I do not hold the rights to Warhammer 40,000, nor am I making a profit from my literary disaster of a story.

Chapter 5- Martyrium of Sino

Adur'Sharak had waited many thousands of years for one such as the sorceress to arrive. She was powerful, with him she would be unstoppable; she was cruel, with his influence she would gain from her sport; she was ambitious, with him at her side she would rule the galaxy. Adur'Sharak watched the proud mortal stride through the fallen that wetted the soil of his tomb. Yes, she would be a perfect ally.

A mental blow brushed his being and Adur'Sharak spun in the nether to find the one who fought him. There was a psychic spirit of sorts that had held him from the one who bled power like skewered pig, it was not she though. Could the rotting God's little champion have finally awakened? It was not likely.

Adur'Sharak re-entered the mind of the one he attacked. Had she been more malleable he would have eagerly chosen her over the sorceress Laufeia. They darted fleetingly as a sub conscious part of his being chased and attacked them. How the spirit had become stuck with the powerful mortal was truly beyond Adur'Sharak. And her own warp attacks had stung and irritated him to no end. Had she not been there he would have crushed the powerful mortal instantly and have been released.

They were trapped as he brought his full bulk into the nether that made up the mortal's psyche. He smiled and hundreds of fang filled mouths glittered and giggled and drooled. She was certainly impressive, she was weeping and screaming as she fought the claws and tentacles that Adur'Sharak ensnared her with. The other, Sister Geena, he had deducted, another mortal who had wetted his tomb with her blood, was wailing as the claws tore at her and yanked her up to Adur'Sharak. She was impressive for a mere spirit; perhaps the unconscious psyker had summoned her? It was quite likely. He had seen mortals do many amazing things through the eons of time.

How long had it been since he had been imprisoned within this world? Time and years had faded into a thick water colored mirage of images and pain and hungering and vengeance. Adur'Sharak had intimidated the Greater Gods and as punishment all four had bound him to this wretched rock that hurtled through the vastness of space and time serving as a prison for his might. He looked at Geena who wept and some of his maws snapped at her. Through the death of the other, the one who so irritatingly fought back, would Adur'Sharak be set free to smite the Gods and rise back into power.

Another stinging attack came from the mortal. Adur'Sharak glanced down irritably and for a rare moment felt the slightest sensation of surprise. The mortal had-conjured was the only way to describe it-a shining blade and was hacking at the claws and tendrils that grabbed at her. The impudent mortal hacked one and the delightful sensation of the dieing limb filled Adur'Sharak to his center. The arrogant speck would die for her defiance, no one defied him. He roared, the mortal tumbled into the nether and he flew after her his claws twisting and grasping for her. Adur'Sharak smiled as Geena began to pray loudly, no god would save the mortal nor the spirit. His maws roared once more and he chased after the darting image of the psyker.

-

Laufeia L'Amia led the retreat of the Shadow Lords and what little remained of the cultists. The cultists followed eagerly, they seemed utterly oblivious to the fact that the Shadow Lords had slaughtered an equal number of them as the Imperials had in their rush for battle.

She heard another long moan and muttered prayers behind her and smiled. Soon… very soon she would be immortal and the power of a mighty daemon would be gifted to her. Another prayer was choked out through a sob and an apology to someone named Geena. Laufeia wanted to strike the Sororita, partially for her weakness also to hear the woman moan in horror once more.

They had left the church behind them, Adur'Sharak was carried by she and the Sister now, and now hurried through rubble strewn streets. The daemon whispered to her to find a suitable summoning area and she knew exactly where she would go. The Square of Venerable Saints was farther away than she would have liked but it was only a matter of time before she had the daemon. A little while longer would not matter.

The Shadow Lords followed their mistress diligently and kept a firm circle of muscle and iron around her. How her warriors loved her! The daemon laughed and told her that with his help she would bring every single one of the Chaos Legions under her hand. The mere thought of such power made her shiver in anticipation. She would become immortal and conquer the galaxy. Laufeia wanted to laugh, she would become the Empress.

It was not long before they came upon the Square of Venerable Saints. Statues of Imperial heroes of old sat atop stone pillars that surrounded the square and at the center a mighty statue of power armored being with flowing long hair and a laurel crown upon his brow stood twenty feet high atop a raised center. The daemon laughed and said the rotting god had hardly spent more than an hour on the planet. Yet the Imperial fools took any such attentions as signs of hope, foolish hope.

