Gunnac Umbercaller's Story

Amidst the soldiers on the ground a green firefly blinked into existence. In a copper sunburst of planar energy one known as Myrkul's Vein moved by request a True Rekindled who dragged one who was not across the Way from one point to another. Rescued from a shattered remnant torn from another reality the patina-colored fire poured around the space marines as if it inherently recognized them. As it poured backward out of this reality a retreating entry spike revealed a red cloaked Doom Eagle techmarine named Gunnac Umbercaller. Under the shrouding cloak retreating shone the shining blue armor of the Primarch Roboute Guilliman.

The cognis signum of his armor risen above him carried for now a passenger in a shard of mind from these black-robed servants of his father he left behind to repair the primarch's temple to his direction. It gave Roboute indirect access to this 'Almanac' these Jinhai wielded as a piece of effective field intelligence. This creature 'Myrkul's Vein' was somehow always watching the emperor now whenever it could reach him. Direct access to the book to his mind by way of the Cognis Signum was something to explore later when the opportunity presented itself. Entering a battle uninformed was a recipe for failure though it had taken precious time.

His weapons were somehow weaker by the transition from the world he knew and the loyal techmarine suggested changes possessed by the necessity foisted upon him as well. He drew his power sword, the Gladius Incandor and raised it high so that his Space Marines could see it above the roar of battle. At a word from his mind the iconic silver blade alit in a heavy blue fire with a howl of incandescent grey sigils drawn out from some distant storm. Shadows near to him would suffer a boiling wind born of the black storm that suffered not the sheer existence of what was not of Mankind. Roboute directed the storm as much as one could such a thing that aimed to destroy foreign realities but it the empowered maelstrom of nonexistence could not itself be easily corrupted. The Jinhai and his techmarine felt he could control it for at least the battle. The odd lull of battle appeared just before he arrived where the army strangely poised itself for slaughter when the creature above lost his focus in cursory inspection of the space marines. How fortuitous.

His indomitable mind took in the battle quickly then stretched out to who served as space marines in the new age. His psychic might returned in force now that the noxious poison limiting him was removed, "Space Marines! Advance into their pause for mankind! Suffer no enemy of the Emperor's to live and leave nothing intact of their fortifications!"

There were weaknesses in the pattern of space marines for foes that came from the shadows amidst lines. Roboute sent telepathic instructions to space marines for new formations for clearer interior fire given the troop positions indicated by his cognis signum after considering the terrain for shadowing. The creatures seemed to tend toward racing straight at any perceived weakness and acquired some marines to set up pincer movements to exploit the individual weaknesses of strategic skills in the shadow beasts among the legion. Especially if their leader faltered in attention once more to restrain them from doom.

The techmarine in front of him busied with the construction of a field bulwark for cover with the bright red cloak that sprouted heavy tools. Even as he whirled around underneath it to slash at shadow creatures coming too close to the burning light of the Primarch's empowered sword.

The Emperor would find that Draco's psychic defenses were as strong as his physical ones, and despite the flurry of mental bullets, the Dragon held firm against the Emperor, the corrupting Shadowfire spreading further. Not bothering to look away, Draco took his left arm and raised it, leaving his sword in the Emperor's chest while the gauntlet of his armor stopped the swing of the Knight in its tracks, and the ground shattered beneath them, leaving another massive crater in the ground.

There was another momentary pause in the battle as Draco let out a single breath, blood trailing from his nose; the mind bullets having taken a toll on Draco's body after all, though his strength nor resolve wavered in the least. As the Chainsword made contact with Draco's flaming body and armor, the Corrupting Shadowfire spread to that as well, and the thing would begin to melt quickly as the fire spread. Slowly Draco turned his head, bones cracking as his face deformed, became more Draconian, and he stared at the Knight who dared interrupt his duel with the Emperor.

"Jedark di Owrropoqu." Draco uttered; "Force of Consequence.", a defensive, Physical ability that most Dragon's possessed, but never had the clarity of mind to use. Draco was in rare form, despite the unseen damage, he was in peak condition. Extending his blocking arm towards the Unbroken Warden, all of the force the man put into his own strike would suddenly be forced back into his own body, not the armor, but the body within, travelling down the melting sword and into the arms of the Warden Armor. This Force was amplified by Draco's own monstrous strength of a counter push, which he made seem effortless, and was arcing with Draconian Lightning, which made the guns and cannons used by the Imperium look like children's toys when it came to sheer destructive power.

The Legion of Shadows was gone, Draco neither wanted nor needed them, this was a duel now, and the Imperium would be setting up for nothing. Another drop of blood dripped from Draco's nose and he returned his full attention to the Emperor, grabbing his swords and letting forth a mighty, guttural roar as he pulled the swords in opposite directions, aiming to either dislodge his swords, or to split the Emperor's Armor in half. Either way, he would pull back. As he did so his Swords would fold back into the armor by themselves, and two orbs of Shadowfire appeared in Draco's clawed hands as he landed and began to move his hands in a rhythmic, almost ironically beautiful pattern as the orbs of Dark Draconian Magic grew in power and strength. Raising both hands above his head, Draco combined each orb, and then looked to the ground at his feet.



Slamming his hands down into the earth, at first it would appear that nothing happened, Draco's eyes closed, and the air was still, even previous bouts of Shadowfire he'd created ended and the rotting smell that went with them was gone too. For a moment, there was nothing.

