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Swinging down into the neck of an ork with his guardian spear Xavis wondered on the words he had exchanged with the Emperor.
Impaling a charging greenskin on the tip of his weapon Xavis wondered why the Emperor had chosen to speak of this with him, of all the Custodes.
Around him the orks continued their ill advised assault on the Emperor’s forces and were paying for it with their lives.
Though focused on his own butcher work Xavis could not help but watch the Emperor as he cut down the orks before him, cleaving a way to the warlord and cutting down the orks before him as though they were the wheat to his scythe.
Xavis looked at the warlord, it was a monstrous brute, almost three meters tall. Massive tusks curved out of its chin and it roared its hatred. One arm ended in a claw wreathed in crackling lightning while in its other hand it held a massive triple barreled gun which blasted explosive bolts, almost like an Imperial bolter, only cruder, less accurate, but more deadly.
It was nothing to the Emperor who cut its head from its body mere moments after their duel began.
Losing its drive the ork horde retreated back into the mountains.
‘After them!’ shouted the Emperor and the Custodes fell on the retreating xenos.
Xavis hung back from the slaughter, knowing the Emperor would soon call on him, and he did.
Once the bulk of the Custode force, led by Angelos followed the orks into their mountain stronghold the Emperor gather his companions, led by Constantin Valdor as always, together along with Xavis.
‘Captain Angelos leads the cleansing of this world now, we have something else to do,’ he stated simply.
‘Come with me,’.
The next hours passed by slowly for Xavis.
The group would traverse the slopes of the mountains, following the Emperor in silence.
They would search the hills for caves, and when they found one the Emperor would stand before it, exploring its depths with his mind before shaking his head and the group would go on to the next mountain.
When the day passed into dusk and the dusk became night, the group, or rather the Emperor, finally found what he was looking for.
Standing at the mouth of a cave that overlooked a small, flat landing area, the Emperor spoke the first word since his silence fell many hours ago.
‘It is here,’ he said.
‘Are you sure my lord?’ asked Constantin Valdor.
‘Yes, I sense something of great power within,’ he said, before pausing as though a voice only he could hear spoke to him.
‘Yes it is here, Valdor, you and the companions will await me out here, guarding the entrance. Xavis, you will come with me,’ said the Emperor.
‘Yes my lord,’ said Valor.
Sparing not a glance the Emperor strode into the cave, his golden armor being swallowed by the darkness of the shadows within.
Xavis started after him, before Valdor grabbed his shoulder, halting him.
‘Have I made some mistake sir?’ asked Xavis, knowing he was doing nothing of the sort.
‘I trust you Xavis,’ said Valdor ‘but my duty is to protect the Emperor, something I cannot fail at. Why he does not want me to accompany him to find the weapon I do not know, but if you fail me, and some harm befalls Him, I will see you dead. Do you understand?’
‘Yes I do,’ said Xavis ‘trust me, I do not wish to see any harm befall him either, I will die before that happens,’
Valdo let go of his shoulder. ‘Then go,’ he said.
The drip of water on stone was the only sound Xavis and the Emperor heard as they walked the long tunnels within the cave system.
At first Xavis had been lost in the dark, but the Emperor, sensing this, conjured a ball of light from the thin air to light their path.
As they walked in the darkness Xavis wondered not for the first time why the Emperor chose him to accompany him to the weapon.
‘There is something on your mind Custode,’ said the Emperor.
‘Yes my lord,’ said Xavis ‘why did you choose me to come with you? Why not Valdor? or Captain Angelos?’
‘I chose you because you are loyal, strong and skilled in battle and you will never stop until your mission is done,’
‘The same could be said for any one of the Custodes,’ replied Xavis.
‘Alright Xavis, the truth is I don’t know, but my instincts tell me it should be you who comes with me and in all my long years of life if there is one thing I have learned it is to trust my instincts,’.
‘Truly my lord?’
‘Yes, that is why I am bringing you and no one else.
‘Hmm,’ said Xavis.
‘Yes I know its not that grand of reason, but few things in this galaxy are as interesting as we’d like them to be,’
‘Yes my lord,’.
As the minutes turned to hours the pair went deeper into the tunnel system, always alert for any kind of threat, but meeting none.
Eventually Xavis took notice of a pale green light, seemingly just behind his perception.
‘Sir I think I see something,’ he said.
‘Yes, I see it to, although perhaps much more clearly, it is a portal of some kind, and it does not want us, or at least the minds controlling it do not want us. We must hurry,’ said the Emperor, before breaking into a more brisk walk. Xavis followed suit.
The pair was almost running when they finally caught up to the glowing green portal. The Emperor was right, it was moving away from them, but not fast enough.
‘We must go through,’ said the Emperor.
The green portal before them shimmered with mysterious energies from before man crawled out of the oceans of Earth. Beyond the event horizon they could see nothing, save ghostly reflections of themselves.
‘Let me go first my lord,’ said Xavis.
‘We will go through at the same time, I know you intend to make sure it is safe for me, but both of us can accomplish that better than just you, and how would you contact me even if you did go through first? Think about it,’
‘I suppose you are right my lord,’ said Xavis, raising his guardian spear so the blade was ready to impale any threat on the other side of the glowing green plane.
