**Author's notes: "Flects" are entirely canon, and can be read about in the lexicanum, "Heaven's Gate" was a real cult in the late 90's, and I picture that the dance song being blasted in the nightclub would be something like VNV Nation's "Kingdom".**
Walking up the spiral staircase, I followed the three Tzeentchian Schwarz brothers as they chatted amicably amongst themselves. As they spoke, I definitely noticed "cult-y" talk, as the three gushed about how their holy "day of reckoning" was finally here, and that their promised "White-Feather" would lead them away from this dying world. I sincerely hoped that this didn't mean that all these cultists expected me to invite them onto my ship as refugees, and I was growing ever more concerned as to what Alberich's task would be. Considering that everyone was calling him "White-Feather", I wasn't feeling too confident.
This whole visit to Tar Vigaz was just supposed to be a supply run and a visit to a fun costume ball, but now, here I was, currently surrounded by shady Tzeentch cultists as they continued to gossip about their insane doomsday cult. And this was after I had been drugged by a transplanted real life Grigori Rasputin and brutally strangled a Slaaneshi cult leader to death. Thanks a lot for planning all this, Tzeentch. Really appreciate it, pal.
After a few more claustrophobic minutes of climbing the spiral staircase, I began to hear (and feel) a strange deep thumping sound. It was almost like I was wandering around in the Lower East Side of Manhattan on a Friday night, and the beat I heard was catchy and danceable. Was the nightclub part of their hideout actually open tonight despite martial law being declared?
Our group came to what appeared to be a small five meter squared room that stood before a tall (and very foreboding) iron door twice my size covered in scratched runes. Above, a small blue light offered faint illumination, and the bass music still thumped nearby. Since the pylon was currently operational, I imagined that whatever wards this door possessed were not functioning. Heinrich turned to us as we all filed into this room.
"Welcome, everyone," Heinrich addressed us all warmly. "Firstly, I must say again that I am so glad that the Architect of Fate himself has blessed us on this superb and final time of this world." The oldest brother then turned to Alberich, who was patting one of the wounds he had received earlier with a towel. A big lump was rising on his forehead. "We always knew that the body of White-Feather would come to us in our time of need!"
Everyone turned to look at Alberich, who did not seem pleased with the attention as he nervously shuffled his feet.
"No need to be nervous, my friends. Tzeentch has blessed us all! Now that we've all been saved in his hell, we will all live, so calm your fears. But, before we enter the main area of Dream of Tizca, I do have to inform you all that beyond this door, there is a very special room that we use as both a defensive measure against back door intruders, and as a sacred room of communion with our god. Now, as the more blessed of you all know, the Warp has been misbehaving lately, so I can't put an effective shield around your minds to protect you at the present, so it may be a little uncomfortable inside."
"What?" Evring choked. "What's in there? I see all those runes. Isn't the Warp shut off?"
"Not completely shut off, no. Only lessened in its influence at the moment. But, this room is special," Heinrich spoke up as he stood beside Luukai. All three siblings were smiling in anticipation. "Tell me, friends. Are any of you familiar with the tiny intriguing objects from the distant Lucky Space known as Flects?"
I had no idea what he was talking about, but apparently, Evring did, because he let out a long low moan of dread.
The three brothers seemed very surprised by Evring's reaction, and began to chuckle knowingly amongst themselves. Heinrich continued to derive dark amusement from the distressed playboy. "Will you look at that? Evring Sinclair of the vaunted Sinclair media family seems to know! What an intriguing surprise! Maybe you'd like to enlighten the rest of us this evening?"
Evring clutched his shoulders again, and looked suspiciously at the iron door. He glanced cautiously at each of us before reluctantly speaking. "Flects are categorized as a rare drug by our authorities. I don't know exactly where they originate from. I do know that they aren't actually, like, drugs that you physically consume. They're these little pieces of glass that came from a Hive world that got pulled into the Warp and destroyed. Each piece of glass is imbued with Warp power, and if you look upon a Flect, you... you get this feeling of... of..." Evring's expression let us know that he had personal experience with this subject matter.
"It appears you did not have a pleasant experience, and I'm sorry for that," Heinrich informed Evring, actually now seeming to sympathize. "But, no doubt, what you witnessed made you more learned in the true nature of reality, and rapid spiritual growth can be difficult. I will never look down upon someone who seeks to expand his mind, my friend, and I apologize for any earlier rudeness." The elder brother walked up to Evring, and slowly reached out with a hand to comfort the frightened ex-lord, gently touching him on the shoulder. "That you came back from a difficult experience with Flects means that you have great strength, Evring. Maybe we were wrong about you after all?"
As Heinrich consoled Evring, I decided to see how much I could utilize my dampened psychic abilities now that I wasn't high on Spook and overloaded on way too many new souls. I closed my eyes, and willed my perception into the next room.
With the muffled Warp, I had expected to not be able to perceive much of anything, so what I viewed was actually quite an unwelcome surprise.
