-Planet: Keplar prime -Year: 930.M34 -Location: Segmentum Obscurus, Askellon Sector -POV: Arturos, Hunt leader of the 7th company
The group slowly approached their target, the night sky was filled with stars illuminating their lights, though they did little to nothing against the dark. It's a good thing that their helmets had built-in night vision systems. The mark of the Xenos in the area became clear as the librarian informed Arturos of Xenos's psychic marks.
"Approaching summit" a report brought the systems of his helmets back to life
"Acknowledged brother, move as convenient" Arturos replied as he moved into his position
He observed the objective and located a few inquisitorial stormtroopers guarding the objective, they were heavily armed and armored, from hotshots to hellfire and plasma weapons, they were not to be underestimated. Though what bothered his mind wasn't the inquisitorial agents but the absence of the Xenos, this psychic ritual was clearly making of a witch seer, so where are they?
"Hunt captain" a voice called out his title in a low murmur, Arturos recognize the sound as the librarian "We should tread with caution, I can sense psychic energies in play here" the Librarian informed him
"And the source of the sorcery?" Arturos asked, the only thing others could hear of their talk was the low shush sound their vox unites
"That is why I advise caution, I cannot locate it, the air around is strange, it's abnormal, the stormtroopers of the inquisition is no different, I can sense something from them" the Librarian explained
"I hear you brother but we have no other choice, we are ordered to deal with this planet and return to the fortress-monastery. Though it's a shame that we must alert the inquisition so early..." Hunt leader replied "It matters not, they are too late to take action, even if they are to know of our plan, we will strike now" Arturos said
"As you say, brother"
"All scout teams you are free to engage the hostiles as you see fit, brother Mercer, kill the scions" Arturos ordered from his Vox
"Acknowledged, neutralizing" the scout marine confirmed
Arturos watched the scene unfold as the scout marine took aim at the stormtroopers, they seemed oblivious to their soon-to-be demise, instead, they were studying the location and collecting some an unknown crystal, what did the inquisition want to do with the crystals? he didn't know, the workings of the inquisition were not part of his expertise.
The scout marine shared a few words with his brother marines before taking the shot, the sniper rifle that was considered a heavy weapon by mortals. Even with a silencer, was quite loud, Arturos's enhanced vision saw the bolt round as it pierced the sound wave and move towards its target, in less than milliseconds, the scion commander fell to the ground and disappeared?
'Illusion?' the question echoed through Arturos's mind, how did this slip past their librarians? unless they possessed something greater!
Where the mortal mind would falter against the confusion, Arturos's disciplined mind took control as he screamed in his Vox unite "ELDAR!" the name of the alien echoed in the minds of his brothers as they looked around for hostiles
(-POV: Celliphus)
The master's plan to confirm the treachery of the Astartes had worked, Inquisitor William was informed of the shot taken, now all that was left to do was to deal with the traitor marines. It was easier said than done, the Astartes numbered in hundred, divided into 4 groups to investigate 4 objectives, she had to deal with 25 space marine in front of her, the worst part was that they had psykers as well, the ones who had mastery over their powers, unlike a mortal like Celliphus. At least they had the Eldar witch seers to assist them.
"Now Imperials! Now we strike" an arcane voice cried out
Celliphus discharged a bolt of warp lightning towards a tactical marine, he growled in pain as lightning caused him to fell to his knee, even at such a damaged state, the marine continued to fire on his enemies. He managed to shoot down a Ranger before finally dying by a few hotshot rounds to the neck.
The scions and the Eldar continued to use their advantage and fired upon the Astartes, but even by catching them off guard, the space marines were no easy prey, they quickly reacted to the ambush and took cover while their assault marines charged to protect their brothers with heavy weapons. They were truly the masters of war, it was a shame that they had fallen.
Celliphus watched as the librarian burned three Eldar warriors who approached to attack him in close quarters, the wall of flame engulf the warriors as they screamed in pain. Seeing an adversary, the Eldar witch seer began to duel the librarian, that was when she saw for the first time in her life, a psychic duel between two masters of psionics, the two unleashed waves after waves of psychic attack while simultaneously defending themselves.
