Isis followed the small group back to the large beings, who watched them with unknown intent. She caught sight of the dead and their bloodied forms; her body threatened to upheave contents in her stomach that did not exist. Her hands flew over her mouth to either keep down the threat of vomiting, to hide her disbelief of the horror she was witnessing, or both. She had never seen such carnage.
She reminded herself, 'Die, or may die.' were her choices, she reminded herself. She picked the 'may die' part and swallowed her fear.
The one that Isis deemed in charge, the one whom she knew spoke to her, gave an audible order and the large men in armor surrounded her small group.
The one in charge was frightening to behold. His face alone warped and twisted half of his face. Isis had only seen something like that once happen to a trainee but her father had 'taken care' of them. She never saw the person again.
Some of the others were mutated as well to various degrees. Their armor fused to skin. Some of their breathing ports of their helm had become a mouth, constantly open in a perpetual scream or yell. Some only had pauldrons, their arms and bodies swollen with muscle. Scars and wounds didn't seem to phase them.
One without a helm, had eyes that were as black as pitch but shone with the reflection of a diamond. All were tall and large.
A shimmer of light surrounded them all. Isis bit back a sound of surprise as she felt herself tingle apart and reform in a different location in an instant.
'I've just been teleported!' Isis screamed in her head as her stomach lurched. The shock was hard to keep down. The room she was in was large. Machines and consoles formed a circular perimeter around the large room. A verbal command was given from the 'commander', she decided to call him.
Her small group of people were ushered, unsympathetically, off a platform by the large men, when the feeling of the 'commander's' presence, once more, formed in her mind unexpectedly. His looks intimidated her, striking fear and commanding strict obedience.
"Follow me, child."
Isis froze, knowing she'd been singled out, as she saw the others kept moving without a hitch out a large door and down an equally large corridor escorted by the 'commanders' men. The presence in her mind left.
'Oh shit.' She thought to herself. 'What did I do now?'
She reluctantly followed the commander out of the room, looking back wishing she had the protection of the small group that was herded the other way down the large corridor.
The hallway was large and tall. The walls shone from the overhead lighting and gems of various sizes gleamed in patterned mosaics. One depicted a creature, at least that's what she thought. It was lean and strong at the same time, having both male and female aspects. Horns were elegantly curved over its head and its four arms, two had crab-like claws and the others, hands. One which held a deadly looking blade. It stood over a battle ground. Gems were placed together delicately, to capture the looks of defeat and agony of the defeated that lay at the feet of the creature, were clearly mastered in this composition. A shiver ran down her spine as she quickly observed it as she followed.
Tapestries hung from the walls, though she couldn't see the colors as others could, she could tell they varied from the different hues of gray she saw. She could tell they were of high quality and extremely heavy.
She looked closer at the commander. It was amazing how his armor let him move as smoothly as he did. It reminded her of the knights of old only the plate was much thicker and the designs on it were of nothing she had seen before, with swirls and pointed ends. Almost tribal like with more flair. He also carried a large machine pack on his back that made a quiet humming sound. Two ports reached out on either side of the top of the pack. She could see fumes as they distorted the area of the shoulder as exhaust was released from the decorative ports.
'The suit is powered.' She realized.
A large sword hung on his hip, it looked just like a regular blade but with a change of tint in the metal. But she knew that changes in an instant when it's in his hands. She had glimpsed that as she looked back while she fled earlier.
They passed by others in the hallway, their clothing varied from coats to robes to full body suits of sorts, some were outlandish. Most were regular sized humans. But few had some form of deformity or mutation. Extremely smooth skin or horns to spikes. It was all random.
Her legs felt like they could give out at any moment, her whole body quivered from exhaustion of constantly over spending her energy pool, lack of food and the coldness of space. Also who knows what those people injected into her on the previous ship?
They seemed to walk forever through corridors, till he came to a stop down an empty hallway. A large metal door loomed over them. He opened a panel next to the door and pushed a series of buttons. A soft chime indicated his access and the door hissed open sideways.
Standing to the side he motioned for her to enter. The hair on her neck raised on its ends as she glanced into the room. It was semi dark. Surprisingly there were candles lit along with overhead dim lights, which illuminated parts of the massive room. She could see a large chair that reminded her of a throne in a castle, only this one glinted of steel. Candle light reflected off parts of armor that hung inside a large indentation in a wall. Heads hung like trophies on the other side but she couldn't make out what they were. More tapestries hung from the wall,depicting symbols and creatures she did not recognize.
"Enter child."
The thought brought her back from her observation with a start. Throat going dry, she swallowed and stepped inside. Isis felt extremely small in such a massive room. This ship had to be truly enormous from the walk they just took to the size of this room alone. She entered just enough to be in and turned back to the 'commander' who now stood in the doorway.
