Vermilion Wings: The Pleasure's Wave

[Evz]

PART III

 

I

 

Twenty years after Apocalypse...

 

The Landspeeder Storm flew across the open plains of the norther continents of Callisto. Within the passanger compartment, sat Eth Thran, the forty-two year old astartes, his boltgun sitting across his lap. With him was Sanguinary Priest brother-Tetra, along with a few scouts, of which Eth did not know. They were on their way to one of the northern tribes, one of which Eth grew up in. They were investigating a cult that had appeared. Apparently, twenty years ago, when the chaos forces landed, they left behind some stragglers, and those heretics and cultists started a cult on the surface. The cult was in the cities, in the villages. They even had to investigate an island fortress, and Eth himself destroyed an oil rig whose entire crew was dedicated to the dark gods.

 

He peered over the edge, watching the tall pine trees fly by underneath. "We should be there soon, brothers." Tetra said. Eth leaned back, resting his head against his seat. Within the hour, they had softly landed outside of a tribal village. The vehicle settled, resting on the soft long grasses. A cold wind swept by as the space marines disembarked. The marine watched the waves crash against the rocky shores of the north as he hopped off, slinging his bolter around his neck and following Tetra within. The village was surrounded by a wooden a palisade wall reinforced by sheets of metal stolen from the Orks in days long-past. Within it was the same. A shanty town, of around fifty buildings, all constructed out of scraps of metal and wood. The people themselves were barbarians, all wearing furs, and smelling somewhat bad. Eth watched a few children fight over meat.

 

After the squad finally entered fully, Eth saw two people fighting with steel swords in the far side by a blacksmith shop. He grinned. He was home, after all these long, long brutal, bloody years. Home. "We go to the guest houses. Come." Tetra led them on. Within the Vermilion Wings, Sanguinary Priests led missions all the time, due to the first chapter master himself being among them. The guest homes were all made of wood, with straw roofs reinforced with sheets of metal. One such building had a door made out of empty spent shells of an Ork gun hanging from strings. Eth poked one, and watched it swing back and forth. "Brother-Thran. Get inside." Eth nodded, and complied. Within, the two scouts, Tetra and Eth sat around a fire. "This village is pure. Pure as a bunch of barbarians can get, anyways." He rubbed his nose with a gauntleted hand. "Alas..." He looked up to them. "The rival tribe, our intelligence shows, are full of heretics, and the Chaos cult is heavy within them. Over the past few months they have increased raiding this village and several others along the northern coastline."

 

"So why do we sit here and not purge their entire village??" Asked Eth.

 

"Because, we want a living prisoner. We will find out what he knows, and then cleanse the entire village. None can survive. Do not worry, brothers..." Tetra looked to the scouts. "Brothers Qamiel and Uriel. They are rather new, and Elijah thought this would be a good mission for them." Eth nodded. He was a scout too, once. They just sat there, taking in what the two veterans were saying.

 

"So what do we do here in the meantime?" Eth asked.

 

"We wait..." Said Tetra. "Wait, and when the time is right, the rival village will attack. They will come in, capture slaves, kill warriors, steal food and supplies, and burn buildings. We are but four, but we can definitely help defend. They are just weak northerners, no match for a space marine."

 

"I grew up within these tribes!" Eth said, standing.

 

"Relax, brother. I meant no harm..." Eth sat, and Tetra stood. "Make yourselves at home, I hope you get aquainted with the scouts, Thran. I am going to speak to the village-elder about defenses. Have a good day..." With that he left the building. Eth poked the fire with a stick. The two scouts watched him intently.

 

It was going to be a long, long day.

[Evz]

II

 

Night fell quietly as the planet was wrapped in a blanket of darkness. Around the village, all warriors within the village were patrolled around. The Astartes joined them. Eth himself stood watching the gate. He heard a scream from across the village and ran to see a militiaman down with an arrow protruding from his back. "Blast..." He stood, the other astartes behind him. Black arrows fell left and right like an invisible rain of death, and men were falling. The arrows slapped and snapped against the armor of the space marines.

 

"Positions." Said Tetra. The warriors ran for the cover of the elder's massive hut, while the space marines stood hugging the palisade wall, going for the element of surprise. The scouts loaded up their boltguns. Tetra did the same. Eth held up his chainsword, ready to strike. If the marines did not scare them off, his ferocity would...

 

Fire arrows fell, lighting the huts near the second gate on fire. People ran out screaming, and ran for the elder's hut. The warriors of the village charged out, swords and axes and rifles ready. Then the enemy came in. They were all lightly armed, with the same weapons as the village warriors. Some were mutated, sporting crab claws and tentacles and third eyes. The marines opened up, turning the first few enemies into a bloody mist. Eth jumped through the mist, ripping into them. He was in the middle, at the secondary gate. He chewed up anything that came in his path. Within five minutes his chainsword got clogged up so he tossed it, knocking down a man. He drew his knife, and stabbed and cut. He easily decapitated three men in a row. Something surprised him. Not only were men fighting, but the women and children were too.

 

Heretics, all the same.

