So the Chaos cult had infiltrated the local military.

Energised by the incident, we proceeded with the rest of the test candidates quickly with more stringent measures, like tying them down to heavy chairs during the procedures and checking their inner cheeks.

Nothing extraordinary happened with the rest of them, and by the time we were done I was informed by Herlindya that Thaberus had arrived and wished to meet me at the crime scene. Through some persuasion I managed to drop all the girls to meet the inquisitor alone.

Niandra was guarding the sealed off room when I arrived. I nodded while passing and she bowed. Like her boss I noted the assassin’s surface thoughts were totally unreadable.

Inside the room the inquisitor was studying the remains of my victim while squatting down, looking every bit like an overworked homicide detective.

‘Syrine.’ He nodded.

‘Inquisitor.’

‘I see you made a mess of this heretic.’

‘Sorry, I reacted with too much force. Should have kept him alive for information gathering.’

‘I believe we aren’t missing much.’ He shook his head. ‘Remember the gunmen at the gate? As expected, nothing much came up during their interrogation. The insidious cult we are dealing with are too careful for such amateurish mistakes.’

A professionally operated Chaos cult? My own impression of such cults was that they were usually just loud and semi unorganised, but this insidious version seemed a lot more dangerous.

‘I have ordered all of the detained rebel troops to be double checked for this. The cult’s infiltration was way worse than anticipated,’ Thaberus said while standing up before dropping a surprising praise. ‘Your rapid pace of work is truly commendable.’

‘You didn’t come all the way just to compliment me, right?’ I asked jokingly. He returned a side stare and scoffed. ‘Of course not. My interest in the result of your work aside, there is a person I would like you to meet.’

‘Who?’

‘You have seen him before, he has been a guest here since the day we met.’ He said cryptically. It took a moment before I realised who he was referring to.

‘You meant the space marine?’

‘Correct.’

Accompanied by Niandra, I followed Thaberus’ lead and we headed downstairs. So the Sororitas monastery had fortified underground levels where they housed their dungeons. I lamented my decision of not exploring the place yesterday night with my projection. Back then, after learning to project for the first time, my instinct was to fly towards the shining city on the horizon instead of checking out what was literally beneath me.

The deeper we went, the grimmer the atmosphere became. Most of the walls were carved out from solid, obsidian rock, and the passages were barely lit by flickering torches and some eerily glowing illumination technology. The air was thick with the scent of decay and despair, and the only sounds were the echoes of our footsteps.

Eventually we reached a heavy gate leading to the actual dungeon. You could tell they were not fooling around as it was guarded by sisters armed with storm bolters. These ridiculous things were double-barrelled version of the standard bolter, usually found mounted on top of Rhino armoured transports, or wielded by elite Astartes terminators.

As we entered the final door to a reinforced prison chamber I smelled the Astartes way before he came into view. I remembered reading in a novel about some humans complaining about the body odour of space marines in real life. That was sort of expected, as gigantic genetically altered muscular humans, they were already more beast than baseline human in terms of body mass, and that was before considering their usual routine of wearing fully sealed power armour for extended periods of time.

But all things considered the stink was not too bad. I could tell the scent was similar to that of normal humans, just a lot more intense and complex. My mind was filled with such triviality when the massive figure we came to visit came into view, he was imprisoned in the last cell of the chamber.

The marine was not alone. Two figures who I recognised, Sister Hospitaller Veritta and Magos Balpradus, stood beside the subdued transhuman. Both bowed as we entered.

As for the marine, he was stripped of his armour and missing all his limbs like I remembered. Secured with heavy chains, he was pinned onto the wall in a crucified pose. A myriad of tubes of unknown functions were inserted into his body in various places, his eyes were closed and a half mask was placed over his mouth, probably to prevent more acid spitting attacks.

The marine was in a bad shape. Illuminated by the harsh artificial lights inside the cell, countless scars could be seen running like angry centipedes on his hyper muscular body.

‘Inquisitor. We inspected the prisoner as requested, everything was within expected parameters.’ Balpradus reported.

‘Thank you, magos.’ Thaberus said.

‘Is he… sleeping?’ I asked, curious.

‘The prisoner is in a self-induced deep meditative state, one of the standard Astartes approaches to conserve energy while being imprisoned. It can also be used to ignore standard physical torture during interrogations.’ Balpradus explained.

The magos’ words made me do a double take on the marines’ condition. Now that I got a closer look, it became clear some of the wounds on him were quite fresh and I winced internally at the implication of recent tortures.

Eager to get this over with, I turned to Thaberus. ‘What do you need me to do?’

