Day 69
Uirus' eyes snapped open as he took in the first breath of what had felt like years. The pain of his soul was gone, though the memory of it echoed in his mind. His fists clenched and he felt his fingers dig through dirt beneath him. He was lying on his back in the stuff, small blades of grass tickling his skin. He stared up into a clear night sky and he could tell already that he was no longer on Monstrum, not only for that but also for the fact that his body felt lighter in the gravity of this place. His eyes fixed on a gas giant that loomed large in the sky. A moon then, but the Monstrum system lacked both.
He rose into a seated position and noted the fact that he was no longer garbed in his armor or even his second skin, but loose-fitting cloth, the sort a mortal with small means might wear, but designed for his Space Marine physique. It lacked any scent whatsoever. Then he stood and scanned his surroundings. He was on a hill in the middle of a vast plain, filled with grass and dotted by a few trees. There were no signs of civilization or what had brought him here. He reached out with his psychic senses and felt no minds within a few hundred meters of him, but he couldn't shake the sense of being watched.
Was this some kind of trap? No, that made no sense, why trap someone that had been captured? He needed to search his surroundings, but which way did he go?
He scanned the horizon again, looking more closely this time. There were grey mountains with green life creeping up their slopes in the direction of where the gas giant was rising in the night sky. Opposite that was a forest of tall, dark trees and he could just barely make out an ocean or lake beyond that.
The mountains were more defensible, he decided. If there was civilization present, they would naturally choose the site that could be most easily guarded against attack.
Or would they? Being situated near a large body of water with plenty of lumber would also be of benefit to any civilization, he realized.
But then, mountains provided easier access to ores and stone for construction and metalworking. Any advanced civilization would set up there and simply have the water pumped up from the nearest source.
This back and forth went through his mind for several seconds before he realized he was paralyzed with indecision.
That wouldn't do, he was a Space Marine after all. He had led armies of mortal servants!
… Except, he hadn't really ever done that. He'd commanded armies before, but only in battle. The strategy decisions were usually left up to Ahsael or another sorcerer. If they were here, they would know what to do and command him to do it.
But they weren't here now.
Uirus turned and started towards the mountains. He got a few steps closer, then halted. He stood still for a moment, then turned on his heel and headed towards the forest, but stopped again after a few steps. His hands curled into fists in frustration.
A whisper of air and the scamper of tiny feet broke him from his frustration. He whipped around, already halfway into a combat stance when he saw the source: a white rat, perhaps the size of his hand, had halted a dozen paces away, staring up at him with large, green eyes.
So, there were animals. Most creatures would have fled in terror of him, yet this one seemed fearless. Not knowing when he would next get the chance to eat, Uirus reached out with one hand and called upon his sorcerous power to throw a bolt of Warp energy towards the rat.
What happened instead was simply him holding his hand out as if to halt the rat and nothing else. He blinked as he tried to recall the spell, which was simple enough that even he'd been able to use it at-will, yet now it seemed to escape him. The rat's head tilted to the side, in a strangely human gesture that Uirus couldn't help but read as anything but amusement.
Uirus tried to call upon a different spell, one that would unleash lightning from his fingertips, but again nothing happened. Why was this not working, he had used his psychic abilities before?
The attack on his soul, Uirus realized with a start. It had done more than simply cause him pain. Had it somehow removed his ability to call upon sorcery? No, that wasn't possible, surely. Yet, many things had occurred recently for him that he'd never have thought possible before.
His eyes fell once more upon the rat, that had remained unmoving. He reached out towards his mind with his innate psychic abilities and found… nothing. It was like the creature wasn't even there. He had sensed such a thing before, back when he'd travelled unseen through enemy lines to spy upon them.
The rat tilted its head once more, this time to the other side.
"What do you want of me?" Uirus asked the Malum Entity.
The rat did not speak, perhaps it couldn't, but it looked first from the ocean, then to the mountains, as though it knew the conflict that had been troubling him. Then, lowered its head to the ground, its tiny paws moving with startling swiftness as it dug into the dirt and pushed below the surface, the last sight of it being its long, pink tail vanishing below.
