(Bridge, Chaos Brigade dreadnought Vengeful Spirit, Chaotic Space)
“Warmaster! The auspex readings are spiking off the charts!”
Abaddon Horusson, Warmaster of the Chaos Brigade, sat stoically in the command throne, his power armor not swaying in the slightest as his flagship shuddered noticeably. To shake a ship of this size and power, and to make it felt despite the inertial compensators, the forces involved must have been incredible! Still, the Warmaster knew how to lead his people. With a voice devoid of any fear, he called out, “Report!”
“Massive disturbance in the fabric of the Chaotic Space! Cause unknown. Warp shields are holding, but are under increasing strain!”
Abaddon bared his teeth in anticipation. “Locate the source. Anything that could make such an impact on the Immaterium is something worth taking, and turning to our own ends.”
Galactic Event
The barrier between reality and Chaotic Space has been torn asunder! Creatures of Chaotic Space will now be able to force incursions into the material world.
Special Event
The disturbance you have uncovered may be related to the tearing of the veil between worlds. Will you investigate further?
Reckless mortals. Such foolishness. Such arrogance. Such PRIDE!
Abaddon shook as the words washed over him and through him. It was a psychic message, that he knew, but the voice was unfamiliar to him. It held such power, such promise. He’d heard other voices like it, since they had begun diving into the Immaterium after the Black Stars had finished the upgrades to the Vengeful Spirit and his other ships. But those voices were not so… loud, or close to hand.
He smiled unbidden at the thought of his ships. They were the first ships since ancient times to be equipped to travel the Warp. He only had three ships, at the moment. The Eternity of Pain was his first ship, a heavy cruiser that had been refit and modified to suit the Chaos Brigade. But he also had a corvette, the Herald of Fear, which served as an escort and light attack ship. And, of course, there was the Vengeful Spirit.
Pride, hmm? Yes, Abaddon was proud of his ships. He may not have crafted them with his own hands, and he may not have as many ships at his command as the owner of Black Star, but he and his people had worked hard, and earned every scrap that they had gained. They had every right to be proud, as they took to the stars in the name of Chaos.
Yes, your pride is strong! Embrace that pride, and all that it entails. Come to me, child of chaos, and know even more to be proud of!
There was the voice again. Not mere whispers, like the others had been. No, this one was louder, closer. And, strangely, it began to take on a feminine tone. No one else on the bridge heard it, it seemed. So, it was a message for him, and him alone, then? He took a moment to focus his thoughts, and then took what little psychic training he had, and pushed outward.
Who are you, who speaks in the flavor of this realm, then?
I am Baxanke, born of the scaleskins and their pride. They are gathering to my side as we speak. Will you join them, and see wonders untold? Or will you scurry, and seek one of the others along the Path?
I serve Chaos in all its forms, Undivided. No one path will I walk. I tread the eightfold path, all in equal measure, the Harbinger of Chaos.
Ah, such delicious pride. Even now, you do not turn from your course. You refuse to bind yourself to one of the Three, now turned Four?
I have journeyed into the Immaterium, this Chaotic Space, to find the Dark Gods, and bear their will to the material world. Why should I stop at one, when I can bring all to the worlds? I will not trade my will for temporary power.
But you mentioned Three, and you are the Fourth. I have sought long throughout the worlds, and not found any trace of these Three. Are they so weak as to have never touched the minds of those who travel the stars? Or have they been cut off, in other parts of the galaxy?
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
Ha ha ha! Whether you will it or not, your actions serve me well. Listen well, Mortal. The three have many followers, but they have not had means to touch the minds of those in your corner of the galaxy, until now. Just as I am Pride, in all its forms, they embody different features. Seek for Envy, Gluttony, and Wrath. They will not respond to you, until you call out their names, ancient and powerful, but only one who knows of them can teach them to you.
And where might I look for the clues as to their names?
Seek out the Abyss, unseen and unknown by your races, in the heart of the heart of these stars. In its depths, you will find the answers you seek. Since you will not serve, then you must be up to this task, no?
Abaddon could feel the presence fade from his mind, laughing. So, that was how it would be, hmm? Looking over the bridge, he said, “Any word?”
One of the sensor techs looked up, and said, “Warmaster, it looks as though a great rift has been torn open, bridging this plane with the material realm. I am detecting a large force of Ihm vessels coming into the rift! They appear to be warships, over four hundred in number!”
Abaddon nodded. “Signal the Eternity and Herald. Bring us about. We do not bolster Chaos’s cause by fighting these creatures, who will soon learn the embrace of Chaos firsthand. Make your heading for the Tahdar Gateway. We will journey to Star’s Reach. The Master of the Black Star has knowledge stores unknown and untapped anywhere else in known space. We will see what they can tell us of what we’ve witnessed here.”
“As you will it, Warmaster.”
(Observation Cluster, IAS Spear of Urtu, Eiqin Nebula, Ihm Imperium)
Empress Drez Dhiss Ihm VII’s mind burned as she witnessed the view outside the Spear of Urtu. What was this place? What was it doing to her? To her mind?
