Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

This is only part 1 of the story I'm working on.

Caius felt a bolter round deflect off of his elaborately dedicated power armor and cackled. "Fool!" he cried out, gesturing towards the stampeding Chapter Master. "You have little understanding of the true power of Chaos! Let me educate you!" He muttered several incantations in forgotten languages best left unspoken and raised his arms. Raw energy swirled around Caius' intimidating form and he felt the Daemons gnawing at his souls. Finally, he finished the incantation and thrust his arms out. No crackling lightning ball, plume of smoke or wave of tentacles appeared. The swirling energy dissipated into nothing. "Huh," said Caius. Now Chapter Master Felix was getting closer. The Astartes began charging up his powerfist and screaming, "Die heretic!"

The Sorcerer drew his own blade, an ancient falchion carved with warpstone and engraved with the names of Daemons and Arch Heretics. He hissed under his helmet and began to summon his psychic power to fuel the great blade. For a moment it glowed but it quickly went back to normal. Caius shook the sword and tried again. "Come on, come on, come on!" he shouted, continuing to summon his own power. It glowed faintly again but frustratingly returned to its normal state. Chapter Master Felix, now with his bolterpistol and power fist ready, was only ten feet away and closing in quickly. "Come on you stupid sword, start working!" screamed Caius, hitting the useless blade against a rock.

That was when the Chapter Master reached him. Caius decided to bluff and cried, "Feel the wrath of my psychic power!" and swung his blade at Felix. The Marine leapt back, giving Caius more precious seconds to try to get the spell to work. The sword continued to remain a dull bluish silver. Felix stepped forward again but Caius swung the blade and took a step forward, continuing to swing. "Foolish mortal," he hissed, swiping rapidly at Felix. "Prepare to die!" Felix stumbled on a rock and failed to dodge the sword, causing it to his his power armor with a loud clang and bounce off. "Uh oh,"squeaked Caius as Felix realized what he had been trying to dodge.

"You are pathetic, even for a heretic," boomed the Chapter Master as he stepped over a corpse. He dropped his bolterpistol and grabbed Caius' neck with his spare hand, lifting him several inches off the ground. Felix drew back his glowing powerfist and said, "Now you die."

That was when a stray lasgun shot from some Imperial Guardsman miraculously hit Felix in his eye at the perfect angle to go directly into his brain and kill him instantly. His grip on Caius slackened and the Sorcerer fell to the ground with a loud thud. "I killed Chapter Master Felix!" he shouted over the Comm System to any of his allies within Vox range of him. "I shot the Imperial scum right through the eye! It was a tough battle but that brute couldn't withstand the power of a Chaos God favored Sorcerer of the Black Legion!"

No one responded. Evidently almost everyone in this portion of the battlefield had died. As Caius stumbled away from the deceased Chapter Master he noticed his own Commander, the Mighty Lord General Heron the Great and Powerful, lying on the ground in a puddle of blood. His scorched armor was doted with tiny holes, indicating he had been shot to death by Guardsmen. Judging by the direction he was facing Heron had been retreating at the time he died. Alongside the General was his trusty Daemon Blade, which was currently glowing red and hissing loudly. "This thing will be more useful than some stupid force weapon," Caius said to himself, stooping down to pick up the blade. As soon as he put his hand on the hilt he heard a deep voice say, "Indeed"

"Who said that?" yelled Caius, bolting upright and clutching the weapon. "I have a Daemon blade and I know how to use it!"

"I did," responded the voice. "The 'Daemon blade,' as you call me, said that."

"Daemon Blades can talk?" asked the Sorcerer.

"Well," the Daemon replied. "Some can. I can only speak to whomever holds me."

"This is messed up. I'm not going to get involved with this. I'll take the broken force sword over this."

"No, wait, I have uses. I saw your laughable attempt at Sorcery; I can help. I know much of the ways of the Warp. In return, all I ask is blood."

Caius hesitated to answer. Despite being a Sorcerer, Daemons terrified him. Finally, Caius said, "Alright. But not my blood."

The Thunderhawk automatically opened with a metallic hiss, revealing the twentysome Chaos Space Marines inside. Each was adorned with the colors of the Black Legion and Symbols of Chaos. As Caius stepped inside he felt them all staring at him, especially Sergeant Vibianus. After an awkward silence, Vibianus said, "Rumor is that you killed Heron, you wulfren feth traitor. And considering that it's his sword yer holding, it's probably true." Vibianus stood up straight and drew his power sword. The Sergeant had been Heron's favorite minion during his life. The coward inside Caius urged him to abase himself before Vibianus and claim his was innocent and beg for mercy. As he was about to do so the Daemon blade glowed a vibrant red and hissed, angling itself slightly toward the Sergeant. "Maybe I did," Caius said. Vibianus took a step closer. "But if I killed him, what makes you think you have a chance against me?"

"Kill him," hissed the Blade. "My first official act as your blade is to advise you to kill him and gain respect from your men."

"I can't," whispered Caius.

Vibianus yelled, "Hey, what are you doing? Some sort of incantation or spell?"

"I can," the Blade replied.

Suddenly Caius was forced into action. He leapt at Vibianus, cackling and swung the Blade. Vibianus managed to parry and tried to reposte, forcing his blade past Caius' and aiming for his two hearts. "Stop!" Caius tried to scream, but his mouth was held shut by an invisible force. Instead he side stepped and allowed Vibianus to strike the air and leave himself prone. Caius plunged his blade into Vibianus' helmet with a spray of gore and laughed. "Fool," he hissed in a vaguely inhuman voice. "You may have laughed at me before, but you have no idea what I am capable of." And with that the Blade relinquished control of Caius' body. "You need to work on your mental strength," it casually said. "Possessing you was surprisingly easy."

