"Cursed adeptus mechanicus, can't they just once do their prayers properly?!" Kael Gull turned abruptly on his chair and his big fingers, tightly wrapped in his suit of a Space Marine danced on the holo-projected keyboard in front of him with unusual dexterity. His second hand tried to bring some discipline onto the rebellious machine spirits of his craft with limited success.

Needs to be said, his rapidly diving craft, its nose holding almost right angle with the rapidly nearing ground under him.

"Inquisitor Kael Gull requesting support! Emergency landing on an unknown planet in thirty seconds." The big man pushed both pedals of his shuttle to the floor in an attempt to rise the nose of his craft a little higher while his right hand reached for his helmet. He had no idea where the space anomaly took him, but after running all comparisons of visible stars with the known constellations of all sectors, he was still unable to find his location.

"Has to be a trick of the Archenemy, I should prepare for battle as soon as I touch the ground." He grumbled while fastening his helmet and checking his suit. Absentmindedly, he touched the chainsword at his side to make sure his trusted companion was ready for whatever would come after the rough landing that loomed before him. His bolter was also holstered where it belonged and a row of magazines lined his belt.

"Inquisitor Kael Gull requesting support from magos Eisenarch, or any other damned mechanicus denizens available!" He barked angrily for the last time into the silent communication device, suppressing the urge to trash the control panel in front of him until it became scrap metal. He would make sure that someone would pay for the grave negligence, as there was no other way all the fail-safe mechanisms of the shuttle ceased to function right when he needed them the most.

"This investigation must have scratched someone against the grain." With all his equipment and power armor checked, he strapped himself into his chair and guided his craft to an emergency landing dodging a tall mountain. Due to his extensive pilot training, he managed to use a slope of a steep ridge to lay his shuttle roughly against the hard rock. Immediately, he heard noises of torn metal, but the velocity was going down without his craft starting to spin or doing somersaults.

He was definitely grateful for that.

"Still no matches even after confirming the terrain from up close." The inquisitor clicked his tongue while guiding his path away from a few robust trees that began appearing quickly around him as he was losing elevation.

"One never knows what these fuckers are made off." He chuckled while remembering a particular kind of trees that was as hard as steel. He had enough of misfortune for one day to underestimate this kind of a detail. His good mood was chilled by a part of fuselage suddenly flying off, finally torn away by the friction. Despite the dreadful sight of his feet being tickled by grass, with his chair miraculously staying in place, he had a smirk on his face, knowing he had passed the truly dangerous phase that could seriously damage even his power armor.

The current velocity of the shuttle would leave just some scratches even if it went worse than he predicted.

In the end, the nose of his craft slammed into a large tree that groaned and leaned to the side, the shuttle almost climbing into its lowered crown.

"Ha, not that unlucky." Kael looked at the thick, shattered branches of the tree his craft was leaning against.

"Let's see if this really is an ambush!" The Inquisitor, a former space marine, kicked out the dysfunctional door that had been damaged during the landing and rushed out with his both weapons drawn. He heard the purr of his chainsword that soothed his nerves, as if it was his pet dog, while he turned left and right with his bolter aimed in front of him.

"Nothing? Really?" Due to the anomaly he had experienced, he had a hard time believing it was not the work of the Archenemy and no one was waiting for him to greet the Inquisitor.

  Spotting a nearby bushes moving slightly, he leaped forward and cut the bushes along with a giant spider that was hiding inside. The mutated beast was probably more scared than trying to ambush him, but he was not taking any chances.

"This is an unfamiliar place, I need to contact the locals to get in touch with The Imperium." Kael lowered his chainsword and looked around to navigate towards the nearest settlement.

Fortunately, among the bushes and trees around him, he saw a road nearby paved with cobblestone.

"Some luck, finally!"

