Li Ren stirred in his sleep before forcing himself up, current state of affairs were a blessing and a curse. The blessing being an enormous weight lifted from his shoulders, the curse was the silent ostracization from the rest of the town.

He was on the governing council of Kuroyuri, the other members of the council wanted to expand but Li thought they'd be spreading themselves too thin and would be defenseless against a grimm or bandit attack. Instead, he took the expansion money and decided to forge an alliance from another fledgling town of Atlas families doing the same thing they were.

By the time he had returned from Holy Terra, the settlement's walls were fortified and armed soldiers were patrolling the streets. Guns were being mounted on the walls and Li was proud of his decision. Some felt the same, they rather enjoyed seeing the Guardsmen patrolling, even hearing the guns vaporize any grimm that got too close. The rest of the people thought he just sold the settlement out.

His wife An stirred before peeling her eyes open, "Up already?"

"I have a meeting with Captain Aquas." Li explained as he dragged himself out of bed, "Not to mention the council hasn't given me any assignments since they arrived."

"Still?" An sat up herself.

Li sighed and nodded, "At least the guardsman have been giving me work."

As if on cue a knock on the door alerted them, "Have a good day, dear." An closed her eyes and laid back down. Li nodded and got dressed, he grabbed his bow and quiver-probably didn't even need to but not having them felt off.

When he answered the door, he was met by a soldier. He didn't know much about Holy Tera nor its people, besides that they succeeded from Atlas. Li expected the usual white, but this soldier was wearing brown fatigues, green armor pads, and a rifle on her back. She had a brown utility belt with her pistol, few grenades, and a first aid kit.

"Morning Li." Captain Aquas greeted with a smile.

"Captain Aquas." Li smiled at one of the few friends he now had. She had fair skin, it honestly surprised him with how much her pads were scarred. She had white hair tied up under her helmet. He closed the door and the two began walking.

"How's the family?"

"Fair, I appreciate the rations you gave us, seems like everyone's turned on me."

"Not all of them, I've seen it myself, there are a lot of people here grateful for the protection. Speaking of which, that's why I wanted to speak to you."

"What is it?" Li grew concerned and the feeling only worsened when Aquas led him to a new structure in the center of town. "Captain, what is this?"

"She's a Hammerfall Bunker." Captain Aquas explained, "Normally we drop them out of the sky full of robots to help secure an area. But I had this one custom made, the twin bolters on each wall and the missile pods above are still fully automated. However, this baby is hollow, if the walls should fail everyone is to report to the bunker. We even established an underground vault. Clean air, water purifier…"

"Why?!" Li asked, his voice louder than intended, "I'm sorry, I just, why is this here, Captain?"

She sighed and led him inside the bunker, he saw the hatch leading to the vault, but Captain Aquas showed him a map. "Report, Lieutenant."

"Sir." The Lieutenant nodded and the screen he was in front of switched to a radar, "It stumbles into radar ever now and again, but so far it has avoided the city."

"Drones were only able to get a glimpse of it." Captain Aquas pulled up pictures of a grimm, but one Li had never even dreamed of. It was some sort of mutilated centaur, horrifically long arms with matching claws, and several weapons sticking out of its back. "It's not as big as a goliath but don't let that fool you, it's still pretty sizable."

"By the gods, what is it?" Li gasped.

"No idea, we've never seen anything like it. I've doubled the patrols and I've asked for reinforcements from Holy Terra. Our shields won't hold against something of its size if it decides to come this way."

The sky burned orange as the sun began to set. Li joined the guardsmen as they gathered by the bunker, he was curious what kind of rallying speech Captain Aquas would give. He smiled as his wife and son joined him coming out of the bakery. Captain Aquas came out in a suit of black and red armor with her helmet under her arm. The armor had an asymmetry to it: a pattern of skull iconography on the right, and perhaps a clan sigil or rank insignia on the left. Beneath each symbol was functional, pleated black interposed with dark, bloody red, and a few more ornate gold facets and branded white on the facemask.

"In the darkness throughout the world, the weak and the faithless find no deliverance. We are raised to believe that the God-Emperor watches over us all."

"God-Emperor?" An mumbled to her husband, "They don't really think their emperor is a god...do they?" At first, Li thought it was a figure of speech or something similar, but the conviction she spoke with and the non-reaction from the guardsmen said otherwise.