"Throne," muttered the Sorcerer, slumping down in a seat. "Don't ever do that again."

"Whatever you say, boss."



Two hours later Caius sat on his bunk in his quarters, still holding the blade. "You said you could teach me sorcery. Blade. That's why I picked you up. So, I guess, teach me," he ordered.

"Alright," responded the Blade. "And I've decided that calling me 'Blade' isn't a good name. When a Sorcerer summoned me into this blade two thousand years ago he referred to me as VenomBane, or BaneVenom, or Prince Bane of Venom or something. So, when you talk to me, refer to me as a variation of the term VenomBane, such as 'Hello Bane' or 'Hi BaneVenom.'"

"Okay... Bane," said Caius.

"First of all, there are two main problems we need to fix. The first is that you have very little basic psychic power. The best way of fixing this is to fully devote yourself to Tzeentch, as he has a habit of increasing raw psychic power. Slaanesh or Nurgle might do that as well, but Tzeentch is your best bet. Secondly, you have a terrible mind. You are a coward with a short attention span who gives up easily and has very little basic knowledge. I can fix your attention span and cowardice and habit of giving up easily by forcing you to develop self discipline via attacking your very mind until it adapts. I can fix your lack of basic knowledge by teaching you."

The Sorcerer groaned, "This isn't going to be very fun."

Nice, but would the sorcerer say throne? Thats a very imperial curse...

EagleArk wrote:Nice, but would the sorcerer say throne? Thats a very imperial curse...

Thanks for the comment, I guess he wouldn't be saying throne. I'm going to add in a new part to the story later today.

Caius sat completely still, jaws clenched, eyes shut. Beads of sweat dripped down his forehead and onto his heavily decorated power armor. In his hand was the glowing Daemon sword, currently a vibrant red. He was exhausted and his strength was draining. Bane seemed unstoppable, continuing his relentless attacks on Caius' conscious, trying to burrow into his mind and hijack it. In the psychic realm Bane had thrown a diversion and attacked Caius' left flank when he didn't seem it coming. By summoning on what little power he had he was able to block it, only for Bane to casually change forms to a glistening serpent and slide around it. The Sorcerer had tried to change his own psychic form to counterattack, but still was very talented at creating anything besides a rough replica of himself. He had stomped on the Snake only for it to suddenly change to a massive, reptilian beast that pushed out from under his foot and sent him flying with a single punch.

As Caius tumbled backwards, his form soaring across the Immaterium, he concentrated on his backpack and imagined wings. Nothing happened. Caius imagined something more specific; his exhaust vents twisted and reached out as dark leather wings unfolded from his form. He felt something strange as his form began to shift and concentrated on the image more. He cocked his neck back and saw the massive wings behind him. He grinned and took control of the fall, flapping his wings wildly and soaring towards Bane. The Daemon was evidently surprised that Caius had managed it, but he didn't seem anxious. He switched forms again, this time to an Ultramarine in shining armor with a glowing power sword and plasma pistol. Bane started to shoot. Caius banked left hard and dodged the first plasma bolt but the second one grazed his wing, disintegrating the fragile tissue and sending him careening out of control in the Daemon's direction.

The Ultramarine helmet briefly morphed into a twisted grin as Bane fired again, this time at Caius' head. The Sorcerer ducked but felt the heat and realized his archaic horns were probably disintegrated. Caius suddenly realized there was a strange form of ground below him, or rather a tumbling mess of purple and red that seemed solid. He reached down and grabbed onto a fissure and violently halted approximately four feet in front of Bane. He swung the sword and Caius instinctively reached up with his hand and grabbed it. Shockingly his hand wasn't cleft in two. Rather the sword instantly stopped and the Sorcerer realized that his arm was now surrounded by an aura of green. "You're getting better," Bane grunted through his helmet. "I better up the difficulty."

His blue armor exploded in a spray of shrapnel and flame, knocking Caius across the landscape until he managed to grab onto a pillar seeming rising from nowhere. He looked up to see a massive horned creature of raw bone and muscle held together by a golden frame. It had five glowing eyes, each with two darting pupils. Tentacles randomly extending from it's bulk only to retreat back into the fleshy mess. Bane unhinged his massive jaw, spewing forth hundreds of serpents. He cackled and charged at Caius. The Sorcerer was terrified and visualized a massive, glowing shield in his hand. It briefly materialized but Caius was too panicked to concentrait on it and watched it fad into nothing. He tried again to focus on the shield, imagining it as a blessed artifact of impenetrable adamantium that would block and destroy anything in it's path. As Bane neared Caius continued to concentration but the artifact was simply too powerful and too complex to create, especially while being distracted and having little psychic power in the first place.

The Daemon reached him. It casually picked him up, sprouting dozens of tentacles from it's hand to hold him still. With its other hand it tore his limbs off using a combination of fingers and tentacles. Finally Bane unhinged his jaw again and brought Caius close to its mouth, reaching out with a slimy, serpent headed tongue. The Sorcerer was crying. The serpent tongue said, "It looks like I win. Shall we go back to the material realm? Your weak mind appears too exhausted to train further. I may have pushed you too far."

Caius concentrated on his body in the material world and was suddenly back, sitting on the bunk holding the glowing sword. "I hate you," he choked out as he gasped for air.

"My methods may be extreme, but they work. You successfully modified your form in the psychic realm for the first time, did you not?" asked Bane.

"Yeah," reluctantly said the Sorcerer. "What was that thing you were at the end? And how did you become something so... intricate and powerful so easily?"

"That thing was the form of the now deceased Daemon Prince Agrauel of the Flaming Serpent," said Bane. "And I became it by focusing."

