Chapter 1
Mon-Kiegh
Mara was floating in darkness, that was the best description she could think off, there was nothing but darkness around her, nothing below her, and nothing above. She wasn't even sure if her eyes were open or closed, she heard something, wisps of voices which seemed to echo in every direction, she couldn't pinpoint the source, there were so many voices that she couldn't separate them.
The darkness in front of her was suddenly illuminated by a blue hue, silencing the voices, slowly the form of a familiar person appeared before her. He was a teenager, his ice blue eyes and dark brown hair clearly visible in the hue that surrounded him, as Mara focused her gaze upon him he smiled.
"Anakin?" she asked, barely able to hear her own voice, she looked at her deceased nephew with joy, happy to see her former pupil again.
Hello Aunt Mara, how have you been?
"Oh the usual" Mara replied, trying to sound casual "Just floating around"
"So I see" Anakin replied.
"Am I dead Anakin?" Mara asked, dreading what the answer might be.
"No Aunt Mara" Anakin replied with a shake of his head "Your not dead, but you are in danger, you must wake up!"
"I don't think I can" Mara said.
"Aunt Mara" Anakin said firmly "Of everyone that I have ever met you were always one of the strongest, you never let anything defeat you, whether it be the emperor's ghost trying to force you to kill Uncle Luke or the spore virus the Yuuzhan Vong infected you with, you beat them all, so don't tell me that you can't beat this!"
"What happened to me" she asked suddenly, her voice shaking as she remembered the events that brought her here, the psychic shockwaves, the cold light that she was surrounded with, the Inquisitor diving towards her, then the roaring darkness.
"I promise you Aunt Mara" Anakin said as he came up to her and hugged her trembling form "That once you get to safety I will explain everything…now roll"
"What?"
"Roll!"
Mara's eyes shot open and in a completely instinctive move rolled, just missing the thin blade of a sword which embedded itself into the ground, she rolled onto her stomach and placing her hand palm down on the ground unleashed a force push, the small discharge in force energy propelled her into the air, she spun, swinging her foot to where her attackers head should be, she only hit air as the warrior ducked and cut upward with her elegant blade, she spun in midair until she faced the ground and reaching down with her hand unleashed another, more powerful force push which sent her flying high into the air, missing the sword by millimetres, she corkscrewed as gravity pulled her back down and landed in a crouch, several meters away from her assailant.
Her opponent could only look at her, her features completely hidden by a helmet, but Mara could still feel the surprise emanating from her. The helmet itself was crescent shaped and her armour was skin tight, revealing a slender figure underneath, far too slender to be human, in her gauntleted hands was an elegant sword of some kind and a deadly looking pistol holstered to her waist. Mara silently seethed when she noticed where she was aiming, her stomach, where her little three month old baby was resting, trying to kill her was one thing, she could live with that but no one, no one threatened her children.
"I don't know who you are" she began "And I really don't care, aim for my baby again and I will send you towards whatever you call god…clear!!!"
The alien warrior either didn't understand her or simply ignored her, she charged at her again, the blade held in her slender hands, spinning so fast that it seemed to be a disk of shinning silver, Mara force-jumped backwards, missing the blade by millimetres she somersaulted and landed back on her feet, she then sidestepped a downward slice from the sword and skidded backwards, kicking up a small cloud of dust as she force-pushed herself back.
"Face me Mon-Keigh" the musical voice of the alien called angrily "Unless your as cowardly as the rest of your race!"
Mara's emerald green eyes flashed angrily as the alien mocked her, she grasped the silver hilt of her lightsabre and unclipped it from her belt, she held the hilt in front of her body and the alien tilted her head to the side quizzically. After a moment the armoured sentient laughed lightly "What is that supposed to-"
Her words were silenced with the sudden sound of a Snap-hiss and an indigo blade snapped into existence, Mara just stood there for a moment, her ignited weapon held firmly in front of her and her head tilted to the ground, a cruel smile spread across her lips, a smile she hadn't used in a long time. She listened to the steady hum of the weapon she held, revelled in the warmth it brought to her skin; many enemies had fallen to this weapon.
