**Author's note: A silly spoiler alert, but this chapter will completely spoil the 1939 film "The Wizard of Oz" to anyone who hasn't seen it. Again, knowledge of "The Wizard of Oz" isn't required to enjoy this fic, but it does make it fun.**
The prospect of watching "The Wizard of Oz" while inside the Warhammer 40k universe sounded so surreal that I laughed again. I whistled as I drank right from the bottle of some mysterious liquor that tasted like gin, and Null walked ahead of me, holding the projector he had built after only about ten minutes from some random electronics he had lying around. It looked like a small flat camera with a large lens connected to a telescoping tripod. He definitely disapproved of me drinking like this, but whatever. Better have fun now because at some point I wouldn't be able to get drunk at all. I should enjoy whatever time left I have remaining as a human, if I was human at all anymore now.
After some walking, Null and I entered the small theater, and found that Virgil, Alberich, and Lian were already inside, apparently busying themselves with tidying the mess in here. Lian had been removing bits of rotted cloth (what used to be curtains) from around the horizontal white screen, and Virgil and Alberich had been wiping down some of the metal chairs with rags. Everyone looked at me for direction when I strode in, so I tried to be optimistic and said, "You guys ready to watch the film? Come on, sit down, lets go! Null has refreshments!"
My companions halted their cleaning, and slowly made their way to where the seating was laid out before the display screen. Once again, I could feel an air of slight fear permeating the room like a low static charge. Hopefully, watching a silly movie from my universe would help everyone relax.
This theater was a wide space of buffed golds and other metals, just like the rest of the ship. Four rows of five repositionable standard-sized gold seats were positioned in front of the display. A few lanterns hung on short chains above us on the ceiling, bathing the expansive room in a soft gold light. Behind the rows of chairs, three suspiciously large seats stood. The center chair was especially large and had wings artistically sculpted on its chairback, giving an angelic appearance to whoever sat down there. I guessed that was mine, and after calling out greetings to my companions, I climbed up on the giant chair (reminding me again of a small child pulling themselves up on an adult-sized seat, as my legs dangled), and pointed dramatically at the screen. Feeling silly, I heightened my voice, and did my best impression of Jean Luc Picard from Star Trek: The Next Generation.
"Engage!" I barked, which made all my companions jump as they also began to settle in. I immediately apologized to everyone because my impression was terrible.
"Engage... in what?" Virgil cautiously asked me, walking to a small seat ahead of me. "Is everything alright?"
"Nothing, sorry, don't worry about it," I shook my head. "Just a stupid private joke to myself from my universe. Everything is fine."
"The Scion is drinking again," Null informed the group, a slight air of disappointment in his mechanical voice.
"Yeah, well, yeah," I said, taking another swig of space gin. "So, I have a suspicion that if I get too far along and get too powerful, that alcohol won't work anymore on me. I can barely feel this already." I shrugged. It was true. I had drunk about a quarter of this bottle and three short cups of Null's sharp amasec, and I felt as if I had just had two small glasses of wine.
Lian walked up to my left, and settled himself in on one of the larger chairs. It looked like he fit that seat very comfortably, even in his power armor. "What was on the information disk? Can you speak of it?" Lian turned and quietly asked me. Alberich was now making his way up to the second large chair to my right. Behind us, I had noticed that there was a small raised area, and there, Null was setting up the projector, using its telescoping tripod legs to reach far up and over my tall chair back.
"It was a message from Orikan, the Necron we met on Kolch. You were trapped in a Time Cube and missed that whole thing though. It's a little difficult to explain, but after we encountered the Necron that imprisoned you in your bunker, we met with a different friendlier Necron who gave me this disk right before we escaped Kolch. Apparently the first Necron and the second have a rivalry so the second one helped us to escape and wants to be our friend."
"A friendly Necron?" Lian's tone was very skeptical.
"As friendly as he could be. He also gave me something that unlocked the cube prison you were trapped in so we could free you, which we did, and now you're here with us."
"I'm actually the one that freed you," Alberich corrected, sitting down in the other large chair. He, like me, didn't fit, and his feet didn't reach the floor. This vessel must have had some seriously tall crewmembers in its past, I wondered as I listened to the beastman grouse. "My leader, I have spoken to Lian of this. He understands but does not believe me."
"I know it sounds insane, but whatever he said is probably true, unless he started going on about me being some force of literal divine retribution on the galaxy sent down by God to act as a terrifying genocidal leader for humanity."
To my right side, I then sensed subdued excitement shimmer through Alberich's soul, but he didn't emote.
And then, a tense silence as I took another long drink. I really wasn't feeling it much anymore, I thought with frustration. My party days were over once I ate too many more souls. Virgil pulled a smaller gold chair up to sit beside and ahead of me on Lian's side. "Let us not concern ourselves with things that may cause conflicts, my companions," the astropath offered diplomatically.
"I'm ready to begin," Null spoke up from behind us.
"Okay everyone, but before we start, I have to explain something to you all, so listen," I informed them. My crewmembers all turned to look at me, with Null stepping down to walk in front of my field of vision. Virgil turned his chair around to face me.