Then, slowly, Draco opened his eyes, as he did so the very earth began to shake, the air grew heavy and thick, thick enough one could cut it with their pinky finger if they so desired. The rotting smell returned tenfold, the heat grew exponentially. Draco looked up and shouted loud and clear for all to hear.



It was at that moment that the ground beneath all Imperium present burst open, shattering into minute particles leaving nothing beneath them. From the earth erupted a great plume of Shadowfire, large enough to drown out a city Twice the Size of Solinus, the green, purple, and black flames swirled in their plume as everything began to corrode and melt down. Any who survived would likely be left highly deformed, crippled, hideous, and of course, rendered completely infertile. Those that perished where immediately taken to the abyss, Soul, Body, Armor and all, and would be corrupted until they were a part of the Legion of Shadows. Those who were unlucky, and were caught in the worst of the blast, would more than likely be alive as they feel themselves become corrupted, the never-ending aching feeling spreading from the heart and moving through every blood-vessel, like a chain-sword being driven into each follicle of hair with an ever increasing speed setting over and over again, bypassing the body's shock boundaries and even the boundary where one shuts down, and keeping them entirely awake throughout the entire experience until they finally were put down, or fully corrupted, where they would melt into the abyss to be conscripted into the Legion.

Draco stood slowly, his breathing ragged and labored, blood now trickling from his lips as well and down his chin. This was only one of many Trump Cards Draco possessed, but using it at this scale drained him significantly, left him exhausted Physically, Mentally, and Magically. The fire reflected back in Draco's eyes and the look of remorse crossed his face once more. "What did any of this accomplish? Neither of us is weak enough to die to the other's hand....why do I continue to fight?...." he thought to himself as he stood there, solemn and silent. He was not gloating, he was not even sticking around to see if his spell had worked and if the Emperor had been vanquished. He was once more lost in thought, however despite this, he kept his Psychic Defenses up, knowing that the Emperor would not settle for this, and would likely attack soon once more.

The question was, could Draco keep up the fight? Or would he allow himself to be captured?

Drip...
Drip....
Drip.....


Blood, The Emperor felt his blood leaving his body as Draco pulled out his sword ripping part of his holy armor. How long has it been since he has lost blood? How long has it been since those dark times during the Horus Heresy? That time when Horus tore at his body with intent to kill...Due to his fault mankind was gripped in eternal strife...

Would he fall here? Would the cries of the injured go unheard once more?...In fact he could hear the souls of his warriors being consumed by another evil. Being corrupted by this...this corruption...Not again....Never again! He would not fail humanity again! Not against Chaos and not this Shadow Legion! He would rise to this occasion! Their voices will be heard by him! Even as this unholy magic began to consume him something burned in his heart.

He was no God...But he would stop this! Bellowing with built up rage that has stirred for millennium. The Emperor unleashed a mighty roar from the very bowels of his chest. Filled with sorrow, and anger at everything that is wrong with this universe. The shadowfire that was consuming him disintegrated from a holy light that radiated off of his body. The remaining survivors shielded in a holy life as their bodies were healed and purged of corruption...of course Space marines did not ever break their vows of abstinence and even then they could not reproduce.



His voice blasted across the land as his remaining warriors including his Son and the Unbroken Warden where hovering inside floating balls of light. Safe from this corruption. The Emperor soon raised his sword, shining brighter than any star in this universe. The blade began to shine as it grew larger and larger. The massive blade of light reached the heavens as it did so.



The Emperor shouted as he stared down Draco, body bloodied but standing. A blade forged from every warrior lost is his service, from every person who has ever believed in him. Their own souls now coming together to defend against the darkness once again.




The Emperor's soon flew into the skies and the sun shined on his very being before coming back down like a sword from the heavens coming to strike down at the darkness itself. His voice roaring over this immense power.

Victor glared out at the screens around him the blows upon his armour upon his body, blood pouring from his wounds, in his last act of defiance against the shadows as he felt himself overcome by them, would be an all powerful strike again.

But the flames upon the knight shifted in colours those of a red and white a fury of vengeance, a fury of one's duty left undone, its frenzied strikes hitting with more force and coming unnaturally fast. From the eyes of the knight itself fires erupted and the very form seemed to be engulfed in flames of vengeance and purity, stripping the corrupting flames from its body, the cannon leveled back, and fired, as the knight became possessed; became its own being. Bones seemed to fade in and form across the hulking mechanical monster, raging against a god, it was fury. It had become one of the legion of the damned.

"You just never learn...." Draco growled, annoyed at the persistence of the Emperor and the Unbroken Warden. Closing his hands into fists, Draco let out a mighty roar that echoed across the landscape. This roar was amplified by his body as it began to shift and mold. Suddenly great black wings once more lurched forth from his back, moving in a sweeping motion that would attempt to smack away any incoming threats, such as the Emperor or the Unbroken Warden. These wings would black out the sun, and soon, so would the rest of Draco's enormous body as it grew to its true Kaiju size. One hundred and Seven Meters tall at the shoulder, not including the extra height granted by his neck, head, and horns, and well over a kilometer in length from snout to tail tip, with an even bigger wing-span, Draco let out one more roar, the pressure of the air erupting from his throat also likewise pressing his opponents back.

