Change; it's an evitable part of life. Friends, hobbies, and careers never stay the same as time marches ever on. Day turns into night and seasons come and go. Sometimes you grow old. Sometimes you grow tits. That's just life for ya.
...
Bullshit! That's not what change is supposed to be! That's way to drastic! The audacity of the universe to alter my life so goddamn much! I demand to see it's manager! I admittedly didn't have a lot going for me in my past life, but it was mine damnit! Mine! I worked hard to get my soul crushing job at a billion dollar black company and own my tiny one bedroom flat downtown, where I spent most of my days lazing about watching anime and collecting figures! ...Okay, now that I think about it, that was kinda sad, but hey, it was peaceful outside my work and that was all I wanted in life.
Now I'm stuck here with nothing but this tiny body and whatever it is these Emperor worshipping crazies give me by their assumption of who I appear to be. Which as it turns out is some kind of highborn heir to a planet's throne. I might (BIG emphasis on the might there) have found this mildly entertaining... If they hadn't added in the extra twist by turning me into some sort of teenage anime girl. Because of this body everyone either treats me as a female version of a young King Arthur or a brittle piece of fine china. Which at times this body felt vulnerable as shit with it's tiny hands and silky locks of silver hair.
The humiliation...
Speaking of, I was standing buck naked in the middle of the room while a religious toaster gave me chemo with his ocular lenses. The green laser light show emanating from the Magos' metal tendrils scanned my whole body from my toenails to the little curl on top of my hair, preforming some kind of health evaluation. It was explained to me that it was basically a super advanced version of a CAT scan, without the big ass magnet. But, knowing what I knew about the lore of this universe anything the Mechanicus utilized comes at a very steep cost for it's usage (i.e. usually with a hefty dose of gamma radiation and tumor growth on the side). I prepared myself mentally by counting down the number of years this whole scanning process would shave off my life and if I would potentially glow in the dark afterwards. Gritting my teeth I stood there trying not to shiver in my birthday suit as the waves of light continued to wash over me.
Fuck, I just saw my tits for the very first time only a minute ago and now I'm giving this octopus looking Cybermonk a full frontal! Even if this wasn't really my body I still had some shame in me. My only consolation was that since this Techpriest was more metal than flesh he was undoubtedly uninterested in my body in any carnal sense... Still, didn't mean I didn't have to enjoy this, I wasn't one for public nudity. I swear to whatever sick twisted god that dumped me here that if these scans wind up on the Noosephere for others to see I will personally delete this motherfucker's operating system with my bare fists!
"Hmm, very peculiar..." The Adeptus Biologis Tech Priest hummed, their voice sounding almost like a demented Speak and Spell. "This is some rather peculiar data..."
"Oh?" Lydia spoke up from the side, her eyebrows raised. My personal maid was the only other person present in the bedroom, sort of acting as a guardian I suppose. Brother Martin had been told to wait outside for the sake of my 'decency', or rather, he'd been told to 'Purify the hallway carpet' or some other horse nonsense. A task he gleefully set to work on without the barest hint of reluctance. The man was super into drinking the Emperor Botherer Koolaid it seemed. "Did you find something Magos? Is my Lady all right?"
Servo motors whirred as the Mars red robes circled around from the front to my back, continuing their scans from a different perspective. I could no longer see the hooded cable box from that angle, which made me insanely uncomfortable, but my orders to stay absolutely still kept me from peeking. Didn't want a stray laser lopping off my arm or something equally gruesome.
"Affirmative. My scanners and data files do not deceive... You've changed Governess Olivia..."
I began to sweat bullets, my blood turning to ice within my veins. My heart began drumming like mad inside my head as dread coursed through my body. Fuckfuckfuckfuck! My cover is about to be made! SHIT!
Now, why was I worrying about this? Didn't I recently demand Lydia believe I was some poor smuck given a full body swap treatment not a few hours ago? As well, I had declared as such to a room full of Royalty and Hive nobles?
As much as I'd have at first appreciated it if someone realized there'd been a terrible mistake and that I actually wasn't this teenage daughter of the previous Planetary Governor, that was all before I came to the realization I was somehow right in the fluff of Warhammer 40K... Where people get immolated for staring at a statue of a saint wrong. You could be saying all the proper prayers and self flagellation before benediction, but if you do so in the wrong order of mutilation and you would get turned into a brain dead bio-robot or thrown into a vat of acid... They're a real fun bunch here forty thousand years in the future.
Ignorance and dogmatic adherence to the Imperial Creed were first and foremost in every loyal citizen's mind; from the lowly gutter serf to the High Lords of Terra, they all believed in their golden Emperor and followed the tenants set forth by the Ministorum religiously. To question such was tantamount to treason. To actually be something outside their Imperial Cult was Heresy of the highest order... And I fit that bill existentially and spiritually to the letter; I was an outsider and a non-believer in their eyes, if they saw who I really was... I was as good as dead.
Truly, never a more shittier universe for me to wake up in after being plowed by a truck.
Now, taking this hysteria inducing revelation into account some dangerous thoughts had occurred to me: What happens when they discovered I wasn't some Hive born nobility? What exactly would they even do with me once they'd learned my soul was transplanted into this girl's body? Oh... Oh fuck... I would absolutely be branded as some kind of daemon host or a of heretical monster from the Warp! If nothing else, I'd be branded a total pervert for touching this girl's chest! Fuck! I swear it wasn't like that! Please don't send Inquisitor Chris Hansen after me!
"...Lady Vomia... You've gained weight." The synthetic voice of the Magos finally droned out placidly.
It took me a good long second before I could process what the technophile had said was not in fact my death knell. "...Excuse me?"
