The collective work of the Warhammer 40,000 Infinite Loop community proudly presents

Part One of the Warhammer 40,000 Krisis

While Fenrir was busy fixing the Dark Millennium Branch after the loss of the Branch an attempt to help the Mega Man Branch stabilize, he heard someone knocking on his door.

An unfamiliar voice asked, "Hello, is an Admin by the name of Fenrir here? Your friends outside are worried about you. Hello?"

Being aware of his workloads' slow progress, and not remembering the last time he took a break, Fenrir left his seat to greet the visitor.

He was a bit surprised to see who it was. "Hey, aren't you the guy assigned as temporary Admin for the Stargate Branch? Fung Long?"

Fung Long replied with a sad smile. "Not many people are aware of my status nowadays, nor are they that happy to see me. Yes, I am Fung Long, former God of Cloud from the Jiu Ge of southern China." He then added, "It seems that you are having trouble with the aftermath of what they are calling the Crash, am I right?"

"Yeah, that's frustrating the process a bit. My main universe tends to be buggy anyway, but this?" He sighed a sigh of long suffering. "Tell my friends I'll be alright once it's all done. I'm nearly finished going over the last details to be honest, and I should done soon enough."

Fung Lung thought for a moment, then suggested, "How about I help you fix your world's problems for a while? You do deserve to have some rest after all."

Fenrir just raised an eyebrow, "Shouldn't you be working on a way to fix your own problems? The entirety of Yggdrasil felt the Crash's impact after all."

"With constant maintenance and long-term planning, every crisis that happened had minimum impact on my region. Also, I wouldn't be a professional debugger even after losing my overall Admin status without having enough experience. In fact, I have several patches with me in case of dire situations," he replied while gesturing to his brain and his pocket.

"Well that's nice. Thanks for your help. I think I will take that break; I can't remember the last time I did something relaxing," he said with a smile, trotting past the helpful god. "See you later!"

After removing the large custom keyboard of the wolf Admin, reconnecting the smaller keyboard to the terminal, and grabbing the small chair that Fenrir never used, Fung Long immediately got to work fixing all the tiny glitches, bugs, and viruses he could find without hesitation, steering clear of the massive ones like the Warp, Holy Terra and the two heavily corrupted character files of the lost Primarchs. Before he reactivated the Dark Millennium, he briefly checked the list of possible loopers, wondering what Fenrir was thinking to make them Loop.

When he saw the latest addition, Rakszan the Necron Lord, Fung Long blinked, "Does Fenrir realize that being the cause of his entire dynasty's destruction, Rakszan could be far too aggressive and a possible Malicious Looping Entity? Oh well, it is his decision, but that doesn't mean I am going to ignore the danger. Now which patch and Awakening point would best minimize the risk..."

After much careful debate and running several simulations, he was about to give up and call it a lost cause. No matter what he tried, he could only just barely keep Rakszan from becoming an MLE in the short run, even if he settled down into a stable looper further down the line.

He completely lost his train of thought when he heard someone with Fenrir's gruff voice talking outside the door. "Hope that…...knows what he's doing…...being kicked out of his original seat for some world disappear thingy..."

Fung Long frowned. He still remembered the day he couldn't convince his 'Gang of Jiu Ge' to leave their respective mortal 'playgrounds,' how he had to watch as his colleagues disappeared forever scant seconds after he got out of the universe. Following his demotion to debugger, he tried not to think about the Event by concentrating on his assigned work. Overtime, everyone stopped bothering him about his status. He could bear the insults for not getting the Gang back safe, because it was the truth. However, being accused as the direct reason for his colleagues' disappearance? That was something he could not tolerate.

The Stargate Admin glowered at the terminal. "Great," he thought, "being nice in front of his helper, and then gossiping behind their back. Why should I have hoped he would be any different than the rest?" Letting his dark thoughts take him, he scrolled through the list of simulations until he found one of the more successful ones. If it worked right, Rakszan should calm down in a score or two of loops. If it didn't, he'd calm down in two- or three-hundred loops instead. Fung Long knew he was being petty, but at that moment he didn't care. What was a little petty vengeance between Gods? Maybe Fenrir would watch what he said about others after a healthy dose of Karma.

He quickly loaded the relevant patches and approval codes before setting the loop to auto-load and leaving the terminal to find the gossiping Wolf God.

After Rakszan got up from his bed, he noticed something was not right.

The surroundings resembled his old palace's personal bedroom. Oh, and he had an organic body. Then the memories hit him.

"I am back before my Biotransference? But how…?" His musing was interrupted when his servant came in and reminded him that he needed to prepare himself for the Biotransference Process later that day. He sighed in acknowledgement and dismissed his odd memories as a vivid dream brought on by his lingering worries.

After the Biotransference of his people was complete, everything went as it should…to start. As events from his dreams began to play out -the battle against the Old Ones, the rebellion against the False C'Tan, the destruction of his Dynasty- exactly how he remembered from his dreams, he stopped believing it was just a dream.

By the time of the Great Sleep, he'd fully embraced that time was repeating itself. With this revelation firmly in hand, he tried his best to avoid events that had led to heavy casualties and critical losses. As he powered down for the Great Sleep with plans for how to deal with the childish races he would encounter upon awakening dancing through his mind, he felt something that might have been hope for his people and the future. It was upon his awakening that everything went wrong.

