Kaurava III

Caerys's Journal Entry: 1243

What do humans know of our pain? We have talked to them only recently. They have calmed our worries of the Necron's prescence here but my worries lie with another race. The star once lived and died at our command, and I, I who have seen the birth of stars and the death of galaxies... I am afraid. Why the humans came t talk to us I do not know but I do know one thing: I am afraid. I do not fear death. I do not fear the Necrons, I do not fear the powers of Chaos, the Tau empire, Ork hordes or any human from th Imperium. But I fear my own kin. I am afraid. After hearing of what happened to Taldeer, I think that she was lucky. Even though her soul stone is in the hands of Chaotic powers it has not been broken. She is safe from She Who Thirsts and her everlasting hunger. The one thing that I want the most is for our past to leave us and perish, thus destroying The Dark Eldar.

"Farseer, and army of The Fallen have left the moon of Lecunae and have landed on Kaurava IV" reported Arcanis

"Thank you Warlock" said Caerys, closing her journal "We are prepared for an attack made by the darker branch of our kind?"

"Yes Farseer, but-"

'Yes?"

"Must we fight? Are you sure we could not negotiate with them?"

Arcanis, I know that you like to fight but you seem fearful. Is anything wrong?"

"It's just that we are fighting our own kind, it makes me feel uneasy"

"Arcanis they will never, never truly be your kin. They travelled down the path of darkness and what has happened to them is their fault and theirs alone"

"Yes Farseer"

"That is all, Arcanis"

Meanwhile...

The usually quiet swamps lands of Kaurava IV was roared to life as many bladed craft descended to the ground. Archon Tahril and his Incubi stepped off the Raider and viewed the swamps. Hundreds of Dark Eldar followed suit and got off the Raiders and started to order the slaves to build a large camp. Tahril saw the reddish-pink glow of the Warp-maddened Chaos buildings. The Alpha Legion must have decided that this swamp land was too difficult on troops to take this place, thus leaving a single Chaos Sorceror in control with thousands of cultists and other chaos units. Tahril chuckled to himself at the thought of him losing to these warp-maddened minions of Slaanesh. Tahril and his force flew up into the dark clouds.

"Hellions! I want you to make hit and run attacks along with the Reaver Jetbikes. We'll follow on the Raiders and the Ravens will give you cover fire" barked Tahril

"Yeeeehaaaaaa!" shouted the Hellions and Reaver Jetbikes as they dove out of the clouds onto the startled minions of Chaos. The Chaos minions, after quickly recovering from their initial shock opened poorly aimed fire on the quickly descending Hellions and Reaver Jetbikes but their bravery lasted for at least 7 seconds as they broke ranks and started running all over the place for cover. The clouds broke as the Raiders and Ravens dove out of cloud cover. The Warriors, Wyches, Mandrakes and Archon with his Incubi leaped off the Raiders and the Scourges dove out of the clouds with their black pinions, splinter cannons and Dark Lances flashing. The Wyches dove at the Warp-mutated Marines, impalers stabbing into the mutants. The mutants retaliated with warp fie but the Wyches leaped over the mutants stabbing their impalers into the mutants' head.

Grumenael took a careful aim and readied his stinger dart to fire it at the Chaos Sorceror who was leading the forces in this area. As he was about to fire he was knocked down by an explosion which was caused by a Hell Talon plummeting to the ground, the pilot scrambling out of the craft but Grummenael leapt up and shot him in the head with the stinger. Realizing his mistake, Grumenael ran from the pilot who then exploded, his bone killing those around him, his blood eating through armour and skin. Grumenael cursed under his breath, knowing that it would take time for another to be developed, deciding what was done was done then charged at the cultists, scissorhand twitching for blood.

Tahril stabbed and hacked at the mad minions of the Warp, his Incubi following him closely. Tahril turned to see a massive warp-mutant standing behind him and was thrown back into a wall. His Incubi charged at the monstrosity but their efforts were in vain as the monster deeply inhaled, head facing the sky and spat forward a huge amount of warpfire at the charging bodyguards. Tahril got up and fired his shredder at the monster, who struggled against the thin weblike mesh that was covering it. The mesh soon started to cut the huge warp-mutant, after five seconds the mutant was in several pieces.

Grumenael soon found a clear spot and readied his stinger dart. He fired it at the Chao Sorceror and his aim was true, hitting the Sorceror in the arm. The Sorceror quickly pulled out the dart but it was too late, as the extremely unstable, virulent poison coursed around his body. He fire a clump of doombolts at the Dark Eldar as a last act to stop them but was unsuccesful in stopping them. He soon exploded, his blood and bone killing the bodygurads around him.

