Lucia froze. A jumble of barely coherent questions raced through her mind, stumbling over one another as they competed for her attention.
One finally crystallized and she grabbed hold of it, pulling it from the chaos and bringing it to the forefront:how can it bebehindme?
In a realm of pure energy, any sort of physical being standing directly behind her made little sense:behindwas a notion of the material world, of three-dimensional space, not the Immaterium. Everything that she had previously encountered in this place had appeared everywhere and nowhere, all at once: eyes and mouths and faces forming and reforming around her, disembodied voices simultaneously a million miles away and right in her ear.
Shehad form though, a projection of self that she used to keep herself grounded in this place. Experiencing the infinite, especially all at once, was more than a mortal mind could handle, and Lucia very much enjoyed her sanity.
Perhaps that's what was behind her? A projection of some sort of Warp entity? But why? Was this another lost soul like her, adrift and struggling to hold on to what it once was?
Underlying that interesting puzzle was a more insidious question:how did it get in here?
Lucia had been safely alone in her chrysalis for a very long time. Or at least, so she thought. A chill ran down her spine.Has it been in here with me the entire time?
The psyker closed her eyes and took a shuddering breath. Speculation wouldn't get her very far. To truly begin to unravel this mystery, she knew she would need to confront the creature that had somehow silently breached her protective walls.
Lucia opened her eyes and turned around slowly, half expecting to be savaged before she even caught a glimpse of whatever it was.
Standing before her, barely outside of arm's reach, was a small humanoid, no larger than a young child. Sparse bluish gold down covered its leathery, indigo skin, shimmering delicately in a non-existent light. It was oddly proportioned: spindly arms and legs connected taloned hands and feet to an uncomfortably small torso; an elongated neck supported a large head that tilted slightly to one side as the creature studied the psyker.
Its face was vaguely avian, dominated by a long beak of a nose that was flanked by two round, unblinking eyes. The creature stared at her in silence and Lucia met its gaze, a mixture of curiosity and fear preventing her from looking away.
After what felt like an eternity, it spoke again, it's voice unexpectedly soft: "You want to leave this place. I can help you."
Every fibre of her being told Lucia that this was wrong. The Warp was not a place to find benevolent spirits. It was home to the damned, to daemons and worse horrors. It was home to lost souls, long ago driven to madness. And it was home to psykers, much less fortunate than herself, who had been ripped, kicking and screaming, from the material world, their souls devoured over and over again for all eternity. Her heart continue to hammer and her breathing was quick and shallow. She forced herself to regain her calm. She needed answers.
"H-how?" Lucia tried to project confident skepticism, but her trembling voice betrayed her.
"Simple. To leave this place, you must find a physical anchor: your body, in the material world. Without it, you will remain adrift. Secured to this anchor, you can pull yourself from this place. The strength of will and psychic energy required to perform such a feat is enormous. I can help you by taking you back to pivotal moments in your life, awakenings that were especially formative and left an indelible mark upon your soul. In revisiting these moments, you can draw upon the psychic energy of your past self and be strengthened."
The psyker considered these words. Everything about the creature's explanation seemed plausible: she knew she would have to climb back to her body, Dovator had told her as much. It was also clear that the journey back to the material world would not be an easy one. She would be swimming against the current of a raging river, and it would take every ounce of her strength to reach the headwaters. Bolstering that strength by revisiting key moments from her past, moments where she had been pushed to her limits, or past them, seemed a sensible approach. Still, this creature's offer made her nervous; it was too charitable.
"Why do you want to help me?"
"Boredom."
An involuntary chuckle escaped from Lucia's lips, drawn forth by the creature's terse, and seemingly honest, reply. The outburst of laughter surprised her and, before she could contain herself, the chuckle built to an uncontrollable giggle. She certainly understood the sentiment, despite her comparatively short stay in this place. But hearing it put so bluntly gave her entire situation a surrealness that she couldn't help but find funny.