He never remembered taking a psychic lightning bolt to the face, and having his central processing system completely destroyed by a giant red Cyclops in heavy gold armor. The next thing he knew, he was back in his bed. This process repeated several times, with him waking up the day of the Biotransference, or in the middle of one of his many battles, only to get destroyed again right after awakening in the tomb world.

When Rakszan awoke after the Great Sleep for the sixth time, he was ready. He took up his Hyperphase Sword immediately, and swung at the red skinned giant before he could kill him.

Magnus the Red, Demon Prince of Tzeentch and Looper was surprised by the turn of events. "Wait, that isn't supposed to happen! I have cleansed this tomb world more than a dozen times before!"

Rakszan took notice of what was said. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN, BEFORE? IS THE TIME REPEAT HAPPENING TO YOU TOO?" he shouted with as much menace as he could for an ancient skeletal android monarch, which was admittedly quite a lot.

Magnus cursed as he was forced to give his first 'welcome to the loops' speech to a Necron. A Necron who he'd spent the past few loops destroying upon its waking, and who was fully aware of that. He wasn't sure how this was Leman's fault but he was sure there was a correlation somewhere. He briefly considered just killing the Necron and making Leman do it the next loop, but dismissed the thought. "Warp Damn it. Okay, this is going to be hard to believe, but everything I'm about to say is real. There's this tree..."

Unbeknownst to anyone, the message "Awakening Point alternation: After the Great Sleep - ACTIVATED" briefly flashed across Fenrir's abandoned screen before going back to normal.

Also unbeknownst to anyone, a lesser deity known as Le-Eyo, the East African god of death, was passing by the office and saw the list of loopers left on the screen. Though only a lowly debugger, perpetually left on the bottom rung of whatever sector of Yggdrasil he'd been reassigned to lately (as a result of a string of mishaps that were in no way his fault, no sir) he still dreamed of climbing the ranks and becoming an Admin with a world of his own to look over. All he needed to do was impress enough of them for his genius to be noticed, and he would take any opportunity he could to do so. Like the one that just presented itself.

The patron Admin for lupine loopers was well known for his friendly nature and powerful work ethic, and would surely appreciate someone getting his loopers up and running. Pulling out his new, genius, auto-looper program (who needed all of those pesky failsafes anyway?) and turning it around a few times to get the USB port to fit, he set the list of loopers to activate. "After this, they'll have no choice but to recognize my brilliance! Let's get you going Gabriel…"

Magnus the Red Awoke on his Daemon Throne, briefly allowing his loop memories to process. From what the number of ping returns showed, everyone seemed to be doing their own thing. From the timeline perspective, it was almost near the end of the known history by the material he had acquired during his few hub loops, and seemed almost a baseline run, but something seemed off... "...Tzeentch, is there something that is amusing you?"

Answering Magnus's question, the Lord of Change popped into existence in his own seat and...is that popcorn? "About time you Woke up, Magnus. One of those Blood Ravens seems like they might be looping. You know, the mysterious Chapter that came from that one game series which hints at a possible connection to your old Corvidae Cult?"

Magnus frowned at the implications. Had the connection been true in the baseline, he probably would have renounced his patronage to Tzeentch and rebuilt his legion with the Chapter as his foundation. The existence of such a connection would, after all, be proof that not all of his legion suffered the fate of the Rubric: souls bound to their armor without flesh within. Double checking the timeline, it seemed to be just before the Inquisition was requested to perform Exterminatus on a planet in the chapter's recruiting sector. "And the identity of our possible looper?"

Tzeentch chuckled. "Apparently it seems to be the Chapter Master-to-be, currently Captain Gabriel Angelos. Khorne is probably gonna have a field day with this one, considering this guy is the very person who set up the current Chapter Master to fall out of favor with him in fifty years or so."

Magnus grumbled at Tzeentch's ramblings. "If the Chapter supposedly is connected to me, I guess it's only natural that I go give him the welcome speech. One of you four probably has a cult down there, don't you? It would explain the Exterminatus as soon as he saw the standard recruitment trial results."

Tzeentch shrugged. "Wouldn't know which of us they're asking for, honestly. We can't exactly find evidence on a dead world where said evidence was purged in holy fire."

Magnus rose from his his throne and changed his appearance to his pre-daemon prince form. "Then I guess it will have to do..." And with that Magnus left the throne room to get a ride to Cyrene.

Tzeentch laughed a low laugh. "You only wish you will arrive on time...who can pass up a chance to say 'Warp Travel's a bitch,' hm?"

You are Gabriel Angelos, Captain of the 4th company of Blood Ravens, and you are leading the final assault on your corrupt Chapter Master, Azariah Kyras. You were expecting an easier fight, having kept Force Commander Aramus and Assault Sergeant Thaddeus to accompany you, while the rest of the 5th company, under the command of Tactical Sergeant Tarkus and Scout Sergeant Cyrus worked with Techmarine Martellus and 1st Company Captain Apollo Diomedes in bringing the main force of Loyalist Blood Ravens to the front. What you did not expect though, was finding a crashed transport ship rammed into Kyras' transformed body like a dagger to the heart. Next to the crash was a giant red man, larger than even a normal space marine, arguing with what looked to be the epitome of a Khornate Demon. "Look, if you have a problem, take it up with Tzeentch, because he thought having me give the speech at the end of this ordeal would be a good joke. It's not like you can do anything else here since you lost your host and your containment vessel. So shoo, go back to Khorne and leave me be or I will forcibly remove you."