Antrax's vocader turned briefly to pure static before it was readjusted with a oily gloved hand. "Along with your height. You're 0.042 inches taller as well as gained 3.14 pounds... As some of the middle Hivers might say, 'you've grown a tad.'" What might have been chuckling or hoarse coughing came over the static voice. "I will adjust my records to rectify this change."
A wave of relief crashed over me like a ton of bricks. "Oh, oh thank God..." I breathed a sigh of relief, but not before swiftly corrected my idiom, in case either Lydia or Antrax noticed. "...Emperor. Yes, thank the God Emperor. Bless."
The red headed maid standing off to the side rolled her eyes at the stilted exclamation. She still didn't buy into my innocence.
Well, maybe I wasn't entirely innocent; I did technically push her down last night and sexually harass her (entirely by accident I might add. In fact, she was the one who walked in on someone touching their chest in the middle of the night, she should have knocked first! ...But I digress.) Seems she was still holding a massive grudge on how I'd humiliated her. I mean, I don't really blame her... From her point of view I was acting like a bi-polar schizophrenic munchkin: From pinning her down to a bed, assuming I was abusing the absolute power dynamics of a monarch-servant relationship to want some lesbian snu snu fun times. Then I'd rejected her selflessly offering up her chastity in an amazingly abrupt and sudden manner, then babbled on like an idiot about being an entirely different person and a male on top of it all. Then I'd flashed myself after telling her I was sick from food poisoning...
Forget holding a grudge, if I was in her shoes I'd just about ready to smash my head in with a crowbar. If I wasn't some child of an Imperial monarch I'd have been dead to rights for all those insults.
"Yes, thank you Magos Antrax. M'lady was quite concerned about that in particular last evening." Yep, judging by the amount of venom laced in her voice she was absolutely still pissed.
"She'd ranted and raved to be about certain grand delusions, claiming inflammation the root cause of her recent growth spurt. Making it out as if she was in some sort of medical distress from poisoned food. Alas, with the majority of our staff culled in the recent purge of the traitorous filth the chances of someone sneaking in past myself and poisoning M'Lady is slim to none." Lydia pointedly looked over at me, or rather the small bumps on my chest. Blushing I quickly covered up those regions by crossing my arms. "I'm glad someone reasonable could point out it was all merely puberty taking it's natural course. I'm not sure how I'd report this all to her mother if she kept insisting she was poisoned or worse. So I thank you and Brother Martin for your prompt response to this little incident."
Okay wow, you know what? Fuck this maid! I may not have wanted to be reborn into this girly body, but that doesn't mean I have to be constantly reminded of how small certain portions are. It was similar to pointing out a man's tiny pecker at every given opportunity. The next chance I get I'm going to either sue her or fire her... You can do that in the 41st millennium, right? Or do they just fire people from macro cannons?
A mechandendrite was casually waved back and forth like a hand dismissively. "Oh, not at all... The body is a wonderful machine blessed unto us by the Omnissiah... While the flesh isn't nearly as strong as sacred steel it shall function to it's fullest if given the necessary input materials and maintenance... It is also a natural phenomenon to be concerned when bodily change occurs. Seeking understanding about one's own processes is... admirable. It is especially prudent to be vigilant for toxins after one has had their life threatened by... Malicious perpetrators." Huh, I guess I was a bit mistaken about some of these Cog worshippers. They can be rather chill... If you don't question why they decide to commit cable mismanagement bodyhorror unto themselves. I'm starting to like this Anthrax guy more than Lydia at least.
"...However, what this Unit has found... especially remarkable was that there is no identifiable traces nor marks of injury or wounds to the Lady Governor's body." A chirp of harsh static grated at my ears, almost as if a signal of my impending doom. "If my memory banks are correct, my audiorecptors previously relayed information that Lady Olivia had suffered a severe cranial head injury and nearly had her windpipe crushed by her... Former family member."
Aaaand just when I was starting to like the cog guy he just has to ruin it all by adding more fuel to the pyre. Nice... Namely by being the first person smart enough to ask some of the most obvious questions regarding my abnormal physical body. Curse this techpriest and his logical reasoning!
Magos Antrax shifted their multitude of glowing green optics back onto me. I could feel an unbridled curiosity beaming directly at my being. I didn't know it was even possible to feel even more naked while wearing nothing at all, but hey, I guess we were learning a whole slew of new traumas today.
"My cogitators are eager to process this new data point, as it is improbable how Lady Olivia did not sustain any physical injury while fighting off several dozen Lords and Ladies twice her size... And yet it's as if it never happened. How very Peculiar..." In that moment I knew exactly how those little white mice felt when a mad scientist started getting perverse ideas on what horrific experiments they should subject them to next.
Well shit... The bottomless pit had reopened itself back up in the bottom of my stomach, sending my heart plummeting right through it. I'd completely forgotten about that...
The soft delicate fingers of my new body reached up to the part of my throat where Krumb had strangled me. I felt a shiver run through me at the memory of the large brute, similarly I recalled the nightmare last night where he'd appeared again. I was starting to have a hard time breathing just remembering those rough pudgy hands crushing the life out of me.
Antrax was right though, normally a good night's sleep shouldn't completely heal those kinds of serious injuries on a regular Human, let alone some rich kid who'd probably never exercised a single day in her life. I didn't even have any bruising around my neck where I'd nearly been choked to death yesterday. I'd also had a gash open at the back of my head, which Catharine had bandaged up with a strip of cloth from her expensive silk dress... There wasn't any way I could try to convince them it wasn't nearly as bad as it'd looked with the Queen's dress used as a bloody rag.
