Chapter Text
Chapter 1: Precarious Moments
Craftworld Ulthwe: Gathering Hall.
Year: 999.M41
The seer council was debating for days whether to act on this important mission, as they called it. Some agreed, some disagreed. At the end, it was a draw, and they awaited a message from Eldrad Ulthran for his word about the prophecies and visions he saw. It would determine this act once and for all.
Farseer Elidyr frowned while his colleagues were arguing, holding his staff in deep meditation. The long silver-haired Eldar seer was tired of this. So much time is wasted, and yet the action is not taken. He knew it was necessary. His race was dying and was merely surviving in the cruel galaxy. Every step was a huge need, and every denial of battle was even a bigger need. But at the same time, the more time wasted, the darker the fate of the Aeldari grew within his mind. Especially after the birth of the "Great Rift", which split the galaxy into two, plunging the other side into darkness and the malicious gaze of Chaos, fresh fruits ripe for taking.
"We have to act!" yelled Autarch Nuvian. The roughness in his voice clearly reflected his intentions of leading the warhost to victory.
"Cool yourself, Nuvian. We have not received the final word from Farseer Ulthran." Farseer Eloen was the next to speak. Her calm and soothing voice echoed through the entire hall.
"The everlasting threat of she-who-thirsts cannot be silenced by wasting time! Are we to sit here, humble seers, or are we to commit ourselves to our paths? Warriors need to master their art. And us, Autarchs, to be their leaders." Nuvian digressed and continued.
"Ever since the emissary of Ynnead gave the Mon'Keigh a new leader, the sons and daughters of Ulthwe have not forgotten the scars inflicted by darker powers upon their home. We left it vulnerable while helping these worthless lesser species and giving aid to our kin! We should be defending ourselves for once!"
"Every vision comes with flaws and necessary sacrifices, Nuvian!" Warlock Belanor interfered.
"Farseer Ulthran sees Yvraine's actions as possibly the last hope to awaken Ynnead, defeat she-who-thirsts once and for all, and secure the future of the Eldar Race."
"Your skills of psychic arts precede you, Belanor. If there is a single ounce of truth in your words, then you will also understand the necessity of protecting our home from the hostile predations. I will not see our home plunged into the void while the rest of our kin are left with a secured future and the name of Ulthwe forgotten and defeated. Every one of us lost those who were dear to us while we should have been defending our home. What do you know about necessary sacrifices, Warlock?! You were there with Ulthran, defending our home, while we were scattered around this cursed galaxy." Nuvian was furious. He led many warhosts, set up countless plans, pulled out multiple strategies. But in every way or another, the sacrifices of his warriors were seen as "necessary", when most of them were unnecessary. He hated it.
Belanor gripped his glove covered hands into fists and pointed at Nuvian.
"We fight for survival. Not just our craftworld, but for the entirety of the Aeldari race, Nuvian! You, as Autarch should know that it is our farseers who predict the best times to act or not to act. Even if it appears to be intensively necessary. You mastered the path of the leader. But you have allowed your war mask to slip off your face and let your emotions take control. Do you blind yourself or follow the truth?"
It was then that Autarch swooped his elegant wings and prepared to charge Belanor. He provoked him to prove the point, but Autarch Nuvian was not going to take such an insult. However, their certain duel was not going to happen.
"Enough!"
Farseer Elidyr intervened. Striking the floor with the might of his staff and sending a loud noise to echo throughout the entire hall. All eyes stared directly at him, including Belanor and Nuvian who froze in the spot. Elidyr walked down the stairs step by step, while carrying his force staff, thumping bit by bit with each step he took. Everyone in his presence had great respect for the well aged farseer. Even the great Eldrad Ulthran himself regarded him as a gem of Ulthwe. He walked towards both the Warlock and Autarch, while Eloen and the rest of the seers watched.
"Cool off your hunger for leadership, Nuvian. Do not provoke him, Belanor. He is an autarch who sees more of Isha's children fall in battle than any of our visions can comprehend. We all have our differences. We all have our uses and flaws. Yet, do not let the dust of foolishness blind your eyes. We can only prevail through unity and the visions that are vital to every step we take into the future." Elidyr said, and continued to explain.
"Every act must be done when the time is right. Every sacrifice we make, Autarch, is painful. I mourn them just like you, just like the rest of us. I wish there was an alternative, but that is not a luxury we can afford. This does not make you foolish for such an outlash. It just proves that you are a true and a capable leader in your path. For that alone is where your strength lies. You try to cover your warriors with the shadow of your wings. But not everyone can be under the exact shadow. You show concern nevertheless. It is admirable, Nuvian. You should always know that your warriors will taste death without fear or doubt when you lead them to battle. For such is their trust for you that you can never loosen or make it tremble." The great farseer finished his explanation.
Autarch Nuvian concentrated himself and cooled his anger down with the humble words of the great Farseer. He looked him in the eyes and spoke out.
"Farseer Elidyr, I-"
Elidyr merely approached him and gently put his hand on his shoulder.
"Your warriors respect you and see you as their main figure to look up to, Nuvian. Do not let them see your pain. Rather, give them hope. Hope they will hold onto as long as you lead them."
"... Yes, farseer." he calmly said while lightly bowing his head and stepping aside to wait. Eloen was satisfied with how Elidyr was quick to calm down even a stubborn and a tough individual like Nuvian. Belanor already retreated back to his original standing spot, and it was then that the hall was completely silent. Such was the respect and discipline shown in front of the elder farseer.
Eloen then approached Elidyr and let her words speak for themselves.
"By Isha, Elidyr. The Aeldari are lucky to have you by their side."
"Luck is not what determines fate. It is like swimming in the void and trying to catch any glimpse of light while darkness covers your eyes. I am exhausted by the events of the past thousands of years. I can feel my body crystallizing. Each millennia, the doom of our species approaches, and even my strength is not enough to seek the right path." he said as he sat back on his oval-shaped floating seat.
"Elidyr. You tread on the path that most of us cannot even imagine. As a farseer, you understand the dangers that we see in our visions. They are always overwhelming, but we push them off with the best accuracy we can let ourselves have. Do not feel burdened. But do what you must." she said before lightly bowing and going back to her own seat. Elidyr, however, was rubbing his forehead after listening to Eloen. However, the waiting was quick enough to end.
The hall gates opened up, and right there and then, Eldrad Ulthran himself walked to the center of the hall. Helmetless, in his black clad armor of the last runes, as it was named. Carrying his mighty staff of Ulthamar and his ghosthelm in his free hand. All the seers present, stood up and looked at him for his verdict.
"Humble seers. The runes have determined this as a necessary step for the well-being of our craftworld. An artefact against the dark gods of Chaos, their minions, and their spawn. Ever since we sang the songs of lament, many generations ago before our great fall, this world the Mon'Keigh now inhabit has been a world of refuge against the primordial enemy which has been awakened in the last millenia. It survived." Eldrad said, and all gazes were definitely upon him at this very moment.
"However, during the great fall, during the birth of she-who-thirsts, when great calamity struck our race, the world had exodites on it, and this device or artefact in general acted as a barrier shield against the warp or anything with its influence present. It protected the world from the claws of she-who-thirsts. On this specific world, a few grandmasters of knowledge, decided to master this device and enhance it. Find the flaws and fix them. They saw more need to give the exodites this potential object for protection against the warp and the eye of terror, as humans call it, as they believed that every Aeldari, except Exodite kin, was doomed to have their souls consumed by the archenemy in a very short period of time. There is a slim chance that there are more than one out there." He finished.
Many of those who were present, began to mumble to each other at the news from Ulthran. An artefact. To hold off the claws of she-who-thirsts. They needed it.
"And what of the exodite kin, Eldrad?" asked Eloen, before his gaze diverted towards her.
"When the Mon'Keigh rose to power and when their corpse of a seer was in his might, one of his sons invaded the world with his armies, and mercilessly killed all of them. Destroyed the settlements and took the world for humanity to settle, or just out of pure hate, simply put. We do not know if the world spirit shrines survived for their souls to find peace or were destroyed by the barbaric Mon'Keigh."
"By Isha.." Eloen sat down and shook her head slowly. Exodites were the Eldar who just wanted to be left alone and live on a lush world without any intent to harm. The myth that even few reasonable Mon'Keigh lived with them on the same worlds in peace and prosperity was a shocking fact. But the nature of the human race was unpredictable. They killed their own countless times, and burned their worlds by the hands of their "Inquisitors" and treated the majority as cannon fodder for their never ending wars. It was obvious how easily they would destroy the Eldar and sympathizing humans alike.
"How did this artefact survive?" asked Elidyr, gazing straight at Ulthran's eyes, which he returned in an instant.
"The last of the chieftains and remaining survivors sealed themselves in the great mountains with puzzled, secret passages by the Eldar runes located in the northern part of this world. Straight in the enormous mountains stretching long distances. In order for it not to be found, they deactivated it. Possibly in the hopes that it will be found by any of the remaining Eldar. They starved to death, and tasted the bitterness of it. The Mon'Keigh would never comprehend or understand our language. And that is why it was ignored for so long by them, thinking it was just paintings of the exodites. This artefact must be found and retrieved. If it has protection against anything warp related, this will deny any attempts of Chaos forces to ever make sudden strikes on our craftworld. And by luck, if more are found, more children of Isha shall be protected."
"We appreciate your final verdict, Eldrad. We shall commence this act immediately. How are the events unfolding with the Ynnari? Anything else we should be concerned about?"
"The path of Yvraine and her companions is already set in motion. I have failed to see the last possible future on Coheria. Where Ynnead would've been awakened. It would've struck a huge blow against the archenemy, especially she-who-thirsts. But the space marine captain was clearly not a fool for his backward kin, and I barely escaped. Now, the last hope rests on the shoulders of Yvraine and Ynnari. We must secure every possible protection and chances of severe attacks we can, to fight off the darker powers, before they deplete our numbers, and swallow us like a beast in the ocean." He said, then continued.
"Get this act done. I will return to my work. Oh, Elidyr. There is a mist that I cannot determine completely. This mission should be done by infiltration. Mon'Keigh presence is exceptionally low in this maiden world they now call Merlorian. Backwards, you could say, of sorts. And is far away from the sights of Imperial authorities. It has no defenses, and through the camouflage of invisibility, a small cadre of shuttles can be landed without anyone's notice. However.. This mist indicates there is a chance there might be someone else present there. I cannot determine who it is. Therefore, stay vigilant."
Elidyr listened cautiously and gave him a light nod as a reply, which he also returned, before disappearing from the hall completely.
"Autarch Nuvian."
"Yes Farseer."
"Assemble the exarchs, and the warriors. Inform them about this mission and make a proper planning."
"It will be done, Farseer." Nuvian bowed lightly and retreated from the hall to do his task, while Elidyr stared at Belanor.
"Belanor. Since there might be a hostile presence in this mission we are about to take, I want you to make sure that everything goes as smoothly as possible. No errors are wanted, nor needed."
"As you wish, Farseer Elidyr." He also lightly bowed and went off to join the warhost.
The rest of the farseers left the hall to attend to their own tasks, while Eloen remained with Elidyr. She noticed his concern and a grunt as he held his head while he stood still, his long, silky silver hair running down his shoulders and the back. She made a gentle approach.
"Elidyr.. You are bothered thoroughly. Is there something that burdens your mind?"
"My mind is always burdened, Farseer Eloen." He frowned and then stared into her eyes.
"You will accompany the warhost and unpuzzle what the runes say. I trust your knowledge in this endeavor. Our council and the rest of the kin request my presence to discuss the bigger matters concerning the current and upcoming large-scale events. Alongside Ulthran."
"With your blessings, Elidyr. What about the humans? What if they see us?"
"Mon'Keigh are foolish and not intelligent enough. They live short lives, are backward in their nature, and are barbaric. If they possess any signs of threat in your way, end them, or use them. They're easy to manipulate and use for our goals."
"Is there no end to this? When some of them lived with our exodite kin? You heard the rumors and myths yourself."
"Eldrad tried multiple times to reason with their leaders. In exchange, they only showed mistrust and hostility. While they are right not to trust us, those instances were all pure truth. They doomed themselves by ignoring the obvious. They plug their ears and live in ignorance. Only a handful of them can see any reason, including the newly reborn son of their Emperor, which we, the Eldar, gave them. Even he knows of our ways and does not trust us. Fully at least. But we need humanity to hold off the gaze of Chaos from concentrating fully on us. Even though they are the most chaos fueling race." he explained, while Eloen and he went out of the hall towards the huge garden covered with a big dome.
Craftworld Ulthwe: Garden of the thousand stars.
Liriel sat down under the tree of the thousand stars. Her power sword and shuriken pistol were neatly placed on the grass next to her, with her helmet in front of her, as she sat cross-legged on the ground, meditating in silence while the light wind moved her long, reddish-orange hair. The artisans were singing their songs and bringing the feeling of peace to the banshee. Her aspect armor was clad in black, with a tight, lightweight synthetic-like bodysuit underneath. The aspect warrior opened her shiny amber eyes, grabbed her sword and set out into her training schedule. Precisely imagining herself in the situation of dire need to save herself from surrounding dangers. She made fluent jumps, fluidly showing her athleticism and swift speeds and arts of swordsmanship. It looked like she was as light as a feather and as fast as a bullet, had there been any humans present to look at her action.
Her outstanding movements suddenly stopped with her sword's tip facing Elidyr, which forced her to quickly sheath it and lightly bow to the great Farseer. And Eloen next to him.
"Liriel Valdan of Ulthwe. Never letting your guard drop as always?"
She leaned back up and looked at him.
"Humble Farseer Elidyr. My lady, Farseer Eloen." She bowed to her as much and leaned up again.
"The aspect warriors train with mind and body alike, noble farseers. Every day and night, I train my body, and my mind, to face the gore and fire of the battle ahead. Inflicting the wrath of Kaela Mensha Khaine upon our enemies like the rest of my aspect sisters." she said as she grabbed her shuriken pistol and her helmet, sheathing the pistol and carrying the helmet under her armpit. Her amber eyes were as pure and bright as reddish gold, almond shaped and her skin was pure and pale.
"Your skills grow with each battle, Liriel. Always trust your instincts, as your exarch has trained you." Eloen said
"Your words are welcoming, my lady. I thank you for that."
"Be at ease, child. I depart now. The warhost should not be kept waiting." With that, Eloen departed to the docks, and it was Eridyl who made the first approach towards the banshee.
"Liriel. In my chamber of all futures, I have spent countless hours predicting the best possible outcomes for this mission we are about to take, and I hoped there would be an alternative. Something within my mind is not leaving me alone." he said with a tired, frowny look. Liriel was quick to notice it and tried to comfort him.
"Uncle Elidyr.. Does it have something to do with me?" she asked, a hint of curiosity seen on her face.
"I cannot tell you for certain, child. These visions are not something that can be seen and then predicted to be the complete truth. Therefore, you must be careful, think wisely and, remember. Hold your warmask firmly. Don't let your emotions take over. For you fight in the shadow of Khaine."
Liriel was puzzled. Was there something he was not telling her? Did he visit her just to give her a warning and leave the rest for her to find out? She understood that the nature of the Farseers was to never do or say something that would disrupt the paths they held onto within their visions. Paths that were vital to their home and race as a whole.
"Uncle, do not be worried. You raised me with your hands alone and gave me a path to choose. I chose to be an aspect warrior. To do what is necessary and die if I have to in the name of Ulthwe. My blade is sharp. My howls are loud. My sidearm is loaded. And I am trained properly. I will return to you once we have completed our tasks, uncle. If the visions have determined my fate already, then.." she hesitated to say it as she looked down, but then looked up at him, straight into his calm gray eyes.
"Then I will give it all for the well being of our craftworld and the Eldar race. I chose this path, uncle, and I swore to follow it, until the right time had come to step back."
Elidyr wanted to say something in advance as his lips opened up, but he closed them quickly, let out a soft chuckle, and looked at her with a light smile.
"By Isha's smile, Liriel Valdan. You have grown up. As a woman. As a warrior. Remember this. One day, after you leave your mark in this galaxy, you'll have to retire and think of another path you want to take, or find a mate. So you do not want to be lost on your path. Your parents would have been proud of you. Especially.. My brother, whom I still mourn to this day." His smile turned into a slight sad frown, which Liriel also returned as they both looked down, mumbling a prayer through their lips before Elidyr gave her a soft hug, which she returned to him.
"Do not falter, Uncle.. Ever since the souls of my parents traveled to the infinity circuit, I strove to be better. Every time. With all the strength i can muster. I will not disappoint them, neither you, neither myself. I swear by Khaine's name, for Ulthwe and our kin." she proudly said, letting go of him with a grin of motivation and high morale, which earned Elidyr a smile.
"I raised you well indeed, my dear Liriel. Go now. May the enemies fear your blade and cower in fear of your speed, and their minds be ripped apart by your howl." As she put her helmet on, she swiftly ran off towards the bridge of sighing clouds, also known as the docks. Elidyr however kept his dead gaze, watching her run away further and further.
"..May your path be clear, Liriel. Trust in that which you will find strange, but do not falter from it. Never less you will find no aid in anything.. Else." he whispered and retreated back to his chambers.
Craftworld Ulthwe: Bridge of sighing clouds.
The Autarch, Warlock and Farseer were all present at the docks. With a pack of black guardians, Dire avengers and some banshees with their own exarch present. Autarch explained the strategy behind the mission while everybody listened loud and clear.
"Warriors. With the act clearly set, we are about to infiltrate a maiden world inhabited by the Mon'Keigh. The plan is simple, but requires caution. We are seeking an artefact of great vitality. Going back all the way during the great fall. This device, or artefact, will shield our craftworld from the predations of archenemy. Farseer Eloen will uncover the meaning of the runes and whereabouts of this object. Warlock Belanor will inform us of any hostile presence and approach and make sure there are no mistakes made within this search."
Autarch Nuvian was a stoic and collected commander. He made sure his voice was heard loud and clear and that every object was completed with full accuracy and precision.
"Next. The shuttles should be protected in case something goes wrong. It is our only way out of there without attracting the human populace or anything else for that matter. We don't need any enemy reinforcements on our tail. Black Guardians. You will be guarding the shuttles and making sure no one finds them. Exarch Sarya. You and your aspect warriors will stick closer to Farseer in case we expect any ambushes. Your banshees will cut down anything in their path that threatens us. Exarch Rilitar. You and your dire avengers will scout the surrounding areas, and spread out to guard all sides. Farseer Eloen must be protected at all costs if we are to succeed in this mission and find this object. By the hand of Khaine the enemies will know death. By Isha's blessing, we will get safely out of there. I will be leading the warhost from the front. Farseer Ulthran said that we should expect another presence on the planet that might take what we came for. Therefore, stay vigilant."
Many warriors murmured to each other as whispers spread from one to another. It was then that Farseer Eloen spoke out, slamming her staff onto the ground to attract the attention of the warriors.
"Children of Ulthwe. We shall commence this mission at nighttime. The world's moon shines brightly, but not as bright as the local star during the day. Stick close, communicate with each other, and most of all, inform everyone if you notice something odd or bizarre. Get to the shuttles. Our craftworld will sail to the star system. Then we disengage and make a safe landing."
