Warhammer 40k in the Year 2023: Kurze and the Definition of Reality
a fanfic by Daniel Trump
not copyrighted
open source
This is a fanfic and therefore has sex, violence, gay stuff, etc. I don't own the characters. If you like this story check out The Dreamers Cult by Daniel Trump on amazon. It's a teen horror novella that I just published for three dollars. Check it out. Thanks.
"Can we, though?" I asked Magnus. "Can we worship daemons and be innocent?"
"I don't know," Magnus said. "I think, of course, my brother. We can and we do. We do wonderful marvels as we worship daemons. We save people, save planets. Help people. Live lives to the fullest. Oh, and it's your turn."
We sat on opposite ends of a table with Magic: the Gathering cards on the table. I had an all-black deck with discard cards and flying creatures. Magnus had red and blue spells with a control and card-drawing mechanic. Unless I killed him in the first seven turns he was nigh unbeatable with his deck. Magnus was a primarch reborn, one of the most powerful psykers on Earth - and my brother and friend.
"Define innocence."
"Innocence is a funny concept," Magnus said. "It can be very complex."
"It isn't," I said. I was Konrad Kurze, the Night Haunter, a mentally-ill man who worshiped daemons. I was the primarch of the Night Lords. We were important people in the year 40,000 until we were summoned back to the year 2023 and turned into teenagers. I did not know why anyone had done such a thing to us, but it had taken us by surprise.
"Innocence means many things to many people," Magnus said.
"No," I said. "Right and wrong exist. We worship daemons. They hunt. They kill."
"Do you think that you are a monster? The Night Haunter?" Magnus asked.
"No," I said. "I'm not a monster. Just a mentally-ill man. A former soldier."
"And do you think that it makes you evil? To worship daemons?" Magnus asked. "Because of the choice of your religion?"
"Yes," I said. "I worship daemons. Daemons. Daemons want to run around killing people and taking over. Horus wants to take over, I'm pretty sure."
"I'm not sure," Magnus said. "I think that he doesn't want a human in charge of everything, that he has a stance, that there should be an area for daemons, an area for tau, an area for orks, an area for eldar, and so on."
"Oh, he's trying to take over, Magnus," I said. "He wants to take over everything for the daemonic horde."
"Does he?" Magnus asked. He put out a card to draw several more cards and looked around the gaming store in which we sat. "Then why has Abaddon tried his Crusade a dozen times, lost, and not been fired? We were restoring balance, not taking over. We won most of those Crusades, accomplished our objectives, slowed the Empire when we needed to."
I looked around. Several people were playing Marvel Crisis Protocol, and a group of adults were role-playing - Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. I was jealous and wished to be in the group but didn't have the courage to ask to join. I then saw the person we were there to watch, a young daemon. He had pink hair and pale skin but looked like a sickly human, a wiry and weak young man. He had blue jeans and a blue shirt. He looked human but was a daemon. He looked at the board games that were for sale at the gaming store.
He looked about eighteen years of age and looked at us. I waved at him.
"Hey," I said.
"Hey," he said. "I'm Beladin. How are you gentlemen?"
"I'm fine," I said. "I'm mentally ill and think that I can see the future. I know things, things that I cannot know."
"I think that he sees real things," Magnus said. He played out a djinn and had a superior board presence in the game of Magic. "I think that he is a real prophet for daemons."
"Prophet?" Beladin asked.
"That's Lorgar," I said. "I just see things, know things. I know what is happening, Beladin. I want to help you. You might need our help."
"I'm a smart person," Magnus said. "I can help you, Beladin. You are a daemon."
"Thanks," Beladin said. "Love hearing it."
"Why?" Magnus asked.
"I'm a daemon," Beladin said. "Not as cool as being an angel, or a supermodel."
"It's better," Magnus said. "You are special."
"Right," Beladin said. "You don't know my life."
"I'm sorry," I said. "You have had a hard life. I'm sorry for what has happened to you. I'm here to figure out what we can do."
"Thanks," Beladin said. "What do either of you know or care?"
"I worship daemons," I said. "So I work for you, Beladin."
