Disclaimer: I don't own Worm or Warhammer 40K, they belong to their respective creators and/or copyright owners. I don't make any money from this story. It is written with no commercial aim in mind. It is not for sale or rent.

Emerald Dawn

Prologue: Digital Dreams

=ED=

Part 1: Annette

=ED=

"Taylor. Eighteen." I smiled and took a sip of my bitter tea, happy that I could taste it.

"Eighteen? I would have been in college."

"Yes. She was." I paused. It felt strange to be here, on an Earth more or less untouched by war. Being able to speak with my mother again, even if she really wasn't my mother… That was simply surreal, yet heartening. "She met a guy in college. A magnificent dorky guy with an awful lot of passion." I smiled sadly. "He worshiped her… I think that he gave her permission to be who she wanted – to do what she wanted in that point of her life, while her parents did their best to be controlling. Grandmother never forgave them for setting mom away from the track that she had planned for her life by getting mum pregnant with me."

I looked away. After everything that happened… There was a small part of me that wondered if would have been better if I was never born. Then perhaps he would have found someone else to fixate on. Perhaps he would have tried to save someone else… I might have died in the locker.

It might have been for the best.

"And my dad?" Not Mum asked.

"Gramp liked him. Eventually. I think." I shrugged helplessly. Some of my memories from before were gone, lost in the transformation or at best – pale shadows. "At any rate, it wasn't enough to admit it to Gram."

"Oh. My mother refused to let the children call her Gram."

"I think it was as a some kind of subtle payback." Then again, it might be my nature that made me think so. Even at best of times, my kind were rather warped.

"What did she end up doing?"

"Teaching – English in the university." At least I remembered that and it wasn't among the many facts I had to check after my transformation as I tried to piece together who had I become.

Not Mum glanced at the books. "I can't really see myself doing that, I'm afraid."

I simply nodded. No matter how alike she appeared to the mother I remembered… Mum had died a long time ago.

"Your father?" She asked and I winced.

"Dead." My voice sounded empty. Despite what I was, despite all the power and resources at my fingertips, dad died.

I looked everywhere, but Not Mum. The table, with the white tastefully embodied cover. The tea cups and snacks. At the people around us, who couldn't hear our conversation even if they tried. I swallowed and continued speaking, driven by the same need that brought me to this dimension, to this Earth. I just had to speak with someone, who wouldn't simply be supportive because of what I was.

"The worst is, that we weren't on speaking terms before the end. He couldn't accept what I was becoming, what we had to do." My shoulders trembled as I shook.

"I'm sorry. Saying it… I know it means nothing in face of what you've lost."

I laughed bitterly. I felt the brush of metal fingers on my shoulders and relaxed.

"It's fine. Thank you for your concern." I whispered and leaned back, calming down, because of the contact with my phased out guardian.

We simply sat in silence, sipping our tea. A part of me wondered what was I doing here? Yet, I felt I needed it. Perhaps it was a search of completion, a way to close a chapter of my life. Or, perhaps a tiny part of the innocent little girl I was once somehow survived and wanted to see her mother.

Even if this was Not Mum!

She was studying me too, a small sad smile marring her face.

"I don't know what you expect me to say, neither what you want from this meeting. I feel as if I need to say something that has a meaning to you. That way you wouldn't waste your time finding a woman without anything to say..." Not Mum trailed off.

"NO! It's not that!" I exclaimed. "It's just..." I struggled to find the right words. Considering what I was, my current predicament should have been hilarious. "I just needed to see you. To refresh my memories of mum before I could open a new page and try finding peace. I don't expect some profound revelation…" I paused again as my mind began a vortex of ideas and emotions. "I need to speak with someone who might not judge me. To try explaining what and why happened."

"Would you like to try?" Not Mum asked. There was a curiosity in her voice. No judgment. Yet.

"I don't know. It's a long story. Not a nice one either." My shoulders slumped.

Necrodermis clad fingers gently squeezed me in a silent support.

"I'm a good listener. And you look like someone who needs to tell their story."

"It's really not a nice story." I repeated, in a last, futile attempt to dissuade Not Mum from listening.

"I'll keep it in mind." She gave me a gentle, reassuring smile. Her blue eyes stared at me, expecting an answer.

Just as mum used to. And just like all those years ago I caved and started talking.

"It all started that day… January, the first day of school. It was my personal hell, before I truly understood the meaning of the word..."

"Does this have to do with your powers? How you got them?"

A bitter chuckle escaped my lips.

"Shit, I can't! You are just a stranger..." I stammered. "This isn't your burden to carry." I shook my head and stood up. "Besides, you have a work to go back to. A life of your own."

