The Black File prepares to deploy to Silph-9, a moon gone vox-dead in Segmentum Obscurus. Last message mentioned a man with no soul. Elias gears up, his chakra still tense, his mind still haunted by gold. But before he boards the ship, Fira finds him — and gives him one last thing to hold onto: his own words.
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The hangar smelled like rust, fuel, and final chances.
The Black File prepped in silence.
Malk checked the seals on a heavy grav-cannon.
Lirae whispered to her servo-skull, updating litany algorithms.
Bit was nowhere, but his bag was already on the dropship.
Volst stood at the terminal, watching the deployment file scroll down a flickering monitor.
Elias finished tightening the strap on his rebreather.
Everything in his kit was standard issue.
Except the knife.
The one he'd burned into life under the chapel — still faintly etched with chakra scarring. The edge didn't gleam.
It waited.
"ETA to drop: 32 minutes."
Volst didn't turn as she spoke.
"Keep your eyes open. Last team sent to Silph-9 went dark in under four hours. Intel's useless. Assume the planet's hostile."
"What's the priority?" Malk asked.
"Confirm what hit them. Then extract."
"And if it's a psyker?"
Volst lit another lho-stick.
"Burn it. Then run."
Elias was securing his chest rig when he heard footsteps behind him.
Heavy boots.
Familiar gait.
He turned—
Fira.
She didn't smile.
Didn't salute.
Just stopped two steps away and held out a bundle — small, wrapped in black cloth.
"You left this."
Elias took it.
Unwrapped it slowly.
Inside:
His journal.
But heavier now.
When he opened it, he saw she'd added to it — not words.
Pages.
Empty ones. Dozens of them.
Some torn from old Munitorum ledgers. Others from blank prayer slips. One sheet still bore a blood-smudged cogitator stamp.
She looked at him.
"You don't have a past. Not really. But you're building something. And whatever that thing is…"
She nodded at his chest.
"…it doesn't own what you write."
Elias ran a finger down the rough edge of the new pages.
"Thanks."
Fira nodded.
Then paused.
"I saw you in the chapel fire. Standing over the priest. Your knife glowing like it had a soul."
He looked at her.
"You afraid of me?"
Fira shook her head.
"I'm afraid of what might start following you."
The boarding alarm blared — three sharp tones, then a vox-chime.
Elias slung his gear and turned to go.
But Fira grabbed his sleeve.
"Wait."
He stopped.
She looked at him hard.
Then said:
"Whatever happens on that moon… don't let that thing write your story."
He stepped onto the transport.
The hatch sealed behind him.
Inside, Bit was already upside-down, hanging from a cargo net, chewing on a lho-stick filter.
"Did you say goodbye to your ghost girl?" Bit asked.
Elias didn't answer.
He just sat down, strapped in, and opened the journal.
On the first of the blank pages, he wrote:
"This time, I want to remember everything."
[END OF CHAPTER 6]
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Next Chapter:
Chapter 7: Silph-9 Doesn't Speak Anymore
The moon is dead quiet. No vox. No lights. Just long corridors and claw marks. The Black File descends into the dark — and Elias begins to understand what a man with no soul really is.