It did not take him long to notice the absolutely gigantic thing that appeared to be waiting for them in the distance. It did, however, take him far longer than he would've liked, to recognize the ring of Cursed Energy that was slowly, but surely, pulling their vessel towards said thing. Satoru frowned for a moment and wondered if Kairos disabled most of the ship to prevent the big-ass vessel in the distance from just open firing the first chance they got. Or something. He didn't know, but it also seemed like a fair enough assumption. Still... this first quest sounded like it was going to take a lot of time, considering Kairos hadn't bothered giving him the coordinates of whatever it was he was looking for, which was fair enough, and his search radius was, quite literally, the size of a goddamn planet – maybe smaller, but still really large.

Still frowning, Satoru walked towards the window and just... kept looking outwards. Based entirely on their ship's current velocity and the distance of the massive 'Craftworld' that was gradually pulling them towards itself, Satoru calculated it'd take, at least, a full day before they actually got there, which was a hell of a long time to be spending in outer space. He could use that time, however, to play around with True Negative Cursed Energy, something he... admittedly knew damn near nothing about. What sort of Techniques could he perform with it, for instance?

Well, he didn't know, but he'd be damned if he didn't find out.

Though, if possible, spending time not doing anything, even if only for an hour, also sounded quite nice. People often underestimated the toll of mental fatigue and how it affected one's performance, which is why Satoru took as many naps as he could and engaged himself in as many creative hobbies as possible, like painting. It helped keep his mind sharp and focused and, most importantly, rested.

As Satoru leaned back against the window and closed his eyes to concentrate, however, one of his companions suddenly awakened. His concentration broke immediately, but he did not open his eyes. In fact, he wasn't going to open his eyes until they actually reached the Craftworld and maybe even then if he could help it. After all, he'd need all the strength he could muster if he was going to be successful in this mission.

"Urgghhhh..." It was Larkin, Satoru recognized by his agonized voice alone. "Wha-? How... what... by the emperor... what happened?"

"We went to hell and a bunch of super daemons spat us back out." Satoru said, shrugging. He wouldn't give the full detail of why they were actually here, since Larkin didn't need to know about it. And, honestly, this was the sort of thing that worked best if only very few people were even remotely aware of it. After all, despite his True Negative Cursed Energy Aura, Larkin and Tanya were incapable of harnessing their powers to perform even the most basic form of Physical Enhancement, which was a nice way of saying that Satoru couldn't rely on either of them when it came to fighting. "Our ship is also currently being pulled by something called a Craftworld, which is apparently inhabited by an alien race that is known as Eldar; you know anything about them?"

He was willing to teach them to wield their powers, of course, since it seemed like a total waste if they went their whole lives never knowing how; but this really was neither the time nor the place for education, no matter how useful it'd be to be accompanied by two other sorcerers. That said, it was incredibly fortunate, then, that these two, Larkin and Tanya, were capable of concealing themselves from perception, using their True Negative Cursed Energy, which also suggested a very instinctual understanding of their power – which wasn't exactly a good thing if he wanted to turn them into proper sorcerers as those with instinctual understanding almost always weren't capable of performing the more complex or complicated forms of sorcery, but Satoru could hardly blame them for it. Well, whatever the case, he'd cross that bridge when he got to it. Right now, their ability to conceal themselves was a blessing.

"What?" Was the only thing Larkin could say and, honestly, Satoru couldn't blame him. This whole thing had been one giant mind-blender since the day he arrived. Larkin blinked several times and then shook his head vigorously, which was when he noted the blood that was leaking from his nose, eyes, and mouth. He reached for his face and touched crimson. "What... I'm bleeding. Were we attacked?"

He then turned to Tanya and immediately panicked, pushing himself up onto his feet, wobbling, falling, and then ultimately just crawling all the way to his daughter. "Tanya! She's bleeding!"

Satoru walked up to them. "She's fine – alive. At worst, she's got a few bruises and cuts that'll disappear within a day or so. We've got other things to worry about."

"My daughter-" Larkin began to scream, but Satoru slapped him gently, which was apparently just enough to silence him.

"Calm you're titties, man." Satoru said. Larkin looked to him with narrowed eyes, full of anger and confusion – mostly confusion. Satoru was pretty sure Larkin hadn't heard or understood his explanation earlier at all. "Focus. Your daughter is fine. She's just unconscious. But we have bigger problems. Do you understand what I'm saying or do you want me to slap you a little harder next time?"

Larkin closed his eyes, breathed in deeply, and then nodded once. "I'll... I'll check the status of the vessel. Just... let me place Tanya somewhere else, other than the floor."

"Go ahead, dude. I only slapped you because you were panicking and that's not going to help anyone." Satoru said, taking a step forward and holding out his right hand to Larkin, who only took it after a moment of silence. Satoru pulled him up, before taking a step back as Larkin bent down to pick up Tanya, who was still out cold. He placed her on one of the cushioned seats before he turned and spoke.

"C-can you tell me, again, what happened?" Larkin asked, rubbing his eyes and shaking his head. Interesting, Satoru noted, his cuts and bruises were healing at an enhanced rate – nowhere near the regeneration induced by Reverse Cursed Energy, but definitely inhuman. Was it another unconscious thing he was doing or was it something else? Because he wasn't healing twice as fast when he was still asleep. Very interesting. "You explained it to me, before, earlier, but I... couldn't make sense of it, then. I hadn't... fully awakened."

