Descent of Angels:The Horus Heresy Book 6 Part 6/6
Descent of Angels:The Horus Heresy Book 6 Part 6/6
Transcript
00:00:00Zahariel recognized controlled desperation in the voices of the men around him.
00:00:04It was the same sound he expected to hear in the voice of an army commander
00:00:07whenever the situation was fluid and the progress of the battle was uncertain.
00:00:12It was the sound of men holding fast to their duties,
00:00:15even when they suspected that war was about to render their duty—even their lives—irrelevant.
00:00:21It was the sound of warriors on the verge of panic.
00:00:25That sound ceased as a rating called out,
00:00:29Master on the bridge!
00:00:31Zahariel looked over to where another door to the bridge had opened,
00:00:35and the lion strode in, his face thunderous and his sword bared and bloody.
00:00:40Zahariel had never seen the master of the First Legion looking so angry,
00:00:44and he felt a kernel of appreciation stir in his belly at the thought of the war that
00:00:48such a fury might unleash.
00:00:50Nemiel walked alongside the lion, his expression similarly furious,
00:00:54as they marched towards an officer in the uniform of a fleet captain,
00:00:58who stood talking to the ship's astropath.
00:01:01Zahariel and Luther made their way painfully over to the conference of senior officers.
00:01:06The fleet captain turned at the lion's approach and saluted sharply.
00:01:11Captain Stenius demanded the lion without preamble,
00:01:14What is the situation? I want an update.
00:01:18The captain turned to the blind woman beside him.
00:01:22This is Mistress Argenta, the fleet's senior astropath.
00:01:26I am happy to see you, Lord Johnson.
00:01:28I was hoping you would—
00:01:30Now, Captain Stenius, said the lion, the tone of warning in his voice unmistakable.
00:01:36Of course, said Stenius, as he bowed and turned to the servitor manning a nearby bank of instruments.
00:01:42Raise the shutters.
00:01:44A click, followed by a distant whirring noise,
00:01:47sounded as the blast shutters protecting the bridge's observation blisters
00:01:51slid back into their recessed bays to reveal the scene out in space.
00:01:56We lowered the shutters as a precaution, said Stenius.
00:02:00What with the failed attack on us, and the attack on the bold conveyor,
00:02:04I decided it best to take the fleet to general battle stations.
00:02:08Fortunately, the worst of it seems to be over.
00:02:11The attack on the bold conveyor? said Luther.
00:02:15What attack?
00:02:17The lion turned at the sign of his brother's voice,
00:02:19and his eyes narrowed as he took in the wounded state of Zahariel and Luther.
00:02:24He said nothing of their condition, clearly filing it away to ask about later.
00:02:28Zahariel looked through the observation blister into space,
00:02:31horrified to see bodies floating in the cold of the void.
00:02:35Hundreds drifted slowly past the ship's observation blisters,
00:02:38like some grotesque form of parade inspection.
00:02:42We've had attempted mutinies on three ships, said Stenius.
00:02:46In each instance, small groups of no more than half a dozen men
00:02:50launched attacks on the bridges of their ships.
00:02:52Mostly the mutinies were suppressed before they could do any real damage,
00:02:56but on the Arbalest the mutineers managed to let off a torpedo salvo.
00:03:01They hit the bold conveyor and damaged her.
00:03:03The bodies you can see outside are casualties from the bold conveyor.
00:03:07Once the shooting started, I ordered the fleet to different stations
00:03:11to put more distance between each ship.
00:03:13Some of the bodies from the bold conveyor
00:03:15must have got caught in the backwash from our engines.
00:03:18That's why they're in orbit around us."
00:03:21How badly was the bold conveyor damaged? demanded the lion.
00:03:26Hull rupture, explained Captain Stenius.
00:03:28Most of the dead were army troopers who were sucked out into the vacuum
00:03:32when the torpedo hit.
00:03:34He shrugged.
00:03:35It could have been worse.
00:03:36I've sent extra repair crews to the bold conveyor via shuttle.
00:03:40Early reports indicate that the damage isn't bad enough
00:03:43to threaten her spaceworthiness,
00:03:45though it's likely to be a few days before she's fully operational again.
00:03:49So the situation in space is under control.
00:03:54For the most part, yes, answered Stenius,
00:03:56but according to Mistress Argenta, that's the least of our worries.
00:04:01A conference was held in the Invincible Reasons staterooms,
00:04:06the senior members of the Dark Angels
00:04:08gathering to hear the words of Mistress Argenta.
00:04:12The lion and Luther spoke in a huddled corner,
00:04:14their words unheard by anyone,
00:04:16though the intensity of their conversation was plain for all to see.
00:04:20Brother Librarian Israfael stood beside a robed member of the Mechanicum,
00:04:24and a number of servitors accompanied them both.
00:04:27The atmosphere was tense,
00:04:29and Zahariel could sense the urgent need in every man gathered here
00:04:32to strike back at the Soroshi.
00:04:35He and Nemiel sat at the briefing-table,
00:04:36trying to make sense of the last few hours
00:04:39that had seen brother turn on brother,
00:04:41and former allies take arms against them.
00:04:44Initial theories suggested that the mutineers on the Imperial ships
00:04:48had been drugged,
00:04:49and rendered open to treacherous suggestion,
00:04:51by a concoction distilled from the perfume of the plants
00:04:54that thronged every building and surface of the capital city.
00:04:58This was a morsel of information to be digested later,
00:05:01for a much greater threat was apparently arising
00:05:03in the dusty hardpan of the deserts
00:05:05in the north of the main continental mass of Sorosh.
00:05:08The lion turned away from Luther abruptly,
00:05:11his face a mask of unreadable emotion,
00:05:13as he took his seat at the head of the table.
00:05:16Luther took his seat at the table, too,
00:05:18and Zahariel could read his features much more easily.
00:05:21Their second-in-command's expression was one of despair and anguish.
00:05:26"'We do not have much time,' snapped the lion,
00:05:29cutting through the babbler voices around the room.
00:05:31At his tone every head turned in his direction,
00:05:34and every voice was stilled.
00:05:36"'Mistress Argenta,' said the lion.
00:05:39"'Speak.'
00:05:40The astropath took a hesitant step forward,
00:05:43as though being near the awesome figure of the Primarch
00:05:45was too much for her to bear for any length of time.
00:05:48"'You may have heard the High Exalter talk of beings known as the Melachim
00:05:54during his outburst against the Imperium.
00:05:57It is my belief that this is the Soroshi name
00:06:00for a certain breed of Xenos creature that dwells in the warp.'
00:06:05"'How are they a danger to us?' asked Nemuel.
00:06:08"'Surely they're confined to the warp.'
00:06:10"'Normally that would be the case,' said the astropath,
00:06:13turning her blind eyes towards Zahariel's cousin.
00:06:17"'But the astropathic choir has become aware of a growing build-up of psychic energy
00:06:22in the northern deserts indicative of a major warp-rift.'
00:06:26"'And what is causing this?' asked the lion.
00:06:30"'We do not know.'
00:06:32"'Speculate,' ordered the lion.
00:06:35"'Perhaps the natives of this planet have some way of focusing the energies of a warp
00:06:40by some means we are not aware of, my lord.'
00:06:43"'For what purpose would they do this?'
00:06:46"'It is said that if one has a host of strong enough will
00:06:49it is possible to imbue it with the presence of a creature from beyond the gates of the Empyrean.'
00:06:56"'And you think that is what's happened here?'
00:07:00"'If such a thing is even possible,' pointed out Zahariel.
00:07:04The lion shot him a venomous look that shocked Zahariel.
00:07:08"'We must assume that it is, for now.
00:07:11The treachery and deviousness of the Soroshi are without bounds.
00:07:15We must trust nothing from this point onwards, and assume the worst.'