With the death of the Sorceror, the Chaos minion's morale soon crumbled and they surrendered. The Dark Eldar took many prisoners that day, sending some as a tribute to Commorragh, some for the Slave Chambers and the rest for Grumenaels Torture Grounds. Tahril had a new unit of Incubi recruited for him and actually put his old unit in the Black Heart Kabal's Hall of Carnage (like the hall of fame). Grummenael cackled gleefully over his victims, experimenting and torturing for many days and nights. Many of his victims were put into the Talos', others warped into Mandrakes, others become Wracks and served Grumenael and the other Haemonculi that had answered the call. Some even became Haemonculi, that is considered a great achivement and a great honour among the Haemonculus Covens. Tahril knew that the battle for Kaurava wasn't over yet, there would be more fighting to come if they were to take the entire system. But it was time to replenish Slaanesh's thirst with souls so he left the thought of it slip from his mind. By the time that they had finished feeding, it was night.

"Full moon... a perfect opportunity for another raid. Where to next pilot?" said Tahril

"Parmenie Archon" replied the pilot

"Good... Black Heart Kabal! Ripskins! Cult of Strife! Prophets of Flesh! We ride!" screamed Tahril

At these words, the warriors, wyches, mandrakes, and Haemonculi jumped onto the Raiders. The Ripskins Hellion gang (which is the dominating Hellion Gang in Commorragh) flew up after the Ravens, Ravagers, Reaver Jetbikes and Raiders. The Scourges leaped into the air and flew in he clouds so they could stealthily keep watch over the forces on the ground. The Talos', Reaver Jetbikes and Warp Beasts stuck to either skimming over the ground or running.

When Tahril and his force reached the Murad Swamplands they found nothing but bodies. The entire place was destroyed, fire all over the place. Tahril barked orders at his force and everyone began to check the area for any survivors.

"Arrrrchon!" hissed one of the Mandrakes

"What is it? asked a frantic Tahril.

"I ffffound one"

"What happened? ANSWER ME!" shouted Tahril

"W-we came under attack" croaked a Chaos Marines, with a large blade protruding from his chest, blood leaking from a few gaps in his chest. "We fell under attack so... fast! *cough cough* We thought it was you who attacked us but the enemy was just not cruel enough, another thing, they killed everyone, at least they thought everyone..."

"Tell me Warp minion, did they're guns fire white shards of crystal?" inquired Tahril

"Y-yes, why would you want to know tha-*ugh*" said the Chaos Marine as he died.

"KIRAHIL!" cursed Tahril

"Our milksop kin, they knew how weak we would be without fresh souls..." said Grumenael

"We havvvve 24 hours left to find more souls before we start feeling Ssssslaneshs' pull" hissed the Mandrake

"Then we must hasten. Dark Eldar! Onto the Raiders and on the double! We have to find fresh souls!" Tahril barked. As the last Talos and last Warp Beast left the area, Craftworld Eldar emerged from cracks, bushes and foilage.

"I didn't know they would come here so fast" said Arcanis, in awe of their determination

"If they had gotten to Kronus in time during the Dark Crusade, Taldeers soul stone wouldn't exist, she'd be alive in the Dark City, wishing she was dead." Said Caerys "It's lucky that the Mon-Keigh Space Marines won against us there. If the Dark Eldar had reached there in time, it would be devoid of all life"

"We are to go back to Kaurava III?" asked Arcanis "Because if we can deplete their intake of pain, fear, suffering and souls we could drive them from the system"

"No. They're too smart for that, they'd just go back to Commorragh for all of those things" replied Caerys

"Then what do you propose we do?"

"We wait for the dark branch of our kind to come to us, and we keep dealing with the Necrons"

"Let us go then" said Arcanis

Elsewhere...

As the Raiders, Ravagers, Reaver Jetbikes and Hellions screamed across the land, Scourges following above the clouds with the Ravens whilst on the ground, the Talos Pain Engines and Warp Beasts moving on the ground, all looking for one thing: prey.

"Where are we?" asked Tahril

"Somewhere amongst the Parmenian Heath Archon" replied the pilot of his personal Raider.

"Is there anything turning up on the radar? Anything?"

"No Archon, I can't see anything"

"Then we might as well leave the system"

"Archon! I've got something, an ancient gate, used to transport armies between worlds" said the excited pilot "It appears to be heavily guarded and full of fresh souls for harvesting"

"Good, EVERYONE! Into the clouds! HAHAHAHAHAHA!"