‘Are you ready my friend?’ asked the Emperor.
‘Yes my lord,’ Xavis replied, taking a deep breath. War, butchery, genocide, fighting for his life he understood, stepping into the unknown he had done before, but never like this.
‘Then let us go,’ said the Emperor, and the pair stepped forward.
They were immediately immersed in a sea of green light, spinning them round and round faster and faster. Xavis felt the air sucked out of his lungs and looked at his liege, concerned that harm would befall his master, but the Emperor’s face was serene, as though he had expected this.
Just when Xavis thought he couldn’t take it anymore the light went out and he found himself hanging many feet in the air above a cold stone floor.
Then sensation of weightlessness was fleeting and before he knew it he plummeted to the ground and slammed into the floor, every pound of his armor reminding him they existed.
Swimming in his vision the high ceiling of the chamber Xavis found himself in would not let him focus. Massive pillars bent out of shape the way stone should never. This is what Xavis saw in the two seconds before his advanced physiology righted itself and restored his clear vision.
He blinked a few time to clear out the rest of the dizziness before he saw the Emperor, standing next to him unaffected.
‘Quite a ride wasn’t it?’ he asked.
‘Not exactly what I would say sir,’ said Xavis, standing up.
‘Well we are here, the weapon is close by, I sense it more clearly now,’.
‘Do you know where we are my lord?’ asked Xavis.
‘Down a very long rabbit hole,’ said the Emperor, almost to himself.
‘A rabbit hole?’ said Xavis, quizzically.
‘A long story,’ replied the Emperor.
Before them the chamber went on, looking as though it had no walls. The ground was illuminated, as though from a high window where a sun shined through. But when they looked up they saw nothing but a ceiling miles away and resting on tall pillars of stone.
‘Come on,’ said the Emperor ‘it is this way,’.
The pair started on their path again, not even managing a step before the air was filled by a voice, ancient and wrathful beyond reason.
YOU WERE NOT GRANTED ENTRENCE, YOU WERE NOT ALLOWED HERE, YOU CAME DISPITE THE WARNINGS, YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO BE HERE, THE PROPHECY KEEPER WARNED YOU, AND YOU GAVE NO HEED, NOW YOU DIE.
Like a behemoth from the sea a wraith thin giant rose from the floor. Standing three times as tall as the Emperor the giant was clad for war with a long curved sword in one hand, the other was studded with what Xabis recognized as shruiken catapults.
YOU WERE NOT GRANTED ENTRENCE, YOU WERE NOT ALLOWED HERE, YOU CAME DISPITE THE WARNINGS, YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO BE HERE, THE PROPHECY KEEPER WARNED YOU, AND YOU GAVE NO HEED, NOW YOU DIE.
Xavis did not waste a second and raised his guardian spear to fight off the giant. Letting loose a long burst of fire from the spear his first attack had little effect, save to provoke the giant further.
Raising the arm studded with the shruiken catapults the giant fired on the pair. Razor sharp disks stitched a path towards the them and they leapt aside, the Emperor going left and Xavis going right and ducking behind a pile of rocks that rose up to form a hill from which a pillar came to support the ceiling before they were cut to shreds.
YOU WERE NOT GRANTED ENTRENCE, YOU WERE NOT ALLOWED HERE, YOU CAME DISPITE THE WARNINGS, YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO BE HERE, THE PROPHECY KEEPER WARNED YOU, AND YOU GAVE NO HEED, NOW YOU DIE.
‘Be silent you foul xeno!’ shouted the Emperor and Xavis saw the golden warrior leap in front of the giant, unsheathing a silver blade as he did so.
The Emperor unsheathed and slashed the giant with his blade in one move as he leapt, cutting a long would along its torso as gravity brought him to the floor.
YOU WERE NOT GRANTED ENTRENCE, YOU WERE NOT ALLOWED HERE, YOU CAME DISPITE THE WARNINGS, YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO BE HERE, THE PROPHECY KEEPER WARNED YOU, AND YOU GAVE NO HEED, NOW YOU DIE.
‘Be silent!’ shouted the Emperor, standing on the ground now. Holding his sword in both hands guarding himself from any move the giant might make the Emperor used his formidable powers and set the blade alight with the burning flame of a sun.
YOU WERE NOT GRANTED ENTRENCE, YOU WERE NOT ALLOWED HERE, YOU CAME DISPITE THE WARNINGS, YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO BE HERE, THE PROPHECY KEEPER WARNED YOU, AND YOU GAVE NO HEED, NOW YOU DIE.
The Eldar giant brought its own blade down and two meters of alien metal, reflective like a mirror and sharp like death’s scythe, was stopped cold by the blade of the Emperor.
Thus began a series of strike and counter-strike, thrust and parry, slash and evasion between the Emperor and the Eldar giant. Xavis had never seen anything like it and he hoped not to ever again, for anything that could drive his lord to such great feats of arms was a terrible foe indeed.
He was broken from his thoughts by his duty.
Legs moving on their own accord Xavis leapt from behind the rock pile, hands gripping the guardian spear’s haft like a lifeline, and in a way it was, for if the Emperor fell, he would stand no chance of either victory nor escape from this place.
