A.N.: Hello everyone, and welcome to chapter 22! I'm glad people enjoyed the Imperator, I always was a bit disappointed when I learned it is only 50 metres or so tall. That's smaller than pretty much every cathedral out there! How is it supposed to fit one on its head? But I'm not here to rant. I'm here to thank everyone for following so far, for leaving such kind reviews and for making this passion project such a fun one! Now, before we get started, answering a question!
To arispuffer: Well for the eldar, it is a bit of a damned if you do, damned if you don't (typical eldar stuff). They want to remove Anya as a threat that can only grow exponentially if left alone, but are not at all certain killing her won't just send her back to the Hive to be reborn in a much, much stronger fleet. So they kidnap her, put her in a box, and hope to get a bit of info whilst keeping her as placated as possible before locking her away forever.
With all that said, hope you're all having a nice week, and see you next chapter!
Edit: Replaced Alice with Ashley...oops!
The fire lance crackled with power as it fired; Searing the head off of the demon as the carnosaur it was riding kept its jaws firmly clamped on the midsection of the flamer. It let out a deafening screech as it was banished back to the Immaterium, the exodite not even sparing it a glance before it was guiding its companion in battle towards the next opponent. Around them the battle raged on; Having been forced to unleash the ancient weaponry of their ancestors upon the trespassers, the Exodites were able to put up somewhat of a fight against the hordes of demons unleashed on their world by the failure of a webway gate. Magic coursed through the skies as the demonic horde employed their dark arts against them.
Cackling demons of the Changer and the Dark Prince combined surged from various cracks in reality, throwing themselves at the defenders in surprisingly ferocious attacks; Near suicidal even. Such reckless tactics were taking their toll on the attacker and defender alike, but only one had effectively numberless reinforcements to call upon. The air cracked and shivered as a greater demon made its way through; A keeper of secrets appearing in a plummet of pink flames, giggling ecstatically at the feeling of so many souls nearby.
A thrum vibrated through the air, before in a flash hundreds of craftworld asuryani materialized as if out of nowhere; Warp spiders immediately taking upon themselves the task of rending apart as many demons as they could get their claws on, disappearing and reappearing out of thin air before unleashing shurikens upon the foe. Despite himself, the exodite found a grudging gratefulness at seeing their estranged kin come to their aid. Above, fighters joined the battle as minor webway gates began materializing around them, thousands of aspect warriors pouring out of them led by farseers, soon supported by large vehicles such as fire-prisms and even a few wraith-lords. The exodite grew a feral smile.
Time for the counter-attack.
Ylsen's eyes flickered from holographic screen to console display to ground report. They had entered the system not an hour ago, and already the tide had turned in the favor of the Exodites. The demonic presence had been elevated, but with the craftworld deploying in force it had quickly turned into a more or less one sided slaughter; To the relief of many in the command room. Ylsen however was waiting for the other shoe to drop; Rare were the times when the Great Enemy's plans were so straight forward, and those usually involved the Butcher God.
"Ylsen!" And there it was. He turned to face the asuryani that had called for his attention. "The Sea of Souls is rippling wildly! A storm is manifesting near the craftworld!" He could tell. Ever since he had started his training in the path of the farseer, his psychic powers had grown and become sharper; As had his third eye. Right now, he was experiencing a mild migraine and could faintly hear the familiar swirling of screams that echoed the arrival of the Great Enemy. "It's...Isha merciful, that's an entire fleet!" Ylsen's eyes grew sharper as he took in the sight of what was being described to him.
The empty void of space had turned into a stormy maelstrom of hellish energies, rippling red lightning crackling in great streaks of energy as thousands upon thousands of ships surged forth from the immaterium. Most of these were ramshackle, poorly maintained pieces of junk that would be taken down by a light breeze, let alone Asuryani weaponry. Many however seemed much sturdied, much better armed, and quite a few showed signs of demonic possession on them.
Chaos had arrived.
Ylsen let out a sigh. As expected, nothing could be so simple.
"Status of our fleet?"
"Moving to engage sir, but the sheer numbers the enemy has just brought forth might be enough to cause some to inflict damage directly on the craftworld." He took some time to consider the enemy forces.