He stared uncomprehendingly for a moment, as the dirt shifted, then went still. Then, just as quickly, it began to shift again as something made its way upwards. He expected the rat's nose to peak out of the dirt and was instead surprised by the sight of a green shoot growing rapidly amidst the grass, sprouting upwards far more swiftly than a plant had any right to. He took a step back in alarm, fearing it might be the sign of some attack, but nothing of the sort came.
Instead, the tip of the shoot reached its zenith and began to grow outwards into a bulb that thickened and began to change color from green to blue with streaks of red. It unfurled four, tear-drop shaped petals, Uirus' breath hitched in his throat at the sight of its center, which glowed with a soft, blue and red light.
He started towards it to get a better look, then thought better of it and kept his distance. He had not seen a flower, let alone one this strange, in many decades. It reminded him of the Planet of the Sorcerers, which had all sorts of strange things.
The flower gave no answers. The rat had looked first to the ocean and then to the mountains. Perhaps it wanted him to head first to the waterfront, and then turn back? But then, it had tilted its head towards the mountains and then to the ocean.
"Why am I taking directions from vermin?" Uirus asked himself, not realizing he'd spoken aloud until the words had already left his lips. He shook his head at his own foolishness and turned towards the mountains. They were what he'd thought of first, so he'd head there. He started towards the grey peaks.
He got a few steps before he turned on his heel and headed in the other direction.
The Emissary watched as more and more lights of the hololithic display flashed from purple to green, slowly crawling its way up the hive spires, level by level, hab block by hab block. What was left of Ate's defenses were like they were made of sand washed away by the ever rising waves. Mortals stood no chance against enemies like these.
"What will you do about this?!" Janiel demanded. "Where is the god-maker you promised?!"
The Emissary was silent, studying the display.
"At least send out the daemon engines!" Janiel shouted, his face contorted into a mix of rage and fear.
"There are none left," The Emissary said. Strictly speaking, that wasn't entirely true. However, every daemon engine they'd sent to the southern pole was… gone. The Master had tried to retrieve them, only to find its technology confounded by… something. Perhaps it was the work of the entity that even now continued to crawl towards the upper levels of the spires. If that was true, however, why not use that capability sooner? No, this was something else.
A connection, perhaps, to the device they sought. Or something that sought the device as well, even if only to deny it to the Arkifane. There were too many possibilities and not enough information.
Regardless, one thing was becoming increasingly clear: Ate was a lost cause.
The hololithic display shimmered as something reached out to it and grabbed hold. The Emissary kneeled in a moment, distracting Janiel as the holo-hive city began to twist about and reshape into something else.
"What are you do-?"
"Silence, worm."
The voice was seductive and dismissive all at the same time, and it carried the unmistakable warble of mechanical speech. Janiel turned to face the changed display, which flickered and began to leak blood and oil out of the gaps in its plating.
A head had formed from the hololith, but this was no human. It was too thin and angular, with large, solid-black eyes and oversized ears that spread outwards from its head and tapered off into points. It lacked any lips, revealing a maw of sharp, twisted teeth that drooled blood and oil. Its head lacked any hair, but instead had whip-thin wires sprouting up and away from it, flashes of light travelling along them.
"Master," The Emissary said. Janiel had frozen, too shocked to move or speak.
"My servant, return to me," The monstrous being said. In a flash of light, the Emissary vanished form the chamber. Janiel was left alone, facing the thing.
"I- I-," Janiel started, only for the gaze of the creature to turn to him.
"I said silence." The room crackled as the vox systems within the control center blasted static, within which Janiel could hear screamed words of languages he did not understand. "You have failed me, Janiel. You have failed the Prince of Pleasure."
Janiel crashed to his knees, tears streaming down his face as an overwhelming sorrow took hold of his heart and soul. To disappoint this being made him want rip out his own eyes and offer them up as recompense.
"How… how can I atone?" Janiel asked, begged.
