Chapter 100:

Chapter 100: The Void is dark and full of terrors and if you are not one of them, then you are Prey to them


To go across the Void one needs three things, a Madman that most species call a captain to take you there, a ship to keep you safe while you go there and a crew to make sure the madman and the ship don't go crazy. All other things are optional, but a crew, a captain and a ship are not which makes the situation I find myself in complicated, for my ship self does not have one.

It has a pilot and navigator and a custodian, but not a captain, at least not while I am not on it because the gods love pranking me and are sometimes the exact opposite of subtle.

'A captain's wife is his starship' is a saying that's near universal to all species that practice marriage and the private ownership of void capable star ships. Even in those that don't do one of those things it's still a popular one.

'The real is rhetorical and the rhetorical unreal.' Were the words my father used described the strange relationship of priests and other creatures that are forced to exist in real-space and the Warp.

Priests of the Pantheon and other entities sufficiently dependent on the warp, as well as certain daemons and other warp denizens with a strong connection to real space are capable of only what they can articulate as true and are bound in turn by the same thing.

I am bound to the laws of the Empire, the beliefs of my people and the official positions I hold within both, as well as to whatever the local cultures I find myself in demand of me and those with my position. This naturally makes those cultures my greatest threat and it is why I take great pains to figure out the laws before I do anything but the bare minimum of social interactions needed to learn them before I make myself publicly known.

All it takes is a single mistake and I can lose most if not all of my powers and my protections and it is for this reason that priests get so involved in societies and cultures that think they can mess with us. It helps keep us sharp yes, but it also does something else, it gives us a reason to interact with princes and princesses and puts us close to death at any given time as we try and make the things made to hunt those like us malleable to our designs.

Princes are those that are the closest to wielding the mentality of our people during the War In Heaven, for they are Mighty Combatants that cut through the Nonsense of others, while Priests are those who can only survive by the Nonsense they and others make. My current existence is a perfect example of this.

By being a ship I am forced to marry whoever becomes my captain and my spouses automatically become my captains and it is for this reason that I took the form of a ship. I did not need a new spouse to be created and I thought that if I take the form of a ship I can simply not bother with a crew and captain and only deal with passengers.

I was naturally wrong because I am a fool. A ship without a captain? Whoever heard of that? Not the ship-eldar, that's for certain if what I have found recently is something to go by, because the madmen and women will look for spouses upon adulthood or have them prepared before they become ships.

Absolute nonsense of the highest order that the Divine threw at me without even the barest attempts at subtlety and it made me more powerful than I've ever been.

The power to destroy cities with my broadsides, to bring down all but the most powerful ships in a single shot, a boost in my psychic might and my own abilities translated from infantry scale all the way to starship scale granted to me and all I have to give for that is call whatever madwoman that I pick as captain my wife. I even have two of them to pick from and as always and despite the wishes of my wives, and probably my other four concubines by now, I chose none of them.

My ship self will go to my wives, either my concubines to serve as their flagship, or my royal wives for their personal use as soon as I figure out how to do it when I'm not on it. My sister will probably get another in return anyway and a large crew to join her in her mission.

She will be a good custodian of it until then and take care of my bigger body until it can reach my wives, because I have more urgent things to do than reunite with my wives, such as teaching young ignorant Eldar of things they really should have been knowing.

Even if I can't hold it against them in this case, as few in the Empire know what I know after all.

"What are you doing?" My new crew member asked while we were waiting in the docks for my sister and her crew to come.

That and waiting for the situation in space to resolve. A massive fleet of one thousand ships just coming near you could make everyone nervous and the prince of this station, whom I have no intention of meeting and who himself has no intention of seeing me, has to handle this bit of nonsense.

Neither of us wants to bother with an official inspection and some very interesting questions as to why a tertiary logistics node we've made available to the public has pirates on it and why weren't we told to come have our recruits hunt them down for sport. The local crop of pirates is not good for much else unfortunately.

The man is probably not even aware this is a military installation we let merchants on after all and I have no intention of reminding him or worse awakening his sleeping ancestor.

"Trying to see if I can show you what you want to know." I replied as I continued fiddling with the dream stone.

The woman managed to figure out that each of my eyes saw something else and because she asked me of it a few minutes ago, the urge to respond to her question overtook me.

Now I am trying to figure out how to do just that.

"What would a dreamstone show me? I asked you why your eyes shined in a different way. Also do we need to do it in the center of the docks?" She asked again.

Dreamstones is how they call the dream crystals I've been using for some time. I personally do not like the name for it implies they are made out of dreams, but it's easier to talk to people when you use terms they are familiar with.