Either way, this body had some insanely high vitality stats, that or I was somehow the root cause of this freaky healing.
Fuck... I thought I didn't get any special treatment with this reincarnation shtick? Was I supposed to meet the Emperor before I got booted here? Fucking typical that the blessing I receive is a total white elephant in the end! What use is a goddamn fast healing rate mutation when because of it your brains will be splattered against a wall? I could already picture the firing line now...
As much as I was morbidly curious about my newly acquired abnormal healing factor it didn't feel prudent to test it out while I still had people right in front of me watching like hawks. "Oh... Wow, that sure is something! H-hehe... I bet it's all just a blessing by the Emperor! He rewards the faithful, no? Hehe..." I laughed nervously, trying to play it cool and failing miserably at it. I only got further strange looks by the two.
"Perhaps you are right Magos... The Lady has been acting rather strange ever since the battle with her Uncle over the succession to the throne." Lydia had on a discomforted frown. I could see the cogs beginning to turn in her head as well. Those emeralds looked at me with growing suspicion.
I was beginning to create a lake of sweat as my heart thundered inside my chest. Crap! She didn't buy it!
"She's almost an entirely different person. Not once has she berated me or ordered myself to commit humiliating tasks for her personal amusement... Do you think the two are related? Her head injury and this bout of, how should I say this politely... good cheer?"
I looked up at Lydia, the black and white dressed maid glowered back at me with distrust and wariness. There was clearly some sort of bad blood between this servant girl and the Lady she'd been sworn to serve if acting like a total moron was considered "Good cheer"... Just what in the fuck did this Olivia do to you to make you so wary?
"You may be onto something... Despite only being a mere custodial servant and not a sanctioned member of the Adeptus Biologis..." Magos Antrax gave Lydia a cold stare, or rather whatever constituted a scowl when you'd replaced your eyebrows with HDMI cable sockets. I recalled reading about how the Mechanicum fervently guarded their knowledge, anyone not in their fraternity of cyberdong worshippers was on the main excluded from their discussions. Just about anyone off the street giving their two cents on matters they were studying would normally be lobotomized on the spot. The only thing saving Lydia was the fact that she was directly employed by the planetary monarchy, and thus harming her would mean harming the host to their little tech priest enclave.
"My professional diagnosis shall take time, as it's far too soon to tell with only a cursory analysis and conjecture; cranial injuries and mental traumas take time to reveal the full extent of their damages. Personality alterations, memory loss, and... Lowered intelligence are not uncommon with decreased neural activities... Baser Human instincts of survival tend to prevail in instances of mortal peril. Whether this is also a matter for the Soul however I shall leave to those who have experience far exceeding mine in the subject." One of Antrax's many tentacles pointed towards the door, past which Brother Martin's chanting could be faintly heard.
"However, my current prognosis is that the Lady Governess physically is in a healthy state of condition, abnormal healing rate aside. My recommendation is that she should not exude herself unnecessarily for the time being. I will conduct further study of her body at a later point in time."
"That's... Not necessary." I shuddered to imagine what else the dusty old cyborg might do the next time he preformed a physical checkup. This time it had just been a light show, the thought of one of those menacing buzz saws or injectors preforming a more thorough medical exam nearly made me faint. "Hopefully I'll keep myself healthy from now on. So no need to worry about it."
"My offer still stands, as a Magos Biologis I am pleased to render my services to Vomia's newest Planetary Governess. Long may her reign be blessed by the Omnisssiah's favor." Magos Antrax tried bowing to me, but the rigid structure of his cobbled together implants around his waist prevented him from moving more than a few degrees. I could see why he preferred using his tentacles for expressing his emotions, though I suppose there might have been some sort of formal custom that forced him to nearly break his spine when thanking a planetary regent.
"Umm, thanks?" I offered up lamely. I wasn't at all used to having people treat me like royalty, and it was odder still that it was a member of the Imperium Geek Squad that was giving me proper manners... Unlike a certain maid.
"No thanks are necessary, my Lady... I am merely doing my primary function. That is all." Techpriest's mechanical prehensile tentacles bobbed as if he were nodding, "I exist to serve. If the Omnisiah wills it then I shall obey."
Magos Antrax began rearranging the few items he'd taken with him, compiling his sacred tools into compartments hidden under their red robes. What else he had hiding under those oil stained clothes I was not at all eager to find out.
My maid however remained right where she'd stood, emerald green eyes roving my naked form, as if to find that I too had some similar secrets hidden beneath my skin. I shivered as I was scrutinized by those piercing eyes.
"Umm... Lydia? Not sure if you've noticed, but I'm still rather 'au natural' at the moment, your staring is kinda..." The silence I felt was both awkward and disconcerting, an overwhelming sense of danger brewed deep inside my chest. At that moment I knew exactly why it was that women hated being ogled so much.
The young maid didn't appear to hear me, far too lost in her thoughts as she was. "One moment you're flashing yourself at me and then the next you're as shy as a mouse... You gone from the worst brat I've ever seen to a one woman army smiting treasonous nobility... Just what happened to you Princess?" The maid whispered to herself. Maybe it was this new body's young ears, but I could clearly hear her talking to herself. Magos Antrax didn't seem to mind, they just began shuffling out of the room, ready to move onto their next project. They had better things to do than stare at girls all day it seemed, like fucking toasters or whatever.
"Uhh, Earth to Lydia? You good there?" I waved a hand in front of the young maiden's face, slightly startling her out of her stupor.
"O-Oh, I'm sincerely sorry for my lapse M'lady." Lydia closed the oaken doors of the bedroom behind the departing Magos. "We've several important meetings ourselves to attend to today, we must hurry to make up for lost time here. So please, allow me assist you in dressing, we need to get you ready for the day's events."