Autarch ordered the entire warhost to board the shuttles and went further alongside his warriors to join them.
"Farseer. I sure hope this will not be another failure." Belanor said in a whispering voice.
"We cannot be sure of each step we take. Yet, necessity calls for it, Belanor. Let us hope we prevail." They both nodded towards each other, and went to board the shuttles.
Liriel was thrilled. Another chance to show the ferocity of her aspect clan. She boarded one of the shuttles alongside her sisters and sat down to polish her sword in preparation for possible fights.
"Prepared to fight already, huh? Don't break your sword against the stone if you haven't met an enemy yet, hm-hm."
Liriel looked to her right side to a grinning aspect sister. The one who had more in common with humor than the possibilities of battle, but also someone Liriel had a deep sisterly bond with.
"Give me a break, Arleina. I'm surprised, to this day, that you haven't turned out to be one of Cegorach's entertainers with that humor of yours!" she replied, rolling her eyes, her helmet in her lap. However Arleina laughed and tapped Liriel's shoulder a few times before stretching and staring at her once more.
"The laughing god would hate to have me there. Let alone the harlequins. The enemies don't laugh when I cut them like a grox on a butcher's table, do they?"
"That, they certainly don't."
"Exactly. I sure may have humor, but it is just a small detail. I am just like the rest of our sisters. We are devoted to Khaine and for war. But sometimes, it feels alright to express yourself with the limits that you know you have."
"Tell me about it. What do you think of this mission?"
"What would I think of it? Hm, well. Certainly, if this is a device that our ancient kin used to protect themselves.. Imagine how many Eldar lives could be saved from the ever lasting threat on our doorstep. I say it is worth the effort."
"Concentrate on the upcoming battle through meditation and many possibilities you can use against the enemies." Out of the blue, came the voice of their exarch. Wearing black clad aspect armor, with her power glaive known as Executioner being held in her right arm's grip while she wore an elaborate version of banshee's helmet, or banshee's mask as it's known, with a white mane instead of the usual red. She was the one who had to lead the Banshees in the battles that needed their call. And this was no different.
"Listen carefully, sisters. Our task is to guard Farseer Eloen from anyone that tries to get closer to her. To defend her against any sudden attacks. Follow my guidance and stick close. Only separate if there's a greater, necessary action taking place. Train your body and mind for any inevitable outcomes, sisters. We will not falter." With the orders placed on the table, she sat down and meditated within her mind, and all gazes diverted away from her.
"Exarch Sarya is truly a priestess of Khaine.." said the red haired Arleina, tying her hair into a bun, before putting her helmet on.
"She speaks as our leader and has clear wisdom. She is correct at the end."
"Undoubtedly. Let us see what unfolds." she put her hand on Liriel's shoulder and looked at her.
"Face the dangers and live to tell of them another day, sister Liriel. Stay alive."
She gave her a tight hug, which she returned in unison.
"You too.. Arleina."
As they embraced, the Craftworld set itself into motion and sailed towards their essential destination. The Maiden world of Merlorian.
Star system and sector: [REDACTED]
World: Merlorian
Segmentum: [REDACTED]
Northern part of Merlorian: Near the Mountains.
The local star was blooming above the lush world of Merlorian, shining the surface with its marvelous light whilst giving a breath of life to the local flora. Native wildlife was going according to how the nature demanded it, every creature doing its part for the circle of life. The wind, ever so relatively light on Merlorian, was breathing against the local trees which had the resemblance of ancient Terran spruce, except with its pines being tightly dense and prolonged. A deer-like creature began to creep out of the yellow colored bushes near an ancient boulder, sending a sprinkle of leaves into the air, allowing the wind to carry them to the horizon.
The creature was elegantly hopping on its hooves, covered in black hide, with its tail curled up. It began to feed on the grass beneath its hooves, restoring its energy that every living being needed for sustenance. However, the deer-like beast stopped its feast as its floppy, one foot tall ears erected themselves on its head, pointing to different directions while tilting its head in the process. With the senses of the animal calming down, it resumed its feast.
"Emperor be praised.. The bastard almost heard me." Whispered Niko, snickering to himself silently while he accidentally crushed a tiny branch with his boot, causing the wild animal to be disturbed from its feast before it resumed its action.
The young man took his movement to an enormous and ancient looking tree, while keeping the distance relatively close to his prey. While crouched, he took careful steps with as much of silence as possible from his limb movements, closing into his target to make the fatal blow, the shadow of the tree giving him his well needed camouflage as he inspected his target without the sun scorching his iris with pure annoyance.
"A young adult. Male. Distance shouldn't be more than thirty meters, but if I judge my assumptions correctly, it keeps constantly moving around from one spot to another.. I need to force it to stand still." He assumed, contemplating on his decision.
"Luckily, the sun shines bright today, and I shall use that to my advantage." He told himself, and decided to set his plan into motion.
Niko equipped something from the strap of his shoulder as silently as possible: A particularly well-crafted crossbow, with a redwood stock which has the next words carved onto it in High Gothic - "Pilum Imperialis", a smooth rubber grip to have a firm hold, a wooden foregrip with different prayers to the emperor written in small letters, metal crafted limbs and a string from a tough material which he was lucky enough to find. Afterward, he pulled the string back and firmly locked it in place before placing an arrow with a steely tip onto the groove. Afterwards, he looked through the iron sights and aimed directly on the clumsy animal that couldn't bring itself to stand on one place due to their quick chewing. Whilst concentrating, he began to whisper prayers to the God-Emperor of Mankind.
]~["Oh God-Emperor, guide my aim and let your hand aid us in battle against the wind of the unknown.." ]~[
And with his prayer finished, he held his breath and aimed his crossbow above the creature's side, just below its spine where its supposed heart and lungs should be. His aim became steady, and he pulled the trigger. The beast was slow to react to the incoming arrow, but fast enough to see a reflection of sunlight coming from the steely tip of the arrow, which made the creature's head stand up and close its eye in an effort to quickly shade its eyeball from the piercing light. However, its fate was determined right there and then as it let out a painful moan and began to weakly hop away to several dozen meters within the plain ground. The arrow pierced it deeply within its right lung and all the way to its heart as it bled out some gushing streams of darkish-red blood from its wound, becoming severely weakened, before dropping dead as it tried to wiggle its way onto its hooves, but to no avail. The animal took its last breath. And in the distance near an ancient tree, the hunter smiled at his success.
"Hah! Thank the Emperor.. Clean shot." He muttered while throwing his crossbow on his back.
While carefully approaching his prey, he made sure not to soil his boots by the fresh, thick blood of the creature which had its trail following onto the deceased beast. After approaching it, he knelt down and made the sign of the aquila on his chest, showing gratitude for good hunting. Afterwards, Niko pulled the arrow out of the carcass and wiped the blood off with a rag from his pouch. Stretching his young, athletic body, he bent down and pulled the animal onto his shoulder.
"Ooofffh- heavy f*cker!" he cursed under his breathe before turning to his right, and taking a path back towards his little place of living.
Not even an hour has passed ever since the successful hunting. Niko was whistling in the depths of the Merlorian woods while carrying the carcass on his shoulder, satisfied by the sheer fact that he won't have to carry on by maintaining his nutrition via devouring MRE packs that he salvaged ever since setting his foot on this distant, ever so peaceful world. His march back home was a calm one. Raptor-like birds sang their tunes, more of the deer-like creatures hopped around in the distance, many bushes mixed up in the colors of yellow, green and orange, and ever so dark-green trees. He went down a narrow path within the forest floor before taking his steps down a little hill where a sweet noise of a river was heard. He stopped his whistling and decided to let his mind get into a more relaxing state by listening to the flowing river, which was now right in front of his visage.
"Like my Sergeant Aulis used to say, nothing can ever numb the fatigue of a man, the sorrow of a woman, and the longing of a child than the heavenly flow of a river in the bright shiny day."
Without much of a fuss, Niko set up to cross it, letting his thoughts sink in once more whilst contemplating on the arduous task that awaited him at home. He would have to skin the animal and gut it, something that made him surely frown upon the time-consuming hobby, let alone with such a formidable sized carcass. However, the thoughts of feeling his lips sealing and teeth sinking on a tender piece of succulent, juicy and nutritious meat removed these negative views from his mind. He already missed something fresh and tasty. Licking his lips at the thought, his boots drowned themselves into the flowing river, ever so carefully protecting the feet of their owner within the waterproof fabric and leather as he crossed the river. The water reached up to his calves, but he had no plans to just admire the view and stand there like a deer in the headlights. He moved forward while the calf part of his pants were soaked in cold water, eventually managing to cross it before its essential flow rose up.
The march continued for a little bit more as the light wind continued to blow across the mountainous region, ever so reminding Niko of his homeworld that he so grievously missed. After taking a narrow path through the lower floors of the forest, his eyes stumbled upon his medium-sized wooden house. To him, however, it was not just an ordinary wooden house. To him, it was his own den, his own fortress and his own haven of safety and away from predations of the abyss and the unknown, which he did best to avoid. For him, no matter what, no one was safe in the galaxy. No matter how much they were so naively sure about themselves.
Stepping onto the pathway to his little house, he however, went straight to a little messy looking shed which had no entrance doors but a cloth sheet as a cover for the entrance itself. He slipped inside through the covers and turned on an oil lamp hanging on the wall, before setting the carcass on a thin layer of huge wooden sheathing laying on the ground, taking the weight off his shoulder and stretching his arm a little bit.
"Huuuff by the throne! That was definitely not fun, but surely worth the effort eh?" he said before setting himself ready for the long task at hand. Pulling his cloak off, he hung it on the wall before setting his crossbow on the ground alongside his quiver full of arrows. However, he always left his sidearm with him no matter the circ*mstances.
Unsheathing his Kalevan (Ka-Le-Van) knife, which in his homeworld of Kaleva is called "Leuku", Niko proceeded to skin the animal while singing to himself in the process and sinking in his memories of the past events, in which were the results of him essentially setting himself on this world the natives called Merlorian. Whilst he carefully sliced the hide off from the muscles of the dead beast, he couldn't resist himself to change his facial expression from a cheerful smile to a mere longing frown. The thoughts, no matter how many times he lied to himself, continued to plague his mind from time to time, and this was not an exception. He still battled with his mind that kept unveiling these thoughts to him, like a vicious slice which reopened his scars.
"I can only ever so push aside these thoughts before they take their toll. What happened on that world was nothing short of tragic, we were overrun.. Accursed vile xenos. Out of every damned world in the vicinity of the cosmos, of course they had to put us to defend a useless piece of rock and dirt with nothing beneficial to offer. Another excuse for the sake of some archeological expedition groxsh*te. And for what?" Niko's grip on his knife made his fist turn pale from rage sweeping within his heart, forcing his mind to flash those brutal images in his eyes once more.
"Man. All of my companions, my friends, my brothers and sisters, taken from me in a single instant, after so many battles we crossed and foes we faced, the accursed fate took what mattered to me the most."
Niko couldn't help but dig into his mind at this point. He remained silent while daydreaming in a trance-like state, and even after a minute or so, he was practically stabbing the animal carcass while grunting and relieving his nightmarish memories. He snapped out of such state rather quickly and noticed multiple stab wounds within the animal he was skinning. Realizing that he's going a bit too far with his thoughts, he regained his consciousness into the right state of mind and let out a deep sigh.
"Ughhh, by the Emperor.. I really have to beat down these nasty thoughts before they consume my soul, may the Emperor help me." He muttered out of his lips before thoroughly skinning his hunted prey, removing the hide and hanging it on the wall for later use. Afterwards, he pulled out a wooden bucket and began to butcher the animal, removing its contents one by one and cleaning it with another bucket at his side, which was filled with water from the nearby river. His stomach was already growling in a little anticipation of one tasty meal. Feeding on MREs and other type of unappealing provisions already drove him to annoyance, as he had to spend some time to adapt to the world he resided in, whilst also getting used to hunting again ever since he left the guard after unfortunate events.
"Fragging hell, what else I wonder these beasts eat, groxes?! Or perhaps ambulls, or Emperor knows what else.. Okay, Niko, you're talking to yourself ever since you stepped onto this world, better concentrate and stop your idiotic behavior."
It was not uncommon sight for a lonely young man such as him to talk with himself. In fact, it was way too common to begin with. Niko has been on this world for god-emperor knows how long, yet he couldn't help himself but to countlessly talk as if having a chit-chat with the Emperor of mankind himself, or his imaginary companions, which he unfortunately did not have with him. In one hand, such action was relieving for the young hunter, in the other hand, it was slowly but surely taking a toll on him. He liked the way he set his life upon the luck of not being bothered to be shot at in countless battlefields.
But one thought always loomed within his mind: Did he really wish to spend the rest of his life like this? To be just a lonely hunter who had no goals to build, even when the Emperor granted him such a little reward of peaceful life for his service as he used to believe in, despite every priest of the Ecclesiarchy yelling the words that a guardsman's life is nothing else but service and death for the Emperor? Too many thoughts only grew, yet he didn't want none of them to cloud his mind. He truly believed that he as a human being could forge his own destiny without the ever-lasting fate deciding it for him. But in the end, humans are social creatures, and he truly longed to talk to someone, no matter who, even the death itself if it was going to claim him.
Frowning at his own silliness as he used to call it, he quickly finished butchering the animal and set off to clean the buckets full of guts, blood and other unsanitary material. His little grilling place was already lit up from wood and charcoal he had in stock, right outside in the backyard, with the leg of the animal nicely roasting itself on a wooden pike. His stomach growled only louder, with him already drooling at the thoughts of such gracious meal that he was going to devour. His mind was filled with nothing else but this moment that he waited for. Other parts of the animal were salted and hung in the shack so they would remain unsoiled and edible for the time to come.
As Niko's meal got ready for consumption, the evening has already approached on itself. The sun was setting down behind the mountains, casting a shadow above the residence of the hunter's little home, and there and then, he began his feast. Every bite felt like paradise. He greedily bit and chew on the roasted piece of the animal's leg, whistling and singing in the process as he just sunk in more positive thoughts. The one thing that surely every human enjoyed was undoubtedly an extraordinary meal, and to Niko, it was no exception.
"Mmmm! Emperor bless this meal that you bestowed upon your servant!" he loudly proclaimed, letting out a joyful laughter whilst munching on the tasty, succulent piece of meat. Afterwards, while staring at the fire which sent fiery sparks around him from the light wind, he began to sing one of Kalevan folk songs:
~ Mama always used to say, you will grow up one bright day ~
~ To venture on the lands of the unknown, singing praises to Emperor on the throne ~
[X]
~ Step your foot in the Guard my son, to march with your brothers and sisters one by one ~
~ To slay the enemies of mankind, for they have nowhere left to hide ~
[X]
~ Your father raised you as a warrior, so you could be far more superior ~
~ I guided you through your youth's path, to make you learn to control your wrath ~
[X]
~ I wish you good luck on your long trips, to pray the litanies of the Emperor on your lips ~
~ For you carry on your Kalevan spirit, the sign of our courageous merit ~"
[X]
~ Be brave, my Silver spear! For you shall know no fear! ~
His voice echoed through and through as he wholeheartedly sang these words, reminding him about his home. He longed for it, but he could not return, not yet at least, he had his own reasons for it. His daydreaming period began once more, imagining to himself the meeting with his parents, family friends, his local village priest, the blacksmith, the pub waitress, so many familiar faces to see once again.
Niko obviously knew that nobody except the Emperor himself probably heard him. Or even bothered to listen. The night however was not far away and was slowly but surely approaching. Niko finished his meal, took down the fire and went away from his little home towards a lake not so far away. There, he took a little bath, washing himself thoroughly and ignoring the chilling coldness of the water that quite honestly lunged at him from all directions.
"Gah, screw it, might as well take a little swim around this lake to warm myself up. Let's just hope I don't catch no cold."
And there he went. Swimming in the lake in circles and enjoying his personal time, warming his body up with motions of his limbs in the water as the nighttime approached. However he wished not to stay there until it was dark. He'd end up getting lost in the woods. Something he truly wished not to busy himself with. He went back to the shore, where he left his clothing and gear. Afterwards, he dried himself, dressed up, grabbed his belongings and took his steps back towards his home, reaching it relatively fast as he picked up the pace of his walk. The wild creatures stared at him before running off away from him. Something he joked about while mimicking their actions to push away the boredom that he had to keep fighting against in order to not feel the signs of depression sweeping towards his mind.
"Home sweet home! What would I do without you?" He asked as he reached his little wooden house. He opened the door with a loud squeaky crack, and went straight in, grabbing the oil lamp from the wall, and lit it up. Furthermore, he walked to his bedroom, which had a cabinet, a little shelf, and a queen-sized bed he crafted himself, which also had blankets from the hide of dead beasts, and sheets from cloths sewed up together, alongside pillows made from sewed up cloth pouches filled with tall grass. He laid down after stripping from his clothing and decided to rest for the time being, turning off the oil lamp and closing his eyes, finishing his day at the fortress of dreams and drifting to the world of fantasies and nightmares.
The star system of [REDACTED]
Behind the moon of Merlorian, Arelis.
Shuttles disengaging from Craftworld Ulthwe and landing on the surface
The shuttles were on a wide approach and speeding through the atmosphere of Merlorian to make a safe landing near the mountains. The warriors were all geared up and ready for any action that they had to take. Their vigorous training proved it.
"Remember, sisters. Do not use your howls at all costs if we are to fight. Less if we want to attract unneeded attention of the Mon'Keigh." Sarya explained and ordered. Pushing the mindset of aspect warriors to the limit as much as possible.
"You know the plan. So follow it thoroughly."
"Barbaric Mon'Keigh! This is a maiden world. OUR world. Why shouldn't we use force and wipe them out in the name of Khaine?!" asked one of the banshee sisters, to which Sarya shook her head.
"There is nothing useful within it, young warrior. Our mission is already set. The humans are stubborn yet dumb creatures. But at the end, they are stubborn. Do not let the anger fuel your heart before the battle has had a chance to begin, Naeleth."
She only frowned in response and kept her attitude growing in the cramped shuttle. Even the guardian pilots were occasionally turning their heads to listen to the commotion.
"We are sent to aid them against the archenemy across this galaxy while their population occupy our lush, beautiful worlds. We hear of how Biel-Tan handles these situations. Are we as sons and daughters of Ulthwe growing too soft? I am certain that the world was once inhabited by our ancestors. Before the barbaric nature of the Mon'Keigh took better of them, and they wiped them out. We all can be certain of that."
"Stand down, Naeleth." ordered Sarya, in a rough tone within her voice as the rest of the crew were listening.
"We understand your frustration. But you also have to understand the reality of current tidings that surround us. If the fate allows us, we will take these worlds back. Whether by word or by sword. Nothing more. But right now, focus and put your hatred aside. Show discipline and steady demeanor."
"As you wish, Exarch." and with that, she let out a long sigh from irritation that bit onto her soul, leaving herself for meditation on her seat.
"By Isha. Naeleth's bitterness towards the Imperials never burns out." Arleina was quick to give out her opinion on this matter.
