Chapter 2 : Rediscovery

...

A council was formed in the Qliphoth Fort immediately after that thing of war crashed.

As big as it is, Belobog was just one city, so gathering all the councilors and commanders in one room went fairly quickly and easily by just calling them. They stayed present in a large, circular room lined with chairs on all sides; it was the meeting room of Belobog.

Gepard, head of the Silvermane Guard, was one of two that stayed standing up, near the entrance of the room. At his side was his intelligence aide, Pela, sitting at one of the many chairs.

Some others were also present, such as Lieutenant Dunn of the Silvermane Guard, Oleg of the underground, multiple officials of the administrative and government bodies and the last but not least, Bronya Rand. The Supreme Guardian and matriarch standing at the top of the chain of command and at the middle of the podium with impeccable posture. Everyone listened as she spoke.

"I believe you all have seen it. If you haven't, then you should have heard of it, seen the recordings of it."

She slowly turned her head, observing her audience.

"What are your opinions on this matter?"

Her single questioning sentence caused an intense discussion to break out, matters of making contact, matters of making friends and even helping them out of that frozen hellscape. For outside the walls of Belobog was nothing but a frozen deathworld filled with corrupted armies of the fragmentum and scattered remnants of the once invading Anti-Matter Legion that had attempted to conquer the entire planet years prior. But all of that wasn't even the largest threat.

The cold and the wind with its hailing winters of piercing frost and snow was undoubtedly the greatest life-killer present on this planet. An environment so deadly and so harsh that it culled the space mighty antimatter legion down and razed their numbers, but it also nearly extinguished the local inhabitants of the planet like an apocalypse. The winter was uncaring for any life that dared to live upon its domain. Belobog was the only active civilization with the light of fire to ward off the cold of the eternal winter.

"What if they are aggressive?"

A sudden voice broke the discussion into silence as the members looked upon the origin of the voice.

The tall blonde stood resolute, with both arms crossed and coupled that with an unbroken, stern stare.

"What Gepard said here must be considered, what if they are aggressive even if we offer our help?"

Agreed Bronya, causing looks of second thought on the faces of statesmen in the parlor.

Gepard sighed. Ever since the many disasters averted and the many good fortunes that befall Jarilo-6 that started with the arrival of the Astral Express, the people of Belobog had been getting uncharacteristically softer.

They were already lucky that Topaz, the IPC Strategic Investment Department head, who was rare amongst her peers for her kindness and understanding, was the one who first eyed them, because if it was any other IPC representative, then who knows what would have happened to Belobog.

He looked back at the people.

He was a military general, and there were more things that were more concerning him about the situation, and not the actual first meeting itself.

"Before we even get to meet them, much less talk to them, if we even speak the same language, we must first find a way to even get there."

Gepard sighed.

"They crashed at mountains far, far away, maybe even reaching past 90 kilometers in distance and combining that with the environment and the logistics… You know what I mean."

Muted sighs and murmurs enveloped and spread into the crowd of people like plague. But Gepard was not done speaking yet.

"Thankfully, due to our recent trades with the IPC, our vehicles are stronger, and our gas plenty. Or maybe we should try our new flying transports, if our pilots are already out of their training, of course."

Another round of heated discussion was born in the room. Talks of bringing military vehicles, convoys or just sending a simple drone was brought out and discussed, and with it more problems were discovered. An expedition to that far out using land convoys was extremely resource intensive, and even if they were quickly gathering new gold behind their vaults due to the IPC or Luofu, they would have to allocate a big portion of their manpower just for this expedition. Something that was near impossible to do as every single department are still dealing with their reinvigoration in interstellar trade. And one could not ignore the immensely massive construction project taking place near the Engine of Creation. There was simply too much work for the Belobogians already.

That's when someone else needed to enter the discussion.

Bronya raised her eyebrows as a nearby aide whispered something in her ear.

"Everyone!"

She said, her voice loud with authority but it was not a shout, making the people's mouths fall into silence.

"An esteemed guest had arrived to offer their piece."

She stared at the doorway.

"I would like everyone to greet Ms. Topaz from the Interastral Peace Cooperation."

At the fall of those last words, the nearby guards opened the doors to the room, revealing a familiar figure.

A young woman, with steely white hair with clean red strands that ran through one side like a strike, appeared from the opening door. She was wearing a unique looking outfit that combined both corporate professionalism and adventurousness. One could say that her outfit matched her hair and her personality. She entered in echoing steady steps of confidence, letting none of the Belobogians ignore her.

She smiled as she entered, her right arm on her waist.

Small gossip spread throughout the statesmen and representatives of Belobog, before shortly being erased by Gepard's voice, welcoming the well renowned and famed IPC Stoneheart. All the others shortly welcomed her after Gepard.

Bronya nodded as Topaz walked to the center of the room, where Bronya was.

A short exchange, and then the Stoneheart member took the mic into her hands, and with it she took the room.

"Greetings people of Belobog! I'm sure you all know me already, so I'll keep it straight to the point. Time is a valuable resource after all!"

The crowd murmured in agreement.

"So, I may not be there myself, but I saw the recordings of it. The out of nowhere spaceship. That thing that you all saw."

Her gaze narrowed and the tone now serious.

"IPC satellites already have determined where exactly the mysterious spaceship had crashed, and multiple IPC cameras are keeping 24/7 eyes on that thing in orbit. I'll cut to the chase. The IPC has vested interest in investigating the mysterious spaceship, but since Belobog technically still owns the area in which the spaceship resides, we want not just your permission, but also cooperation."

