Ecstasy. The pounding cacophony of it flew threw Todeo’s being, the noise and passion surrounding him brought water to his eyes. He raised his fist to the sky, flung his head back and roared for all he was worth.

Ahead of him the governmental chambers glared upwards monolithically. Dark plasteel panels sucked the light out from behind the riotous imperial pennants that surrounded them; red, gold and purple dancing sporadically over the oppressive black. Dotted with ornate balconies, he saw the high-born politicos like distant fireflies, gazing down piteously on the maelstrom below. It strained the eyes and bent the mind to comprehend the top of the vast structure, and for long minutes the awful majesty of it had turned Todeo’s mind to dread; in truth he conceded silently, it had been the surge of the crowd, not his bravado, that had set him squarely before it.

But set before it he was and now the heart pumping contempt had returned. The swell of his comrades rose once again, a mighty jeer flung into the artificial daylight. The crowded hummed triumphantly. Never had such a gathering been contemplated and now the concentric patters of manicured garden and neat, waist-high hedgerows were overwhelmed by people, his brothers, his sisters, his people.

He threw his full voice into another salvo of sound, aiming it straight to the massive twin-headed eagle motif that fronted the chambers. Above it the blistering pinnacle of the structure diverted into hundreds of vast tunnels, tubes and bundled wires, a staggered mess of arteries that flowed into the lazy artificial convex sky and linked this tumerous place to the rest of the hive. More bewilderingly still, a maddening number of messenger drones and devotional cherubs orbited and blinked their obsiessance, their numbers diminishing from the clarity of twenty feet above his head to the specks that fanned high above him, their existence and identity a mere extrapolation.

Everything about this place, he decided, was designed to awe and cow its inhabitants into submission. The serenity and regality of its accoutrements was merely a thin façade. Only a fool would feel privileged to be here he reasoned; or a narcissist, a lazy man whose sycophantic impulses dulled him to the plain truth of the chambers. It was a thorn, a disgusting edifice that did nothing but mock their poverty and scream injustice with a hymn.

To his right he saw a group of three youths clamber atop a marble statue. It was of the primarch Sangiunus with his mighty wings; an amazing construction that looked remarkably lithe; graceful despite its titanic weight. It was ten feet up to the statues thigh and it took the force of teamwork to scale the first ascender- born aloft by a throng of cheering activists. He whooped bestially before helping another up and making for the bent elbow that was perpetually rotating a smiting sword in a mighty backswing. The young man had three strips of bright orange hair on an otherwise shaved head, half his face was adorned with studs and a chain that led from nostil to ear. Todeo thought he recognised him. Was he from the Loren slum? A regular at Kagan’s place? Todeo thought to decide but a half dozen more determined climbers soon swarmed the statue like beetles and swallowed the image. He yelled in approval along with everyone else.

An injection of energy hit the crowd around him. He turned to Laska, she looked fantastic. Her long blond spikes and heavily made up face were seemingly impervious to the kinetic challenges of the mob around her. She smiled at him wildly, an unreserved and slightly conniving grin that was at once aggressive and innocently joyful. His heart surged. Behind him was Casimir, his tall athletic frame jumping rhythmically, his riotous black curls exploding into life. Two more to his left was Nidia, she was achingly far away but he could feel her passionate anger better than anyone’s. He wanted to match every bit of it.

Surrounded by his friends Todeo felt invincible. The jumping of the those around him had reached synchronisation, he briefly detected a flash of jealously that Casmir might have started this latest movement, but it soon passed. He waited one more step then flung himself upwards vaulting of the shoulder of the boy in front for extra height. He’d never felt so lucid, so vital. His eyes felt hardly able to contain the force of consciousness behind them; every sense was alive and tingling. Optimum. ‘These are my comrades’ thought Todeo. ‘These are the faces that my life is built around’.

The half crescent of primarch statues were now all covered in protesters. They’d worked into outward facing positions- some extolling the crowd to admiration, some jeering furiously at the Chambers. One boy sat atop the book of Robutee Guilman, another straddled the bolter of Rogal Dorn buccaneer like, flinging his pointed finger rhythmically at the giant stoic enemy with the rhythm of the crowd below.

They were all jumping now, a vast living tapestry of righteous vigour celebrating their power with the force of their lithe, youthful bodies. They were going to take their future from those that it didn’t belong too. From those who would subjugate his generation for the sake of a few pilfering comforts in their twilight years. The nobility of the idea stuck him suddenly as he saw joyful Laska jet upwards once more. The beauty of it caused him to suddenly feel an urge to cry.

Instead he just jumped with her.

More shapes appeared on the balconies now. On the lowest of them, a veranda which was set wide below the imperial eagle, he could clearly see a bevy of high-born guilders and councilmembers exit to inspect the commotion. They were resplendent in their ridiculousness. Some wore high hats like multicoloured traffic cones, others had shoulderpads that exaggerated absurdly their spindly frames. The ladies all sported the latest mid-hive fashion- a hugging neck sock splayed wildly below the chin. One or two of his betters, Todeo noted, were laughably overweight. He found them all loathsome.

Quickly they all came to exhibit a single commonality, they were indignant. Todeo laughed suddenly, he turned back to Casimir to point out the fact, Casimir was already laughing as well.

‘Don’t like us in your garden uninvited I suppose?’ Casmir’s strong voice rose singularly above the noise. More jeers followed.

Todeo laughed again, but before he could add his own declaration, Casimir continued. ‘Maybe we can invite them to our place next, I’m sure they’d enjoy that much better!’

Everyone around them whooped with mirth, including Todeo, who swallowed what he’d been about to say. He stole a quick look at Nidia, who was hooting in agreement to Casmirs jeer. Todeo laughed again.

The commotion continued. Todeo knew that his friends had planned to occupy the chamber grounds, even the chamber itself if they could (although he’d always thought that was far fetched), but the forethought extended no futher than that. Just being here, a vast collection of kids from the lower hive, some even from the underhive, delivered by the grace of a few well placed friends among the grav-lift operators, just being here was a huge statement. They were undesirables, none of them had clearance to even visit the commercial centres in the mid hive without work duties. The fact that they were here, staring their oppressors down, speaking truth to power, it was a huge step. Monumental even. Todeo thought of his grandparents, he was sure they would be proud of him now; in all their hard lives they would have never of dreamed of seeing the council chambers- let alone challenging the very structure on which they rested. Yes, this was a fine culmination.

So they continued jeering, some he could see took it upon themselves to further desecrate the absurd garden. Todeo wished he could too, he was on the path, ten feet from the nearest plant, the press was too great to move.