"If you wish to fight a Jedi knight" Mara said, her voice barely a whisper but just audible to her opponent "I'll give you more than you bargained for" she then relaxed her body and fell into her favourite combat stance, the Makashi form "Bring it on"
The alien complied and their weapons clashed, Mara disconnected her weapon and spun on her heel, her indigo blade spinning in her hand, she swung her weapon only to have it blocked by her opponent, they continued to strike at each other, power-sword and lightsabre blade clashing continually but Mara's experience and skill was showing, quickly gaining the advantage in the duel and putting her opponent on the defensive, she feigned a strike for her opponents left side only to deliver a lightning fast strike along her leg, leaving a long, shallow burn, the alien gasped in pain as Mara spun on her heel, taking the chance to strike at her sword arm, her blade grazed the young warriors arm, making her drop her power-sword.
Mara took that moment to end the duel, using a force-push to throw her opponent back and hitting of a tree trunk, she slumped to the ground, unconscious. Mara quickly deactivated her lightsabre, gathered the force around her and force-jumped into the trees, jumping from treetop to treetop away from the battle site.
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The chamber was large and majestic, its design was circular with pillars keeping up the domed ceiling, the slightly tanned ceiling glowed with colourful sapphire veins, similar in shape to a spiders web, the walls and pillars were made out of tanned stone, its architecture was so beautiful, seemed so perfect that it was hard to believe that it could be made by a mortals hand, this architecture was a contribution by the ancient Bonesingers who designed and built this great structure since just before the fall.
Sitting in the middle of the vast chamber was the slender form of an Eldar, dressed in the flowing red and white robes of the Siam-Hann seer houses, her long black hair flowed down her shoulders and back, stretching past her floating, cross-legged form, she hovered five meters above the sapphire veined floor, dozens of multicoloured crystals and gems floating around her, slowly rotating around her slender body, her closed eyes fluttered and moved behind closed lids.
Images and pictures appeared in her mind, showing visions of the future, the past and the present, she saw the skirmishes and battles of the Craft-wars when the Siam-Hann clashed with the smaller, more secretive Craftworld of Kaelor almost two centuries ago, she saw the warriors of her home fight alongside the forces of Ulthwe and Biel-Tan against a mass Ork invasion of a string of Exodite worlds, sighing she pushed the visions of the past away from her mind, while she enjoyed watching her peoples past play out before her eyes this wasn't the reason why she was meditating, something was amiss, there was a new, alien presence within the Craftworld.
She summoned her psychic talent to scan the entire world sized vessel, searching for this new presence, the multicoloured stones and gems orbiting around her glowing and flashing from her mental exertions, wisps of mist appeared in her minds eye, slowly forming into the forest covered landscape in the bowls of the ancient ship, a being, dressed in flowing brown robes, underneath she could make out a black skin-tight leather suit, showing her curves with knee high black boots, the oversized hood was down over her shoulders showing long reddish golden hair, unblemished skin and sparkling emerald eyes, the only humans she ever saw before were the Space Marines and Imperial Guard of the Imperium, she had never seen a female of the naïve species before, quite a beautiful creature.
She foresaw two possible outcomes that this humans presence would bring to her home, one saw the female die, her form lying on the ground, blood gushing out of her slit throat, creating a pool of blood around her face and lifeless green eyes, she saw the Craftworld of Siam-Hann burn under the green fire of a thousand alien warships, the second outcome was far more favourable, she foresaw the woman surviving this encounter, she saw alliances made, agreements reached, she saw a battle in a far away star system where those same warships fought alongside her peoples own vessels, the choice was clear.
Her shinning ruby red eye fluttered open and in a single, elegant motion uncrossed her legs and let them touch the ground, the dozens of stones which rotated around her began to slowly descend onto the tanned rock floor, she remained standing there for a moment before turning towards the entrance to this holy place.
"Exarch Psicosis" she said softly to one of three beings leaning against the stone pillars to her right, the three beings were of the Warp Spiders, their red, white and black armour symbolising the ancient aspect temple they represented, a myriad of belts and satchels hung from the armour, showing an assortment of knives and pistols, one of the spiders crossed his arms across his chest and vanished in a puff of white static electricity, he reappeared before the seer, coming down to a knee and bowing deeply.
"Yes Farseer" he said reverently, his voice amplified by his helmet.