00:07:20The lion turned his attention back to the astropath,
00:07:23and Zahariel felt a wave of relief wash over him at being released from that hostile glare.
00:07:28"'Mistress Argenta,' said the lion,
00:07:31"'if the Soroshi can indeed summon some xeno-beast from the warp, how bad might it get?'
00:07:40"'If they succeed it could be the worst thing you have ever fought.'
00:07:45"'Why can't we simply bomb the site from orbit?' asked the lion.
00:07:49"'That would put pay to most threats.'
00:07:52"'Not this one, my lord,' said Argenta.
00:07:54"'The psychic build-up is already under way,
00:07:57and any attack that fails to halt that build-up will be doomed to failure.'
00:08:02"'Then how do we fight it?'
00:08:05In response to the lion's question, brother-librarian-is-Raphael stepped forward.
00:08:11"'I may be able to answer that, my lord.
00:08:14Ever since our legion fought on the bloody fields of Peresus,
00:08:17I have been working to develop a means of fighting such creatures.
00:08:20This was before you joined us, my lord.'
00:08:24The lion scowled, and Zahariel was reminded how much their primarch disliked being reminded
00:08:29that the legion had existed before he had become its master.
00:08:33"'Go on,' ordered the lion.
00:08:35"'How do we fight this rising power?'
00:08:39"'An electro-psychic pulse,' said his Raphael.
00:08:43"'Of course it is difficult to know precisely how it will interact with the energies being gathered,
00:08:47but I am confident it should disrupt the ambient psychic field, and—'
00:08:52"'Please, more slowly,' is Raphael,' said the lion,
00:08:56raising his hand with the palm facing outwards, to stem his Raphael's words.
00:09:01"'I am sure you know what you are talking about, but remember we are warriors.
00:09:06If you want us to understand you, you will need to keep it simple, and start from the beginning.'
00:09:14"'More simply, of course,' said his Raphael,
00:09:16and Zahariel did not envy him being under the white heat of the primarch's gaze.
00:09:21"'I believe it may be possible to counteract the build-up of psychic energy
00:09:25by detonating an electro-psychic pulse-weapon in the vicinity.'
00:09:29"'What is this electro-psychic pulse-weapon you talk of?' asked the lion.
00:09:35"'It is simply a modified cyclonic warhead,' explained his Raphael.
00:09:40"'With the help of the Mechanicum Adepts, we can remove the explosive part of the warhead
00:09:44and replace it with an electro-psychic pulse-capacitor that will generate a
00:09:49massive blast of energy inimical to creatures composed of immaterial energies.
00:09:54As for destroying the psychic build-up,
00:09:56ideally we need to detonate the device as close to the source as possible.'
00:10:00"'I see,' said the lion.
00:10:03"'What form will the device take? Obviously it is a bomb,
00:10:07but can you adapt it to be dropped from a shuttle?'
00:10:10"'No,' said his Raphael,
00:10:12"'for the pulse of the blast must be directed by one schooled in the psychic arts.
00:10:17In other words, you need to be there when it detonates.'
00:10:21"'I do,' confirmed his Raphael,
00:10:23"'along with as many other brothers with psychic potential who can fight.'
00:10:28The lion nodded.
00:10:29"'Begin work on adapting such a weapon immediately.
00:10:33How long do you estimate the work will take?'
00:10:36"'A few hours at most,' said his Raphael.
00:10:39"'Very well,' said the lion.
00:10:42"'Begin at once.'"
00:10:48Chapter XXIII
00:10:51The Dark Angels of Zahariel's squad gathered around the assault ramp of the Stormbird
00:10:56to listen to Sahadariel's final mission briefing before taking the fight to the surface of Sarosh.
00:11:03The Stormbirds gathered on the port-side embarkation deck,
00:11:07ready to be unleashed on the planet below,
00:11:09and the assembled warriors were in a killing mood.
00:11:12The lion would lead this attack personally,
00:11:15and though Zahariel was still in great pain from the attack on the Invincible Reason,
00:11:19his training in the Librarius had selected him for this mission despite his injuries.
00:11:24Nemiel had been chosen to accompany the lion's squads,
00:11:27and even in the urgent fervour that gripped every warrior before battle,
00:11:31Zahariel was stung by his cousin's inclusion in the group.
00:11:35Luther was not present, and Zahariel had been surprised by his absence,
00:11:39but had left the matter unremarked, seeing the lion's hooded expression
00:11:43when Sahadariel had mentioned their second in command.
00:11:47"'This smacks of great danger,' said Attias,
00:11:50and Zahariel was glad to hear the familiar voice of his friend.
00:11:53Attias had made a fine member of the Astartes, and was a valued and trusted battle-brother.
00:11:59"'We always face danger,' said Elioth,
00:12:02quoting some of the Legion's teachings.
00:12:04Like Attias, Elioth had come through the training of the Astartes with honour,
00:12:08and was one of the Legion's best heavy-weapon troopers.
00:12:11"'We are Astartes. We are Dark Angels. We were not made to die of old age.
00:12:16Death or glory. Loyalty and honour.'
00:12:19"'Loyalty and honour,' echoed Attias.
00:12:22"'Understand, I am not questioning the need for danger.
00:12:25I merely ask whether we should base our strategy in this theatre
00:12:29on the workings of an experimental device.
00:12:32If the bomb doesn't work, what then?
00:12:34I'd hate to face an enemy with Elioth's good looks
00:12:36as our only fall-back weapon if it proves to be a damp squib.'
00:12:40There was momentary laughter among the assembled warriors,
00:12:42even from Elioth, who squat hard-worn features and heavy-set build
00:12:46were the source of some occasional fun at his expense.
00:12:50"'Better my good looks than your swordsmanship,' responded Elioth,
00:12:54"'unless you hope the enemy will be driven to distraction
00:12:56by the whistling sound your blade makes as it misses them over and over again.'
00:13:00"'We are Dark Angels,' said Hadariel, and the laughter stopped.
00:13:06"'We are the First Legion, the warriors of the Emperor.
00:13:10You ask whether we should trust ourselves to the science of the Mechanicum
00:13:13and the wisdom of our brother Librarian.
00:13:16I ask you, how can we not?
00:13:19Is not science the Imperium's guiding light?
00:13:22Is it not our bedrock?
00:13:23Is it not the stone on which the foundations of our new society have been built?
00:13:28"'So, yes, we will trust their science.
00:13:31We will trust our lives to it, just as we trust ourselves and all humanity
00:13:35to the guidance of the Emperor, beloved of all.'
00:13:39"'I am sorry, Chapter-Master,' said Attias, chastened.
00:13:42"'I meant no offence.'
00:13:44"'You caused none,' said Hadariel.
00:13:47"'You simply asked a question, and there is no harm in that.
00:13:50If ever a time comes when the Dark Angels see reason to avoid questions,
00:13:55we will have lost our souls.'
00:13:58"'Zahariel looked across the faces of the men surrounding him,
00:14:00as he listened to the Chapter-Master's words.
00:14:03Some were many had known back on Caliban,
00:14:05and the bond that existed between them as brothers and fellow-warriors
00:14:09was as strong as ceramite—stronger, in fact,
00:14:12for where ceramite could be cut through with the right kind of weapon,
00:14:15he could never imagine the bond of loyalty he felt with his brother Astartes
00:14:18ever being broken.
00:14:20"'The Chapter-Master is right,' said Zahariel,
00:14:23as words he had heard long ago returned to resonate within his skull.
00:14:27"'We Astartes were made to serve mankind.
00:14:30We are Dark Angels, and in the practice of war we follow the teachings of the Lion.
00:14:35He tells us war is a matter of adaptation,
00:14:38and whoever adapts most quickly to changing circumstances
00:14:41and takes advantages of the vagaries of warfare will be victorious.
00:14:45We have been presented with a powerful weapon with which to defeat our foe,
00:14:49and we would be fools not to use it.'