A room of broken glass and mirrors that twisted, grew, and quickly transfigured itself into vast halls of endless blue crystal. Laughing fanged shapes of daemons watched me from broken mirrors. And then, suddenly, Tzeentch's humanoid form stood before me as he wore a malevolent smile. The entity reached out, and touched my arm!
"Ah, fuck!" I shouted as I recoiled from Heinrich's touch, who was now standing next to me. I was now back in the small room before the large iron door.
"Were you able to see inside, my lady, even with the minimized presence of the Warp?" Heinrich asked as he stood beside me. I really didn't like that he greatly resembled a human version of Tzeentch's avatar. "Even with the interference of the pylon, this room is special to us, and powerful. What did you see?" Heinrich even seemed to share a similar intensity with the Chaos God, and it made him unnerving to be around.
"Broken mirrors everywhere. Endless corridors and daemons! Mirrors, glass, and..." I struggled to articulate the cosmic horror geometry of what I had seen.
"Ah, the Labyrinth," Luukai mused. "Most of us have seen glimpses of it by now, and a few of us have visited it and even been permitted to return! Our lord indeed favors you!"
"The Crystal Labyrinth has a subjective appearance to most, and often appears as endless crystal corridors. However, the physical appearance of the room beyond this door is of mirrors and glass as you witnessed, my lady. Mirrors and glass of a unique and especially powerful sort," Heinrich elucidated before smiling widely. Oh my god, was this really an entire room covered in those Flect things? And we'd have to walk through it?
The older brother turned around, and pointed to the locked iron door. "This is our "Room of Recreation" as we call it. The walls and ceilings of this room have been decorated with thousands of genuine Flects! It took us a long time to gather them all up, and to enchant them to retain their unique nature. You wouldn't believe the amount of bribery and smuggling we had to endure to get them safely into Evna!" Heinrich laughed, and then playfully added, "Promise you won't have us arrested, Evring?"
"You covered a room... in Flects? Throne! Are you people insane?" Evring barked at the three brothers. "If we walk in there, we, we-!"
"The room is safe. Well, at least right now it is," Heinrich responded playfully. "Like we said, the Warp's potency is currently dampened, so while proper protective enchantments cannot be initiated, the Room of Recreation's power is also far lessened. It cannot hurt you in this state if you do not look deeply within the mosaics, so I just ask that you pass through with your eyes closed if you want to be assured of safety. It may be uncomfortable, but it is safe, I assure you."
Without even waiting, Luukai had now produced a long iron key, and was about to open the door before I objected. "Woah, hold on! So we're just walking into that Warp glass room? Can we take any sort of precaution aside from just closing our eyes? What I saw made it look really dangerous!" While I definitely still felt strong after my earlier escapades, the prospect of passing through a room of Warp-cursed mosaics still sounded very unpleasant.
Heinrich then began to reassure us with, "We wouldn't be leading you through if we didn't think this room would hurt you. If you are concerned, simply keep your eyes down or closed as you walk through. If you would like, we can all hold hands. The room is not so large."
"Okay, yeah, let's be safe and do that. I've had enough madness for tonight," I suggested. The brothers and the Tzaangor bodyguards nodded in agreement.
Evring immediately lined up behind me and grabbed my left hand firmly, and Alberich stood ahead of me. He reached out with his right hand, and I took it. Zok stood behind Evring, who cringed when he touched the old Tzaangor's hand. Even with the pylon's interference, I could still easily sense the beastman's fear. The brothers then stood ahead of Alberich, and Vadim reached behind to grab his free hand. Luukai then asked, "Everyone ready?"
"Lunacy! Everything! I can't believe all this. No wonder this world is damned! Chaos cultists everywhere! Warp take you, Langwidere! All of you damn people should have been completely wiped out! Dammit Justi, my own brother! I just can't..." Evring muttered in a mixture of frustrated anger and fear. "I'm damned. I'm screwed. Totally fucking screwed."
A heavy click echoed over the thumping base of this room, and the iron door was now open. Before I closed my eyes, I caught a faint glimpse of reflected light from a piece of glass on the wall, and felt a sense that I was being watched.
I took a breath, closed my eyes, and walked forward.
Air that was somehow both cool and hot wafted over my skin as we advanced forward into the Room of Recreation. The floor in this room appeared to be a very smooth metal, or maybe even glass by the sounds of our echoing footsteps.
"Any word from Opal, brother?" Luukai asked casually as we began to slowly walk. His voice echoed, and it gave the impression that this room was probably mostly empty. "Did they end up pulling off that spaceport plot?"
We see you, Erika, ethereal whispers called through me, and I felt many eyes watching me. I kept my eyes closed and tried to ignore them as I continued to walk. We see you. We rejoice at the feast you bring us, oh beautiful creature of hope, change, and retribution! You feed us, you empower us!
