Alberich and I had some time to kill, and I wanted to clear my head, so we decided to take a walk further down the main drag of Paradise Boulevard in Evna. I tried to relax, but I was now definitely bothered by the mysterious man in the red bandana who hated me, and my intuition nagged me like a fussy grandmother. After not being able to enjoy myself through people (and alien) watching, I motioned to Alberich that we should step down a side street so I could find a private place to dip into my Sight. On top of wanting to control myself, there were laws against overt use of any psychic powers more impressive than card tricks, and I'm sure blazing like a human torch while walking down a crowded street was probably a bad idea.
After a little bit of walking down some back streets, I found a dead end alley that seemed to offer some privacy. Garbage bags, brown puddles, and general city filth was strewn on the side of the dark stone walls, but it didn't look like anyone could see us here. A small bird's nest hung on a window ledge above me, and as I observed it, a bird with bright blue feathers alighted with a tweet. It watched me from above, and it opened its beak to sing out a happy song that almost sounded like it was giggling, a bright spot in this dirty city corner. I huffed at it, and turned away, deciding not to be suspicious of everything I saw.
"Alberich, make sure no one comes down this way in case this takes a little bit of time," I instructed the beastman, who complied by standing ahead of me near the entrance to the alley.
Closing my eyes, I removed my calming chain, and placed it in a pocket. I then pushed my Sight outwards, seeking information. My halo begin to wash warmly over my head and neck as I directed my energy toward discovering the mystery of the drunk Navigator with the red bandana.
Unusual images began to flicker in my mind's eye of a golden eagle hunting a black rabbit across a grassy field. It felt like I was watching a nature show. From what I could sense, I saw that the running rabbit was terrified, and that the eagle was actually just playing with its prey, sadistically dipping and diving as it eventually ran the unfortunate little bunny down until it could no longer run, utterly exhausted. At the last moment, when the eagle was about to catch its prey, a giant blue vulture fell out of the sky, and tore the poor creature to pieces. Many human screams echoed in my mind. This didn't make any sense, this...
Wait...
The image shifted, and I then saw a familiar desperate man with three eyes striking a bright red button in a small vestibule. He was terrified, and my brief image offered an explanation as I was able to focus on a plaque in the small room with the familiar man. It said something that made my blood run cold.
The Ebon Hare
Distantly, I could hear the laughing song of the blue bird in the alley where my physical form was standing.
The scene shimmered, and I saw the same familiar man wearing a red bandana drinking from a bottle of liquor as he slowly ran out of oxygen. While he had escaped the destruction of his vessel, he was now stranded in deep space. He wept bitterly as he held pictures of his dead crewmembers. Another flicker of reality, and I could now see that he was speaking to a small glowing blue bird who smiled at him. As I watched, the bird somehow turned toward me in my vision, and began to laugh in a mocking way. The song of the blue bird in the alley became louder as it suddenly began to sing out comprehensible words.
"His name is Ven Tristan. You killed his family. You're a murderer!"
My eyes snapped open just as the blue bird I had seen in the alleyway flew off, and I toppled backwards into the pile of garbage bags, my Corona brightly wreathing me in gold radiance. "Shit!" I yelled out, my voice resonant and echoing in the closed alleyway.
Alberich immediately rushed to me. "What did you see? You were gone for a few minutes!" he asked.
"I saw..." I started to speak, but remembered that my voice was amplified. I closed my eyes and forcibly pulled my Corona back inside of me, and hushed myself. "I saw the man. The man with the three eyes. The Navigator. His name is Ven Tristan, and he's definitely the guy we saw on the Shower of Gold ship!"
Alberich helped me to my feet. "We know his name. Evring said it. Do we know who he is exactly? Why does he hate you?"
I took a deep breath, collecting myself. To shake off this excess nervous energy, I began to quickly walk back down the alley, and onto the side street. Alberich followed me, concerned. In a quiet voice, I said, "Do you remember when we ran down that ship awhile back? The small fast ship that was spying on us over Kolch? The Ebon Hare, it was called. He was their Navigator! Everyone died but him. He escaped. And now he knows who we are! How in the fuck did we end up magically running into him like this?!"
Alberich narrowed his brilliant eyes in concern. "I see," he said. "It appears that he has a good reason to hate you, then."