"Can you blame her? She lost her mother against those space marine abominations the Mon'Keigh are so famed for, by their sheer brutality and hatred towards anything that does not resemble their race. Even when it was decided that our and their fates are mutual and connected, it did not remove the scar she still bears within her heart. I can understand Naeleth's pain, coming through hatred for the Mon'Keigh." Liriel explained.
"Such unfortunate events happen to our kin that there are not enough voices to lament neither mourn those that fall in these harsh times." she continued.
"I do not know what awaits us ahead, Liriel. Let us not overthink too much." finished Arleina.
"Indeed.. Indeed."
The rest of the flight was spent in meditation or a normal chit-chat about their occupations on craftworld. Such as plans and hobbies to commit themselves to and discussing their possible mates and etcetera. A usual chattery was not too uncommon within the warriors since they were standing by unity.
The pilot guardians informed the crew of the approaching landing zone as they crossed the atmosphere, under pure camouflage of invisibility.
"Talon two. Preparing for landing zone near the mountains. The radar indicates zero presence of any activity in twenty-kilometer radius. Prepare to be deployed." the pilots informed, and exarch Sarya prepared her sisters for this landing.
"Gear fully intact, sisters. Remember what the plan is. We shall be as silent as the void. As fast as the storm. And as precise as a lurking shadow. Follow my lead. In the name of Kaela Mensha Khaine, let us slay our enemies by his blood covered hands."
All the Banshees stood up with discipline and commitment behind their lenses. Liriel locked and loaded her shuriken pistol, as did the other members. Arleina stood next to her and sheathed her power sword as the shuttle made its landing, their alien engines going dark completely. All was done with silence and sheer lack of loud noises. The shuttle doors swung open, and the banshees went out alongside their Exarch. Multiple guardians set up a perimeter around the drop shuttles and scouted the surrounding areas, while Dire Avengers with their exarchs, banshees with Sarya, Autarch, Warlock and Farseer gathered together, with all aspect warriors present. The landing area was a flat land covered in grass and plants, with only a couple of trees being ever closer to their landing zone.
"Warriors. This expedition is of a great purpose. You know what to do. Dire Avengers shall go ahead and scout our path for any signs of intruders. Spread out thoroughly. Banshees. Surround our farseer and keep her safe. The mountains are dangerous objects of nature. One wrong movement and you'll slip off the mountain. So use all flexibility you have. I and warlock will stay ahead while Farseer Eloen guides our path. Any questions? Perfect. Set the plan in motion." All warriors gave out a simple nod of understanding. Afterwards, the squad of banshees, approximately 15 warriors, made the defensive square to surround the farseer, with their exarch staying as close as possible to her. 20 guardians, including the pilots, were keeping up the perimeter. And 80 dire avengers were ordered to spread out. With half of them scouting the surrounding areas, including the front, and the other half keeping the expedition safeguarded with their shuriken catapults.
"Farseer Eloen? If you may." Eloen nodded towards Nuvian, and put her runes onto the grassy ground, kneeling down and putting her staff on the ground while she closed her eyes and concentrated her mind for guidance. She needed a bit of time.
Liriel was astonished, while she and Arleina held the left flank of the square. The nature even through the night vision visors looked exceptionally beautiful. It felt as if this world was barely touched by war. However, every world sooner or later would leave the mark and scars of wars behind them. Hidden deep beneath the lush flora.
"By Isha's tears.. In these long years that have passed, never have I stepped onto a maiden world." Liriel said, already longing for the garden of their craftworld where she used to spend most of her time at besides the training and meditation.
"You're pretty much in a longing state, are you not, Liri?"
"How could I not be? I am certain that if our sisters removed their helmets, they would have an expression of awe written on their faces."
"Undoubtedly. Still.. It disgusts me how these Mon'Keigh take our worlds and use them for their own barbaric natures and perversions that I cannot imagine. Ever so she-who-thirsts getting fueled with their decadence. Eugh."
"I know how you're feeling, my aspect sister." Liriel frowned behind her mask as she gripped the hilt of her sword ever tighter, while holding shuriken pistol with her other hand and looking around carefully.
"It is not too long before their usefulness is depleted. They're all the same. Farseer Elidyr sees through them. No matter how many times they show their usefulness, their hatred for anything non-human is exceptionally never ending." There was some bitterness, as was to be expected from the Aeldari.
"Our kin of Alaitoc for example.. I feel their sorrow. The humanity's horde-like armies have touched every corner of the galaxy. Their attacks on our kin are truly horrific to begin with. Many prisoners they take are put to cages like cattle and even labor camps. Then, sold to their monstrous hive city scum or their high ranking noblemen. Aeldari women raped, robbed of their innocence.. Does not matter if it's their kind, ours, or others that have two legs and two arms. To them, everyone is an enemy with their everlasting paranoia. Only their most zealous and faithful commit to only killing and taking no one alive, which itself is a mercy. However, seeing how they easily turn to Chaos, their faith can be strong as a wraithbone at one moment, then crumble like a rusty building the next."
"By Khaine.. Liriel, what are you saying? They are all indoctrinated with their cult of a religion to not even get near non-humans as far as we know. Unless it is those whose faith has crumbled, and they fell to chaos. Let alone, would they fall to the levels of the depraved dark hearted kin of Commorragh?" asked Arleina, quite shocked with such assumptions. In her eyes, every Imperial's task in front of an alien being was to kill it, fear it and hate it. Nothing else. Liriel took a sharp turn towards her, raised her sword in front of her to look at the sharp blade covered in the Aeldari runes, then continued.
"Wisely proposed, Arleina, wisely.. however, do not be naive. Not even all of their space marine brutes are disciplined as much as even our most harmless kinsmen are. Let alone their ordinary soldiers. The depraved ranks will always let their desires get ahead of them before the discipline does. It vanishes when they see a weakened bounty that they'll ravage and pillage as they wish and please. What do they know about qualities we master ourselves with? Nothing." she finished.
"How do you know so much about the Mon'Keigh, Liri?" Arleina was right to question her about this. Mostly, Aeldari knew how stupid and foolish humans are, but to know their deepest nature was something only the wisest could handle.
"Farseer Elidyr taught me things or two about them, maybe more, but his wisdom and advice is well taken. And the fact that the reports were not really overexaggerating when atrocities were committed. I cannot stand them, and now, ironically, we have to help them for our own survival. In a way greater scale than in the past."
"Truly primitive and barbaric. We are superior to them in many ways. Yet their numbers always increase. But it is us who are the masters that fool them to our causes. And I am glad that the nature left them to be so ignorant and stupid." Arleina muttered.
"Exactly. Even then, I doubt there is even one who has available positive ways to show any good qualities."
They exchanged their opinions up until the commanding order from Autarch hit their knife shaped ears, and they were forced to turn around to the already standing Farseer.
"We shall take the northern path straight ahead of us. Up that hill." She pointed with her staff.
"Then, we march on the pathway up to the ridge of the first mountain, turn to the east, go down the slope which is quite narrow and continue north after going down the slope. Another pathway to climb up before the valley shows itself. The runes gave me a vision of a huge cave which has white paintings of our language at the walls of the mountains surrounding the certain valley. Most possibly a hint.. I shall decipher it. These mountains are quite lengthy, so do not be left behind and keep up. Dire Avengers? Do not go too far away from each other." Eloen finished her briefing and planning, which everybody understood and had no questions to ask.
"Warriors. Me and Warlock will lead the expedition. The rest of you know what to do. Now, let us move." It was then Warlock's turn to say a couple of words.
"Keep your ears open, warriors of Ulthwe. For if I notice something suspicious, you all must be ready for immediate orders. Do not fight alone if you get surprised. But call for your location for reinforcements. For only through unity we can push off the obstacles that threaten our great journey." everyone gave a light nod as Autarch and Warlock got ahead of the group, and began their ascend on the hill. Dire avengers were already ahead and spread out to make sure they wouldn't get surprised. They had to make sure they would not lose their group from their vicinity since it was quite vital, and they would report everything suspicious to their higher ups leading the entire warhost.
Farseer Eloen followed behind the two. While being well guarded by Exarch Sarya and a squad of 15 howling banshees in a square formation surrounding her. Now, everyone was set into motion.
They began their march up the hill while it was still dark. They had a total of ten hours until the night would dissipate, and they would be forced to head back to their shuttles and take off. Everyone moved like water down the mountain walls. Fluidly, silently and as smoothly as possible. The humans in this situation would've made plenty of noise due to clumsiness, but Aeldari were built differently. They were specialists. Agile. Swift. Intelligent and unpredictable beyond measures, but more arrogant and deceitful than anyone else. However, what else should be expected from a dying race that is left like nomads across the galactic sea?
An hour has passed and it seemed like they were having a cakewalk. Liriel and Arleina occasionally exchanged chit-chatting as they kept their steady formation around Farseer and were always on a steady watch.
"Honestly Liri. It feels.. Astonishing to walk where.. Once our ancient ancestors walked upon." She noted. A hint of a light smile behind her mask. It made Liri chuckle silently.
"Hm-hm. The humorous "priestess of Khaine" sounds excited, it seems."
"Ayh! I'm not an Exarch.."
"Yet." Liri grinned.
"Asuryani's light forbid me from going there. I prefer to follow, not to lead." Arleina muttered while giving a slight punch against Liriel's shoulder while they kept steadily walking.
"Come on now. We've known each other ever since we were mere children. And you chose your path way before I did, Arly."
"I did, but you followed the same steps as I do. Remember what I said when I joined the aspect warriors? Choose the path of your heart if you so desire it." She sighed.
"Perhaps. But I didn't choose this path solely because of only you, sister Arleina. But because of Uncle Elidyr's teachings as well. You are older and you have more experience in battle. I, on the other hand, while having been trained in hand-to-hand combat with every tune of a howling banshee, have more experience in the books and scripts, and listening to the wise. I guess that's why I knew enough about the Mon'Keigh as you got surprised." she calmly said, contemplating whether she should've joined earlier, much like Arleina. Instead, she first had to be taught by Elidyr everything she needed to know. Arleina on the other hand, was definitely growing a light smile on her lips behind the mask, as the tone of her voice was quite cheerful.
"Wow. By the bloody hand of Khaine, Liriel Valdan. You are truly something. Whether you chose it because of me, or by the guidance of your own heart, or both, it doesn't matter anymore. We are together. No matter what happens, whether one of us falls in battle or any other circ*mstances, one of us gets the soul stone. If both, by Isha's blessing, both of our soul stones get to the infinite circuit in our craftworld as we join the souls of our kin." she said and tilted her head, sort of imitating joy. Liriel had nothing else but to smile back. They did not see it because of the masks, but they felt it with the sisterly bond they had.
"I thank Isha for having such a sister as you by my side, Arleina. In such brutality as this galaxy has to offer, I am thankful I can rely on someone I can gladly call my dearest, and truest sister." Her words certainly forced Arleina's cheeks to heat up to a certain degree behind the mask as she quickly looked straight ahead and quickly controlled herself. None of them could afford to lose themselves in the depths of their emotions.
"S.. Same about you, of course." she said rather softly, letting out a slight clearing of her throat as Liriel kept smiling and so did Arleina.
The small warhost continued their march up the hill. They reached the ridge of the mountain within just an hour, then continued their path towards the east, going down the singular slope, which forced them to tighten their formation and slowly go downwards, before resuming their steady march towards the north as they faced another pathway they had to climb.
The scouting party was working as they should, notifying the Autarch of anything suspicious, but dismissing the notifications if they were just a false alarm. They went up the pathway until the valley came into contact with their eyes. It was definitely narrow, but had some sort of mystery to it. As if the Exodite kin had a settlement here, relying on the mountains as protective barriers. Farseer ordered them to go down to the valley in pursue of the cave they needed, which would lead them inside the mountain and allow the Farseer to decipher what they meant. Only then would they find the secret entrance leading to the artefact itself. However, she knew that the sight would not be too pleasant when they reached it.
The valley between the Merlorian mountains.
The warhost stopped as soon as they felt the flat land of the valley. The surroundings were marvelous. With so much fauna and flora, every warrior felt a sense of respect for the creatures, plants and trees in general. Their ancient kin hunted here and sustained themselves with these beasts. They built their homes from the plants and trees, which welcomed them with their beauty. It was a sight of fresh air, so to speak, but they couldn't let themselves admire them for long. They had an important mission to complete. Autarch ordered the Dire Avengers to search the left and the right sides of the valley, where the walls of the mountains were, and try to find their destination.
Autarch turned to his warriors and told them their next orders.
"Spread out, Dire avengers. Squads of five warriors per group by numbers, consisting of five groups. In total twenty-five dire avengers. The rest fifty-five shall follow us. Exarch, you stay with us as well. We will go slowly before the cave is found. Farseer?"
Eloen was kneeling and digging her mind with the runes once more. She stayed silent, eyes closed behind her helmet, and then stood up in a short amount of time.
"The cave is somewhere in this valley. There are too many clouds that cannot be surpassed, but I feel their presence. We follow Autarch's strategy. Notify us immediately once you find it. Remember, white letters are in our language. That is the correct one. Let us move."
The warriors all complied and quickly ran out like ghosts with their intense and speedy movement, spreading out in the valley to the left and right sides to find the cave, while the rest went forward with the warhost. Warlock and Autarch still ahead, with Farseer behind them, guarded by the Banshees. In total, 3 hours have passed since their endeavor. Meaning they had 7 more in total until the sunrise. They walked for almost an hour ever since they got into this lush valley full of animals and natural flora.
"Nuvian. This valley is a perfect place for ambush.. We should avoid flat, open areas and let these woods be our guarding walls." Belanor notified him, to which Autarch nodded.
"Agreed, Belanor. We have nowhere to turn. But the woods shall be of good usage. I will maintain contact with the warriors in case of anything suspicious. Search groups, Autarch Nuvian speaking. Report your status."
"Group one found nothing."
"Group two. We found a cave, but it is not the right one."
"Group three. We also found a cave, but there are no white paintings and it was sealed by boulders."
"Group four, reporting. No cave on our side, Autarch. However, we found something alarming. There is.. A campfire. Charcoal has been cold for approximately a week, as far as we can determine. The bones of a wild animal on the ground. According to all the current details our group has been able to pull out, there has been a single individual here. Presumably, a mon'keigh. Traveler? No knowledge about that. We found no traces or the presence of anyone living nearby. But this is just a single individual. Your orders?" the avenger asked the Autarch after giving him everything he and his group found out.
Autarch had a puzzled look on his face as he was surprised by such a report. Why would the Mon'Keigh even bother to be in these surrounding areas without any settlements, cities or towns in general? He knew they were social creatures that did not bother to live far away from each other's kinsmen. But nevertheless, he thought of it as a nuisance, but he kept himself vigilant.
"Group four. Continue the search and stay in high alert. We do not need pebbles in our footwear. Do not bother to touch anything else, but find the cave." He ordered. "Yes, Autarch." they replied.
"Group five, report." The reply was nothing but the gruesome silence afterward, which made Autarch slightly concerned as he repeated himself once more. Warlock on high alert at his side.
"Group five, I repeat. What is your status? Have you found anything? Come in!" and another span of ten seconds, and for the final time, as Autarch held his blade's hilt tightly, he repeated himself once more. "Group Five! This is Autarch Nuvian. Come in, do you copy?"
"... This is group five, we found it! The white paintings, north-west from the position from which we left! By.. Isha. Finally. Awaiting your arrival, Autarch Nuvian." Autarch truly sighed in relief at this kind of outcome.
"Do not pull the moves of Cegorach on me, warriors. Report immediately without staring into the void trying to find the light source. Wait for us there." he muttered out, frowning after scolding his kinsmen. "All other groups, go back to the center immediately. Group five found what we're looking for." he said, and waited for the search groups, except the fifth, to return to their positions. Everyone was definitely feeling joyful that this search did not go in vain. However, Warlock Belanor was not feeling the same. Something in his gut told him that there was something suspicious going on here. He was right to have such presumptions. After all, they were in the middle of nowhere, and would be encircled pretty easily by any hostiles they would encounter.
"By the spirits.. I feel like there's something watching us, Nuvian." He took a look straight ahead, while Nuvian raised his eyebrow at him. "I feel.. That there's a presence of some sort. Hard to determine." he finished as he rubbed his chin. Nuvian, however, was quite optimistic.
"Ease up, my kinsman. We are close to having this device in our hands. If there is a presence, it will either be wandering or.. searching for the same thing. But I doubt that it may be the latter. However, we shall be on watch and prevent any threats flying in our way." Belanor looked at him with a nod, as he just wanted to get this over with quickly before the senses of alertness rose in his mind. Farseer heard the discussion and cleared her throat.
"We should move out. The warriors returned." she said.
"Then so be it. Warriors, after us!" As he said that, the warhost made another perfect formation, and marched to the north-eastern walls of the mountains, where the dire avenger's fifth group was waiting for them at the entrance to the correct cave. It barely took them half an hour to reach the destination. A huge cave that had ancient totems set up near the entrance. Clearly indicating that this cave was alive millennia ago. Farseer Eloen stepped forward while the rest admired these decorations as she used her staff to lighten up the dark abyss of the cave, ensuring that the path was visible to everybody.
"The path is clear for us, children of Ulthwe. Follow my guidance, for we are in the dwellings of our long-gone ancestors.. May Isha accept their sacrifice in her embrace." she softly said before taking a step forward, and moving deeper into the cave while eyeing the white paintings, which were made out of Eldar lexicon. She memorized them all and occasionally stopped to try and decipher what they truly meant. It was a puzzling and gruesome task, due to how much creativity the Exodite kin had. It was not a simple thing like "Go this way, go that way". They were made completely differently and more philosophically to begin with. Each word had to be connected with the next to understand the entire message. The warhost followed her, with the banshees guarding her very well.
"The depths of salvation lie within the mountain, those who dwell here know their souls are not free. The gods offer us this last salvation, in the shadows of the everlasting tree." Eloen whispered, to which Warlock approached her.
"What is the possible meaning of this, humble Farseer?"
"They regarded this device as a blessing from the gods. Due to how it acted like a barrier against the archenemy. The everlasting tree.. It must be located under this specific tree that we have to find." she said, gripping her staff ever tighter. "Let us continue."
"We follow your lead, Farseer." he lightly bowed and stepped aside, to which she nodded and continued to decipher each letter on the walls as the entire warhost continued with their task.
They went deeper and deeper into the cave, which felt like a never ending dead end to begin with. It felt like a labyrinth, and the proof were the skeletons of what seemed to be humans who dared to enter the cave but got lost forever, unable to get out since they were unable to decipher and understand the Eldar language of guidance. They continued. The columns were the first sights to fall upon the eyes. The path, however, was paved within the cave, which made their journey through it easier without getting lost. They crossed a few tunnels, which made the surroundings wider, and then crossed the central tunnel after a half hour of walking, which had carved stairs. Farseer climbed the stairs first and then cast a spell which forced a huge white orb to float forward in the air, acting like a huge source of light, and there, she stood while the rest climbed up behind her. The sight which welcomed them was one of a true astonishment.
"By Isha! Do our eyes deceive us?" yelled Autarch Nuvian, next to the Warlock, with Farseer two steps ahead. The trio stood still, and admired what they saw when the warhost arrived behind them.