There was a pause for a few seconds as Caius recuperated. "Were you always a sword?" he nervously asked, realizing that his curiosity might cost him his life.

"No, I've only been a sword for the past 3342 days, when the Great Sorcerer Alric of the Thousand Sons decided a Daemon weapon would be to his liking. Before that I generally acted as a lone Daemon, prowling the warp for psychic power to feast upon. On occasion I was summoned to fight in great wars on the material world. Once Alric summoned me simply to observe and question me. A year later his summoned me again and forced me into the blade. Were you always a coward and a weakling?"

"No. When I was first a Space Marine I honestly thought I was an immortal savior of humanity and death would simply make you one with the Emperor."

Very nice, its unique and entertainig. Has a real depth, but the sorcerer with that last sentence gives me a image of still loyal to the emperor, perhaps somthing on why he became a chaos space marine?

Thanks, it's really encouraging to know that someone likes it. I've learned that I do my best writing sleep deprived (based off of how my writing assignments at school have been graded as well as the comments I get for fan fictions) so I'll try to update this again sometime this night.

Edit: Stupid writer's block. But I'll update it tomorrow.

The story is alive! I just got past my writer's block.

Two days after the first of many horrific training sessions Caius walked into the massive Hanger 9. It was meant to display Devram Korda's power and prestige, especially during briefings like this when hundreds of Marines and thousands of Cultists lined up for massive briefings. Though a Sorcerer, Caius wasn't considered skilled enough to stand with the rest of Devram's elite and usually was stationed with the Chaos Spawn. As he walked over to his place in the formation, Devram Korda's bruiser Elpidius approached him. Elpidius was used as a Champion, Messenger, Minion and footrest by Devram, having somehow earned the Chaos Lord's attention. The Chaos Space Marine had a massive horn jutting from his right shoulder, similar to the two adorned his helmet. "Lord Korda wishes to see you," Elpidius hissed through his helmet.

"Act calm," ordered Bane. "I'll prevent any shivering, sweating or avoiding eye contact but you'll have to do most of the rest."

Devram was standing in front of his soldiers, surveying them with satisfaction. The General was a foot taller than the average Chaos Space Marine and quite more intimidating. His helmet was decorated with a crown of horns and his armor etched with inscriptions and symbols. In one hand he held a wicked curving blade that seemed to ooze blood and in the other was a new plasma pistol, his old one having been accidentally destroyed in a cataclysmic explosion by a slave named Decimus. Alongside the Chaos Lord were five Terminators, their tusked helmets ominously staring at the Sorcerer. Caius knew that one wrong move could doom him to a painful death at Devram's hands.

"Greetings Caius," said Devram. Caius tried to bow but the Daemon blade hissed and forced him not. "Do not display weakness," it growled, clearly dissatisfied. "Though originally you were considered las gun fodder, recent events have changed this. Having slain Vibianus, Felix and Heron you've apparently improved your skill greatly. And it looks like you've mastered that Force Sword of yours," Devram said, gesturing towards Bane. "As a result, I've decided to elevate you to my elite, where you will fill Heron's now empty spot and you will be granted Heron's troops; all thirty one surviving men. Do not fail me."

"Of course my Lord," replied Caius. He stepped back towards the four other members of Korda's elite.

"You owe me," Bane said in a matter-of-fact way.

The briefing continued as normal. Devram flaunted his power, surveyed his soldiers and explained the current tactical situation and the continuing battle over Tundras VII. At one point he impaled one of his Terminators for bumping into him and went off on a tirade about loyalty and its importance during the 13th Black Crusade, especially considering how disloyalty has caused the previous ones to fall apart. Caius ignored most of it however, simply focusing on his brand new promotion and all of the new, possible futures. As the Sorcerer stood with the elite, one whispered, "Do you know why he promoted you, despite having never seen you in action or having tested your tactical skills?"

"He's incompetent?" half asked-half answered Caius.

Devram's head Sorcerer, Kaglar, chuckled deeply and answered, "Did you notice how he briefly mentioned the Emperor's Children? One of their Companies is coming to fight with us and they'll be working with one of our Forces to help conquer an outpost. The vast majority of Commanders that work with the Emperor's Children are killed by drug fuelled warlords and crazed Noise Marines who refuse to take orders or simply want to command the Black Legion force themselves. He assigned you to that Legion so that he wouldn't lose someone valuable."

"Maybe I can try to hand over my position without violence," stammered Caius.

Another one of Devram's elite replied, "You've clearly never met the Emperor's Children."

Well, I really like that, and I want more! We need to see how it ends. Keep up the good work!

BattleBrother wrote:Well, I really like that, and I want more! We need to see how it ends. Keep up the good work!

Thanks for the comment. As I said earlier, its very encouraging when people say the slightest positive thing about my writing!

Of course, I just have to comment on an amazing piece or writing!

Thanks! Also, new part. It looks really long because it has lots of dialogue but it isn't. It also has more action than some of the previous ones.

"Devram Korda wants to kill me," whispered Caius as he sat on his bunk. He repeated it with more urgency. "Devram Korda wants to kill me. If I do nothing the Emperor's Children will kill me, if I refuse the mission I'll have disobeyed and he'll kill me and if I try to flee the ship my own men will kill me. Feth. Devram Korda wants to kill me!"

The Blade growled and stung Caius' hand with strange, vibrant red glow. "Be quiet. Here's what you do. Try to figure out why Korda wants to kill you and make it so that he has no reason or try to twist Korda's plan to your own benefit."

"I don't know why he wants to kill me! He never liked Heron and he only kept him around because of the Cult of Personality Heron had cultivated! And I never disobeyed him! In fact, I helped him when I killed Felix! Feth! Throne! Feth! Do you know? You're smart and old and feth! Just tell me!"