"Ensure you are not captured."
The being, more beautiful than any Janiel had ever seen, vanished. Immediately, Janiel squeezed his eyes shut, so that being's face would be the last thing he ever saw.
Then, he drew his knife and placed it against his own throat.
The last defenders of Ate collapsed or fled all across the hive city, falling in droves before the endless march of puppet soldiers. Spores designed not to infect humans but to render them unconscious flooded the ventilation shafts, sending many who did not have even a simple mask to cover their face to the ground in a deep rest. If one's mind was able to process images at the speed of light, they might have caught a glimpse of the Star Road as it flashed through each captured section of the city, gathering up all those left behind in the advance and transporting them outside reality and into his Domain.
The corruption of Chaos had taken root in many of them, though none to any great degree. With only the exposure to cultists and the occasional ritual to ensnare their souls, it took time to deepen those roots or terrible acts to make them grow faster. Even compared to the denizens of the other Chaos hives, Ate's residents were relatively free of the stain of their leaders' patron god.
If there was anyone coordinating the defense at this point, Tide could not tell. The morale of the defense seemed more fragile than any of the flowers he had grown. Had he been trying to kill them, it would have been a slaughter and he maintained an even closer watch than normal on his constituent parts active in Ate to ensure such an event did not occur. The Flood's bloodthirst always grew in the sight of easy prey and especially the fearful sort.
"Do you think they will ever return to their city?" Purilla asked. Tide already knew her reasons for wanting to be present while he engaged in the final battle, at least for the hives. This conversation was not taking place within his Domain, but the Materium, in a command center in Malum. Various puppets were moving about, supporting the illusion of individuality. Only the Marcus Agrippa puppet remained still in the center of the room, standing next to the command throne that his station technically should have afforded him. Purilla was on the other side of the throne, and both watched the hololithic display of real-time battle data Tide was feeding it.
"I intend to return them after the last of Chaos' forces have been eradicated from this system," Tide replied simply. "And after I have excised the stain of Chaos from their souls."
How easy it was to sound like the Imperium when he used their terminology. The difference was in the meaning behind the words, he supposed.
"Will that not cause them pain?" Purilla seemed unsure, like she didn't want to know the answer.
"It will," Tide admitted. "Though, I have found that those with more corruption suffer the most. They won't enjoy the feeling and I can't reduce it either, as it is affecting their souls, not their minds."
He had considered simply making them forget the pain entirely after the fact, but that would do little. In the case of those who did not deserve the suffering of having a corrupted part of their soul sliced off like an infected arm being amputated, the suffering was not so great that it would linger with them once the salve of uncorrupted Warp-stuff was applied and their souls were repaired. Meanwhile, for those who had a far greater portion of their soul corrupted, many would be fragile for a time afterwards, though all would heal eventually. The salve took longer to settle the more of it that was used, but none would feel it permanently, whether it was mentally, physically, or spiritually.
The guilt over the actions that had led them to gaining that much corruption was a different matter.
"What will you do with the leadership?" Purilla suddenly asked.
"It depends on what they've done and the kind of people they chose to be," Tide said, his puppet shrugging.
"Like who the sorcerer chose to be?"
"Likely not that extreme," Tide said with a small smile. "I'll reserve that particular method for… special cases. However, I don't need to see into your mind to know you want to ask something else."
Purilla tensed, then relaxed. "Catherine… No, Inquisitor Ellen."
"What about her?"
"Do you intend to… punish her?" Purilla turned towards his puppet fully now, an unusual look in her eye. Tide was quiet for a time, before speaking.
"Before I answer that," he said, slowly. "Let me ask you something. Do you want her to be punished for what she's done? To others… and to you?"
Now Purilla was the one who was quiet. He turned his puppet's gaze back to the hololith. Tide already knew he would not get the answer to his question today, possibly not for many days even. In turn, Purilla would not receive her answer for just as long.
That was plenty of time. Certainly, it was enough for him to take the rest of Ate… and deal with the ones responsible for the daemon engines.
