In the grand flow of history, Silver was but a minuscule speck of dust marring the flow of time. His life, like many others in this uncaring galaxy, was borderline meaningless. Yet Silver possessed a strange uniqueness, he had not simply a singular life. Rather, Silver was the culmination of numerous lives. His legacy was added to, and added to again, until gradually the course of history shifts as a result.
Planet Huliar could be considered the first world upon which Silver’s influence could be felt. This was in part due to Silver’s stubborn determination which had developed over the course of this madness.
Perhaps more accurately one would say Silver’s own mentality had shifted, he had become broken after experiencing death one too many times. His original self had faded, now he lived and breathed war.
Planet Huliar - Hive City Garael - Outskirts
Silver stood with his hastily formed squad awaiting orders. He formulated plans, internally he debated how to maximize his effectiveness in the coming battle. He had been doing so since he had boarded the chimera transport not so long ago.
A common theme had developed among his plans. In a way he considered it to be simple insanity, however, Silver saw that sacrifice could lead towards better results. A moment of pain and of course the chill of death, and Silver may just be able to significantly impact the battle. In doing so he hoped to accumulate more points after death...
“Reinforcing squads, move to the right flank.” He was drawn from his thoughts as an officer relayed orders. Silver noted the man’s elaborate uniform which had numerous medals and pins arrayed across the chest area. The man upon which this uniform was adorned looked to be a true veteran of war. His gaze was chilling, it penetrated through the smoke and fire of the battlefield as he gazed upon both the loyal forces of the Astra Militarum as well as the traitorous heretics opposite them. Silver of course followed his newly given orders, there would be no merit in disobeying at this moment.
As Silver moved in a quick march with his fellow squad-members through the trench network, he observed his surroundings while taking note of anything he could use. He ran constant calculations and scenarios in his head because he was concerned about the chances of an artillery shell landing nearby, or perhaps a charge to break into the line. He knew he could not predict such things, but he could prepare for the after-effects. This of course was limited by if he survived.
By the time he and the other reinforcements arrived at the right flank of this front-line segment, Silver had already noted and remembered the locations of numerous ammunition depots, explosives, and heavy weapons. These could and most likely would become key assets to his end result. Now all he needed was an opportunity.
For the next three hours the battle continued without much change. Silver had conserved the charge of his lasgun's power pack during this portion of the battle, he did so as clearly the heretics were simply testing the waters. No real threat had presented itself as of yet, nothing of worth. Of course, this was not to say he did not fight at all. Silver had sent las-fire downrange into a few exposed heretical cultists, burning through their flesh and ending their lives. However, this lull in the battle could not last forever.
Silver was soon startled to find a bloody fog seemingly appeared and gathered throughout the cratered no-mans-land of the battlefield. Strange laughter, sickening and revolting in nature, sounded out from within the crimson fog. An ear shattering war-cry erupted as cultists rushed forward as if possessed, behind them were numerous hulking masses of flesh and muscle, abominations in every sense of the word. These monstrosities moved with unnatural speed even as they crushed cultists beneath them.
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In an instant the battlefield erupted into chaos. Orders were shouted and all manner of weaponry was fired downrange. Silver’s ears rang due to the rhythmic beat of a nearby leman russ battle tank’s twin auto-cannons unleashing righteous fury. Yet this did not stop him in the slightest, he was used to this by now. Leveling his lasgun, Silver opened fire. His aim was true, and yet the abomination he had targeted seemed to shrug off his bursts of las. Clearly the abomination had extremely thick and resistant skin, allowing it to shrug off las-fire.
Inevitably though, a few of the abominations were vanquished from the symphony of firepower that the guard unleashed. Unfortunately numerous abominations still reached the line. Men were squished, ripped apart, even partially eaten only to be thrown away like discarded trash. The Imperial frontal lines were quickly falling apart. Perhaps this was the chance Silver so desperately needed to accumulate some amount of existential value.
Holding his position long enough to draw the attention of an abomination, Silver broke into a sprint towards the closest explosive depot. The beast laughed with a multitude of voices from the numerous mouths dotting its twisted form. The abomination pursued Silver's fleeing figure, even as other guardsmen stood firm and fired upon it.
As Silver continued his strategic retreat, the abomination ripped through the few guardsmen who had held their ground. Silver could hear sickening crunches and the tearing of flesh behind him, clearly those guardsmen did not meet with a good end. Pushing forward he soon arrived at the explosives depot. Rushing towards an open crate he slung two slings over his shoulders, one full of krak grenades and another full of frag. With the explosives acquired, Silver turned to face the abomination with a frag grenade in his right hand.
As the hulking abomination closed in, Silver triggered the grenade with a small smirk appearing on his face. He tossed the frag into the depot's cache of explosives and ammunition before sprinting around a corner as fast as his legs would carry him.
The abomination was stupid and overly confident, thus it was caught in Silver’s little trap. It had pursued directly into the depot moments after Silver had left. The frag grenade exploded and caused a chain reaction, a massive detonation rocked the trench as the entire depot went up around the beast. A smoldering crater remained in its wake.
Meanwhile Silver had entered a ruined structure upon which a heavy bolter emplacement was mounted. It had been abandoned already, but the gun still functioned as far as Silver could tell from afar.
Silver spent a moment leaving anti-armor krak grenades near the structures supports before climbing the ruined stairs to the second level. Once there, Silver used up the last of the heavy bolter rounds firing on the remaining abominations that were running rampant through the broken lines of guardsmen. This quickly gained their attention, pulling numerous of the beasts towards the building.
Leaving the heavy bolter, Silver checked his sling of frag grenades and stood near a hole in the floor leading to the lower level. Time passed and he remained still, simply waiting for the abominations. He did not have to wait long, as soon they were scaling the structure. Their bodies too large and unwieldy to enter normally. As they climbed the exterior of the ruined building, dust and rubble fell around Silver.
‘3…’ Silver began counting down.
‘2…’ The abominations entered the second level through the large hole which housed the heavy bolter emplacement.
‘1…’ Silver shut his eyes as he began to pull the pins of the frag grenades on the sling around his body.
‘0…’ Silver dropped down through the hole in the floor.
The frags detonated and tore Silver's mortal body into fleshy bits, yet the chain reaction carried onwards to the krak grenades sacttered about. In a blaze of glory, Silver and the abominations perished as the ruined structure went down. Rubble buried the beasts even as their corpses faded into the warp.
High command did not waste this opportunity. An armored column of chimeras spearheaded by leman russ rushed towards the front line. The remaining abominations were quickly dispatched, reinforcing guardsmen rushed forward even as the previously retreating troops turned about and were herded back to the front.
The battle should not of ended in the favor the loyal imperial forces, and yet… With the abominations gone, the heretics had temporarily lost all their momentum. Battle roared as the Astra Militarum pushed onwards, determined to deal as much damage as possible.
On this day a tale was spread among the soldiers of the 405th Infantry, one of a brave soldier who sacrificed himself to send numerous abominations back to the warp. He showed the way through the abyss into the light, claiming victory in the name of the Emperor.