The Song of the Warp

The hydra was an ugly bastard. It had four heads, each with slavering jaws and beady eyes. Its necks were long, and moved independently. It had two stumpy legs, each with three toes that terminated in claws. Spines ran along the tail all the way up the back and necks. This massive creature towered above the forests, almost like a titan. Argel Tal had seen worse. Being in the warp showed you many things.

He thought back to his brother Xaphen, who had been a chaplain of the Serrated Suns chapter. He always entered battle chanting. What did he chant? What made the pantheon smile upon him? Argel Tal smiled bitterly. The pantheon hadn’t been smiling upon him when he died at the hands of the Adeptus Custodes. But, for over fifty years, Xaphen had been successful in his zealotry. Argel Tal wished to remember him.

The sound of rending metal filled the air as he underwent the change. He drew the sword, the weight of the blade familiar within his hand. This blade had been used to kill Cyrene, the only mortal he had cared about. He activated the blade, light coursing through it. He removed the guardian spear. With it, Xaphen had been killed. Both served to remind him of his failure, and were tools of his vengeance.

“From the fires of betrayal unto the blood of revenge we bring the name of Lorgar, the Bearer of the Word, the favored Son of Chaos, all praise be given to him,” Argel Tal chanted from the Book of Lorgar, “From those that would not heed we offer praise to those who do, that they might turn their gaze our way and gift us with the boon of pain, to turn the Galaxy red with the blood, and feed the hunger of the gods.”

All present felt a chilling fear traveling down the spines as they heard the blasphemous words of chaos. They felt the madness behind the words, the sheer malice. They covered their ears to hide themselves from it, to no avail. The words assaulted them, whether they heard them or not. The hydra paused.

Beside him, Kharn had removed his axe. He activated the blade, the teeth whirring. The axe screamed its blood thirst, the mean, cruel machine spirit baying for blood. The butcher’s nails relaxed their hold slightly, hearing the baying howl. Kharn snarled as he fought the hold of the nails.

The hydra roared with its four heads. It was a roar that brought fear into the heart of mortals. It was a roar that intimidated most beasts of the Everfree Forest. The hydra expected the two figures before it to run in fear. It had made a mistake. Kharn and Argel Tal were neither mortal, nor were they beasts of the Everfree. One was a ravening berserker who took pleasure in war. One was a broken man with a daemon wrapped around his soul. Both were of the Legionnes Astartes.

Kharn roared in response, and Argel Tal continued his ethereal chant. Kharn charged first, finally giving in to the nails. The hydra threw one of its heads forward, attempting to bite Kharn in half. It was a great folly as Kharn brought the whirring teeth of his chain-axe upon the hydra’s head. The hydra screamed in agony as the spinning teeth chewed through its head. The head became silent as the teeth reached the brain, churning it in the skull. The grey matter of the brain leaked out from the rend. Crimson ichor decorated the ground. Kharn laughed. Bringing his axe up once more, Kharn decapitated that neck completely, sending blood spurting madly.

Two more heads sprang up. This time, two heads shot out to attack Kharn. One he pounded to mulch with his fist, coating his white gauntlet with crimson fluid. The second head raced for his own. It bit him on the pauldron, expecting it to shatter with ease. Instead, it felt its teeth shatter and intense agony as the shards were driven through its gums. Blood flowed from the creature’s mouth, and it recoiled. Argel Tal strode calmly up to the head, and pushed his sword cleanly through it. The power field melted the flesh like butter, boiling the brain.

At this point, the ponies had come out to see the violence that was unfolding. Several wretched at the sight of blood, and parents hid their children’s eyes. A certain white unicorn fainted in an over-dramatic fashion, drawing the rolling of eyes from her friends. Fluttershy, being a keeper of animals hid herself behind the crowed, weeping quietly at the carnage.

Once again the heads regenerated. Kharn was now overcome completely by the berserk fury, slashing wildly at the hydra with little regard for his life or the life of others. The hydra responded by driving its tail into him, cracking his chest piece slightly. Argel Tal quickly amputated the tale, the tree sized limp twitching as it bled upon the ground. Argel Tal followed up by driving his guardian spear into the creatures stomach. The spear punched through the stomach. Guardian spears were tipped with bolters, to make them more effective. Argel Tal pulled the trigger on his.

There was a thunderous roar as a single bolt round was propelled down the barrel. This singular mass-reactive high explosive round vacated the barrel. As it left, an internal solid fuel booster flared, propelling it at even greater speed. It went past the bleeding rent in the hydra’s stomach, meeting the soft, fleshy organs. The bullet’s machine spirit recognized contact with a solid object, and detonated a high explosive charge. This charge shattered bone, sending them through the creature’s body like shrapnel, and pulped organs. The stomach exploded, the spleen was split, and the lungs compressed. Blood spurted from the massive hole in rhythm with the beat of the hydra’s heart. This less than a second.

Argel Tal withdrew the guardian spear. Despite the massive, agonizing wound in its stomach, the hydra continued to fight. It propelled several of its heads towards Argel Tal, aiming to decapitate him in a bite. Argel Tal ran his blade through the first head, coating his blade with blood. He rolled under the second, removing it as he did so. The third head he pinned to the ground. He crushed it beneath his heal, listening in satisfaction to the crunch of bone and squelching of the brain. Copper permeated the air, penetrating even the filters of Argel Tal’s helmet.

He growled in frustration as each of the heads grew back in double. A dozen heads launched themselves at him. The hydra licked its collective lips in anticipation of the kill. There was no way this creature could avoid its own demise. Argel Tal stared at the creature. He suddenly shouted in a language that grated upon the ears of all. This language radiated power and rage. Most of all, it radiated the warp, madness. The hydra froze as the words made themselves known. It laid down its heads before Argel Tal. He decapitated each one by one, before finally driving his blade through its heart. The hydra died in silence.

Argel Tal strode to Kharn’s side. The World Eater’s pristine white armor was stained crimson.

“You should repaint your armor red, Kharn,” Argel Tal joked as he offered his hand.