 

He purged, ripping them apart. The red thirst was building up within him, he could feel it burning within his veins. He punched out a man, grabbing his necklace and punched him again, crushing his skull. Eth looked at the necklace, and dropped it. His village. This was his village. His home. His family were out within this throng, they might even be dead. He felt panicked. The warriors finally jumped on him and pulled him down, punching him and stabbing into his armor. One sword blade stabbed through the soft padding of his elbow, and Eth felt a sharp pain. Another ripped his beaked helmet off, and held up a rock over his head. before he could bring it down and smash his skull, Eth kicked out, sending his assailants flying through the gate into the throng of warriors storming in. He cried out, picking up a claymore he found stuck in a body and cut them apart.

 

Within the hour, all of them had been killed, save for one. He was held in the hut that the astartes had been using as a base camp. The man was covered in chaos runes from head to toe, and covered in rags. Eth stepped in, watching Tetra do his work. Tetra turned to him. "Eth, brother. He told me everything of their village, and told me where the leader of this cult is. If we kill him, we can put an end to this. We must do it... Before the Ordo Hereticus does, or the entire world will suffer more than it already has." Eth nodded grimly.

 

"My family." He said.

 

"What?" Asked Tetra, confused at this.

 

"They were my family..." He opened his mailed fist, revealing the necklace. "And I slaughtered them. I killed them all." He looked to the ground, where he hoped to find salvation. He did not care, deep within his two beating hearts, as he was a weapon bred to kill the enemies of the Imperium, and they were his enemies, were they not? He did feel sad. Tetra put a hand on his shoulder.

 

"They were not your family. Your family died many years ago. Now, get the others. We leave in the morning." Eth sighed, and walked out. Tetra returned his gaze to the heretic. "You're being taken to the Spire for further questioning." The heretic just looked at him, and laughed.

[Evz]

III

 

The city of Mael, several days later.

 

Mael was a medium-sized city, built on the coast. There was a large harbor full of ships and boats of all sizes. Waves lapped at the docks as night fell over the city, and a soft rain began to patter. The Vermilion Wings were on such a craft, floating into the harbor bay. They were here to put an end to the cult, by slaying its leader. On board the ship were twenty space marines, all prepared to kill the heretics that were present within the city. Eth stood at the front, watching the Imperial citizens going about their daily tasks. Tetra walked up beside him. "Today is the day we end this. We kill the leader, and anyone else in the building, and in a matter of weeks, the cult will dissipate." Tetra, feeling Eth's silence, turned back to speak with the rest of the battle brothers. Eth was prepared. He wanted to end all of them. He wanted them dead.

 

The ship pulled into the harbor, and the twenty marines filed out onto the docks. The citizens parted ways for the large warriors to walk through, all of them brandishing boltguns. Tetra led them to the club where the cult had built its headquarters. It was on a dark street full of fog. Tetra went up to the door, where a rather brutish man stood. "Move. If you do not cooperate, we will kill you."

 

"Yes sir..." The man stepped aside. Tetra turned to him.

 

"Is this the location of the cult? Tell us, we can protect you."

 

"Y-yes... It is... They do things in there. Horrible things... I got to get out of here..." He ripped off his shirt, drew a knife and spilled blood onto the shirt, and handed it to Tetra. "Tell em I'm dead..." With that, the man rushed off into the foggy night. Tetra gripped the shirt, and kicked down the door. Eth was first up, he brought out a grenade and tossed it in. There was a loud krump as it went off, and the marines stormed the place. Inside there was a beautiful smell, mixed with the smell of blood. Just inside were tattered bodies who were hit by the grenade. Around them stood almost-naked people, all confused and dazed. A few of them grabbed pistols and rifles and knives and charged the space marines. They were ripped apart by bolter fire.

 

Eth barged down a door to find a fat man in a heavy robe. He grabbed him and dragged him out. "Heretic. Here is their leader. He must be!" Eth drew a knife.

 

"No." Eth looked up. Out of the back room walked a space marine, with two women at his sides. He was wearing a robe over his pink power armor. His face was covered in scars. His teeth were razor-sharp. He pushed the women away. "Get out of here, maggots..." He told them, and they ran out, stepping over the corpses. The marines all aimed their weapons at the chaos marine. "I am Asim. I built this place just after the invasion. I spread my word throughout the world. Looks like you took me down. I'll come quietly." He reached out his arms. "Come take me in..." Eth growled, gripping his knife tightly, he jumped on the chaos marine and buried the blade deep into the traitor's neck. Black blood oozed out onto the already bloody ground. He punched, and ripped the traitor apart. The nineteen others, including Tetra, just stared. The fat man in the robe was crying. He stood, and ran for the door, stepped over the debris and left. The Chaos marine laughed, grabbing him, and his fingers became knife-like claws and he stabbed into Eth's stomach, and tossed him against the wall. The others opened fire. The traitor laughed as he died in a hail of bolterfire.

 

"Within the week the forces of chaos will be gone from Callisto for good..." Said Tetra, staring at the chunks of meat on the ground that used to be the chaos marine. Eth stood, holding his side. He felt his body repairing itself. He wiped the gore off of his face as they left the club, which several other marines planted bombs in, and blew it sky-high. No evidence. No traces of chaos. It was all destroyed and the area was burned by flamer-carrying marines within the next several hours. At morning, they left, returning to the Spire.

 

PART V