"There is a human in the Craftworld" she said, her voice soft and delicate, the Warp Spider Exarch tensed at the more tame name for that species "She resides in the great forests below, I wish you to find and bring her to me, alive and unharmed"
"How did a human get here?" he asked suddenly, his voice tense and barely controlled before he got a hold of his emotions and a wave of shame enveloped him "Forgive me for my outburst honoured Farseer, but shouldn't we eliminate her as a threat to the innocents of this Craftworld?"
"I foresee that such action could be suicidal for us Exarch Psicosis" the Farseer replied, she and the Exarch had been friends since they were childlings and although he had lost much of his memory when he became an Exarch of Khaine the bond between them still remained, a bond that she felt could have become more if he hadn't taken the path of the warrior, and she the seer "I sense that she means us no harm, she feels lost, confused, as if she didn't plan on coming here, her presence feels…different from any other human presence I have felt before"
"Honoured Farseer" the Exarch asked, bringing her out of her thoughts, she caught herself on and managed a smile, her eyes closing as she spoke.
"Go" she finally said "Find her and bring her to me, I sense that if you simply talk to her she will listen"
"A human who is prepared to listen" the Exarch said as if finding it hard to believe, he bowed deeper and vanished in a flash of white static electricity, his compatriots doing the same.
That is a rare thing he finished telepathically.
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"Aunt Mara?"
"Anakin"
"Quite a display, I think you rattled her cage a little" Anakin chided as his force presence reappeared. Mara stopped her stroll through the dense undergrowth of the forest to face her nephew, she had gained several kilometres between herself and her temporarily unmoveable foe.
"She's young by her peoples standards, yet in years I have a feeling she surpasses me" Mara explained before setting a glare upon her glowing nephew "Right, where am I, how did I get here and how in the force do I get back?"
"Um" Anakin stuttered "Aren't we full of questions, well as far as I know-"
"As far as you now" Mara repeated, a red eyebrow quirking upwards in disbelief "What do you mean as far as you now, you force spirits are supposed to have a greater understanding of the galaxy than us mere mortals, supreme beings and all that"
"Where did you hear that?" Anakin asked with an innocent look "I barely now what I had for breakfast this morning"
"Cut the joking about Solo" Mara said exasperated "I swear you get that from your father" it was then that she realised how much she missed her former pupil, her head fell "I missed these moments"
"Me too Aunt Mara" Anakin replied with a sad smile "Shall I begin again?"
Mara nodded and, leaning against the trunk of an ancient tree listened to the explanations given to her by her nephew "As far as I know you have been transported from one galaxy to another" he began, trying to ignore the shocked look from his aunt and failing miserably "You are on a planet sized ship known to its inhabitants as a Craftworld, you have been missing for roughly six months"
"Six months" Mara asked, trying desperately to mask the shock on her face "How is this possible?"
"We aren't sure ourselves, but those shockwaves that you felt must have torn reality open and you were one of the few unlucky people who got dragged in, they came from a space anomaly known as the Eye of Terror, a gateway if you will to another dimension known as the warp, there is a similar distortion in this galaxy, at the moment, the empires of the GA are preparing for all out war with the eyes inhabitants and the Imperium of Man is sending forces to assist" he paused to let the information sink in before continuing "This eyes power is scary, even those of the netherworld are worried about it, all that we sense from the eye is a darkness that even the Sith could not match"
"I must get back" Mara said, determined "They will need my help" And I need to tell Luke that I am alive, he must be devastated, the thought of the love of her life brought a deep longing to her heart, an ache to see him and her son again, to embrace them and tell them that she was alive.
"Aunt Mara I will try and help you anyway I can" Anakin said firmly, obviously picking up on her train of thought "But my help may be limited because of, you know" he stretched out his hands in the form of a crucifix and turned three hundred and sixty degrees.
"I know" Mara replied "Any help I can get ill take"
"Hey you have a supreme being with infinite knowledge by your side, you'll be fine" Anakin replied with a wink.
"I thought you said you couldn't even remember what you had for breakfast this morning" Mara chided.
"I don't" Anakin replied "But I know plenty of other stuff"
"I feel so relieved" Mara said sarcastically.