A beautiful underground village with totems and carved statues, but with eerie emptiness and silence. It was clearly forgotten and abandoned for a long time. The warriors surely were not too happy to see this. They knew that their ancestors lived here. In peace and prosperity. But now it was simply nothing. There were stairs going down towards the village itself, and the Farseer was the first one to climb down. While the warhost followed and looked around in amazement. The architecture was made from whatever they could find. And the wraithbone. It looked pristine, like it was made today. Autarch Nuvian approached a statue belonging to Kaela Mensha Khaine, looked at it, then turned around.
"Warriors. Ten-minute break. Farseer Eloen. I'd like to have a discussion." and with a single nod, the Farseer and Autarch stepped aside to discuss something important.
In the meantime, Liriel sat down on a small rock and took her helmet off. Her eyes looked around carefully, observing each detail of how the Exodite kin's dwellings functioned and looked. They were quite different from what she had expected to see. Partially, it was a moment of amazement, but also a moment of grief. Life dwelled here a very long time ago. A tribe living and surviving with all their knowledge and might, which they mustered out. The carvings that she eyed were definitely an interesting sight, but the primal looking houses were also something that she was, in all honesty, jealous of.
These ancient Aeldari did not have to rely on craftworld's dwellings for their livelihood. These were homes they built on a solid maiden world, which they were located on right now, she thought. It did not help to realize that no matter where you lived, the outer dangers would never leave you alone, no matter how badly you wished to be safe. She stood up and approached a house built from rock and wood, and she looked at the interior once she stepped inside. It was rather empty, so she retreated quickly due to how much eerie aura it packed. Then she approached a carved statue of what resembled an ancient Eldar warrior.
A hero perhaps? She lamented. But these were mysteries left in the pasttime of history. She softly ran her hand across the statue and felt how emotions were about to take over. That was before the Exarch Sarya herself put her hand on her shoulder and forced her to quickly turn her head towards the exarch.
"Do not dwell in the darkness of the past, child. They knew what the price was.. But they did not give up and left their shield for us to take. To continue their work against the vile enemy, they fought with their minds and knowledge alike. Be proud that it is we who have found what they built. And fuel your wrath with their cries to avenge them against those who dared to bring them harm. Be stoic, young one. And be brave." She clapped her shoulder, and Liriel quickly rubbed her eyes to make sure no tears were visible, then took a Stoic expression while standing tall, and gave out a light nod.
"Forgive me, Exarch. It's just.." she went silent for a few seconds before her initial reply. "Not something that is taken lightly." she finished.
"It is not. For any of us. However look toward the future when you still breathe. To tread in the past is a dangerous task for the mind. Know no worries, young one. And you shall prevail. Meditate." she took her helmet off, letting the shiny red hair stream down her shoulders, and looked at her with icy blue crystal eyes. "I was the same as any of your sisters. But at the end of the journey, the necessary act of war has always called me into battle. The war in this galaxy is never going to end. We have to fight for our survival. Some of us are lost in our paths. Because if we don't take this position, nobody else will."
"Exarch.. I am humbled by your words. But do you not long to live like them?" Exarch Sarya looked around herself with an emotionless stare and then back towards Liriel.
"Not anymore, child. For I am lost in this path until I fall. My sister, however, being the artisan that she is, would love to. But not me. I only fight." she let out a soft sigh and continued. "I have nothing to regret. While I fight, i fight knowing that my struggle is for the existence of our kin, and for my sister's well-being." she softly said while putting her helmet back on.
"Do not worry, young one. You have your life in your hands. Use it for what you feel is the right thing. Without nothing blinding your mind in the fog of uncertainty."
"I will, Exarch." she said while giving out a light salute, to which Exarch returned.
Arleina, meanwhile, was dwelling deeper in the cave far longer than she expected, checking out multiple things like vases, carvings, and statues. It was fascinating to see how the exodites functioned. But she did not let herself get too deep into the details themselves, and turned around to walk towards Liriel who was sitting cross-legged on the ground and meditating.
"Your meditations deserve praise, Liriel. This place has certainly made most of us feel rather.. Uneasy. Though I do not blame them. Hey, are you listening?" she poked her on her helmet but Liriel did not move. "Hey. I know you can hear me. Then hear me clearly. This place makes my skin crawl, and the longer we dwell here, the more the curse of this place might affect us. What are Farseer and Autarch discussing, I wonder.." she said while sitting next to her on the ground, and was surprised to see Liriel turn her head in a blink of a second to stare at her in the helm's eyes.
"Probably where our object is located for all I know.. but Arleina, you're going be the source of removing our boredom no matter what with your talks, hah. Either way.. You're correct. We cannot dwell and stay here for long. This place was left in the hands of fate. And it is better that we leave it where it belongs, despite the uneasiness and desire to take so many of these things with us. Later perhaps.. Now we cannot."
"Perhaps, Liri. Perhaps. But let's just get this artefact and get out of here." she said while joining her meditation.
"Truly.. Exarch Sarya helped me to ease my mind, and, it.. It helps." she whispered. "Join me.. Sister."
"Already there, darling." and with both of them concentrated, they shut their eyes behind their helms and let their meditation take place.
Meanwhile, Autarch was looking rather grim while Farseer was explaining something to him. He went from a surprised look into a complete, uneasy frown and then shook his head multiple times. Farseer Eloen, on the other hand, kept her calm expression and kept giving him nothing but pure information that was necessary.
"Farseer are you certain of this? Is there no other way? You understand that you're putting your life on the line here, yet our people cannot afford to lose you.." he muttered out.
"Nuvian. In times of certainty and necessity, every soul is precious. But some are more needy than the rest. There is a chance I might be harmed or even killed in the process, but we have no choice. We made it this far, and we need this artefact. I understand the importance of Farseers to Ulthwe. But there is something way greater at stake here. I am willing to take that risk. For us all." she calmly told him.
"Can it not be me, Farseer?" Belanor interfered.
"No. Only the purest minds of psychic abilities can take this task. The mind will be torn apart for those who do not have the needed experience. Belanor, you are needed in other endeavors. There is no one here that can take this task but me." She told him.
"By Isha's light.. Are we always in such desperate situations? Nevertheless. Do what you must, Eloen." Warlock said, and Eloen nodded at him before turning around and touching the ground with her hand after removing her helmet.
"Stand up, sisters." Sarya muttered out towards Liriel and Arleina as they swiftly got up elegantly, before staring at her. "Farseer will begin the process of the vision. There is nowhere to go from here, therefore she will find the way by looking into the past." the dread began to creep within the two Banshees as they realized what their Farseer was about to do.
"Exarch do you mean.. She is gonna look into..?"
"Yes, young one. If we reside in these images for even a second, it will shatter our minds. Hence, why Farseer Eloen has taken this task on her hands. Only through her strong willpower and tough mind can she complete this task. Even then, it can be fatal.. but we have no choice. Come and form up around her."
Liriel and Arleina looked at each other, before walking towards Farseer and surrounding her, with Exarch being as close as possible. Afterwards, a sudden light emitted from her staff, which lit up the entire underground settlement. The next feature was a mysterious orb that floated towards Farseer. She looked straight into it as it flew towards her face. She stood up and shut her eyes as it made contact with her forehead, and her mind began to lighten up with whiteness before she opened her eyes. What she heard and saw afterwards, was only for her to imagine and endure.
Farseer Eloen heard them. A lot of them. Screams. Both from fear and agony. The noises of constant earthquakes and the crumbling stones falling down onto the settlement bit by bit. She saw them, with only their torsos and heads visible, leaving the legs as smokey shadows. They were the exodites that lived here, and they were in total panic. Many were treating the wounded with as much strength they could muster. Eloen understood that this was the last shelter that they would take, but it would be futile to stay here. Many were lying dead and covered in cloths. So many of them. Some were already dying from the wounds, which she recognized were caused by nothing else than the Imperial weaponry. She walked around as few figures passed through her like a holographic project, and she already had bloody tears running down her cheeks and from her nostrils.
Warlock wanted to interfere out of his worrying to make her snap out of it, but Autarch stopped him. "Don't. Let her finish." Belanor frowned and reluctantly agreed with Autarch's command.
The next vision in Eloen's mind was that of the tribal chieftain, who was pushing a carved statue resembling a soul stone. He and his subordinates, some of whom were wounded but were firmly stable with their discipline as warriors, pushed the statue off, and behind it, was a passage going deeper under the ground. He yelled an order for the survivors to jump inside before she noticed the stomping noises from the stairs, which they all climbed down from.
The members of the Imperial army, or Imperialis Auxilia, were gunning down every Eldar on sight. Eloen nevertheless remained stoic and without any emotions, but it was obviously a painful sight to bear. The projectiles of their laser weaponries crossed through her, and she watched as the last survivors quickly rushed down the opened passage while a dozen Eldar were lying dead on the ground, shot fatally by the Imperial wrath.
"The Emperor protects. No mercy for xenos!" the commander wielding a power sword yelled out as his men continued to pour down into the settlement.
The chieftain of the tribe was reluctant as he stood at the passage, but he had no other choice but to seal the entrance by shooting a psychic spell at the ceiling and force a couple of boulders to lock themselves shut, sealing their fate under the ground, which Eloen thought led nowhere else than to what they were seeking. She was about to quickly snap out of the vision connection, before hearing an infant's scream behind her, which she has not heard for Khaine knows how long. It pulled her concentration back and she was quickly forced to turn around and look at it. Oh how she wished she did not falter . Autarch, Warlock, and the entire warhost were nervously watching her as they all got nervous at the sudden change of facial expression of their farseer staring into an empty dark spot, which was so pitch black that it was not even visible behind the helmet visors.
She saw an Eldar mother on her knees, holding her infant against her chest as it continued to cry. In a state of shock and despair, she was left behind, hiding behind the brick-like wall and trying to stop her baby from crying out loud. Eloen's facial expression turned into a deep frown and deep sadness.
"Miril.. Do not cry, please.. Stop.." the Eldar woman whispered while tears ran down her cheeks, but it was way too late.
Two Imperial soldiers had their weapons locked and loaded towards her, and then their Sergeant joined to check out what they found, while the woman fell into the deepest fear possible.
"Well well well. A xenos and her spawn! Thought you could hide from us?!" the xeno woman crawled back before the Sergeant gripped her blonde hair as an elegant dress covered her body and then threw her in the center, just near where farseer stood. Her gaze diverted at the ground, and even yet, Warhost was following her every move to see where she was looking. The mother did not let go of her child and did not let it get hurt when she fell roughly on the ground.
The soldiers surrounded her with their weapons, firmly pointing their barrels at her. The commander saw this, and decided to walk down the stairs and make his deadly approach while holding a look of disgust and hatred. The woman got on her knees and looked around her, not knowing what the Imperial were saying. Not every Aeldari knew the language of the humans, let alone the Exodites, but she knew one word that was always reserved for the common folk.
"Mercy! Mercy!" she yelled while tearing up and being under the mercy of the commander. He simply slapped her across the face and then frowned madly while looking down at her.
"Xenos speaks gothic, how disgusting.. To mutter our great language and sully it from the likes of you is a great insult that will not go unpunished. Soldiers! Have your fun and regroup in the surface." he ordered, and got out of the settlement, climbing up the stairs and going out. Now about twenty Imperial soldiers with couple of non-commissioned officers were present and they all looked at the innocent and helpless woman like a bunch of predatory wolves ready to pounce on her at any given moment. The soldiers put their weapons aside and began to do something which forced the woman's eyes to widen out completely and for Eloen to have a nervous stare, which she kept as Stoic as possible. They were unbuckling their belts.
The next thing was truly horrifying. The poor Eldar woman's infant got taken away from her, being held upside down by one of the soldiers while two Imperials gripped her hands as the Sergeant got ahead with his belt unbuckled, and two more holding her forcefully down the ground by spreading her legs. Much to her futile attempts of struggling as she twitched, squirmed and wiggled around, her strength was not enough to block the inevitable. The Sergeant ripped her dress forcefully with his hands and began to violate her, forcing her to scream and painfully yell, while many more were waiting for their turns behind the Sergeant as they let their trousers get loose. Eloen saw it all unfold and could do nothing but watch in shock, with her nostrils, ears and even eyes busy leaking blood as the Imperials completely assaulted the poor Eldar mother. Her body was violated by them, one by one, and she had to feel all of it. To endure it. And to do nothing but cry her eyes out.
She watched as the soldier holding her infant pulled his rifle with a bayonet attached to it, and brutally impaled it through the chest, letting the blood gush out of it as the tip of the bayonet pierced the soulstone, while its agonizing screams ended up in a tiny gurgling noise and a quick death. The tiny heart hung itself on the tip of the bayonet, still beating, before slowly stopping. The mother's agony, pain, despair and anger, all of it mixed up into one, having to watch her child being slaughtered in such a brutal manner. She was helpless. They were laughing . Clearly enjoying the pain they caused.
On top of that, the second soldier aimed his flamer at the dead infant and scorched it into a black, coal-colored crisp. The bayonet blade was ever so quickly turning reddish-orange from the high heat, before being thrown against the wall and crushed into multiple pieces, all while the mother watched with her body being used for the pleasures of the Imperial soldiers. Her cries were loud, but they were silenced by a sudden hit of the lasgun's butt against her head as she got stunned, and her blonde hair got covered in her own blood. After twenty minutes of pure torture, the last soldier finished his job with her before leaving her curled up in a ball in a state of total broken mess. Eloen began to heavily breathe, and the warhost members noticed it too. It was not an easy thing to witness, the sheer brutality of the Mon'Keigh. How far could they fall? she thought. They were not even possessed by the dark gods and still retained their brutality no matter what.
As the soldiers laughed and cheered each other with their hunt, they felt triumphant. Some were stabbing the wounded exodites on the ground with their bayonets as they searched the entire settlement. The unfortunate lady, however, despite being broken from inside and out, still had the flame left in her. She had nothing left to lose. She stood up instantly and pounced on the Sergeant from behind, wrapping herself around him in a swift motion while staying silent. The soldiers quickly aimed their weapons towards her, but hesitated to shoot in order not to wound their Sarge.
"Argh! Fracking xenos- get her off of me, shoot her!"
"Sir, you're in the range of fire!"
"SHOOT HE-"
Suddenly, a clicking noise commenced as the grenade pin flew away from the chest of the Sergeant, and a huge explosion rocked every soldier down to the ground as the Eldar woman and the Imperial sergeant got evaporated into dust, the flames ever so taking them both alongside the explosion. The shocked state of the soldiers were indescribable, but it surely earned a moment of relief from Eloen to see that the woman did not give up in the last moment, in the state of despair, and managed to avenge her and her child by taking the one who decided to defile and break her the first, and scarring those that took her beloved child away.
Afterwards, the Imperial soldiers, while bitter, quickly left the cave as soon as possible as the ground began to shake. They thought that the settlement in this underground would collapse and bury them forever, but fortunately that did not happen, as the earthquake stopped as soon as they left the cave. Eloen was about to approach the remains of the infant before the entire image disappeared from her eyesight as Warlock Belanor could not take it anymore and had to wake her up from the vision itself.She got onto her knees while holding her head as the warhost approached her slowly, Autarch kneeling down in front of her with Belanor standing by his side.
"Farseer..?" he said while lifting her chin softly, but she merely blinked a few times and wiped her face from the blood that covered her facial structures, and stood up firmly with a deep frown while putting her helmet back on, and stared at the built-up pieces of stone.
"Right.. There. Behind those rocks. There should be an entrance." she said calmly, as if the effects that overtook her for an entire half hour were never there to begin with. It gave out slight nervous looks from some of the warhost members as they finally understood how quick the Farseers were to dismiss anything that bothered them by the slightest.
Without much of a fuss, Warlock stared at the little mountain of stones and casted a spell which sent them all flying sideways. And the path to the underground was revealed right before them, and so, Farseer quickly walked down through it. It seemed like she wanted to finish the mission quicker and get out of that cursed place as soon as possible.
"Liri.. What do you think she saw..?" Arleina, nervously, asked Liriel, to which she shook her head.
"No idea, sister.. But whatever it was, it's best if we do not think about it and instead focus on our mission. Let's go."
She nodded lightly as they went after their Farseer, following her down the tunnel-like entrance.
"Warriors! Move out, but don't get cramped too close." said Autarch while Warlock joined him by the side, and they followed behind the farseer and the howling banshees, with dire avengers as their rear guard.
The underground tunnel led them to another hall, which was dark like the depths of the abyss. The hall was enormous, but even with the Eldar warrior's helm visors, they were not able to see anything in particular the deeper they descended into the tunnel. However, they distinguished cyan colored particles in the darkness, far away from them in the center of the hall. Farseer unleashed another white orb as a makeshift lantern hovering at the ceiling, and the majestic picture was drawn right in front of every Eldar in the presence.
The enormous hall had about 8 giant pillars carved from the stone, each about twenty meters tall each. In the center was a pyramid shaped structure with an octagon shaped floor at the top. The artefact was located in the center of it, with cyan colored particles oozing into the surrounding air. However, it was split into two pieces. Both pieces had a few gemstones, from emeralds to rubies, stuck within them, as well as some ancient hieroglyphs, which were probably an ancient Eldar language. The material was barely recognizable. It was not a wraithbone, but something ancient and mysterious. They floated in an anti-grav manner from the floor, and were half the size of an adult human male, in an oval shaped manner. One was black, the other was white.
"There it is. What we came here for. Last dwelling place for our.. Ancient kin." she said while pointing her staff to different directions, to which the warhost members took notice. They were just clothing and crystals from the dead bodies, with no soulstones to be seen anywhere. The last of the exodites starved to death here and died a slow and definitely painful death. Some of the warriors, if not all, felt uneasy witnessing such things, but their warmasks allowed them to suppress these feelings. They had a mission to do, but they knew that the sacrifices of their kin did not go in vain.
"Farseer. How do we retrieve it?" asked Autarch Nuvian. "The material is clearly not wraithbone, and our... kin here did everything they could to leave it unspoiled." he said, before Farseer Eloen looked at him, then at the warlock.
"Autarch. The device, as I see it, is sensitive and should be retrieved with care. Belanor here will be my assistant. Use psychic waves to control the essence within the artefact while I carefully retrieve it with my staff. Otherwise, we risk an explosion or damaging the artefact.. Stay in full concentration. Warriors, stand aside and guard your surroundings. Remember the words of Ulthran about some foreign presence that might be looming over us." and with that, she got into motion with Warlock Belanor.
Warlock began to cast a spell while aiming his hands towards the artefact, concentrating his mind to stabilize the floating platform which the artefact stood by from the floor, and Farseer Eloen moved slowly and carefully to retrieve the two pieces with her staff. They both connected to the tip of the staff in an anti-gravitational manner and she managed to carefully lift them up.
"Warriors, catch the pieces!" she ordered, and two Dire avengers swiftly moved on to grab the pieces as they dropped from the staff's floating aura. Warlock ended his concentration and now they have completed their task at hand.
"Avengers." she said, stepping closer to the two warriors. "Are they heavy?" Both avengers shook their heads.
"No m'lady. As light as a feather of the Phoenix." they replied.
