30. The promised tithe (Part 2)

Marcus Anoti was the Lord-President of Gahen, the planet had been colonised shortly before the age of strife and had been hit hard by the isolation. It is unclear whether the Aterferm are native to Gahen or whether they came to the world at some point after colonisation but what is clear in the histories is that humans and Aterferm warred for centuries. The Aterferm were creatures that not only feasted on the bodies of people for physical nutrition but also on their souls for psychic nutrition, each soul they ate increased their psychic power and allowed them to unleash deadly psychic blasts. The humans on Gahen fought for centuries to beat the Aterferm but every year more of the human population was imprisoned in the aliens continent sized farms where they were reduced to little more than livestock to be bred and slaughtered for food, the age of strife had cut Gahen off and made it impossible for the humans of Gahen to beat the Aterferm and so the humans struck a deal. They would be allowed to live on the surface without fear of being hunted or farmed by the Aterferm and in return they would provide them with food. The orphanage farms were set up, babies would be raised in them before being sent to the Aterferm to be eaten, the population hated it but if they stopped then they would all become livestock for the Aterferm and this way they could ensure the children have a nice life before they're eaten, at least that's what everyone told themselves.

Anoti sat at his desk looking down at the document in front of him, it was plain and straightforward, there was no fancy wording that could be misinterpreted or twisted, the document told the truth of what he was about to do, what he had to do. The document was the order to gather a random selection of newborns born in the last month and send a selection of kids from every orphanage farm to the Aterferm, it was the same document he signed every month but it was never easy. Anoti's hand shook as he pressed a pen to the bottom of the document, he tried to keep his hand steady as he drew the pen across paper but as always it was useless and his signature came out crooked and only just legible. Anoti looked down at his signature as he snapped the nib of the pen on the paper, leaving an ink splotch just after his name, he had signed the same order every month for the past 3 years and it never got easier. As he looked down at his name Anoti decided this would be the last time he would sign the order, he was the longest serving Lord-President but he could no longer do it, Lord-Presidents were selected at random and served for life but most could only take a year of signing such an abominable order before they ended themselves. Anoti only stayed his hand this long because he didn't want to burden anyone else with such a task but he could no longer take it.

Anoti opened the bottom draw of his desk, it was empty except for a single pistol reserved for the Lord-President's use, he took it from the draw and loaded a single bullet. Anoti looked down at the document as he thought about all the children he had just condemned and all the ones he condemned before them, he thought about all the children his predecessors had condemned and all the children his successors would condemn. He placed the barrel in his mouth as he closed his eyes and reached for the trigger. His finger was less than an inch away when an explosion rocked his office, Anoti opened his eyes and looked out of the window to see great balls of flame streaking across the sky and smashing in to the city, he watched in horror as giants in black armour came out of the smoking craters.

"Lord-President!" someone burst in to his office, "We're under attack, you need to order for the militia to mobilise"

Anoti looked at the black giants, they were like something out of legend and he thought for a second that they were divine retribution for all his world's unforgivable crimes, he considered just letting them wipe the world clean of life but he had responsibilities.

"Of course, mobilise the militia and evacuate the civilians" Anoti looked down at the pistol still in his grip before placing it on the desk and going to find somewhere safe

The guards of the presidential palace fired at the giants advancing on them, their bullets bouncing harmlessly off the black and gold armour, they ducked behind concrete barricades as the giants returned fire, their bullets smashing through the concrete and exploding on the other side, shredding the guards to pulp. They marched in to the palace with little resistance as the rest of their legion suppressed and destroyed the hurriedly mobilised militia.

"WHERE IS YOUR LEADER!" they let out ear splitting screams as they sifted through a crowd of bureaucrats and other government officials

Anoti watched them grab people by their necks and interrogate them on the identity of their leader before casually throwing them aside when they got nothing of value.

"I'm the Lord-President of this world!" Anoti pushed his way out of the crowd, "Leave them be, I'm the one…"

Anoti was grabbed by his collar and dragged out of the palace, tripping over himself as the giants cared little for his shorter gait. He was thrown in to the square in front of the palace, he could hear the sounds of fighting from the city and could see plumes of smoke rising. An aircraft flew over the palace, hovering just above Anoti as it slowly lowered itself, the aircraft landed in front of him and the back ramp lowered, the Lord-President shook with fear as he witnessed what descended the ramp. A giant that was at least twice his hight, he wore a black scaled coat with his left arm covered in armoured plates that ended in a monstrous claw, Anoti felt the giant's aura pulling and tearing at his soul and inducing fear in him.