Laufeia motioned to one of her body guards, the one who had picked her up, and gave out orders to setup defenses around the raised interior of the Square of Venerable Saints. She motioned for the Sororita to be placed upon the steps below the statue of the False Emperor. The woman was dropped heavily and she looked up at the statue and wept openly. She was pretty Laufeia thought. Snow white hair came to her chin and her icy blue eyes contrasted amazingly with her alabaster skin. She did not have her weapons, that would have been plainly foolish to have, but she seemed to think that her prayers would save her. Laufeia laughed and turned away from the praying Sister. It was beginning.

-

Sister Superior Joan shoved her self up from the crush of bodies with a painful grunt. Her torso was scored with dents from attacks and the arm of the Astartes that had yanked her into their midst was still in her hand where she had removed it. Dropping the limb Joan looked about wildly for any of her Sisters. Bodies were thick in the large room. She could see one of the Celestian corpses smashed into the wall among the bodies of fallen heretics. A moan sounded out and a body tumbled and Sister Lea sat up with a grimace. Joan looked about hurriedly as the replay of the battle flashed through her head. They had taken Aurea. Dear Aurea…

Lea crawled over to her and let out a ragged breath. "Sister Joan… we lost her…?" Her eyes shimmered with tears. "W-we… I l-lost my s-sister…" Joan sighed and found the hilt of her sword buried in the chest of a heretic next to her and used it to bring herself to her feet. Lea looked apt to break down and weep. Joan would not let herself be defeated so easily. Aurea would not let herself be cowed by such turn of events.

"Come, Sister, we will find whom we can and go retrieve our Sister." Joan said and her voice rasped. Just how much had she been yelling?

A loud grunt and a curse came from outside of the room and Trooper Tordaes stumbled in. His armor was bloody and he carried his helmet in one hand. He certainly was handsome, Joan thought. Aurea did not have bad taste in men what so ever. She immediately banished the thought and uttered a prayer of forgiveness. Toradaes came to them through the blood and bodies bearing his rifle. His hazel eyes looked haunted and grim.

"Well? Are we going to go find her?" He demanded.

Joan arched an eyebrow at him. "Why do you care, private?"

Toradeas let out a tired exasperated laugh. "Need you even ask? Even if I can't touch her, I can still have feelings for her. I will not let her die out there." His eyes echoed the promise. The man was looking suicidal and would most likely fight hordes of daemons to reach the snowy haired Sister. Joan wanted to smile, how she wished the hard lived and strong Aurea could enjoy the pleasures of this man. Joan herself had known several lovers and loved both men and women, for the Emperor did not raise one over the other. And had served penances for her actions that had brought her to states of near death each time.

A shout from behind them brought all three looking tiredly over their shoulders.

Sister Hera, her dark skin blood stained and grimy, was rushing forward followed by Kierra. Joan nearly smiled, some of her squad were still alive. A pitiful amount and they had lost Aurea… the strongest of them; the most faithful and devout; the most willing to kill in the Emperor's name. Hera reached her and soon Herror and the medic of the Grenadier squad followed with the gray haired Celestian, whom had dried blood streaked down her cheek from a cut. Or Sister Pheana, a very, very, unpleasant woman even for the Ordo Hereticus.

Herror approached her his dark eyes were exhausted and dirt was crusted on his face. He looked around and sighed before turning back to her. "We are all that is left."

She nodded. Joan was not surprised, the platoon to their left flank had been struck directly by the main force of Traitor Astartes, very few warriors could take such power. She examined Sister Hera. The young woman was grim faced and clutched her bolter as if it were the only thing keeping her standing. If she survived the day she would make a fine Sister, possibly another Aurea. Joan turned back to the opening and searched around for her bolt pistol. All watched her silently, even Sister Pheana; all waited upon her word. She felt the encroaching exhaustion that she had felt for a week creep up upon her but shoved it away, would Aurea show such weakness? Finding her pistol by the fallen Astartes that she had killed she stood and turned back to the gathered soldiers who watched her expectantly.

The words that Canoness Camilla had told her upon their return to the Imperial forces echoed in her head as she viewed their faces. I wish for you to become Celestian. The Order wishes it. You have denied all promotions, content to remain a Sister Superior. You were born for command, Sister Joan. Do not waste such a gift.

