The psyker's dwelling was entered by an Eldar woman. She was clad in a heavy xeno-power armor. Its camouflage was murky and faded, but mostly green. The emotions of Eldars are usually concealed, and their self-control hides their closeness to the Warp extraordinarily well.

Ezok could not see even an attempt from her to control emotions. The Warp fluctuations were closer to a berserk heretic.

The Eldar moved smoothly, like a predator ready to pounce on its prey any moment. Her long red hair was braided into thin plaits interwoven with metal threads. Pointy ears were decorated with silver rings engraved with runes.

The face of the Eldar was stern and cold. High cheekbones, thin lips barely parting. But most impressive were the eyes - bright crimson, seeming to glow from inside with unbearable flames.

When the Eldar passed Ezok, he felt a wave of anger and hatred emanating from her. Her whole being seemed shrouded in an aura of fury that she barely contained. This was not just anger - but pure, all-consuming bloodlust. She craved blood, was ready to kill him any moment.

Her voice sounded like a crunch, the low Gothic barely intelligible.

"Mon-keigh, from this day I have been tasked with your training."

Ezok wanted to ask a question, but quickly thought better of it.

"My name is Ezok."

Snorting, the Eldar woman pointed at the door.

"I have no interest in the names of pathetic primitive barbarians. First, go out, food has been procured for you. Then we will begin the training."

Settling in as if it were her own home, she sat on the couch and looked at the mon-keigh expectantly.

"Do you wish to stay here and continue to irritate me? Should I cut your throat?"

Ezok quickly went out and saw a table with food set up right next to the exit. There were dozens of Eldar in the camp, some looking at him as if he were a strange animal. The table with food had clearly caused a spectacle in the xenos camp.

Ezok paid them no mind, quickly unwrapping the boxes. He checked - these were Imperial Guard ration packs. Not wanting to provoke his teacher, he took a chemical heating kit and prepared the food.

He quickly tried some, savoring the taste of the strange puree with chunks of unidentified meat. His meal elicited even more interest from the dozens of Eldar who could observe the feral barbarian up close.

After finishing eating, he did not clean up after himself since he did not know where to dispose of the garbage. Ezok swiftly returned to the dwelling.

The Eldar, scrutinizing Ezok closely, stated: "You did not need to bring your barbaric meal here, but since you decided to put on a show, we shall consider it your wish to share your exquisite cuisine with the entire camp."

He swiftly hid a pack of ration bars in his bag. His teacher was still glowering at him angrily.

The Eldar woman spoke disdainfully: "Now tell me why the seer told you to help. What is the problem? I do not know how work your mind and warp abilities."

Ezok briefly recounted all the voices in his head, then removed part of his power armor and rolled up his sleeve. The mandrake's mark extended above his wrist, green energy seeping into the flesh, but the human body rejected the vile thing.

For a moment, he ceased exerting his powers, and the mandrake's mark immediately began to fester. Within several more seconds he observed his arm succumbing to deep tissue necrosis.

"What feeble muscles." The Eldar woman smiled.

Ezok did not react to her derisive words, preferring to focus his thoughts. The Eldar closely examined the mandrake's mark on his arm and disdainfully added: "Your attempts to rid yourself of this mark only stoke its hunger. But perhaps that is your fortune as well."

Ezok applied biomancy, and the necrosis vanished instantly.

"I can feel it, like my life is draining into this mark."

The Eldar woman smirked, then summoned psychic fire around her hands.

"Do not move, or you will lose an arm. It is not your life draining away, merely particles of your soul."

Tongues of flame began burning runes around the green mark. Like a nest of snakes, the fire reached even Ezok's soul. He had to numb all the neurons in his arm, otherwise he would have been writhing in pain already.

"Done, this is the mark of Khaine. I will give you exercises for the battle trance. If your enemy's soul is weaker, part of its energy will remain in your hand. You will have to kill, without it your soul will suffer. It is best to weaken the soul before absorbing it. Mental and physical anguish are ideal for this purpose."

