The 'Fall of Tyran' Exhibit, Tomb World of Solemnace, 999.M41

Velex Martanis, Lieutenant of the 17th Indigan Praefects Imperial Guardsmen Regiment

The first leaper that tried to pounce fell with a good portion of it's head seared away by her lasgun fire, the second she gutted with her fixed bayonet as it scythed over her head and into the wall at her back. The Leaper was still alive as it crashed down behind her, so Velex took three rapid and uncertain steps to her left, unwilling to turn her back on the swarm to kill even a clear threat to her back as it flailed and screeched it's death rattle to the world..

The next few moments were a blur, two rapidly tossed grenades the last of her ordinance that tore apart the chitin and flesh of the Tyranids prowling towards her and the wall, even as two Shooter types fell to her lasfire as they tried to slay her from afar.

As one of the larger Tyranids stalked toward her however, ignoring the slowly returning cover fire from the wall above and behind her, it's taloned feet disturbed the mound of Tyranid corpses she had been struggling to keep a firm footing on. The mound collapsed outwards towards the larger Tyranid, sweeping Velex from her feet and down towards the upraised talons of the beast below.

"Our Blades Never Rest!" Even as she faced her death, Velex maintained the cold fury that her regiment was known for, shouting her company's battle cry even as she dropped into striking range of the beast and raising her lasgun for a last shot at the enemies of the Imperium.

*Click*

The sound of the lasgun failing to fire was audible even as the Tyranid warrior screeched and struck forward, illuminated by a strange golden light that was so bright it forced Velex to blink even as death stabbed down at her.

*Clang*

The sound of a metallic impact, that seemed to reverberate through the air in a manner that sounded like the cathedral bells back in Indigan's Military training base. There was another loud screech from in front of her and the smell of burning filled her nostrils as she opened her eyes and tried to peer up at the figure now standing in front of her.

"Come now Lieutenant, your service to the Imperium isn't over yet!" It was the Stormtrooper from before, standing holding back one of the talons of the Tyranid Warrior with a large silvered shield that was wreathed in golden fire.

Another Tyranid warrior appeared at his flank, even as the first drew back as the flames travelled up its talon and began to consume its flesh, almost as if the flame was a living creature. Even though she knew her weapon was empty, Velex was aiming and pulling the trigger.

A bolt of energy, the same colour as the flames on the Stormtrooper's shield and easily half again the size of a standard lasbolt, erupted from the end of her lasgun and nearly decapitated the Tyranid warrior as it slammed into its neck. A strange tiredness came over her for a second, as the Tyranid Warrior collapsed backward, the same flames erupting from it's wound and beginning to spread, but she shook it off and forced herself to an unsteady crouch.

"Your will is strong Lieutenant, you will need that in the coming days." The Stormtrooper raised his helpistol lancing out as a beam of death that cut down several of the smaller Tyranids in the time it took for Velex to line up her next shot.

Luckily, it seemed that the Tyranid swarm was finally spent, at least those that were trying to attack them. Off in the distance, she could see the indications of fighting still going on.

"Lieutenant, you are truly blessed by the Emperor!" The cry came from the Commissar that had left with Sergeant Poranix, leading a mixed force of almost forty Guardsmen from the safety of the walls in a manner that told Velex a lot about the type of Commissar he was.

"The Emperor is not the only one to thank for my arrival officer. Though we can discuss your 'faith' and introduce you to our new allies when we have finished dealing with these Xenos once and for all." When the Stormtrooper spoke, there was an undercurrent of confidence and authority that Velex could see making the Guardsmen stand a little taller, a couple of them even enthusiastically cheering and readying their weapons.

Suddenly there was an explosive discharge in the distance, overwhelming the sounds of the Tyranids for a moment and sending body parts flying back into view from where an obviously fake ice crag blocked their sight line.

"No offence Sir, but it looks like your 'allies' are doing better than we were." Velex had heard stories of Imperial Saints, warriors of faith who were chosen to be the Emperor's voice and fist against the enemies of the Imperium.

The stories varied wildly, so she was a little uncertain about whether she was overstepping her bounds by speaking up or not. Especially as the power being shown just out of view implied quite heavily of a powerful psyker, if not another Imperial Saint.