"Unfortunately no. Fate was not with us in that plot, but fear not. We will prevail now that White-Feather has been revealed, I am certain of it." Heinrich answered. "We'll complete the transference as soon as we can, and then, our glorious future awaits! Besides, another solution has now presented itself, and this one is better anyway."
The infernal whispers continued to hiss through me as I held my eyes closed. Be our sister! Dance with us forever! Leave them all behind and become one of us! Learn all and know all forbidden things! Eat of our fruits of knowledge, and understand all mysteries! Be as a god!
"I trust in the Architect of Fate to write our story and to save us." Luukai replied to his brother. "We'll be saved. I just know it. You've led us this far, brother. I trust in you."
The strange voices became somewhat more pronounced and insistent. Conquer humankind! Enact a new Great Crusade to unite humanity under a banner of hope and progress! Rule and feel the prayers of trillions behind your inescapable might! Feel the glory and power of humanity's worship of you as you command mankind across the stars to a new golden age! Teach them, guide them, revel in your hopeful ambition to change the fate of the galaxy! Feel the fire of their adulation! Behold, future sister, for it has already begun!
"I wonder what he has planned for our glorious future?" I heard Heinrich distantly wonder aloud.
In my mind's eye, I was then shown a vision as the whispers withdrew.
People were dancing beside a tall crudely sculpted womanly figure comprised of brush and debris. Praises to the God-Empress of Retribution sung to the sky. "We worship you, oh glorious Empress clad in the sun, She who smote the evil men from the stars! The souls of Rhadabus to you! We sing for you! Our lives for you!" A man with burned skin ritualistically blinds himself with a hot poker, and he screams that he was not fit to even have his eyes anymore since he had looked upon the God-Empress with doubt.
This was now too much, and with a gasp, I opened my eyes!
Despite not wanting to open my eyes, I had done just that. Great job again, Erika. The three brothers were still casually chatting ahead of us as they led our group through this room. All three had their eyes open without a care in the world.
The Room of Recreation was a long empty space of about eight or so meters in length, and four wide. We were about halfway through. From above, a few dim bulbs cast a pale blue illumination which was reflected off the multitudinous Flects tiling this entire room like the scales of a fish. All exposed surfaces of this room with the exception of the metal floor were covered in small shards of mirror or glass of varying shapes and sizes, each between that of half a fingernail, to about half the size of my palm. It appeared that the Flects had been sealed directly within the wall into patterns reminiscent of waves and swirls, which actually made it quite beautiful. Actually looking at these magic glass shards didn't do too much aside from making it feel as if I was being watched. As I continued being led forward, Heinrich had turned around, and had noticed that my eyes were open.
The elder brother smiled. "See, my lady? It is not so bad. I just recommend not staring persistently into one singular Flect, but if you feel the call of the void, be my guest."
I did not respond, and stared straight ahead. Evring gripped my hand tightly behind me, and I could hear that he was breathing heavily.
We were soon led out of the Room of Recreation and into another nondescript square room with a blue ceiling light and a more normal looking door. The thumping bass music was louder in here, and I could hear occasional people shouting with happiness, almost like any nightclub on a Saturday night back home. As I watched Luukai lock the iron door behind us, I wondered if anyone had ever wandered back there from the club area while intoxicated, as that room almost felt like a little back door straight into the Warp and right into Tzeentch's living room. Good thing they kept it locked. I then realized that if the pylon's Warp-muffling field had failed when we had been in there that we would probably would not have had a very good time. The Room of Recreation was normally probably obscenely dangerous, and I briefly wondered why they named it that way.
Alberich opened his eyes, and looked at me curiously. "Did you really open your eyes? What was it like?"
"It was actually better that way," I answered quietly. "When I had my eyes closed, I ended up having visions when we were walking and... Yeah, don't want to talk about it."
Alberich nodded. Evring, who now stood beside me, was staring blankly into space. At least he wasn't shaking anymore.
After a few more doors, we were led right into the nightclub itself, which was, very unexpectedly, completely jumping right now. Shifting rainbow spotlights and laughing cheering people danced happily on the floor as a dark-skinned DJ woman wearing a gold bodysuit appeared to be spinning synth-y dance tunes on strange disks. From here, I could also see other Tzaangors and even a few people with obvious mutations as they happily danced and celebrated. I even saw one very large man that could be an Astartes as he carried a box across the dance floor.
We hugged one of the walls as Heinrich led us forward. I saw many heads turn and point our way, either looking at me or Alberich.
"Happy Day of Reckoning! To the last dawn!" a young woman with gold feathers instead of hair said to me as she offered me a blue flower, which I awkwardly declined. Our group continued to be led down to a quieter part of the club that appeared to be for VIPs.
"So, uh, how about that martial law?" I cautiously asked as we slid into the large private booth. "This, I mean, come on, man... Vadim, Luukai, you guys saw what had happened in the palace, right? Shouldn't people be a bit more worried?"
Luukai and Heinrich laughed. "As we said, fate is in our favor, and now, our promised White-Feather is here!"