Moving with the same speed he had when the fight started was an easy task, and he went after the Unbroken Warden first, for having interrupted the single combat between himself and the Emperor. A quick back hand would likely send him flying, followed by a stomp of the other foot, the claws digging into the armor like butter and the sheer weight of the Dragon's form threatening to smash the armor entirely as would groan and creak if the step managed to land. The weight would continue to increase, particularly on the massive claw that was pressing into the chest of the Armor, reaching for the man inside to be able to kill him.

Behind him, his tail lashed out at at least four times the speed of sound, powerful sonic booms shaking the landscape as the tail moved at random to distract and possibly wound the Emperor again. After a while, Draco would deem the Warden unfit for movement, let alone combat, and remove his claw by flicking the man to the side, what happened after was of little concern to the Dragon.

Turning to face the Emperor, lightning began to course through Draco's body once more, travelling up from his clawed feet to his body, up his spine to his throat, where it gathered for another devastating attack, a Lightning Breath-Weapon. Opening his maw, Draco would release a pure concentrated beam of Draconian Lightning, the purple and golden light swirling as it aimed to overtake, hit, and then penetrate the Emperor's armor all in one fell swoop. This beam would last for a good ten seconds before Draco would rear up on his hind legs, and attempt to smash the Emperor like he had attempted with the Unbroken Warden.

"You will learn that Dragons tend to enjoy being left alone, Emperor." he snarled, his mouth not moving but the voice booming forth in the battle-weary minds of all around them. "And if you think this battle is taxing you've no clue what the rest of my kind is capable of. Count yourself lucky that I am one of few malevolent Dragons in existence!" and with that, Draco's maw burst forth another torrent of Shadowfire, twice as powerful as the Shadow Burial's fire, as it had come directly from Draco's body, and not with the intent to kill, but to utterly destroy.

The Emperor grunted as the Kaiju sized dragon breathed his Lightning Breath. His armor was soon full of holes, scorch marks and parts of his flesh were burned. However, what Draco was witnessing was his own armor beginning to shape and reform itself. His own flesh regenerating from the blast as he still plummeted to the earth. Soon Draco would attempt to smash the Emperor himself and he would be met with something that met his force, more than equal his own size coming from a man who appeared to be an ant to him.

"I do not learn beast? This battle...taxing to my body? Myself...lucky?....Don't make me laugh beast. You think I am scared by the rest of your kind? I have faced a power far greater than anything this mortal realm has yet to see. I have faced the four Gods of Chaos in a state of unlife. I have grown...tired of sitting back as mankind began is decent, I unable to move of that throne to fix my mistakes...You are the unlucky one here dragon...And I will put you where you belong..." The Emperor spoke plainly as Draco's maw opened up to breath a torrent of shadowfire.

The Emperor soon pulled his sword back as the fire burned across his body, burning his whole form but he remained steadfast. and goes in to thrust the massive blade into his gullet. "You wish to be left alone? How pathetic! You raid mankind and expect them to cower like cattle waiting for the slaughter! I will gladly show you a life of solitary dragon just as you ask! By destroying your very being and sentencing you to damnation!" The EMperor would put a force not becoming of his size and he went in to drive the blade into Draco's throat.

Victor was already dead, the machine possessed by his vengeful soul, the adamantium plating creaking under the strikes, but never breaking, the ion shields still deflecting blows that would crush the 12 metre tall imperial knight. The reaper chainsword striking and biting in ripping up the beast’s scale up and hacking into the flesh underneath.
The rapid fire battle cannon spitting out flame covered shells that explode with the force to level even the titans of the imperium, the vengeful beast that the knight had become wasn’t going to end its assault until the foe had fallen.

Thrown like a ragdoll the chainsword struck and bit in keeping the knight in the fight, the vengeful flames rising from its hull counteracting those of Draco, eating away at the corruption and snuffing it out, each blow the unbroken warden brought against the draconic scales would only rip more away and once a wound large enough had been exposed the knight brought back its chainsword and drove it into the wound revving the chainsword and ripping flesh and gore from the Dragon's wrist, smashing bones and almost cutting the clawed hand off.

"Gods it looks like hell down there" stated Priestess as her fleet of medivac dropships approached Solinus City.

"Damn outsiders..." Muttered a TLA trooper.

"They can kill themselves for all I care we have to get these people out."

"Ma'am we don't have enough..."

"Then we take more trips we are Terra's protectors and today we fucking prove it! For Terra! For the Liberation!"

The dropships descended from the sky flanked by gunships for defense. "Scan for life signs as soon as you find civies land and secure them quickly troopers will cover the medics don't let those bastards take anymore of our people." Ordered Priestess as she watched her ships desend.

About that time a TLA cruiser appeared with a squadron of viking fighters "The general sent us to cover you ma'am we got your backs"

"Thank the Gods now let's get to work."

Draco's tail engaged the Warden, likely easily overpowering and defeating the undead Armor again and again, as it lacked a learning mind. From Draco's body flew millions of Duradaeden swords, clones of the two that Draco used in his human form. Coursing with Draconian Lightning, which was proven to penetrate even the Emperor's Armor. The Swords would be used to try and overwhelm and pin down the Warden, where the Shadows would boil to live beneath the armor and try to drag it down to the Abyss, where the corruption would spread, regardless of holy intentions.

