The Immaterium was both the strength and the bane of humanity. It was through the exploration of this dangerous subspace or parallel world that humanity made the leap to world conquest. Only ships with warp drives provided the means to connect such distant worlds. However, jumping into the warp was always fraught with risk, and mere mortals could only pray that everything went as planned.
The light of the astronomicon could have dimmed, the navigator could have gone mad, the Geller fields could have failed, or traitors could have deliberately created a breach in the ship's defenses. What happened this time I could not say for sure, as probably most of the crew could not, but in that same second everyone felt the scale of the problem.
Voices from the other world called to weak human souls. One after another, visions appeared and the steel walls began to ooze blood. One after another, the servitors fell into psychosis and began to kill people, and the crew members themselves, in mad screams, tore the skin off their faces, distorted by terrible grimaces, with their nails. In all this bacchanalia, only the most steadfast could maintain self-control, and to my surprise, even I turned out to be one.
Apparently, the accumulated experience has tempered me and changed me. At first, I learned to kill people to save my own life, which Lex valued so much. In Mordred's skin, I got my fill of noble duty and learned what the word "responsibility" means. For the sake of my goals, I closed my eyes to my conscience, I was ready to kill even innocent people if the goal justified it.
And now, slowly rising from the table, while Heraldry shuddered in agony, I looked into the faces of dozens of ghosts who whispered and cried out... cried out for vengeance, for justice, for mercy? I did not know what they wanted, for the chorus of their voices was intended to drive me mad.
One by one, images were forming. In the back of my mind, I could hear Tyukhe's condemning voice, blaming me for his death; Kara's cold hands touched the back of my head and asked why I had abandoned her. The soldiers to whom I had promised victory, with their faces disfigured by fire and shrapnel, asked: am I not ashamed that they are dead and I am alive? And even the Bird sitting on the table looked at me very unkindly, with an eye filled with a scarlet glow.
They wanted to break me, but Slaanesh should have learned to understand mortals better and learned from Tzeentch. For so far, everything that tried to break me has only made me stronger. And to this pressure, my only response has been to press back.
"Line up and I'll kill you again, laying you to rest forever in the winds of the warp," I growled, grabbing my revolver and frantically starting to fire in all directions.
One by one the ghosts disappeared, because they were not real or did not have time to materialize into reality due to the instability of the warp flows. My revolver belched fragments and flame, and the prosthetic hand instantly loaded the drum. But the ghosts kept approaching, there were more and more of them, and among them I saw not only those I knew from Mordred's life, but also those I had met in Lex's life... and that soldier in the fastest life in the body of an unknown soldier of planetary defense... but the real horror began when the images of the very first life began to appear.
My hand trembled and the revolver fell, a fleeting weakness was to become fatal and the broken mind threatened to break completely. However, the closer despair became, the greater anger and hatred were born in Mordred's soul. His character was really extremely difficult and although this harmed him throughout his life, it seems that today it saved his and my souls.
Anger and hatred filled the gap. To do everything to spite the enemy, even if it was impossible to survive. That was the only thought that engulfed my consciousness. And it was the same thought that made me pull the sword out of its sheath and start chopping the ghosts.
I chopped so furiously and for so long that I stopped only when I heard Herald's cry:
"NO, PLEASE, NO!!!" she sobbed in despair, crawling towards the wall.
And stopping for a moment, I suddenly realized that I was standing in the mess hall covered in blood. Small warp creatures were already devouring the bodies and cheerfully cutting up the corpses. The survivors could be counted on the fingers of one hand, because there were a lot of psi-sensitive people here. The lodge was one of the most vulnerable places for a warp breakthrough and even the space marines were lying dead.
But the worst thing was that on some of the bodies I saw traces of grapeshot and sword. How many had I killed in a fit of rage? The realization that had washed over me made me sick to my stomach. And the Dark Prince only laughed, and his laughter distorted the walls, the floor, the ceiling… everything around was covered in terrible symbols that drove mad those who accidentally looked at them.
Slowly turning towards Herald, who crawled to the wall in horror and trembling with her whole body, hid her face in her knees so as not to see anything anymore. She covered her ears with her hands so as not to hear anything. But she could not close her soul, nor forget what she had seen seconds earlier.
"You are not free even over your own desires, let alone fate..." the dark forces whispered arrogantly, laughing at my weakness and fear.
And then the Bird came into my field of vision, which continued to sit motionless all this time and look at me. Chaos penetrated into it much faster and changed it rapidly. And now, having already given up, the Bird chirped only one word:
- Sorry.