"You're the leader of this world?" the giant asked

Anoti could only hesitantly nod, he knew now that these giants were divine retribution for the crimes of him and his predecessors, there was nothing else that such a monster that stood before him could be. The giant moved faster than Anoti could process and grabbed him by his throat, his grip threatening to easily crush it.

"How many?" he demanded

"W-What?" Anoti struggled out

"How many children did you hand over to those monsters?" Anoti could see his reflection in the giant's silver eyes and he could see the pure disgust and contempt the giant had for him

The deal had been struck thousands of years ago but they kept records of how many children they condemn and even had great volumes filled with their names, every Lord-President knew exactly how many children they had fed to the Aterferm.

"984,714,396" Anoti had never said the number out loud before, it always seemed smaller in his head but as he said it he could visualise the sheer number, "We had no choice, we couldn't hope to beat the Aterferm we had t…."

"Then you should have died" the giant cut him off, "You should have scoured this world of everything they could have eaten and died knowing they would soon starve and follow you to the grave but you were selfish and gave them your children instead, you're worse than them, xenos are a cowardly and pathetic breed but humans should have more pride than this"

The giant dropped Anoti to the floor in a crumpled heap, "We will exterminate these xenos but once we are done we will kill 984,714,396 of your people, one for every child you fed them"

That was over 80% of the world's population, Anoti wanted to protest but he had no right to, they had sacrificed children for their own safety and this was the price they had to pay, those that were lucky enough to survive the coming purge would be able to live in a better world, he took some solace in that.

"Then kill all my people swiftly and all those aliens violently" the words were only a whisper but the giant heard them

"You are the last person who should be worried about the fate of his people" the giant looked down on him, "Now tell me where are those xenos bastards hiding?"

Mirela had started training as a caretaker when she was 18 years old, it was hard work, 4 years of study on a multitude of subjects and after another 4 years of working under a senior caretaker she was given her own orphanage to administer. She always had about 40 kids in her care, older ones would be sent off and new ones would be bought in so the number would stay somewhat stable. She dedicated her life to making sure the children had as good a life as they could before they were sent off, she wanted them to have some good memories before the end. She put so much effort in to her work but her children still found out the truth and escaped, they had used everything she taught them to sneak their plan under her nose and escape without her being able to do anything, as sad as she was to watch them go, she was proud of the children she had raised.

Mirela was left with the infants and the youngest children, her bosses had screamed at her for hours after she reported the escape to them, she felt a strange pride in learning that it was the first time children had escaped ever but her bosses were threatening to feed her to the Aterferm instead, she had managed to calm them down and get them to let her retain her position but they were supposed to send a senior caretaker to oversee her from now on.

She had been setting the infants down for a nap when it happened, one of the children ran up to her and started talking about fire balls in the sky, she went outside and saw the sky filled with streaks of fire. Before she could try to figure out what was happening her attention was drawn from the sky to the gate house, loud explosions and revving could be heard all the way in the house, the children were all outside witnessing the world descend in to madness. Mirela quickly started herding the young children in to the house, she had just got the last one inside when black giants burst from the tree line and started sprinting across the field towards the house, she thought they were Aterferm for a second before she realised they weren't, Mirela had no weapons to defend herself with and had little time to think before the giants were upon her. Towering over the petite woman, radiating an aura of fear and violence as they looked down at her with demonic red eyes.

"Are you the caretaker?!" one of them asked in an almost demonic voice

The children huddled behind her as they looked up at the giant in fear, "Are you the caretaker?!" the giant repeated and Mirela hesitantly nodded

One of them roughly grabbed her by her collar and dragged her off, she could see the children protesting but another giant stood between her and them, as she was dragged off she saw a transport emerge from the tree line and the children who had escaped where unloaded. Mirela was taken to her office and forced to sit in a chair as the giant stood over her.

"Where did you find those children?" she asked but the giant just glared down at her with crimson eyes, "Why did you bring them back? What did you do to the Aterferm? Who are you?"

Mirela asked many questions but the giant just glared, occasionally letting out a low growl, she sat there for about 10 minutes before the door swung open and an even larger giant pushed his way inside, covered head to toe in black blood and gore, she somehow guessed that one was in charge.

