An inquisitor just gatecrashed into my suite.
I had returned from jump pack training and ordered dinner when Thaberus dropped in uninvited. While the inquisitor was being received by Welminah, against all expectations he tried to order dinner.
'Is it possible for me to grab a quick meal here? Yes? Then I will have what the lady is having, thank you.'
As ever Thaberus was in a rush, he even hijacked my menu.
'Welminah, please triple the portion for the inquisitor. I doubt my serving size will be enough for him.' I dropped a reminder and watched as the scholar nodded before scrambling away to order food for our unexpected guest.
When I turned my attention back to the inquisitor, he had taken off his signature hat and sat down across from me. After making himself comfortable, he looked at me and nodded with approval. 'The armour looks good on you, makes you look a lot less… delicate. That and the colour blends perfectly with your hair.'
I almost laughed out loud. After being surrounded by the stiff sisters all these times, the inquisitor's casualness was refreshing. Still, there was no way in hell someone like Thaberus would simply drop in just for a meal.
'You aren't here for the free dinner, are you?' I teased.
Thaberus returned a half smirk before replying. 'I am here with two important missions. The first is to update you on the happenings, the second is to take a short break. During my time as an Interrogator, one of the most vital skills I mastered was the ability to rest and care for myself, even when my surroundings were literally turning into hell.'
While that sounded like a cheesy macho quote, it became dark quickly when you considered Thaberus' position and line of work. That and something about his tone gave me the chills.
'Tell me, is it that bad out there?' I asked.
Thaberus looked at me grimly before nodding his head. 'From the way you are preparing for battle, you already know, right?'
Say what?!
I froze, not knowing what to say. But then again in my experience it usually would be better if I just said nothing on such occasions. As expected Thaberus paused slightly before continuing.
'Not here, but serious troubles across the subsector. There are open rebellions and cultist uprisings in more than a dozen worlds, a few even managed to outright take over. Some heretics were better prepared than others. One moment please, I need some water.'
As I remained in silent shock over the news, the inquisitor stood up and walked over to the room behind me. He returned shortly with a jug of ice cold water and two crystal glasses, put the items on the table between us and scanned them with a gadget. Only when the device gave him an all clear did he pour the water before passing one of the glasses to me.
'Thanks to your beacon, the Regional Imperial command was able to coordinate and respond by sending Astra Militarum regiments to counter some of the worse insurgencies. Armies are being mustered and wars are being waged as we speak.'
Thaberus paused to empty his glass with a few gulps, then he sighed with satisfaction before pouring himself another cup of water. 'On other news, your early warning about the sudden surge of psykers amongst the populace has come to pass.'
Warning? I wondered for a split second before recalling during our first one-on-one meeting many days ago, I had shared some lore, unaware it would set the stage for his actions to come.
'Despite the initial scepticism expressed by many, I pushed through with my authority and quickly reinforced many of the agencies involved in such matters. On top of that, I allocated some emergency resources beforehand. Due to that fortunate decision, Nusquam is now faring comparatively well despite currently experiencing reported cases of psyker emergence exceeding four hundred percent from the norm. Last I heard, many of the more developed worlds are barely holding things under control.'
'Why only the developed worlds?'
'Because only they are making accountable official reports.'
'What about the progress of the eradication of the Chaos cult here?' I asked, eager to hear some good news.
'They had gone underground, literally. Mostly hiding in the foundations of the abandoned hive city near the edge at the capital. As far as we can tell, current investigations showed they have been operating in this world for many decades, probably more than a century at this point.' Thaberus replied.
Massive foundation site of an abandoned hive city. My mind went to work again, digging out the relevant information on it from the library inside my head. Apparently at one point in time Nusquam was slated to start building its first hive city. Unforeseen upheavals led to the cancellation of the world-changing project, though some foundational work had already been excavated. For a time it became a colossal eyesore for the locals, they called it "The Dig". That was close to five hundred years ago.
Since then many new developments have been built on top of the area, but the massive dilapidated superstructure still exists. Sounds like the perfect place for insidious cults or worse to hide and bide their time while scheming.
'Our Kill Teams have started to scout and explore the area but the situation is less than ideal, conditions on lower levels can get extremely hostile. Due to the size and complexity of the place, we lack the necessary manpower for the task. Calculus has shown that digging out the heretics via brute force would require regiments of specialists.' Thaberus confessed with a rare display of apprehension.
Out there is a shit storm, here we have Chaos cultists with captured psykers hiding underground doing Throne knows what.
