Controller
Chapter 3
Experiment
The great battle barge Luminous Ascension rode the vast waves of the Immaterium.
Many daemons immediately knew that this was no ordinary vessel of the material universe. In the direction it pointed, for as far as their corrupted eyes could see, the unceasing storms of the Warp were calm and beckoned to it. As though in retaliation to such an indignity, the area around the tunnel of calm pulsed and thundered in defiance, but to no avail. Not only this, but a tsunami of pure energy rode behind the ship, carrying it, yet not engulfing it. The vast storm acted as a tail wind, propelling the barge forward at speeds otherwise unattainable.
Some daemons saw all of this and backed away as quickly as they could. But even as they did, something pulled on them, beckoning them towards the Imperial ship. They reacted with horror to the psychic pull, seeing it as a creature's attempt to invite them to their own doom.
Many daemons ignored such obvious signs and charged forward hungrily. Still others succumbed to the psychic beacon on board, rushing to the vessel, willing to do anything to get to their prize within the coffin of iron and steel.
The lucky ones were plastered against the battle barge's Gellar Field, splattering against it and disintegrating as their bodies were torn from the Warp and into realspace, and vice versa, simultaneously. They did not even get the chance to scream.
Others were torn aside by the rip currents surrounding the ship, generated by its sheer speed, and hurtled back into the immense Warp storm that propelled it along. They screamed as the maelstrom of energy swallowed them ravenously, tearing them apart with bolts of Chaotic lightning and currents of titanic scale.
Still more that dashed for the vessel were shunted away by the rip currents, flung out into the Formless Wastes with bone shattering force that tore them limb from limb, leaving broken bodies adrift, sure to be devoured within minutes by another passing daemon.
All this happened within the span of a minute, and had been going through such a repeating cycle for nigh on four days. Those within the protective bubble of realspace noticed none of it in the slightest...
-%-%-%-%-%-%-
Aboard the Luminous Ascension
Jonathan paced nervously across the bridge, eyed by several ever-present Tyranid strains.
Four whole days of experimenting had revealed an awful lot about what he was capable of. It also showed that the power scared the living crap out of him.
After the trial involving a clear path, he decided to make a few waves...literally...he had told the area behind the ship to nudge it forward, and it did. With the way things stood, they were not really sailing the Warp like a ship anymore, but riding it like a surfer on a massive wave.
The fact that he could do that so easily, and for four days on end without even keeping his mind on it, was a source of nervousness at least. Who knew what else he was capable of? Worse even, what if he did something that couldn't be reversed? Such had been done many times, and examples were plentiful.
The Horus Heresy, the birth of Slaanesh, the Emperor's effectual incarceration on the Golden Throne...and those were just the big ones...
"Any change, Luminous?" Jon asked absent-mindedly.
Jonathan, the ship responded with a touch of irritation. If there were any abnormalities, we would have informed you. The storm has followed what you told it to, and there is no evidence of it deviating from the purpose you gave it.
"Right, sorry," the teen said, still pacing. "When do we get there?"
Within the hour, the sentient battle barge answered. But we are unable to deploy drop pods on our own, nor are you equipped to prepare or launch one, let alone ride in it. You will need to use teleportation to reach the surface of Typhon Primaris.
Jonathan nodded, continuing to pace. The plan had been worked out during the second day of the trip. An outright assault and taking out the Lost and Damned, killing Eliphas, and then pulling the Tyranids out would be perfect...if not for the fact that the Space Marines would not react in any sort of positive way to Tyranid help.
So that left a solo mission, exactly the wrong thing to do when you don't know what your own powers are. Granted, having a sentient battle barge as backup certainly helped, and the Tyranids could grow their own drop pods. All the same, it was an uncomfortable notion. Not only that, but despite all of his powers, his mental capacity appeared to be the same. Everything he had done so far appeared to be autonomous, continuing until he told it to stop. Yet what would happen when he needed to do something that wasn't automatic? He had voiced that worry to Luminous more than once.
And yet neither could help but think back to the being's advice: experiment.
He had also thought about something else. In this universe, you didn't just get powers like this for no reason. Jonathan knew that he was supposed to do something with them...but what? How was he supposed to do anything?
...Alright, that's it.
"Luminous, drop us out ASAP," Jonathan said.
I do not understand, the ship intoned. Are we not going to Typhon to discover exactly what you can do?
"Yes, yes we were," the teen responded, taking a seat at a console. "But I came up with another idea. Why don't we have the guy who was here earlier tell me what I can do?"
There was someone else here?