The excitement level contininued to rise. Another jumping wave began. Todeo saw that a number of the satellite drones had begun flying lower, tracking their movements, could they record his face? Would it matter if they did? Todeo lowered his gaze just in case but noticed a few of those around him were looking straight upwards, jeering and challenging the maddening, blinking drones which began to descend and bob like a hovering swarm. One cherub, a servitor amalgamated between machine and some dead child, flew right above Todeo’s head and peeled off for another pass. It came again, this time stopping just two meters ahead of him. Ashamed of his own timidity, he risked a fuller glance at it; it had curly brown hair, one half of which was lank and patchy, riddled with a mess of wires leading to the things large bionic eye which was projecting a inquisitive red beam directly at him. It carried a trumpet affixed with a long parchment etched with prayer. From it’s belly and lower body came a series of brutal looking black tubes which Todeo guessed led to anti-grav thrusters on the things back; the twitching biological wings protruding from the shoulders were far to small to induce actual flight.

It was grotesquely hideous but, strangely, Todeo found himself staring at it as it bobbed and hovered. He suddenly assessed that he wasn’t smiling anymore but instead was slack-jawed and hypnotised, as much transfixed by the cherubs blinking interest in him as by the gross insanity of it’s appearance.

Before he could react, the servitor broke his reverie by abruptly spinning away and zipping towards some other protestor 10 meters to his left. The selection seemed odd to Todeo; weren’t machines supposed to be methodical? If the crowd was being profiled then why not move to his neighbour? Was there some other criteria by which he was singled out?

Suddenly he felt someone try to grab his right hand, Todeo spun around to see Nidia wedged between the crowd, one shoulder and her head was through the press, fully extended to reach him. His face registered surprise, but then he realised that she was trying to get though to him. He grabbed her arm with one, then two hands and yanked her past his two neighbours bringing her squashed flat against his chest, pressed against him by the weight of the mob. Todeo was overcome with an instant glow of joyful panic at the contact.

She was shouting something up at him excitedly but even at this close distance, he couldn’t catch a thing of what she was saying above the din. He stared at her for a second in dumb bewilderment before shaking his head. Her large eyes shone with passion and idealism underneath her dark fringe; Nidia, such an unblemished soul, Todeo was sure that she was born of a unique star, he couldn’t imagine a more gentle, innocent approach to humanity being backed by a more ferocious fire to defend it. The dichotomy was impossible to fathom and endlessly alluring.

Nidia closed his ear with her finger and yelled;

‘Todeo, clear a space, I want to leave a painting!’ she paused a second, her face full of mission.

‘you mean…here?’

‘yeah! On the floor!’ She pointed downwards, but Todeo couldn’t see past her feet. For all her obvious earnest, he could hardly create three inches between them, the shock of their contact made him uncomfortable all over again, he had to quickly reprimand himself for taking the opportunity to check the curve of her breasts.

‘how will we?’ her eyes bored into him once more; expectant. ‘O.K’

Without replying Nidia pulled out a handheld oblong ‘burnbrush’ from her back pocket; a favourite of the underhive, these low-penetration lasers left indelible marks on rock and metal but would only cause surface burns to unexposed flesh; very handy for graffiti and warning signs. It was odd that she had one, they were expensive and most often found in the hands of bloodthirsty gangers who marked their enemies and whores with demeaning scars.

Imbued with a sudden and critical need to act, Todeo’s first thought, subconscious yet unmistakeable, was of failure. There was a comfortable yet immovable press of the crowd and the noise was far too great for him to be able to shout requests for movement to his neighbours. But the more urgent need was to impress Nidia with effective action. He slapped his hand firmly on the shoulder of the bald protester who stood next to him. The man was older, in his late thirties, and had a large serpent tattoo on the side of his head- he wouldn’t have been out of place at Kagans joint, one of those casual about work and serious about drink that could be found there during daytime; men who were unassigned to a guild either through disciplinary failure or conscious avoidance, he’d none the less decided to turn out and protest the rights of organised labour and the young.

‘Hey brother, spread the word, the lady here needs a little space to burn a mark’

‘Huh?’ The bald man was still staring forward, he’d tilted the side of his head towards Todeo.

‘Some space man! She needs some floor space to burn a mark!’ Todeo smiled and gestured towards the burnbrush that Nidia held, painting in the air for effect.

‘Oh, yeah, great! No problem.’ The man nodded enthusiastically.

‘Great!’ yelled Todeo, genuinely surprised.

He twisted to Laska up ahead, her fist was pumping in the air as she shouted her defiance at the chambers, he negotiated his hand past her striking blonde spikes and tapped her shoulder. She ignored him and instead jumped upwards, throwing up her other fist, utterly absorbed in the electric energy of the mob.

Todeo grabbed her more firmly and she turned to him, her beaming smile dominating and illuminating her whole face.

‘Laska, Nidia has a burnbrush, she’s going to leave a mark’ he shouted, inches from her ear.

‘A what?’ One of her hair spikes crunched against his cheek, forcing him to bob away momentarily.

‘A burnbrush, she’s going to mark the floor!’ He pointed downwards and, seeing her puzzled expression, tried again. ‘we need some SPACE on the FLOOR!’

‘oh cool!’ her face lit up once more ‘let me try and give you guys some room!’

‘Fantastic!’ Shouted Todeo ‘this guys going to help too’. He twisted back towards his bald neighbour but immediately saw the man staring forward once more like some wry tourist, he’d made no attempt to clear any room at all.

‘Hey brother, what about the burn mark?’ Todeo tried to co-opt him once more.

‘The what?’ shouted the bald man, still looking forward.

‘The BURN MARK, you said you’d help clear some SPACE FOR THE BURN MARK’ Todeo moved almost as close to the man has he had to Laska, making every effort to ensure he understood, he was close enough to smell the sharp acrid tang of synth-liqour emanating from his collar but the man didn’t reply at all, he just continued to stare straight ahead without registering Todeo’s immediate proximity.

Todeo let the words hang for a few seconds before repeating.

‘Sir, could you clear a little space for this burn mark?’

‘There’s no space’ shouted the man matter of factly; still not deigning to look at Todeo.

Todeo stood staring at him for moments more. He was already exasperated and felt no bond of understanding between them at all. He desperately wanted for Nidia to approve of him and yet this drink-sodden old hive-rat was acting as if he was guarding a spot in the ration queue; not part of a new and radical co-operative struggle. The man was intransient, but he needed him to move. Todeo was at a loss.