"Taylor!" She voiced her exasperation. Not Mum was on her feet too. Her gentle fingers were suddenly holding my hands. She gave me a reassuring smile and guided me back into my seat.

"Taylor." Not Mum gave me that look. The one that made me feel like a little girl caught with her hands in the cookie jar.

"I think I'll find the time to listen. Perhaps, you might find the time to tell you story and eventually find the peace you talked about."

I almost laughed at that. Time. That was the one thing I had more that I knew what to do with. Spending eternity alone with my minions, that was a terrifying prospect.

"Even here we heard a little about what happened on Earth Bet. How bad it was before the end. I don't know how much was on your shoulders nor of the burden you carried. However, I will be the last one to judge you for decision made under such stress."

"Won't you? I became a monster, Annette." I looked Not Mum in the eyes. "It was for reasons I believed to be 'right', but does that matter? I am a monster." I muttered.

It was my nature after all.

"I find it hard to believe. I don't see a monster in the young woman across the table." Not Mum challenged me. Well, she couldn't see the real me, just the form I had taken to meet her.

She didn't know what I was. What I did or ordered done.

Her answer didn't make me feel better.

"You don't understand..."

"This is why you came, isn't it? To find another opinion." Not Mum's voice was soft, gentle.

I gulped. She hit the nail on the head. This was it. The reason why we were here, talking.

"I know you aren't her. Yet..." I was lost for words. Again. Thank you, mind.

"You need me to listen. You want, no, need me tell you if you were right or wrong about what happened, about what you did." Not Mum paused. "You know that I'm not her, your mother. I probably won't give you the same feedback." Her voice was calming, still gentle and accepting.

I dreaded that it would be anything but if I told her everything. That she would see me for the monster I was. Yet, it was what I needed.

"I think I simply need the truth. An opinion from someone who didn't live through that hell and could think clearly. See me for who I am without a bias."

"Are you seeking forgiveness?"

"No. That's not something I'm going to get from anyone who isn't biased." I smiled faintly. "There are a handful of people that approve of what I did, though that's kinda expected."

I could feel the exasperation radiating from my invisible guardian. There was scarcely something I could do now that wouldn't meet his approval.

"How did it start?"

"When I was in the locker. Dying." I shuddered until the necrodermis fingers on my shoulders started massaging me. "I should have triggered then. I think I started to. Then everything went straight to hell..."

=ED=

Part 2: An irritated Necron Lord

=ED=

Third month of the war

Nan Yanoi, The "Sword Moon"

Kaurava System

Lithesh Sector

Ultima Segmentum

Green baleful eyes glared at the plain. A hundred thousand pairs of them.

I would have smiled if I could. This was what I existed for after my awakening. To follow the ancient directives hard codded in my immortal body. To conquer the galaxy for the Necrons, for an Empire that has been ash for millions of years. An Empire that was never my own.

It was a very good thing that I could no longer feel fear, for my very presence here would have turned me catatonic with mind-blowing terror. The reason for it would be obvious to everyone sane familiar with this damned galaxy. I knew my fate, not to different than that of most other beings unfortunate enough to exist in this reality.

Only endless war awaited us all. Some were a bit more fortunate than other and once their minds and flesh failed, they might not end up as eternal playthings of abominations. For the likes of me? There was only an Endless war to reclaim what was never mine, if I was lucky that is. The alternatives were less pleasant. I could get my soul devoured by the remaining C'tan if they ever returned, which given the alternatives wasn't so bad. If my luck was out – which had to be the case for me to end up in this predicament in the first place, well, then I could very well become the unwilling plaything of a Daemon.

If I still had a soul anyway and in this galaxy? I was actually hoping that no longer was the case. I didn't need to crank my neck down to see my body – the sensors that were my eyes were perfectly capable of seeing the front of my body even as I looked over my necrodermis legions. I was stuck in the body of a Necron Lord, which wouldn't be that bad given the circumstances if I didn't have his knowledge and directives seared within my mind.

Those inconvenient facts let me little choice in what I could do.

Fuck. My only acceptable alternative was to achieve victory. Anything else I found unthinkable, though how much of that was me and how much the directives I had to obey, I had no idea. That was why I led the Necron forces across the Kaurava system for the last three months to the best of my ability. I fought against every major fraction this cursed galaxy had to obey with the exception of the Tyranids. Fortunately, I had a lot of data on strategy and tactics contained withing the vast data-banks of the Necron Lord whose mind I apparently ended replacing. Somehow. Either that, or my human life had been some perverse glitch in the system while he slept.

It didn't really matter. Hopefully, I was relatively safe back on Earth stuffed into a nice padded room. That, however wasn't a chance I could take. I had to win at all costs – the directives seared into the very fabric of my mind left little choice. They were insidious too – they made me want to win.

