**Author's notes: This short chapter comes with a content warning for sadistic behavior. This chapter was also supposed to be linked to other alternative POV chapters, but since it is sort of "messed up", it works better by itself.**
"I—I assure you that we're laboring as quickly as we can, Lord Patriarch, but the internal damage to the left primary engine control is severe. It is something that I would normally require being in a major port to repair," the nervous chief engineer informed the powerful man seated on his throne before the blazing hearth. The figure had his back turned to him and was leaning forward as he gazed pensively into the fire. The dancing light from the hearth scattered infernal shadows across the Patriarch's inner sanctum aboard the mighty cruiser, the Inevitable Wisdom. When no response was heard, the engineer began again, fidgeting over his words. "One of the auxiliary control conduits was completely severed, and—"
"How long until we can translate again to realspace?" Lord Frollo Verpestyn replied in his deep, cruel voice.
"It's hard to say, really. We would need more assistance by means of many Tech-priests and their appropriate blessings, more than what we have present aboard. The situation is bad enough with the Gellar Field's recent instability, and we were truthfully very lucky that its slight fluctuation didn't cause more difficulty aside from the two riots on starboard decks five and eight, which have since been put down. And, of course, the unfortunate incident on lower aft deck nine."
"You forget my great-granddaughter. Chaos made a direct assault on my family."
The engineer swallowed heavily. He was afraid, and that made Frollo happy. "Of course, Patriarch. May her soul find purification in the Emperor's holy fire." The man cleared his throat before continuing, his following words difficult to speak. "T-there have also been many accidents and setbacks in our effort to reestablish control. Tools have been breaking, and an overheating plasma torch killed three skilled workers who labored near the left engine control to reroute power. People are talking about how fate has cursed them. They are frightened. Even worse, none of our calls for help from our astropathic choir are being answered."
Hearing this, Frollo felt his spirits darken.
A long, tense pause over the crackling of the fire as the Verpestyn Patriarch contemplated the events of the last three weeks. After a perfidious unclean spirit had snaked through an ethereal gap in their Gellar Field to infect his great-granddaughter, the ruling Patriarch of the Verpestyn family serving Ordo Malleus had taken severe measures to make certain that no further corruption could take hold on his vessel. His engineers had worked to further secure and bolster the power of their dangerously fluctuating Gellar Field. Afterward, the riots that had broken out on some lower decks were quelled with an overwhelming show of authority with Frollo's eldest daughter, Raaksha, personally leading the effort. The leaders of the uprising on lower aft deck nine were determined to be three daemons of the Lord of Change possessing three low-ranking non-familial workers. These possessing forces were scorched from their wretched human hosts by the holy power of purifying fire. Raaksha, being the ever dutiful daughter, had kindly thought to broadcast the death screams of the cursed location's cleansing for the Patriarch to hear through the halls of the Inevitable Wisdom, which had pleased and... excited him.
Frollo suppressed a grin before slowly turning toward the engineer, leaning over the left arm of his throne. The chief engineer was a frightened and unremarkable middle-aged man with short black hair wearing a Verpestyn officer's uniform. He wasn't a family member and therefore not important to the Patriarch. "You have nothing new to tell me then, it seems," Frollo flatly intoned, wreathing himself in an aura of psychic fear. "You have interrupted my meditations to tell me that no progress has been made. We remain unable to translate back to realspace. We remain adrift in the Warp thousands of light years from Rhadabus, where my beloved nephew and his contingent have gone missing."
The engineer straightened his back and responded in as brave a voice as he could muster, "Lord Patriarch, I thought it prudent that we keep you informed on the situation," he said, stammering over his words slightly. "We're working as quickly as we can to rectify the situation, but it is as if bad luck has cursed us. For every two steps forward, we are pushed back three, metaphorically speaking."
The Patriarch scowled, and slowly, he began to stand, pulling himself slowly to his full towering height. The engineer took a step back, unnerved. Frollo was tall and intimidating enough that it was rumored that he could look a Space Marine in the eye and frighten him with a glance. And, with his psychic prowess, he could.
"And now, you inform me that the blame is in accordance with what you call 'bad luck?'" Frollo softly spoke, his voice displeased. Frollo took a step ahead, and the engineer stepped reflexively back. "Did I order you to cower away from me, whatever your name is?"
