Chapter 38: Deep into the Tiger's Den
On Isstvan V's surface, the Soul Drinkers labored alongside the Emperor's Children, constructing defensive fortifications. While the III Legion built with characteristic precision, the Soul Drinkers loosened critical fasteners and support structures.
Francis was quietly working on a specialized compound for Angron's neural implant crisis when Fulgrim burst through the chamber portal.
"Francis, help me! Please! Something's crawling around inside my head and I can't get it out! You have to save me!"
The Phoenician's seductive charm vanished, replaced by raw agony as he clutched his skull. Veins bulged across his pale features.
Without warning, his expression shifted to predatory wickedness. "Little Francis... come play with me. I have such wonderful things to show you—"
Fulgrim clawed at his own flesh and roared in desperate fury. "Get out! Go back to whatever hell you came from! I won't give in! I don't want this violation!"
The Primarch switched between malevolent seduction and anguished resistance. This dramatic change stunned Francis, the daemon's hold on his brother was stronger than Francis had thought, but also more unstable.
Fulgrim grabbed him with crushing force and dragged him into a nearby supply chamber.
Bang.
The door sealed. Fulgrim went silent, staring at Francis intensely while the air grew thick with menace.
"Brother, calm down. Look, if you need company, your gene-sons could handle that. I'm not really into that stuff, and maybe don't mess up my face, whatever you're thinking." Francis swallowed nervously and wrapped his arms around himself.
"Francis," Fulgrim whispered hoarsely, "whose side are you really on?"
"What kind of question is that? We're brothers, we're on the same—" Francis stopped mid-sentence as he noticed something wrong with Fulgrim's eyes.
The pupils dilated and contracted independently, and when Fulgrim smiled, it wasn't his brother's expression at all.
"Oh." Francis's face lit up with sudden understanding. "You're not Fulgrim right now, are you? Finally! My turn to be corrupted! This is exciting!"
His eyes sparkled with enthusiasm. "You should've said something sooner! You must be the daemon that's been riding around in Fulgrim's head! So what kind of intense experiences can you offer? Show me, I want to see what you've got!"
Fulgrim stared at him, confused.
The entity recovered and looked at Francis like a predator sizing up prey. "I see you understand everything. Join us, and you'll experience pleasures beyond anything you can imagine, ecstasy that goes beyond mortal understanding!"
"Cut the sales pitch. Give me a sample first, what kind of daemon just makes empty promises?"
The possessed Primarch exploded with rage, his eyes blazing with hypnotic light.
Francis found himself in a realm of endless temptation. Sweet, rose-scented air filled his lungs. In a lake of the finest wine, countless forms of desire appeared, constantly tempting Francis and making otherworldly sounds.
They touched him frantically, covering every part of his body. Francis heard whispered promises of deeper pleasures echoing in his mind. They overwhelmed him with sensation in endless waves while Francis stayed completely passive, analyzing every detail like a scientist.
"Is this really the best you can do? You're using this to test someone who does research for a living?" Francis shook his head in disappointment. "I have never seen such mediocre daemon work. I'd rate this experience as barely adequate, no creativity!"
As Francis delivered his critique as if he were reviewing a bad paper, the illusion collapsed. He found himself back in the dark chamber and approached Fulgrim with purpose.
"Let me show you how it's really done!"
Francis ignored all protests and forced his brother onto the chamber's maintenance table.
"What are you doing?"
"You know that saying? 'When three people get together, one of them ends up teaching the others?' Don't resist, I'm going to show you what real pleasure feels like!"
Francis strapped Fulgrim down and activated several melta weapons, turning down their power and positioning them at precise distances.
Hiss. Sizzle.
The melta weapons released controlled heat, creating random hot spots across Fulgrim's exposed skin.
"Take them off... take them off now..." Fulgrim's cheeks flushed as his body writhed involuntarily.
You didn't need to kill someone to mix pain and pleasure! Even the daemon seemed genuinely surprised.
"Wait, are you really a Slaaneshi daemon, or just pretending? Because this reaction is weird." Francis found the response more puzzling than expected.
He increased the heat. When wounds appeared, he applied cooling regeneration accelerants. The endless cycle of heat and cold made the newly healed flesh incredibly sensitive.
He threaded conductive wires through key points on Fulgrim's body and connected them to variable power sources that delivered precisely calibrated electrical pulses.
"No... don't stop..." Fulgrim shook continuously, his eyes growing unfocused as the daemon's control started to break under the overwhelming sensations.
"Don't worry, now it's time for the advanced tech! Do you know what real happiness is?" Francis asked with genuine curiosity.
