The Divine Rite: A Warhammer 40,000 Fanfiction

Part 7

I understand any hesitation you may feel. My own start along this path was one fraught with doubt and confusion. It is not easy to ignore that teachings of your elders, to break free of the dogma an entire culture has forced upon you. I am asking everything of you, and believe me, I understand exactly how that feels.

The Imperium, the Eccesliarchy, they have built a wall of razorwire around you. You know it as well as they. You know how deeply it will cut if you defy them, if you stray even for a moment. What you do not know, what I am here to show you, is what lies beyond those razors.

It is Chaos, and it isn’t comfortable or safe.

But it is freedom, and it is truth.

That is why they must build those traps, those defenses. It is why they litter your path with obstacles. It is no difficult choice when the options are freedom or slavery. So they have changed your choices. Now they want you to think the choice is slavery… or death.

And do not doubt, death awaits beyond those razors as surely as freedom does. It will be a struggle, a bloody fight. Those you serve have made it so. But one lesson from the Emperor holds even more true here. It is a lesson that you have learned since childhood, though it was used then to defend the enslavement of all mankind.

There is nothing worth having that isn’t bought with blood or pain.

As I said, I am asking everything of you, but not because I want it. I ask this sacrifice of you because you need it. You need to brave the razors. You may be cut to the bone. You may bleed. You may even die, and you will certainly feel pain. But whatever the outcome, there is hope in the fields beyond the wire.

There is none within it.

*****

“You… you’re a demon.” I whimpered, taking another step back. It was difficult to take, that step away from her. Even given the horror of Marcus’ body being reformed. Even knowing that my life and soul were in peril. Even then, I did not want to draw away. There was a magnetism about her, not a physical force, but a desire, a need to be as close to her as possible. To touch, to breathe her in.

Shiss looked as surprised as I that I managed it, rising gracefully to her hooved feet. “Observant and willful! The gods have chosen well.” Shiss mocked enticingly, somehow making me yearn for those gently curving lips. “Come, come Katherine. I have all the time in the universe, but yours is burning quickly my dear. Come,” the demon leaned forward, brushing the hair from over her ear with a surprisingly delicate swipe of a wicked claw. “Tell me what you want.”

I didn’t precisely obey, but true defiance escaped me. “Where is Marcus?” I asked instead, not wanting to believe what I witnessed with my own eyes. Flesh didn’t flow like water, or reform like clay. Bone didn’t crack, shatter, and rebuild itself. Marcus hadn’t ripped himself apart in front of me and reformed as this...this creature!

“That muscley morsel you offered up?” Shiss asked innocently. “Well he was brimming with warp energy, his carving an offering to you that was filled with the essence of chaos. You touched it, your emotions and power spiked, and I merely stepped through the door they opened.” Shiss gave a shy shrug. “It couldn’t be helped. I’m happy to do my best as a replacement for him though.”

Wrath burned through the fog clouding my mind, then I drowned in oil.

It surged through the inside of the tent, blotting out all light sources, muffling every sound. No longer did we view that unclean maw from a distance, the sheen of light sparking rainbows from the surface. Now we were inside of it. Only Shiss and I stood there, darkness and iridescent color gleaming around us. I wanted to kill her, to tear her apart, and for a moment I wished not that my power was gone.

But that I could use it to kill.

“You will not mock him, or me, in such a manner, ever again.” I hissed, feeling the oil course through my veins with every word. I’d never tried to harness the power before, but I could feel it keenly.

So I was quite astonished that Shiss just smiled.

“Of course my lady, my apologies.” she replied, curtsying with every outward sign of sincerity. “I literally could not help it. I was hovering nearby, waiting for your call, and that surge of power opened a gate that drew me through. It was an unfortunate accident of circumstance.”

“Then he is dead.” I replied, voice hoarse. It was all I could do to choke back tears.

“I’m afraid so milady.” Shiss consoled, seeming sincere and appropriately grave, as though only now realizing this was anything other than a joke. I at least appreciated the effort.

It was slight consolation when I had killed a man. When I’d killed Marcus.

“What do you want?” I finally sighed, sitting heavily on the rug. Strangely, no matter how grotesque his mangled transformation into Shiss was, not a drop of blood marked the weaving.

“Miss… I am here to serve.”

“You’ve said that.”

“I have.” Shiss nodded. “And yet you asked.”

“You’re a demon. Having you serve me would get me killed.”

“You’re a psyker. Being you would have you killed.”

Wrath raised its horned head once more. “Great. So unless you have a way to prevent that, I might as well get you killed and then die myself. At least then Marcus would rest easy, his death avenged.”

“I do indeed have a way to prevent that.” Shiss replied with a smug little nod of her head. “But first, I need something from you.”

“You used my powers to rip into reality and murder Marcus, and now you want a favor?” I snarled, Wrath and Treachery whispering in eager agreement, something that had never occurred before. I should reveal her to the other priests, have her banished, tormented. The destruction of her physical body would send her back to the warp, but little else. Still…. Kinship counseled me to be patient, to wait. She had offered me a way out after all.

And Lasciviousness was very interested in what else that lithe body might offer.

“It is not a favor.” Shiss replied, that coy smile gracing her face once more. “It is the first step. I cannot help you at all, unless you help me first.”

“Then what do you need?” I sighed, surrendering. My chest ached, my stomach was hollow, but more than that I was so very tired.

“I need you to make me a body. A permanent one.”