‘I was hoping with your powers you could double check if he was compromised by Chaos corruption. We need to know how big a threat he and his kin are to this world.’ The inquisitor said softly, but his explanation only raised many more questions.

‘May I ask why are you asking me to do it? Shouldn’t this be better handled by seasoned professionals like your psykers?’ I asked bluntly.

‘We have already tried it.’

‘And…?’ That got me more curious.

‘The results were inconclusive. While my psykers being overworked might have been a contributing factor, we suspect this individual was trained to resist psychic interrogation. That could only be achieved if they have psyker in their rank.’ Thaberus remarked grimly.

A rogue librarian or a sorcerer? That sounded troubling indeed.

‘All right, what do I need to do?’ I conceded.

‘Try reading his mind for their objectives here and check for any signs of Chaos corruption.’ Thaberus instructed.

Huh? I never told anyone about my ability to read minds yet.

‘Who said I could read minds?’ I asked, testing the water.

He shrugged, ‘I thought it should be natural for a psyker of your calibre. Do what you can to gather any information.’

Is this another test?

I could do nothing but to proceed with his request. Standing this close to a real Astartes, the human side of me experienced for the first time the full impact of what it meant to come face to face with an absolute physical superior of your species.

Being this close, the marine looked much bigger and imposing from my point of view. Even while seemingly totally incapacitated, I felt the raw power residing in his overexaggerated chiselled form, and it filled me with a deep sense of uneasiness. It was akin to being in close proximity with a huge predator. The human part of my mind went hyperactive and kept nagging me about the present danger.

But… I am the bigger threat here, right?

I quieted down my mind and considered what I had learned so far. My interaction with Khathalina seemed to imply that skin contact amplified my mind reading ability. I decided on my approach, raised my hand up to reach for the marine’s gigantic bald head before realising I had severely underestimated the difference of our stature.

Slightly flustered, I pointed to a readily available tool to remedy the situation. ‘Pass me the chair, please.’ No one commented about my vertically challenged status and Veritta moved to help.

Soon I was standing on top of a chair, and my hand finally reached the Astartes’ smooth cranium and touched the skin of his forehead. It felt surprisingly smooth but cold.

I willed myself to read his surface thoughts but sensed resistance. Not only was I unable to read the marine’s mind, his mental wall was actively repelling my attempts. Going nowhere, I closed my eyes and upped my game.

[Psykana Activa] activated-

Instinctively I synced my breathing with the marine while my powers engulfed him. At first the resistance of his mind held, but as I started pumping more and more power it began to wane.

Come on, let me see your mind. Come on, come on, come on…

[Simulatio] activated- Huh?

Suddenly I entered an altered state and found myself in a void. Immediately I came to an innate understanding; my mind was syncing with the marine and this vision was a placeholder for us to meet.

At first there was nothing, then slowly I heard some voices and saw a figure illuminated by dim lights in the distance. As I moved towards the light, the surroundings changed and morphed into a grassy field with a starry night sky.

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I moved closer to the figure and sure enough it was the marine. Here he was whole again with all his limbs intact. For some reason, in this vision he wore a set of scout armour instead of power armour. Seated on the ground in a meditative posture, he was chanting away while a small campfire, the source of illumination I saw earlier, flickered in front of him.

‘Hello.’ I greeted the marine but he just continued his chanting, which turned up to be some space marine mantra.

‘In the furnace of war we are forged,

We are HIS finest warriors,

We give ourselves to HIS will,

We are HIS bulwark against the Terror,

We are the tip of HIS spear, the edge of HIS sword,

We are defenders of humanity and we shall know no fear…’

On and on he murmured with practised ease. I looked at his solemn expression and listened to his words for a while before coming to a conclusion. The only way he could be a traitor was that he was an Alpha Legion operative, an unlikely scenario.

‘Greetings, space marine.’ I said, but he just continued to ignore me while chanting.

I thought for a moment on what could break the ice and said. ‘I would like to talk to you about your brothers on the Shadow Talon.’ It was the name of the Thunderhawk gunship I glimpsed with my very brief interaction with its machine spirit. After hearing the gunship’s name, he finally stopped chanting and slowly opened his eyes.

Just when I thought we could start a conversation, he just checked on his hands and refused to look at me. While I had no idea on how any of this worked, in the real world he no longer had his hands so I just let him have his moment.

After a while he finally spoke. ‘Witch. This vision is your doing?’ The marine asked with an accusatory tone, he had a deep and powerful voice yet there was a hint of unmistakable youthfulness.

