Is this Syrine’s memory?

I regained vision and my sense of having a body returned but it was moving on its own. It was near pitch black but my transhuman eyesight picked up the infrared light and I moved like a ghost in a very dark and ominous tunnel leading into an eternal looking void. While running, I managed to catch glimpses of my hands, they were delicate looking appendages. This was definitely her memory.

Suddenly she leapt over an unseen edge in total darkness, it was so abrupt I wanted to scream but no sound came out. Cold air rushed by and she did what seemed to be an impossible landing on another ledge with me watching it from a first-person view.

This was like parkour but on steroids, added insane difficulty and triple the speed. I had a glance below and all that my vision registered was a bottomless void.

Before I could even finish my soundless scream, she did another few more inhuman leaps and landings as she kept going at it in near-total darkness. This… this level of body control... I was stumped on what a primarch level body could achieve with its full potential unleashed.

Syrine continued to move forward in the darkness and gradually, I was able to sense her thoughts. Today was the important day when she could finally talk with her creator again, she had made that resolve. Only one thing was in her mind, its intensity was seared into me even in this memory of a vision.

Father.

The little primarch minoris was holding that thought while she marched ever forward into the darkness.

* * *

Welminah bolted up from her bed with a muffled scream, the immediate sensation she felt was the unbearable chill biting into her skin. In the delirium of her half-awakened state, she struggled to recall if the temperature control of her room had been tampered with.

The scholar took in a few quick breaths before realising the reason for the plummeting warmth, her room had stayed the same but she was drenched in sweat and her nightgown was soaked through.

She uttered some silent prayers, took in a few more deep breaths to control her ragged breathing before dragging herself to the water closet.

Feeling better after dousing her face with cold water, Welminah slowly raised her head and had a proper look at the mirror. A horrible visage of her own reflection stared back and the first thing she noticed was that her eyes were all red.

The last time Welminah remembered seeing her eyes in this shade of red was after she bawled her eyes out as a result of receiving harsh disciplinary action from a sister superior. She was still a novitiate then and had did something stupid, that was more than a decade ago.

For a few days now whenever Welminah closed her eyes a series of tormenting images kept appearing before her. That day, in the aftermath of a duel not meant for mortal eyes, their once vibrant Holy Daughter was found in a nightmarish landscape covered in mud, looking lifeless with dried blood all over her face.

Verrita and the others had sprung into action. After determining Syrine was just barely alive, there was this mad scramble of all available resources to send her to the closest complete medical bay located at the Sororitas fortress monastery.

Welminah, being neither a hospitaller nor having any useful skill to contribute at that time could only watch helplessly from the sideline. She had felt nothing but numbness at those crucial moments.

Now, the scholar felt as if that indescribable feeling of helplessness together with the unforgettable scenes had been seared into her soul, slowly eating her from the inside out.

As a Dialogus scholar attached to the Order of the Shining Beacon, Welminah had dreamt of meeting the Holy Daughter ever since she was introduced to the prophecy. A thousand years had passed since the prophecy was first mentioned, countless dialogus sisters had gone before her waiting for such a privilege and the truth was Welminah had never expected it was during her time that it became true.

For a brief moment in time, Welminah had the mental image of a future where she would quietly grow old, raising the next generation of Adepta scholars and passing the prophecy down to them.

Admittedly that mirage of a quiet life was shattered as one dramatic event unfolded one after another, and things went downhill pretty fast from there. First, her mentor had suddenly passed away in her prime, leaving Welminah as the de facto scholar in charge of handling their Order’s records regarding the prophecy despite her junior position. Then the civil war broke out, throwing her relatively stable universe into a world of disarray.

As the junior scholar was learning to navigate this new world of uncertainties, out of the blue the canoness had ordered her to accompany the newly promoted probationary Palatine Alicya to verify her claim of a newly surfaced candidate for the prophesied Holy Daughter.

Welminah was sceptical at first since the Alicya she personally knew could be such a hot head at times and it was not the first time the Order had dealt with such possibilities only to be proven false later.