The young psyker did not have enough time to admire the duel as she had her own war to fight. She enhanced her allies and healed them when there was a need for it, she even managed to reattach an arm for a trooper, saving him from using prosthetics. But the battle continued, space marines despite being outnumbered, fought on with unseen discipline, 'Were they not maddened by the influence of warp just yet?' Celliphus questioned herself as she enhanced an Eldar warrior who was engaged with an assault marine.
Slowly, Celliphus's power waned as the battle continued, her mind became tired then her shield begin to weaken. She heard whispers, she senses beings watching her, she had used too much of her power 'This is bad' she thought to herself. if this battle continued, she will face the dangers of possession, either she had to retreat or fight despite the dangers. The first option was out of the question, they were fighting alongside Xenos, if she retreated now, she would shame the Imperium, and worst of all, she would shame her master.
So she fought on, slowly but surely they gained ground on the marines, until they managed to cause enough damage that their company commander ordered a retreat, the scions and the Eldar tried to inflict as many casualties as possible on the Ashen claws, the results could have been better. After a few hours of chasing the enemy, the orders for the retreat came from the inquisitor.
Celliphus breathed heavily as she returned towards the troopers, the chase was over and she could now take a rest, she looked around and saw to find the corpses of both groups decorating the ground, the Eldar reclaimed their soul stones while scions salvaged the dog tags and equipment from the dead, the damage report to Inquisitor William is going to be hard.
One of the stormtroopers was lying against a tree with a hole in his stomach, the white-haired psyker approached him as he barely could breathe out of pain, Celliphus kneeled down next to him, her mind was tired but she could heal another wound, or so she thought.
Celliphus froze as her body shivered in terror, she was no longer in control of her body, she could not move, in her arrogance, she failed to realize the thing that passed by her shield and entered her mind, the creature smiled before the potent soul before him.
The young psyker tried in vain to expel the thing out of her mind but unfortunately for her, it was too late and she was too tired to mount any meaningful resistance against it. Her eyes suddenly turned completely white as she jerkily stood up, the trooper she just healed seemed to notice her sudden movements and backed up. This action gathered the attention of the Eldar witch seer.
Celliphus watched in horror as the daemon inside her smiled with her face and started to conjure psychic energies around her. The trooper backed away in horror as he saw what was going on.
"She is possessed!" he cried out as he tried to reach his hellgun while other troopers pointed their weapons towards her, but before they could do anything, farseer intervened, the last thing she saw was the farseer in her helmet, then she fell senseless and fell to the ground.
(-POV: Anon)
The plan mostly went well, the casualties reported were not ideal but expected since they were against space marines, the same warriors, some of who swarmlord and managed to win. They should be grateful that losses were so low.
The reported casualties numbered around 18 from Inquisitorial forcers and 27 from Eldar warhost(Mostly melee warriors) while the space marines lost around 48 marines before retreating, the only important person needing cybernetics was Isaac who had his left leg blown off.
"How much do you think we can harras them in space?" Anon asked
"I'm afraid, not much sir, they completely outmatch us in space" the armsmen Officer replied, shooking his head "We can harass them with our cannons, our cannons are more advanced than theirs, but we won't stand a chance against their ships if the hit and run tactics fail, we will lose the ship" Anon noded to the officer "Should I order to engage sir?"
"No, I don't think lord William will like that idea" Anon answered "Let the Astartes escape, we already have what we need" hearing Anon's words the officer saluted and left the area, it seemed like he still wasn't used to the aliens around them "So the ritual is all that's left" Anon muttered under his breath as he glanced towards the Aliens psyker with rune stones around them, William was observing them with great passion, he is probably excited to learn something about the aliens, most likely he wished to use it against them in the future
It intrigued Anon how they conducted the ritual, it was both a spell to prevent warp storms and an illusion to hide from possible threats, he could possibly replicate their ritual but it would require all of his concentration and energy, if he was to use all of the psychic power at once without restriction, he would become a prime target for daemons.
'Looks like those rune stones store psychic energy and refine it' Anon observed, he didn't know much about the Eldar way of using psionics, but it intrigued him greatly, he could learn something from them to use as his own or possibly teach the imperial psykers 'I should have read more about Eldar lore' Anon sighed 'But it's not like I can learn much about psionics from a story novel' he argued 'The psychic field around the Elda...'