"Master," The Emissary said, kneeling in the command center of an ancient vessel that had growths of daemon-flesh pulsing across its consoles and through its sensors. So close, the power was unmistakable, hanging thick in the air. He'd have choked if he still had lungs to breath or a nose to pick up scents, but despite lacking these things he could still feel it in a way that defied logical explanations.
The command center pulsed and the voice spoke."We can no longer achieve victory here through force of arms."
"The Arkifane will not be pleased," The Emissary said and there was a rumble through the center as the ship shook with displeasure. "I am certain the Key fragment is in the north. If we construct more daemon engines…"
"More of them will accomplish little," The Master said. "The entity below has captured most of Ate already and the other hive cities besides. Without the fragment, the Arkifane will refuse to unlock this ship's true potential, nor my own bindings."
"The entity already produces more than even this blessed relic," The Emissary admitted. "And, it has shown it is capable of reaching the Wastes. I am certain we can still find the fragment before it is able to stop us, however."
"We will not return there, regardless of whether the fragment is present or not," The Master proclaimed. The Emissary felt a burst of confusion.
"The battle was a loss, but surely we can simply recoup those with the souls we've gained from harvesting Ate's lower levels?" The Emissary pointed out.
"NO!" The Master boomed and the Emissary nearly collapsed as a burst of static ran across his feeds, only barely being able to catch himself with his hands. "WE WILL NOT RETURN THERE!"
"Is it…" The Emissary had to take a moment, his mind feeling hazy from the lack of oxygen as his internal systems had been temporarily disrupted by the outburst. "Is it because of that… thing in the Warp? What… what was it?"
The Master was quiet for a time. When the Emissary realized he wasn't going to get an answer, he changed the topic.
"What is your new design then, Master?"
"This world is unclean for my divine presence. It must be cleansed."
"How?"
"I will deorbit this space hulk. It will crash into the world below, scouring away all life upon its surface and below it," The Master said.
"The Ork engines have long fallen silent," The Emissary pointed out. "Are we even capable of accessing Ork technology?"
"There are other vessels with engines exposed to the void," The Master said. "I have slaved them to my control. Such a sacrifice of souls will pay my debt to the Soul Forge and then some."
"What of the Key fragment?"
"It will likely not survive the devastation to come, but it matters little," The Master answered. "Once my glorious form is restored to me and this ship is fully under my control, I will recreate this world in my image."
"I-!" Whatever the Emissary was about to say was cut-off as an explosion rocked the ship, nearly throwing him onto his back. He heard a snarl of scrap-code as the systems of the ancient vessel flared to life, a hololithic display of far finer quality than any on the planet below snapping into focus. It showed a still-smoking hole had just been blasted into the barrier between the ship and the rest of the space hulk. Lifeorms began to pour in, but these were no fake humans pretending to be soldiers, but things that would not have looked out of place in the Garden of Nurgle, yet strangely similar to daemon engines for the technology embedded inside of their flesh. They roared and spread out through corridors in all directions, many of which would take them on direct paths to the chamber where the vessel laid.
"VAGRANTS!"The Master roared in fury that stole any remaining strength from the Emissary's limbs."THEY DARE INTRUDE ON MY DOMAIN!? I WILL HARVEST THEIR FLUIDS AND MAKE THEM INTO WINE FOR MY VICTORY FEAST!"
With that, the display changed, this time transforming into the image of Monstrum and the space hulk orbiting it. The Emissary suddenly felt a colossal shift, one not caused by any intrusion, but still certainly by an explosion. Or, rather, an ignition.
Twenty ships fused into the hulk had engines that still operated and were slaved to the control of the Master. All twenty ignited in carefully calculated bursts. The fragile orbit the space hulk had with the world below was suddenly shattered and the Emissary watched on with growing fear as the space hulk drifted deeper and deeper into the gravity well of the world below. His internal systems ran a quick calculation.
Twenty-three hours and forty-two minutes to impact.
It was only then that he calculated his chances of surviving such an impact… were minimal.