While on their way to the Fortress, Alicya shared her story and it intrigued Welminah. The candidate’s tragic loss of memory during the dramatic gunfight at the inner sanctum was something Welminah could not wrap her mind around, it felt like there was more to the story so she waited with bated breath to meet with this mysterious figure.

When Welminah finally met Syrine she still could not wrap her mind around what she saw. The candidate exuded a level of presence that could only be described as saintly, but her ultra-casual demeanour towards the sisters carried none of the gravitas one would be expecting from a fabled true daughter of the Emperor.

As a scholar, Welminah had counted no less than five violations of basic etiquette broken by the candidate on the first time they had met. Syrine had openly greeted Alicya cheerfully back then, it was a very basic knowledge in high society proper greetings should be initiated by the lower-ranking individual even in a private setting, surely the Emperor’s daughter should know better?

Then the bombshell of her medical examination result hit, confirming Syrine was no mere human but a transhuman so advanced one could not even tell by her appearance. The sister hospitaller who had accompanied them on that mission had even secretly confided with Welminah later that she saw no signs of any postoperative marks on Syrine, a fact which should have been impossible. Most imperial transhumans usually underwent so many surgeries their body was usually littered with such marks.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Just as they were already having a hard time keeping their jaws closed, it was further revealed Syrine had an unknown organ inside her brain that was certified by the inquisition record to be found only in primarchs.

Welminah’s mind had gone blank as she processed all the information that was laid before her. The fact that Syrine had still maintained her casual stance made the scholar’s reality even more jarring on that day.

A sister of the mythical primarchs, a true daughter of the Emperor of Mankind. The scholar had read all that she could about the primarchs, barring those who were labelled heretical anyway. To Welminah they were such aloof figures, they might as well be just pure legends than historical facts if not for the plentiful of statues around that constantly reminded them such beings once walked amongst mortals.

All the primarchs she knew were larger than life figures, sons of their God-Emperor and super-superhuman in more ways than one. They led legions of space marines on a galaxy-spanning crusade and brought countless worlds into the embrace of Imperium.

And here was a person who could be a younger sister of the mythical primarchs and she was interacting with them like peers bantering in a postgraduate ceremony.

Feeling totally out of her depth, the scholar reported back to Canoness Diadinah what she saw, praying to the Emperor himself she was not making a colossal mistake.

Finally the meeting between Syrine and the holiest relic of their Order, the Nameless Sword happened. Any lingering doubts were burned away by the pure blue flame manifesting on the sword illuminated by the golden halo of their Holy Daughter.

Welminah finally understood what some of the ancient Legiones Astartes who had amicable relation with their primarch must have felt when they were finally united with their gene father. Their Order was finally whole again and now the true work can begin.

There were still many lingering important questions, however due to the issue of memory loss and the urgent matter of rebellion, all these were put on the back burner.

It was then that Welminah saw for the first time the true brilliance of Syrine. Despite clearly not operating at her full capacity, the Holy Daughter quickly orchestrated cooperation between the Sororitas, the Mechanicus and the inquisition with an ingenious plan to deal with the uprising rebels.

The sight of various imperial establishments famous for their internal squabbles coming together and working seamlessly under Syrine’s leadership for a common goal was breathtaking.

The scholar was watching from the side, dazzled.

Thinking back, that first direct vox call Welminah received from Syrine had to be the most nerve-wracking vox conversation she had in her life. Before Welminah could organise her thoughts she was back in Syrine’s room, the short time they had spent together rummaging through the collection of clothes was the most surreal event the scholar had experienced in her life.

There she was, picking up an outfit for the Holy Daughter from her otherworldly collection of apparel. Syrine was again talking to her in a way as if the lowly scholar was her peers when it was just the two of them around. Welminah was even offered to keep an outfit as a gift, it had petrified her back then; as a scholar, the true cost of such apparel was beyond her but she had guessed one might not even be able to acquire these with any amount of currency. Surprising Welminah further, Syrine had even bothered to learn the high society greetings from their world to show proper respect for the governor and her generals. The scholar found herself totally blown away by the Holy Daughter’s modesty and kindness.

