Chapter One
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"That which causes us trial shall yield us triumph and that which makes our hearts ache shall fill us with gladness. For the only true happiness is to learn, to advance and to improve. None of this could happen without rejecting error, ignorance and Imperfection. We must pass out of the darkness to reach the light!"
-Primarch Fulgrim, Attainment of Perfection
…..
Green, that is the first thin that he notices. Just pure green and the feeling as if he is floating. It seems like forever as he remains like this and he blinks.
"I can blink," is the first thought that comes to his mind as he realizes that he indeed can blink his eyes. Such a thing is impossible for so long since he can remember that it almost becomes an impossibility in his current self.
He moves and realizes that he indeed can move now also. He struggles against the restraints holding him. He has no idea where he is right now, and he screams an ungodly scream as he struggles against the jelly like bindings holding him in place. Then before he knows it something gives. There is an ungodly ripping sound and the jelly like substance holding him suddenly spills out and he realizes that he is in some kind of cocoon placed inside a stasis field that obviously failed. With all his strength he punches through with one hand, the appendage cutting through the leather like skin of the cocoon. His muscles twitch and turn as he grabs the opening and with all his strength pulls it to the side, widening the tear. Outside he can see blackness and green light almost the same color as that of the green sludge that kept him inside the cocoon of darkness. With an almighty heave, he pulls himself out and gravity takes over. With a dull thud, he falls to the ground, shivering and naked, his body still covered by the slimy goo that has kept him imprisoned.
Within moments he pulls himself as he gets himself to his feet, his long white hair falling like waterfall at his back. His body is slowly getting itself back in order, the genius of the creation of the Primarchs making it so.
"Fulgrim, my name is Fulgrim," he whispers to himself as he flexes his entire naked form. He looks back at where has come from. It is a cocoon of some kind suspended in a stasis field and an inventory of some kind. Around them, there are more cocoons of some kind. Green lines are all over with runes inscribed on it. He recognizes what xenos technology it is immediately he snarls as everything comes back to him.
He remembers his creation, he is a clone of the original Fulgrim, currently a Daemon Prince of the god Slaanesh doing only knows what in the Warp right now. Still he has his memories of the Great Crusade, the Horus Heresy, the death of his beloved brother Ferrus Manus at his own hands, the Siege of Terra, the shameful retreat after his pride is beaten by Dorn, the return to the Warp, his creation in the hands of Fabius Bile, and more importantly, his sworn oath to undo everything that has happened and achieve perfection in the way his father would have wanted, not in the way that he wanted. He snarls as he also remembers the betrayal of Fabius Bile and his surrender and imprisonment in the hands of Tranzyn the Infinite as part of his collection. He was prevented by his creator to fulfill his oath and fort that, he will die. But first things first and Fulgrim would need to pull himself together and find a way to escape this place. The last thing that he wants after all with just being freed is to be recaptured and put into stasis again. Necrons are a nasty Xenos to deal with and they are nearly impossible to kill; nearly impossible, not impossible however.
The sound of skittering makes Fulgrim however move immediately in instinct to hide in the nearest display case with miniature Orks suspended in them in animation. He hisses as his face gets so near to the display seeing in first person the faces of the Green Xenos. Even in miniaturized form, the savage Greenskins are still as ugly and as unlikeable as ever. He peeks through where he is hiding as hundreds of scarabs swarm where his burst stasis pod is. He knows immediately that these scarabs would dissipate like angry ants all over the area looking for him. There are hundreds of them and only one of him, one seeing him would raise the alarm and alert that Necron who has imprisoned him about it. They would swarm him and they would capture him all over again. He's unfortunately not like his brothers Konrad Kurze or Corvus Corax who excels at sneaking all over the place. He would be found out before he can leave this place.
That is why right now he needs a distraction; and he just gets the perfect scapegoat that would attract the attention of not only the scarabs but also their Necron overlords that are in charge of this place.
Grabbing the cube like miniature of the orks encapsulated in Necron Technology and stasis, Fulgrim wastes no time hurling it like a cannon with all his might at the majority of the area where the Scarabs are before going back into hiding. Immediately the cube cracks and the stasis field broke like a crystal and the secrets of the miniature technology of the Necrons are broken and in the span of an instant, Hundreds of Orks are in the hallway looking a bit confused for a split second or two before they get bearings and do what all Orks do the moment they get a chance.
"WAAGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!" roars one and immediately Fulgrim gets a first hand observation of seeing the Orks shout their favorite war-cry before boring over the Scarabs breaking and bashing them. The sound of alerts immediately come all over the station and Fulgrim wastes no time barreling out of his hidey place and making a run for it following the power lines with the same runic inscription connecting to his destroyed stasis pod.
The reasoning is simple. It is simple cause and effect. Something has caused Fulgrim's stasis pod to fail and him to be set free. That means there is a third variable here that he is not seeing. That third variable might be his only way to get out of here. If he's right and this place is a station of some kind, he's going to need a ship that would get him out of here. That third variable would hopefully be his exit out of this gallery.