I took a shaky step backwards, still holding my arms tightly across my chest. The thought of someone I didn't really know touching me set off some alarm bells in my head. I'd already pushed the boundary of my comfort zone with this whole medical check up farce. Not to mention how Lydia had been giving me eyes all morning... Maybe she really was a lesbian after all, despite what she'd said last night. Which while I wouldn't judge her on the gender of whoever she consensually slept with I would however take major issue on the fact she was okay with bedding a girl almost ten years her younger... Maybe, I actually don't know my age right now nor her's. I could be three hundred years old with rejuvenation treatment, and she could've been vat grown just the other week, but I highly doubt that. Oh, and there was the whole issue with how my psyche already was barely able to cope with this unwanted change of gender; I'm still grappling with the loss of Mr. Johnson, I do NOT need to have some maid take my new body's virginity out of spite!
"Eeh, I think I can manage on my own. Thanks." I began picking up the pajamas I'd been wearing before, slipping them back on with relative ease. My long hair proved the hardest part, the silver strands catching in the top as I slid it over my head, but aside from that I wasn't entirely helpless in this new body of mine. Just awkward as fuck.
Lydia took one step forwards, "Dressing on your own? M'lady has never done so before, everyday it would be up to us chambermaids to dress you. How would you even know how to button up your skirt?"
Shit... I'd forgotten Royalty had staff for just about everything done for them, they couldn't wipe their own asses without someone's help. The useless sacks of shit they were. "I'm... Umm... Feeling like learned how to do so by myself today? Yep! That's all it is! Just give me some pants and I should be good to go!"
"Pants?" Lydia halted where she was, giving me a look of absolute confusion, which then morphed into her trademark piercing look as her suspicions were fueled even further. "M'Lady, pants are for men and those of lower class who work in factories. Why in Terra's name would you want to wear those?"
Double shit!
"Ahahaha... W-well, who's to say I don't start a trend, r-right?" I stammered weakly, reaching for the golden laurel that was sitting upon a stand by the dresser. Why I felt the need to wear it now of all times I did not know, I must have looked silly with it on, like a pajama princess. At least it fit snugly upon my crown, almost as if it were made for me. "It's my first day of office and I need to make an impression! Yeah, that's it, I'm just trying to shake things up with this whole regime change... H-heh."
My attempts at dodging Lydia's questions with milk toast humor only served to egg the red haired woman on. However this "Olivia" had acted in the past I was evidently doing a piss poor job of mimicking her mannerisms.
"M'lady, the traditions that have been passed down through the Vomia family for generations are not something you can so casually discard to 'shake things up'. You have been given a lot of leeway in the past, as you were merely the daughter of the Planetary Governor, but those troublemaking days end now. To rule this planet is a duty not only to the Emperor, but to the countless rulers who have come before you. One does not simply break such long standing traditions to wear 'pants' on a whim."
Pantless I'd found I'd begun to back myself into corner here, literally and figuratively. My legs bumped into the large wooden bed frame in the center of the room. I tumbled backwards with a startled squawk, landing upon the soft mattress, the bed made a little squeak as I fell upon it... Or was that just me?
Lydia resumed her slow marching advance, by now she was at the foot of the bed glaring down at me in high suspicion. The older woman leaned down over top of me, planting her hands to either side of my head... I never realized how much larger she was until her forearm was right next to my face. Her arms were like tree trunks, built up by many years of hard labor and exercise. The old athletic side of me admired the work she'd put into toning those muscles groups in her upper arms, while the new 'me' wondered if they were strong enough to snap my neck. Lydia's red ginger braid swung down over her shoulder, moving like a pendulum as she all but straddled her half dressed charge.
Huh, déjà vu much? This was pretty much just a reverse of last night it seemed. Though there wasn't any trace of lust or embarrassment in her green tinted eyes, no, she was merely watching me like I was a stranger or perhaps a threat, pinning me down like a butterfly to keep me from running away so she herself could examine me closer.
"...The Magos said it'd take more time for symptoms of a brain injury to show, and yet you've been acting strange the moment your head was hit yesterday. Not to mention the miraculous rate at which you've healed your injuries, the way you fought like a blood drunk savage, and these idiotic things you keep spouting... My Lady was never brave, nor was she a fool either. She was spiteful, vindictive, and sadistic beyond measure... None of which you've proven to be."
I gulped, feeling the heat in the room skyrocket. My chest was starting to feel constrictive as my heart began to hammer up against my chest. The metal of the gold leaf crown sitting upon my head began to feel warm against my skull. "How could such a blow to the head knock your head upside down and yet make you stronger for it?"
"I-I guess I'm just built different? H-heh..."
Wrong choice of words, as Lydia's intense look deepened. Damnit! Of course if I was a mutant it would mean nothing to the bolt pistol aimed to my skull! Heretics, Xeno, and Mutants were all on the "Kill on sight" list! Shit!
"You may have fooled the Mechanicus's sensors, but I'm still not convinced you're truly the same Olivia as before." The maid pressed further into the sheets, her face mere inches from my own. I noticed my reflection in those dark pools in her eyes, but all I saw was the wiry thin form of a frightened girl who wore a small glowing gold crown upon her head. There I was, shaking with wide eyed terror as was helpless to stop this interrogation.
God, I looked pathetic...
I could practically feel fresh tears welling up inside my eyes... I hadn't cried in over a year, not since my mother's funeral, but now it was coming easier to me than it ever had before... Curse this tiny body of mine and it's weirdly hyperactive emotions! Stop feeling things so easily damnit! I'm not a girl on the inside, I shouldn't be giving in to tears when I'm being pushed around like this!