"Those aren't enough to destroy the craftworld. They wouldn't even be enough to inflict serious damage. So why..." His eyes narrowed. "Order the troops still on the craftworld to enter high alert and prepare for boardings from the enemy."
"Do you believe they will risk this?"
"I believe they know better than to think they could destroy the craftworld with what they have. It stands to reason their objective is different. Their fleet is poorly designed to win a fight against our own." He snarled. "It is however perfectly designed to overload our defensive systems long enough for ground forces to make their way down to us. Enough to be a problem on a sector by sector level, but not enough to threaten the entire craftworld." His decision was made. "Evacuate the civilians, and double the guard around our tyranid guest. It is possible they are the target and I would rather be safe than sorry."
"Understood sir!" In the distance, the immense weapons the craftworld possessed slowly moved into place, firing with muted sounds onto distant targets; Annihilating high priority targets with deadly precision. Ylsen frowned as some of the instruments returned strange errors. This wasn't normal. Nothing was when it came to the Great Enemy, but this was beyond abnormal. This...this was the work of sorcery. Some ships seemed to almost miraculously avoid the attention of the great defenses of the craftworld, instead seeing smaller, less important crafts get targeted.
Eventually, ships started getting close enough to hit the protective dome shielding the craftworld from the outside of space. By that time the civilian population had been evacuated into the webway, with only the vacuum protected troops awaiting the chance that the enemy might make it through.
Ylsen needed not give any orders. Preparations had been made, troops were in place where they were expected to be of use.
All that was left was to wait. Wait, and hope.
The wards of the craftworld screamed in warning.
The next moment, dozens of portals opened all over the craftworld, drowning the streets in screaming cultists and cackling demons.
Anya was feeling restless.
She could hardly be blamed, she felt. Being stuck in a cage would do that to anyone. Worse when that cage took away a fundamental part of what you were, and isolated you in a way you hadn't been for what felt like forever. But she couldn't act out; Couldn't take unnecessary risks. Her eyes roamed across the walls of her cell, taking in her guards yet again. She couldn't brute force her way through this particular problem. No, even if she got out, the eldar were proving a more dangerous and capable foe than the Imperium had been so far. Good enough in the psychic arts that they could stand up to her, especially in groups; Technology that surpassed anything she had ever seen, and that she could barely comprehend when cut off from the Hive Mind as she was. And here, their numbers were great enough that these advantages compounded on each other.
This...this was a very bad situation.
Worse had been seeing more and more guards arrive at her building. She had seen them go in and out, patrolling around the ever immobile guard of two dozen wraith guards. More than before.
Something was happening. What, she could not tell as no sound penetrated into her cell. But something. She could tell whenever one of the regular warriors entered the room her cell was kept in. A human might not be able to tell, would not be able to see the minute differences in behavior in the eldar. Especially not after having just gotten to examine them. But she could. She always could.
She went back to examining the walls of her cell. The roof, the floor. There would be an opportunity. Would have to be one. The little biomass they had given her was already being stored and safely kept. The idea of actually needing food was a lie of course; She could last a very, very long time without eating with how efficient her body was. But well, any excuse for extra biomass to work with. She just had to keep the changes invisible.
She had to lower their guard. Had to play the part.
Had to get back into the mindset of the little guard, back in those Imperial slums. The survival skills that allowed her to survive this far.
She had to be the cockroach.
Aim. Pull the trigger. Fire. Aim. Pull the trigger. Fire. Watch the bodies of dozens of cultists get cut down from his fire alone, thousands more perishing as the rest of his fire group did the same. Watch as a particularly grotesque spawn shambled forth only to be disintegrated by a ray of focused energy from a fire dragon.
The firing line was holding well. Their defenses had been prepared, this was their homeland and the foe was sending nothing but chafe at them. So far, not a single asuryani had fallen to the enemy. In the distance, a colossal phantom titan materialized as if from nowhere, its powerful pulsars firing upon one of the larger strike crafts coming down to deposit more enemy troops, annihilating it instantly.
Aim. Fire. Aim. Fire.
There was nothing else when one wore the warrior's mask.
Aim. Fire. Aim. Fire.
In the distance, purple fire consumed a building into rubble.
