You stare at the options, trying to weigh them against each other. What would restoring some functionality to this ship do? The information you have is so very incomplete. Perhaps pushing this button will make your phobia go away?

A thought strikes you at the moment: you were supposed to only be here for reconnaissance. What are you doing here? Sure, you used “caution” to advance all the way here, but why did you even risk this much?

The monster. The creature. That’s why.

It.

Must.

Not.

Be.

Here.

And, the threads you’ve been following all lead to this console after all. They bundle together into a singular mass, flowing into the rear of the console. Oh, that reminds you. You’ve been avoiding touching these tainted things as you traveled here, but now, you’re contemplating poking at the source of it all? And yet, you feel as if this is something you must do. Why else would it have led you here? Why else would you even have this choice to make?

The threads you’ve been following all lead to this console after all. They bundle together into a singular mass, flowing into the rear of the console. Oh, that reminds you. You’ve been avoiding touching these tainted things as you traveled here, but now, you’re contemplating poking at the source of it all? And yet, you feel as if this is something you must do. Why else would it have led you here? Why else would you even have this choice to make?

And so you reach upward and stab at the screen with your finger, right over the word, YES.

Nothing happens.

You look around in confusion, then roll your eyes when you see physical knobs and buttons on the side of the console. You reach over to the largest knob and turn it slightly. A green box flashes on the screen now, highlighting the word of choice. You rotate it again, and watch as the box now flashes over the “NO.” You return it back to “YES,” then examine the buttons more closely.

A few are scratched and illegible, but fortunately you can see one labeled “CONFIRM.” Well, then. That’s easy enough to understand.

You check again to make sure the selection box is still correct, then brace yourself as you depress the confirmation button.

A series of soft clicks resounds from the console and your command is processed. The rotating icon of a ghastly skull appears on the screen as a bar fills below. As it progresses, you check behind you to see that the daemon is still asleep. Reassured, you turn back to the console just as the bar is filled.

However, you have no time to begin deciphering the words on the screen. Dim lights click on all around the room, suffusing the console with a red glow. The cables growing from the machinery ahead of you pulse with blue-white light which travel slowly down their lengths toward the pillars of skulls beyond. The whine of servos, the chittering of analog informatic transfer, and the thumps of great mechanisms echo through the room, just as the glowing yellow eyes of thousands of skulls flick on.

As the skulls awaken, they start to scream.

A high pitched keening fills the room, echoing down the passages and erupting out of the ship itself. Your very soul trembles with the sound, and you wince in phantom pain.

After a full minute of torture, the sound begins to peter out, yet doesn’t fully go away. Past the ringing in your ears, you can hear what sounds like… chanting?

An electronic hymn. A binary song for something greater. But what exactly it is, you do not know.

And there, at the other end of the room, the daemon stirs. Eyes open, swirling madly in their sockets. Limbs flail about, clawing at the floor and leaving jagged rents as they pass. The thing heaves itself up, its great pink mass jiggling as it moves. It fights to push legs underneath its bulk, but their ever-shifting nature seems to make the task exceedingly difficult.

You stare in horror at the beast. Then, remembering yourself, you quickly duck behind the console, taking care to avoid the tendrils of tainted warp-energy.

Finally, the creature stands. It balances precariously on three ungainly legs, wobbling back and forth as the legs shift in size and shape. And as it stands, it opens its slobbering mouth and begins to cackle wildly.

You stagger backwards, startled by the sound. And as you do, you brush against one of the threads you have avoided thus far. It burns at the touch, branding a thin line against your skin. You choke back a scream, heedful of the monster so very nearby. But, as you yank your arm away, the thread comes along with it. You pull frantically, trying to end the stinging pain, until suddenly, the thread snaps!

The laughing of the daemon ceases, as does the caroling of the skulls. All you can hear is the rhythmic clanking of machinery and the hum of energy.