00:14:52"'So we will make use of the device,' said Elioth.
00:14:55"'I hope you'll forgive my presumption, Chapter-Master,
00:14:58but I have known you for long enough to know when there is a plan forming in your head.'
00:15:03"'The device is only part of what we need.
00:15:05We also need a plan to help us put it into operation.
00:15:08Do you have a plan?'
00:15:10"'I have a plan,' agreed Hadariel."
00:15:14Zahariel looked into the faces of his brothers,
00:15:17and saw an expression of complete determination in each of them
00:15:20as Sar Hadariel outlined their plan of attack.
00:15:23The Saroshi were doomed.
00:15:25They just didn't know it yet.
00:15:29It was midday, and the burning sun had reached its apex.
00:15:33Among the indigenous folk of Sarosh it was seen as a quiet time,
00:15:37a part of the day usually spent sleeping in the shade of their dwellings
00:15:41until the worst of the afternoon heat had passed.
00:15:44The planet's newly arrived Imperial forces did not choose to follow the same routines, however,
00:15:49least of all the warriors of the Astartes.
00:15:52Four storm-birds screamed over the desert,
00:15:54keeping low and fast as they flew towards their objective,
00:15:57a cluster of prefabricated buildings identified from orbit as Mining Station 1 Zeta V.
00:16:04In the lead storm-bird, Zahariel sat against the bucking fuselage of the aircraft
00:16:09as it tore through the air towards battle.
00:16:12All around him dark angels sat clutching their weapons,
00:16:15ready to take a measure of revenge for the attack on their ships and people.
00:16:19The Saroshi had started this war, but the dark angels were going to finish it.
00:16:24This is the lion, to all assigned units, said their leader's voice over the vox,
00:16:30and despite the growing aloofness the Legion's master had been displaying recently,
00:16:34Zahariel was still struck by the commanding tone of his voice.
00:16:38Mission target is confirmed as Mining Station 1 Zeta V, initiate all mission protocols.
00:16:46Zahariel heard a flurry of vox traffic as the relevant units responded in the affirmative.
00:16:51The storm-birds were heavily armoured assault shuttles,
00:16:53designed to ferry a complement of Astartes warriors into the middle of even the most
00:16:57ferocious of firefights. Each was painted black and marked with a winged sword icon
00:17:03on its hull, in accordance with Legion heraldry.
00:17:06We are ready, my lord, said Hadariel, and Zahariel could hear the relish in his
00:17:11chapter-master's voice. It was a relish shared by every man in the storm-bird.
00:17:16Elioth sat across from Zahariel, his broad shoulders and thick-set build making a flight
00:17:20seat a cramp proposition for him. His friend was an impressive physical specimen even from
00:17:25Astartes, and he saluted as he sensed Zahariel's scrutiny.
00:17:29Not long now, said Elioth. His friend was not wearing his helmet,
00:17:33and had to yell to be heard above the roar of the craft's engines.
00:17:36Be good to strike back, eh?"
00:17:39Aye, that it will, replied Zahariel.
00:17:42How are we going to make the assault, chapter-master? asked Attias.
00:17:46We will be using jump-packs for the descent, said Hadariel. Our orders are to deploy from
00:17:52the shuttle, at an altitude of five hundred metres, to make a controlled combat drop.
00:17:57We land in the area of open scrub north of the station. From there we will advance to clear
00:18:02the station building by building, until we rendezvous with the approach of the lion and
00:18:05his men from the south. Naturally, we can expect the enemy to respond. In fact, we're counting on
00:18:12it. Around the compartment the Astartes listened to his words intently. From his own position,
00:18:19seated at the head of the troop compartment, Zahariel was struck by the almost reverential
00:18:23air with which the men of his company greeted the news.
00:18:26Remember, our mission here is to fight through any resistance as quickly as possible,
00:18:30and deliver the brother librarian and his cargo, said Hadariel.
00:18:34Once we have deployed from the Stormbirds, the pilots will ascend to a holding pattern,
00:18:38ready to pick us up when they're given the order to begin the extraction. I want helmets on,
00:18:43and all purity seals engaged. One Zeta-5 is to be treated as a toxic environment.
00:18:50Zahariel could barely contain his excitement at the prospect of combat. He had been trained to
00:18:55counteract any fear, but as much as the Astartes were defined by fearlessness, they were defined
00:19:00equally by their aptitude for war. Their bodies had been crafted to superhuman levels,
00:19:05so that they would not just defeat the Imperium's enemies, they would annihilate them.
00:19:10The Astartes expected to face danger in the natural course of their lives. In fact,
00:19:14they welcomed it, as though without a battle to fight, they were incomplete.
00:19:19Finally, let us be clear on one thing, said Hadariel. This is a mission of destruction,
00:19:25not capture. We are not interested in prisoners, so if there is anyone alive at one Zeta-5,
00:19:30we do not stop fighting until they are dead. His words were punctuated by a trilling from
00:19:36the Stormbird's intervox as a red light began to flash inside the compartment.
00:19:40Hadariel responded with a wolfish grin.
00:19:43There's the signal, he said. We are approaching the target. Helmets on and activate your seals,
00:19:50and good hunting to all of you.
00:19:52Zahariel's heart quickened at the prospect of action.
00:19:55If we're not fighting within the next five minutes, I shall be disappointed,
00:19:58he said to Eliath and Attias. He could feel his senses sharpening as the prospect of the drop
00:20:03came closer. Eliath nodded in response to his words and gave the Dark Angel battle cry,
00:20:09For the Lion, for Luthor, for Caliban!
00:20:13For the Lion, for Luthor, for Caliban! repeated the Astartes, and the combined tenor of their
00:20:19words seemed to shake the metal bulkheads of the compartment. At Hadariel's signal,
00:20:24they rose from their seats and filed towards the assault door at the back of the shuttle,
00:20:28ready for the drop to begin. The Stormbird began to shake around them as the pilot decreased the
00:20:34shuttle's speed in preparation for the drop. The assault doors opened, and the red lights
00:20:38positioned all through the interior of the Stormbird turned green. A continuous ringing
00:20:44tone sounded over the interbox, the signal to jump. Zahariel was first down the ramp,
00:20:50and he felt the air screaming around him, alongside the sudden feeling of weightlessness
00:20:54in the split second before gravity caught hold of him and he activated his jump-pack to compensate.
00:21:00Eliath, Attias, Hadariel, and the others were right behind him, exhaust flares spreading from
00:21:05their packs like fiery wings as they descended towards the mining station five hundred metres
00:21:10below. He missed Nemiel's presence for a moment, but pushed such thoughts from his mind as he saw
00:21:16the dusty hard pan rushing up towards him. It was time for war, time to let the Dark Angels fly.
00:21:25As the Angels descended, they were not met by anti-aircraft fire from ground-based batteries
00:21:30or entrenched and heavily armed defenders. Their drop was unopposed, and Zahariel was
00:21:36thankful for such small mercies, remembering far worse training drops where live ammunition had
00:21:40been used to make things more interesting. They made their landing in the area of open scrub in
00:21:46good order. Having landed, the Dark Angels fanned out, advancing on the mining station at one zeta
00:21:52five in a loose skirmish line, helmets down and weapons at the ready. At first sight it was as
00:21:58though they had entered a ghost town. The station was eerily quiet, though Zahariel's senses were
00:22:04alert to the growling psychic presence buzzing at the edge of perception. A ridge of high cliffs
00:22:09rose above the station to the west, but otherwise its perimeter was surrounded by open desert on
00:22:14three sides. In the centre of the station, over the mine-head, there was the enormous drum of
00:22:19the cable-winch designed to bring the miners up and down to the angled mine-shaft that ran at a
00:22:24forty-five degree angle into the ground, as well as raising the ore they had mined to the surface.