"I am Lord Captain Visius, and you are a guest on my ship." He decided to use courtesy at this time, until he knew who exactly she was. Feeling this psyker would respond better with 'kid-gloves' then force, if he was to recruit her. "You have permission to wander these rooms, but do not leave through this door." He spoke his name aloud as his gaze seemed to look through her soul.
Isis desperately wanted to ask questions, but fear kept her quiet.
Visius, sensing her turmoil, decided to press.
"Where are you from?" Not really an important question, he thought, but it could open her up to answer other questions.
Isis hesitated. Her mind raced, she knew he had power, she could feel it. But she didn't know exactly how powerful he was. To lie or refuse to answer could spell more trouble for her. She decided to give short answers.
"Earth." She spoke it out loud, sending him a vision of her planet from orbit. She knew her image was colorless, the shades of gray hiding the beauty of her planet.
"I apologize for the lack of colors. I am not able to see any." Isis sent, her eyes blinking as she looked away, downcast.
Visius tilted his head up slightly in understanding. Now he knew why all her images were blacks, whites and grays, even the warp she produced. She was truly colorblind. That could be remedied. He buried the thought for a later time.
But the name of the planet intrigued him. He had heard that name before. It was an ancient name. This 'Earth' had oceans as well.
"Earth", you mean Terra?" He asked.
Isis' brows creased. "No...well...maybe. Terra is the Latin word for Earth. But no one has called it that in..." She thought, her mind racing over history lessons. "Several centuries."
Visius pressed again. "Does this Earth have other planets in it's solar system?
Isis took a deep breath before sending thoughts of Jupiter, Saturn and Mars. She said their names aloud, but when she spoke of Mars, Lord Visius interjected with visuals of his own.
He recognized Jupiter and Saturn, he knew exactly what planet she spoke of now. So out of pure curiosity, he sent her an image of the forge world Mars, from the last time he saw it, so long ago. Its red surface covered in industrial forges, peaks of metal towers reached miles into its atmosphere. The Ring of Iron that encircled the planet's equator, hosting shipyards and other refineries.
The feeling of awe from seeing the colors of the red planet was quickly replaced as confusion and fear overwhelmed Isis, and was abruptly followed by concern.
"It did not look like that." She responded nervously. She kept the small colony on Mars to herself.
Fascinating, thought Visius, for one she was not versed with speaking through thought, as he caught her trying to hide the colony on Mars.
"What was the year you left?" Visius asked mentally.
That's when Isis felt a cold sensation of dread take over.
She was hopelessly lost. She knew it. Trying to fight back the shock of the question, she tried to answer, but the faces of her family, and the threat she knew that was out there somewhere, kept flashing before her eyes. Visius felt and saw the jumble of emotion and quickly calmed her using his psykic ability. He did not need an out-of -control psyker on his ship.
"2173." Isis managed to convey after a moment.
Visius' theories were confirmed. He nodded.
"Your Earth is now the Throne World of the Imperium called Terra.'' Sending her an image of Terra. Its hive cities and dead oceanless faces were covered in a dense fog of pollution. "You are around 41,000 years into the future."
He could see the information hit her as she tried desperately to rationalize it. He could also tell she was about to drop from exhaustion.
"My brothers… They were with me, we got separated." Her thoughts were a plea of desperation.
"I am not aware of anyone else other than who we brought aboard. Were they able to use the warp as well?" He asked, gathering as much information as he could.
Isis raised her brows, confused at the way he termed casting spells. But she understood.
She shook her head no. "No. They were officers, they were in uniforms." She instantly regretted giving that information out, but she had to try and describe them if she had any hope of finding them.
Visius cocked his head looking at her. "Then I doubt they would be on the ship you were. But that is just a guess."
He felt a small relief spring up in the small woman.
"After you rest we may speak more. I will have food brought in, again do not attempt to leave these rooms, for your own protection." With that, he turned and the door slid shut with an audible hiss of hydraulics and a series of metal thunks as locks were mechanically placed.
Isis didn't know how long she stood there thinking about being in the future, but finally her mind snapped to the present.
She walked to the farthest corner of the room, feeling better with walls behind her, she slid down into the corner. Isis looked at her hands. They stung and felt hot, every movement was agony. She wanted to heal them but doubted she had the energy to do so. Waiting too long would be impossible to mend her chard, blistered and split skin. Perhaps she deserved the scars and damage.
She dropped her hands in her lap.
Because they weren't supposed to be here. It wasn't supposed to happen this way. She killed people today, horribly. And it was all her fault.