"You worship me," Beladin said. "You really worship me because I'm a terrible, low-level monster."
"Yes," Magnus said. "You are glorious."
"Right," Beladin said. "Well, I've got issues."
"Do tell," I said. I turned to Magnus. "You win this terrible game of Magic. I have nothing left. You killed my last nightmare."
"Good game, well played," Magnus said.
"Yeah, congrats," I said. I turned to Beladin. "Your drama?"
"My drama," Beladin said. "Drinks."
"Ah," I said.
"I drank too much," Beladin said. "I woke up in a bad situation."
"Ah," I said.
"And now I have a day," Beladin said. "I die in a day."
"I'm sorry," Magnus said.
"You're dying, Beladin," I said. "Was there anything you wanted? Anything else?"
He smiled. "I should stay sober," he said.
"Why?" I asked.
He smiled agaIn. "I don't want to lose control and lose myself tonight," Beladin said. "If I have one drink, I'll have ten."
"You're dying," I said.
"And I'm dying without a drink," Beladin said.
"Okay," I said.
"We are going to dinner," Magnus said.
"Dinner?" Beladin asked.
"Dinner," Magnus said.
"Dinner," I said. "We need to have dinner. Steak. Nothing else is acceptable."
"Agreed," Beladin said. "Thanks."
"I'm driving," Magnus said.
We gathered our Magic cards and put them into their cases and left the gaming store after thanking the employee. We walked into the dark night and its parking lot, an empty place with a couple dozen cars. Magnus walked up to an SUV and opened the vehicle.
"Why are we here?" I asked.
"In 2023?" Magnus asked.
"Yes," I said.
"Someone knows," Magnus said.
"You're the curious one," I said.
"I hear that Celestine knows," Magnus said.
"We have to consult the beautiful women then," I said.
Magnus turned to Beladin. "You will have one last conversation with a beautiful woman, okay? Try to make it something memorable."
"Understood," Beladin said. "I'll try not to disappoint."
"I never know what to say," I said.
"You could literally see the future and know what to say," Magnus said.
"And I don't," I said. "That would be cheating. I like being an antisocial freak who worships daemons and is schizophrenic."
"Okay," Magnus said. "Celestine and Grayfax need to be picked up and then taken to steak dinner."
We got into Magnus's SUV and drove along the suburbs of Chicago, Illinois, on Earth.
"We will destroy this in the year 30,000," I said. "Trying to kill our dear old dad, the Emperor."
"I know," Magnus said. "It will go poorly for all involved."
"Oh, in that, I agree," I said. "Poor Horus. The best ever, and destined to die young."
"Maybe we can change that," Magnus said.
"Why?" someone said from the back of the SUV.
Horus sat there. Horus, rather, appeared there, just not being there one moment and being there the next moment.
"Why should I change that?" Horus asked. "Why shouldn't I die young, Beladin?"
"I'm dying at eighteen," Beladin said. "Something happened while I was drinking, I ingested a poison, and I'm dying. Someone poisoned me. A hero."
"That sucks," I said. "What did you do? That this hero killed you?"
"I have absolutely no idea," Beladin said. "I don't recall doing anything to this hero or anyone that would cause me to need to be killed by this hero."
"The hero's name?" Magnus asked.
"His name is Sullivan Harper," Beladin said. "He is the popular person at our high school, nice, kind, giving, pretty girlfriend, has a hundred friends, has a thousand instagram buddies."
"I hate him already," I said. "Can I kill him?"
"Would that be the right thing?" Magnus asked.
"Yes," I said.
"Did he think that Beladin was guilty?" Magnus asked.
"I don't know or care," I said.
"I don't know," Beladin said. "He poisoned me."
We made it to Celestine's apartment then. We got out and knocked on the door to her apartment. Grayfax opened the door. Grayfax was a beautiful blonde teenager, perfect and precious, and Celestine was strong and tough, blonde but powerful. Grayfax was wearing a white dress, and Celestine wore a black dress. Celestine kissed Grayfax, on the lips, for a long moment, and then they walked out to greet us.
"We'll go in one car, you in another?" Magnus asked.