00:22:29In turn, it was surrounded by a ramshackle collection of prefabricated huts, and the
00:22:34barracks used as sleeping quarters for the miners. Wheeled ore-bins were dotted throughout the station,
00:22:40some overturned with their cargo spilled out. As Zahariel and his men moved from the outskirts
00:22:45of the settlement towards the admin buildings in the immediate vicinity of the mine-head,
00:22:49they found all the intervening huts and barracks empty. One zeta five seemed to be deserted.
00:22:56The only sound Zahariel could hear was the terse back and forth of inter-squad vox.
00:23:01Beyond that, the entire area was silent.
00:23:04"'There's something here,' he heard Hadariel say.
00:23:07"'I can feel it.'
00:23:09"'I agree,' replied Zahariel.
00:23:11"'There should be animal sounds, but all I can hear is silence.
00:23:14There's something here, and it's frightened away the local fauna.'
00:23:18Using the same channel, Zahariel heard Hadariel link comms with the squads on the other side of
00:23:23the station. "'Hadariel to the Lion! Any sign of the enemy?'
00:23:28"'Nothing so far,' came the terse reply.
00:23:30"'I can see their leavings, though.'
00:23:32There was blood on the sand. In some places it had hit the ground in small scattered droplets,
00:23:38in others it took the form of larger puddles, staining the soil and already starting to stink
00:23:43in the midday heat. Here and there Zahariel could see objects scattered around their advance.
00:23:49Discarded auto-weapons, a las-torch, a broken comms unit, detonator cord, all left lying in
00:23:55the sand. Zahariel glanced up at the sky, where the storm-birds turned in wide and endlessly
00:24:01repeating circles, thousands of metres above them. Zahariel suddenly became aware of a rising and
00:24:06repulsive odour, like the slaughterhouse smell of rancid blood mixed with the cloying, sickly-sweet
00:24:11stench of rotten fruit. He tried to shout a warning, but it was too late. The prefabricated
00:24:18metal of a building nearest Attias ruptured as something massively powerful tore through it
00:24:23and leapt to the attack. Zahariel saw a glimpse of scales, vertically-pupilled eyes,
00:24:28and a fanged mouth opening wide. The creature spat something in Attias's face, and his helmet
00:24:35erupted in hissing smoke, as though doused with acid. It leapt upon the stricken warrior,
00:24:40its whip-thin arms wrapping around Attias as it tore at him with razor-claws that sliced open
00:24:45its victim's power-armour-like tinfoil. It wrapped its forearms around Attias's torso,
00:24:51and there was a wet, awful sound as dozens of retractable claws hidden along the creature's
00:24:56limbs emerged from inside muscular sheaths and stabbed through the warrior's armour.
00:25:01Attias dropped, his blood staining the sand as the monster leapt away, its strangely-jointed
00:25:07legs propelling it over the rough terrain at an incredible speed. Bolter-rounds chased it,
00:25:12exploding against the buildings of the mining settlement, but failing to hit their target.
00:25:17Zahariel watched as the beast vanished from sight. There was something wrong in the way it had moved,
00:25:23its knees and ankles flexing at peculiar angles. More gun-fire erupted from around the compound,
00:25:29and frantic cries came over the vox as more of the dark angel squads came under attack.
00:25:35Choking back a cry of rage, Zahariel rushed to the side of his fallen comrade.
00:25:39Attias's helmet was a smoking ruin, the stench of scorched metal and skin
00:25:44sickening, even filtered through the auto-senses of Zahariel's armour.
00:25:48Attias writhed in agony, and Zahariel fought to tear his helmet free. The helmet's armour-clasps
00:25:54had burned through, and Zahariel had no choice but to wrench the smouldering armour from his
00:25:58friend's head. The helmet came free from the armoured gorget, and Attias screamed as the
00:26:03skin of his face came with it, ropes of flesh drooling like molten rubber from the remains
00:26:08of his helm.
00:26:10Get back! cried the squad's apothecary, pushing Zahariel from his comrade's convulsing body.
00:26:15The apothecary went to work, the hissing tubes, needles, and dispensers of his narthesium
00:26:20gauntlet the best chance of ensuring Attias's survival. Zahariel stepped away, horrified at
00:26:26the bloody mess where his friend's face used to be.
00:26:29Hadariel pulled him away. Leave the apothecary to his ministrations. We have work to do.
00:26:34Elioth stood next to Zahariel and said,
00:26:36By the lion! I've never seen the like.
00:26:40Zahariel nodded in agreement, and slapped his hand on the heavy bolter his friend carried.
00:26:44Keep your weapon ready, brother. These things move fast.
00:26:48What are they? asked Elioth. I thought this was the human world.
00:26:52That was our mistake, replied Zahariel, as more gunfire and vox chatter cut through the
00:26:57shock of Attias's wounding.
00:26:59Hostile contact! reported another squad sergeant.
00:27:02Reptilian beasts! came out of nowhere. Fast moving, but I think we wounded it.
00:27:07One dead. Moving on.
00:27:10Understood, said the lion. Message understood.
00:27:14All units continue to the centre of the settlement.
00:27:19The strange reptilian beasts attacked twice more, each time emerging from hiding to attack
00:27:24with unnatural speed and ferocity. Each time the monsters attacked, they would draw blood,
00:27:30but no more warriors fell to their ambushes, though many were forced to discard portions
00:27:34of armour as the xenos creatures' acid eructations melted their Mark III plate.
00:27:40The Astartes pushed further into the settlement, bolters chattering as they methodically advanced
00:27:44in an overlapping formation, one squad moving forward as another covered it.
00:27:50The attacks grew more frequent as they drew nearer their objective, and as they gained
00:27:54the inner reaches of the settlement, Zahariel saw that the creatures had gathered in a mass
00:27:58of rippling scaled bodies before the entrance to the mineshaft.
00:28:03Zahariel felt his gorge rise at the sight of such unnatural beings, their anatomy twisted
00:28:08so far from the human ideal that he could think of no classification of form to assign them.
00:28:13Each limb was multi-jointed, and appeared to move and rotate on a number of different axes.
00:28:19Their bodies were sinuous and rippled with iridescent scales that were translucent and
00:28:23somehow ghostly, as though their bodies were not quite real.
00:28:27"'What are they?' asked Elioth.
00:28:30"'Unclean xenos creatures,' answered Hadariel.
00:28:33Gunfire sounded from the three open sides of the settlement, and Zahariel saw the lion
00:28:38emerge from behind a tall structure of rusted sheet metal. Once again he was struck by his
00:28:43Primarch's physicality as he led the warriors of the Dark Angels from the front, his sword raised,
00:28:48and the fury of battle in his eyes.
00:28:51No sooner had Lionel Johnson appeared than the xenos creatures set up a terrible keening cry,
00:28:58though whether this was in fear or anticipation Zahariel could not say.
00:29:03They surged forward in a boiling tide of scales and claws, and the Dark Angels charged to meet
00:29:09them. Volters blazed and exploded wetly inside the creatures. Each wounded creature fell to
00:29:14the sand and began dissolving into a pool of glassy, viscous fluid.
00:29:19The two foes met in a storm of blades and claws. Zahariel was face to face with a screeching
00:29:25creature with an elongated head and rippling coloured eyes with vertical slits. It hissed
00:29:30and bit at him with such speed that its first attack nearly took his head off. He leapt
00:29:36back and fired into the creature's belly, the bolt passing through before detonating.
00:29:40Wounded, the creature slashed at him with its claws and spat a goblet of acid mucus
00:29:45towards him. He swayed aside from the acid, but took the brunt of the monster's claws
00:29:49across his chest. Zahariel cried out as its claws seemed to pass through his armour to
00:29:55slice the meat and muscle of his chest. The pain was intense and cold, and he gasped at
00:30:00the suddenness of it. In the instant of contact he recalled the soul-numbing chill he had felt
00:30:06in the forests of Endriago just before he had encountered the Watchers in the dark.
