This story is an unofficial story based, without permission, on the Warhammer/Warhammer 40,000 intellectual property owned by Games Workshop Ltd.
Syakotus entered the cockpit of the Inquisitorial frigate, slowly followed by Korde, clenching his bolter plasma combi tightly.
"We have a faint life sign in here Captain," said Judson, holding his auspex out.
Syakotus curved towards Judson, who stood gripping his bolter tightly with one hand whilst holding his auspex in the other hand. Behind him stood Frieh and Moref, followed by Techmarine Graus.
"Where?" Syakotus asked sternly.
"Just in front, Captain. In fact, it is just below that control panel."
Syakotus bent down on one knee to look behind the console across the blood-stained floor. He saw an Imperial Lieutenant crouched in a ball, rocking. The Lieutenant had had his face cut and one of his eyes gashed out. Syakotus also noticed that one of his hands had had the fingers cut off. Korde bent down besides his Captain.
"What the hell has happened here?" he asked.
"I do not know. But it looks as though we are not going to find Inquisitor Taharan alive."
Holding out his bionic hand, Syakotus clasped hold of the young looking Lieutenant and gently pulled him from behind the console.
"No, no please leave me," the Lieutenant cried.
"We will not harm you."
The Lieutenant looked into Syakotus' bare face.
"Do you know what happened to Inquisitor Taharan?" The Captain asked.
"They were quick and brutal. They made...me watch...them rape crew man Salina...Once they had finished with her she...was no longer beautiful...the bastards ripped her face off."
Korde looked at Syakotus.
"This does not answer the question."
"He is traumatised."
"You aren't kidding," Korde replied.
Syakotus turned back to the Lieutenant.
"Do you have a name?" he asked.
"Thorpe."
"Well, Thorpe, can you help me. I need to know what happened here."
Thorpe looked into Syakotus' face again.
"Reavers. They attacked us...Then raped most of the crew...The Inquisitor...was taken into the ready room by...by a strange, tall figure..."
"What did he look like?" asked Korde.
Thorpe looked at Korde.
"Inquisitor Taharan...called out his name."
Syakotus rose to his full height.
"Yes. What was it?" he asked softly.
"Salvanfor."
Syakotus stepped back. Korde looked to his captain.
"So he is not dead," he muttered.
"Nor is the Necrosphere," Syakotus added.
As Grailin stood alone in the darkness of the blood-stained corridor, he stopped to listen to the sound of a gentle wind. Sensing something from the doorway forward of where he stood, he began to walk towards it.
He stepped through the doorway into a large mass of a room, if that's what you could call it. The door behind him slammed shut, with a bang that echoed. The sound seemed to magnify from the whole depth of the place. Looking around at his surroundings, he realised he must be at the centre of the vessel. Below him was a void, for he was stood on a bridge.
Grailin stepped out on to the bridge holding his psychic staff tightly. The air was somewhat colder here. He walked over to peer down into the void below. The void seemed endless. The atmosphere was almost still except for a slight, cold breeze gushing upwards.
Sensing movement at the far side of the bridge, Grailin turned to see Salvanfor. Grailin's eyes squinted as he felt some kind of psychic energy. Holding his psychic staff forwards, closing his eyes, he summoned the energy within his veins and channelled it into a lighting strike, through his staff. Like lightning, and with a deafening screech, the blast shot out across the bridge to were Salvanfor stood. But then it reflected as Salvanfor raised his hand forward, blocking it with an aura that shielded him. Gralin's eyes widened, watching the lightning come screeching back at him. Doing the same, he too summoned an aura to block the strike, deflecting it off the bridge.
"You are no match for me, Librarian. Your spells will only kill you," Salvanfor bellowed at him from across the bridge.
Grailin stepped forward again, holding his staff out, summoning a second lightning strike. Salvanfor jumped forward, blocking it with his aura. This time the lightning flew away from the bridge, screeching like a child down into the void below. Grailin went down on one knee to summon another strike, only with the full power of his psyche - something he knew would do harm to the radical. Salvanfor took another step closer to observe the Librarian's determination and power of will. Grailin rose up to his full height, opening his arms out wide, feeling his coil of aegis circuits light up and flow through his armoured body. He forced the power up to boiling point within his psychic brain - to screaming intensity - and let loose the full brunt of power. Channelled through his veins. A golden, glowing lightning strike flew from Gralin's psychic staff above his head, speeding across the bridge to where Salvanfor stood. This time Salvanfor used both his hands to summon his aura. Underestimating the power of the strike coming at him, he leapt backwards, the blast ignored the aura he'd summoned and smashed into his chest, throwing him somersaulting backwards on his back into the floor of the bridge.
"Your power is strong. But you need to do more than that to hurt me," he said, rising up to his feet.
Grailin began spinning his staff, like a propeller in his hands. As he spun the staff a fire ball emerged from the eagle end, straight into the face of Salvanfor, knocking him back yet again as the heat melted his face down his left side. Suddenly his body started to bubble and course through his very veins. He felt his blood begin to bubble. His heart seemed to slow. Suddenly, he felt more psychic power flow through his mind. Rising up from the floor, his arms spread out wide, he began to levitate in a slow spin, rising up high before stopping to face Grailin.
Grailin watched in horror as Salvanfors trench coat ripped away from his body, flapping off down the void like a fallen flag. The armour around his back flew off across the bridge whilst the flesh ripped away from his spine. Blood splashed out across the bridge and into the void. Six large, slimy, green tentacles grew out from his back. Flapping about violently, each one stretched out to full, heads unfolded out much like that of a Terran snake. He arched back slightly, his chest started to split open, his rib cage began splitting from the flesh, forming blades. Grailin took a step back, watching Salvanfor become something more diabolic in appearance, and grow more powerful. Watching in horror as Salvanfors chin opened out with a spike at either side, and small horns grew from his scalp. With that Grailin charged at the radical, smacking him with full psychic energy from his staff across his now deformed chest. A blast of lightning flew off the psychic staff into the grotesquely deformed chest. Blood splashed out across Gralin's face. Salvanfor simply looked down on Grailin and swatted him back across the bridge with such strength that, to Grailin, seemed so much stronger than that of the strongest of Marines. He slammed against the back wall entrance to the bridge. Salvanfor floated across the bridge and over to Grailin, who was regaining his balance. He stood to face Salvanfor head on. Both men looked each other in the eyes, for Salvanfor was waiting to see what the Librarian's next move would be, physical or psychic, while Grailin had realized he'd lost this battle but retreat was not an option open to him. The pause was broken; Grailin launched his psychic staff into Salvanfors face, pushing him back, whilst channelling another lightning strike. With a kick to Grailin's face he dropped the staff. A blast of lightning bursting out and across the bridge, dying out as it shot down into the void, falling back from the impact. The staff rolled off the bridge and fell down into the void. Salvanfor dropped back to his feet, unhooking his mighty daemon-sword and launching it into Gralin's armoured stomach. The ceramite cracked as the trapped daemon's voices within the blade screamed, and the blade sliced through Grailin's flesh and through his back. Blood poured out on to the floor with Grailin dropping to his knees, feeling the evil within the blade pouring into his veins and beginning to paralyse him. Salvanfor pulled the blade from his stomach, kicking him over. Grailin laid paralysed on his side, watching Salvanfor look down on him. For the first time in his life as a Space Marine of the Crimson Fists, Grailin screamed.
Hive World Terra