"I...I need an adult..." I stammered out weakly, feeling meek as shit. The words tasted foul on my tongue as my shame burned.
"But M'lady, I am an adult." Lydia at first seemed puzzled at my request before pressing on, "But that is not all that I am. You see, before I was employed to be your maid by your father, the previous Governor (Emperor rest his soul), he had me study all manner of courses and education; I gained valuable knowledge and skill sets so that I would serve you as an aide later in life, in both matters of housekeeping and to assist in the navigation of the intricate web of deceit and politics of the court... Because of that training I know that you've been lying to me ever since I've returned this morning."
I tried my best to hold back the utter panic I was feeling at that moment. I was shit at it. My reflection in the those almond shaped eyes looked about ready to bawl.
A golden hue began to fill those purple eyes in the reflection, as the laurel on my head began to glow.
"Why? Are you just trying to mess with me? You've played countless cruel and unusual pranks on me in the past. Often feigning illness or distress to only pull the rug out from beneath your victims or to avoid responsibilities. But not this time... You were telling me the truth before, even if what you said was gibbering nonsense you yourself believed it all to be true. And yet now instead... all I see is lies and misdirection when you claim to be 'fine'. Is this all just so you can shirk your duties to this planet and it's people? Because if so I will not forgive you... Even if you are my sworn master."
I was fuckin dead meat if this woman so much as breathed the 'H' word out loud. If she suspected me of only pranking her or whatever I could suffer her wrath, but should she believe me to not be an Emperor fearing citizen of the Empire then I was fucked... I had to prove my innocence somehow.
"I-I am fine though! Really! See?" I pulled on one of my soft cheeks, stretching the supple skin till it hurt. I let my face go and like elastic my youthful cheek snapped back to it's normal position. "Look, I'm still made of normal Human flesh and bone, not at all corrupted by the warp at all. And it's definitely, absolutely, not at all due to the complete bone tingling terror I'm feeling at this moment in time! Nope, nothing's changed!"
Lydia just frowned at me, "...Humans don't need to state that they're 'Human'... And I never said anything about you being corrupted."
"Oh... Shit..."
Faster than I could follow the royal maid had reached down below her waist and in the span microsecond a lethally sharp obsidian dagger was pressed up against my wind pipe. I had to use all my strength not to scream out as my servant turned on me in that instant.
Lydia's other hand was now clutching at a small engraved rosarius dangling from a chain she'd pulled out from beneath her blouse. "You're treading on dangerously thin ice here 'M'Lady'. If you really are her." Lydia's voice was ice cold, "Now, tell me exactly what you meant when you mentioned that infernal dimension... Have you been consorting with 'unnatural forces?'" The edge in Lydia's voice was sharper than the blade to my neck.
"Pl-please... I can explain!" My voice had started to crack, sweat and tears running down my face like a rain of bullets. My chest felt like it was slammed inside a vice as I was starting to realize it wasn't just a built in lie detector that this maid kept hidden. A hot pressure began to build up behind my wet eyes, the beginnings of a searing headache that made it hard to see. Shapes a colours blurring as I looked up at Lydia through the prisms of my tears. The knife nicked the bare skin of my esophagus, I could feel a warm bead of crimson rolling down the side.
...A memory, one I'd thought I'd buried long ago came back to the surface of my mind. I'd been in a similar experience once when I was still in High School, except instead of a dangerously pretty red headed maid it had been several boys from the baseball team. Their switchblades hadn't nearly held the same sharpness to the assassin's blade cutting at my throat now, but the pain and terror were still the same. The brutal beating that'd swiftly followed that threat had left me scarred a decade later... I wasn't so sure I'd be so lucky this time.
"J-just please don't kill me!" I begged in a panic, fresh tears rolling down my cheeks. "I-I don't want to die... Not again..."
For the first time since I'd laid eyes on the young woman there was genuine concern in Lydia's features, she seemed torn between something internally, perhaps loyalty to her sworn master and common sense for a citizen of the Imperium to turn me into someone from the likes of the Inquisition. If I was Chaos tainted I was a danger to everybody on this planet... But should I be innocent I'd still be brutally tortured and most likely killed.
Of course when a young girl starts weeping while pleading for her life, not to mention speaking about an aversion to having another go on the whole "cycle of life"2: Electric Boogaloo you'd naturally be taken aback a bit and disturbed by such off colour statements. Lydia was no different.
The pressure began easing up, the knife withdrawn as the force being applying down on me, both physically and figuratively, was retracted. Lydia pulled herself back to a sitting position, still straddling my lap to keep me pinned with her thighs, but no longer using as much of her intimidating aurora as before. She must have seen the absolute state her charge was left in, perhaps having second thoughts. I was a crying pathetic mess, hiccupping and moaning about how I didn't want to be torn to shreds by a pack of craven wild zealots. Or have my skin seared off with an Inquisitorial BBQ.
The young maid looked down at the silver haired child she'd served for perhaps half her life. I was absolutely the opposite of the proud and selfish brat Lydia had grown up with, and neither was I a raving cultist frothing at the mouth screaming about unseen dark gods. I was none of those things, merely a small and frightened creature with no defense against Lydia's lithe strength and blood dripping blade. Guilt and shame filled the young woman, yet she didn't get off of me completely. Not yet at least. She still needed to know who, or what she was serving. "Olivia... What are you-"
Just then the great oaken doors to the bedroom swung open, interrupting Lydia mid sentence. In marched the Ecclesiarch Brother Martin, jovially humming some uplifting marching hymn or another in a loud voice. I thanked the Emperor or whoever had sent the holy man in at that moment as divine intervention, it was a miracle of the highest order in my books. "My Lady Governess, I've finished purifying the area! My sacred incense and oils are lit and I'm now ready to prefor-" The priest stopped dead in the doorway, finally seeing what was going on before he'd arrived, the words dying on his lips as he witnessed the two young women on the bed. Particularly the Amelia Bedelia looking maid straddling the planet's newest monarch, looking about ready to take my innocence. To say his jaw hit the floor would be an understatement, it went straight down to the planet's magma core.
