06-12-2016, 12:16 AM
“The Spring is the source from which we came, my dear, and that to which we shall all return.”, Valerie replied in an flat, saccharine tone, “It was the beast hidden in the shadow of man’s first fire, and will dwell here until the end of all ti-”
“CUT THE BULLSHIT! WHERE THE FUCK IS CANDYCORN KID!?”, a familiar piercing voice echoed through the darkness of the cavern. Monkey T, quiet as he had recently been, seemed to have taken the first chance to reply, in his usual manner.
Intuitively, Tartaros pointed the barrel of his bolter towards the young man ahead of him. He’d heard and seen enough. “Answer him.”
“Settle down.”, Valerie raised his hands calmly. “Your friend is safe with us. I can take you to him, if you would like.”
The puppet turned toward Jade, and she nodded.
Valerie smiled wryly as he began to lead the group deeper into the tunnels, his feet gliding along the rough mountain-stone terrain and clumps of damp blue moss without a care in the world, even as the stygian darkness of the caverns grew ever more oppressive. The group continued further into the depths, everyone’s eyes shifting frantically from left to right, fuelled by their own paranoia and confusion. That is, everyone barring Valerie and Grundy, their expressions still blank and blue…
After what must have been at least an hour spent wandering, Valerie stopped. The man raised his hand and pointed into the depths of a larger part of the cavern, towards a small, glimmering crack in the mildew and vine covered stone.
“Well, friends… We’re here.”, he said as he approached the crack, the spite in his voice barely covered by its honeyed tone. Valerie waved his hand gently across the crack, before pulling out a single, crimson-tinted flower out of it with a hand motion. In a moment, the cave floor began to crumble, the crack spreading further and further along with the sickening, wet sound of snapping plant stem and stretching flesh. In moments, all that stood before the party was a pit, and a gust of wind howling upward from the abyss below.
Tartaros gripped his boltgun tighter, the flickering targeting array in his helmet pointed square towards Valerie’s temple.
“What now?”, the marine grumbled through clenched teeth.
Before the young mage ahead of him could begin to form an answer, he was interrupted by a soft rustling. As it grew louder, he simply looked towards the ancient wanderer, and smiled blissfully. Blissfully and blankly.
“What in the world?...”, Jade said, “I… I think it’s coming from under us!”
The rustling became faster and faster, louder and louder until it was almost unbearable. As the group approached the mouth of the cavernous pit, a gargantuan figure lept up from the darkness, brandishing a pair of massive, bloodstained talons. Their erratic scything slashes carved a jagged tear through the slate-grey ceramite of Tartaros’ chestplate, and barely skimmed past the helmet of the blue-armoured child beside him.
The armoured marauder sprang into action immediately, unloading a hail of bolts into the beast. The rounds impacted into its scaled hide, and a strange sap-like substance began to pour from its flesh as it let out an atrocious, deafening screech. However, the pain only seemed to incense it further as it thrashed around in the darkness of the cavern, knocking against the stone walls and striking carelessly, almost blindly, with its claws.
Still reeling from the cries of the great beast, the party began to scatter into the frigid darkness, hurling all manner of spells and gunfire towards the clawed abomination. None dared to approach it however, except Valerie and Grundy, who simply stood idly by, blank and blue.
Tartaros tried to gather the thoughts racing through his mind as he raced across the vine-covered ground, dodging strikes and blasting away at the beast in the dark. It was suicidal. Completely suicidal. He didn’t know if it had a chance in hell of working, but hey, that’s the job of a legionnaire, isn’t it? Take to the front lines and fight, no matter the cost, for the Emperor, for humanity and the Imperium.
His pace quickened. His hearts began to race. The din of battle was pounding in his skull. Without a moment’s hesitation, he charged head first towards the rampaging monster. The marauder slammed his right pauldron into the arm of the beast, splintering carapace with an awful wet crack and knocking it backwards into the vegetation-covered stone, before driving the whirring teeth of his chainsword into its flesh. It flailed wildly and cried out once again before ripping into the helmet of the astartes with its claws, drawing blood and scratching across his eyes.
While the sensation was certainly familiar to him, Tartaros had never quite felt something like this. The pain seemed to spread through his entire skull, pulsing and writhing as if it was almost sentient. But it mattered not. He didn’t have time to bleed, not now. Powering through the haze, the armoured marauder drove his blade deep into the flesh of the beast as it continued to stab at him, and let forth a roaring flame from the exterminator cartridge. The abomination spasmed, screamed and jerked as the white-hot flame burned its entrails to cinder. In one final display of defiance, it drove its talons into the back of its killer before falling to the ground, dead.
“Pah… Pahahahaha…”, Tartaros laughed as blood seeped from his wounds, “Well, would you look at that?”
