Chapter 5
Heavy The Head That Wears The Crown
Angel's Tears, 8th Planet of the Valorous System, inside Hive Virgo, Year 999. M41
The four leaders of the warbands that Atrino wished to gather them, for what purpose Sevax could only guess at. Four shimmering visages appeared and Sevax could see who he was to negotiate with : Aganax was not hard to miss, his body coated in the skins of those he tortured and maimed. Anjax was a mess of metal and flesh his face was more adamantium than skin. The Lord of the Poison Dragons warband, Weo'kri Poison Fang, was a being so blessed by Tzeentch that his armour, face and even voice were in constant flux and Audrax the Malignant , the leader of the Forsaken Beasts was as gnarled with rot as his mind was. All eyes were on Atrino, their patience seeming to grow thinner by the second.
" We have come here, Atrino. To here this proposal you have for us." Aganax asked, the Night Lord marine was in no mood for politicking, wanting to begin and end quickly as to return to whatever macabre activity he was occupied with previously.
"Aganax, you of all people should see the merits of patience and taking time with one's actions. As for the business at hand I have gathered you here, so to speak to discuss the topic on all our minds: the Despoiler's 13th Black Crusade and the opportunities for us that it holds." Atrino spoke with a smoothness that was unlike him, his norm of a being who used his words to bite more than his teeth ever would his tone was now poison velvety as if he were hiding this talent from them all, Sevax included, for all this time.
"We are here, are we not? We wouldn't be if not for the promises you made for riches and bounties, we would gain from this." Anjax said from his half mouth, half robotics that passed for his jaws.
"Yes, and here it is: The Despoiler's crusades have wasted our resources and man-power in attacks on where our enemy is strongest, trying to break their morale but has failed many times over. It is time to form our own crusade, one that will strike at the underbelly of the overweight planets of the Corpse Emperor and raze them to the ground." Atrino was speaking with a like never before, with the same energy that Sevax did when performing his sermons but it seemed to be doing little good for all the passion and persuading, he was acting out.
" We have heard this all before from the Warmaster's calls, about conquests and glory, the difference is that at least he has the resources to make the notion of victory come true, unlike you, Son of Lorgar."
" And I have information that he is not privy towards." All eyes were on the sorcerer, even Sevax's; was he going to reveal his person so soon into this meeting. It was an unorthodox move from Atrino, certainly out of character for him always one to cling to his secrets.
"And, by Grandfather Nurgle, would that be, Sorcerer?" The lord of the Forsaken Beasts asked, though it was almost lost with the amount of rot in his mouth and throat.
"A new Xenos race, one that we can bend to our will, we have observed them in action, and they are ripe for the picking, perfect for the enlightenment of our ways." the mere act of working with Xenos was tantamount to working with loyalist scum for any reason.
"You want us to work with Xenos scum, Priest. You are more 'blessed' than we first though. If that is all you have, then I am done here." Aganax bellowed out, the other's heads moved in similar manners.
"Who said anything about work with? My companion is mearing saying that we can use them to fulfill our goals weather those goals are terror, despair and plagues, domination through warfare, or subterfuge. It's all furthers the larger goal of chaos ruling overall."
The chaos lords looked to the priest, the thoughts stirring in their minds upon what to do, most looked were less roused by the thoughts of aiding gods of any kind, many unwilling to serve so called 'gods'. It was not until Aganax stood from his throne of bones.
"I have been bored of late, and these Xenos could provide a challenge for once." He looked to Atrino, his thrice bloodshot eyes glaring at him. "I will join you on this Black Crusade of yours, Sorcerer if for nothing more than to stoke their fear in my hands." Soon, the rest of the lords joined in, pledging their forces to the cause of this crusade then leaving the meeting, leaving Atrino and Sevax to plan further.
"Now, we move forward to the next phase of my plan, Sevax." Atrino was smirking with glee at the news his plan was going his design. Sevax could tell what that would be: removing Rhymor from power as he would not share power, that lead quickly to down fall in a warband: giving truth to anyone else in power not under your thumb completely.
"Removing Rhymor from power won't be easy, he is a mighty warrior of the Blood God, blessed with many gifts. Ever our skills together could spare meet him in battle without one or both of us dying in the process." Sevax looked to the sorcerer again, his face had not lost its grin, the grin of a being that had plans and schemes brewing in its mind.
We… won't have to do anything, my unholy friend. The Xenos will do everything for us." Sevax understood why Atrino was grinning so, for all the Mighty Lord of Khorne's strengths and blessing, he had a fatal weakness, one most Khornates had: he could never turn down a challenge and sow slaughter in his wake.