00:30:10This beast was just as unnatural as whatever the Watchers had been set to guard, and he
00:30:15knew with utter clarity that they were not simply another form of Xenos creature,
00:30:19but something infinitely more dangerous. Zahariel dropped his bolter and drew the
00:30:24sword fashioned from the line of Endriago's tooth. The monster came at him again. He
00:30:29swept his sword through the creature's slashing limb and stepped in to cut upwards into its
00:30:33chest, the keen blade slicing the insubstantial meat of its body like a sopping cloud.
00:30:39For all their speed and ferocity, the ghost-like monsters could not hope to stand against the
00:30:43relentless stoicism of the Dark Angels, who closed the noose of their warrior's circles
00:30:48and slaughtered them without mercy. Zahariel watched the lion fight his way through the
00:30:53monsters as though possessed with a killing fury beyond imagining, his sword clothed through the
00:30:58creatures, turning half a dozen to wet piles of jelly-like fluid with every blow. Nemiel
00:31:04fought alongside the lion, his skill nowhere near the sublime majesty of the Primarch,
00:31:08yet no less determined. His cousin was a fine warrior, and beside the lion he looked every
00:31:13inch the hero he was. Within moments of the battle starting, it was over, and the last of
00:31:19the creatures were dispatched. Where before the mining settlement had rung to the sounds of
00:31:24bolters and screaming chainswords, silence now fell as the Dark Angels regrouped.
00:31:30Secure the site, said the lion as the last of the monsters was destroyed. I want that
00:31:36Stormbird, with Brother Librarian Israphael's weapon on the ground in two minutes.
00:31:42Where are we going next? asked Chaptermaster Hadariel. The lion pointed to the yawning
00:31:47chasm of the mineshaft that plunged steeply into the flanks of the cliffs.
00:31:52Underground, said the lion, the enemy is beneath us.
00:32:00Rhianna Sorrel had been afraid on many occasions, but the fear that had gripped
00:32:05her since her abduction from the streets of Shalhoul was like nothing she had ever known
00:32:09before. When the soporific effect of the flowers had worn off, she had found herself bound and
00:32:15blindfolded as she was taken to some unknown destination, carried in a conveyance of some
00:32:20comfort into the searing hot deserts around the city. Their destination had been a mystery,
00:32:26for her captors said nothing on their journey, but had fed and watered her over her protests.
00:32:32Wherever they were taking her, and for whatever purpose, they clearly wanted her alive and
00:32:37healthy when they got there. Her only method of telling the passage of time was that the
00:32:42heat of the day had diminished, and that the night was cool and silent. She could hear
00:32:47footfalls around the vehicle she travelled in, and the creak of its wheels, but the only
00:32:51sounds beyond that were the soft cries of the wind over the grainy sand. Despite herself,
00:32:57she had slept, and upon awakening had been carried from her conveyance by a number of people.
00:33:03She wept as she feared the touch of the creatures she had seen wearing the masks during the
00:33:07Festival of Lights, but her bearers appeared to be human inasmuch as they sweated and grunted
00:33:12like humans as they bore her onwards. Her blindfold had slipped, and she had caught
00:33:18sight of prefabricated metal structures, like those used to house workers in mining or agricultural
00:33:23settlements. Strange sounds surrounded her—odd shuffling movements that sounded like footsteps,
00:33:29but which had an odd off-kilter rhythm that made her think of the strange creatures once more.
00:33:35Her journey had continued underground—the cool, musty air of a cavernous passage unmistakable.
00:33:40A strange metallic taste hovered in the air, and an electric tension crackled in her hair
00:33:45and from the jewellery she still wore. The metallic reek grew more powerful, the stink
00:33:51of it filling her nostrils, and she gagged on the cloth in her mouth. She had kept her eyes
00:33:56screwed tightly shut as her captors carried her deeper and deeper into the earth,
00:34:01terrified of what she might see if she attempted to discover where they were.
00:34:05Then followed a series of transfers, as she had been handed reverently from one set of arms to
00:34:11another, until she had been laid against an upright slab of what felt like smooth stone.
00:34:17She stood with her back to the slab of stone, the sound of a slow and terrible heartbeat booming
00:34:22in the air, as though she were trapped in the rib-cage of some enormous beast. Her hands were
00:34:27untied, though they had been secured to the stone slab by some metallic clamps fixed with sliding
00:34:32bolts. Hands gently cradled her face, and she shuddered at the touch. She felt her blindfold
00:34:39being removed, and blinked in the sudden light. Before her she saw a man in a crimson robe,
00:34:44with a mask of gold—expressionless and unknowable—on his face.
00:34:50"'To Sam?' she asked, more in hope than in any expectation of being right.
00:34:55"'Yes,' said the masked man. "'It is me you speak with.'
00:35:01Even in this nightmarish situation it made her want to cry to hear a familiar voice.
00:35:06"'Please!' she cried. 'What are you doing? Let me go! Please!'
00:35:12"'No, that cannot be,' said Dusan. "'You are to become the Melachim, a vessel for the ancient
00:35:20ones who dwell behind the Vale. You will bring us victory against the unclean ones.'
00:35:26"'What are you talking about? This doesn't make any sense.'
00:35:30"'Not to you,' agreed Dusan. 'You are godless people, and this is a godly act.'
00:35:38"'Your god?' said Rhianna. "'Please let me go. I promise I won't say anything.'
00:35:44"'You lie with your words,' said Dusan, neutrally. "'It is the way with your people.'
00:35:52"'No!' shouted Rhianna. "'I promise.'
00:35:55"'It makes no difference now. Most of your people are dead, and the rest must soon follow when you
00:36:01host the Melachim. As I said, there will be pain. For that I am sorry.'
00:36:08"'What are you going to do to me?' Though she could not see his face, Rhianna had the distinct
00:36:14impression that Dusan was smiling behind the immobile surface of his mask. "'We are going
00:36:20to defile you,' he said, pointing upwards. "'Your impure flesh will be home to one of our angels.'
00:36:31She followed his gaze and wept tears of blood as she saw the angel of the Saroshi."
00:36:41Chapter 24 The darkness of the mineshaft was no obstacle
00:36:46to the Dark Angels, their armour senses easily compensating for the utter blackness beneath the
00:36:52cliffs. Each step took them deeper into the planet's surface, and brought retribution for
00:36:57all the death suffered at the hands of the Saroshi treachery. Closer. Zahariel felt the psychic power
00:37:04beneath the earth as an actinic tang in the roof of his mouth, an unpleasant taste of rancid meat
00:37:10and corruption. He glanced over at Brother Librarianess Raphael, and saw that he too
00:37:15suffered the vile reek of the warp. His Raphael Stormbird had touched down barely moments after
00:37:22the Lion's Order had been issued, a team of Servitors and Mechanicum Adepts helping to
00:37:26deploy the modified Cyclonic Warhead from the aircraft's interior. Zahariel had been reminded
00:37:32of the bomb secreted in the Saroshi's shuttle when he had first seen the device. It resembled
00:37:38an ovoid cylinder strapped to a hovering gurney with chain-link restraints. Numerous wires and
00:37:44copper-plated tubes surrounded the device, and Zahariel could plainly see why it could not have
00:37:49been dropped from the air. Without any word spoken, they had set off into the depths of the world,
00:37:54the Lion leading the way as the Angels began their descent. The going was easy, and Zahariel wondered
00:38:01what the Saroshi were doing beneath the world. Mistress Argenta had spoken of creatures being
00:38:05dragged from the Empyrean and given material form, and though such things sounded like the
00:38:10dark nightmares of madmen and lunatics, the things he had seen on the surface had made him
00:38:15rethink that comforting delusion. If such things were possible, what other kinds of creature might
00:38:21lurk in the depths of the warp? What manner of powers might yet exist there of which humanity
00:38:26was not yet aware? Their path wound deeper and deeper into the ground, and the dark Angels
00:38:32travelled in silence, each warrior wrapped in a cocoon of his own thoughts. Zahariel kept company
00:38:37with his worries that an irreparable gulf had opened between Luther and the Lion, for the two
00:38:42warriors were normally inseparable, yet here was the Lion going into battle without his brother.
