The Dawn of Plagues
{no pictures }
In the great expanse around holy Terra, 'lies' whispers of heresy under bureaucratic laws, hive worlds whose underbelly hides the vile and the secret… the children and the angels play the fool, while the 'pest' go unattended… here... 'Lies' the dark mechanicus who beliefs fracture their unity…
While we praise our emperor for salvation, poisonous food gets handy as bread for his body… and while we partake, others bathe in the wine of his blood… Oh! The light from his throne is ever-reaching but dimming as the imperium's hollowed heart holds a terrifying secret…
The throne is failing… and so… deals were struck with Xeno scum… with human lives as their payment! A billion souls! Of our mankind… used to be but coins in a purse to be spent… did they not love our emperor enough… were there generations born for a transaction…
Emperor protects…emperor protects…. We scream these words… this chanted… as the daukhari monster tortured our children… all for plans to fix a dying corpse of a king! The thousand pyskers weren't enough…. Even four thousand souls… could barely stave off its hunger…
If such a fate awaits me… awaits my eyes… awaits my house…then I would rather cast away my eyes from 'his' light! Oh! Plague father… I swear the blood of my kin to you… I only ask… that as I watch my governess fall…. The power… no… the chance to pay back… what the inquisition stole from me! I swear the fall of my house will be paid back in entropy!
→Excerpt by house trader ←
[house lord... We have received permission to dock… it seems the defenders have bought our story of a warp disaster.]
[good… tell our friends hiding in the bottom deck, the urfather protects! And their shuttle is primed and ready to make landfall]
Meanwhile at the Bottom deck:
[Murgeist… tell me again what the plague Lord wishes us to achieve here? … Time is short... Our loathsome cousins failed to wipe out those annoying imperium flies!]
[yes, they did fail… but Putidus… remember… they're still doing their part as we speak! As I would rather not fight our former father golden boys!]
[Ha! Yeah! I bet you don't! Seeing as even the puppies of our frozen cousin almost got you last time! I bet that wound Leman Russ left on you still… Hurts! Bahaha!]
[Bourgidus… you lucky… that I understand that your half-mad… but if… YOU EVER MENTION THAT FALSE DEMIGOD TO ME AGAIN! I WILL SEND YOU STRAIGHT BACK TO THE SCREAMING VORTEX!] replied Murgeist with a half-baked power fist to Bourgidus's helmet! Knocking him to the cold steel walls of the ship, and causing the floor to shiver under terminators massive weight.
Meanwhile on the Canoness ship:
[my lady, do you really believe that ship story? I mean their engines do show signs of significant damage… but something... is odd.... The timing is just…]
[suspicious? I do find it odd master of the vox, but…. That's why I sent them to that docking station!]
[I see madam Canoness… let the Inquisition dogs deal with it…]
Meanwhile on the shuttle heading planet side:
As the doors to the shuttle opened to a thriving breathing world, the fresh air around it began to choke as greenish plague mixed in with its beauty. Plants age and die in mere seconds, and ground became as dry as cracker sand… and bug life… fell to their knees! Under boot and weight of the plague terminators!
Each echoing heavy step sent silent chills down the spines of the human welcoming party, who they thought to be a merchant of trade… but when those doors opened… hellish bugs of pestilence and hellish green fog erupted out! Those caught up in the smoke, breathed in their last in horrid screams as their flesh molted away!
Internal sores, or micro bugs chewing their way out by lungs! And as the guardsmen screamed, the nobles watched as bullets stormed through the fog! With each step, the death guard felt nothing, as they passed by corpses of heads that did not look human!
[Bugs! Tyranids in human bodies…. Disgusting! Looks like this port… Of Absodon is completely sold out…] said Putidus in disgust.
[doesn't matter… as it changes nothing… our goal is simple… the lord wishes for the mortal woman and thus this world affairs matter little overall.] replied Murgeist with steel eyes that covered his form!
Meanwhile, as the death guard continued their mission, locked away in the depths of a noble mansion hid a terrible secrete:
[Oh! By the pleasure god, will you hurry up already! How is the ritual still not complete yet?]
[ah! Insufferable scoundrel! Do not presume to be the one in charge here! Or have you forgotten… you've already failed her once…. Nova!]
[I swear you; bounty hunters never learn the concept of patience! Which is why I presume… you've failed in capturing a whelp who is no better than a toddler wandering around in an adult world!]
Hearing such imprudent words from a man of noble birth, caused anger to rise in the pistol grip of Nova! And with a sudden quick motion, Nova pistol-whipped the nobleman across the face! As the man spat out his teeth, Nova looked down on the man and said:
[It looks like you are the one who has forgotten! If it wasn't for me… your entire house would have be enslaved by bugs! Or worse… purged by the Inquisition! They would've had your head a decade ago! Or should I remind house Lawrence, who it is that's really in charge!]
[bah! Your threats don't scare me! Nova! You have lost her favor… and you need me… to get it back! As you know a champion of her pleasure isn't one to forgive!]
[Now! Bring me more sacrifices! The ritual door is almost ready! Just a few more pure souls or one powerful psyker should do it!] replied the nobleman as he rose to his feet and stared at the ritual door, that was held shut by two beautiful naked stone demons.