One of the Belobogian politicians raised an eyebrow.

"Oh?"

He said, with some barely hidden snark in his voice.

"If the IPC finds that ship interesting, then it must be very valuable, right? Tell me, Ms. Topaz, with full transparency, what on the Aeons is that spaceship and why did it appear out of nowhere?"

Topaz simply shook her head, a rare frown placed on her lips.

"Mister, I'll tell you the truth. We have absolutely no idea what that spaceship is. Who it belongs to or even how it got here in the first place."

The IPC Stoneheart's confession brought a myriad of confusion to the people. Topaz gazed at the mixed expressions of the crowd.

"I'm not exaggerating, our grand databases, older than the rise and fall of some civilizations, have no information on what could be the origin of that one spaceship. It is an absolute anomaly."

"I-I see."

Replied the man who asked the question, his voice shuddering. Even he understood how vast and powerful the IPC actually is, and if even they don't know which hell that craft of war came from, then this must be something more serious that concerns more than just Belobog.

"Then, what does Belobog gain from this?"

Bronya's voice suddenly made presence, and Topaz smiled.

"The IPC will bear the brunt of the work, transportation through aircraft, logistics, materials and most importantly, protection. Belobog can do anything they want, whether it be talking with the ship's passengers and having the final say on what to do. In return we simply need to investigate what has happened on our own terms. Of course, this also means us speaking to the people of the spaceship."

Bronya's brows rose slightly.

"How would you profit from this?"

A short and soft giggle arose from Topaz's lips.

"Now, now, the IPC values any kind of profit, and potentially valuable information is just another kind of profit. For this is quite a rather curious situation, isn't it?"

Topaz said, finishing her proposal.

...

Commissar Vailor Strevy looked upon his men. All born with gasmasks implanted on their faces as they wore very similar war garments. The true face of a Krieger always was that mask, who cared what lied underneath. They all looked the same, with nothing differentiating the war-bred siege breakers of the ever atoning regiment. The Death Korps of Krieg was always a special unit amongst the guardsmen, garnering a special reputation for being the harbingers of either hopelessness or pyrrhic victory. Siege breakers, shock troopers, attrition warriors. The last wall against total annihilation.

Vailor smiled. The Hall of Annihilation's commanders didn't just send him a simple kriegsmen squad. Even if their clothes looked the same, with only the differing equipment labeling them, what stood out was that the very fabric they wore were all rugged, worn and scarred.

He was given survivors. Kriegsmen who lived through a battle or more.

In the eyes of a guardsman from other regiments, to make a veteran, one must survive fifty battles. But for the Death Korps, to make a veteran, one must survive a single battle.

"All of you!"

His voice echoed under the gas mask, like a muffled scream of a suffocating person.

"The rest of the guard will secure a perimeter around the grounded Cruiser. But for us? We're tasked to see what this world has to offer, aye?"

"Aye!'

The twelve Kriegers shouted, voice almost emotionless. Only spurred by the untold ethics of always responding to a Commissar's speeches.

The Valkyrie then soared through the icy air of the planet, towering upon the endless plains of snow and mountains, till a curious looking post appeared beneath.

"Wait."

Vailor said to the pilot. The Valkyrie slowed down as it lowered to gaze upon a village, or something that was once a village.

The Commissar and the Kriegers exit the aircraft, guns already raised as they enter the broken village in two squads. The first squad to enter its heart, and the second to guard its borders. The first was now deep into investigating the homes of the village, now only entrenched deep in meters of snow.

The Commissar leisurely walked, even with the freezing temperature of the planet.

One specific kriegsman walked near the side of the Commissar, following his footsteps closely as a guard.

"Sir Commissar, this village is human, but it is abandoned."

"Yes, long ago. I have eyes, Gerald."

The sounds of lasgun fire suddenly broke, shattering the silence of the frozen air.

"Corrupted humans. Both ice and fire, five eliminated."

Said Gerald's vox caster, sputtering out the voice of the second squad sergeant.

Both Gerald and the Commissar paid that no regard. They have been encountering those walking abominations everywhere, making sure to purge every single one of them.

"Corrupted humans. Both ice and fire, nine eliminated."

Said the vox, sputtering again.

It was then the first squad finally noticed something.

"Footsteps. Larger than usual, another set, smaller than an adult human."

The two vanguards of the first squad voxxed, sharing information with one another as fast and succinctly as possible. First squad walked on now with lasguns raised as they tracked the footsteps, leading them to the plaza of the ruined village.

The plaza itself fared no better than the streets, with its buildings stuck in a neverending competition of both collapsing and holding, as the snow on top their roofs threatened to bury the houses while the ice and hard rock beneath managed to keep the somehow surviving structural integrity of the house intact.

"These houses are not built for the cold."

The thoughts of the Commissar spoke out loud.

"It's likely that this planet wasn't always entrenched in snow as it is now."

Vailor waited for a response from his guardsmen, yet none said anything.

He silently laughed to himself, the other regiments of guards he commanded in the past would have been curious, or try to make it to his good side by responding to his small talks and observation, but these dead men walking did not.

"Gerald, what do you think?'

An order was the only way they could speak.

"Sir Commissar, I am sorry to say that I have no education on this matter, but my personal thoughts echo yours."

An alright and honest response. The Commissar nodded his head in approval.

The small squad methodically surveyed the plaza's entrances and exits, before fully entering the long lost life center of the small town.

