"Oh, you are here," Selene said as she turned her head towards me while a bunch of people were struggling to help her put on her battle armor. Her gaze lingered on me for lohan usual, perhaps notig some of the Aeldari features I've stealthily incorporated into my body, I knew I couldn't fully ge my body into that of a sexy space elf (for now) but I could steal some small parts. I worked a bit on my cheekbone and my eyes, the tter was a bit tricky as the rger Eldar eyes with their alien tilt were rather eyecatg and stood out even more on a human so I had to keep to only slight alterations but I was rather happy with the result. "Mhm," I nodded, "What are you going into battle with?" "Hopefully nothing," said the Captain as her pauldrons clicked into pce, "but you never know, especially sihe Magos seemed to have found something iing." "And that needs both you ao handle?" "Apparently," she shrugged, somehow managing to move the heavy armor like a sed skin, "some sort of Xeno ruins uhe Hive City which he'd like to explore but he said both of our expertise would be o do so." "Sure," I shrugged, "let's see what got his cables in a twist." After a rather lengthy walk toward the hangars, we entered a Thunderhawk while two others were getting filled to the brim with Shadows. Sometimes I fot I was on a spaceship, ehm, voidship as they called them here. Selene's Wanderer was a Firestorm css Frigate that was almost two kilometers ih and 0.3 kilometers abeam at its fins. These were utterly outndish numbers for a siarship in my opinion but Frigates were far from the rgest ships in this gaxy. If I remember correctly, there was a Mert ship that was more than ten kilometers ih. Warhammer fans always won the 'whose fial universe has the rgest ships' petitions and it wasn't even close, the rgest star destroyers from Star Wars maxed out at 800 meters. I was of the mind that it couldn't be right, abat a dick-measuring test of whose ship was bigger? Then I remembered that crashing your damned ship into an enemy's was a valid b tactic too. There is no hope and I think I'm hearing the ughter of thirsting gods. I had to admit that b made for much better eaihan trying to hit each other with railguns and missiles when the ships were kilometers apart and only the sensors could pick up on their locations. I wasn't sure if fate was fug with this universe so it'd be that way or if people were just mentally defunbsp;While I was judging the questionable mental capabilities of everyone in this gaxy I strapped myself into a seat right beside Selene, we were sitting right behind the pilots with a clear view out of the Thunderhawk. Just the fact Selene had three of these spoke of how iial she must be ba the Imperium, Thunderhawks were the primary nding crafts of the Adeptus Astartes and were armored and armed with all they'd o fulfill that role even the most hectic battlefields. The Shadows seemed a bit g in parison, especially with the ceiling of the partments being at three meters to aodate the rger space marines in full powerarmor. I'd seen how good these soldiers were and they were good, not sure if elite level but beyond most guardsmen for sure, not that that was too hard, to be ho. The engine roared to life and I felt the Mae Spirit bubble iement, I just came to view these enigmatic spirits as some sort of AI animals, like the ones you could feed on your phone and such. They had information and putational capabilities well beyond a human but their intelligence, while varied, never went beyond a dog's. The one in my psma pistol for example was dumb as a brick, it cked even the putational ability as it was, as said, a pistol. I had to spray it with oil and light inse to it so the spirit wouldn't make a fuss like these moronic tech-priests but even then I had to ask one of them to gh a ritual as it was still being fussy. At first, I just strongarmed the little shit into not sabotaging my pistol but it was stubborn and uing, I even tore it off and threw it into space but it somehow returhe day and my pistol wouldn't work. I am so getting a non-human on, fuck this. Shooting psma was cool and all but ting a damned user's manual every week and lighting inse was decidedly not. Because that's what these shitty rituals were, they were parts of a user's manual sprinkled iween praises for the Mae God, its avatar the Omnissiah, and the Motive Force that gave life to the maes, the holy Trinity of the Meicus. The dumb mae spirit didn't uand that I could do the damned on maintehout the ting and inse. Iurn, even though the pistol should have melted in my hand every time I fired it, instead I only had to discharge the overheating. Weird fuckery at its fi. I felt myself melt into the seat as the ship accelerated ts ihan ten seds, I grinned, I always loved sports cars and every crazy ride in an amusement park. We left the voidship behind us with the other two ndingcrafts following behind us and I took the opportunity to take in the derelict appearance of Folx 4. The p was a mix of grey and brown, dark smog c most of the p iernal darkness but where the smog gave way the dead dirt of the p was revealed. Not a single spot of greenery remained on the p and the few holdouts of water weren't the blue I associated with os but a sick mix of brown and bck, preserving nature and not dumping your waste into the o wasn't a thing in the Imperium. I felt the hull shake as we broke into the atmosphere, a coat of fire covered the windshield and the pilots had to rely on a bination of gut feelings and sensor systems. Moments