Anon turned his head to look at the figure, it was Ishmael, the old arbite was probably the only one willing to even talk to him except the inquisitor and Avina, the first one only came for his missions, and the latter mostly insulted him for being a mutant, Ishmael, on the other hand, was getting warmer to the psyker after their first mission, also Anon read his mind before, he pitied him after seeing that no one was willing to even talk to him unless absolutely necessary which suit Anon just fine, even in his previous life he was an introvert, not because he was shy but because he enjoyed being alone, solitude had a certain charm for him.
"Please do not ask how I was "Purified" I do not wish to recall the memories" Anon said sensing a question before it was asked
"Bloody throne, of course, no one wants to recall something like that, when they dragged you out of the interrogation room, I still could see the nails in your brain and you were a bloody mess, I don't know how you survived but I guess that's the sister Fatima for you" Ishmael said, hearing the sister's name, Anon made an annoyed face, though his mask hides it from his guest. The sisterhood was created in M36, but non-militant orders were different, they existed long before them and were simply absorbed into the sisterhood, later on
"I can sense the emotions of others, they flow through their unconscious psyche, I have felt disgust, fear, or even anger from others when they mentioned me or saw me, sister Fatima's disgust was a whole new level, so much so I hated myself when I felt it" Anon explained which caused Ishmael to chuckle a bit
"She is treating you, isn't she? so stop complaining about her feelings towards you" Ishmael said as he place something beside Anon's bed, he looked at it, it was alcohol or amasac as they call it in this universe
"The harm she is causing to my mind is far worse than the physical injury she is healing, and no I will not drink that, I thank you for your consideration but do you really think giving alcohol to a psyker is a good idea?" Anon argued
Ishmael scratched his head as he examined the bottle of amasac he brought before giving an 'I guess' and putting the bottle in his coat "Do you want anything brought to you?" Ishmael asked
Anon thought for a moment then spoked "Can you ask for my relocation? the medical bay is fine but even I can handle so many insults every day and it seems our dear sister know quite a few of them, I wish to return to my room as soon as possible" Anon said
"Alright, I'll tell him, anything else?"
Anon shook his head then the arbite left the room and left Anon alone, after three days of staying in medbay, Anon finally gathered enough psychic strength to start healing his body, which allowed him to leave the medbay that night, the worst part of this, was the fact he was happy to leave not because he was healthy again but because he no longer wanted to hear Fatima's insults.
The rest of his days went, as usual, he trained with Ishmael and Avina, he continued his meditation and consumed lots of information about advanced metallurgy and advanced power generators, Anon didn't know if common imperial citizens had access to this information or he is allowed to read them because he is part of the inquisition? nevertheless, he enjoyed reading about them to the point of surprise, Anon didn't plan to start a business for power swords, he just wanted to pass his free time, he is a perpetual even he can't spend all that time training, that's just miserable.
Two days after his recovery the ship left the realspace in order to move to their next objective, this time they were to face an ongoing incursion in the Athena subsector.
-Planet: Metalica -Year: 915.M34 -Location: Ultima Segmentum, Charadon sector -POV: Magos Talys Vyrac
'This was ridiculous' Talys thought to himself, he could no longer tolerate the doctrine of mars, it was too backwords too fearful of technology, the same thing that gave them purpose in life, the same thing that increased their lifespan beyond that of a normal human, the same thing that gave an atmosphere to breathe in to their dead world, a world where there was no fauna nor any other plant life to produce oxygen, this was a planet that should not support life, where every surface is covered in iron, yet, technology defied the natural order of the universe, it was the thing that allowed humanity to travel across the stars during the golden age of technology when blessed omnissiah noticed our young race and guided us through the dangers of the galaxy.
In those days when men were not afraid to discover, when they achieved the pinnacle of their technological growth, even today the mechanicum marvel at their achievements, only seeking to attain it but not understand it. It sickened Talys to his core, the fear of discovery has such root in his colleagues that they feared the truth, the truth that the golden age of men is achievable IF they were not so ignorant and fearful of what gave them power. The worst part however, was that their fear not only limited their own growth but others as well, they had limited his ability to invent new tech several times, they had disregarded his invention many times, the invention that could've helped them. Only if he had a chance to leave this damnable planet with his fellow colleagues, only if there was a safe place for people like him to be free, no matter how many years he had to search, he would find a place for his kind.
-Inquisitorial vessel Fatorum ruptor -Year: 915.M34 -Location: Segmentum Obscurus, Athena Sector -POV: Anon
A few months had already past and in a few days they would reach their destination, during this travel time Anon officially became part of William's retinue and considered "purified", and as part of their bargain, William allowed him to cast a ward around the minds of his retinue, a masterful ward that only a few in the galaxy can breakthrough. Unfortunately few people appreciated what he did, it was quite unbelievable how they tried to refuse a mind ward constructed by one of the most talented Telepaths in the galaxy, to their credit, Anon tried to hide his talent as much as possible so as not to gather attention so there was no meaningful way they could learn that truth.