Not keen on being labelled by that term, I replied with a question. ‘I am a psyker, not a witch. Would you call the Emperor a witch?’ His massive body twitched almost unperceivably after hearing my words, but he remained silent after that.

Seeing the window to talk was rapidly closing again, I tried to stir up conversation. ‘For real, I have no idea why you are made whole here. You might be just… missing your limbs.’ I stated the truth, being quite a bad liar all my life, I had decided to be truthful whenever possible as a standard policy.

The marine seemed surprised by my answer and finally looked at me. While we exchanged stares, I finally had a good look at his face.

Is he … still a kid?

Superficial Astartes features aside, his face, his posture, his eyes, everything about him made me feel like I was dealing with a youngster who was barely twenty years old.

‘Now that I have answered your question, it is only fair that you answer one of mine.’ I said, wanting to make him talk before he walled up again, ‘tell me, why did your brothers on the Shadow Talon spare my life when they had the chance to eliminate me?’

He looked at me in disbelief and I pressed my advantage. ‘They had their chance with the Turbolaser destructor. I was fighting a greater daemon, your brothers shot the daemon, not me.’ His eyes widened further but still his lips were sealed.

I waited for an answer that never came and even sensed he was withdrawing again. Seemed like expecting straight answers just like that was asking too much, I needed to take a step back.

‘Alright, if you do not wish to talk about your brothers, what about just telling me where this place is?’ I asked, looking at the eerily quiet alien landscape around me with its unfamiliar vegetation. Three small moons were in the night sky and the star constellations were totally different from Earth’s.

‘This is my home world.’ Surprisingly, he talked.

‘It is really different from mine.’ I remarked.

‘Show me yours?’ He asked.

Since this vision was created by my power, it should be within my ability to change it. I started envisioning a beautiful summer night on old Earth, my primarch level of cognitive ability constructed the overall setting before rendering the finer details in my head. Satisfied with the vision, I then willed what was in my mind into existence and our surroundings suddenly changed.

This is so cool, like playing as a virtual director in real life.

The three small moons were no more, replaced by a single large moon on the night sky while the star constellations became familiar. A nice breeze brushed against my face, making my hair flow while carrying the sound of crickets chirping in the distance. Instead of the previous quietness, the air became filled with the gentle hum of nature, and then a sea of fireflies appeared.

I sat down on the soft patch of grass across the marine and watched in amazement as the fireflies began their mesmerising dance. Their tiny lights flickered in the darkness, creating soft glows that illuminated the surrounding foliage as they moved gracefully around each other, forming intricate patterns and shapes in the night sky.

I gazed up at the constellations above and was struck by their sheer beauty. For reasons unknown I recognised the constellations from old Earth even though I was never a star gazer. The Orion constellation was definitely the most recognizable, that other one was Canis Major with Sirius, the brightest star in the sky; then there was the Ursa Major, often used as a navigational tool before the global positioning system became common.

Were they in my memory from the countless documentaries I watched or…? Regardless, I had never seen stars this clearly before. Primarch grade senses together with psychic sorcery had brought the constellations to life in this vision, and they twinkled and shone like diamonds in the sky.

I sat quietly in the idyllic setting and was reminded that back on my Earth the light pollution had made it almost impossible to pick out the stars from the night sky. Then there was my severe case of myopia; many decades of excessive gaming and questionable lifestyle had deteriorated my eyesight significantly in my old self. Such a sight was out of the question in my old life.

Surrounded by the magical scenery, warm glow of the fireflies with the soft chirping of the crickets as soothing ambience, I lost myself in the simulated tranquillity.

‘Well, you are certainly enjoying yourself.’ The marine brought my focus back to him, a hint of frustration in his deep voice.

I looked at him and smiled. ‘It is not as if you are talking much. This looks amazing, no?’

He looked around and finally nodded. ‘Where is this?’

I thought of the current state of humanity’s cradle where the oceans were long gone and sighed in response. ‘The place looks a lot different now, this scene exists only in memory.’

‘Is that so?’ He replied flatly. We stayed silent for a while, just enjoying the relaxing atmosphere with the soft crackling of his campfire. Looking into the fire I noticed an unusual item. ‘What is that?’ I asked, pointing at the thing in the flames. To me it seemed to be a personalised inquisition rosette, a stylised “I” held by dragon claws.

When the marine saw the rosette his previously impassive face flashed with anger and disgust for a microsecond before he closed his eyes, refusing to interact further.

‘Hello?’ I asked but he remained silent like a statue. I considered my options and realised in this false world my powers had fully engulfed him. A brute force approach to accessing his memories was possible, leaving him at my mercy.