And then, the thumping of footsteps, growing ever closer. Something scrapes against the floor as it moves, sending a piercing sound into the still air. More threads attached to the console, leading out through the room and trailing on the floor, are drawn taught, then snap as the daemon plows through them in its search. You hold your breath, hoping that it will just go away!

But it doesn’t. It keeps coming closer and closer and closer. It breathes heavily as it moves, and you can hear the dripping and sizzling of warp-laced slobber onto the floor.

The light dims as a shadow covers you, and you look up. Up into the beady eyes of the daemon!

Not wasting any time, you leap away. Stunned at your speed, the daemon stands there stupidly for a moment, then shrieks in manic rage. You race across the room, hopping over strands of warp-stuff as you go. Behind you, the daemon gives chases, hobbling forward at speed.

Glancing backwards, you feel a slight sense of relief as you see it falling behind, which is cut short as it begins laughing even harder. Its third leg shifts as it moves, roaming upwards on its body and morphing into an arm instead. The hand at the end of the arm stretches out and you feel a rush of warp-energy throughout the room.

Threads tear away, sucked into the mini-maelstrom at the end of the thing’s arm, until a burning ball of warpfire is held upon its palm. Cackling in glee, it hops forward on its two diminished legs into a cartwheel. As it spins back around, it uses the momentum to hurl the blaze towards you at astonishing speed.

Seeing it coming, you duck, letting it fly over your head. It impacts the wall ahead, splashing the surroundings with a conflagration of warp-flame. You skid to a halt as the door you’d been aiming for is cut off by the fire, then turn and dash for shelter behind a skull-laden pillar.

You duck behind it just as another ball of flame flies past, setting yet more of the room alight. The red of the ship’s internal lighting is now almost overridden by the flickering blue and pink light of the fires. With your original path cut off, you now have to find an alternate one. But where?

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

You peek past the pillar, trying to keep your face obscured behind the skulls. You look around, searching for another doorway.

Nothing. Or, well, nothing besides the door you’d entered from and the exit now cut off by warpfire. The daemon still dances in the middle of the room, giggling in crazed delight and jabbering on in some alien tongue. It’s eyes loll in their sockets, then suddenly focus, locking onto you.

Its mouth curls into the rictus of a grin, then opens just wide enough for a slobbering, long purple tongue to slide out. With another laugh, it raises its three arms, conjuring more flame in each hand as it skips its way toward you.

You sprint across the floor towards the next pillar as the daemon hurls the blobs of fire at you. You duck as you move, but this time, one of the three connects, bathing your arm in horrific warp-flames! You scream in agony, collapsing to the ground in shock.

It hurts! It hurts it hurts it hurts!

You beat at your arm with the other, trying to put it out, but it only gets worse. Your other arm catches alight and your continued screams are only interrupted by choked coughing as you inhale the scent of your own flesh cooking.

Faintly, you can hear the rush of footsteps, and the door to the meditation chamber slamming open. Loud voices echo through your head as someone calls to you in the Materium, but what is said is drowned out by the stomp of daemonic feet closing in and your own choked sobs.

You’re yanked upwards by two sets of hands: one in the Materium and another within your psyche. You struggle as you’re lifted, but cannot escape either one. Your arms are now numbed, the nerves deadened — either by the shock or burned away, you do not know.

The daemon cackles as it brings you up, forcing you to stare into its horrific mouth. Hundreds of dagger-like teeth lie within, and as they gnash against each other, you see the sparks fly and burn briefly, consuming a thimble-full of warp-energy each time.

As you gaze into its mouth, you shriek in fear, then flail your legs about in an attempt to get it to let go. Instead, it only tightens its grip more, laughing all the while. To your continued horror, its malevolent eyes light up in amusement, as if an idea has just sparked within its warp-addled mind.

And what an idea it is! It laughs in delight as you cry out piteously while it shakes you to-and-fro. It rejoices at your suffering, howling in mirth all the while. It goes on and on, until finally the shaking stops once your screams die down, your voice lost to the continuous abuse you’ve placed upon your vocal chords.