‘To your aid I come my lord!’ he shouted, holding the spear out before him, ready to stab into the Eldar giant.
The Emperor swept aside a blow from the Eldar, in the process leaving his chest open to attack. Hearing his Custode’s cry he whipped his head around to see his loyal servant rushing the wraith lord.
‘Stand back!’ he shouted, too late.
Xavis stabbed the blade of his spear into the wraith lord’s leg, distracting it, but causing no damage.
The wraith lord’s head, smooth and with no face, turned to Xavis, regarding him no more than Xavis would regard an insect that had settled on his armor.
Xavis looked the xeno construct in it’s face, staring at where its eyes should be.
YOU WERE NOT GRANTED ENTRENCE, YOU WERE NOT ALLOWED HERE, YOU CAME DISPITE THE WARNINGS, YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO BE HERE, THE PROPHECY KEEPER WARNED YOU, AND YOU GAVE NO HEED, NOW YOU DIE.
The wraith lord brought the knee opposite Xavis down and around and slammed it into his chest, sending him flying into the air.
YOU WERE NOT GRANTED ENTRENCE, YOU WERE NOT ALLOWED HERE, YOU CAME DISPITE THE WARNINGS, YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO BE HERE, THE PROPHECY KEEPER WARNED YOU, AND YOU GAVE NO HEED, NOW YOU DIE.
The pain in Xavis’s chest was only drowned out when his back slammed into one of the stone pillars.
Falling to the floor Xavis was just quick enough to look up before the wraith lord and the Emperor traded a series of blows that ended with the Emperor being sent to the floor, temporarily bested by the Eldar spirit within.
Pushing himself up with one hand while the other held his sword the Emperor tried to rise, but the wraith lord slammed his foot down on the helpless human and kept him pinned to the ground.
Raising its sword the wraith lord reversed its grip on the hilt and sent rippling waves of energy down the blade, forcing the metal to fork at the end.
Stabbing down on the earth, the tips of blade penetrating on either side of the Emperor’s neck, the wraith lord boomed its warning once more.
YOU WERE NOT GRANTED ENTRENCE, YOU WERE NOT ALLOWED HERE, YOU CAME DISPITE THE WARNINGS, YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO BE HERE, THE PROPHECY KEEPER WARNED YOU, AND YOU GAVE NO HEED, NOW YOU DIE.
The Emperor releashed his grip on his own blade and tried to force the wraith’s sword off his neck with his hands. Xavis could see the Emperor was doomed if he did not act fast.
Looking into the smooth head of the Eldar, the Emperor tried to force his mind into the wraithbone construct of death, he tried to force it off of him, but a powerful mind was behind it, powerful enough to challenge him.
The wraith lord raised the arm studded with the shuriken catapults and aimed them squarely at the Emperor’s head.
All seemed lost and over, thousands of years of work about to end bloodily when Xavis appeared in the air, twisting his body and swinging the blade of his guardian spear into the side of the Eldar’s head.
The Eldar turned its attention to the new threat, though it had been severely damaged by the guardian spear it could still be deadly.
Pulling the blade out of the ground the wraith lord inadvertently freed the Emperor.
YOU WERE NOT GRANTED ENTRENCE, YOU WERE NOT ALLOWED HERE, YOU CAME DISPITE THE WARNINGS, YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO BE HERE, THE PROPHECY KEEPER WARNED YOU, AND YOU GAVE NO HEED, NOW YOU DIE.
Fast as he was Xavis was barely able to stop a sideways swipe of the wraith lord’s sword and the guardian spear was ripped from his hands.
The Eldar swung for Xavis again, who barely ducked under the blade, evading death once more, but the wraith lord had expected this and back handed Xavis across the face, sending him spiraling to the floor.
YOU WERE NOT GRANTED ENTRENCE, YOU WERE NOT ALLOWED HERE, YOU CAME DISPITE THE WARNINGS, YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO BE HERE, THE PROPHECY KEEPER WARNED YOU, AND YOU GAVE NO HEED, NOW YOU DIE.
Once more the Eldar reversed its grip on the sword. Xavis saw his end coming and braced himself… but the blow never came down.
Like a hot knife through butter the Emperor’s sword cut through the knees of the wraith lord and the war machine fell over backwards.
Xavis watched as it fell, before a flaming sword jutted out from its chest, and was thrown to the side by the Emperor.
‘Thank you Xavis,’ said the Emperor, ‘I don’t think I could have done that without you,’.
‘Yes my lord,’ said Xavis, rising from the ground and brushing some of the dirt from his armor.
The Emperor turned to the side and raised his arm, holding his hand open. Xavis’s guardian spear came flying into his grasp.
‘I think you should finish it,’ he said, and presented the spear to Xavis, haft first.
‘You wish is my pleasure my lord,’ said Xavis.
Xavis strode over to the fallen wraith lord, which struggled to get up. The xeno machine raised it’s sword arm for a feeble attempt at continuing the fight. Xavis cut is off at the wrist.
The Custode stepped onto the xeno’s chest and felt the seemingly fragile material it was built of crack underneath him.
Xavis took two steps and placed the tip of the spear on the wraith lord’s throat.
With nothing to say, he plunged it into the neck and severed the head from the body.
‘Are almost there?’ asked Xavis.