How was I going to put this? "So, as most of you know, I have the unwanted attention of the Chaos Gods. I didn't do anything to get it, but part of the reason I'm here is because I think Tzeentch set up a series of events that transferred me to this universe away from my native one." To my left, I saw Lian blanch as he appeared disturbed. "Don't worry about being tainted, Lian. You're not corrupted or anything. Just, like, Tzeentch made sure certain events happened at certain times. He's a god of schemes and manipulation, so yeah, he's partially responsible."
My crewmembers were now looking at each other with concern. "So, what was on the disk the Necron gave me was an attempt at an explanation as to why I'm here and all the weird crazy stuff that's been happening. It was explained to me that Tzeentch, being the narcissist that he is, actually planned a lot of the circumstances around me according to the movie we're about to watch. That Chaos God apparently enjoys this movie, so he set things up around me to be reminiscent to 'The Wizard of Oz'. We're not going to be corrupted watching it or anything, as I've seen this movie a thousand times back in my home universe. It's just a piece of entertainment where I'm originally from."
"How is this film even here? I still don't understand," Alberich asked.
"It turns out that this movie isn't actually trans-dimensional. The reason this film is here is that the Necrons apparently have historians specializing in alien cultures, and they collect artifacts from ancient alien civilizations. While 'The Wizard of Oz' exists in my universe, it also existed in this universe's past, and was collected by alien archivists, like Trazyn, I guess. The friendly metal alien we met on Kolch also explained that he somehow made a connection that the Chaos God Tzeentch took a liking to this film, and has interwoven events from the movie that seem to be happening to us as we go along here. I think that god did this just for fun, but I don't know."
As I took another drink of space gin, my companions all looked at each other dubiously, so I said: "Look, I seriously don't really know why Tzeentch did all this, and if you try to figure out that Chaos God's motivations, you'll lose your mind. I'm just passing on what I know and what I'm thinking."
I saw Null's expression darken before I tried explaining again: "The Necron alien, Orikan, enclosed this movie in the information disk so we could be aware of what Tzeentch might be planning for our future."
A dark chill traveled down my spine, and I felt the sensation of being watched. I then perceived the distinctive shadow of Tzeentch "smile" at me in approval. As quickly as it arrived, the feeling passed. Taking a deep breath, I continued to speak.
"The premise of this movie is that Dorothy Gale, a human girl who lives on a farm, is taken away from her old universe and into a new one. My guess is that in this story, I represent the 'Dorothy'," I pointed at my chin with an index finger. "There is a 'Scarecrow', who I think is supposed to be Alberich, a 'Tin Man', which is Null, and finally, a-" I paused as I looked at Lian, who was watching me with very serious green eyes. "Yeah, there's also a 'Cowardly Lion', which is, I guess, supposed to be Lian here."
Hearing this, Lian actually slightly blushed, and I could sense a wave of embarrassment coming from him.
"But, from what I understand, nothing of this is an exact comparison. Only that it somewhat resembles what we're going through as a rough similarity, so don't worry too much about it. So, my point is that we should watch it and be aware of it as we travel. With this movie, we might have a guide on what future events will be like."
"This is, well, odd," Virgil spoke up, his holographic form shimmering with confusion.
"Oh, you're not in the story, sorry," I informed Virgil. "There are still a lot of differences from the movie and our adventures. Just, I don't know, pay attention I guess. And have fun."
"I am concerned that it appears that a Chaos God has manipulated you, Scion," Null spoke up gravely.
"It looks like he actually manipulated all of us, really. If we're all here, then we were all manipulated to be here, me included. I don't think there's any escaping what happened in the past now, but we should all be aware for the future."
Everyone was quiet for a moment, and I saw Alberich nod his head slightly, his eyes thoughtful. Lian also began to nod, and exhaled in resignation at this prospect.
"What we view now is a rough plan of a Chaos God concerning our fates? And, at the same time, an entertainment film from another reality?" Lian asked cautiously.
That was one way to put it. "Yeah, something like that," I answered. "Better to be informed going forward, and now that we have this movie, we can all get some insight on what Tzeentch might be scheming."
My companions then all responded with short nods and uncomfortable resignation. Alberich, to my right, asked me for some space gin, and I handled the bottle off to the beastman, who proceeded to drink about a quarter of the remaining amount right then and there before handing it back to me.
"Should we be taking notes?" Lian inquired. He had somewhat relaxed, but was still flushed with embarrassment.
Null tapped the side of his leg in impatience as he stood before me. He then got up and walked behind us again to the raised area behind our chairs. "I will commit this entire film to memory, so mere notes are not required. Are we ready?"
"Yeah, I'm ready," I replied, drinking more gin. Fuck, alcohol really wasn't working too well anymore! "I guess just pay attention, but, like I said, try to have fun. And Null has another bottle of liquor on him if you want your own, Alberich."
As Null began to ready his projector behind me again, I saw the beastman stand up. When he returned, he had another bottle of liquor, this one a translucent green. He immediately uncorked it, and began to drink. Again, I noticed that his white head feathers were still on edge. Something was persistently disturbing him, and he had not calmed down. I made a mental note to talk to him later.