As we all settled in, I then noticed that both Evring and Vadim were missing along with the two Tzaangor bodyguards. Before I could wonder where they were, Alberich spoke up.
"I... I must finally ask," the beastman began to cautiously inquire before a young woman with chicken legs and a the head of some kind of green frilled lizard walked our table. Before she spoke, she bowed deeply to Heinrich.
"Blessings of Change upon you, esteemed Blue Herald. Are these the ones?" the lizard woman asked us in a hissing voice.
"Yes, they are. Bring us some water and refreshment, for the night grows long. Tell the rest of the Ascending Nine that the palace has fallen, and fate moves as it should. Has there been any inquiry with the law this evening?"
"None yet, Herald," the mutant woman rasped happily. "Our surveillance says that the Wheelers have grown mad, and we also sense that the Warp still behaves irregularly. As you know, the strangeness at the Tower of Reason continues. They experiment with shutting out the Warp. It will fail. A greater daemon of another alignment waits in the wings to visit this world."
"That's to be expected," Heinrich said with a shrug, completely unconcerned. "Any news on the prophesied xenos?"
She nodded and smiled with needle sharp lizard teeth, "As seen in the previous divinations of the cartomancer, they race through the stars, and they are now on their way. If the followers of the flesh god do not ruin this world, the xenos will! Isn't that wonderful? The glorious hand of the Lord of Change!"
I swallowed. Listening to these people talk made it obvious that these Chaos cultists, despite being friendly to me right now, were not "good guys". The cultists actually gave me an apocalyptic Heaven's Gate vibe. They all seemed to be celebrating the foretold end of their world.
"Yes, he writes our stories, we are all puppets to his tune, and we are powerless against his mastery over fate," Heinrich said with a wide (and very creepy) grin. The elder brother then glanced at Alberich. "Albia, summon the twins, and ready what we talked about. Move my equipment to the Room of Recreation. White-Feather will soon appropriately reveal himself!"
"Uh," Alberich began to interject as the woman bowed and walked off. The beastman glanced at me nervously. "What is happening here?"
"Oh, just clearing a few things up, friend," Heinrich reassured Alberich before turning to me. There was something evil in the older brother's tone, and he definitely wasn't telling us the whole truth. "So, what can we do to help you, my lady? I heard a whisper in the Room of Recreation of your future nature. Because of this, I am happy to help you. Within reason, of course."
I wasn't even about to start asking questions about whatever insanity Heinrich must have heard, so I simply took a deep breath and replied with, "Okay, well, if you really want to help us, Alberich and I need to get to Port Aubergine and leave this world. We also need to be reunited with our crew, but I don't know how you can make that happen." I really hoped that this cult wasn't expecting us to take them on as crew. Intuitively, I knew that the ship would probably find these people very distasteful. Even after his cleansing by the Divine Retribution, I knew that the vessel still didn't like that Alberich had an association with Tzeentch, even if it was minuscule.
"And where are the rest of your crew, my lady? If we are to help, we need this information."
"Null is our tech-priest, and he's actually over at the Tower of Reason right now. I think he's the one working with the pylon, and trying to keep it on. Lian is a-" I paused before thinking better of identifying him as a member of any legion. "-Lian is a Space Marine. I think he's over at Port Aubergine, actually. So, if no one went wandering, I guess we'd only have to get Null at the Tower of Reason. We would also need a way through the space minefield too."
"Unless nothing has changed in the last half hour, the Tower of Reason is presently under siege, I'm afraid," Heinrich replied sadly. "All the Imperials have shut themselves in as Langwidere's and Raula White's forces pummel them. This blessedly keeps the governor distracted from us, though. At the very least, I can give you a general passcode to clear the interplanetary minefield. That can be arranged."
Zok turned to me from across the both, and then asked, "Where is Evring?"
"I don't-" I began to answer until Heinrich interrupted me.
"Evring needed to use the washroom, and Vadim is guiding him there," the oldest brother replied. I didn't like this explanation, and my intuition called bullshit on this. But, was I about to press this cult on Evring's whereabouts when they were offering to help us escape? I felt sorry for the younger Sinclair brother now, but I wasn't sure exactly if I wanted to fight all these cultists to save a guy who was responsible for luring me to Ven Tristan so that he could assassinate me.
Alberich watched me with concern, and seemed surprised that I didn't fight Heinrich on this. We needed to be practical this evening.
Luukai then turned to his older brother, and smiled widely. "Oh, I have good news for you, my brother. Erika here has killed Raula, and the religious leader of the Family of Liberty is now dead! One of Raula's summoners is also dead, killed in his own summoning of a Fiend of Slaanesh, which Erika also destroyed!"
"Excellent news! Raula was their most effective sorceress! You must be strong to best her, my lady!" Heinrich said flatteringly.
Luukai continued grinning with excitement. "She also destroyed most of the west wing of the palace! Looked like a real life female God-Emperor doing it too, halo and all! By Tzeentch I've never been so amazed! One of the pink horrors I summoned even directly spoke that she was in favor of the Lord of Change, so this explains her extreme potency!"
