Chapter 6: Bane of Humanity.

"Originium? What about it? That stuff is pretty much everywhere, just… don't breathe it in when you're near raw sources of it. You do not want to have Oripathy." —voxlog recovery. Unknown date of creation. Taken from an abandoned, primitive village by skitarii scavenging crew. Uploading keywords.


It'd been two days since Faust set out from the Clad in Ire, and most of it was spent traversing empty wastelands. The small expedition was going surprisingly well, which felt strange to Faust.

Other than the bit of unrest being caused by that conscript, Kazi, no interruptions had occured. On any other planet, he would have met some resistance by now. Instead, it was… pleasant. Relaxed. He honestly felt like he was on vacation—a word he hadn't learned since ten years prior—even with the constant reminder of why he was stuck on this planet.

The arid wastelands had transitioned into dry, cool grasslands, with the only heat coming from the large star in the sky. He could have sworn the voidshield hole in the sky was slowly repairing itself.

The weirder part was that they hadn't encountered any sort of civilization, primitive or otherwise. Even primal cities should have been established, but instead, the only formations were the crystalline structures.

Speaking of, they were about to pass one on the left-hand side. Faust glanced over it, seeing the light glare off its form. Something about it… felt wrong. Not Otto wrong, just… plain bizarre. A hyperfixation of superstition.

He glanced at the miniature dataslate displaying where they needed to go. From where they were, it seemed the structures were detailing location three. He peered closer at it while he drove, seeing the slightest remains of a smoke trail.

Well… now he had to investigate it. Faust grabbed the vox-caster on the dash, as he made sure everyone would hear it.

"This is Faust, we'll be making a detour to our left for an investigation. Be prepared to find a crash site. That is all."

Faust heard the revving of the Tauros Venator veer off towards it, leaving a trail of crushed grass. Faust chuckled at the challenge, speeding up as he pressed on the pedal.

Everyone lurched backward in Lucky 12, with Otto waking up with a snort and Brogg laughing excitedly.

"Fasta Sah! We can beat 'em!"

Faust smiled as Lucky 12's dash lit up almost just as thrilled, catching up to Merek and Clovis quickly. They drove for a couple more minutes, the Tauros Venator jumping up and down while Lucky 12 effortlessly maneuvered through the difficult terrain.

"Uh… Sah?" Brogg asked worriedly, "That whuh I think e' is?"

Faust leaned forward seeing… a village?

Lucky 12 slowed down, losing the race to Merek and Clovis, but not because they had won. What had won was the ambient desolation of this location, as these black crystals sprouted in and around the town. Where there had to be people, none could be found. They were not hiding, not waiting, not watching. Faust knew the feeling all too well, as only ghosts remained in this place.

The vehicles parked just a bit away from the town, everyone disembarking except for Merek and Clovis who remained seated in their vehicle.

Faust immediately saw it as he jumped out. Impaled upon a crystal javelin were the remains of a savior pod, skewered, and burnt out. Faust wanted to run over, trying to dismiss the worried idea Delta was the one inside, but Otto grabbed his shoulder before he could.

Otto said nothing, merely giving a wordless look that said everything.

Faust slowly nodded, refraining from recklessly just placing himself in danger.

"Otto, stay here, make sure nothing sneaks up on us. Same with you Ome, keep Otto safe. Everyone else, on me. Let's see if we can find some survivors. Merek and Clovis, give us some rolling cover."

Otto and Ome nodded, with both of them going behind the Taurox. Meanwhile, everyone else gathered close by. Brogg brought out his slab shield and Gnasher pistol, while his escort tactically approached, ready to laser anything. Stazia had—from the look on her face—regrettably followed, laspistol in hand.

"Psh… I doubt anyone survived that."

Before Antoni could reprimand Kazi's remark, Faust nodded in affirmation, "While true, the mission remains the same. We can't leave until we make sure there are no survivors. That… and I personally wish to know what purpose these crystals hold. They were too numerous to ignore."

A grumble was his response, "Still, I say we get out of here. We're just wastin' our time lookin' around."

They quickly approached the town center, which was just as abandoned as everything else. The only loud sound was Merek's wheels crunching on the gravel near them. This place was just… lifeless.

"Any'ne else getting that odd feeling that this ain't a safe place to be in?" Antoni quietly asked, shifting nervously as he aimed his lasgun at the dilapidated buildings.

"Yur not alone…" Brogg grumbled, snorting as he looked at a rock. "Hmph. Shiny? Bit odd."

Faust glanced at the stone. Brogg was completely right, the rock was made completely out of some metal substance. It almost looked like some steel alloy, but Faust couldn't tell what it truly was.