"Dreamstones store dreams. They operate similar to how books do outside of the Empire and depending on what you fill them with, they can change your perspective on reality. I am trying to make a waking dream that shows you the way I look at things and for that I need to show you people and a lot of them." I replied.

The docks were filled with tens of thousands of Eldar, each with strange clothing and colors on them. I was half expecting them to make a wide-cordon around ourselves considering the scare I gave to the pirate clan near me, but it seems that news of what I did among them did not spread beyond the pirates.

"Why would dreamstones do that? Don't they store information like books?"

She did not know much, or anything about them truly. Before yesterday the only thing her family knew of them was that some people wished to purchase them for exorbitant prices, but dreamstones do act like books for the Empire. They just do a bit more than what most people can normally use books for.

"They do that too, but they put you in a waking-dream to share their contents. The dream itself causes certain emotions and mental states and I am trying to make one that does not impair the ability to function and puts you in a state that makes you see what I see." I replied.

If Ulthwe can make their dreamstones give you a mentality that protects you from Chaos, I can put someone into a state of mind that makes them see the world the way I want them to. I already have some experience doing something similar with my Swords of Light, I just need to do the same with the dreamstones despite them not being built for it.

Using them for this task is like using a two-handed sword to cut thin slices of bread, something you can do in theory, but not something most people ever thought of doing before they saw somebody else try and it's a lot more complicated than most people would think.

The woman remained silent as she was still grumpy from me telling her she needs to wear armor. Apparently her clan has some expectations of married women and wearing armor with that being something they only do when on expeditions and not something they do on station, but as far as I am concerned, from the moment she said her goodbyes to her children, she was on the job and has to wear her black armor as the guard of a priest.

She'll make a fine bodyguard to my sister, but until then she'll have to pretend she's useful by standing near me.

"Are the boys well?" I asked softly.

I did not wish to bring her bad memories but she needs to hear the words be said by herself.

Her song turned bittersweet.

"They don't like it. My brother does not approve of me doing it when he planned to try and replace them himself but they are as well as I can make them." She admitted.

What good parents do those valorous boys have, they were even willing to go on their penance and save their mother. It makes one wonder how and why they were out there trying to mug priests and being bad at it. I was curious, but my sense of propriety won over my curiosity. She is now under my protection and it would not do to bring her too much distress and bitter memories, not this early into our relationship.

My sister can do that if she wants to once Kallae settles on the ship. She'll be the first combat focused asset on it after all, so she and Laciena should get comfortable with one another pretty fast.

"I would have said yes to him taking the place of his boys without the duel if he asked, I actually like him even if the bastard has a life I envy." I replied in the same soft tone I've learned to use when talking about her family.

She does not like her new position despite fighting for it, but she did as any parent would do, and the same her husband most likely would have tried to if she let him, and sacrificed herself for her children.

I could feel her confusion.

"Why would you envy him?"

"He has a home he can easily return to, gets to be a pirate which I always wished to be, his family is near him, he has his clan near him and can spend time with his children. I am powerful yes, but my life is miserable and if my duties weren't important I would have sought a life similar to yours." I admitted without shame.

Going around the galaxy to plunder it of all its riches with my family by my side sounds downright lovely compared to having to fiddle with crystals in public and being weary of divine shenanigans and nonsense.

The woman was confused by my words. For her, power meant the freedom to do what you wish and the ability to choose for yourself but for priests that's not the case. Our power is dependent on other things being true and of others agreeing to give it to us and we can lose it with ease if we don't do what we are meant to do. Power for those that walk the Path of Princes is Freedom, for those that walk the Path of Priests is Obligation and to Royalty it is both as is proper, and her family walk a certain subset of the Path of Princes.

"You'll understand as you grow older and learn of the different types of power one can have, until then please give me one of your hands I need to tie the dreamstone to it." I explained.

She gave me her right arm without complaint despite wishing to complain about all but being called young and I started attaching the glowing yellow crystals to her vambrace. Making the closing mechanism to allow her to turn it on and off wasn't difficult but the psy-reactive circuitry required to make her armor feel like a second skin was still basic. It does not give the proper responsiveness it should give yet, but it is best if they grow as the user gets used to fighting and training with the armor and it is not made fully-grown.

It's a 1% effectiveness increase at best, but such things add up quickly when you are aware of them and they start stacking. One percent there, point-five there and in a century you get a combatant twice as proficient and useful as one without the little tweaks.

Her curiosity is growing, I could feel the focus-tendrils of her mind trying to focus on the new addition to her armor, but I rebuffed them gently.

