A hand was reaching out, trying to touch the many reflections of a pretty lady on the many lenses belonging to a metallic monstrosity.
It was a very delicate looking hand with fair, flawless skin ending with really feminine fingers and the final touches of perfect, methodically kept nails. It was not my hand but yet it seemed to obey my every command. Every little twitch of fingers, any slight turning of the palm was reflected in those lenses.
That hand never reached said lenses, a metallic appendage that was shaped into a perfect imitation of a human hand intercepted it. I felt the coldness of the metallic palm. Despite its outward human form, the hardness of its surface confirmed its non-organic nature.
This thing was asking me questions in binary beeps. How was I able to understand binary? Nothing made sense anymore, but the reflections on the monster’s lenses told a cold truth, for reasons beyond my comprehension, I… I am Syrine now.
Then a realisation struck me like lightning. This metallic monstrosity is acquainted with the Aquila lady. What if it learned I was not the real Syrine but someone else who just took over?
Severe stress took over and total panic was just a hair's breadth away, I needed answers and a way out. Do I have anything to fool this monster just for a while? Information, I need information, do I know anything about it? Anything? ANYTHING?
[Severe stress detected]
[Cogitatio Acceleratio auto activated]
The world slowed again, the gunfight was still raging on but seemed so distant in the background. Another line of words appeared in my vision.
[Run Analytica? YES / NO]
With almost teary eyes I looked at the prompt. Is this salvation? YESSSS! Readings popped up in my mind displaying information for the monster before me.
Name: Kryptorer Cykell, posthuman, arch tech-priest dominus.
I remembered now, this ginormous grotesque cyborg was definitely looking the part for an Adeptus Mechanicus Tech-priest Dominus. His overall appearance resembled a hooded and hunched gigantic man with multiple pairs of robotic arms, one of his many hands was carrying the signature Omnissian axe of his order. Over what was left of his body was a hooded robe that was typical for a tech-priest, and completing the package were his non-human legs which looked like a combination of inverted claws dangling with a bundle of random wires. On his back, a myriad of antennas and unknowable instruments stuck like pikes.
The release of the Adeptus Mechanicus plastic range was a relatively new event compared to a lot of the armies of the grimdark universe. If I recall correctly the initial start collecting box package was a particularly generous offer. In my zeal to quickly start up the army, I bought multiple boxes and ended up with a few redundant copies of tech-priest dominus figures laying around.
As for those tracked monstrosities with human torsos and huge guns as arms around the tech-priest, they were a mix of heavy combat units of the Adeptus Mechanicus known as Kataphron breachers and destroyers, these killing machines came in an expensive kit of three per box during release and were spammed by the power gamers.
But enough reminiscing about my hobby, the current situation needs to be resolved. Digging hard into my mind, I reviewed my options given the absurdity of the current circumstances.
Betting on the information gained from the reading, I started by saying his name, ‘Krypto…’ I flinched at my own voice when it came out and did not manage to finish speaking his name. Unlike the one I was used to for decades, the voice that came out from me was elegant and feminine and it startled me.
Eh? Not finishing saying his name was kinda a jackpot?
Apparently, Syrine was close enough to the tech-priest to address him with a shortened name. Calling him by his full name might actually arouse suspicion that something was amiss.
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That was close, too close.
But the next part made me shiver internally. I need to speak in Low Gothic. If this was my old body I swore I would have been sweating by the buckets. But there was no going back, the tech-priest was waiting for me. One way or another, this charade will end with or without my answer and I rather take an active bet.
I had a hunch as earlier when the sister spoke in the language its meaning came automatically to me so I dug deep into my mind for the Low Gothic tongue. As if answering my prayer, the language suddenly bubbled into my head and the words came naturally to me, putting in as much anguish as I could, I pushed them out.
‘Where... am I? My head is hurting.’
There, I said it in fluent Low Gothic. To complete the act, I lowered my head to avoid his gaze and put my other hand on top of my head.
The tech-priest dominus made a sound that was halfway between gasping and machine gear grinding to a halt. A slight pause later, a single word escaped his vocal synthesizer.
‘Unacceptable.’
It was a crispy metallic voice laced with hints of age. I tensed up and waited, not knowing what would happen next.