Varase snarled as the rubric marine in front of him was torn apart by a wraithguard's strange weaponry, the faceless machine turning to him next. Only his quick reflexes at summoning a shield protected him, his powerful magics reaching out with warp flame and burning the guard to cinders. Around him the battle raged in the military complex of the hated eldar, rubric marines bombarding the various eldar guards with heavy ordinance; hordes of cultists serving as living meat shields as sorcerers such as himself cast powerful spells to fell the foe. It was a grinding slog, the enemy proving themselves to be an absolute nightmare to face, but they were making progress towards their goal.
The entire reason for this assault.
His eyes snapped to his left as his staff rose to parry the blow from a howling banshee. He gritted his teeth. Despite his enhanced senses as a space marine and the blessed gifts of the warp, he'd still been caught off guard by its speed. In the blink of an eye the banshee had struck him a further four times, forcing him backwards as a shuriken lodged itself in his armour. He grunted as the psychic shielding collapsed right as the banshee screeched at him, his ears ringing as he stood stunned for a precious few seconds.
Those seconds were all the eldar needed.
He bit back a scream as the molecular blade pierced through his armour as if it was not even there, cutting one of his hearts in half with a single strike. Before she could thrust it sideways, cutting his second heart, he managed to blast her back with psychic power, a bolt of warp lightning finishing her off before she could recover. He panted as three wraithguards surrounded him, weapons aimed squarely at him before bombarding him with no hesitation. A shield snapped into place around him as he summoned the last of his strength, watching another sorcerer walk towards the entrance of the building. Hope bloomed in his chest.
"BROTHER!" He called out. "BROTHER I AM PINNED HERE! A LITTLE HELP WOULD BE APPRECIATED!" He watched as the other sorcerer turned to him and his hopes renewed. Azakh. Then, the sorcerer turned away from him. Despair pooled within him as realization struck him. "No...Brother! We were to sacrifice together! We were to ascend together!"
"There is only room for one demon prince, brother." Azakh whispered. The psychic shielding cracked under the weight of fire as Azakh slipped into the building.
The thousand sons sorcerer shuddered as he felt the soul of his battle brother return to the warp, screaming and wailing where it would no doubt be consumed by the waiting demons. It would all be worth it though. It had to.
He descended deeper and deeper into the building followed by his escort of rubrics, killing everything he came across. His powers were amplified by the blessings of Tzeetch, fuelled by the sacrifice of his brother in the flames of ambition. All for his dream of ascension, the key of which lay below.
Finally, he reached the final level, finding himself face to face with a large open room with for sole outstanding feature a large glass box in the centre of it. He could feel the nullifying effect of the box from here and it sent a cold shiver down his spine. As his rubrics engaged the two dozen wraithguards standing guard around the box, his eyes were fixated on the figure inside of it.
It was like the visions had said. A young human child, not older than ten years of age with hair as white as snow, gazing at him with a mixture of surprise and curiosity. She seemed unafraid. That was it. The key to his ascension.
Now, to get her out of this box.
Eldritch power coursed through him, striking out at the wraithguards. Three were destroyed under the impact, a further four taken down by the constant bolter fire. Six of his own rubrics were cut down in seconds as the wraith guards lumbered forth, their powerful weapons firing upon him. It seemed they had decided he was a priority target. That was fine by him. The enhanced magics coursing through him reassured him of his purpose, of the blessings heaped upon him. Deflecting the attacks was trivial; Blasting the wraithguards into the walls and crushing them with psychic pressure was only a mild effort. By the time he was done unleashing his recently upgraded powers, none of the wraithguard or rubrics remained standing. He let out a relieved sigh as he walked towards the cell. The child had walked up to the glass and was staring at him with her head tilted slightly to the side. As he gazed into her eyes, he had the strangest feeling of a mouse looking at a cat.
"Hello." He said. She didn't answer, before pointing at her ears and shaking her head. Ah. So she could not hear him. That was no issue.
He tapped at the glass. It was strong, and psychic powers would not help him here. Instead, he pulled out his plasma pistol and pointed it at the wall. The child immediately leapt to the side, him waiting for her to get out of the way proper before he fired. A small black crater appeared in the glass, but little more. He frowned, waiting for the pistol to cool down before firing again.