He quickly explained.
I see, Luminous said quietly. But how do you know that this 'being' will appear again?
"Call it a gut feeling," Jon said, sitting back and folding his hands behind his head with a smug smile. "The guy seemed in a big hurry, so I doubt he'll like that I'm waffling around..."
-%-%-%-%-%-
A hole appeared in realspace, opening in a circular form and belching forth an immense starship. The battle barge coasted forward, not propelling itself and yet not needing to come to a complete halt in the vast space between stars.
Aboard the vessel, not five minutes passed before a not-Blood Raven appeared just in front of Jonathan. He didn't even flinch.
"What are you doing?" the fake Marine demanded bluntly, and sounding more than a little annoyed.
"Nothing," the teen said back, cocking his head to the side.
"Why?" the Marine shot back, though he still did not move a muscle. "You are supposed to be finding the full extent of your power!"
"Which would be a lot easier if I had an explanation," Jon said blandly. "So I'm not doing anything until I get one, got it?"
For a moment, the two just stared at each other. Jon wasn't sure if it was just that he thought he could fling the being back if he threatened or if all of the past events since he appeared on Typhon had numbed him. It had to be one of the two, since he would not be doing this otherwise.
Then the being did something that caught the teen off guard. He chuckled.
"I had forgotten how you could be," he said when the mild mirth subsided, no longer sounding nearly as annoyed.
Jonathan raised an eyebrow. This guy knew him before? How was that possible? Maybe he had been disguised as someone he knew back in the 'normal' universe?
"Very well," the being continued with a sound of finality in his voice. "If you want an explanation..."
The teen nearly jumped out of his skin when two ceramite gauntlets clapped onto his shoulders and hoisted him into the air.
"You shall have one."
Without a even a sound or flash, both disappeared.
-%-%-%-%-%-
Jonathan fell to the ground with a curse. He got up, wincing and wiping the dirt from his stolen uniform.
"What the hell was that?" He demanded. "Where did you take me?"
Then he noticed that the being standing over him didn't look the same as before. He still wore armor, but instead of being blood red, it was pure, blinding white, without a single symbol of any type. The eyepieces of his helmet were a deep, pulsing blue.
"In terms of distance, nowhere," the being answered. Though the quality of his voice had changed, there was something about his tone...Jon just could not put his finger on it.
Not that he was really trying at the moment. He was trying to wrap his mind around what he was seeing.
All around him was...well, they could best be described as clouds, though that was hardly accurate. The "clouds" were formed from pure energy, and glowed in variations of bruise purple and blood red. Floating diamonds of ground spotted the area. They were massive, flying mountains, if the sheets of green and other colors were flora. Then again, he was in the Warp, for Christ's sake! They could be giant blocks of green rock!
Something else hit him, a very good question that he wanted to know the answer to.
"I'm not dead," he said, wide eyed and awestruck, looking back to the whitewashed figure. "Why?"
"The answer is certainly not a simple one," the armored one said with a shrug. "And explaining it with speech would take far too long."
The teen cracked an eyebrow.
"Then how are you g-"
He was cut off when the fake Marine put his armored palm to the boy's forehead. For a moment he felt...something that could not be described. After that, a strange sense of understanding, of truth, and of purpose. He felt something loosen in his mind...then the being retracted his hand.
Jonathan merely stood for a moment, blinking and shaking his head before looking back at the being.
"I...understand...I think..." he stated uncertainly.
The being shrugged. "I do not expect you do fully understand at this moment, that will come with time. For now, you only need to know a part of your purpose."
"To replace you?" Jon asked. His neck was getting stiff from looking up for so long, but he ignored it.
"Hardly," the being responded with a light snort. "My purpose is far removed from yours in every sense except your introduction to the task I am setting you to do. Now that the ability to comprehend your task is hardwired into your brain, I can now answer your questions."
It didn't take long for Jon to think of one.
"About hard wiring that comprehension, who were those three-"
"They are you," the being cut off, baffling Jonathan for a moment, until it was explained further.
"Until the due time comes, you cannot do this alone," the being said with a tone of severity. "You are powerful, and do not think otherwise, but not invincible. They will aid you when you cannot do something alone. Already, one of them is nearing his destination within the Warp, and the others are not too far from their's. You will need to begin the trek to yours soon."
That answered his next question. In the back of Jonathan's mind, something was nudging him, making an arrow in his mind's eye. Towards what, he knew somewhere in his mind, but then he didn't know at the same time. It was getting confusing.
Apparently anticipating the next question, the being continued.
"You are a judge."