"It is not the obvious Xenos that we are going to hunt now Lieutenant, we will win more goodwill dealing with those that try to hunt, to stalk…" The Saint's gun suddenly shot up, unleashing a blast that incinerated three Leapers that had been running away from the fighting.

"I have clearly missed much while I slumbered, but Standard Doctrine should still apply here. Split into teams of five and sweep the ground from the wall to the trenches, I want our men separated from the Xenos bodies if possible and every Xenos corpse checked. Sergeant, you are in command." And without another word, the Saint stepped forward towards the remaining fighting at a brisk pace.

"Well Lieutenant, it seems we get another chance to deliver the Emperor's fury upon our foes!" Velex nodded even as she moved to keep pace with the Saint, the Commissar still eager to fight despite the horrors of the battlefield before them…

Quite honestly, all Velex wanted to do now was have a nice, long bath...

The Imperial Heroes 'Archive', Tomb World of Solemnace, 999.M41

Trazyn the Infinite, Necron Overlord and 'Archaeovist' of the Solemnace Galleries

Cutting down a Tyranid Warrior that had attempted to lead a small swarm of minor Tyranids against where he and his 'ally' were holding the entrance to the exhibit where the beasts had escaped from, Trazyn uttered a grunt of disgust even as the Tyranids that had been following the beast fell prey to the psionic shockwave of the Empathic Obliterator.

"Such a mess, the beasts can't even die cleanly…" Though even as his 'body' stepped onto the neck of the beast he had slain and used it as a brace to advance forward, Trazyn knew the real reason fury and anger were fermenting at the back of his mind, and not just because he was being forced to deal with these cretins personally.

These Tyranids had been his last attempt to keep the beasts in containment for his galleries, each swarm he tried to 'collect' from being more aware of his thefts and quicker to respond to his forces with overwhelming force. And given the Vuros exhibit incident, Trazyn was being forced to rationalise that the beasts were more trouble than they were worth.

"Confringo!" Watching from the corner of his vision as a wave of power burst from the psyker, who had not let a single Tyranid get within 10 metres of the doorway since they had moved to this position, Trazyn found himself glad of at least one part of the Tyranid exodus from their exhibit.

The blast of power was aimed at the hulking form of a Carnifex that had begun bulling it's way towards them from deeper in the exhibit, though the dozens of Tyranids skittering forward between them weren't spared from the roiling waves of psychic energy, only a brood of Tyranid warriors that had been 'commanding' the assembled Tyranids able to resist the energy that detonated their smaller brethren as if each had digested one of the Human primitive explosives..

The Carnifex was, unfortunately for the exhibit's veracity, one of the 'later models', as Trazyn had been unable to locate and isolate one of the original Screamers before Hive Fleet Behemoth was halted at Macragge. The bulkier, armoured form buckled under the force of the psyker's attack, but even as it was blasted back a dozen paces it roared in anger and bucked against the force, crushing at least a dozen of the smaller Tyranids under it's bulk before the psychic force dissipated.

Forced to look away and eviscerate a trio of Hormagaunts that were attempting to surprise him, the empathic obliterator thrumming with power as it discharged another shockwave in the direction of a brood of Termagaunts that were trying to rush between the two of them, Trazyn had to quash the slightest feeling of relief that bubbled up inside of him at the strange man's presence.

Given his lack of personal forces at his disposal, Trazyn knew he would have been forced to 'cleanse' the entire floor of the exhibit, and that would have been aggravating to say the least. It wasn't as if he was going to dirty his hands and clear the floor all by himself, even if he could avoid getting directly involved through his body doubles.

"Keep this up human and I will forgive you for stealing the bell!" The exclamation surprised even Trazyn as he shouted it across the room, but if there was one thing Trazyn hated it was owing anyone anything.

"You're still going on about the bell? I should be charging YOU for this! What the hell are these things?" The human didn't know about the Tyranids?

That was interesting information to know, but given how much the humans in charge liked to keep their minions in the dark about the true horrors of the Galaxy, that didn't really help Trazyn narrow down the human's origins too much.

The human was forced to dodge as the Carnifex lumbered forward to him, the damnable bell ringing once more as he did so. This time though, there wasn't mass destruction or a wave of energy from the bell to contend with. Instead, suddenly there were figures appearing around them in flashes of sulphuric flames, figures that towered over even Trazyn as they unleashed waves of disciplined fire into the rapidly shrinking Tyranid swarm.