A gurgling roar was heard as Draco's throat, one of the softest parts of his Draconian body, was pierced by the Emperor's blade, snarling, the wound oozed pure Shadow, black sludge. "Your own power destroys your body, and you claim to be an All-Powerful Emperor..." Draco's claw, which was previously assaulted by the undead, unbroken Warden, the scales merely scratched and cracked, albeit still bleeding from the damage, moved to back-hand the Emperor lightning fast before the Massive Dragon reared up onto his haunches again, numerous ships from the Terran Liberation Army lLamming into his body and exploding on impact, those that survived would find absolutely nothing left of the city, the multiple salvos of the Drakon had left the city nothing but a series of 90-Meter deep craters, and Draco's Shadow Burial Spell had deprived the area of any life entirely.

The TLA was much too late to do anything of use.

His throat rumbled and the Emperor's sword pulsed out, pushed by the Magic within Draco's body as the wound began to seal itself, the black sludge hardening and pulling the skin back together. Darkness blackened the area around Draco as it then was pulled to his maw, which glowed with unholy retribution.He slammed down on his front legs and lowered his head as if he were about to hurl something from his belly onto the field of battle, and then slowly, opened his mouth. A small, Black ball with a White outline floated out of his maw and hovered there.

The Dragon then Flapped his great wings once, causing Sonic Booms and wind disturbances for the next two square miles around him, and hopped about two Kilometers away from the ball, which then drastically expanded.



Spreading out for a Kilometer and a half was a great orb of Shadowfire so pure that not even Draco would be able to survive it for longer than a few seconds. The Sheer Darkness one saw looking into it was enough to make any above-normal man Hallucinate vividly as its mind tries to comprehend what it can, or in this instance, cannot see. The Ground would be left un touched, but everything above it would be disintegrated without pause nor mercy.

Folding his wings back agaisnt his body, Draco decided it was time to take his leave. Soon, his entire body turned into the black Sludge of pure Shadow, and would collapse in on itself like melting chocolate. As it did so, the Magic would seep into the ground, like water into the dry ground of the desert, and vanish completely, the sky beginning to clear, revealing nothing but a desolate wasteland filled with Death.

The Emperor had no fear of this last attack Draco threw at him hoping to wipe them out as he ran away. This attack pales in comparison to the Warp, and the horrors it has. Using his psychic powers, he easily sends himself and his whole army to the safety of orbiting ships. Safe from the ground. The city itself now being consumed by destruction.

Orbiting platforms aimed Nova Cannons at the Mountains and fired their payloads at the area to give them their own parting gift before all orbiting forces remained on high alert. Forces mobilizing and regrouping. The battle was over on the ground but the war began.

"This is the Imperium of Man to the Terran Liberation Army. As you can see we already have engaged these forces which made target practice of this city. An entire city lost to the evil that plagues this world. Hear us now, these 'outsiders' have already done our best to save this city. Where were you when the enemy attacked the defenseless? where were you as we spilled out blood in battle? We are the Imperium of Man, sworn protectors of humanity. Even in times of this election we remain ever vigilant against all enemies of man. The people here are lost, but we ensured their deaths did not go unheard as you all sit around ever ignorant of their pleas for help...Yo uare no longer needed in this area, say your prayers of worship to the dead now..." A vox communication spoke to the Terran Liberation Fleet before cutting off their transmition so they could not respond to them.

Yet another attack forced back to lick their wounds, the Imperium once again fights for humanity in the face of a grave threat. This would already spread popularity during this election. That they continued to fight to defend everyone.

stood amongst the destruction and the aftermath the blackened armour and flaming construct that the imperial knight had become, its head glancing over the blasted landscape, and slowly it began to walk, and one moment looking towards it and then away, it would be gone. fading from realspace. its duty commited though the soul within bound to forever defend humanity and destroy the enemies of mankind.

the words whispered on the wind by the voices of all who had fallen that day in the fight against the shadow.

What is the terror of death
That we die, our work incomplete
What is the joy of life
To die knowing our task is done

" Fuck the Imperium once again a damn outside war takes Terran lives... Inform the General of what happened here and tell her to be prepared for the Imperium to spew bullshit" spoke Priestess glaring at the massacre before her.

The Imperium may have cut off thier line but the TLA had their own speakers that carried over the city from their ships "You can not silence us Imperium! No mater what you or that damn dragon said we will not lose hope and will continue our mission here even if what you and the dragon say is true we will not leave the dead to rot we will give them the rights they deserve and the closure thier loved ones will need. You may gather your fallen Imperium but do not hinder our duty to the fallen of Terra."

Priestess then turned to her crew " begin landing the ships send out parties to scan for life and teams to gather the fallen. Also have the mages scan for anything that dragon may have left behind I want no more surprises."

"What of the Imperium? "

"Now is not the time to battle them...and not the way the General wishes to handle them for now...If they attack us we defend ourselves but we start nothing."

"Fools...They don't even recognize this outsider threat lives on their own planet...The fallen are already dragged to their realm now...There is no corpses...only the cries of the dead and the damned...Blinded by such material views that they do not understand what great danger lurks. I pity them, yet I envy their ignorance." The ship captain spoke as Imperial assets on the grounds began to border off the city for threat of corruption.