  He trudged forward in his power armor without caring for the remnants of his shuttle. It was heavily damaged anyway and judging by the well-kept road, he should be back in the civilization in no time. From there, it was just a few calls and delays before he reentered the orbit and contacted his incompetent adeptus mechanicus team to discipline them for their poor performance, providing him with exactly zero support.

  He walked only a dozen steps on the road, before a pair of a man and a woman in simple clothes appeared on the horizon. They soon passed him, but he ignored them without any interest. They were obviously just local farmers bearing no technology or insignia. These kind of people would not help him to get in touch with The Imperium of Man at all.

"I might have other uses for them." He shortly realized something important and sped up his pace, entering into the range from which he was able to accomplish one crucial task before he did anything else on the planet.

  For some time, he kept stalking the ordinary people along the road that were throwing increasingly worried glances his way, sometimes even asking him urgently something that he obviously had not understood at all.

Yet, that would change soon.

  The universal translator integrated in his power armor kept analyzing the local's speech, building a language model that would allow him to communicate with the people. He was flabbergasted that the translator had not possessed the language in its database already, but there was nothing he could do.

Other than continue stalking the local laborers of course.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

Finally, the translator began producing better and better results, until a flawless, complete sentence sounded in his ears.

"Stay where you are!" He met a local patrol. It was a pair of soldiers wielding swords and shields without the slightest shred of technology.

"They have also no love for the people of the machine god, but their extremism is surely inconvenient. It seems I will not be able to contact anyone before reaching a city." He grumbled while the men came closer, more surprised by his visage than Keal was by their looks.

Staring at him, the face of one of the guards changed into an expression of awe.

"We have been expecting you, prince!" He quickly fell on one knee, shortly pulling his comrade to do the same. "Excuse us, but you look somewhat. . .different."

"Bah, there is no need for misplaced lofty titles, Your Excellency will suffice. " Kael Gull waved his hand magnanimously, glad there were some people respecting the office of an officially appointed inquisitor.

  With the language barrier gone and his status finally recognized, he believed that he would be back on track of his investigation in no time. His way to the Donorian Sector would not be interrupted for a second time. His mission to investigate the local aliens' increased activity was not of the highest priority, but he took his job seriously nonetheless.

"Your father is eagerly expecting your return. May we escort you to the palace, Your Excellency?" The soldiers were still kneeling and Kael considered their gesture excessive even for the highly respected agent of the Inquisition. Most ordinary people did not realize the authority of an inquisitor, simply because they had never met one in their lives.

"My father?" Kael's smile began to freeze when both parties turned to face a horse that was heading their way. The guards rapidly turned their heads to look at Keal and back at the person riding the horse and an understanding was forming in their eyes.

  The rider was armored, yet his heavy armor could not be considered even half as robust as Keal's power armor. Still, compared to the two soldiers it was something else. The face of the man was young, but grim with long, white hair flowing down his armored shoulders. When the person stopped in front of them, his path blocked by the interaction of the patrol and Keal, the rider looked annoyed and rested his right hand on the pommel of his sword.

And that was when Kael's face turned grim as well.

He could feel it clearly.

"The Archenemy." The inquisitor whispered when he recognized the aura emanating from the sword at the man's hip. Frowning, he looked beyond the rider and saw that there was a long file of soldiers following in his steps. There was no mistake, he remembered the thick smell of warp and the weapon was drenched in it.

"To publicly wield an artifact of chaos in front of an inquisitor. It seems the ambush has come in the end." Kael Gull mumbled while going through his inventory in his head, ensuring that he had enough bolts on him.

"Welcome back to Lordaeron, prince Arthas! There has been an impostor trying to impersonate you!" One of the guards pointed accusingly at Kael, who was completely ignoring him.

"Where are we, heretic?" Kael asked while lifting up his chainsword. "Just forget it, you will lie to me anyway."

He knew that there could be only one course of action with people that fully embraced the influence of chaos and its corrupted gods.