It took a dozen more shots before a crack appeared in the glass. The child looked with a curious expression as he pulled his fist back before smashing the glass with all the strength his powered armour and enhanced powers could gather, shattering it in a thousand pieces. A grin spread across his face as it all came crashing down, the child immediately darting forth and out of the room. For a moment, she stood still, staring at him. Then, her eyes gained a yellow glow to them, and she sighed in relief. He cleared his throat.
"Hello." She tilted her head, scrutinizing him.
"Hi." She answered. He turned to face her properly, standing two metres away from her.
"I've been looking for you." She blinked.
"Really? I don't think I know you."
"No, you do not. In fact, we have never met." His grin grew crooked, not that she could tell. "A common friend sent me here."
"Really?" She said, her eyes widening. There was a faint air of caution to her, yet she seemed to still possess the naivety of a child. This would be easy...But best to not lower his guard. He was too close to give room for failure.
"Yes. That mutual friend does not enjoy having you locked in here and wanted you free. They would love to meet you. I can take you to them, if you want." He extended a hand to her, getting down to one knee. "They will help you get off this dreadful place." She looked at his hand before asking:
"Who are they?"
"A very special individual. One who has taken a keen interest in you and wishes to discuss." He said, trying to make his tone sound as friendly and reassuring as possible. The ground shook as in the distance a powerful explosion went off. "We do not have much time, I am afraid. We need to go soon." He pushed his hand closer to her. She gazed at it, before slowly looking upward. A thousand thoughts seemed to cross her eyes at once before she looked back at him, smiling softly.
"Alright." Triumph surged through him as she took his hand. He willed the space between time to open, pushing through the veil of reality, reappearing far away up on one of the distant ships orbiting the craftworld. Euphoria was surging through him at the sheer scale of his powers. He was invincible. He was about to ascend. He was...
"Good work little puppet." His powers vanished in the blink of an eye as he fell to his knees, gasping. The creature in the middle of the bridge cackled as his hands sunk into the blood pooled on the floor. The crew of the ship laid around him, butchered. "You served me well, bringing her here. Now rest."
His mind fizzled out.
Anya stared at the body of the space marine as it fell to the ground, dead. Chaos marine. Not space marine. The flood of information she was getting from the Hive Mind now that she was once more connected to it was being a bit too much right now as it tried to explain to her the concept of chaos, the chaos gods, demons, and the eldar all at once.
The demon stepped forth before her, crushing the chaos marine into pulp as it opened its wings. Its beak opened, a voice soothing and deep emerging from it. She decided she didn't like it.
"And the prodigal child returns. Welcome, little one. It has been far too long." Her eyes narrowed at the creature as she realized why the voice was proving so grating on her nerves.
"I recognize you. You were one of the voices I heard before I joined the Hive." The demon crooned, lowering its head to her. It was massive, easily towering over even her tyranid form. As the human child she was, it was easily over twelve times her own size.
"Yes. I have watched over you since your birth. Humans with your potential are exceptionally rare. I wished to guide, to help you grow strong...until you became strong enough to face me. We share a common trait, you see." The demon's eyes glowed with power. "Hunger." She took a step back.
"You want to eat me." She stated with a mixture of surprise and fascination. "I...huh. So that's what it's like being on the other side of it."
"Indeed." The demon noted with some amusement. "Now, I would ask you not resist, but I doubt you would comply with such a request." Crushing power descended upon her, beyond any she had ever faced. She let out a gasp as she fell to a knee, raising her arms and pushing back with her own power. She was not back to full power, having lost too much biomass and energy in that dreaded cell, but even had she been able to muster herself to full strength she knew she would not be able to stand up to this thing. It was older than she could understand. More powerful than she had ever been. Her powers were already fraying as it crushed her measly defenses easily. That thing was beyond what she could hope to face. Beyond her. She couldn't fight it in a straight fight.
"W...Wait!" She screamed. To her surprise and relief, the pressure alleviated. "A deal! I want to offer a deal!"
"A deal it says." The creature said in a curious tone. "Alright, let us hear it." She rose back on wobbly feet.
"Give me...Give me some time. A month, I ask for no more than that."
"A month it wants. Why would we grant such a request when the meal is here? A month to plan, a month to escape, a month to scurry back to the Hunger that took it away from us in the first place." The power around her gripped tighter. She struggled to catch her breath.
"Because...Because I can get you that which you cannot yourself!" The grip grew a little looser.