"Anyway," I began to change the subject as a classily dressed (and not mutated) young woman arrived carrying a tray of water glasses and small ramekins of nuts.
As the woman offered us all water and snacks, Heinrich turned to me and said, "Apologies, our kitchen is closed on account of it being the end of the world and all."
"So, there's no way to get into the Tower of Reason?" I asked. Was Null trapped in there?
"Not easily at least, no. Unlike Langwidere's palace, the Imperials shut off and sealed all unused peripheral tunnels. Only two tunnels remain, and they are very well watched," Heinrich informed us. He then sighed wistfully. "I still miss her, you know. She remains a brilliant woman, well versed in esoteric and technological studies. Stupid that she kept certain things from me..."
"We've only ever been able to send one operative in and only at one time. The metal priests are very paranoid out here, it seems," Luukai added.
"Can we contact them somehow?" I asked, eating a few alien nuts that could be walnuts. "We have to figure something out. Null is very important to us. I want to get him out."
Heinrich shook his head. "If we had a powerful secure line into the Tower, we could, but with all the signal scrambling in the air right now, we doubt it would go through."
Alberich suddenly perked up. "My leader, we have our telephones! Doesn't Null have one as well? He gave them to us before we left!"
"I forgot mine in the hotel," I replied.
"What is a 'telephone'?" Heinrich asked me curiously as he sipped his water.
"Oh, uh. It's just, a vox-type-thing personal communication device, and-"
Alberich then produced his device from a pocket in his bodysuit, and placed it on the table. "It is this thing. In our home countries we use devices called telephones to contact people. These devices here are much smaller than what my nation used, but still, same concept. Strange that you don't know they are."
"Well, whatever," I said. "How about we try just calling Null?"
"I'm not sure it will go through, my lady," Heinrich replied skeptically as he eyed Alberich's device. "Heavy signal interference now covers all of Evna, and it is disrupting conventional communications. I'm guessing Langwidere hired some expensive mercenaries to enact this, and they're probably making damn certain that the Tower of Reason's outbound communications are all cut off as they attempt to control the Wheelers. You'd probably need a much more powerful transmitter to get through to that location, really."
I decided to try anyway, and I picked up Alberich's device. It seems he had two missed calls from Null, and three from Virgil. Each didn't leave any messages. I first decided to call Null.
As expected, the call didn't connect.
Next, I decided to call Virgil. This time, after a few rings, the distorted voice of Virgil could be heard.
"Mutant? Where are you?" the hologram asked hastily. It was very difficult to make out his voice, but at least I knew it was him. "You do not answer your transmissions! The port Terminal has been destroyed, and the Wheeler servitors have gone mad as the sound of a clock tower bell rings! Shuttles fill the skies as screams fill the air! Tell me where-"
"Virgil, it's me," I interrupted Virgil as he vented his frustration. A wave of loud static crackled through the receiver, and I heard Virgil gasp in relief. Before he could respond, I quickly said, "Listen, everything has gone to hell, and the Family of Liberty is causing terror attacks all over the city. I just escaped the palace and now Alberich and I are trying to get to the port so we can leave. This world is doomed. I know the Port Aubergine terminal got blown up, but has anything else changed over there?"
"Inheritor! My apologies for my rudeness!" Virgil almost squeaked. "Er, yes. Lian fights corrupted combat servitors who continue to wheel into the port area. There are many, and from what I see through the Divine Retribution's windows is that the servitors now seem to be taking the injured people away. For what purpose, I do not know."
I informed my companions on what Virgil said, and the holographic astropath then began to quickly speak again. He sounded greatly worried. "I more news to report. The Divine Retribution was seen to brightly glow as if it had consumed souls about two and a half hours ago. The bridge still feels flush with energy. I am not sure what caused this. On top of everything on this terrible night, I recently spoke with Null over at the Tower of Reason. He tells me that the perfidious planetary governor is currently laying siege to the Tower, but the strength of the Adeptus Mechanicus holds firm for now. Magos Amee-"
"Wait, hold on!" I interrupted. "You were able to contact Null over the interference?"
Virgil responded with, "Yes, Inheritor. The Divine Retribution enabled me to speak with Null over at the Tower. And-"
"Can you contact him right now? I need to talk to him!"
"Of course," Virgil immediately obeyed. A few moments later, I heard the astropath call out, "Divine Retribution, open a channel to crewmember Null at the Tower of Reason, same address as before." Happily, within another few moments, I heard the barely coherent voice of Null over the transmission!
"Virgil! We can have no interruptions!" Null scolded angrily. "Unless you bring me emergency news, then-"
"The Inheritor contacted me through Alberich's transmitter here! She's still alive! I'm talking to her right now!"
A heavy sigh of relief could be discerned over the static. "Praise Omnissiah," Null said.
Can't he just put me on speakerphone, I wondered. "Hi Null," I said to the transmitter.
