It had been little over fifteen minutes since the meeting first took place. Franz wasn't happy to be going back, especially since being inside the hanger deck. From inside you could see the planet drifting ominously. As he approaches the thunderhawk, he stops and listens. The whispering is back, louder and more intense. He shutters. A slap on back snaps him out of it. "You OK?" Haigs asks.
He didn't want to show that he is breaking. he refuse to admit the truth. Instead he makes up a excuse. "Jitters man."
"Space marines don't get the Jitters. You out rank me and your my friend, but I wont let you jeopardize this mission." Franz felt anger boiling up inside him. He couldn't believe someone he called brother would show him so little respect, especially from a knight from another chapter. The man dishonor not only himself, but his entire chapter. Yet somewhere deep within his mind, beyond his own arrogance and pride, he knew that Haig was in the right. That put him squarely in the wrong. He hated being wrong. 330Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLXTUkklkrs
They boarded the thunderhawk and broke orbit, then enter the atmosphere. Over the hum of the engines, he could hear the faint distinct female whispering. Once again he couldn't make out what is being said and no one seem to take notice. But that didn't stop him from looking anyway. If only to confirm he isn't crazy.330Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI93ETUf2WR
The flight had so far been long and boring and that did nothing to sooth the anger burning within him. It is like red hot coals about to get ignite and bath him in fire. It finally dawned on him that the whispering is mocking his ability to gain respect. The inability to force others to respect him. Ten minutes into the flight Haig starts arguing again. "Your brothers are talking in hushed whispers about you. I need you to be honest with me."330Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6yX6Vmrgpv
Franz's face plate is pressed against the glass. They were passing over the capital. Down below were millions of blackened skeletons half-buried in the snow drift. The sight causes him to recoil. He rests a hand on Haig's right pauldron. His hand gets slapped away.330Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsi2nJvkaxr
"What are you talking about?" Franz responded with a scoff and sighs under his breath. "More ghost stories?"
"Your brothers have been talking, talking about strange occurrences that involve you."330Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKqH0sBTUfv
They finally landed just this side of the battlefield. As the ramp fell, a fierce wind battered the transport. Peering out from the inside, the post-war nuclear haze concealed everything. It was made worse by the jet thrust from the four turbine engines of the thunderhawk. Franz took the first step out into the maelstrom and was instantly consumed by the storm. It was a simple mission relatively speaking: walk straight until your past the battlefield and scout out the surrounding area around the pyramid. But nothing about the circumstances of this mission made it easy. Didn't help that wind was talking to him. Taking only the briefest moment to inspect his weapon, he signals for Haig to follow behind him into the maelstrom. His partners eye burrow into back. His stare were like a laz cannon.330Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN1MtNqw9bR
All plant life on the planet was either dead or dying creating massive rivers of sludge and making it hard for the air scrubbers to keep out the smell of decay. The light acidic rain that had occurred just hours ago didn't wash the sludge away. in fact, it made it worse. Now the torrential flood causes his boots to sink into the murky earth. Now the bad situation had become a special flavor of worse, ship sensors detected a massive storm building over the southern ocean. Time was short. 330Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmVDBn1MjMI
The sky was a veil, a low sun hung in the sky and was occasionally visible through the breaks in the unsettling weather. Frigid winds were eroding the smooth surfaces of ice chunks, some the size of a chimera, leaving them jagged. There were silhouettes in the haze. The sight sent memories running down his spine like a chill. A nightmare just out of sight. In that moment all anger he felt for Haig was gone.330Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVIKdeflFlZ
He warns the inexperienced battle brother, "Don't go near the silhouettes."330Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4JsC9zlw31
"What silhouettes? I don't see anything." Franz helmet light illuminates the shadow of a woman with no visible source. The woman doesn't react to them. In fact, she doesn't even notice the current state of the planet. She continues to flee from some unseen threat until she fades from sight. You could still hear her crying, the unsettling sound sends shivers down the spine of even the emotionally stoic space marines. 330Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiX7Lkst5vc
"Your brother were right." Haig cries out backing away from him. "Strange stuff happen when people are around you. They warned me about you. Your cursed franz."330Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVgLVAF1ZaG
"For the love of the Emporer, shut up Haig. If don't want to die, you will shut up and listen to me. Don't go near the silhouettes."330Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPyMudEcMxm
Haig stops for one tense second and thinks to himself. Out of the corner of Franz eyes, he could see Haig's trigger finger itching. Franz really hopes there wasn't going to be a firefight down here.330Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8xYp2G3g8V
Haig lowers his gun, "What are they?"
"Latent physic energy, but the superstitious lot akin them to a haunting. These people didn't die willing and linger on." Franz replies from experience. The woman moves on. You can still hear her faint crying on the wind. They continue onward through the murky battlefield until something else gives them a reason to pause. There were two shadows just ahead. One was a woman desperately clutching her child. The other one is her terribly panicked child.
"So much for the imperial guard gaining control of the situation." Franz voice was dry, gravely, and devoid of mirth. "Be thankful you never visited a exterminatus world. The elder brothers call them haunted worlds. These civilian weren't Chaos worshipers, they just got too close to the warp. The result is that they can't move on. Some part of them remains trapped in the warp, wandering aimlessly, repeating those terrible final moment leading up to their death. A death the imperium largely continues to choose for its citizens." They continued to walk as Franz spoke.