To his left he felt a surge of movement and saw Casimir rise upwards with Nidia on his shoulders. His tall frame hefting her well above the crowd, the swiftness and strength of the move leaving her exultant.

‘BURN MARK!’ Casimir bellowed, commanding the immediate attention of all those around him, including Todeo and the bald man with the serpent tattoo. They saw Casmirs face, possessed of passion, wide-eyed and insistent- extolling them all to anger, to celebration, to vandalism.

‘BURN MARK!’ He cried again, as adamant and vital as the first. Atop his vibrant curls Nidia thrust her burn brush skywards and let rip, howling towards the heavens, her face a rictus of warcry. The short red laser shot a foot outwards, oxidizing a point in the air that cracked and burned with a smoky yellow fizz.

Casmir’s intervention was like a hand grenade of energy in the crowd, what Todeo had attempted was accomplished in seconds as the riotous crowd acted as one, yelling their approval then instantly pushing back a sizable space ahead of Nidia who gave one more cheer before dismounting Casmirs shoulder and crouching before the polished slab of fine off-world stone that was to be her canvas. The wider protest throbbed noisily around them, but for upwards of a minute all those around her were enthralled by Nidias work. It was not intricate, yet she became instantly silent and worked with such intense earnest that while she was drawing the short voracious laser over the stone, it seemed as if she was simultaneously sucking the light away from her surroundings, closing the space in around her and demanding the full attention of her compatriots, as if the crude black shape she was marking was a relic and it’s inception was a holy miracle.

What emerged from the stone was an ascending bird born of thick black scars that from a distance looked like divinely spilled ink. The bird was simple to the eye, just a few economical strokes and yet was instantly pleasing; it soared upwards then peaked its head, as if about to perform an ariel summersault. It’s wings reached upwards like a swimmers arms, as if they would heave it vertically through the air. It looked noble, like a creature born of struggle, of hope, it wasn’t vandalism it was symbolism. From the first moment he saw it Todeo had felt like he’d known the image for all time, like it had been printed on his heart from birth and was just waiting for him to recognise it once more, a simple math equation that once learnt, made such perfect sense that it seemed impossible the idea could ever have been unknown in the first place. Although he’d never seen it before, Todeo knew, instantly knew that Nidia had just created an image that would come to define all of their lives. But the pond of calm in the sea of raging protest hadn’t gone unnoticed by the drones surveying the crowd. From above Todeo noticed three metallic orbs and the servitor-cherub from earlier taking a keen interest, circling them with photographic lenses gnashing furiously. They’d hoped to flood the arbitrators with so many law breakers that picking them out individually would be overwhelming; a heard mentality that would ensure most of them would escape unpunished. This isolated act of vandalism was just the sort of incident that would earn Nidia special persecution- they had to protect her. The thought instantly spread throughout all of the twenty or so onlookers.

Again Casimir was first to act, without prompt he quickly stripped off his shirt and held it like a protective screen over Nidia’s crouched form. Todeo and two other youths instantly followed, creating an impenetrable tent of fabrics from all angles. The drones ducked and bobbed, shooting inquisitive probing lights that danced menacingly over the taught clothing, searching for the gaps that might allow another glimpse of Nidia. But the boys were too fast, where the lights found gaps they were quickly plugged and Todeo’s heart surged again when he saw the four of them give up the endeavour as one; abruptly buzzing away to some other infernal errand. He laughed, staring across at the smiling victorious faces of the three other men he felt a giddy thrill of comradery, a thrill that was intensified by knowing that it was Nidia that he’d protected. Casimir too broke his seriousness, whooping and embracing Todeo like a brother, before scooping the emerging Nidia into a bear hug against his lean tall-man’s musculature. As always his delight was infectious and Nidia laughed heartily despite herself before resetting into a more reserved one-armed thank you hug with Todeo that was natural for them both.

Shirtless, next to Nidia, Laska and Casimir and standing above what he considered to be a real permanent symbol of righteous resistance; Todeo felt more exultant than ever. The four friends exchanged renewed smiles before turning back to the council chambers and joining the greater throng of protest once more. It was pandemonium. From the huge statues of the imperial primarches now hung a mess of vibrant youths hurling abuse and leading the derogatory chanting of those below. Anger throbbed over the vast mass of young humanity like a tidal flow, spawning pockets of jumping fury and synchronised salvoes of damming insults. All of the spiralling drones had now descended to profile the crowd but even the concentrated film of them above the mass now looked utterly insufficient against the teeming horde of furious youth from the lower hive. They buzzed and darted maddeningly, seemingly unable to complete one task before being compelled by haste to move to the next. Where one dipped too low, the crowd grabbed at it and pulled it down, eviscerating it’s bio-mechanical body with their assorted knives, fists and tools then emerging triumphant with fistfuls of metal and pipes. The politico’s vague and disdainful curiosity had been replaced by real panic and they whispered urgent queries to one another through a thin veneer of calm dignity. Todeo saw black ships emerge from hatches in the artificial sky above, docking with the higher levels of the gigantic structure. They were evacuating the important councilmembers he thought. Perhaps they really did have a chance of getting inside.

Euphoria reigned among the protesters once more. To a guttural animal rhythm they moved like a tribe. Huge drums and horns had been brought up form the grav lifts in the back and were now uniting the pockets of activity into a single entity. From the point of view of the politicos on the balcony there was not an inch of their once serene council grounds to be seen, only a vast living carpet of poor urban youth that rolled like the sea. Strange and garish fashions sported by the gangers and political organizers intermingled with the functional spartan threads of the young unionists. Red orange flares were lit atop the statues and invaded the air with a cordite smell among the heady stench of communal sweat. The protestors had invaded the huge marble fountains that twined one another in the centre of the grounds and were dancing riotously, soaked to the bone. They redirected the powerful torrents of water on the mob below, creating a rain that inspired wild carnival abandon from the ground level. As the crowed jumped, vaulted and danced for long minutes, the whole protest was as a rave, half celebration, half an explosion of pent up energy, anger, injustice and frustration.

Soon Todeo detected a new edge to the proceedings; a destructive hunger had taken root in the crowd. It started as an overspill of the joyous demonstration then spread like static electricity, incipient at first. But his peripheral senses told Todeo that the crowd had begun to take souvenirs and he was in agreement. Where there was a tree standing in the previously immaculate gardens it was rocked, torn and broken. Hedges were uprooted, kicked and stamped upon. Those with the means took to chipping and breaking the mirror smooth grey stones underfoot. Where the protesters succeeded in finding a loose rock or pebble, it was swiftly used as a missile by those in range of the gigantic black tower.

