We finished laughing. Hell ,I even wiped tears from the corners of my eyes. That was a great laugh.

Something had improved, the air even felt lighter somehow. The gloom cast by the Imperials dissipated.

"You can call me John."

Whoa. I turned to look at Mr. Wick, wondering if this was another joke. Nah, seemed legit.

"Alright, John." That felt so bizarre, "Are we ready to go hunting for metal freaks?"

"Good to go, Hoss." Raynor placed his rifle over his shoulder. Still had his faceplate down, so I had no clue how psyched he might be.

"Sure." John nodded.

"Alright, I'll go get preachy. Just so we are all on the same page... he's not coming back, right?" I felt uncomfortable even saying that much, but that man was a problem. Ideally, he'd get flatlined by some Gangoons.

"Hoss, uh, are you feeling alright?"

"Honestly, no. I feel pretty off since this little episode started. My Class broke, and I'm supposed to be some incarnation of another reality's God. All because these new bastards are fucking insane. I feel like garbage and my new class is some path to Godhood. More problems, not many solutions. Not good ones anyway." Maybe I was snarling a little bit at the end there.

"Yeah. Rough." John nodded.

Raynor hesitated, "It's just you're the last person I would expect to plot an endin' like that. Fight, sure. Kill, of course, but this is a bit cold for you." He waved his hand.

I closed my eyes and unclenched my teeth. "Cold is a good way to describe how I feel. I'm furious but it's not like before, all emotion, this is a calculated thing. As wrong as that sounds it's worse to feel it. Like something has a plan and that plan is for me to be angry. I know it's not me, but it's still there burning coldly." I opened my eyes. "Something is trying to get me to play a role, I sure of it. The Company, this other God, or something else, I don't know." I sighed, trying to let it out. No real help there.

"Sorry, Hoss but I had to ask. I'm worried. Amanda'd kill me if anything happened to you. If Sally didn't get me first." He chuckled.

"Ah, the truth at last. How's that working out?" I smirked.

"Good, Hoss. She's a good woman." His voice sounded wistful. There was some pain in there too.

"Don't worry." John said looking at me. "I've got this."

Well, if John said it, I believed. After all he was as much an idea as a man.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

I made sure the Probes were far down their tunnels digging toward the other outposts. I was a little worried the Magos would chase after them when we left.

I was finally getting input from the total Psifield. I could sense things all the way back to the Valley. I called some Sentries to keep an eye on the newcomers and an Observer to monitor the activity here. I set a fixed order of Rations for them to be delivered by Probes once the tunnels were done, and called some wisps the make them a Moon Well. I still couldn't get it out of my head that something was going to go wrong.

I shook my head to clear it.

Well, I had done what I could. Time to hunt.

Collecting Grais before taking the lift up. I kept a part of my attention on our connection to monitor his erratic emotional state. Something wasn't right with this guy. Everything he saw made him twitch or growl. Mutters of "Heresy" often passed his lips. Twenty times before we even got off the lift.

Well, it wouldn't matter for too much longer.

We gathered the troops before getting into the truck. I figured we'd head north to Watson and start some Maelstrom hunting there. After we were done we could swing by Lizzie's and decompress a little before heading back home.

Though I was contemplating stopping to see the Mox before we got rolling just to see Grais's head explode. He'd probably declare them some sex cult and try to burn them all. As hilarious as that image was, I think we'll wait. The Mox deserve better. Heh.

Strange thing was Grais calmed down a lot when looking at the boys in power armor. It reminded him of something, something holy. Then there was shame. Betrayal.

My head snapped to him. He startled, backing up. Worry, fear and resignation.

"What did you do?" I didn't mean to say anything, I figured it could wait. It just slipped out. Everyone turned looking to figure out what was going on.

"Emperor, I... I did nothing. To my shame, I did nothing while they burned."

He began to speak haltingly,

"I was hunting a cult on Paraxis IV. (AN: couldn't find a Paraxis, Praxis sure.) Your holy angels had been dispatched to deal with an infestation of Xenos. The Xenos were actually daemons of Chaos. A common mistake amongst the uninformed."

He took a deep breath shuttering.

"I ended up working with the Astartes to find the source of the daemonspawn. The Cult was located and further than usual on the path of corruption. Many were full sorcerers of the Fel Powers."

His eyes were clouded, he wasn't really with us anymore. He was back there.

"We slew many, but in the end they had summoned a Daemon Prince. It shouldn't have been possible, but there it was so terrible that my mind began to tear. Were it not for my Faith and the holy protection of my Rosarius, I would have been destroyed then and there."

I glared at him as I recognized that term. He flinched.

I began to see the nature of the issue. He was broken. He was tested and he wasn't enough, and it shattered his self-image.

We have all failed, but he couldn't move past it.

"The Astartes resisted and began to attack the Foul Creature but in the end they weren't enough and they began to fall one by one. To my shame, I didn't help, I could barely hold the Rosarius anymore. I failed."

He wailed like a bereft child. He had been vulnerable. Who hasn't been there?

"When they were all slain, the Daemon turned to me and smiled. It said, "Another time false priest. After all you are already mine.""

He wept.

He had lost his way. Hadn't we all?

I both felt pity for him, and was furious at his weakness.

I couldn't shake it. I saw it from two different angles.

I didn't know for sure. But I had an idea of how to find out.

I coiled my mana and cast Nature's Blessing on all of us. I shaped it again and cleansed us, then I gave us all a Regrowth for good measure. He flinched from each as it washed over him, not the usual reaction.

Even the act of him telling the story was foul. It was a poison of the soul. I could sense it now. He was tainted. I used Blessing of Mankind on all of us.

His screams confirmed my suspicions.