"And so we are charged to cleanse the mutant, the heretic, the grimm." She looked toward the sky as the darkness of the evening started creeping in, "We must not falter. We are his sword! We are his wrath! Even in the face of death, we shall not submit! Suffering is our prayer. Faith is our armor. In battle, he offers us redemption! And for those who prove worthy, The Emperor sends forth his angels! We will hold the line, the last bulwark against the terror! While we draw breath we will fight!"

The guardsman roared with thunderous applause as Captain Aquas led them to the walls.

…

That night Li joined the night patrol along the walls. They offered him a rifle, but he was more comfortable with his bow.

He found himself at the front gate with Captain Aquas; she was wearing her helmet. It was designed like the knights of old but he couldn't see her eyes through the slits, they were more likely decorations as he saw a few blinking lights from them as if something was relaying information to her.

"That was quite a speech, Captain." Li cleared his throat. Looking down at her left arm he saw a minigun bolted to her gauntlet, her other hand wielded a white-hot burning sword.

"Are you afraid, Li?" Captain Aquas asked.

Looking up before he could answer he saw four more gun barrels, two on top of each other between her head and pauldrons, "Yes."

"Good, it means you're not stupid. Now the real question is: "Do you have faith?"

Li was hesitant, he wasn't really a spiritual person but before he could answer, that was when it happened. It was more horrible than the pictures. It slammed itself into the shields around the settlement, the shields seemed to hold until they saw the horde of smaller grimm throw themselves into the shields too.

"Li, get everyone to the bunker, now, we'll hold them here." Captain Aquas ordered.

The monster unleashed a horrific scream as Li rushed home. Captain Aquas was right, the shields were little more than tissue paper against the beast. She jumped off the wall and fired her minigun into the horde rushing in. The multiple barrels of her gun were white hot as they unloaded on the monster. The creature screamed again as it impaled Captain Aquas on its massive claws. She drove her sword into its chest, forced her minigun up, and unleashed every gun she had into it. There was one final scream as the creature spread his arms and Captain Aquas with them.

…

Li burst through his front door and saw An and his son Lie in the kitchen.

"We need to get to the bunker."

"Mother." Lie tightened her hand.

An knelt down to her son to comfort him, when Li spotted the monster in the city. He instantly dove for his family and got them down as their walls were reduced to splinters. His aura shattered as he forced the debris off them.

"Father!" Lie pointed at his back.

"Li your back!"

Li grimaced as he felt his back moisten, the wound was deep, "Forget about that, to the bunker, now!"

Li rushed his family into the bunker as more grimm started flooding into the city. One wall of the bunker opened revealing the open hatch to the safehouse below.

"Li?" An asked as Li stayed outside.

"I'm going to help them, Captain Aquas said reinforcements are on the way. We just need to hold out a little bit longer."

"Be careful, my love." An said taking their son underground.

Li watched the hatch close before allowing the bunker to seal up too. Once the civilians were secured, it was just Li and the guards against this monstrosity. Every time he would fire an arrow his back would scream at him. One guardsman rushed towards the bunker and quickly punched a button revealing a radio built into the walls.

"Company Command!" he yelled into it, "This is First Platoon, Kuroyuri's been breached, I repeat, Kuroyuri's been breached!"

The monstrosity leading them was walking toward them, when a deafening roar of an engine echoed above them. A smaller ship, roughly the size of a bullhead, hovered above them. Li gasped as three men without any landing gear jumped right out of the ship and landed between the bunker and the grimm.

The concrete shattered upon impact as the red suits of power armor rose. They were twice the size of the Li, one held a massive sword with the teeth from a chainsaw, while the other wielded a massive hammer. It would've taken Li all his might to carry either of those massive weapons, but they were wielding them with ease.

Their leader wore a long cloak that covered his body but not his pauldrons: his right had a massive skull that almost consumed the entire pauldron, while his left bore an insignia of a blood drop adorned with white angelic wings.

The two guards started fighting while the leader rushed in without hesitation. He cut down several grimm as he charged, he even cut one clean in half with a single swing of his sword. Until he was faced with the monster causing all this. It unleashed a horrific scream that made Li cover his ears, but the leader was unphased. He charged in anyway; the horse's front legs lifted; the leader blocked with his sword as the two hooves came down. He grunted and strained as he tried to hold the beast back. His soldiers were busy with other grimm, he needed to be quick, the margin for error was through the roof. He pulled back his left hand, drew his heavy pistol, and shot out the back legs. The horse collapsed right in front of him, and he twirled his sword around and drove it into the beast's head.