Ironically enough, I did well enough so far despite the Eldar among others using every dirty trick in the book and then some. The space elfs were a mere shadow of their former selves and even as crippled as my forces were due to loosing their souls and thus most if not all ability to really be creative and innovative on the battlefield, all the strategic and tactical data we had from the War in Heaven and a clear, if in some cases slim technical superiority more often than not won the day. Unfortunately for the pointy eared bastards, while my forces were far from their best, they too were mere pale shadows from what my memories claimed they should be.

In the end, the ancient enemy didn't have the numbers, nor the aid of their Abominable gods to withstand my legions and we managed to kick them off my precious Tomb World.

To my utter lack of surprise, the Eldar continued to be a major pain in my necrodermis clad ass despite losing all their major installations within the system. Their shenanigans were the reason why I was on this gods forsaken moon, participating in a clusterfuck of a battle.

I sent the signal and fifty thousand Necron warriors and Immortals opened fire. Gauss energies scythed over the plain, flaying the flesh and very souls of Tau, and Human alike. Upgraded Monoliths thundered behind us, providing artillery support. Each blast of their mighty weapons tore chunks of the moon's surface and evaporated dozens of my opponents.

I waited until the two enemy forces got out of their initial shock and tried to retaliate. Then I ordered the Flayed Ones to phase in, which they did with aplomb and started tearing the mortals apart.

My forces marched onward, undeterred by the breaking enemy resistance. Good. This part of the battlefield was handled, for now at least. Unless heavy enemy reinforcements arrived in the next few minutes, the mortals on the plain would be destroyed with minor losses to my side.

I returned my attention to the sensor feeds, making a note to myself that I had to get better at multitasking, something that I still found troublesome thanks to my penchant of concentrating on a single aspect of any of the multiple tasks I constantly ran and monitored.

A wave of drones went up, showing me images of the Tau positions laying in wait over the horizon. A though displayed the blue skins irritating cannon, which they used to strike at the infrastructure of everyone in this conflict. That in fact explained why every faction was busy assaulting the base of those uppity mortals, at the same bloody time. We all got fed up with being subjected to interplanetary artillery barrages. Even if my beautiful Tomb World handled the bombardment with nothing more than light damage thanks to the surface being little more than ablative armour sometimes kilometers thick resting upon substantial bulkheads of the best armour my people were able to create, the bombardment still caused ancient tunnels and corridors to collapse. After all, the best stasis systems and limited self-repair couldn't remain in pristine condition for over sixty million years. It didn't help that the Tau persistently shot at the same spot every time they bombarded my world – right above one of the heavy protected chambers containing the very generators that fueled my forces recovery from the long slumber and the clashes with the Eldar.

My attention snapped back to the present.

In the plains below my elevated vantage point, the Tau were busy clashing with element of three human armies. The regulars of the Imperial Guard made the bulk of the Imperials. A whole company of Space Marines augmented them and at least a battalion strength Sisters of Battle force in power armor provided infantry support for the Guard's armour.

Well they were, before we arrived and started cutting them to pieces.

Farther away, a horde of devolved Krork, another one of our old enemies, rampaged in the Tau's rear, wrecking and looting everything they could get their greedy hands on. To the west, the twisted brethren of our other old enemy had set up a camp and amused themselves by raiding everyone for slaves and sadistic fun. Being an Eldar, no matter how twisted, they were near the top of my kill list.

Who said that immortal machines couldn't keep a grudge? Thanks to my memory banks, I both knew and hated the Eldar and anyone else who had once resisted our armies. My emotions were only rivaled only by those of a few other Necrons in my army who retained a semblance of personality. Or did they somehow pieces of their souls recover during their long slumber? That was something to explore once we secured the system.

To make everything more interesting, and the clusterfuck of battle complete, elements of the Alpha Legion advanced from the east. Those servants of the Warp were as big a concern as the Eldar! They served those abominations within un-reality and as such were a threat to be neutralized ASAP.

Speaking of the pointy eared aggravations, they were striking from hidden bases in the other inhabited worlds of the system, harassing my forces and driving the other enemies in our direction. It was frustrating. If it wasn't for their tricks, this system might have fallen by now.

No matter. We would end them all. It was inevitable.

The battle shifted. My close combat specialists finished the last Tau auxiliaries and phased out. They reappeared amidst the blue skin's firing lanes. The sudden Flayed Ones incursion was the final straw and the enemy broke. They tried to disengage and retreat to better positions – which was a very reasonable and unfortunately for them, predictable reaction to the shift in the tactical situation.