"We'll follow you to the steakhouse," Celestine said.
"Good," Magnus said. "
"I want to go with Celestine and Grayfax, ask them questions about why we are here," I said. "Why we came to the present."
"Fair," Celestine said.
"We'll tell you," Grayfax said.
I walked to a nice, electric car and got into the passenger side. Grayfax got in back and Celestine got into the driver's seat and started to drive.
"So in the year 40,000 or so," Celestine said, "there was a disaster."
"What sort of disaster?" I asked.
"Someone started a stupid fight, Abaddon or Guilliman, I don't know which, to be honest, and the fight spiraled, and more and more people started fighting."
"We fight all the time, chaos versus imperial, in terrible battles," I said.
"I know, but we were getting sick of it," Celestine said. "Some people were getting sick of it. The civilian damage in this fight was extreme. People destroyed a planet or two."
"I thought it was Grayfax's job to make certain that didn't happen while pretending to be doing that to planets," I said.
"Yes," Celestine said.
"Yeah, fuck you, nobody's perfect at their job," Grayfax said. "I had someone working for me, didn't do a good job. Didn't do her damned job. We had a hearing, and they didn't listen to me, and they decided that it was a fantastic idea to destroy some chaos planets."
"Wow," I said. "Destroying planets because they were connected to chaos. Great stuff, ladies. Bang-up job."
"And then Abaddon got really mad," Celestine said. "And then the war escalated."
"I don't remember," I said. "Wasn't I dead during this part?"
"Yes," Celestine said. "You were long since dead."
"KIlled by a beautiful woman," I said. "And then what happened?"
"Things got out of hand, and the governments and the smart people got together and decided that the primarchs and the chaos marines and the space marines needed to stop this madness, this hatred, this constant war, this fighting, this terrible conflict in which no one was innocent or guilty."
"So you sent us to 2023 to get rid of us," I said.
"And systems were being destroyed, and a war like the Horus Heresy was happening again, and we didn't want Earth to be destroyed again. We didn't want the galaxy to be destroyed again. We needed to do something to get through to you."
"Oh," I said.
"We tried to talk to Guilliman, to Abaddon, but they wouldn't listen. They wouldn't just relax and spend some time away."
"No?" I asked.
"No," Celestine said. "They wouldn't stop attacking each other, throwing more planets into violence, one constant battle. And then the Lion showed up and said, hey, let's fight, let's kill more chaos worshipers, and the empire was like, we have the Lion back, let's start another Crusade, let's take over everything again."
"Taking over reality, always a sound strategy," I said. "I'm a crazy person, and even I don't try to do that."
"And they tried," Celestine said. "And then Abaddon got Angron back, and that made both sides even angrier - because Angron killed pretty much anyone near him for weeks on end, never ceasing, just killing and killing, not caring who he killed, just enraged he was a slave, enraged he was given a chip in his head, enraged that everyone had failed him. Enraged."
"And then?" I asked.
"And then Earth was being attacked by both sides, and Earth was about to be destroyed again, just like 10,000 years ago, during the Horus Heresy, when everything was destroyed in a giant war. And we had enough. Tigirius, Mortarion, and Eldrad had seen enough."
"Those three agreed on anything?" I asked.
"And they sent a lot of the space marines and chaos marines to the year 2023, and made them teenagers, to make them chill out, relax, live a little bit, grow up, try to figure out a way to talk to them. Eventually. About a way to not destroy the galaxies and everything in a terrible war over religion or whatever it is you're fighting over," Celestine said.
"Now I know," I said. "Thank you for the explanation."
"So we sent you here, some of the main primarchs and a few others, to cool down and not fight against the other side, imperial against chaos, for a bit. To chill. To live a life. To remember that war is a terrible thing to do. To live for a while."
We arrived at the dinner. We walked into the restaurant and sat down. Beladin smiled.
"I'm dying," he said.
"I'm sorry," Celestine said. "You had some wonderful memories, I'm certain."
"The best," Beladin said.
"Good," Magnus said.
