Chapter 5. If anyone cares, this chapter still doesn't flow from the last and legal disclaimer is at the end. Read, hopefully enjoy, and review if you see fit...
A Greater Foe
The central chamber of the dark cathedral was nearly silent. A few Word Bearer acolytes moved about the room chanting catechisms and lighting censors in preparation for the coming rites. A blackened icon in the corner, twisted and marked with leering daemonic faces, began to pulsate with a baleful aura and a low moaning filled the room. The acolytes ceased their tasks and moved to investigate the source of the disturbance.
By the time all twelve had gathered near the icon, it was wreathed in a pallid glow and filled the chamber with the gibbering cries of the warp. "Should we approach it?" voiced one acolyte fearfully. "No we should not." responded another, "This is an omen of chaos and is reserved for the ranks of the anointed." "True," replied a third, "but are we not among Lorgar's chosen and future bearers of his puissant geneseed? If it was meant for the battle brothers surely it wouldn't have manifested to us? I say it is a test for those who are worthy to master the lesser forces of the warp that the gods gift to our most worthy of legions!" The speaker broke from the cluster of acolytes and strode toward the icon.
When the bold acolyte entered the light of the icon, the cathedral was engulfed by darkness and screams erupted from his throat. The remaining acolytes hurriedly brought lights to and saw the gruesome spectacle unfolding before their eyes. The bold one shed large amounts of flesh and ichor as his chest viscously flowed into the shape of a many gyred spiral black as pitch. His screams only stopping as his body went limp. The acolyte was dead. The acolytes approached the body of their comrade but were halted by a voice from the shadows.
"Hold. Approach no closer and take the first position of reverence while I investigate." The acolytes fell to their knees as Mikaihel, Daemon Prince and Dark Apostle of the Word Bearers Traitor Legion, emerged into the light. The living fabric of his white robe rippling, he descended from the rafters. He towered over the acolytes even as he stooped to examine the symbol on the remnants of the acolytes' chest. All was quiet till the Dark Apostle spoke again after a few minutes reflection. "Future warriors of our blessed primarch, this is an omen that has not been seen for long ages." Mikaihel paused than continued, "The black spiral is a symbol of destructive change. Only revealed when an event of great magnitude is about to occur. You are to return to your cells until the time of this evening's rituals and focus on the deadly glories of chaos. Others will finish the needed preparations. Let this be a reminder of the dangers chaos can pose to one who is not granted the lore of a full Word Bearer." The acolytes got up and withdrew, leaving Mikaihel to reflect on this most portentous of omens and the bearing it might have on him and his Host's plans and battles.
Mikaihel could feel the warp seething with energy as he directed his Host in its ambush on the imperial guard column. Opening fire on the flanks of the Leman Russes destroyed one and disabled the weapons of another. Chaos marines roared forward in their ornate rhinos as the stunned imperial guard began to respond to the Word Bearer assault. Several marines were killed as an imperial sentinel blew apart their rhino with a well aimed lascannon. Flickering lasbolts lashed out at the chaos warriors as the guardsmen formed up around a cloak clad figure bearing a baroque power weapon.
Mikaihel noted this figure and smiled grimly as he thought to himself, "The inquisitor is their strength. His death shall break them." Aloud he cried, "The blessings of chaos upon he who brings me the inquisitors' head!" The command resonated across the battlefield and brought a hail of fire down on the squads protecting the venerable imperial warrior. A rhino squealed to a halt in front of the imperials and disgorged a squad of Word Bearers in preparation for the coming assault. Desperate fire from the beleaguered guardsmen punched several of the armored killers from their feet, but the rest stood their ground relishing the fear in their opponents' eyes.
The chaos marines dashed forward led by their ornately armored champion as the flame thrower equipped marine sent a burst of flame past his fellows and scything through the ranks of guardsmen. The fight was swift and bloody, the fell warriors hacking their merely human foes apart in an orgy of bloodshed. The inquisitor led the counter attack and stepped forward into the fight his gleaming weapon decapitating a marine in a single blow. He turned to parry a roaring chainsword and calmly lashed out with his sword to cut down another foe. The chaos champion brought his powerfist to bear against the skilled adept. The first blow was parried, but the champion's sword knocked the inquisitor to the ground. As the chaos powerfist arched toward his head, the wounded inquisitor detonated the plasma grenades on his belt. An eruption of light bloomed and threw the surviving combatants yards in every direction. It was a moment of noise on a quieting battlefield as the Word Bearers subdued the surviving guardsmen and awaited the word of their Dark Apostle to begin after battle prayer. However, the Dark Apostle was still as he extended his senses into the warp and encountered a smothering darkness, a dark storm which was thickening with every moment. Mikaihel withdrew his warp sense and gave voice to a cry of challenge as a row of chimeras burst through the concealing foliage at the northern end of the clearing.