Joan nearly sighed, Duty was heavier than a mountain. "We go to find Sister Aurea. Gather ammunition and tend your wounds, we leave immediately." Hera darted from the room in search of ammunition. The others began to tend wounds, all except Pheana. She watched Joan with sharp eyes.

Sister Pheana snorted finally and all looked up at her. "You mean the blasphemous one?" Kierra openly glared at the older woman her scarred face echoing her dark thoughts as Herror tended a gunshot to her leg. "It is the will of the Emperor that one so weak should be slain." Pheana said roughly.

Joan looked at her calmly. How she wanted to scream at the woman. To strike her. Of course she would not. The Celestian held rank over her. Joan smiled. "Sister Celestian, our Battle Sister means a great deal to us. We will not let the Traitors take her and corrupt her."

Tordaes was loading his weapon and the medic and Lea had bound his leg and tended several other small minor wounds. He muttered to himself but Joan could not hear his words. Herror stepped forward his unshaven face grim if determined as he finished with Kierra.

"We are with you, Sister Joan. Those bastards will rue the day they were born by the time we are finished." He said firmly, his exhaustion seemed to be forgotten. Joan nodded to him and Hera ran into the room with a box of ammunition and the assembled Imperial soldiers quickly loaded their weapons and gathered plenty of spare. Pheana followed suit after a moment of sneering disgust for the consensus of the soldiers.

Hera was right next to Joan as they filed out of the church and began to make their way across the square. Lea was keeping pace with them and was scanning the surrounding buildings as if the Foe would come seeping out of the bullet riddles walls. They were no more than half way across the torn soil and body littered square when the sounds of tanks rumbled behind them. As one the entire squad dropped and rose weapons towards their rear.

Joan stood as she saw the greatest sight she felt in her life.

Five Rhino APC rolled into the square. Each bore sigils and prayers of the Adeptus Sororitas. Along their sides came a full company of the 86th Hodarra Imperial Guard. The soldiers marching on foot looked as if they had been running all night but the grim determination in their steps showed their true fortitude. The lead Rhino stopped and the soldiers all halted as well. The rear hatch opened with the sounds of gears shifting and a mechanical hiss as it lowered.

Joan smiled as the black armored Sister stepped out into the blood soaked square.

Canoness Camilla had brought the Order to find Sister Aurea.

-

Aurea did not know what was happening. Well, truly she had an idea of what was happening, but it seemed like a nightmare come reality. The daemon, that was the only thing the wretched being could be, chased her. The claws tearing at her, the mouths snapping hungrily after her. She had come back to consciousness momentarily what seemed like an age ago. She had seen the Emperor, grim and foreboding, unforgiving, and had wept. The heretics had her and their leader, a witch red haired and beautifully pale skinned, had laughed at her tears. Then the daemon had drug her back to his realm.

She had no place left to run, or flee. The nether was encompassed by the creature and its claws and mouths surrounded her. The blade that she had grasped in desperation as it had tried to pull her to its girth, shown brightly through the inky blackness that the creature emitted. She screamed as she cut at the creature. Its claws tore at her and her mind was flayed, yet still she battled on.

Geena looked down at her, still fully armored if bloody, mournfully. Aurea let out a defiant yell and began to pray as she hacked another tentacle in two. The beast roared back and caused her to topple through space yet she righted herself and shot forward the shining blade leading the way. She would not let Sister Geena's soul be claimed by this abomination. She would slay the creature before that. She began to pray. If she was to die here than she would die with thoughts of Tordaes, prayers on her lips, and the blade cutting her way to salvation.

I have the Emperor, he is my savior. Another claw was removed.

The beast laughed and suddenly she was yanked up and the blade was gone. The beast had removed her power, what ever it was. She could not actually be a psyker could she? She stared in terrified defiance at the beast that studied her. Eyes glistened and a hundred mouths bathed her in fetid breath as they took in her scent. She continued to pray, perhaps the Emperor would find her soul with enough prayer.

You continue to grow, child. A hundred mouths said. The voice caused her very soul to writhe in agony. The daemon looked down upon her. I am Adur'Sharak, youngling. Why do you fight what you cannot defeat? It asked, the voice causing her mind to tremble in terror.

He is my shield, my protector.

The beast howled with laughter and the fear the gripped Aurea grew. Geena was lowered next to Aurea and her armored hand shot out and gripped Aurea's fiercely. Aurea gripped it back. A day before she had been terrified of the ghost that inhabited her mind, now they clung to each other like frightened children.