"Good, now don't put any energy into them yet, I'll connect them to the rest of your armor properly in a bit, but first I need to make sure the two interact properly. I'll tell you when you can do so." I instructed her.

She acquiesced without words as I continued to tinker with it to ensure everything works as it is meant to.

I turned to her and looked her in the eyes. I was surprised when she practically died in a single hit for multiple reason, chief among them was that both her soul and narrative momentum are made out of Iron, and the two do not match normally

The material I see in one's sword-soul is different from that of their Narrative Momentum, but hers being a reddish Iron in both made me think that she's capable enough to take a few hits and rise back up, but it seems that I just hit too hard for those materials to mean much now, not unless she actually gets more powerful on her own.

"Do you see it yet?" I asked

The crystals should have connected by now.

"No, I-"


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

"I do." I whispered.

The world of the port was replaced with the void.

Starlight shined upon the darkness as it turned the Void into Day. A million grains of Dust met me as they danced in orbit of titanic shapes. Three celestial objects that defied size and logic were near me.

One was dark and boiling and I instinctively knew to be my new liege. It bent reality around itself as the Void rearranged itself to suit its designs and I could feel it slowly feeding the grains of a thousand different types of sand around with meaning and it taking a small amount back. Despite the asymmetry it was it that grew more than the rest combined.

The second was a world of diamond, a rock that has seen stars be born and the same stars die and has persisted endlessly, for it was and if the gods willed it will always be.

It was the third shape however that was monstrous, it was a galaxy of burning light of soothing dreams and of unrelenting drive and Purpose.

It was… it was...

"Asuryan's flame." The monster whispered softly.

I turned to him and prepared my rebuke but stopped. What else could that be but Asuryan? I continued to gaze upon the Light of Royalty as it Illuminated All.

"How does nobody else see this?" I whispered in awe.

I could feel some of the dust look at me strangely but a different song stopped me from looking at them.

'Billions do my guardian, seers across the galaxy see it with ease and others can learn, but few of them look at it and think to call it The Phoenix King because they confuse what they see with psychic might when it is not. They call it the Incarnation of Eldar Might, the Pantheon as a Whole, or their Corpse or their Abandoned Home or any other explanation that feels right for them to think of that what you see is not but one of our Gods.' The priest sang back.

I can't imagine how they would think that, none of those explanations felt right. There was Light and Purpose there and so much more and it felt so alive. It was a galaxy of Might and Purpose and burned with the light of a million stars as it affected everything. It's rays of Light nourished and strengthened all.

Even the World of Boiling Darkness I knew to be Bessar Agail was nourished by it as the light rays emitted by the Galaxy of Light turned into black stone.

'What is it that I am seeing?' I sang back a question.

He does not wish others to hear us for some reason and I knew better than to go around his wishes.

If it is not psychic might then what it is?

'There's many names for it, I call it Narrative Momentum, others call it The Weave or Fate or whatever nonsense they can delude themselves into thinking fits. If they could even agree that they see the same thing, I might believe we're talking about the same thing but they are not. It's difficult to explain it fully but it represents the impact of one's existence and what they are and what you see is my flawed interpretation of it as it only sees a shallow form of the present as opposed to the future and the past, albeit at a lower resolution than even what little I normally see. Tell me, do you see the differences in the dust storms? I need to know what you see to explain it to you.'

I looked upon the world from the eyes of the priest and saw a world of Sand Storms. Some of them were of fine dust, others of rocks and they each behaved strangely. There was no air to cut and yet they cut it, the void was false and yet they merged with it.

'Some of them cut through the air while others merge with the void.' I explained.

'Unsurprising, those two are those that think like princes or like priests. Can you see what they are made out of?"

'No, I can see you and whatever the diamond is but not the rest they are just dust.'

I could see it, it was not diffusing itself in the local area so it must have meant it was something that thought like a prince? Was it alive? It did not cut through the false air but it merely existed there as if it were a sheathed blade.

'The Diamond is the station and an old sleeping colleague who has taken to looking over your people in his sleep as he awaits for the day his family will awake him again. He would be quite embarrassed to learn he has become that fat. Can you see any flames, beyond that of Asuryan?'

I looked for them, but saw none nearby. There was one though, far from me on the other side of the Diamond.

'One, but not nearby.'

'Perfect, now let me stop this, it seems my sister has docked.' He said and touched my armor.

The dust storms were the first to leave my sight and the worlds soon followed, but the Flame of Asuryan remained and I looked upon it as it shined for us all and knew it meant as well that it loved us, and it wished… it wished of me to be so much...

My eyes were forcibly closed. I could feel the priest's calloused fingers on my face and his tired voice echoed in my skull. He did not speak or sing to me, my very bones resonated with a voice that was not my own.