"Alright," Satoru shrugged as they both made their way to the controls, which was now a mess of blinking screens and sparking levers – a ruined mess, but sci fi. Still cool. Larkin's face twisted in anguish as soon as he sent a cursory glance at one of the screens. Oh, that was bad. "We went to hell and a bunch of super daemons spat us back out. You already know what daemons are, yeah? Cool. Our ship is also currently being pulled by something called a Craftworld, which is apparently inhabited by an alien race that is known as Eldar. I don't know anything about them; do you know anything about them?"

"I... what? Wait..." Larkin's eyes narrowed in confusion for a very brief moment, before they widened again. And this time, they widened with fear and dread, absolute dread. So fearful, in fact, that Larkin almost jumped back, his eyes frantically scanning the bridge. Satoru raised a brow. What was he looking for? "A-are you colluding with daemons?"

Satoru raised another brow. Considering how freakishly powerful Kairos had been, he supposed that reaction was somewhat fair. But, no, there was something else there, a deep-rooted fear and loathing that was more than just a natural response to seeing something of immense magnitude and power, like standing next to a looming mountain. No, Larkin's fear came from some other place, another source of emotion – dogma, perhaps? Were the people of this Imperium taught to fear and hate daemons from a young age? "Yeah? I mean, that's how I got the other survivors to... well... survive. I had to make a deal; got the shit end of it, though, but it's not something I can't deal with, in time. All I gotta do, for now, is run a few simple errands, like steal something called a Shard of Khaine, whatever the fuck that is."

There were some technicalities here that Satoru could make use of. After all, stealing was not quite the same as recovering, which meant he wasn't oathbound to offer Kairos or Tzeentch the Shard thing, unless they ask for it, in which case they'd end up burning an additional favor.

But, he'd get to that bridge when he got to it.

"I- wait- wha-? No, daemons are evil! To make deals with them is heretical!" Larkin backed even further away, but slowly approached Tanya. Satoru raised a brow, again. Was he seriously thinking of running away? To where? The ship wasn't even that big and it wasn't as though he could enter an ejector pod and make a beeline for the nearest planet, because there wasn't one. It was actually kind of funny, but in a pitiful kind of way.

"Dude, calm the fuck down." Satoru said, shrugging as he sat down the nearest chair and raised and placed both his hands behind his head, and then leaned back. "It's not like I'm into human sacrifice or anything; in fact, I stopped something like that from happening. So, chill. Whatever you're thinking about me, it's probably wrong. But, if you're thinking that I'm totally the most handsome man ever, then you're right."

Larking breathed in and steadied himself for a moment, before letting out a heavy sigh. What it was he was looking for wasn't here, it seemed. "I suppose it doesn't matter; I'm already more or less a heretic, anyway. What sort of pact did you form with the daemon? Please, be honest; I can tell when someone is lying."

Satoru opened one eye. Interesting ability. Though, he wasn't entirely sure if it was based on Cursed Energy or not. "Really? You can tell? I had a threesome with a mother and her daughter once."

"Truth- but why would you tell me that?!" Larkin fumed. There was a flicker of True Negative Cursed Energy, Satoru noted, just before Larkin figured out that it was, indeed, the truth. Very interesting. "Just answer my damn question!"

"Sheesh, we're both adults here and the kid is asleep." Satoru chuckled. "But, as for an actual answer to your question; there were survivors in the city. A stupid sorceress thought it was a good idea to open a stupid portal to get them out of the planet in some stupid attempt at teleportation, followed by a stupid plan to try and take over the Astartes vessel with a ragtag group of civilians with guns. I altered the portal, which ended up summoning a big blue bird named Kairos. In return for getting the civilians to safety, I made a Binding Vow to perform three services. The first service is stealing from this Craftworld place."

"You... you're telling the truth." Larkin said, almost whispering. He then sighed, again, and shook his head. "You sacrificed yourself to save those people. Daemons are malignant creatures. The three tasks you've agreed to would surely be more than what they appear."

"Nah, I got it." Satoru grinned. "I'm not an idiot. I can tell when shit's not swinging my way and I can definitely tell when I'm being manipulated; right now, it's both. But, until I'm finished the three tasks, there's not much I can do. I can't just break a Binding Vow – not willing to risk that shit. For now, the only thing I can do stay alive and try to get stronger, because I'm kind of stuck."

No one was willing to risk breaking a Binding Vow, not even someone like Sukuna. No one knew what would happen if they did, but no one wanted to find out, either. Every sorcerer just kind of had the instinctual knowledge not to fuck around with Binding Vows. "Then... I hope you know what you're doing, Satoru. Your very soul hangs in the balance."

"Yeah, everyone keeps telling me that; don't really care that much." Satoru continued, "Anyway, do you know anything about Craftworlds and Eldar? It'd be pretty helpful if you did."

Larkin shrugged and shook his head. "There are many xeno races in the galaxy, Satoru. They are all enemies of mankind. I've never heard of these Eldar that you mentioned."

"Great... just great." Satoru sighed. "Well, I guess were going in blind. And I'm guessing the ship's quite dead at the moment?"

Larkin nodded as he walked towards the console and examined the blinking screens and lights. "The Warp Drive has sustained severe damage. I can't fix it; I don't know how. The power core is operating at only 2% capacity, enough to maintain the oxygen levels and a tiny bit of the cooling system. This vessel is done for."

"Then, I guess we should thank the Eldar for pulling out asses out of space, yeah?" Satoru said, pointing towards the very distant blip in the dark of the void. He wasn't sure if Larkin could even perceive it, but it was there, gradually looming closer and closer. It was pulling them through a simple, but effective, spell that applied a constant pressure of Cursed Energy on the opposite side of their vessel, which then gradually pushed them towards that giant freaking space ship in the distance. "Because we're about to meet them very soon."

AN: Chap 17 is up on (Pat)reon. Space Elves won't know what hit them.