"I am Atris captain of the 1st company of the 11th legion bla bla bla" the giant took off his helmet and revealed his human face, "You're the one in charge of this farm?"

Mirela looked at the floor, she knew what her job was but she didn't like to think about it much, "Yes"

"You send children to be eaten by those monsters?"

"Yes"

"Do you know where their nest is?"

"No"

"So you just load children on a truck and send it off?"

"Yes"

Atris glared at her in disgust, "If you can't tell us where they are then I guess you're of no value" Atris reached for his sidearm

"What did you do to the Aterferm?" Mirela asked before Atris could draw his weapon

"If you mean those xenos then we killed them, pretty easy really"

"Will you kill them all?"

Atris let out a sigh, "Every one"

"And the children, will they be safe?" despite her job Mirela did care for the children, her heart broke every time the monthly tithe came around

Atris seemed to recognise something in Mirela's eyes as he moved his hand away from his weapon, "Cassius, you should have reported him and let him get killed, why didn't you? Did you not know?"

"I knew, we were taught about children like him and I knew from the day he came in as an infant" Mirela remembered when Cassius was brought to the orphanage, she recognised his unnatural nature almost immediately, "But I….."

Atris held up his hand and stopped Mirela, he put on his helmet as he received a report from both his father and the astartes at the gate house at the same time. The entrance to the xenos nests had been revealed by the Lord-President, the orphanages were built in close proximity to the entrances of the xenos domain, this information would be useful except reports came in from Star raider regiments occupying the orphanages that massive xenos armies were now besieging them.

"Make sure she does not leave" Atris marched out of the house and sprinted towards the gate house

The sound of bolter fire got louder as flashes of warp lightning burst in to existence. The 6 squads that attacked the gate house smashed out the windows and fired down at an unending horde of xenos, each was about the size of an astartes and, unlike the ones that guarded the children, this army carried strange alien energy weapons. The horde marched onwards as the 1st company unleashed a storm of bolter fire, shredding through the unarmoured xenos, but their advance was unimpeded, amongst the ranks of the astartes sized xenos were some that where the size of a primarch or larger, they were much more resilient and unleashed storms of psychic lightning.

Atris jumped from the walls as he drew his chain sword, Wolhark's maw, a weapon that had once been wielded by his grandfather and namesake, he swung it at lightning fast speeds as he cut through the black xenos mass. He drew his grandfather's second weapon, a bolt pistol named Call of the deep, and fired bolts in to the largest xenos he could see.

"You impudent humans!" it let out an unnatural warcry as it unleashed a wave of flame on Atris

The pirate prince ran through the soul burning flame, it barely touching his armour, he launched himself at the xeno's face. If the alien could express surprise and confusion then Atris was seeing it as he brought his chain sword down, revving it as it bit in to the alien's skull face, Atris held on and pushed his blade deeper as the towering xenos reared back in pain. He rode it to the ground as he pushed his blade in to its brain and shredded its neurons to pulp, the xenos surrounding Atris were frozen in shock or fear as they watched him rip his blade free from their fallen leader, he revved it again, scattering black blood and brain matter everywhere, as he let out warcry and jumped at the paralyzed xenos horde.

The devastator squads of the 1st company stood on the wall as they unleashed heavy fire in to the xenos army, plasma fire burned them to ash and heavy bolter rounds were focused on the much larger commanding xenos. Atris rampaged through the enemy, cutting them to shreds as he focused on taking out the commanders, the astartes of the 1st company looked on in awe as they watched him, his speed and power even greater than theirs. As the last of the commander xenos fell to Atris, the foot soldiers retreated, clearly seeing that they weren't going to be able to break through the 1st company.

Atris ordered a single squad to follow the enemy back to their hole while the rest of the company patched up any wounds and prepare for another attack, the astartes of the 1st were relatively unscathed by the attack, only a few scratches on their armour and some flesh wounds that were already starting to be healed by their advanced biology. The situation for the other orphanages wasn't as bright, they had been occupied by human regiments and while they could deal with the handful of xenos guarding the orphanage a whole army was threatening to break them, the astartes that had landed in the cities had abandoned their positions there and made for the nearest orphanage as fast as they could but still thousands of soldiers had been killed by the surprise attack.

