C. Goto - Dawn of War

The opening seemed to gape and beg for him to slaughter the vile greenskin. Gabriel watched the ork flail and thrash with its power claw, but it all seemed pathetically slow. And there, in the centre of the frenzy of claws was a gap which the ork had left completely unprotected-Gabriel could see it as clear as day, as though the light of the Astronomican itself was piercing it for him. But, as he stepped forward to run his chainsword through the enemy, the choir in his head started to wail and scream, and the beautiful silver light started to run with blood.

Gabriel screamed as he thrust his blade into the beast’s chest, and then he ground the whirring teeth of the chainsword deeper into the creature’s abdomen before ripping it free with a vicious upward swing. The nob was rent in two as it fell back under the strike, already dead before it hit the ground.

All around the camp, the remnants of the ork mob started to wail and shriek. They turned and tried to run, but were easily cut down by volleys of fire from the other Blood Ravens.

“Gabriel?” Isador was at his shoulder, his hand resting gently on his punctured and torn armour. “Gabriel, are you alright?”

“Yes. Yes, I’m fine,” answered Gabriel, wondering why Isador was making such a fuss. He had fallen to the ground after the battle with the ork boss, but now pulled himself to his feet to face the Librarian. “I’m fine, Isador.”

“Your scream had me worried, brother,” said Isador looking around the camp. “And I wasn’t the only one to notice it.” The rest of the squad were stalking around the compound, kicking each ork corpse in turn to make sure that the creatures were really dead, and firing a single shot into the heads of any that groaned.

“I’ll be fine, thank you Isador. Where is Prathios? I must give my praise to the Emperor for this victory,” said Gabriel, searching the scene for the company Chaplain.

“Prathios fought well, captain. He is over there with Corallis, who was injured in the fight,” replied Isador, pointing with his staff to one of the ruined buildings. “After you have seen Prathios, you should visit the Apothecarion to see about those wounds, Gabriel.”

Gabriel looked down at his armour and saw for the first time how much damage it had suffered. The paint was scratched and the plates were riddled with dents, gashes and holes. He couldn’t really remember suffering such an attack.

“Yes, Isador. I will do that. Thank you again,” he said as he turned and made his way over to Prathios and Corallis.

Standing alone in the centre of the compound, Isador surveyed the scene. Not a single Blood Raven had fallen in the attack, although Corallis had lost his left arm. All of the orks had been slain. It had been a good night for hunting after all.

From out of the darkness something cold tapped at the inside of Isador’s mind, and he snapped his head round to stare into the forest at the edge of the compound. There was something in the shadows, something that was not quite there. A wave of whispers seemed to emanate from the darkness, questing for a space in the Librarian’s head. Isador slammed shut the doors to his soul and sent a sharp, noiseless blast into the trees: I will suffer no trespass. At that, the voices seemed to die into silence. After concentrating his gaze on the forest for a few more moments, Isador turned his attention back to the camp. Squinting slightly at the sudden pain in his head, he made his way back towards Gabriel and Prathios, the sound of his captain’s scream resounding in his mind once again.

C.S. Goto (ebook by Undead)

01 – Dawn of War

Terror gripped at his soul, releasing the one thought that the struggling man should have suppressed for all time. He couldn’t hang on to his consciousness as it swam and curdled, as though stirred by the piercing force of a primeval spear. Voices were seducing him from all sides, licking at the inside of his head like exquisite flames, weakening his resolve and drawing him into hell. He could see the sorcerer towering over him, and could sense the muttering voices of his perverted priesthood ringed around him, but there was nothing he could do to fight them. Finally, without a word or even a breath, he cried out with his mind in desperate longing, Choose me!

Chaos Sorcerer Sindri looked down at the ruined husk that was once a Marine of the accursed Alpha Legion, but there was no pity in his stare. His fist was clasped around his Bedlam Staff, clenching and unclenching in impatient anticipation, and, buried deep in the visor sockets of his bladed helmet, Sindri’s eyes glowered a thirsty red.

“He is ready, my lord,” hissed the sorcerer, clearly pained by the requirement of deference. Nonetheless, his tone was soft and sibilant.

“Then proceed, sorcerer, but proceed carefully. If you fail me, this will not be the only sacrifice tonight,” said Chaos Lord Bale bluntly, leaning his impressive weight against the great Manreaper scythe, which seemed to writhe hungrily in his grasp.

The sorcerer did not reply. Instead he pointed with his staff and, without a word, the chosen Chaos Marine slouched towards the edge of the crater, as though held in a trance.

At the bottom of the freshly excavated pit lay an altar. It was little more than a slab of rough hewn stone, but it pulsed with ancient promises. Its sides had been carved with snaking designs and icons depicting sacrifice and slaughter, and dark prayers had been etched into the rock with teeth and bones. Each inscription had drawn the blood of its artisan, and had been made in a frenzy of agony and love. The surface of the altar, stained with the life blood of countless sacrifices, ran with deep grooves and runnels.

The Chaos Marine climbed carefully down the sides of the crater towards the altar, more and more horrified with each step, not able to understand what he was doing. But the voices whispered into his soul, drawing him onwards and dissolving his resistance. He required no escort-despite himself he knew what he had to do. Stealing a glance back up to the rim of the pit, he could see a ring of his battle-brothers from the Alpha Legion, each shimmering in the dark black and green of their ancient armour. They stared down at him in silence, filling the humid night with their heavy malignancy.

As he approached the altar, he realised that Sindri and Lord Bale were there already with retinues of armed Marines fanned out behind them. Just in case. Even in the night and in the heavy shadow of the crater, he could see the steady evil throbbing in their eyes. Lord Bale himself was a monster of a man-hugely tall and draped with corpse-like flesh that paled into a sickly white in the thin moonlight. Only his bladed teeth seemed to reflect any light at all, and that was vicious beyond the imaginings of men. A terrible stench wafted through the night air, and the Chaos Marine noticed for the last time how Bale’s burnished green armour was coated in a thick, ichorous film of ruined flesh. It was the last residue of the countless men who had fallen beneath the Chaos Lord’s war-scythe in his millennia of bloody rampage across worlds and galaxies.

Without any prompting, the nameless Marine climbed up onto the altar and lay down, throwing his arms up over his head and pushing his feet across into the corners of the stone. He closed his eyes and felt the tablet’s almost imperceptible vibrations beneath him. So, this is where it would all begin.

Sindri’s voice was hissing and muttering at the head of the altar, drawing more and more movement from the rock itself, which began to emanate heat. Bale could see the runes and the prayers start to glow around the sides of the tablet, and blood started to ooze out of the eyes of the daemons etched into the stone. In the sky, dark clouds started to congeal and swirl, condensing a sleet of rain and filling the night with sheets of lightning.