Getting Warhammered [WH 40k Fanfic]

Kaylith stood still as a statue, frozen as a deluge of emotions washed through her. Terror, realisation, disbelief and … then there was only chaos. The Eldar before her was an impossibility. Something that couldn’t exist in the present day. 

How? Why? What? 

“Welcome, brothers and sisters,” the enigma started, his voice never rising above the conversational level and yet it echoed through the wide open space of the newly built auditorium. Each word struck Kaylith somewhere deep like a hammerblow, sending her reeling in a way she hadn’t experienced in centuries. “To Vallia. The place where you as well may be reborn and shed the shackles our kind has been forced to operate under ever since the folly of our ancestors damned all our souls! Gather around and listen, for I bring to you the hope of salvation.”

And listen they did. Even Kaylith. Even Yramar from Biel-Tan. They listened, they heard the walking impossibility out, wearing a wide variety of differing expressions on their angular features. Hope, distrust, waryness, worship, terror, fascination all mixed and melded in varying quantities on every face. 

Salvation. Was that what he found? What manner of salvation was it that could wrest a soul free of the grasp of She-Who-Thirsts? What could be strong enough to free a soul belonging to the Prince of Pleasure? And more importantly … What price did he pay for said salvation? 

Kaylith’s eyes narrowed in suspicion born of centuries of life. If something was too good to be true, then it was. This could be a trap, a scheme, a plot. But by who and for what purpose? 

Echidna certainly didn’t need this charade to feast on their souls if she so desired. Kaylith knew better than to expect anything but certain death if it came down to a fight between the Eldar prisoners and their supposed saviour. 

Does she require us to forfeit our souls to her of our own free will? Some Daemonic ‘ascension’ rituals demand such a price to elevate the recipient. 

Of course Kaylith was wary. Of course she was suspicious. If she wasn’t, she would have died centuries ago to a treachery she hadn’t seen coming, or to a trap her paranoia saved her from. Trusting people were dead people in this galaxy, and that was that. 

Still. Even though she knew there just had to be a trap lying in wait for her, she couldn’t help but be captivated by the obvious bait. The rational part of her had to admit that it was a wonderful bait, something many Eldar would willingly walk into a trap for with their eyes wide open. 

To be free from She-Who-Thrists. To cast off the shackles placed upon one’s soul by one’s forebears. Why should the descendant suffer for the sins of their ancestors? It was unfair. They didn’t deserve it. 

The world wasn’t fair. But when the possibility, something thought impossible, was existing right before one’s eyes? Well, then who could bear not trying to make it fair? To take it from the world by force? Haven’t they suffered enough? 

Even if most of the Eldar from the gathered twenty-four Echidna had rescued weeks ago knew it had to be a lie, how could they not listen? Even the most suspicious like Kaylith listened, trying to find inconsistencies, looking for holes to poke into the tale told by the Eldar before them. Even they couldn’t help but hope it was true, even if they dared not to acknowledge it, searching desperately for ways to disprove it all. Where was the trap? The lie? The inconsistency? Where was it? It had to be there … right?

“But what are words worth without proof?” Valenith asked, holding a dramatic pause to let tensions mount. “I am here, you know I am and some might think that should be proof enough but nothing proves my present state was achieved the way I claimed it was. Were I to be in your shoes, I would doubt such a claim, and I hope you do as well. So let us prove it, once and for all! You are in luck, one among you has already delivered a service substantial enough for my Lady to be willing to grant you salvation when I pleaded with her for it. Pathfinder Kaylith of Craftworld Alaitoc, do you wish to be free? Do you wish to take this chance at becoming like me?”

What. 

Kaylith stared blankly at the man, her eyes linking with his own sapphire-like ones and she felt a shudder run down her spine. His attention was focused now, and she found she misliked the sheer intensity of it. He had a quantity, and quality of Warp energy running through him that would have been utter madness for anyone else. Calling on that much power would have opened a tunnel more than large enough for She-Who-Thirsts to tear out his soul, or for one of her lackeys to possess him. 

Was that it? Was this a Greater Daemon? … perhaps even that one? Faintly, Kaylith could remember rumours for distant kin she’d met long ago about the Daemon With a Thousand Faces, the one they called the Changeling. The rumours told that it had caused the fall of a minor Craftword all by itself with nothing but guile and trickery, not even resorting to using its abhorrent daemonic power. 

Could that be what’s happening to her? Hope was a dangerous weapon, it could easily turn into seething hatred when misused, but when wielded by a manipulator as masterful as that abomination was said to be?

Still. He was looking at her, and so was Echidna, and the other Eldar. The looks she received from that last group worried her, because they were filled not with apprehension and concern for her but … envy. That did not make for a good foundation for thinking clearly and rationally. She likely wouldn’t be able to rely on them backing her up if anything were to go wrong.