The pitter-patter of objects bouncing against the titanic plasteel tower was almost laughably ineffectual, but the politico’s balconies were only a few meters above the highest throws. Todeo knew that there were no actual firearms in the crowd; none whatsoever could be taken into the council grounds and scanners after the grav lifts constantly searched for them. The protesters had successfully overrided the admittance protocols but the autocannon turrets that would instantly rip into a gun carrier could not be disabled- even the wildest of underhive gangers knew they had to leave the hardware at home for this occasion.

Nevertheless the rocks and loose metal had obviously unnerved the politicos still further, a black uniformed figure in a beret appeared on the forward facing balcony and started what Todeo could easily see was a panicked consultation. The fat red faced councilmember he was talking with was gesticulating wildly, his usual noble dignity having been quickly discarded at the first suggestion of a threat to personal security.

The crowed jeered in unison once more, this time far with far uglier obscenities than the satirical mocking of earlier. From behind him Todeo felt Casimir push forward, his face snarling. In his hand he held a fist sized grey rock that must have been passed forward through the crowd from those at the back who had no hope of getting in range. Casmir bent his body back and hurled the missile with an explosion of effort, his long arm arching like a trebuchet. It was a mighty throw and for a second quiet descended around Todeo as it seemed the rock was going to make it. The stone smashed against the foot of the balcony a mere meter away from the fat councilmember, shocking him out of his conversation, he shot a horrified, fearful look down towards Todeo’s group and instantly the significance of the broken taboo dawned on everyone. It was treasonous for anyone not of a noble guild to even disrespect the person of a councilmember and to assault one physically was punishable by death. As the high-born’s indignant gaze bored into Casimir for once the tall youth was hesitant; Todeo could see that he’d realised he may have gone too far. He looked straight back at the councilmember fearfully holding his gaze yet too ashamed to break it.

Suddenly Nidia intervened. She stepped purposefully in front of Casmir, and engaged the councilmember with hatred and defiance. Her eyes burned like bullets as she shot her fist into the air and roared her challenge directly into the face of the noble guilder. Todeo took the opportunity to goad Casimir back into the safety of the crowd after the adrenaline shock that had clearly overtaken him, helping hands appeared everywhere and Casmir finally seemed to recover his senses, accepting the cover and wheeling towards the protection of his comrades.

Confronted squarely, if distantly, by Nidia; the fat councilmember shook with imperious rage. He blackly spat an order at the uniformed man, clicked his fingers crisply and stormed into the chamber building, a retinue of others closely following. The last to leave, an ornately dressed older woman surveyed the protesters disdainfully beneath her nose, Todeo could clearly see her contempt and it infuriated him. He thought she clearly knew nothing of the conditions of their lives, how could she deny their humanity so? He stood squarely beside Nidia, who hadn’t broken her pose nor her shout, and yelled at the noblewoman for all he was worth.

‘GUILDER FILTH!’

He meant every syllable with all his heart, and as she stood next to Nidia the force of emotion tumbling through him brought water to the corners of his eyes. More savage jeers flew upwards past his ears and once again the underhive youth were galvanized together into a chorus of hate – every affirming oath and curse he heard set his blood a degree closer to boiling point; Todeo felt like he wanted to set about the vast tower and tear it down with his teeth and nails. Laska appeared to his right, her arms bared wide in challenge, she threw her head back and with a wild, savage smile let out an undulating high pitched warcry;

‘Ai ai ai ai ai aiiiiiiiii!’ Laska screamed to the heavens as a torrent of water from the fountains cascaded into the line of three friends. Her threadbare grey tank top soaked, Laska turned to Todeo with eyes full of joyful abandon. Her relish at the abilty to display such free emotion was infectious and Todeo couldn’t help but laugh giddily along with her. To his left, Nidia was more stoic, her pose still unbroken and her defiant shout renewed. Drawn by the gathering of his friends Todeo felt Casimir’s weight come between him and Laska, draping his arms over their shoulders and pulling them together. With the politicos gone from the balcony and the courtyard utterly dominated by the protesters, with the four friends who’d put so much time and passion into organizing in the vanguard, just a few rows from the front; Casimir’s confidence had quickly returned. He gave Todeo a sure, congratulatory smile. Todeo laughed again, and exchanged another look with Laska. Nidia couldn’t resist the rest of them and Todeo could see her stifle a smile. Casmir moved to her, and shook her shoulders as he laughed, his formidable height even more profound against her diminutive frame. Nidia seriousness crumbled and she laughed despite herself. Shooting everyone another look with his overwhelming ability to draw people into an idea, Casimir smiled mischievously and cried to the monolith.

‘BASTARDS!’

‘BASTARDS!’ Todeo, Laska and Nidia joined him.

‘BASTARDS!’ Casimir led them again with renewed vigour

‘BASTARDS!’ Came again the refrain.

As the four friends stood before the vast symbol of their oppression, with water rushing over them, the cordite smell of flares mixing with the salt of sweat, as their skin bristled at the waft of the artificial air, as they stood united; with Nidia at his side and purpose in his heart- Todeo could not imagine feeling as if he belonged anywhere else.

Just then a guttural metallic boom emanated from the vast cathedral doors that fronted the councilchambers. It was resonant enough to roll across the crowd and catch everyone’s attention; the drums skipped a beat and the white noise of the protesters died quickly away. Robbed of their beat, the fountain dancers meekly ceased their revel and shot each other questioning looks. The stones stopped flying against the black plasteel plates. All eyes were anxiously turned to the clanking of the ornately carved gates that were slowly opening before them.

As the doors parted Todeo made out the first black shapes from behind the gloom, they stood tightly ranked but almost indiscernible, the power from inside the chamber buildings seemed to have been cut. With every meter that the doors widened Todeo could see more of them, a phalanx of thirty across by the time that the gears behind the gates fell silent. Barely a sound came from the protest but Todeo could feel the collective unease as comrades murmured to one another all around him. The quiet was eerie and hung for long seconds, the black figures behind the threshold as immobile as statues full of foreboding. Then from their font rank a loud, masculine command.

‘ARBITERS, FORWARD!’