"Lord Inquisitor!" a Scion rushed towards William, it seems he had urgent news
William looked back at the trooper with a mixture of disgust and anger, giving attention to something else, might reduce his chances of learning things from the Eldar ritual "What is it? this better be important"
"My lord Inquisitor, the psyker Celliphus is possessed!" the trooper explained
'WHAT NOW?!' Anon questioned what he heard, he quickly made his way towards the duo and grabbed the shoulder of the trooper from behind "Say it again!" Anon's grip tensed on scion's shoulder
"I speak the truth, Inquisitor, she is possessed" the scion tried to plea to William in order to save him from Anon
"Jermai leave him be" William looked at the angry psyker behind the trooper, his face was hidden behind a mask but his anger was felt, Anon faced William "Now!" William ordered, seeing no other choice, the masked psyker released his grip
"She can't be possessed inquisitor, I have trained her myself!" Anon claimed "Celliphus has more than enough power to maintain her shield, she is a high Gamma" Anon explained
"She cannot be possessed? or that you refuse to believe it?" Hearing William's words Anon backed down "Thought so" William faced the trooper again "Where is she now? is she dead?" William asked
"The answers you seek are in my hands Inquisitor" a feminine voice drew their attention, the farseer that was attached to the first team had a human female floating on the air beside her, Anon quickly used his power to take Celliphus off her hands, the psychic grip around her was easily removed as farseer allowed him to take her back
Anon moved close to the white-haired psyker and looked at her, she was healthy if a bit exhausted, her mind was tired and she was unconscious, her carapace and robes were dirty, she had no serious injuries, only a few minor cuts and bruises which Anon healed. The masked man then proceeded to probe her mind, her shield was active if not a bit weak, was she really possessed?
There were clear signs of daemons entering inside her mind but no sign of daemon itself. There were to traces of chaos corruption in her soul, no marks of being consumed, 'Did the daemon wanted to use her as a portal?' Anon asked himself, as he looked at the sleeping woman in his psychic grip 'I haven't trained her so that the daemons could touch her with their filthy hands' Anon clenched his fist, his gloved fingers pushed into the burnt flesh underneath.
Seeing this William approached Anon while holding a hand on his bolter, he was careful not to alert the angry teacher and his pupil, he didn't want him to run wild in emotional catharsis, he was an alpha plus after all.
"Jermai" William called out his (fake)name, Anon stood up and face the one who called him, his hand finally relaxed a bit and released its pressure from his palm
"There is no sign of corruption, the daemon has been expelled" Anon explained
"In all my years I have never seen a psyker survive a demonic possession" William argued "Is it really the truth Jermai?" William asked, though his answer came from another source
"He is right Inquisitor, the daemon was banished by me" the farseer removed her helmet, her face had a disgusting smug grin "Her mental resistance was very good for a mon-keigh, her teacher has taught her well, I might add"
William looked at the scene and thought about what to do, he could shoot her and be safe, but in that case, he would be dangering his contract with Anon who might do something rash in order to defend his student. Or he could let her be and push the responsibility to Anon and be done with it, but before he could make a decision, the masked psyker spoke.
"A demonic possession will strengthen one's resistance if said person survives the possession"
"What?"
"I said, the second demonic possession will be almost impossible due to previous experience of the possessed"
"And why I haven't heard of such phenomenon?" William raised his eyebrow
"A training method used on Thule, not many survive the process" Anon lied, it was true that those who survive the demonic possession become almost invisible towards them but not many survived, and the method wasn't being used on Thule. The method was used by exorcists space marine chapter in the future
"You mon-keigh never cease to amaze me with your barbaric ways" farseer said as she heard of demonic possession, her words were ignored by William who had greater concerns now
"We will discuss this matter on the ship Jermai, take her to the ship, but if she causes damage in my ship I will hold you responsible" William threatened him
Anon simply nodded as he looked at his student, his emotions were hidden to everyone other than himself, he grabbed the floating Celliphus in his hands and went towards the transport, he put her on the valkyrie's leather sit and faced William.
"You can leave, I do not require your aid for time being" William waved his hand to dismiss him, hearing this Anon sat beside Celliphus and ordered the pilot to take off
(-POV: Ranger Illiyinth)
The ranger watched as the masked human left the ritual site with the white-haired mon-keigh, she wasn't a psyker but even she could tell how pathetic the nearsighted woman was to be possessed, something like that would never happen to an Ashurian seer.
