Shrouds of Blood.

[Alexos]

Lek ran through the last stretch of jungle, pushing past bushes, avoiding the occasional treesnake, and vaulting a rock to his destination. There, beyond the trees, lied the fortress. There, If he made it, he would be accepted into the fold of the Angels Vermillion. He had trained for weeks on his Homeworld, fought and killed his clanmates, fought as a scout on hundereds of worlds, and was now making his way through the Forest Sanguine to the Heart of Cossus. It was the last part of his initiation into the Angels Vermillion. After this, he would be given his Power armour, and would be given combat duty in one of the battle companies. He took a brief rest in front of the last clearing. He looked over at the enterance to the Heart of Cossus. What he saw confused him.

 

Two gun servitors, both armed with Heavy Stubbers. Their heads panned back and forth, hunting for something to target and kill. At first, Lek thought this to be some protection against the ten-ton Cruths that inhabited Corinal. He was about to walk out and announce his success when another went forward.

"Hail bor-"

 

The man didn't have time to finish, he was blown apart by the two gun-servitors in less then ten seconds. Lek shuddered. A voice boomed from the top of the ramparts. Lek recognised the figure as Rullus, Captain of the First Company.

"This is your final test, initiates. I can see all of you down there. You must make it past these two Gun-Servitors, and then you are full-fledged Space Marines."

 

Lek balked at the task given him. How can I achiev this, with no weapons, no armour? he thought to himself. He started to think, and after ten minutes, hadn't reached a decision. He then heard someone coming through the brush next to him. He was thin, and Wiry, and had the looks of a Swamplander about him. When he talked, he had the drawl of them.

"Hail brother."

 

I turned and acknowledged him with a nod. Looking back to the fortress, he saw Rullus standing atop the Battlements, holding his Bolter in one hand, laying it across his shoulder. Lek found that strange, Why would he need a Bolter, he thought. The other Scout tapped him on the shoulder, gaining his attention.

"Names Pulch, and I found a few of the others. I was thinkin' we needed to work together to take out them servitors." He motioned to the bushes, and fifteen other initiates walked forward. Lek motioned them to be silent. He had a sudden spark of inspiration. He looked to the others.

 

"I have a plan." he said, quietly. He hadn't really been talkative, and lacked the auditory skills to sway the crowd. Most looked suprised, the biggest one, a Highlander by his looks, snorted.

 

"I do too, Icelander, But I digress, whats yours?" he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

 

"Well, we have to take Rullus's Bolter to kill these two." Lek said with clarity, as if it was the answer to all the problems in the galaxy.

 

A racket came up, all of them asking questions of his sanity, and if he actually wanted them to believe him. He looked around silently, and waited until all were silent. The Big one talked again.

 

"Thats impossible, and would get us all killed. I think that the route is clear, we need to find something to knock down these servitors, A large stone would knock them down with ease, and we would gain access to the fortress easily." The others agreed, liking his plan alot more. It was few minutes before they had a large stone, and five of them strode forward, three confusing the Servitors, while the other two hurled it. The servitor fell, and blasted the two Scouts apart. The other three were gunned down in quick succession by the second servitor. The rest of the initiates saw the carnage, and gasped as the Servitor underneath the stone pulled itself up, throwing the rock back into the forest.

 

Pulch looked to Lek "So, whats the plan, Boss?"

 

Lek sighed, it would be a long day...

 

****

 

Rullus looked down at the dead bodies, shaking his head. Always there was a group of scouts that thought that they could force their way through. That was the test, to see if you could look past the strengths of muscle and sinew, and into the strength of mind that each initiate had. Most groups found out what was to be done eventually. It took his party days to even formulate a plan that was better then this, but they lost ten people even then. He wondered how long this would take.

 

A rock that skittered by the battlements broke him from his reverie. He looked down, and didn't see anything much. Then, a 7-pound rock hit his forehead from the left, making his head lurch back. He dropped his ceremonial bolter, causing it to land in front of the battlements, near the forest to the right. He saw, using his augmetic eye, a Scout pick it up with reverence. Rullus hadn't dropped the bolter because of the impact of the rock, just because of the shock. A minute later, Eleven initiates sprang from cover, running around and confusing the Motion-sensitive Servitors.

 

Rullus smiled as he saw a Scout, Lek was his name, come from the right flank of the servitors, he fired the bolter, killing both of the servitors in quick succession. The Servitors hadn't been still the whole time, though, and five more scouts lay dead. He called for the gate to open. As the Scouts entered, Rullus looked down at lek, whom was still carrying the bolter. This one is different, thought Rullus, and vaulted down.

 

He'll make a marine, sure enough.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hello fellow Marines, I am making a story based around the Lexicanum article on the Angels Vermillion, and how Cannoness Dissentia led sisters of the Order of the Argent Shroud against the Angels vermillion during the time of Armaggeddon. This is the Prologue, tell me what you like, what needs work, and what was plain crap in your opinion, I will have other parts up shortly.

[Brother Argent]

I'm assuming you mean Prologue, not Epilogue. Epilogue comes after the end, Prologue before the start so to speak. Looks good and I look forward to reading more. My only comment would be that they seem to slip past the marine and servitors too easily. I mean throwing rocks at a Space Marine just seems a little... odd to me...

[Alexos]

Hmmm.... I will research this thing you call a "Prologue"

 

JK, Just a Typo. I am revising the opening, I wanted to get the jist of it down before I lost it. I think adding a few more unsuccessful encounters, and maybe instead of using the captain of the First company's Bolter. I see the errors in it now (Jesus I was up late) and plan to put this right.

 

I also plan on changing the story, and instead this will be about the Blood Eagles marine chapter, and how two of their companies were lost in the warp. I plan on making this a very long, very detailed, and very, very epic story. The plot I thought of was that they find a planet that has a Fortress on it, a highly defendable, desolate one.

 

They will set up shop on this world, anchoring their space craft on the nearby moons, and will try to find out where they are. Then the bad things start happening.

 

The Iron Warriors, Thrice-damned traitors all, come home. They find somewhere near 200 Adeptus Astartes in their Fortress, holding it from them. I will include alot of tricks, sorcery, and weir weapons in this, and will hope to paint a story of true CHAOS!!!