‘Yes,’ said the Emperor.
Before the two could start down the path once more a lone figure appeared just a few meters before them.
No wraith lord was this though, this was a warlock, an Eldar sorcerer who devoted its powers to war. It would be just as deadly as the wraith lord.
The new xeno lifted it’s arms from it side and raised them up.
Xavis, wrathful as he was, would tolerate no more threats to the Emperor.
‘Die foul creature!’ he shouted and raised and fired his guardian spear in one swift motion.
The bang of the haft mounted bolter was like the thunderous shout of rage from an angry god, and all the Eldar could do was try to use it’s powers in a feeble attempt to stop the bolt.
Stretching its arms out before it the xeno warlock flexed its powers and slowed down the bolt round, but it was too little too late and the explosive round detonated just feet from his chest.
The wound would be fatal, but not for a few moments.
‘Thank you,’ said the Emperor ‘I’ve learned they are far easier to interrogate when close to death,’.
‘Yes I saw,’ said Xavis.
The pair walked over the dying Eldar once more, and Xavis was reminded of the vision the Emperor gave him and recalled the look on the primarch Horus’s face as he just watched as his father interrogated a dying Eldar.
Once more the Emperor and his companion came next to a dying Eldar.
Kneeling down the Emperor asked it it’s name, what it’s purpose was, and where the weapon it guarded was, but he received no answers, even when he took the warlock’s spirit stone.
‘Speak damn you!’ the Emperor yelled.
Summoning what strength it had the Eldas tore its limp arms from the ground and gabbed the Emperor’s head on both sides.
‘See what you seek…’ rasped the dying Eldar and the Emperor raised a hand to stop Xavis from ending the creature’s life quicker.
Muscles taunt Xavis held his weapon ready to strike should the warlock do anything… stranger. Fighting every urge to kill to kill the xeno with every inch of his body Xavis waited anxiously for the Emperor to say something.
Heated moments that felt like hours passed before the Emperor moved.
Taking the now dead warlock’s hands off his head he gently crossed them on the xeno’s chest and closed its eyes.
‘We cannot destroy it,’ he said.
‘My lord?’ asked Xavis.
‘The weapon is not something that can be destroyed, it cannot be undone,’.
‘Then what do we do with it?’
‘This warlock was guarding it from falling into the wrong hands. It failed. You will not,’.
‘What?’
‘I now know why my instincts told me to bring only you, you must guard the weapon, it must never fall into the possession of anyone willing to use it, it is far too great and destructive. You must do this for me,’
Xavis took a long time before answering. He did not know what to do, on one hand he had no desire to leave the Emperor and the emerging Imperium, but if his lord felt he should take up this task, then he knew he should.
‘I will my lord,’.
‘That is good, you will guard the weapon, you will guard it from those who would use it. I will make your task easier, I will erase this system from Imperial charts, and I will give you a small portion of my power, enough so that you know how to protect the weapon, you will keep it secret, and you will keep it safe. The Eldar gave me the knowledge to manipulate the portal that brought us here, I trust you to send me back,’.
‘Yes my lord,’.
The two walked back to the spot where they entered the vast chamber,
Granted the power and knowledge the Emperor promised, Xavis opened the portal again, and sent the Emperor back to the world they had come from.
Letting out a sigh Xavis sat down on the cold floor for a long time, contemplating everything that happened. He knew he would be lonely in the centuries, perhaps millennia to come, and he hoped he would be successful in his task. It was all that was left to him now.
Loosening the leather straps that held his armor together Xavis let the formidable war plate fall from his body.
Clad in his simple red under robe Xavis settled in for perhaps the rest of life. Walking back to where the Eldar warlock had died he passed where he and the Emperor had slain the wraith lord. It was gone.
Somehow that didn’t bother him. With knowledge and powers passed down from the Emperor things he had never imagined were now known to him.
He found the Eldar warlock where he’d been left and walked up to it.
‘I suppose I should bury you,’ he said, and leaned down to pick up the limp body.
The Eldar’s arms unraveled and hung from the body, swinging slightly.
Xavis stared at the xeno’s face.
It’s eyes opened.
‘From Colchis the fire will spread, from Colchis doom will come, do not go there, from there the prison breaker will come, do not go there,’ it wheezed.
Xavis dropped the body and ran to the entrance of the chamber.
When he got there he reached out his mind, searching for the Emperor, but found nothing.
‘He is too late…’ came the death rattle of the Eldar.
Racing back to where he left the warlock Xavis found himself too late once more, the body had disappeared.
Xavis, completely and totally alone now, feel to his knees, and wept. Why exactly he did not know. But the sense of purpose he had felt a little while ago was gone, and in its place was a feeling of dread he could not shake.
Removing his hand from the head of the young Imperial Army trooper Xavis leaned back on his stone seat.
‘And that is everything that led to this,’ he said.
‘I know gods don’t exist, but oh my god,’ said Clarkson.
‘Yes it is much to take in,’.
‘There is something I need to tell you to,’ said Clarkson.
‘I know, the rumors of the rebellion that reached your regiment, the betrayal of the primarch Lorgar, son of Colchis. I know everything you know,’.
‘What do we do?’