Your rotting corpse that you call a 'god' shall not save you. You shall set me free and I shall come to rule this galaxy once more. The mouths smiled at her. Now it is time for you to die, young one. Know that with your death you have brought a new ruler to your world.

Geena screamed as the claws dug into her. Aurea glared at the face. She would not let the creature win so easily. She was not easy prey. The shining blade came back to into being. This time she felt as if her mind were bathed in a clam light. A flowing light that was almost physical as it flowed through her and filled her to the core. With a single swing she cut through the ropey tentacles that were slowly murdering Geena.

Geena grasped her hand as the tentacles writhed away in agony and the beast roared as the two Sisters clung to each other. Aurea glared at the creature and it laughed. Aurea felt confused. Hadn't she halted what it wanted? The mouths roared its mirth and she and Geena looked up at it resolutely, both ready to die.

Adur'Sharak laughed. It is time. Its great mass suddenly seeped away from them leaving them hanging in the nether as it retreated out of Aurea's psyche. It was as if a mighty ocean was being withdrawn and the great hulking mass withdrew upon itself in folds of darkened mental flesh. The daemon smiled one final time and was gone.

The nether was yanked away and Aurea was brought back to reality and the her first reaction to her awakening was a gut wrenching scream as a heavy hand drove a thick iron spike through her hand to a poll.

-

Tordaes was faithful, as much as any man could be when he fought in wars that consumed entire solar systems in flames and death. And now he prayed. He prayed for that white haired angel to be safe. He strode next to Sister Superior Joan, the woman was insanely tough, as they approached the Square of Venerable Saints. Canoness Camilla had been escorted by a Commissar Aldrecht and the beautiful dark haired Sister Superior Sororita had been hard faced ever seeing the black haired officer. It seemed alien for anything to actually affect Joan.

They rounded the corner and a trooper in the grey uniform of the Hodarra 86th fell in a puff of gore as rounds and explosives began to slam into the Imperials. Tordaes and Sister Lea crouched in the ruins of a manufactorium and fought back. It was all they could do.

Joan led the charge next to Canoness Camilla and every weapon spoke as the two sides parried each others attacks and fierce fire fights erupted all around the square. In the center though the dark blue armored Astartes stood resolute and slaughtered bother Guardsman and Sororita as they pushed back the cultists. Through the madness of shells soaring through the air Tordaes saw a sight that wrenched at his heart in the center of the square.

-

Laufeia watched the large Shadow Lord use the heavy brick to crucify the Sister and ignored the battle that raged around her. The white haired woman screamed as her consciousness was fully returned with the bite of the metal entering her. Her spare arm slammed into the helmet of the warrior with the stone with little effect. Another gripped both of her feet and another metal spike was placed. The Sister quieted as her blood trickled down her bare arm. She began to quietly pray.

Laufeia examined the Sister's body and was impressed. It was toned and muscled with several scars twisting on her pale flesh. Her breasts were grape fruit like and the blood from other hand as a spike drove its way through the tender flesh dripped between the two pale peaks of flesh. She was undeniably gorgeous. The woman hardly blinked as the spike drove through her feet and her body was stretched taught as the third and final spike ripped through her flesh and pinned her to the wooden post. She was certainly resilient, even if she had screamed. The sunlight played on the pale woman's flesh and made it glow. Laufeia couldn't help but feel rather awed at the raw strength the Sororita displayed.

The two marines bowed to her as they dropped all of the Sister's armor and deep red robes on the ground at the base of the pole.

"It is done, Mistress." One intoned. His voice growling and echoed from the speaker of his skull-like helm.

Laufeia nodded and the gathered Shadow Lords created a defensive square around their Mistress and the crucified woman. Laufeia heard the sounds of gunfire and explosion begin to rip into her minion's lines near her, she did not care. Soon the Imperial dogs would be crushed by her hand. She gripped a sharp knife in one hand and one of her two guards knelt and she placed one elegant boot into his massive hand and he silently raised her to the dieing Sister's eye level. Rounds shot past both of them, their hissing voices whispering in her ears.

The Sister looked at her though her eyes were glazed with pain. "Damn you, witch." She muttered hoarsely.

Laufeia laughed quietly. "Damn me? You are about to have your very soul yanked from you, child!" The woman went back to muttering prayers with her eyes shut and Laufeia smiled. She had won. She closed her eyes and felt the energies of the warp rush into her. She smiled as the powers twisted about her and the nude woman. She was so close! She could sense the psychic potential in the woman at this range and for a bare second almost regretted having to kill her.

