《The Divine Rite: A Warhammer 40,000 Fanfiction》Part 18
Advertisement
Part 18
A heavy fist struck Narissa in the jaw, throwing her bodily across the Basilica Exsolutus. She caught the fall on her hands, springing backward with the easy grace of an acrobat. Her eyes burning with fury, she smiled at Mordred through bloody teeth, spitting upon the ground. The others all watched in awe as her pet gracknyl stalked up beside her, glaring with the silent threat of its kind at her attacker. Mordred was unmoved, for he was clad in the fur of a more lethal beast, and the axe in his hand was how he’d obtained it.
I for one thought him a fool.
He looked upon the beast tamed by Narissa and knew he’d conquered worse, and so dismissed her. What he missed was that the woman was by far the more lethal of the two. It was why the gracknyl, named Grendel, was not attacking. Such beasts were silent until they ripped apart your ribcage, but this one was not preparing an attack. It waited to observe its mistress take down this challenger, under no illusion its help would be needed.
I myself watched in a mixture of shock and horror.
“No true champion of Khorne would mix worship with Nurgle.” Mordred snarled, summing up the crux of their dispute in his typically brutish fashion. I was already tired of his posturing, his flexing, his constant need to be the loudest and most dangerous person in the room.
It was an especially futile effort in this room, with one foot in the warp, where beings of infinite lethality dwelled.
Narissa, on the other hand, was much more to my liking. She was lithe and slender, honed as the bronze sword she drew with one hand, as flexible as the metal tipped whip she held with the other. Mordred was a monster of a man, bulging muscles capable of crushing rock, but she was an elegant blade indeed. And while he reveled in the glory of Khorne, Narissa had spoken a single sentence of appreciation for the patience of Nurgle, and so the Nine were already fracturing.
Advertisement
The voices had not warned me of this. They did not speak of each other as foes, though they evidently were. I knew the four gods of Chaos as siblings, kin, different faces of a single stone. None of the Nine felt the same. Each favored one of the four, maybe two if they were generous, but no more.
It was my role to bring them together, to be the axle these eight spokes turned around. I didn’t realize how difficult such a task would be until that moment.
“Then what has kept you waiting all of these years, imbecile?” Narissa spat, circling her foe, his axe constantly at the ready. “Did you pace your cage up north ceaselessly? A beast worrying at the bars? We knew this day would come, and it is Nurgle who gave us the patience to wait for it.”
“It is Tzeentch that preaches we wait for the right time to strike.” a new voice cut in, the tension in the air thickened to an impossible degree. “When their back is turned and their defenses are down. You must wait for a chance.”
Both turned to Veros, the one among them who believed fully and only in the Changer of Ways. Whatever their own differences might be, one believing in Khorne alone and the other praising Nurgle alongside him, neither favored the treacherous magic of Tzeentch. “If you want to lose your tongue, continue to speak.” Narissa hissed.
“You can have the tongue. I want the rest.” Mordred growled.
I merely sighed.
At least none of the worshippers of Slaanesh felt the need to speak up. They seemed too embroiled in the amusement of this show to do more than watch. For that I was grateful, and even the voices in my mind had grown silent. They did not guide me, or instruct me how to proceed. This was apparently my own path to navigate. And it was then that I realized the truth.
Advertisement
This was a trial.
I knew abruptly that my future would contain many such moments, those who believed in the same gods warring over differences that seemed minor to me. I had been blessed with greater understanding, with a wider perspective. It was why I had been chosen. Thousands, tens of thousands, would one day obey my words and heed my teachings.
If I could reign in the other eight.
And if I could not keep a paltry cadre of Nine together, I was hardly worthy at all.
Advertisement
- In Serial138 Chapters
Dungeons Are Bad Business
Vee Vales has been kicked out of his home and directed to make his own way in the world. Along with his friend Alforde Armorsoul, Vee travels to the city of Oar's Crest. Once a prosperous and well-to-do city, Oar's Crest has fallen into depression and disrepair. After finding a strange stone that takes up residence in a tattered top hat and introduces itself as Reginald, Vee and Alforde decide to open a dungeon in Oar's Crest to revitalize the city and, more importantly, make some fleurs. [participant in the Royal Road Writathon challenge] Author's Note: Dungeons are Bad Business (DABB) is a slow burn slice-of-life dungeon core litRPG citybuilder that's focused on the day to day experience of running a dungeon. There will be some action, but it won't be the focus of the story and Vee and his friends will usually overcome their problems with their minds and their pocketbooks instead of their weapons. Since I'm participating in the writeathon, I will probably be uploading chapters almost daily for the duration of the event. Thanks for reading!