Behind me, I heard a series of metallic clicks that sounded almost like an old film projector. "Divine Retribution, dim the lights in here," I instructed. "Whenever you're ready, Null." The overhead lights dimmed, and ahead of us, the old MGM roaring lion appeared on the screen, eliciting a feeling of both homesickness and nostalgia.
Watching this movie while suffering my current circumstances was definitely a bizarre experience. It was the exact same "Wizard of Oz" that I had seen many of times as a normal loser in my home reality. Null experienced brief delight at hearing the song "Over the Rainbow" again as Dorothy Gale sang with plaintive beauty, apparently very much enjoying the song. Each of my crewmembers definitely had things to say as everyone watched the movie, and Alberich made the comparison between Wolfie and Toto. When Glinda the Good appeared in her floating pink bubble, she was immediately branded as some sort of Chaos Champion by an angry Lian, who vowed to "smite her" if we ever crossed paths with the pink witch. I did not mention that I had already met Glinda, and that she was actually a shapeshifting daemon herald of Tzeentch. Eh, we didn't need to talk about that right now, I thought, still desperately trying to get intoxicated.
My companions then settled down and calmly watched the movie for a short time, and Null pointed out that the munchkins were similar to squats. The sudden appearance of the Wicked Witch of the West was met with differing amounts of interest. "It seems that there is no tall statue of Am'Erika like in this reality, and the only daemon is the green-skinned woman," Alberich pondered as the Wicked Witch threatened Dorothy.
"I believe that the green wicked western witch is no daemon, but a human adherent of Chaos, and a sorceress of power, maybe even a Chaos Lord. The green skin is a gift from the infernal gods for her servitude," Virgil coolly observed. "Is there a wicked witch that is in pursuit of you, Scion?"
"No, but there is a Keeper of Secrets who has promised to 'get' me, just like in this movie. Instead of the Ruby Slippers, the daemon wants the Key around my neck. Her name is Am'Erika, and she says she wants to eat me, shit me out, and eat me again for eternity."
"Oh," Virgil whispered with a short gasp.
"America, heh," Alberich chuckled to my side as he drank, an air of contempt in his German-accented voice. "Sounds correct for the America I knew back home too. A wicked nation, built on lies and hubris. They should never have gotten into the war. Fools."
"What war are you talking about?" Null asked over the film as the munchkins merrily sang about following the Yellow Brick Road.
I decided to answer for the beastman. "Really long story, but the countries of America and Germany were at war in both my universe's past, and Alberich's. I am an American, and Alberich is a German. But, come on, lets just watch this movie and try to have fun, okay?" I pleaded. I had imbibed about half of this bottle of space gin, and it still only felt like two drinks. No recreation allowed for me later, I guessed.
"Oh!" Alberich piped up as the Scarecrow appeared tied up in a cornfield. "Is that supposed to be me? I'm a scarecrow? What sort of connection is that? Erika discovered me crucified in what looked like a cornfield. I was not tied up like a scarecrow." Alberich chortled as he watched the absurd scene before him. He now appeared slightly intoxicated. No one said anything as the Scarecrow sang and danced about wanting a brain. "My friends, this does not make sense. I have a brain! My whole existence has been in service of the acquisition of knowledge! This clownish individual should not even be alive, as he is made out of straw." I couldn't really tell if Alberich was serious.
"Look, I seriously have no idea. Ask Tzeentch about it," I said with a hiccup. This, of course, caused dreadful alarm to ripple through my companions. "Guys, it was a joke. Sorry. Relax."
Should I ask the Great Architect about this? Alberich psychically asked me, his tone filled with concern.
Fuck's sake, Alberich. I was kidding. Don't talk to Tzeentch! Stop it! I barked back at him telepathically.
"Well then," the beastman huffed audibly, and continued drinking.
This was so exasperating. "Everyone, please just try to enjoy the movie. It was supposed to be entertainment back in my home universe. I know what I said about this maybe being an outline for a Chaos God's plan, but it's also just a fun movie! Relax!"
"Were there daemonic apple trees in your home world? How could this be entertaining?" Lian asked as animated apple trees threw apples that looked like plastic at Dorothy and the Scarecrow. I then flashed back to my terrible nightmare involving the masochistic apple trees that wanted me as their eternal arboreal dominatrix in hell. Lian growled, and pointed sternly at the screen. "Why does Dorothy speak with these mutated trees? She should know that such entities are corruptive."
"Well, uh," I sputtered, feeling greatly upset at the memory of nearly being choked to death by daemonic tree branches. Yeah, I'm not going into detail about the masochistic nightmare apple trees. Nope.
"Bewitchment. Perhaps an aura of influence like a Fiend of Slaanesh," Virgil helpfully theorized, briefly turning upward to the Fallen with a nod. Lian seemed to agree, and beside me, I saw him angle his chin toward the astropath in agreement.
"They're just men in costumes, if you must know," Alberich said, waving his hands and laughing at the screen.
Everyone got quiet again when Dorothy discovered the rusted Tin Man. Heads turned to briefly look up and behind me at Null as the Tin Man's rusted form was investigated in the woods. Another song and dance routine began about how the Tin Man wanted a heart.
Virgil began to chuckle. "Old friend, mayhaps that is you?" the astropath said with a smile, turning around to grin up at Null.