"Fuck, you're totally right," I mumbled, feeling absolutely and terribly guilty. This was definitely 100% my fault! "Do you think he'd try something against us? Like, revenge? Seriously, what are the chances of him just coincidentally being here after we saw him thousands of light years away? Space is huge! And who rescued him? I mean, how the fuck was he on Evring's ship and..." I trailed off. Tzeentch had to be doing this. He had to be setting all this up for fun, I bet!
I felt the eye of the obscene god playfully drag over me with a wink and a smile, causing me to shiver again. I took this opportunity to give Alberich a lesson in the dangers of trusting Chaos. "Alright, listen. This scenario with that guy feels like Tzeentch is messing with us. Let this be a lesson to you not to trust him! I even think he likes us but he still does this because he's sadistic!"
"Perhaps the Great Architect has given you a trial to overcome, or a lesson? God works in mysterious ways and-"
That was the exact wrong thing to say to me, and my Corona immediately blazed back into existence, causing Jiminy to leap off my shoulder, "God?! Are you serious?! Shut the fuck up with that, Alberich! You still don't get it, do you? Chaos is-"
A shiver passed up my spine as a peculiar sensation of danger fell over me. We were being watched, somehow, I knew. Immediately, I swallowed my Corona again. Alberich was now trembling from my outburst. Good. He deserved it.
Did you feel that? I feel like someone's watching us, I spoke to the shivering beastman in mind. See if you can do that remote view thing. I risk my halo coming out if I use my powers right now. I'm too emotional.
Very well, the beastman replied tensely as we began to stiffly continue down the side streets of Evna. I led the beastman along by the arm as he closed his eyes in concentration, his feathers fluffed in psychic exertion (and residual fear from my words). Behind me, the laughing blue bird I had seen earlier flew above us and soared down a side street. Jiminy, after a short time, landed on my shoulder again, and I noticed that the drone was now clutching me extra tightly.
We made a left turn, briskly walking away from where we had been. The beastman still had his eyes closed in concentration as I guided him along. Was I sensing a Wheeler? A mugger? A nosy neighbor? Ven Tristan out to kill me already? I remembered that in the introduction video I had seen that they had indicated that this city had panic buttons everywhere to summon security. I hastily began looking for one just in case. I was able to spot small metal pedestals a meter tall on each block as we walked past, and each had a large red button. While Alberich and I could probably smoke one lone drunk Navigator, he still might have friends. Actually, yeah, he definitely has friends if he was on Evring's ship.
I felt confusion begin to radiate off of Alberich as we turned down another street. I turned around, covertly attempting to see who was following us. Alberich began to speak to me in mind. I am trying to see, my leader. I am attempting to pinpoint their appearance. Psychically, they are evasive. I kept a hand on the beastman as he concentrated heavily. I then remembered what fake-Sebastian had warned me about back on the ship, and that there was someone who wanted to murder me here. Was it that angry Navigator? Oh no, that made too much sense, I thought with a quiet groan.
Alberich finally opened his eyes, and we were both walking down a wide cobblestone street. We had discovered a cul-de-sac a few blocks off the main drag. This quieter area was surrounded by what appeared to be closed off residential buildings, and one shop. Each building was separated by a small alley, so we weren't trapped in here. A round green patch covered in vegetation and shrubbery stood in the center of this area.
I see something unusual, Alberich began to speak to me in mind. It is not the man in the red bandana. It is a mixed group of people. I... I get a strange sensation that they are "Americans" somehow.
Americans? I asked, almost laughing. Well, this city did bill itself as sort of a fun freedom resort town. Did the US Government somehow have a presence here too? The absurd thought made me nervously chuckle until I remembered the giant gold Statue of Liberty that stood outside of Evna. I had almost forgotten about that thing, I sighed in frustration. This walk was supposed to be relaxing!
Alberich must have felt my anxiety, and said, Not American as like you, but I mean, something different. I'm not sure how to describe it. They are dressed in colorful clothes.
Maybe they're servants of Am'Erika? Cultists? I wondered as we walked to the center of the cul-de-sac. A small pedestal with a red button stood here next to a few thorny rose bushes. I began scanning the area, looking for anything that was out of place.
