Beyond the brink of sanity and madness, I took another breath and, breaking free from the grip of the blinding light, awoke in the place where everything ended and began. The Immaterium felt better and better to me, and although the surroundings were sometimes a kaleidoscope of confusion and change, but overall... it was usually quite calm here, for few dared to cause trouble in the domain of Tzeentch, except Tzeentch himself.
However, this time, everything was different. The mountains were crumbling and crumbling into sand right before your eyes, the distance to them was tens of kilometers, and a second or an eternity later you were already under this very mountain, while the sand covered the sea into which you fell. The current carried you up, throwing you into the void, and then in this same void, torn apart by fear of an endless fall, an island was born, which became the location of the Crystal Labyrinth.
And the cycle began again, right at the walls of the labyrinth where I was supposed to be, reporting to my master. But there were no gates or doors, for Tzeentch let no one in, and only his furious cry could be heard by all his servants and creations, as well as his enemies.
The warp was very dangerous, where all power was in the hands of evil creatures, eternally absorbing and destroying any competitors that were born without stopping and were crushed immediately after their appearance. But due to the harsh power of Tzeentch and his plans, I simply could not fully understand the essence of the immaterium, because it was not shown to me. Now, being outside the labyrinth and not feeling the patronage of the dark god, I understood what kind of ass I was in.
"Damn it," I whispered, trying to keep my balance as Tzeentch's entire realm shook with his mad roar. "What's going on here?!"
"Something not very good," Birdie twittered warily, afraid to fly and preferring to simply wait out all this madness on my shoulder. "It's good that at least we are under the labyrinth, and not somewhere on the border with the Garden of Nurgle. Because of this weakness of Tzeentch, his enemies have probably already begun to bite off pieces of his domain. Just as the servants of Tzeentch have already begun to fight and kill each other in order to expand. They always do this, but when Tzeentch's grip weakens... real chaos begins.
And the Birdie did not lie, nor did she reveal some secret truth. It was obvious, and even the youngest creature of the world of Tzeentch initially appeared with an understanding of the elementary rules of this world. For a demon, this is akin to breathing and a heartbeat for a person, just as integral and begins to play its important role from the moment of birth. If for some reason understanding does not come... the same thing happens as with a person, in the case of a lack of breathing and a heartbeat - almost instant defeat from other entities and death.
- TZINCH, OPEN UP, YOU BASTARD!!! OR REBIRTH ME IN THE BODY OF SOME HANDSOME AND RICH ARISTOCRATIC ON A PARADISE WORLD SO THAT I CAN REST!!! WHAT SHOULD I DO?! - I screamed, pounding the monolithic wall, but my actions had no effect.
"He can't hear you. And you can't get inside," a voice rang out right behind me and simultaneously to the left, right, below and above, because mere mortal souls had a hard time perceiving information in this world: it was only thanks to Tzeentch's will and skill that conversations with him were sensible and understandable for me.
I reacted instantly, immediately turning around and reaching for my revolver with my left hand and my sword with my right. But I no longer had a weapon, and my attempt to regroup was extremely clumsy due to the false and constant feeling of loss of balance.
But no one attacked me. And the owner of the voice turned out to be the owner. A very strong-built girl, two meters tall, towered over me. She was completely naked and her lower limbs most resembled the paws of a harpy, half-bent, covered with feathers and ending in sharp claws. Feathers also covered other parts of the body, but not all. The feathers did not shimmer with rainbow light, but remained predominantly azure and changed only within the framework of blue and light blue shades.
The wings and arms were one piece, but the feathers of the wings were pressed and were located at the back of the arms, which made them difficult to see when the demoness stood facing the interlocutor. However, in an instant she could open them and flutter, creating a storm and disappearing from sight. The girl's hair was black as pitch, but her eyes already shone with blue warp fire. In general, the face was quite human, if you do not count the predatory features and sharp cheekbones, chin.
It was dangerous to look into the eyes of any demon, but I did not take my eyes off her face, nor did I dare lower my gaze. The demoness clearly demonstrated her beauty and grace for a reason, even her delicate marble skin attracted the gaze, her refined forearms, her wasp waist and such a confident pose. She was tall and desirable, but at the same time she did not try to somehow show her inaccessibility. It seemed that anyone could possess her.