The humanoid-half, however, was still alive and well, and it flailed its massive arms around and knocked his pistol out of his hand. He raised his sword to block but two arrows in each shoulder caused the grimm's arms to flop to its side. Not wasting a moment, his eyes turned blue, and a torrent of lightning shot from his fingertips and reduced its head to ash.

With the alpha dead, many of the grimm became uncoordinated and clumsy, throwing themselves more recklessly at their lines and dying much faster. The other two soldiers began cutting down the ones who decided to stay and charge.

The leader, however, turned around and started toward Li. He could finally see his face; he was an older man with long blonde hair and round metal implants with a blue jewel in each on his temples.

"His angels…" he heard a guardsman whisper before they all dropped to their knees.

Li was confused he didn't know this man, nor anything about Holy Terra's beliefs-in fact the more he saw, the more questions were raised-but Li bottled up his questions and extended his hand instead of kneeling. "Li Ren." He said introducing himself.

"Mephiston." He took his hand and shook, "I appreciate your assistance back there."

"No, thank YOU." Li let out a breath, "If it wasn't for you, I don't know what could've happened." Li started to falter before he fell to a knee.

"You're wounded."

"I jumped between that thing and my family."

A nevermore flew above and into another part of the city. The solider with the hammer took off after it. He found it perched on top of a house trying to peck at something under it. The lenses in his helmet began cycling until one of the visions spotted a child under the house. Her fear was a smorgasbord to it, the home collapsed, and the child started running. The solider twisted the handle of the hammer and the head began sparking with lightning. He charged forward and as the beak was nearing the little girl, he brought down the hammer right through its bone protection and reducing it to a black puddle.

The girl breathed a sigh of relief but now she was scared of something else…a giant suit of armor with an equally massive hammer. The green lenses in his helmet stared down at her, "Are you ok?" the mask distorted his voice and sounded more mechanical than human.

"I'm scared…" she whined backing into the barrels.

"I was too, but my father always told me that: 'The only time a man can be brave is when he is afraid'." The suit knelt and the helmet split apart and retracted into the chassis. The man behind the mask was a younger man with soft olive skin, long blonde hair, and green eyes. "It's okay now." His human voice was gruff but still soothing at the same time. His massive gauntlet reached out to her, she was hesitant at first but eventually she walked over and could barely wrap her tiny hands around his finger. He took a smaller helmet off his belt and put it on her head, it didn't even remotely fit, but she didn't care as she giggled, "What's your name?"

He pressed a button and the helmet adjusted to perfectly fit her head, "Nora."

He chuckled lifting her in his arm, "Hi Nora, my name's Dante."

…

"Hm?" The remaining giant suit twitched, "Heard." He nodded before he went to Lord Mephiston, "My lord, Commander Dante reports the city is clear."

Lord Mephiston raised his wrist to his mouth, "Bring them in."

The dropship returned with more men in red suits of armor pouring out. These, however, were significantly shorter than Lord Mephiston and his entourage. Li was caught off guard when a white suit of amor grabbed him and injected him with a green substance.

"AH!" Li yelped, "Oh…oh man, where has this been all my life?" he slurred as he felt his aura instantly restored and his wounds begin to heal.

"Where is Captain Aquas?" Lord Mephiston turned to his soldiers as Li rested against the bunker.

"My lord!" A soldier knelt and raised his hand, he presented Lord Mephiston with his own pistol as if it was a jewel of untold wealth.

"Fine work soldier." Lord Mephiston holstered his pistol and went to the part of the wall that was breached.

"My lord." The Apothecary gestured to two halves of a corpse, "Captain Aquas."

"A duty honorably discharged." Lord Mephiston bowed his head to her body, "Gather the dead and repair the walls." He ordered the men at the wall before bringing up his wrist, "I need a chaplain in Kuroyuri, we held the city, but lost good people tonight."

…

Li had to use a second mirror to see the wound on his back completely scarred over. He couldn't believe the kind of tech these 'Angels' had. Not only that, the resources that were saved from the expansion were used to rebuild the city, with a small addition of a memorial statue and a mausoleum. Which everyone embraced with open arms.