"No sir! I was just—"
"Kneeling," Frollo interrupted with a wave of his hand, and in response, the frightened chief engineer immediately fell to his knees. The Patriarch grinned coldly. He had allowed rumors of his personal brutality to circulate through his vessel's non-familial residents. Frollo, along with his equally brutal wife Dolorez, had become the subject of many dark and fearsome legends concerning his skill at torture and psychic persuasion, which pleased him. This meant that any order he gave was instantly followed, lest the worker become an outlet for the Patriarch's harsh and unique brand of "discipline."
Fear's scent upon the psychic senses was most sublime, Frollo contemplated, unconsciously flaring his nostrils as he loomed over the kneeling engineer. "I am Lord Inquisitor Frollo Verpestyn. For over two hundred years, I have fought the enemies of mankind in the darkest recesses of the galaxy, venturing where others will not go and seeing what others will not see using the fire of the God-Emperor's sight. My meditations keep my mind sharp, and I should only be interrupted when there is a vital need. You have meaninglessly intruded into my time."
The engineer began to shiver and took a deep breath for bravery before speaking again. "I apologize, my lord Patriarch. Our department thought to give you an update on our labor. Our tools break, unexpected problems arise, and we—"
Frollo Verpestyn reached forward with his mind and telekinetically pulled the worthless engineer up into the air by his neck, where he was held at eye level. A flickering psychic halo of orange and red danced along the Patriarch's head and shoulders. The man attempted to cry out, but Frollo paralyzed his diaphragm with a thought so that his fright only escaped as a miserable gasp.
"As Patriarch, I am responsible for all aboard this vessel, my vessel," Frollo spoke in a tone almost akin to boredom. "Perhaps you do not understand this, so I shall stress again that my meditations are vital to centering myself so that I can govern appropriately during difficult times, which these are."
While the engineer could not speak, his terror was delicious to feel, and Frollo smiled at the twitching, terrified sack of flesh that had intruded into his private time to deliver useless news.
Frollo continued suspending the struggling engineer in midair as he walked back over to his throne, pulling the unfortunate officer behind him like a child's balloon. The Patriarch's expression turned cold, and he stood before the blazing hearth, briefly gazing into it before turning back to the engineer. "My mood suffers so when I am interrupted without cause, as everyone on my ship knows. By interrupting me, you have done the Inevitable Wisdom a great harm."
The officer's face was beginning to turn blue, and Frollo sighed before another smile pulled across his face, this one menacing. "Because of this, you must certainly understand that my disrupted mindset is now currently your responsibility. If you are a reasonable, civilized individual, you would do anything to right any wrong you may have caused in my sight, yes? To return to me my healthy continence?"
The man's eyes bulged, and tears fell from his face. Frollo continued smiling and began to draw the engineer close to the fire. A luminous ember alighted on the man's hair, causing it to burn and smoke. The smell was wonderful. Feeling generous (and knowing that this wouldn't be fun if the poor wretch expired before his penance was complete), Frollo briefly permitted the engineer to breathe again so that he could answer.
"Please, Lord Patriarch, I beg of you…" The man gasped, gulping scalding air into his lungs as he shook.
"You beg of me? You have done me and my entire family a great sin, and you beg of me?"
The man's expression grew desperate, and he stammered, "I, I-"
With a roar, the fire of the hearth blazed in sudden strength as Frollo's eyes began to lightly glow with a pale amber light. "Despite your taint, you are in luck, sinner. As you must know since you are present aboard my vessel, the blessed Verpestyn family specializes in the righteous use of flame for goodness. Under our expert, Emperor-blessed touch, all sins are burned from flesh and spirit using the sanctifying purity of the flame. My family and I, we all have a special affinity for the beauty of purifying fire and its use in cleansing heresy from the galaxy." The Patriarch paused, reveling in the fear he was causing the sinner. His overwhelming terror signaled to him that he was correct in his judgment of this weak fool, for if he had been a righteous soul, he would have responded with perfect confidence and a clear heart after a brief questioning. The cowardly, the weak, and the dissolute experienced fear when confronted with righteous truth. Years of successful compliance operations in the darkest wilds of the galaxy had taught him this.