"The Legion of the Damned… this human truly is worth my attention." Trazyn, ever the student and purveyor of history, had heard of the Legion before now.

But even he'd never actually seen one of them before today, something that had infuriated him on a minor basis for millennia, given their pivotal role in some of the Imperium's greatest conflicts.

There were six of them in total, five armed with the typical Space Marine bolters that were cutting down any Tyranids that got close to them or their… Summoner? Leader? The sixth was a giant even amongst his own kind, probably of a similar size to the Astartes member that Trazyn had 'saved' from a Genestealer Broodlord during an ill-advised Inquisitorial investigation of the Hive World of Harroth.

In one hand he wielded a crackling power sword that was clearly meant to be used with both hands, and in the other one of those strange power shields the humans liked to use in close quarters. Even a Space Marine of that size was dwarfed by the Carnifex that was bearing down on it, but the Legionnaire didn't even flinch as he counter-charged, battering through three of the Termagaunts that had stood in his way.

"Rarghhh!" Suddenly the human, who had backed away a little further from the conflict at the arrival of the Legionnaires, fell to one knee and gripped his head in pain.

Given the level of psionics he had seen thrown around so far, Trazyn wasn't surprised there was something of a backlash, though he hoped that the presence of the Tyranids was disrupting the warp somewhat.

He didn't want to deal with one of those accursed Demons right when they were just getting the exhibit back under control…

!"£$%^&*()_+

The Realm of the Warp, Tomb World of Solemnace, 999.M41

?, ?

It had been drawn through the eddies of the warp by a beacon of energy that crossed dozens of lightyears of 'real space', even as some of it's brethren seemed to be put off by the tempestuous nature of the area surrounding the new beacon.

But it couldn't resist, the energy was so free, it was clear that the food source would not be a challenge to overwhelm even with the power it was exhibiting.

Two more of their brethren had approached from different planes, and it took a moment to savour the fact that it was the oldest of the gathered triarch. Such a fact could be used in the division of the energy gathered when they breached the wall of the immaterium.

Surrounding the Beacon's position, it extended its psychic energy as a telepathic spear, joined by the attacks of it's brethren as they attempted to overwhelm any innate resistance their new gateway might possess. The first 'wall' was torn down in a matter of moments, though it took more effort than it had expected for a newly awakened meal.

As it prepared its power to strike, already anticipating the sweet taste that awaited, it was shocked when something struck back, tearing through the initial spear of energy it had sent as well as the weapons of it's brethren. Still, such a desperate show of defiance was nothing against the might of three, one of its brethren committing more power to the assault.

Such a powerful wave like assault was going to have a negative impact in the short term, as it would no doubt affect the food source in the other dimension in a manner that was obvious. But a puppet with such power should be able to resist the attention of it's kind long enough for them to convert it to a feeding portal…

Such thoughts were thrown from its mind as the brethren that had attacked was thrown backwards with a blast of energy from the beacon, the energy not chaotic and unfocussed as the first defence had been, instead a tight beam of destruction that had burned through the brethren's body from one side to another.

Even as the trap was revealed, as there was no way the food source was not prepared for them given its ability to defend its mind, it tried to break off the connection to the food source. As rich as the victory would have been, it was not worth the risk of an eternal end. However, the connection was no longer its own to control, its energy chained in the black energy that dragged it further into the beacon, its own energy being used to break the barrier between dimensions as a voice echoed in its head.

"You think you can hide from the Master of Death?" The language was unfamiliar, but somehow it understood regardless, its brethren reduced to a drained husk as its energy was used to supplement its own.

With a crash like that of worlds colliding, it was suddenly in the other dimension, more drained and exhausted than it had been in all its existence. In front of it, moving to its feet and anger literally exploding from its beacon, the food source didn't look afraid as it desperately tried to overwhelm its mind once more.

Then the food source moved one of it's limbs, and dark green light rushed towards it, battering through its psychic defences as if they weren't even there…

!"£$%^&*()_+

The Imperial Heroes 'Archive', Tomb World of Solemnace, 999.M41 moments later

Harry Potter, Master of Death

His head hurt. That was probably the understatement of the day, and that was including the moment he'd thought 'what could go wrong' before activating the ritual to transport himself to this… hellscape or wherever he was.