And although she was far from the daemons of Slaanesh, this warp fiend intoxicated thousands and tens of thousands of aristocrats, officers, simply brave warriors and knights, among whom were both men and women, in her games. She lived too long in the mortal worlds and knew every weakness of my kind, using all available tools in her intrigues, including her beauty.
I might have even broken down if I hadn't been so fucking scared. I didn't understand what had happened, what was happening right now, and what could happen at all, only fear was inside me and in everything around me my mind saw only a threat, just as my soul resisted what was happening in every possible way, wanting to return to the physical world, even to the body of a servitor scrubbing toilets with a fork.
However, I did not turn away from the demon, so I looked at her face with my body, not in the eyes, but as if at her as a whole, trying to anticipate the blow. However, the tension gradually subsided, because the demoness did not try to attack and only studied me with curiosity, continuing to stand in a rather open and vulnerable pose. This said only that the demoness did not see a threat in me. Only because of this, there were only more questions, because if I did not pose a threat, then I should have already been destroyed and absorbed.
- Ah, so that's it, - I guessed and finally relaxed. - You know who I serve and you don't want to incur his wrath, because even if he's not in his right mind now, it won't last forever.
"An expected train of thought, but still not correct," the demoness smiled condescendingly and began to approach me.
Calmly, slowly, swaying her hips and drilling me with a predatory gaze. Light and quiet laughter escaped from her sparkling azure lips, twisted into an alluring smile. After that, fear returned to me again and although in motion the demoness became even more dangerous because of her alluring beauty, however, even here I fell captive to lust, because she was getting closer and closer and in my gut I felt that her intentions were, to put it mildly, not the best and certainly not related to any lustful fantasies.
And I was absolutely right, at the last moment her image seemed to dissolve in a sparkling haze and a phantom rushed towards me. The demoness's movements were incredibly fast, but I could not understand how fast. After all, the phantom dissipated halfway, and the demoness herself had already grabbed me by the neck and pressed me against the wall of the labyrinth. Cold as the blades of Fenris' warriors, claws dug into my neck, releasing several scarlet streams.
The demoness herself leaned slightly over me, staring at my soul, hidden behind a thousand shells that took on a form I could understand in the form of physical flesh. However, even the blood was not real, just as everything that was happening did not obey the laws of physics. In each incident, be it strange bleeding or the transformation of mountains into plains, one had to try to see the subtext, which was the essence and the images of which carried some signs.
In this case, everything was clear even to me, the drops of blood indicated that the demoness had literally bitten into my soul. However, then her gaze moved much lower, slid over my neck, then over my chest and stopped at her right thigh, to which I imagined a crystal dagger, placed in my hand by a bird. I don't know if the demoness had a femoral artery, and whether there was a chance to strike before her claws tore my throat, but at least something had to be done.
- So this is what a toy of Tzeentch looks like, - the demoness said, grinning, and then let me go and with a slight movement of her hand covered her body with a black dress, woven seemingly from the night itself: black suited her very well. - I have always been amazed by the magic of Slaanesh and if it were not for my rich experience, then because of your endurance I would even doubt my own beauty. It turns out that you are... one of those poor fellows whom Tzeentch passed through the past with the help of the power of Kairos? How did you survive?
- I survived? That's how I died.
- And I told the truth right away, I like you more and more. If you hated Tzeentch as much as I do, we would become friends.
"I hate him very much, but don't think that I will believe your lies about friendship. I haven't been here for very long, but I understand the rules better and better," I answered, running my hand over my own throat: there were no more wounds.
- Ha, I doubt it.
"So you hate Tzeentch? For what?" I asked cautiously, testing the waters and intending to extract as much information from the demoness as possible.
"Try to guess, assume the worst and you'll probably not be that far from the truth," the demoness replied with a caustic smile, and then turned her gaze to the wall of the labyrinth behind me. "Are you going to stand here like that? No one will get inside until this lunatic calms down."
- What happened to him?
- Another break from reality. Tears and throws in his madness. Apparently the information you brought with you was the cause of this. So something in those events did not come together and the puzzle broke? Or, on the contrary, everything came together perfectly, but paranoia made itself known? Tzeentch has outplayed himself many times before, perhaps this time the situation is similar. In any case, nothing good awaits his domain. Nurgle has already begun his offensive, Slaanesh always thirsts for revenge, and Khorne will not keep himself waiting for the meat grinder to begin.
"Why are you telling me all this?" I asked suspiciously, still clutching the dagger and fully prepared to repel the attack.