"Ahem," a deep voice cleared his throat behind me across the street. After a brief startle, Alberich and I turned around and saw a very large and very broad chested man with handsome long black hair standing in front of what appeared to be a cute little bookstore. A few outdoor tables with chairs stood outside under a decorative awning, giving me the impression that this place was fancy. This large man was wearing practical grey robes, and holding a small teacup in his massive black leather-gloved hands. This man had to be over seven feet tall, which would put him around Lian's height. Was this a Space Marine?
"Oh, uh," I mumbled. Was this who was spying on us?
"Are you lost?" he rumbled warmly in our direction with a wide smile. He stood in front of the open door of the bookstore, sipping his little beverage. The stranger had a very pleasant countenance, and small dimples appeared on his cheeks as he smiled, making him look very amiable. While I couldn't see the name of the bookstore he stood before, I could see that it advertised "rare books and rare collectibles from rare locations" on the awning overhead. The large man was standing just outside of it, one eyebrow raised and enjoying his drink.
"No, we were just-"
"Wasn't talking to you, radiant one," the suspiciously large man briskly interrupted.
I then heard a large and pleasant psychic voice speak to me in mind. I'm talking about the three little rascals behind you using a hallucination field to appear invisible.
That was enough to get me spooked enough to cause my Corona to brighten again, despite not wanting to use it. When it activated, and I spun around, I saw the shimmering translucent figure of a bedraggled man wearing bright clothes as he slunk toward me. Something was in his hand!
I jumped back, and Jiminy buzzed away from my shoulder with an alarmed cheep. "Woah!" I shouted out, my voice heightened and echoing in this circular area of buildings. My action caused the half-there man to stagger backward, stunned by my voice and surprised by my sudden light. He cried out, and then, he was fully substantial.
He was a wild-eyed young guy with dyed red white and blue hair and a red coat. In his hand, he held what appeared to be a knife. But, what about the "No fighting!" rule, I thought with morbid amusement.
"Fuck!" I couldn't help but shout out as the guy rallied and made a mad charge for me, raving like a lunatic. Beside me, Alberich lunged at the man in an attempt to disarm him, which failed as the brightly-colored lunatic proved to be very fast. Two more individuals appeared out of nowhere, and began to advance toward us, all dressed in lurid clashing colors, and all holding knives.
"For Raula!" one shouted as he lunged.
My Sight quickly told me that these people were Chaos cultists of Slaanesh. It was obvious that these people didn't watch the rules video that forbade both fighting and being edgy Chaos cultists! Fuck, I can't go anywhere without Chaos following me around! I willed time to slow down as one drooling maniac made a fast lunge for me, and I leapt backward again. This had all happened so fast!
You dance beautifully, gold one, a very smooth and very deep voice called inside my mind. In slowed time, I was able to discern that this was the large guy in front of the bookstore. I got a sense that this was all very amusing to him. Lure these fools to me, please. You risk getting in legal trouble in this city if you engage in violence at all, but I can plead property defense, the stranger offered. I turned to him as I watched Alberich jump away from the fast multicolored crazies after he managed to land an uppercut on one. There were now five of them converging on us, and they were extremely quick!
I tried to make for the red Wheeler alert button, but before I could do that, one of the cultist snarled, and leapt toward me, brandishing his knife in a wild swing. Even in slowed time, Slaaneshi cultists were fast! "Raula was right! Raula was right!" he gibbered. I decided to take the stranger's advice. I offered a rude gesture at a cultist as I stood in front of the bookstore. This caused him to charge toward me, and when I dipped backwards and out of the way, I telekinetically gripped his ankle causing him to pitch forward onto the outdoor tables and chairs in front of the bookstore.
That was all the excuse the apparent gentle giant needed to involve himself in this fight. "Invoking article of self-defense section 6a, property damage!" he quickly bellowed out near me.
I had just enough time to turn my head to witness the incredible strength of the large man. A rush of air and a blur of motion, and now, the cultist who had crashed into the patio furniture was now an explosion of red gore from the shoulders up. Quickly, as I prepared to involve myself with going after the other crazies, this mysterious stranger then rushed past me to swing a large spiky weapon at one of the cultists dodging Alberich's fists. The cultist was struck in the chest with a sickening wet crunching noise, and was thrown against the side of a nearby building by the momentum of the weapon. The remaining cultists, having witnessed this, immediately dropped their knives and prepared to run, but the stranger was instantly on them. In an inhuman blur of quickness, all remaining cultists were now broken piles of meat on the ground, their blood beginning to flow into the sewer grates.
