Another watched, or at least listened. The death-boxes that contained his captive psykers echoed with the usual screams, crazed mumbles and dying gurgles.
"What is happening?" growled the Vermillion Knight.
The death-boxes were like square coffins with a single hole above the mouth for air and so that the words of the captive scryers could be heard. The prisoners within could not manifest their powers through them, sigils of warding and nullification carved onto their surfaces. They bled into tubes which snaked back into their bodies through a single, collective machine. They had become almost one being now, but many died within minutes of being entombed. Others took longer, but all died in the end. This gestalt consciousness, named the Choir, was a confusing entity, speaking in riddles none could understood, including itself. Straight answers were rare, and spoke of the definite.
The dark room was located in the darkest bowels of the fortress, near the dungeons as though the Vermillion Knight thought the psykers might pollute his fastness. He probably did.
"The fleet of the Flesh God moves," said one.
"It comes here," said another.
"They come to destroy you," added a third.
The Vermillion Knight was surprised, but he kept his calm. "Why?"
"The old power returns."
"The Hated One."
"The Doomed One."
"Malice."
"Spite."
"What is this? How does this make the Seraph attack me? How does he know of my empire of blood?" spat the Vermillion Knight.
"He was told."
"A deal was made in the gazes of the echo."
"A deal between black and white."
"Void, and oblivion."
"How soon?" the Vermilion Knight continued.
"Soon," one said.
"The warp is capricious," said another.
"Do they pose any threat to me?"
"Yes."
Resounding silence.
"Can I win this war?"
"Nothing is corporeal. All is dust and mirrors."
"What is causing all this?"
"The Doomed One."
"The Hated One."
"Black and White."
Suddenly they all began to scream in unison, crying a single chant over and over again. Within the death-boxes, many proved the name to be abt, shuddering as they died through psychic feedback.
"Black and White! Black and White! Black and White!"
Most died in that moment, and as the Vermillion Knight left the dark chamber growling angrily their words echoed behind him.