"So at last do the slaves come before me." The robed man proclaimed as he brought out a book from within his robes. "Too late."
With no further delay, he opened the book he held and began chanting in a foul language that hurt one's ears. Having waited long enough, Me and my comrades raised our lasguns and as one opened fire on the traitor. All efforts were in vain, as a force field of some kind sprung up around him, deflecting the incoming fire.
"Ranged weaponry doesn't work on him, so we'll take him with bayonets! Charge!" someone shouted. That was all the explanation we needed as the lowered their guns like spears and charged. But the traitors merely laughed at what he saw as a useless gesture.
"You fools! Your bravery will get you nowhere! I will tear your flesh from your bones!" he shouted maniacally before blasts of lightning lashed out from his fingertips. Dozens went down in an instant, their flesh being torn off the bodies by the psychic power. But I never faltered, he charged on even as his comrades were torn apart all around me. There was no fear, no trepidation, no doubt. I was going to put an end to that foul traitor if it was the last thing I did.
The one charging next to me exploded in a shower of bones and flesh as the psychic powers ripped him apart and sent me tumbling to the ground from the shockwave. I tried to stagger back up again, but unbearable pain was wracking his body and sending him into violent spasm. Some kind of psychic attack must have hit me. My vision grew darker, even as I heard with greater clarity as the maniacal traitor obliterated everyone facing him while laughing like the madman he was.
Then it all became silent again. The butchery was over, and the heretic was still standing. The vile fiend gave an unimpressed scoff at the futile effort done by the Black Korps.
"Idiots. This is what awaits all who opposes the might of Purgatory." He muttered darkly to himself before he turned back to his blasphemous ritual. At those words, something stirred within me. Even as pain tore me apart from the inside out, I found determination flooding his veins. This was not how it was going to end. Hell would not win, it would never win. Not as long as there were those willing to fight it.
A monumental effort, I forced my eyes open and rolled over onto my hands and knees. Even as the eldritch powers continued to press down on the tortured body like the hand of a god, I stubbornly forced myself back on my feet, clutching the lasgun tightly in my hands. Slowly, I forced one foot forward, then the next, then another step, and another, and another.
With pure willpower did I pushed onward, every step bringing my closer towards the unsuspecting who had turned his back on the slaughter he had just committed.
My goal became clear when the very air in front of him began to split and tear. Foul energy spilled out like oozing blood from the wound in reality. That madman was seeking to open a portal into the Hell. Step by agonizing step, I drew closer to his quarry, until he stepped inside the blasphemous circle drawn on the floor. Only then did the heretic become aware that he was not alone as he spun around and beheld the approaching soldier in shock and fear.
"No! That's impossible! You shouldn't be able to stand!" he exclaimed frightfully. With the Hell Gate in the process of being opened, he could not divert his power to deal with this pest without getting dragged into the Hell along the way. Meaning he was completely defenceless me.
Closer and closer did I draw towards the traitor, even as pain the likes of which I had never experienced worked to force me on my knees. I would not bend so easily.
"Wait!" the trait of suddenly cried out in panic. "It doesn't have to be like this! I never wanted to call upon the Gods! I know of their evil, but your Dark Eye forced my hand to save my people! If you withdraw now, I'll break off the spell and never use it again!" his attempts at saving his life was in vain as I raised the bayonet, making ready to plunge it into his black heart.
"If you interrupt the ceremony now, Purgatory will claim us both! Do you understand me?! You will be dragged into the realm of daemons to be picked apart by its denizens! You'll never join your precious Light in the afterlife!" the raving madman was now screeching out whatever he could think of to buy time, I was deaf to his words of warning.
'In an endless cycle, I am a nameless link. The millions from before gone, too, in a blink. Those who'll come after shall earn the same stigmas. May the mountains of our corpses earn a scrap of forgiveness.'
"So be it." That was all I said on the matter, voice as dead as my comrades before me, I plunged my bayonet straight through the chest of the heretic and into his heart. A startled gasp was all that left his mouth before the Hell Gate began to writhe and crack, the foul energy it had been seeping out beginning to get dragged back to the pits that spewed it out. But the Hell was not leaving the material plane empty-handed, as it began to drag with it the corpse of the heretic that summoned it, trying taking me as well.
'My blood drips to the soil in a ruby splash. Am I forgiven? did I find redemption, at last?'