"I am not made out of tin!" Null blustered. "Tin does not rust, nor is it strong enough to appropriately support the armature of any tech-priest's body. And I have a heart already! My passions and vital nature are proof enough of that!"
That was certainly true, I confirmed with a smile. Despite Null's vexation at seeing the Tin Man, I could still sense a sort of dry amusement from the tech-priest, as if he secretly found this all very funny. Behind my shoulder, I briefly startled as I saw one of Null's mechadendrites reach down and snag the bottle of space gin at my side. I heard the sound of the bottle being uncorked, and then, the bottle was returned to me slightly lowered. At least it seemed like the tech-priest was lightening up.
Next, Dorothy's little band traveled through a scary dark forest, fearful of 'lions and tigers and bears'. I noticed that a few of the fern-like plants I had seen on Kolch seemed to resemble some of the artificial plants lining the Yellow Brick Road before us.
When the Cowardly Lion appeared, Alberich immediately turned his head to Lian, who shifted nervously in his seat. As the Cowardly Lion tried to intimidate Dorothy and her friends, Lian actually spoke to me telepathically. Is this Lion truly supposed to be representative of me? he asked.
Just watch the movie. It's not too serious. Relax, I responded.
Everyone was quiet with awe at this scene, as it seemed to be very close to what we experienced with Lian back on Kolch. The Fallen leaned forward in his large chair as we all watched Dorothy slap the Lion into submission, and call him a coward. The slap actually caused Lian to flinch beside me.
"This is uncanny," the Fallen rumbled, shaking his head. "My brothers even named me 'Lian the Cowardly'. How does this film exist? You say it was made in humanity's distant past here, but it also exists in your universe? I still do not understand."
"Chaos Gods messing with fate, that's how it exists." I responded flatly. I really had no good response to that.
"Truth, yes." I heard Null speak behind me. I could feel that although he wasn't outwardly emoting currently, he was experiencing a heavy emotional response at watching this film, as if he was filled with wonder, horror, and disbelief all at once. At the edge of my hearing, I could even hear his teeth chattering.
"Maybe I missed something, but who is this 'Wizard of Oz' they seek?" Virgil finally asked as the Wicked Witch of the West appeared again, cursing the poppy field Dorothy would eventually travel though. "Forgive me if I am incorrect, but the title 'Wizard' implies sorcery. Why would they so readily trust something with that designation after what they've been through? My intuition tells me that the Chaos witch Glinda has sent them on a fool's errand in order to manipulate them. Perhaps they have been being sent to their deaths by confronting this powerful sorcerer? Why trust Glinda? They have already upset the green west witch, and now, even more peril arrives to them. Certainly this must seem suspicious to Dorothy!"
Null spoke up as Oz became visible on the horizon beyond the field of red flowers. "It is unknown. Maybe we can see this is a cautionary tale concerning the hidden dangers of the infernal powers? Dorothy herself said 'witches are old and ugly', and that generalization causes ruin. We will find out, I suspect."
"Just enjoy the movie, guys," I said, drinking more. I was now finally approaching a proper tipsy level of intoxication.
Null made a thoughtful noise as he observed the scene of Dorothy and her friends frolicking through the cursed poppies. "As an aside, while I am not certain about the identity of the Wizard in this film, the Wizard we seek aboard the Divine Retribution is the Wizard of Molech. We are currently on our way to Molech, just as these companions are on their way to the Emerald City, seeking what they wish on their quests. The Wizard is rumored to be the Guardian of the Gate to the Deep Warp, and the Scion wishes an audience with him, if I am not mistaken."
Lian's head immediately whipped to me. "You seek to enter the Deep Warp?" he asked as Dorothy, Toto, and the Cowardly Lion all proceeded to pass out in the field of flowers.
"Yes," I answered Lian. "We're off to see the Wizard," I said, holding up my space gin as I took another swig. This shit wasn't so bad. It was better than Null's special amasec, at least.
"The Emperor of Mankind Himself passed through a Gate to the Deep Warp, claiming power through unknown means," Null informed us, his voice quiet. "We are very far from Molech, and have a long road ahead of us still."
"None of this looks like anything we have experienced. I do not recall seeing a field of poppies," Alberich criticized the film as he drank.
"I don't think what we experience is supposed to be like, 'The Wizard of Oz' exactly," I replied as Glinda appeared over the scene, causing asbestos snow to fall on our heroes, and waking them up. "But, on the disk, Orikan said that Tzeentch pulled events around to resemble this movie for his own enjoyment. Who knows why that god does the shit he does?"
Another unwelcome feeling of being watched washed through me, causing goosebumps to alight on my skin.
"Probably because it's just fun. This game is very entertaining, my dear," Alberich answered happily. I immediately turned to the beastman to find that he was no longer there, and that the familiar blond man in the perfect dark suit was sitting at his seat, smiling evilly with sharp teeth.
I cried out, and my Corona flashed in alarm at what I had seen. As I blinked, reality skipped a beat, and Alberich was then himself again, lounging in his big gold chair, his bottle of space gin at his beak. What the hell just happened?
The film was now paused right before Dorothy rang the bell to the Emerald City, and Lian had turned and was now looking at me in concern, his features lightly illuminated by my gold halo. "Are you alright? Have you had a vision?" the Fallen asked me.