"This is the first time I've seen Devram in over six hundred years. Even when I did see him we never spoke, the only thing he did was look at me. He probably doesn't remember me. Besides, I don't know him."

"Maybe I'm rising up the ranks so fast," said Caius. "This may sound egotistical, but hear this out. For the past seven years I was at the same rank as a Chaos Spawn. Suddenly, in a single day I become extraordinarily powerful and kill a Chapter Master and one of his more powerful Commanders and he doesn't know why. Maybe I scare him and he wants to try and get rid of me fast or at least test out how powerful I am."

"That makes sense," replied Bane. "I suppose this is a good time to swear yourself to Tzeentch. He might help."

Caius paused and cleared his throat. After a moment of silent he shouted out, "Tzeentch, Lord of Change, I swear myself to thee! Now save my fething life!" Nothing happened. Bane chuckled deeply. "That is not how you swear yourself to a God. And furthermore you're asking for a favor, so just promising loyalty isn't enough, unless you're a Primarch or something."

"Then what do I need to do?" asked an irritated Caius.

"There's an arcane ritual you have to set up, an oath you have to say and then you should probably kill a Nurgle Sorcerer or powerful Warrior or something. Well, that's just what I recommend for your case."



"Kaglar, I need a book," said Caius.

Kaglar smiled and leaned back in his throne. "Which book do you request?"

"The actual title is incomprehensible but you know it as The Decree of Change."

"Now Caius," the Head Sorcerer answered in the most patronizing way possible. "That is an extremely valuable book and I can't simply loan it to someone as... questionable as yourself."

"I believe you misunderstood. It was not a request," the other Sorcerer boomed. He pointed his sword in Kaglar's direction and shouted something incomprehensible. A massive bolt of yellow shot forth and sent Kaglar off his throne and sprawling on the floor. "The book, Kaglar. Give it to me."

The Head Sorcerer spat a bloody tooth from his mouth and said, "Yes, of course Sorcerer Caius." He stood up and stumbled over to a large bookshelf. He drew a book bound in writhing, blue flesh and handed it to Caius. "I also need several arcane components for a ritual," ordered Caius.



As Caius walked off he smiled and whispered, "That was great."

"Now you know that the bolt wouldn't have been half as powerful as that if I hadn't been able to enhance it for you, right?" said Bane.

"Yeah. You don't have to rub it in."



"Sorcerer Kadras," addressed Caius. "I would like a standard component in most rituals; that is a Daemonic horn."

"No Daemonic horns are available at the moment," replied the hunched mutant. His form was dotted with writhing tentacles and blinking eyes. "Go away."

"This is important."

"It is important that you note that there are no available Daemonic horns at the moment. Go away."

With a single slash of his blade Kadras was cut in half in a spray of black ichor and viscera. His torso fell to the floor with a loud thunk and the Sorcerer screamed, "Kaglar will hear about this! I'm his favored one!"

"Yes. Well, until then, get me a Daemonic horn."

"Kaglar will hear about this."



"Again," said Bane. "Without me this would be impossible. So don't get high on your new found power."

"I know already," hissed Caius. "Throne."

Amazing, yet again, I am left wondering what will happen to Caius and Bane! Keep posting.

Thank you so much! Alright, this entry is kind of long one.

Caius carefully drew the eight sided star on the floor on his quarters and planted the Daemonic horn in the direct center. He pulled out a small knife and slowly slit his wrist. The Sorcerer hovered his hand above the star and moved it in a circle, creating a ring of blood around it. Finally, he opened the book the writhing book to the appropriate page and planted it on his bunk where he could read the oath without holding it. "Is that it?" Caius asked. "It seems surprisingly easy. I mean, relatively easy. I'm sure plenty of people would have a hard time getting a Daemonic horn or a book made of flesh that might be alive."

"No," answered Bane. "Now, I haven't consorted with a Tzeentch Daemon in awhile or been able to read one of his books, but I believe that you need to sacrifice a powerful Nurgle worshiper at the climax of this ritual."

"So I need to capture one and tie him up in my room? Doesn't that seem excessively difficult?"

"Yeah, well if all you wanted to do was swear yourself to Tzeentch and you were actually a notable person I'd be a lot easier. But since your a nobody who wants a big favor, I think you might need to do a little more than say 'pleeeease.' What did you expect?"

"Okay, okay. So, there are only a couple people onboard the ship who worship Nurgle directly. They are the Plague Squad Polious, I think. Mortarion loaned them out to the Black Legion. So I guess I should just kill one of 'em."

Bane sighed, or did the closest thing a powerful Daemon trapped in a sword could and replied, "No, you can't just capture some average Plague Marine and cut him up. You need someone powerful. Who is in charge of squad Polious?"

"Plague Lord Ebolias the Abominated, Lord of Contagions. He looks like a big bag of flies and guck that has a gasmask on top. And he survived getting shot by a lascannon in the chest."

"Alright, let's go get him."



Ebolias waited in the dank hallway, watching his armor's chronometer. "We both have a common enemy," the Sorcerer had hissed. "But we can't speak here, he is likely watching us at this very moment. Meet in Hallway 148. You won't regret this." So far the Sorcerer was late and Ebolias was regretting the waste of time. Besides, if their 'common enemy' had been watching, he would've know they were going to meet in this hallway and there might be some sort of trap. Just as Ebolias turned around and began to leave, the Sorcerer appeared. He wore strange archaic armor and held a large, glowing sword. "Greetings Plague Lord Ebolias, Lord of Contagions. I apologize for my lateness."

