Starwarhammer: Book 1 Arrival

Riders Malevolent

The Riders had arrived over "The Dark" of Kassel. They were contacted by the Emperor himself to aid in the attack of this large mine. Deploying quickly towards the landing area. They were meeting with the Emperor and his Guard Legion, Kon Kis marched forward and bowed his body to the Emperor.

"My Emperor, the 200 marines of the Riders Malevolent shall join you in this fight" The Dreadnaught spoke.

"Rise, warrior. Let us march on the enemy, and meet them in battle." Anakin said.

Kon Kis turned.

"Brothers. Let the enemy know death." He shouted.

The Riders Malevolent cheered and followed Kon Kis as they moved towards the Dark. Anakin would reach the loading area, finding no guards....or signs of them....almost no sign.

A cargo container was opened, showing piles of bodies that were thrown in them. Some decaying, some fresh....it was a horrifying sight to say the least. Bodies of every species of sentients, the worst part was, there wasn't blood, even though wounds cover the body, they were drained of blood.

Looking over the edge,  into the dark pit, it slowly became clear of why, the ground was glowing, something was happening.

"Heavy weapons team, fire down. Navy Elements, I am calling for an air strike bombing run the Mining base 001, 100 meters from my location. Go for affect." Anakin stated.

Heavy weapons teams fired rockets and explosives down into the pit. With in a minute, a force of Imperial Bombers were making their way down at a low angle, gliding in, before dropping bombs into the pit, fires spread as a mix of fragmentation and incendiary bombs exploded in the dark pit.

"Begin to move in." Anakin ordered.

Taking the many elevators down, a fight was expected, the dark was more than just a pit mine, there were tunnels all over. It was bothersome there were no guards, or slaves. Anakin was one of the first to reach the lower areas, along with a few marines and clones. Searching the area, those few bodies that were found, had....strange symbols on their bodies.

One man had a tattoo of a skull like shape on his face. A set of bars over his eyes that crossed over his nose, another bare under his eyes, with a triangle under those, running from his nose, to the sides of his mouth, and across his mouth.

Another body, one that looked...burned, had 3 circles and 3 arrows on the center of his their chest, that mark was all that was left of the body, it looked like even the insides were burned.

A woman, her fingers seemingly fused together had a metallic piercing, having it seem like frames come from her eye. Her body was segmented in half, though.....they found a similar body, with a reversed injury. 

The last one was harder to explain. It was a a togruta, who's body was stretched, and the skin was unusually drained, the Lekky and Montrals were also stretched much longer and lacked coloration, something about them was wrong, with the strange disk with two half moon spikes coming out an arm, it didn't help the strange distortion of them.

"Don't bring Ahsoka here, it's hard to even look at it." Anakin said, stepping closer to look at the body.

Suddenly the body's eyes opened, and grabbed Anakin.

Time slowed, as he watched clones and Astartes move as if everything was barely able to move.

"What? Where am I? What happened?" Anakin asked.

Anakin saw color's swirl and fade, he felt weightless, but powerful, something was pulling at him, and he heard a distant drumming.

"What is this?" He asked, confused.

Anakin saw what could be described as worlds, was he in space? No....it was....like an Ocean, but the current was....everywhere. Worlds moved, but also, being, a dark cloud sounded a glowing light, one that was barely piercing the light. As he got close, he reached his hand out and the darkness stopped. The light then swarmed over the darkness. He used his other hand to stop it, and he tried to separate them. 

As he did, he saw something, they looked like a figure, a tall slender, old man.

"Come to Mortis." He said, before the pounding grew louder.

Looking around, Anakin saw a figure, cloaked in black, the sounds of pained breathing.

"You can not escape your fate." it said in a deep, dark voice, a red blade of fire glowing from. Behind him was an army of black armored figures, with a symbol of an 8 pointed star on their chest.

Next to the figure....was a figure wearing a mask and armor, they were togruta, and.....oddly familiar, they carried twin red blades, and wore black armor and a cloak.

"I don't even know who you are." Anakin said, reaching for a weapon, finding nothing.

"I am the man who killed Anakin Skywalker." the voice said.

With a powerful lunge forward the figure prepared to swing down on Anakin, when suddenly a blade stopped them.

"Fade." the powerful commanding voice said, making the dark apparaition and the army vanish with a single word. 

Anakin turned to see a large figure, surrounded by golden light wielding a sword the size he was was there.

"Who.....are you?" Anakin asked, confused.

"I am the Emperor of man, or....a part of him, just as you are. I have come to warn you. These are only the first drops of a much greater threat." the Emperor spoke to Anakin.

"What is it that I must do?" Anakin asked.

"Seek the children with sight of the future. The Golden is on a world of peace, the Night is with one of.....a strange persuasion." the Emperor said.

"But, what is this place? And what did I see?" Anakin asked.

"You are in the warp and That is what would have befallen you in your destiny was not altered. The taint of darker forces from my universe are trying to reach you here, they will try and corrupt all life, consume the souls and kill everyone for their own pleasure." the Emperor stated.

"What do I need to do to stop them?" Anakin asked.

"Find the dark source, I feel him, you are connected to them, in time, he will tempt you with knowledge, you must refuse it." THe Emperor said.

Anakin was pulled back as the figure who was corrupted was shot and head exploded.

"My Emperor. We are sorry for not securing the area properly." the marine said.

"No, it is alright. I have.....an understanding of what will need to be done." Anakin said.