Frollo continued to grin while reveling in his appointed place in the universe; he then began to speak in a fatherly tone to the poor sinner, who continued to shake in fear in the Patriarch's mighty psychic grip. "Fret not, lost wayward lamb of the flock," he said, holding the man over the fire. "I am willing to gift you grace against your sin and to show you mercy against the Emperor's ultimate judgment."
"...help," the engineer rasped as Frollo brought him closer to the fire. His clothes and hair began to singe. "I'm sorry… please… I have a… family…"
Frollo chuckled. "Do you wish the mercy of the Emperor, lost soul? Would you repent against all the wrongs that you have committed against the mightiest agents of Holy Terra?"
"Please…" the man could only say as the cinder smoldered in his hair.
The Patriarch savored this long and beautiful moment, knowing for certain that his judgment was righteous in the eyes of the Emperor. Behind him, somewhere in a distant place, he felt a large presence smiling at him.
"With pleasure," the Verpestyn Patriarch responded as he hurled the engineer into the hearth.
His first screams were beautiful cries of weakness leaving his body, pitched like that of an opera singer under the direction of a maestro. Frollo was the conductor for this beautiful music, and he continued to push the sinner's body into the flaming timber, specially imported for his use in this hearth, as it would persistently burn, no matter what was thrown on it.
The man sang and sang over many seconds, which turned to minutes. A choir of echoing purgative agony that called out for redemption echoed sublimely through the Patriarch's inner sanctum, sending shivers of secret pleasure through his soul. It was heavenly to hear such perfect music emanating from such an act of pure justice. Heavenly, godly even, to see such a beautiful act of purification.
The presence watching him grew stronger. It smiled at him in great approval.
A heightened scream reached new heights of pain, and Frollo closed his fluttering eyes, listening to the beautiful cries, his very essence now aching with pleasure so keen that it was almost painful. Was it just him, or did the engineer's screams now sound like an angelic choir? Oh, it was so wonderful! The Patriarch blearily smiled, feeling his soul bask against the glory of such an act, but something deep within him began to turn in alarm.
The presence became stronger, and then, something unexpected happened. Frollo opened his eyes, and out of the sinner's pyre, a slender humanoid shape began to coalesce, pulling itself into existence from nowhere.
The Patriarch began to pull himself away from this spectacle when he realized that the shape was female, perfectly proportioned with long hair and welcoming arms.
"Lord Inquisitor Frollo Verpestyn, great and honored Patriarch of the mighty Verpestyn family, your righteous acts have been seen and exalted by angels," the creature said to him in the voice of his first lover, and the first soul he sent to the fire.
There was something wrong here.
With great reluctance, the Patriarch stepped back from the hearth and the creature. The engineer's screams then died as he expired, but somehow, they were still audible in the Warp, where they became a heavenly cascading melody that sang of the truth and beauty of the fire.
"I come as a messenger to encourage you to continue your good works," the fire-thing said, stepping out of the sinner's pyre. "You have attracted the eye of a beautiful patron."
Frollo began to gird his soul. With a great inhale, he pulled upon his own power. This… this was unnatural! This was a daemon that had been sent to tempt him! This situation had to change, he found himself reflexively and loudly thinking.
Change… change… change! The word echoed through the Warp around him like a bell.
The Patriarch dramatically forced his attention to shift away from what he was seeing and concentrated on transforming the pleasant fiery energies surrounding him into gales of torrid spiritual cold to quash the alluring flames and the figure that stood within them.
The beautiful, fiery figure's smile fell, and now, her body was transforming into twisted pieces of what appeared to be ice or blue crystal that slowly curled over her heavenly form like an engulfing swarm of insects. Behind her, another figure began to form out of motes of golden light. This new entity appeared more masculine, and he held a mighty sword aloft in his hand.
"But we love you, Frollo! Come to us and live forever! Burn the sinners with us until the very stars grow cold!" The unclean spirit pleaded with him, her voice now that of his mother, who had been dead for over a century. The blue crystals continued to freeze her body, and the sound of crackling ice echoed in the room as the temperature rapidly dropped. "Come to our fire and listen to the songs of eternity! We will—"
The golden figure that had been coalescing into existence behind the woman-thing then abruptly plunged his blade deep into the heart of the creature, exiting out of the front of her chest! This act caused her to immediately shatter into innumerable pieces of thorny ice that burned away into luminous ash.