The Plague Lord turned around to face Caius and coughed into his armor with a loud hacking noise. He noted how clean and untainted the weak Sorcerer compared to himself. The armor on his chest was bloated and cracked, doted with pustules and tubes. Instead of a normal helmet he wore a large, rasping gasmask with glowing yellow eyes and a large horn sprouting from his slimy forehead. "Greetings," Ebolias replied. "So, what is this common enemy of ours that was so dangerous? You Black Legionnaires normally don't associate with us."

Caius howled like a mad dog and leapt forward at Ebolias, swinging his massive sword. Before the Plague Lord could react the Sorcerer had cut off his sword arm and was swinging at him again. Ebolias ducked under the blade and rammed his horn into Caius' chest, splintering his armor and stabbing into his frail, pink body. Caius held the sword above Ebolias' back, reversed his grip and swung down, but Ebolias once again dodged the blade. He drew his plasma pistol and fired off two random shots as he backed up, desperate to get away from the cursed sword. The Sorcerer dodged the first shot and deflected the second with his sword and leapt at Ebolias once again.

He severed Ebolias' other arm and knocked him to the ground with a powerful kick. "Alright, now what do we do?" asked the Sorcerer to apparently nothing. He paused for a moment and then said, "Alright." He drew a syringe from his pouch filled with a milky white liquid and injected it into one of the tubes protruding from Ebolias' swollen gut. The Plague Lord squirmed the tried to stand back up, only for Caius to knock him over again. "It's not working!" Caius yelled frantically. "Well, of course I know he's a Plague Marine. But you said this stuff was strong! I'll give him another dose!" Once again the Sorcerer drew another syringe and injected it into the tube. Despite this Ebolias continued to squirm and fight back. "Okay, okay! I'll try injecting it into his gasmask! Maybe the stuff just isn't going into the right place!" Caius drew a third syringe and injected the milky fluid into the breathing tube coming from the gasmask. "Alright, I'll wait thirty seconds and if nothing happens we'll have to get a back up plan. Maybe Plague Marines are just immune to drugs that make things fall unconscious."

The Plague Lord continued to try get up and eventually Caius gave up pushing him down and just sat on top of him. But no matter how long Caius waited, the Nurgle Worshipper refused to fall unconscious. Finally he said, "Alright. You hold him down and I'll get a cart, a bag and some chains. This may take a minute." To Ebolias' horror, the Sorcerer lifted the blade and stabbed it into the Lord's belly, impaling him against the ground and then simply ran off, leaving him trapped.

As Ebolias squirmed, he heard a deep voice. "Greetings Ebolias."

"Who are you?" he shouted. "Help me!"

"I'm the sword that the apparently insane Sorcerer has been speaking to. If you try to get up I'll hurt you quite a bit, so don't resist."

The Plague Lord roared and began to push himself up from the ground, only to be suddenly attacked by some vicious psychic presence. "I said don't resist." "You don't scare me, blade," boomed Ebolias and he began to push himself up once again.



Caius sprinted through the construction area. Hundreds of servitors worked on the engines and walls, oblivious to Caius' presence. There had to be the materials he needed here. He suddenly noticed a construction robot bound to the floor by a chain and immediately tried to pull it off. The chain refused to budge. "Come on!" screamed Caius, knowing that if he didn't come back soon he'd have to deal with an out of control Plague Lord. He drew his force sword and muttered, "Don't fail me now."

He concentrated all of his psychic power into the blade and imagined the blade glowing. After a moment, the blade suddenly lit up. "Yes!" screamed Caius as he cut the chain with the force sword and carried it off. The construction robot wondered mindlessly off into the halls, no longer bound to its working area. Meanwhile Caius went the opposite direction, searching for a cart or anything that could be used to carry the Plague Lord. After a minute of hopelessly searching he saw a servitor pushing a cart filled with a dozen pipes. Without hesitation Caius pulled all of the pipes off of the cart and floored the servitor with a single punch.

Now he just needed something to cover the Plague Lord. But there were no bags or anything similar in here. Suddenly, Caius realized he could use blankets. He rushed to his room, bringing the cart and the chains with him.



Ebolias ripped himself free from the floor and stood up, the glowing sword still embedded in his chest. "You fool," hissed the sword. "I am a raw fragment of the warp and am twenty thousand years old! I am the Great Prince Venombane, Destroyer of Worlds! What makes you think you can possibly stop me?" And with that Ebolias was suddenly slammed with another horrific psychic attack. His armor cracked even more and dark fluids surged forth from the joints of his armor. Yet Ebolias refused to fall or stop. "And I am the Chosen of Nurgle and Child of Despair! I watched the Battle of Terra with my own eyes and I fought on Cadia with my own bare hands! I am the Plague Lord Ebolias and you are a pathetic Daemon bound to a sword!"

At that moment Caius ran inside, pushing a cart with two blankets from his bunk as well as a long chain inside. "Feth!" yelled the Sorcerer. "I thought you said you could hold him!"

Caius sprinted toward Elbolias and rammed him. Combined with the psychic attacks of Bane and his lack of arms, Elbolias was knocked to the ground and left in a daze. Without hesitation the Sorcerer ripped Bane free from Elbolias' chest and slashed the Nurgle Worshipper over and over, bringing him to the brink of death. Just as Elbolias thought Caius was going to land the finishing blow the Sorcerer instead dragged him over to the cart and dropped Elbolias inside. Before the Plague Lord could even comprehend what was going on Caius covered him with blankets and wrapped the chain around him several times.

As Elbolias squirmed desperately Caius panted and said, "Alright, I think we got him. Serving Tzeentch will be easier from now on, right?"