In the dark days that followed when it was unclear if Syrine could recover, Welminah found herself in a working frenzy. With the blessing from her canoness, the scholar was going around collecting every bit of information she could about Syrine’s actions during that fateful day.

From the information she gathered, it was understood the combined might that had gathered under Syrine could easily annihilate the rebels from the beginning. However instead of taking that easy route, Syrine had gone the extra mile providing many chances of salvation for the misguided fools. The subsequent chaos ritual incident had only further proven Syrine’s seemingly boundless wisdom and foresight, the scholar was sure of it.

In a way, Welminah was stumped, she never would have guessed the Holy Daughter to be so …humane. Being humane, it was a description so rarely used these days even as a scholar she had to triple verify the proper meaning of the word.

Welminah vividly remembered what might be the last time she saw Syrine alive and well, stepping out from a safe zone to face a greater daemon alone. Watching that petite silhouette walking fearlessly into the distance, the scholar believes she caught a glimpse of what could have been a new beginning for their stagnant Imperium.

With such a person glueing the different power factions of the Imperium together... maybe, just maybe things could start to change for the better. A new dawn for their galaxy mired by the never-ending wars, new hope in a sea of endless darkness.

But that glimmer of hope was fading now, it had been days now but no information was coming forth after they had secured the heavily wounded Holy Daughter in their monastery.

What if the Syrine could not recover from her injuries? That very thought made Welminah feel difficult to breathe. For the past few days and nights, she prayed like the fate of the world had depended on it.

Oh please, our eternal undying Lord and Saviour, I pray to thy grace, glorious Emperor of Mankind. Please grant us strength, point us to the path, show us the light, preserve us.

No, I only pray for one miracle now... Dear Lord, please save your own daughter.

...

Suddenly a familiar buzz broke her stupor, it was her personal communication device and Alicya was shown as the caller.

At this hour? Surely it could not be...

‘Yes?’ she answered with a shaking voice.

‘Welminah! Are you alone?’ Alicya’s anxious voice came through, the tone of her voice bodes ill news.

‘Yes, I am alone, what happened?’

‘Sister,’ Alicya said, ‘stay calm now but I just received special permission to inform you of this. Lady Syrine is…’ Welminah felt like a lightning had struck her, for a split second it felt like an eternity before Alicya’s next word came through, ‘… missing!’

‘....’

‘Welminah? Are you there?’

‘Eh?! Say again? Missing?’

‘Yes, she went missing! I was just notified that her bed was found empty. Kira is freaking out, both the canoness and dominus are furious. The monastery is about to go into full alert and lock down if we do not find her soon. I am heading there now. Just in case, do you happen to know anything about it?’

‘Don’t be absurd! How can so many guards with around-the-clock security not know anything when Lady Syrine had finally awakened and … just walked away?’

‘I will take that as a negative. Alicya out.’

It was only after a while Welminah realised she was hyperventilating and staring blankly at her personal device. So many questions were going through her mind but no answer would ever come if she just stood around.

Impossible as it was, a highly secured patient had gone missing under the nose of numerous guards posted by both Adepta Sororitas and Adeptus Mechanicus after staying in a medical coma for days.

Missing… that would mean Syrine was probably up, alive and walking about. The scholar then recalled the brief glimpse of a new world she had seen and found herself wishing fervently to never lose the chance to witness such a sight again.

I will go find her myself.

Her resolve made, Welminah quickly cleaned herself up, donned her scholar uniform and headed out just as the barest hint of sunlight broke the darkness on the horizon.

It was still very dark outside but she was determined to look for the daughter of her God-Emperor. Hurrying her footsteps the scholar set off, chasing for a new dawn for the Imperium of Man.

Syrine - Into the Grim Darkness of the Far Future. - Fin