40 Thousand Reasons

Chapter 187: Dark

It is said, no plan survives the contact with the enemy.

That is always true. Best laid plans will fail in the face of the unknown and the unpredictable.

The trick, of course, is for yourself to become that imprevisible enemy.

The mind is always weaker, and the C'tan might have impressed and tricked the Alpha Legion and some Dark Mechanicus adepts to follow him on false pretense, but hate is much stronger.

The fallen Occam, might have been the loyal servant of the Emperor and a Chaos traitor too, but he still hated all xenos. It was something deeply ingrained in the subconscious of all humans in this galaxy, for aliens were always worse.

"What are you doing?" Omegon yelled at his subordinate, watching with dismay as the shield's console flips and tabs were pressed in rapid succession.

"Testing a theory." Occam answered calmly, with a tinge of hate and anger in his voice.

The dimensional fields fell, followed a second later by the void shields of the Hydra.

"Turn the shields back online! We are exposed now!" Omegon yelled and pointed at the console.

A shower of krak grenades filled the bridge of the Glorianna battleship, shredding machinery and bones with equal ease. My gift, that is.

Only Occam and Omegon remained standing, the Chaos marine protected by ceramite armor and his helmet, while Omegon was flayed alive and lost its human-looking skin, revealing a silvery alloy of obvious xeno origin.

"You are a C'tan, after all. Time to die, xeno scum!" Occam shouted and shot his bolter at the alien, who just laughed and ignored the.75 caliber rounds with a grin much too wide.

"I wonder, what gave me away? I'm certain the disguise was perfect." the C'tan asked in a confused voice, as a white sheet formed around him, creating a flowing toga around his metal body.

Then his smile froze, as a slim girl with white-silver hair and silk shoes appeared in the room, floating above the rivulets of blood and guts left behind by the deceased crew.

"A machine soul. Now this is a fascinating gift from my father. Demons are boring after a while." The girl said in a childish voice, and turned her violet glowing eyes towards Occam.

"What are you?" the Chaos marine asked, stepping back in fear.

"Adepta Tertia is my rank, sweetie. You did a great job for the Emperor today. I bet he'll be glad for your extraordinary service." Janice answered with a dimpled smile.

With a twist of the tesseract, I brought the three new guests inside the Blackstone Fortress, right in front of the Emperor and his Primarchs.

"He's fighting back...rather valiantly. I believe he'll break free from stasis, in about 3 minutes." Janice advised me with a pained voice, while her staff kept pointing at the C'tan shard and Warp strings twisted around the captive to hold him tight and secure.

Well, 3 minutes was quite a long time.

"So this is a C'tan? I thought they were much bigger and glowing green." Sanguinius hummed to himself, examining the captive with his exotic senses.

"They can be. Especially transcendant or intact C'tan, they are quite powerful. As for this one...Mephet'ran the Deceiver is only a shard. He will serve us well as a test, if the Emperor wills it." I replied with a serious voice, while turning towards the Custodes Captain.

Trajann Valoris glared at me for a second, before touching the Emperor's shoulder with a hesitant hand. Immediately, his eyes glowed golden and focused on Occam. "The Emperor sees you and your actions today, Occam the Untrue. Swear yourself and you may return to His service."

I coughed and waved a hand to interrupt the ceremony. "Yes, yes. But we have a more urgent matter."

The glowing eyes turned towards me, and then towards Canis. Really? The attention span of the Emperor was shorter than a child's.

"He doesn't mind to try, Pef Lancefire. Turning the C'tan shard into a loyal dog might be useful." the Custodes answered my question on a strange tangent.

Just devour his soul or whatever psykers do!

I sighed inward and waved the Ferryman Grey Knight closer. "You're the expert on soul sacrifice here, Brother Phlegyras. You have two minutes."

The bald guy nodded slowly and walked beside the captured C'tan, while the temperature on the bridge fell to glacial levels around him. "I can create a conduit...and guide the xeno Machine Spirit into the Black River. After that...it's out of my hands." the mystical Astartes muttered while spreading his hands in an arch, and almost physically drawing the C'tan spirit out of its metal body.

"I'll help once the body is empty." Janice announced with gritted teeth.

"Adam, you better eat everything, even if it tastes bad. You need the vitamins and minerals to get back on your feet!" I urged the Emperor via the Sounding Board. Luckily, it was all a mental and empathic transmission, so I wasn't blasted by some enraged Inquisitor.