Very nice, i now have a image of a giant pus covered space marine with no arms in my head, and for that i thank you. (and thats a good thing)

Lol, thanks for the comment. I'll try to post another update later today. Hopefully I won't get writer's block.

Wow, the story's getting dialogue heavy. The next part won't be very talky though. It'll have warp craziness. But the part after the warp craziness will have lots of talking.

After resting for several minutes, Caius picked up the blade and said, "I guess we should move him back to my quarters." He grabbed the cart with his free hand and began pulling. "Do you think it was... well... an ethical thing to do? You know, to cut his arms off, tie him up and eventually sacrifice him?"

Apparently Ebolias heard part of what the Sorcerer said as he squirmed even more and shouted something unintelligible through the blanks over him. "It was probably necessary for your own survival," flatly replied Bane. "Assuming it motivates Tzeentch to save you."

"See, that's part of it. Is my survival worth his pain and death?" asked Caius. "What if he's a nice person or something."

"You've killed before and you've had people try to kill you before; I don't understand why your getting hung up on ethics now. This universe we live in is not a safe place. People will die. For others to survive, people must die. The blame belongs to the system, not yourself."

"First of all," said Caius. "I'm getting hung up on it now because its slow and painful. There's no rush of adrenaline and he isn't a threat to my survival anymore. Secondly, that seems like an excuse to blame killing someone on the system."

"Plague Marines don't feel pain, so don't get guilty about that. And its not an excuse. Was there ever a time with complete peace and prosperity?"

As Caius entered into a more inhabitable part of the ship he said, "Alright, no more talking, we can't look anymore suspicious than we already are."

Cultists, slaves and servitors began to appear as Caius came closer to his quarters. Most walked by casually but a few stopped to stare at the strange, pus soaked blanket with something moaning underneath it. A few Chaos Space Marines came by as well, but most didn't care much about whatever Caius was pulling. They knew he was a mad Sorcerer whose warp related business wasn't there's. "It looks like we're in the clear," whispered Caius. That was when Devram Korda and his entourage came by. The Chaos Lord himself, Elpidius, Kaglar and a bodyguard of Chaos Terminators came through. "Greetings," hissed Devram.

"Uh... yeah, greetings," stammered the Sorcerer. "Greetings. So, I'm just going back to my quarters, you know. With my sword. And this cart. Heh. You know." Devram took a step forward past Caius and examined the wiggling thing inside the cart. "What is that underneath the blankets?" he asked. "Elpidius, poke it."

Elpidius hovered his finger above the blanket for a moment and poked it. When the area he poked suddenly writhed and made a noise he immediately withdrew his hand. "Its an experiment." Devram himself reached forward and poked it before asking, "May I remove the blanket?"

"My Lord, with all due respect, that is perhaps not the best idea," squeaked the Sorcerer.

The Terminator bodyguards immediately activated all power weapons and focused all of their guns on Caius. Devram hissed, "Caius, I am not weak. I may not be a Sorcerer, but I know things that would drive you mad and have seen things you wouldn't believe. I gazed into the warp and the warp gazed back. Your slimy experiment doesn't scare me."

"Navigator eyes," said Bane. "Say it has navigator eyes."

"It has... navigator eyes?" mumbled Caius. "Yeah, navigator eyes. That's why there's the blanket. Navigator eyes. You can poke it and smell it though, of course."

There was a deep silence that lasted several seconds. The Terminators remained fixed on Caius. He knew that the barrel of CombiMelta might be the last thing he'd ever see. Finally Devram said, "Ah yes. Very well. Carry on." And with that comment the Chaos Lord left, leaving the Sorcerer in peace.

Fun! Any nicely written, the encounter with the commander is very entertaining.

Love it, but why would you kill a Nurgle follower? Other than Khorne, hes my patron god. Anyway, still great piece of writing, we want more!

BattleBrother wrote:Love it, but why would you kill a Nurgle follower? Other than Khorne, hes my patron god. Anyway, still great piece of writing, we want more!

Tzeentch hates Nurgle because they have totally different ideals. Tzeench is the god of change who has carefully laid plans. Nurgle is totally randon and so messes up these plans. Killing a very important follower of Nurgle would be a way to get into his good books.

Yep, that's it. Anyways, here's the Grand Ritual. Also, I was planning on having Caius ask Bane about Tzeentch and Nurgle before you guys posted about that, so thats why the first part is about that even when its already been explained.

"Before we start, I have a question. Why does Tzeentch hate Nurgle?" asked Caius.

Bane chuckled and replied, "Wow, you really are a terrible Sorcerer. For one of the 'most esteemed' pyskers of the Black Legion you should know that. Tzeentch is the God of Change, Hope and Ambition whereas Nurgle is the God of Decay, Misery and Pain. Decay is inevitable and destroys all, something Tzeentch can't change which infuriates him or her or it. Nurgle's primary philosophy is 'pain through gain' and Tzeentch doesn't hate philosophy beyond change."

"So Nurgle can ruin Tzeentch's plans?"

"Yeah. Nurgle is one of the few beings who can actual resist the manipulations and intricate schemes of Tzeentch. Now start the ritual. And put me down. I don't want to get involved with this."

Caius immediately said, "But you're my wingman! Without you I'd have died at least a dozen times in the past few days!"

"Yeah, but I don't want to get into a brawl with any Tzeentch daemon attracted by the ritual."

"Oh. Okay, I'll put you down."