"The mon-keigh left without a word of gratitude farseer, like the rest of his kind, he is ungrateful" the ranger huffed, she spoke in her own tongue
"Do not be so hasty to judge someone so easily outcast, the bond between the master and the student can be quite powerful" Farseer said "There is no worst feeling for a teacher than seeing you student fail, it feels as if you are the one responsible for their failure" farseer gazed on the human transport as it left their sight
"And?" farseer turned to face the ranger
"And what, outcast?"
"Did he fail? as a teacher?"
"Hmmm... No, I don't think so" Farseer answered "Only a few teachers can attain the true respect of their students, it appears that the interrogator managed to do so and more" Farseer explained
"More?" the ranger tilted her head
"It must be a quite of experience to be carried away like that, don't you think ranger?" Farseer smiled, Illiyinth still wasn't able to grasp farseer's meaning
"I don't think I understand your meaning farseer" she said with a confused look
Farseer looked at her with observative eyes, she looked at her head to toe with a careful gaze, the ranger's survivalists cloak and clothing was unbecoming of most Eldar, though the ranger didn't seem to understand this part. Her entire body was covered in the dirt of the planet.
"I would have been surprised if you did outcast, I doubt you will experience anything similar for the rest of your life, so don't bother" Farseer said with a slightly disgusted tone and left her to be
"What in Isha's name just happened?" Illiyinth questioned as she tried to decipher farseer's meaning
(-POV: Anon)
'I shouldn't have let her go alone' Anon berated himself, he knew what does it meant to be in inquisition and the dangers it brought with it, he knew one day he would lose someone during a mission, and yet, he was showing fear in the prospect of such idea, he didn't want to lose his comrades, especially his student, the student whom he supervised and carefully trained all these years. The idea of losing her to daemons was abhorrent to him.
'Is it wrong for me to care about someone?' he questioned as he observed the sleeping Celliphus on her bed 'Isaac, Ishmael, Celliphus, they are the only ones that actually care about me, is it wrong for me to return it in kind?' Anon contemplated, was it even a good idea to have attachments in this horrible galaxy? after all, he had read a lot about such feelings coming back to bite the main character in the future.
Bronislaw Czevak was one such character, he was (will be) an inquisitor who has been through a lot, he was the person who had his lover tortured in front of him in order to break his mind, will Anon end up like him if he was to be attached to someone?
The very idea caused him pain, it was as if he only thought about something like that now, the answer to the question should be very important, yet, he had only thought about it now, only when one of his friends almost met her demise. Was he lazy for not thinking about it? or did he fear the answer?
"I'm really am a fool" Anon sighed, he shook his head "Sending her against 20 Astartes! What was I thinking?" he asked to no one, there was no one in Celliphus's room except the two of them. The white-haired psyker looked like a fairy in her sleeping state, it reminded Anon of his sister "I had a sister...yes I had one... I think" the masked man tried to bring back his memories but they were so deep down that he couldn't reach them "What was her name? my mother and my father...how did they look like?"
The memories of his past life were buried under a millennium of experience, the thought of his past life was but a single blur. A human mind was never meant to live as long as he did, not without enhancements anyway. Anon's circle of thoughts was interrupted by Celliphus's movement, she was finally waking up, her body was in full health and her tired mind was under Anon's protection.