"Explain yourself little one." She tried not to show how sick the encouragement in the voice made her feel.
"The eldar souls of the infinity circuit." She gasped in strangled breaths. "You can't...can't get them. Even if you get to them, they'll just...just go to the Prince of Pleasure!" She felt the grip on her hesitate. "But I can! I can devour them, I can eat them and steal them away! And then...when you eat me...you'll have them too!"
"And why would you offer me such a feast? Do you hope for me to spare you?"
"No." She bared her teeth at the demon. "I hope to kill you. If I grow strong enough, I will devour you." The demon cackled.
"HA! You would have me sacrifice such a tasty meal now for a feast later?!" The grip on her loosened fully. "Such ambition, such a gamble! Very well little one, I accept your deal, on one condition.!" The demon leered at her. "I will give you a month. Not a day more or less. Should you finish devouring the circuit before then, or should I believe you to be going against the spirit of our bargain, then I shall call you here once more to devour you whole."
"It's a deal!" She agreed. She had little choice in the matter.
"Then...let us send you back little one!" With the sound of demonic laughter, she was pulled into a portal by a thousand hands before being spat out back on a deserted street of the craftworld. She gasped as the breath returned to her lungs, staying collapsed on the floor for a few seconds. Her limbs were shaking. Her mind was racing.
She was afraid.
Her fists clenched. Determination surged through her as she gritted her teeth.
She was no stranger to being scared. To feeling weak. To feeling powerless.
She'd overcome it before.
She'd overcome it now.
She would survive.
Her eyes glanced around as information flooded her. Knowledge. Ideas.
An idea came to her. Maybe...maybe this could work.
Ylsen looked down from the transport ship as it flew through the tall spires of the craftworld, watching as the last remnants of the chaos incursion was crushed. Above in the heavens the enemy fleet was being ripped apart piecemeal, disintegrated and cast away into celestial dust. The battle was won. This was just mop-up duty.
When he'd heard that Anya had been broken out of her containment, his worst fears had been confirmed. The Great Enemy had come for her specifically. He wasn't sure why exactly, but this could not be good.
Thankfully, reports soon came in that some rangers had found her. They had yet to engage as it seemed like Anya was fighting against the chaos forces. This rescue did not seem to be appreciated. The bigger question on his mind was why she hadn't killed herself yet. There should be nothing preventing her from being connected to the Hive Mind, so why... His gaze shifted to the chaos fleet in disarray. Perhaps the presence of chaotic energies prevented her? As the Shadow in the Warp disrupted the Warp, perhaps when a tyranid was isolated from the Hive so too could chaos isolate it from the synaptic web...
Theories, theories. No way of confirming them. And he couldn't get over focused on this one or risk missing something else.
Still, if this theory was correct, then they were on a timer. He ordered forces to converge towards the location Anya was currently fighting in.
Perhaps this could be salvaged still.
It wasn't long until he arrived at the scene. Only the most elite of their forces had been allowed even near the tyranid hybrid, as multiple fire prisms kept the now immobile tyranid in their aim. Two phantom titans had their pulsars squarely aimed at her. Hundreds of fire dragons and dark reapers stood guard as three of the twelve members of the high farseer council surrounded the child sitting on the corpse of a thousand sons sorcerer.
"Ylsen!" She called out. "I was hoping you'd be the one to come here." She grinned at him and made to get up, only for the phantom titans pulsars to hum menacingly. She froze once more. "Your friends are...jumpy."
"Can you blame them?" He asked, trying to keep his demeanor casual. It was one thing to discuss with the child when she was powerless and weakened. This was an entirely different beast. "There was an attack just now."
"Yeah and I helped. You're welcome by the way." She noted, tapping the dead thousand sons beneath her.
"It is...appreciated." She sighed.
"It's fine. They wanted to sacrifice me to some demon." His blood froze. That explained... a lot actually. Such a powerful psyker, sacrificed to the Chaos Gods...power would surely be granted to the one who could accomplish such a feat. "Didn't much appreciate the idea."
"I see." He took the risk of stepping closer, feeling the tension rise in all those assembled around them as he stepped forward, stopping only a few metres away from the child. "So. let's address the...what is it humans say? Elephant in the room?"
