Chapter 3: Reawakening

Odarius watched as the Valkyries, Thunderhawks, and Stormravens left the hangar. All of them had marines inside as well as their land vehicles. Those ships flew and went down to the Arx Angelicum in Baal Secundus. As of now, the Reserve Companies and half of the Battle Companies have been transported down.

"How many more dreadnoughts need to be awakened?" Odarius asked their chapter's Chief Librarian, Sigmund Hoall, who was beside him. His venerable golden cloaks were still on his armor. Sigmund had on a Mark 6 Corvus pattern helm.

"Should you not ask the Master of the Forge for something like that?" Sigmund, although older than the Chapter Master, was more of a jokester than him. He had a knack for sarcasm and other "witty jokes," as he says. Odarius just glared at him, tired of his childish attitude at the moment. Silence reigned for a few seconds before Sigmund sighed. "Only the 1st Company is left."

"I see." Odarius simply said.

"Really?" Sigmund asked, expecting something much longer than the said statement. 

"I'll watch over their awakening, I leave you to the rest of the transportation. Take the next takeoff." Odarius turned away and headed to the awakening room without acknowledging the Chief Librarian's comment.

"Sure. The First Company Captain is still here, though." The chief sighed. Odarius halted his walking. Odarius thought he had left for Planetfall earlier with the first batch.

"Did he not go first?"

"No. He's just by the Valkyries, praying."

"I…see…" Before he could move again, Sigmund told him something.

"Don't burden him too much. He's still torn from Tarsis." Sigmund said to him. Sigmund was right; Maladictus was still hurting from Tarsis. Odarius knew this; of course, he knew. He saw his Captain die at the hands of the Tyranids. His captain was his best friend. Killed as he saw it happen. How could he not be torn from it?

"Sigmund." He called out. "Help him. Please."

"Yes, sir." Sigmund nodded as Odarius continued to walk down the hallway towards the room.

"Initiate the final protocols." Tech Marine Sydrii Kuhr ordered the men. The tech priest beside him was praying. The men hurried to initiate the final protocols. The final dreadnought reawakening was taking place. "No, do not start the arms, you don't want them to intersect each other and cause a malfunction. Let the cogs move clockwise, making it turn counter will cause damage to its bolts and switches inside. "

"Any sign of damage?" Sydrii asked the tech priest.

"Nothing out of the ordinary. Chance of success, ninety percent." The tech priest's robotic voice told the tech marine. The tech priest was wearing a red studded robe that covered his metallic skin.

"What happened to the other ten percent?" Sydrii hurriedly pushed some buttons and checked on the vital signs of the dreadnought. 

"Human failure." The tech priest remarked with a neutral voice, but Sydrii knew there was a bit of disdain and unknowingly, humor. In front of them, the dreadnought was being assembled, and the sarcophagus of the old dreadnought was being put into place. Sparks flew, and cogs and other machinery worked on the dreadnought. The loud noise echoed throughout the room. But as the noise reached the apex, Sydrii began to chant.

"Arise, O Great One. Arise, O Wise One. Bringer of Ash and Flame. Herald of the Flame and Steel. Arise, O praised one. Prophet of Wisdom. Keeper of History. Arise, Phystroc, the Flayed Hand." Sydrii praised. He muttered the same words again, then again, until the fourth one, when a red light blared from its eyes. 

"Who has awakened me?" Phystroc's voice roared, asking with nearly the same robotic voice as the tech priest.

"It is time, brother." Sydrii told him.

"Time for war?"

"Yes, brother. It is time for war, once more." It was not Sydrii who spoke those words but Odarius himself who entered just now to face the newly awakened Phystroc. "And just like before, we shall destroy the enemy with flame…"

"...And steel." Phystroc finished the sentence. "Hello, Odarius."

"Phystroc, it's been a long while." Odarius went nearer to the old dreadnought. Sydrii and the Tech Priest backed away from the Chapter Master. He continued until he was three feet away from Phystroc, looking up into his eyes. "War has called upon you again, brother."

"Then let my body become a weapon of war once more." The old dreadnought roared. He moved slowly, walking around to remember his body. His body was adorned with a Salamander green and gold scale pattern. Simplistic in design yet brutal in war. The Redemptor Dreadnought roared to life once more. Phystroc was an old Salamander captain who, when on the verge of death, was put into the dreadnought. He has lived for a millennia or more. He had fought in many battles and slain many enemies of the emperor. "Death can have me once it successfully kills me."

"Indeed, brother. Now, we must go. The transports are waiting." Odarius said.

"With haste." Phystroc growled as the Chapter Master headed out of the room. But as he started to walk, he felt something was off. "By the Emperor, I feel like I'm at home again."

"Are you feeling heavy?"

"Of course not!" Phystroc denied. "It feels hotter than usual. Are we headed to Nocturne?"

As the two walked and conversed with each other, they heard a mutter from one of the men saying, "Should we do a diagnostics check?"

"No, if something's wrong, Brother Phystroc will know." Sydrii muttered. He knew too much of what happened when Phystroc was led to a diagnostic check. It was suffering and pain, mostly in the ears.

"Are you not coming, Master of the Forge?" The Flayed Hand asked curiously, just as they were almost out of the room.

"Later, great brother. Once my tech marines have fully prepared their gears." Sydrii, who was indeed the Master of the Forge, replied with a kind and exhausted voice. The two then left the room, leaving Sydrii and the Tech Priest.

"The Venerable One is interesting." The Tech Priest said. Sydrii gave him a side-eye stare.

"You're a new assigned one here, right?"

"Yes, sir."

"What made him interesting to you?"

"Because he does not bore people with long words and premade speeches...unlike a certain someone." The Tech Priest remarked with the same neutral and robotic voice as before.

"You're a humorous one, unlike the others."

"Humor is not something I dwell on occasionally. It is not fundamentally important to us Tech-priests." The Tech Priest began to walk. "But it is severely needed once in your vicinity."

"I am not boring."

"And I am not a servant of the Omnissiah." The Tech Priest remarked back. "Not all of us have certain skills, Master."