The Tablet of Souls

“Where did this come from,” I asked, looking up from the grainy pict displayed on the hololith to Anna, my Intelligence officer.

Light from the overhead lumens glittered off the lenses of her augmented eyes. “I found it in an old data packet I was about to delete. It appears to be from Lysander.”

That caught my attention. Anna and I had been part of his entourage before I was made a full Inquisitor. Six years ago, he had been declared rogue by the Inquisitor Silas Ventus, who accused him of Chaos corruption. I didn't believe it, Lysander was steadfast in his loyalty to the Emperor and a staunch defender of the faith. Also, it was well known that Ventus had an intense rivalry with Lysander. It wasn't uncommon for Inquisitors to level false charges to gain the upper hand over a rival. A year later, an astropathic transmission was received saying that Lysander's ship, the Eagle's Wing, had suffered a catastrophic failure of its warp drive.

“So, what is this a picture of?”

“That is the Basilica of the Saint Orillia, located in the ruins of a city called Antiochus, on the planet Goethe.”

I rubbed my chin. “Why does that sound familiar?”

“That was his last known location before he was lost in the warp,” Anna replied, turning off the hololith.

“What was he doing on Goethe?”

“Unknown. Inquisitor Vertus classified all files about Lysander's activities. It's pure luck that we received the packet when we did.”

“That seems a little suspect, given their rivalry. We should investigate this basilica. Tell Fenris to prep the Righteous Fury for departure. I want to be on our way by 1700.”

After an uneventful journey through the warp, the Righteous Fury entered orbit around Goethe. We landed in the voidport of the capital, where my Inquisitorial rosette secured access to a flyer, and made our way to Antiochus. Goethe was an agri-world, covered in lush fields of grain, vast prairies where grox herds grazed, and fruit orchards.

As we approached Antiochus, the ordered fields and orchards gradually gave way to weed-choked fields and overgrown stands of trees. The city looked like it had housed a few thousand inhabitants before falling to ruin. Small, decaying habitation blocks clustered around crumbling processing plants and tottering grain silos. A few spires marked where the gilded of the city once lived, their splendor ruined by age and neglect.

In the center of the city was a plaza of cracked marble. At one end lay the basilica. Crumbling towers reached for the skies, adorned with gargoyles and cherubs whose features were worn away by the elements. On the other end stood a statue of what I presumed to be Saint Orillia, thrusting a sword into the heavens.

Fenris circled the plaza as Anna scanned the basilica with auspex and I checked vox frequencies. Her console chimed. “Got something,” she announced, typing commands into her runeboard. “It appears to be a locator beacon, coming from inside the basilica.”

“Fenris, set down in the plaza,” I said, pointing towards a likely landing spot. Fenris gently touched the flyer down, and we unstrapped and checked over our weapons. I loaded a fresh clip into my bolt pistol and holstered it. I secured Morbid Doom in its scabbard and hooked it to my belt. Anna grabbed her slug thrower and a laspistol. Fenris shouldered her sniper rifle and hooked a shock maul to her belt. Once armed, I opened the hatch and we stepped out onto the plaza.

Anna activated a tracker and swept the area. “Got a signal.”

“Let's go,” I replied and walked to the basilica.

Two massive wooden doors sagged on rusted metal hinges. An aquila, carved from black marble, lay in pieces on the threshold. Anna and I put our shoulders to the doors and pushed. The doors slowly swung open with a shriek of rusted metal and the grating of wood on stone.

Shafts of light beamed down through shattered windows, giving the interior a gloomy look. Rows of decaying pews surrounded a half-collapsed pulpit. A statue of the Emperor leaned precariously against the back of the nave. Another aquila, this one wrought in steel and covered in precious stones, hung by one iron chain above the statue. Broken glass crunched underfoot as we made our way further into the basilica.

Anna pointed to the pulpit. “The signal is coming from there.”

We cautiously made our way to the pulpit. Bones, machine parts, and wires were strewn about the pulpit, the remains of abandoned cherub servitors. Anna reached down and plucked an object from the debris. “Found the tracker.”