"We thought the worst when the chaos broke out at the palace!" Null explained in worry. "What news do you bring?"
Through Virgil, I gave Null the condensed version of the story. First, I informed the tech-priest on the revelation that Langwidere was now some kind of indescribable unholy construct who used xenos tech to manipulate her soul between bodies, and that she can actually completely swap her head. This description caused Heinrich to briefly pout. Next, I detailed our fight with Raula White, her bewitchment of the partygoers, and her daemon summoning escapades when Alberich and I tried to escape the palace. I finally informed him that we were trying to get back to Port Aubergine as quickly as we could.
"I need you to get out of that Tower and to go to Port Aubergine, Null. Like, as soon as you can!" I replied desperately.
A pause, and a lot more distorted static. I could now hear what sounded like alarms sounding nearby after a loud rumbling noise. I could hear a few words being addressed between Null and and someone else. The whispery voice of Magos Amee then sounded through. "Inheritor, Null is currently attending to the pylon's power source. His genius is keeping this world free of the curse of Am'Erika, but we are under attack here at the Tower! If we can hold out long enough, I think we can wrestle complete control of the Wheelers back under my stead again! We just have to hold out!"
Dread filled my heart. They didn't know about the Necrons yet.
"Magos, I have some bad news for you," I began. I described my vivid visions about how the xenos were on their way here, and that even if they were to prevail against Am'Erika, the Necrons would arrive soon, and destroy this world anyway.
I heard no reply, and more alarms chimed.
"That would explain the sounding of the Last Bell by Angel's Respite," Magos Amee answered, her voice a choked whisper. "It has been chiming for an hour, and heeding its warnings, those who can are now crowding the skies and leaving the world. Last Bell is an emergency evacuation call. We can no longer get through to Angel's Respite to ask them specifically. Ah, bless those boys. May they eventually find forgiveness." The Magos' voice almost sounded as if she was now holding back tears.
"Woah," I breathed. I had instructed Master Foras to "sound the Last Bell" without even really knowing what I was saying when I was all juiced up in power in the hedge maze! "Magos, if you have the ability to evacuate this system, please do it! I'm serious about the Necrons! I don't know when they'll be here but they're coming!"
Another pause, and I could hear someone shout, "More power to the roof! Keep the shields up!"
"I-I cannot leave here, Inheritor," Nimmie Amee said softly, a tremor in her sibilant voice. "If we are to eventually defend against a fleet of xenos, I must be the one to operate the inter-planetary minefield and direct this world's ground defenses appropriately. I can only do this from here. The minefield has saved us before. Rest... rest assured. I will not-"
Alarms began to blare again over the transmission, and I then felt a strange wave of power wash over me. At the same time, I noticed that all the psykers at our table had gasped or flinched. The pylon! I then heard Null yell in the background, "Good, now let's continue keeping her alive. Put ice on her so she doesn't overheat again! Bring her back to full power as soon as possible. Prep Zeta subject while you're at it just in case!"
The static over the phone then became more pronounced, and in my mind's eye, a very brief vision of two very corrupted and revoltingly mutated tech-priests that closely resembled monstrous metal humanoid squids. They were hiding in a location adjacent the Tower of Reason, and it felt as if they were sheltering under an awning on a destroyed roof. They were listening intently to our discussion!
"Magos, if you can evacuate your people or anyone you can, please do it. Please. I'm sorry, but, but this world is in trouble!" I pleaded.
"Searching for signal location, governor," I heard an evil heretek voice buzz as he spoke into his own transmitter!
"Magos please! Send Null away if you can! I have to go, they're now trying to spy on this call! Two heretek squid guys! They're on a roof very close to where you are!"
I sensed the hereteks' surprise and horror as they heard that!
"They will be dealt with immediately. We have shuttles, and I will make certain that Null is safe," the Magos responded as more miserable moans carried through the air in her location. A brief instruction was given to an adept. "It was a pleasure to know you in your new incarnation, and may your will be done, Omnissiah," Magos Amee then said heavily before the transmission abruptly cut off.
In my mind's eye, I could now see the two hereteks angrily gesturing at each other as they began to panic. It appeared that they had not been able to discerned my location, and were now desperately trying to reestablish contact with the governor. Only a moment later, I happily sensed that both evil tentacled monstrosities had been removed from existence as a high powered energy weapon struck their location directly!
"What's the plan?" Alberich asked me as I handed the phone back. I blinked, bringing myself back to reality.
I sighed heavily, massaging my temple. The weakened pylon was now rapidly strengthening once again, but I knew that I had seen at least two hereteks. Langwidere secretly having corrupted AdMech on her side made perfect sense considering all the heretical technological bullshit she was involved in. Nimmie Amee had also called me Omnissiah, but I didn't have time to worry about that now.
"They're going to send a shuttle with Null to Port Aubergine, if I understood everything right. This means we just need to get to the port whenever we can."