The creature continued to stare at her with its round eyes. She was certain she could see a glint of curiosity in them, or perhaps bewilderment at her unexpected outburst.
"Alright," Lucia said, finally regaining her composure. "Let's say I accept your help. How do I know I can trust you to get me out of here?"
The creature shrugged, bony shoulders rising unsettlingly high around its thin neck. "You do not. The offer is yours to take or leave."
Lucia's brow furrowed. If this daemon, or whatever it was, intended to consume her, it could have done so already. Perhaps it truly was sincere in its offer? The psyker still doubted that. Regardless, at this point, where she wanted to go and where it proposed to take her seemed to be one and the same.I hope I don't regret this…
She sighed. "Okay. Help me."
"Wonderful!" A small mouth beneath the beak opened in an impossibly wide grin, revealing a row of hideous, sharp teeth.
Lucia's eyes widened at the sight. She was back on Gaea Prime again, the horrific daemon standing over her, brandishing its enormous battle-axe. Its lips peeled back, blood covered teeth gnashing, eager to tear the flesh from her body. The psyker's breath quickened and she clenched her fists at her side, struggling to keep her composure.
The creature seemed to have noticed her reaction. Its smile faded quickly and it bowed its head submissively. "I am ready whenever you are. First, you must open the way."
Lucia took a deep breath and collected herself.You can do this.
As she started to turn back to the walls of her shelter, another question bubbled to the surface of her mind. She paused and looked back at the creature. It was still patiently waiting in the same spot with bowed head. Lucia almost felt guilty for reacting to its smile the way she had.
"What do I call you?"
The creature met her eyes and thought for a moment, tilting its bird-like head again. "Erebus."
The psyker nodded and then gestured to herself. "I'm Lucia."
"I know."
Lucia winced. Erebus seemed to be doing everything it possibly could to make her feel uncomfortable about her decision.At least I won't get complacent.
The psyker turned her attention back to the walls of her chrysalis. "Here we go…"
Lucia reached out as she had done once before. She pulled. A gap formed and quickly widened, revealing the Immaterium beyond. The tempest had indeed subsided; the space beyond her shelter was the same Warp she had spent so many years learning to navigate and manipulate. She found the sight oddly encouraging.
Erebus slipped past her silently, floating weightlessly through the gap and into the space beyond with surprising grace. It raised its arms and waved them slowly about itself, harnessing the raw emotional energy of the Warp the way Lucia had done herself so many times before.
Warp energy swirled and shifted around the creature, a growing cloud obscuring everything outside the chrysalis. As Erebus faded from view, a thought occurred to the psyker: maybe her previous attempt to leave was how it got in. She could close the gap again, return to the protective solitude and forget all about this creature and its plan.For how long? Until when? This is your chance to finally get out of here. Take it.
Gradually, the gathered energy began to subside and the ever shifting Warp began to transform before her eyes. Two rows of large, vaguely rectangular shapes extended out from where Lucia stood, enveloped in a thick, dream-like fog.
Lucia squinted, trying to make out the details of their surroundings.Where are you taking me?
The fog began to reform and recede, flowing, solidifying, and peeling back to reveal a narrow, cobblestone street. Golden rays of a setting sun reflected off the stones and scattered through the remaining fog, giving the scene a picturesque, ethereal appearance. As the last ghostly tendrils dissipated, the rectangular shapes became more and more detailed, finally materializing as shops and houses lining the main street of a small village.
Lucia's eyes widened with recognition. This was Glanvill, the place where she had been born and the only place she had known for the first twenty-five years of her life. Her breath caught in her throat as innumerable memories came flooding back, bringing with them an overwhelming mixture of emotions.
Erebus turned to Lucia and beckoned, its taloned fingers curling almost hypnotically. "Come."
With one last look back at the black void that had been her salvation, Lucia squeezed out of her chrysalis and emerged in her own past.