"Oh and one more thing" Anakin said "You will meet an Eldar warrior, he will introduce himself as Exarch Psicosis, I recommend that you trust him, at least for now"
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With three near blinding flashes the Warp Spiders appeared in the clearing, scanning the surrounding area for any sign of the Mon-Kiegh, they fanned out and searched the foliage around the clearing, their power-blades and deathspinners ready for any surprise, it was then that they found the Howling Banshee, she lay unconscious against the trunk of a tree, painful looking burn marks were found on her left leg and right arm, but they didn't appear to be serious.
As the arachnids moved to try and awaken their fallen comrade Exarch Psicosis rose to scan the clearing once again, his hand grasping the engraved golden hilt of his power-sword, she was here, he could feel the Mon-Kiegh's alien presence, smell her scent, there were no tracks but he saw a freshly broken branch from a nearby tree and immediately knew which direction his quarry had gone, crossing his arms across his armoured chest he vanished in a bright white flash, leaving his brethren behind to care for the wounded Banshee
He reappeared several kilometres away, scanning the surrounding area once again for any sign of the Mon-Kiegh, after a moment of hesitation he crossed his arms across his chest and jumped once again, reappearing several more kilometres away, he landed gracefully on a sturdy branch and looked down to see the red haired Mon-Kiegh, she was walking carefully through the forest, making sure to leave nothing out of place, smiling he drew several throwing needles from one of his belts, placing them three each between his gloved fingers.
Remember Exarch the Farseers soft voice echoed through his mind I wish her unharmed
Hesitantly the Exarch put away his needles and in a graceful movement fell from his perch and landed in a crouch, accidentally snapping a few twigs as he landed, the snapping noises made the human suddenly jumped to her feet, a metallic cylinder shooting into her hand by some unseen force, could this human be a psyker…no, he didn't sense the familiar psychic presence as a Psyker, but there was definitely something.
The Mon-Kiegh spun to where he was, her intelligent emerald eyes scanning the foliage and finding him, her eyes widened in surprise when she saw his armoured form and slowly she began to back away, her weapon snapping to life, showing a beautiful violet blade which hummed and sparked with energy.
"Wait" he said, placing his gauntleted hands in plain view to show her he hadn't drawn any weapons "I am Exarch Psicosis of the Warp Spiders, I mean you no harm, the honourable Farseer wishes to meet with you"
For what seemed like an eternity the human female stood unmoving, her weapons hum the only thing that could be heard in the otherwise silent forest, finally she conceded, her impressive weapon deactivating and floating onto her belt under the flowing brown robes, she then raised her hands up in surrender. Behind his helmet the Exarch quirked an eyebrow in surprise, suspicious that this seemed so easy.
Honoured Farseer he sent
Yes Exarch Psicosis
The human has surrendered to me without a fight, I await your direction
Take her to the edge of the forest she sent back to him, there will be a Falcon Gravity Tank waiting for you, take her straight to the Warp Spiders shrine; I will be awaiting your arrival there.
Why is this human so important milady
…I will explain later Exarch, our friend seems to have a slight understanding of our language
The Exarch immediately spun around to face the human, her eyes were closed and her face was creased slightly in concentration, a slight blue aura was surrounding her, completely invisible to all but a Psyker, which the Exarch was, he reached out into the warp, only to find that she wasn't using it, in fact she was completely blind to the powers of the warp, he sensed something else, a warmer, more welcoming aura.
Human he said telepathically can you understand me?
The red haired human nodded her head in response to this, much to the surprise of the Exarch.
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Mara sat in a metal chair, strapped in by a safety harness, she closed her eyes and felt the gentle humming of the alien vehicles gravity defying engines, they were quiet but just barely audible, there were very few vibrations, no bumps or swerves, in fact by all accounts the trip was fairly relaxing, fairly, but not quite, the two lithe forms of Eldar Guardians sat across from her, their hands gripping exotic, long barrelled rifles of some description. To her left and right sat the slightly bulkier forms of Warp Spiders, their own hands gripping larger, more deadly looking rifles, the Banshee sat further down, conscious and seething, finally standing beside the door which connected the cockpit to the main hold was the deadly form of Exarch Psicosis. At the moment Mara felt more like a deadly criminal than an accidental guest.
