The Equus Crusade

The forest, a many-pillared hall of wood and earth, was covered by a ceiling of black foliage and twisted branches that let only lonely and thin rays of sunlight reach the undergrowth. Its imposing columns of polished wood gave it a regal appearance.

While it was dark, the forest was not silent. Not because of the animals living in it, in that regard it was lifeless, but because of the columns of guardsmen advancing through it. Humans were not the only forces of the imperium in the forest: the Star Lords had deployed a quarter of their first company to the forest.

Tiberius and his squad were some of those brothers.

He and his brothers advanced, enveloped by darkness and rare rays of sunlight. The darkness was no problem for them, as the night vision embedded in their helmets allowed them to see the woods around without a problem. There was no undergrowth hiding the rocky and dry ground and the hungry black roots that emerged and submerged several times from the earth like worms looking for food in the grey earth. The only animal they saw was a solitary black owl with his sight fixed on them.

The sergeant had organized his brothers in a V shape, with Tiberius at the tip, Cadriel, and Cassius on his right and left sides and Aphaniel and Icarus at the extremities. Behind them, there was a column of soldiers of the Imperial Guard. They were Cadians, both men and women were tall and well built. Their clean uniforms and coordinated marching only highlighted their discipline. Armored vehicles should have protected their flanks and vanguard, but the narrow paths of the forest had forced everyone to walk.

They were walking on a serpentine path of cobbled stone. Its rocks had an ethereal glow reflected by the enormous trunks around them, giving the place a ghostly appearance. The trees were only on the left side of the path, and on the other, there was a bottomless dark chasm that seemed to lead into depths the depths of the earth.

“For many decades I waged war at your side, yet you still surprise me,” Cadriel’s mood had been dark since he heard that Tiberius had received orders to stay close to the Guard during the exploration of the forest, it had dashed his fantasies of exploring the dark unknown alone. “You, accepting to fight side by side with the guard. I thought the news was a mere jest!”

“Do not take your anger on me, brother,” Tiberius said. “The Captain has given his order and we obey, always. Keep your focus on the enemy.”

The guard was not there at Tiberius’ request; they were merely chasing after a retreating enemy. Tiberius had merely attached his squad to one of the many columns.

“I have no knowledge of this world,” Tiberius said to his squad as the light died. “But one needs not be familiar with this place to understand that there is something rotten within this forest”.

“Indeed!” Icarus replied. “A great power resides in here; I feel it in my bones”.

“Then let us hunt for it,” Cadriel said, his eyes scanning the surrounding area. “Great will be the glory we shall earn on this day if we slay a foe yet unknown to humanity”.

“Not unknown,” Icarus warned as he looked at one particularly large tree. “Not unknown at all.”

As his brothers talked, Tiberius tried to give a quick report to Captain Galahad about his position, but his vox channel was filled with static noise. Whatever was in the forest, it was jamming all communication devices.

“Cassius, can you do anything about the interference?” Tiberius asked.

“What you ask is beyond my means,” Cassius replied. “The interference is too strong, and I believe it will only get worse with time. It may be possible to mitigate its effects for a short while, but it will eventually cut us off if we continue down this path”.

Tiberius was about to acknowledge his brother’s efforts, but was soon forced to acknowledge something much different. A twig snapping, accompanied by several more. He had not seen a single animal in the forest since he had entered it.

Someone or something was watching them.

He lifted his left arm and closed his fist in a motion that ordered everyone behind him to stop.

More twigs snapped, and Tiberius lifted two fingers from the fist and then used to make a circle in the air in a clockwise movement. His brothers understood the order and moved to form a circle around him. Bolters and blades pointed towards the forest to the left.

An owl hooted, and two more replied. Then all hell broke loose.

A ray of energy appeared from somewhere behind the trees and instantly evaporated the heads of two guardsmen, their bodies falling to the ground. No blood poured out of their headless necks because the energy was hot enough to instantly cauterize the wound.

“Take cover!” someone in the column shouted, and the guardsmen immediately rushed towards the nearest trees.