00:38:48Zahariel had told no one of what Luther had told him in the moments before the Saroshi bomb had
00:38:53activated, and he feared for what the future might hold if that fact came to light. Indeed,
00:38:58it might have already come to the Lion's notice, for little escaped his understanding.
00:39:03He forced such gloomy thoughts from his mind as the Lion raised his hand to indicate a halt.
00:39:08The Lion sniffed the air and nodded.
00:39:12Blood, he said. Lots of it.
00:39:17The dark Angels advanced more cautiously, their bolters held at the ready, fingers on triggers.
00:39:22Soon Zahariel could smell what his Primarch had sensed earlier, and he gagged on the powerful
00:39:27scent of old, rotten blood. A dim glow built from ahead, and the passageway widened until it
00:39:34opened into a great archway that led into a cavern thick with a miasma of fine smoke.
00:39:40Only as Zahariel approached did he realize that the smoke was in fact etheric energies,
00:39:45visible only to his Raphael and himself. The rest of the dark Angels appeared oblivious to
00:39:51the drifting clouds of smoke, the twists and curls of it imbued with agonized suffering and fear.
00:39:57Perhaps the Lion could see it too, for his gaze seemed to follow the drifting trails of pain and
00:40:02anguish traced in the smoke. The dark Angels entered the cavern, and the mystery of what
00:40:07had become of Sir Osh's missing population was a mystery no more. The enormous space vanished
00:40:14into the distance left and right, illuminated by glaring strip-lights hanging from the cavern's
00:40:18roof. Steel walkways crossed an immense chasm that was filled almost to the brim with dead bodies.
00:40:26Millions of dead bodies. It was impossible to say how many, for the depth of the chasm was
00:40:32beyond sight, but Zahariel remembered Kergis of the White Scars talking of a figure in the region
00:40:37of seventy million missing people. Could this be the remains of so many? It seemed inconceivable
00:40:44that so many dead could have been secreted here, but the evidence was right before them.
00:40:49"'Thrown alive!' swore the Lion.
00:40:52"'How! The missing people!' said Nemiel.
00:40:56"'Zahariel! So many!'
00:40:58Zahariel felt his emotions rushing to the surface and quelled them savagely.
00:41:03Anastartes was trained to control his emotions in a combat situation, but the sheer volume and
00:41:08density of the fear emanating from the endless chasm of the dead was overpowering.
00:41:14"'Steady, Zahariel!' said his Raphael, appearing at his side.
00:41:19"'Remember your training. These emotions are not yours, so shut them out.'
00:41:24Zahariel nodded and forced himself to concentrate, whispering the mantras he had been taught by his
00:41:29Raphael over the years of his transformation into Anastartes. Gradually the feeling subsided,
00:41:35only to be replaced with a towering sense of furious righteousness.
00:41:40"'We move out,' said the Lion, heading for the nearest of the gantries crossing the chasm.
00:41:45His footfalls on the metal echoed loudly in the cavern, and the dark angels followed their
00:41:49primarch further into the depths. Zahariel kept his gaze averted from the ocean of corpses,
00:41:55though he could not completely shut out the anguished echoes of their deaths.
00:41:59Whatever came next—whatever death and destruction the angels of death
00:42:03visited upon the heads of the Soroshi—it would not be nearly enough."
00:42:10Rhianna's screams came from the heart of her being, for the sight above her was so hideous,
00:42:15so unnatural, that it defied any understanding. The entire roof of the cavern was covered with
00:42:21what appeared to be a creature of translucent mucus, its surface gelatinous and festooned with
00:42:26a million unblinking eyes. It occupied the roof of the chamber like some enormous parasite,
00:42:33hundreds of metres in diameter, and it seemed to shift and ooze so that its boundaries were fluid.
00:42:39Dripping tendrils, like writhing tentacles, hung down from the body of the vast, amorphous
00:42:44thing that filled the air with nonsensical hissing, hooting, and buzzing sounds.
00:42:50Stars glistened within its body, distant lights of long-dead galaxies swirling in its depths,
00:42:55like morsels devoured in ages past and not yet digested. Her breath came in short painful gasps,
00:43:02as she fought to hold on to her sanity in the face of something so utterly wrong,
00:43:06something that plainly should not be.
00:43:09What—what—she gasped, unable to force her mind to think of the right words.
00:43:17That is the Nelakim, breathed Dusan, his voice full of reverence and love.
00:43:26It is the angel from beyond that will defile your flesh, and wear it as a cloak to walk amongst us.
00:43:34Rianna wept, and as the trails reached her lips, she knew that she wept blood.
00:43:40No, please, don't, she pleaded. You can't, Dusan nodded.
00:43:48Your vocabulary is incomplete. We can. We will.
00:43:55Please stop, she said. You don't have to do this.
00:44:00The Saroshi cocked his head to one side, as though digesting her words and trying to find the meaning.
00:44:06Ah, he said, pointing to the masked figures that surrounded her.
00:44:12You have misunderstood. It has already begun.
00:44:20Once across the gantries that spanned the chasm of bodies,
00:44:23and into the narrow tunnels that plunged into the deep,
00:44:26Zahariel felt the echoes of the dead begin to fade.
00:44:30They were still there, pressing at the walls of his skull, but he could feel them recede.
00:44:35At first he was grateful for this, but then he realised that they were simply being drowned out
00:44:40by something stronger and more insistent. It felt as though a hammer had been taken to his head.
00:44:46Zahariel dropped to one knee, a blinding spike of pain shooting through his head,
00:44:50as if someone had jammed a hot skewer into his ear.
00:44:53Brother Israphael staggered under the psychic assault, but remained on his feet,
00:44:58the sigh-damping mechanism wired into his helmet protecting him from the worst of the pain.
00:45:03My lord, gasped the librarian, it has begun. The creature from the warp.
00:45:09It is attempting to pass fully into our world.
00:45:12You're sure? asked the lion.
00:45:15I'm sure, affirmed Israphael. Right, Zahariel?
00:45:20It's definitely coming, said Zahariel, through gritted teeth.
00:45:25Then we have no time to waste, said the lion, turning and picking up the pace.
00:45:31Zahariel used the cavern walls to pull himself upright,
00:45:34his mental wards no use against the force of the power filling the air around him.
00:45:39Nemiel reached out to him and said, Here, brother, take my hand.
00:45:43Zahariel gratefully accepted his cousin's hand.
00:45:46Just like old times, eh? Nemiel grinned,
00:45:50but Zahariel could sense the awkwardness behind the gesture.
00:45:54He hauled himself to his feet and tried to shake off the dread feeling
00:45:58building in the pit of his stomach.
00:46:00The lion was already some distance ahead,
00:46:03and Zahariel had to jog as fast as he was able to catch up.
00:46:06Every step was painful, his wounds and burns from the embarkation deck not yet healed,
00:46:11despite his speeding metabolism.
00:46:13Worse than this was the psychic pain that seeped into his very paws,
00:46:17against which his armour offered no protection.
00:46:20The deeper the dark angels ventured into the depths,
00:46:23the more insistent the sound became,
00:46:25and Zahariel hoped that Brother Israphael's device could defeat it.
00:46:29He spared a glance over his shoulder to ensure that the hover-gurney and its servitors
00:46:33were keeping pace with the Astartes.
00:46:35The lobotomised servitors appeared not to feel the sole deep anguish of this place,
00:46:39and Zahariel envied them.
00:46:41The electro-psychic pulse-weapon gleamed in the half-light,
00:46:45and he shivered at the fearsome potential he could feel in the warhead.
