-Prologue

This story has been floating around in my head for about a year now, every time I read a ME fic I can't help but think how I could adapt a scene to meet the narrative I have in mind. So here it is, the first chapter of what could be something wonderful that I will remember fondly in the coming decades, or something I and the rest of the community will soon forget and finally have off my mind. But enough worrying, lets get on to the show. Of course feel free to criticize for how I write as this is my first time writing anything more than an essay for school. Also if I continue this story I may ask questions to you guys about suggested names, lore if I can't find anything about it etc.

In a dimly lit room deep within the nigh endless maze of corridors and ladders he sat staring at the table before him, specifically, at the stack of cards that lay in the center. With a sigh he reached forward and drew the top card and placed it on the left of the table face up, an upside down image of a human body, brown with age and blackened in death, sitting locked within a great throne of gold, steel and brass. The corpse's mouth was open, projecting a silent scream that echoed through the unseen layers of the universe. Before the howling cadaver, a legion of angels knelt, crying crimson tears for their fallen lord.

He paused for a second, letting out shuddering breaths before drawing the next card and placing it to the right of the first, a figure standing in ancient Power Armour, wreathed in a billion screaming souls that encircled him like mist. In its right gauntlet, Holy Terra blackened and crumbled. The demigod's blood dripping from his talons. In the dim reaches of the vision, almost an afterthought, a distant howling light faded into darkness and silence while the figure smiled in malevolent glee.

With a shaking hand he hesitated for a second before drawing a third card, and let out a relieved breath when he drew a right side up version of the first card.

Then with only a short pause he quickly he drew the forth card and placed at the end of the line made of the first three cards, A infinitely complex swirling pattern of stars in their billions, grand in their majesty, and yet seemingly fragile despite, or perhaps because of, their near limitless numbers.

Finally he drew the fifth and final card and laid it down at the end of the line of cards, a figure wreathed in fine cloth and exotic furs that strained around his bulk. A extravagant hat resting atop his head while he gazed into the void beyond with brazen arrogance while shadowed figures stood together behind him each strikingly different in appearance and yet still giving the impression of being the same.

After a few minutes the man finally spoke in a deep voice, used to command and yet having been weakened by the ravages of age. "The inverted Emperor and the Despoiler, the Emperor and the Galaxy, and finally the Trader. Signs of hopeless war, corruption, and unavoidable bloodshed. But yet there is hope... A journey of galactic importance. But yet what could the Trader..."

He was brought back to reality when the shadow behind him shifted before speaking in a slightly muffled voice from behind his mask. "Shall I leave you to your meditations while I oversee the cleanup below?"

"Yes, that would be for the best, I must rest and interpret the full meaning of this divination with haste."

"As the Emperor wills it..."

"Inquisitor"

I originally intended the first chapter to be where we were actually introduced to our main characters. But I had only written the first paragraph before realizing that I wanted to give more setup rather than jumping straight into the action, besides this allows me to give you a better idea of the Inquisitors motivations in Ch1, besides, I always intended for this to have happened in the background but I also didn't know how to explain it through dialogue between characters later on without it seeming like a poor excuse I came up with for events after I had already written it.

Please take note that I don't intend to make 40k to overshadow mass effect for a very long time and even then it will be in a supporting role rather than doing everything by itself. One of my biggest worries while writing this is actually that I will focus to heavily on a single character or take to much attention off of the 40k part of the story. I won't be going as far as Upon The Wings Of Eagles with space hulks chaos temples everywhere but I do want to give the new characters have some ramifications on the way the universe progresses through the games.