Tho, they were like stone statues, their glowing pink eyes were ever present and watching, as they delighted in watching the nobleman's cruelty and lustful action that went on in the background of the meeting.
While the ritual of twisted magics went on in a mansion that overlooked its citizens in a lofty position, the forest burned under a hound's breath!
[my farseer! We are nearing our limit! We can't keep this 'thing' contained much longer! Has 'she' moved further up the timeline yet?]
[no… it's not enough yet… We still need to buy just a few more hours! Sister and brothers of Asuryan it's just a little more, please hold on!] replied the farseer to himself as he watched his kinsmen rise and fall to a monster of Khorne.
meanwhile, as the Eldar kept the champion of Khorne at bay, the Tyranids hive lord:
[so... This is my queen's gift… One she sacrificed so much flesh to give… a pile of gene codex…] said the Neurotyrant as he picked up the grub between the claws of his tentacles in a slithering manner.
[but these aren't for me, are they my queen] continued the Neurotyrant as he passed over the small codex grubs and gave them out to the more elderly tyranid, which he believed to still hold some value to the hive.
And there in the center of the mass he saw it, A big grub that was different than the rest, glowing a dark hue, with fins of black leather, that resembled a mini reflection of himself. Holding it in his hands, and a moment of a study glance, he understood the queen's intention of grace… with such a treat!
For by consuming this codex gift of pure and concentrated genes, his body would evolve again, not to anything he wasn't already, but a stronger version of what made him…him! His ability to black out the warp, the canopy to seal the way, can now be held by him alone! What was an impossible feat for him alone to do, once consumed he could now seal this world's fate for the queen!
As the only Neuro type left in the world, only he could shoulder this burden, and so with drooling teeth and anticipation, the tyrant devoured the codex alive! Sending a psyker screaming shock wave through the world! For of course, these gifts didn't come without a price, but the price was small, only pain was it charge!
While the tyrant's scream shocks the earth, Layla looks back at the two guardsmen and questions why. To which Dylan simply nodded his head and said in a voice that didn't sound convincing:
[Steve, was a good man, a brave man… braver than me… he didn't deserve to die like that but… my sister… sacrifice and martyrdom are a common occurrence in this era of only war! But why am I telling you this… you already know that... Right… you must have already experienced such a thing out there… I'm I, right? Lord sister?]
Layla said nothing, only nodding her head, but deep down, with her eyes hidden by her helmet she already knew the truth, this was no act of martyrdom… a sacrifice yes…but not of one made by a willing act.
Tho she appreciated the blood spilled on her behalf, it was not out of an act of 'love' or 'chosen' and for that reason, petty as it was, burned her trigger finger! And while she walked past Dylan she stopped for a moment and said while remembering the look of fear and tears on Steve's face as he took the blow for her.:
{your right, he was braver than you… let's get going, the mechanicus is just ahead…}
But while Layla said that with as little malice as she could, the hint of it still slipped through to Dylan, of course, he didn't think much of it, as he already knew this sister didn't like him from the start, but that doesn't matter to him, as he was simply using her for his own plans. And when she was done with her part well… anything can happen in a war…
But while Dylan grinned his evil smile that went unnoticed by all but Oliver, Oliver returned it with a hidden smile of his own, while he whispered words to Dylan in a voice that sounded off and with a face that felt contorted, while he chewed on his fingernails:
[she... Is light… fire… beautiful! The cult could use her… don't we still need a psyker? This witch… perfect…]
[hush Oliver… the sister has sharp ears! And no, my brother she will not do… well… if she is a true sister of battle, it will be impossible but...]
[but?] replied Oliver with hopeful eyes
[hmm... This is just a hunch but… so don't go getting your hopes up or anything... But I think she is not as dogmatic for our so-called emperor, as other battle sisters I've seen in the past... Plus her power armor… its suspicious…]
[suspicious? How so brother?]
[well… it doesn't look as expensive or is adorned with many honors… It looks like something cheap and mass-produced… in any case, let's continue to observe for now…]
With whispers at her back, Layla peeked from in between the walls and off a mirror to see into the command center. There she noticed sleeping bat bugs on the ceiling while the floor and eye levels were covered in old blood and dirty stains, while in the corpses of human bones slithered out the little gnats from before!
But Layla noticed something different about them, while before they were white and sickly looking or purple-greyish with a white hue. These were red and blueish-white! But as strange as the color difference was, Layla couldn't remember if it was significant or not, just that it was odd.
[could it be... A mixture of two different hive fleets? Or a random mutation of some kind?] thought Layla to herself as she continued to observe in silence.
A deafening silence that went so quiet, that the only sound that could be heard, was the sound of dripping water and the slowly crunch noises of the gnats as they enjoyed their bones! But of course, one could not forget the sound of something clawing at a door…
In a room filled with darkness and the sound of banging, with drooling spit, and the sound of a dragging sword… their snout peeked from the shadows as the sunline shined through the cracks, standing on its hind legs, its red skin and blue armored plates were unmistakable!
With eyes that held no light and a nose drowned in snot, it sniffed the air as it focused on Layla! Tho broken and missing limbs, Layla could never mistake this monster for other than what it was…
{A Swarmlord!}