"WAAGGGHHHH!" the battle cries of the Orks can be heard as they stream out in every hallway and bashing and hacking with their "choppas" knocking display cases and stasis pods spilling different items and beings all over. Alerts are all over the place and Necron warriors are appearing with shock prods and gauss flyers set to stun as they try to combat the chaos inside the gallery.
As for Fulgrim he ignores all the fighting punching an Ork once or twice in the face that dares stand in his way and tries to stop the "humie from running away". As it is he follows the energy conduit hallway before reaching a door of some kind. Before Fulgrim could pry it open, it opens on its own and out comes two Necron warriors who notices him and activates their shock prods.
"Return to your cell immediately!" their robotic voices intone as they advance against him. He cannot get past them without fighting, so Fulgrim charges.
With a twirling motion, he is spearing like a missile towards them before grabbing the first one in the neck and throwing him to the roof with a dull "Clank" that turns off its lights for a second or two. While the first one is still in gravity falling down, Fulgrim deals with the second one by grabbing its core and ripping out its insides with his bare hands. The moment the first necron lands on its face in front of him, Fulgrim punches through the back of his head, his mighty physiology making him able to punch through the metal head of the warrior and remove the machines within.
He wastes no time immediately making also a run for it straight to the doors of the hallway which the Necron Warriors come from which leads to another gallery that is also in chaos. It seems that the Orks have upended another set of Ork display case resulting in one case when Orks are thrown together. They start fighting one another.
"Waaaaggghhhh!"
"Waggggghhhhh!"
Two groups of Orks are bashing and punching one another upending more displays in the galleries which damages even more displays, Fulgrim weaves through them all as he cuts through the line like a pale ghost. He makes absolutely sure he does not fight the Orks. Orks would insult you if you ran but they'll leave you alone if there's a good "krumpin" going on nearby. That is why Fulgrim right now runs through the pandemonium as Orks bash each other's faces in and of course that also of the Necrons that are attempting to stun and catch them.
Reaching the edge of the gallery, he follows the power line to the next gallery which is also in pandemonium. This time some sort of lizard people have got out and are forming groups as they fight back against the Necron Warriors set to pacify them. Spears and arrows are being thrown around and Fulgrim rolls through one such barrage. He is in the clear, at least he thought he is. One of the lizard people saw him and immediately twirls his sling and hurls the stone at him.
Call it bad luck, call it fate, but the stone hit Fulgrim right beneath the ribs on the soft spot of his stomach causing him to stumble and hit one of the displays. It is a circular one and it rolls before smashing into the ground in a bright light. Fulgrim only has a second to see pale silver wraithbone before a figure dashes out of the smoke and light with a powerful howl that makes the lizard people immediately grab their heads, more specifically their ears in pain. A slender tall figure jumps into the Necron warriors holding what seems to be a giant shuriken and a double-ended scythe of all things. Her long black hair flows behind her like a mane waterfall. She howls loudly as she fights breaking crystals and making Necrodermis crack. She cuts through the Necrons lik they are wheat. The Necron Warriors come in robotic monotones trying to bash her with their stun batons but they are no match for her.
Fulgrim prides himself a swordsman and the very best of being a duelist among his brothers, but he can barely see and follow the movements of this Eldar, for Eldar she is. He knows. Only one species in the universe has a wraithbone armor so beautifully crafted and made as the Aeldari. He watches as she decimates the Necron warriors like nothing. Every stroke, every bite of her sword is one Necron down. They are barely getting through her, much less touching her as they attempt to strike with their batons. Finally they simply give up trying to get her and are instead firing at her with their gauss flyers forcing her to back away slowly as their numbers come into the triple digits. Fulgrim realizes too late that he has been too transfixed by watching the way the Aeldari warrior fight so beautifully that he has been standing there naked and stupid like an idiot simply staring. He should have been making his escape, but he has been too transfixed in the fight.
The Aeldari warrior he also realizes is heading straight at him, which means that the gauss flyers are also aimed at his direction. He does not know what possessed him but Fulgrim grabs the wrist of the Aeldari warrior the moment she is within reach and drags her with him as he follows the wiring runes that he has been following before. For some reason she does not cut off his wrist and he takes it as a good thing.
Both of them are prisoners here after all and both of them want to get out.
They pass through two more galleries, each in pandemonium as the next one. It seems that the Orks have spread their problem around like the fungi that they are and are causing extreme damage to the gallery. Fulgrim sees a small retinue of well-dressed humans dead, looking like they have been attacked by "Choppas" of the Orks and he wastes no time grabbing the toga of the dead and draping it over his waist like a tunic. He has been running around fully naked and he is thankful that he at least won't have to have his manhood dangling around as he makes his escape. His companion merely looks at him through her wraithbone mask and he can practically feel the raised eyebrow she is giving him. He simply shrugs before also picking a ceremonial saber from the ground and a pair of overlarge boots that fit his bare feet. The saber looks like a slender toothpick in his large hands, but it is better than having no weapon.