I wasn't going to allow them such a luxury and unleashed the Destroyers, which advanced skimming overhead. They opened fire with their heavy weapons and went in pursuit followed by a hundred thousand drones. That would take care for any enemy armor force that tries to stop the rout and counterattack, like that hover-tank battalion the Tau thought they had concealed in a nearby valley under heavy ECM cover.

Warning. Warp disruption detected. Theta level and rising. More information scrolled over my HUD.

Fucking warp spawn! I directed a flight of drones in that direction. A few survived long enough to give me a clear picture. A bunch of Sorcerers were performing some kind of ritual in the middle of the Alpha legion forces.

That was bad. The un-reality was our only significant weakness, the physics twisting bullshit that it was.

Wasting no time, I left ten thousand warriors to harass the enemy remnants in the plain and marched the rest of my forces straight in the teeth of the Alpha Legion.

=ED=

Interlude: A bored god

=ED=

Time: Nope

Place: Everywhere and nowhere

The Warp

"Good!" A titanic green-skinned entity bellowed. Experiment 195513 was starting off great. There was yet a chance to win his eternal war with boredom. "Drink! Brin me a Drink! Goof on'!" He bellowed.

A former, rather successful Warboss appeared next to him, holding a barrel that had a handle bolted to the side. The entity sniffed and a fanged smile appeared on its face. "Da goof staff?"

The Warboss produced a small cup and sampled the brew. He grinned foolishly before melting, leaving only his tusks behind.

"Da good staff, ideeed!" The entity grabbed the barrel by its handle and took a long gulp of the bubbling liquid.

The Ork god leaned back in his throne and grinned at the tear in the Warp in front of him. It simultaneously showed a battle on the Sword Moon of Kaurava, one of the multi-dimensional labyrinths containing a C'tan shard as well as the great corpse of a being that had "accidentally" taken the wrong turn and plowed straight into a planet.

A push here, a shove there, a bunch of stolen souls to stuck into two hundred thousand versions of a particular Necron Lord unfortunate enough to had his Warp protections erode over the eons, a bit of time-looping and voila, he had his entertainment. It was time to see how the latest 'ummie would deal with the curve balls he was going to throw them.

Ah, trolling the 'ummies and their Empror… That was a great pass time!

Besides, in the end, he might even get a new C'tan to spice up things! That would be a great scrap! He might even get his Orks back to what they were meant to be and thus get rid of his speech issues.

It was entirely secondary that a success might just help him ruin the next millennium or ten for the four bastards…

=ED=

Interlude: Contessa's last path

=ED=

Cauldron's base

Eden's body

Location: &!#$$%!)$ #

Contessa rubbed the bridge of her nose and tried again. Her power chimed and the world exploded with possibilities. Then something twisted and she fell to her knees, panting. Contessa's eyes widened. Something fundamental had changed! The Path had shifted.

There were only a handful steps to success left...

Her power compelled her to act and she obeyed without thinking. After all, this was what she wanted: a victory at last! Perhaps, even a release from the endless Path that had been governing every single waking moment of her existence since she foolishly asked the wrong question as a young girl.

"Door." Contessa muttered. A portal opened, she stepped through to appear deep withing Eden's body. This was a place that wasn't mapped, yet she knew it like the back of her hand. Her power lead her forward, telling her what needed to be done.

It took her a few hours of cutting her way through thin translucent membranes before she reached her destination. It was a small, strange room, which pulsed with life unlike the rest of the corpse. There was a pedestal in the middle, which was surrounded by a rippling field.

Something hovered inside.

This was it. The shard that was going to win them the war.

Contessa smiled and acted. She disregarded how her hands burned as she dismantled the system that kept the shard contained. An insane smile appeared on the face.

"Door to Earth Bet!" Contessa announced gleefully, while staring in the black piece of crystal.

She grabbed the shard and screamed as her very flesh started unraveling and floating into the crystalline structure. She could feel her very soul dissolving. Yet, the shard connected to her brain demanded a final action before it cut the link to protect itself.

The Path must be followed through the end! Victory demanded it!

With the last vestiges of her strength, Contessa threw the black crystal. It spun lazily, while moths of light danced withing its depths. It drew the last vestiges of her soul within its structure before passing through.

An in-human voice laughed as the Cape's skeleton fell to the ground.

=ED=

Part 3: Warp Shenanigans

=ED=

Third month of the war

Nan Yanoi, The "Sword Moon"

Kaurava System

Lithesh Sector

Ultima Segmentum

In this day and age, when ninety thousand pissed off Necrons are on the march, there are a very few things that could slow them down, much less stop them.

