915.M41

Officio Prefectus Schola Progenium

[RECORD EXPUNGED]

THOUGHT OF THE DAY

"There can be no greater punishment than failure."


Cloaked in darkness the halls of the Schola had an entirely different feel to them. The only sounds being the quiet hum of strange machinery and her own breathing as Louise quietly slinks through the dark, barely able to see more than ten feet in front of her. Every few moments she would freeze, pressing her body against a nearby wall in response to some unknown sound, terrified that at any moment an angered Abbot would round the corner, club and lantern in hand.

"What am I doing..." she mutters continuing to move along the wall. The Schola was menacing during the day, but at night it was downright terrifying. However Louise had been forced to travel the halls many times during her 'schooling' and had developed a rough sense of direction.

After several more minutes she arrived at her destination, the door towards the drill yard already open. Peering out into the dimly lit rockcrete yard Louise frowned, not seeing any sign of Ciaphas - or anyone else for that matter. Letting out a sigh she exits the building, carefully stepping out into the courtyard and examining her surroundings.

A large statue dominated the center, made entirely of some sort of strange metal and displaying a hardfaced man dressed in a flowing greatcoat with a sash draped across his chest. A bulky pistol is upon his belt and his arm is outstretched with a sword in hand, his face twisted forever in an endless silent battle cry.

Dried blood stains are sporadically spread across the sand floored arena, the Imperial Aquila mounted upon the walls silently looking on. Looking up Louise let's out a slight gasp - she had never truly been outside at night, normally too exhausted or frightened to entertain the idea of looking. Two moons were visible surrounded by hundreds of the brightest stars she had ever seen. Further scanning the sky her eyes are drawn to a small purple splotch, almost a stain against the otherwise picturesque night sky. For some reason gazing at it fills her with a sensation of absolute dread and she quickly averts her eyes.

Turning away, Louise scowls having been in the yard for at least ten minutes by now without seeing hide nor hair of Ciaphas.

"Stupid dog... why did I talk myself into this." she grumbles.

Seconds later she is pulled from her thoughts by the cool sensation of a blade being pressed against her throat.

"Lesson one - always be on guard." calls out a voice from being her, before the blade is withdrawn and she spins around, glaring at the smirking figure of Ciaphas Cain.

"What took you so long! I had thought you'd made a fool out of me." Louise says, jabbing a finger at him and scowling.

"I was occupied." he says, shrugging.

"Occupied - you - I" Louise growls before sighing, "Nevermind, I'm sure I don't want to know..."

Crossing her arms she narrows her eyes at him in suspicion and says in an accusatory tone, "That aside, why are you helping me? You've never stuck your neck out for anyone and there have been people that have needed it more than I do."

Ciaphas frowns and places the practice blade, tip down into the sand beneath their feet, placing both his hands upon the pommel before responding, "Because I want answers."

"This place used to be quite quiet, you know? But ever since you've shown up all the Abbots have been on edge. The don't think much about it, probably don't even notice - but I have. Punishments are harsher - more frequent and the general quality of classes has gone up. Something put the fear of the Emperor into those Abbots and their superiors and it started after you showed up. And I can't quite get answers if you're smashed to a bloody smear on the ground because Beije or Fawks get bored of just simply pummeling you." he continues, more serious than she ever really remembers seeing him.

"So!" he suddenly says, tossing the training blade in his hands at her and then smirking as she hurriedly and rather awkwardly catches it.

"I'll teach you what you need to know to avoid getting beaten to a pulp by the Abbots and in the training yard, and in return you answer my questions. Pretty fair, wouldn't you say?"

Louise remains silent for several moments, looking at the dulled blade in her hands before glancing back up at him and replying, "Fine."

Ciaphas claps his hands together and exclaims, "Excellent. We'll start now." before drawing a secondary training blade that had been obscured behind him and lunging at her.

Louise yelps and sloppily raises her own blade to intercept his, a loud clang echoing throughout the yard as the two blades meet.