"What... what is happiness?" Neither Fulgrim nor his passenger had ever really thought about it. Maybe that's why they always looked for it from outside sources.
Francis chuckled as he pulled out several containers from his supplies. "These compounds were originally made for Angron's treatment, but you'll make a good test subject. Here we go, with concentrated dopamine regulators, enhanced cortisol modulators, and this xenos pineal construct that can infinitely amplify sensory input. I harvested genetic material from every species that had these organs to create this beauty!"
Fulgrim could only weakly protest: "Please... don't..."
At this point, 'don't' clearly meant 'keep going.'
After injecting the compounds and connecting the external pineal enhancer, Fulgrim felt every sense explode beyond any previous limit. He could feel his body's response to each stimulus at the cellular level.
Even with all this overwhelming sensation, he couldn't stop. It built to an impossibly long climax that echoed throughout the chamber, a sound of boundaries shattered and essence reclaimed.
The Emperor's Children building fortifications outside shuddered when they heard it, instinctively knowing something profound and terrible had happened.
Gradually, light returned to the chamber. Francis looked at the unconscious Fulgrim while wiping sweat from his forehead and nodding with professional satisfaction.
"Temporary exorcism successful!"
Francis sensed something watching him with desperate, hungry attention, something that had been cast out and wanted back in.
"This... What is this!" he muttered, then noticed the faint psychic residue still clinging to the chamber walls.
Fulgrim stirred at the sound, he was a light sleeper, and that one comment woke him up. He saw Francis still working on some unknown black compound that bubbled ominously on the workbench.
"How... how did I get here? And why are you here, too?" Fulgrim held his head, feeling like he'd drunk bad alcohol. Pain shot through his whole body, but it came with subtle undertones of... pleasure.
"How do you feel? You just got possessed by a daemon, now you should be free from its control... for now." Francis replied with mild irritation. All the compounds he'd prepared for Angron's treatment were used up, so he had to synthesize everything from scratch. That's what he got for being too generous!
"How did you do that? Tell me!" Fulgrim's eyes blazed with fascination, though Francis could sense something darker underneath, the daemon's influence wasn't completely gone.
"Eh... forget about it. Let me handle these complex procedures. I doubt you could manage this kind of work." Francis stroked his chin thoughtfully. "I'm still curious, though, do you still oppose the False Emperor?"
"Didn't you join our cause to overthrow the False Emperor?" Fulgrim asked, confused.
"I joined because the whole situation intrigued me. When we get to Terra, would you like to punish the False Emperor personally? I think that would be incredibly satisfying!"
Fulgrim trembled with excitement, just thinking about scenarios like that was intensely stimulating. "Absolutely! I want to hurt Him! I'll whip Him with barbed chains!"
Fulgrim's breathing grew heavy, his hands unconsciously mimicking whipping motions, clearly showing Chaos still corrupted him.
Francis watched this with resignation. He'd hoped that bringing the Primarch's consciousness back would let him convert to loyalty, but that hope wasn't enough, the daemon's claws had sunk too deep.
As Francis prepared to say more, his enhanced senses detected a familiar psychic signature, something vast and predatory approaching through the warp. Sudden overwhelming drowsiness hit both Primarchs.
"Why am I suddenly so tired?"
"I feel it too!" Francis's eyes widened in recognition. "Something's hunting us through the warp."
This made Francis deeply uneasy. He tried to jab his thigh to stay awake, but Fulgrim stopped him. Looking at his brother's glazed expression, Francis immediately knew they were in serious danger.
"This is bad!"
Warp energies swept over their location, and intense drowsiness forced Francis toward unconsciousness. Even Horus felt these strange fluctuations, though his own psychic pressure was noticeably lighter.
"I knew it! Walk by the river long enough and you'll get your feet wet!"
Francis's consciousness fell from a great height, revealing a massive Six-Ring Labyrinth below, the domain of She Who Thirsts, arranged in concentric circles of ever-greater temptation. Francis's heart almost stopped. "You've got to be kidding me!"
In the third ring, he saw Angron lying motionless, lost to oblivion. He turned to look for Fulgrim but couldn't find him, his brother was gone, maybe thrown into a different circle entirely.
Francis crashed downward.
BOOM.
He plunged headfirst into massive piles of golden coins. More coins rained from above while their metallic clatter drove the imprisoned human souls in nearby cages to maddened howling.
"Give me the money! Give me the coins! My precious gold!"
"All mine! Everything belongs to me!"
"Let me out of here!"
The caged humans kept reaching out while sharp metal spikes repeatedly cut their flesh. Blood flowed down and was instantly absorbed by the cage mechanisms. The cages got smaller and sprouted more spikes...
[End of Chapter]