"Do not gaze too much upon the Divine my guardian, for they love us dearly but they know not what we need. They may give us what we wish but they do not understand what will kill us and what will not or what will bring us joy and what will make us miserable. When I let you open your eyes you will tell me if you still see the Flame of Asuryan. If you do I will absolve you of your oath to me and let you be with your children and family unmolested and in peace, I do not need more things sensitive to Divine meddling."

I opened my eyes and the Divine Flame was gone and I felt far colder than before.

"I can't see it anymore." I said with disappointment.

"I am sorry." He said simply.

He started to walk and I followed silently, I had my future charge to meet. I really wished I could have just seen the Divine Flame once again but my armor no longer had the dream crystal attached to it.

It made me wonder however, if that was but one of our gods, where are the rest?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This station was a warrior, this I knew just by Looking at it now that I am close enough to it. The Great Rock my brother rested on was one of his sleeping comrades, one of many warriors left to watch over the people outside the Empire who was ready to spring to action and kill everything in his way that threatened his people.

I was surprised when I first saw these hidden warriors as I like everyone both in the Empire and outside of it thought that the Empire did not care much for things outside of it and we are all correct in a sense. The Empire of Ten Million Suns can barely be bothered to care about its own continued existence, the Armada of Shattered Suns and the Pantheon of The Eldar however very much do care for every single Eldar that exists.

The princes, pretender priests and other noble bloodlines mostly care for themselves and their families, their crypt worlds, hidden palaces and rituals at most protecting themselves, their families and a given number of friends and servants as they prepare for the calamity that comes as they await for somebody else to fix things. The True Priesthood and the Armada however are maximizing the chances of all our people to survive.

The Priesthood is doing its best to ensure as many of our people survive and that they are in the best position they can be in to be useful in the War in Heaven that comes as reality will learn the might inherent to our people once again. They cheat, they provoke, they destroy and prepare cordons for our people to escape while the Gods will fight and die.

The Armada can't act as blatantly, for the ritual involved in the reenactment of the War in Heaven requires that things actually turn into a conflict our people have a chance at losing, no matter how small, and even a single Murderfleet of Khaine surviving intact could conquer multiple galaxies. Due to this, they'll have to sit this conflict out as with the exception of Mankind and the Necrons no other species can even hope to slow them down once they get serious and those two species can at best delay their extinction by a few years.

The Logistics Officers like my brother are the most open thet can be, and they themselves only share specific technologies to ensure a certain amount of cooperation between what will soon turn into refugees before they too have to go to sleep or other duties.

Naturally, the Armada, like every single group of people which has trained for its entire existence to go fight Reality itself and as is the birthright of all Eldar, went out of its way to go around their orders and find a way to Murder things in a way nobody can hold them accountable for.

And like the gods they decided to look in my brother's sketchbook of horrors and mad theories and have found one lunacy that will serve their purposes and decided to turn themselves into pieces of civilian infrastructure and go to sleep under the protection of Khaela Mensha Khaine. Some of them will turn into various space station and old buildings and temples that are likely to see fighting in and they'll get to fulfill their duties in killing all that threatens the Eldar, protect our people and will technically obey their orders of going to sleep while the galaxy burns.

And if the gods complain then they'll call themselves lazy bums that were asleep and thus could not break any orders while they slept as they were ordered to sleep. Nobody ordered them where to as long as it was out of they way after all, and outside the Empire in some obscure corner has to be good enough.

"Why do all of them look the same?" One of my crew members asked as we prepared to disembark.

Sleamhra Greensong was her name. Specialized in planetary archeology, digging and unearthing secrets hidden in the sand. Useful only planet side or in webway cities due to her gregarious attitude.

"Prefabricated installations tend to look like that." I replied dryly.

"They could at the very least decorate them! They're all this dark purple or black or pure white, which yes looks good but they could at the very add some banners or flowers or something!" She continued to complain.

She and the others liked doing that a lot and so I gave her the same answer I gave to everyone else when they do it.

"You have my blessing to convince them to redecorate the exterior but I am not extending your shore leave." I replied with a shrug.

The other individuals grumbled at that, then they started grumbling about the armor being too thick.

Three millimeters of Wraithbone was far thicker than normal armor and something most of us find restrictive despite it weighting little compared to even the bulkier armors of my past life. If the humans can be less physically adept and wear armor that is centimeters thick while being heavier and less protective then they can handle this much.

'We have been cleared to disembark.' Geina Mara sang to us all.

The others cheered and even I smiled and took the chance to reiterate what they all must have known already to not pretend that they didn't know, again.