This entire encounter had all happened within seconds, and I stood shaking with adrenaline as the large man turned around to me with a pleasant smile. He shook the gore off of his weapon (which appeared to be a massive spiky mace), and with a grin, he walked over to the small post in the center of the cul-de-sac with the red button. He pressed it. "There. Always good to be above board! They have cameras everywhere, and it's better to alert the authorities yourself rather then have them see any misdeeds on their own!"
Alberich was also shaking, and stammered a "thank you" at our benefactor as he wretched at the bloody scene around him.
"You're welcome! Maybe I should ask if you two are lost as well! It actually appeared to me that you could both handle yourselves, but honestly, I've been seeing those vandals trawling the neighborhood for awhile now. Ah, it was nice to get the blood going!"
"Thank-" I started to ask before forcibly quelling my Corona. The stranger flinched at my strong voice before smiling again. "Sorry about that. It just happens with me. Thank you. Who are you?" This time, I felt an ache in my heart as I observed the twitching and bleeding bodies of the brightly colored cultists as they seized before stilling forever. Strangely, I realized that my Key had not reacted to this massacre, and it remained unresponsive under my clothes. Alberich had bent over and was now vomiting off the side of the road.
The stranger advanced, and loomed over me, still smiling warmly. My intuition was directed at his weapon, which almost gleamed with a dark light. "Just call me Harry, radiant one. And you are?"
"Erika," I responded, hearing the squeaking of a Wheeler approaching as it rode along the overhead rail. I turned toward the noise, and watched as the battle servitor leapt off the rail, and onto the street. At around the same time, Jiminy reappeared, and clutched my shoulder again. I was happy that the little drone had had the sense to run away from conflict in order to not get broken this time.
"Invoking article of self-defense section 6a, property damage," Harry informed the Wheeler with a dismissive motion of his gloved hand. The servitor was watching us all with a computer monitor head. A scowling frowny face was displayed on the monitor, and it did not seem happy at our actions.
"Property... name? P-proprietor... name?" the creature buzzed out from somewhere within its black slick rubber suited body. These Wheeler servitors looked like they were straight out of Hellraiser movie, honestly.
"My shop is 'The Word Bear', and my name is Harry Smith. Been living and working here for ninety years. I have a permit for the crozius too, if you need to see that. And, section five, paragraph three of the defense of potential customers, if someone else is handling this on the other end," Harry pointed at us both with his spiky weapon.
The Word Bear? Why did that sound really suspicious, I wondered, watching the tall man explain himself to the Wheeler. Alberich recovered from being sick and walked to me again, stepping gingerly around the many puddles of blood covering the ground here. He sighed tensely as he looked at the smashed bodies that now surrounded us. "So much for a relaxing vacation, but I guess that explains who was stalking us. They are who I saw. But, who is this man? Is he a Space Marine?"
"I don't know," I said, my eyes pulling toward the large black spiked weapon that hung at his side, which I now knew was called a crozius. The name of that weapon was strangely familiar, and it gave me a sinking feeling the longer I looked at it. Something in me was becoming viscerally angry at what I was observing here, and I felt a brief urge to burn both the weapon and this large stranger to cinders. I felt the warmth of my halo start to move across my neck before I forcefully swallowed it again. Did the Emperor have to deal with his Corona being irritating all the time like this?
After a brief conversation with Harry, the Wheeler's display monitor head then displayed lines of written text, and after a short time, the servitor's "screen" changed to a happy face once again. "Situation noted. Thank you for your cooperation, Evna citizens. Have a pleasant rest of your day!" the morbid creature then somehow leapt straight up and back onto the rail, and within seconds, it had sped away.
The large suspicious man then turned to examine Alberich and I, and made a sad face when he had seen that our clothes had a few spots of blood. "Oh my. I'm so terribly sorry about that! Care to walk into my shop and get cleaned up? This is my bookshop, and it has facilities for bathing and washing. Come. We'll freshen you two up. It is probably not wise to run around with bloody clothes in a city that has rules against violence, children!"
Alberich and I glanced at each other, cautious at this guy's sudden friendliness. "Are you both intimidated by my appearance? I'm what humans call a Space Marine, if you were curious," Harry smiled broadly. "If you want my full history, I will tell you that you are now standing before Harry Smith, Word Bearer artisan and collector of rare curiosities. Are you both tourists? Lost? If so, I can give you directions back to where you need to go. We're all friends here in Evna." He gestured all around us with his bloody crozius.