Free me! Adur'Sharak roared.

The energies solidified and isolated the daemon within the Sister. It was time for the final step. Laufeia heard the whispers of daemons pour into her ears and suddenly six portals opened around the base of the statue. Elated shrieks echoed from the shimmering portals and creatures of men's darkest nightmares emitted forth. Daemmonettes came from the nether at the Sorceress's command. Their alluring black eyes and beautifully sculpted bodes were marred by hulking carapace claws and horns as they eagerly hunted for the Imperial soldiers. Laufeia spoke and her voice thundered and each Daemonette listened.

"Slaughter them my pretties! Drink their blood and their anguish! Bring me their souls!" She commanded.

Free me! I have given you servants! Free me! Adur'Sharak shrieked. Her mind vibrated and Laufeia looked into the eyes of the beautiful woman in front of her. How smooth her flesh was! How oval shaped and doll-like the Sister was! She was truly exquisite! Laufeia felt the warp energies and the daemonic power in her hand as she raised the long dagger. Her mind was filled with howls as her blade dove downward.

The Sister's blue eyes snapped open and her face was serene just before the blade struck. The eyes haunted Laufeia's vision but they did not stop the blade. The knife cut through mortal flesh and sliced through the Sister's heart. Laufeia rose into the air as the blood of the fallen Sister dripped down the handle as the daemon Adur'Sharak came from his ancient tomb and gifted her with immortality.

-

Joan watched the witch, a pretty woman with deep red hair held back by an ornate battle headdress, plunge the blade into Sister Aurea's nude heart. Her mind seemed to snap and she beheaded the heretic whom she had been fighting.

"No!" She screamed as she watched her Sister, her friend, die.

Tordaes shouted in rage and continued to fight his way forward with renewed vigor with Sister Lea's snarling visage close by his side. They cut through heretics in great bloody swathes as they reached the scattered corpses of fallen Sisters and Guardsmen closest to the Traitor Astartes. Joan rushed forward in time to hear the booming voice of the witch order creatures of darkness upon them.

Kierra rushed past her and kneed a heretic in the head and split his skull open. The caramel Sister was accompanied by Sister Hera and both fought passionately as bolter rounds tore open other Sisters who came forward. Herror rammed his pistol into the mouth of a man and shot until he dropped the steaming hot weapon with a grimace.

Joan raised her blade and led a charge of Sisters, her squad had rushed forward in blind rage. "For Sister Aurea!" She yelled and the roar was taken up on a hundred lips as the Imperial forces fell upon the Traitors in a great mass. She stabbed an Astartes through the chest plate and shot a cultist down.

"Fight on, Sisters!" A strong voice called out. Canoness Camilla stood atop a Rhino with her blade drawn and kicked an Atartes off and dove down to finish her bloody work. With a smile and a prayer Joan charged forward. With her Canoness at her head she would avenge Aurea. She would burn the witch alive.

-

Adur'Sharak roared in orgasmic agony as he felt the blade rupture the tender organ that kept a mortal alive, his psychic blast rebounding through the nether and frightening distant daemons into cowed submission. Freedom was a painful gift. But what a gift to finally obtain! Adur'Sharak laughed as he felt the life leave the mortal. Her soul had escaped him, but that did not matter. He was free!

-

The moment Adur'Sharak came into being Laufeia nearly fainted as her body convulsed and the powers that made her immortal tore through her body. Her mind expanded by leaps and bounds as the daemon bestowed gift after gift upon her. Laufeia felt Adur'Sharak materialize and drug its mighty bulk into the world and as she floated in mid air she watched the battle swirl below her. How the blood flowed for her! For her! The Empress! She smiled and spoke words that thundered across the battlefield.

"Tremble mortals! Adur'Sharak has returned!"

-

Joan heard Kierra scream before she found her, she had tried to keep up with Lea and Tordaes' made charge but had been weighed down. And when she did it was a terrible sight to behold. Three horned, pale, and grinning Daemonettes had her surround and one had the scarred beauty's arm pierced and pinned to a fallen pillar as another parried her vicious attacks from her remaining arm. She rushed forward as Guardsman and heretic alike were slaughtered around her by the daemons. Hera was aiming her pistol at the face of a grinning heretic who had her pinned to the ground with the butt of his rifle.