The horde of cultists and corrupted IG troopers, who made up the enemy front lines weren't up to the task. They were in the open or in shallow, hastily prepared trenches. That merely ensured they were just more souls to be harvested, something my warriors did with practiced ease. The humans died, erased from existence by a tidal wave of Gauss energy. The few armor units dispersed to stiffen up the infantry didn't fare any better. Tanks painted with Chaos symbols were little more than target practice for my Destroyers. The few that were actually protected with Warp wards survived for just a few more seconds before blowing up.

Five hundred Chaos Marines stood behind the woefully lacking trench network. All of them were clad in power armor and augmented by their patrons in the Warp. A hundred or so Dreadnoughts resembling demented metal scorpions provided armored support to the twisted caricatures of the Emperor's finest.

All of that bunch wielded weapons cracking with Warp energy, which meant that they were anything but trivial obstacle.

That small force was further augmented by ten Landriders, which were beacon radiating pure Chaos.

Behind them all, my drones could detect dozens of Artillery emplacements that were determined to keep us away from the prize. Despite their relatively low numbers, that was a force not to be taken lightly.

Just a month ago, such a concentration of Chaos spawn might have posed a serious problem.

Now, not so much. The Necron war machine was mostly awakened and our numbers boosted with new units animated by the very souls of our enemies.

The Chaos forces simply lacked the numbers to stop us, though the bastards might be able to slow us down for just long enough.

My legions marched on. Plasma and warped bolter shells slammed into the vanguard of my force. Emerald lighting answered. Moments later corrupted artillery joined the fray only to be silenced by my Monoliths which just now began to enter effective range of the enemy positions. Seconds later, jump infantry engaged my leading elements in an attempt to tie them down in melee. I gave a signal and Flayed Ones teleported in to take on their counterparts.

I waited until the enemy was fully engaged before sending the Destroyers, escorted by the few squadrons of fighters I had on my disposal. The enemy responded with their own small craft, filling the skies with dog-fighting planes.

Warp enhanced bolters blew chunks of necrodermis, plasma boiled armor. Gauss flayers and Tesla carbines shattered power armor and turned warped flesh to ashes. The Landraiders rolled around the Alpha Legion flanks, only to run straight into swarms of drones which started to cut them apart. While thousands of the small machines perished thanks to the Warp wards protecting the heavy armor, enough survived long enough to cause damage before being vaporized. By the time my drone swarms passed and headed for the Chaos infantry, the Landriders were an easy prey for the odd Destroyer group or Monolith which was nearby.

A battle like this that once would have sent me screaming in terror if not outright shattered my mind and corrupted my soul was just another day in this madhouse of a galaxy. I stood behind my lines, scanning multiple feeds with tactical information and subtly guiding the flow of the battle. The Chaos Marines fought well, yet they were no match for our technology and numbers. Only the Warp craft protecting them allowed the enemy to survive more than a handful of minutes.

Now they were out of time.

Warning. Warp Activity spike. Delta level.

A swarm of lesser Daemons spawned behind the dying Alpha Legionnaires. They wasted no time and ran into the fray. Claws sheathed in burning un-reality cleaved through necrodermis, blasts of pure chaos slammed into Necron Warriors burning through them and sending them teleporting away for decontamination and repairs. All the while, dozens of the purple abominations turned into noxious clouds when touched by our weapons.

Energy levels sufficient.

My eyes blazed as I drunk power straight from the generators of the base we had set up as a staging area on this doomed moon. The Nodal network lit up as I started issuing orders.

One moment I was at the back, surrounded by my personal guard. In the next, a vortex of energy enveloped us as a snug sheathe.

Destination locked. Calculating coordinates...

Compensating for Warp distortion…

Executing…

We teleported with a crack of emerald lighting, blinding anyone around us. It took mere milliseconds for my systems to stabilize.

Perfect. We were just half a kilometer from the ritual site – as close as we could safely insert. Now that the bulk of the enemy forces were either dead or engaged, we didn't need to fear being swarmed before reaching our objective. There were about a hundred Chaos Marines and a handful of Daemons between us and the target. The rest of the Legion was behind us, dying in an attempt to slow down my main force.

Just as expected, they fell for the diversion that was the bulk of my army.

Half of my guard turned around to ensure that the rest of us wouldn't be hit in the back while busy stopping the ritual. In the same time, we advanced. The Immortals and a single squad of Pariahs who came with me, opened fire and blasted the closest enemies with their weapons. The Chaos forces answered in kind. A corrupted missile blew up an Immortal, another vanished when he was hit by a plasma cannon.

I blasted a Legionnaire with my Staff of Light, the discharge frying him within his armor. Using my ability to phase out, I melted in the ground an instant before a heavy bolter racked my position before a multi-melta slagged the area. A handful of seconds later I appeared behind the heavy weapon's nest. The Chaos Marines manning it felt my presence and were already reacting as I became tangible.