XXX
Outskirts of Hive Virgo, Angel's Tears, 8th Planet of the Valorous System, Year 999. M41
Thel walked into the chamber, his words in here would have weight behinds them, such a weight as to affect the whole of the Covenant from this point onwards. Before him were the Hierarchs, the High Prophets of Truth and Mercy, several council members along with someone new, a Prophet of well dressed look to him, his hover-throne He bowed before the rulers of the Covenant then lifted his head to speak to them. Most of the Councillors left the room to them except for the finely dressed Prophet.
"Ah Arbiter, what news have you for us?" the High Prophet of Truth asked of him, Thel's focus went instead towards the one person left he was not familiar with.
"Noble Hierarchs, I know it is not my place to question this but the news I bring should be heard by your ears and ours alone." Mercy looked as to berate the Arbiter, but the newcomer put raised his hand as to stop the words to the Hierarch.
"Apologize Arbiter, but during your actions on the planet, the Council had and emergency session to discuss the situation we are in, during of which the topic…" now being cut off by Truth, his hover throne tackling the newcomer's.
"…In which the topic of a new Hierarch was to be elected." Thel could see that behind the politicking face of the Hierarch, he was unhappy about this. The newcomer continued to prattle on.
" Yes, and I was voted to replace the most Holy High Prophet of Regret, I am the High Prophet of Valor, Formerly the Minister of Justice of the Ministry of Judication." Thel sized up the new Hierarch. The Prophet of Valor looked almost plain in comparison to the others, his robes were a plain white with a violet pattern trim down along the sleeves, his hover-throne wasn't as sophisticated as the other two's, even his crown wasn't as elaborate as the others: a simple golden halo above his head with things jutting up overall he didn't look the part of a Hierarch. How a being like that became of the three leaders of the Covenant Empire was beyond Thel's care, only pleasing the Hierarch mattered.
"Now that the introductions are out of the way let us begin." Mercy said, Raising his hand above the dais in the middle of the room a map of the galaxy at least their galaxy appeared before them. Thel rose to give his report.
"It has come to my attention that we are nowhere close to where we should be the sacred ring is not here. Our scanners cannot tell us where we are in the galaxy we are." The Prophet of Valor looked on with a sense of nervousness to him. Being put into this position of power in times like this with nothing certain about them was never good to begin with.
"I'm afraid that is just the beginning of this problem, Arbiter. Gaze upon this problem." The Prophet of Mercy said, then he tapped a few buttons on his hover-throne it then showed the Arbiter something he had thought lost to him the second he came to realize that they where not home anymore: Sanghelios, his homeworld. Not only his but Balaho, the Unggoy homeworld, Doisac, the Brute Homeworld. All of the homeworlds of the Covenant were here now, in this space of the galaxy or if this was even their galaxy anymore.
"All the Covenant homeworlds have traveled with us to… wherever we are. With a star, Arbiter, a star."
"By the Forerunners, how is this possible?" Thel's mind raced with the news he had been given. Sanghelios, his home here with them, in everything that the Covenant had learned about the Forerunners, this was something else, was this the Great Journey? If it was, then why the need to find the rings? No, the rings, the Halos were important to the Great Journey and this was something else entirely.
"We have the Huragok looking into it, in the meanwhile, what news have you of the planet you found? Is it inhabited?" Truths word brought the Arbiter's mind back to the front of the situation , now came the part he was dreading, the news of the strange humans to the whole of the Covenant.
"We encountered… things down there."
"Things?"
"Yes, they were human, or at least were born human or originally were of human design, but they was… malformed, twisted and feral. Then came the giants."
"Giants?" Truth, now becoming more enthralled and attentive of the report, listened on to whatever could this be.
"Yes, they were like the demons only larger and more deformed then the others. Their weapons too, were of such a monstrous make, the shots ripping into the bodies of my men. Each shot made mockery of our armour. Those in hand to hand combat used swords of linked chained blades to rip open and cut swaths through us, fists of power and strength to crush even Jiralhanae skulls with ease, devilish claws of energy to shred apart whole squads of Unggoy in mere moments and many more." Thel felt a chill run down his spine upon remembering them, a feeling he had not felt since he was a child, in training to become a Sangheili warrior.
"This is all ridiculous! You are the Arbiter and yet I find you now acting like frightened child. Had I known what a coward was made the Arbiter, I never would have given council to save your life after your failure to defend toe sacred ring." Valor broke his silence over the meeting. Thel was already put off by his presence in the meeting but now he could suffer him no further.
"If you do not want to believe me, we have recordings of the engagement we had with them." Thel then put a disk into the dais. It started to play.
"Entry 4.35, Major Jiazah 'Thogamee speaking, we have arrived on a strange world, it does not show up on our luminary or any of our star charts but then we don't even know if we can still trust them after going through the rift in Slipspace." The recording went on for awhile before the firefight then they saw them, the human- things.