"Never seen an elephant you know. Always was a bit upset at that." Anya sighed. "But sure. Let's address it."
"Why are you still here?" Ylsen gestured to her. "You could easily end your life right now. I doubt any of us could stop you fast enough."
"Them." She pointed up to the chaos fleet. "Cut off from the Hive. Can't get a good signal. Not willing to bet my immortal life on a gamble like that." Ylsen nodded slightly. That was a reasonable reason. Not one he would take at face value however. "And well, I figured I could either fight until you lot overwhelmed me and shoved me back in that miserable cell with nothing to do...or I could well. Try to cooperate a little. Show I can be reasonable." She smiled at him, a soft and innocent smile. "Get some books and other to keep the boredom away until my Hive comes to save me."
"..." Ylsen stayed silent. It was, in fact, reasonable. A calculated, intelligent response, with reasoning behind it. It made sense. A lot of sense. And that last assumption showed she hadn't lost hope of escaping, just that she knew it wasn't happening now. So why? Why was he feeling so on edge? "So...you won't resist if we take you back to the cell?"
"Would it help me any?" She sighed. "I can't beat all of you. I can't kill an entire craftworld by myself. Not even close. So...yeah. I guess I surrender." Ylsen wasn't sure what to do. His instincts were as hesitant as he was, caught between reason and animalistic caution.
"Very well. Farseer Elesan, if you would not mind taking the child into custody into another null cell." The farseer nodded, stepping forth and placing psychic nullifying cuffs on her. These were not perfect and would only dampen the powers of the child, but her lack of resistance brought some measure of reassurance to himself. So far so good.
As a large escort gathered around the farseer and she led the tyranid hybrid away, the latter called out to Ylsen.
"Oh! You might want to keep an eye out...I doubt the demon will give up on me so easily!" With that, she was shoved forth by the farseer, giggling as she was led away from the plaza. Ylsen starred in the direction she'd been led for a long time before turning back to his bodyguards.
"Make sure I get an update on everything involving her re-imprisonment. I want to make sure she gets in her cell and stays there. And sweep the entire city. I want a complete lockdown and clearing of the place for three days before civilians are allowed back in, got it?"
"Yes Ylsen!"
Asaon was shaking a little as he emerged from the webway gate back into the craftworld. Three days they had been kept in secret refuges, guarded by titanic constructs of wraithbone and psychic might as the aspect shrines cleared the craftworld of any demonic infestation or corruption. The farseers were finally confident enough to allow the civilians back into the world-vessel, and not a day too soon in his opinion. As the massive crowd dispersed back towards their homes, Asaon was shocked at the destruction that had wrecked his home. Thankfully, his own house was still intact, spared from the chaotic forces. But many places were not so lucky, having been turned to ruins by the devastating battles that had raged here.
As he laid on his bed, he let out a deep sigh, feeling himself relax for the first time in days. Gods, he could still remember the sound of explosions battering the glass dome as he crossed the webway gate out of the craftworld. The screams he could hear from the sea of souls... he shook his head. He would have nightmares, no doubt about it.
Tomorrow will be another day. He would return to his profession, to his craft, and he would have peace.
Ylsen stared at the child behind the glass. The room was a little bigger than before, and some extra pieces of furniture had been granted. Ylsen was not one to spit on an opportunity to get cooperation from a prisoner. Sure, there was likely some attempt at manipulation to come during later talks...but at least now she would talk with a more positive mindset. Reasonably.
"How secure is this place?"
"Similar to the last one. We'd already put her in the maximum security cell, so all we really changed is having titans on permanent guard and some added security detail around the building. It's also been designated a priority rally point in case of an incursion." The scientist declared, checking over her holographic slate.
"Good. That's something at least." He stared at the tyranid child currently curiously exploring her new cell. "Keep me updated on any changes. We'll leave her to it for now. I'll come back tomorrow to talk."
"Understood sir."
Asaon let out a blissful sigh as he slipped into his comfortable bed, the lights of the craftworld dimming as to artificially simulate a day night cycle. Day would not rise for another thirteen hours, as it had been on the original world the craftworld had been built on. Sleep did not come easy however; As each shadow, each sound jolted him out of his bed, looking around with paranoia. Eventually it proved too much and he got up, turning the lights on as he headed down to his living room. Clearly tonight was not one he would be able to get a good night's rest.