The retinue is in the command chamber, Avina who stick to the shadows, Ishmael who stood next to William, and Anon who sat there in silence. Something bothered Anon, there are fewer members in this briefing than usual, other than his main retinue there were only two stormtroopers, a cadian woman and a male stormtrooper, only six people were present.
Seeing the confused state of his retinue(Except Anon who was in statue mode) William waved his hand to gather their attention and spoke "I know there are many questions in your minds, you don't need to know the answers for most of them" William said as he turned on a holographic image of the planet blow "This mission required utmost stealth, that's why everyone present here are trained in stealth operations in one way or another. Sargent Mylin and trooper Isaac will be part of the mission" William said as he pointed towards the Cadian kasrkin and the trooper "They will accompany me, Jermai and Avina, and before you ask Ishmael, you will prepare the troopers and act as a backup if need be, you will not come to the planet until you are told to, Jermai have you recovered from your trail?" William asked and looked at the statue of the man that was Anon
Anon turned his head and met William's eyes "Not completely but I can perform expected duties" Anon replied
"I will hold you to that, now let us go through our objective" Willaim pointed towards the map, with a wave of his hand a new image was shown, it was a human or at least something that was wearing human skin, he was a human male around his 40s, he had bird wings on his back with claw hands, it was a mutated human, "The planet is under Daemon invasion for a few months now, previously an ordo hereticus inquisitor Helen Amber was sent to deal with the cults that have been spreading throughout the planet, and as you can guess she had failed, her current location is unknown and HQ has sent us here to deal with the incursion before an exterminatus is called" William wave his hand again and another image appeared, this time it was the inquisitor Helen Amber, she was rather a short fellow with inquisitorial power armor with classic witch hunter hat, bald head, brown eyes with lots of scars and burn marks on her face "Our mission is to deal with this mess and retrive the Inquisitor if possible, however, she is only a secondary objective, our main mission is to kill the instigator behind the incursion, designation 'Av-341' is a vat grown serf of the ecclisiarchy, he was encountered by our agents within the hive city of 'Crisis' located in the western contenant, it is the biggest hive of the planet with 42 billion living in it, now most of them are cultists" William said and continued to explain the situation
The patron of the cult is Tzeentch so more sorcerers were expected, after killing the planetary governer the rule has been passed down to his daughter who is now in control of the loyalist forces attacking the hive, the situation was oddly in control of the loyalist despite the sighting of daemons summoned by cultists. Inquisitor Helen had done a decent job at crippling the spread of the cult to other planets and greatly reducing their efforts on their own planet, unfortunately, she is MIA, she was seen for the last time as she was entering the hive.
"Last intel we received from Inquisitor Helen is about an ongoing ritual, we will stop it before they summon anything else. For that, we will accompany one of the assaults on the hive conducted by the imperial guard, once they gathered their attention we will slip through by ground and move through the hive, we have sensors indicating energy spikes on the lower levels, that is where we believe the ritual is performing" William explained than looked towards Anon "Can you located the cult leader like you did on before?" William asked
"I can, Although I will require some time, the last hive was less populated, searching through billions of souls will take time" Anon answered
"I'm no psyker but can you not search for the brightest soul? surely their cult leader has a greater soul than his minions, considering his psychic abilities" William said
"With all due respect my lord, I do not require education in my own field, and yes I will be doing that but even then it will need some time. he may have a soul that shines like a beacon but even a beacon's light is nothing compared to billions of matchs" Anon explained which receive a 'Huh' from William
"How much time will you need?" William asked
The room went silent as Anon went into deep thought, he was calculating "Five to six Terran hours" Anon answered
"We don't have much time, is there no way you can reduce that time?" William asked, Anon shook his head, William looked around the room, everyone was looking at him, then a thought came to his mind "Say Jermai, how will a force weapon effect the search time?" William asked, hearing the name Anon grinned under his mask
"Two to one hour" Anon replied, finally he could use some proper weapons, being given plasteel sword and flak armor had bothered him a lot during their last mission, to their credit, Anon was not trustable but still, giving guard grade weapons to an inquisitorial agent was absurd
"Then you shall have one, come with me to the armory after the briefing" William said
Inquisitor went through the details of the mission and explained everything needed for the mission. Anon did not listen to their talk, he was too excited to get a force weapon, it was quite childish for a nine hundred year old man but still, he couldn't help it, having a cool psychic weapon was a dream for most men, just imagining how he'll slice through daemons with burning a burning blade or a psychic staff brought some joy to his old heart.