Concerning. 

Kaylith was ashamed to admit it, but she froze, and while her thoughts raced for an explanation, then even more desperately for a way to weasel her way out of this without getting her soul chewed up, she likely looked like an utter fool. Eyes wide, mouth slightly parted and an expression of pure bewilderment frozen onto her face. 

‘You can reject it, if you want.’ A familiar voice echoed in her ears, and Kaylith’s eyes snapped to the white-haired woman who the voice belonged to. Her lips didn’t move but her voice reached Kaylith’s ears all the same, and only hers. ‘I can sense how distressed you are. Val can get a bit overexcited. This is supposed to be a reward, not an execution you seem to think it is.’

Well, that did not make her feel any better. At all. Echidna could speak into her mind without any assistance, focus or physical contact, which implied a prodigious talent and skill for telepathy. Wonderful. 

Kaylith tightened her mental walls even further, exercising her tried-and-true mental exercise that locked up her thoughts like an impregnable fortress. It wouldn’t protect her if someone of Echidna’s power got forceful, but subtle attempts? Those it would ward off well enough, and that’s what mattered. If her would-be saviour wanted to violate her mind with the brute force method, she could have done so already while Kaylith wasn’t expecting it. She’d had weeks full of perfect opportunities.

That calmed her somewhat, and so did the fact that for as much as she searched for any hint of deception, she couldn’t find any hint of Echidna’s words being anything other than genuine. Kaylith prided herself on being an excellent judge of character, of being able to tell after just a few words, or even at a glance, whether someone wished her harm. All those instincts, those gut feelings, were silent when it came to Echidna. At least at this moment. It seemed genuine. Both the offer and the follow-up assurance that she could refuse.

Her suspicions didn’t go away, even if a part of her cautioned her that it might truly be paranoia by this point, but this was just far too suspicious still! A being who could not only resurrect Eldar from their spirit stones but save their souls from damnation? That was far too fanciful, it was so impossibly hard to believe that it circled right back around to being believable.

After all, if someone wanted to fool her, they would have come up with a more believable lie.

What if it’s true then? What if? … Can I live with myself if it was true and I refused out of paranoia? If I struck at the hand wishing to save me out of some misplaced fear and distrust? Could I? Am I willing to? … No.

Kaylith slowly blinked, her eyes losing their glazed-over state and sluggishly focusing on the white-haired woman. A pair of emerald-like eyes that looked eerily akin to an Eldar’s locked with the Pathfinder’s gaze. For one final second, she searched for any sign of falsehood, of deception or deceit in those eyes and when she came up short, Kaylith gave a slow, extremely wary nod.

Her heart raced, thrumming against her ribcage with an intensity she hadn’t felt since that time she had to fight off a cadre of Drukhari that stumbled upon her in the Webway near sixty years ago. This choice, it was terrifying, and yet the possibilities were exhilarating. 

If this ends up being the cause of my death, like it probably will, I will at least have died falling for a bait worthy enough. 

Her ancestors were probably going to either praise her for achieving the impossible, or look upon her with pure disgust for falling for such a glaringly obvious trap. 

“I accept your offer,” she said, her voice sounding strangely hollow even to her own ears despite the exhilarating thrill of excitement rippling through her body. She either died here, forfeiting her soul, or became … free.

“Wonderful!” Echidna clapped her hands together with a cheerful grin. “Now then, I’ll ne-“

“Why only her!?” One of the Eldar asked, and Kaylith blinked, trying to place the voice. There were only 24 of them, so she could remember them all and … that was one of the youngest Eldar present: Dentara, a Striking Scorpion Aspect Warrior of less than two centuries of age. 

“Because she’s the only one I’m certain it won’t be wasted on,” Echidna said coldly, her psychic presence seeping into her voice. It made her voice feel like something alive, something sinuous that moved on its own and slithered over to the girl who spoke, then coiled up around her like a constricting serpent. “Because the process elevates her soul from the Warp at large and into my own Realm. I will not have worthless souls take up space in there, much less the souls of those who will pollute it with emotions and beliefs I despise.”

Dentara only gasped, remembering how to breathe, once Echidna’s gaze turned away from her. The younger Eldar almost collapsed, her knees visibly quivering before she steadied herself. Kaylith might have spared her a hint of pity any other time, even though she’d been incredibly foolish in speaking up, but all her concern was at present devoted to her own immediate future. 

“The rest of you will be silent,” Echidna said. It wasn’t an order, or a command, it was a statement of fact. She said it, so it would be so. The world would bend to her will, it was never in doubt, the choice was never in the hands of the Eldar.