The woman-creature was now gone, and now, for the first time in a century, the fire in the hearth of Frollo's inner sanctum had also now died, which had plunged the room into complete darkness. This also concealed the male shape that had impaled her. Breathing heavily and now covered in cold sweat, the Patriarch staggered blindly back to his throne and clumsily collapsed backwards into it like a falling tree.
"You have passed my test, Inquisitor Lord Frollo Verpestyn," another voice, this one male, called out to him warmly. The fire in the hearth then reignited with a blaze of blue and green flame before shifting back to a more normal radiance. In the air, the smell of burning smoke and scorched flesh from the fire had vanished, and now, the unusual chemical scent of chlorine and gunpowder saturated the atmosphere. Strangely, Frollo noticed that the body of the engineer had completely vanished in the hearth, and that the gold male shape was currently nowhere to be seen. "Well done, my good and faithful servant," the voice called again from everywhere and nowhere.
"Identify yourself," Frollo demanded, his voice somewhat constricted. "In the name of the Emperor, I order you to reveal yourself, spirit!"
A sensation of amusement somehow echoed through the room.
"In my name, you say?" The voice chuckled with warmth.
The gold figure then reappeared to stand in the hearth, its form reconfiguring into a brilliant ghostly figure who wore heavenly power armor of light and fire on his well-built, athletic form. His hair was a tongue of fire that blazed behind him, and a scintillating halo of gold gleamed around his head! With wise and beneficent gold eyes, the holy spirit gazed into Frollo's soul, who was then immediately convinced of the identity of this manifestation.
The Patriarch nearly fell out of his throne and began to grovel on the floor next to the hearth. A floating cinder made its way onto his shirt, and it began to smoke. "My Emperor! My Emperor!" Frollo exclaimed, his voice wavering with heavy emotion. "You have delivered me from the daemon who was sent to corrupt me when I was enacting your holy justice!"
"Rise, brave Inquisitor," the figure ordered with an easy smile. "I have come to impart upon you secret information, for you have called upon me in your yearning."
"Yes, my holy Emperor!" Frollo immediately replied. "You… you're here to help me? My ship! It's damaged! Daemons infected my granddaughter! My family!"
"Tragic, isn't it?" The Emperor responded sadly, the corners of his mouth turning slightly upward. "Varona Verpestyn, her name was, but fear not, Lord Inquisitor, for she is with me now, and she will be with me forever."
Frollo sighed heavily in relief. "She… she…" he stammered.
"...is now safe with me, as I said," the Emperor responded almost dismissively. "I am here to impart upon you, lowly mortal, valuable information. You are trying to get to Rhadabus, yes? Speeding as quickly as you could until the machinations of Chaos set you back?"
Frollo nodded. "Yes, my Emperor! We haven't heard from my nephew Erchot or anyone at all assigned to that world! They ignore our communications. And when we call for assistance elsewhere, all our distress calls are ignored or unheard! A sense of foreboding clouds my days and nights! We are stranded here and cannot even translate to realspace! We have been crippled!"
"Your feeling of distress is justified, my loyal soul," the gold figure purred. "Behold. Look into the fire and see the fate that has befallen your nephew."
Frollo leaned forward into the fire, and as he gazed, the flames parted before him like a curtain.
He saw his nephew, who was tall and broad-shouldered with short grey hair, basking in satisfaction with his coterie of loyal henchmen as they stood before a blazing pyre filled with recently purged corpses who were now being disposed of. This made the Patriarch happy to see, and relief cooled his soul. Erchot was a loyal, strong Verpestyn who engaged in passionate warfare against the evils of Chaos, burning all corruption away when it was witnessed, no matter what form it took. His nephew enjoyed his work thoroughly, which made him a kindred spirit to the Patriarch. Dear Erchot had been placed in charge of the planetary restructuring effort after Rhadabus had been shelled into compliance, their deviant version of the Imperial cult purged.