"All things have an effect on the warp, even death. People who die tragically have a strange affect on it. Chaos members want to die, they yearn for its embrace. These people didn't. So in a twisted sort of way, it preserves them. Look up ahead -" there was an imperial checkpoint, an entrance for vehicles that consisted of a raisable barricade with dragon's teeth and barbwire on either side. "Imperial guard still on duty even in death. Come they will let us pass-" The imperial shades stepped aside letting the marines pass. One of the guards even gives a salute. Then the guards vanished out of sight leaving only their skeletons remaining at their duty post.
The temperature had suddenly plummeted, the world became deathly still. The silhouettes had vanished. "What's going on?" Haig asks.
"There are thing worse than death. Things that transcended death -" There were shapes moving through the mist, not mere shadows. But something flesh and blood, real as you or me. Water splashes from footfalls. Finally, they stagger out of this mist. With each step, the water and mud began to boil. Steam rises from their still-smoldering bodies. "Is this how the warp also preserves peoples?" Haig screams.
"Sadly, yes," Franz screams back. "It preserved their hate, their terrible anguish." These people weren't recognizable. It was dubious if they had ever been human. These creatures bodies were badly burned, flesh charred.
"We are angels of mercy to the innocent and death to the enemies of man." Haig says taking pity on the creatures. "I know not what hell had spawned such abominations. But I'll surely put you down. Lay your souls to rest."
Frabz could let him continue to show such anger toward these pitfull damed souls. "These are not demons, Haig. These are heat revenants. Human souls torment by their fiery death. They need to be consecrated. But be warned, their touch is hot as a melta."
A hand reaches out gripping Haig's right forearm. The ceramite plating begins to warp from just a couple of second of exposure to creature's iron grip. He knocks the creature to the ground with a devastating kick and bringing his boot down on it, crushing it. Both marines brandish their chain-swords against the revenants, chopping them down like burnt trees. Despite returning from the dead, they went down easy and stayed down. The battle had lasted minutes, but it felt like an eternity. It was something you never forget, something that changes the way you viewed the universe. Haig laid kneeling on the ground staring down at the pitiable creatures. Every detail of his fellow battle brother was concealed by his armor.
"What is it Haig?"
"Is this our fate? To linger on. Do we fight for the Emperor only to remain trapped between worlds?" His voice sounded hollow; filled with sadness and despair.
"It's the choice we all made for the Emperor," Franz replies. "A chance we'd all taken. It's not a certainty that we'll become like them. Just a possibility. Best not to dwell on it." His words didn't comfort his battle brother like he thought. He knelt there in silence.
After a while, Haig rose to his feet. "You knew about the ghost stories? That their true?"
"Yes, but some things just have to be experience for yourself. There is much more to the warp than chaos. Things your not ready to confront ... or accept."
"What of you? Of the strange things that seem to plague your life?" Haig points out
"I've lived longer than most should. I've seen more war than anyone should have. To live a eternity of war is a fate worse than death; worse than any other fate. Because of this, I suffer. I can't even explain the things that happen to me. But you asked me to be honest. I hear whispers on the winds. Visions haunt my every steps. I fear my time is at a end." Haig fell silent for a long while.
Finally he forces himself to speak barely able to choke the words out. "It's not too late brother. I won't give up on you." Haig made gesture to push ahead.
They passed the rest of the battlefield almost unhindered. By now the nuclear chill had seeped into Franz body. "There it is," he screamed over the prevailing winds howling all around him. Screaming into his vox to be heard. "It's the pyramid. It looks nothing like the simulations. Over there is the southern city." - to Franz, the abandoned city looked like one of those abandon colony on the fringes, long since forgotten during the age of strife. There was also similarities to the pictures of earth before the Emperor took dominance over it. The spare, functional city was made of plasteel and ceramite rebar structures. The main street had several abandoned vehicles and was fronted by several large buildings, a completely collapsed cathedral, and smaller shacks in various stages of disrepair. Composite-shingled roofs sagged under accumulated snow. Drifts as high as ten feet collected between the buildings and almost completely buried some of the smaller, heavily damaged structures. The rest of the city had been completely swallowed up by the sinkhole caused by the emergence of the pyramid. Most eerie was dark pall that hung over the place. At this time a permeant shadow fell over the ghost town from the massive pyramid. Thirty meters down they could see thousands of bodies. They were chaos marines, corrupted guardsmen, cultist and just all manner of chaos supporters.330Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj9wYWoewJK
There were the sounds of heavy fighting - bolter rounds rang out sporadically then fell deathly silent. At the end of the street, a faction belonging to Nurgle was locked in a life and death struggle against an ancient terror.
"These weren't part of the invading warband." Franz says zooming on their armor. "They must've been attracted by the decay in the air." Many of their armor's filtration systems were heavily damage or had stopped functioning centuries ago. But it didn't matter much to the forces of decay. Their near death like state made them all but immune to radiation.
Now the force of decay had fallen prey to something else. Franz never heard the ancient terror before, except maybe in his nightmares. But they sounded exactly how he would have imagined. The movement of the abhorrent was both slow and clunky, marked with the echoing sound of clanking and accompanied with the sound of metal grinding together. The sound of grinding metal made it feel like his teeth were going to shatter. The only thing he saw was two green mechanical eyes peering out from the dark - a blast of green lightning flayed the armor and skin from one of the chaos warriors.
"Run," Franz whispers to Haig ...
ns 15.158.61.48da2