ter the fmes abated and we passed into the upper atmosphere, a sea of grey smog beh us and the darkness of space above us, an iween that separated the two worlds. The Thunderhawks dived into the dark clouds fearlessly and the plicated sensor arrays helped the pilots orient themselves without a problem. When we exited the clouds, we saw the Hive City expand below us towards the horizon and beyond. The three nding crafts nded oop of a rather short building, the area clearly marked out as a pce designed for such. I let the seatbelt go and got to my feet, stretg a bit before heading towards the back where the ship opened up. The Shadows in our ship were already out in the open and separating into squads, I took a deep breath and was not surprised to breathe in the equivalent of dust and smog. This p's ecosphere was fucked beyond, it'd housands of years before nature recimed it without any human ing in to destroy it all again. Selene ambled out of the ship behind me, a squad of Shadows f up around her as she did so like the protective little doggies they were. I hat said squad was armed to the teeth with melta ons and fmers, did I scare the poor woman too much? Or is she thinking about making me 'die in an act'? Unfortunately for the captain, she barely saw a glimpse into my powers. If she wao take me down as I was now she'd have to use something harder-hitting than those. I walked with a spring in my steps towards the edge of the building, sitting down on the edge and kig my legs bad forth as I stared down into the darkness. My enhanced sight, noable of peing the kilometers of darkness and smoke. I think I've read somewhere that this city was built upon prayers and miracles, some sort of foundation myth dating back mauries. Now that I'm seeing the haphazard foundations here it might not be far from the truth. I frowned as I felt a ripple going through the , in an instant I became alert and sprang to my feet as I sunk into my esoterise. "Motherfuc-" the ripple was followed by a tsunami as reality screamed and tore apart. A few minutes ago on the Wanderer. || Vesper Harken, Void-Master and Vice-Captain of the Wanderer Vesper sat on the and throne, his purple eyes vigintly overlooking the dozens of officers diligently w beyond him. Two mechadendrites were ected onto his torso, merging his sciousness with that of the Wanderer and showing him everything the sensors saw at onbsp;A lesser man would have his brains dripping through their noses and their eyes melting at the overwhelming amount of information but Vesper has been the Void-Master of this ship since Selene's parents took trol of this ship two turies ago. By now he was sure he'd be mistaken for a tech priest with all the cyberics that adorned his body but it was iable, even with the rejuvenatioment he mao afford his body was failing him. He wasn't a noble or especially wealthy so he could only afford the cheapest treatments and that bined with his advanced age and how much he hounded his own body, it was iable that he'd turn to cyberibsp;The little girl who fancied herself a Captain just because she served fifteen years in the Guard and was the only one of the heirs to survive said debacle was down on the p, leaving Vesper to look over the ship in her absenbsp;"Vice Captain," one of the officers alerted him, "Ining Vox transmission from Lord Navigator Folnx." "Put it on," Vesper ordered, already fed up with having to deal with auck-up ass. The Vox cracked, statiing through before it gave way to the frantic voice of the Navigator. "IT'S ING," his voice cracked, somewhere between sobbing and paralyzed dread, "I SEE IT ING TOWARDS US, CLAWS, EYES, MAWS IN THE SHADOW, THEY WANT US, THEY ARE ING." "What are you talking about Lord Aaron?" Vesper's hold tightened on the arm of the and throne, if the damned Navigator went mad now they'd be stuck here forever. "THE DEVOURER, IT'S ING TO EAT US ALL," he heard a cra the other end, flesh strikial and the metal giving way with a siing screech, "WE O LEAVE RIGHT FUG NOW!" "Lord Navigator, we are in the middle of a system and the Captain is down on the p," Vesper tried to expin, "please calm down and expin what is going on." Despite his words, Vesper had a hunch, a hunch he desperately wished wasn't true as if it was he'd have an impossible choiake. "I KNOW WHAT THEY ARE, THE INQUISITOR TOLD ME, TOLD US, TYRANIDS, ING TO EAT US, WE O LEAVE NOW, EHE DRIVE OR WE ARE GOING TO DIE." "Fuck," Vesper muttered, "how long do we have?" "I do not know," the Navigator blessedly calmed down a bit, "my preition is weak and untrolble but it's only ever been triggered this hard when my life was in immediate danger, I think we have a few mi most." Vesper's thoughts spun, his cogitators calcuted and his Mind Impulse Unit eg him to the Mae Spirit of the Wanderer gave him enough putation that he could have all the retive time to think that he'd need. This could be my ce to step out of the shadow of that child. "Get ready to record a message and send it to the Captain," he said not a sed of real time ter, "Ehe -Drive right after the message is sent, we are getting out of here." P3t1

  I'm feelier already, the fever is mostly gone and now only my throat is being a little shit by still b me. Thanks for all the nients <3

  I've posted up to Chapter 46 on Patreon, you read 2 advanced chapters for 1 or all of them for 5 here: Join Now!

  I also have an inal fantasy story up on RR with almost 200 pages featuring a runaway elven princess learning magic, check it out if you are ied: Page Prologue

  Cya~