Tiberius and the squad were ahead of them, firing towards the aliens that had now revealed themselves. They were all unicorns, and they were wearing blue robes and hoods that covered their eyes with a hole in the middle for their horns.

Despite that, their aim was deadly accurate. These were not the soldiers he had easily butchered his way through; they were something far more prepared and deadly. If Tiberius did not possess his transhuman reflexes, they would have soon reduced his head to dust.

Behind the Astartes, the guardsmen were dying in droves. Heads and chests simply vanished in the blink of an eye, the victims did not even have time to scream before they fell to the ground, lifeless.

The only effect of their lasguns was to set several trees on fire. White shields also made of energy blocked the few shots that could have hit the unicorns. The rounds from the bolters were met with a similar end, exploding on the shields before they could do any actual damage. A high concentration of rounds was the only thing that could break through the aliens’ defenses, so the kills were slow and rare as many unicorns teleported away before their magic failed them.

“Onward brothers!” Tiberius commanded. “We must break them in close quarters!”

“Is it wise?” Aphaniel asked as he rolled to dodge yet another beam of white energy. “We might…”

“Run out of ammunition before can slay them all,” Tiberius threw a frag grenade as he completed Aphaniel’s sentence for him, the explosion killing one alien that was too slow to teleport away. “Our blades and our faith shall be our weapons of the day.”

So they followed him. From tree to tree they moved, laying down suppressive fire every few seconds to allow one of their own to move.

They slowed their careful movement when several beasts with a lion’s head, bat’s wing, and scorpion’s tail appeared from behind the unicorns and lunged at them.

These creatures were not protected by any magical shields and were gunned down with a few bolter rounds each, but they still slowed down all five marines. Not all of them were going for the Astartes, the vast majority were going directly for the guardsmen. A lot of them died, but many more reached their targets and were put down only after slaughtering dozens.

“We have to help them!” Icarus said as he heard the screams of pain and the sound of limbs being ripped apart.

“No, brother, leave them to their fate,” Tiberius did not even look at the guardsmen. “To die is their duty. In addition, we have to kill these Xenos now before the fires force them to retreat.”

“The laws of chivalry demand we fight the foe who sheds the most blood,” Icarus insisted, taking cover behind a tree and point to the humans with his chainsword. “Duty before glory, you taught me to live by these words.”

“They shall come back for us,” Aphaniel pointed out. “Better to fight them now while they are distracted.”

“So be it,” Tiberius reloaded his bolter and took a step backward. “We make for the path once more!”

A blazing had slowly grown out of the fires started by the lasguns. The flames were quickly spreading from trunk to trunk and many branches as large as logs were violently hitting the ground. A dark grey smoke filled the air, camouflaging the armors of the Star Lords.

Squad Tiberius still tried to move from cover to cover, but the fire was quickly becoming so hot that even they had to stay far away. To add salt to the wound, the unicorns began summoning fire with their magic. Balls and walls of fire hotter than promethium were quickly flying everywhere.

With their cover denied, the marines resorted to kneeling to offer a smaller target and rolling backward when the opportunity presented itself.

The enemy’s fire, of course, was focused on Aphaniel. Like all other foes, they wanted the banner.

To gain a few seconds of peace, Icarus opted to throw a frag grenade. The second he spent with his arm out as he watched the result of his throw cost him his hand as a ray of energy vaporized it in an instant. The shrapnel of Icarus’ grenade then killed the unicorn who took the shot, but the damage was already done.

Icarus did not react to the sudden loss of his hand. Instead, he kept moving backward as nothing had happened. No Star Lord would ever show that the enemy’s fire had any effect on them.

Eventually, the five reached the path just as several columns of fire swept through the forest.

What they found on the path was the aftermath of a blood bath. The beasts had torn every guardsman limb from limb or in half and were now feasting on the carpet of lifeless bodies.

Blood coated the entire path, and all manners of organs were scattered everywhere. Lungs, hearts, guts, and pancreases, the entirety of the human anatomy was presented to the Astartes in a gory display.