‘We must prevent the enemy from getting their hands on the weapon, something I have no doubt they are trying as we speak,’.
Impaling a charging greenskin on the tip of his weapon Xavis wondered why the Emperor had chosen to speak of this with him, of all the Custodes.
Around him the orks continued their ill advised assault on the Emperor’s forces and were paying for it with their lives.
Though focused on his own butcher work Xavis could not help but watch the Emperor as he cut down the orks before him, cleaving a way to the warlord and cutting down the orks before him as though they were the wheat to his scythe.
Xavis looked at the warlord, it was a monstrous brute, almost three meters tall. Massive tusks curved out of its chin and it roared its hatred. One arm ended in a claw wreathed in crackling lightning while in its other hand it held a massive triple barreled gun which blasted explosive bolts, almost like an Imperial bolter, only cruder, less accurate, but more deadly.
It was nothing to the Emperor who cut its head from its body mere moments after their duel began.
Losing its drive the ork horde retreated back into the mountains.
‘After them!’ shouted the Emperor and the Custodes fell on the retreating xenos.
Xavis hung back from the slaughter, knowing the Emperor would soon call on him, and he did.
Once the bulk of the Custode force, led by Angelos followed the orks into their mountain stronghold the Emperor gather his companions, led by Constantin Valdor as always, together along with Xavis.
‘Captain Angelos leads the cleansing of this world now, we have something else to do,’ he stated simply.
‘Come with me,’.
The next hours passed by slowly for Xavis.
The group would traverse the slopes of the mountains, following the Emperor in silence.
They would search the hills for caves, and when they found one the Emperor would stand before it, exploring its depths with his mind before shaking his head and the group would go on to the next mountain.
When the day passed into dusk and the dusk became night, the group, or rather the Emperor, finally found what he was looking for.
Standing at the mouth of a cave that overlooked a small, flat landing area, the Emperor spoke the first word since his silence fell many hours ago.
‘It is here,’ he said.
‘Are you sure my lord?’ asked Constantin Valdor.
‘Yes, I sense something of great power within,’ he said, before pausing as though a voice only he could hear spoke to him.
‘Yes it is here, Valdor, you and the companions will await me out here, guarding the entrance. Xavis, you will come with me,’ said the Emperor.
‘Yes my lord,’ said Valor.
Sparing not a glance the Emperor strode into the cave, his golden armor being swallowed by the darkness of the shadows within.
Xavis started after him, before Valdor grabbed his shoulder, halting him.
‘Have I made some mistake sir?’ asked Xavis, knowing he was doing nothing of the sort.
‘I trust you Xavis,’ said Valdor ‘but my duty is to protect the Emperor, something I cannot fail at. Why he does not want me to accompany him to find the weapon I do not know, but if you fail me, and some harm befalls Him, I will see you dead. Do you understand?’
‘Yes I do,’ said Xavis ‘trust me, I do not wish to see any harm befall him either, I will die before that happens,’
Valdo let go of his shoulder. ‘Then go,’ he said.
The drip of water on stone was the only sound Xavis and the Emperor heard as they walked the long tunnels within the cave system.
At first Xavis had been lost in the dark, but the Emperor, sensing this, conjured a ball of light from the thin air to light their path.
As they walked in the darkness Xavis wondered not for the first time why the Emperor chose him to accompany him to the weapon.
‘There is something on your mind Custode,’ said the Emperor.
‘Yes my lord,’ said Xavis ‘why did you choose me to come with you? Why not Valdor? or Captain Angelos?’
‘I chose you because you are loyal, strong and skilled in battle and you will never stop until your mission is done,’
‘The same could be said for any one of the Custodes,’ replied Xavis.
‘Alright Xavis, the truth is I don’t know, but my instincts tell me it should be you who comes with me and in all my long years of life if there is one thing I have learned it is to trust my instincts,’.
‘Truly my lord?’
‘Yes, that is why I am bringing you and no one else.
‘Hmm,’ said Xavis.
‘Yes I know its not that grand of reason, but few things in this galaxy are as interesting as we’d like them to be,’
‘Yes my lord,’.
As the minutes turned to hours the pair went deeper into the tunnel system, always alert for any kind of threat, but meeting none.
Eventually Xavis took notice of a pale green light, seemingly just behind his perception.
‘Sir I think I see something,’ he said.
‘Yes, I see it to, although perhaps much more clearly, it is a portal of some kind, and it does not want us, or at least the minds controlling it do not want us. We must hurry,’ said the Emperor, before breaking into a more brisk walk. Xavis followed suit.
The pair was almost running when they finally caught up to the glowing green portal. The Emperor was right, it was moving away from them, but not fast enough.
‘We must go through,’ said the Emperor.
The green portal before them shimmered with mysterious energies from before man crawled out of the oceans of Earth. Beyond the event horizon they could see nothing, save ghostly reflections of themselves.
‘Let me go first my lord,’ said Xavis.
‘We will go through at the same time, I know you intend to make sure it is safe for me, but both of us can accomplish that better than just you, and how would you contact me even if you did go through first? Think about it,’
‘I suppose you are right my lord,’ said Xavis, raising his guardian spear so the blade was ready to impale any threat on the other side of the glowing green plane.
‘Are you ready my friend?’ asked the Emperor.