8 100 - In Serial53 Chapters
Diary Of A Lost Soldier In Another World
Onaga Katsuro, a seventeen-year-old soldier in the JSDF finds himself fighting in the second Russo-Japanese war in the year 2045. Due to manpower shortages, the Japanese government starts using child soldiers, even using girls as young as fourteen. Onaga Katsuro and his platoon of child soldiers are taken by surprise and he thinks he dies from a grenade but he finds himself in a dark world with one of the eight gods of creation. The god of Darkness, Sin, Madness, and War has need of a champion. Katsuro shall be his champion in the new world. This a story of the greatest triumphs and deepest despairs, of gentle love and corrosive cruelty. Katsuro knows not what the god wants or what he is meant to do in the new world. But he knows this, the prize offered by that god is impossible to resist. He will obtain that prize no matter how many bodies he needs to put into the ground. After all... He has nothing left to lose.
8 594 - In Serial30 Chapters
Eyes of Bloodshed
Remdia, a once peaceful country, sends an army towards the unprepared nation of Caledorn. This single action sets off a chain of events that will uproot the lives of everyone involved. A recent graduate suddenly finds himself in enemy territory, struggling to shield his birthplace from angered citizens. A news broadcaster must present a horrifying report while maintaining her perfected poise. A doctor steals an ambulance in an attempt to aid the injured. A student is evacuated from school, while a father tries desperately to escape a prison. Watch the war unfold through the eyes of those most impacted while the bloodshed increases. A relay of short stories where each chapter follows the perspective of one person through a difficult time.A massive shoutout to the brilliant cover artist as well, Snooki.
8 417 - In Serial51 Chapters
Blasphemous Vein - Blasphemous Series
(Book 1 Draft Finished) Alone, in the open, and trapped by her own doing, Waynev realised too late that the world of magic, stats and quests was much harder than she could have ever expected. Or that the voice that dwells within her could be so devious. It all changed with one spiteful event, one knife and one very unfortunate soul. Brought to Temporous will her new abilities and gifts be enough to prevent the inevitable? Or will a grotesque fate fall onto the one she failed to protect, enslaved as a Shadow before she's betrayed by her own? The artist who made the cover → Din. Also this is a part of the Blasphemous Series, which can be read in any order, enjoy.
8 192 - In Serial62 Chapters
Wolf King: Love That Transcends Worlds
(Cover Art is not my own, If the creator contacts me I will take it down immediately.)December 25th 2019, among a cheerful time of the year, family and loved ones gather to celebrate the holidays.Squad leader Sin of the Blood Dragon Mercenary Team, receives a call from his brother in arms Zen. The love of Sin's life had been struck by a car in a hit and run. She was rushed to the hospital and died during operation.Stricken by grief, rage, helplessness and sorrow. Sin gets drunk the night of his lovers death. Upon scrolling through investigation reports on the internet, a pop-up appears on Sin's screen asking."Would you traverse the path of kings, bloodshed and war to save your loved one's life?"Clicking on the "Yes" button another display appears in front of Sin's eyes "You will now be transported to the Desolate Kingdom. Good luck, don't die before you saved your loved one's soul."Thus begins the journey of Sin, a Mercenary Team Leader travels through time and space. Entering into a land influenced by cultivation, and rpg-elements. Where "Might makes right, and the weak shall kneel" To save his lovers life, how many corpses will be left behind?Also retrying my hand at writing stories to finish a previous one left untouched, please bear with me along this road.
8 77 - In Serial26 Chapters
Duck Around and Find Out
Flap never wanted to be anything more than a pond duck. He was perfectly happy with his life of mating, migrating, and eating fish. But all that changed when a spacefaring race of war-crazed giant chickens confused him for Earth's greatest gladiator, all on account of a sketchy lease deal from a few million years prior. Now Flap is Earth's Champion, unwittingly wrapped up in a high stakes conflict almost as old as time itself. Armed with a real dumbass of an artificial intelligence, a brain full of pop culture mush, and a hybrid body courtesy of an Academy Award-winning actor, Flap now has all the tools he needs to prevail in the bloody contest. The only question is whether he can learn to use them to save the Galaxy before his implant drives him nuts. Duck Around and Find Out is an absurd adventure across space and pond featuring GameLit elements, more movie and tv references than you can shake a stick at, and a cast of anthropomorphic animals that would make a furry cream their pants. Do you like ducks? And do you like space? Are you also a weirdo? If you answered yes to all three, this just might be the story for you. So if you're brave enough, Duck Around and Find Out.
8 146