The blood also covered the beasts themselves who seemed satisfied by the feast of flesh they had gained. The flames had scared away many of them, and the lasguns had killed several more, but some of the larger ones had decided to stay to continue filling their bellies with human flesh. The eyes of those specimens were set alight by red flames, and their fur-less bodies were clearly made out of brass so thin it could barely contain the fire within.

At the very least, the magical rays and fire spells had stopped for the moment.

Icarus was the first to shoot, hitting his target in the throat. The round shattered the brass and caused an eruption of fire from the wound as the creature turned with a mechanical roar that dashed all remaining illusions it was something from the material world. The air around it had a bright and lively red hue.

“Run back to the forge that spawned you, daemon!” he shouted as his second round found its mark right between the eyes of enraged thing of brass and fire. It charged at him with another powerful roar as it showed no sign of being affected by the bolter rounds it had received. Only a seventh shot stopped its charge just a breath away from Icarus’ face.

His brothers soon joined him in with their bolters. Soon the roaring of bolters and the explosion of their rounds filled the air as the fire and smoke fully enveloped the trees.

Beast after beast they killed, and yet the enemy kept rushing towards them. It was not long before they had to put down their bolters and use their swords. The melee soon degenerated in an orgy of violence, with the armors of the Astartes gaining burn after burn and several deep scratches as a mountain of lacerated brass bodies formed around the squad.

Aphaniel, as expected, was at the center of the melee, the banner always attracted the enemy. The creatures of brass moved with unnatural speed, slashing and biting faster than the human eye could see, but they had met their match in the Astartes.

While many of their attacks did find their mark, none were capable of doing anything more than superficial damage as the marines moved fast enough to keep their vital organs safe and intact. For ache strike they suffered or narrowly avoided, they replied with several bolter rounds to the brass heads.

The largest of the creatures, one that towered three times over the rest of his kind, did not head for Aphaniel like so many others, instead, it headed for the most active of the five, Cadriel. Its mane and wings were made out of red fire and black smoke.

Cadriel had just enough time to lower his head before a paw of brass could cut it right off in a single movement. As he felt the hot hair flowing above him, Cadriel rolled forward so he was under his foe’s belly. There, he plunged his chainsword upward and then moved it forward as he created a large wound from which fire poured out. His chainsword had melted in a matter of seconds, but Cadriel did not care and he rolled to the side once more before the creature fell as it roared in pain.

As its belly hit the ground with a loud thud, everything ended. The moment the brass made contact with the dirt, the fire in its eyes died and reality reasserted itself. The other beasts roared in blind rage as they disappeared from reality, the air regained its natural color as even their dead vanished one by one leaving behind only the burns caused by the fire within them.

A distant booming thunder signaled the sudden beginning of a storm, a torrential downpour that had no problem getting through the thick foliage accompanied it. The newly arrived clouds above snuffed out what little remained of the sunlight and of the inferno that had been raging only a moment before.

“Another battle, another victory,” Cadriel said as he recovered what was left of his chainsword from the vanishing belly of the beast. Only the handle was left in a still usable shape while the rest was bent like a hook. “The xenos and the powers have tried their all and failed to best us.”

“Do you feel like a victor?” Icarus pointed to the sea of bodies and organs.

Many dying men and women were groaning and twitching in pain as they clutched either their wounds or their broken guns.

The pouring rain had quickly killed the fire, leaving the forest a wall of black and twisted columns. A strong, howling wind was now coming from the right side of the path, bringing small objects, like helmets and pamphlets, into the burned forest.

“Brother, a word,” Cassius stepped towards Tiberius. “In private.”

“I concede it,” Tiberius said. “Be swift.”

Tiberius then followed Cassius into the woods. They walked on the blackened earth until they were sure they were out of sight and earshot of the rest of the squad.

Tiberius did not see it coming; he only felt it. A gauntlet hitting him in the right face, turning his head around, and breaking his teeth.

“You almost had us all killed! Charging into a blatant trap!” Cassius made his anger clear by pinning Tiberius to a tree with his forearm. “And for what, the quest for glory so many of us are cursed with? I thought you better than that.”

Tiberius pushed Cassius away from him.

“I was about to close the distance with xenos,” Tiberius defended himself and took a step towards Cassius so the two of them were face to face. “Had it not been for Icarus and his adherence to the law, we would have slaughtered them.”