‘Yes my lord,’ Xavis replied, taking a deep breath. War, butchery, genocide, fighting for his life he understood, stepping into the unknown he had done before, but never like this.
‘Then let us go,’ said the Emperor, and the pair stepped forward.
They were immediately immersed in a sea of green light, spinning them round and round faster and faster. Xavis felt the air sucked out of his lungs and looked at his liege, concerned that harm would befall his master, but the Emperor’s face was serene, as though he had expected this.
Just when Xavis thought he couldn’t take it anymore the light went out and he found himself hanging many feet in the air above a cold stone floor.
Then sensation of weightlessness was fleeting and before he knew it he plummeted to the ground and slammed into the floor, every pound of his armor reminding him they existed.
Swimming in his vision the high ceiling of the chamber Xavis found himself in would not let him focus. Massive pillars bent out of shape the way stone should never. This is what Xavis saw in the two seconds before his advanced physiology righted itself and restored his clear vision.
He blinked a few time to clear out the rest of the dizziness before he saw the Emperor, standing next to him unaffected.
‘Quite a ride wasn’t it?’ he asked.
‘Not exactly what I would say sir,’ said Xavis, standing up.
‘Well we are here, the weapon is close by, I sense it more clearly now,’.
‘Do you know where we are my lord?’ asked Xavis.
‘Down a very long rabbit hole,’ said the Emperor, almost to himself.
‘A rabbit hole?’ said Xavis, quizzically.
‘A long story,’ replied the Emperor.
Before them the chamber went on, looking as though it had no walls. The ground was illuminated, as though from a high window where a sun shined through. But when they looked up they saw nothing but a ceiling miles away and resting on tall pillars of stone.
‘Come on,’ said the Emperor ‘it is this way,’.
The pair started on their path again, not even managing a step before the air was filled by a voice, ancient and wrathful beyond reason.
YOU WERE NOT GRANTED ENTRENCE, YOU WERE NOT ALLOWED HERE, YOU CAME DISPITE THE WARNINGS, YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO BE HERE, THE PROPHECY KEEPER WARNED YOU, AND YOU GAVE NO HEED, NOW YOU DIE.
Like a behemoth from the sea a wraith thin giant rose from the floor. Standing three times as tall as the Emperor the giant was clad for war with a long curved sword in one hand, the other was studded with what Xabis recognized as shruiken catapults.
YOU WERE NOT GRANTED ENTRENCE, YOU WERE NOT ALLOWED HERE, YOU CAME DISPITE THE WARNINGS, YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO BE HERE, THE PROPHECY KEEPER WARNED YOU, AND YOU GAVE NO HEED, NOW YOU DIE.
Xavis did not waste a second and raised his guardian spear to fight off the giant. Letting loose a long burst of fire from the spear his first attack had little effect, save to provoke the giant further.
Raising the arm studded with the shruiken catapults the giant fired on the pair. Razor sharp disks stitched a path towards the them and they leapt aside, the Emperor going left and Xavis going right and ducking behind a pile of rocks that rose up to form a hill from which a pillar came to support the ceiling before they were cut to shreds.
YOU WERE NOT GRANTED ENTRENCE, YOU WERE NOT ALLOWED HERE, YOU CAME DISPITE THE WARNINGS, YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO BE HERE, THE PROPHECY KEEPER WARNED YOU, AND YOU GAVE NO HEED, NOW YOU DIE.
‘Be silent you foul xeno!’ shouted the Emperor and Xavis saw the golden warrior leap in front of the giant, unsheathing a silver blade as he did so.
The Emperor unsheathed and slashed the giant with his blade in one move as he leapt, cutting a long would along its torso as gravity brought him to the floor.
YOU WERE NOT GRANTED ENTRENCE, YOU WERE NOT ALLOWED HERE, YOU CAME DISPITE THE WARNINGS, YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO BE HERE, THE PROPHECY KEEPER WARNED YOU, AND YOU GAVE NO HEED, NOW YOU DIE.
‘Be silent!’ shouted the Emperor, standing on the ground now. Holding his sword in both hands guarding himself from any move the giant might make the Emperor used his formidable powers and set the blade alight with the burning flame of a sun.
YOU WERE NOT GRANTED ENTRENCE, YOU WERE NOT ALLOWED HERE, YOU CAME DISPITE THE WARNINGS, YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO BE HERE, THE PROPHECY KEEPER WARNED YOU, AND YOU GAVE NO HEED, NOW YOU DIE.
The Eldar giant brought its own blade down and two meters of alien metal, reflective like a mirror and sharp like death’s scythe, was stopped cold by the blade of the Emperor.
Thus began a series of strike and counter-strike, thrust and parry, slash and evasion between the Emperor and the Eldar giant. Xavis had never seen anything like it and he hoped not to ever again, for anything that could drive his lord to such great feats of arms was a terrible foe indeed.
He was broken from his thoughts by his duty.
Legs moving on their own accord Xavis leapt from behind the rock pile, hands gripping the guardian spear’s haft like a lifeline, and in a way it was, for if the Emperor fell, he would stand no chance of either victory nor escape from this place.
‘To your aid I come my lord!’ he shouted, holding the spear out before him, ready to stab into the Eldar giant.