As one the phalanx strode into the light, Todeo could make out further ranks behind them as the company descended the short stone staircase to the courtyard level where the protesters stood. They all looked identical from this distance, round black helmets that covered their full head and large onyx visors that seemed almost insect like. Their suit was close fitting and fortified by dark grey carapace padding on the shoulders, chest, knees and elbows. In their arms they held a large oblong plasteel shield that looked as if it would cover about sixty percent of their body if held directly in front. Strapped to their waist was a maul about a foot long. Their entire person was uniformly dark save for a thin exposed strip of skin at the neck and a long white identification number printed on their left shoulderpad.

After a further six ranks had advanced into the courtyard they again stopped and stood immobile. From the front of the column an unhelmeted figure strode two paces ahead, Todeo recognised him from the balcony, he wore a black beret and no shield but was otherwise dressed identically to the rest. On closer inspection he had a hard, square jawed face and a nose that looked as if it had been repeatedly broken. Without hesitation he pulled out a short note and read into a handsized vox-amplifier.

‘By order of the hundred and fifty third esteemed and august council of Hive Corialis, thrice blessed and with authority of the emperor of mankind; this unauthorised manifestation is hereby deemed unlawful and heretical.’ The man’s amplified voice rang loudly and clearly across the crowd, authoritative but without emotion.

‘All persons hereby in attendance are duly charged with trespassing, affront to venerated persons and unlicensed expression of incorrect political opinion. All persons here in attendance having come from the lower hive are also duly charged with unauthorized hive transit and pollution of the public space. All persons here in attendance are ordered to disperse immediately and await punishment.’

Casimir could hear no more, ‘feth you! Fascists! Pigs!’ he roared into the arbiters and was accompanied by a torrent of outraged jeers from the protestors. Todeo could see the full strength of the arbiter contingent now. A few hundred. They definitely looked grim and disciplined but an untold number of protesters had turned out today. At least two hundred thousand in the vast courtyard without a spec of visible floor thought Todeo, perhaps that was even a very conservative guess. Todeo was not given to think in terms of direct contests of strength, but even without firearms the arbiters were surely far outmatched by the scale of the lower hive youth. Seeing Casimir, strong, hot headed and wrathful immediately gave him confidence. Nidia was also beside him she had every ounce and more of Casimirs passion and was clearly incensed by the banal, imperious and unjust tone of the declaration, she filled him with purpose. Todeo also knew that among the crowd there was more than a few who regularly fought in the disused industrial wasteland of the underhive as part of a gang. In cobbling together the disparate alliance of interests that made up the movement they had forced their way into consideration. Most had come just for a jaunt, knowing there was a high possibility the day could end in violence, but others, in the crude cunning of underhive politics, had seen support of the movement as a way to add real legitimacy to the baser operations of their gang; a means to link extortion, prostitution and murder to their grander ambitions of control. Whatever the reason, Todeo was glad they were here. If these effete mid-hivers wanted to taste the bitterness of their lives then they were welcome to it.

Confronted by obvious defiance, the square-jawed arbiter captain briefly surveyed the crowd arrayed a few meters ahead of him. He took no more than a few seconds to conclude upon confrontation before giving a short snort, crunching the declaration tightly in his fist and turning purposefully into his troops. They parted to let him pass and when he reached the steps behind them, he turned on his heel and stood at full attention.

‘Arbiters, present weapons!’ he barked over their heads.

As one the contingent reached across their waist with their free hand and withdrew their weapons. They raised their shields at combat readiness.

‘Arbiters, arm weapons! Eighty five percent power. For the emperor.’ came the second order, his troops immediately responded and the mauls telescopically snapped open, extending at least another foot in length. They were thinner now, but still solid enough that they looked as if they could break a man’s shin with ease. At the top was a slightly wider cap, a communal hum issued from the mauls as they powered up and within seconds visible blue streaks of electrical energy danced and played menacingly between the hilt and tip of the weapons. Ten rows back in the crowd and fifty meters away from the arbiters Todeo could feel the powerful wave of static emanating from them, he could feel his hairs stand on end, ominously warning of impending pain. A shot of adrenaline raced through him and he began to tremble, his heart pounding, all his senses heightened still further. He caught himself wishing he wasn’t so far forward but the gates were still open and if he could somehow get past the arbiters then he would be home free into the council chambers themselves; it was far further than he had planned to go but the consequences were potentially revolutionary. Unconsciously he rocked on his heels. He caught Casimirs eye and saw the tall youth thinking the same thing, egging him on. Now’s the moment, no way back, charge, go, go.

The arbiters began to advance.

Like an overextended piece of elastic the tension broke and the crowd snapped into action. At the front about five meters away, the first protester lost his nerve and charged. He was a big youth in a tan trench coat with a shaved head, as he broke the line the kinetic surge took hold and all of those around him, male and female, barrelled towards the arbiters screaming bestially. It wasn’t a long distance and the first assailant threw himself on the shield of an arbiter punching his fists down at the man frenziedly. The arbiter pushed him back and swung his maul in a short uppercut that connected solidly with the youth’s solar plexus.

There was a split second of inertia then an almighty crack as the full brutal electrical force of the shock-maul discharged into the youth’s body. A blue-white bolt of electricity that looked a foot thick snapped into his body and he was flung backwards as if he had just been struck by a three tonne transport. Smoke exploded from his chest and he flew into his comrades, his feet a full meter from the ground. The teenage girl and boy that he smashed into were immediately disabled by the savage voltage that still coursed through the youth’s body, and all three fell to the floor, twitching and convulsing involuntarily, it was impossible to tell if they were still alive.

Almost simultaneously a dozen more who reached the arbiters suffered the same fate and deafening electrical cracks rang out in quick succession like automatic gunfire. In all cases the victims similarly became weapons themselves in the tightly packed crowd, electrocuting their comrades on contact. It was as if a bucket of cold water had been thrown on the crowd. Thin smoke wafted across the front line and abruptly, seeing the awful show of force, the protesters charge faltered. Todeo felt a surge of panic and checked his run, looking nervously at Casimir whose eyes were darting wildly at his foes. He could feel the press of the crowd behind him pushing him towards the arbiters but it was obvious that running into them head on was suicide so he began to lean his full weight backwards in order to hold his ground. Casmir held out his long arms in front of Nidia and Laska protectively, fighting not to be pushed any further forwards.