“Five against a legion? We did not have the numbers to win that clash,” Cassius stared right into his sergeant’s eyes. “Icarus’ chivalrousness saved us all; we would be burning in the inferno the xenos had prepared for us if not for him.”

“Icarus’ words cost us a greater victory,” Tiberius answered the unspoken challenge for dominance with his gaze and stared back. “There is much he still has to learn.”

Cassius removed his helmet, and then kept looking at his sergeant, but his eyes did not look threatening.

“For a long time I have followed you, but for a longer time still I wished that I could follow you, watching you from the distance as you earned your name and rank,” he said after a few moments of thinking. “I remember a knight I would have been proud of calling my liege if I could have followed him back in my youth. I remember feeling pride when you picked me for your squad when I returned from Mars. I have not seen that knight I looked up to in a long time. Where is he? Did he die on the battlefields of Mortiva like so many others? Have I been following a mirage since then?”

“You are being dramatic, Cassius,” Tiberius pushed Cassius’ helmet to his chest. He was surprised to hear his usually laconic brother speaking for so long, it was not like him at all. Tiberius realized his actions of the day, his search for a duel against a nameless commander, and his blind charge against the ambushers, had impacted Cassius much more than he had thought. “I am still the same knight you followed all that time ago.”

Tiberius’ reassurance had the opposite effect than the one had hoped for, as a look of disappointment appeared on Cassius’ lowered eyes.

“I hope not, it would mean I am a worse judge of character than I had first thought,” Cassius put his helmet back on. “I would have followed you to that accursed planet if I could have, now I question whether or not should follow you through this crusade.”

The threat was far from empty, all veteran Star Lords had the right to follow whatever sergeant they wished to follow, it was the first right they gained once they ascended to the first company. If Cassius wanted to, he could request reassignment to another squad, and Tiberius would have been powerless to stop him.

“I cannot stop you brother,” Tiberius admitted. “If you wish to leave my service go ahead, find the better liege. I have one request before you do so: in memory of the many wars we have waged side by side, I ask that you wait until the end of this one before you pass your final judgment upon me and my action.”

“Your demand is acknowledged,” Cassius put his hand to his chest and bowed slightly. “And accepted. I bind myself to you until the end of this war; your actions will decide if I will stay by your side after these xenos are vanquished.”

“I hope I can prove myself worthy of your services,” Tiberius also put his hand right over his heart. “To lose you would be an unforgivable failure of mine.”

With both marines having said everything they needed to say, they both walked to the rest of the squad. The other three brothers were talking about the battle, but they all fell silent when they saw the sergeant returning and waited for the next order.

Tiberius had decided he would lead his squad forward. If he gave up on his pursuit of whatever thing his instinct told him was hiding in the forest, all that happened in the forest would have been for nothing.

He only hoped Cassius would not judge him too harshly.

It had reached a new section of the forest, a much greener one, with a rich undergrowth and lest thick branches that allowed some rays of sunlight to pass through the thick foliage. There was life there, nothing larger than a fox, but enough to make the place not feel like a ghost town.

Shining white marble had replaced the cobbled stone, with several milestones of the same material placed at regular intervals. A line of lapis stones split the path in half, almost serving as a guide for those who walked on it.

There was no smell of burned wood or spilled blood, only the pleasant sensation of clean air filling the lungs and the chirping of birds all around the marines.

The rain was still coming down, but it was no longer a torrential downpour. It had been reduced to thin drops gently tapping the ground and the armors. The light had returned to the scenery despite the clouds above. The drops of water on the leaves and the grass scintillated like small gems put there by a careful artisan.

The marines were not silent; the daemonic beasts of brass and fire were the object of a long conversation that had occupied them since they resumed their march. The conversation was centered on what the appearance of warp-tainted creatures would mean for the rest of the crusade.

Icarus was convinced it was the beginning of an escalation, that the crusade would have to switch its focus from the xeno to the forces of the Immaterium. Cadriel, on the other hand, was dismissive of such ideas. One group of servants of the powers was hardly a prelude to anything in his mind.

