“Ego sum vernula ut Atrum Filiolus, meus Eternus Satraps, Prosterno Vox Eternus mancipium. Ego sum Vinco, Septumdecim Custodis, Proeliator, Discipulus, in mihi somnus atrum."

Rough translation: “I am servant to the Dark Gods, my Eternal Rulers, and the Ruinous Powers Eternal slave. I am the Master, the Seventh Keeper, the Warrior, the Disciple, in me sleeps the dark.”

...Text by an unidentified hand found scrawled on the walls of an Imperial Temple, believed to venerate the Gods of Chaos, the temple was cleansed through fire soon after these words were discovered.

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Sutehk had been waiting for this moment, for centuries, he plotted, he schemed, he prepared, and now this one moment was his. Stood before him were some of the most powerful Chaos Lords and Champions he could muster from not only the Legions but also the Renegade Chapters. He stood to announce his grand scheme “Brothers, I have called you to my chamber, for I believe you are the true chosen of Chaos. I have spoken with the Warmaster himself, and he has given his own blessings for the invasion of the planet Ceres. If we are to succeed we must first carry out a sacrifice!”

A murmur of discontent and anger rumbled around the darkened chamber, the room itself was large, could hold at least 200 Space Marines with little difficulty. This was the very heart of what had become known as the ‘Black Fortress’, not to be confused with a Blackstone Fortress, an entirely different creation. No the Black Fortress itself was a daemonic creation, a dark and foreboding  weapon of Chaos, believed to be bigger than the Warmaster’s Planet Killer, with one unique capability, that it could land anywhere on a victim planet, and until it had fulfilled its purpose, would remain, perhaps even for eternity.

“This very ship, the ship you have come to know as the Black Fortress, is designed so that we can conquer worlds in one fell swoop, I ensured only the best Daemon Forges worked upon this project, and I have ensured there are enough portals to allow our Daemonkin full access to the battle, without full need to summon them!” A coarse laugh of sarcasm rolled around the chamber, Sutehk turned wanting to know who had dared to mock his creation, a tall figure in white robes and Space Marine armour stepped forward. “I foresee that this campaign will be over in less than a standard galactic month, I am certain the Warmaster will end your miserable excuse for a life when he finds out you’ve failed.”

Of all the Chaos servants that could be amongst the crowd, it had to be Ahriman of the Thousand Sons Legion who would speak against his fellow Sorcerer. The two had never fully trusted each other from the first moment they crossed paths, but both worshipped Tzeentch, and both had equal footing with the Changer of the Ways. Sutehk, laughed, it humoured him to think there was another who would challenge him and his master.

“It seems my brother sorcerer doubts his own master, I have faith, enough faith to ensure we see this campaign through to the end. Even now as we speak, four of the Warmaster’s best agents head for this very location, with a sacrificial offering on board, I believe they collected it on Necromunda, for a reasonable fee.” A second murmur travelled around the room it seemed the fellow Chaos Marines within had begun to fall to these words, even Ahriman had slowly begun to be convinced in the idea.

The roar of many voices suddenly filled the air, as they began to chant the name of the Blasphemer, “Sutehk, Sutehk!” they repeated over and over again, a small daemon, a Plague Bearer materialised next to him “Blasphemer!” it gurgled “My master awaits, when you carry out your deed, he will come with many.” Ahriman could not fail to notice this event, had the man who claimed he conquer such a vast fortress world like Ceres turned to Grandfather Nurgle? Or was this another of the Changer’s schemes?

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“Are you certain of this Sergeant?” asked a very concerned Guard Officer “Aye, Commissar, the Mentors Chapter instructed me to bring this report directly to you.” The officer in question was Commissar Gideon Vrekt, of the Death Korps 89th Regiment. He stood a height of about five feet, eleven inches tall, to his own men, he was the driving force for their unit, and his endless faith in the Emperor urged them forever forward until their time would arrive.

“Inform Commander Daedalus, that we will heed his words, but we will move in our own time. I am not prepared to sacrifice good men due to the whim of some crazed psychotic renegade!” The sergeant was taken aback at this remark, “But Commissar, I have also to report that this ‘crazed psychotic renegade’ as you so plainly put it, is infact the one we call the Blasphemer!” The Commissars eyes lit up, he leapt out of his seat and grabbed his Plasma Pistol.

“Sergeant inform the men, we’re leaving this good for nothing rock, for many years I’ve awaited the Blasphemers return, and for many years I’ve been sat here twiddling my thumbs waiting for a decent battle, don’t get me wrong, when the General sent us here to Centauri IV, I expected it to be a welcoming world, and that is what we will find when we arrive!”

The Sergeant gave his leader a confused glance “Where exactly will we arrive sir?” asked the man now obviously bewildered at the Commissars reaction, “Ceres man, the planet Ceres! And if I’m right, and I usually am, the Blasphemer will attack before the 3rd Moon sets!” He moved towards a small communications hut, marched straight in without even so much as a by-your-leave and motioned his communications officer to send a signal to the remainder of the troops.

Soon all that could be heard was the cheering and battle cries of the 89th Regiment, “You hear that, that’s the sound of faith in the Emperor, and pure devotion to the Imperial cause, take it in Sergeant, it’s all you will hear from now on until we reach Ceres.!”
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War had been declared, that was clear to the Marines of the Mentors Chapter, even now their allies in the 89th Regiment of Death Korps were on route to Ceres, as were their enemies in the form of the Ruinous Powers and their followers. If that were not enough, they had to contend with the Dark Angels over the artefact buried beneath the planets surface.

“We want one thing only Daedalus, hand over the prisoner and we shall leave you in peace!” roared the Dark Angel Master. “Azrael, I have no intention of handing anything over to you, and yes, before you start your questions, I know your dark secret, it’s unusual is it not for one of your own, outside your Chapter to know of your secrets is it not? And yet, here I am speaking to you about them.”

Azrael gave Daedalus a glance of hatred, where had the man found this information, perhaps he was bluffing, it could be that he had only pretended to know the truth, perhaps he was trying to create a situation, force the Dark Angels hand, and this was an insult that would not rest. Grudgingly Azrael had no choice but to back down, “You play a dangerous hand Daedalus, the Dark Angels do not take kindly to your games! But it appears we have no choice, but to cooperate!” Daedalus smiled, little did the Dark Angel realise, but he had indeed been caught in a bluff, although Daedalus failed to realise that he too had been fooled.

Azrael returned to the rock after four long hours of negotiations, Asmodai awaited him in the landing bay. “How did it go my lord?” he asked inquisitively. The silence was deafening to begin with, but without warning, Azrael gave the Interrogator Chaplain a broad smile, and began to laugh, a cold and callous laugh, from which it took a while for him to be able to speak. “That fool Daedalus believes he has the upper hand over us, he tried to bluff the knowledge of him knowing our secret!” Asmodai gave a concerned glance “And does he?” he asked “Of course not, but I managed to convince him in the fact we would become allies in order to achieve our goal. I say once we have the artefact we leave Ceres and let them face the Ruinous Powers on their own. We won’t have to deal with a single one of them!”

Asmodai nodded his approval, if there was one truth known to the galaxy, the Dark Angels worked alone. But it would be an even darker truth, a truth so vile, so disturbing, so unimaginable, that it would indeed alter the very course of the campaign, little did the Dark Angels and the Mentors Chapter realise that this was only the beginning.

The Apocalypse is coming!

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TO BE CONTINUED...