You watch as the Daemon roars back a challenge, only to be to eradicated as the giant man unleashed a column of psyker fury from underneath the Daemon's feet. Dusting his hands off, the giant man turned toward the entourage of of Blood Ravens. "Sorry about that. Now which one of you is Captain Angelos?"

You step forward warily, God-Splitter ready and crackling. "I am. Identify yourself."

The giant seems to sigh as his appearance ripples and warps to resemble a once famous figure written in the history of the imperium. "Before I answer that, do you feel like you've walked into a labyrinth of Tzeentch's design? Repeats, deviations from what you thought was normal, or even outright role reversals?"

You mentally stumble for a moment. In a single sentence, the stranger had confirmed what had seemed to be a maddening spiral of insanity. "I have, yes, but what does that have to do with your presence here, Magnus, Daemon Prince of Tzeentch?" You all but spat the last bit at Magnus.

You notice your followers tensing up at the mention of the follower of Chaos, but Magnus seemed to be amused by his statement and just laughed. "If I were here to actually fight you, Captain, your entire entourage would have been incapacitated and we would have been having this conversation with you disabled on the ground. My mind is my own as it was before the Betrayal, so be at ease. I have a tale to tell you to explain our current predicament. If you choose to not believe my words, you are welcome to corroborate with Commissar Ciaphas Cain, Inquisitor Amberley Vail, the Emperor of Man himself, my Primarch brothers Vulkan or Leman Russ. In ancient mythology, there was said to be a tree..."

"So...if I'm understanding this correctly, we are on repeat until Yggdrasil sorts out everything?" Gabriel queried.

Magnus breathed a sigh of relief that Gabriel had stayed his hand, "That's more or less the promise. Just keep an open mind when you find yourself put in a Xenos-abundant environment, the Administration does not take lightly to purposeful pre-emptive ends to their loops. The less said about some of the punishment iterations, the better."

Le-Eyo looked at the terminal, a smile on his face. It seemed that his little masterpiece was working just fine with the success of getting this Gabriel Angelos fellow to loop. Although he didn't know the whole nature of the relationship, it seemed that the man was in good hands and that was good enough for him. Maybe having people in charge would be even better influence? The Admin in charge of this Branch did have this Commander Farlook, or something, person next in line, so he had to be right.

On the planet Lub'grahl, a favored planet of the Earth Caste in the Damocles Gulf region of the Segmentum Ultima, Commander Farsight greeted Leman Russ for the upcoming peace conference. They were ready to take a ride to the nearby satellite for the formal meeting where they would discuss the details for the peace treaty in-depth. Though deep in the mind of Farsight, the procedure was a bit troublesome. They could have set up the discussion right on the planet, not to mention the Primarch's escort team needn't have left their lord on the planet with him and one '"Assault Bike with enlarged sidecar" in the Gue' la's terms. Soon though, the feeling of trouble was replaced by confusion.

"Gue' la- Primarch Russ, you insisted that I should take a ride with you while our personnel are busying for the conference. Why should I accept this offer?"

Being used to wariness about his driving, the anchor was quick with his reply. "We are warriors, Commander, not politicians. Men of action. Though we are both versed enough in politics to do our duties, neither of us is one for the political game. Can you honestly say you'd rather sit around doing nothing while the politicians posture than go on a joyride?" he asked. For his part, Leman just couldn't pass up the chance to go driving in a Loop when there was no one to stop him. Besides, he needed some time to properly digest the news that one of the newest Loopers happened to be a flipping Necron. "Think about of it this way: if one of us were to be attacked before the meeting starts, either side would blame the other for the assassination attempt and throw all of our work out the window. But if we travel together, any dissenters will think twice, and anyone who attacks anyway will have both our forces gunning for them. If we aren't attacked, then everyone will see it as a symbol of trust and camaraderie, and it will only help push the treaty forward."

Farsight took a moment to piece through the human's argument for any falsehoods or deceptions, but could find none. Still, something about the Primarch's proposition left him uneasy. "You make a fair point. And though I do not disagree with you, it still seems a needless risk. Besides, this...craft, does not look like it could even achieve spaceflight."

Leman slapped the side of the bike with pride, recognizing the carefully veiled 'maybe' in his peer's voice. "I have modified this bike for space flight myself with the addition of advanced anti-grav units and other components I am not yet allowed to reveal before the peace treaty is signed, and trust me, Imperial vehicles are made to be sturdy. What could go wrong?" Putting on his helmet and sealing it, Leman climbed into the pilot/driver's seat, watching for the Tau to make a move.

Despite the human's mostly logical arguments, Commander Farsight was still apprehensive, but he did believe that Leman wanted to make this peace treaty work. With a deep sigh, he followed suit and took his place in the sidecar. This sight attracted many Earth Caste scientists' attention, with many of them making video records for future reference.

Everything went surprisingly well. After a brief test of the unconventional ship's maneuverability that had the Tau leader swallowing his own breakfast to keep it in his stomach, the ship began to travel to the satellite at a steady speed. The Commander was briefly optimistic that things might not end horribly for once when a Warp tear appeared in their path without warning and caused the ship to explode from its overwhelming power. Farsight's last sight before death was Leman yelling "Come on! I just want to drive by myself safely JUST ONCE!", and then pain and darkness claimed him.

Commander Farsight blinked. One moment he was in an exploding vehicle, the next he was back before he even agreed to take that damn ride. Fortunately he had not taken off his suit's helmet, so the Primarch didn't notice his sudden confusion. He quickly decided to play along with the past for now, and see if he could change things for the better when the time came. If some higher power or trick of the 'Warp' had decided to spare him and give him a second chance, then he would be grateful and make full use of the chance provided.