“Your assessments come too early,” Aphaniel had eventually said, tired of the speculation he was hearing from his brothers. “For we know, we have just joined battle with the work of a local cult, nothing more than that.”

“Still, the other crusade forces should be aware of what we faced on this day,” Icarus made his suggestion to the rest of the squad, but was met with shaking heads from the others.

“No,” Tiberius reply was laconic and swift. “Not unless vitally necessary. Information is power, and we do not share power if we can help it.”

Icarus opened his mouth to reply, but was interrupted by Cassius cutting into the conversation after he had tried to reestablish communications, without success.

“This is pointless, brother,” Cassius said. “It is clear this path leads to no place of importance.”

“I shall not give up yet,” Tiberius replied. “There must have been a reason why the enemy retreated through here, why we were met with an ambush.”

“You are speaking…” Cassius interrupted his speech when he saw something in the distance.

It was a unicorn mare, casually walking in their direction, seemingly oblivious to their presence. She was wearing the same blue robes of the unicorns that had taken part in the ambush. Without saying a word, Tiberius threw a grenade at her and took cover behind the trees, where his brothers had already taken position.

When the flames and the noise of the explosion settled, there was no trace of the mare. Not even a piece of her robes. Only a small crater and multiple cracks in the marble were left in her place.

“Target down,” Tiberius stated. “Keep your guard high, there might be more around us.”

“I am here!” a feminine voice with a strong accent said in High Gothic, taking Tiberius completely by surprise. He turned to see the source of the voice. The mare was staring directly at him from one of the branches above them. “I’m not that easy.”

“You know our tongue, witch?” Tiberius fired at her.

She effortlessly dodged every single shot with several athletic jumps and spins, but she did not fire back. Instead, she just stared at him as the golden rings in her eyes emitted a soft light.

“I know many things, Tiberius of the Star Lords,” the mare said as she teleported away. She reappeared right back where the grenade had exploded, but her voice remained as clear as it had been a moment before. “Your language is just among one of them.”

Once again, he was taken aback by hearing his own name coming from the mouth of this alien but did his best to not show it, not in front of an enemy.

“I am not here to fight you,” she said. “My master wants me to talk with you.”

“I shall walk in the warp before I trust you,” Tiberius emptied an entire magazine in her direction as he addressed her. “The word of the xeno is poison.”

“Brother, she offers parlay,” Aphaniel put a hand on Tiberius bolter. “There is no harm in mere talk.”

“Let us talk then,” Tiberius grunted put down his bolter. “But I will not do this unless I know the name of whom I speak with.”

“Oh Star Lord, so typical, so predictable in your request. I will grant it,” the mare used one hoof to point to herself. “My name, for now, is Golden Path, but who knows what it could be in the future?

“Of what do you wish to speak?” He asked her, willingly ignoring her allusion to greater powers.

“I am here to deliver a message from my master, nothing more,” she said. “He has sent me to invite you to the Glittering Library. All five of you will be welcome. You might find the place a bit emptier than what is normal, although these are hardly normal circumstances.”

“This master of yours,” Aphaniel took a step forward to insert himself in the conversation. “What is his name?”

“I am sure you will figure it out,” Golden Path replied. “It will not take long. Just reach the end of the Library; he has left you a present.”

She teleported once more and reappeared on a different branch. She then lowered the branch and made it unnaturally longer until she was just outside of swinging distance from Tiberius.

“He has been waiting for this day for a long time, by the way,” she said as she shrank the branch back to a more natural length. “He would be very disappointed if you didn’t show up; you might even make him mad.”

“Why should I take your words as truthful?” Tiberius scowled. “Already one ambush you have cowardly laid upon us.”

“If my master wanted you dead, you would be,” Golden Path giggled. “Do not tell me you think you are alone right now? You Astartes are supposed to be smarter than that. Your death is not scheduled for today, the ambush was not for you..”

As she said that, several flocks of small white birds took flight and swarmed around the squad, chirping and flying right into the Astartes’ faces.

“Tell me of this library,” Tiberius grabbed one of the small birds and closed his hand a second after, killing instantly. His hand was covered in an explosion of blood, feathers, and tiny hollow bones. “Where is it located?”

