Clouded by Madness

Death, War I have seen so much in my life, as a space marine, a proud member of his Adeptus Astartes. I travelled the galaxy with my Primarch which led our majestic legion to many victories and pushed as more to become better in every way. A space marine does not fear death or sacrifice, for our lives belong to him and I would suffer a thousand deaths before I would ever think about the thought of betrayal. During a fierce battle with a Xenos race called the Elder, I was badly wounded, and on the brink of death if not already there but even in death our duty does not end. I was entombed into one of the finest instruments of war fueled by the constant pain of my death... all in the service of the Emperor himself.

(image)

After being encased inside the dreadnought I was made a member of the Primarch's honour guard and was made Ancient of Rites for the Third legion tasked with induction ceremonies on board our capital ship the Andronicus. Fulgrim he was truly a son of the Emperor... Before that day. I had fought with the Emperor of mankind himself and being first to rise the Palatine Aquila along with our newly found Primarch Fulgrim waging campaign after campaign and now I have been plagued by only nightmares and one single word... Vengeance!

(Present Day)

Kneeling next to Rylanor a space marine who I could call a friend, I checked to see if he was alive, I scanned for his vitals, and with amazement and disbelief I found his vitals to be stable and constant as one could be since he had been alive and awake for the least 9000 years, I spoke his name once again " Rylanor it's me Titerus… your friend." I spoke with care and concern in my voice.

Rylanor had seen to come to life again in a burst of fury " Die traitor!" I was flung back into a rock wall at speed by pure rage from him hitting me with his assault cannon, understanding that this was not the calm and precise Rylanor that I remembered, it seemed that his time alone for so long had driven him mad.

Pushing myself from the rock and ice I looked upon Rylanor warming up his assault cannon as the barrels spun at lightning speed, " Oh shit!" diving behind cover as barely a second had passed, a torrent of rounds was unleashed at where I was and now the cover that I took is disappearing fast.

A multitude of thoughts ran through my mind, with the seconds dashing away with them, but it came down to two options, I try to convince Rylanor to snap out of it or the Emperor has another angel watching over him this day. I threw two grenades on either side of me trying to make it harder for Rylanor to find me, KABOOM!!! I rushed into oncoming fire, feeling my armour being scratched by Rylanor as he unleashed his assault cannon wildly into the smoke made by the grenades, I brought my sword forward, charging at Rylanor at speed I dropped another grenade behind me and jumped into the air. 

(Rylanor's perspective)

I waited patiently for Fulgrim to pick up on the becon for his son wishes vengeance for those lost and to my surprise, a dreaded traitor of the Son's of Horus stood over me waiting to pick my body clean of my honours and weapons, with all my might I bashed the bastard with my arm, and I spun my assault cannon releasing a torrent of rounds at this oath breaker. I give no quarter in my attack obliterating his cover I stomped closer warming my Flammer up to roast the traitor to purge his sins and mine for letting so many turn against the Emperor. Growing closer the smart bastard threw, his grenades to create air cover, " That won't stop me, Traitor!" I lit up the room around me with gunfire and waited for the traitor to make his move.

I watched and waited for him and to my sudden surprise another grenade went off and out of the smoke, the traitor came flying at me! unleashing the Promethium fire right at him but being too late to counter, I must be getting rusty for he would be dead and dust if time didn't eat away at me. Now on my back again and I sense that this is the last time I would suffer defeat, I still have this burning hatred against Fulgrim but I think my time is up, my only regret is not killing the fucker who doomed my legion in damnation.

(Titerus's perspective)

I stood over Rylanor hoping with every fibre of my being that my friend was still there, even if he had been driven mad with anger and vengeance, please be there old friend, " Rylanor!!!" my blade pointed right at his chest, about to put the living legend to rest. " Titerus?"

(Rylanor's perspective)

The traitor spoke my name, I recognised the way he had said it remembering the friend I thought lost in the battle that consumed so many of my brothers, I gently spoke his name prepared for my death... only for it to stop millimetres away from my chest, " My friend, it has been millennium and I thought you dead, but none the less I am glad to have found the sight of an old friend on this terrible planet." slowly recognising the armour more clearly as it turned from the green of the Son's of Horus to that of its founding the Luna wolves. I stood back up from out of the small crater that I made when I was forced to the ground, but I have but one question to ask him " How is it that you are still alive my friend, for all had watched you die?"

(Titerus's perspective)

I looked up to the giant of a dreadnought that stood an extra metre taller than me, " That is a long story my friend but I suppose we have the time to talk." Hours had passed since the talks had begun and Rylanor had been briefed on my situation up until this very day, there is no lying to Rylanor for he knows when you are and besides he is one of my most loyal and trusted friends. Rylanor now finally taking my words into his thoughts he then voiced his to me, " This is distressing and I for one have many more questions about your time in the Warp but for now we must leave this dead world once and for all." I agreed with his words for we must now understand what has happened in our absence, starting to walk back to the entrance of the cave, Rylanor stopped me " Titerus, there is something I must give you and I have been guarding it for all this time because Captin Loken asked me to hold onto it and to guard it with my life." 

I stopped and turned back to face Rylanor and watched him punch a massive hole several metres thick through ice and rock, piquing my curiosity, he gestured to me to walk through the new doorway, and giving him a curt nod, I walked past him into another room with rock walls and an ice ceiling as a focused beam of light shone on a single point in the room which illuminated everything. With an aching heart, I knelt down, stabbing my sword into the ground and bowing my head towards the very hollowed ground. Helmets of space marines from all the legions that fought here, placed around the tenth company banner of the Luna Wolves... my company. These banners don't just boost our morale, they tell us the history of the company and its victories in battle and the proud legacy of its forebears. I am eternally indebted to these space marines who stood guard over it for so long, Standing up I felt the weight of my body like a hundred thousand souls bearing on my shoulders with every step a trial of its own, I reached for the banner grasping it in my hand and with all my might and with every soul I pulled it from frozen ground.

With a weight off my shoulders, I gazed at its magnificence, then started walking away towards Rylanor and noticed a data pad that looked familiar, I picked the data pad up surprised to see it still had power and with all that I had seen today, I thought this day could not surprise me but I am about to be in a whole lot more danger then I was seconds a go because with all the files open I started to quickly scan for information on what it was looking at and the same three words were recurring in over hundred files and maybe more was Standard Template Construct.

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 Special thanks to all those long-time readers and I wish everyone the very best...