The Commissar's eyebrows slightly raised as he saw something not within usual expectations. There was a black growth, a crystal-like infestation clinging into what once was a statue, now unrecognizable due to the crystal, in the middle of the frozen plaza.

One of the guardsmen immediately walked his way near the outburst of the unnatural black crystal. The rest of the kriegers stood still far behind as if they were the frozen air themselves while the Commissar aimed at the guardsman who, without word, volunteered himself to investigate the darkened crystal infestation without hesitation.

The guardsman investigating, took out a small instrument, with the markings of the Adeptus Mechanicus on its backside, and turned it on as he surveyed the infestation.

He circled the statue, then after earning nothing but dismissive beeps from the instrument, he pulled his lasgun in one hand and shot at the crystal.

The lasgun's strength melted through and penetrated a small hole in the crystal, but it didn't melt all the way through.

"So?"

Boomed the voice of Vailor, his weapon still drawn to the head of the guardsman by the statue.

"Warp corruption is negative. Hard and resistant crystal. Unnatural to this planet. Origin is most likely to be xeno."

The Commissar finally lowered his weapon, and the rest of the squad made their own investigations on what this crystal might be.

But only the Commissar focused on the statue. From top to bottom it was covered in deep ice, with the dark crystal covering some parts of it from sight. But what the remaining transparent ice had revealed disgusted the Commissar.

It was an alien of some sort, with the body of a horse, but with a torso protruding from the front top of the body that had inhuman arms crossed and a head with no discernable face.

"Wait."

The Commissar blinked. This wasn't a statue.

"Fire on the statue!"

His voice was followed with an immediate barrage of lasgun punishment to the statue, shattering the ice and melting it as the statue dropped on the ground and the ice came apart.

The Commissar walked nearby the fallen thing, now it was clear. It wasn't a statue at all. It was a xeno excased in ice.

"A foul creature."

"Once again, I have eyes, Gerald."

The Commissar spat.

The group of Kriegers circled the remains of the foul xeno, one of them testing its durability by blasting its stone-like skin a couple of times.

"Stronger than the abominations of fire and ice, eh?"

Chuckled the Commissar as he kicked the corpse of the unholy union of horse and man something worse.

Then the sudden noise of a crash and scream of a childish voice alerted the squad. Their heads turned instantly like clockwork, staring into the far off trees.

"It's in the direction of the footsteps."

Gerald said, informing the Commissar.

Vailor smiled behind his mask, brandishing his own weapon as his own thirst for action ignites him.

"First Squad! To that noise!"

The troopers heeded without doubt like the best of soldiers, and started following the footsteps in calculated urgency. The snow was deep, heavy and thick. All of the guardsmen present had experienced the worst of all environments, but the snow and winter on this planet felt different from the ones they were used to, with both normal and nuclear winter having lighter snow, but that actually barely mattered to their performance.

"Men, shorter steps! Focus on your balance, treat the snow like mud!"

A resounding aye came from the guardsman as the advice from the Commissar helped them to immediately adapt to their newfound environment.

"Was born in a place like this before, Inwit. But the snow here is quite heavier than it is there. It feels unnatural."

Vailor said, mostly to himself as he didn't really expect any response from the soldier of Krieg.

They were now back to the outskirts of the town as they stalked the forests in search of the mysterious noises, which once again came in with thunderous galloping footsteps as the childish voice also echoed throughout the forest.

"Stay calm now, Lynx!"

The troopers quickly split up in an entrapping open circle in response, as the maker of the galloping footsteps finally showed its form. It was the same creature they found frozen at the plaza.

Each trooper immediately aimed, lasguns flared as their punishment came through from different directions, confusing the four legged creatures as it was thrown off balance, stuck in the snow with its legs blown off, trying to look back around with its human-like torso, only for the voice of the child to echo once again.

"Excuse me, coming through!"

The human child immediately rushed the now disabled monster, and with a pickaxe in hand, swung it with youthful rage straight to the monster's head.

A clang echoed, as the monster perished with a pickaxe now stuck on his head.

"Good showing, young one! The God-Emperor would be proud!"

The Commissar revealed himself from the shade of snow-filled leaves as he came clapping in some minor amusement.

The child looked back, her eyes widening as she was a bit disgruntled by the Commissar's fairly unfriendly looking clothing.

"Huh?" Who are-"

The child immediately froze.

"Wait, You- you're the ones that came from the sky! Right?"

The child's voice beamed, trying to gaze into the abyss of the gas mask eye lenses.

"You speak low gothic, so this is an Imperial world. Am I correct?"

The Commissar replied, ignoring her initial question.

"I've been looking for you all- eh?"

The child's mouth had been shut immediately and she was left frozen like ice. She saw the Commissar pull a gun aimed straight to her head.

"Did you hear my question? Answer it if you did, I will repeat if you didn't."

"Oh- Oh! I'm sorry! I didn't hear it!"

"Is this planet under the Imperium of man?"

"N-No?"

The Commissar sighed.

"More renegade planets? What a disappointment."

He holstered his gun again, turning his gaze elsewhere other than the child, making her ease up again.

"W-Wait! What's the Imperium of Man?"

Animus isn't amused. It has been a long time since his ship was lost in the warp, then it was spitted out from that accursed plane into this unusual space.

He moves like a shadow in the unfamiliar xeno spaceship.

The warband was running out of supplies. Again.