"The very best," Beladin said. "I was there, in the year 30,000, when we took Earth from the emperor. I saw Angron fight Sanguinius. Sanguinius had wings, angelic wings, and we were so scared of him, and Angron was our guy, our lead fighter, our legend, our greatest fighter of all time, and it went poorly for Angron. And we had taken all of Earth but the palace and the starport. All of Earth was ours, and there was Sanguinius, not giving up, and fighting Angron and our forces, our daemonic hordes, and winning. And he fought well."
"Yeah," I said. "I'm sorry, Beladin."
"I've fucked people, drunk liquor, flown in spaceships, visited deserts and other planets, I've had friends and family to care about, and I've had a full life. I regret nothing of it."
"Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we'll die," Horus said.
"Exactly," I said.
We ate steak and spent several hours talking about religion, life, customs, movies, television, and politics. We sat around enjoying each other's company and giving Beladin one last night - one last night of his life. Towards the end of dinner he turned to me.
"I'm not surviving, am I?" he asked.
"No," I said.
"Sullivan Harper," he said.
"Oh, yes," I said. "He is our guest. I invited him for dessert, if you are willing to have a conversation with him."
"I'd love to," Beladin said.
Someone appeared in the entrance to the room of the restaurant in which we were staying. He was a young man, maybe eighteen, in a suit and tie, carrying a tablet and a satchel in which he carried many weapons to kill daemons with. He smiled and sat down at our table.
"Sullivan Harper, may I ask you a question?" I asked.
"Yes," he said.
"Why did you poison my friend Beladin?" I asked.
"Because he represents corruption and decay and death," Sullivan Harper said. "Because I am a hero, and you are a villain."
"He is a person," Magnus said. "An intelligent, sentient being, and killing him is a terrible crime."
"I'm a racist now?" Sullivan asked. "Laugh out loud. I don't hate daemons, young men. I don't hate anyone. He is a daemon who attacked Earth in the year 30,000 born again, and he will try to take Earth again, as he did before."
"No," Magnus said.
"This is the problem," Celestine said. "We're killing each other, over and over."
"What would you have us do?" Sullivan Harper asked. "You have judged me. You know nothing about me. I am, to you, a blind and evil idiot, frothing at the mouth, murdering innocent daemons because I hate daemons. I don't. I'm fighting because, damn it, we almost lost the planet to you last time, and I'm defending Earth. Earth was destroyed last time. I remembered you, Beladin. I was there, at the battle, on Earth, when we had the palace and the spaceport and nothing else, and daemons were eating people and massacring people everywhere else on Earth. I saw you attacking us. You killed my best friend."
"I probably did," Beladin said. "I was fighting for my people, same as you."
"I see two possible futures," I said. "Either Beladin can die of Sullivan's poison, and we can fight Sullivan, which will go very, very badly for Sullivan. I mean, he can try, but Magnus, Horus, and I are primarchs. It will hardly be a fight."
"Unless I help Sullivan," Celestine said.
"Really?" Horus asked.
"I like our chances," Celestine said. "I can take you all on."
"Or Sullivan can agree to heal Beladin," I said. "And join us for dessert."
"We've been fighting for ten thousand years," I said. "Maybe it's time to try to coordinate our efforts?"
Sullivan smiled. "And this isn't an attempt to corrupt me?"
"No," I said. "I wouldn't dream of it."
Sullivan nodded. "I agree," he said.
Magnus smiled. His hand glowed for a minute, and then Beladin glowed, and then Magnus smiled. "Beladin is healed. We need dessert."
"Choclate cake and ice cream all around, my treat," I said. "If that is okay with everyone."
"Absolutely," Sullivan said. He sat down and joined us.
We sat there at a dinner. Chocolate cake and ice cream was served and then eaten by all. Magnus smiled at me.
"Another excellent night, my brother," he said.
"Wouldn't miss it," I said.
"Did you know this would happen?" Magnus asked.
"Yes," I said. "I know everything that is going to happen."
"Will we win?" Magnus asked.
"Yes," I said. "But I will die."
"No," Magnus said.
"I'm sorry, my friend and brother," I said. "I will die. Don't worry - I have a little time left to finish my work." I smiled.