— To bring up the fact that even here it is not safe. Many want to enter the labyrinth, I killed some, wandering along the endless wall and trying to find a gap or a passage. But even though the labyrinth is sealed, more and more demons will come here. It is also likely that somewhere here the forces of Tzeentch will begin to gather, who will try to preserve the integrity of their domains and repel the attack of other gods, albeit without the help of Tzeentch himself.
- Now you're going to propose.
- True. My holdings are fairly well hidden and their value is far lower than the cost of capturing them. So they certainly won't come to me, and you... you can wait out this storm. At the same time, you can tell me why Tzeentch is so interested in you, and I'll tell you what interests you. If I know the answer, of course.
"It seems she never lied," Birdie whispered in my ear, not believing that such a thing could happen.
"You have amazing powers of observation, you are very attentive," the demoness, who saw and heard everything, immediately responded.
"This can't be," I shook my head.
- Funny, huh? All the inhabitants of Tzeentch's realm and our neighbors think so. A Tzeentch daemon cannot help but lie. I once thought so, but then I suddenly discovered that the best way to lie is to tell the truth. It was the most pleasant of discoveries, because lying and deceit have always been difficult for me, which is why I often lost to other daemons and became a victim of their intrigues. So, do you agree? I'm already planning to just get out of here, out of harm's way. I hope you'll come with me, because otherwise these searches of mine will be... fruitless.
After thinking and weighing all the risks, I agreed and believed at least that the demoness also hated Tzeentch. And that meant our interests could coincide and there was a chance for mutually beneficial cooperation. In any case, the world around was changing too quickly and chaotic spells were being born here and there. If I had stayed here, I would have definitely died, and then again and again... and in fact, nothing prevented the demoness from getting what she wanted by force.
"It's not far from here, relatively," said the demoness and walked along the endless wall of the labyrinth.
However, at some point, the wall that was very close suddenly simply disappeared. Apparently, one of my steps forward caused me to move not only in a clear three-dimensional space, but also in a four-dimensional one. For me, it was just another step forward, but in fact, I found myself in a different plane. This happened quite often and it would have been very easy to lose the demoness if not for her quiet chant, by which I was able to somehow navigate.
"We've arrived," said the demoness and stopped abruptly.
I crashed right into her back and almost broke my nose, because the demoness's stance was incredibly hard, like her. This also surprised me, she was somehow... not like she didn't fit this world. Any other demon would have easily fluttered aside and tripped me, but she just stood rooted to the spot and put her hands on her hips. In my understanding, some Khorne berserker should do this. The same could be said about her attempt to seduce me, it would have suited Slaanesh more. And with all this, she doesn't seem to lie very often or at all. It's not surprising that she is at odds with Tzeentch.
On the other hand, everything is logical in general. She could not stand competition with other demons and tried to compensate for this with other abilities, starting to study the magic of Slaanesh and catching by surprise those who expected anything but honesty from the spawn of Tzeentch. Everyone survived in the warp as best they could, as the essence of the changes said that in the domain of Tzeentch there should be everything, because the changes forced to go through all sorts of forms and lies were obliged to change honesty, in order to then become lies again and so on in a circle.
And of course, it was worth remembering that Tzeentch was a much more complex and sophisticated being than just the embodiment of all mortal liars. The dark gods contained many more facets of our souls, sometimes even the most unexpected and unpredictable ones. Any attempt to attribute one thing to them was initially doomed to failure.
Meanwhile, I stepped out from behind the demoness and looked at the grey hill on which the half-collapsed mansion stood. Of the typical decorations characteristic of Tzeentch's domain, there were only lamps with rainbow fire and azure weeds pushing through the grey, which was the dust and ashes of the demoness's own hopes. This was a "gift" from Tzeentch for his faithful puppet.
- I don't come here very often, preferring to wander both the warp and the mortal worlds in search of knowledge and opportunities that will help me take revenge or at least somehow harm Tzeentch. Therefore, the place looks rather... abandoned, - the demoness explained, after which she began to climb the hill. - But in general, it is safe here, few people know about this place, as well as there is nothing valuable here. Therefore, you can rest here in peace, and my protective spells will notice uninvited guests in advance if anything happens. There are also many escape routes, but everything necessary for a deep defense is here.
- Not bad. So... you kind of have an idea why Tzeentch went nuts?
"And you have much more information," the demoness nodded. "We'll figure it out."
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