"Good. Now, by all means necessary, do not connect them together. Stay at least a few meters away from each other. I'm afraid that this object was here for way too long, and now we've taken it out of its slumber. The best course of action is to get back to the ship as soon as possible. Elidyr and Ulthran will have a better look at this. Autarch?" Nuvian gave a nod and looked at his warriors.
"Dire Avengers. Get to the front and the rear. Banshees, protect the farseer. You two, stay by my side at the front. We need to leave this cursed place. By Isha's blessing, we completed our first task. Now the second task is to get out of this cave. Then we get to the rendezvous point at our landing zone, and depart this world before any foreign interventions. Whether Ulthran's prophecies were true or not.. The enemy will definitely prevent us from completing this task. Stay alert. And move out."
With the command heard loud and clear, half of the avenger squads moved in front of the group, with Autarch and Warlock leading them, and the other half were positioned as the rear guard. In the center of the two separated groups was Farseer and the Howling banshees protecting her. They set things into motion. None would admit it, but they really wanted to get out of this eerie place as quickly as possible. They all thanked Isha for being able to have night visions on their helmets. Otherwise with such darkness, they would've been in deeper trouble.
"You saw them too, Arleina?" Liriel was the first to break the silence between the two banshees. "The clothes, all of them perished."
"Considering how the visions of Farseer made her literally bleed, I'd rather not fathom to imagine what happened in this cave. And I do not blame them for choosing a starving death than whatever the barbarians had in their disposal, Liri." she muttered out.
"Yeah.. I guess you are correct. Either way, let's get out of here." She nodded and they followed the Autarch's lead to get out of the cave as quick as possible.
The surface of Merlorian, Valley between the mountains, the entrance of the cave.
It took them an hour in total to reach the exit of the cave, and they all remained as silent as possible, not even uttering a word. Afterward, the moon lightened up the surface as they exited the cave. However, there was quite an eerie silence as they looked around the forests of the valley between the mountains. Warlock Belanor climbed up a boulder and looked around himself, scouting the area through his helm.
"We are not alone." he said as he jumped down and approached Autarch and Farseer. "Autarch, Farseer. There is a strange essence in these areas. A movement, very strict, silent and precisely, deadly alike.. It is not a primal animal of this world. I cannot determine what. It is best if we hurry up right now." he proclaimed.
"Understood, Belanor. Dire Avengers, stick close and follow the same plan. Banshees, keep Farseer safe. And-" suddenly, out of nowhere, Belanor took his Shuriken pistol and shot two Dire Avengers that stayed behind the ones carrying the two pieces of artefact. The sudden moment forced everyone to draw their weapons. In all the midst of confusion, they looked at the two avengers that dropped dead with some steam radiating off of their helmets. Warlock shot them straight through their heads.
"What in the name of Khaine was that?! Belanor!" Autarch was now frustratingly yelling at him. Even the warriors felt uneasy and confused at what their warlock had just done. Farseer however, remained silent and steady. Warlock calmly holstered his pistol at his belt on the waist, stopped near their feet, and looked back at Autarch before turning them around, forcing their bodies to lie down on their bellies. Each of them held a blade within their clenched hands, and they were too close to the artefact bearers.
"They are not our craftworld kin. Rather.." he gripped both of their helmets with a tight and firm hold, and swiftly removed them. What was revealed next, sent shock and anxiety in the hearts of everyone present.
"Drukhari?!" He said as his eyes widened up. "How did they.. Infiltrate us? This is the enemy Ulthran warned us about, out of everyone, it had to be the dark kin?!" obviously Autarch was fuming. He really wished that it would be anyone else, but not the Druchii. Every warrior's nervousness only grew higher as they saw two members of the Drukhari clad in Dire Avenger's armor. Right under their noses, they have been infiltrated before they even knew or felt it.
"The best guess here is that when the avengers were sent into scouting, two members were quickly disposed off, their armor taken, and with this, it was the group which found this cave. Yet don't blame the rest, Nuvian. It was obvious they did not know. Still.. I really do not like this. These two may have been sending information about all of us to the rest of their units. The dark kin is cunning, yet tricky. In these forests alone, they can be invisible. Expect an ambush, as I feel like they know where we are." he muttered out before continuing.
"I sensed that something was not right with the way those two were eyeing the pieces of artefacts. They would've not acted in the cave because they would simply have nowhere to escape. They probably tried to kill the bearers and take the artefacts, then run deep into the woods, if my assumption is correct and isn't blind. Thankfully, I was quick to act." he proclaimed. "I do not think they used more than these two members.. One was probably just to guard the bearer if there was just one piece of artefact. We should seriously consider getting back to our shuttles right now. And I mean it." he said in all seriousness, not wanting to waste the valuable time they had.
"Farseer?" he asked, clearly noticing some disturbance within Eloen's behavior at how calmly she stood. "Do not be alarmed and blame yourself. You were busy leading our path, we do not doubt you would've felt their presence and discovered the threat. We should not endeavor on this foolishness that got bestowed upon us." Farseer Eloen looked at him and nodded softly.
"We are not always gifted to simultaneously do our tasks at hand, Belanor. But your words are.. Appreciated. Everybody, quickly march back to the mountains we came from. As my mind is free from our task, I sense many foreign souls in this entire valley alone, hiding in the shadows, lurking and waiting to pounce like a wild predator on the loose. Do not get separated. We can only prevail if we stick together. Do not seek to fulfil your pride or thirst for blood. Khaine may have blessed you, but the blessings have their limits. And negative, we cannot look for two dead brethren of ours.. The risk is too high. We can only hope their soul stones were not shattered. Autarch Nuvian, with what Warlock Belanor just discovered, the Druchii know about this artefact as much as we do. It is alarming and I will have to report to Elidyr as soon as possible. Command." she finished and slammed her staff onto the ground once more.
"Understood, lady Eloen. Warriors, the same command as before. Stick together. And follow my command. Top priorities: Protect the artefact bearers and Farseer Eloen at all costs. Return to the shuttle and depart this world to our craftworld. Anyone has any questions?" the warriors looked at each other, trying to find anybody with any complaints to spoke about. It was then Liriel decided to act by lifting her hand. "Yes, Liriel?"
"Humble Autarch. This world is inhabited by the Mon'Keigh. With the knowledge bestowed upon me by Farseer Elidyr, they are indeed dumb, stupid and ignorant. However would it not be smart to leave them an obvious message that Drukhari are present on this world so they can deal with them themselves? We can get rid of both threats by shoving their horns against each other." Autarch raised his eyebrow. Nuvian indeed knew that Liriel was the closest person Farseer Elidyr had in this galaxy alone, and even tho he would not admit it, he felt an enormous pride at how intellectually open-minded the young Banshee was despite being a warrior of Khaine.
"You are truly gifted the traits of knowledge by Elidyr, lady Liriel. I would consider your idea. But right now we cannot afford such luxury. The ignorant barbarians kill everybody who does not look like them. But they are easy to fool and attract to our cause, that i do admit. Right now, however, we should follow our task at hand. Move out, warriors!" he finished, turned around, and took the lead, marching straight into the depths of the woods in the valley, with the warriors following him step by step.
"Drukhari.. Seriously, who would've guessed we would be facing our dark cousins?" asked Arleina. "I really do not like this mission, but the opportunity is worth it. Considering that, these artefacts can give protection to our craftworld from the arch-enemy." she said in a frowny manner, letting out a soft sigh.
"None of us would have guessed or foreseen that we would be fooled like this, sister. But do not let that stop us. Their tricks are to be always predicted, but this is just.. New level. Two of them infiltrated us right under our noses. I am afraid the fight will be inevitable. However, thank Isha that warlock Belanor, ever so wise as he is, managed to sniff out their presence." she muttered out, clearly unhappy that they will have to face the Drukhari. They were sad*stic monsters. Agile, swift and lusting for blood and torment. Not an easy opponent to deal with, but they were warriors of Khaine, and would face any opponent, no matter who.
"Oh, by the way, Liri. Quite a question you asked our Autarch, huh?" Arleina cheekily said, holding back her chuckle, forcing Liriel to lightly punch her shoulder.
"Quit it, Arly! I merely gave out what i had in my mind." she said while holding her power sword and shuriken pistol ready for action ahead, which undoubtedly awaited them. "It is best if we remain open-minded, and as individuals, make our own judgement and adapt to the situation at hand."
"You indeed surprise me day by day, dear. Being the follower of Khaine and at the same time having some knowledge of the greatest Farseers of the Ulthwe, that is quite a combination. Most of us just follow the way of the sword, but you? The sword and the word, Liri." she assumed. "Truly, you are unique."
"No need for flattering, sister. We are all unique in our own ways. Even you, with your sense of humor, that a lot of us truly lack." that earned a silent laugh from Arleina.
"What's so funny? Cegorach's strings have a tight grip on you?" she grinned behind her helm.
"Oh give me a break, Liriel. You proved your point! Plus, who-" she felt a sudden slap on her neck by Exarch Sarya. "Ease your voice, child. Concentrate and watch your surroundings. I do not like these woods.. Let the wrath of Khaine fuel your blades against the dark kin that threaten us, young one. You included, Liriel." they both gave out a respectful nod towards their Exarch. She was right. This was not a moment to have a chit-chat, but rather to concentrate on their mission.
The entire warhost marched in the depths of the dark woods while keeping themselves precisely alerted. Everyone's formation was as strict as possible. Nobody spoke a word, just silent and fluid steps. Not even the rustling of bushes were heard. However, they knew who they were going to face at the end of the day. They decided to stay closer to the mountains on their left side in order to prevent a possible ambush by encirclement and reflect the attacks from just one flank, front and the rear. Autarch gave out a silent command to pick up the pace and speed up the march. They had to be quick. Farseer already notified them earlier that there is a foreign presence in the gigantic forest of the valley they were in at the moment. The time was of essence. And they knew it.
Their march, however, was halted earlier than expected. Autarch did send a couple of scouting groups to investigate the path ahead of them, but to their uncertainty, they reported no activities. No Drukhari, neither Mon'Keigh presence, as if they were all alone. But the talents of the Dark Eldar were not to be underestimated. Autarch knew them very well. They would force you to feel alerted earlier, and strike when the guard was lowered. The moment they thought they were safe, they would strike.
"Do not relieve your alarm, warriors. They are unpredictable, yet dangerous beyond your imagination. Stealth is our only option, nothing loud. I repeat, NOTHING loud, only stealth" he warned, while cutting bushes off with his blade, and his elegant wings being pushed by the leaves of short trees in front.
Half of the distance between their only way out of the valley was completed. But the worst possible scenario arrived out of nowhere. Their path was blockaded by a pile of stones. And there were too many of them stacked together. The warhost halted, and they took a defensive line with their weaponries, while letting Autarch take some observation. "Curses of Khaine!" he yelled and looked at Belanor. A light head shake was all he got in response, indicating to Nuvian that there was nothing he could do. The noise would echo across the mountains and cause an unneeded attention. They had to be stealthy.
"By the bloody hand of Kaela Mensha. How many more misfortunes should we have to face?" Autarch hated this moment, but he had to act fast. Belanor approached and gave out his own conclusion. "This avalanche is a serious issue. We risk being encircled from all sides if we leave this side of the mountain. Nuvian? I fear that our enemy knows us more than we do." Autarch however was not willing to allow the stone to be stuck in his shoe.
"It matters not anymore, Warlock. We are an open target here. We have to get past these piles and quickly stick to the mountain, and speed up our march. If this is the work of the Drukhari, they are dead serious on possessing this artefact. I'm afraid that the squad of banshees won't be enough. Get near the Farseer alongside Exarch Sarya and her warriors. And guard the artefact bearers in the same square formation. It is our main priority. To protect them even if we have to fall." he nodded and obeyed his order. "By Isha's willing, Autarch." and departed through the warhost members, walking near Farseer and reporting the situation.
Which was only getting darker. "Warriors. Immediately after we get past this pile, reform at the side in the same formation and order. And commit to a running march to the end of the valley. We have to quickly get back to the guardians. There is a blocking signal of some sort, and I cannot reach out to our shuttles. Pray to Isha that they were not discovered from our hiding spot, and that Khaine looks upon us tonight. On three.. One, two, three! Move, move, move!"
And with the signal given, Autarch Nuvian was the first one to run past the avalanche of piled up stones, with dire avengers en masse following him in a quick and fluid run, like the wind against tree leaves. Farseer, Warlock and the banshees followed by the same route. They were vulnerable now to attacks from all sides as they departed slightly far away from the side of the mountain, and they knew it. But the risk was necessary, and every warrior prepared for the worst possible scenario.
And the exact scenario, came rushing through their veins by the command of their Warlock.
"Look around! Lots of objects approaching from north and south, and from the east!" yelled Belanor, who's psychic mind alerted him of a foreign presence approaching in swift speed to attack them, just as soon as the artefact bearers and Farseer were pinned against the end of the avalanche. As if attached to a tip of the spear, forcing the warhost to resemble a crescent shaped formation which bent upon the end of the avalanche itself. The Dire Avengers in a quick motion and in unison aimed their shuriken catapults to the directions of the upcoming enemy. The bushes were rustling loudly from the pitch blackness of the woods, and the shadowy figures were so dark that they were not even visible through the visors of the helms. But the warriors knew they are approaching, and approaching very fast. Suddenly, as Belanor sent a shocking electricity waves to the woods on all possible directions, Autarch ordered the Avengers to hold their fire.
"On my command! Hold on! Hoooold! Fire!" he ordered just as the shadows pierced the perimeter of 10 meters in total, and out of the blue, came the aggressive members of the Wych cult. Swift and deadly in their strike, which couple of managed to fall down. The Avengers shot volley after volley of shurikens towards the dodging wyches, giving covering fire to the center and the front of the entire warhost that was desperately trying to get out of the approaching encirclement. Despite dozens of shuriken catapults firing in all possible directions, only a couple of wyches managed to fall down.
The rest of them, ever so elegantly, jumped, dodged, strafed and quickly charged forward with a maddened evil laugh. In this darkness, the Autarch's warriors were the prey. The wyches were not showing any signs of restraint, as eight of them managed to slice down a couple of Avengers in just a span of half a minute. Autarch and Warlock tried to intervene, but the volleys of splinter rifles halted their advance as the group from the south reached their destination and twenty kabalite warriors relentlessly shot their splinter rifles towards the heads of the warhost, which were Autarch and Warlock. The center and the front managed to quickly push themselves out of the avalanche's way and hold themselves against the side of the mountain, but at the cost of their rear. Their numbers were being depleted. By kabalite warriors and wyches alike.
"Autarch!" the voice of Exarch Rilitar came out loud. "Retreat out of here, my avengers and I will buy you some time to deal with those in the front and keep them away!" Autarch shook his head, but Exarch grabbed him by the shoulders in a quick motion. "Understand! If we do not get all of you out of here, the entire cause is lost to naught! Our craftworld's future is what our sacrifice is being made of- GO!" Nuvian was not a man to abandon his warriors. He did it on multiple occasions when there was no choice left, and every time, it returned to him at any given moment. Even this time, there simply was no choice. He only gave out a bitter and angry nod while taking cover behind couple of granite boulders, and quickly retreated back to join the center and the front, as the sounds of battle were already heard in the other side of the avalanche. The enemy from the north was engaging them.
"My warriors! Hold them off at all costs! Today we die for those we cherish, for our craftworld's protection, for the future of it's well-being! Remember that today, we become true warriors in the eyes of Khaine, and true sons in the eyes of Isha! Keep the Kabalite warriors busy while i handle the Wyches!Shea nudh Asuryanish ereintha Asuryanat!"
Immediately, Exarch Rilitar readied his glaive and personal shuriken pistol. He ordered his men to form a stretched single line to battle off the kabalite warriors, which were extremely precise in the pitch black darkness. But it did not remove the resolve of the Dire Avengers to commit with their motivated boost of morale thanks to their Exarch, and they quickly took cover by the trees and the nearby boulders and began to unleash volleys of shurikens against the splinters, with the projectiles being exchanged rapidly, all the meanwhile as Rilitar charged with his glaive against the Wyches that were licking their lips in hunger for his blood.
Like a pack of jackals surrounding a tiger, they all simultaneously charged against him, but their frenzy bloodlust got better of them. 2 of the wyches with their horrendous whips jumped elegantly to slice him into pieces with their strikes, but this time, Exarch anticipated the trick they were trying to pull. He noticed by the corner of his eyes, that the rest of the 6 wyches in a running motion, circled around him from both flanks to pounce and defeat him. But he was not a fool.
With an immeasurable speed, he made a frontal flip into the air, missing both of the whip slashes by mere inches from his eye visors, and in a quick slice of his glaive, decapitated the two wyches with the whips, sending their heads flying into the air with a loud blood gush, and landed safely onto the soft grass, before dodging an attack from the third wych and blowing her guts out with his shuriken pistol straight into her left side, and ending her agonizing voice with a slice at her throat, cutting the voice strings and trachea clean off. The rest of the five wyches, screaming in anger due to their fallen sisters, pounced on him one by one to try and take him down and enjoy the sensation of torturing a helpless prey.
But such luxury was denied to them as Exarch Rilitar, gripped his glaive with both hands after holstering his shuriken pistol, and made a five-second lasting spin like a tornado, cutting down 3 wyches and wounding the two, before he stopped and got a splinter shot from one of the wyches that pierced against his armor and the two wyches ran to him by shooting their splinter pistols, all the way as he dodged their shots and reflected them. He raised his foot and kicked one of the wyches in the head with such force that her neck broke and she fell down instantly.
Now it was the turn of the last wyches to act. She hesitated, bleeding from her shoulder, and tried to flee as quick as possible, having lost her numeric advantage and superiority. Exarch was a merciless warrior to his enemies, and with a single throw of his glaive, sliced her head wide open with the throw, before approaching the dead Wych and grabbing his glaive from in between her head. He saw that his warriors were holding the line as much as they could, but all of them were being cut down one by one, and the kabalite warriors were almost in the same level, however it was obvious that they were having the upper hand here. Rilitar quickly ran to cut the kabalite warriors down, before noticing a sudden flash striking his right eye, and out of the bushes, came a Succubus with her venom blade with a speed of a bullet, pushing him back rapidly about eight meters from such force.
"So fierce and lost in the path of your war god, Exarch?! You may have bested my wyches, now the best of the best, will enjoy your last breath as the venom sinks into your body!" with a maniacal laugh, the swift and extremely elegant looking Succubi charged against the slightly stunned Exarch, but he blocked her attack with his glaive and kneecapped her against the chest, to which she let out a childish resembling laugh after being pushed back. "You have a fight in you yet, I see! But will you be able to withstand my attacks for long, whelp?!" she taunted him and charged once more, but this time more severely and fiercely.
Rilitar was experienced, but he was facing a literal professional at melee fights. The Succubus sliced off some of his armor while he tried to make a major strike against her with his glaive, but she managed to quickly read him through and through. Read how he fought, how he stood and how much will his heart packed. She was merely toying around with him. The Succubus was obviously way older and more experienced in her talent, but she gave him a benefit of the doubt at the end of the day. Her venom blade and the glaive constantly clashed, with him pushing her back and then himself being pushed back by her. She knew that this was not a human known for their fatigues, but a literal Exarch of the dire avengers. And he fought fiercely despite how many gaps she created within his armor. Every time she tried to strike her venom blade to his exposed skin, he blocked her, but he was doing his most important task at the moment - to buy the time for the warhost to escape, alongside his warriors at his side.