Li couldn't help but feel a little bitter about everything. Sure, NOW, everyone was happy the guardsmen were here, NOW everyone was happy they had a military force patrolling the walls, six months of spiting him for his idea and now they're happy?! Sure, he broke the law, but if hadn't then everyone would be dead.

Li grunted as he finished dressing in his funeral robes. His bitterness turned to sadness since many of the friends he made were now gone. He entered the kitchen seeing his family dressed and ready to go. As they exited their home, they crossed paths with Lord Mephiston. He was walking with someone wearing the giant armor, Terminator Armor, he overheard one of the guardsmen say.

This new person's armor was pitch black with gold trim, his helmet was in the shape of a skull, his belt buckle was a skull with two smaller ones adorning it. He had a skull between each pauldron with a trail of paper and more skulls almost reaching the floor. His lower body had a red cape with a white inside, he had several wax seals with more paper across what little armor he could still see. Li saw his son pull behind his mother.

Behind him in a black suit was Commander Dante, beside him was a woman with long red hair, and two girls beside her. One was Nora, only cleaner and a full belly, the other was a spitting image of her mother.

"Excuse me, Lord Commander." Li waved him down.

"Ah, Li Ren, right? I've been reading over Captain Aquas' files, it was your idea to make an alliance with us, yes?" Commander Dante extended his hand.

"Yes, Aquas really helped us out when the council pretty much cut me loose." Li shook his hand.

Li and Lord Commander Dante began walking together and started talking.

"Um…hi…my name's Lie Ren." He shyly waved at the others.

Nora immediately went behind the other who only chuckled, "I'm Pyrrha, this is my new sister Nora, pleased to meet you."

Nora waved back but she had a little bit of a glare going on, it didn't seem to surprise Lie. A while back some of the local boys were picking on her and he was too scared to move. Lie frowned remembering his words about taking no action. He did it again last night, the village was under attack, and he did nothing while people died. Pyrrha stepped between them to ease the tension, she flashed him a warm smile and led them behind their parents.

…

They all stopped once they reached the mausoleum. There was a line of caskets in front of the marble wall, some open, but many were closed. The townspeople had gathered while the guardsmen and angels stood to the side. Even the wounded were there.

"Well, this is where we part ways Li." Lord Commander Dante extended his hand again, "I must take my place with Lord Mephiston and the chaplain. It was a pleasure meeting you and your family."

"Likewise, Lord Commander." Li shook his hand and the two families split.

He was still a member of the council even if the rest of them preferred he wasn't. He took a seat right up front; he didn't intend it but he somehow managed to find a seat near Captain Aquas' casket. Lord Mephiston and Lord Commander Dante joined the guardsmen and angels while the chaplain addressed the crowd.

He cleared his throat and even that sounded mechanical, "They came to us from Atlas, Vale, Vacuo, and Mistral. From North, South, East, and West. They died protecting men, women, and children who will never know their names. It is for us to remember them, our brothers and sisters, we shall never see their like again."

"DUTY HONORABLY DISCHARGED!" The guardsmen and angels roared bowing their heads.

"Duty honorably discharged." Li whispered looking at Aquas in her casket. He could see where the armor was welded back together, he could only hope her death was painless. He did not fully understand the words or religious fervor they obviously had, and yet Captain Aquas had given her life for him and his family, and he would not forget that. "Thank you." He added, softly, wanting to do more than repeat the same words the others were chanting.

"Duty honorably discharged." The Chaplain turned to the caskets, "May The Sanguinor take these souls into his arms and deliver them unto Sangunius where The Great Angel may welcome them into paradise. Where there will be no sorrow, no weeping, and no pain. Peace and Joy forevermore."

A squad of guardsman stepped forward, one with a bugle in hand, seven held rifles, and one was leading them. The leader was a much older man, his right arm was missing, as well as his left eye. The left quarter of his head was covered in metal and a red eye lens over the wound.

"Attention! Present Arms!" he cried and the entire squad, even angels, saluted. The seven riflemen though loaded their guns. "Ready, aim, fire!" Seven shots rang out scaring many of the children, but the guards and angels didn't flinch. "Aim, fire!" Seven more rang out, "Aim, fire!"