Soon Imperial assets in orbit and in the air took off, they did not even attempt to search for survivors. For either they have already been dragged away or all trace of them extinguished. Such was the way of war against such immaterial foes, no mercy for the dead...not even death is the end for many...

A particular building had grown a reputation for being under illicit use, technically speaking, but the robed creatures left it in 'abandoned' state because that's what it was like when they started using it. Windows boarded up perfectly and roof since repaired but in haphazard patterns inherited from mismatched roofing tiles and hanging metal sheets. They didn't so much as walk out a door as pour through gaps in the walls though a particular Imperial soldier had a consistent presence in the area.

That process left several alterations to one of the city's most obviously not abandoned, abandoned-looking buildings. There was no way to see into the building through clean glass and panes with abnormally organized breaks in them. Gunnac had ordered the entire inner wall reinforced and the Jinhai set to that with a very sturdy ferroplasm/psistone construction as was found in many of their buildings on genesis. It took explosions with plastic deformation and shape-memory habits not to mention the odd bullet careening through the city. The foundation replaced with a very sturdy shock absorbant foundation using constructs in the building levitating the building's central support columns and struts away from actual ground contact. The very energetic spark was easily seen through the holes and the techmarine found the defenses inadequate. Several Wen crouched in protective positions around imperial guards with emplacements pointing through thin slits in the walls they could ask the many Jinhai in the area to open.

The techmarine himself was busy tinkering with imperial weaponry the large red crystal at his back a replacement servitor for the constructions his armor once had bearing tools aloft with a rippling cloak torn strips aloft. At first he found it distasteful but after improving his understanding of the creature within found it a machine spirit not a heresy in true intelligence. It was one a sliver of the implants and weak meat inside of his own mind. The Omnissiah perseveres and he would adapt this new technology to use for the machine god and the imperium. The artifact armor helped him dissect the leads and potentials in this new hymn of gears and electronics.

He raised the prototype from the work area and pointed it at a target downrange. An adaption of the patentia pattern of an imperial fist that returned from Genesis he raised the flux autogun and started firing downrange. Brass launched into the air as the detonations came again, and again, and again, and again, as a loader beacon flared to replenish its ammunition directly. The manifested round pounding through the armor atop a cadaver hung from the ceiling. After a few moments the slugs themselves started to explode and fragment as the manifested material decomposed. A hail of low-velocity fragments, ricochets, and lit the impassive face of the black and silver bound techmarine. It bore study upon energy shielding of some Xenos but this would assuage some of the imperial guard's endless ammunition logistics issues perhaps enhancing them if sanctioned psykers were at the ready to alter the beacons.

Jinhai reported through the Almanac that Otto was busy with other duties. Unavailable. A moment's consideration saw them look at each other after reading it then relayed a request to another who would do. Gunnac Umbercaller. Ever at the current Way core it would be easier to get him where they needed him but possibly less subtle a presence if an Aetherkind was watching. Nonetheless far more capable and resilient. One Jinhai moved further on along the path from the wrapper seeking the primary cause of the decoherence. Another did much the same moving a small firefly across the city to a nearby park. A psychoportation locus for Gunnac moving toward the destination point.

The two Jinhai moving toward the office then came across the object screaming of aetheric power. A tome so deeply tampering upon reality within the surface upon which it sat much less the environs by proxy. The entropic force infesting through matter in similar manner to discordant cells through the body of humankind. One stepped sideways into the other a momentary tiding nebulae arranging to forment a new constellation of eyes. The eight many had a greater depth of understanding among eldritch threads it wove discerning the locus of moment it once stitched together. The other four-many sidled up in proximity reading information around the object to give a better perspective to its other. The arrangement of the wake through outer planes became apparent with the faint correlation of striae out through extradimensional space. Enough for the engineer servitors to deploy a seeker potential to chase their lost humankind minutiae down as deep as it needed to go. They could then deploy its package to move their still rareified True Rekindled into play. It would require some alteration to minimize eddy distribution. The enemy Aetherkind wasn't apparent but likely one quite aware so some subterfuge would be required.

They set to work manufacturing a launch manifold encircling the book its large gloved hands arcing blue with metacreative energies. White psistone in hoar reached and branched upward in controlled branches as a set of piercing red eyes looked on from the door. The techmarine said little standing tall above the doorframe ducking to enter the home his cloying red silken cloak grips its way around the doorframe in little torn animated strips.

The deep voice echoed from within robust artifact armor, "Servitor, what is the nature of the threat? Why is it important I arrive unescorted?"

A castle of interlocking crystal strings in front of the eight many now came to its shoulders and was almost ready to deploy the hidden seeker. Potential charges tick along inner loops in both smooth linear time and the harsh jumps of barely discernible patterns writ periodic in time rather than the space of crystal design. Just controlled enough to function but nonlinear and random enough to squeeze between controlled patterns of Aetherkind and ignored as noise.

The eight-many responded with irregular glances of its many spark-eyes though it gave a continuum of attention, "An Aetherkind of power has acquired a humankind in a way that attempts to evade notice at a significant power utilization. It indicates value in the humankind that the Aetherkind must not be allowed to possess. Empathic impression signature is not of one that is known to us. Not Celestialkind, Infernalkind, Abyssalkind, Planarkind, Nurglekind. We do not feel it resembles the behavior of Outerkind. Outerkind observed to lack impetus for covering its tracks."