The Succubus's body didn't have a single scar on her, indicating the perseverance of keeping her beauty intact. Exarch continued to block her attacks as she studied him thoroughly. The fight was hard indeed for the exarch, and he was getting weary as she was pushing his limits. "Begone back to the grip of she-who-thirsts, witch!" he roared before charging with his pistol, shooting her rapidly, but to no avail. She was way too fast. She let out another maniacal laugh.
"Weaklings! Always holding onto your soul stones for the last line of protection, instead of choosing the true mastercraft of the torment! Archon Vect is right, you truly are an empty spot in the galaxy, Craftworlder!" right after that, she jumped and struck him in the helmet. It became loose and fell off from his head to which the Succubus took advantage of and kicked him straight in the chest with severe force, and then swiftly kicking his face, which resulted in him dropping as his glaive got lost at the last minute, alongside his shuriken pistol. She grinned proudly and slowly walked towards him, all whilst the battle was taking place behind her.
"The time for toying is over, Exarch. I will have your voice echoed across this valley. As for your wounded warriors, they will make a fine addition to the chambers as mere pets, begging for death, ever so having their souls sent to the hungry bitch than to endure what the Haemonculi have in stock!" she proclaimed while eyeing down her defeated opponent, but all she got in return was a laugh from the blonde haired Exarch who was holding his broken rib cage and his bleeding face, staring straight at the Succubus.
"None of your actions will be able to suffice the eternal humiliation I inflicted upon your elegance, witch.." he proudly said while staring at her, to which she only laughed in reply. "Not a single blade has ever gotten near my flesh, exarch! I've killed many before you. All of you have the same fate!" Rilitar out of nowhere pointed towards his glaive. He cleaned it thoroughly from blood after killing the wyches, but right now, it had a small spot of blood coating its tip. Succubus noticed this, and got alarmed as her eyes widened up in terror.
She touched her cheek, and felt something warm and wet on her fingers. It was her own blood. The Exarch, somehow before getting kicked down, managed to reward her with a scar and ruining her entire meaning in a single instant. She screamed loudly in a shrieking horror at the realization, and all she heard was the laugh of the Exarch, mocking and taunting her. She may have beaten him physically, but in exchange, he managed to beat her mentally. For a succubus to get a scar was a literal end of their reputation and an everlasting humiliation, the target of mockery and taunting.
In a blood rage, the succubus began to slice his exposed gaps on his skin and let the venom from her blade settle in. Exarch merely grunted and began to pulse and spasm. The agony and tormenting pain going through his body would be enough to make a space marine scream in pain from how much venom she inflicted upon his body, but he only grunted and held his screams back with all his willpower and mental strength of discipline and steely manner. She wanted him to scream, yet he held himself. With his coughs spilling blood onto his chest and everywhere possible as his eyes raised up to his forehead, bleeding from all holes.
As his gurgling noises overtook him, she began to rapidly stab and twist her blade within his abdomen, being fueled with intense rage. Yet even then, the Exarch only laughed more and more until the poison stopped his heart. He pulled all his might into his eyeballs, and rolled them straight towards her with a grinning look. And he took his last breathe. The soulstone changed its color, indicating his soul being caught by the stone itself. However, the succubus was already blinded by the fury and she stabbed his eyeballs before decapitating his head clean off his shoulders, stomping it into pulp. She unleashed another scream and took his soulstone. Back in Commorragh, she would not know any relief until she hears him scream. She turned around and charged to kill the dire avengers, who were still holding the line against the Kabalite warriors. She wanted blood to coat this cursed place, and she would have it.
Liriel and Arleina followed the example of their Exarch Sarya, following her lead as they battled. There were couple of kabalite warriors and few wyches who tried to get closer before getting cut down by the elite squad of banshees. They were like circling atoms, leaving the traces from their power swords as they reflected their attacks. The Dire Avengers were busy guarding the Farseer and the carriers, with the warlock jumping into action, destroying two jetbikes that were trying to make hit-and-run tactics on them.
"The path is clear, move!" yelled Nuvian while cutting down dozens of kabalite warriors as warlock Belanor joined him to destroy the threat before the Drukhari reinforcements arrived. They just kept coming and coming. Warhost kept resisting as much as it could. They kept pushing the Drukhari back with their united force, like a wall of iron against the menacing tides, doing everything they can just to reach the hill at the end of the valley, from which they would be able to cross the mountains and reach their shuttles as soon as possible. Warlock and Autarch rushed to finish off the kabalite warriors that were pinning them down, under the covering fire of the avengers, and the protection of Farseer and artefact carries by the Howling Banshees.
As the autarch and warlock were trying to remove the annoyance in the thick woods, the wyches came straight out of nowhere, trying to kill the bearers and Farseer and possess the artefacts. But Sarya and her warrior sisters denied them such luxury. Liriel dashed forward before strafing left and stabbing her power sword into the gut of a Wych, the blood splashing against her armor, before pulling it out as she knelt down and let Arleina jump on her shoulders and charge onwards, shooting shuriken rounds against the approaching Kabalite warriors before cutting both legs of one of them, and stabbing the chest of the second one clean through, before finishing off the legless warrior by shooting his head with rounds of shurikens. Sarya and the rest of the 15 banshees held each of their corners, while Farseer shot lightning bolts to every enemy in the vicinity, keeping the artefact bearers protected like a caring mother.
The Dire Avengers were having difficulties holding the line. They were not able to just withstand the volleys of enemy fire by just standing still without a proper cover. Autarch noticed this and immediately gave out the order for warhost to speed up intensively. Half of them were already desperately holding their rear by constant rapid fire. However the terrain difficulties would only get worse. The storm approached as the dark clouds positioned themselves above the valley, and the raindrops struck the armors of the warriors and got slowly heavier, creating a muddy ground beneath their feet. The running would be heavy right now.
Exarch Sarya ordered her warrior sisters to engage the enemies from the front to clear off the path as the rest followed behind. Autarch and Warlock held the right flank which was the hardest to withstand, since too many of the Drukhari members were storming from there, trying to overrun the warhost from the center. Dire Avengers with all their strength were getting weaker, but they held their rear for as much as the time allowed them. Farseer and the bearers had to stay alive, no matter the costs.
The dark armor clad banshees were unleashing their howling shrieks simultaneously in order to slow down and stun the Drukhari warriors, but they were well aware of the enemy they were facing. The effect was little, but effective for a very short amount of time. About six Wyches fell from Exarch Sarya's power glaive alone while her warriors took care of the rest. The warhost was running fast, as the rain created a lot of muddy ground that would slow their movement down. By the orders of Autarch, they were ordered to quickly run towards the hill that was not far ahead, but there was a massive problem.
"Reaper gunship at the hill! It's loading its vortex projector! Farseer, we need your aid!" he yelled while being in front, leading the warhost's escape. Farseer Eloen gripped her staff and then began to run against the wall of the mountain on her left. Like a running spider, her movement was fluid yet extremely precise. It felt as if she was floating. Some of the warriors that were running behind, looked at her in awe, but they had to seriously consider their options.
The Reaper was about to unleash a massive projectile, and disintegrate their entire formation into a total chaos. But their Farseer was not going to allow them to have their lucky day. With a quick blue lightning emitting from the point of her staff, she connected all her strength and energy into a single motion, and shot a massive dark orb towards the reaper, just a tiny second before it was going to shoot its deadly projectile. It exploded into a huge explosion, like a dynamite thrown into a well. Such a show of force boosted the morale of the Eldar warriors as the Farseer landed next to the bearers under fire and acted as a force shield to block off the attacks. Autarch and Warlock exchanged their looks, and had their helmets been off, they both would be grinning at each other.
"By Isha! Did you see that?!" Arleina asked as she got next to Liriel in the running. "Our Farseer blew that abomination to shreds!" she victoriously claimed. "It seems like Khaine looked upon her tonight, sister! With that dealt with, let us get out of here swiftly!" Arleina gave out a quick nod while staring forward, and made couple of dodges as a jetbike came sweeping towards them, but both aspect sisters sliced the engines into shreds and sent the pilots reeling against a tree with a loud crushing noise, their bodies completely broken.
As the warhost held off the attacks from the front, rear and the right flank, they made the right decision to hold on against the mountain wall after all. Because in their vicinity, the hill started to appear. They were close to getting out of the hostile valley.
"Autarch! Massive lines of jetbikes approach us from the rear, they'll cut us down, HURRY!" Warlock Belanor yelled as he saw, from the distance, the speedy jetbikes were closing in with their blades ready to tear them to shreds like a saw blade. He gave out a desperate order to all the warhost members to stretch out on a horizontal line instead of the vertical, in order to climb the hill all in unison before the jetbikes surround them and tear them to shreds from the rear and their flank. There were a lot of them, and the trees did not stop them at all.
Every warhost member, except the banshees that had to guard the farseer and the bearers, stretched out in a long horizontal line and ran towards the hill with as much as stamina was held within their bodies. The kabalites climbed on top of the tallest trees and began to fire upon them with their splinter weaponries, managing to wound some and take down couple of avengers and two banshees.
Autarch yelled at them to not look behind, just straight forward towards the hill with the burning reaper gunship ahead. It was a great risk, and a lot more members were getting gunned down by the hidden Drukhari warriors. But every Eldar knew that the sacrifice was necessary. 5 banshees were taken down, and 10 dire avengers, with another 15 being left behind as they got severely wounded. The jetbikes finished them off at ease, but in the sheer agony, as their screams were heard loud and clear behind the survivors. The poison inflicted upon them was only prolonging their suffering. Farseer Eloen rallied her men and women to ignore the sounds and focus on the mission, and it worked.
The hill was beaten. The survivors climbed upwards like a rushing wind, and the jetbikes were forced to stop their strafing run. Their vehicles would be too slow to climb up such a steep hill, so they decided to go on a routing point to catch the survivors. Meanwhile, as the survivors ran down the other side of the hill, they took cover behind boulders and looked for a way to get out of these mountainous lands and return to their shuttles.
"The same route that we have taken is not an option anymore, I sense the blockade! We must take the passage on our right and reach the shuttles as soon as possible!" Eloen raised her voice so that everybody could hear.
"Fire of Khaine fuel us! I got the signal to our guardians. They need our immediate return, the Druchii have found them! They built a well defensive lines while we were gone, but it's crumbling, we should hurry! Farseer, by the will of Khaine and blessing of Isha, tell us there is a quicker way!" Autarch nervously yelled out. His voice ever so full of despair. Losing his warriors in this state was never easy for him, but he endured.
"By the holy tears of our goddess I cannot determine where to look, i need time!" she said while quickly concentrating her mind. And even then, some of the Kabalite warriors managed to climb up the hill and open fire at their positions. The Dire Avengers returned the fire, not allowing them to get closer and climb down the hill. It did not take too long for the Farseer to find another route, which was a tad risky, but it was the only available route they had. And it would get rather ugly. She stood up with her staff and turned to Autarch.
"Autarch! There is another route, but its really risky. By taking the path directly to the north, there is a narrow cliffside road. Under this heavy storm, it might get rather slippery. Either we take that, or choose the original one, but under a risk of being surrounded again. Make a choice, hastily!" Autarch thought for a little bit. He had a way out, but there would definitely be difficulties. But being surrounded, again, was not the option. After a lightning struck from the skies, he stood up tall and pointed north.
"Warriors! Our path of salvation now lies up that cliffside! It might be dangerous, and some of us might not return, but by all means necessary, the main task is still the main priority. As soon as I throw a plasma grenade, run immediately!" He gave out the order, and took a plasma grenade from his belt, before throwing it at the hill to blind the Kabalite warriors.
Immediately, he signaled the survivors to run off and climb up the mountain right in the north, where the cliffside was located at. He threw a second grenade since fresh forces arrived from the hill, but he was already sprinting after his warriors, and warlock unleashed a lightning bolt to tear a few small boulders to shreds to blockade their retreating path, adding more difficulties for the Drukhari to go after them. In addition, he threw a fog grenade which exploded into thick blue colored fog, acting like a smoke grenade, but more efficiently than the Imperial ones.
The storm kept raining down as they ran up to the mountain, going up the cliffside. But the problem is, it was intensively slippery. It made their escape rather difficult as few avengers kept pushing their limits without proper concentration within their legs. They had to be quick. Most of those in the front held the hands of those behind them, helping them climb the cliffside. The Banshees had more success at climbing, alongside the Farseer, Autarch and Warlock. However they wouldn't leave anyone behind who still held a weapon in their hands. Autarch kept pushing them forward, but a lightning struck the mountain and a light avalanche began to fall down right onto them while the rain kept hitting their visors.
"Avalanche! Halt and stay against the mountain!" Autarch ordered, but a bit too late. 5 avengers got struck by falling boulders, who fell to their deaths, and few got tiny rocks in a high speed striking to their helmets, stunning them temporarily. Eloen was one of them. Nuvian told them to move, while Sarya immediately helped Eloen to get up, throwing her arm around her neck to carry her forward while the avalanche left a dust in their path.
"Farseer! Hang on!" Exarch Sarya had a strict order to protect the Farseer and she would sacrifice herself for her if need be. A simple rock, would not seal her fate tonight, she thought. But the situation was going to get worse if they would not hurry up. Autarch Nuvian yelled with all his voice to speed up. They were literally trapped with only one way out. Anytime if a lightning struck the mountain, they'd be met with another avalanche, and get closer to their deaths. The Eldar were faster and more agile than humans, but the forces of nature shared their wrath with anyone, no matter who, and this was no different.
Their arduous march continued for a longer while, and within their viscinity as they climbed the cliffside higher and higher, before settling up to a stable and straight level, they noticed something that disturbed them. Down there, there were projectiles and explosions at where their shuttles been set. One was already in smokes, the rest were still intact, relying on their holo-fields to fool the Drukhari forces that were slowly gaining the upper hand at the battlezone. As the ground was stable, their running was rather easy, even tho narrow. They still had to pass the cliffside which bent leftwards on the mountain and went downwards afterward. Only then, they would be able to get down to the even ground and reach their shuttles, and help out the guardians if they could.
The stunned members, including Farseer Eloen, returned to their full consciousness and were quickly running down the cliffside with the rest of the survivors. Sarya ordered her banshees to flank the Drukhari members and cut them down to relieve the guardians. Without a single second of hesitation, she rallied her remaining sisters, including Liriel and Arleina, and charged like wild firestorm, ever so elegantly jumping on trees and getting their swords readied up, with their shuriken pistols. As soon as they saw the Kabalite warriors in their hiding positions, they unleashed their howling shrieks simultaneously and forced them to drop their weapons and hold their ears.
They clearly were dumb enough to not wear their helmets and to expect any resistance from their rear. A single slaughter was what commenced next as the paralyzed units of Drukharis were left crippled. In one single strike, the howling banshees united their strength and like elegant birds in the sky, made dashes, jumps and swift hit and run tactics on the Drukhari members, which there were at least over hundred of them against the small contingent of guardians. They used the surroundings and narrow gaps between the trees to their advantage, as the splinter weapons failed to strike them no matter the firepower, due to how they appeared like speed devils, hid in the shadows, then appeared from the rear, slicing them in half with their power swords.
Truly the Aspect Warriors were full of wrath. Fury from the loss of their comrades and that because of them, they would have lost their beloved Farseer with the desperate situation they forced them into. All of them were fighting as if possessed by Khaine's fire, especially Sarya, who showed no mercy despite the calls of few of the Druchii warriors. Many Drukhari lost their limbs, heads and guts as their blood coated the flora under a heavy storm. Not even the rain was enough to wash down the blood from the aspect warriors armors. They were tired of having to be defensive. Now they were the attackers. Unleashing their potential and clearing the path for the warhost.
In just few minutes alone, all of the present Drukhari members were lying dead, with the banshees standing triumphant on their hit and run mastery, wiping their blades clean with rainwater and rags. The survivors ran to them afterwards as the guardians cheered their saviors, but Autarch immediately shut them down rather quickly. "Do not celebrate too early. Get the shuttles repaired immediately! These were just scouting groups. Their main raiders will arrive here at any given time.. Help the wounded first and reform the line. We are not done yet." he spoke his command loud and clear.
Surviving dire avengers were either lightly wounded, or were fatigued beyond the measure but still capable of holding their weapons. The banshees were fine, but some already were bleeding from their sides and limbs. But the fire that went through them was bigger than the concern for the blood loss, and they were already kneeling down to heal their wounds with their psychic abilities. The line was remade with those who were still capable of giving a fight, while the rest got to get their shuttles back on. Even with the holo-field, they sustained enough damage and needed immediate repairs. Warlock and Farseer were now busy helping with it as the artefact bearers were safe in the ship with the rest of the wounded, and Autarch was supervising the formation of the defensive line.
"Finally we got to feed our wrath, aspect sister." said Arleina with a rough voice. It was obvious she was upset. "A lot of Dire Avengers, some of our sisters, and even exarch Rilitar.. They fell today, and we are barely in all our strength. Everytime in these recent decades, this is all I've seen. They send us blindly into the void, without any of us having a chance to know whose fates are sealed. I know, I know.. Necessary this, necessary that, but will this always be the way for us from Ulthwe?" she asked Liriel who was checking her shuriken pistol. "Liri?" she asked again, but this time, Liriel stood up and looked at her directly into her visors.
"We chose our path, sister. I am not happy just like you, and in fact, I am frustrated.. But no, this will not always be our way, Arleina. This is temporary. However, this is the best option we can afford. Lest we are to suffer the fates of Iyanden and Biel-Tan, but ten times worse." she frowned and muttered out. "Out of everyone, I am happy that I still have you by my side. In all this mess, it would've been us both, or one of us, so let us not just rush with endeavor on mourning, and instead, return to the craftworld. Our path is that of war. And war has losses. A lot of it.. We do everything to survive." Arleina obviously wanted to detest the way their leaders were like, but she knew that Liriel was right. The survival had no questions, it only had answers.
"Asuryan.. Maybe I really should've been an artisan instead" she cheekily said. "But this is where my true potential lies. Being an aspect warrior. Blessed by Khaine's bloody hand. I shall focus just like you, sister." they both nodded and got to maintain their gear while the rain was slowing down, indicating that the storm was going away from their position before it completely stopped. "Good. I understand you are tired, but so are we all. But we put our lives so our craftworld survives. Until the last of Ulthwe lives, the Ulthwe breathes." Liriel said while checking her throwing knives, flipping them between fingers and putting them back to her holsters. "Truly a student of Elidyr himself. Wisdom shines through you, doesn't it?" Arleina asked as she removed her helmet, giving out a light smile, though her face was still as elegant as always.
"Arly, we almost got killed and you still refuse not to smile? By Isha, your spirit is strong and free.. Than most of us." she complimented her. Truly, Arleina knew how to be alive. "I thank you for the kind words, Liri. A lot of us refuse to ever smile, and it makes us look.. More like those cursed machines. The Necrons. When we can smile and show that we are living beings. And superior in our ways." Liriel removed her own helmet and looked at her and returned a light smile. "Incredible way of thinking you have, my dear.. May Isha bless your soul." they clapped each other's shoulders and began to attend their usual business, checking gear and exchanging some looks. Exarch Sarya and Autarch joined up together, and were busy talking. But the conversation was definitely getting slightly heated up.