“Whatever Lysander wanted us to find must be nearby,” I said, inspecting the pulpit for the rectory access. I found the switch and pressed it. A panel slid open, revealing a set of stairs descending into darkness. I switched on a stablight and headed down.

The rectory access was a tunnel that led under the basilica, leading to the priest's meditation cell. The lumens had long since burnt out and refuse littered the floor, most likely discarded sermons, burnt incense, prayer scrolls, and purity seals.

We came to the rectory door. I could hear something humming on the other side. “Something's running in there.”

“Let's hope it's not a gun servitor,” Fenris replied, pulling her laspistol from its holster. I nodded agreement as I pushed open the door and looked inside.

Cables ran from portable power banks placed around the inside of the rectory to a black rectangular box in the center. Several of them showed red depletion runes on their displays.

“A stasis casket,” Anna said, walking up to the casket.

“What could be inside it,” I wondered. It could be anything: some archeotech Lysander was investigating, a powerful Chaos artifact, or the remains of a heretofore unknown xenos species. A thick rime of frost covered the transparent lid of the casket. I wiped it away and stepped back in shock.

Lysander.

We started the revival process, wondering amongst ourselves as to why he had faked his death and placed himself in stasis. The hiss of the casket opening, venting cold mist into the air, put an end to our musings. Lysander slowly sat up, looked at me, and smiled. “What kept you?”

“Why did you put yourself into stasis.” I asked Lysander as we walked back down the rectory access to the basilica. “It was blind luck that Anna was cataloging our old files and found that pict. You could have died.”

Lysander looked at me as we walked. “I had failsafe plans in place. One cannot be too careful when Ventus is concerned.”

“What does Ventus have to do with this,” Fenris asked.

“Everything, my dear. Everything. I put myself into stasis to keep clear of him for a while.”

“Why,” I asked.

“Because I took something from him, you see. In reality, Ventus is the rogue. He had found an artifact of great power, one that he believed would let him bind himself to a daemon and not be subsumed by it.

“I stumbled upon his plans quite by accident. Realizing what he was up to, I stole the artifact and fled here. I sent the false warp breach message to cover my tracks.”

“So where is this artifact,” I demanded. “We need to either destroy it or get it to the Ordo Malleus.”

“Oh it’s quite safe,” Lysander answered. He walked up to the Emperor’s statue. “It’s in a stasis casket under this flagstone.”

He took a small device from his belt and pressed it against the flagstone. It sprung open and Lysander retrieved a small stasis casket from underneath, it’s status rune glowing green.

“Here it is,” he said with a flourish. “The Tablet of Souls.”

“I’ll thank you to return my property,” a voice boomed from across the basilica. Silas Ventus walked into the basilica. He was a short, ugly man with greasy gray hair and watery blue eyes. His mouth curled into a sneer as he approached us. Two ogryn towered over him, ripper rifles clutched in their huge hands.

Ventus held a bolt pistol in one pudgy hand, the other gesturing towards the casket. “If you would be so kind as to take the tablet out of the stasis casket and hand it over.”

“How did you know I was here Silas,” Lysander wondered. “I thought faking the warp breach would throw you off the scent.”

Ventus gestured towards my entourage. “When the stakes are this high, I don’t like to take any chances. I had your former protégé monitored. Isn’t that right Anna?”

Anna reached out and took the casket from Lysander, covering us with her bolt pistol. “I’m sorry Tobias, truly I am. But Silas had told me that you and Silas had renounced the Emperor’s light and were joining with Chaos.”

I stared at her in disbelief. “After all we’ve been through, the daemons and xenos we destroyed, how can you believe I’d give in to Chaos?”

Ventus chuckled. “Don’t blame poor Anna. I have an artifact that, shall we say, lets me be more persuasive than I usually am. It’s a shame I had to leave so quickly that I had to leave it behind. I would have loved to have you proclaiming your everlasting allegiance to Chaos at your trial, but time is of the essence. I’ll just have to be satisfied with your corpses. Anna, would you please bring me the casket.”