Celliphus's blue eyes opened and met the gaze of her master "W...where am I?" her voice was a weak murmur
"Don't move, your mind and body is tired, likely due to long hours of continues use" the masked man explained
"I...I... what happened to me?" Celliphus asked, she seemed to start remembering as her face changed to that of shame, she had a sad expression, she straighten her body to meet Anon at eye level but she couldn't maintain her eye contact and looked down in shame "I'm sorry master, I have disgraced you in front of everyone" Cellpihus cried
"You have done nothing Celliphus" Anon said
"No, I have!" Celliphus said out loud "I have shamed you in front of the vile Xenos, I have shamed in front the other agents, I...I have shamed you in front of the Inquisitor" she sobbed
"It's not a fault of your own Celliphus, possession is a danger that comes with being a psyker, even I'm not immune to it" Anon tried to calm her down, which caused the situation to become even worse
"Y...you have trained me so hard, yet, I failed you, I had to rely on Xenos to save me! I couldn't even take care of myself" Celliphus clenched her fists in frustration "So many successful missions I have participated in, yet all of them were meaningless, I will fail at anything slightly challenging, a useless student for a capable teacher..." Celliphus gritted her teeth
"You have done nothing to shame me Celliphus, you are a talented student, don't bring yourself so low" Anon argued "You have done nothing wrong so don't worry, I will have them leave you alone so you may recover in peace"
Hearing Anon's words, tears began to flow from Celliphus's eyes, the reflection of light on her tear-filled eyes showed the extent of her feelings "Please don't leave me!" she began to sob
"Be at ease, I'm not leaving you Celliphus, I will only leave you alone so you may rest in peace" Anon said, he tried to reassure her
Anon could feel shame and fear from Celliphus, her emotions were a mess "I will become better, I swear I will do better! so please don't leave me alone again!" Celliphus was clinging to Anon's arm
"Celliphus, What are you talking about?" Anon asked
She hardened her grim on Anon's hand as she began to cry "I will do better! I will do better, so please! I don't want to be alone again, I don't want to be alone, I don't want to! I don't want to! I don't want to! I don't want to! I don't want to! Idon'twantto!Idon'twantto!Idon'twantto!Idon'twantto!Idon'twantto! I DON'T WANT TO!" her voice became more frantic as she continued, Anon didn't know what was going on
"Celliphus are you ok? what are you doing?" Anon asked 'What is going on? why is she acting like this all of a sudden?'
Celliphus continued to cry heedless of his words "They will come for me so please don't leave me! I don't want to see the monsters again" the white-haired psyker pleaded, her tired mind along with her terrible emotional state caused her power to begin manifest itself "The monsters will come, PLEASE! don't leave alone with them!" the pressure in his hand began to increase as Celliphus's figures caused pain in his burnt flesh, suddenly her power began to manifest itself
Anon didn't know what was the cause of Celliphus's state, but he couldn't allow her to manifest her powers in such an exhausted state, her shield's condition will become even worse, her soul will be snatched by daemons if he allowed that to happen, 'I'm sorry Celliphus' Anon apologized as he pinned her down to the bed and overpowered her mind.
Celliphus fell unconscious as he release her from his grip.
"Alright, now, what just happened?" Anon questioned, 'Is the daemon cause of this sudden mental breakdown? but it shouldn't be a problem because it was expelled from her body before it could do anything'
"Celliphus won't be safe if William learns of this" he said "I need to deal with whatever this is before she wakes up and starts to go rampant with her powers" Celliphus was sleeping for now, but he didn't know what would happen if she woke up "I don't want to do this Celliphus, but it's for your sake, hope you could forgive this old man for the intrusion" he apologized before taking a seat next to her bed
He put his left hand on her head and began his work. The thoughts and memories of the young woman suddenly began to pour into his mind as he opened the lock to her mind, it wasn't something he liked to do since Anon considered it to as an invasive act. The masked man searched through the information, Celliphus's mind was a chaotic mess, he ignored most of it and focused on the root of the problem.
A single memory stood out from the rest, it was dark and ugly, it emitted fear and despair, it was buried. Whatever it was, it was locked for a reason and something has caused its locks to break. Anon moved towards the problem memory and opened it, it screamed at him to stop but he ignored it.
Anon's eyes opened to a dark polluted city, he looked at his hands, they were not his own, his hair was unusually long and covered his face, his entire body was dirty and smelled like rotten flesh, his body was malnourished and looked like a set of bones with skin as sheath rather than a normal body. The entire experience felt wrong.
There was something else, a sudden feeling of terror enveloped his mind, a hand touched his shoulder, it felt wrong, it felt disgusting, he wanted to kill himself, he wanted it to die, he felt even weaker, he felt as of the air was gone and he couldn't breathe, he looked back in terror as he saw the figure.
The golden demon.
Author here:
Sorry this chapter was short, my job has become so demanding that I hardly find time to write, so if I suddenly disappeared, it doesn't mean the story is dead, it means I can no longer fight back against my job :,(
Since I might not come for a very long time, I will answer some of your questions, I will put a small bonus chapter very soon, feel free to ask any question about the characters and I will answer them.
That's all, thanks for reading