Atris looked up as a wing of stormbirds flew overhead and landed just outside the main house, the ramps lowered and additional companies unloaded, Atris ran over to them just as his father stepped out.

"Father" the 1st son was completely covered in black blood and viscera from all the xenos he had slain, "Took you long enough to get here"

"I wanted to see if you could do it by yourself but I'm here now and we should prepare to exterminate these xenos" Ovis pat his son on the back

"I want it to be put on record that I didn't believe in you and though you were already dead" Asla, Atris' twin sister stepped out after their father, working as his equerry and guard

"Unfortunately, I still stand in your way sister" Atris smirked as he walked towards the house

"Have you got the location of their nests entrance?" Ovis asked

"The squad I sent to tail the retreating xenos just reported back, it is not far from here" Atris produced a hologram that showed the local terrain and highlighted a cave entrance that led deep underground to where their foe lived

"Good, once all the forces arrive we'll march on their caves and wipe this world clean" more transports landed in the orphanage, landing more astartes and troops as well as supplies and vehicles

All across Gahen Star raider regiments were being relieved by astartes forces, the xenos were forced to retreat back underground and the 11th legion prepared to storm their nests and slaughter them to the last.

"There's someone I want you to meet first"

The children of the orphanage had been gathered up and confined to the dining hall, the only room in the house large enough to hold them all; they all huddled together as they listened to the sounds of bolters and chainblades and the cries of the monsters, a single astartes stood in front of the door and watched them like a statue as they waited to find out what would happen to them next.

"This is all your fault" Bruti sat in the corner glaring at Cassius and covered in bruises, "If you had actually helped us then we could have escaped but now we're back where we started and about to be eaten"

"We would have been eaten if we had actually escaped" Cassius glared back, "Can't you hear them fighting the monsters"

"It's obviously a trick, they're up to something, we were better off on our own"

"We were about to be eaten when we were on our own" Cassius looked at a child who lay on the floor, the boy who had been attacked by the monster still hadn't woken up, despite having no outward or internal injuries, the astartes had put him on fluids and told them all to just wait for him to wake up, "None of you were there when they saved us, none of you saw how they killed the monster. No one could kill them, not us or any adult but they killed them like it was nothing"

"That only makes them more suspicious, how come they can kill them so easily?" Bruti continued to brood in his corner and Cassius brooded in his

The doors to the dining hall opened and Atris walked in with an equally as large man right behind him, the 1st captain signalled for Cassius to come over and the boy got up and ran over, he looked up at the man who looked exactly like Atris.

"Cassius, this is my father, Ovis, Emperor of Krake and primarch of the 11th legion" Atris introduced him as Ovis kneeled down to get a better look at the child

"So this is the child that stood up to one of those xenos monsters" Ovis looked over the boy, "Why didn't you run away after they refused to eat you? You might have been able to get away"

Cassius thought back to that moment as an answer came to mind, "I doubt that and I wanted to stall or hurt them even just a little bit"

"Good answer" Ovis smiled at the boy before rising to his full hight, "You remind me of Atris when he was your age, when we leave this world you're free to come with us if you want"

Cassius looked back at the children he had grown up with, he could see Bruti glaring at him, he didn't want to leave them but his relationship with them was always strained at best, "How many other worlds are like this one?" Cassius asked

"I don't know exactly but there are many more just like this one" Ovis answered him

"Then I will join you, there might be another kid like me on one of those worlds"

Atris smiled at the boy, "Then I look forward to the day you join my company, don't disappoint me"

Several companies of the 11th legion mustered outside the giant mouth of a cave, they looked in to the absolute darkness as their primarch stood at the front, Ovis pulled his sabre from his hip and held it high.

"KILL THEM ALL!" he cried as the astartes let out a deafening roar and charged the cave

The xenos vanguard counter charged, hoping to blunt their spear before it ever drew blood but they were facing a primarch, with each swing of his blade Ovis killed multitudes, his claw spewed flames that spread through the xenos ranks as they were forced back by the sheer ferocity of the astartes. The 11th cut and blasted their way in to the caves and got to their bloody work, the xenos were everywhere in the caves, covering the walls and down every side passage, battle brothers carrying heavy flamers doused entire walls stretched up to 30 feet with burning promethium. The warriors of the 11th ran amok through the xenos cave system as they slaughtered everything that moved even an inch.