And with a wild cackle she rushed like an arrow towards my face, plunging her beak straight into my eye. I couldn't believe it and hesitated. The unexpected attack knocked me down and with a pain-filled cry I threw the crystal demon away, after which it dived and tried to attack me again, but was met with a blow from the sword.
Birdie's shell shattered into thousands of pieces, and her essence dissipated and took the place of my soul. Like any other demon, Birdie could not be killed by a normal physical attack. However, the loss of the shell caused her to lose a significant part of her strength. However, even with these crumbs, I felt something gnawing at my soul from within.
"Did you think I couldn't make you feel guilty? How self-confident you are, mortal..." the dark forces, led by Slaanesh, whispered in his ear.
The Dark Prince couldn't drive me mad with ghosts, but like any dark god he had a backup plan. And after killing so many innocents... I truly broke down and even Mordred's anger was dispelled, for our strength was insignificant before the power of the warp that poured into the ship.
"Emperor, save our souls and guide the lost to the right path..." Adam's quiet whisper of prayer was heard, his religiosity had reached the peak of the greatest despair, and confusing the words, he repeated everything he had heard from the cultists who believed in the divinity of the Emperor.
But if the Emperor heard his words, then, as usual, he was probably busy with something more important. If there was any way to save the situation, then it was worth believing not in the gods, but in one's own strength.
"Which have already failed you…" whispered chaos, plunging one dagger after another into the crippled souls.
"We have to go," I said quietly, grabbing Herald by the shoulder with a trembling hand.
She didn't answer anything and it seems she's gone into psychosis. However, having taken the first step with unprecedented timidity, I took the second one much more confidently.
"We have to go!" I barked, giving the order to myself as well.
I jerked her to her feet, grabbed her hand and walked slowly towards Adam.
"Get off your ass and let's go," I growled, looking at the demons, who were too busy with their victims and therefore didn't pay attention to us.
Adam, thanks to his rationalism, did not break for long and, seeing a real chance for salvation, immediately seemed to forget about religion. He nodded and crawled out from under the table, took his laser pistol out of the holster and followed me. Together we quietly left the dining room, starting to make our way along the corridor, in which blood flowed without stopping, coming from God knows where. Faces kept crawling out of the walls and trying to deafen us with their screams.
We tried to be invisible, but it was impossible, because the entire ship became the eyes and ears of destructive forces, who only laughed at the pathetic attempts of people to survive. However, already at the end of the first corridor, a demon appeared before us, confidently walking straight towards us.
Two meters tall, it seemed to be woven from different body parts and with a grinding sound it was dragging two cleavers along the metal floor. Opening its mouth, the demon licked its lips with four tongues and then rushed straight at us.
"Emperor save," Adam said, holding his breath, but he still raised his pistol and started shooting, heating up the battery to the maximum, because the demon probably wouldn't provide us with anything of secondary importance. I threw Heraldry back and stepped forward, intending to clash with the demon in close combat. Pure madness, but it was the only thing those mired in darkness could rely on.
The first huge cleaver collided with my sword and even holding the hilt with both hands I almost flew back from the incredible power of the enemy. Only the prosthesis allowed me to withstand this force, but even it would not save me from the second blow rushing from the left side and so I used my psychic abilities, covering the left side of my body with crystal.
My prosthetic arm extended to the left side, intercepting the second blow, collided with a crash and clang. The demon was surprised, but not by my strength, but by my stupidity. After all, using this power had further broken the veil and strengthened the rift in the warp. Immediately after that, a crash was heard from both ends of the corridor. Hordes were rushing straight towards us, attracted by such a tasty soul of a psyker. With these actions, I killed all those whom I had not managed to kill in a fit of madness.
- Ha-ha-ha! - laughed the Dark Prince, watching the show and enjoying every moment of pain of those who prevented him from realizing his plans on Dreikernor.
"You fool, what have you done?!" Adam exclaimed and continued shooting, despite the fact that I was grappling with the enemy.
Because of this, my hair was burnt, as well as a third-degree burn on my neck. However, the demon was hit in the face, after which I took advantage of the opportunity and, continuing to hold the left cleaver with the prosthesis, moved the second one to the side and, moving the blade, pierced the demon's belly, simultaneously twisting the blade.
The demon fell heavily to his knees, after which Adam ran up close to the side and discharged the rest of the charge right into the warp spawn's temple.
"We need to run! Faster!" Adam shouted, not yet realizing that there was nowhere to run.