"The mighty Arbiter is afraid dregs with barely functioning guns and why not, truly they are the most vicious of foes." The Prophet of Valor was on thin ice with his words about Thel.
"Keep watching..." the three kept looking towards the video feed that's when they came, the giants and then the fear made sense to them, everything that Thel had told them was made true before them: their grins were full of malice and sadism. Their weapons were everything that Thel had told them the screams of the dying were echoing throughout the chamber.
"Enough, Arbiter! We get the point." Truth stopped the video feed when a Jiralhanae with a gravity hammer got bisected with a chainaxe from a crimson armored warrior. "We now understand why you are worried about this, now leave us we must discuss this in private, in the meantime gather your forces together to await our demands." Truth said. Thel left with the knowledge he had left one war with demons only to fight in another only now the demons both looked and acted the part.
XXX
Rtas Vadum looked over the men in the room, each one was a SpecOps warrior, each one was hand pick by him to perform his actions with pride and courage yet how could they feel that now, these new men that had joined him were once Honor Guards of the High Prophets, the greatest and most capable warriors of their race now reduced to this office. Rtas felt like reciting the oath of the Covenant to them but decided against it seeing as it could do more harm than good. He could see the Arbiter arrive when the last of the new warriors left his presence.
"So, how did it go Arbiter?" he asked only assuming too well how it went.
"A rather mixed bag actually, though I'm not a fan of our new High Prophet. " He then gave a snort, the sort of one that an Ultra would give to Minors and Majors. "I know next to nothing about him. Is there much to know?"
"Quite a lot actually, he was once a Prelate." Thel's eyes raised at that title: Prelate. In the San'Shyuum, they're were those who were chosen to become warriors, they were gifted chemical, physical and genetic enhancements to become the most lethal warriors in the Covenant, even more so than the Sangheili. Thel had seen one in action once it had taken down a whole squad of Honor Guard with little effort. In exchange for this, they were unable to hold political offices such as Ministers or Prophets.
"How could he? He was a Minister in Office, the Ministry of Judication no less!" Thel argued to the SpecOps commander it was clear to Rtas that the new High Prophet had made a poor first impression on the Arbiter's mind about his character.
"Apparently, he had become injured during a mission early in the war with the humans and was given the right to join the Ministry of Judication, still it has been said that he had injuries have healed over and can now fight once again." Rtas didn't like the way the Arbiter looked when the thought of an injured Prelate becoming a Minister to then become a Hierarch, to top everything off, the rumored of him once again being able to fight.
"You didn't anger our newest Hierarch, did you?" Rtas' questions kept going deep into whatever happened in that room between the four of them.
"His attitude… did not agree with me but in light of everything you have told me I may have to reconsider my opinion of him."
"Is that out of respect… or fear?" Thel paused for a moment, taken in the question in full.
"Both." Rtas looked at the situation now before them for the first time since arriving in this new and strange place they had a chance to catch their breaths.
"Look at it all, we don't even know where we are in the galaxy, or where the Sacred rings are right now." Rtas said as they walk to the view port gazing off into the stars, and the great stellar rift that was before them,
"Haven't you tried to go back to the coordinates given from before." Thel was now really starting to worry: A whole fleet's slipspace jump going wildly off course, encountering the 'tainted humans' as he was now calling them, as well as the 'super demons', the name given to the giants on the planet. And now their home worlds had ben transported with them here. Just what in the Forerunners names was going on here.
XXX
Meanwhile, in a dark, eldritch part of the mirror realm of in Material world, The Warp. Four Beings of un-imaginable power look over the work that one of them number has brought into their world.
"Tzeentch, I hate you; I hate your faces, I hate the way you act, I hate the magic you use. But bringing an entire galaxy spanning empire from another universe was the best thing you ever did." Spoke the one atop a throne of skulls and brass.
"Indeed, In the small glimpse I had of their world; they appeared to have the technology to at least put up a decent fight against the Anathema's pawns, but it is their lack of psychic potential that intrigue me." Said the blue one, with its many faces and constantly changing body.
"Oh who cares about that, all I see is some beautiful muscles on those manly… what were they called again? Sangheili? Yes Sangheili, oh and they way the move when they fight, so delicious I just want to fuck them until they bleed. Hehehehehehehe." The third said a being both male and female at the same time, one half being male the other female. Its long tongue wrapping itself around its single unclothed breast.
YEAH BUT COULDN'T WE HAVE ALSO GRABBED THAT FLOOD THAT THEY HAD, IT LOOKED SO GOOD, SUCH AN EXCLENT PLAGUE." The last one said in a garbled, sickly voice it was covered in a score of soars and boils, its skin was a sickly green and a foul thing to behold.