The Emperor swept aside a blow from the Eldar, in the process leaving his chest open to attack. Hearing his Custode’s cry he whipped his head around to see his loyal servant rushing the wraith lord.
‘Stand back!’ he shouted, too late.
Xavis stabbed the blade of his spear into the wraith lord’s leg, distracting it, but causing no damage.
The wraith lord’s head, smooth and with no face, turned to Xavis, regarding him no more than Xavis would regard an insect that had settled on his armor.
Xavis looked the xeno construct in it’s face, staring at where its eyes should be.
YOU WERE NOT GRANTED ENTRENCE, YOU WERE NOT ALLOWED HERE, YOU CAME DISPITE THE WARNINGS, YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO BE HERE, THE PROPHECY KEEPER WARNED YOU, AND YOU GAVE NO HEED, NOW YOU DIE.
The wraith lord brought the knee opposite Xavis down and around and slammed it into his chest, sending him flying into the air.
YOU WERE NOT GRANTED ENTRENCE, YOU WERE NOT ALLOWED HERE, YOU CAME DISPITE THE WARNINGS, YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO BE HERE, THE PROPHECY KEEPER WARNED YOU, AND YOU GAVE NO HEED, NOW YOU DIE.
The pain in Xavis’s chest was only drowned out when his back slammed into one of the stone pillars.
Falling to the floor Xavis was just quick enough to look up before the wraith lord and the Emperor traded a series of blows that ended with the Emperor being sent to the floor, temporarily bested by the Eldar spirit within.
Pushing himself up with one hand while the other held his sword the Emperor tried to rise, but the wraith lord slammed his foot down on the helpless human and kept him pinned to the ground.
Raising its sword the wraith lord reversed its grip on the hilt and sent rippling waves of energy down the blade, forcing the metal to fork at the end.
Stabbing down on the earth, the tips of blade penetrating on either side of the Emperor’s neck, the wraith lord boomed its warning once more.
YOU WERE NOT GRANTED ENTRENCE, YOU WERE NOT ALLOWED HERE, YOU CAME DISPITE THE WARNINGS, YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO BE HERE, THE PROPHECY KEEPER WARNED YOU, AND YOU GAVE NO HEED, NOW YOU DIE.
The Emperor releashed his grip on his own blade and tried to force the wraith’s sword off his neck with his hands. Xavis could see the Emperor was doomed if he did not act fast.
Looking into the smooth head of the Eldar, the Emperor tried to force his mind into the wraithbone construct of death, he tried to force it off of him, but a powerful mind was behind it, powerful enough to challenge him.
The wraith lord raised the arm studded with the shuriken catapults and aimed them squarely at the Emperor’s head.
All seemed lost and over, thousands of years of work about to end bloodily when Xavis appeared in the air, twisting his body and swinging the blade of his guardian spear into the side of the Eldar’s head.
The Eldar turned its attention to the new threat, though it had been severely damaged by the guardian spear it could still be deadly.
Pulling the blade out of the ground the wraith lord inadvertently freed the Emperor.
YOU WERE NOT GRANTED ENTRENCE, YOU WERE NOT ALLOWED HERE, YOU CAME DISPITE THE WARNINGS, YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO BE HERE, THE PROPHECY KEEPER WARNED YOU, AND YOU GAVE NO HEED, NOW YOU DIE.
Fast as he was Xavis was barely able to stop a sideways swipe of the wraith lord’s sword and the guardian spear was ripped from his hands.
The Eldar swung for Xavis again, who barely ducked under the blade, evading death once more, but the wraith lord had expected this and back handed Xavis across the face, sending him spiraling to the floor.
YOU WERE NOT GRANTED ENTRENCE, YOU WERE NOT ALLOWED HERE, YOU CAME DISPITE THE WARNINGS, YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO BE HERE, THE PROPHECY KEEPER WARNED YOU, AND YOU GAVE NO HEED, NOW YOU DIE.
Once more the Eldar reversed its grip on the sword. Xavis saw his end coming and braced himself… but the blow never came down.
Like a hot knife through butter the Emperor’s sword cut through the knees of the wraith lord and the war machine fell over backwards.
Xavis watched as it fell, before a flaming sword jutted out from its chest, and was thrown to the side by the Emperor.
‘Thank you Xavis,’ said the Emperor, ‘I don’t think I could have done that without you,’.
‘Yes my lord,’ said Xavis, rising from the ground and brushing some of the dirt from his armor.
The Emperor turned to the side and raised his arm, holding his hand open. Xavis’s guardian spear came flying into his grasp.
‘I think you should finish it,’ he said, and presented the spear to Xavis, haft first.
‘You wish is my pleasure my lord,’ said Xavis.
Xavis strode over to the fallen wraith lord, which struggled to get up. The xeno machine raised it’s sword arm for a feeble attempt at continuing the fight. Xavis cut is off at the wrist.
The Custode stepped onto the xeno’s chest and felt the seemingly fragile material it was built of crack underneath him.
Xavis took two steps and placed the tip of the spear on the wraith lord’s throat.
With nothing to say, he plunged it into the neck and severed the head from the body.
‘Are almost there?’ asked Xavis.
‘Yes,’ said the Emperor.