The astartes stumbled back towards the group for a few steps, before falling flat onto the cave floor with a thud.
Men cannot escape the ghosts of their past...
“CUT THE BULLSHIT! WHERE THE FUCK IS CANDYCORN KID!?”, a familiar piercing voice echoed through the darkness of the cavern. Monkey T, quiet as he had recently been, seemed to have taken the first chance to reply, in his usual manner.
Intuitively, Tartaros pointed the barrel of his bolter towards the young man ahead of him. He’d heard and seen enough. “Answer him.”
“Settle down.”, Valerie raised his hands calmly. “Your friend is safe with us. I can take you to him, if you would like.”
The puppet turned toward Jade, and she nodded.
Valerie smiled wryly as he began to lead the group deeper into the tunnels, his feet gliding along the rough mountain-stone terrain and clumps of damp blue moss without a care in the world, even as the stygian darkness of the caverns grew ever more oppressive. The group continued further into the depths, everyone’s eyes shifting frantically from left to right, fuelled by their own paranoia and confusion. That is, everyone barring Valerie and Grundy, their expressions still blank and blue…
-----
After what must have been at least an hour spent wandering, Valerie stopped. The man raised his hand and pointed into the depths of a larger part of the cavern, towards a small, glimmering crack in the mildew and vine covered stone.
“Well, friends… We’re here.”, he said as he approached the crack, the spite in his voice barely covered by its honeyed tone. Valerie waved his hand gently across the crack, before pulling out a single, crimson-tinted flower out of it with a hand motion. In a moment, the cave floor began to crumble, the crack spreading further and further along with the sickening, wet sound of snapping plant stem and stretching flesh. In moments, all that stood before the party was a pit, and a gust of wind howling upward from the abyss below.
Tartaros gripped his boltgun tighter, the flickering targeting array in his helmet pointed square towards Valerie’s temple.
“What now?”, the marine grumbled through clenched teeth.
Before the young mage ahead of him could begin to form an answer, he was interrupted by a soft rustling. As it grew louder, he simply looked towards the ancient wanderer, and smiled blissfully. Blissfully and blankly.
“What in the world?...”, Jade said, “I… I think it’s coming from under us!”
The rustling became faster and faster, louder and louder until it was almost unbearable. As the group approached the mouth of the cavernous pit, a gargantuan figure lept up from the darkness, brandishing a pair of massive, bloodstained talons. Their erratic scything slashes carved a jagged tear through the slate-grey ceramite of Tartaros’ chestplate, and barely skimmed past the helmet of the blue-armoured child beside him.
The armoured marauder sprang into action immediately, unloading a hail of bolts into the beast. The rounds impacted into its scaled hide, and a strange sap-like substance began to pour from its flesh as it let out an atrocious, deafening screech. However, the pain only seemed to incense it further as it thrashed around in the darkness of the cavern, knocking against the stone walls and striking carelessly, almost blindly, with its claws.
Still reeling from the cries of the great beast, the party began to scatter into the frigid darkness, hurling all manner of spells and gunfire towards the clawed abomination. None dared to approach it however, except Valerie and Grundy, who simply stood idly by, blank and blue.
Tartaros tried to gather the thoughts racing through his mind as he raced across the vine-covered ground, dodging strikes and blasting away at the beast in the dark. It was suicidal. Completely suicidal. He didn’t know if it had a chance in hell of working, but hey, that’s the job of a legionnaire, isn’t it? Take to the front lines and fight, no matter the cost, for the Emperor, for humanity and the Imperium.
His pace quickened. His hearts began to race. The din of battle was pounding in his skull. Without a moment’s hesitation, he charged head first towards the rampaging monster. The marauder slammed his right pauldron into the arm of the beast, splintering carapace with an awful wet crack and knocking it backwards into the vegetation-covered stone, before driving the whirring teeth of his chainsword into its flesh. It flailed wildly and cried out once again before ripping into the helmet of the astartes with its claws, drawing blood and scratching across his eyes.
While the sensation was certainly familiar to him, Tartaros had never quite felt something like this. The pain seemed to spread through his entire skull, pulsing and writhing as if it was almost sentient. But it mattered not. He didn’t have time to bleed, not now. Powering through the haze, the armoured marauder drove his blade deep into the flesh of the beast as it continued to stab at him, and let forth a roaring flame from the exterminator cartridge. The abomination spasmed, screamed and jerked as the white-hot flame burned its entrails to cinder. In one final display of defiance, it drove its talons into the back of its killer before falling to the ground, dead.
“Pah… Pahahahaha…”, Tartaros laughed as blood seeped from his wounds, “Well, would you look at that?”
The astartes stumbled back towards the group for a few steps, before falling flat onto the cave floor with a thud.
Men cannot escape the ghosts of their past...