Atris cut and blasted his way through the hordes, his father at his side, laughing as he turned the aliens to ash.

"Insolence!" the alien voice bounced off the walls as the sound of pounding footsteps shook the cave, "You humans need to remember your place, if you have forgotten then I will be happy to re-educate you"

The Aterferm were xenos that feed on creatures' souls to boost their own power, the stronger the soul they consumed the stronger they would become, human flesh was not a necessity for them, just a nice treat they enjoyed. After the pact was made with humanity, Aterferm society split in to specific castes, the Aterferm King and high ranking nobility were given the lion's share of the souls with the warrior caste below them getting what was left and the guard caste below them getting nearly no souls to feast on, the Aterferm nobility grew powerful on the souls of thousands of children and fat on their flesh and were thus beings of fearsome psychic potency, able to tear apart mountains with their powers and lay whole cities to ruin.

"I am Akamak, leader of the mighty Aterferm armies, I will teach you humans respect" the lumbering xenos filled the entire cave with its bulk, its skull face the size of Ovis

Its skull face flew up, slamming against the cave ceiling, as it opened its mouth and shot out a torrent of lightning that lit up the entire cave, the lightning tore through the xenos in front of Akamak but as soon as it came near Ovis it vanished from existence. The alien was surprised his attack wasn't reaching the primarch, it put more power in to it as Ovis approached, the lightning failing to even touch him, with a sweep of his hand Ovis stopped Akamak from being able to conjure lightning.

"What are you?" the xenos sounded afraid as it backed off

The primarch didn't answer it as he moved with such speed that not even the astartes could track him, he launched himself at the xenos, stabbing his blade in to its void like eye and throwing a handful of krak grenades in to its open maw. Ovis jumped off its skull face and landed as the grenades went off and shredded its innards. The colossal form of Akamak crashed to the ground, crushing the xenos coming up behind him, the Aterferm that witnessed the casual killing of one of their most powerful individuals fled at the sight of the primarch as he and the 11th slaughtered the fleeing aliens.

Atris walked down a narrow offshoot, firing his bolt pistol as he picked off the cowering aliens, "This is easy, they fold the minute they're at a disadvantage" Atris laughed as he filled an alien with holes, "Cowards! Come face me!"

The 1st son reached the end of the offshoot, in front of him was a mechanical door with some sort of electronic lock next to it, Atris picked up the severed hand of one of the Aterferm and pressed it to the lock, the door slid open and revealed a large cave filled with small cowering things. Atris let out a manic laugh as he realised what he found.

"Get over here!" Atris called over a battle brother carrying a heavy flamer, "Give me that"

Atris donned the flame weapon as the little black balls that were the Aterferm brood cowered in the furthest corner from him, "Even if you monsters can't feel fear I'll be more than happy to teach you" Atris pulled off his helmet and looked the closest aliens in its cold black eyes before he pressed the activation rune and great plumes of fire filled the room, the juvenile Aterferm letting out high pitched screams as their flesh was melted and those that weren't caught up in the flames were choked on the smoke produced by their burning siblings, Atris didn't stop until every living thing in that cave was reduced to ash.

For a week the 11th fought through the caves across Gahen, the Aterferm losing the ability to use their psychic powers in the face of the 11th's null aura, the xenos hordes were pushed back to the centre of their under empire. The heart of the Aterferm empire was a giant cave the size of a hive and in the centre of it was the Aterferm King, an unholy black mass that had consumed billions of souls over thousands of years, whenever an Aterferm was on the brink of death or had committed a grave offence they were taken to the King to be consumed by him, the Aterferm King was the culmination of billions of individuals and as such his psychic might was unmatched.

The astartes of the 11th legion harried the shattered xenos armies as they sought protection under their king, their psychic weapons were useless and their might was easily met by the superhuman soldiers. Ovis led the charge in to the great cave, his claw spewing flames as he cut down any alien in his reach, hundreds of devastator squads readied their heavy weapons and fired at the undulating black mass the hovered in the centre of the cave. The rockets, heavy bolt shells and plasma barely dented the thing that could be compared more to an astroid than anything else, the Aterferm King opened a colossal black eye, it had witnessed the battle through the eyes of its subjects and knew what the invaders were capable of.