00:46:48From ahead, Zahariel could hear the sounds of voices,
00:46:51and a throbbing noise that reverberated through every sense
00:46:54and even those beyond human understanding.
00:46:57A sickly light, unhealthy and life-draining, filled the chamber ahead,
00:47:02spilling into the tunnel that the dark angels descended, like a slick.
00:47:06The lion was first into the cavern, with Nemiel a close second.
00:47:10Brother Israphael followed the Primarch,
00:47:12and the remainder of the dark angels swiftly joined their battle-brothers.
00:47:17A wave of revulsion flowed through Zahariel as he emerged into the cavern,
00:47:21though he was not the source of that emotion.
00:47:24It washed from the robed figures that surrounded an upright slab of dark-veined stone,
00:47:29as they chanted and sang a hideous chorus around a screaming woman bound to the slab.
00:47:36Zahariel followed the howling gaze of the Soroshi's prisoner,
00:47:40and felt a crawling, sick horror, as he saw the source of the monstrous evil
00:47:44that dwelled in this forgotten, red-lit cavern beneath the world.
00:47:49Its jelly-like body was like that of some deep-ocean trench-dweller,
00:47:53shimmering, apparently fragile, and lit from within by bursts of coloured electric light.
00:47:58A million eyes stared out from its hideous form,
00:48:01and he could feel its raw hunger as a gnawing ache in his chest.
00:48:05Even as he watched, the outline of the creature was fading, but instead of a sense of triumph,
00:48:10Zahariel knew that it was close to achieving its goal of translation.
00:48:15Where others, including Zahariel, remained paralysed by the horrific sight of the creature
00:48:20above, the lion was already in motion. His pistol shot down two of the robed and masked
00:48:25figures as they chanted, and his sword flashed into his hand as he charged.
00:48:30Seeing their primarch in action, spurred the dark angels to follow,
00:48:33and with a fearsome war-cry they leapt to the attack.
00:48:38Pistols blazed, and swords glittered in the dead light of the monster above,
00:48:42but as each of the masked chanters died, Zahariel sensed a dreadful amusement course through the air.
00:48:49The masked figures made no attempt at defence, and Zahariel was seized with a sudden conviction
00:48:53as to why, as he looked into the agonised eyes of the woman bound to the upright slab.
00:49:00Her face was stretched in a soundless scream, her eyes empty and glassy as though filled with
00:49:05black ink. Dark power floated in her eyes, and as Zahariel looked into her, something inhuman
00:49:12looked back. Zahariel raised his pistol, but even as the monstrous essence of the creature on the
00:49:17roof of the cave began to pour into its host, something of the woman surfaced for the briefest
00:49:22second, and a moment of connection passed between them, more profound than Zahariel had ever
00:49:28experienced before, or ever would again. She simply said,
00:49:34''Yes!'' Zahariel nodded, and pressed down the trigger.
00:49:40A trio of bolts erupted from Zahariel's pistol, and crossed the space between him and the woman
00:49:45in a heartbeat. They penetrated her skin and muscle, and went on to punch through her ribcage
00:49:50with equal ease. As the mass-reactive warheads within the shells detected an increase in the
00:49:56local mass, the explosive charges inside detonated. Zahariel watched as the three
00:50:02shells blasted the woman apart, her ribcage blown out, and her stomach opening like the
00:50:07bloom of a red rose. Her skull ceased to exist, expanding in a confetti of blood and brain
00:50:13fragments. A terrible, ageless scream of frustration filled the chamber, echoing
00:50:19throughout all the realms of existence simultaneously, as a creature older than time
00:50:24was thwarted in its ambitions. But such a creature was not to be denied its spite.
00:50:31As the spinning chunks of the woman's flesh flew through the air, a grotesque crackling
00:50:36sound ripped through the chamber, and each piece froze in defiance of gravity and every
00:50:41natural law of man. The creature on the cave-roof had faded to almost nothing, its slithering
00:50:48viscosity a distant memory, and the masked figures were slain to a man, but the hunks
00:50:53of blasted flesh still hung in the air.
00:50:56"'What's going on?' demanded the lion.
00:50:59"'What did you do, Zahariel?'
00:51:02"'What needed to be done,' he replied, the pain in his body and the ache of sorrow in
00:51:07his heart making him insubordinate.
00:51:09"'Now what?' said Nemiel, staring in revulsion at the floating chunks of raw meat.
00:51:14"'The creature is not yet defeated,' cried his Raphael, running towards the modified
00:51:19cyclonic warhead.
00:51:21"'Stand ready to fight, dark angels!'
00:51:24"'That thing had better work, librarian,' warned the lion.
00:51:28"'It will,' promised his Raphael.
00:51:30"'Just give me time!'
00:51:33No sooner had the librarian spoken than the woman's flesh hissed and vanished, leaving
00:51:39brightly glowing holes in the air.
00:51:41Horrid light seeped from the holes, multicoloured and unclean, and Zahariel knew that what lurked
00:51:47on the other side was pure and undiluted evil.
00:51:52Without warning, a host of tentacles emerged from the light, writhing like striking snakes
00:51:58towards the dark angels.
00:51:59A trio of whipping appendages speared straight for Zahariel.
00:52:03He slashed at them with his sword, severing them all in one smooth movement.
00:52:07With his other hand he fired his bolt-pistol, and sent a salvo of rounds towards the empty
00:52:12space from which the tentacles had appeared.
00:52:15He heard a shriek, the noise deep and inhuman, like the sound of one of the beasts of Caliban.
00:52:21The familiarity was terrifying.
00:52:24The battle was hardly a few seconds old, and already the enemy was right on top of them.
00:52:29As the dark angels moved to form a circle with their primarch, the number of attacking
00:52:34tentacles multiplied with extraordinary rapidity.
00:52:37Each was two or three times the thickness of a human arm, several metres long, and strong
00:52:42enough to crush the ceramite outer plates of Regione Astarte's power-armour.
00:52:46Some were tipped with talons of bone, and curved like the blade of a scythe, while others
00:52:50seemed made for gripping and constricting prey, or were lined with retractable claws.
00:52:56The tentacles did not appear to be attached to anything, but simply floated in the air,
00:53:00the broad end of each disappearing into bright nothingness, as though they belonged to some
00:53:04manner of disembodied invisible creature that only needed to show itself in parts.
00:53:08"'It's like fighting ghosts!' shouted Zahariel.
00:53:13"'Aye!' replied Nemuel, slashing his blade through another tentacle.
00:53:17"'But these ghosts can kill!'
00:53:20As if to prove the point, one of their number was jerked from his feet and dragged through
00:53:24the glowing rent from which the tentacles emerged.
00:53:27A battle-brother nearby reached out to save his comrade, and was in turn eviscerated by
00:53:32a taloned claw.
00:53:34The worst of it was the one-sided nature of the battle.
00:53:37An enemy fully capable of killing them attacked, yet it was difficult for them to respond in
00:53:41kind.
00:53:43Zahariel cut at the tentacles whilst aiming his bolt-pistol at the point where they emerged
00:53:47from the air.
00:53:49How successful such tactics were, however, he did not know.
00:53:52Did severing a tentacle inflict a mortal wound on the creature it belonged to, or were the
00:53:56tentacles as disposable as human hair?
00:53:59Elioth's heavy bolter barked a staccato rhythm that punctuated the screaming noise of battle
00:54:04with a booming counterpoint.
00:54:06Where his shell struck, wet liquid—possibly blood—splashed, but no matter how badly
00:54:12the tentacles were mutilated, more always appeared.
00:54:16Sometimes Zahariel heard screams from beyond the glowing tears in the air, but it was impossible
00:54:21to know whether they were of pain or some manner of triumphant hunting cry.
