Chapter 207: Whispering Mountains Part 1
"What's wrong, Xavyer Jubal?" Loken asked.
"There's a strange sound." Xavyer Jubal transmitted a data packet.
Loken opened it.
The sound was hoarse, like wind scraping across a sun-scorched desert.
"Samus. This is the only name you will hear. Samus—it represents an end and death. Samus. I am Samus. Samus is everywhere. Samus is the person next to you. Samus will chew your bones. Beware! Samus is coming."
The voice faded, returning to dead silence.
"This sound has been echoing through our communication channel," Xavyer Jubal explained. "It's causing some panic. Some of the men think there's something unnatural in these mountains."
"Nothing remarkable," Loken said. "Merely a psyker's trick. The Imperium has countermeasures for this. Activate your mental barrier protocols to prevent psychic intrusion."
"Continue the advance. As long as they are living beings of the materium, their flesh and blood cannot withstand a single bolt round."
"Understood," Xavyer Jubal responded.
Loken switched to the tactical display, confirmed the enemy's position, and then opened a spatial portal, leading his tactical squad to the designated coordinates.
Space warped. Light burst forth.
Loken and his warriors charged through, bolters ready.
Before the enemy could react, they were annihilated.
This battle was a slaughter without suspense. The technological disparity between the rebels and the Imperial forces proved insurmountable.
The Imperium's spatial teleportation, combined with transhuman combat superiority, overwhelmed the insurgents completely. They could neither escape nor resist.
The battle lasted just over twenty minutes.
The fortresses and tunnels carved into the mountains were reduced to smoking ruins. Cold architectural debris lay scattered across the desolate peaks.
Xavyer Jubal, captain of the Hellebore Tactical Squad, cornered the rebel leader. The man proved stubborn, refusing to surrender and even raising his weapon against an Astartes. He was annihilated for his defiance.
"I curse you all," the rebel leader gasped with his dying breath. "One day, you will pay for today's atrocities."
"Even in death, he finds no peace," Xavyer Jubal muttered, removing his helmet and spitting at the corpse.
Then—a voice called his name.
Xavyer Jubal looked up, scanning his surroundings. An ancient stone corridor, dark and profound, led deep into the mountain. The voice emanated from within, full of seduction, drawing him forward against his better judgment.
He entered a cold, damp stone hall lit from above.
Within stood a clear pool, its surrounding walls covered with strange symbols. Around the pool lay unburnt candles, copper coins, and skulls, both human and animal.
Xavyer Jubal approached the pool as if possessed.
The clear water reflected his face, carved like marble.
After staring at his reflection for a long moment, Xavyer Jubal turned to leave.
The reflection in the pool grinned back at him.
"Another victory."
Loken stood upon a wide stone platform overlooking the battlefield.
Behind him gathered the remembrancers assigned to his expedition: Chief Announcer Synderman, Official Poet Carcas, Scribe Messati, and Imagist Euphrati Keeler.
The Whisperhead Mountains campaign had ended. The fires of war were dying, their light growing dim.
Keeler photographed the departing gunships and shattered peaks spewing smoke plumes, but found little inspiration in the images.
She had traveled to too many worlds, witnessed the Imperium's magnificent industrial wonders and countless natural marvels. The vast mountains stretching in all directions might seem majestic to this world's inhabitants, but to her eyes they appeared unremarkable.
She wanted something else. Something sensational. Something no one else had captured.
As Loken briefed the remembrancers on the Whisperhead Mountains operation, a voice crackled through his vox-bead.
"Captain."
"Xavyer Jubal?" Loken paused. "What is it?"
"Captain, I am Sam—"
Loken's expression hardened. "What happened to you?"
"Nothing happened to me, but you should come see. Samus—it's Samus. I've activated my location beacon. Captain, come quickly."
"Samus? What did you find, Xavyer Jubal?"
"I found it, Captain. Samus is here."
The communication was cut off.
Loken delegated the remembrancers to Vipas and immediately departed for Xavyer Jubal's coordinates, opening a spatial portal to reach him faster.
Keeler noticed Loken's hurried departure.
Quietly, she activated her spatial fluctuation analyzer and locked onto his teleportation signature. Then, using the unauthorized portal device she'd acquired from the underground black market, she followed.
Deep within the Whisperhead Mountains, cold wind howled through cracks and conduits invisible to the naked eye.
Xavyer Jubal stood alone at the edge of a cliff beside a clear pool.
"Xavyer Jubal." Loken emerged from the spatial portal, calling his name.
Xavyer Jubal turned. "Captain," he said. "I have found something wonderful."
[ABNORMAL SUBSPACE READINGS DETECTED]
The warning flashed from the third-generation gene-engine implanted in Loken's body. His expression darkened as he studied Xavyer Jubal.
"Are you alright?"
"I'm fine. I just found something," Xavyer Jubal said.
"You haven't found anything. You've merely been deceived by the warp," Loken said, approaching carefully while keeping his voice calm. "That is not something we should interact with."
"Didn't you hear that voice?" Xavyer Jubal pointed to the pool.
"No. I didn't hear anything," Loken said. "You need treatment, Xavyer Jubal."
"No, there's nothing wrong with me. I truly heard a voice. It was speaking a name."
Xavyer Jubal's tone grew frenzied, his eyes bloodshot.
"A name, repeating over and over. Samus, this is the only name you will hear. Samus—it represents an end and death."
Footsteps echoed through the chamber. The other members of the Hellebore Tactical Squad arrived and immediately recognized something was wrong with their captain.
"Enough. You need treatment," Loken said firmly. "Restrain him and summon an Apothecary."
Xavyer Jubal raised his bolter and fired at one of his brothers.
Loken thrust out his hand, conjuring a spatial barrier that intercepted the bolt round.
BOOM!
The explosion sent a wave of fire rippling outward.
"Xavyer Jubal, what have you done?"
"How could you attack your own brother?"
The Hellebore Squad stared in shock.
Loken charged forward and tackled Xavyer Jubal to the ground as he pulled the trigger again.
But in the next instant, Xavyer Jubal began to mutate.
Some malevolent force surged into his body. His frame swelled rapidly, tearing through his power armor. Strange spikes and lesions erupted across his flesh. Veins coiled like serpents across distended muscles. His hands twisted into black talons. His teeth lengthened into sharp, translucent needles that filled his mouth.
"Samus... Samus is coming," he drawled, voice warping into an inhuman shriek.
"No!" Loken recoiled in horror.
The Astartes incorporated the Imperium's most advanced technologies.
They were demigods walking among mortals. How could such corruption manifest so swiftly?
Eldritch flames kindled across Xavyer Jubal's transformed body. Strange whispers filled the air.
The creature that had been Xavyer Jubal struck Loken with devastating force, sending him crashing into the cavern wall.
The mutated Astartes rose, issuing a guttural roar. His crimson eyes spun wildly like a compass needle at the pole.
"Oh my god! Oh my god!"
Keeler, having just materialized through her portal, stumbled backward and fell. But even in her terror, she raised her picter and captured several images.
The creature charged, batting aside several Astartes who tried to intercept it. Roaring, it swung its claws toward the remembrancer who had dared intrude upon this moment.
Keeler screamed.
Fear paralyzed her. She could only watch helplessly as the daemonic thing lunged.
A high-pitched cry rang out, sharp and piercing as a raptor's scream.
Brilliant golden light erupted through the chamber.
The twisted abomination that had been Xavyer Jubal was hurled backward, shrieking in agony.
A towering figure materialized before Keeler.
[End of Chapter]
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