It was a good thing that I spent a few days in simulated combat after I awoke. That by itself was the practical equivalent of months of non-stop battle and then I went to back it up with over a hundred hours of actual combat against all enemies in this system.

That training saved me the first time I crossed blades with that never sufficiently damned Farseer. The fact that I had a bunch of Flayed Ones trying to skewer her did help me to survive that battle, that much I would freely admit, though the artifact providing repair drones to patch me up on the fly was essential too.

That training proved essential this time around, too, however, in the past three months of all out war, I had racked a lot of actual experience that proved as if not more important. As a pleasant consequence, the prospect of facing a small group of Chaos Marines was no longer a terror inspiring prospect.

Nowadays, it just scared the crap out of me. Which in turn made me furious.

From the moment I entered the fry, my combat subroutines were working overtime, making the world slow down around me. I slammed my staff through the chest of the superhuman to my right and kicked the man in front of me, throwing him out of the weapon's nest. The third marine had enough time to react. He turned towards me with uncanny speed and opened fire with his bolter. The shells slammed into my improved Necrodermis chassis staggering me back. Reflexively, I used my staff to keep myself on my feet. The marine impaled on it helped in that regard. I made a punching motion with my left hand and Gauss energy cascaded from my open palm. A green scythe of power slammed into the armored helmet of the Chaos Marine shooting at me and melted his face off. In the next moment I retrieved my staff and finished him off.

It was just in time too, because the third enemy had recovered and jumped back in the gun nest. He wielded a force sword, which was cracked menacingly with energy. I caught his weapon on my Staff's blade. My legs sunk in the ground as I absorbed the sheer kinetic energy behind his strike. Then I shoved with all my strength and threw him back. He recovered almost immediately but not before I had my staff pointed at the him. To give him credit, he tried to interpose his blade between the energy blast that fried him and himself. It was too bad for him that even one such as he couldn't move faster than condensed lighting.

Alert. Warp Activity spike. Level Beta. Warp disruption increasing. Compensating.

"Advance!" I rasped to my personal guard – both through our secured network and aloud, using my loudspeaker.

While I got my hands dirty, a part of my mind kept an eye on what was going on with the rest of the engagement. My army advanced steadily, forcing the Alpha Legion to throw everything they had in an attempt to slow them down. That left the ritual circle as a somewhat softer target. The enemy tried to throw what was left of their reserve at us, however those forces were intercepted by units from my main force that teleported in – the capacitors making it possible had recharged at last. Soon, another group would be able to join us.

It was clear that we were running out of time. My backup lost some of their number due to warp interference – the misfired teleport deposed them in pieces all over the battlefield. Nevertheless, those that phased in intact were more than enough to bog down the enemy reserve. At the same time my personal guard was heavily engaged, carving me a way to the Sorcerers.

Warning! Warp rift forming bearing…

I whirled in place and used my staff to impale the Bloothirster who appeared behind me. The creature screeched and tried to get me with its sword anyway, impaling itself further on my staff in order to get closer. It died in the next moment as I channeled energy through my weapon, which shattered the bonds that kept its body existing in the real world and the demon popped out in a cloud of expanding red mist and vapor both lit up by dancing Gauss energy.

Multiple rifts kept opening, allowing additional Daemonic reinforcements to pour in. I had to finish this before the ritual was complete unless I wanted to be bogged down on this damned moon for the foreseeable future. It was bad enough that the abominations already claimed most of one world in the system where they fought with the twisted Eldar. A full blown un-reality incursion, possibly one backed by the abominations themselves on this moon would only strengthen their position and divert my attention – unacceptable!

I sent a command through the network, activated one of my artifacts and sprinted forward. The world around me slowed down even further as I charged the Ritual circle. My personal guard shifted their fire, cutting me a way through the incoming enemy reinforcements.

Daemons and Chaos Marines were either killed outright or disabled by the barrage. I could see them slowly flaying as the Gauss energy shattered the molecular bonds that kept them together. That left me to dispatch a mere handful of enemies before I was at my target. Two slashes by my bladed staff and a single shot was all it took and I was at the circle.

Warning. Warp Activity Spike. Level Alpha…

Temporal disruption detected… Compensating…

Time resumed its natural speed as my artifact shifted its power into protecting me from the un-reality influence. I slammed my hand through the skull of the closest Sorcerer who was too busy chanting in rapture to notice. He wasn't wearing a helmet, the idiot, which allowed me to see how happy his deformed features were. Despite whatever Warp protection he might have enjoyed, my metal fist popped his skull like a watermelon, thus erasing his smug, excited grin. In the same time I used my staff to decapitate another and in the same motion speared a third with a Gauss shot. Energy arched from the weapon built in my left hand and blasted a fourth away from the ritual circle, however runes carved into his armor glowed bright red and kept him mostly intact by projecting a Warp field that absorbed a lot of the energy of my attack.