Upon closer inspection of his surroundings, two things came to mind. The first is the fact these rocks were everywhere, either growing some bits of greenery on them or only having jagged steel. The other detail was just how many black crystals were here. They were on the buildings or jutting through them, in the road, by themselves, just everywhere he looked. They were all of various sizes and shapes, the only common factor being that they were jagged and spiky. Some were distinctly different, with a few having a dull, red hue in them compared to the crashed savior pod's crystal which was just black. Faust couldn't help but notice some had a slight cratering around them as if they had crashed from the sky. He gazed into the storm clouds moving in the distance, staring in wonder as they moved away from the village.

Whatever realization he would have made never bore fruit, as he shrugged it off his mind. He approached the area of the savior pod, looking up from its skewer. On the black crystal were burn marks, likely from the explosion of a pod being decimated. Investigating further, it seemed this was just a normal savior pod. No marks bore the sigil of the Cult Mechanicus nor any other symbol of importance. This was likely just an incredibly unlucky landing for these menials.

He looked at the crystal, almost outstretching an armored hand, but retracted it just as fast.

Yeah… no fragging way in hell am I climbing this, Faust thought to himself. They're dead.

"Ugh, is anyone else feeling itchy, or is it just me?" Jarrackus complained, scratching his hand.

Kazi snorted, "Are you allergic to rocks? Fragging lowlife."

"N-No! But I feel like I need to bathe…"

Faust glanced at his internal heads-up display. Biohazard warnings weren't high, but they certainly weren't zero. Little black motes in the air were breaking off into tinier ones, likely invisible to the human eye. At least, that's what Faust remembered of a similar phenomenon from Delta's lectures.

"We're in a biohazardous zone… masks on, don't want any of you damaging your lungs here while we're far from a medicare officer. I'm checking out one of these buildings… surely someone must be around here. Conscript Jarrackus, you're with me." Faust then pointed at Kazi and Antoni, now putting on their masks, "You two, go investigate that building over there."

"Aye sir, c'mon then, let's get a move on, Kazi."

"You ain't the boss of me…"

Faust walked towards a building, its wood rotting while crystals sprouted on it. The doorframe was wide open, the door busted down already.

"Brogg, stay out here. Anything comes in–"

"I smash 'em," Brogg said, letting his slab shield hit the ground.

"Good. With me conscript."

Faust quickly entered the building, noticing the air feeling much heavier. Dust as ebon as the night caked some of the areas, likely a type of result from the shard poking out of the ceiling. His internal helmet display gave him high biohazard warnings, switching to night vision inside the darkness. He was glad he made Brogg stay outside on guard.

"Fan out and stay sharp."

Jarrackus saluted, walking to explore the house as he clicked on his flashlight.

Faust walked over to what seemed to be a bedroom, or, what he had hoped was one. He opened the door, the wood creaking eerily. There was a large crystal, roughly humanoid-sized on the bed, crystals spreading out completely. Black motes were continuously breaking off of it, contributing to the source of the contaminated air conditions. His suit of void armor locked up, closing off its filtration system in favor of using its life-support system. He ignored the strangeness of everything, looking around more to decipher any meaning he could. Other than whatever was in the air, this place seemed… empty.

Faust scrounged around a bit more, finding what looked to be... a primitive bow. It was directly underneath the bed, abandoned by whatever master cared for it. He curled an eyebrow, trying to hold it in his hands for better inspection. It was a bit on the heftier side, but it was sleek and metallic, making it quite a good find for an ornate wall piece. He tried the drawstring.

Faust soon ground his teeth, pulling back with all his might at how much strength was needed to pull it back. The servos in his mixture of armor were working with all their might, and he silently thanked Delta for the extensive modifications, even while he made slow progress. While his void armor wasn't anything close to power armor he did have something just under it because of the amount of modifications. All he was missing was the strength of the Emperor's angels or their combat stimulants. The metallic bowstring creaked, bending to Faust's will as both his strength and his slightly powered suit overcame the draw strength required. He gently let it fall back into place, huffing from how heavy it was.

"Can anyone even manage to pull this?" Faust muttered quietly.

He thought for a minute, reaching a reasonable conclusion, "...Probably Brogg."

Faust took the bow, attaching it to a magnetic hook on the back of his belt, and walked out of the room. Faust approached where he last saw Jarrackus enter, now hearing loud retching coming from a room in the house, making him slightly worried over the condition of the conscript.

An audible gag of disgust came from the room, shouting, "Oh… by the God-Emperor… what… ugh!"