"I could have but I hate you Nurgle, so no I didn't be thankful that I brought these thing here so now we have new toys to play with." The Changer of Ways smirked, as much as something who's form was in constant flux.
"DON'T FUCKING CALL THEM TOYS, YOU PASNY WIZARD-CREEP. THEY ARE WARRIRORS ARE THEY ARE GOING TO SPILL SO MUCH BLOOD FOR ME." The Blood God said, slamming his fist against his Skull Throne in his normal world-shattering rage.
"Ohohohohoho, I am going to have so much fun with these, Tzeentchy-poo." The Dark Prince blew a kiss towards Tzeentch, coming into real form along them way, to alas miss entirely it mark.
"DON'T YOU FUCKING START, YOU FUCKING SLUTTLY BITCH!" Khorne's rage then ended the meeting as he processed to throw brass spears and Slaanesh then afterwards, chase her/him/it down with his brass axe.
XXX
"Who knows, but let us look at what we do know: We are stuck here, our homes are here, the humans did not follow use here but there are humans here anyways or at least beings that resemble humans if but monstrously grotesque in appearance and we have no idea as to where the sacred rings." Rtas paused a moment to take in what he had just said allowing it to filter through him.
"With that all said, it is a wonder we aren't all going into a panic." He gave a small chuckle at the mention of it.
"You've been going through the reports about what happened, Commander. Tell me, what are your thoughts on these 'humans' we have found?" Thel trusted the Spec Ops Commander input, far more than any other person at this time, after his public shamming, only Rtas would even have audience with him.
"They are dangerous, far more than the humans we are used to dealing with." He looked at Thel with a eyes of cold steel. "Arbiter, if these humans are in large numbers, especially with the giants you mentioned, we have a serious problem here." Fear was not an emotion that Sangheili felt very often, but Thel knew its purpose. Fear kept one from making reckless move and doing things with blind courage and false bravado but there were the times when fear told us when things were in a bad spot, when something horrific was approaching us this was one of those times.
Their ship, the CAS- Class Assault Carrier Castellan's Hand, had just arrived at High Charity, to deliver the abominable machine that Major Thogamee had discovered and was to be researched to give any indication about what they where about to fight against. No sooner then when they arrived that the signal for the Hierarchs to speak to the Covenant went overhead, Thel and Rtas left their conversation for another time for when the Hierarchs spoke everyone on High Charity listened.
"Citizens of the Covenant, we, your Hierarchs, come to speak to you again so soon to discuss what has happened to us. We have traveled to some point unknown in the galaxy, devoid of both the sacred ring and the filthy humans. We, under the advice of the High Council, have decided to elect a third Hierarch to once again make the Covenant whole in this, what could be our darkest hour." Truth then moved aside for Valor.
"My thanks, Noble Hierarch of Truth, Greetings, people of the Covenant I am the Hierarch of Valor. I was until but a short while ago the Minster of Justice in the Ministry of Judication. I know that the loss of the Great Prophet of Regret, honored be his name, is still fresh in everyone's mind. But I assure you that I will not tarnish the position I have been placed in nor will I stand ideally by while are beset with uncertainty as to what the future holds for us. We, the truest servants of the gods, must venture out into this strange new world and see what we can find. I also want to assure those who have family on our homeworlds to not fret for we have discovered that our homes have come with us, as to how we are still not yet sure." Thel was taking it all in, seeing how the new Hierarch worked the crowd, he was no Truth, Mercy or even Regret when it came to over all charisma but their was something to it that tug on Thel's person something that made him if not like him, at the very least respect him.
"However it must fall to me to inform you that our very own Arbiter has determined that there are humans here, even more monstrous as before. Their demons now truly live up to their name." Valor then showed the recording of the engagement in all its sick, profane, horror. Thel could feel to anger rising in the whole city at the images, this would mean more fighting, and this time he didn't know if they could win or not.
"…That is why I set forth a crusade of fire, of war to destroy these humans. we must set upon them like hawks before the prey and carve them out of existence for their heresy…" The people's cries became rallies for Valor's crusade baying screams of bloodshed echoed through out the halls of High Charity
"…and it will be the Arbiter to lead this crusade of power against the vile foe. He has the most experience against these monsters. The new Fleet of Absolute Destruction will set out and put the filth to the torch." The crowd had had enough waiting and broke into a frenzy, it caused rioting in the streets, on Sanghelios, it was said that the Kaidon keeps had never echoed in night so loud since the days of old.
"It appears you are going on another campaign, my friend." Rtas said, still looking at the streets below the riots in them.
"Yes, it would seem so."
XXX
Another Chapter done with, this time I have no excuse I was just being lazy and didn't put the time needed to work on this, but it done and now I can move on to the next one. Also I know this chapter was focused on the Non-Imperials but to worry my Loyal Children. The next chapter is going to be all about you guys.