DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN WARHAMMER
"Hey what's your name?" said a young boy's voice.
"Don't have one. My parents died before they even had a chance to give me one. No one else even cared to give me one after. Even after Lord Corax freed us." Responded another. The two boys were located in a foggy mountainous area. Both youths had to be no older than two boys were to be conscripted into the Nineteenth legion of the Legiones Astartes. The Raven Guard. One hailing from the tribe of Xeric in Terra and the other from the mines of Kiavahr. As per the initiation rule set in place by Corax all neophytes were tasked with catching one of the small avian creatures native to this region and bring it back to fully complete their trials. Upon doing so only then would they be fully conscripted.
"Then I'll name you...Hmmmm..how about Thien?! Where I'm from it means Fire and Light!" Said the boy. The other child looked at him with a face of confusion.
" Thi..en?" He uttered the word still trying to process what it meant. The other child smiled widely, displaying a full set of teeth as he pointed his thumb at himself.
"And I'm Avenir! From here we'll watch each other's backs. We'll catch those damn birds and join Lord Corax alongside the legion!" He exclaimed. The other not though hesitant cracked a small smile. This was the first time he had actually made a friend. He nodded earnestly.
"D-deal." He said. The other boy extended his fist. The other boy, now dubbed Thien, looked at it for a second before bumping it with his own fist. Both boys were rather scrawny with clean shaven heads. They were only dressed in tattered robes. They had yet to receive their implants. Avenir skin was of an olive tone whilst Avenir skin was of a rich bronze. Both boys stood up, looking towards the mountains. It was time for them to find their quarry.
*One Hundred and Fifty Years later.*
"Never thought I would see the day where we would have to spill Astartes blood brother. This..still does not sit well with me Thien. Why betray the Imperium?" Said Avenir. He currently walked alongside
Thien within the halls of the Raven Guard Battle Barge "Nightshroud". The two were helmless, enjoying their time of freedom before combat began. Avenir's hair was Snow White, kept in two thick braids which hung to his neck seal.
A mutation in his melanochrome organ had made it so that his hair pigment had turned pure white in contrast to the jet black hair his legion was known for. As a result of this many in the legion had come to call him the Albino Crow. He wore the Mark IV Maximus pattern power armor. Thien on the other hand had shirt cropped black hair. His dark skin was a myriad of scars from recent battles. His last combat operation gained him a scar which ran across the bridge of his nose, connecting with one which ran down the left side of his face. He wore the Mark V variant of power armor.
"I share your same misgivings brother but regardless Avenir the traitors have performed a heinous crime in slaying their own kin. That sin is one which can not be so easily forgiven." He responded. Avenir simply shook his stopping as they reached the hangar bay.
"Aye brother..this may be the hardest battle we have ever fought during our time as Astartes. Regardless." Avenir extended his right armored fist in preparation for a fist bump.
"We promised centuries ago to watch each other's backs in the mountains of Kiavahr and that is a promise I do not intend to break." He said.
Thien smiled, bumping fist with Avenir.
"Indeed Avenir. As long as we are together. All shall be well."
BETRAYED! They had been betrayed by the same forces meant to reinforce them! Of the seven legions that came to enforce the Emperor's justice only three of them were true loyalists. The forces of the Alpha Legion, Word Bearers,Night Lords and the Iron Warriors had cast their lot with this traitorous filth. It was a trap. It always was. They had waited for them to be blooded from the initial onslaught. To come back in order to recover while the second wave took their place. They were fools.
They played them..all of them. They came back from battle expecting to be greeted by allies but instead they were met with bolter fire and blade. They lost many in the first volley. Many more were scattered in the ensuing firefights. He and Avenir had been alongside their Primarch when the initial betrayal had been revealed. They fought at his side along with the Honour Guard. However they had been separated when Lorgar had unleashed his Beast men. They wore Astartes armor but there was no semblance of the man that donned the garbed within. They looked like the vile creatures of legends. Claws. Talons.
Bone spurting from their bodies that they used as blades. They were fearsome foes indeed. Harder to kill. It took nearly an entire magazine to down just one. He knew not what deal they had made to allow themselves to be corrupted in such a manner. Regardless of this, he would not allow them to stop him. He had to find Avenir. He fired his bolter from his right hand, downing one of the charging beasts as it clicked empty. With his left he brought the short blade in his hand back, the weapon finding itself lodged into the throat of one of the unchanged Word Bearers.
He withdrew the weapon quickly, charging deeper into the fray. By the time the body had dropped, he had already vanished into the midst of combat.
"AHHHHHHHHHH!" Avenir howled in pure agony.
He had been caught by one of the Word Bearer's changed ones. It had his right arm trapped in one of its pinchers, clamped at the joint, whilst its large claw trapped him at the waist. The bodies of the dead and dying lay around him, torn apart by the very same beast which had him. It was squeezing down on him. The ceramite that comprised his midriff armor began to buckle and crack. The flesh of his arm was ripping, blood beginning to spurt from the flesh openings.
"I will tear you in two and feast upon your entrails~ Your flesh will taste delicious~" it spoke. The thing's voice sounded as if it were two beings attempting to speak at the same time.