‘I don’t want to do this, cooperate or you will leave me with no choice.’ I warned him, hoping he would play nice but received silence. Reluctantly I powered up and began pushing into his mind, he resisted. While his willpower was as strong as steel, as I gradually increased my output it became clear he would not last forever.

Soon he was sweating profusely under intense pressure, I could tell it was only a matter of time before his mind or something else would break. As the marine suffered in silence, I noticed the campfire that had been burning brightly only moments before had dimmed considerably. I looked at the strange fire and felt its connection with the marine.

This fire is a representation of his life force?

Curious to see what would happen, I reduced my output and observed the campfire brightening up as if it was responding to the release of pressure. To further test my theory, I eased up further and was validated in the next moment as it flared up immediately. Looking at the intensity of the fire, I came to a grim conclusion.

He would have died if I had pressed on.

I looked at the marine again. He carried no signs of corruption and was ready to die for his brothers. He never relented and I did not want to kill him. We had reached an impasse.

I released my power over him and immediately found myself back in the cell again, my hand still on the marine’s head. Unlike before, the marine’s forehead was warm like he was having a fever, and he was sweating heavily just like in the vision.

Feeling disorientated, I looked around and found Veritta behind me, ready to catch me in case I fell off the chair.

‘How long did I close my eyes?’

‘About half a minute.’ Thaberus replied.

‘Twenty eight point three seconds to be exact.’ Balpradus remarked.

What the hell, time dilation? I had read about scenarios like this in the novels, characters experiencing lengthy otherworldly visions only to return to their reality where not much actual time had passed.

‘How was it?’ Thaberus asked.

‘I … could push through his mental barrier, but he might die.’

‘Let’s talk outside.’

We left the cell, went to a secured room next door and sat down to talk. A while later I finished my story, ‘...I found no trace of Chaos corruption on him. Lastly he seems to have a distinct distaste for the inquisition.’

‘Please elaborate.’

‘Before that, could you tell me what you know about this marine and his chapter?’

Thaberus took a long look at me before offering his opinion, ‘no offence, but I think it is unwise to involve you in such matters at this moment.’

Unconvinced, I was about to argue with the inquisitor before realising my own shortcomings. Despite having some amazing abilities and the baseline of a demigoddess, I was still hopelessly dependent on the people around me to navigate this world.

I had no access to money, no concept of the norms of daily life inside the Imperium nor do I possess any basic life skills like operating mundane vehicles in this world. Heck, I did not even understand the basics of my body and could not even properly control my own physical strength.

Wait… am I currently close to being a “useless goddess” level of meme existence like Aqua the Water Goddess in Konosuba? Mentally pummelled by a series of sudden critical self reflections, I was just looking down at the ground and lost in my thoughts when Thaberus broke my stupor.

‘Psychic exertion catching up? I think that is enough power usage for you today. I have a few places to visit and will be going soon. Please give a more detailed report on the interrogation session to Herlindya.’ He said with a hint of concern.

I thought for a moment before asking, ‘are you going anywhere dangerous today?’ ‘Why?’ Thaberus looked up with a glint in his eyes, no doubt second guessing my motive.

Pointing to the wall where my senses easily detected the presence of Niandra, I smiled and replied, ‘if it is possible, I would like to borrow her for half a day.’

‘Again, why?’

After listening to my reasons, Thaberus consented to my request but only agreed to lend me the imperial assassin for a few hours. He made the arrangements and soon left, leaving me alone to deal with his most deadly operative.

Looking lethal as ever, Niandra approached me with the grace of a prowling predator, she knelt down respectfully and said, ‘Lady Syrine, you need my service?’

‘Niandra, I heard from the others that it was you who carried me to the Blackstar from that muddy field. For that you have my thanks. As for now, I have a request.’

Being the only transhuman I could talk to, you could say she might be the most relatable person I had in this world at this moment. Niandra looked up from her kneeling position, her expression telling me to go on.

‘Teach me how to access my transhuman strength and on top of that, some basic fighting skills.’ I said. Upon hearing my request, a subtle expression of hesitation flashed on her ice cold pretty face but she didn’t reply immediately, so I pressed on. ‘You are free to withhold any technique you do not wish to share. I just need the basics.’

‘As you command.’ She relented.

‘There is also this thing I need to ask you. My apologies to you in advance, it is quite an intimate question.’ I bent down, putting a hand up to whisper my question. Niandra looked confused for a second before she leaned over. I had many questions to ask, but decided to go with the very fundamental issues first.

‘How many times do you need to go to the washroom a day?’