"You have two days to rest and have fun with the locals. If you get arrested again try to contact us somehow and we'll pay for your release or kill your captors, don't get captured on purpose as we'll consider it as you deciding to go live with your captors and we'll send them a gift basket lamenting your departure and wishing you well. If someone wants information on the ship or the other members of the crew say yes and have them pay dearly for it then tell us who it was so we can ask them if they want to join. If they say no you can loot whatever you want from their corpses but leave their families alone.

Don't eat weird things, Bessar can't cure you of everything and if one of you, and I'm looking at you Dearg, think to eat Warp based foods again without checking on us to see if its safe we will write a placard on your back saying 'Do no feed, does not know what will kill them or not'. Don't get married because if you do your spouse comes with us and its your job to convince them before we take them with you by force. Neither Bessar nor I believe in Divorce and due to this will not help you with it, so it's up to you to handle it in whatever way you see fit."

The otherwise experienced void travelers grumbled at me reminding them of their deadline and a shout of 'It was only one time!' came from the assembled crowd.

One time is enough, and the only reason we haven't actually written said message already was because he didn't know the food he was eating was warp based before Bessar had to Murder his former stomach before it ate his brain.

I did not say that however, I just gave the whiny children my most unimpressed glare.

"Be glad I am not actually writing this down for you to individually read each time you want to leave the ship." I continued as I met their unimpressed glares with my own.

"Tyranny! Down with the tyrant!" The fools shouted half seriously half jokingly.

The joke was becoming old but it still made me smile.

"Do the slaves of a tyrant even have free days? Surely a generous tyrant would only give them one at most and have them be grateful for it!" I proclaimed imperiously.

That made the song change quickly and my lovable fools once again thanked the divine they were ruled by a lovely and generous lady that gives as much free time as they deserve.

'Now that's better.' I thought with amusement.

"Be careful out there my crew, Bessar pacified some of the locals by now, so nobody should be seeking trouble, but none of you are warriors, if someone tries to mess with you give them what they want or find a way to run, we'll get our revenge once you're back home safely." I instructed my crew.

They didn't grumble as the doors opened now, but they did not appreciate being told to run. There's exactly one individual on this ship that is what the Empire would consider an actual combatant and that is Bessar.

The others can hold their own in small spats and have some experience with weapons, but even during our training bouts I can beat the centuries old explorers and wanderers with ease and Bessar calls me 'barely adequate for a civilian official.' Out there in the wilderness there's a lot of things where that is not enough and my crew is not built for a fight.

They are capable of helping build orphanages, find interesting tidbits about the societies we're in and can track down people in urban environments, but they can't fight, not at a useful level. Albeit judging by the black armored woman that waits behind Bessar before the runway to our ship that might change.

"Bessar!" I shouted as I went down the ramp.

I did so after my crew left naturally, as it would not do to set a bad example by being too eager and besides I am not taking a rest. Geina Mara is not interested in going on the station and would rather sleep and if someone wants to come board the ship when it's nearly empty then they are welcomed to it.

We need more crew and if they can survive the boarding attempt until we can be bothered to come find them then they're free to stay.

"Laciena, meet your new bodyguard, Kallae. Kallae meet Laciena, it'll be your duty to make sure whatever wants to kill her will die before she can make them regret it." The White Snake said as it presented it's past toy to its younger sibling.

The dancing sword was interesting to look at, the heart of a guardian, the knowledge of a pirate and the dedication of a mother for her children that regrets the necessity of her actions but not the fact she had to do them.

A strange choice for a bodyguard, but I'll get the details from Bessar later, we have some strangers to meet.

"A pleasure to meet you Kallae, I am Laciena Fiora, younger sister to my madman of a brother and his apprentice priestess, I welcome you to our motley crew and hope that you will fit right in. I'll introduce you to the others when we depart as they've worked hard for their leave and it would not do to deprive them of it." I said.

A short introduction and welcome was all this occasion required. Talking out details can be done at a later occasion

"A pleasure, I am Kallae, it seems it will be my duty to look after you.." She replied tiredly and with a short bow.

She should not be this tired already, her song tells me she fought for this position, but it is fine, my master knows how to pick quirky people. My new bodyguard put herself to my right side and opposite to Bessar, as we walked as is appropriate.

I joined Bessar side and started to walk towards the pier where the ship-eldar clan were disembarking at, their strange mix of fish and sword Narrative Momentum being hard to miss. I wonder why they look like they would make a fine diner but I'm sure I'll find out. Nobody can look that tasty without a good reason.


AN:

Amhrán na Sleá→ Sleamhra – Spear Song.

Dearg → Red