His hand meets another bipedal wolf-like xeno, grabbing his skull and mashing it to the walls of the ship. Keeping the pathetically beastly creature barely alive while he slid his cracked skull on the wall, leaving behind a dark paint of blood and gore.

Something unusual had clearly happened, this much Animus knew. First, they were engulfed in a warp storm after retreating from the unsuccessful siege of Terra, moving thousands of years into the future to the years of 40k, and now it would seem another unusual warp storm had taken them and placed their remaining ships here.

From all the xeno beast ships he had raided with his beloathed brothers, it has been unfortunately concluded that every grain of information they had found was utterly unfamiliar. Animus wondered where the warp storm had teleported his warband to. Was it at some undisclosed space? The edge of the galaxy? Or outside the galaxy?

He had many questions with no answers.

Another wolf xeno, rushed at him like an animal. Borisin, is what they named themselves, mighty warriors and such. But to Animus, they were nothing but rags of moving meat.

His chainsword's low and guttural roar made the animal's once proud roar feel like a whimper of a cub instead as he cut off the alien's limbs, one by one, as slowly as possible as he let the creature die in pain.

"You bastard!"

Another one was coming. The shriek of the creature annoyed Animus's mind.

He brandished a golden bolter, with wings and a tearblood red gem implanted onto it.

He had stolen this from a Champion of the Blood Angels he slaughtered a while back. The words "Et in Arcadia ego" written into it, and now with the bolter in his possession, the meaning of the words twisted in grim meaning.

His instincts called for him to squeeze the trigger, but for now, ammo was to be conserved. He then consecutively pummels the gun's barrel into the head of the Borisin, physically turning his head into mush like a slushy of gore, bathing his bolter in blood.

It was amusing to him, a humor that he made himself, that only he smiled at. A ritual that doubled as an oath, as ever since he stole this Blood Angel heraldry, he thought it would be amusing to bathe it in the blood of every species he'll ever kill.

Dropping the corpse of the xeno, he looked around, staring at the horde of weeping animals coming for him. And despite that, he chose it best to holster his bolter once again, he finally decided that this pack of wild animals does not amount to the slimmest margin of a threat. The metal of his chainsword now once again raging like an unforgiving current. His winged helmet, originally belonging to a Dark Angels Veteran, but now deformed and painted in midnight lightning and decorated with a scavenged skull helm of a chaplain from a lesser chapter, turns to face the horde. His haunting blood-red eye lenses bore a horrible glow that glared at the rushing horde.

He grinned inside his helmet.

Preysight.

His arms stretched, showing another stolen item, his shoulder war-plate showing a faint hue of Ultramarine blue. He bent his legs, his right kneecap, which was colored Imperial Fist yellow long ago had an Imperial eagle as a design, but now a spike he used to impale heads to, had replaced where the eagle heads had been originally, with the regal yellow replaced with the paint of night.

Animus smiled as the pitiful roars of the rush of animals grew closer. And in the most perfect moment, the Night Lord moved in a blur that even the potent eye of the Borisin failed to even imagine. One second, three heads rolled. Four seconds, eight arms severed. Eight seconds, ten hearts gouged out. The speed of an astartes surpassed mortals. But all of this was like a minor curse to Animus, he didn't get to revel in their pain, to savor in their fear. Unfortunately, the situation demanded speed, and he didn't want to waste a single more second fighting these second rate animals. It was below his standard prey.

His helmet's vox communications crackled.

"Animus."

A deep growl vibrated inside his voice.

"I am finished with these dregs. Varx is also nearing completion. Do not tell me you are wasting your time with them."

"Oh, Havlore, I am not wasting my time with them, I'm enjoying it."

The vox communications went silent for a while.

"You and I both." Havlore said, his breathing coming through the vox speakers inside his helmet.

"But I heard there is a powerful prey in your location. Try not to run away. Prince."

Havlore then snapped the vox link, leaving Animus alone and amused.

"A powerful prey?"

He said to himself, standing upon the corpses of the wolf xeno breed. When was the last time a prey overpowered him?

Animus's thoughts broke into recollection.

An armor of black, a cross of white. The Black Templars of the Corpse God were always the most enjoyable to hunt, for they were truly unbreakable, truly believing in their faith, truly foolish in their minds.

One of them, a champion of the Corpse God, Animus remembers that great fool's words.

"Tell me, Legionnaire of the eight, do you bow to the ruinous powers?"

"I bow only to the Night Haunter."

"Bowing to a dead man. Truly, it fits your hypocrisy. Your injustice dies today, traitor."

"Hypocrisy? No, this isn't hypocrisy. This is enlightenment. Dogs like you, bound by chains, have you ever lived under the night? Do you truly know what injustice is?"

"A Night Lord talking of philosophy. A Night Lord. Your very words are equal to excretion to my ears. Do you even think? If you did, you would be running away right now. Traitor."

Animus clenched his mechanical right arm.

"Because that's what you Night Lords do best. Run away. Run away from everything."

Animus hears the heavily clanging of something massive marching on the hallways of the xeno spaceship.

"Intruder!"

The beastly snarl made Animus's head snap to its direction.

"I am Askan! Leader of the Glareblood Clan! You dare take a single breath here? You dare kill my brothers?!"

A spear, the size of a tree flew as fast as lightning, zipped and broke the barriers of air, aimed straight to the head of the Night Lord. The Son of Nostramo felt his lips curl. He will not run away again.

"Havlore always had a horrible sense of wit."