"MY PEOPLE WILL NOT DIE AT THE HANDS OF SUCH A PATHETIC SPECIES" the King's voice was deafening and shook the great cave, "I ALWAYS KNEW IT WAS A MISTAKE TO AGREE TO THAT DEAL, YOUR SPECIES TRULY ARE ONLY GOOD FOR LIVESTOCK"

The Aterferm King used its great psychic might to lift all the boulders and rocks in the cave, many of the 11th realised what was about to happen and pulled back in to the tunnels that led to the cave but the few that weren't so insightful were caught in a deadly tornado of stone that shredded them to a fine mist.

"YOU HAVE BROKEN THE DEAL AND NOW YOUR ENTIRE SPECIES WILL RETURN TO THE FARMS ONCE MORE, WE WILL COMMEMORATE THIS DAY EVERY YEAR WITH A FEAST" black tentacles sprouted from the King as it threw them about, throwing them at the tunnels, trying to crush the 11th in a cave in, "THE DAY THE ATERFERM REMINDED YOU OF YOUR PLACE AND WHO YOUR MASTERS ARE!"

Ovis stepped out of the tunnel and in to the hail of stone and tentacles, the legionaries tried to stop him but the primarch ignored them, they all looked on in awe as they watched him dodge the hail of stone with speed they couldn't even dream of possessing. After passing through the wall of stone, the primarch covered the entire cave in his all-consuming aura, the rocks immediately fell to the ground and the Aterferm King shrank back as it felt its soul being torn apart.

"WHAT ARE YOU?" the Aterferm King attempted to fight back, focusing his immense power in to a concentrated point and throwing that at Ovis but the primarch's aura tore the power from the attack before it could reach him

"I am simply here to kill you" Ovis focused his power on the King, tearing chunks out of the bloated soul of the monarch

"STOP!" it screamed as its soul was carved up and consumed by the primarch, "WE CAN COME TO ANOTHER DEAL! PLEASE THINK OF MY PEOPLE, AN ARRANGEMENT CAN BE MADE"

"I am thinking of your people, I'm think of how tasty they will be" Ovis tore the last part of the Aterferm King's soul from its body and burnt it to nothing, in an ironic twist of fate it died in a similar way to how it had slaughtered billions

That great mass that was the king fell on the last mass of Aterferm that were huddled in its shadow, the psychic power that kept it afloat now gone. With that singular stroke the Aterferm were no more, singular individuals that had hidden in the smallest nooks and crannies were hunted down and slaughtered and the caves that once hosted them were caved in with the entrances being sealed up tight.

Marcus Anoti stood in front of the presidential palace as an aircraft hovered overhead and gently landed in front of him, the loading ramp lowered and the giant form of Ovis strolled out, covered in the black blood and guts of the now extinct Aterferm. Anoti looked down at the ground as Ovis approached him.

"Is it done?" he asked, knowing the answer already

"I saw that they were all killed in the most violent way possible and now it's your turn"

"Do you have to, ple…" Anoti's head snapped up and he was struck speechless by the look in Ovis' eyes

It was one of rage and contempt, "Were you going to ask to come to some kind of deal? Did you want me to think of the people?" Ovis spat the words with venom, "The Aterferm King asked the same thing, they were pathetic and cowardly"

Anoti shrank under Ovis intense gaze, "I want you to remember this so listen carefully, I killed those xenos because that is what I've been tasked to do, I hold no hatred for them, if I was allowed to make a deal with them I might have considered it but I am slaughtering you because I hate you so, we can never come to any kind of deal"

Anoti had no room to debate his stance, the Aterferm were living as evolution made them, they had followed a natural course but the humans of Gahen had done something unnatural, they had cowered and sacrificed their children for their own comfort and even death wasn't a good enough punishment.

"You're right" those were Anoti's last words as Ovis stuck his claw through the Lord-President and the punishment of Gahen started

Astartes marched through the city streets as they gunned down anyone they saw, houses were burned with families cowering inside and artillery turned entire blocks in to craters, the people begged and pleaded by they received as much mercy as they had given those they had sacrificed. Ovis watched from the presidential palace as the city was filled with smoke and death screams, a tally of how many people they had killed was being kept and was slowly being racked up as long-awaited punishment was delivered on Gahen.

The orphanages were far from the cities but even the children there could see the great smoke plumes rising in to the sky. The children of the orphanages would be exempt from the slaughter, they would inherit the world from those that had tried to use them as sacrifices. Mirela looked out of the window at the smoke with the children, knowing it was the astartes beginning their slaughter of the people of Gahen and they would soon come for her.