Everything went exactly the same until he saw a different ship in the spot where the original vessel had been. He was now sure that the explosion was some sort of time rift, and that both he and the Primarch were pulled into it. This time around, he would not try his luck, and convince the Gue' la to take another route.

"I see you have changed to another, much better transport, which indicates that we have both traveled back in time. I suggest we take another route to avoid that time rift, to prevent the rift sending us further away or leaving us lost in time permanently."

Leman's eyes widened comically. Could the explosion last loop have activated Farsight as a Looper? If so, he was never going to take another passenger on one of his rides. He would never hear the end of it if he got Horus to Loop with his driving skills alone.

Pushing that potential nightmare aside, and placing several of the very important questions flying through his head as to what exactly was going on with Fenrir on hold for now, he readied himself to give another 'Welcome to the Loops' speech. "Commander Farsight, firstly, I am so sorry for the ride last loop. Secondly, I'm going to need you to keep an open mind about what I'm about to say. There is a tree called Yggdrasil..."

Smiling at the Anchor's actions, he didn't even bother to care the Admin had been too lazy to fix the captain's name for the looper next on the list. After all, how bad could someone named Bluddflagg be?

Gabriel Angelos mentally reviewed his plan. Having Awoken relatively early this Loop, he had decided to take care of his corrupted Chapter Master, Azariah Kyras, before his actions could bring the Blood Ravens to ruin. To avoid controversy and chaos in aftermath of his slaying of a Chapter Master, Angelos had enlisted the help of Inquisitor Amberly Vail (who in turn enlisted the 597th Valhallan and a certain Commissar Ciaphas Cain) to build an airtight case against Kyras so as to ensure the entire incident would pass as smoothly as possible.

Indicating to Captain Diomedes he wished a private audience with Kyras, Angelos steeled himself. While he understood the necessity of such an act, the killing of a brother-in-arms, even a corrupted one that would bring the Chapter to ruin, still left a bitter taste in his mouth. As the door closed behind him, he looked to the man who would soon bring much suffering on both the Blood Ravens and the sub-sector as a whole and began to approach him.

"Master Kyras, I..."

He was interrupted by a blinding blast of electricity and smoke then stared in shock as the massive Ork who emerged introduced a chainaxe to Kyras' head.

"YA POSH 'UMIE GIT!" the Ork, Kaptin Bluddflagg, Angelos belatedly realized, roared as he continued to mutilate Kyras.

Angelos was vaguely aware of the door being thrown open and Diomedes, Cain, Vail, and members of the 597th and the Blood Ravens rushing in to investigate the commotion. He was finally shaken out of his stupor when Bluddflagg, having decided he had overstayed his welcome, teleported himself out.

"Sir, what just...?" a Blood Raven began in understandable confusion as Cain and Vail approached Angelos.

"Do you think that...?" Cain quietly asked.

"He was a Looper?" Vail finished for him, "Most definitely. I highly doubt he had any reason to come after Kyras otherwise."

As Amberly and Gabriel moved to address the still stunned Blood Ravens, Cain rubbed his head and quietly groaned. With the other two needed to reestablish order, it fell to him to track down their errant Looper. Tracking down a single Ork among the horde of greenskins that inhabited the sub-sector and then explaining the Loops to it was not an activity he looked forward to.

Nursing a growing headache, Cain noticed Jurgen offering him a flask of amasec, a flask he readily accepted and imbibed deeply of. Many of the Blood Ravens who bore witness to the event looked as if they wished to join him. As things went, Assassinated by Ork was a rather embarrassing way for a Space Marine, let alone a Chapter Master, to go. That an Inquisitor was present and could corroborate their story was a small comfort.

Kaptin Bluddflagg was not a happy Ork. After snaggin' the spacey hulk as his snazzy new krooza, he had been ready for more lootin', but now he was back in his old krooza, which he was sure had been zogged by those panzees (or was it that Inquisitive-type humie, he couldn't quite remember). More importantly, some git had stolen all his loot!

Upon realizing this, he'd taken his boyz out to stomp some gits to work out the frustration. Lucky for him, he'd found some Space Marines out on patrol and proceeded to attack them with righteous Orky fury.

Suddenly, something one of the gits he was stomping said made him stop: Kyras. Kyras. Kyras...Hmmm... The word seemed familiar to the Kaptin. Something he ate? No...looted? No... Wait! It was that Space Marine git he'd stomped before snaggin' the spacey hulk! He must have run and looted his gear and krooza!

He'd immediately grabbed Nailbrain then went and krumped the git that dared loot Kaptin Bluddflagg. That he'd done it in such a sneaky and cunnin' way was just a bonus. Plus it reminded Spookums that he was the boss. Unfortunately, it seemed the Kyras git was cunnin' enough to hide the loot.

"Uh...Kapn'..." Nailbrain, his first mate, interrupted, breaking the Kaptin's train of thought.

"Not now Nailbrain, I'z busy"

"I know Kapn'...but dere's dis humie 'ere wot want ta' talk ta' ya an' he don't look happy..."

"Wot?" the Kaptin said, turning around, "Oi 'umie, if you'z lookin' for a fight, sorry. I'z busy figurin' out where dat Kyras git stashed me loot. Nobody loots Kaptin Bluddflagg!"