But the arbiters could not be placated and they strode forwards purposefully stepping over the convulsing bodies, their perfect ranks closing into the crowd like masters of some ancient battlefield. There was now very little distance to cover and those protesters at the front, boxed in from all sides by the press, had absolutely nowhere to go. Todeo saw one girl at the front raise her arm instinctively but futilely to protect herself from a blow aimed at her face. The maul smashed into her wrist and after the familiar split second of implosive stillness, the bolt of electrical energy spun her round like a top. She ended up face down convulsing as if in a fit, her eyes rolled into the back of her head, her sleeve on fire. To his right Todeo saw a helpless brown haired punk beg toward the impassive arbiter as he raised his maul to strike, he too held up his hands to defend an overhead swing but the resulting force smashed him into the trampled grass and mud, his useless legs splayed underneath him weirdly. The arbiter did not stop however, but instead beat him three more times, each bolt of electricity weaker than the last until the kid was little more than a smouldering pile of limbs.

Todeo tried more forcefully to retreat, screaming at them to let him through but the force of the crowd was titanic. Those at the back could not see the brutality at the front and surged forward enthusiastically. The noise was absolutely deafening and all that had come before it paled in comparison. At the very front of the protest there was outright panic as youths scrambled impotently to put distance between themselves and the merciless arbiters, some turning completely around and attacking their fellows in order to make ground. Emboldened and vindictive, the phalanx of arbiters bit into the crowd like a buzzsaw, cracking sounds running out incessantly, young men and women flying away from their assailants by their tens as the slightest touch of the mauls dealt them grievous injuries or death. Todeo saw the bald drunkard of earlier go down beside him from having been touched by one of those struck. His eyes too rolled back and foam pored from his mouth.

For a second Todeo almost forgot where he was. A wave of extreme dizziness washed over him. Time floated and span as otherworldly voices rang in his head.

A glint in the corner of his left eye drove him back to reality. It was a large serrated combat knife as long and thick as a forearm. Immediately Todeo reconized a gang, the Sump Wildsnakes, four crazed looking men in their late twenties with bizarre red purple Mohawks, their bodies criss-crossed with scars and chains, tattoos everywhere. Their pupils were hugely dilated and Todeo clearly saw they were high on Slaught, the Wildsnakes were famed for barely ever being sober of it.

They were well known to be ferocious, cruel fighters and borderline psychopaths. True to form, they were, pushing past casimir and laska, and unbelievably, actually towards the arbiters who were now turning the force of their weapons on youths that were so tightly packed they could not even fall when hit, instead spasaming where they stood. Todeo quit pushing so hard and watched with interest. The first Wildsnake waited for a arbiter to lash out at a girl to his right before making a move. He sprang out of the crowd and drove his massive knife into the exposed neck of the arbiter with a well-aimed backhand strike. The arbiter fumbled, dropped his maul on his shaking victim and put a hand to the back of his neck, lamely trying to stop the torrent of blood that came gushing out. It was like trying to apply a plaster to a fountain and the effort lasted a mere moment, his nerves were severed as the knife was wrenched out and he fell, obviously dead.

Another arbiter lashed out at the wildsnake in revenge for his colleague but the ganger had space now and nimbly sidestepped the overhead blow. Holding the arbiters arm down with his left hand, he swiftly spun the knifepoint into the forehand and, in one fluid motion, plunged the blade under the arbiter’s right arm all the way to the hilt. Todeo heard the muffled cry of pain from within the lawmans helmet but the wildsnake needed to immediately defend himself again from another blow. He swung the still impaled arbiter in front of him and used him as a human shield, a fancy move but poorly thought through; the maul smashed into the arbiters shoulder throwing them both back and sending voltage coursing through the closely entangled pair. They shook together in a death embrace.

The remaining three wildsnakes set upon the arbiters like savage beasts, creating havoc with frenzied wheeling and stabbing attacks in all directions. One by one they fell, smashed in the spine by the disciplined shock-mauls or the arbiters. Even this respite though didn’t spur the wider crowd forward again, almost all, including Todeo, were wholly unprepared for this level of violence and those not singularly committed to scrambling away mearly watched the bloodbath from where they stood, struck dumb by the outright butchery. Even Casimir, normally a natural, decisive leader, seemed paralyzed, his arms frozen in front of the girls and his eyes still darting.

‘We need to get round them, into the gate!’ he shouted into the group after some seconds. It was clearly an insane suggestion.

‘How? We can’t even move!’ cried Laska, her face full of despair.

Casimir reacted almost instantly, he began to bellow at those around him to flank the arbiters, they’d come a good ways forward now into an almost semicircle at they were obviously growing thin at the back. Casimirs voice was urgent and loud but it was useless now, the crowd had lost any kind of cohesion and his words were lost in the white noise of the riot.

Stones began to fly over Todeos head and into the arbiters who held up their shields in defence. It was a cascade of missiles, some which were not inconsiderable and where they got through they told damage. Todeo saw one stone smash an arbiter’s visor sending sharp shards into his eye and committing him to the floor. Another pebble hit one of the live mauls; the weapon engaged, discharging its full force, superheating the stone and propelling it into the arm of the next arbiter with the velocity of a smoking bullet.

Still the arbiters came, stepping over the bodies of the fallen. Their intent was obviously far beyond crowd control; they struck without pity, maiming and killing the impertinent youth they wished to punish. Scant few remained between Todeo and the marauding arbiters now, one defenceless boy’s cheekbone shattered with an audible crunch before half of his head was pulverised into charred gore. Over the carnage Todeo thought he heard the Captain cry full power and immediately noticed that the already gruesome force of the mauls had increased considerably. Now where they struck they created large clothing fires and singed flesh. Todeo no longer doubted that those directly hit would die instantaneously.

And from overhead, a new development. The large black drop-ship that had earlier been docked at the dizzying height of the tower was free and now hovering much closer above the crowd. It was a dedicated troop carrier of the adeptus arbites, black gothic and angular. The force of the hot jets was hugely uncomfortable for those directly below but that was the least of their worries; four twinned autocannon turrets at the base of the ship’s wings had now swivelled into life and opened up into the back ranks of the crowd causing awful, inhuman damage. Todeo swung around and saw the massive bullets rake into those behind him, throwing up plumes of rock, dust and blood clearly visible over the height of the crowd. The protestors were tightly packed and the cannons could not miss; almost all of the rapid-firing heavy bullets scored gruesome kills; each exploding several bodies apart with a single awful shot. The fire seemed to be directed at random, the four streams of incandescent shells criss- crossing one another regularly. One cannon raked over the statue of the Primarch Guilluiman blowing chunks of rock away from it. Another struck an unlucky servitor cherub, exploding it into a mist of blood and feathers. The crowd was utterly helpless in the face of such mindless savagery.