Faust hurried to where he was in the dilapidated house, a chill running down his spine just from the sight.

Jarrackus was shining his flashlight on a mound of jagged crystals, showcasing the gruesome fate of the inhabitants. The pale corpse was kneeling, with what was left of their head slung over. On its body were the same crystals around the area, protruding across various body parts of the corpse, almost covering them entirely. Its head—if you could even call it that—was completely entombed in this darkened quartz, with a jagged spike erupting from the eye. They were too ruined to make out any key features, and whether they were male or female was up to the Emperor to decide.

The corpse was clutching a much, much younger body, that succumbed to the same ruinous fate. Their singular eye was pale in death just the same as their skin—crystals extensively covering their mouth and hair. Their arm was outstretched towards the caregiver's head; It wasn't able to fall due to a spike jabbing from its arm into the other departed soul.

They looked human enough, even in death, and while that was a good sign, their deaths certainly weren't.

Faust quickly felt a sense of wrongness in the air by being in their presence, feeling horror as the shards slowly erupted from dead skin. He concluded one thing as they were in the process of being entombed. These crystals… were feasting on the dead, likely killing the living by another method. His eyes glanced at the motes breaking apart in the air, widening from a realized suspicion.

He grabbed Jarrackus in a spur of motion, dragging him out of the house, who stumbled along in a horrified daze.

"We are leaving! Now!" Faust yelled, storming towards the center of the town, grabbing everyone's attention. Brogg tensed up, as did Stazia who had sneakily been forgotten about and left to her own devices. Kazi emerged with Antoni in another house, having similar looks on their face as Jarrackus.

A chittering growl froze Faust's steps, causing everyone else to grab their weapons.

Faust slowly looked to his side, his foot on a buried metal rock, now vibrating. He quickly stepped off it, watching as it burst from the ground. It stood tall on four, spindly legs, looking directly at him with paired mandibles and yellow eyes. It was completely covered in metal, with not an inch being soft. What he had stepped on was not a metallic piece of stone scenery, but instead, an armored creature.

It chittered, before hissing into the air. Other songs of chittering rang out from around the area, responding to the call as they broke out of the ground.

"Just my luck…" Faust muttered, pushing Jarrackus away as it sliced at him.

The clawed swing bounced off as Faust's refractor shield responded, deflecting the blow as it sparkled dark green energy.

"Hostile wildlife, light 'em up!" Antoni called out, firing his lasgun as fast as he could. The rest followed suit, as the whines of laser fire were directed towards these alien mimics. Brogg laughed as his Gnasher barked, making sure none came closer.

Faust backstepped another clawed slash, turning on his power sword. He briefly considered using his auto-pistol, but he wanted to save ammo for greater threats. The sword sparkled with blue energy and was soon brought down from an overhead slice directly at the small head of the creature. It sliced through its exoskeleton effortlessly, splitting its head wide open and letting the corpse topple to the ground.

"Coming through!" Brogg yelled, charging with his shield against another of these metallic creatures. The resulting slam throttled the beast, launching it across the air, despite its steel carapace. "Hah! Look, it can fly!"

His escort fought with him from the ambush, backing up slowly to get to Lucky 12. They were doing… fine, as is. The lasgun fire didn't initially penetrate the shells, but one of the core rules of the Imperial Guard was to not stop shooting until they ceased moving.

These wildlife were still unreasonably resistant to lasbolts, which in of itself, was impressive. But then again, practically everything Faust had encountered never fell from some standard lasgun shots. As some died, others chittered, tanking lasfire on their approach.

They were also slow—both in movement and their swipes—but their approach was fast enough that if they didn't keep retreating, they would eventually reach Faust and his escorts.

The Tauros Venator was putting in the most work, as the twin-linked multi-laser began mowing some of these creatures down with concentrated firepower. Its mobility lent to its invulnerability, as the hostile wildlife couldn't keep up with Imperial wheels.

A shrill screech alerted Faust from his momentary distraction, causing him to brace for an impact as his refractor shield popped into existence. The clawed attack never came, as a beam of red light pierced into the animal's skull, causing it to tumble forward, dead.

Otto...

Faust silently thanked the sniper, saving him from an attack. He saw a beam of blue light save Jarrackus from a piercing slice, sizzling the attackers' insides. Ome and Otto now began picking off distant targets and keeping overwatch as they tactically retreated.

"G-Get away from me!" Yelled Stazia, wildly firing behind her as she ran towards Lucky 12. She didn't look back even for a second, running past everyone.

A resounding echo of a scream came from the village, causing everyone to momentarily cease their fire, with the only exception being Stazia who sprinted faster as a result. There was unnerving silence, as most of these creatures were already taken down.