"Yeah...about that..." the human, a certain Commissar Ciaphas Cain, replied. Tracking the Ork Kaptin down had not been easy, and if weren't for maintaining his reputation as a Hero of the Imperium, he would have been ripping his hair out in frustration.

"WOT?!" the Kaptin roared, turning his full attention to the frustrated Commissar, "Speak up den!"

"Okay. First, Kyras didn't steal your loot-"

"Wait, if it wasn' dat Kyras git..." Bluddflagg interrupted, "...IT WOZ YOU! I'Z KRUMP YA GUD HUMIE!"

"WAIT WAIT WAIT!" Cain hurriedly yelled as the Kaptin reached for his Power Klaw, "It wasn't me either! Look, there's this tree..."

Explaining the situation to the Kaptin was an exercise in patience; however, it seemed that the Ork finally understood after a 9 hour discussion. It didn't help that the Kaptin interrupted just about every other sentence and had a tendency to forget what Cain had already told him.

"So lemme get dis straight..." Bluddflagg said slowly, "I'z got ta find all me loot all ova' again?"

"Yes..." Cain exasparatedly replied.

"...an' all da gits me and da boyz stomped we'z got ta stomp all ova' again?"

"Yes..."

"...den dat means...HA! We'z never run outta gits ta stomp or bitz ta loot!"

"Uh...yes...but..."

"HA HA! Come on den boyz! WAAAAAAAAGH!"

Cain watched as the ecstatic Ork charged off and tried to massage away his headache. He made a note to return to his quarters for some well needed sleep and then to catch the first transport out of the sub-sector. The Looping Ork was Angelos' problem now. As he left, he sincerely hoped this would not start a trend: One Looping Ork was bad enough. Hmm...perhaps he should send Captain Angelos his condolences.

Smiling to himself, Le-Eyo leaned back in his chair. He was somewhat curious about the mortal Ciaphas and decided to watch him in a solo loop. He had to admit it was pretty silly of the Admin to add in that ridiculous title to the looper's character file, and once he finished getting all these people looping, he would fix that too.

Ciaphas Cain, often the Hero of the Imperium in the loops and quite literally identified as such in his character file on the harddrive of the world tree computer, readied his trusty weapons as he kept his eyes on the Ork Warlord in front of him.

It was at the end of M41 where he should have prevented the Second Siege of Perlia, but instead of Chaos forces, the horde of Da Goff Guard fleet was the one who came. Now he was faced with the leader of said Ork warband.

"You 'ad a flazhy steps 'umie, but is it enuff ta fight me?"

"We will prevail! For we are here with our Hero of the Imperium!" One random guardsman shouted, only for Jurgen to glare at him. Cain had to thank his faithful companion for that because there's no way he could have divided his attention at the moment.

Or perhaps, he should thank that guardsman. At least that poor bastard drew the Ork's attention away from the commissar and focused at him instead.

"Da 'eero?! Dis 'umie ain't got nuffin' on da old man Yar'ik!"

To make a matters worse, said Orks invasion fleet belongs to Goff's klanz. The most notorious Ork's klanz in the Imperium's numerous histories.

"Da Kommissar Yar'ik prooffed manny timez to be much moar badder dun dis 'umie! You gut nuffin' on me etanal innimie you lot!"

To top it all, said Ork Warlord was Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka, one who just recently waged the Third War for Armageddon.

"Un me will proof ta ya'll dat wut'evah dis 'umie do da Yar'ik cun too!" the orks Warlord declared proudly before he turned to his boyz.

"'Eer me boyz! Da 'umies fink dis 'umie kommissar iz badder dun da old man Yar'ik! Let'z prooffed dat da old man Yar'ik iz da baddest kommissar .ALL!" He finished, as he pointed his huge Power Klaw at the eternal Hero of the Imperium.

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" He emanated a loud and powerful WAAAGH! that resonated was and echoed by all the Ork Boyz around the battlefield and began to charging at him.

Such irony; they were using the power of WAAAGH! on an overwhelming scale rivaling what they had unleashed on Armageddon...in an attempt to defend Yarrick's honor, when not more than a year ago they had fought tooth and nail with each other.

Ciaphas Cain sighed. Somehow, he missed the day when he had to face the Chaos forces instead of this.

A certain Commissar caught himself from his sudden weight-shift. His eyes widened in confusion as his mind registered where he is right now.

He chanted a small prayer to his Emperor in the hope this sorcery would fade away. The only result a random guardsman in yellow fatigue rushing to meet him.

"Sir! The Orks are coming! What do we do!" The guardsman said frantically.

"...Gather your men, guardsman," The commissar said evenly, as he glared at the horizon in disdain.

"Give a weapon to every single man and woman who can hold one, lay the minefields, block the streets, set up the defensive perimeters," His voice now dangerously approaching boiling point as he snapped at the guardsman.

"And I want you to put a choke hold at every corner so that even when I turn to take a piss I can still see a heavy weapons team pointing their guns in my face! And I want it yesterday guardsman! Now move your ass and spread this order!" With no room for for further argument, the guardsman in yellow fatigue saluted briefly and rushed out of the commissar's vicinity post-haste to do his job.

The senior commissar pondered his situation for a while before he scoffed at this fine mess he had landed in.

Again.

"To hell with this." he said, as he picked his up black with red trim pointy hat and put it on his head.