"You look to be amusing prey, human." A torturous female voice that seemed wracked with ecstasy decreed from behind Joan.

Joan spun about her blade at the ready and met a smiling Daemonette. The creature was lithe and both of its hands were carapace claws. Twin black horns flowed from its raven black hair and it's peach like breasts were heavily pierced. It moved forward.

"Let me taste you, woman. Let me touch you." It demanded with sadistic sensuality and beckoned with one of its glistening claws.

Joan had only enough time to swing her blade as the daemon charged. It laughed loudly and she was knocked back as she tried desperately to sidestep the claw that gouged her right side. Her pistol rose and the creature smiled. The muzzle was against its black heart and Joan squeezed the trigger just as the claw that has hooked on her right side cut into her.

The blast blew daemon gore, thick stringy blood, and quivering offal all over a pair of heretics. The daemon howled in anguish and Joan planted her foot into its stomach and roughly kicked it from her. The claw that had dug into her side tore her open and she cried as she fell to the blood soaked stones at her feet. Her hand grasped the wound and suddenly the sun grew dark and Joan looked to the sky and muttered a prayer as the mightiest daemon she had ever seen drug itself into reality behind the red haired witch whom hung fifty feet in the air smiling. It was a mass of twisting tentacles, claws, mouths, and flesh. It surged behind the witch and dominated the square as the Traitor Astartes backed away uncertainly. The abomination was Chaos incarnate and a thunderous laugh that sounded of hundreds of falling shells and screams of a million wounded. It was terrible and froze fighters where they stood.

The witch's voice thundered out to cause a stand still among the few fighters who did continue to battle. "Tremble mortals! Adur'Sharak has returned!"

The creature roared and dozens dropped to the ground as it surged forward around the mighty statue of the Emperor. Joan saw Kierra laying with glazed eyes dead with one of the Daemonettes at her feet a dozen feet away. She growled and rushed forward. Damn the daemon! She found Hera struggling and helped the young Sister to her feet.

"Come, Sister Hera. It is time for us to meet the Emperor." She said gravely. Lea was most likely dead. And the battle had turned from orderly ranks into a chaotic swirl of blood and death. Hera nodded and stood and both moved forward as another voice suddenly called out. Upon seeing who it was both Hera and Joan rushed to her.

"Sisters!" Canoness Camilla stood in the body littered ground between the Traitor Astartes and the Imperial lines that now tried to form up and advance. The dark armored woman smiled at the Imperial soldiers. "Imperial citizens, in the name of the Emperor, purge them! Bring this abomination to justice!" The entire Imperial force shouted their support and charged forward intent upon slaughtering the beast. Joan tried to yell for them to stay in lines and bring a rain of fire down upon its head. No one listened all were too caught up in their maddening blood lust to care.

The mighty daemon, Adur'Sharak, roared and suddenly a whip of a tentacle smashed the beloved Canoness to the ground. Joan felt her breath leave her as the Imperial army roared its dismay and halted almost immediately. Joan and Hera rushed to the fallen Canoness as the tentacle retracted and the two armies withdrew to regroup and attack once more. A squad of Celestians had reached her first and Sister Pheana stood over the wounded woman in anguish. Upon closer inspection the squad was in anguish and Pheana was merely studying the dieing woman.

Camilla smiled as Joan approached. Her pale skin was blood spattered and her body broken. She would be dead in moments. She motioned weakly for Joan. Joan bowed deeply and painfully made her way forward. First Aurea and now her Canoness? She let a single tear drift down her cheek.

Camilla smiled and took her hand in a bloody gauntlet. "Do not cry for me, child." She said weakly. "I have one last wish before the Emperor takes me to his side…" She coughed and blood wetted her lips.

"What is it, my Lady?" Pheana asked expectantly, the slightest hint of eagerness in her voice.

Joan kissed the bloody gauntlet. "What do you wish, Mother?" She asked in a shaky voice.

The Canoness coughed once more and looked up and smiled as the sun touched her face. "My last order… my last… wish." She coughed again. "Is to appoint the new Canoness…"

Pheana nodded. "I thank you, Canoness, it is a mighty honor to-!"

"I did not say it was you, child." Camilla said as sternly as she could. She smiled again and her hand brushed down Joan's rich brown hair fondly. "I have raised you since you were but a youngling, child." She coughed and Joan seized her hand in both of hers. Camilla smiled. "I… I appoint… Sister Superior Joan to the rank of Canoness of the Order." She smiled one last time and her breathing grew ragged and finally her eyes dulled and her last breath left her broken body. She heard a sob and recognized Sister Lea's voice. Joan looked over her shoulder and tried to gauge the reactions of the warriors that surrounded her.