"Oh," I said, realizing that I was glowing again. I consciously suppressed my radiance, and now saw that Alberich was watching me with concern too. Did I really see what I just saw?
"Your Corona..." Null spoke with worry.
"It's fine. Just had a little freakout again here. I'm trying to deal with the last few days, that's all. I just want to relax," I replied. I side eyed Alberich again, and he looked completely normal. Tzeentch was probably just reminding me that whatever I did, that he'd be watching me. This was awful and I definitely needed to get the hell out of this dimension!
The door to the Emerald City opened, and soon, we were accosted by yet another silly song and dance.
"I see no emeralds in this city," Lian spoke with disapproval, and then, he began to rant. "There seems to be a sort of madness that permeates this entire world. So much artificial singing and laughter, yet Dorothy does not become suspicious. Is there a rule from a maddened planetary governor concerning the color green? Why is everything colored this way? And that Horse of a Different Color, it is surely some sort of vile enchantment, and it is being flaunted! If I had encountered this planet in my travels, my brothers and I would have covertly contacted the Inquisition concerning this unsettling display. A visit from the Black Templars would definitely pulled this Emerald City and the entirety of Oz into proper compliance."
I almost laughed at the brutality of what Lian was suggesting, but I answered him, "It's green because it's the Emerald City. It's not supposed to be too serious. It's just a silly story," I responded. Watching this movie with the natives from the 40k universe was actually rather depressing. Null, Virgil, and Lian saw the film through a lens of fear and suspicion, and searched for danger and subterfuge everywhere. Alberich simply sat and drank as he watched the movie, but didn't go too much into his feelings on the matter.
The Wicked Witch of the West made her appearance on her broomstick again to write "Surrender Dorothy" in smoke in the sky, which made Lian nod, thinking that what he had just spoken of was absolutely true. Virgil then slowly enunciated the words, "Surrender... Dorothy..." He thought for a few moments, and then made another very astute observation, one that I actually hadn't thought too much on. "I find it strange that this film was created using Low Gothic as its language. We shouldn't be able to understand anything from an ancient civilization, as the language would surely be much changed. How are we understanding them?"
I expected Null to speak up, but no one had an answer to that. Lian briefly looked over at me. Were they expecting me to explain this? "I have no idea," I conceded with a dramatic shrug of my shoulders. "I've thought about this before. It doesn't make any sense as to why I comprehend and speak Low Gothic when I'm from such a different reality, but at least I can understand everything."
"I've thought about this as well," Alberich spoke. "Everyone speaks English here. Another universe would certainly have others speaking in another tongue. It does not make sense."
"Well, whatever," I said, leaning back on my chair. "Probably some Warp fuckery, you know? I have no idea." I now got to thinking that I wanted a bag of chips and maybe some cheese dip. I was trying to get drunk and watch a movie, so I was craving snacks.
We were now watching the dramatic scene of Dorothy, Toto, the Tin Man, the Scarecrow, the Cowardly Lion striding down the hall of the Emerald City on their way to see the Wizard.
"Come forward!" the Wizard commanded our heroes to advance through the long emerald halls. When the Wizard spoke, I received another strange vision. Instead of a vivid green palace, I stood before a dramatic vaulted hall of very tall ceilings made of perfect obsidian lined with blue torches that put off an unnerving light deep in my mind's eye. The whole atmosphere in here felt "wrong", as if reality was fuzzy around the edges. Ahead, only swirling blackness could be seen further along the threatening hallway. This animate darkness was somehow alive, and I could tell that it had been expecting me. To my right, and to my left, two very tall guards in what appeared to be gold power armor stood at attention. I was able to see that red plumes decorated their helmets, and that they each held tall halberds of terrifying appearance.
"You will do as instructed, or you will die here," both monstrous guards said in unison in hollow, threatening voices, their halberds lowering just a touch.
As quickly as the vision came upon me, it was gone, and now, I was back to watching the movie. I took a deep breath, and committed what I had seen to memory for later introspection. Ahead, the Wizard was now inquiring what each of Dorothy's companions desired, and their reasons for their visitation. I cautiously glanced around, and found that no one had noticed that I had experienced another vision. My companions in the movie theater were absolutely engrossed in this scene.
"A Warp entity, yes," Null observed behind me at the floating projection of the Wizard of Oz. "Most certainly a Warp entity. I cannot tell which alignment if it is part of a commonly known Chaos God."
"It seems to be heavy in magic and is surreal in appearance, so maybe a greater daemon of the Lord of Change?" Virgil offered cautiously.
Alberich cautiously turned his head toward Virgil, but didn't say anything. I hoped that if the beastman knew something that I didn't about the Wizard of Molech, that he would tell me, but the uncomfortable thought that maybe the Wizard was actually a Tzeentchian daemon was very upsetting. It would totally fit with everything that was going on, I thought with dread.
"Bring me the broomstick of the Witch of the West!" the Wizard boomed at Dorothy and her frightened companions, which caused Virgil to startle.
"The Wizard has sent them to their deaths!" Virgil angrily interjected, actually standing from his seat and pointing at the screen. "They are not equipped to assault such a vicious witch of Chaos! The Wizard is certainly a manipulative denizen of the Infernal Powers!"