Animus was not a regular astartes, or even Night Lord. The purest blood of the Night Haunter was descended upon him. He is from the darkest city of criminals, thieves, murderers, rapists, torturers. A surviving legacy of the perpetual darkness of Nostramo. The neurons in his ascended body thundered in coordination with his mechanical arm, electricity and other unholy energy ran through the billion circuits and wires and his arm of iron matched the almost unstoppable force and speed of the spear. The machine spirit of his augment whirred in sadistic excitement as it reached and caught the body of the spear. The Night Lord's whole form now in coordination, the criminal scum turned his body and threw the spear back to the beast.

The xeno beast dodged the spear, laughing as he leaped towards the killer, hoping to bash in his warplate with two razor-sharp battle-axes, but instead the son of the night pulled out his stolen bolter in less than half a second, the utter destructive demand of its power broke the beast's charge as the Night Lord charged with a chainsword in hand, and bolter in another.

The beast and Animus exchanged blows but the constant punishment of the bolter that the Night Lord used in extremely close range to continuously parry and make openings that dwindled the beast's blood rapidly. The growl of the chainsword contended with the roar of the beast, but the killer only grew in his own excitement, tearing the beast's skin at each successful strike. It was then the beast realized something that he did not want to believe.

The monster in front of him could have killed him in a short few moments, but he chose not to.

Primal rage filled the beast's conscience, the pure anger broke into action, his blades suddenly storming out in such powerful surge that the noise of air being torn was heard. It was a lightning fast strike that held power that could shatter swords made by the legendary craftsmen of the Xianzhou Alliance, directed straight to the Night Lord's neck, and yet in the last millisecond, it stopped mid air. Animus had somehow pierced his right wrist upwards, then positioned himself in a way that would narrowly dodge the other blade. The beast stared back with surprise at the Night Lord's deranged helmet. His red glaring eye lenses of glowing gore felt like they pierced through future and time itself.

The Night Lord kicked the beast, straight to the abdomen, the sound of bones shattering echoed throughout the room.

"Grah! S-So strong! You- how!"

The beast growled from afar, the kick sent his whole figure flying, and when he stared back, the Night Lord had already closed the distance.

"It is a simple arithmetic beast. My right to destroy is greater than your right to exist. Is it not?"

His killer started to laugh. Loudly. The horrendous voice coming from the speakers from his scavenged suit of armor rang so loud that it echoed throughout the entire spaceship and easily exceeded over a hundred decibels. The beast felt blood drip from his ears as the deafening sound broke his mind, driving him to irrationality. The beast was going mad from the noise, the clear-cut fact that this skull-faced knight was overwhelming him over and over made him want to be angry. He sought rage, but he discovered that he could not find it anymore. Where anger was, fear had replaced it.

Dread and confusion guided the beast's petty blades as they dulled from the numerous clashes. His skin was flayed over and over by the killer's grinding sword every time he missed a chance to block.

Fortunately for the beast, the shouting laughter faded, the bolter halted and the chainsword stopped thirsting. The beast looked down to his chest, the blade of the honorless weapon stuck to his chest, he looked at his slayer.

"Who are you?"

Animus held many titles, Night Lord, Son of The Night, Traitor or the Tormentor. His own warband nicknamed him Prince, The Prince of Cowards, and all of them were true to his character.

Animus pulled his blade, gushing blood erupting from the borisin's chest, as his body knelt to the ground. One last stare was thrown to Animus as the beast breathed his last.

The Night Lord almost smiled inside his helmet.

"I am Justice."

His vox link was connected again, right after slaughtering the prideful beast. A familiar voice fell upon his ears.

"Animus, we are waiting for you back in the Vina Ta. Make whatever it is you are doing short."

The rest of the warband seemed to have finished their small exercise already.

"Hmm. Havlore, was what you said earlier an attempt at wit?"

"It was a heartfelt warning to a fellow brother."

The vox link disconnected again.

Animus inwardly sighed.

"He truly is horrible at that craft."

He needs to go back to their cruiser, the Vina Ta. The name of the cruiser hailed from an old Terran language, locked in the vaults of the Corspe-Emperor, that was thought to have strands of connections with the tongue of Nostramo, roughly translating to Your Fault in Imperial gothic. It was the first of the three ships their warband managed to save from utter destruction from loyalist forces. But going back will wait. Animus hears something crying. He heard screams not from the beast earlier from the fight when his sonic distraction screamed throughout the whole ship.

It was in the lower levels, Animus forcefully broke through wall by wall as he looked for the proper stairs of the xenoship.

Descending down a level then another, he finds what he is looking for in under a minute. Steels bars, iron chains and padlocks stuck to necks. It was a prison, something he was all too familiar with.

The prisoners looked somewhat human, well varied in age and gender. Some were tall, some short. Some bore animalistic ears or scaly tails, and some others had nothing at all. A lot of them were dead, their ears bleeding with either knives or anything sharp stabbed repeatedly to their chests like men driven to insanity. Animus thought in silence after seeing the damage his sonic weapons can do to mortals, especially to their feeble minds. Truly, betraying, separating and hunting down the weak minded followers of Slaneesh was worth it, he quite enjoyed using their unique sound weaponry.

He broke his thoughts upon seeing the sole survivor who hasn't succumbed to insanity. A lone woman, at the end of the dilapidated holding cells, holding what seems to be a some sort of fabric item, to cover both her massive gray animal ears.

"You."

The voice of Animus carried through the entire room, and yet the slave didn't respond. Did she become deaf?

Animus took one step closer.