"If the Warp wanted to fuck with me then fine, I'll be damn sure not give up this chance without a fight: that damn greenskin must die this time." He reached for his weapons, then noticed something that shouldn't be there. Or to be more accurate, something that wasn't there.

He clenched the fingers of his right hand and released them a couple of times before settling with a standard bolter gun and a chainsword. "But first...I have a Power Klaw to loot from a certain Warboss." With that Sebastian Yarrick went to fight the Orks once more.

Le-Eyo blinked.

Once, twice.

Rubbed his eyes, and blinked again.

"...I had no idea my code can do that," He said, before shaking his head and going to put in the next person on the list through his masterpiece of code.

As his shuttle entered the atmosphere of Nostramo, the Emperor took a moment to consider what he knew of one his most enigmatic sons. After deciding he would make a determined effort to be a better father, he had asked Leman for some information on the other Primarchs, information that had certainly been useful once Magnus and Vulkan had started Looping; however, even after making inquiries of all three Loopers, the only information the Emperor got about Konrad was that he was "rather reclusive" and "slightly insane" even before the Heresy. All things considered, the only one of his sons he had less information on was Alpharius given that neither he nor the Looping Primarchs were sure if they had ever even met the man face to face.

Rising as the shuttle landed, the Emperor considered how to approach the situation. Making and discarding several plans in quick succession, he decided that the best course of action would probably be to stick to Baseline and take things slowly from there. As Konrad came into view, the Emperor wondered briefly if his son had looked that nervous in baseline before ascribing it either the numerous minor variation that plagued their Loop or simply his memory getting slightly fuzzy over ten millennia.

Reaching out to greet his son, there were a great many reactions the Emperor had come to expect when introducing himself to the Primarchs. Of these, a sucker punch was not among them.

Konrad Curze was scared. After his death at the hands of M'Shen, he had expected either oblivion or judgment at the hands of whatever uncaring gods oversaw the universe: What he hadn't expected was to find himself standing in the streets of Nostramo watching as the Emperor approached him.

As events began to play out as before, Konrad's panic only grew. Scenes of what was to come flashed through his mind: Nostramo devolving into a crime laden hell in his absence, his anguish upon learning of what had become of his people, sorrow at ordering his homeworld destroyed upon realizing he would be unable to redeem it, the misfortune that would befall him and his brothers in later years, and finally the eventual degeneration of his one proud Legion into a band of marauders; all of them caused by the man standing before him. When said man reached out to greet him, something inside snapped.

Had Konrad arrived earlier in the timeline, he would perhaps have been able to rationalize his situation and make an informed decision as how to address it; however, as it was with the insanity of what was occurring on top of his mental state at the time of his death, one could not blame Konrad when he concluded that the best course of action was to punch the Emperor in the face.

When Konrad came to, it was to find himself tied to a chair under the worried gazes of his subjects while the Emperor stood before him surrounded by his retainers and nursing a black eye. As the Emperor moved to dismiss his guards, Konrad decided to show some courtesy and silently motioned for his people to give them some privacy. It wouldn't do to get on the man's bad side just yet: After all, he owed it to his brothers to warn them of their father's treachery and the tragedy that was to befall them.

"Konrad," the Emperor said, rubbing his eye, "I'm going to ask you what may be a very strange question: Have you found yourself to have inexplicably traveled backwards in time?"

At this Konrad began to sputter in shock: Of all the things he expected the Emperor to say, that was not one of them.

Seeing the shock play across his son's face, the Emperor sighed.

"Well then, allow me to explain. To begin with, there is this tree..."

As Konrad departed Nostramo along with a promise from the Emperor to send forces to maintain order on the planet until the 8th Legion could arrive to take control, he considered the Emperor's explanation of what was happening and apology for his previous actions. While he was withholding his final judgment for now, if Magnus was willing to vouch the Emperor, Konrad would give him a chance. At the same time, he began to realize just how poor a sibling he had been to his brothers. As the ship made preparations for a Warp jump back to Terra, Konrad vowed that as the Emperor was doing his best to be a better father, he too would do his best to be a better brother.

"Well, that's good to see that this Konny person is good hands," he muttered to himself, patting himself on the back for his excellent work. A person with vision into the future was going to be a boon to the Branch; it was beyond him that this careless Admin had activated him sooner!

Vulkan He'stan frowned as he went through the Tome of Fire. Somehow, time had restarted to before he reclaimed Gauntlet of the Forge, yet everything had remained the same during the fight, with the Forgefather easily defeating the Eldar pirate due to his slow and predictable movement. He had hoped that the Tome of Fire would give him some clues to what was occurring but he had found only the same information as before. Although, now that he already knew a great deal, he was free to move ahead in the Tome of Fire and do some research for the location of the Obsidian Chariot.

If he was correct, it should be located deep within the destroyed lair of the traitorous Primarch Magnus of all places, although why Vulkan would hide the Obsidian Chariot there, he could only speculate.

Still, something made the hair on his neck raise as he made his way through the planet, going deeper into the bowels of the Thousand Sons's old monastery-fortress. Turning around the corner, he stopped at what he saw.

Even though he could not know that the ship was the fabled Obsidian Chariot, it was clear as day that his Primarch had created it. It was sleek to the point it seemed to cut the light around it, lacked any visible corners, painted not black but in something that was draining all the light from it, and had an engine exhaust that was simply beyond measure. The craftsmanship could only belong to one man.