"Very funny, Blank son." Emperor's voice answered in my head, while his body started glowing, first his normal golden aura then tendrils of white, blue and violet appeared and arched towards the C'tan and began sucking that machine soul out.

In a minute, a metal statue remained in place of the Deceiver, while the Emperor seemed a bit rosier in his cheeks. And still a bit dead.

"He wants more." the Custodes asked with a surprised voice.

I nodded and produced the Crimson God I had prepared for this occasion, just like he was, still bound with living rock chains by Trazyn. "This C'tan was quite expensive to procure. They don't grow on trees, you know." I explained in a serious voice, as Rose walked beside me to observe the ceremony a bit closer.

Captain Valoris turned once again towards me, eyes glowing golden from communion. "Are you trying to barter with the Emperor, again?" the Custodes demanded in slight outrage.

I sighed inward. "Not right now, Captain. Just pointing out the reality." I answered in a level voice then turned towards Janice.

"Go bring Magnus here, while I set up his glass throne." I spoke mentally and vanished, reappearing at the base of the Eternity Gate's stairs.

Fighting was still going on relentlessly, Titans and Custodes battling hordes of demons and demon engines, psyker spells, laser beams and weapon rounds flying about in a rainbow of colors and sound effects.

Of course, I proceeded to ignore the distraction and stepped once more with my Nexus at the base of the gate. Semnai and a Company of my Lamenters kept watch outside, sniping demons and providing Blank aura cover for the handicapped Adeptus Custodes.

"Good job, boys. Keep them busy." I commented casually, as I crossed into the next dimension.

I think Semnai cursed something at my back, but I was rather busy at the moment.

Inside the Golden Throne there was another pandemonium, with fewer troops and enemies but even more colored. Harlequins loved their patched clothes made of different colors, and jumping around for no reason.

Beyond the breached Webway, more fighting was going on, Sisters of Battle and various Eldar forces battled demons and Chaos marines, and losing quite rapidly to a pair of gigantic Bloodthirsters that seemed immune to bolters and flamers.

The first Lamenter company in Terminator armors and using heavy grav weapons were still holding the line, but the rules of reality fell apart rapidly, with every meter deeper into the Webway.

If they weren't Blanks...the battle would have been lost already.

And then, just as I was preparing to step in and kill the Greater Demons before they defeated our forces, a woman in black leathers appeared from behind the Chaos forces, spinning and twirling while a hurricane of Warp lightning swept aside all enemies.

At her side, a Harlequin dressed somberly in patches of black and silver walked fearlessly and ignored the Warp spells like he was on a casual stroll.

A Solitaire Harlequin?

Well, I knew they existed, but I haven't met one before. The Eldar backed away from his path, while the silver-haired woman crushed the two Greater Demons with amazing grace and ease.

In the pair's wake, there was nothing. No more enemies. These two had obliterated the entire Chaos incursion by themselves.

Sister Helena ran to my side a moment later, and pointed at the approaching pair. "That's the Demonifuge, formerly known as Sister Ephrael_Stern. She's suspected of heresy, after coming back to life three times."

Well, that was quite an achievement, for a normal mortal.

The Solitare remained silent, while Sister Stern approached me, after glancing at the Blank Lamenters with curious eyes. "I was told the Emperor was in danger. And yet, the Golden Throne is empty." she remarked in a cold voice.

I just extended my hand slowly, and flicked her forehead. "Don't trust everything you hear, pretty girl." I admonished her in an amused voice, and grinned as the woman rubbed her forehead in surprise.

"You're immune to my powers? Just like the weird Pariah?" she asked in a confused voice.

I turned to examine the silent Harlequin, both with my eyes and the tesseract senses. There was a strange aura around him, like a forcefield of some exotic nature. And I've only seen that type of aura on an Eldar Avatar.

"A messenger of Cegoragh?" I asked to make sure.

The masked Eldar nodded at me in silence. All right then. Gods could be useful, when they wished to be. Even Eldar gods.

Anyways, I turned away and walked beside the Shariax, the glass throne recovered from the Eastern Fringe. Griselda was still alive, barely.

"Time's up, my dear. Step down and retract the roots." I asked gently while patting her hand.

It took a minute for the new Alpha psyker to recover enough sanity and listen. "The Astronomican will go dark." she argued in a pained voice.

I shrugged and tugged at her hand again. "It's okay. A bit of darkness never hurt anyone." I quipped in a light voice as Griselda stood up from her throne, and the galaxy went dark.