‘Uprising …?’ I murmured.

Overwhelmed by what was happening around me, I merely echoed what Palatine Alicya was saying. The truth was my mind had blanked out a while ago.

Around me was this supposedly real version of the grimdark universe of the far future where I heavily invested in its miniature games as my hobby. I was awestruck by the sheer intensity of what I had seen, heard and felt; the smell of blood, sweat, gun powder, ozone and charred flesh in the air, the sound of each and every gut-wrenching bolter discharge as the sisters continued their grim work in the background executing armed thugs.

Indescribable feelings rose inside me, a part of me wanted to shout ‘Awesome!’ for what must have been a wet dream for any fan of the grimdark universe, to be able to see and experience the universe itself in person; another part of me just wanted to scream and hide from all these as the very core appeal of this universe laid in the fact it was so… utterly horrible and dystopian.

And frankly, I wasn’t sure this was a lucid dream session anymore. My mind just wasn't in the right state to answer the palatine, then someone cut into our conversation.

‘This is no mere uprising.’ A deep and stern voice came somewhere behind. The owner of the voice walked up and appeared beside me and immediately I knew who he was by appearance.

Standing close to 6 feet tall was a man who looked to be in his mid-forties. He was fully geared up with a trench coat overall, on top of his head was a really solid looking capotain brandishing a stylised ‘I’ on the centre. Beneath the shadow cast by the capotain, a pair of blue eyes glittered with sharpness and wisdom. Overall the man was handsome but slightly rough around the edges and had the look of a model who would most probably be hired to represent a certain classic tobacco brand back on earth. However unlike your run the mill models, this man exuded an air of unquestionable authority even just by standing still.

‘Inquisitor.’ I said reflexively before realising my mistake and swiftly ran [Analytica] on the newcomer.

The readings came back: Human, inquisitor.

Inquisitors are one of the highest-ranking agents of the Imperial Inquisition. Relentless and deadly, they are the most important arm of the Imperial government dedicated to ensuring the security of the Imperium of Man. Every inquisitor in theory possessed near unlimited authority, thus most have access to an almost limitless variety of Imperial resources that allowed them to act against any threats they perceived to the Imperium. Think of them as a mix of James Bond and Judge Dredd with a blank cheque to carry out their missions.

Unlike Kryptorer the arch tech-priest dominus, no name came back, which meant…

‘Thaberus Thorn, Ordo Hereticus.’ He introduced himself and fixed a firm gaze on me. ‘You would have to excuse me for skipping pleasantries. Quickly now, can you tell me who you are and what you are doing on this planet?’

‘Honored inquisitor,’ the palatine voiced her displeasure. ‘I must protest the way you are addressing the revered lady, and what do you mean by saying this was no mere uprising?’

The man scoffed. ‘First, before I can verify the outrageous claim you just mentioned, by the decree of the Holy Inquisition everyone here will be under my personal scrutiny. Second, when has a simple planetary uprising ever involved renegade Astartes?’ He finished his statement by pointing somewhere below the platform we were all standing on.

Astartes, a.k.a space marines, were transhuman super-soldiers of the Imperium of Man, these genetically altered superhumans were usually clad in their signature power armour and engage in an endless battle with the horrors of the galaxy, widely known as the poster boys of the grimdark universe. But these supposed guardians of humanity can go bad, becoming renegade or something much, much worse.

Speaking of which, whatever happened to the two space marines that were present in the enemy rank? I followed where the inquisitor was pointing and found the answer. The heavy bolter marine ended up in a pile of rubble, apparently melted together with his choice of cover after being subjected to hails of direct plasma fire. His hands were still twitching as a sister executed him with point-blank shots through the helmet lenses.

Just when I thought things couldn't get any more gruesome for the renegade space marine, another scene was unfolding and it made my jaw drop. There a short distance away a dismembered figure of a giant armoured man was being dragged along the ground by an unknown female figure clad in a skintight black operative suit.

Her sudden appearance sent chills down my spine as I had absolutely no idea when this person had entered the fray and chopped off all the limbs of a space marine. She was dragging the limbless renegade marine towards us, her every movement suggested highly trained lethality, from my knowledge of the grimdark universe, only one type of character fits her profile: an Officio Assassinorum operative or an imperial assassin. Unlike all the operative miniatures I collected, she wore no headgear and exposed her pretty face to the world.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

The assassin was a cold foxy beauty with her black hair tied into a warrior’s knot that extended into a long ponytail. This seemed like a really popular hairstyle in the miniature range. As I was dazzled by her appearance and couldn’t help myself from looking at her, she glanced back sizing me up, making my core shivered with her stares.

‘Sir, target acquired.’ She addressed the inquisitor and pushed the hapless marine forward as if casually delivering a mailed package. ‘Right, we should get this done and over with.’ He nodded to her.