"I take that you approve of my work He'stan," A voice called out as he turned his attention to see a man walk out of a door that was not there previously. "It is the fastest vehicle in all of Yggdrasil; even topping what my brother's honorary aunt can produce. It is near impossible for anyone to track, only the Admins can do so. I also made sure that Leman would never find it as he is a terrible driver and I do not want to endure a punishment loop for allowing him to get control of it." The man walked towards him, towering over He'stan with a simple smile on his face. "Although, I suppose I should start at the beginning." He held out a hand to the Forgefather, inviting him to become closer. "I have been watching you He'stan and you have done a wonderful job, finding my trinkets in the universe and helping your brothers with your duties. I was pleasantly surprised to see that you have begun to experience time as I have, along with some of my brothers, father and a few other friends." The man pulled out a couple of chairs and produced a table and a book. The man then reached out and clasped his arm. "I am honoured beyond words to have you join me fully in our journey through time. I have much to teach you, He'stan, about the truth of our world and how the universe truly works. If you have any questions, please ask."

Vulkan He'stan looked at the man in front of him, shook his head slowly. "I have a thousand questions, but I will trust you to explain everything in good time, my lord."

The man laughed at that, shaking his head. "Please, my father detests being labeled a God and I've grown tired of being called a lord and the such." Still booming with laughter, he flashed another true smile at the Space Marine. "Please, call me Vulkan."

Chuckling at his wonderful work, Le-Eyo moved onto the next individual on the list. This one seemed to be a smart enough person so he wasn't overly worried about him going through.

Here I am. Again.

Home again.

When did that become so disheartening? Was it after the time that everything was consumed in a maelstrom of emotion and desire made manifest through the warp? The time when all died out with only the most stalwart of the defenders of all kinds remaining in the end? Was it any of the other times I saw events play out but changed drastically? I have long since discarded the idea that this is some trickery by the Chaos Gods... by this point there would have been a point to it all if that was truly the case.

Deep within the crystalline labyrinth of the warp, the unknowable true form of Tzeentch, rather, one of many supposed "True" Forms, stirred. It seemed to gather as it's minion, the Fateweaver, slowly began to... chuckle.

It makes one start to feel older than they ever should. Age is no stranger to me after all, but to live this long. To experience all you know and live and die. All of it to change or rot. All of it to come back to where it started and go down a different path. Students. Artists. Teachers. Lovers. Family. Friends. All gone, or as good as gone.

The laughing was... curious to say the least. More so that both heads seemed to laugh at once. Tzeentch slowly looked over. "What's so funny?"

And yet I keep walking forward. I keep reaching forward. And why is that? Why do I keep going? My race is dying constantly. We strive forward, burning all around us, acting so aloof, destroying the lives of those who can expand to extend our own, meager existence. We fight back against the inevitable. Against the Necrontyr. Against Chaos. Against all those who would wish us dead or worse. We fight who we were and what we could become. We fight death and gods. We fight fate every step of the way. We look back and forth along the skein of fate, only to guide it along a better path. We manifest our strengths through murderous masks simply because we cannot afford the privilege of civilization on the battlefield.

"The schemer! The greater schemer shows his face!" The head that sees the future declared.

The one that sees the past shook. "The schemer has hidden his face before our very eyes!"

And yet I always continue to walk my path. Already I have walked it far longer than most had before things had begun repeating themselves. But with every little repeat, a small change. With every change, a new outcome. With every thought, a new idea. I will not give up. I will not give in. And I will continue to move forward for my final victory. A place where the living can survive without being threatened by the dead or by the beyond. Only when I can say that I have done that will I allow myself to have my rest. Only when I can say that Slaanesh's grasp will fade, will will allow myself to go there. Only when I can say that Abbadon the Despoiler will no longer launch his Black Crusades will I join my forebears in the Dome of Crystal Trees. Only when I see the threat of the devourer fade away will I allow myself peace.

And until then I will scheme. And make sure that everything goes...

Tzeentch blinked as he shrugged and hazarded a quick glance into the Well of Eternity... and then fell back, roaring with gleeful, cackling laughter. After all, why shouldn't he? After all, one of his greatest foes was in the game now! And for once things were off his hands, it wasn't...

Just. As. Planned.

Le-Eyo was a bit off put by his latest Looper, but Eldrad Ulthran seemed to be in good hands. Tzeentch was an overall good entity by all accounts. That Malal fella on the list was another one of those CGs that the Admin already had queued up for Looping; after the next two people started looping, he'd get him going and that other Primarch too.

If he got this Horus person looping, then he would have solved nearly all the troubles of the Dark Millennium branch! They would have to make him an Admin after that!

Zso Sahaal was alone, for he had no more place among his former "comrades" that fell to the corruption of Ruinous Powers, the very thing both his lord and himself disdained.

Even before and after the Heresy, both of them were against the rule of the Chaos Gods. They simply wanted to establish justice through fear and terror, "Fear through focus", but the False Emperor refused that reality, so they had fought against him during the , the Forces of Chaos would have been dispatched as tools unneeded, seeing as while they brought death to the wronged, there was no justice among the ranks of their forces.

But after all those years, the Legion that once uphold this tenet had devolved into little more than super-powered, fear-craving psychopaths from the corruption of Chaos. Not only that, they refused to acknowledge him as the rightful leader of the Night Lords after he regained the Corona Nox because he was the "Betrayer" who fled from the Eldar for the relic.

Furthermore, he could never have returned to the Imperium as he had been branded "traitor", despite the Imperium themselves starting to adopt the methods used by their Legion to enforce justice.