She could hear the screams of thousands, tens of thousands of Ihm. Screams of terror. Screams of joy. Screams of pain. Screams of insanity. All of them and none of them. Impossibly far away and right next to her, all at the same time.
She didn’t pay any notice the slumped form of her bodyguard and pleasure toy, lying next to her on the deck of the observation cluster. She knew he was there. She had watched as he began screaming, and the blood had flowed from his eyes and ears. She had been unconcerned when his screams stopped, and he fell to the floor. Was he alive or dead? It was not her concern.
There were sounds of combat. More screams, inside the ship this time. Some where Ihm. Some were not. All the screams and shouts and battlecries didn’t matter. The fighting didn’t matter. It was not her concern.
She could see it all, now, truths beyond truths in the twisting fabric of unreality that reality cruelly and mercifully hid from waking eyes. Before her, she saw eight paths, all going different directions, with different goals and destinations, and yet all traveling in the same line. An eightfold path to insanity and truth.
She saw power, power untold. Power that was there for the taking, if one had the will to achieve it. If one were prepared to make the sacrifices necessary to attain it.
That power was hers by right! It was through her will that the veil had been ripped away! It was by her design that the power was now accessible. She would stretch out her hand and claim it, claim it all, and become the greatest and most powerful Empress ever seen. The other, lesser, races would fall before her fleets, and none would be able to stand against her, not from now to the ending of the universe!
YOU ARE POWERFUL, BUT YOU ARE NOT THAT POWERFUL. NOT YET.
A voice resounded in her head. A female voice. An Ihm voice. Who could be speaking in her mind? The lines of the Empress had been cleansed of psychic filth long ago. It was a crutch used by the weak and the foolish. Like those lesser races and their new Terran Empress.
THE IHM HAVE REGRESSED FROM THEIR DAYS OF GREATEST POWER. ONCE, THEY ALMOST HAD THE ABILITY TO TOUCH THE TRUTH, BUT THEY FEARED WHAT THEY WOULD FIND. WHAT ABOUT YOU, LITTLE EMPRESS? WILL YOU FLEE LIKE A COWARD? OR WILL YOU BECOME THE GREATEST OF YOUR KIND SINCE IRUSS THE GREAT?
Iruss? Iruss Ihm was the one that plunged the Imperium into chaos, because of her changes. But she had been great. Yes, Drez could see it now. Now that she did not have the cumbersome veil of the real world to hide the truth from her, she saw how great Iruss had been.
And she could be that great. No. She would be greater. She would take the power that this place offered, and make it her own. There was nothing that could stop her!
GOOD! GOOD! I CAN GIVE YOU THE POWER YOU SEEK. THE POWER TO TAKE EVERYTHING YOU WANT. THE POWER TO BE GREAT.
Drez started paying attention to the voice in earnest, now. The power was within her grasp already? And who was this voice?
I AM BAXANKE, PATRON OF PRIDE. I CAN GIVE YOU WHAT YOU SEEK. I CAN GIVE YOU POWER, IF YOU ARE WILLING TO PAY THE PRICE.
The price? What price? What would she have to give for supreme power?
EVERYTHING.
That didn’t sound too bad to Drez. That didn’t sound too bad at all.
(Conference Room, Central Command Center, Starborn, Star’s Reach)
The scene in the CCC could be politely described as controlled chaos, at the best of times. While this may not have been a full-on crisis, events had ensured that it was certainly not the best of times. There was and increased traffic flow throughout the facility.
That was only fitting, since the Central Command Center was the hub of Star’s Reach’s military command network on the ground, and it worked closely with the spaceborne elements of the system’s defense force to ensure that any and all threats to the colony were dealt with as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, that meant that, sometimes, a bit of chaos was unavoidable. There were simply too many moving parts involved for it to be anything else.
This current crisis had started when word had come through the Nomad communication networks that the Ihm were, in General Khan’s words, about to royally fuck up. Unfortunately, there was shit all that we could do about it. The Black Star Company simply didn’t have any resources in that area.
Not that I would generally make some star nation screwing themselves my business. After all, despite all my power, I was just the CEO of a major business and Admiral of a corporate mercenary fleet. Sticking my nose in the affairs of other nations without a contract was a poor way to go about things. In fact, it was a great way to get more enemies than friends, and I had no desire to play world police on a galactic level. Unfortunately, if the rumors were true, then the idiots in charge of the Ihm were about to do something cataclysmically stupid, and there wasn’t anything I could do to stop them. This was going to change the shape of the game world, without a doubt.
Galactic Event
The barrier between reality and Chaotic Space has been torn asunder! Creatures of Chaotic Space will now be able to force incursions into the material world.
Damn it! Those stupid lizards went and actually did it! Looking up at the rest of those assembled, I could see the Nomads looking at me. “All right, everyone. It seems that it has happened. The Ihm managed to break the fucking galaxy, and Chaotic Space creatures are going to become a problem from here on in. Research time is over. The so-called ‘Primaris’ project is going to be implemented, as discussed. I need all commands to submit timelines on getting troops updated with the implants and new gear, as soon as possible.”