"Well, shit," I said, drinking more again. I really hoped that something like this didn't happen. My metaphorical Wicked Witch of the West was a Keeper of Secrets that didn't have a broomstick, so I had no idea what the Wizard of Molech would want me to procure for him. Many of the events we had seen in this film hadn't happened in real life, so I was hoping that whatever our visit to Molech revealed, that it wasn't too bad. I'd probably be pretty strong by the time I got all the way down there anyway, so maybe I could actually fight the Wizard if he started mouthing off to me? The absurd thought made me laugh as I remembered the slide on Orikan's disk of an enraged psychic Dorothy Gale blasting flying monkeys out of the sky.
After watching Lian's embarrassment at the Cowardly Lion's behavior as he fled the Wizard's throne room whimpering in terror, we were now watching the scene where Dorothy and her companions were mincing through a silly-looking haunted forest.
Ahead of me, I saw Virgil shaking his head. "The very land they are in is tainted by the green witch's proximity. They are in trouble. They should have hired some mercenaries at the Emerald City, or even the squats of the Munchkin-land. To assault the stronghold of a Chaos Lord requires much more strength."
"All are tainted, astropath," Lian replied sadly, waving his armored hand in a sweeping gesture. "All in this land are tainted, even her companions, somewhat." The Fallen paused, contemplating what he had just said. "It was better to go on this doomed errand alone, for only Dorothy remains free of taint. Only the pure of heart can hope to deny agency to a powerful Chaos Lord such as this Wicked Witch of the West. I saw this first hand on Nubua when the Chaos Champion of Slaanesh was destroyed."
Behind me, I heard Null make a thoughtful, "Hmm" noise, as he tapped a mechadendrite against the back of my chair. Yeah, I get it. I'm cool.
"By my circuits, would you look at this," the tech-priest explained in quiet amusement as we watched the flying monkeys descend from the sky, kidnapping Dorothy and Toto. "Scion, with your permission, I'd like to describe and display what we witnessed on the alien disk."
"That's fine. Go right ahead, Null."
The tech-priest paused the movie again, and began to explain: "On the xenos information disk, there was a still image of the human girl here, Dorothy, but instead of cowering and screaming, she was burning the flying daemon creatures out of the sky with her holy fire of retribution. Now, let me see here..."
I heard a few soft clicks that sounded like a compact disk shifting to another song track, and before us now on the screen, we saw the absolutely majestic (and exceedingly metal) illustration of Dorothy Gale as a vengeful God-Empress hurling bolts of gold lightning at legions of flying monsters as she soared through a stormy sky. This illustration would really look fantastic on a power metal album!
"This came from the disk?" Lian asked. "The alien, he showed you this?"
"Yeah, but I think this is just a hypothetical illustration of how the Necron saw me, not like, what happens in the movie here. This art really is great though, whatever it means. It's awesome!" Maybe I could get Null to somehow print this out so I could put it in my room as inspiration?
"Can you fly unaided?" Virgil asked me, turning around, his eyes as wide as saucers.
"I haven't tried, but probably not," I responded, taking another drink. My booze was rapidly depleting. "I probably have to eat more souls to get like that." I pointed at the screen, and sniggered.
"One day at a time, Scion. I simply thought this was an interesting deviation from this film. I am thinking that the 'Dorothy' archetype we have with us is more powerful than this weak farm girl from the planet of Kansas. Perhaps this is an event that we may yet experience?" The tech-priest's voice was almost flavored with excitement as he started the film back up again.
Alberich was getting drunk, I thought enviously as I listened to him belch. He and I had had about the same amount of booze here, but he was actually able to feel it normally, unlike me.
Dorothy was now captured, and was being intimidated into giving up her Ruby Slippers again by the Wicked Witch of the West. I reached into my shirt, and pulled out my Key again, feeling its smooth power over my fingertips. The white stone almost had a slight luminosity in the darkened theater, like it was actually covered in pale blue glow-in-the-dark paint. Was the Key bonded to me until my death, I briefly wondered? No, it wasn't, since Sebastian had at some point taken it off. Strangely, I discovered that simply thinking about removing the Key disturbed me greatly. It definitely didn't want to be taken from my possession. I looked up again, and watched as Dorothy was threatened by the Wicked Witch. Was a kidnapping by Chaos in my future? I shuddered.
My companions watched in interest as the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, and the Cowardly Lion all mounted a rescue from the castle of the Wicked Witch. When the green-skinned guards of the witch appeared, Null spoke up again. "The followers of the Chaos Lord, no doubt, all marked as she is to display to everyone who their master is."
The Fallen observed, "All the same green skin. Interesting. And they wield what appears to be glaives, perhaps also corrupted by Chaos."
Lian and Virgil then briefly turned to observe Alberich, who was now curled up half asleep on his chair.
"Alberich?" I asked.
"Jawohl, meine Führerin?" he sat up with a snort and turned to me. He was unfocused.
"You okay there, buddy?"
Before the beastman could answer, Virgil spoke up with a disappointed tone, "He's drunk, Scion."
Alberich nodded, clearly intoxicated. "I am forced to agree."