He poured himself some water, sighing as he rubbed his eyes.
He didn't even have the time to feel pain as something pierced through his skull, a hand wrapping itself around his mouth and muffling the last gasp of life escaping him as he collapsed into the arms of his murderer. The last thing he saw was a flash of yellow eyes and white hair.
The sounds of chewing soon followed.
Harrison glanced to the other side of the street, crossing gazes with Ashley. The sororitas nodded once. They swung as one towards the staircase leading to the dingy basement they'd scouted a few days ago, cries of surprise and panic from the crowd gather below as they started firing upon them. In a matter of seconds, the cultists laid dead. Harrison didn't pause, didn't glance at them, only charged further down the staircase, entering the large basement, pointing to the wall behind the statue of the God Emperor. Ashley threw the detonation charge at it, pressing a button and watching it cave the paper thin wall wide open. No word was exchanged as the signal was exactly what the local PDF had been waiting for, dozens of soldiers streaming from the street down into the opening. Immediately, gunfire erupted as ambushed cultists fired back onto the encroaching PDF. The PDF were decently equipped, and the makeshift weaponry of the cultists was of poor quality, but even then the sheer ferocity and number of the cultists was already causing casualties. Harrison charged forward, using his much better gear to carve a bloody path through the genestealer cult, hearing Ashley maniacally laugh as she turned on her flamer and set cultists alight. The darkness of the massive antechamber was banished by the brilliant flames, allowing all to see the grotesque statues of tyranids and large tapisseries depicting the hive fleets on the walls. Harrison snarled as his power sword cleaved a particularly bulky cultist in half, his plasma pistol firing into a small crowd of cultists. Before long, the last of the cultists fell to the ground, dead.
Harrison hoped the others were having as much luck with their own raid. They had divided into two task forces in order to strike both at the corruption in the governor's entourage and at the heart of the cult itself.
As he stepped forwards, he fired a flare in the air, illuminating the chamber once and for all. A massive throne of bones and flesh was brought to light by the red glare of the flare. Harrison's eyes narrowed on the creature sitting on the throne. This was no human. No human at all.
The patriarch let out an animalistic snarl as it jumped off the throne, landing right in front of Harrison. In the blink of an eye the creature was upon him, clashing vicious claws against power sword.
"So. The puppet arrives." Harrison winced at the mental assault. "You come too late, Harrison. The truth has already been spread."
"Emperor save me from xenos and their cryptic bullshit!" Harrison snarled back at the creature.
"You have witnessed the Child yourself. You know her power. Her victories. She would grant you the chance as well, you know. One from her world. The only one left. She would welcome you with open arms."
"And turn into one of you? No thanks." Harrison grunted as he was pushed back by the patriarch's superior strength. He could see the men and women around him hesitating to intervene, the patriarch standing too close to him for there to be no chance of friendly fire. Ashley especially seemed absolutely incandescent with rage. "You're the reason all the weirdos have started worshipping that fucking tyranid bitch then?"
"No." The patriarch chuckled in his mind, seemingly amused. "It was one of the faithful, actually. The prophet, the others started calling him."
"Well that's a fun story. You'll enjoy telling it in the jail cell we're going to throw you in. I got this lovely blank who will love meeting yo..." The patriarch slammed a fist into chest, cracking bone. Harrison choked a bloody gasp as he was thrown back, the world growing bright yellow as flames torched the patriarch. The creature screamed but Ashley did not relent, shoulder checking the larger beast into the ground before slamming her foot on its chest, pointing the flamer at its face, and point blank incinerating it.
Harrison did not complain about a lack of prisoners this time, gracefully accepting the offered hand as she frantically examined him.
"I'm fine. I'm...oh that's going to hurt." He grunted. "But I'll be fine."
As they began burning the corpses and examining the chamber, one of the PDF's approached Harrison.
"Sir! We found...well I think it's best if you see for yourself." Harrison glanced at Ashley. The woman nodded and followed behind him. They were led behind the throne, to a massive mural adorning the wall behind it. It was impossible to distinguish the details until one of the PDF's fired a flare into the air. As it hung above them, casting a red light all through the room, Harrison felt his blood grow cold.