"BY THE EMPEROR'S BONES! WHAT ARE YOU DOING WOMAN?!"
Then a giant ball of golden light exploded outwards from my crown, quickly filling the room and blinding just about everyone unlucky enough to have eyeballs. I could hear several people screaming. I was certain I was one of them.
=][=
The next thing I knew I was back at my apartment, sitting on my old sofa watching a favorite movie I'd seen for the hundredth time. Enjoying the rare time off I had to myself. I was at peace.
A bell rang. The scene changed.
I was at my family's villa, sitting on a park bench watching the snow fall for the very first time. Enjoying the rare time I had with my family all together. I was happy.
A bell rang. The scene changed again.
I was making a winning home run, hitting the ball right across the outfield. The crowd in the stadium were cheering me on as I brought the team to victory... If only I knew how some of those in the crowd looked at me with envy in their eyes. At the time I was proud.
A bell chimed. The memory faded.
I was making a terrible mistake, hitting the other boy across the cheek. The crowd of nobles were jeering me as I brought my family shame... If only I knew how some of those in the crowd looked at me with pity in their eyes. At the time I was ashamed.
A bell chimed. The other memory faded.
"What... What's going on?" My voice, both old and new, man and child overlapped one another. I noticed I was somewhere without any rhyme or reason, where reality met insanity. Voids of nothingness crashed with untold possibilities, impossible structures spawned from thin air only to crumble with the merest flick of the non-existent wind. Lakes of fire and brass lava swirled and clashed with swamps of rot and disease. Other realms were dotted around here and there, like pockets or bubbles amidst the raging storm. "W-where am I? What's happening to me!?"
I had no answers given to me. Only the crashing tidal wave of memories from two entirely different lives rushing into my head. I screamed in unbridled agony. Pain unlike any other I could have ever known filled my soul, or what remained of it. I was being ripped to shreds, torn up, then sewn back together again in an amalgamation of the beings I had once been. Who was doing this? For what purpose? I had no answers.
Shadows lurked in the periphery of my shaky vision. With gnashing claws and snapping jaws they bayed in unholy cries for my soul to be eaten by them, and them alone. Their ever unsatisfied hunger cursing them to endlessly devour for pain and pleasure. They called for me to join them in an eternity of suffrage to their Prince.
I cried out against their malicious taunting, fleeing as much as I could from these daemonic beasts. Of course knew that I wouldn't be able to out run these skittering hellspawns, but at least I wouldn't make it easy for them... I hoped.
Too soon did I realize the folly of my attempt at escape, the chitinous claws biting into my tortured soul, pulling me back towards their demented corner of unreality. I screamed, begging for help from anyone at all. I prayed for the first time in what felt like millennium.
A brilliant flash of golden light burned at my soul, encasing it in a wreath of flames that repelled the hissing monsters. The pain was there as I burned along with the ring, and yet, I felt a sense of peace with this end. I knew that at the very least with this burning flame what remained of my soul wouldn't be shackled to an eternity of torment. I embraced the flames, allowing them to immolate what was left of me.
A bell roared. The madness I'd seen dissolved into nothingness.
The next thing I knew I was sitting before an impossibly large tree, the trunk of which towered above me as it's branches scraped the heavens. It's leaves were a golden hue that burned brighter than any sunset.
I sat there in the shade of the tree, in rapt awe of the overpowering beauty and majesty of a thing that dwarfed me by magnitudes beyond reasoning.
Eons old bark rested gnarled and twisted with age, the ancient being this tree was bore the scars of endless millennium of warfare. Branches of it were snapped off, missing, or burnt to cinders. The fields surrounding the enormous world sized tree were similarly littered with the uncountable corpses of those that had died for and against this god like being. Many skulls littered the roots, thousands upon thousands of them becoming the fertilizer for the tree to live for just one more day.
I instinctively knew that this was something that bore all of Humanity upon it's great limbs. It did so as a radiant beacon in the storm, purposefully burning it's branches in a blinding conflagration as light shined out against the darkness that crawled and nipped at the edges of it's flames. Sacrificing itself in the chance that those that took shelter within it's shade would strive to be what it hoped they would one day be.
A bell thundered. The sound was clear as a heartbeat, it called to me.
As I sat there in the burning golden shade, the world burning all around me, I couldn't help but wonder if I'd seen those golden leaves before...
=][=
I awoke from my stupor with all the grace of a piss drunk badger. And by that, I mean that as soon as I regained consciousness I immediately started shouting incoherently, bolted upright, and promptly fell straight off the bed, smashing my skull face first against the floor. (This was the third time in a row I've somehow fallen out of this bed, I swear on my left kidney I shall burn this oversized Ikea display set as soon as I find a match box.)
My head swam with what felt like hundreds of enraged tiny bees, buzzing about and stinging my brain stem with their little spikey butts, chomping down on what remaining grey matter I had left. My eyes weren't fairing much better, as those little assholes must have puked up my partly digested brain matter out my eye sockets as all my world was tinted a bright golden yellow.
"Fuck me..." I groaned, groggily righting myself from the floor. My nose was bleeding like a faucet, though luckily it didn't seem to be broken. I used a sleeve to hold back the crimson tide of blood until it would stop. "Anybody get the license plate on that truck?"