"We are almost there" she heard Psicosis say simply, his voice amplified by the speaker in his oval shaped helmet, his black eye visors completely unreadable "You will enter this holy place unarmed, your weapons will be temporarily taken from you, the Farseer is one of our most precious souls so if we feel she is threatened you will be incapacitated, do you understand?"
Mara simply nodded her head, to show that she was serious she unclipped her lightsabre and tossed it towards the Exarch, who instinctively caught it, the soldiers around her tensed their grips of their weapons but relaxed again when they saw her intensions. She felt the tank begin to decelerate and stop, it then slowly descended and came to a complete halt, she rose with her captors and was lead out of the vehicle, as she descended the landing ramp her eyes hurt from the sudden brightness of the outside, but adapted to the change.
She was standing in a courtyard made of well crafted stone, tanned in colour and sculptured to show ancient battles between what she guessed were the Warp Spiders against other beings lay beneath her feet, all around the courtyard were beautiful alien trees and thick brush, finally her eyes caught the attention of a structure, its walls made out of the same tanned stone with a domed roof, the walls were inscribed with ancient runes and hieroglyphs from an ancient language that she could never hope to understand, even from where she stood she could feel the psychic energies that seemed to resonate from the structure, giving a warmth to her heart and soul, dispelling all of her negative emotions.
As the Exarch led her towards the temple she saw the shadowy silhouettes of Warp Spiders, standing or crouching half concealed on the ledges and tops of the temple and the pillars surrounding her, there must have been twenty, perhaps thirty of them watching her with a mixture of emotions including curiosity, fear and disgust. She flinched under their gazes and suddenly wished that she hadn't given the Exarch her lightsabre. What unnerved her most was the lithe form of the Banshee who was stalking a few meters behind, her emotions a mixture of shame at herself and disgust towards her, Mara hid a smile, she had seriously bruised her ego more than anything else during their duel.
As Mara walked up the steps of the temple she noticed that her captors had remained behind, everyone but the Exarch had stopped at the base of the steps, as Mara came up past the last step she felt the energy, the pulse of this place, almost as if the temple was a living thing, the force flowed so easily here, she felt it, unobstructed like the calming stream of a small river. She instinctively came down to a knee, bowed her head and found herself quickly reciting the ancient Jedi code, she never considered herself religious, but the calmness of the force here brought a reverence and comfort that she never felt within the old Coruscanti temple or the new Ossus temple.
There is no emotion, there is peace.
There is no ignorance, there is knowledge.
There is no passion, there is serenity.
There is no death, there is the Force.
She rose to her feet and ignoring the unbelieving stare from the Warp Spider walked through the temple entrance, breathing in the static air and eventually finding herself walking into a large chamber, its domed ceiling held up by thick, tanned stone pillars, the walls, floor and ceiling were also made of tanned stone with glowing sapphire lines stretching through them like the veins of a spiders web, adding an eerie supernatural light to this ancient and beautiful place.
Hovering cross legged in the centre of the chamber was the slender form of an Eldar woman, her long black hair stretching past her shoulders, past her robed body and ending in a black pool on the floor, her porcelain colored face was beautifully relaxed and calm, almost as if she were in a state of sleep, unsure of what to do Mara turned to the Exarch who stood behind her, he simply glanced back at her, his helmet showing no emotion.
Hesitantly Mara moved forward, feeling the force take on new heights of power, it was as if the forces flow was bending and reshaping itself around her, but of its own accord instead of being forced to do so, Mara stopped a meter away from the Farseers hovering form and waited, not wanting to interrupt her from her state of meditation, a train of thought hit Mara, this person was force-sensitive.
Gracefully the Eldar uncrossed her legs and let her bare feet settle on the smooth floor, she opened her eyelids and beautiful, sparkling ruby red orbs gazed intently at Mara, radiating purity and self confidence, she tilted her head quizzically, strands of long black hair falling across her porcelain face.
Welcome Mara-Jade Skywalker of the Jedi order she sent telepathically, her voice soft and comforting you must have questions
I got goose-pimples while writing this, it was one of the most enjoyable chapters that I ever wrote, probably because out of all of the factions in Warhammer the Eldar are by far my favorite, for helping me in this chapter I used a Warhammer book called Eldar Prophecy by C.S Goto, very interesting book. Anyway how did you like this chapter, did I get everything right?