"Wait, what?" I asked with a nervous snort. No way. This guy was a Chaos Space Marine? But he looked so... normal? "You're a Word Bearer? Really?"
Harry nodded as he flicked a piece of brain off his robes. "Oh yes, but I am not much one for fighting. At least, not that much anymore. I now have a small shop here to attend to my foremost passion, books and rare antiquities!" He turned around and began to walk into his shop. "Please, come inside."
"Uh," I hummed, feeling nervous about following a damn Chaos Marine anywhere. Alberich saw that I had not moved, and stood next to me. The dripping of cultist blood flowing into sewer grates echoed in the gap of the conversation.
Harry turned around again, and offered us a disarming smile. "You know, I could also tell you about the new cult of Am'Erika, and how I know about their base of operations here in Evna, if you're curious about the people who ambushed you. Or-" he paused, and critically observed me for a bit, his expression becoming very curious. His intelligent eyes were a very unsettling amber. "You could use whatever ability causes your gold light if you doubt my sincerity, you know. I won't tell."
I stood looking at this friendly Chaos Marine in civilian clothes. So, of course Am'Erika had a cult here. Maybe Am'Erika was the one who wanted to murder me, and Ven Tristan just hated me? A cult would have to operate in secret here, I thought, and I found myself seriously considering taking Harry up on his offer so we could talk to him. Maybe he'd confirm that there was a daemon in the statue outside of town, and we could deal with it somehow?
"My leader, we should just go," Alberich said beside me. I now realized that I was now feeling a curious mixture of extreme disgust and extreme curiosity by being next to this smiling Chaos Marine. Despite him being a damn Word Bearer, it felt like he knew important things, and I wanted to know them too.
Oh, fuck it, I thought. With a sharp intake of breath, I let my Corona ignite around me, and I looked up at the Chaos Marine, who dropped his polite grin as my light hit him with a short gasp. He took a half step back, but then steadied himself, even clenching his jaw in concentration. I found myself levitating slightly off the ground as pulled myself up to his eye level, and with my energy, I reached into him to discover who this man was and what he knew.
Delving into his soul, I sensed heavy darkness, but I also sensed that he had told us the truth. I received more images of "Harry" (real name, Dralthus Phaeron) standing before groups of humans, the tattooed runes on his face lightly glowing as he read from one of his books. I witnessed him running from Imperial treasure hunters as he made off with their valuable artifacts, and I watched as he spoke glowingly about a particularly rare book to one of his considerably more mutated brothers at a dark table. The name of the book was visible through the vision, and I fell back to my feet in shock as I read it.
"The... the Wizard of Molech?" I gasped out, absolutely stunned. Harry's face brightened again as my light dimmed, and he stepped forward again, knowing what I've seen. He appeared positively delighted. I quickly asked him, "What's this book, 'The Wizard of Molech' that you know?"
"Only one of the most valuable and treasured books in this dimension, Traveler," he said with a narrow-eyed Cheshire cat grin. A dark aura of power radiated off of the Word Bearer as he smiled with delight. I could now hear numerous wheels grating down the street toward us. More Wheelers! Harry's smile fell slightly, as did his aura. "But it appears that the law is on its way to harass me again, so if you'd like to know more, come back later, and we'll have a little talk. Oh, and do be wary of the cult around here. Stick to the main streets of Evna, and you'll be fine. But, I know you can handle yourself against them now, so just purge them or whatever you people do to unclean things when you see them. Have a lovely day, and I do hope to see you again soon!" Harry waved his fingers in a fanciful gesture of farewell to us as he turned toward the street.
This was our dismissal, and I was left feeling very confused as Alberich guided me away from the charismatic Word Bearer bookseller. I could hear that the beastman was trying to reassure and convince me not to kill anyone else right now. What in the fuck was all this about, I thought in a daze as I nearly tripped over a shattered bleeding torso on our way back to the street, getting blood all over my shoes. Yeah, totally normal just meeting a fucking Word Bearer and some Chaos Americans on my fun walk to clear my head.
And this random Chaos Marine that we just ran into knew about the Wizard of Molech! How do these weird coincidental events keep happening?
My curiosity was answered as a small blue bird laughed a song as it perched above me on a windowsill. Fuck.