After all, death was rushing towards us from both ends of the corridor. I saw them, heard them, opened my soul to them and felt how they were beginning to win. We could not cope with such power, we were simply not strong enough, did not have the necessary experience and could only pray. Although I no longer had the strength to pray.
"This is the end," I said, sinking to the ground.
Adam spat on everything, abandoned me and Heraldry, but having run barely five meters, he suddenly saw that hordes were rushing towards us. His pistol was unloaded, I had lost faith in victory, and Heraldry had even lost her mind. Adam also learned humility at that moment, realizing that he could do nothing.
"It can't be…" he looked down, then put the gun to his chin and burst into tears, realizing that he had spent his entire battery on fighting, and not on the easy way.
But there were those who were made to fight such a foe. Those whose minds and wills were forged in the crucible of war to face daemons, xenos, traitors, and all who were the Emperor's finger. And the roar of their bolters grew louder as the roar of the First Company Captain's run tore through the eddies of the warp, bringing stability back to chaos.
At full speed, Shai flew out of the technical tunnel like an armored train, knocking down the first demon with his shoulder and turning it into a bloody pancake. Instantly with this, he turned around and with a blow from his right hand, holding a bolt pistol, blew off the skull of the next creature, who did not even have time to raise his damned weapon. The knife with his left pierced the chest of another demon.
With incredible ease and precision, Shai performed every action, and weak attacks could not even scratch the armor of the space marine. Instantly turning around, he raised his weapon in our direction and began to fire aimed fire. One shot - one corpse, and the creatures died in a strict sequence, which the space marine himself drew out, noticing every detail through the visor of his helmet.
The fastest demons, those that could reach us, fell to the ground first. However, another group was already rushing behind Shai, as there were too many demons in general. And unfortunately, even the space marines were forced to reload.
But even when the first demon had already made the jump, Shai didn't move, continuing to shoot the demons behind our backs. The demon's teeth had already sunk into the joint of the power armor under the knee, the last cartridge fell and with a blow of his knife Shai dealt with the demon at his leg. At that moment he needed to switch to the enemies behind his back, but contrary to common sense, Shai rushed straight at us and a second later he had already jumped over me, who was kneeling.
He launched himself into the next creature with his foot. His bolt pistol had already returned to its magnetic holder, and his knife had migrated to his other hand. With fist and knife he hacked and broke his enemies until their armor was covered with wounds. With silent fury he dug his fingers into the belly of another creature, then tore out its spine.
He grabbed the maddened psyker by the throat, who screamed right into his helmet, but could not reach his soul and in a moment was thrown into the enemies who were approaching from the other side. It seemed that the situation could not get any worse, but it became worse again and suddenly there was an explosion.
The demons around were blown to pieces, but Shai didn't even think about dodging, continuing to stand like a wall, realizing that the possessed man with the grenade launcher was already reloading for a second shot.
"Lie down!" Shai's menacing voice rang out and I immediately obeyed, just as Adam fell to the floor.
Shai began reloading his bolt pistol, and at the moment of the shot, he deftly dodged the launched grenade, which exploded in the thick of the stream of demons trying to get to our flesh. But as soon as Shai fired the first bolt of the second magazine, a new roar of a dozen bolters sounded from different directions.
The captain of the first company was the first to get here, not because he wanted to save anyone, but because he understood that the first thing to do in such cases was to kill the psykers. However, as soon as he came across us, he realized that he was already too late and instantly changed his target. And although Shai was clearly not as friendly as Tyche, like many space marines who would prefer not to cover mortals with themselves, so as not to receive unnecessary damage, he still saved us.
"The connection is down again!" came the voice of the space marine who had made his way to Shai.
— The psykers have already caused a demonic breakthrough.
- So your order to isolate the lodge area was correct.
The entire ship was now in a permanent battle, and although it belonged to the Space Marine Legion, as well as being the flagship of the fleet, the Space Marines could not be everywhere in time. Therefore, many decks had to cope on their own, and somewhere the Imperial Army had already suffered a crushing defeat.
However, thanks to Shay's command, the situation was immediately brought under control. The heart of the ship was isolated, the breakthrough on the bridge was stopped, and right now the first company was clearing the sector around the lodge site, burning and cutting out everything unnatural. The space marines were also breaking through to the navigator, who, although he had the strongest security, a company of space marines will never be superfluous.
"Is the navigator alive?" Adam asked, rising to his feet and shaking me.
"Yes, otherwise we would all be dead," Shai said harshly, then looked at me with disapproval. "Moiran had high hopes for you, but so far you have only caused disappointment. Raise your sword, officer, and do your duty in the name of Humanity!"
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