Todeo ceased to feel the press behind him and realised the riot had become a rout. Those at the back were now in full flight back towards the hacked grav lifts and the stones had ceased to fly with any regularity. Some protestors were marooned on the tall statures they had earlier been so exultant to ascend and Todeo saw one punk throw himself off a thirty foot drop rather than face the inevitable wrath of the autocannons. They were almost at the front now and Casmir again led the thinking.

‘We need to get back!’ he screamed inches from their faces.

Nidia nodded and sprang away, pulling Todeo’s shirtless arm after her. His skin was slick with water, smoke and sweat. The four friends began to try desperately to push their way through the crowd which was melting away in front of the arbiters. However the flow of the panic was not one way, some further back sought to be arrested rather than killed and were fighting to throw themselves at the arbiters mercy wholly unaware that there was none to be had. To add to the debacle the grav lifts were crammed full and way above capacity, they belched protesters back into the courtyard from the antechamber creating a bottle-neck that was being concentrated on by savage autocannon fire.

A large barrel chested man with a beard came bounding forward, he wore a grey jumpsuit and was obviously a guilder unionist. He smashed into Nidias petite fame causing her to fall to the floor as he fought to pass. Todeo tried to help her up but three or four more came between them, knocking her again to her knees. Falling to the floor would mean certain death in this stampede so Todeo lunged for all he was worth to support her. He had a strong grip under her shoulder for a moment but another crazed onrusher impacted against them and suddenly he found himself holding on desperately to Nidias hand, she a full arms length away. A large woman in her early thirties smashed against their tenuous bond, straining against his grip, trying with all her might to get forward and jabbering curses at him. It was like fighting the current of a raging river but he would not budge and held on grimly, shouting Nidias name his vision as focused as a tunnel. The strain lasted only a few seconds before Todeo felt a concussive blow on his temple as the heavyset woman punched him for all she was worth. His grip failed; Nidias hand ripped away from his fingertips.

Todeo’s vision swam and, although he managed to keep his feet, his head lolled around drunkenly. He saw Casimirs curly black hair above Laskas blonde spikes, the tall man throwing a blow to fight his way past. He saw the statue of the Primarch Sanguinus the sword blown in half and draped with the body of a dead teenager. His vision swam over a broken tree and towards the fountain with so much blood in the water. And then again, he dropped out of time. He saw Nidia screaming towards him as she was carried by the press of the crowd into the jaws of the arbiters. Strange voices and a string of innumerable theories outdated and unprovable, worlds that never existed and a life he never lived. As Todeo crashed back into consciousness he found water streaming from his eyes, thick acrid smoke hung all around him. Failure stung his soul as he fought vainly to retrieve Nidia who he could see desperately trying to avoid the mauls of the arbiters. There was more room now and he stumbled forward groggily, every inch a terrible effort through the pandemonium, the crowd was cannibalizing itself furiously- from a single tribe they had devolved into a rabble of snarling animals bent on personal survival at all costs.

Again time seemed to slow and ebb as he considered the abyss of sadness that was their condition. He had always been sensitive to the emotions of others but the injustice of the government backed by the meaninglessness of the distant imperium, that injustice which had led to this beautiful protest, which had led to this savage reaction, the way they had crumbled in the face of violence and terror, becoming like insects. What if Nidia died? She was so pure, so noble. She was all that Todeo admired in the world. If she died he would forsake himself. He loved her, he was sure of it.

He stumbled forward another step through the mayhem, faintly aware of blood flowing from his ear. Out of nowhere a blow landed on the back of his head sending a cold shockwave like iced metal throughout his body. He fell to his hands and knees not far from a dead unionist. For a second he felt like staying there, he wanted to contemplate the blood dripping into the floor from his head and study the faint amusement he felt at the fact that he had no interest whatsoever in investigating the source of the attack he had just suffered. The world shifted and span around him. For a moment he perceived the ground as violently convex as if he were kneeling atop a sphere and then, a second later, the floor suddenly inverted and became violently concave as if he were kneeling within one. He remembered again his purpose and looked up ahead of him.

There, just ten meters in front, Nidia was dodging a maul. It swung in a wide arc and she jumped back to avoid it with a burst of pure animal instinct. The arbiters were no longer in formation but were dispersed, chasing individual members of the crowd and destroying them. Despite all those begging on their knees, they had not taken a single prisoner.

That was the last Todeo knew of the situation. His mind overloaded as thoughts and perceptions flew into his consciousness in an infinite stream; rather than one after the other, they jumbled together at the same instant, unsortable and without time. He experienced every knowable paradox at once; he was zooming rapidly throughout space but was at the same time completely still. He had utter clarity of thought without any idea what he was thinking about. His mind melted into the purest sort of reality and then all these conflicting thoughts, feelings, perceptions and truths became one single thing. Euphoria. A blinding white light as existence peeled back its thin veneer and Todeo saw everything. All ideas that were and could ever be, the fabric of the warp, gods, daemons, the emperor of man and all other dimensions like a vast never-ending vista of silver were presented before him. The perfect synthesis of the universe.

Above the chaos, thin bolts of weirdly coloured lightning began to hit Todeo’s body. Every living being in the courtyard at once felt a urgent ringing in their ears as their consciousness was assaulted from the inside. The arbiter attacking Nidia had only to look a few meters ahead to see the source; there a shirtless scrawny youth with messy brown hair was being struck with bolts of energy that came from thin air right above his body, racking him as he kneeled prone. The arbiter stood dumbly, unable to comprehend. Trembling violently, the young man’s head snapped backwards, fierce white light pouring from his possessed-looking eyes and mouth. Without moving a muscle he began to lift upwards, his arms and head hanging back limply as if he had hooks in his pectorals that were pulling him towards the sky.

His feet left the floor and he began to levitate.

He was thin and his ribcage was visible, he was wet with grime, water and blood. He hung in the air as the arbiter stood in utter disbelief. When he was several meters above the ground, the light shooting from his eyes intensified. The very fabric of reality began to bend and tear around him, visible ripples in space emanating from his body. Suddenly, impossibly, several black rips emerged against the backdrop of the ruined courtyard; it was if a multitude of black holes had opened right there in front of Todeo. Gawking dumbstruck, the arbiter took a half step forward and looked into the yawning black tear, at first he thought that no light at all existed behind the rip, but as he investigated further he saw an incomprehensible twisting vortex of colour behind the lightless veneer. There in the tornado of purples, pinks, yellow and indigo he saw the full madness of the warp and the daemons within; far too much for a normal mans sanity to survive; he instantly lost his mind.