The psyker looked at the xenos doubtfully, he felt like he was visiting Commorragh again.

"You resemble a drukhari greatly."

The psychic fire disappeared, and his teacher stopped burning the runes.

"And what prevents me from being born in Commorragh? What prevents me from relocating there? What prevents me from consuming mon-keigh souls to postpone my downfall? What prevents me from slitting your soft throat right now?"

The psyker did not even notice her movements, the force sword already touching his neck. One motion would be enough to kill him.

"I am close to damnation. Do you think the seer's words works on me? Do you think a teacher was assigned to you? Your training will require double meditation, even for creating a useful instrument, such shame would be an insult for someone like me."

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The psyker felt her hand grab his hair. Again he could not even detect her movements.

"You are fortunate, mon-keigh. An exarch like me feels nothing but war. The seers have allowed me to join a grand battle. You are my instrument, so be proud of yourself, mon-keigh.........Therefore I will tolerate your company."

The Eldar woman pressed on his head and lightly slit his throat with her blade. Ezok felt his consciousness slowly dissipating.

"Do not resist, we will now conduct a meditation to overcome your inner weaknesses. I hope you do not perish from the touch of a more perfect being's mind."

Ezok slipped into the realm of dreams, and the Eldar woman curiously examined the inner world of the human. She decided to give him a couple of moments, his soul might indeed not withstand it.

"Descend into your inner chaos, mon-keigh. Perhaps you will find something of value there."

Ezok began sinking deeper into his spiritual world. Meanwhile, the Eldar masterfully manipulated psi-energy, amplifying the influence of her illusions. A shell of psi-energy enveloped them, to enhance her sway over his memories.

They were surrounded by a ominous atmosphere, resembling a primeval forest full of dangers. The Eldar wasted no time in feeding Ezok shadowy images of his fears.

Ezok found himself inside his own mind, delving into the labyrinth of consciousness, full of dark corners and forgotten memories. The virtual corridors of his thoughts were tangled and murky, like caves hidden from prying eyes.

Maintaining the warp-shell around them, the Eldar kept suggesting her influences. Shadowy manifestations of his fears took real shapes in this mental maze. The world of hives, his life and meager sustenance as an underhive dweller.

Ezok tried to resist, focusing his mind on the present

The Eldar, adeptly manipulating warp-energy, amplified the sway of her illusions. She appeared before Ezok in the guise of his sister, examining with interest the lowly abode of the mon-keigh. Meanwhile, Ezok was completely lost in memories, unaware that he had already lived through these events.

"You cannot escape your dark thoughts, mon-keigh. It is better to accept them, make them part of you," whispered the exarch, fully immersing him in the trance.

The psyker lost his wrinkles, his hair turning black again. His power armor changed into filthy underhive garb. The psyker was stripped of his plasma gun and years of experience in manipulating the Warp was gone.

The exarch examined her body, then immersed herself in the trance as well. The show must go on, and without her presence, the illusion would quickly shatter.

Her bloodthirstiness changed into naive girl. She altered her temperament to mimic the psyker's sister as accurately as possible. It took only a few minutes to get used to the pitiful mon-keigh body.

She experienced human hunger for the first time and shifted her perception of the world. Her actions were so artful that an entirely different personality arose in her consciousness.

The final touch was the scenery. The psyker felt the familiar stench of the hive. Soon Ezok woke up.

He put his hand to his stomach and felt the dull ache of prolonged hunger.

"And you like to sleep in."

Sister Eleanor handed him a protein block. Ezok instinctively reached for the food, still feeling slightly odd.

"Sorry, I've been feeling unwell the past few days."

He finally looked at his sister. Like all underhive dwellers, her skin was pale. Lack of vitamins had made her hair brittle, but unlike him, she was very cheerful and lively.

Her light hair was cropped short, and protective goggles hid the blue eyes from the hive's smog. Ezok sadly thought of his new life as a punishment. Who would want to end up in the Warhammer universe?