"Look at me."

Now his voice echoed again.

The slave finally turned her head, one eyeball glaring at the Night Lord as strands of messy hair covered the other.

"You lived, and you retained your hearing. Commendable, it would seem luck is on your side."

Then the spirit of the chainsword awakened, letting a horrible sound of grinding metal grow in the room, the sound of death itself.

"Unfortunately, I am not."

The slave's eyes suddenly broke into panic, her slim figure breaking into a shaky posture of defiance as she held one measly knife picked up from the ground in her hand. The glare on her teary eyes intensified so much that even Animus felt the raging hate within the slave radiating towards him.

"What are you trying to even prove?."

Animus wasted too much time already, he swung the chainsword to quench the bloodlust of its machine spirit, until something not quite within his calculations of likely possibilities occurred. The slave charged first. Her bare feet kicking off the ground and her blade aiming for the Night Lord's armor joints.

But it didn't even take a single half second for her assault to be punished as her right arm fell to the ground. She knelt down, screaming in pain as she uttered curses of an unworthy language to the Night Lord, but Animus was too busy trying to comprehend the stirring feeling he was feeling in his soul.

"You didn't run?"

Animus's voice growled, in a rare tone of puzzlement. He grabbed the slave, lifting her up so that her dying head could see equally into the glowing red of his helmet's visors. She was losing blood, she'll die in less than a minute, but that hate in her eyes. It has not faded not one bit. A memory struck Animus, a memory of the future from a long time ago.

Animus smiled.

"Unfortunately for you I was wrong. Luck isn't on your side. I am."

The Night Lord jabbed something onto the thigh of the mortal. The girl immediately fainted, but she still breathed. Animus thinks about how he can convince and stop some of his Night Lord brethren from killing his new slave out of boredom.

"This might be troubling."

He grumbled.

"You don't know the Imperium of Man?"

"N-No?"

Vailor's eyebrows slightly raised under his mask.

"Better than a heretical planet, I suppose. Child, follow me."

"Huh? W-Wait, at least introduce yourself!"

Vailor was annoyed. He did not have any experiences dealing with young people, especially this little girl, but the rational thought convinced him to entertain the unenlightened human for the time being.

He turned to look back at the girl.

"You said your name is Lynx?"

"Yeah, that's right." The girl said, slightly fidgeting.

"Adress me formally as Commissar Vai-"

"Sir Vailor Strevy!"

Vailor heard Gerald shout, quickly changing his priority from the child to his soldier, he looked at him with a curious gaze.

"Gerald?"

"Commissar Sir! Sensitive information from the Aeneid itself had reached the Hall of Annihilation!"

"The flagship?"

Vailor said, his voice showing a rare trace of delight.

"Captain Haeman wishes to speak with you directly."

The Commissar accepted the vox caster, and the voice of his friend surfaced moments later.

"Vailor! Can't you believe it? Because this is unbelievable. The-"

"Get to the point."

"Hey, I was getting to the point! In summary, just recently, we had received a messenger from the Admiral himself through one of our psykers! Simply, one part of it said that he was rallying the remains of the fleet that survived the warp storm to this planet we're on, and the other part. Well, the other part is-"

Vailor clenched the vox caster tight.

"Is what?"

Growled Vailor.

"You know what? It's better for you to listen to the Admiral's audio recording itself. I'll play it through the vox now."

"So, not going to introduce yourself or something?"

Lynx stared into the reflection of fire on the dark lenses of the soldier in front of her. She kept a smile on her face, but she felt a small drop of sweat run across her cheek.

"Uhh, so you're really not going to say anything."

She sighed, putting her gaze somewhere else. She was at a small campfire that was built in the abandoned town, one soldier was standing in guard in front of her. The only man who seemed to even talk for more than a second, Vailor Strevy, quickly left in a hurry somewhere right after the soldier in front of her interrupted their greetings. So she was left here, and she really didn't know what to do, especially considering that every single one of these walking masks outright ignored her that she started to think that they were actually robots inside those clothes.

Lynx started tapping her boots on the snow. What were these men doing here? Who are they? Where did they come from? She tried to formulate a conclusion, but none came to mind, and they didn't answer her. She saw the massive ship crashing down like the falling stars she would always seek on her adventures. Lynx was outside Belobog that time, camping in the frozen wasteland was her hobby, and that hunk of steel disturbed her relaxation. It was only right that she would investigate it! She sighed, thinking about what had happened just before. That happened, her eyes had set sight on a creature mostly only seen frozen in ice and in history books. A creature of the Antimatter Legion was alive, walking and wandering. She thought most of them were already dead! To be left frozen and be a cold corpse, but it was real. Did the crash of these foreigners somehow awaken them? But that doesn't make any sense…

She looked back at the soldier, her eyes narrowed.

"If you keep ignoring me…"

Lynx stood up, walking closer to the soldier.

"It's only understandable that I'll get pissed off too!"

Lynx tried to take one more step forward, and then froze.

"H-Hey! I was just planning to pat your shoulder or something!"

Lynx raised both her hands.

"See? Can you put that gun down now? Please?"

The soldier responded with empty air.

"M-Maybe you don't like me being too close?"

Lynx slowly walked backwards, her hands still hanging in the air. Sweat formed in her forehead as she felt her smile tremble.

"See? I'm away now? C-Can you put that thing down now- ah!"

An unseen rock behind her blocked her step, losing her balance.

"Huh?"