"Send my sisters as shock troops against the massive enemy groups?!" the outraged Exarch noted.
"Our Dire Avengers are crippled and can only hold a single position. We only have less than a dozen of them left.. Your aspect warriors are the only mobile units we have. There is just no other option for us, Exarch. We are cutting trees down to build a blockade, but even that will not help us for too long." Autarch, while not pleased, had no other choice in his disposal. Sarya gripped her hands into fists and looked down at the ground, before looking at her sisters who were eager for battle.
"They want to fight, I can see that. But this is a total madness. We can only slow them down without a guarantee that it will have an effect, but who shall return is a question I dare not to ask. Khaine damn it." she kicked the dirt with her boot and looked away from him.
"We all rely on you and your aspect warriors to slow them down, Exarch Sarya. We need just one moment to halt their push. A sudden ambush.. Then quickly return to us. Otherwise, I assure you, we will not be able to depart from this world. Their fresh and able units will overrun and slaughter us like cattle. You and your squad did a great job, but you know better than I do. The ambush was possible because they were busy trying to destroy our guardians and the shuttles. This time, none of their backs will be facing us. We have what we came for in our possession. Make a quick assault. Use the terrain to your advantage. Make as many hit and run tactics as you can, slow them down, and return. We will not depart without you, unless.." he suddenly silenced his voice from speaking further, frowning and rubbing his chin.
"Unless we won't return in time." she said it for him instead. Straight and without any emotion.
"Correct. I swear to you, I would've chosen any other way. But we have none. All of your sisters will follow you to death and beyond. Proceed, and return. May Khaine guide you. I will contact you when we are finished and call you for a retreat" he said while putting his hand on her shoulder, before returning to his warriors. Sarya stared towards the sky, then looked at her sisters. "Isha.. Protect your asuryani children and guide us back to safe haven. Khaine, fuel me and my sisters with your fire and strength." she murmured silently, before approaching her squad of ten banshees in total.
"Sisters! To me." she ordered, and every banshee got in a single line facing their Exarch.
"As all of you know, we know the risks we have to take and face in our paths. This one will be a challenge for all of us. Our task, is to make a sudden assault by an ambush on the approaching Drukhari members. We have to slow them down and halt their push to our position. Otherwise, we risk being overrun and finished off since the shuttles need repairs. I do not want to reassure you about the rate of our survival. Some of us might not return.. but remember this. The protection of our craftworld is in our hands. If we have to sacrifice ourselves for our home to be in total safety, then every Eldar shall know our names and sacrifices we made, especially those of Ulthwe. Follow my lead. Let us strike the enemy from the shadows, and coat our blades with their blood!" She raised her spear, and every aspect warrior raised their swords in unison, in silence, discipline and in full attention. They all admired and loved their Exarch. And would truly follow her everywhere no matter what.
"May Isha protect you and may Khaine guide your strikes, sisters. After me!" and there and then, the banshees followed their Exarch as she ran away deep into the woods, following the only path that was open. Exarch jumped onto the trees, with the banshees following her example. Like silent ghosts, they swiftly moved from tree to tree until they would locate the approaching Drukhari raiders.
Few miles afterwards, the column of Dark Eldar units was located, passing by the only pathway caved in these woods by the Mon'Keigh habitants of the world. There were couple of vehicles and a haemonculus on top of that, which added to the dread of the Banshees who all frowned at the sight of the masters of torment. They were the most vile of their dark cousins, and what made it even worse was that he had two grotesque monstrosities following him like bodyguards. It seemed, like this was their last and final push. To crush the warhost survivors by uniting their forces. It was obvious that their single attacks did not cut it, and they had to push their differences aside to make an iron fist and crash against the last line of Autarch's defenses. Sarya was impressed, but had a mission to do at the end of the day.
"Sisters.. Hear me clearly." Sarya said while holding the communications device by her helm. "I shall use haywire grenades to disable two of their gunships. Use the trees to your advantage. Strike them from flanks, and make them feel trapped, disappearing into the woods and repeating the same task until I receive an order from Autarch. But by all means necessary, avoid that floating abomination. Do not let that thing get close to you. Nothing escapes the torment they inflict upon those that get locked by their tendrils. And do not engage those monstrosities that guard him. As soon as they approach, I shall commence. Get to each tree in a vertical line. There are ten of us, and hundreds of them. But they shall feel the wrath of Ulthwe today. Khaine looks upon us, young ones. Ready your blade and shurikens. On my command.." and there they waited for the column to get closer, every banshee hiding in the shadows without a single motion like statues.
The Drukhari column was being led by a Haemonculus who was floating above the ground, with hundreds of kabalite warriors and wych cult members running on the main path. The warhost was located deep in the woods, but the vehicles could not get past the trees without too much commotion, and they were hidden by the trees on top of that, which meant that their aircraft or any ships would not be able to locate them in the thickness of the forest and the darkness.
Even then, they had no air support. The vehicles had to be pushed as close as possible to the warhost's location, where they would clear the path for the rest to approach the shuttles and disable the shuttles completely, not to destroy it, as Haemonculi was wise enough to tell them that the Artefacts were located in those shuttles most definitely, and under a massive threat, every Drukhari member knew not to disobey his orders and be precise. He wanted the Farseer in reality. Way more than the artefacts. But he was tasked to retrieve it, and would finish his main task, before capturing the Farseer as a fine specimen to experiment upon.
"Unworthy worms! You better remember my words thoroughly! Disable the shuttles. Do not destroy them. Or I will have you all flayed alive and splat against the walls of Commorragh with an ever lasting venom injections for what the eternity has to offer! Onward! The Farseer is mine.." he laughed afterwards in pure maniacal terror. The Banshees could've cringed at such disgusting noise, but they did not allow themselves such moment. They were all concentrated on their Exarch's command. Drukhari members were already looking angry and driven by nothing but bloodlust. It was definitely obvious at what they wanted. These were mercenaries and would not deprave themselves of whatever their disgusting minds had in stock. Meanwhile, the column was approaching the spot for an ambush. However, the running march was halted immediately as Haemonculus ordered a sudden stop.
"Halt you scum! We are not alone.. Double the flanks and spread out immediately, stare at the woods!" immediately after he said that, Sarya had no choice but to order her final command. The haemonculus has sniffed their presence and knew they were close. But before they reorganized themselves into a steely defensive convoy, there was no time to waste.
"NOW!"
In a swift motion, Sarya sent two haywire grenades flying directly to the two gunships in the front of the convoy and disabled them completely. The rest of the banshees came out with their infamous howling shrieks in full unison and attacked their flanks, coming down from the trees like wild eagles catching their prey as most of them got stunned, forced to hold their ears. Some of the Drukhari members got taken by surprise as one by one, they were getting cut down.
The aspect warriors strafed left and right to the woods and then came from a different angles and directions to strike once again, completely sending the entire column into a disarray. Sarya joined them and struck down couple of wyches with her glaive, while her sisters kept the majority busy with hit and run tactics. The blood began to cover the ground. There was just nowhere the Drukhari members would be able to run and take cover. Many tried to run into the woods, but the rest on the road, seeing how the heads of those that tried to hide in the woods began to fly out onto the road itself, panicked and they dropped that idea completely. The banshees were fierce in their attack, and inflicted psychological terror onto the unfortunate kabalite warriors and wyches alike.
Liriel ran past two kabalites and sliced them both in half before backflipping and blocking wych's attack, before kicking her right on top of her head by lifting her leg in huge flexibility, dropping her down immediately before running to the other side of the woods and hiding in the shadows.
Arleina targeted the Kabalite gunners behind the stuck gunships, and cut four of them down, shooting her shuriken pistol and swinging her power sword precisely. One of them lost both hands in a clean cut, and the rest were on the ground holding their insides, and their squad leader had his rib cage sliced vertically, laying on the ground which their blood was spilled onto, before she hid in the woods as well.
However the effect did not last for too long. The Haemonculus quickly learned how the banshee squad operated and sent his grotesques into action. One to the front, one to the rear, before he himself floated like a wild wind, anticipating the movements of the banshee squad. He managed to catch one banshee and forced her to drop her sword as he kept her in a chokehold, wildly grinning at his catch. "A very wise and efficient strike. But such tricks are mere annoyance for the master of torment!" he said in his maniacal voice, and tore the banshee in half, forcing the rest of the squads to tremble for a second. "Talila!" was heard from couple of the banshees. "Concentrate! Do not let him provoke you! Roanmara, Xila, Do not!" Sarya desperately yelled at her sisters to fully commit themselves to their mission, but it all went to deaf ears.
"We will strike you down, abomination!" Xila yelled as she, in full rage of Khaine, tried to strike the haemonculus from the rear. But one of his grotesques caught her midair and began to maul her into nothingness. Roanmara, the second banshee, at the loss of their aspect sisters, now attacked from the front by shooting her shuriken pistol towards the haemonculi. But the second grotesque punched her in mid air and then she got surrounded by the wyches who began to literally tear her apart. Haemonculus was wise. Provoking by a heinous act, sending his grotesques away to make sure they catch those that dare to threaten him, and deplete their numbers. "Khaine curse you, monster!" Sarya yelled while continuing her task, with the remaining 7 of the aspect warriors who now were in disadvantage. They needed all their numbers to slow down the enemy units, but now some of the sides were getting adapted to their hit-and-run tactics.
"Your Autarch sends you like fodder against me and does not even join you! Your Farseer who I want to capture does not give you the needed support! Did she not tell you how you'll all be doomed?! Celebrating too early and forgetting that you are fighting against your cousins. Deny it or not, we know of your ways, Aspect Warriors! A fine addition to my gallery, come to me, my children, and taste the true meaning of pain!" the haemonculus yelled out and laughed maniacally as he was already holding another member of the Sarya's squad with his tendrils. She was losing oxygen and gasping for air, and her communications device was still on.
"Ccc-chhgnn.. Ee..Ex..Exarch.. heellpphh.. pleasee hh-hhelphh.." remaining banshees and especially Sarya heard her desperate words. For a second, she wanted to just jump on that creature and tear it apart in blood rage. But she was an experienced warrior, a veteran, and kept her warmask strictly attached to her face and ignored her pleading. "... Concentrate, sisters." she said, but Arleina tried to detest, and Sarya was now frustratingly yelling. "Concentrate I said! Silence, Arleina! Concentrate for Ulthwe's sake! Not a single word!" However Haemonculus was enjoying this moment as he took off her helmet and got it near his mouth with one of his tendrils for the rest of her sisters to hear his words.
"Helpless child. Do you hear that? None of them are coming to save you. You have been abandoned by who you thought were your sisters and comrades. All alone, no one will grant you salvation! This is why you are weak and we are strong. None of us bother ourselves with constant unity. Free for all, everyone for themselves. That is the true art and mastery! You will make a fine collection in my chambers." he said as he choked her unconscious and threw her on the back of one of his grotesques near him, who, in obedient loyalty, was going to be the carrier. Despair and dread began to settle in with the aspect warriors, but Sarya tried her best to keep the squad in full concentration and ordered the communications to their sister to be cut off. Arleina was already holding her tears back and Liriel was nearing the same situation, but they still held themselves in full control of their emotions, pushing them far away. They hated their dark cousins for a good reason.
The Drukhari members built up a defensive line around their convoy and now, Sarya was hoping for the order from Autarch to come. It did not. However she still cared for her sisters and did not want all of them to die in this suicidal assault, despite her words earlier. She commenced to a second planning. "Sisters! To keep them busy, split far away and act as if you are hurt or in disarray. Force some of them to follow you! Quickly! Their front is already pushing towards our shuttles!" they all understood and sprinted far away in the woods, as half of the present Druchi members began to chase after them by the order of their Haemonculus. "Pursue them, dead or alive, quickly you absurd vermin or I will have your flesh as my coat!"
"Autarch! Half of them are pushing towards your positions, we could not hold them for long.. They have a haemonculus who sniffed us out. Hold your line! I repeat, hold your line!" she yelled into the comm device while running off from the ambushed site.
"Curses.. I heard you Exarch, I mourn your warriors, but you bought us enough time to complete the repairs of our wraithbone engines. We are close to repairing the minor parts. If there's only half of them approaching us, we will be able to hold them off before departure. Keep them busy however you can and wait for my command!" he said and cut off the comms.
The remaining sisters, in total 6 and their Exarch, split far away in the woods with the pursuing Drukhari members and they knew what they had to do. The Dark Eldar wanted to catch them, presumably alive, but even dead would do. They wanted action, and they had an elite squad running away from them. They would not let this bounty go off, and an enslavement of such individuals was highly praised and highly priced. None of them would want to miss this chance.
Liriel and Arleina were only five meters away from each other, and had about twelve Kabalite warriors chasing after them, some in just melee, and some with their splinter rifles, shooting at their rear in order to disable their mobility. But to no avail. They were quick to dodge them.
"Why did we not help her.. we allowed her to be taken by that.. That thing!" Arleina contemplated. Obviously she was hurt with the losses, but when their aspect sister asked for help, nobody helped her out, and that made her severely mad. "All we do is run away from the enemy when we should be engaging them in full capacity, but not like this.. Not like this!"
"There is nothing we could have done, Arly!" Liriel yelled while speeding up, dodging the incoming fire from behind. "Understand this! We can mourn them later, I do not want to see you join them! Not here, not today!" she growled in frustration and continued to run further and further away from their original spot for a quick assault on the column. Arleina grumbled and just decided to stay silent, since they had bigger problems in hand.
"Sisters, report!" Sarya contacted them all through the communications device.
"Arleina and Liriel here! We are being chased and they still do not budge! But we will force them deeper into the woods"
"Keerla here.. Wounded but still in full mobility, hiding in a spot."
"Aure here. They're coming after me in full force, but I will be able to fool them."
Sarya waited for few seconds for the rest of the two to report, but the comm was weaker than expected. "Nuala, Meira, by Isha tell me you are there." she muttered out. "Nuala, Meira, come in!"
"Nuala is dead, Exarch. Her throat was slit.. As for me.. Tell my.." the fire kept coming from the other side of the communications. "Meira, where are you?! Where are you?!" yelled Sarya, her voice full of desperation and anger.
"Tell.. My little brother.. His sister loves him the most, and.. She is sorry for hurting him in the gardens. She did not mean those words.. They approach me now. Farewell, my sisters. Exarch, guide the rest of us home.. Or our kinsmen died for nothing." immediately after the last line, an explosion was heard about half a kilometer away. "No.. No! Meira! Meira!" the Exarch now gritted her teeth behind the helm and was now falling into the furnace of rage.
She did not wish to retreat anymore, and decided to turn around and face her pursuers by immediately charging against them, and taking down twenty members of both Wych and Kabalite warriors alike, slicing, cutting, decapitating, gutting and smashing each of them around with her power glaive. Her punches. Her kicks. It all coated her armor in thickness of blood once more. Even then, she fell onto her knees and felt some of the splinters have penetrated her right shoulder and arm, and some of her abdomen now with the rest of her armor having scars of constant blade attacks. She was wounded, but nevertheless stood up in a messy way and not reacting to the poisonous splinters any bit. However the good news arrived to them rather quickly after about half an hour of long scattering across the cursed woods.
"Exarch! Return immediately, we are about to depart, we'll stay here as long as you return, but hurry up! If more of them arrive, our defenses will collapse and we'll have to depart without you, hurry, I repeat! Hurry!" Nuvian repeated the same sentence twice, and Sarya finally sighed in relief, wanting to get out of this damned place with the remaining of her sisters.
"Understood. Sisters! Return to our shuttles immediately, we are about to depart! I repeat, return to our landing zone!" Sarya turned back to where they left off and ran across the woods back towards their landing zone. The Aspect warriors got their orders and were already running as fast as possible towards their landing zone while avoiding the fight with the Drukhari members.
The haste was extraordinary. Being chased by a bunch of dark eldar on their tail was not an easy task, but the aspect warriors did not care. They finally had a chance to escape from this world without the need of sacrificing their sisters in a suicidal attack they commenced. Only 4 were still alive out of 15. "Stay in the woods, sisters! Do not get in a plain exposed ground!" Sarya ordered through her comms. They'd be an easy target if they disobeyed her. Nevertheless, they heard the sounds of battle commencing near their landing site. Autarch and the remaining members were resisting them with as much as strength was left within their hearts.
"Keerla has reached the site!" was heard in the comms. "Aure is at the rendezvous point!" was heard next.
"Arleina, Liriel, where are you!?" their exarch was obviously concerned in her tone.
"We're approaching the landing zone as fast as we can! We're getting shot here and have to change directions to avoid their gunners, hang in there!"
"By the might of Khaine, do not fall!" Sarya yelled into her comms and managed to reach the site herself, with the guardians and dire avengers taking cover on the dropped, thick tree logs. Autarch, Warlock and Farseer were engaging in battle completely, and one by one, Autarch ordered his troops to board the shuttles while Warlock and Farseer united their strengths and held off the Drukhari that tried to intercept them from ever reaching their shuttles in full force. Sarya herself helped two of her aspect warriors, Keerla and Aure who looked exhausted and covered in few slices on their armor and smoking gaps due to splinter projectiles striking them.
"Exarch, Arleina and Liriel are still out there, we need to help them!" Aure murmured while removing her helmet and taking a breathing. "Silence, child. Tend your sister's wounds. I will get them.." she noted and left the shuttle, getting behind a fallen tree and taking up their comms.
"Arleina, Liriel! Report!"
"Almost there! We see the shuttles through the trees, coming from the west, in two minutes!"
"Understood. Hastily!" afterwards, she ran towards Autarch who was with his warriors, rallying them and splashing his wings elegantly. "Autarch! Liriel and Arleina will be here in approximately two minutes, can we hold?!"
"We're barely holding them off as it is, but I believe we can!" he said while dodging another volley of splinters and shooting his shuriken pistols ahead. He still yelled out an order for his warriors to retreat into the shuttles, as Sarya stayed behind the fallen tree, waiting for her two young ones to arrive. More of the Dark Eldar units were appearing one by one from the front. Farseer Eloen and Warlock Belanor were using protective barriers to safeguard the rest while the overwhelming firepower came crashing down upon them, ensuring that the guardians and dire avengers board the shuttles completely to the last individual.
"I.. Cannot.. Hold the barrier for too long!" Eloen was doing all she can to keep the barrier active, but it was slowly shattering by cracks. Sarya saw two wyches trying to flank them, and immediately gripped her power glaive to strike before they do. She jumped and forced her right foot against the tree before strafing straight towards the two, stabbing one in the back and slicing them upwards in half, sending her insides flying into the air with some ribs, before blocking an attack from the second wych and kicking her into the kneecap with a loud crack, breaking it before the wych let out an agonizing scream, and Sarya ended her misery with a quick decapitation with her glaive. It was then she noticed two shadows in the woods to her right approaching them. Arleina and Liriel made it through.
"Arleina! Liriel! Come on, quickly, quickly!" she yelled while taking cover behind another tree on the ground.
"Liri, we're almost there, almost there!"