Caius left the blade on his bunk and stood up in front of the eight sided star and ring of blood he had set up earlier. In one hand he held The Decree of Change and in the other he held his recently mastered force sword. He took a deep breath, acknowledging that after this he could never go back. Finally, he started the ritual. Caius began to speak something intelligible and sensed a vague psychic presence using his extremely limited warp abilities. As he continued speaking it grew stronger and the horn in the center of the start started to glow. Now there were at least two potent warp entities in the room. Finally, finished with the intelligible mumblings, Caius went onto the next part of the ritual. Reading directly from the book he said, "Tzeentch, the Great Changer of Ways, I cry out to you! I swear myself to the Lord of Schemes and Masters of Plots! I acknowledge myself as but a puppet of Tzeentch who dances to his tune! In return for my service I ask for the power to destroy and the ability to live!"

At this point Caius noted at least a dozen entities in the room encircling him. Their combined warp presence was strong enough to taint the physical realm now. The air was replaced with a swirling blue substance. Bane glowed unusually bright. The Daemonic horn was bleeding a strange yellow substance was exploded into purple flames when it came into contact with the ring of blood. Now Caius went back to the unintelligible spells and his room was possessed even further. Writhing faces appeared on the walls, laughing and mocking the Sorcerer. The floor briefly buckled and twisted as if something was writhing underneath it. Ebolias began to scream so loud he could be heard even through the blankets. "I swear myself to the Changer of Ways!" screamed Caius, realizing he was reaching the climax of the room. He put all of his psychic power into his force sword and jumped towards Ebolias, thrusting the weapon into the Plague Lord's chest.

Ebolias exploded in a spray of viscera and slime, destroying the cart he was in and staining the walls and floor. The Sorcerer was thrown backwards into his bunk with a loud thunk. The Daemonic faces on the walls gradually disappeared, laughing at Caius the entire time. Caius went limp and slumped to the floor, panting. He reached out and grabbed Bane, clutching the sword tightly. "What have I done?" he asked. "Well," answered Bane. "You either saved your life or ruined it. Here, try shooting a lightning bolt at the floor without my help. Tzeentch sometimes enhances raw psychic power which makes being a Sorcerer a lot easier."

"Okay," said Caius. "Here we go." He concentrated on a massive lightning bolt, exploding through the floor. As he continued to concentration he forced his pyschic energy into the image and suddenly a massive blue lightning bolt shot from his hand. It immediately blew through the floor and hit a Chaos Space Marine in the quarters directly below Caius'. The Marine was blown apart in a massive wave of energy, creating an extremely vibrant light. "Holy feth!" screamed Caius, jumping up and looking through the sizable hole in his floor. "Holy feth! Holy feth!"

"I guess I was right about sacrificing a Plague Lord at the climax of the ritual," said a content Bane. "You destroyed the floor and the bolt still had enough energy left to kill some poor Black Legionnaire. Well done."

"I'm God now!" yelled Caius. "I could kill Devram without your help! I could destroy entire planets with your help! I'll be a Daemon Prince with the favor of the Tzeentch and the loyalty of my minions! The Imperium will bow to my will! As Horus once proclaimed, the galaxy will burn!"

"Feth. You're already acting like a Sorcerer of Tzeentch. Well, don't get carried away. All you did was make a hole in the floor and blow up an unsuspecting guy by accident," pointed out Bane.

Caius took a deep breath and said, "Sorry. It's just, I've never felt that much power before. Its... amazing. Its like some sort of drug."

"Yeah, well remember that its not free. You won't have to pay as much as others for that power because of Ebolias, but you'll still have to pay with something."

Love it as usual, I have actually bookmarked this thread, so I can check regularly on updates. Keep up the good work , Future writer LoneLictor

Errrmm good story with excelent writing, but... feth is a Tanith curse so unless Caius has been hanging out with the Ghosts I don't think a chaos sorcerer would say that. Other than that minor detail it is a good story and I look forward to seeing more from you.

Thanks for the comments. Here's my poorly thought out last minute explanation as to why Caius says feth. He was recruited from Tanith to become a Space Marine and was recruited from the Tanith Space Marine Chapter to become a Black Legionnaire.

I'll post a new entry later. The Emperor's Children are coming.

Tanith space marine chapter? Would it be easier to say he interogated some tanith guard? While he fought there, they probably fought there at least once.

EagleArk wrote:Tanith space marine chapter? Would it be easier to say he interogated some tanith guard? While he fought there, they probably fought there at least once.

Yeah, that makes more sense. I'll use that instead. The background in Warhammer 40k is so huge and diverse that sometimes I make errors, heh. I try not to though.

Once again the story has been brought back from the depths of writer's block! Most of the story has been from the perspective of Caius, save a brief part from Ebolias. Well now I'm going to have a brief section from another now Caius character.

It was morning on Cadia. Devram forced himself out of his bunk and stretched his limbs. He had barely gotten any sleep due to his tormenting thoughts of Caius' power. The sleep part didn't matter; he was a 10,000 year old Chaos Space Marine, Chosen of Abaddon. He probably didn't even need to sleep and only did it out of nostalgia. However, Caius did matter. He had stayed in his position via knowledge. He found an enemy's strengths and weaknesses and used that to bring them down. A perfect example would be Elpidius. Once an up and coming Chaos Lord, now Caius' personal servant and broken shell of a creature. However, he knew nothing about Caius. The idiotic Sorcerer must have stumbled onto some secret or artifact; he wasn't intelligent enough to become this powerful by himself. "I will use the only option I have left," Devram told himself. "I'll just ask Caius." It was an idiotic idea. However, Caius was an idiotic person. He just might tell him.

The Chaos Lord put his helmet on and left his quarters, where his bodyguard awaited him, as well as Elpidius. "We're going to Caius' quarters," he snarled to them. Terminator Champion Trainius loaded a map of the ship whilst the other nine Terminators formed a protective circle around Caius and Elpidius. They set off. Along the way cultists and Marines alike cowered. Kaglar tried to speak to Devram, but he furiously yelled, "Leave you failure of a Sorcerer. You have no position among my elite anymore."