Not naked from the waist down anymore, Fulgrim leads his companion to the next gallery and this time he sees that they have made progress. The gallery seems to be the end as he can see among the dead being picked on by the Necron Warriors, the red of Mars, Tech Priest corpses. He can recall through the memories of the original Fulgrim that these Tech-Priests bear the seal of the Explorators, the ones in charge of exploring the galaxy for the glory of the Red planet. It seems they are the ones who made the breach judging by the hole on the gallery and the damaged lines which Fulgrim has been following.
They will be his escape route. First things first however, he needs to get through the Necron Warriors.
He charges forward with a battle cry that makes them look at him before the first shatter as Fulgrim smashes his borrowed ceremonial sword. He is a clone, he has never been to battle, but he has memories of how to fight and he is in all honesty, Fulgrim as he should have been if he has not taken the blessings of the Dark gods. Necrodermis metal is stronger than the ceremonial sword but Fulgrim is the best duelist of the Primarchs and he aims at joints, sides and connecting spaces as he cuts through the Necron warriors like ribbons. His Aeldari companion does not say a word but follows suit, letting off her howl that makes even Fulgrim's ears ring in alarm as she charges the Necrons with her scythes and her massive shuriken ripping them apart as if they are nothing.
In a matter of minutes, twenty or so of the Necron Warriors are scrapped and dismembered, courtesy of both Fulgrim and his unlikely ally.
"This way," Fulgrim simply says to his ally as they follow the tunnel at which the Tech Priests have delved through. It is broken Necrodermis and it is quite easy to follow since it is quite straightforward and it's not dark. The Tech-Priests had set up lumens to guide their way and it gives off an eerie light as Fulgrim and his ally follow the light. It does not take long for them to reach the end of the tunnel and what they saw at the end gives them hope. Their parked in some kind of space, obviously created from a large blast of a cannon is a shuttle and more importantly a ship that belongs to the Mechanicus far ahead.
"Come, let us go," Fulgrim says to his companion heading to shuttle but she does not move as she simply looks at the shuttle and the ship.
"Mon-Keigh," she simply says, not in distaste or in hate, but as if stating a fact.
Fulgrim winces at the term. He recalls through the original Fulgrim who fought Aeldari in the past that that is what the Aeldari call the species below them that are more primitive in technology and physiology. Still, something tells him that the fate of this great warrior that is with him right now is intertwined with him.
"You have no choice in the matter," Fulgrim simply says. "Either you go with me to the ship or go back the way we came from and take your chances with the undead robots which is sure to capture you again,"
She hisses but her head nods as she stomps her way to the shuttle ahead of him. Fulgrim resists the urge to shake his head. Aeldari and their damned pride, it would be the death of them. With resolve done, he follows the Eldar inside the shuttle which contains even more dead Tech Priests much to the annoyance of the Eldar who grabs the corpses and starts hurling them outside the shuttle for more space as Fulgrim heads to the driver's seat. He barely fits with his size but he makes do.
Now seated, Fulgrim turns on the machinery. Imperial shuttles are easy to pilot. Nearly each one has the same design, courtesy of the Martians that designed the basic form of all shuttles. He has memories of how to operate one, their father makes sure of it during their education back at Terra before they are sent out for the Great Crusade.
He flies the shuttle to the Martian Explorator ship ahead which starts hailing them immediately.
"Beta six-two this is Alpha Charlie Alpha ninety nine. We detect your shuttle heading back to the ship. Did everything go well?" asks the robotic voice of the vox.
"This is Fulgrim, I am an escaped prisoner of the Necron exhibit that Beta Six-Two explored. They are all dead. We request clearance to board and recommend escaping to Imperial Space as fast as possible. I have a sanctioned Xeno with me on board,"
"Codename Fulgrim, we will grant you access but you will be put into observation while you are aboard the Legacy of Sol," replies the Martian which Fulgrim replies with an affirmative before turning the shuttle to the coordinates given to him by the Martians.
As he drives Fulgrim turns to the Aeldari at the back who is also peeking through the shutters still with her war mask on the ship that is starting to get nearer and nearer.
"What name shall I call you before we disembark?" Fulgrim asks her to which she simply stares making him feel a tad bit irritated of Aeldari pride and stubbornness. "I told them that you are a sanctioned Xeno under my care. That means that I should have a name that I could tell them at least,"
She simply stares some more for a few seconds before answering:
"You may call me Jain Zar,"
…..
Author's Note:
First Chapter's Done. I hope I did Fulgrim's Clone justice. I am not as passionate in writing about this as my Sanguinius fic but I shall do my best. Hopefully I won't muck it as we go on, im going to need all the help I can get regarding the lore about these two okay?
I originally planned an Isekai of a person in FUlgrim's clone, but I said fuck it and I take this hard route instead. Lmao. Wish me luck on this fic warhammer fans.
Please review for your reviews are the song to this writer's heart.