The arbiter’s legs collapsed below him and he began to writhe frantically on the floor. He scrabbled desperately to tear of his helmet and gloves, all the while emitting a bloodcurdling scream; muffled at first but then at full piercing volume after his face was exposed. Rolling as if on fire, the arbiter sought manically to scratch out his own eyes which had seen such horror, tears of blood began to pour grievously down his face but even the ferocious pain could not purge the nightmarish imaged from the tormented mans mind; he continued to attack himself frenziedly. Nidia, who moments earlier had been under mortal assault from the man, now stood stunned in confused pity at the arbiters insane masochism.

A chaotic maelstrom started to form around Todeo’s levitating body, a random mess of destructive apparitions that began to concentrate forward towards the arbiters. A multitude of the black rips began to open up and surround him, a nexus of coruscating warp lightning darting between them and the halo of energy that surrounded Todeo, charging the centre and causing it to glow ever brighter.

With an almighty howl the energy whipped out in all directions. Dozens of arbiters were struck in a single split second, immolated and maddened by the extra dimensional hurricane. The bolts lashed out vengefully again and again, their ferocity intensifying each time, always smashing directly into a living target, short range, long range, annihilating everything they touched within three hundred and sixty degrees of the levitating youth; it was as if Todeo was the centre of a mad maypole of destruction.

One forsaken lawman saw two of his comrades simultaneously incinerated by a thick blue lightning bolts scant feet away from him. Inexplicably, before he could process what had a just occurred, he himself violently burst into coruscating purple flames. Then five more dotted randomly around Todeo spontaneously did the same, then twenty, until without reason or logic arbiters were combusting with otherworldly fire in every direction, their lives ending horrifically, popping like overheated kernels of corn.

Todeo’s head rose menacingly and his arms spread as if in worship. The storm flew into ever more furious overdrive and became ever less selective in its awful attrition. Protestors began to die by their hundreds. The intensity was greatest close to Todeo at the epicentre but all were caught seemingly without logic, one youth being immolated or molested by demonic forces while his neighbour escaped completely unscathed. There was one pattern though, everyone within a ten meter radius of Nidia was annihilated with particular ferocity as she wheeled around wide-eyed, trying to comprehend the destruction that surrounded her.

From the furthest reaches of the vast council chamber, it was clear an apocalyptic destructive force had been unleashed on the proceedings. Todeos levitiating form could be seen high above the crowd, a bright corona of energy spitting spectacular death in every direction.

Those arbiters not already, burning, dead or insane immediately dropped their equipment and set to full flight, sprinting towards the council chambers, not one of them attempting to assist their horrifically afflicted comrades. The vindictive bolts shot out at double time, obliterating them as they ran. Ashen faced, the captain on the steps touched his radio unit and barked an urgent terrified command to all channels.

‘All units, alpha one; Fall back! Fall back! Emperor’s love, we’re under attack by some kind of daemon. I have critical casualties, repeat critical casualties, we cannot hold the council chambers! Request immediate reinforcements, notify the high chancellor! An inquisitor by the Emperor; send us an inquisitor! Alpha two, engage this daemon! Leave those worthless hive rats to the pit’

The black ship still massacring the protestors below banked hard to the right and came about to face Todeo, all four of its autocannons ceasing for the first time in long minutes as they synchronized their aim towards his enraptured body that was still billowing powerful jets of light from his face. Every servitor within the courtyard abruptly interrupted their infernal work and made a beeline to Todeo, their cameras and laser range finders concentrating on him from all directions so that his body was enveloped by interplay of a thousand red dots. Todeo’s body span around and rose still higher from the floor.

Moving as if a puppet, his head and arms rose towards the ship almost beckoningly. Before the guns could engage, the light from Todeo’s mouth intensified and an almighty bolt of white energy lanced out into the cockpit of the ship with the force of an interstellar weapon, instantly exploding into a devastating impact that eviscerated the vessel and sent burning metal showering down onto the people underneath. The starboard jets failed mere seconds afterwards and the stricken ship windmilled around haplessly, billowing thick black smoke and violent fire. It quickly lost altitude and before the poor souls below could scramble away the ship smashed into the ground killing hundreds just as a massive secondary explosion tore though the fuel and ammunition supplies.

The intensity of the destructive storm around Todeo peaked again. His arms rose higher like an orchestral conductor commanding the crescendo. Arcs of warp lightning darted across the collected servitors, exploding drones in blooms of light while cherubs dropped motionless from the sky. Full of otherworldly purpose, he swivelled around one hundred and eighty degrees, directly facing the captain of the arbiters whose jaw had dropped at the ease with which his attack vessel had been despatched. Despite his impotence in stopping the inexplicable series of attacks that had decimated his detachment, he had not left his commanding view atop the steps. Now he realised that whatever heretical force had undone his attempt to restore order to the hallowed political heart of the hive was focused exclusively on him and he was at a loss how to react. Torn between duty and outright terror; it was obvious that without a ballistic weapon engaging the source of the storm was utterly impossible. His arbiters were brave lawmen, loyal to the emperors word and, by extension, to the holy authority of the august council. He would admit that they’d all been looking forward to bringing the harshest punishment to the malcontented underhive filth, but they were duty bound to do so, his boys could never deserve this. It was awful to see them broken on the floor, wailing and lamenting pitifully, their ears and eyes weeping blood while unbearable ultrasonic ringing filled their heads. There was only one course of action available to him. With a trembling rueful look he turned about and outright fled towards the safety of the towers interior. Legs pounding, he only managed a few steps before another black portal opened in front of him and he was assailed by the full horror of the demonic warp, cackling otherworldly beings enveloped his screaming body and mind. The captain was condemned to a torment more terrible than any mortal could imagine.

With a final devastating flourish Todeo’s wrath reached its ultimate zenith. Huge sustained bolts manifested in every direction and angle, bubbling and melting deep indelible scars in the plasteel council chambers; burning the double headed imperial eagle pennants. The artificial sky was torn where the bolts touched leaving ugly grey-black rips as the metal behind the sky blue projection was rent apart and exposed. Hundreds more lost their lives in an instant.

Then, without warning, it was over. Todeo dropped unceremoniously to the floor with a thud. The council chamber was suddenly eerily quiet. All about the scene was of utter pandemonium, burnt, broken regality; strewn with the dead and wounded from the clashes and stampede. Countless thousands. The hive council’s chambers in shambles, the statues of the primarches defaced, the adeptus arbites defeated; Nidia crouched blinking through the lazy smoke.

And at the centre of it all a thin, shirtless nineteen year-old with a blooded ear, unconscious amid the chaos.