"What?" squeaked Kaglar, trying to reach Devram. "What did I do? I was loyal Commander! I never failed and I never disobeyed! Please, what did I do?"

"I ordered you to find out information about Caius and you were too afraid of him to even try," hissed the Chaos Lord.

"I was planning on capturing and interrogating him, my Lord," replied Kaglar. "But he came into my quarters and beat me within an inch my life with his psychic powers! He could've killed me!"

"You disobeyed my orders out of fear and weakness. Leave."

The Sorcerer scurried off, whimpering. Now Kaglar was nothing; he was at the same rank Caius had been before he had discovered whatever he had. "We're almost at Caius' quarters," said Trainius. "Do you wish for us to accompany you inside?"



Caius furiously scrubbed away the remains of Ebolias, but the various stains refused to leave. Evidently the Champion of Nurgle was endurable. "Why did he have to explode?" moaned Caius. "Why couldn't he have just died like a normal person?"

"Don't ask me, you where the one who exploded him," replied Bane. "And what are you going to do about the hole in the floor?"

"Ummm... I'll think of something," the Sorcerer said. "Maybe I'll just grab a metal plate and bolt it over the hole. I'd be an eye sore but at least I wouldn't risk falling through it and breaking my legs."

Suddenly Caius' door slammed open to reveal the towering figure of Devram Korda with the brute Elpidius standing at his side. Ten Terminators stood behind them. Caius immediately leapt up and held Bane in a defensive position. "Please," purred Devram, stepping inside and examined the room. "There is no need for hostilities. Leave us. I will talk to Caius along."

The Terminators' immediately left. "Ummm... Elpidius is still here," pointed out Caius. "So you aren't really alone."

"Elpidius isn't a person," corrected Devram as he shut the door. "Or at least he doesn't count as one. Is there a chair I can sit down in?"

"No, sorry."

"Good. Keep acting like you aren't scared of him," Bane said. "As with the last time you talked to him, I'll keep you from shaking or blinking."

"Now Caius, it wouldn't be a lie to say you've made a surprising transition. You've become extremely powerful in just a few days," carefully said Devram. "Now, I hope you won't mind this, but I've become curious as to how. It could be a great gain for the Black Legion if whatever you used or did or found could be used on other Sorcerers of even basic Legionnaires. Again, I hope you don't mind the question but as Commander of the Hydra Fleet of the Black Legion I am obligated to ask."

There was a deep, long silence, during which Devram examined the room. There was a glaring, burnt hole in the floor, slime on the walls, and a discarded cart and chains. "Don't tell him anything," Bane said. "You can't tell him anything. I know your going to ask whynot and the answer is because he'll take me to use for his own purposes. And I know you're going to claim that Devram is too smart to lie to, but he isn't."

"Listen," whispered Caius. "I'm going to tell me. He'll figure out eventually and its better if he knows I'm an honest and loyal minion."

"What did you say?" asked Devram, leaning in closer.

Suddenly, Bane attacked. He immediately tried to wretch control of Caius' body, using the same possession tactics he had used many times before. But this time the Sorcerer could fight back. He focused all of his energy on the psychic power flowing from the sword into his body and tried to stop it. Bane unleashed his full power and diverted around Caius' psychic presence just in time to reach his brain. And he attacked. Suddenly Caius was hit by a horrific headache. He lost all control and Bane stepped in, grabbing the reins of his body. "Get out," he ordered Devram, taking a step closer to him. Horrified, Caius tried to focus and take control of his body but Bane attacked his brain once again and the headache resumed.

"What?" asked Devram.

"Get out," Bane ordered once again, gesturing towards the door.

"Elpidius," said Devram and his servant attacked. Elpidius immediately drew a power sword and lunged at Caius. However, Bane was an expert fighter. He ducked under Elpidius' first blow and stabbed underneath it, impaling the Marine on his sword. Devram's servant coughed and fell to the floor, dead. "Get out," Bane ordered. This time Devram obeyed, immediately opening the door and running outside.

Bane relinquished control of Caius' body and let the Sorcerer ease back in. "You idiot!" screamed Caius. "He's going to kill me! And you didn't have to kill Elpidius! He was just some poor guy that Devram decided to enslave! And why the feth did you attack my mind? Don't do that! This is my body!"

"You lost the right to choose your course of action long ago," hissed Bane. "Before I came you were nothing! You admitted you'd be dead without me. You can't choose when to use my help and when to not to! I don't have an off button!"

"Why are you helping me?" asked Caius.

"To escape," replied Bane. "Part of it is out of pity. However, I'll admit that most of it is to escape. Once you become powerful enough, I'm going to briefly possess you and use your powers in addition to mine to shatter the blade so that when I go back inside I become freed."

"Okay," said Caius. "What do we do now?"



"Commander," said Trainius, approaching a terrified looking Devram Korda. "Do you wish for us to eliminate Sorcerer Caius?"

"No," answered Devram. "He's become extremely powerful. He's defeated Felix, Heron, Vibianus, Kaglar and now me. But, I still have faith in the Emperor's Children. Lord Commander Eblis has never failed."

Yeah, Caius is in trouble now. Comments are appreciated! Comment if you like the story, comment if you hate it and have advice on how to improve it or just comment if you want to increase your post count.

I have became a big fan of you and your writing! Amazing, I read every one, keep up the good work!

Thanks for the comment. Also, I won't be able to post a new entry for the next 2 or 3 days because I'm going on a brief trip. When I come back I'll be sure to post something.

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! Cannot wait! But still, I will be looking forword to it.