"Ah, one moment, my lady," Heinrich said to me as Vadim and the lizard-faced woman reappeared with Evring. The playboy looked much less anxious, and he even wore a smile. Evring then sat down at our booth, and even began to munch on a few nuts from my ramekin. A short glass of amber liquid was placed before the playboy, and he happily drank it. Vadim turned to Heinrich, and made a short series of hand gestures, which Heinrich nodded to in response. Luukai also angled his chin upward in recognition at whatever had been communicated.
"What was that all about? Where did you go?" I asked Evring.
"Just been thinking about things lately, you know?" the younger Sinclair brother remarked cryptically. The swagger had actually reappeared in his voice.
"E-everything happens f-for a reason," Vadim offered him with an enigmatic smile.
"Alright, great, I'm glad you're feeling better Evring, but I need to get off this world. Heinrich, please tell me how to get to Port Aubergine and not die," I bristled as I tapped my fingers against the table.
Heinrich turned to me again. "If you do not require anything else, we can oblige you with this. I will give you a guided map of the tunnels under Evna that lead you to Port Aubergine. Part of your trip will be on the street, so be warned."
I glanced suspiciously at Evring again. The lizard woman was now standing at his side as he sat with us in the booth. She was even playfully touching his shoulder. What the fuck was all this?
My suspicion was evidently easily apparent, because Evring responded with, "I'm fine, everyone. Don't worry about me. In fact, better than fine. And I'm not going with you, my lady, so don't worry about that. I've got my own yacht, remember?" The playboy laughed. "And, let me just apologize again for how this trip has gone for you, Erika. I genuinely thought you were interesting when I saw you on your eagle ship, and so did Grand Advisor Grigori. Worst party ever, am I right? Throne, at least this will go down in history as the craziest of the Sinclair balls!" Evring laughed again, and shook his head. "I didn't plan any of this, but what can you do now? I mean, fate is fate, right?"
Luukai and Heinrich both replied, "Right!" at the very same time.
"So, I guess we'll just get that guide and be on our way. I really appreciate it, Heinrich. How far is the trip?" I asked, not liking just how suspicious everything was starting to appear here.
Behind us, on the main dance floor, I heard someone loudly shout, "Praise Tzeentch! Praise his grand plan! We are saved in his hell!" as a wave of cheers rose in celebration.
Heinrich answered my question with, "Twenty kilometers or so in total, but most of your trip will be on a mine cart once again, so it will not take long. You have only a few kilometers to walk above ground. Shouldn't be too difficult. Alberich will probably need to keep his face covered, though."
"Okay, so, we'll leave as soon as we can," I voiced nervously as I watched Evring actually begin to flirt with the lizard-headed woman. I couldn't get out of this madhouse fast enough!
After I said this, Luukai and Vadim turned to Heinrich, and watched him with expectant eyes. The older brother then steepled his fingers before him like he was an evil villain with a plan.
"Well, we were actually hoping that you could help us with a little task first, you see?" Heinrich hummed before Alberich and I could stand up.
"A task?" Alberich replied with a gulp. Uh oh. Here it comes...
"Yes. Just one task," Luukai said with a grin. "Not even really a task. More of an offering, you see?"
"The pylon prevents most Warp engagements, so I guess it can't be anything too magical," I observed.
"Ah, but this task is one, we believe, that can be performed in the Room of Recreation, even if the Warp is being constrained. It is good that none of us had negative experiences earlier, for this is a good omen for the rest of the evening," Heinrich purred as he folded his fingers before him on the table, almost radiating with anticipatory excitement. More cheering rushed through the rear of the club, and all three brothers wore wide beatific smiles.
"What do you want me to do?" Alberich quietly asked, his ears down.
"Technically, we don't want you to do anything, friend. We simply need something important from you so that we may fulfill our prophecies and leave this world. All things are now accounted for with this being the exception. All is going according to plan." Heinrich then bowed his head and chuckled. "You know, when Langwidere discovered that I had run off with some of her soul-transference tech she became quite cross with me. One of the first things she did was program every Wheeler in town to recognize my face instantly! In every port and customs point, my identity has always been on file as a priority capture. Dearest Lang made it so every camera on every street corner would recognize me, with most advanced surveillance even able to see through masks or Warp glamour! This means getting off this world, for me at least, hasn't been easy. And believe me, I've tried. Wouldn't you come to the aid of a desperate man and his family?"
"Stop dancing around. What is your point?" I asked Heinrich impatiently as I felt my intuition crawl. Chaos cultists were still Chaos cultists, no matter how "nice" they appeared. A Chaos cult of Slaanesh would engage in excessive behaviors that centered around pleasure and pain, and a Chaos cult of Tzeentch would probably enact underhanded schemes and unusual magical rituals...
Heinrich turned toward us both, and his smile became dark, almost like a sneer. This expression made him greatly resemble the avatar of Tzeentch I kept seeing, which chilled me. While I was expecting insanity, nothing could have prepared me for what I then heard, and it was definitely in line with something a cult leader of Tzeentch would request.