Now, sitting on one of the fragments of the once-planet Nostramo, right at the moment that his vision started disappear, he closed his eyes and awaited his final demise. All Zso Sahaal could do was remembering the days of old, and death shall come to him.

The end did not come to him as he expected, Zso Sahaal could still feel the fresh air. In fact, he could also felt the wind blowing past his face: this strange sense caused him to open his eyes once more.

He couldn't believe what he witnessed about his appearance: typical Vlka Fenryka Power Armor, without Unquis Raptus or Mordax Tenebrae. Further confusing things was that he had another set of false memories which told him he was a Marine recruited on Fenris. He wondered whether this was a cruel joke courtesy by the corrupting Ruinous Powers, especially that schemer who was known for creating things that made no sense.

However, he had other things to prioritize right now: grab a weapon and sneak away from the madness. After he grabbed a Bolter and left without "his" giant axe, as it never fit his combat style, he proceeded to make escape.

On his way around the Vlka Fenryka barrack, he managed to persuade his "comrades" to leave or if that failed, knock them unconscious and put them in the nearest locker. Everything was smoothly going until he reached the exit of the barrack and encountered Bjorn without his Dreadnought armor.

"Hey Zso Sahaal, how is it going? You don't look so great."

"I am fine, brother, I just need some fresh air."

While Bjorn was concerned about his comrade, he thought everything would be fine and proceeded to enter the barracks. However, a dazing brother wasn't something he expected to see upon his entry.

"Bloody Fenris, why would Zso Sahaal hit my head so hard..."

Realizing the implication of treason, Bjorn turned his head and saw Zso Sahaal walking towards the Thunderhawk several blocks away. He knew he had to stop him before he reached it, so he took the Wolf Mecha out of his subspace pocket and hopped in. The engine was activated and the pursuit began.

Zso Sahaal turned back and saw an unfamiliar armored figure chasing after him. Without hesitation, he used his experience in urban warfare to get rid of the pursuer. The armor was obviously too large to enter the narrow paths between the buildings, so his escape was relatively easy.

When he was near the Thunderhawk, a volley of fire was sprayed into a nearby door. He turned around to confront the stranger.

"Stop right there Zso Sahaal! What you have done would be considered treason!"

"Begone barbarous Wolf! Or I should say daemon in disguise! Your armor did not exist wihin the weakling Imperium! And I, Zso Sahaal, first Captain of the Night Lords, and rightful heir of lord Konrad Curze, shall battle to the death, if you insist! And no, the false memories created by your kin will not make me surrender to your corruption."

"You run away from the barracks, accuse me of being a daemon, claim false memories... oh shit!" As the words were ras his words were relayed through the speakers, Bjorn realized what just happened to his battle-brother.

"Wait! You spoke of false memories, those I can explain. The previous timeline with you as Captain of the Night Lords did exist as well as this timeline with you as a battle-brother of the Vlka Fenryka. I can explain much about this if you will let me, Zso Sahaal, and if not, I know of another whose words you will trust above mine."

Zso Sahaal raised an eyebrow, wondering whether the "daemon" was out of its mind or not. Still, he pointed the "borrowed" Bolter at it in case things went south.

Konrad Curze, who was still having trouble dealing with the loops, stared at the books he had received from his Father, who had in turn acquired them from the Hub World. After the reveal of the loops, he had started to think about all the things that had happened back in the old days. When he read all the materials his Father provided, he was too shocked to form a proper response. There was still too much to consider of their world's history, especially now that he knew of how his Legion would became what he disdained in the future, what his Father had truly believed in the past, plans for how he could avoid his dreadful fate in 'baseline,' and a number of other minute personal issues and daemons that he needed to deal with now, especially after only a few 'pings' came from those who were...Aware? Awake?... for this time repeat or loop. Activating the specialized Vox they used to find out who was looping, he saw that the ping didn't come from Terra, which meant Father was unAwake and going to be his old self.

Just then, Krieg Acerbus, the "Axemaster", called out to his Primarch. "My lord, there are two Space Wolves waiting outside. One of them called himself Bjorn, and he demanded an audience with you and his fellow, Zso Sahaal."

Konrad knew Bjorn was looping after his Father told him everything about the loops, but the fact that any of the loopers that would be visiting him was cause for concern, let alone while bringing one of his own Space Marines with them. Without a second thought, he nodded to allow them in for an audience and gestured for the rest of the Night Lords to leave.

He saw Zso Sahaal standing there, in the power armor with the colours of a Space Wolf, shocked to see him in the flesh, muttering, "How…" Curze realized the implication of this dazed look. For one of the few times in his life, Konrad smiled honestly and greeted his trustworthy first Captain immediately.

"Zso Sahaal, it's been a long time. And I know I owe you an explanation for this time repeat, among other things. And while this barbarous Wolf is not my brother and I'm told is far more sensible than Leman, I take it that he did not explain it well enough." This got him a brief glare from the true Space Wolf before he stopped to think and nodded his head in agreement. Turning his head back to the new looper and...acquaintance seemed appropriate. "Now Zso Sahaal, we shall begin with the existence of a tree called Yggdrasil…"

Le-Eyo grin continued to grow at his genius! Soon he would be a full fledge Admin and have his own Branch to watch over! Looking over the next person, he frowned as the name was currently garbled up, but he had got every other species except his own looping. What harm could letting a bug loop too?

TO BE CONTINUED IN

PART TWO OF THE KRISIS