Hera bowed to her. The Celestians bowed to her as did Lea and Tordaes, both of whom grasped weapons grimly. Pheana glared and stalked off into the ranks of Imperial soldiers that watched the entire ordeal with a bitter growl. Joan lowered the gore soaked hand of the woman who had raised her and stood shakily. Canoness? Her? She turned to the gathered forces and Commissar Aldrecht stalked forward. She watched him coolly. He stepped to the body of the dead woman and gently removed the prayer beads from the belt of the fallen Sororita. He turned back to her and bowed.

His hand offered the beads.

"My Lady Canoness." He said respectfully. He looked up expectantly. "What are your orders?"

Joan looked at the beads. They were worn from use and expertly crafted. She reached out took them. She closed her eyes and gave a prayer to the Emperor for Camilla's soul then another for Aurea's. When she opened her eyes Aldrecht was watching her expectantly. She turned around from the army and saw Adur'Sharak moving forward slowly with the Traitor Astartes bringing up the flanks with the few dozen heretics that were left filliing in the ranks. She looked at the tall statue of the Emperor and how it watched her intently, judging her actions. She saw the bloody and nude form of her crucified Sister and her mind was made up.

"We take back my Sister's body."

-

Sister Geena felt the knife cut through the heart of Sister Aurea and she felt numb. She had wandered these corridors of memory and watched her Sister battle for days yet it felt like a life time. Her Sister was dead, sacrificed to a blood pact to release a mighty daemon upon the souls of humanity. Geena new she was now lost. How could she have failed so horribly?

She turned away from the sight of her dead Sister and made her way back through the nether. Hope was lost, the darkness had won. She considered wandering into the raw warp and letting her soul be yanked apart by its brutal denizens but could not access her powers that had allowed her to battle the daemon, Adur'Sharak, through most of the night. Aurea had not known that she had been mentally slapping away the darkness as it tried to encroach upon them both during the night. Otherwise she would have gladly stayed with Aurea to the bitter end. Though… she supposed she had stayed with her to the end. And now she was left alone…

The nether swirled about her and she wandered lost and alone. Was she bound to roam for eternity? Would she be the solitary watcher over a failing specie called human that killed itself with such devotion that it made faith appear trivial? The nether swirled over her and she mentally sighed. She had failed. She blinked suddenly as a bright light eddied through the shadows of the nether realm.

It was a beacon or a passage. It's light shown into the dead mind of the fallen woman that had been known as Aurea. Geena shot to it, a simple mental push of ones being, and found a figure made entirely of light step into the nether. Where the being's presence arrived the eddies and shadows ebbed away. Geena approached cautiously, who and what was this being?

It saw her and a shining hand beckoned to her.

Come, child.

"Who are you?" She asked in quiet awe.

It is of no matter, we have much work we must accomplish. Your Sister is our key to victory. It replied, the voice was all emotions and thoughts, yet it came through to Geena as clear as if it had spoken in her ear.

She stepped forward, with out knowing why nor caring, the light was comforting. She took its hand and found her armor had been repaired and the blood removed. Her helmet was gone and her deep raven black hair was clean and shown around her pretty oval face and she looked upon the being with shining emerald green eyes. How long had it been since she could feel her face? The being led them back to the sight of Aurea's corpse. Martyred, brutalized, and murdered she hung from the pole coated in her own blood and demise as a great dark shadow covered the square and roared. Geena felt a tear drift down one of her cheeks. Why had Aurea had to die? Why had any of her Sisters had to die?

The being looked at her and Geena felt it smile. She has known the pain and madness of one much older than her, she was sacrificed for her sufferings. Do not weep, child, she has power beyond your knowledge. Not knowing how to respond to such a statement Geena looked up once more and remained silent. The being shown bright enough to illuminate her and make Aurea glow in Geena's vision. Still as the glowing grew and the realm around her vibrated with power Geena looked down upon Aurea's body sadly. Her Sister had become a Martyr, no matter what the being said.

-

Martyium of Sino is translated (to the best of my knowledge, which is scant) to Martyrdom of the Sufferer.

Chapter 6 is being outlined and small bits are being scribbled. So the wait could be a little while.

See you next time,

-J.