"Oh, whatever. Who cares?" I said, irritated with the judgement since I was also finally somewhat intoxicated by now. "Let him get drunk. We've all been through a lot."
Rebuked by me, everyone went back to watching the movie. Dorothy was saved by her friends, and the Wicked Witch was dissolved by a bucket of water. Of course, my companions had something to say about that.
"That typically does not happen with Chaos Lords," Null observed up in wry amusement as the Wicked Witch of the West dramatically dissolved. "Although, if that bucket of water was actually a highly acidic solution, or perhaps blessed by an Living Saint or the Emperor Himself, it might. I inform you all that the destruction of high-ranking Lord of Chaos is not usually this simple."
"No, it is not," Lian spoke up. "When I and my brothers fought a blood cult of Khorne some years ago, the destruction of its leader caused a supernatural scream that deafened all mortals within fifty meters as the Lord exploded into a pile of flaming blood and gore. Such an event is usually quite messy, but not all the time, I do admit."
Dorothy was given the broomstick by the witch's green-skinned followers, who all knelt in submission of her deed. A quick change of scene, and the four companions were now once again before the Wizard of Oz.
"The Wizard is probably upset that she returned alive!" Virgil stated as he shook his head. "Will they need to fight him now as well?"
I didn't answer for the astropath, and just watched as the Wizard was revealed to be just some guy in a suit behind the curtain.
"What?" Lian was dumbfounded at this reveal, even briefly standing up. "Why would anyone fake such a thing? Such a foul individual to act as this world's planetary governor!"
"The Wizard is in reality a sadistic old man!" Virgil also jeered. "Maybe just an untrained psyker manipulating technology with his abilities! For shame! Lian, I am also in agreement with your earlier observation that this maddened world would benefit from a visit from the Black Templars!"
Well, this sort of reaction shouldn't be too surprising from this reality's natives, I thought glumly. Everything did look like a surreal acid trip, so my companions saw that and their immediate first reaction was that it must be Chaos corruption.
After a small discussion with the Wizard where he gave everyone tokens of the qualities they desired (of course, they'd had them this entire time), we were now nearing the end of the movie. Alberich was now snoozing on his chair, and I noticed that Null had quietly taken his third-full liquor bottle from the beastman's side. I looked at my own bottle, and while I was definitely intoxicated, I was nowhere near passing out like Alberich had.
The Wizard, now having his change of heart, then offered to take Dorothy back to Kansas himself. Virgil continued shaking his head, and leaned forward in his seat, not trusting the words of the foul planetary governor. "No, no, I do not like this. I do not like this one bit!"
A happily orchestrated scene complete with bombastic brass music echoed through the Emerald City as we were shown the Wizard's balloon as he prepared to depart Oz. Lian unexpectedly leapt to his feet with a yell, and pointed at the screen.
"Do you see it? There! Corruption! Oz is a Chaos-ruled world, and this is proof!" he shouted. Null paused the film again as Lian turned about to see our reactions. I didn't know why he was so upset.
"See what?" I asked, looking at the still scene. Couldn't we just enjoy things? This was just the fucking Wizard of Oz, guys.
Virgil then cried out at the same time that Null also saw whatever it was. The astropath stood from his seat, and also pointed at something on the screen. "There! I see it! How could they operate so blatantly? Such evil!"
"Uh, what?" I mumbled, fed up.
"I can't believe you don't see this, but I will blame your intoxication, but here..." Null then turned on the laser pointer attached to one of his mechadendrites, and he indicated multiple large metal stars that stood on the ground near the Wizard's balloon.
"Oh," I chuckled darkly, recognizing that these large star wheels all had eight spiked points. "Those look like Chaos stars," I admitted. "But, like, in the movie in my reality, these weren't Chaos stars or anything evil. They were just normal decorations in the movie. In my dimension, these were just stars; they didn't mean anything, really."
"Well, we're not in your reality now, if I may be so bold. All symbolism has meaning to natives of this universe, and we must always be wary. The tendrils of Chaos are ever reaching, seeking to destroy and devour, and we must remain ever vigilant," the tech-priest explained, a hard edge in his voice. Lian and Virgil both then sat back down, and both were very on edge. So much for a fun movie night.
We watched as the Tin Man "accidentally" unmoored the balloon right as Dorothy scrambled out of the basket to retrieve Toto, who was now chasing a cat. I hadn't actually noticed this before, and it made me laugh. If I didn't know any better, this movie was starting to look Tzeentch-y again.
As Dorothy wept about not being able to go back to Kansas, the scene pulled back to display all the large eight-pointed metal stars on the ground and the crowd of the Emerald City. A pink bubble floated down again from the sky, and once again, Glinda the Good Witch of the North appeared, smiling and beatific.
"This gets worse and worse," Virgil spat at the screen. "This woman, this witch, I promise you is a fouler and more manipulative power than the green witch was. We must always be wary of evil that disguises itself as good. Woe be to those that trust a veneer of what appears to be innocent!"
Oh, if only you knew about the shapeshifting "Glinda" daemon that I had already met, Virgil, I thought darkly. The astropath was actually totally right.