A stormbird landed next to the main house and Atris disembarked, Mirela went to the dining hall to see the children one last time before the soldiers left to guard the orphanage came to get her, the older ones still didn't trust her but the younger ones were concerned and fearful.

"It's going to be alright" she comforted them as the little ones crowded around her, "Everything is going to be fine now, so be good ok"

Two mortal soldiers marched in to the dining hall and escorted her to her office, Atris was already inside waiting for her.

"I thought you might try to escape" he commented as the door shut behind her

"I knew you would hunt me down, no point in dragging it out" Mirela would face her punishment head on

"What exactly did you do here?" Atris asked

"I cared for the children; I fed them, clothed them, taught them things, played with them, I was their mother basically" Mirela remembered all the time she spent with many children over her many years of service

"I asked you a question before I had to leave, you never answered, why did you let Cassius continue to live? Your job demanded you report him"

"My little brother was taken to an orphanage" Mirela remembered her childhood, "I was only a little girl, I was so excited to be a big sister, when he was born I spent hours just looking at him in his crib, I had all these plans about things we'd do and games we'd play but after only a few weeks his name was drawn from a lottery and he was taken to an orphanage. My mother did nothing but cry for days before she finally killed herself and my father fell in to an alcohol fuelled depression"

"What does this have to do with my question?"

"I became a caretaker because I wanted to ensure these children had good childhoods, I couldn't destroy the system that took away my family and childhood but maybe I could make it a little better" a waterfall of tears was falling down Mirela's face

"That was impossible"

"I know that now"

"So why did you let Cassius live?"

"It broke my heart every time I had to watch children leave, I would have been destroyed doing that to such a small baby, I wanted to ensure they all had good lives for as long as they could no matter what, why do you think I didn't tell anyone when the children discovered the truth, I didn't know what their plan was exactly but I knew they had one and every night I prayed it would lead to their escape"

Atris looked in to the caretaker's eyes, his hand hovering over his side arm, "You didn't care that their escape could mean your death, killing you would be a mercy, so I'll leave you to suffer" Atris dropped his hand from his weapon, "You will spend the rest of your life caring for all the children of this world, that is how you'll atone for your part in this corruption"

Atris left the office as the caretaker looked at him in shock, she had fully expected to be killed, she deserved such a fate, "I will" she vowed to atone for her part in her world's great transgression, Mirela would spend the rest of her life taking care of the orphans of her world and every night she would tell the children about the black soulless angels that delivered hope and punishment in equal measure.

Atris made his way to the dining hall where all the children were still watching the smoke-filled sky, Cassius sat apart from them as he waited, he ran up to Atris as soon as he entered the room.

"Are you leaving now?" the boy was excited, practically bouncing off the walls

"Our work is almost done, we'll leave in a few days but I believe you should grow accustom to the ship before we leave so I'll be taking you to the fleet"

"Can I say goodbye?"

"Sure"

He ran over to where the children were watching the sky, he went through them and said goodbye to them all until he got to the children he had escaped with, he had tears in his eyes as he bid them farewell, the boy who had been attacked by the Aterferm had even woken up and thanked him for trying to save them.

"Are you're really leaving?" Julia asked, the two of them had been the first ones to discover the truth

"Yeah, I'm going to become like the giants and kill all the monsters in the galaxy"

"But what if the monsters here come back? We need you here"

"They're all dead and even if they come back then I'll come back to kill them" Cassius gave Julia a smile, "There are children that are like we were, they are hunted and scared and I have to save them, I will become an astartes and kill all the monsters"

"Well just don't get yourself killed" Julia placed a kiss on Cassius' cheek

"I won't" Cassus turned around and was about to go back to Atris when Bruti blocked his path

"You're gonna end up as weird and shady as them if you do this" Bruti was too prideful to apologise or even admit he was going to miss Cassius

"I will take that risk" Cassus laughed a little, "Since I'm leaving I guess you'll have to keep all the little ones safe"

"I'll do twice the job you ever did"

"I'm sure you will" Cassius walked past Bruti and to Atris who was waiting for him, he took one last look at the children he had grown up with and he considered his siblings, he committed their faces to his memory before walking out of the dining hall with Atris.

Next time: Of sea mist and wolves (part 1)