This story is an unofficial story based, without permission, on the Warhammer/Warhammer 40,000 intellectual property owned by Games Workshop Ltd.
The darkness surrounded Chief Librarian Grailin, leaving little light across his face, except that which was not shielded by his psychic hood. He stood motionless, looking at the stars. Attired in his Librarian blue ceramite armour, yet retaining both his crimson fists. One was clasping his tall staff with its golden eagle at the top, and purity seals hanging down from the pole. Across his chest he wore an open book of spells, on a chain that hung from his neck. He stood at the centre of the Forge Hands Bridge. Servitors manned most of the bridge consoles, chattering away with each other in binary. Attired in crimson sackcloth were two serfs, sat lower down from where he stood.
Behind him stood Korde, the Company's Senior Sergeant, standing as tall in height as him. Only attired in Midnight blue ceramite armour with both his fists as they where crimson. His face was also covered by much of the darkness that surrounded the bridge, except for the flashing lights from the consoles.
Grailin stood facing the large window before him, looking at the stars and beyond.
"The Inquisitor's frigate is gone from here, Grailin," Korde said as he stepped closer to him, stroking his short, cropped, white hair.
"I have no doubt that you are correct, but Chapter Master Pedro ordered us here. It was here Inquisitor Taharan disappeared, my friend. Keep scanning."
The sensors bleeped and chimed as the serfs looked for more than the stars that surrounded the darkness, which the Forge Hand drifted motionlessly through.
"Grailin, we have drifted here for seventeen hours now and still nothing has revealed itself to us. Surely he is long gone from this place now."
Grailin turned his gaze from the stars to look Korde in the eye; "Possibly. But remember, we have a lot of space to look through. Just because Taharan's Inquisitorial frigate is not visible to the naked eye does not mean it is gone. Ever thought that it could be mirroring the stars themselves? Out there like us drifting sleeping within this darkness."
Grailin walked slowly up to the face of the window, looking beyond his reflection staring back at him. One of the distant stars flickered enough to catch the attention of his eye. Raising his arm, he pointed out across to it.
"There. The planet Proticou, take us there."
The serfs revved up the Forge Hand's engines.
"My guess is that what ever has happened, Proticou may well hold the answer," Grailin added.
Korde stood at Grailin's side, watching as the star became closer.
"Take command of the bridge, Sergeant. I'll inform the Captain," Grailin said.
Syakotus walked slowly through the darkness that surrounded him, and stalked his every breath and movement. The only visible object in sight was a green glowing sphere, set out before him. 'Come' it called to him.
'Come to me' it called in an almost audible whisper. He felt compelled to advance towards the sphere. As he got closer he began to hear the soft hum of gentle violins. The glow of the sphere with its hypnotic green fluorescence was mesmerising him, taking over his every movement.
"Your Emperor calls you. Come, come. Find me in Proticuo."
Syakotus realised the voice was actually inside his head...but how did it place itself there?
He reached to clasp hold of his sword, but had the sudden realisation that it was gone.
'You have no need for weapons' came the voice.
Syakotus found himself standing before the sphere, his whole body bathed in the green glow. He held out his bionic hand over the glowing orb in its suspension of darkness.
"What are you?" he asked aloud.
"You know my name...I am Necrosphere."
With that, the sphere combusted into thousands of pieces of glowing crystal in the darkness.
"Embrace!" came a screeched, forceful and meaningful tone of voice.
The smoke from the shattered orb formed into an apparition, rather stealthily. Syakotus barely saw what it was before it amalgamated within his mortal body.
Opening his eyes with his forehead covered in a cascade of sweat beads. Syakotus looked up and out at the stars from the darkness of the training hall. Behind him stood Grailin.
"Your dreams are getting more regular. I sense evil," he said looking down at his Captain.
At that Syakotus rose to his full height, attired in crimson sackcloth drooping to his bare feet.
"What are you saying Grailin?"
Grailin stepped up to his face slowly, looking his Captain in the eye.
"You will be forgiven," he said as he drew his knife and proceeded to slit Syakotus across the throat.
Syakotus opened his eye in conjunction with his bionic eye, which glowed red through the darkness of the empty training hall. He rose to his full height, attired in crimson sackcloth, from the hood over his head to the bare of his feet. The hood fell on to his shoulders as he tilted his head, and gently clasped, with his hand, his throat.
"More visions?" Grailin enquired from behind, letting the light from the doorway flood across the empty darkness.
Syakotus suddenly turned towards Grailin, and in a stern tone responded with; "Yes. But there is something more...this time the visions gave me a name...Necrosphere."
"Intriguing," muttered Grailin.
"Indeed. I have not heard that name in over fifteen years."
Syakotus paused with his hand still gently clasped across his throat.
"So what brings you here to interrupt my meditations, Grailin?"
"We have set course for the planet Proticou. It looks as though the serfs have picked up a trail from Inquisitor Taharan's frigate."
Syakotus turned back to the long rectangle window of the training hall to view the stars.
Releasing his hand from his neck, and pulling what was left of his hood from his head, he revealed his short cropped hair fully. The sides of his head and the back, were shaved bald. A wire came from the side of his chrome left bionic eye, into the side of his head.
"Have the brother's combat ready and mounted on the Thunderhawks." There was urgency in his tone; he did not turn to face Grailin.
"As you wish Captain."
Grailin bowed and began to exit the hall, yet stopped in his tracks when his master suddenly enquired; "Grailin, what advice do you have for me about this vision?"
"I have none to give. It sounds more like sorcery. However, ever since we arrived in this system I have sensed something traitorous in the air. A different kind of evil that I just cannot put my finger on."
"Have the servitors bring me my armour," Syakotus ordered.
"I think it is time that I informed Chapter Master Pedro Kantor of my unusual visions," he said in a low voice to himself, whilst watching Grailin depart from the hall.
Grailin curved back towards his Captain. "No...I advise we keep this from him...for now at least. We need to find out what these visions are first."
With that Grailin was gone from the hall, and with him the light.
'You will be forgiven,' Syakotus heard once he was covered in darkness. "What the hell does that mean?" he said to himself.
Clotuk watched from the bridge of a cloaked Barge. Two Thunderhawks disembarked from the Crimson Fist battle cruiser Forge Hand.
"The Chosen One has arrived," he said, turning to face Krupeus.
Both men were attired in black sackcloth with hoods covering their faces completely.
"Good. We must prepare for him," Krupeus replied.
Hive World Terra