She felt something mechanical catching her mid-fall, grasping her torso with four steel claws. She tried to look behind her, and what she saw would have made her jump, if she could.

"Who- Huh?! What are you-"

A red robed creature, with two massive grey tentacles extending out of his back lifted her entire body off the ground, her feet kicking the air, she tried to steal a glance on who this rude person was.

"Put me down! Hey!"

The robed figure's head directly stared at her in one single smooth mechanical motion. One human eye and four green mechanical lenses lined in a circle stared at her. The figure's face was almost entirely robotic, replaced with rough gunmetal grey machinations and patches with only a small portion of the right side of his face being left original in flesh which contained his human eye, eerily glowing a green brighter than his mechanical ones on his left.

"Please silence yourself."

His voice could only be described as something clearer than glass. So utterly robotic, artificial and yet some traces of a human's vocals were still present in its tone.

Lynx felt like fainting from all that was happening, but she managed to bop her head in compliance.

"That's just a child, Key."

A female voice, similar but lesser in augmentation with more humanlike intonations and curves caught the attention of Lynx. She looked to the voice's direction, and saw another red robed person. She was waving at Lynx, her face was the opposite from Key, with only a small part of her left side of her face covered in clean, smooth and shiny white steel. Her left mechanical eye was one big blue circle, also glowing under the red hood she was veiled in. Strands of dirty white bangs and hair that dropped to her chest slowly swaying in the wind.

"So it is."

Key let Lynx's feet drop, the child catching her balance on the unsteady snow. Then her head turned to the red robed man that grabbed her with eyebrows slanted and cheeks red.

"You! You don't just do that!"

Key didn't look at Lynx, but his other mechadendrite rose, displaying the sharpest syringe Lynx had ever seen in her life. Her mouth raised as she saw the syringe immediately aimed and set course for her neck.

"Techpriest."

Key stopped his mechadendrite, the syringe barely touching the frozen Lynx. He looked at the soldier of the Death Korps.

"If you are done with your work, then leave. Do not do anything unnecessary."

Key turned his mechadendrites to face the soldier.

"On whose authority?"

"This is under the direct command of the Commissar."

Key garbled something in both binary and hexadecimal simultaneously, with the other red robed figure blurted a mix of high pitched beeps.

"So it is…"

Key said, turning away from Lynx and the soldier and facing the other red robed person.

"Heevsin, let's go."

Key retracted his mechadendrites, the two mechanical instruments minimizing themselves in their size and transforming to a small bag pack on his back.

Heevsin, the other one wearing the red robes of mars and his companion, went to his side. The both of them walked away, going further in the camp and soon out of view.

Lynx finally fell down in relief. Sighing in faint happiness when the terrifying color of the red robed man finally broke away from view. She looked at the soldier, her savior from that massive iron tentacle psycho.

"T-Thanks for that!"

The soldier didn't acknowledge anything, merely going back to guarding Lynx from a distance away.

"Huh, I feel like you're more robotic than those red robed people, but at least you're kinda nice, right?"

She sighed again.

For the fourth time in his entire life, Vailor was shocked. After hearing what the Admiral said in the recorded tape, then confirming the info a thousand times to Haeman and the others, he was undoubtedly shook. The message that was recieved contained the Admiral himself describing what had occurred moments after the warp teleportation.

He already couldn't believe that he was in a different universe, but now apparently the God-Emperor Himself had sent them here on purpose? He was ecstatic, he was excited, and he was confused. A plethora of emotions that he didn't have the luxury or right to feel flowed out of his heart that he thought he had replaced with iron and blood a long time ago.

He set his mind straight. This was unlike him. The God-Emperor had entrusted him with a great mission. He shall not falter now.

A new universe comes with new threats unseen, other great powers might exist. Other xenos, other empires, other Gods?

He shook his head. At least there wouldn't be heretics here, he thought. Then his eyebrows stood in realization. How could he forget? Vailor stood up from kneeling, he was just praying to the God-Emperor just before, but now he needs to confirm one more thing. If he was in another universe, then how could a human child exist here? Holy Terra was the birthplace of all humanity, the cradle of the holiest form and the origin of the God-Emperor, so if that child was a human…

Vailor imagined an unimaginable thought.

He left with one last bow, then rushed outside of the makeshift camp and flung the tent's cover open. His coat dangled in the frosty wind, his boots stomped and got covered in cloud white snow, he reached and held the tip of his hat to prevent it from being blown from the gale of ice, then gazed into the distance.

"Where's the girl?"

Gerald came to his side.

"Fifth tent to the village center, Sir."

"Show me."

"Yes Sir Commissar."

The two jogged through the snow. Vailor took time to look up.

"The snow storm is getting stronger."

Gerald said.

"Yes, yes it is."

The Krieger pointed to one of the tents in the distance.

"She's in there, Sir.'

Vailor looked, and heard the unpleasant voice of the child they discovered before. The high pitch voice was like scraping metal to him, Vailor wondered how some people he met in the past even considered getting something as troublesome as a child. The child was shouting something inside the tent, complaining to the other soldiers inside.

"We must leave! Can't you see the wind? A blizzard of greater strength is about to come any minute now! And the disturbance you have caused, it's a perfect moment for monsters to come rushing out of everywhere!"

Vailor entered the tent, viewing the child with a changed perspective, a fire was lit behind his eyes as he gazed through her. Lynx looked at Vailor, and not a second later she spoke.

"Y-You! You seem to be the bigshot around here right? I'm warning you all, we must leave now!"

