II

On his own - commandeered - ship, the Ira Populi, Vwahl Kenek was swallowed by shadows, despite the flickering lights that surrounded him. He was mumble-humming an inspirational song from his childhood poorly, never approaching the proper key or melody, and only half-remembering the lyrics. He was also using a shard of metal he'd unscrewed from the surrounding boards on the bridge to make small incisions on each of his forearms. He was attempting to get close enough to the vein to hit it slightly, but not enough to drain him completely. This action he was also performing badly.

Behind and around him the servitors running the ship and the few humans he'd psy-knifed into submission contributed a constant background buzz.

"His eye … is always on you …" he whined. "He sees into your heart …"

Kenek's prematurely wizened face winced as he nicked a spot that started immediately dribbling his vital fluids onto the floor. He snarled, but knew what he did was necessary.

His singing turned into a tuneless growl, which then metamorphosed into incantations, entreating the entities he knew to exist in the warp to assist him. "By my blood I cry out to thee!" he ground out between clenched teeth.

A swirling, miasmic haze formed before him, and the steady drip of blood from his arms became a thin torrent, feeding into the haze, giving definition to a figure hidden within the fog. More blood than could possibly be his was sucked into the being. Vwahl felt his legs buckle, and he went down to his knees, arms outstretched, a puppet begging to be real.

Woozy, Vwahl forced himself to stay conscious as the creature took shape before him. It came into realspace with the cry of a thousand malformed infants combined with the hiss-pop of a champagne cork being yanked out of a long-forgotten bottle. As the air around it returned to its normal clearness, fog formed, a green, hissing effusion coming from the aberration's translation into normal space. It hissed as it acclimated, but the hiss did not seem entirely one of pain.

The entity floated a few feet off the ground, a brown, bloated, pustule-ridden thing with thin multi-jointed legs exploding senselessly from its midsection. Kenek nearly giggled. If not for the razor-filled mouth and the three hate-filled eyes in its midsection, it resembled nothing so much as an old, eye-covered potato with spider legs shoved into it.

Kenek managed to rein in his mania, despite being lightheaded. The blood finally stopped shooting out of his arms, and he lowered them to the ground to keep himself somewhat upright. "By my blood … I bind thee," he whispered, and the thing in front of him shuddered with fury.

Why have you called upon me? The voice felt like it originated from inside Kenek's head, pushing outwards. For a moment Kenek couldn't find the words to respond. Was this a memory? Had he already loosed the foul creature upon the ship following him? He blinked a spot of blood out of his eye and realized that, no, it was still in front of him, awaiting a response.

"There-there is a ship," he began, and from behind him heard an echo-is a ship…

He turned, but saw nothing. He shook his head, trying to clear it. Dice rattled inside his skull, but only a little, held prisoner by cobwebs as they were.

"It follows us. I wish it … diverted."

More little meat puppets inside it, yes? Little meat puppets who see as you do, in the limited ways?

"I … I do not know what you mean, but yes, we are followed by men like me."

Or had he yelled? Had he told the abomination that it would do as he commanded, would do as his blood demanded? Why could he not tell which was real?

Already you feel it, the layers of reality slipping away from you. My presence does this to your kind, little meat bag, little worm puppet. The Changer of Ways bestows gifts not just of different, skin, but of different possibilities. Through me-

"Shut up!" / Be silent! / "I command you to-" / Worthless cur, my blood-" / "-seek out the ship following-" / "P-please, sir, uh, I mean-" / "demands you do as-" / "-us and-aaaaghhhh!" Kenek's scream cut through the multiple versions of himself . Once again he found himself on his knees, and he felt the blood slipping through his tightly shut eyes.

At first he recoiled from the touch he felt upon his head, but he realized that, for the brief moment it had been there, the vertigo passed.

Hush, little carrion moppet. Hush. Be still. I shall seek out the vessel you speak of, and do as you say. Then our bargain is ended, and we have both gained some momentary distraction from the exchange.

Vwahl looked up, and of course there was no actual hand on him, for the creature was bound by his blood and his will, but still, the slight press remained upon his scraggly white hair. Vwahl trusted himself to do no more than nod in approbation.

After its essence had dissipated, Vwahl Kenek slowly raised himself and began humming again, a grin tearing his lips apart.