Sadly, the pleasant image did not persist. There was a movement inside the burning pyre, and Frollo sensed that a powerful curse had been spoken by a dying mutant heretic taking his last breath. This curse, which called upon the powers of something called the "God-Empress," caused the flames of the bonfire to rise suddenly to briefly take on the rough shape of an eagle, its eyes blazing with fury. The shape then transformed into that of a woman with a body made of fire! It was similar to the woman-shape he had seen here!
Erchot reacted immediately and fearlessly; he raised his rosette upward, bravely rebuking the unholy female spirit. In response, the evil fire-figure lunged forward, striking him across the eyes with a slap of her right arm, blinding him and knocking him to the ground! Erchot's henchmen broke and fled in terror!
The loyal Verpestyn Inquisitor screamed as he staggered back! "No!" Frollo whispered in horror! "Erchot!"
As if this action wasn't enough, Erchot then spontaneously combusted into a ball of fire, his terrified screams echoing through the Warp, reaching through time to ring through Frollo's ears! "Uncle!" he shouted! "Uncle, help me!"
The image then faded, and the Patriarch was left alone in his inner sanctum, kneeling on the floor at the feet of the Emperor, who gazed down at him with a stern countenance.
"What… what can I do?" Frollo asked, his anger reaching into his throat to constrict his words. "Tell me, God-Emperor. What…"
"You ask me for help, of course. And I will certainly help you! However, I require something from you before I can offer my assistance, Frollo Verpestyn," the Emperor said with another smile. Somehow, it felt strange that the Emperor would smile so much, Frollo wondered idly as the godlike creature continued speaking. "There are metaphysical rules in the galaxy that even I must abide by. Foremost, I need you to powerfully pray for your situation to change. I need to feel your yearning for this situation to shift in your favor. Right now, you are adrift in the Warp. Your winds are stagnant, unable to move forward. If you direct your willpower to changing your situation, I can assist you."
This sounded unusual to the Patriarch, but that brief doubt was chased away with one glance from the Emperor's gold eyes. He would have to be a fool to argue with divinity when it appears to him personally.
Frollo swallowed heavily, his jaw quavering. "Of c-course, holy God-Emperor."
The Emperor continued to smile. "That's what I like to hear. And, once you are free from your stagnation, you will be able to get revenge against the power on Rhadabus that so cruelly punished your beloved nephew. It would, of course, be a mandated act enacted personally by my hand."
Frollo began to weep at the prospect of being sent on a divinely ordained mission to avenge his beloved nephew. "T-thank you, thank you, God-Emperor. I will not fail you!"
"Good. See to that you do not. I depart now, but one of your underlings is nine seconds away to inform you that your Gellar Field experienced another fluctuation once again. If you do not pull yourself out of this difficult situation and if you do not yearn for change strongly enough, it will fail completely. May this warning appropriately ignite your ambition to do as I have instructed of you. The nine seconds start now."
The Emperor then vanished into thousands of cascading glowing embers, which scattered in an incandescent whirlwind around his private sanctum. One of these burning embers struck Frollo on the face, burning him as he rose from his kneeling position only to stumble back into his throne again.
The Patriarch could not move or react for a few moments, and then there was a knock at the door.
"Enter," Frollo called out, stunned and gazing blankly into the fire, tears streaming down his face. He did not turn around to observe whoever it was that had just stepped into the room.
"Patriarch, another irregularity has swept through our Gellar Field, but it is now secure again. What are your commands?" A man's voice asked. This man was also afraid. Everyone was so afraid, and that meant that they would be easy to control. Good.
"We pray for our situation to change," Frollo answered automatically, standing up. He felt strangely invigorated after that encounter. The Patriarch crossed his arms over his chest and stared into the fire. The sensation that his left cheek was bleeding was distant.
"Patriarch?"
"Summon my inner circle. They are to meet here immediately," the Patriarch ordered, a new motivation energizing him. The ember that had burned his face now felt strangely cold, but that didn't feel very important. Behind him in the Warp, he now felt a different presence smiling at him instead of the wicked female spirit. This transcendent holy power encouraged his righteous actions, guiding him along through his destiny to save him from certain doom. The hand of the Emperor had reached through reality to assist him, and Frollo would obey.
"We have work to do," Frollo darkly instructed, gazing happily into the fire as it smiled back at him.