It glares at you as it gives you a final shake, as if trying to elicit more mewling from its prey. But, you have no more to give. Tears drip down from your cheeks and fall upon the floor below, shining in the light given off by the embers dotting your charred arms. Growling at the waste, it pulls you forward and positions your head above its gaping maw and moans with delight as each tear now lands upon its salivating tongue.

This cannot be…

Why? Why is this happening to you? Perhaps… Perhaps you should give up. It hurts oh so very much. You just want the pain to stop.

It hurts…

The tears continue to flow, prolonging your fate. The daemon writhes in ecstasy as it drowns itself in your sorrow. Its features continue to shift as ever, and all you can do is hope that the arm holding you loses its grip so that you will fall into the deadly abyss below.

“Xena! Wake up!”

You hear something a long way off. A voice. A familiar voice.

Master Masbau?

You gasp as you feel a familiar sensation, one of peace and calming purity. A small weight lifts from you as a speck of warp-taint is removed, but returns just as quickly.

But, that reminds you.

Force Stanch. Master Masbau is unable to reach so deep down within your true-self. He cannot help you here. But, you can help yourself.

You fight through the pain, concentrating on the Force. You can feel it still swirling within you, but mostly blocked by the hull of the ship. You tug on it gently, feeling it begin to permeate through the various rents and airlocks dotted around. And as it flows, you grasp it more firmly, willing it to gather quicker and quicker.

But, the daemon notices. You’ve stopped your sniveling, cutting off its source of ambrosia. It shakes you again, interrupting your work.

You glare at it in defiance. The wisps of Force are growing thicker. Just a bit more, and you’ll be able to—

The daemon glares right back, then raises another hand. And above its palm glows yet another ball of warp-flame. It smiles, bringing it closer and closer to your face, causing you to rear back, fighting to keep away. But, you have nowhere to go. The daemon’s other two hands hold you fast and you cannot wiggle free. Your forehead beads with sweat which instantly boils away from the growing heat.

You’re so close to completion. Just a little bit longer!

You continue to glare in open defiance to its threat, unwilling to back down when you’re so close. You feel the Force Stanch gathering, still rate limited by the sieve of the ship. It’s almost there…

And… done!—

PAIN!

Your eyes burn as warpfire enters the sockets, boiling them away in seconds. Your world is engulfed in fulmination, and your mind blanks with the pain. Strangled gasps leave your mouth, the agony too great for you to do more than stiffen in the parody of struggle.

Despite the all-encompassing pain, you must focus. You unleash the Force Stanch with the last of your strength. The beating of your heart thunders in your ears, with the onrush of blood between each thud-thump! And just beyond that is the sweet sound of your foe shrieking in fear as it is — you hope — banished from your soul.

With that, you finally close your warp-eye, intact for it was protected behind your headband, and you think no more.

≡][≡ ⬦⬦⬦ ≡][≡

Darkness.

You float in an endless abyss.

It’s…

Empty.

Emptier than even the void — that wonderful ocean of stardust.

You feel light. Weightless.

No. Not weightless.

Massless.

…

Where are you?

You’ve been here awhile. Floating around. Not really doing…

Anything.

Wher—

The screams of a thousand souls shatter the silence. You rotate in place, searching for the source.

Ah. There it is.

The Astronomican.

Beloved Terra. The birthplace of humanity, where the Master of Mankind holds endless vigil upon His golden throne.

The light sears your eyes, blinding you with its divinity, and you weep with ill-contained joy.

A trade, is it? Your eyes, for your life?

Can you at least keep your arms? They’re quite useful.

…

Thank you.

The forever light dims, darkening until there is nought but a speck remaining. You hold out your hand and it settles upon your palm.

As it touches you, a warmth spreads throughout your body. A golden soul flares its wings above you, its flayed skull gazing down. Judging you.

You stare back up at it with your remaining eye, unflinching despite its cold stare.

It finds you wanting — for you desire ever more.

Well then, a boon you shall have.

Take your pick, then begone. But, never forget, little one.

The Warp will always be with you.

Arc 1 End