It seemed I wasn't the only one who'd suffered from the golden explosion, both Lydia and Brother Martin had been keeled over like a pair of bowling pins. It was surprising to see how far my murderous maid had flown off of me, as she was now halfway across the room. An expensive looking dresser had broken her fall, or more accurately she had broken it. As Lydia pulled herself from the oaken timbers she stopped to gape at what she saw. "M'Lady... Y-Your head... Gold... Lauel..." Lydia pantomimed one of those old singing robot fish that crusty backcountry bars had sitting on their walls, mouth flapping uselessly as stilted words jumbled out. She held up one of her shaky hands to point directly at my face... Or maybe that was just my vision blurring, I was seeing double after all.
I reached up a hand and touched the glowing hunk of metal stuck to my scalp... Huh, judging by how scorching hot this feels it really should be burning my hand right about now, but strangely it didn't hurt one bit. In fact, it felt rather nice, like one of those hot gel packs you put around your shoulders to relieve stress. I picked the laurel up off the crown of my head and the Roman leafy accessory immediately stopped glowing so brightly. The room swiftly returned to it's posh upper hive nobility standards. So still a crap load of gold, but not quite so blindingly brilliant.
I stared down at the tiny leafy crown nestled in my small hands. It just looked like a hunk of gold metal to me, nothing, not even a switch to turn it's force repelling strobe light feature on or off. "Well, that was weird..."
"It... It cannot be..." Brother Martin sat there on his ass, his expression that of gobsmacked bedazzlement. He kept muttering to himself, repeating on and on about holy sacred this or that. "I-I've heard only rumors of it being the case, but I never thought that the crown of the Planetary Governor was actually... Truly, we are all blessed by His Devine light today!" Martin was practically frothing at the mouth by this point, gaping at the crown in my hands. He kept making the sign of the Aquilla over his chest and rapidly bowing his head in my direction like one of those tacky drinking bird bobbles you'd have on your office desk.
Lydia as well taking notice of the preacher's ramblings looked over at the man with bug eyed astonishment. "No... You don't understand, My Lady was just admitting to me before you came in that she was somehow messing with the warp and is-"
"A SAINT!" Brother Martin roared, rounding on Lydia with manic fire lit within his eyes. The Priest stood up to his full height, clutching his copy of the Lectitio Divinitatus close to his chest. "A Living Saint! Never before have I felt in my decades of service in the Ecclesiarchy the Emperor's holy divinity so clearly! Aaah, it's so absolutely glorious! I could bath in that radiance for all my life and beyond!"
...Okay, weird. I thought to myself, but it was still marginally more preferable than seeing him wheeling out the torches and mob with pitch forks. I swear to god, I'm not a Saint or whatever, but it beats being roasted on a pyre.
Brother Martin kept going on with his ramblings, heedless of the several musketeer looking guards that'd rushed in through the blown open doors. The men all seemed at first bewildered by the messy room and what was happening inside it, only catching the final part of Martin's impromptu sermon. "See now all ye faithful! The Holy Emperor has blessed our newest Governor as his own, granting our Lady Governess a mere fraction of his essence! He himself has sanctioned her ascension to the throne of this world, giving her divine rights to rule! Truly, her reign shall be filled with miracles and blessings!"
Maybe these men were the religious type, or they'd just gotten themselves swept up in the zeal of the firebrand preacher, but soon enough they were all chanting, going on about my blessed spirit or another inside my bedroom. It got a bit cramped as about a dozen or so more soldiers and curious servants soon began piling into my room.
Neither Lydia or I could properly comprehend all that was going on, but it seemed as though the matter of my purity against the foulness of Chaos was somewhat settled. If the top holy man on the planet said I was god blessed who were we to argue? I held no illusions that this wasn't at all my doing, but rather the work of the crown nestled in my tiny hands. Whether it was sacred or just had a flashbang self defense mode built in like a Rosarius I couldn't tell yet, all that I did know was that it meant it gave me a "get out of Heresy" free card right at the moment.
Never thought I'd say this, but thank the Emperor everyone here sees gold and shiny objects as holy relics.
Eventually the gathered crowd was forced to disperse, led away by a very happy Ecclesiarch priest, spouting sermons left and right down the hall leading his procession god knows where. Lydia and I were the only ones left, and before I could dash out of the room Lydia barred me from escaping.
"Okay... We need to talk," there wasn't any hint of the hostility left in her voice from before, but I could tell she was being dead serious right now. The black serrated combat knife she'd threatened me with had at least disappeared, though with how fast she'd materialized it out of thin air I was sure she had them stashed somewhere underneath her maid outfit.
It didn't matter if I had a self defense super weapon tucked away inside my crown, I still could feel the edge of the blade cutting my throat. And yes, I'd checked and my throat had already healed by now... Didn't mean the phantom pain went away afterwards, that primal fear would stick with me far longer than any scar would.
My nose bleed had also plugged itself up quickly as well. The blood had soaked my pajama sleeve, ruining the soft fabric forever, but I wasn't worried about the frilly lace garment. I was more concerned with the mutation I'd evidently been bestowed. So at least I now know my rapid healing wasn't just a hypothetical or figment of my insanity...
While I retreated to the (relative) safety of the bed Lydia didn't make any moves to follow me this time, allowing me some much appreciated space. I didn't miss that she was blocking the only exit to the room, but at least she wasn't chasing me around wielding a knife at the moment. "Eh heh... Sure, why not, we can 'Talk'. Since you're asking so nicely this time around, plus I'm sure I'll not be able to fool you anymore. We can discuss things civilly... Just please, don't stab me." Lydia for her part had the good grace to seem ashamed at how she'd terrified a seemingly young teenage girl.