Once the final volley was fired, the riflemen stood down. The man with the bugle started playing a long sorrowful tune as the caskets were lifted into the mausoleum. Once the song finished, the fallen were sealed away.

After the ceremony the people tried to go about their usual day. Li, however, went to the town hall. He saw several men in bright red robes tinkering with the shield generator. He almost missed it, but he saw two additional mechanical arms come out of their robes and assist them.

"Hello again, Li." Lord Commander Dante greeted once he entered the council chambers.

"Lord Commander, what's going on?" Li entered seeing the entire council already gathered.

"The Council wanted to renegotiate our terms, we decided to wait until the entire council was present." Lord Commander Dante explained.

"Renegotiate?" Li scoffed, "What's to renegotiate?"

"You mean besides the fact that the security failed to protect us? Half the town is destroyed? The walls are rubble?" Adam Gold, the founder of Kuroyuri, listed off.

"If it wasn't for The Angels or The Guardsmen the whole town would be rubble!" Li protested.

Bryain Silver, the town's treasurer, cleared his throat, "As much as I hated the idea of military occupation…Li is right. Even with everything you said Gold, there were no civilian casualties. I vote we join The Imperium."

"Anyone else agree with this?!" Gold fumed, his anger only grew as the other council members raised their hands. He furiously tapped the table before slamming his hands, "Fine! It would seem I'm outvoted. Congratulations Li, now you've officially sold out the town."

Lord Commander Dante snapped his fingers and two angels came out of the shadows, grabbed Gold; despite his protests they threw him out of the town hall. The other councilmen didn't even seem to mind, they even pulled out Gold's chair for someone to take his place.

"Unfortunately Li, this is where we depart." Lord Commander Dante sighed, "The Angels are needed back on Holy Tera."

"If you don't mind me asking, you don't really believe…"

Lord Commander Dante chuckled, "I know the guardsmen think of us as such, we are so rarely seen on the battlefield it's like seeing an angel. We are only called in in extreme situations, like a massive centaur that charges through plasma-shields like tissue paper. Since the threat has been dealt with, we must return to Holy Terra. However, this is Commissar Sebastian Yarrick. He fought in the Faunus Rebellions, held the line against countless grimm invasions…his resume is impeccable. We're also leaving Bravo Company here too, trust me, you're in good hands."

"I can't thank you enough, Lord Commander."

"No need, we defend our own." He shook Li's hand one last time before departing.

Li took his seat on the council and Commissar Yarrick nodded. "Report."

"Introductions I guess, I'm Jax Iridium, I'm the Minister of Agriculture." He opened a file on his desk, "Luckily none of the larders were hit. We took a hit on crops just planted but we had harvested a few days prior. Same with the water pumps. We have enough food and water to last us to the end of the reconstruction, granted nothing else happens."

"Silver, Minister of Commerce and the Treasury." he clapped his hands and opened his ledger, "The treasury is nearly depleted, Commissar. The cost of rebuilding has taken a larger toll than anticipated."

"Morale is dangerously low as well, Commissar. Sabrina Platinum, the Ministress of the Interior." She explained, "With the shield generator down many of the townspeople are scared of another attack. Not just from the grimm, but from bandits as well, we've received reports of a nearby encampments of them."

"Where is the Minister of Defense?" Commissar Yarrick asked, "I'd like their input."

Li cleared his throat, "That was Captain Aquas, sir."

"I see, forgive me, I am still learning about everyone." Commissar Yarrick shook his head, "The Adeptus Mechanicus are already working on repairing and upgrading the shield generators. As well as the walls defenses. However, if the people are still worried, Bravo Company and I will find this encampment and give them one chance to join us."

"If they say no?"

"Then we will rip them out, root and stem, hang their leader, then salt the grounds. Send a message to the rest of them, then can join or be fed to the meat grinder."

Silver shrugged, "They've been a menace to us even before you came, I won't object to that."

"Second." Platinum raised her hand.

"Let's not act too hastily," Li objected, "I vote we focus on our defenses, gather our strength before embarking on such a task. We don't know exactly how many other encampments may be out there."

"A fair point, amendment: who votes we scout these bandits, then once we have the strength, attack?" Commissar Yarrick asked and the council unanimously agreed. "Very well. I requested some armor to be delivered, if anything we can attack once it arrives. So, for the time being, we focus on our defenses and once we're able, we attack." Commissar Yarrick raised a mini-thunder hammer and struck the table.