After an hour when the briefing was over, William ordered Anon to follow him, together they moved towards the armory. Inside the armory, a techpriest was tending to the weapons, from energy weapons like hotshots and plasma to projectile weapons like bolters and rocket launchers there was even a voltkite weapon!
As they moved through the armory, William gave Anon a new set of black carapace armor to wear under his flak jacket, this one was designed to be lighter and had no helmet since Psykers can't use their powers through normal helmets, Anon could feel the weight of the armor but it wasn't so much that it hindered his speed, he still could move as he did before.
"Alright Jermai, here is the force weapons" William said as they entered a smaller room protected by a vault door
The room was filled with power weapons and force weapons though they were fewer of them than weapons in the previous room and even fewer force weapons than power weapons. Force weapons are rarer than power weapons, unlike power weapons which drew their power from small advance generators, force weapons drew power from psykers, they allow for better control of psychic powers, their effectiveness for psykers is to such a degree that almost all of the named psykers in 40k have one, even the emperor had his sword.
Although he could not expect something legendary like the emperor's sword that can give true death to a daemon, he could have a rather high-quality force weapon thanks to being part of the inquisition. Anon looked around the room, several force weapons piqued his interest, one was a force staff with two-headed Aquila, another staff with a silver skull on top, a force axe, and a two-handed force weapon that resembled a bastard sword. The masked man examined the weapons to see which suited him the most in combat, he almost picked the Aquila staff when something called him, a voice so weak that he can barely hear it. The voice spoke in an alien tongue that was gibberish yet Anon could understand it, it was calling for him.
The psyker looked around the room to find the source of the voice in his head, and after a few minutes of searching, he located it. Between the power weapons displayed at the stall nearby, A one-handed saber stood out, the voice grew stronger as he approached it. For a second Anon stood still and searched through William's mind to see if he could hear the voice as well, he was not, the sword was calling for him alone, or was it his own mind calling him to pick that particular weapon?
As the masked man wrapped his hand around its hilt, the voices stopped, and suddenly he was paralyzed momentarily. In less than a few seconds which felt like minutes, he felt as if the saber became an extension of his body, psychic energy flooded the sword's blade as small bolts of lightning were discharged from the weapon, Anon concentrated, using his psyche he went through the weapon and searched every part of it as if it was a maze and after ten minutes he was done.
Anon looked to the swords with awe, the pummel of the sword was shaped like a skull while its crossguard was shaped like an eagle's wing, the blad itself was a western design with words written on it in high gothic "Ave qui longe ab heim" Anon muttered under his breath.
"Have chosen your weapon?" William's voice came from behind as Anon was admiring the blade
"I have" Anon answered as he turned back to show his saber
"How much will it take for you to adjust to it?" William asked
"One or two days is all I need Inquisitor" Anon replied as he moved towards the door
"Then don't waste more time than needed, your powers will be crucial in the next mission" William said as the vault door was closed behind them
(Few hours before entering realspace)
The last adjustments were made to the sword, the sword was finally his, it became part of Anon's body, Anon was astonished to see a weapon capable of improving his abilities to such a degree, 'Only if he had a force weapon he might have survived that encounter with the fallen space marine' Anon thought to himself, even if he'd managed to kill him in the end, it was not enough, at least not enough for this harsh reality, if you wanted to do anything meaningful in this universe, you need to be powerful enough to kill dozen of them at the same time and yet, he had died in process of killing only one.
Anon sighed as he sheathed the saber, the unwelcome thoughts poured into his mind; doubt, fear, loneliness, despair, weakness, and so many more emotions clouded his mind, to think he used to be a salesman, to think his previous life was 900 years ago, sometimes he thought about people he used to know, his family, his friends and his coworkers he used to talk with, his modest house which would be considered a mansion by many in this galaxy. Anon missed many things yet something stood out from the rest, the thing he loathed the most was the separation from his mother, after the death of his father he was the only thing she had.
He shook his head again to clear his thoughts, sure he had a duty to his mother as a son but that was in the past, he had greater concerns now, he had a role to play in the upcoming mission.
"ATTENTION ENTERING REALSPACE IN 30 MINUTES ALL PERSONAL BE READY, PRAISE BE TO THE GOD EMPEROR, OUR FATHER, OUR GUARDIAN" A mechanical voice spoke throughout the ship
After hearing the message, Anon begin to prepare, grabbed his sword, and holstered it on his hip, then he did the same thing with his plasma pistol, putting his on his right, after 20 minutes Anon was ready, he sensed Williams mind who was moving towards the briefing room so he moved to join him so not to waste time, in only a few hours, his hardest mission yet is going to begin, however, he did not feel doubt, he did not feel the weakness that was plaguing him a few moments before, the only thing he felt was determination, this was the first step towards his goal and he'll be damned if he's going to let a cultist stand in his way.