The woman’s gaze fell on Kaylith again and she felt a sliver of what Dentara might have gone through. For an instant, she stood before something vast and incomprehensible, something beyond thought and reason, and it watched her. Its focus was titanic, and she felt so small, so impossibly small. Then Echidna blinked and the sensation was gone, leaving behind only a faint echo of dread that had Kaylith swallow dryly. 

“You will have to focus, draw on a small stream of energy from the Immaterium and turn your mind inwards,” Echidna said, her voice returning to its usual cadence. It sounded normal, just another voice that could have belonged to any human out of billions, and yet Kaylith hung onto every word. “Try to sense your soul, it would be best if you could possess it entirely. I will reach for you, make a path for you, all you will have to do is take it. Daemons will be swarming you, they always do when I connect to the Warp at large, but I will shield you from them. Just focus on taking that single step onto the path, that’s all that matters.”

Kaylith didn’t really understand, but having been a Seer then a Warlock once upon a time, she knew she would when the time came. Teachings and instructions that concerned the Immaterium were always cryptic and vague by necessity. Words were rarely enough to describe even slivers of that strange dimension even in the vaguest terms.

Without any complaints, Kaylith plopped herself down onto the dirty ground right where she stood and closed her eyes. She’d already resolved herself to this course of action, so there was no more room for hesitation. If she was to do this, then she was going to do this right … or at least give everything she had towards succeeding. 

The world around her was still at first, making it harder to turn her focus inward. It was as if the whispers of the Warp were forcefully dimmed and there was an unseen barrier holding even Kaylith back from reaching for them. But as she did, said barrier peeled away and the voices rushed in. Pleas, threats, scoffs, sneers, curiosity and hatred all rolled in, and swept through Kaylith.

She shuddered, but let them pass, unmoved, unbent and unwilling to entertain even a single one of them. The Warp was a treacherous place, repulsive to the extreme. It’d been centuries since the Pathfinder had dipped into it so deeply, and she would have been happy to avoid doing so for the rest of her life. Alas, circumstances change. 

The voices screamed, half in terror and half in seething fury, shocking Kaylith to her core as the whispers suddenly ceased. Every daemon that’d gathered to torment her had something new to focus on, something terrible and wonderful. All ran, some towards it, some away in the opposite direction.

A Silver Star bloomed into existence, illuminating the all-pervasive oily darkness of the Warp. The thousand twisting colours that could burn minds at a glimpse retreated, giving way for a world of silver. A world that was neither fanatically ordered nor deplorably chaotic. A world of balance and purity. It stretched towards her, its light burning away the Warp wherever the two opposing Realms met, scorching daemons foolish enough to charge into it and burning those too slow to escape its advance. 

Before she could fully comprehend what was happening, Kaylith stood on a small island of Warp-stuff surrounded on all sides by the Argent Realm. Echidna’s Realm, for it couldn’t be anything else. Whatever doubts she’d still clung to evaporated the moment she had a second to fully perceive this silvery world. It was true. It was real. 

She couldn’t sense much inside of it; its brilliant argent light was blindingly bright to her senses, but she sensed something unfathomably powerful at its core. Even though she couldn’t look upon the Sun directly, she could feel the warmth of its rays on her skin. 

So she took a step, crossing the boundary between the Warp and this strange new world. Her heart leapt into her throat in trepidation, a large part of her expecting to be immolated like the daemons she’d seen. 

The expected pain came, all-consuming and mind-bending, robbing Kaylith of her senses for an instant that stretched into eternity. Something clenched around her like a vice, a grip that sought to tear through her with its claws. She felt it on her heart, on her mind and even on her very soul.

But it was that hand that burned, bursting alight and being torn apart in turn while it attempted to do the same to Kaylith.

Then it was over just as fast, leaving her gasping for air, lying in a field of flowers upon a small hill covered in verdant green swaying grasses. Her ears twitched, catching a final note of a tortured, livid scream that tried to slither its way into her mind. 

“Persistent wretch,” a familiar voice said mildly, and Kaylith blinked. The voice was gone, so was the torturous vice-like grip she’d felt upon her mind and soul just a moment ago. “Breathe, Kaylith. It’s done. You did it.”

Kaylith breathed, the air rushing into her lungs with desperate haste, and she almost collapsed. She could breathe; she never knew it, but now it felt like all her life there had been a net of barbed wire wrapped around her lungs. It’d been there since the day she was born; it was normal, she’d grown used to it, thought it was supposed to be there.

Now it was gone, and her lungs could finally expand fully, no longer constricted and tortured with every breath. The same went for her entire being; the grip of She-Who-Thirsts was gone, leaving behind a mild ache where the silvery flames burned her touch away. 

It never felt so good to simply breathe, and Kaylith decided to savour the moment, burn it into her memory, for she knew she would treasure it till her last breath.