The young brother and sister successfully survive in the underhive world. As the most successful thieves, they have already robbed hundreds of food warehouses. Their biggest secret were their abilities.

They were both psykers, but unlike most, Ezok had immediately urged his sister not to listen to the voices, they did not openly demonstrate their power. They kept away from any Imperial fanatics.

Such actions protected them from the standard psyker hunt raids on the planet.

Just yesterday they had robbed an Adeptus Arbites warehouse, the stolen food would last them months of well-fed life, but Ezok caught a bullet from a guard.

Luckily his sister used biomancy and successfully healed him. He stopped his train of thought and started eating.

"Brother. Let's read."

Eleanor took out one of the new biology textbooks and started tugging on her brother's arm. She had exchanged the book for forty blocks of freeze-dried beans.

He finally finished eating and took the book.

"We already studied bone tissue structure yesterday. Let's read about hormones today and how they affect the body."

Eleanor took scraps of paper and carefully started taking notes. Ezok read from the book and answered his sister's questions.

He was used to such a life, getting transported into Warhammer had been unexpected but a sad continuation of his death from an exploding tank shell.

".........."

For biomancers it was very important to understand how organic systems work, so he diligently helped his sister master this vital knowledge. It was their only entertainment, the rest of the time they steal and trade. Mutants don't even try attacking the two psykers, a small psychic manipulation of their minds was enough to create a safe environment for the two psykers.

The brother and sister abruptly stopped and looked at a feral dog. The animal had come from the upper levels, likely lured by the smell of food.

Eleanor's eyes filled with joy, she carefully clenched her delicate hand.

CRUNCH

The dog's neck twisted at a strange angle.

The girl ran up to the dog and literally embraced the corpse. She carefully dragged the carcass to her brother.

"Brother, we have an experimental body! Let's try that muscle growth technique you devised."

Ezok closed the book and took out several shards of glass. The psyker carefully started skinning the dog. He pointed at the skin and carefully applied biomancy.

The skin in that spot cracked and crumbled away. Eleanor patted her brother on the shoulder.

"Your theory about crystallizing the epidermis is bad!"

Ezok snorted and handed a shard of glass to his sister.

"Your turn."

The girl carefully grasped the fabric-wrapped piece of glass. She thought about all her ideas, then chose the most interesting one.

After cutting off both legs, she applied her concept. One of the legs started drying out as if it lost life, while the other leg seemed unchanged. Both psykers noticed extremely important changes.

Ezok immediately rejoiced for his sister.

"Transfer of microelements and vitamins. Very interesting! Unfortunately, you burned life energy for the transfer."

Eleanor passed the shard of glass to her brother.

"One against zero. I'm winning so far."

Ezok severed the dog's head, he had to be careful not to break the shard of glass. He applied his idea for creating a grenade.

Life energy began boiling, then he tossed away the head toward a pile of garbage. In flight, the head turned into a caustic blue substance. Hitting objects, the acid quickly started corroding even metal.

"I was annoyed by the new locks at the Adeptus Administratum warehouse. Now taking bugs or rodents on a 'work', we could eliminate that fuck." Ezok smiled contentedly, instead of exploding matter, he forced the matter to mutate toward an explosion.

The Warp power drain was ten times less, and there were almost no Warp fluctuations. Eleanor categorically shook her head, but paused for a moment, she checked the Warp fluctuations, then scowled in displeasure.

Her brother scared her, because they never use techniques that cause fluctuations where they live. Her brother's technique did not cause fluctuations, that was the main thing in their attempts to avoid detection.

"Okay, but that's unfair, my technique is more complex."

Ezok was speechless. His sister did not like losing.

His sister smiled and said: "Still one to zero."

"As you wish."

His sister smiled contentedly. She wanted to test the hair color change technique.

"Pass me the knife, my turn."

They continued playing until nothing remained of the dog's corpse, not even bones.