The four-many made a similar assessment of a smaller strategic venue, "The seeker will drop near to the humankind. Exactly proximal distance unknown. Foreign topology unknown. Intellectually noxious reality perturbation is observed among its native power bases. Your armor and enhanced astral structure can expect significant attack inertia on that vector."

The red eyes of the Techmarine positively glowed, "Then the glory for the Emperor is mine alone, today. What is my extraction point?"

"Origin," Replied the eight-many, "as it cannot be guaranteed that we will be able to significantly move the seeker once deployed. In potential proximity of a reality perturbator compromising entropic defense to move may damage carrying capacity. I have almost completed the manifold."

"A creature shifting reality to its whim? Eldar or creature of the Warp the Emperor will have their prize stolen from them this day." Said a hulking techmarine in deep monotone carefully watching the servitor complete its task.

A thin iridescent flatworm of psionic thoughtform made careful movements between peaks of white noise and error margins hiding in the noisy shadow of true data. The seeker followed the telltale striations of the signature impressed upon its mind by the eight-many's regulation. It slowly moved spreading its affect over many potential footfalls but a very slight perturbation of the error rate operating across multiple proximal timelines. The seeker naturally attracted to humankind by way of the Jinhai's affinity curled slowly inward toward Catherine's immediate reality.

The eight many focused on the seeker looking for patterns when the entire area lit up with an inflection point. One small crossing of potential paths moving slowly through the maze. A luminous flatworm snakes across hallways and around corners seeking out the crossing of paths trying to get there first. Spell potential pulled inward to something more recognizable but in stability very foreign to the locale. Alien but of a sort not from here as solid, orderly, and coiling up a psychoportive potential. The eight-many firmly anchored it down and powered the transit up. Imposing enough order on its immediate confines to keep in in place. An exact distance between it and the target wasn't something easily obtained in this mutable realm but the Jinhai reasoned it was close enough to be seen.

The eight-many looked to Gunnac spark-eyes twinkling from concerted activity among itself, "Target found, prepare for imposition."

Gunnac drew his sword, red cloak billowing around his front protectively, to kneel by the Emperor's tool that would deploy him to battle. The creatures took no identity for themselves and had no living body to taint standing as merely weapons marching for His aims. That aim entitled the Xenos to his acceptance at least and his respect for leading him to battle Chaos.

A four many appeared from the kitchen with a pair of heavy salad tongs, "I have located a gripping tool normalized to the location."

A psychoportation locus fired slowly dismantles the techmarine on top of the coiled seeker assembling his glowing broadsword and sinewy steel armor. Bass harmonics throwing a dull chant down the halls. Then the clang of his sword Inceptor hitting the floor bearing the symbol of the Imperium of Man. As soon as the red armored eyes could move they pivoted toward the tapping of human feet. Demons were heavier feral things often on four legs like the animals they were.

~~~

The four-many Jinhai padded over to the book showing a deep locus for the effect on this terrain salad tongs in hand. Insulated and resistant though they may be to this particular imposition of discordance the strength of this object easily belied something they cared not to provide easy conductance. It clacked the tongs a few times, something deep in its mind of human experience said that was appropriate, then picked up the book. With its free hand it held the book over a table where it started transmuting plates into a psistone package to better contain the object. This locus of discordance removed for safe keeping and examination by the Living Emperor. Absent a stronghold in Van Leugen the Discordant loci needed moving out of the city. Away from humankind rulers already deemed too tainted to make allies of. Perhaps a human vehicle. A note formed in the Almanac from the four-many: If the True Rekindled returns with a humankind perhaps the humankind would have transport.

The eight many did not react for to it the assessment was always so. Concordance furthering the awareness of past details. It maintained the seeker as the Techmarine took shape and maintained the spatial anchor for return.

Once Catherine's feet were safely across the new corridor's threshold it slammed shut behind her, the strange fabric-stone of Tzen'neth's Maze coming down swiftly like a curtain from the aether. The sheer volatility of the impact procuded a deafening clatter throughout the realm, and blasted the claustrophobic passage with a strong gust of air. Strong enough to choke out the guttering blue flame from its depth, plunging everything into a thick, palpable darkness. Once the gust died off the hall was left empty, silent and isolated from the din of the rest of the Maze.

Catherine would be the only source of sound, warmth, or life for now, left to her devices for a small time as her malevolent captor's attention was drawn elsewhere.

For once however He wasn't lying, not even by omission. The hall would be long, and ever narrowing with even the ceiling dipping in at some points, the floor running jagged and sloped here, or there. Though nothing existed thete to prevent light sources being conjured, magickal or mundane, the darkness would seem to have a will of its own - active devouring any luminescence and threatening to swallow it whole at any moment. It was safe though, a direct passage through The Bastille, and under the Rubicon leading directly to a fractured segment of His Library.

There, floating just inches above a lone and ornate onyx pedestal, rested a whithered black tome, a single name elegantly scrawled in its bearer's own handwriting, dead center:

"Catherine"

---

The Raven Lord's gaze turned towards the intruder, fixing on it with a combination of wrath and curiosity. It was strange for Him to see a creature He didn't readily know, and the familiarity of it was...Unsettling. It was clearly Man - or at least originated as such - that much was certain to Him, but the rest? The sigils it adnorned itself with reaked of The Empire, but the machinations it carried, the psionic motes and metals encasing it, were far more advanced than that rabble was capable of
"Well now," He bombarded the creature with the full, destabilizing legion of His voice, each every word the painful psychic screeches of a million-million corrupt souls. "what brave, or mindless beast are you, to wander where you hold no welcome?"

The Maze, and it's denizens knew a true call to arms when they heard it, and Tzen'neth's true defenses began to march - Horrors slavering, horse sized blades flailing from any of their numerous hands, feathered Greater Daemons began chanting their plane rending sorcereries, and various Champions drew claymore, and ward.

Intrusion would not be tolerated, not ever, but least of all with the delicate threads of His newest plot being spun.

As the entrance to the new corridor slammed shut, leaving Catherine in the cold dark she found the fear that she'd pushed aside earlier rising in her chest. It was a funny feeling thing, all at once anxious, cold, tight, nauseous and hardly able to breathe. Pausing for moment, she attempted to regain enough control over her faculties to at least start inching her way down this new drifting tunnel.

The dark inside of it was an oppressive and insidious thing, she felt that it would consume her very being if she were left alone in it long enough. Shivering slightly, she found her thoughts wandering back to all those years spent in Broadmoore, confined to a solitary cell, that the guards and the institute's director had made sure was as accommodating as possible. Misery wouldn't have been even an adequate enough word to describe it, they had ensured that she was kept weak and unable to defend herself from their assaults. "It's over.. that's not here.." She muttered to herself with an anxious and ragged breath. Catherine had been sure that she could steel herself against whatever her captor had in store by bluffing, lying, and ignoring her way out of things. Now she was coming to terms with the fact that she had very likely been proven wrong.

After some time, she found the floor gradually sloping and evening out into a new antechamber or room. By this point she wasn't sure she was even on Terra anymore or Van Leugen. "What the.." Catherine said as she cautiously approached the pedestal on which a new book rested.

She knew the writing as her own, few often used such a distinctive type of scrawling script anymore. But at the same time, she found herself doubting it to be real as she moved forwards to pick up the book.

Gunnac fully formed a riotous spark dulling from the translocation along his back and cloak moving to his volition. Cloak an extension of his technical prowess girded a huge red crystal adorned with faint inscriptions of machinist ideals. Inside a voice chanting honors to the Imperium crossed with encyclopedic knowledge from the faceless mouth of his armor's servitor. Among endless stacks of imperial knowledge a metalbound machine spirit in service to ideals of the Omnissiah. By Dicta the Jinhai could not believe but in the service of a humankind they certainly could create one that did. There was even one intelligence they knew that such a creature could be linked to.