…

There was a significant increase in the number of guardsmen in the city. Some even brought their families and new housing was built. He saw his son playing with Lord Commander Dante's daughters, his wife Beatrice was watching before standing and clapping her hands. Pyrrha and Nora grabbed their bags and departed with their mother, while Lie ran up to his father.

"Father, how come I go to a different school then Pyrrha and Nora?" he asked taking his father's hand as they headed toward the opposite side of Kuroyuri.

"That school is for military families, besides do you really want to leave all your friends?" That was only half-true. The other half being that Li and An saw the construction of the school and when they saw how it resembled more of a monastery than a school they instantly decided against sending Lie there.

"I don't really have any friends…" Lie confessed.

"Well, either way, you'd have to start all over at the new school. Don't worry, you can see them after school too." Li did his best to comfort his son, he really wanted to be with his friends. Li would've let him enroll, if were not for the more religious aspects. He knew Atlas fused their school and military and he would've been fine with that, but Holy Terra added church to the mix and that rubbed him the wrong way.

The other townspeople didn't seem to care, they fully embraced the new school. The Imperium said they were free to choose to send their kids to their school, and were very apparent with their curriculum. Some were of a mind with Li, they didn't like their religion being part of school, but they didn't force it on them so they paid them no mind as they kept sending their kids to Kuroyuri's Primary School. However, there were those who flocked to them no matter what they were told. Kuroyuri wasn't a religious town, spiritual sure, but church and mass weren't part of the school. As long as they weren't forcing everyone to convert, the rest of the people didn't seem to mind it.

…

Nora followed Pyrrha into the classroom, she took her seat next to her, and sat there awkwardly as the rest of the students walked in. Pyrrha took Nora's hand and smiled, she meekly returned it and barely calmed down.

The last one to enter was a pale woman in a business suit, she had medium length green hair. She set her suitcase down and addressed the class, "Welcome back everyone, I hope the trip from Holy Terra wasn't too taxing. Now, lets start the new year off with a pop quiz!"

Everyone groaned but started trembling like a leaf in the wind. Pyrrha saw this and instantly raised her hand, "Excuse me, Professor Jade! My sister Nora's not a Terran, she won't know any of the answers."

"Oh!" Professor Jade clapped, "I forget we had a few new students joining us! I'm sorry Nora, well the quiz was an easy one: 'What are the four branches of the Imprium's Military?' I'll give you a hint, you've already seen three."

"Ummmm…" Nora twiddled her fingers when Professor Jade cleared her throat, she was blatantly pointing at the emblem on her lapel. Nora remembered seeing all the guardsmen wearing the same one on their uniforms. "Guards?"

"Good!" Professor Jade nodded with a smile, "Who else?"

"The Angels." Nora answered a lot faster that time.

"Perfect! Two more."

Nora blushed at the praise and leaned forward, "The robots with the red capes?"

Professor Jade chuckled and put a little candy in front of Nora, "Close enough, very good Nora, I'm going to give you an 'A' for that one." She went back to the front of the class, "Now, who can tell me the proper names for each branch? If you aren't a Terran you don't have to answer but I highly recommend you take notes."

Nora jumped and quickly got out her notebook, her shyness seeming to have vanished and replaced with a hunger to learn.

"Astra Militarum!" a girl with tan skin and light blue hair called out.

"Excellent Tealle." Professor Jade tossed a piece of candy her way, "The backbone of the Imperium and the guards you see patrolling the streets of all our settlements. They are the first to enter and the last to leave. Another."

"The Adeptus Astartes!" a boy with ebony skin and dark blue hair cheered wanting the next candy.

"Calm down, Cerulean." Professor Jade threw him his candy one he'd settled. "The Angels of the Emperor are called the Adeptus Astartes. For a bonus candy, can anyone tell me why they're named Astartes?"

Pyrrha instantly shot up her hand, causing Professor Jade to chuckle, she waited to see if anyone else had the answer before calling on her. "Astartes was the head of The God-Emperor's Biotechnical Division and had a major role in developing in the first generation of Angels. They are named after her in her honor."

Professor Jade tossed Pyrrha two candies for that answer, "That's two branches down, I'll give you another hint, they both have very specific jobs." Professor Jade eyed her classroom and saw only one hand in the air. She sighed, "I should give you all extra homework, tell us the answer Pyrrha."