“Thanks for taking out that idiot. Go on like that, and we’ll be friends in no time,” many of the small birds flocked right towards Golden Path and settled around her branch. “To answer your question, the Library’s entrance likes to move around, like me.”

With yet another teleportation, she reappeared right in the middle of the squad. Tiberius was half tempted to attack and break the parlay but stopped that train of thought when he noticed she was not projecting any shadow on the ground. The scarce rays from above went through her as if she was made of air.

“You are not really here, are you?”

“Took you long enough,” Golden Path walked right through Cadriel’s leg “I am not an idiot, I have to keep myself safe. However, going on, the Library‘s entrance should appear to your left in a few moments, you might find some of your brothers there. I am sure they will be delighted to see you, you look so great after all.”

“Your message is delivered,” Tiberius stated. “This parlay is over, and too long it has lasted.”

“But you haven’t told me if you accept the invitation,” Golden Path gave a fake sadness to her voice. “What will I tell my master?”

“When we find its entrance, we will access it,” Tiberius hoped the phrasing of his sentence would be enough to avoid any verbal trap. “I will say no more. Now cease this illusion and report to your master.”

“It will be my pleasure,” The mare smiled genuinely for the first time.

With that said, the mare turned into a white owl and flew away, leaving the marines alone in the forest.

“Do we wait here and do nothing?” Cadriel was the first to speak up. “For what we know, this could be yet another trap.”

“Yes, we will,” Tiberius looked to his left, where the mare said the entrance would appear. Just like she had said, an ornate golden door had appeared on the side of a wall of stone Tiberius could have sworn was not there just a moment before. It was open, and a quickly vanishing white light was coming from the inside. “Messengers to the enemy do not get killed.”

He took a step towards the door, and then he heard someone talk in the vox.

“This is squad Telemachus, receiving a new signal. Identify yourselves. Over.”

They had met with squad Telemachus, consisting of marines in assault gear, right outside the gate. The squad’s sergeant was not wearing a helmet, letting his flowing white hairs reach his shoulders. His pale face had a deep scar over his right eye.

His banner, carried by one of his brothers, represented a single sword pointed downward surrounded by a red circle.

“Hail, brother. The star of fortune favors us to bring us here,” Tiberius greeted him. “What brings you here to the same place as us?”

“Luck it was not,” Telemachus’ voice betrayed his youth, being one of the youngest veterans of the first company, being a decade short of two hundred. “I can swear there is sorcery afoot, as this is not the location where we found this place’s entrance.”

His squad nodded in assent.

“In that, I must agree,” Tiberius pointed at the gate. “This gate appeared from the side of the rocks as if summoned. More than that, a Xeno sorcerer invited us to this place.”

“I cannot say we had the same experience, but we did battle with the Xenos,” Telemachus caressed his plasma pistol, a rarity among the Star Lords. “A vile ambush it was. The guard perished, but we survived. There are other squads here who can share the same tale.”

“We also were ambushed,” Tiberius noticed the information did not surprise at all. “But enough of talking, there is a xeno den to explore.”

“Indeed, the other squads are already deep within,” Telemachus agreed and turned around to get into the Library.

A moment later, both squads were inside, and what he saw surprised him quite a lot. He had expected an underground place to be filthy or at the very least dark, but that could not be further from the truth.

It had a floor of waxed white marble that reflected the warm light of blue candles, and there were several detailed paintings on the walls of the corridor leading to the library proper. Each painting portrayed a single unicorn covered in robes. Out of the corridor, the white light coming from shining crystals on the ceiling greeted the squad.

Large, gargantuan shelves with thousands of books each reached the ceiling, and left distance between them created corridors large enough to accommodate a Leman Russ and a half. The entire scene was as bright as day.

“Where are the other squads?” Tiberius asked.

“Closing on our location as we speak,” Telemachus replied swiftly, knowing the question would be asked. “Three of them, with no casualties.”