~~~

The faceless red-robed body of ritualistic cog and electronics read of the techmarine's own knowledge referencing a crystal labyrinth. It had an attendance on the powers of change some the sacred mechanics and others it hadn't yet considered long. A toroid librarium of tools and books the metal feet standing perpendicular to the surface very ignorant of gravity. The notion of external time a thing that ticked so very slowly as the Techmarine completed transition. It tapped an image of Tzeentch from a book floating among the stacks, the chaos god of knowledge.

Turning gears and knobs along the support pillar the movement of the machine imparted knowledge by its changes. This place seemed not of their own by the subtleties and redundant parts that engaged and it turned to inspect a whirring obelisk of dials and metronomes at the center of the toroid in a vast workshop full of turrets, weapons, and tools varied. An inner dias which housed a swirling red brass mechanism clacking and chiming to tune along inspired by the Omnissiah's own inscrutable design by one finding its nature compatible. The servitor carefully divined the right mechanism assembling in the adapting machine to represent their location. A metaplanar Orrey attuned to Myrkul's own form of Astronomican that still needed a careful eye to its unguent and rituals.

The tattered red cape shot and careened at surfaces as the servitor tasted crystal maze around it to turn gears and align the Orrey. Gears of the squriming gear sections and riotous cams squeaked and ground finding heresy in the the place they were in. The faceless metal skeleton stood to contemplate a thrumming deep within as here were hymns of the Emperor here. Archaic to the library but here still new. They were in the past or perhaps in a world slightly not their own running just behind? Another eternal enemy, another eternal God-Emperor, another Omnissiah. It bore out further study. Should such a thing be true could the emperor's servants hear the second beacon? Hm. Sacred work to do still and barely a few seconds had passed. The techmarine should be cognizant by now at least.

~~~

The Servitor's voice lifted angry speech taken from Gunnac's memories of unguent-oiled gunmetal just ahead the warcries of men, "Here lies the Chaos demon of knowledge, Sempiturnus Techmarine. Step in careful time with the Omnisiiah's instruments for the Emperor's rightful wrath. Enemies be upon you here. This place may not be where the Living Emperor of Mankind resides."

The techmarine stood red eyes raising his sword to the ready as the tight ferroplasm and plasteel weave shift under his plating, "One of your eternal enemy, Chaos God, the Emperor of Mankind. One that took an oath to turn the warp to dust wherever it be found."

Myrkul spoke into the techmarine's mind a placid monotone voice as the overbeing reevaluated stratagem, "Techmarine. Change of objectives. We feel the anchor of the humankind can be moved out of range to return her to Terra. New goal: Reconnaissance - hold position as long as possible. Servitor: narrow planespace location then attempt warpspace location probability matrix for future reinforcements. Evacuate if planespace location is achieved and position untenable."