...What?
The sentiment no doubt showed on the teen's face.
"Surely, as one so familiar with this world, even while living in yours, you know a few of the legends," the being said, seeming to be surprised at Jon's confusion. "If you do not do what you are supposed to do, the balance will tip towards Chaos. You know this to be the case."
"You think I knew that I was supposed to save everything!" Jon exclaimed, throwing his arms in the air. "I thought that was the Emperor's job!"
"What, the man sitting half-dead on the Golden Throne?" the being asked, taken aback. "His power is great, but not enough to accomplish all of this while on his deathbed."
"In case you haven't noticed, daemons aren't the most receptive to anything that isn't also daemonic," the teen said through clenched teeth.
"Receptive is not what you want, anyway. You want fear. And in any case, they will do half of the work for you."
Now Jon was even more confused.
"Still confused, I see..." the being said, shaking his head and raising his sword. "Then I say it's time we speed this up."
Then everything flashed bright white.
-%-%-%-%-%
Within the forever burning, eternally frozen, chaotic realm of the Warp, a structure churned through the dimension of energy, twisting in patterns that could render an eyewitness insane merely from glancing towards it.
Pathways appeared for microseconds before turning into drooling, daemonic maws. Doors opened, revealing peaceful, serene savannas, only to close and open again to reveal rivers of molten rock, allowing the burning stream to flow into the maze. Yet through its pathways walked birdlike daemons and greater daemons, tending to the great Maze of Tzeentch, and guarding against those who would threaten it. At the great gate stood a Lord of Change, seeming insignificant in size when compared to the massive doors behind him, which stretched for miles in every direction and twisted into knots hundreds of times over.
The birdlike creature kept its eyes trained on a figure approaching on the golden path, the only thing within the domain of the Changer of Ways that remained mundane. He appeared to be human, but his entire body was encased in armor, yet not the armor of the False Emperor's armies. It was far too thin to belong to a Space Marine.
The man's armor was decorated with ancient symbols off every kind, and it curved in beautiful, smooth patterns that nearly spoke of the followers of Tzeentch, but the daemon remained on his guard. By nature, all things of Tzeentch were unpredictable. He saw no immediate danger through his future sight...and that unnerved him. All things had a potential threat or a potential for gain, and both possibilities always registered for Lords of Change. Yet this creature...it was as though it did not even exist.
As the figure came closer, more details of his form became visible. His armor was, for the most part, jet black, with golden patterns here and there. A long, tattered cloak billowed behind him, attaching at his shoulders and neck. His helm had a glowing blue, cross-shaped visor, but it appeared to have no neck joint, instead blending smoothly into his shoulder and chest armor. The top of his helmet glowed with the light of an unnatural fire, which burned dark blue. On either side of him floated small machines, their only notable feature being the picters at their centers, which gazed around as the figure walked, no doubt linking what they saw directly to him.
The figure came to a stop before the Sentinel. Both merely gazed at each other for a moment, or at least the daemon did. It was hard to tell what the man was looking at.
The man slowly extended an armored, clawed hand to the hilt of a sword at his waist, barely visible past the man's cape. The daemon remained unmoving, though its mind was ill at ease. Then the strange creature spoke.
"I shall say this nicely only once," he said abruptly, his voice callous and condescending. "Step aside."
-%-%-%-%-%
A/N: Hey ho, readers!
Here is the (surprisingly very anticipated ^^; didn't think this story would get popular at all...) next chapter of Controller. I hope you enjoyed it!
But allow me to say something. Please be aware that fanfiction, being something I do only for fun, that I write is not always as highly fleshed out as the far better professional writers on this site (though they also do fanfics for fun), and as such, you may notice the story moving a bit quickly, etc, etc. Don't worry though, I will continue to put thought into what I write and how I write it, but please do not expect an epic like "The God of Death" (a very good Warhammer 40k fanfiction, by the way, I highly recommend it). You can, however, expect a thrill ride. I guarantee that this story will have more twists and turns in it than the Maze of Tzeentch, and an out of this world base for the story. If you think you know what's going on, you'll very quickly be proven wrong in the next few chapters. ;)
Until then...
As always, Reads and Reviews are welcome.
P.S.- Luminous, the Hive Mind, and Jonathan are far from the only main characters here. The new guys will start piling up quickly, as will the real conflict; a challenge even for the Controller of the Warp and his three unknown allies. Eventually, you Dawn of War 2 fans might even see a familiar face or two.
P.S.S.- I apologize for the % signs instead of dividers. The site's formatting farted out on me.