Faust watched with slight horror as one of the buildings exploded into flying debris. In the wake of wood chips, rotten logs, and black shards, was one of these metal creatures the size of a Leman Russ. Another house exploded, with a second one announcing its presence, lesser aliens clawing out of the ground. They were menacingly tall, similarly standing on four metallic legs, with two sharp claws dangling in front.

"By the Throne, look at the size of 'em!" Antoni said, firing into their general direction, as he would hit something regardless of where he aimed.

"Bring them down, now!" Faust yelled, turning around to reposition himself towards Lucky 12. The rest quickly followed suit, Ome and the Taurox Venator laying down suppressive fire as the lumbering beasts began to make their way to attack them. Otto began clambering inside in a rush, disappearing into Lucky 12.

Those who were ahead of Faust made it to the Taurox, and began to fire their weapons at their pursuers. Brogg opened the back doors, climbing inside to man the heavy stubber.

The turret on Lucky 12 twelve swiveled, the blue energy box glowing brighter, before discharging an Arc round at one of them. It unluckily glanced off the carapace, leaving a purple electric scorch and a shrill response of alien anger.

The ricocheted Arc blast hit one of the crystals with a red hue near a house, which began to glow rapidly before exploding in black ash and blazing fire. The nearby ores reacted in the same way, echoing in an explosion that rocked the village until it got to a particularly massive shard.

The resulting explosion knocked Faust onto his ass from the massive shockwave, seeing parts of the entire village start to ignite in the same manner of detonations. The other crystals that were completely black only broke from the sudden booms, but curiously didn't have any of their own. He stumbled to his feet, continuing on his way as he swore under his breath, knowing he'd have to just shoot these animals while he could.

Looking directly at one of the large creatures, he saw it lumber forward, rounds either glancing off its carapace or slightly denting its armor. Only one of these giants was coming, as the Tauros Venator had managed to distract the other into chasing after them, driving around the town. He determined this was a greater threat as he put away his power sword, now aiming his pistol with careful precision as he kneeled, before firing one at a time.

His auto-pistol kicked up as its armor-piercing rounds almost the size of a bolter rang out, chipping through its armor in concentrated hits. Brogg supported this, laughing as the heavy stubber chugged as it blasted, carving through the smaller ones. The gargantuan spider-like creature screeched in agony, before an Arc round to the head permanently silenced it, frying its brains into exploding shrapnel.

Faust ducked as he reloaded, turning his attention to Merek and Clovis, who had riskily driven under the spindly beast. Clovis shot a volley at its undercarriage as Merek hollered in glee.

It did not appreciate the new wounds, as it tried to step on them with a pointed foot. They swerved around it, unleashing a final torrent of lasbolts the melted through the steel, causing it to tumble to the ground with a groan.

Seemingly, with their leaders dead, the other metal creatures backed off as they scuttled away into the various dilapidated buildings. No one relaxed, weapons still at the ready for another attack. After a solid minute passing in tense silence and the wind whistling through the air,, Faust clicked on the safety of his pistol but didn't put it away just yet.

"Cowards!" Brogg snorted, still on the heavy stubber.

"Is… is it over?" Jarrackus asked, finally lowering his lasrifle.

Faust kept glancing through his helmet, looking for any other signs of attack. Upon finding none, he shrugged, standing up to walk towards Lucky 12. He put his pistol in his holster, opening the latch.

"My data indicates they are in full retreat," Ome announced, holstering his galvanic rifle. "Victory is ours. Preparing to mark this location as a site of interest for further research and material extraction."

Kazi scoffed, "Better make sure to mention the danger of these rocks, so you fragging skitarii don't suffer the same fate as them."

"Fate? Will request elaboration later." Ome responded, climbing inside.

Faust glanced at the gargantuan black crystals jutting from the buildings. What he saw inside was a stark reminder of what galaxy he lived in—well, if they were in the right galaxy. Today's evening had pretty much ruined his appreciation for this world's environment, even for a Rogue Trader. These crystals were all over the planetside, and now, he'd likely get checked to see how contagious it was. He silently prayed to the Emperor for it to not spread fast, if at all. As Faust watched everyone settle into their seats, slightly changed by the events of what they experienced, A single term sprouted to mind as he jumped behind Lucky 12's steering wheel.

Death World.


Not much to say right now, but College season is starting up again, so updates may be slower in the future. Likely. We'll see.

To Ucky66: I thought about it, but decided against it. Thematically, it makes sense, but I thought it was funnier causing him to awaken in Seaborn territory since he was kidnapped from his Tomb World.