A room of scales unimaginable. A staircase leading to a golden throne large enough to accomodate a small titan. Dead, slain custodes laying on the ground, broken and beaten.
A massive skeleton, standing ramrod straight on the golden throne, tubes and wiring emerging from it connecting it to the very throne it sat upon.
And standing before it, a white haired child, facing the giant.
"Such...such unspeakable heresy..." Ashley quietly raged. Harrison wasn't sure why he was so disturbed by the sight of the mural. It was typical cultist lunacy. After a certain level of heresy, depicting the Emperor in a humiliating manner was a common theme. But this...this was not degrading, nor humiliating. To the custodes perhaps, but the Emperor... Harrison knew what the Emperor looked like. Occ had been very descriptive. This was a dangerously accurate portrayal of His physical form. Not defeated, not beaten, not wounded. Just...sitting there. With Anya standing before Him.
Challenging Him.
There was an inscription at the bottom of the mural. Harrison had to kneel down to read it properly.
"Not human. Not tyranid. Not a God. Something more." Harrison gulped. "Everyone's Amica."
"A filthy xenos, that's what this thing is!" Ashley snarled. "Step aside Harrison, I will make short work of this mural!"
"No. Hold on. We will need some images first." Ashley whined loudly. "You can burn it when we are done." That placated her. A ring of his communicator made him tap at his ear piece. "Harrison here."
"Harrison." Occ's voice made him relax somewhat. "I assume your operation was successful?"
"Confirmed."
"Good. So did ours. Did you manage to apprehend the patriarch?"
"Negative. He proved too much to handle and Ashley had to kill him. We did find this though."
"Ah, that is a shame. Still, a dead patriarch is still a victory I suppose." Occ said as Harrison sent the image to him. "...That...No, it can't...But then..." Occ sounded truly shocked. Concerned, even. Harrison tried to relieve the tension.
"Oh come now Occ, don't tell me you're bothered by this? It's just some delusional paintain. Nothing more."
"Return to the ship. We are headed back to Terra." Harrison stumbled in his steps.
"What?!"
"A little known fact about Terra is that it is, like many human worlds, home to genestealer cults." Harrison balked at the idea. Genestealers on Terra?! Surely not! "It is partially due to our own self imposed isolation that such an infestation was allowed to grow. Yet another shame to add to our ever growing pile. However recently, some of our rank have taken action and purged many a den of these creatures. In the largest they found, an identical painting was found." Harrison froze.
"So...not an isolated incident."
"No. Something is happening. We need to return to Terra and convene with my fellows. Purge the rot from Terra."
"...I'll be there within the hour."
"With haste."
"Asaon!" The eldar greeted the approaching asuryani with a smile. "It is good to see you my friend. You seemed quite shaken by the recent events, I was worried I would not see you join us for a few days." Asaon smiled timidly.
"Ah well, I can't just hide in my room all day. Not for lack of trying." A few of the others gathered in the park laughed at the joke. "Still, it's a rare sight we have, and not one I would risk missing. This will make for a melancholic painting."
"Agreed, agreed." The various eldar painters gathered around their individual painting, getting to work with enthusiasm. They depicted the damaged portions of the craftworld; Great works that would firmly anchor the memory of the event in museums and history books, illustrations that would serve as an artistic depiction of the events that had assailed the craftworld not four days ago. After an hour or so however, the first eldar approached Asaon, looking concerned.
"Are you alright friend? You seem...distracted." Asaon paused in his painting, turning to face the other eldar, an apologetic expression on his face.
"Sorry, It's...I haven't quite recovered as well as I thought I had, it seems." Asaon smiled ruefully. "Feeling a little under the weather."
"Hm. You know what I think you need? A good meal. After this, you are invited to my place. My treat." Asaon smiled softly, his eyes turning towards the distant spire of spirit stone. A strange glint entered his eye as he looked at the entrance towards the massive network of tunnels that composed the Infinity Circuit of the craftworld.
"You know? I think you're right. After all..." The thing that was not Asaon smiled wide. "I am feeling quite hungry."
Anya: It's Alphariusing time.
Ylsen: What the fuck does Alphariusing mean
Anya: Nothing.
Ylsen: ...
Anya: ...
Ylsen: ...
Anya: Let's just say things are going to get sus.
Ylsen: Kill her.