I wanted to fight back, but there was no strength left in my body, and I had fulfilled his task. I was content with what I had accomplished and accepted the cruel fate that awaited him. And so it was, that when the Hell Gate closed, it had dragged me with it, to face whatever torture and madness that awaited me on the other side.
*****************************
Falling. That was all I felt. Just falling, and falling, but never reaching a bottom. I did not even bother to open my eyes, knowing already that there was nothing of logic or value for me to see in this ocean of madness he had been dragged into. Screams of agony and howls of joy echoed all around him in a deafening cacophony, sounding like it was miles away yet mere inches away at the same time. Deeper into the abyss I plunged, falling for aeon yet at the same time seconds.
Foul things caressed me, their slithery touch being felt on my skin even when he was wearing full Black Korps gear, sending chills of revulsion down my spine. I could feel how the twisted denizens of this realm were closing in on him, like wolves circling a prey. They were taking their time, savouring the meal to come. I knew that death was upon me, no fear, just peace and calm. I could not fight these immaterial beings, but I could make their coming meal bittersweet by denying them the satisfaction of hearing him scream in pain or fear.
Closer and closer they came, their corrupted breath tickling my skin as if I was naked and not armed. 'Here it ends then.' I thought grimly as his body relaxed, waiting for the jaws of the predators to sink into my flesh. The thing was however, they never came.
I felt something tugging at him. An invisible force dragging him away from the predators, to their great fury and displeasure if the sudden roars of outrage were anything to go by.
No longer did I feel like I was falling, now I felt like he was being dragged after a Land Speeder. More predators of the Hell tried to claim him, but he felt more than saw how whatever was pulling him along was moving far too rapidly for the denizens of the Hell to ever hope of catching up. Soon, the nightmarish sounds that flowed through the Hell were gone, replaced by a swirling noise. Only now did I dare open his eyes to behold what he had fallen into. What he found was not what he had expected.
I was no longer in the twisting and the burning inferno that was the Purgatory, at least I assumed I no longer was. What he was tumbling through now was a tunnel made out of crystal blue water, swirling like a maelstrom. And down this rabbit hole did I tumble end over end towards the unknown. Then, I saw it, a light at the end of the tunnel, coming ever closer. In my mind, it could only be one thing; the Light reaching out to claim his servant from the maws of Darkness, to finally be at rest. 'Peace, at last.' I thought as I closed my eyes, embracing what was undoubtedly the end of my mortal existence.
However, he was to be disappointed in that regard, seeing as when he was spitted out of that tunnel, I was not met with the Father of all Mankind and a blissful existence at his side. What I got instead was being dumped painfully on solid rock. Despite himself, I could not help but let out a painful groan. Nevertheless, a Black Korp never died lying down, I slowly and unsteadily crawled back on his feet with aching muscles. But when he, at last, managed to stagger upright again and opened his eyes, he was met with a most peculiar sight.
Two men were facing off against each other in a spacious hall filled with glass cages, though both had apparently forgotten about each other and instead devoted their attention to him. Their choice of armament was also… a bit unusual. The one closest to him was dressed in all black, with a scruffy white beard and shoulder-length white hair.
The second one was also largely dressed in black, but he was wearing at least some manor of armour, along with weapons in the form of a sword on his back and a sidearm holstered in his belt. The man had long white hair tied up in a ponytail as well, but what defined him was the black faceless mask.
Confusion dominated my mind at that point. Just where had I landed? Was I still in Dark Eye's territory? How did I even end up here? At least those two looked human enough, I had not landed on an alien world, that was something at least. But that still left the question: where they friend or foe?
"Who are you?" the man in black suddenly demanded with a dark and menacing voice.
I could feel the strength leaving, only my will supported my stand. Stood there unarmed. I looked at the man in black and asked, "Where am I?"
The man stood still and his opponents withdrew his weapons. The masked looked glanced at me for a moment and then looked over to his opponent, "We can settle this another day."
The man in black frowned and looked over to me. "Who are you?" he asked, his arms behind his back, his voice imposing, more imposing than my trainers and commanders.
"76...935...5-637566---Unit," I answered, hoping these strangers are with the Dark Eye. My body was tired, drowsiness was slowly taking over me. I stood still. I knew there was no escape and no surviving. This may have been my last stand. But it was not...
My eyes turned blurry, my knees weak, the drowsiness... the drowsiness tempted me to rest. I couldn't hold any longer.
'Light, forgive me.'
I dropped on my knees, tumbled sideways onto the cold floor. My eyes had shut themselves without my says, as I drowned in all too familiar darkness.