Soon enough, the other squads had arrived. Titus and his devastators, despite being at full number, had suffered a horrific mauling during the ambush they were subjected to. Half of the sergeant’s armor was scorched black as the night and one of his subordinates was missing an arm. The squad’s banner represented one green skull imposed over a red flame.

The other two tactical squads, led by the sergeants Gallienus and Eremiel, completed the team for a total of twenty-five Astartes. The two of them had nothing peculiar about them. They were not one of the special squads of the Star Lords, just regular veterans without the honor of carrying a banner into battle.

Almost no words were exchanged at that point. They all knew this place had something to hide. It was only a matter of time until they discovered what it was.

Each squad took its position in a well-practiced formation, with Titus providing the tip of the spear with Telemachus right behind him and the other squads covering the flanks and rear. Tiberius had positioned his squad on the left flank.

Their advance was slow, as the wide space between each shelf formed large corridors that would have made them easy targets for a sniper, but not directionless. On the marble, there were symbols and arrows all highlighted a single path. The symbols were all cosmological, a sun, a half-moon, or a purple star. There was also one that seemed out of place, a crystalline heart; Tiberius could not explain the reasoning behind its presence.

At the corners of the shelves, there were silver statues of hooded equines looking at those below them with emotionless expressions on their faces. With their size, they made even the space marines look small, so large and tall were they.

“Brothers, do you hear what I hear?” Aphaniel asked.

“No, there is only silence in this place for me.” Tiberius’ reply was followed by those of his brothers. All were echoing the same sentiment. Even the marines in other squads said the same thing. Except for the Astartes’ walking, there was no sound in that place.

“Do you not find it odd?” He then asked his next question. “That a place this large should produce no sound?”

“It is most odd indeed,” Tiberius agreed with the veteran. “There might be more foes yet waiting for our blades.”

Just as they talked, a bolter fired a single shot. All turned towards its source the second they heard the sound.

The shot had come from Eremiel, who had taken the rearguard as his responsibility, in front of him there was an equine made entirely out of dark smoke. It kept walking as if nothing had happened, its glowing green not seeming to acknowledge the fact that it had just been shot.

It was carrying a small stack of books enveloped by a green aura.

Eremiel shot a couple more times but soon decided against wasting the ammunition. His brothers made the same decision.

“May I ask if any here know what this is?” Eremiel asked as he looked at the other squads.

“Sorcery of some kind,” Aphaniel inspected the dark figure, focusing on the eyes, as he also tried to understand what it was. “Although I am not privy to what kind of sorcery we are witnessing now.”

“It matters not,” Cadriel shot a full burst at the smoke creature, earning himself a bewildered look from Telemachus. “All sorcery is to be met with annihilation.”

“Ammunition is not be wasted,” Titus’ voice was deep and powerful, like that of a demigod, and it immediately convinced Cadriel to stop firing. “We need to move onward. Whatever this sorcery is, it is of no concern to us. I say we ignore it.”

“I second his assessment,” Tiberius turned away from the still oblivious smoke creature. “We do not have all eternity to waste.”

The rest of the walk was uneventful. More smoke ponies appeared carrying books around and the marines ignored them. Tiberius eventually concluded that they were little more than servants assigned to the Library, and he wanted to discover who their master was.

As they went deeper into the library, it slowly morphed into an archive. Black steel lockers stacked upon each other replaced the shelves. These also reached the ceiling. The statues were gone, and the white marble and been replaced with a shining blue variant.

One thing had not changed; the crystals from the ceiling had only grown longer. Some had become so long that they reached the floor and blocked some paths entirely.

Although it seemed endless for a moment, their walk did not last forever, as a large square eventually appeared in front of them. Large did not give it justice, as the entire Star Lords chapter could have been arrayed there, carrying all of its trophies and battle honors, and there would have still been room to spare.

In the far distance, Tiberius could see several circles of various colors carved into the wall of black rock. In the middle of the circles, there was a glowing white door.

“Now that is a sight to behold,” Lamorak said as he put his bolter to his belt and looked into the distance. “The fact xenos built this place is the only thing that mars it.”

“Do not lay words of praise onto the Xeno, brother,” Tiberius casually admonished the other sergeant, his words having little weight as he spoke. “In addition, it is my belief that the xenos were not alone as they built this Library. Greater and darker forces are on the move here.”