The mental assault of the strange brain/tentacle looking things had been far stronger than almost anything he had encountered previously, and something that made him far more cautious about tripping anymore of the 'wires' he could see in the turbulent magic around him. Voldemort had only been 'stronger' because his mental attacks had attacked from inside Harry's mind itself, rather than having to break in directly.

"An enslaver, as your race calls them, and in near perfect condition too. A delightful addition to my collection" The throbbing headache, which Occlumency only helped with slightly as he was concentrating on patching up his mental defences in case any more of the things turned up, was not helped by the sound of his 'ally' from about 10 metres away.

"My kill, my trophy." The attack on his mind had generated more than enough negative emotions and general hate for him to use the Killing curse, and Harry had long gotten over the Stigmata of 'dark and illegal' spells.

Something about the spells though had an intoxicating effect on his darker emotions that he struggled to rein in, and remembering the feel of the surrounding magic it was clear he was going to have to evaluate such use more carefully.

"Of course, of course, once your minions have finished off the remaining Tyranids we can discuss the terms for my purchasing of such an exquisite piece. I don't suppose you could repeat such a trick?" Minions? Tyranids?

Forcing himself to focus on what was going on around him, which admittedly was a bad idea for him to do in the first place, Harry was surprised to find the battle pretty much finished. The largest of the attacking aliens collapsed to one side of him, it's head pretty much carved from the rest of its body, and the remaining smaller aliens were being blown apart.

Stepping down from its back was a figure that managed to somehow be more intimidating than the robot who Harry had first encountered, his heavy armoured frame towering over Harry as it turned away from him and towards several similar warriors who were slaughtering the aliens Harry assumed were the Tyranids the robot mentioned. To his surprise and extreme relief, Harry could see three actual humans that had now joined the fighting from the rear of the Aliens position, though the fact one of them was literally glowing with magical energy was a considerable surprise.

Doing his best to ignore the pain in his head for now, as much to prevent the robot or these new arrivals as seeing him as weak rather than anything as stupid as pride, Harry forced himself to his feet. Seeing one of the smaller Tyranids, clearly injured given it was missing one of its large front talons, stalking up behind the three humans Harry raised his wand and snapped off the weakest reducto he could manage.

The spell curved over the heads of the three humans, thanks to a couple of minute twists Harry had added to the wand motion, the woman of the trio pausing as she had been raising her gun in his direction when it impacted the smaller Tyranid like a grenade going off.

It seemed the death scream of the Tyranid, as well as the globbets of flesh and blood that splattered around her and onto her back, made his friendly intentions clear enough for her to focus back on the enemies around her instead.

In a matter of moments, the battlefield was clear of all enemies but the masses of corpses that littered the field, though the majority of the heavily armoured warriors still strode throughout the chamber, discharging their weapons here and there without a spoken word to coordinate their efforts..

Moving towards the three humans, in the hopes that one of them would be able to provide him with some insight into this madness, Harry noticed out of the corner of his eye that the robot was standing back for now. This was probably due to it being stared down by the sword wielding warrior who had killed the largest Tyranid, though why they were acting so aggressively towards each other at a time of victory was going to be one of the first questions Harry would be asking.

"!£&%R) "*$£dc warriors! £$&^% the $£&"(r!" The non-glowing male of the trio was speaking with a clear tint of awe and amazement in his tone, though most of the words he spoke were gobbledygook to Harry, and even those he recognised were roughly spoken and with an accent.

In fact, some of the words sounded closer to Latin than English, somewhat dashing the hopes Harry had when the robot had spoken the language.

"Greetings! I don't suppose you understand me?" Both of the non-glowing humans didn't seem to understand a word he had spoken, the man actually looking at him with suspicion and distrust rather than the relief he had shown at the sight of the armoured warriors.

"You speak Gothic traveller?" The glowing one spoke a little haltingly, with a manner that made it seem more like he was remembering a school lesson rather than a dialect he was familiar with.

Better than Harry had feared though, so he nodded firmly and decided not to correct the name.

"I am Harry Potter, and it's probably for the best that you assume I have no knowledge about anything that's going on." He wasn't sure whether to bow, salute or exchange his hand for a shake, so settled for inclining his head forward in a respectful nod.

"~€{_¥] filth! You []|~}} :# the…" The other man shouted something, raising the glowing sword he was carrying in a threatening manner, only to freeze at the sound of a gun being readied just behind Harry.