Anna walked to Ventus and placed the casket in his outstretched hand. “Thank you, my dear,” he said as he pulled the trigger of his bolt pistol. The bolter round tore into Anna, sending her spinning to the ground. Blood sprayed over the flagstones as she fell.

I made to lunge at Ventus, but Lysander held me back. “Patience,” he whispered into my ear. “It’s not over yet.”

Ventus opened the casket and took out the tablet. It was made from obsidian, polished to a mirror-like sheen. Strange runes seemed to dance across its surface, making my head swim.

“And now you will witness the might of Chaos,” Ventus intoned. He began to speak in a tongue I hadn’t heard in all my years serving the Inquisition. His voice took on a sing-song quality, rising and falling as he chanted.

The temperature dropped as Ventus’ words opened a portal into the Warp. I felt something unclean touch my mind as the daemon came out of the portal.

The daemon was tall and sinewy, its face beautiful, seductive, and terrifying in equal parts. Skin like alabaster, glowing with the power of the Warp. Its body was alluring, yet disturbingly alien. Long slender arms terminated in hands tipped with talons that shimmered like diamonds.

It looked at Ventus with eyes that were pools of purest night. The daemon smiled, displaying sharpened teeth. It projected a hunger that desperately wanted to be filled.

“What do you want, little mortal,” it breathed in a husky voice that sent chills down my spine. Its tail lashed behind it in a mesmerizing dance that threatened to ensnare my mind in fascination.

“I offer myself to be your vessel, so that you may wreak havoc in the name of Khorne.”

The daemon reared up. “Khorne,” it screamed. It ran its hands across its perfect body. “Do I look like a follower of that brutal fool?”

With inhuman speed, it appeared beside one of the ogryn and began to slowly caress the ab-human’s body. The ogryn sighed with pleasure, it’s massive frame shuddering as the demon whispered something into the ab-human’s ear.

Suddenly, it struck, dancing around the ogryn, its diamond talons ripping into the ogryn. Ribbons of flesh and blood flew into the air as the daemon sliced into the ogryn’s flesh. Flailing about in agony, the ogryn tried to land a blow on his attacker, but the daemon was always just out of reach.

The other ogryn leveled its ripper and opened fire. Lysander, Fenris, and I dove for cover as bullets plowed into the flagstones. The daemon laughed as it continued its dance of death, ignoring the bullets that tore into it.

A stray bullet struck Ventus in the head, splattering bone and brain matter in all directions. The daemon finished off her victim, driving its talons into its skull, continuing to whisper as the ogryn died. It then turned on the other ogryn, knocking the ripper to the ground.

“That was naughty,” it announced. “I wanted to play with the would-be follower of Khorne. I’ll make you pay for that.”

Lysander drew his power sword, thumbing the activation rune. Disruptive energy danced along the blade. “Attack it now, while it’s busy with the ogryn,” he shouted as he raced towards the daemon.

Fenris pulled out her shock maul. Arcs of electrical energy arced across its surface as she charged into battle.

I drew Morbid Doom. Its voice cried out in my mind as it cleared its sheath. Protective runes shimmered along its blade, keeping me safe from corruption by the daemons bound into the weapon. The sword issued a psychic scream as I roared into battle and I felt it hunger for battle.

Lysander took advantage of the daemon’s distraction to hack into its side. Black ichor flowed from the wound and the daemon screamed. Fenris followed up with a blow to its head, the charged maul singeing the skin at its neck.

The daemon whirled and knocked Fenris to the ground. I ducked under the swing and plunged my blade into its heart. The daemon fell to the ground. Lysander swung his power sword down and severed its head from its body. The daemon began to dissolve as its soul was drawn back into the warp.

Lysander prodded Ventus’ corpse with his boot. “Silas, you were always a fool.”

“What just happened,” Fenris asked, placing her shock maul back on her belt.

“Silas didn’t notice, but the tablet had been tampered with so that it would summon one of Slaneesh’s daemons instead of one allied with Khorne. He was too caught up with the idea of being able to control a daemon that he didn’t really study the tablet. He was always looking for shortcuts.”

Lysander picked up the tablet and placed it back into the casket. “Let’s get this to the Ordo Malleus, shall we?”