Before the two could start down the path once more a lone figure appeared just a few meters before them.
No wraith lord was this though, this was a warlock, an Eldar sorcerer who devoted its powers to war. It would be just as deadly as the wraith lord.
The new xeno lifted it’s arms from it side and raised them up.
Xavis, wrathful as he was, would tolerate no more threats to the Emperor.
‘Die foul creature!’ he shouted and raised and fired his guardian spear in one swift motion.
The bang of the haft mounted bolter was like the thunderous shout of rage from an angry god, and all the Eldar could do was try to use it’s powers in a feeble attempt to stop the bolt.
Stretching its arms out before it the xeno warlock flexed its powers and slowed down the bolt round, but it was too little too late and the explosive round detonated just feet from his chest.
The wound would be fatal, but not for a few moments.
‘Thank you,’ said the Emperor ‘I’ve learned they are far easier to interrogate when close to death,’.
‘Yes I saw,’ said Xavis.
The pair walked over the dying Eldar once more, and Xavis was reminded of the vision the Emperor gave him and recalled the look on the primarch Horus’s face as he just watched as his father interrogated a dying Eldar.
Once more the Emperor and his companion came next to a dying Eldar.
Kneeling down the Emperor asked it it’s name, what it’s purpose was, and where the weapon it guarded was, but he received no answers, even when he took the warlock’s spirit stone.
‘Speak damn you!’ the Emperor yelled.
Summoning what strength it had the Eldas tore its limp arms from the ground and gabbed the Emperor’s head on both sides.
‘See what you seek…’ rasped the dying Eldar and the Emperor raised a hand to stop Xavis from ending the creature’s life quicker.
Muscles taunt Xavis held his weapon ready to strike should the warlock do anything… stranger. Fighting every urge to kill to kill the xeno with every inch of his body Xavis waited anxiously for the Emperor to say something.
Heated moments that felt like hours passed before the Emperor moved.
Taking the now dead warlock’s hands off his head he gently crossed them on the xeno’s chest and closed its eyes.
‘We cannot destroy it,’ he said.
‘My lord?’ asked Xavis.
‘The weapon is not something that can be destroyed, it cannot be undone,’.
‘Then what do we do with it?’
‘This warlock was guarding it from falling into the wrong hands. It failed. You will not,’.
‘What?’
‘I now know why my instincts told me to bring only you, you must guard the weapon, it must never fall into the possession of anyone willing to use it, it is far too great and destructive. You must do this for me,’
Xavis took a long time before answering. He did not know what to do, on one hand he had no desire to leave the Emperor and the emerging Imperium, but if his lord felt he should take up this task, then he knew he should.
‘I will my lord,’.
‘That is good, you will guard the weapon, you will guard it from those who would use it. I will make your task easier, I will erase this system from Imperial charts, and I will give you a small portion of my power, enough so that you know how to protect the weapon, you will keep it secret, and you will keep it safe. The Eldar gave me the knowledge to manipulate the portal that brought us here, I trust you to send me back,’.
‘Yes my lord,’.
The two walked back to the spot where they entered the vast chamber,
Granted the power and knowledge the Emperor promised, Xavis opened the portal again, and sent the Emperor back to the world they had come from.
Letting out a sigh Xavis sat down on the cold floor for a long time, contemplating everything that happened. He knew he would be lonely in the centuries, perhaps millennia to come, and he hoped he would be successful in his task. It was all that was left to him now.
Loosening the leather straps that held his armor together Xavis let the formidable war plate fall from his body.
Clad in his simple red under robe Xavis settled in for perhaps the rest of life. Walking back to where the Eldar warlock had died he passed where he and the Emperor had slain the wraith lord. It was gone.
Somehow that didn’t bother him. With knowledge and powers passed down from the Emperor things he had never imagined were now known to him.
He found the Eldar warlock where he’d been left and walked up to it.
‘I suppose I should bury you,’ he said, and leaned down to pick up the limp body.
The Eldar’s arms unraveled and hung from the body, swinging slightly.
Xavis stared at the xeno’s face.
It’s eyes opened.
‘From Colchis the fire will spread, from Colchis doom will come, do not go there, from there the prison breaker will come, do not go there,’ it wheezed.
Xavis dropped the body and ran to the entrance of the chamber.
When he got there he reached out his mind, searching for the Emperor, but found nothing.
‘He is too late…’ came the death rattle of the Eldar.
Racing back to where he left the warlock Xavis found himself too late once more, the body had disappeared.
Xavis, completely and totally alone now, feel to his knees, and wept. Why exactly he did not know. But the sense of purpose he had felt a little while ago was gone, and in its place was a feeling of dread he could not shake.
Removing his hand from the head of the young Imperial Army trooper Xavis leaned back on his stone seat.
‘And that is everything that led to this,’ he said.
‘I know gods don’t exist, but oh my god,’ said Clarkson.
‘Yes it is much to take in,’.
‘There is something I need to tell you to,’ said Clarkson.
‘I know, the rumors of the rebellion that reached your regiment, the betrayal of the primarch Lorgar, son of Colchis. I know everything you know,’.
‘What do we do?’
‘We must prevent the enemy from getting their hands on the weapon, something I have no doubt they are trying as we speak,’.