  Taking by surprise everyone present, Kael leaped forward and swung his weapon at the rider who managed to pull out his corrupted weapon and block the blow, making the teeth of the chainsword scrape against the cold metal of the blade covered in blue light. Managing to stop the weight of his power armor behind the blow, Keal knew that the heretic was dangerous and had to be finished off quickly.

  Kael made the teeth of his chainsword grip the cursed blade and pushed with the full weight of his armor behind him. He knew that there was only few heretics that could contest with him in strength.

To stop a force equivalent to one of the adeptus astartes was not a feat an ordinary person could achieve.

"The Frostmourne hungers!" The heretic rasped and his blade shone in blue-white light while he gripped it with his second hand, stopping Keal's power without any trouble. What the rider did not expect was Kael shooting through his horse's neck with his bolter, the bolt passing thought the heretic's left eye, embedding itself in the back of his helmet.

"Heretics have no patent on dirty tricks." Keal sneered, pleased that his enemy had not expected to be shot through a horse's neck by a bolter. He moved his weapon above the dying horse's head and emptied the rest of the loaded bolts into the heretic's face. He had long learned that one could never kill wielders of heretical powers of chaos thoroughly enough.

  The dead horse collapsed in the middle of the road and the inquisitor swiftly proceeded to decapitate the motionless heretic. He looked at the file of soldiers following him, but instead of charging him, they only stood still like statues and stared in front of them motionless, as if they suddenly went all insane. The only sane pair of soldiers were those that had been kneeling before him. However, those were no longer in his presence, as they were running away in the opposite direction to the heretical forces.

"These are just a minor issue, this comes first." Kael stepped closer to the corrupted sword and picked it up with his chainsword, having the nefarious weapon jammed in between the teeth of his own blade. He did not want to touch it even with his power armor.

"I have to destroy this somehow, it is a top priority." He turned back to whence he had come from, crushing the vegetation beneath his ceramite armor. Soon, he arrived at the crash site and commanded what was left of the onboard systems.

"Prepare to go critical with all energy systems, maximize the detonation strength in thirty." Kael commanded while placing the artifact of chaos right next to the craft's energy core. He was not absolutely sure that his move would be able to destroy the artifact, but he had no better means at his disposal.

  An orchestra of inhumane screeches caught his attention, the motionless retinue of the former prince already moving in his direction. It almost seemed like the looming destruction of the artifact of chaos woke them up into action, all of them dashing towards him without delay.

"Almost look like the Necron, come and save your precious." Kael snorted while turning around and dashed away to escape the blast zone. Shortly, he arrived at a river and turned around before a stone bridge that was crossing it, just in time to see a huge pillar of fire rising to the sky. A moment later, all birds around him flew off their branches, startled by a loud detonation.

"I have to inspect the result." The inquisitor wanted to leave no room for error and went back to see the result of his action up close. There was also the unpleasant possibility that some of the prince's remaining forces would survive and get hold of the artifact of chaos, the worst case possibility that had to be prevented.

  He arrived at the still hot epicenter of the explosion and felt delighted. He was unable to find the cursed blade anywhere and the ominous influence of chaos he had felt from the blade was nowhere to be seen. The fact that returning in his repaired craft was impossible was an issue he would have to deal with later.

"That was a job well done." Kael sighed in relief, he had dreaded that the explosion was not enough, but it seemed to be just right. The angry mob of the heretic's followers that was again starting to gather around him was just a minor inconvenience.

And they were not alone.

"That's him! That is the murderer of prince Arthas!" A shout forced him to look in the direction the patrol had disappeared in not long ago and his good mood vanished immediately. There were many men charging in his direction both using horses and on foot from all sides.

"I should probably not try to explain myself." Although it was not his preferred strategy, sometimes it was handy his power armor could outrun any people trying to pursue him on foot. Kael vanished into the forest surrounding the blast zone, leaving his pursuers behind. He could only hear the annoyed wheezing of horses trying to maneuver in between of numerous trees and thick branches before even they lost to the marvel of Imperium of Man's technology that the power armor was.