"Patience sister, concentrate! We're not there ye-"
"Liriel!"
Arleina saw a swift flash and a projectile flying at the back of Liriel. In a quick reaction, she pushed herself against her roughly, sending her reeling to the side while her own shoulder got struck by the projectile itself and she was forced to fall down and roll onto the ground like a carpet, her shoulder having a thick hole within it, which the blood was leaking from.
"Arleina!" Sarya quickly ran up to ten meters and dragged her away while crouching and avoiding the flying projectiles. Liriel, while being stunned, quickly regained herself, but lost her shuriken pistol. But she came into a shocking realization. Her dearest friend, companion, her aspect sister was wounded severely. A Drukhari sniper made a clean shot through her meat and bone, and she was barely conscious, having her vision blurred and hearing disturbed. Grabbing her power sword near her position, she saw that the sniper was loading up his next shot. He was going to target Sarya who carried Arleina, and who was busy trying to stop the bleeding while laying her head on Sarya's lap.
"Hang on Arleina, hang on there, child..!" she was comforting and reassuring her in a rapid motion, all whilst not noticing that the sniper was going to target her and Arleina next. "All units! Board the shuttles immediately, we have thirty seconds!" Autarch ordered while hanging at the shuttle doors and waiting for Farseer and Warlock to get in. "Sarya!" he pressed his comms button on the throat. "We cannot stay here! Grab her and board the shuttles immediately!"
"Liriel is still out there!" she detested while picking Arleina on her arms, who was slowly breathing. It seems that the projectile had a venom and she would have to be treated quickly.
"We are going to die if we do not depart! There is a sniper out there, understand already!" he yelled in all his might.
The aspect warrior heard all of this in the comms due to how Arleina still had her one turned on. She was presented with an unpleasant dilemma. Either she saves herself at the cost of her Exarch and her best friend, or she goes and removes the threat before presenting herself to the unknowns of her fate, and possibly at the mercy of the Dark kin, who would gladly capture her and do unspeakable things that not a single living being wants to even fathom about. However she made a quick choice without a single doubt in her heart.
"Depart the world, Exarch. I will remove the sniper and clear your way to the shuttle." she said with full determination and courage, before running back into the woods towards the sniper, who was almost ready to aim his rifle at the exarch.
"I will not leave anyone behind!"
"Exarch! Too many of us fell today, especially our sisters. Tell Arleina that I love her.. If Isha smiles upon me, I will meet you all again. Thank her for saving my life. Tell Elidyr that I gave everything my warrior spirit possessed for the well-being of our craftworld. Asuryani be with you!"
"LIR-" she turned the comms off, and all Sarya could see in the distance as she carried Arleina on her shoulder was a last moment of Liriel distancing herself away deeper into the woods. Arleina literally saw a glimpse of her sister disappearing right in front of her, even in a blurred vision, and slowly leaned her arm towards the horizon. "Li...Ri..." and immediately lost consciousness.
Liriel took out her throwing knife from her right pouch and took a deep breathe while jumping on top of a tree. The Sniper was hiding between the bushes, but his weaponry was emitting different colors as he charged his shot in full power. She approached his position in the required distance, and threw her knife directly between the eyes of the sniper as he unleashed his charged shot. It passed by mere inches from Sarya and Arleina, and Liriel smiled at her fortune as the sniper dropped dead immediately. Sarya boarded the shuttle with Arleina and the entire warhost immediately flew up to the sky, and charged their thrusters before disappearing into the depths of the cosmos. Liriel saw it and put her two fingers on the mouth of her helmet, and pointed to the shiny sparkle in the sky, which were the shuttles. "Return home in peace, my sisters." she softly whispered, before two Kabalite warriors began to shoot at the tree she was on top of, and she was forced to run to different directions while the warriors chased after her.
Back at the rendezvous point.
"SCUM! Unworthy, useless, pitiful worms! How is it that you failed to capture a tiny warhost of the craftworld filth?!" the Haemonculus was fuming with rage, with his eyes glowing from the pent-up anger. Many of the present warriors nevertheless stood in full attention and did not dare to detest, except one.
"They.. they had a Farseer and a warlock! They used-" one of his grotesques grabbed him by the face and slowly began to crush it, all the meanwhile the Kabalite gunner trashed around and clawed at the monstrous giant hand of the abomination. His screams were loud and agonizing, and it made many of the present warriors sick, but they were all frowning that they did not manage to complete their task. The grotesque then crushed the head with a loud crunchy pop and dropped the warrior off, before the Haemonculus looked around slowly.
"... Any more silly excuses for your failures?! No?! You just wait until your own Archon hears about this. I will be flattered if he offers me many of you as a payment. Right at the tables with my marvelous instruments. You vermin are completely useless as a fighting force. Do not fear me, fear your archon. For his wrath will be a thousand times worse than what I can possess." he said in a loud rough gasping voice. "Immediately order all detachments here under a threat of being flayed alive and made a fancy coat of. Request the ships to get us out of here. We are leaving this filthy planet and returning to Commorragh through the webway, but scout out the areas immediately. Even if there are any survivors left, we missed our only chance on what we came here for. QUICKLY you grox droppings!" he was now yelling and his tendrils swirled around, which forced the remaining units to contact every Drukhari member in the woods and call them to their coordinates, but scout ahead until they would be retrieved from the planet.
Liriel felt the silence of the woods kick in as the noises of battle got deafened. It seemed that the Drukhari members had to leave the world themselves, but she was not sure about that. The two Kabalite warriors were still shooting her from behind as she kept running away from them, dodging every possible obstacle in her path. But she couldn't just run forever, there was a limit for every creature, even Eldar.
In the depths of the woods as she was running away from the danger, the shooting stopped behind her as she quickly looked behind herself and saw the kabalite warriors retreat, which forced her to stop, and stare at them.
"Eh?! What are they doing.. A Drukhari never stops his chase unless a higher up gave out an order. Are they really departing..? Never mind. I must quickly find a safe haven and try to contact my home, to let them know I still live, unless they are to mourn my quote on quote "death"." she noted to herself, and decided to run forward, wherever the road led her. She already knew the realization - she was now the only Eldar left on the planet, and she was all alone.
It was time to act as a huntress to forage for food, and as a craftsman to build a shelter. She was not worried, knowing that the Druchi were departing. But she still had many things bothering her. One of her sisters was taken by the monstrous haemonculus. Majority of the rest fell in battle. Only 3 made it out alongside the Exarch, and even then, Arleina was wounded. But as long as she was in safe hands, she knew that she would live, but she also came into conclusion the recklessness of her closest friend - She would eventually find any way possible to come back to this world and find her, or her body, or anything which is in her possession. After all, Arleina was the most loyal person Liriel knew. And this time there was no doubt about it.
"Live long, my sister.. And do not grieve. For I will find a way back home, and we shall see each other again. I promise.. Uncle Elidyr, I pray to Isha you are not alarmed. For I still breathe, and my heart still beats. I hope you see me in your visions." she spoke in her own mind, contemplating on the possible future, which held no open signs for her to look at. All she had to do right now was to focus on the present. And that, she would do without an ounce of doubt. She swore to return to her loved ones, no matter what obstacle lie ahead.
The morning was gonna approach soon enough. The darkness would slowly begin to depart far away in the sky soon enough, however it was still dark in such an environment with the moon lighting up much of the world. Nevertheless the forest indeed was not pleasant. The world was lush and coated in thickness of the woods and practically, it was possibly forgotten by humans as it is.
The lone banshee was now free to run lightly or take a break while walking and looking around herself, examining the local flora and fauna. Many of the animals ran away from where the battles took places, and now they were beginning to come out of their hiding. Liriel saw many beasts of this world, from simple deer-like creatures, to the plant-eating lizards. But it was the colors that attracted her. Some of the plants, trees and bushes were truly exotic. She allowed herself to caress these plants for a little bit, relaxing her mind and trying to push away the thoughts about what happened earlier. It barely helped, but it was better than nothing.
"I cannot stay here and admire this world our ancient kin held in high regard. I must move." she told herself, and then began to run forward.
The river was alive just like it was day by day. The current was calm but the sound of it was still heard in the distance. Liriel's pointy ears twitched in her helmet as she looked to her right and stopped in her tracks, pushing dirt away with her boots as she quickly halted.
"A river?" she said while slowly walking to her right, pushing the thick bushes and tree leaves away from her vicinity and hearing how the sound got louder as she continued her walk. Eventually she managed to find the river itself, and let out a deep sigh of relief as she sheathed her power sword, approached the river and then knelt down, sitting on her knees as she allowed herself a short break to replenish her energy.
Liriel slowly lifted her hands and placed them on her helmet, the light wind ever so forcing her red mane to flow in the air like waves of the ocean. She removed it and stared up at the sky. The elegant features of the Eldar lady shined under the full moon, and she stayed like that for a minute or two, admiring the stars in the sky, before looking down at the flowing river, and taking a handful of water to wash her face and her red hair, then her pointy knife-ears, before taking another handful for a cooling drink. Afterwards, the aspect warrior pulled out what resembled a piece of bread from her pouch and began to indulge in her little meal, chewing every piece thoroughly, before swallowing it and taking more handful of water to wash off her dry mouth, and wipe her silky soft lips with her forearm.
"Thank you Isha for your nourishment." she softly said afterwards while looking down at the flowing river itself, seeing her reflection within it as the moon shined brightly on the surface of the water. She dropped a tiny pebble onto it playfully with a smile, but the smile quickly vanished as she saw a glimpse of an individual flying towards her from the rear with a blade that shined from the moonlight.
In a single instant, she drew her power sword and blocked off the attack. But it sent her reeling backwards for couple of meters. In order not to lose her balance, she made a backflip and landed on her feet, before looking straight forward while panting slightly. The one that dared to attack her, was a Kabalite Warrior. He held a venom blade in his hand and grinned towards the banshee.
"Thought you were finally safe to escape our blades, Craftworlder? I followed you ever since the haemonculus gave out a quick order to get out of this world.. but I spit at that fool! We came here for a bounty of plentiful extravagant specimen of the craftworld kin, and you, will make a fine addition as my concubine." he proclaimed and let out a wild laugh.
Liriel however frowned and gagged in disgust at what this fool was saying. "Never in a million nights will your wish become true, Drukhari filth. You shame our race with your debauched, disgusting ways. You shall taste quick death by the warrior of Khaine!" she spat back to him.
The Kabalite warrior who didn't wear no helmet, with his hairstyle in a ponytail in black color, only laughed back as a mockery. "Your goddess is in captivity. Your war god is shattered. We do not need gods! The only god we have is pain, Aspect warrior. And that god fuels us with everything we need."
"There is just me and you here, Drukhari. I will silence your pitiful voice for eternity.." and immediately, she tried to leap into action. The Drukhari warrior simply stood still, grinning with his sharp teeth as her blade closed onto his throat. "Why is he not engaging into the fight..?" she asked herself while leaping in a bullet speed, only to be stopped a mere inch away from his throat as she suddenly froze, her arms trembling as she tried to control her movement. But the feeling of numbness overtook her every limb. A very bad situation to be at. She then moved her eyes down at the ground as she felt something falling down from the left side of her neck as her sword dropped onto the ground. It was a tiny needle-like dart filled with a purple liquid. It seems to have numbed all her limb movements and she was forced to fall straight onto the ground without the ability to move.
"Good shot, Xelan.." the Drukhari warrior said as she heard steps coming from behind the bushes about 10 meters from her. It was another Kabalite warrior. This bastard was not alone, she thought, while looking at him with the corner of her amber eye.
"Hah, a fine specimen.. a howling banshee! These needles were truly useful, even if they have a temporary effect." they exchanged a sign of gratitude at their luck and then, the first one that tried to attack her, gripped her by her hair which forced her to grunt, and carried her to a nearby tree, throwing her against it and then grinning once more while hungrily licking his lips, enjoying the hidden state of panic within the banshee which she tried not to show, but these bastards felt despair a mile away.
"Now.." the first one said as he knelt in front of her and took his clawed index finger, rubbing it against her silky soft pale cheek, laughing silently, but in a vile and evil way with his cackling. "Poor, poor Eldari. All alone. Your comrades left you, and will never return. You have nothing left.. Don't worry. I will make sure that we both, keep you in a VEEERY steady company in Commorragh~.." he said as he approached her face with his lips and rolled his tongue across her cheek in a disgusting manner, which forced Liriel to feel even more despair and almost throw up if not her iron discipline.
"Uuuggh enough talking.. let me have her, Taral! We always share our loot. But I never had a howling banshee, my groin is killing me." he growled and dropped his rifle onto the ground, before Taral, the first Drukhari, stood aside and clapped his shoulder while grinning. "I will let you have the fame. The catch was obviously yours. But hurry up.. I am hungry too as you know." he said and immediately, the bastard knelt in front of her and laughed maniacally in arrogance and prideful dominance, hastily removing the part of his groin armor, while the first one stood behind him doing the same, but slowly and taking his time.
"Oh.. Isha... Save.. Me from this disgrace.. From this humiliation.. From these abominations.. Save me.. hear me, goddess.. hear me..!" her mind was in a state of panic. She was immobilized, paralyzed, and numbed from limb to limb. The only thing she could do was move her eyeballs and breath. And her breath was heavy, with few tears running down her cheeks. She would've preferred to fall in battle or die from torture than to endure this violation. To be Raped.. By Drukhari. Never did this cross her mind. Second to being taken by Slaanesh. She lost all hope and just shut her eyes as her violators took their time to use her body for their own indulgence. This was going to be the end of Liriel's journey...
Or so, she thought.
"WHOOOOSHH"
Blood. Blood splatter. She felt it. The warm liquid falling all over her exposed face, which forced her to quickly open her eyes, and what she saw next, was nothing more of a blessing. "..Isha.. You heard me!" she said in her mind.
Liriel saw the first Kabalite warrior having what seemed to resemble an arrow stuck between his eyes. It pierced straight through his head, and he slowly fell sideways, forcing the second one to quickly turn around, but to no avail.
"TARAL! NO- ARRgh!" he growled as he stood up, falling onto the legs of the banshee as both of his legs got struck by two arrows, straight through the bone, which made his legs immobile. He tried to quickly grab his brother's rifle, but even that was denied to him. As soon as his hand gripped the rifle, it got struck with yet another precise shot with an arrow, forcing the Kabalite warrior to yell in pain as he quickly tried to use his other hand to pull his splinter pistol from his hip, but it got shot by yet another arrow, piercing it to shreds. The shadow in the woods, came out into the open, with a calm walk.
Liriel was in total confusion. From one side, she was greatly thankful to her goddess for denying her violators the opportunity of being assaulted. But from the other side, she wanted to know who or what truly came to her possible rescue, moving her eyes straight towards the calmly walking figure in the front, crossing the river without a single hint of a problem.
"What is.. Who is that.." she said in her mind, her eyes blurry from the tears as she blinked few times to clear them. The kabalite warrior meanwhile was trying to crawl away while in a state of fear and horror. He stared at the banshee, whose back and head were against the tree, and he tried to reach out for her. "SAVE M-" but the figure knelt behind him and pulled him by the hair, covering his mouth and severely stabbing the kabalite warrior straight into the trachea, slicing it vertically, his blood gushing onto the chest of the aspect warrior which forced her to slightly gag and cover one of her eyes, before the figure's face appeared from the right side of the now wide-eyed kabalite warrior who held his throat with his wounded hands, gurgling within his blood.
"...Filthy... degenerate.. xenos.." he angrily muttered out before stabbing him straight into the heart with his personal blade. The kabalite twitched and his eyes turned back to his forehead, dying in an instant before the figure pulled out his arrows from the now two dead Drukhari members, and put them into his quiver on the back.
Liriel finally caught a glimpse of the figure who was now standing tall, with his crossbow holstered on his back, and staring down directly into the eyes of the temporarily paralyzed aspect warrior.
"Did I just... get saved... by a Mon'Keigh?!" she could not believe it. A human. Out of nowhere. Came to her rescue. But how? Who in their right mind lived all alone in these uninhabited parts? She heard that humans were social creatures and their mood would worsen into a state of hopelessness if they were all alone without any contact. This human however was rather unique. Under the light of the full moon, his entire figure shined through.
Liriel examined him. He had an eye patch on the left side of his head, indicating that he had only his right eye remaining. He also had a deep clawed scar on the same left side of his cheek going down to his chin. His hair was light brown and short, and he looked so young for his age, but he had battle experience, and signs of trauma written on his face. He had an emerald-like green eye and was built very well for a human standard. Wearing boots, green camo pants and a long sleeve black shirt. However, the human in front of her pulled out his las pistol from the hip and aimed it directly at her head, which she then stared at its barrel, then back at him.
"This human may have rescued me.. but this barbarian shall not see any pleading or requests of mercy.." she noted to herself, and calmly stared at him, as in daring him to shoot, and end her humiliation. After what just happened, being paralyzed, almost raped by the horrible Drukhari, and now the possible jest of Cegorach mocking her by allowing a human, a HUMAN, out of everyone, to save her. It was too much for her to bear, allowing herself to be shown in such weakened state. It truly struck her pride and warrior spirit. She closed her eyes and prepared to seal her fate in her soulstone, but the shot never happened. It forced her to slowly open her eyes.
"Why is he faltering..? Stupid Mon'Keigh, pull the trigger!" she told herself, but the human did not do it. He stayed silent, and knelt down after holstering his pistol.
"... Hang on... xeno." he said calmly, while putting his hand behind his waist.
"I do not know what he is saying.. Elidyr taught me only a tiny amount of their barbaric language- wait.. No, this can't be, is he taking advantage of me?!" she rolled her eyes left and right and began to breathe heavily, obviously thinking that he would try to do what those kabalite warriors almost did to her. He noticed it and then tried to calm her down.
"Hey.. Hey, easy there!" she immediately stopped her state of despair as he took out a flask from his waist, forcing it open, pouring some water on her beautiful elegant features to clean her face from all the blood and dirt that fell on her to begin with, taking his time to clean her face thoroughly.
"..What is he.. What is this- is this human not of the Imperium, he has Imperial weaponry, their clothing.. Is he mocking me- I do not need your pity, barbarian! Do not touch me, primitive!" however, all her attempts were in vain. He simply could not read her mind. Humans did not wield such ability, but deep down, Liriel was just relieved that, despite the hatred for anything non-human the humans possessed, this one was more reasonable and open minded if he truly was showing a genuine care. She silenced her voice in her head, and only waited for what happens next as he put his flask away and threw the rag aside.
"Emperor's sakes, I did not expect to see xenos on this planet, let alone in uninhabited plains and woods.. but Emperor damn me, if I allow you to get violated." he muttered out, which left Liriel confused. She clearly could not understand him. All her adrenaline rush began to disappear from her body, and the immense fatigue kicked right in within her heart. She was tired and sleepy.
The human picked her up in his arms as her vision became blurry from the excessive fatigue and exertion, and all she saw in the moments before the darkness, was the face of the human who rescued her, now even more closely. The face of a young human male, who pulled her out of the jaws of doom and torment, and denied her fate the taste of sealing itself. She finally succumbed to the fatigue and blacked out. But one realization was now obvious.
Her destiny, entirely relied on him.