"First of, let me say I'm sorry for doubting you earlier." Lydia began, "Had you been possessed by some warp entity I'm sure that blast of holy light you let out proves you aren't evil, or at least not a malevolent spirit of some kind."
I blinked owlishly at that. Me? An evil spirit? I didn't have a malicious bone in my body, in fact, I barely had a spine at all. I was too cowardly to be a sadistic jerk, I was at most a moronic insensitive jerk. "T-thanks, I guess?"
"Secondly, I'm sorry I hurt you. If you had been a doppelganger or clone of M'lady, Magos Antrax should have picked up on your differences. But I never really trust the Machine Worshippers, they see the God Emperor as cogs and circuits... Utterly absurd if you ask me, the Emperor is a man of flesh and blood, which he's spilt for our sakes." I felt it prudent at the time to not mention how the vision I'd seen from the explosion seemed to make the Emperor out as a giant golden burning tree. Different interpretations from mortals on the nature of the divine I suppose. "I would... Well, I'd have made you tell me where the real Olivia was. But I'm guessing either you don't know where she is, or you're somehow inside her actual body."
"...You're being rather calm for someone who'd supposedly just witnessed the second coming of Jesus as according to Brother Martin. And why do you think I'm using your mistress as a skinsuit?"
Lydia didn't say anything for awhile, only looking at me with those green eyes of hers. They were utterly unreadable. "Let's just say it's an educated guess."
"Okay... Weird, but then again I'm feeling very weird at the moment, so I'll save that question for later." Judging by the look Lydia gave me she wasn't going to be giving me an answer on that for a very long time.
"Lastly, and I absolutely do need to know this before I can pass judgement, but what are you?" For such a simple question, I found to my growing worry that I didn't really have an answer.
"I...I dunno."
=][=
Several hundred levels below, deep within the cramped recesses the middle rungs of the hive city, two idiot twins recoiled as if struck over the head. They screamed and howled as they clawed at their heads until their skin was raw and bleeding, trying as they might to silence the golden aura that'd instantly filled their tiny heads. The caldron the cultists were tending to spilled over in the midst of their thrashing. The sickly lime green oozing out of the cast iron pot corroded everything the sludge touched.
"BY TZEETCH'S BLUE SCTOUM! WHAT'S HAPPENING?!"
"I-I DON'T KNOW BROTHER! I'M SCARED!"
Like a thunderstorm the wave of psychic release of energy boomed inside the twin's heads, rattling them as the ripples of holy divine power scarred them from the inside.
It wasn't just them that were currently suffering from the miniscule warp storm. The powerful psychic surge released that day from the Governor's palace far above the cultists heads hadn't just effected them, the golden holy light had similarly jarred just about every warp sensitive being on Vomia Prime. In the coming days the palace would receive a slew of several angrily written death threats and complaints by Astropaths and several sanctioned psykers... Most of which were illegible mad scrawlings, filled with hexes or where parts of the writing flipped upside down for no discernible reason. The irate messages were at most only mildly threatening, and so were mostly ignored, save for the most egregiously offensive materials which were incinerated for good measure. It was said that weird coloured ominous smoke filled the chimney for days on end after those letters had been destroyed.
Shakily the twine thin man dressed in blue robes stood back up to his feet, holding his throbbing head between his boney hands. "B-brother! That was-"
A man with a long crooked nose and purple hooded cloak shook his head back and forth, trying to get rid of the ringing between his ears. "-The daemon we previously summoned! I-I know! It's still here on the loose!"
Both siblings reasserted themselves, surveying the total destruction of their latest ritual. They'd have to start all over again from scratch, their potion of corruption had all spilled out of the pot and onto the chalk lines surrounding the fire pit. The hive's water supply would be saved a Nurgle plague this day... And the next, it wasn't easy finding condensed Ork belches and Krootox dung. They'd need to find another scheme to strike back at the Vomias.
"But... The taint of the Coprse God bears alongside it! This Warp spirit is siding against us! With the Imperials! It's unheard of!"
"Frak... We'll need to inform our new leader of the danger we're all in!" The taller sibling whimpered, "We have brought ruin upon our fate! Our plans! Our beautiful plans! Ruined!"
"You moron, I told you we shouldn't have splurged on those Eldar Ears!" The stout shorter brother griped. "They were too damn psychically potent and utterly pointless to the potion!"
"You're the moron, Brother!" The lanky cultist shot back, "Those Aeldari knife ears have points on the end of them!"
The other cultist twin dragged a hand across his long face. "Mother should have abandoned you as an infant in the underhive to be eaten by sewer ratmen! Instead she had to raise both of us, even if I was the only one with any brains between us!"
A heavy smack could be heard as one brother slapped the other across their gob. For such a skinny man his hand stung like a whip. "D-don't you dare talk about mother to me! It was obviously your clumsy mistakes that got our family disowned! It killed her!"
"N-no! You did!"
The lanky cultist smacked his brother across the nose, which is was retaliated back with a fistful of hair being pulled. And so the tiny ritual room returned to yet another state of anarchy as the two Tzeechian sorcerers bit and scratched one another. Completely neglecting their duty to inform their leader of their great enemy coming into play.
Unbeknownst to either of the squabbling siblings a third set of eyes silently watched the ongoing fight from the shadows. Two dark orbs keenly observed the threat to the Human's hive city, recording everything they could glean from these two numbskulls and how they'd blamed their failures on one another... As the brawl swiftly devolved into hair pulling and eye poking the silent observer wished they had some snacks to go along with the show.