Half the vehicles halted and silhouetted the warriors of chaos in hails of multilaser fire. A rampaging dreadnought, encrusted with the remains of its imperial foes, was damaged and then destroyed by concentrated bursts of laser energy. The northern most squad of chaos marines grudgingly gave ground before advancing tanks. Squads of storm troopers disembarked from their transports as a solitary heavily built figure moved off her transport and raised a pair of swords in a gesture of challenge. Mikaihel narrowed his eyes in thought as he gazed at the cloaked figure. Despite its nominally human form, he could see the almost space marine like musculature, and fearsome psychic presence. He saw the being in the warp as a black hole which drew in the power of the sea of souls around it. Here was the source of all his ill omens and he would treat this foe accordingly. All this occurred as the other half of his mind ordered the advance and directed retaliation.
Chaos marines charged at their foes as long range fire support began to damage imperial vehicles. The elite storm troopers were more effective that the earlier ambushed guardsmen and succeeded at dealing with most of the charging marines at range. The result was clumps of determined imperials surrounding fearless handfuls of marines in protracted melees. Mikaihel managed to summon bloodletters from the warp to attack the imperial warp spawn as he swept into battle with the resurgent imperial force.
"I call challenge!", screamed Beleth Sh'surack as she strode forward, black lightning arching from her blades to strike down an obliterator as it turned toward the dark clad figure. Beleth spun with a cry of glee as she sensed the daemonic minions of Knorne charging at her back. A bloodletter crumbled into a stinking pile of dust as she sent a bolt of power into its ebon form. The daemons closed with her rapidly, their gleaming axes raised high. Beleth struck and leapt again and again with an agility unnatural to so heavyset a figure. The daemons vanished into thin air where she struck, the swords she wielded flaring with each kill.
Mikaihel descended into the fray from above, his rippling robes splayed behind him as he lashed out with his barbed Crozius at the embattled figure now fending off his summoned allies. Beleth blocked the strike and counter attacked, her blade reducing a bloodletter to dust before it was halted by a flaring web of light around the Dark Apostle's body. She screamed as she struck in a frenzied series of attacks which Mikaihel struggled to block, bleeding rifts in his form testament to the power of the blows. He dropped his defenses for a second allowing the twin swords to impale his torso as the imperial champion lunged at him with all her strength.
The unnatural vitality of the warp kept him fighting as his coruscating robe engulfed Beleth's legs and brought her crashing to the ground. Mikaihel reared back into the air to draw the swords out of her grasp as he methodically bludgeoned at the figure with his weapon. Beleth blocked attack after attack with her increasingly mangled forearms as she fought to break loose of the living fabric entangling her. The determined defense saved her from the daemon prince, but she failed to deflect the blow from a gleaming axe wielded by the surviving bloodletter.
The strike impacted with her skull and nearly chopped her head in twain. As soon as Beleth stilled a fountain of light erupted from her chest searing the daemonic pair clustered above her. The bloodletter flashed into vapor as Mikaihel struggled free of the burning light that tore at his form. As the light dwindled into the sky, he praised chaos for the victory and knelt as the damage his form had suffered forced him to his knees. "The beasts can be beaten and if such foes can fall, the False Emperor has no chance of victory." he whispered fiercely. A grim exaltation filled him as he saw that the battle still raged on despite the imperials' advantage of numbers.
"Glory to Chaos! Fight onward and prove yourselves worthy of Lorgar's blessing!" exclaimed Mikaihel. This outburst drew the attention of a storm trooper squad to him. His blackened body with the twin swords protruding from its back like misshapen wings was incapable of battle. This prompted Mikaihel to release his grip on the material plane and withdraw to the warp even as vengeful storm troopers riddled his daemonic flesh with bullets and plasma bolts. His warriors fighting all the harder filled his vision as he slipped into the now brightly lit vistas of the warp.
Legal Disclaimer: I do not own Warhammer 40k in any way, shape, or form. That honor belongs to Games Workshop and I'm not contesting that. I don't intend to make any money form this and just hope that tihs doesn't get me sued. Please...