The witch breathlessly proclaimed that Dorothy had always had the ability to go home, which caused Lian and Null to groan with anger.
"The pink north witch manipulated Dorothy to kill the green west witch!" Virgil shouted at the screen. "She was made a pawn in the schemes of the Dark Gods!"
"This film is certainly a warning, I definitely see it now. And, the warning is universal to other dimensions and this one," Null stated behind me as Glinda instructed Dorothy to click her heels and say "There's no place like home!"
"And once the pawn is used, it is taken off the board!" Lian said slowly. "I see now. A parable, yes. A warning in a way. This is a rough outline that Chaos is using to manipulate our Inheritor, but now that we see this, we can be wary."
Dorothy then woke up in her bed, surrounded by her worrying family.
"It appears that Dorothy almost died in her native world, and was transported to a new, but corrupt one," Null spoke very quietly behind me. Lian and Virgil didn't react to what the tech-priest had said. "And she eventually survived, returning to her native reality."
"You know, it's kinda like that, actually," I observed, my tongue loosened by the alcohol. "I told some of y'all that I think someone tried to murder me in my native universe, and somehow, my soul got pulled into this one. Right now, I think I'm dying in my apartment back home. I don't even know if I'm dead yet. Maybe it really is like 'The Wizard of Oz', and I'll wake up with everyone around me and I'll live happily every after?"
"Truthfully?" Null said with great intrigue as the film ended, and the credits began to run. "You've spoken briefly about this. For Dorothy here, it was a tornado and a head injury, but for you-"
"For me, it was poison delivered to me by a stranger. A part of me thinks that I'm laying at the brink of death back in my apartment. I talked to Alberich about this, and a similar thing happened to him. He says that he intentionally took poison to commit suicide and ended up on Levant in his mutant body. He's pretty sure that he's dead in his old reality. Cyanide, in his case."
"Is it really true? The mutant really is a Traveler?" Null asked, finally coming to terms with it.
"Divine Retribution, lights back up in here, please," I requested as the credits rolled before us, and the lanterns above us bathed the theater in a soft gold glow. Null stepped down to stand before me, and both Lian and Virgil now also stood nearby, exchanging nervous glances. Alberich lay lightly snoring in his oversized chair, drunk. "Yeah, and I actually believe him. My Sight even tells me it's true. He really is a Traveler. And you know what else is funny?" I giggled as I hiccupped. "He told me that he thinks I was a psyker in my original reality, and that my government tried to assassinate me because I somehow managed to piss them off for being a psyker. That's crazy. I'm just some nobody that no one would want to kill. Crazy fucking story."
A pause. Null and Virgil exchanged serious glances. The tech-priest asked me, "What was the name of your government, your nation? Remind me, please."
"America. United States of America. Why?"
"The name is similar to the name of the Keeper of Secrets that is hunting you, and seeking to kill you," Virgil observed. Everyone looked uncomfortable again, shuffling as they stood.
There was another heavy pause as Null nervously clenched his fists, his eyes lashing to and fro as he thought deeply on something.
"So, I have an observation to make here, Scion," Null walked before me as I prepared to hop down from my huge gold chair. "I know from my studies that Chaos seeks to infect many realities in the multiverse, which may include yours, most likely if you are here. It is truly a universal cancer, ceaselessly spreading out through all of existence to corrupt every dimension that it can." The tech-priest paused as if searching carefully for the right words to say.
"Spit it out, Null," I said, pulling myself down from the giant seat. I walked over to Alberich as he dozed, and briefly checked up on his health. His new white feathers looked really nice, and he was definitely drunk.
Virgil was the one who actually answered me as I turned back around to my other crewmembers. "Er, if you would pardon me, what Null speaks of has to do with complex multiverse theory and metaphysics, and is a better conversation to have while not intoxicated, Scion. It is also not urgent, so another time might be best to have this discussion."
I half expected Null to get upset at the astropath's interruption, but I watched the tech-priest relax with a short nod.
Virgil was probably correct. I didn't need anymore mind-blowing bullshit right now. I just hoped that there weren't more "America" daemons running around to mess up my day, or even daemons back in my home America looking to kill me like Am'Erika was here. Maybe I got poisoned by something daemonic in the gallery, and that's why I was here, I thought with a nervous half-drunk laugh.
"Okay, you have a point. As long as it isn't super urgent, we'll make some time to talk about the multiverse soon. It'll be fun!" I said happily as I almost crashed into the doorframe leading out of the theater. "I'm going to grab a ration packet, some water, and I'm going to sleep after I dodge these hallway ghosts on the way back to my room. You guys can do whatever."
"We have three days of rations left, and over twenty hours of Warp flight time remaining between here and the Vigaz system," Null shouted out a reminder to me as I walked down the gold hallway.
"Alright, so we'll start flying there tomorrow. Lian, pick up Alberich and put him in his bed. You guys have my permission to go exploring more inside the ship, and Null, you can make your new arm like I said. Can't wait to see it, man!"
I walked the distance to my suite, and at one point, I swore I saw the tall wizard-robed "Mal" ghost with the eagle staff walking down the hall again. Once again, his head turned as I passed, and just before I thought he would say something, he vanished into vapor. I found my quarters, laid down on my bed, and fell right asleep.