"My request is such: Alberich and I will exchange bodies. This task has been anointed and blessed by Tzeentch himself, and cannot be denied. I will transfer my soul to Alberich's body and take the mantle of White-Feather as I lead my flock to their glorious future. In return, I will graciously allow Alberich to retain my body for his own use. And also, I agree to generously supply you and your merry band with a map of the tunnels to Port Aubergine."
"My what?!" Alberich cried up and immediately stood.
"You heard me, body-of-White-Feather," Heinrich responded as he viciously smiled. "I need a new body if I'm to leave this world and travel the stars again with my perfected technology. It has been foretold! The Blue Architects shall not languish on a doomed world; we have been called forth to enact the will of the Great Lord of Change as we travel the galaxy. And, White-Feather shall lead them!"
The three brothers all appeared absolutely ecstatic, and now, I noticed that even Evring was smiling! Heinrich continued: "You know, when the diviners among us cast our horoscopes to discern White-Feather's spiritual identity and location, I was actually the one that was revealed, despite not having white feathers myself. And now, everything makes sense! Your body is ideal for my use as leader of the Blue Architects, and I have the technology in order to enact the transfer. I am even generous enough to offer my own body for your continued existence, which is more than fair, I think."
"You... you really want to steal his body?" I asked, looking for further clarification and still not quite believing what I was hearing. Alberich was still too stunned to speak further.
Heinrich continued to smile as I now noticed that the two Tzaangor bodyguards we had walked with earlier had reappeared near our booth. "The Architect of Fate has blessed this action, and as a devotee of Tzeentch, Alberich must comply with this wish. He does not have a choice if he wishes to remain in the favor of the Lord of Change. As a warning, I wouldn't fight us here. We'd rather have your cooperation with this, as the transference has a higher chance of success if both parties are willing. While my survival is nearly assured regardless your willingness, we've got our estimated chances for a fully successful mutual soul transfer at a nice high 63% if you cooperate. We wouldn't want to hurt those chances, now would we?"
Alberich's white head feathers were fully ruffled in fright as he glanced at the looming Tzaangor guards, who smiled in response. "Don't run," one of the hulking blue mutants replied in a deep inhuman growl as his beak twisted into a sneer. "You'll only make it more irritating for us. I'd take the Blue Herald's offer."
Evring wasn't even watching this confrontation anymore, and was now fully engaged in flirting with the lizard woman. This situation was crazy, and I protested with, "But you said that the Wheelers would know your face as soon as you would step outside, and the ports all have alerts on you! You said that you could get us to Aubergine safely! How can he even leave at all then?"
"You're clever, and you're powerful. I just overheard that Port Aubergine was blown up, so that's one obstacle down. You won't need to go through customs, and we'll supply you with a departure code for the mines. The Wheelers are mostly insane now anyway, so why worry about them recognizing Alberich? Just be clever when you travel, and Tzeentch willing, I'm sure you'll get out. And when the pylon inevitably fails, you can use those incredible Empress powers of yours to slaughter anyone in your way, and I will salute you as I leave with the rest of my family!"
At this moment, two identical sallow-skinned old men in dark blue robes appeared at the table beside the Tzaangor bodyguards. "We're ready, Blue Herald."
"My leader?" Alberich asked me, fear in his voice.
I stood up, and drew the Nemeses Argentum.
"Put that away, girl," Heinrich replied in a voice that was now heavy with venom. "Look around. Your abilities have been curtailed by the influence of the pylon, just as mine. From where I'm sitting, it appears that you're rather outnumbered in raw physical strength. This is the Dream of Tizca, and all these people are my Blue Architects! They're all loyal to me, and they're all expecting me to lead them to safety off this world!" The older brother gestured grandly around him. "And Alberich, remember, if you refuse, you'll also probably lose your favor with the Great Lord of Change. No one wants that, do we? You might be looking at a future as a mindless Chaos spawn if you turn away from his will!"
After a few tense heartbeats, Alberich then sighed heavily in what appeared to be concession as I remained standing. The beastman then cleared his throat, and looked upward at both me and Heinrich before reluctantly saying, "I'll do it."
"Then it is settled!" Heinrich's tone was now perfectly relaxed and jovial again. I began to lower the Nemeses Argentum, still in shock at what the oldest brother and cult leader had requested. "Come, come, my dear friends. Why the sad faces? A blessed future awaits us all! To the Room of Recreation! As soon as the transference is complete, we will give you our map to Port Aubergine and your departure code. Soon, all of us will be free and flying away from here!"
Unexpectedly, I heard Zok snort in derision as he sat next to Alberich, still absently snacking on the nuts in his ramekin. He had been quiet during this entire confrontation. "This is what I mean. This is why no gods are my masters. Gods always ask too much."
You're damn right, buddy, I thought miserably as everyone else stood. We were then on our way back to the Room of Recreation despite this evening not being any fun anymore.