One of the former Astartes and the other of whatever possessed him. He gritted his teeth attempting to hold back another scream but failed. The pincher had closed in on his arm, severing it completely. He yelled out in pain, blood spurting from the fresh stump. He beat down uselessly against the claw that had hun trapped. Not out of defiance but in desperation. He did not want to die like this. The creature only let loose a dark chuckle.
"Yes! Struggle more~ Let me see the fear in your eyes during your last moments!" as it said this it wrench his damaged helm from his head, nearly breaking his neck from the force alone in the process. His white hair clumped together, and stained with his blood messily fell down upon his face. The creature complying shattered the helmet in its "hands".
He felt the pressure around his waist increase. He coughed out blood, specks of crimson landing on the things warped face plate. This was it. He knew it. He was going to die. The bark of bolter fire rang in his ears. The creature that had him in its clutch doubled back in pain, dropping him as a result. He crumpled to the ground, cradling his stump of an arm. He heard Thien's voice, issuing out a challenge to the beast. Thien charged it, emptying his entire clip into its front side as it turned towards him. He ducked underneath a Brutish swing with his oversized claw , grasping his blade into a two handed grip and bringing it upwards into the creature's throat.
The weapon pierced through, exiting on the opposite side, severing the spinal cord. He dragged the weapon to the right, crudely tearing the remaining flesh and bone, causing the head to hang off by a thin thread of muscle. He moved to left and forward towards Avenir as the body fell to the ground with a thud.
"Avenir can you stand?!" He heard Thien say, placing a hand underneath his shoulder, aiming to help him get up. Mustering the last of his strength he forced his body to stand, placing much of his weight upon his brother's form.
"Barely brother but I'll be fine soon enough." He responded, letting loose a few wet coughs. Thien wrapped placed his remaining arm around him to support him as he loaded his final magazine into his bolter.
"Come brother I will get you back to one of our remaining apothecaries . We must withdraw soon. Currently the Primarch fights against the Urizen and his sons buying us time to retreat and recover." He said as the two trudged through the battlefield.
They had barely escaped that battleground. They had lost track of their Primarch in the ensuing battle that occurred when the Night Lord's had joined the fray. It was only by the Emperor's Grace that they had been rescued by a composite force of Salamander and Iron Hand legionaries. They had escaped on a gunship and were now in the void of space heading towards a friendly Iron Hand battle barge. Thien looked around within the troop bay, there were roughly twenty of them within, all of differing legions. What he saw though..disturbed him. He did not see the mighty warriors that had landed on the black sands of Issavan V.
He saw men broken and traumatized by the horrors inflicted upon them on that battleground. They were husks of their former selves. He looked down at Avenir who was currently slumbering. .He had been in and out of sleep since making it into the ship. He murmured things. Names of the fallen. Curses against the traitors. He, like the rest of them, was damaged too. Not only physically but mentally as well. Regardless he would be here for him...Like he always was. As if spurred by his thoughts, Avenir's eyes shot open as he sprung up swinging his arm.
" Get away from me you beast! You will not claim me as you did the others! I won't allow you to kill me too! THIEN?! THIEN?! WHERE ARE YOU?!" He yelled. Avenir was yelling like a mad man waving a knife he had sheathed defensively. His brother was tried to calm him to help him.
"Brother I am here! I am with you!" He responded trying to get through to him but to no avail.
Avenir was too far gone by what he had experienced on the planet. He tackled him branding the blade and slashing. The weapons tip cut a fresh scar into his face before he avoided the first slash. He struggled with him. Despite him being one armed, he was still a deadly fighter and one of the legions best. The commotion had drawn the attention of the others. A Salamander tried to seize him only to drown back due to the knife. Thien flipped Avenir off him, attempting to pin.
"AVENIR! Calm down please! Stop this!" He pleaded. Yet Avenir still spouted nonsense. His eyes were glazed over. He was lost. He tried to stop him. The knife shot towards his throat and as if functioning off instinct he grasped it, redirecting it into his brother's throat,slicing it open .
He stopped realizing what he had done. He panicked. Avenir began to gurgle, choking on his own blood.
"No! No please no!" He pleaded as he dropped the knife placing both hands on Avenir's throat hoping to stop the bleeding. It wasn't working. The wound wasn't clotting. The blood kept coming out. There was nothing he could do. He felt warm tears well up in his eyes. He couldn't lose him. Not here. He couldn't lose him. Not by his own hands. He felt a cold hand press upon his cheek.
He gripped his brother's hands with his own blood stained gauntlets. Avenir looked up at him, the last of his life draining from him. The moments they spent together front their training days to all their battles flashing through his mind.
"Thi..en.." Avenir uttered as his head rolled to the side, his hand slipping from his grip. Thien's head fell upon his brother's breastplate. He wept. Silently damning Horus. Those that had betrayed them and most importantly himself for what he had done.
He killed the first one he had ever called a friend. He had killed the very light that had liberated him from the darkness upon gaining his freedom. He had slain the one he had called brother. Avenir died in his arms that day and it was here that Thien's life was forever consumed by darkness.