The assassin did something to the marine’s armour and then yanked the helmet off him. Underneath the helmet was the face of a scarred warrior with a bald head, but thankfully no signs of chaos corruption, massive amounts of blood was pouring all over the place but it did not stop the marine from dropping a tirade of profanity in Low Gothic.

‘In the name of the God Emperor, do you repent and cooperate, space marine?’ Thaberus asked. The assassin held the marine’s head so he was facing the inquisitor.

‘Hah!’ The marine snarled, ’When my brothers arrive, they will give you all mortals a death not even worthy for street dogs!’ Then he spat, the classic acidic spit attack I read in the lore! As if anticipating this action, the assassin turned his head at the last second and his spit hit the floor and sounds of acid burning hissed on the spot. In a swift motion, she quickly followed up by dislocating his jaw to prevent further similar incidents.

Now limbless and with a broken jaw, the marine was making unintelligible angry sounds, it was at the same time the angriest and most helpless thing I have ever seen in my life. Not happy with his behaviour, the assassin delivered some brutal palm strikes on the marine’s head to silence him with a knockout.

‘Now then,’ Thaberus continued as if the events just now were an everyday occurrence. ‘Put him away. Shall we continue where we left off?’ He turned his cold gaze and looked at me again. I wanted to take a step back but my body couldn’t move.

All these individuals were just so casual about brutal violence.

I had just… witnessed more violence in person for the past hour than all my decades of peaceful life combined. A deep understanding of the laws of this universe was imprinted on me: Regardless of who you are here in this place, violent death can and will come to you anytime should you cross the wrong people or be at the wrong place at the wrong time.

That realisation seemed to have triggered some primal level of fear inside me, my mind had reached the threshold for the emotion but strangely my body did not tremble, but mentally I was utterly spent and just wanted to surrender so I came clean with the inquisitor.

‘I… I can't seem to remember anything. I just know my name and recall that Arch Dominus Kryptorer is my acquaintance.’ The really surprising part of my statement was that my voice wasn’t shaking, but inside I just wanted to cry.

Well, judging by their reaction, that bombshell wasn't well received. The inquisitor did not move and his expression could not be read but that couldn't be a good thing, the sister had a surprised and devastated look on her face.

Just as when it felt like things were about to explode, something buzzed, it was the same sort of sound I had heard a while ago.

‘This better be good.’ The inquisitor said, but his mannerism indicated he was not speaking to me, as expected he appeared to be listening to a vox report via an earpiece and replied to someone a while later. ‘No mistake about it? Very well keep me informed if anything changes. Thaberus out.’

With that, his attention returned to me again, and his level of hostility rose. ‘Quit playing games lady, tell me what you did and why you did it. My patience has its limits and the latest development just escalated the whole situation!’

This was bad, really really bad.

My instinct was urging me to do the totally illogical action of running away -- they all had guns, and the assassin was just beside me. I was on the very edge of a nervous breakdown when a voice of reason came to my rescue.

‘Inquisitor Thorn,’ Arch Tech-priest Dominus Kryptorer stepped in, physically putting himself between me and the scary man.

‘As the highest-ranking representative of the Adeptus Mechanicus on this planet, I formally request you not to further burden my main benefactor of this holy expedition.’

The inquisitor turned to face the tech-priest and they started a stare-down at each other, I gulped silently looking at the two imperial powerhouses. My old habit as a gamer kicked in and I quickly deduced with a small comfort in the scenario if a fight indeed happened now… Kryptorer and his killer machines had a slight edge over Thaberus’ side.

It was Palatine Alicya who broke the stalemate. ‘Honored inquisitor and dominus, due to the unfortunate incident just now, the revered lady might have suffered from amnesia or brain damage due to the impact of the direct grenade attack. I had shielded her as much as I could but it might not have been enough.’ The sister said apologetically, both the parties she addressed looked at her bloodied face and contemplated her statement.

It was at this point more people came forward and gathered near us, it was three people, two men and one woman who looked like what you would expect as the hired guns of the inquisition. Thaberus glanced at the group’s most senior-looking individual, and the latter nodded, silently verifying Alicya’s statement.

Kryptorer pointed at the impact craters near us and said, ‘Direct grenades impact, even with her level of protection there might be complications with her delicate condition of just finishing the activation rituals. Inquisitor Thorn, we should put aside my benefactor’s curious case of memory loss under review for the moment, in the meantime what is this latest development you speak of?’

‘Arch Dominus.’ The inquisitor turned to face the tech-priest. ‘I supposed my party does owe you gratitude for your cooperation on apprehending the renegade Astartes. As for that development...’

He said his next words slowly. ‘This will affect every imperial subject in this sector, billions and billions of souls are at stake. I was just informed by my crew that the Astronomican can no longer be detected, the light of the Emperor… is lost to us.’