Cain nods and says, "Good, it seems you aren't completely hopeless." before pulling his blade back and twisting to the side, lashing out with several slashes which Louise barely intercepts, each blow knocking her back several steps before a fourth - and final one knocks her blade from her hands. In less than a moment, the tip of Cain's blade is once more at her throat.

"It appears you're dead." he says, quite conversationally.


As it turns out, that was the best Louise would perform all night. With every clash after that ending usually after the first blow. Ciaphas was not afraid of playing dirty either - lashing out with a leg to knock her off her feet or simply using his size advantage to bulldoze over her with brute force. Other times he would disarm her in a dazzling display of pure skill or exploit one of the many massive gaps in her defenses. In the end it didn't matter which way he went about it, the final result was always the same - the tip of his blade at Louise's throat.

After what must have been at least two hours, after knocking her blade away from her again he stops.

"I think that's enough for the night - I have a good enough idea of where you're at." he says, pulling his blade away from her throat and sheathing it before picking up the blade she had been using and repeating the process.

"I - what?" stammers our Louise, wincing as the adrenaline starts to wear off and the aches set in.

"I have a good enough idea of where you're at," he repeats, looking up at her before continuing, "You're actually not half bad... you're just not quite strong enough. You have the basics down well enough, but I think the problem is you're trying to fight as the instructors have taught you, which while not a bad thing usually isn't going to work for you."

Louise crosses her arms, not sure whether or not to be insulted as she responds, "What do you mean?"

He sighs and says, "The instructors are teaching with the expectation of at least four years of constant physical training and strength building, something that for some reason you clearly don't have. Which brings me to my first question... why are you here?"

"P-pardon?" she says - slightly taken aback.

"I said, why are you here. You're able to learn, clearly - else you'd likely be dead by now, but that still doesn't explain your lack of knowledge on the most basic of things." Ciaphas says, taking a seat on a nearby bench and crossing his arms.

Louise didn't know how to respond, in all actuality it was a question she had asked herself nearly every night since she woke up on that metal slab the Abbots called a bed. 'Why AM I here?' For nearly an entire minute she remained silent before quietly responding,

"I don't know."

Cain lets out a hum and nods his head, seemingly unconcerned by her answer.

"These Scholas are filled with the sons and daughters of the Imperium, most of the cadets in here are orphans of the guard or third and fourth sons, auctioned off by their 'noble' families to prevent succession crises or bring 'prestige to the family name.'" he eventually says.

That was something that was surprising to Louise, at least in part. She had expected, at least to a degree that many of the cadets had at least a minimal aristocratic background, but to be mixed in with military orphans? She narrows her eyes at Cain before asking,

"Which one are you, an orphan or a third son?"

Cain smirks and wags a finger at her, saying "Ah, ah. Don't forget the deal, I'm the one asking the questions right now."

Louise frowns and lets out a huff, but to her credit doesn't push the matter any further.

Cain stands up from his seat and brushes himself off, before turning back to her and saying, "I think that's all for tonight, one day I'll expect an answer to that question, madame de la Vallière. And I think it would do you some good to find it aswell."

Without waiting for a response he sharply turns, with military position before walking off towards an entrance to the Schola, whistling quietly to himself.

For several more minutes, Louise remained staring after the direction he went and thinking on what he had said.

'Why am I here?'


Bit of a shortie, I know. But I feel like it came out rather nicely and it was a good place to leave off. I don't really have the attention span to do massive chapters as the ADD sets in and I wander off, but I am working on that.

Anyways I'm glad to see such positive reception so far - I honestly wasn't sure about it at first, but I am an avid fan of both 40k and FoZ, so I wanted to give it a shot.

(And our boy Cain doesn't get enough love in the FanFiction community, so figures why not!)

As always, leave your thoughts in a review.

And in the next few chapters things should start kicking off, we'll be having a bit of a time skip soon as I've pretty much gotten what I wanted out of the 'Early days', and soon Louise will learn why it's the grimdarkness of the far future.

As a side note, I've had a few people pm me about what exactly happened with Tristain and Halkeginia and all I have to say is having a warp portal open on your planet doesn't exactly lead to pleasant things, but we will be seeing it again, that's all I have to say on that matter.