Vailor nodded.

"And why is that?"

"I don't know how, nor why, but I think your massive ship had awakened some of the frozen antimatter legion! Forget just facing the blizzard, the fact that they're waking up is a massive threat! I saw your soldiers fighting more and more of them just before!"

Vailor turned to Gerald. The soldier's head slid like a well-oiled machine to meet the Commissar's gaze.

"Commissar Sir, a total of eight confrontations with various xenos and corrupted humans had occurred while you had your conversation with the Captain."

"And?"

"They are of no threat."

Vailor looked back at Lynx, her face furrowed in worry.

"You guys! you don't know how dangerous they are yet!"

Vailor nodded, then promptly ignored her warning.

"Did the techpriests arrive earlier?"

"Yes Sir. They are busy with the construction of our camp and weapon maintenance."

"Call one of them now, tell them they need to check this child's genetic structure."

Gerald pulled a tiny data slate from his pocket.

"Sir, they already did. Techpriests Key and Heevsin met her a while ago. This is their report."

Vailor took the dataslate, scrolling through the information stored. Small laughter echoing inside his gas mask.

He looked back at Lynx.

"Lynx, is it?

"Y-Yeah?"

"The God-Emperor blesses you."

"What?"

Vailor smiled. She didn't need to understand it now. They were in another universe, separate from the milky way, but she was undoubtedly human. This is absolutely the God-Emperor's work. He had already spread the holy construction of the human race to places where chaos is far, and away from the war-torn galaxy, and now the God-Emperor had sent them here with these other universe humans, undoubtedly for some grand plan to defeat all the enemies of mankind at the great battle at the end of time. He did not try to comprehend his God's plans, it was foolish to do so, but these lost humans, they must be important to it.

Suddenly, visions of a grand plan that he could not understand himself flashed like gun lights, but then it was over in a second. He did not know if he imagined it or not but he nodded his head in self agreement.

Vailor looked back to Lynx.

"Otherverse human, I'm sure you have heard by now, but I shall properly introduce myself again. I am Commissar Vailor Strevy of the Imperium of Man."

Vailor smiled inside his dehumanizing mask, he had planned on having new servitors for the ship repair, but now it seems like these otherverse humans were planted here by The God-Emperor Himself, and if that is so… Then he shall do his best to unify all of humanity under the God-Emperor's light, like the fabled Great Crusade of Eons ago. He extended his glove to the otherverse human.

"You, Lynx, was it? I am sent by the God-Emperor. I am here to save you."

Lynx made a weird face while looking at the Commissar. The gloves that were extended looked intimidating, the man himself looked deadly. She could already see the faint taint of blood unable to be washed completely from his gothic dark coat, his voice was rough and cold, devoid of emotion and muffled by that eerie gas mask, and not to mention that skull adorning his cap. A slight gaze to his waist and she saw the shiny glint of the gun he aimed straight to her head a while ago.

Lynx didn't believe a single word of his.

But all of her instincts forced her hand to move. She shook the man's hand, and it felt no different than a demon's.

Zevas was at the lowest compartments of the Aeneid. Many servitors and slaves worked here, but they did not see him. Many lesser techpriests were here, but they didn't see him. He was as silent as the vacuum of space. Alone now, in his only abode, his many arms pulled a small, clear steel orb. He looked into the orb, it was his greatest treasure. It was a fragment of a STC. He was in another universe now, had the Omnissiah sent him here for him to finally use it? He quickly hid it back to his very core, he felt something crawling from behind.

The spider had crawled to his abode, Zevas looked back. The spider was another cultist of mars, just like him, and everyday, he thought of tearing the spider into nothing but scrap and torn wires.

The spider spoke in chaotic waves of metal.

Heretek. I will be watching you.

Zevas communicated back in single silent clicks.

Foolish. You are not even officially recognized as an Archmagos, and now we are separated from the larger Mechanicus. Question. Do you think you can stop me?

The spider glared red lights.

Heretek. You have fooled the Mechanicus to give you your false rank. I know the sins you have committed. You follow the destructive path of the false idol. When Lord Guilliman is snapped out of his delusion, he will destroy Cawl for the heretek he is. Know that I will do the same to you, usurper.

The spider crawled back, leaving Zevas alone in just moments. Zevas would've destroyed the spider now and then, but he knew that was not its main body. The spider was an extremely conservative and strict member of the Mechanicus, and Zevas was its opposite.

Zevas laughed. Cawl was the light of the Mechanicus, and he knew the Lord Commander Guilliman recognized that talent. He felt a rush of excitement, something that never occurred to him ever since he was ordained a techpriest. How many things could he create now without the prying eyes of the conservative mechanicus? He shuddered at the mere thought.

Now that he was in another universe, only the spider was his opponent from stopping him from fulfilling his mission to the Omnissiah. He was there when He spoke to them in that room, and now Zevas knew his mission, and he would destroy anything that dared block him.

He stared back into the STC fragment.

...

authors notes

this fanfic is not meant to be 100% lore accurate to both series

for clarification, they basically got isekaid to the honkaiverse, and the warp had connected to it too, albeit its not that strong at the moment, but it will grow. interactions of the warp with the imaginary tree and sea of quanta will become plot points for future chaps, aswell as interactions between warp beings (chaos gods) with aeons

updates will take long, but chapters will be too!

English is.not my native language, feel free t o point out grammar orspelling mistakes or any criticisms

i totally did not get nl omnibus brainrot

thanks for all the support!