Turning his head slightly even as the man froze, Harry was surprised to find one of the heavily armoured warriors stood less and two feet from him, having seemingly approached silently despite the corpses littering the ground and the fact he clearly weighed a tonne in that armour. He had his gun pointed at the man who had shouted at Harry, a clear sign of support that Harry wasn't quite certain how he'd earned.

"As amusing as watching you monkeys threaten each other all cycle is, I'd prefer if you could get your minions out of the way so that my scarabs can clean up the exhibit." The robot was still standing some distance away from them, though both man and woman raised their weapons in its direction almost instantly.

"Xenos!" The Latin word for alien, spat with a vitriol that was as impressive as it was concerning, lost some of its impact as both froze up instantly and without any obvious sign of a spell being cast.

"I do so find that word distasteful, especially as my kind were here millennia before your ancestors stopped flinging shit at each other. And do you really think I would install my exhibits without some safety precautions?" The robot's tone was mirthful as he sidestepped the large warrior and moved forward, though he stopped a reasonable distance away from the group still.

"Though I sense that my scarabs have been purged from your host, Saint, so I wonder why I am not dealing with your misguided zeal." The glowing man shrugged, as if the insults to his faith were not worth his time, before gesturing at the large warrior behind Harry.

"If you were a current threat, Necron, then the Astartes would deal with you far faster than I would. Besides, given the path ahead of us, you will find working with us far more beneficial than working against us. Besides, given I am arisen through your actions, whether you realise your involvement or not, I thought to offer a chance for a more active role in the events I see ahead." It was like joining an in depth conversation of the meta-physical properties of magic part way through, Harry was recognising the majority of the words being used but the context was much harder to grasp.

"Please tell me you aren't talking about divining the future and deciding everything based on that?" Harry's stomach dropped as the glowing man nodded his head with a self assured smile.

He was actually starting to miss the idiots of the Wizarding World…

A/N: Phew, this is actually starting to get harder to write!

Which is a shame, because at times I am very much enjoying writing sections of it, where I don't have to try and work out who will shoot who for what etc…

Key points in this Chapter:

For those that can't be bothered to look up the Lore. Saint Gerstahl was a Imperial Guardsman who died at Cadia just after the end of the Horus Heresy. He was prophesied to be resurrected 'when the eye of darkness opened for the last time and stem the tide'. To his credit, Abaddon actually decided he wasn't going to wait for said resurrection to deal with the problem, and that a Black Crusade was a decent distraction for his own assault on the Shrine World Gerstahl's remains were kept on.

Now, officially, Abaddon destroyed Gerstahl's remains when his forces overwhelmed the world's defences. But, with Trazyn already having the Bell from said Shrine World, I can see the Thief deciding to go one step further…

Yes, that is the Legion of the Damned. I haven't fully decided to have them be the 'righteous souls' of fallen Space Marines still aiding the Imperium or not, but it would definitely give Harry's 'Master of Death' title new meaning if he can summon a Legion of phantasmal Space Marines with a love of fire and destruction on command.

Enslavers, which are going to be unfamiliar to those not familiar with WH 40k lore. These things live in the warp, aren't demons and prey on psykers, controlling them and turning their bodies into portals for more enslavers to come through. Once in the 'material plane', they turn any psychic receptive being they encounter into mindless husks, gaining power with each husk and therefore being able to control more from a greater distance.

These are the true dark monsters hiding under 40K's bed, in the sense that an Enslaver Plague is credited with the final fall of the Old Ones and the near destruction of all intelligent life in the Galaxy.

But they don't have big guns or scary monstrosities… So they aren't 'fun'.

The nonsense words in the section from Harry's perspective are deliberate. As has been hinted at, English is the original Gothic. Not High Gothic or Low Gothic as is bandied around now, this is the language of Terra pre Dark Age of Technology. While there will be some crossover, the language of the Imperium in the 41st Millenium is a horrible mix of languages tossed together by a few surviving intellectuals that have muddled through 'How To' Manuals written in dozens of different languages and regional dialects.

My view is, STCs were probably written like the manuals we get today for washing machines etc. And the Tech Priests on Mars took the whole thing and decided it wasn't just copied, the different languages obviously were different 'techna-lingua' for ways to run their equipment.

Right, long explanation/rant over. Hope you all enjoyed it, leave a review and let me know what you think!

Defias Out!