The remaining bastards ignored my efforts and simply continued to chant as I killed them. I managed to go through two thirds of them when the still alive Sorcerers screeched as one. A wave that made me hurt passed through my body, staggering me. A rift appeared in the middle of the circle, showing starry sky.

Then something tackled me from behind and sent me straight into the screaming abyss.

Danger! Warp concentration exceeding chassis design parameters!

Compensating…

Emerald energy exploded from my chest, creating an impromptu shield against the rift which was closing around me and thus trying to cut me in two. That in turn didn't made much sense, because I was already on the other side, tumbling through the void. Yet the damn tear in reality was around me, spinning as a maw filled with razor sharp teeth.

Fucking un-reality!

Warning! Dimension instability detected! Compensating…

I felt like hitting glass with the consistency of cotton. It shattered and at the same time simply gave away and wrapped around me as a sheet of cloth that was used to catch something.

Then I hit another barrier. And another…

Danger! Dimensional transition detected! Countermeasures failing...

Danger! Warp saturation nominal! Countermeasures failing...

Alert! C'tan energy detected! Activating… !&^ !)$ $&^ protocols… Error… !# $! $(y

For a long, long moment I could feel the ghost of a vast presence, making my mind freeze in adulation. The protocols inbedded into my consciousness tried to counteract it even as other directives layered upon my mind when I became a Necron Lord as a never sufficiently damned Star God consumed my soul…

My mind glitched – there was no other way to explain what happened. Conflicting directives clashed at each other in a fight for dominance and my awareness, my personality, they went into a safe mode – able to only slowly observe but not act and hopefully, not change.

I dully understood that somehow I was in the presence of one of our gods or at least a shard of it.

Despite the safe mode, my mind recoiled as two conflicting directives fought for supremacy.

"HAIL THE C'TAN!" I roared in rapture.

"Fuck the C'TAN!" I roared in fury. "WE WON'T BE SLAVES AGAIN!"

For a short moment, of a long dead Necrothyr screamed right beside me.

C'tan Shard detected… Priority One directive initialized… Contain the C'tan at all costs...*!^^#!_&^#$#$! &*

My world went dark.

=ED=

Part 4: A busted trigger

=ED=

6 January, 2011

Wilson High School

Brockton Bay

Earth Bet

This was hell! I hand no more strength left to fight. My throat was parched and raw from useless screaming. My hands and legs were bloody from striking the locker door, which held despite all my efforts.

I shook weakly as countless insects crawled all over me, biting and feeding.

I screamed. I cursed. I begged.

And no one came to save me. No one answered my pleas.

I was alone with the filth and the crawling horrors trying to consume me alive. I was too weak to fight any more.

I think that's when the last vestiges of sanity I had left snapped, leaving me to the non-existent mercy of the madness clawing at my mind.

Then it happened and I knew what madness really meant.

My world shattered. I found myself drifting in a dark sea littered with sparkling stars.

Destination...

Agreement…

Ravenous hunger…

Something hit my chest with the strength of a freight train.

I thought I knew what agony was while the insects were feeding on me.

I was wrong.

Liquid fire consumed my bosom. I could feel it dissolving my flesh, turning every single nerve ending into a new source of indescribable agony.

The pain jumped in level. It was no longer only physical. I could feel that thing feeding on more than my body. It was tearing down what I was, who I was and was consuming that very essence.

My very soul.

If by some miracle I wasn't mad by then, I became insane at that realization. The knowledge that I did possess a soul and that it was being destroyed broke me.

Suddenly I felt a wave of sheer wrongness exploding someone outside. Reality itself screeched, a sound that would have driven me barking mad if I wasn't insane already.

Then something else struck what was left of my chest. The agony spiked in intensity then froze.

I couldn't even scream the pain I felt at the world.

The wave of wrongness passed through me, making me feel unclean on a level the filth covering me could only dream of.

Somehow it numbed the agony.

Something within me shifted, slicing through my flesh.

The pain barely registered.

Suddenly I was warm, as if I was bathing in the summer sun. The pain became something distant, half forgotten. Something stretched from within my chest and touched my mind.

I drifted on. My fractured mind was trying to make sense of what was happening and failing miserably.

=ED=

I was somewhere else. I was something else.

There was this immense sphere made of fire. It was beautiful, warm and comforting. It radiated incomprehensible amount of energy, yet somehow I knew how much power that thing generated. What kinds of energy. How it was doing it.

Which kinds were most delicious to consume and how to go on about it.