Wordlessly, he raised his massive Omnissian axe and struck the ground twice with its end knob, heavy resonance echoed throughout the whole chamber. All the breachers and destroyers stopped firing their weapons on his cue. The tech-priest then turned his back to me to face the chamber, standing tall to his full imposing height and completely blocking my view, then he roared.
‘Unforgivable! Inconceivable! You dare? YOU DARE?! None of you, not a single one of your misbegotten kind are even worth her single brain cell!’ The volume of his words, amplified many times by overcharged vocal synthesizer, drowned out all the combined sound in the chamber and everything paused.
There the arch tech-priest dominus stood tall at the edge of the elevated platform, he was looking down at all the hostile forces below like an apex predator surveying a herd of helpless lambs, one of his many hands pointing an accusing finger at them.
I gasped internally at his blatant taunting at an armed and hostile crowd. Hey, we are still in a gunfight, you are asking to be shot! As expected, since he made himself stand out so much the tech-priest soon attracted a whole lot of hostile fire, but he was completely unfazed as an energy field flickered to life around him to block most of the incoming fire. Small rings of light flashed on each impact on his protective energy field making it a dazzling sight even when viewed from behind.
The geek inside me cried out with joy and disbelief at the sight of a supposedly physically impossible forcefield in action. However, it appeared to not be foolproof as some rounds did make it through. However those lucky shots merely bounced off him like rain hitting a stone wall, it was then I recalled a tech-priest dominus has some of the best defensive stat lines in the miniature game, outperforming even the premium power armour the Imperium provided for its elites and I was merely witnessing that stat line performance live in action.
With all eyes in the chamber on him, the tech-priest continued, ‘As a devout believer of the glorious Omnissiah, I apologize for my unsightly outburst of emotion.’ He bowed and waved one of his many hands, dropping judgement with a voice cold with contempt. ‘Now, I consign all you unworthy unbelievers to eternal entropy.’
As one every breacher and destroyer fired their heavy weapons, I realised with horror the tech-priest must have done some serious trajectory calculations for his killing machines when he was trash-talking just now. For an undetermined amount of time, an endless stream of deadly shining projectiles was homing to the enemies below and a scene of butchery happened right before my eyes.
Cries of defiance soon turned into despair, returning hostile fire dwindled, then fell silent and finally the Mechanicus heavy combat units ceased firing.
I took a peek at the carnage and saw the aftermath of the onslaught, down there was a scene of sheer brutality. Scores of charred mass vaguely resembling human forms with twisted limbs littered all over the chamber, some of them were still moving but I was not sure if it was because they were still clinging to life or due to the random ammunition rounds and lasgun power packs that were still going off from the remnants of superheated weapon impact.
The smell of ozone and burned meat filled the air. Wordlessly, the battle sisters started walking forward into the charnel house and executing anyone who might actually survive that hell; my civilian brain froze with the sight happening before me.
‘Holy daughter.’ A female voice called to me. I turned and noticed the sister leader was behind me with her helmet removed, blood was pouring down from the left side of her face.
My brain started to move again, the scene of her courageously trying to shield me from grenade impacts surfaced and made me instinctively look down at myself only to see a flawlessly white robe and my hands were lightly dusted but otherwise in pristine condition despite surviving grenade attacks and rolling on the ground.
How was that even possible?
‘I… I am alright. Thank you for saving me, but why do you call me holy daughter?’ It was the best reply I could come up with as my mind was a mangled mess, further adding to the difficulties of my mental processing was the eerie sensation of talking in fluent Low Gothic tongue which I have never learned.
What the sister did next boggled my mind, she went down on one knee and knelt before me.
‘Revered lady. I am Alicya Sabatith, probationary palatine of Order of The Shining Beacon. You must be the prophesied true daughter of the Emperor that He on Holy Terra has sent to lead us in our darkest hour. Please honour us with your leadership and wisdom, guide our order and the people of Imperium in this testing time.’
I was rendered speechless, but she continued to speak.
‘The uprising suppression is at a critical stage. Revered lady, please lead us.’ She looked up, her face was a full display of hope and reverence but my mind started numbing again with her revelation.