00:54:26Fighting them, Zahariel was reminded of the tales of his childhood, of fairy-tale monsters
00:54:30like demons and devils.
00:54:32He was fighting invisible monsters.
00:54:35It was not hard to think of these creatures as something beyond the ken of human understanding.
00:54:40Creatures from the primordial depths returned to punish man for his hubris.
00:54:45"'Is Raphael!' bellowed the lion.
00:54:49"'Whatever you are doing, you had better do it faster!'
00:54:52"'Just a moment longer!' cried the librarian.
00:54:57"'A moment may be all we have!'
00:55:00"'We will hold the line!' shouted Nemil.
00:55:03"'Until the great crusade is ended!'
00:55:06There was bravado in Nemil's tone, but Zahariel knew that the lion was right.
00:55:10They had moments at best.
00:55:12Another two warriors were down, and the brutal arithmetic of combat meant that the rest of
00:55:17them would soon follow.
00:55:18The tentacles were relentless, pressing the dark angels with no time to rest or think.
00:55:23Zahariel saw a tentacle suddenly fly to attack Brother Israphael.
00:55:27He responded with a fast cut from his sword, slicing through the tip of the tentacle, and
00:55:32forcing its invisible owner to swiftly withdraw it.
00:55:34As quickly as one disappeared, however, more tentacles took its place.
00:55:39Zahariel recalled something he had read about one of the ancient myths of terror, about
00:55:43a creature called the Hydra, which was capable of growing two new heads to replace each one
00:55:49that was severed.
00:55:50In the legend, the hero of the story had defeated the monster by applying fire to the cut end
00:55:55of each of its necks to cauterize them before the heads could grow again.
00:56:00Zahariel could only wish that something as commonplace as fire could defeat this dread
00:56:04foe.
00:56:06"'Zahariel!' called Brother Israphael.
00:56:09"'Now!'
00:56:10he turned at the sound of his name, watching as Brother Israphael mashed the activation
00:56:15stud on the warhead's firing mechanism.
00:56:18A colossal bass note erupted from the device, and a titanic wave of psychic force erupted
00:56:24from the warhead in an ever-expanding halo.
00:56:27The dark angels were swatted from their feet by the blast, and Zahariel felt the force
00:56:32coalesce in his mind alongside the eye and will of Brother Israphael.
00:56:36Knowing what he had to do, Zahariel focused every ounce of his psyche and took hold of
00:56:41the electro-psychic force, turning it to his own ends, wielding the power as a technician
00:56:46wields a plasma cutter.
00:56:48He felt the force within him grow and take flight, and he relished the fearful potential
00:56:53that flowed through his veins.
00:56:55Fierce fires blazed in his eyes, and as he stared at the tentacles emerging from the
00:56:59streaks of light in the air, they snapped shut.
00:57:03More screeches filled the chamber, but Zahariel and Israphael blazed with pure white light,
00:57:09the power of a million suns flowing through them, shaped by their will.
00:57:14As though they were firefighters in a hangar blaze, they washed their borrowed power around
00:57:18their comrades, destroying the waving tentacles and sealing shut the tears in reality from
00:57:23which they had emerged.
00:57:25Within moments, though it felt like an age, the chamber was silent once more.
00:57:30The battle was over, and the Angel of the Soroshi had vanished.
00:57:36Zahariel cried out as the power of the electro-psychic blast faded, and he collapsed as the
00:57:41fuel of his body was spent.
00:57:43He lay still, letting his breathing return to normal after the fury of battle and the
00:57:48exhilarating yet exhausting channeling of so much power.
00:57:52He looked over to Brother Israphael and smiled wearily.
00:57:56Is it over?
00:57:58asked the lion.
00:58:00Brother Israphael nodded.
00:58:02It's over, my lord.
00:58:07The Dark Angels gathered up their dead and made their way back to the surface of Sorosh,
00:58:12winding their way back through the cramped tunnels, over the chasm of the dead, and up
00:58:16through the galleries of the mineshaft.
00:58:19Afternoon had given way to night, and the air was cool.
00:58:22The freshness felt good on their bare skin as helmets were removed, and great draughts
00:58:27of fresh air were sucked down into heaving lungs.
00:58:30The storm-birds returned to pick up their charges, and army units were summoned to secure
00:58:34the tunnels beneath the mining station 1-Zeta-5, though no one expected them to find anything
00:58:39hostile now that the Angel of Sorosh was no more.
00:58:43Zahariel was exhausted beyond words, his entire body aching and battered, though his thoughts
00:58:49were clear and fresh, uncluttered by echoes of sacrifice and the loathsome touch of a
00:58:53creature from beyond the veil.
00:58:56The lion had said nothing on their journey to the surface, keeping his own counsel, not
00:59:00even offering words of praise to his warriors.
00:59:03As they boarded the storm-birds, Zahariel felt a strange sensation of unease along his
00:59:08spine, and he turned to discover its source.
00:59:12Lion L. Johnson was looking straight at him.
00:59:19Epilogue
00:59:22Zahariel watched as the Invincible Reason diminished in the viewing portal, the storm-birds
00:59:27streaking through space towards the Wrath of Caliban, and Disgrace.
00:59:32Barely six hours had passed since the victory at Mining Station 1-Zeta-5, and events had
00:59:37moved with such rapidity upon their return to the expedition fleet that he could scarcely
00:59:42believe what had happened at all.
00:59:44No sooner had the warriors of Zahariel's company returned to the Invincible Reason than they
00:59:49had been issued with new deployment orders.
00:59:51A declaration from the lion announced that the flow of new recruits from Caliban was
00:59:56not proceeding as swiftly as was hoped.
00:59:59Therefore, experienced Astartes were to return to the home world with all speed to ensure
01:00:05that the recruitment of new warriors was put back on track.
01:00:09The Great Crusade was entering a new and vigorous stage, and the Dark Angels needed fresh warriors
01:00:14to take the light of the Imperium onwards.
01:00:18As to the pacification of Sarosh, the fight had gone out of its inhabitants following
01:00:22the battle beneath Mining Station 1-Zeta-5, the knowledge of their world's avenging
01:00:26Angel's demise travelling the globe in the time it took the news to reach the expedition
01:00:31fleet.
01:00:32Army units from nearby expedition fleets, as well as a demi-legion of Titans from the
01:00:37Fire Wasps, were en route to crush any last resistance, and all that remained was to implement
01:00:43full compliance once the last smouldering coals of rebellion had been smothered.
01:00:48Zahariel studied the deployment order to see who was being sent back to Caliban.
01:00:54He saw that Nemiel was to remain, and had sought out his cousin before the allotted
01:00:58hour for departure.
01:01:00But Nemiel was nowhere to be found, and Zahariel had done his duty as ordered, reporting to
01:01:05the embarkation deck with the rest of the warriors, earmarked, to return home.
01:01:10The sense of crushing dejection was total, and though there was no outward stigma attached
01:01:15to the departure from the fleet, every warrior knew the truth of it in his heart.
01:01:20The Lion did not want them with him, and that was the greatest hurt of all.
01:01:25Brother Librarian is Raphael was there, as was Eliath and the wounded Attias, as well
01:01:30as hundreds upon hundreds of other loyal warriors.
01:01:33Their contribution to the Great Crusade had been so small, so insignificant in the scale
01:01:38of what was to come, that Zahariel doubted the chroniclers would even bother to record
01:01:43the short war on Sarrosh.
01:01:46The Great Crusade would continue, though it would continue without Zahariel.
01:01:52Worse than that, it would continue without the man sitting furthest away from any other
01:01:58in the stormbird.
01:01:59It would continue without Luthor.
01:02:30Descent of Angels was written by Mitchell Scanlon, and read by Gareth Armstrong.
01:02:40Produced by Heavy Entertainment for Black Library.
01:02:45This recording is copyrighted by Games Workshop Limited, 2013.
01:02:53All rights reserved.