“I agree,” Telemachus pointed to the glowing door with his plasma pistol. “Let us get there as swiftly as possible. I feel we are close to uncovering all we need to know about this accursed Library.”

“This open area would be perfect for an ambush,” Titus noted. “We should move on the sides of this plaza, where cover will be more easily available.”

“And that is why such an action would be predictable, an ambusher would make plans expecting us to fear them,” Telemachus pointed out as he placed his plasma pistol on his belt. “Rushing directly to our target would not be an expected course of action.”

Others, Tiberius included, voiced their agreement with Telemachus, and the decision was taken. The Astartes would make a direct dash for the glowing door, and Telemachus with his assault marines would take point.

An odd thing then happened. It was not the violent oddity, a hidden foe or a trap, but something Tiberius was definitely not expecting. He barely had time to notice that the door grew much larger than it should have with every step he took while his brothers slowed down as if they were moving through a sea of honey. He had only taken a dozen strides when he was already in front of his objective. The other marines were still far in the distance.

Looking to his left and right, he could see that the circles he had seen from afar had black runes carved onto their sides and smoke was coming out of them before vanishing into the surrounding air.

What interested him much more, however, was the palatial door in front of him.

A white tree with a purple star near the top of its trunk shone upon the black steel of the gate. It was supposed to have five branches sporting from the top, but they were not painted beyond more than a stump. Tiberius did not know if the missing branches had been intentionally removed or if they had faded out over the centuries, but he understood a symbol of loss when he saw one.

As if on cue, the door opened slowly and soundlessly. A white fog-like gas crept up from its base, reflecting the light coming from the runes. It thus gained the appearance of a shining white sea quietly surrounding Tiberius and then enveloping him below the belt. It was cold as a mountain breeze on a spring night.

After waiting for the door to stop moving, Tiberius once again stepped forward into what he could only call a massive corridor.

Its builders had sloped it downwards, so the water in the two canals on its sides could gather in a single pool at the end. Accompanying the canals there were two lines of thin white and gold columns holding up an archway of lapis stone. The archways themselves were holding up a white pointed roof that shielded the water from the rays of blue light until it reached the pool.

Elevated from the center, there was a large pedestal. Upon it, the statues of four equines looked with a kind smile upon those who entered. They seemed larger and taller than the ones he had seen before.

Nine rows of wooden pews, all facing towards the pool, stood between the two canals.

It dawned on Tiberius that he had not stumbled into a mere corridor, as he had first thought. The four statues were objects of worship, he realized as he focused his gaze on the four. The artisan who crafted the statues had refined much of the facial features of what they thought were divine beings.

Walking past the pews, Tiberius found himself in front of a wooden altar and saw yet another thing that he did not expect at all.

It was not the closed book with the blue cover that he found unusual. A religious book in a religious place was barely worth a brow raise. He instead fixated his eyes on the Astartes combat knife that pinned the book to the altar.

He scanned the surrounding area, expecting the owner of the blade to be watching him from some shadowy corner.

“If you value your honor, reveal yourself,” he said as he pointed his chainsword in front of him. “Step into the light.”

There was no response. The blue air inside the alien cathedral was still as he put his chainsword back on his belt.

Keeping his senses alert, he stepped closer to examine the combat knife.

He noticed it was not only pinning the book to the altar, but it also held a letter written on yellow paper in place.

The knife was easy to pull away. Tiberius threw the book to the ground and grabbed the letter. It was written in a Low Gothic dialect Tiberius was very familiar with. The calligraphy itself was exquisite, regal.

It read: “Mine eyes did witness your craft this day

And my servant brought me word of it,

Ah! much she did speak of your retreat

Much delight was in what she did say

Old brother, I am glad you have come

Carrying the old banner of mine,

Cold blood and hard steel shall break the line

Olden hands will claim what you took home”

“It and retreat? His written work always was weak,” Tiberius crumpled the paper and threw it on the ground next to the book. He then looked up and saw that his brothers had finally arrived. “The years have not changed Mordred.”