"The Adeptus Mechanicus and The Adeptus Custodes."

Professor Jade nodded and tossed her more candy.

"Since no one apparently knows who they are, I guess this will be a history class today." She started a slide show. The first slide was of an angel wearing a red and gold cloak with several mechanical arms coming out of his suit, "The Adeptus Mechanicus are the ones who forge all our technology. When I say all of it, I mean ALL OF IT. From my little laser pointer to the massive terminator power armors. Buildings, tanks, guns, armor, you name it they've built it."

Professor Jade clicked to the next slide, it being one of an Angel in solid gold, "The Adeptus Custodes. Now, a normal angel is the best of the best of the guardsmen, a Custodes is the best of the best of the Angels. They are handpicked by The Chapter Masters to guard the God-Emperor himself. They almost never leave the Golden Palace…"

"Almost?" Nora asked.

Professor Jade's face fell, before shaking her head, "Trust me…you don't want to know what happens when they leave…" a loud ping roared through the school, "Lunch already? Wow, time flies, enjoy your lunch."

Nora and Pyrrha walked together to the cafeteria. Something was bugging Nora and she pulled on Pyrrha's sleeve, "How come Professor Jade got scared?"

Pyrrha shrugged, "I don't know, Daddy always said the Custodes never leave The Golden Palace. Come on, I'll race you to the front of the line!"

Pyrrha took off with Nora hot on her trail.

…

Pyrrha checked her watch, "There's still some time left in lunch, I'm going to use the bathroom and meet you back in class, you remember how to get back from here?"

Nora nodded, "Through the cafeteria, left in the main hall, to the elementary wing."

"Okie Dokie, see you back in class!" Pyrrha rushed off to the little girls room while Nora went through the cafeteria.

She entered the main hall and was finally able to get a good look at everything. The sunshine illuminated the halls and the golden Imperialis on the floor. Taking a closer look, she saw a directory on its borders. To the left was the school wing, but to the right was…

"Hall of Primarchs?" Nora read aloud. Looking down the hall she saw two large ornate doors guarding the hall, since the bell hadn't rung yet, so, she decided to take a look. The doors depicted a battle of twenty men, ten on each side, and a quote along the frame Nora squinted her eyes to read, "Millenia ago, one man dared to ask a question that changed the course of history that question being: 'Are we heroes keeping peace or are we weapons pointed at the enemy so someone else can claim a victory?' With those words the God-Emperor was born and The Imperium was founded. He and his nine generals/sons gathered their forces and succeeded from Atlas."

Nora touched the handle and the double doors opened for her. Upon entering the hall, Nora gasped as she stared at nine gargantuan statues lining the walls. Each one was an astounding fifteen feet tall, but none was like the other. They wore wildly distinctive armor and wielded a golden weapon more splendorous than the armor itself.

There was one in the middle that caught her eyes the most, he looked just like a knight from her bedtime stories, with a sword in one hand and a shield in the other.

He wore an ivory cloak layered with armor just adding more to the massive suit he already wore. The cloak was held in place by two miniature-the size of dogs really-lions poised to strike, with a third lion reclined on his helm. Each lion had emerald eyes and was wrought with gold. His right pauldron was in the shape of a roaring lion's head while his left had a white sword with angelic wings. His armor was heavy plate, enameled in a dark green, gauntlets and greaves inlaid with ornate gold scrollwork. All the fastenings were gilded, and the green steel was burnished to such a high sheen that it shone like a holy fire in the darkness.

Nora stared at the figure with stars in her eyes, burning every detail of the magnificent knight into her memory. She stepped closer and ran into a plaque right before the statue.

"The measure of true glory is not to give battle in the bright noon of war surrounded by brave comrades upon the field of victory but to valiantly fight on alone in the darkness. With no hope of aid or even remembrance and to spit defiant in midnight's eye!" – Lion El'Jonson, Primarch of the First Legion, Father of the Dark Angels.

The words reverberated in Nora's soul, she found herself back under that house with the Nevermore above her…staring darkness in the eye…and all she did was cry and pee herself…

She clenched her fist and took out a piece of paper. She traced the entire plaque onto the sheet, folded it, and put it right next to her heart. She swore then and there that the next time she would face the darkness, she would spit defiantly and roar…like a lion.