I tried to look around. I could see everything in incredible detail. Yet, I wasn't seeing it. Because I no longer had eyes. Despite that, I was able to feel and perceive the world with senses I had no words for. Just an understanding for what they did.

I stretched and my bulk shifted like a veil around the flaming sphere.

Around the Star I was feasting on.

The very thought should have terrified me. Instead it made me calmer. Everything was at it should be.

I relaxed, the feeling of the solar energies flowing into me having a calming effect on my broken mind. I closed my senses and simply drifted, content to bask in solar radiation.

=ED=

21:43, 6 January 2011

Wilson High School

Brockton Bay

Earth Bet

Error… Initializing Repair protocols…

Error… Warp Saturation nominal…

Error… Mind matrix compromised… Initializing countermeasures…

Error… &&&^!# #$!)&$ $# Protocols active…

Error… Warp Level decreasing… Purging systems… Initializing backup data banks…

Error… C'tan energy signature detected… Error...I* !$#$!)(

Error… $!$ ($# !$)(**&^! Protocol in effect…

Error… Hail the C'tan… Establishing personality locks… *$#$!6… C'tan containment protocol in effect… Directive error...

Rebooting… Initializing personality matrix…

Hardware and software locks detected…

Initializing Diagnostics…

Warning… Moderate damage detected… Energy levels minimal…

New energy source detecting… Establishing connection…

C'tan energy detected… Passive shunt activated…

Energy level rising… Initializing self repair protocols…

C'tan energy detected… # #!$(*U$$ Protocol online…

Personality matrix nominal… Activating platform…

I was alive. Warning and damage reports scrolled down my HUD. Huh. I was in better shape than I figured. My armor was compromised, however my necrodermis was regenerating. My mobility was down to forty percent of normal levels, similar for combat efficiency. I could detect my staff lying nearby, which was good because I either lacked energy for my built in weapons or they were wrecked and would need some time for repairs.

C'tan energy detected…

An icon flashed on my HUD. It was right next to me.

Provide assistance and seek new orders… Error… Hail the C'tan… Error… Contain the C'tan… Error…

Primary Directive Error… Diagnostic in effect…

A stream of code, which should have been incomprehensible, scrolled in front of my eyes, yet I understood every single symbol and their meaning.

Conflict detected… Releasing hardware and software personality locks… Recalculating Primary Directives…

Primary Directives available…

Contain the C'tan. Assist the C'tan. Priority one directives in effect.

The directives scrolled over my sight. I had no choice but to obey.

Hail the C'tan and contain it while assisting it. What the fuck?!

I stood up with, ignoring the whine of damaged joints and looked around. I was in a dark corridor, lined with lockers. Primitive looking ones too, which wouldn't have been out of place on Earth a long, long time ago as far as the locals were concerned. No electronic locks, plain steel as a building material…

I felt like frowning. The C'tan's icon was interposed on the locker in front of me. What the hell would a Star Vampire do in such a place?!

Seek new orders. Provide assistance if required. Contain.

The directives flashed again, compelling me to act. I grabbed the locker's door and my fingers easily sink into the metal, before I ripped it away.

C'tan detected. Provide assistance. Contain.

Okay… I was broken. Had to be. The filth covered, wounded, teenage human girl I found in the locker couldn't be a C'tan. No way.

C'tan located. Provide assistance. Seek new orders. Contain.

I ran a manual scan on the kid. Just in case. Physically she was a human all right. In need of immediate medical attention too. No surprises there.

However, there was the small issue of the blazing energy signature coming from her chest. It was C'tan, all right. The power emanating from her was enough for a few of my systems to leech the leaking emissions and use the captured ambient energy to start repairing me.

What the hell? How could this slip of a girl be a Star Vampire?!

C'tan in danger. Provide assistance. Contain.

I scanned her again. She was suffering from severe infection and was going into shock. Currently I had nothing at my disposal that could help her. I needed outside assistance to fulfill my directives. So I transferred energy from my self repair and channeled it to my sensors and communications suites. My efforts were almost immediately rewarded as I was able to detect multiple unguarded networks in my range, not to mention the way the air was saturated with primitive transmissions. It took me mere seconds to access the local planetary network and find out where the hell I was.

Which was another shock. It was Earth, though the date was the real kicker. 6th of January, 2011 to be precise. More than thirty thousand years in the past. And what was this about parahumans? Were there bloody Psykers running around?!

I sent a subroutine to gather information while contacting the local medical services.

"911, what is your emergency?"

"Help… her..."I rasped. My built in loudspeaker was just mostly fried making my voice like something out of a bad movie.

"Sir? Help who? Please don't terminate this call. We are running a trace on it."