~~~

The other Jinhai binding the focus of change in the area completed his psistone wrapper and picked it up with the salad tongs. Myrkul quietly directed it to return the book to Genesis for analysis by the Living Emperor. Whatever it was, to be of a Chaos God made it a thing of danger to remove from this city. Even if it did not have a developed presence of servitors in the location. The spark-eyed Jinhai padded out Catherine's home, locking the door behind it, proceeding down the street to the nearest point the cacophony of minds in this city was low enough to psychoport away.

Another in the city heard Otto be driven back to Genesis as well as the call to serve. Gunnac had been occupied getting a transport column of imperial guard to Genesis but now freed from his task loaded from his small munitorum. As the call went out from the God-Emperor to the Primaris so too did Gunnac respond. A quiet four-spark servitor scouted his destination when the Techmarine looked through its eyes to put himself to the field.

The floor vibrated as a psychoportation pounded the massive techmarine in front of the Commissar the artificer armor melded with a beast of transfiguration. Imperial eagle across his back and symbol of the Doom Eagles on each shoulder. That the Jinhai heard Jurgen so too did Gunnac know what had been said and turned slightly to look behind him. The force-sword inceptor sloughed from the arm ferroplasm erupting upward the heavy blade sprouting its gleaming sharp edges. A flat red crystal on his back that poured out a drifting clothlike solidity for a cloak tore strips of itself to point at the Commissar and Jurgen.

"Through the servitors I am told you need better weapons. So by the Emperor's will I do so grant these artifacts to you," said the faceless techmarine.

Two strange rifles with huge bores emerged stock-first squeezing from nothing as if the inside of the cloth were larger. Well used but well kept the prototypes were not yet adorned with gold in in their final forms. They bore but a small temporary descriptor labeling their pattern a 'Tenant' pattern bolt carbine. Sized for the Imperial Guard the reflex sight included a ammo descriptor though its clip more a specialized bolt-round manifestation grid. That the scope said "GUNNAC 10 / ∞" reflected the semi-automatic rifle's proximity to Gunnac to provide metacreative energy. The size of the weapon by shock resistance to wielded by those lesser than the Primaris. It had not the accuracy of ones wielded by their primaris counterparts but most of the power. Though its limitation in the graviton moment engine at its center as for an instant when firing it increased the mass of the gun and thus arresting recoil. It would not be moved easily when fired but high settings diminished its reloading rate. Metal composing most of its superstructure shaded cadet blue as Gunnac found ferroplasm suitable to take the force of sudden mass. The weapon's outer layer and remaining substance protected by ceramite.

Gunnac described the weapon quickly for Cain and Jurgen, "The graviton moment engine will allow the machine spirit to prevent your self-destruction by recoil. Set it high and trust the machine spirit to instruct."

Josephus' Lance was a study craft, even amongst his own kind, and the Iron Lord piloting it was no fresh-faced neophyte, or stumbling Guardsmen. As soon as the Shards opened fire it banked left, assuming an almost fully horizontal position, and responded with immediate, and extreme prejudice. All four twin-linked Heavy Bolters roared again, spraying indiscriminately towards the Shards, as their filthy, heretech sonic weaponry tore at the hull. Several sections felt the sting, namely the underslung Bolters, both of which were rent, and rendered inoperable almost as fast as they had began to fire. The glass of the cockpit shattered as well, forcing the pilot to level out, and battle new drag. It only served to piss him off however, and with a flick of two switches the dorsal mounted Turbo-Laser Destructor unleashed absolute hell, two more Hellstrikes in toe, towards the one that begin to shift, and charge. The pilot wasn't about to have any boarding, or grapple nonsense, and barrel-rolled as soon as his violent payload had been let loose, a rapid ascent following in its wake.

The ground-bound Marines found themselves in a rather similar position as Alpha advanced. The Veteran Sergeant was a little dismayed as the heretical machine sliced clean through a hellstrike missle, and downright dumbfounded when somehow, by seemingly sorcerery, it didn't explode until after the infernal machine was in front of it. When the second missle simply went haywire, thankfully streaming directly towards one of the airborne Shards, he came to the conclusion that their enemy had some form of control over machinery. In his mind likely a Heretech Sorcerer, or twisted machination of the Dark Mechanicum. Either way he wasn't stupid enough, or brash enough to fall for the contraptions obvious goading.

Instead he, and his men formed their ranks, each Heavy Bolter spewing a near-endless, but deliberately aimed cascade of Kraken Rounds. They moved with silent focus, each man of the rear-line firing over the front-line's shoulders, including the Havoc. The mixed volley of holy Imperial death was well-trained on the center of Alpha's electromagnetic force field in the hope of hammering a crack in to it. In the end it didn't matter though, their main goal was to ensure Cain's successful evacuation. Destroying this aggressive hunk of heretical trash would merely be a bonus.

Just behind the current fray came the rest of the reinforcements from Gonthar as well. Four Assault Valkyrie's, all armed to teeth, had been deployed just behind the replacement Thunderhawk. Though trailing, they pushed it double time, and the distance they lagged behind was, in the end, a boon from the Emperor Himself. It positioned them just barely in Heavy Bolter range of the second PNC deployment, and without hesitation each Valkyrie began a break-neck strafing run to try and decapitate the pincer in its tracks.