Listening to his words, I got a dreadful sense of foreboding. This scenario had all the red flags of an impending disaster waiting to happen. No way that a professional cult leader would just hide in some god forsaken hole with his followers as his end game.
'Sounds like a task more suitable for the Mechanicus troops, did you try requesting Kryptorer for help?' I pressed.
'I plan to do that soon as he finishes his digging. In my experience it is usually unwise to disturb a Magos who is obsessing over a current project,' Thaberus said sagely. I pondered on the situation, remembered seeing this world going to hell in a vision and felt a sense of chill.
'I will help, come to me whenever you need my abilities. You have my sword,' I said to Thaberus in a decisive tone, cheesing a line straight from a fantasy masterpiece movie.
Thaberus seemed surprised by my pledge, he did a double take at me before responding. 'Very well, but do you even know how to use a sword in the first place?'
I scoffed jokingly. 'After today, I will.'
For a moment Thaberus was about to say something, but eventually he just nodded. My guess was he probably recalled the reports of my gun range performance. I took the chance and asked about another issue that had been on my mind.
'By the way, can you change the menu for the inmates of the Scholastica Psykana with that authority of yours?'
For the first time, Thaberus looked genuinely stumped.
It was after dinner and the sword lesson with Markeylla was held as scheduled.
I had invited Maylin to observe, not only to build trust with her, but also as a cause for self restraint since I had decided not to exert over normal human limits during this session. So it was a double layered training.
While I could overpower any human with raw speed and strength, my aim was to learn how to use a sword properly. Additionally, I also wished to gauge Maylin's reaction on how convincing my act of playing a human would be.
The time soon rolled around and we trained under the observation of Thaberus, Welminah, Maylin and Palatine Helenta, one of the senior Palatines; Alicya was on duty elsewhere. I was given various weapon options and settled on a replica of the Nameless sword, it was one of the many used by the Order to train generations of Sororitas to wield the relic blade.
The lesson went smoothly, just like before my superhuman attributes allowed for explosive skill learning. Simply by paying attention to Markeylla's teachings, I quickly went from a total noob to having the stance and swing of a swordmaster.
After the basics were locked down, the time came for a mock battle in full power armour and helmet. With me still totally new to sword combat, we started slowly at first. I had little clue on what to do and simply responded to Markeylla's strikes, forcing a stalemate.
Unable to break through my defenses with standard attacks, Markeylla gradually picked up speed and showed where she truly shone as a warrior. Years of intense training with the aid of power armour had allowed the Sister Superior to swing with what must have been Astartes levels of speed and precision. I was forced to perform slightly beyond the normal human limits to match her prowess.
We clashed, and our blades danced with near-inhuman speed continuously for almost half a minute. Even while swinging my sword, I had enough mental capacity to listen around and catch a chat between the preacher and the scholar.
'They move so fast, how long has Lady Syrine been training with a sword?' Maylin asked with a hush tone.
'As far as I know, this is her first lesson,' Welminah answered.
Maylin gasped with surprise. 'Surely you jest, sister?'
Just as I was distracted by the conversation, Markeylla suddenly closed in with an unconventional move by grabbing her blade with one hand to swing the hilt of her sword like a hammer. Caught off guard with a sword not suitable for up close combat and unwilling to go beyond the self-imposed restraint, I was unable to intercept her attack. The hilt struck my helmet, the world looked tilted for a split second and in the next instance Markeylla had the edge of her training blade at my neck.
The room itself seemed to freeze at the sudden resolution of our mock combat. Markeylla then slowly removed the blunt weapon from my neck and stepped back. Lessons learned: one should always stay focused, and there was more than one way to use a sword. The Sister Superior was impressive, the notion that I could grind sword combat experience from her got me excited.
'That was superbly done,' I praised wholeheartedly. 'You have to show me more.'
Markeylla bowed. 'It will be my honour.'
It was later in the night when the lesson concluded and the spectating crowd soon dispersed, including Thaberus who would be catching some much needed sleep. I was about to return to my suite when Welminah passed me an envelope. It was a very fancy-looking envelope that came with a wax seal. On its front was a name written with a feminine handwriting: Kometta Ignis.
'This is…?'
'From the mails and parcels we discussed before, this letter was sent by a notable person that I believe deserves a bit of your attention. Everything that reaches you has to pass through triple layered security checks.' Welminah explained.
'Thank you.' I took the envelope and gingerly opened it. Inside it contained a letter, made of fancy paper no less and written with the same handwriting. I read it with a glance.
Most Revered Saint Candidate,
Blessings and peace be upon you in your hour of reawakening.
Allow me to introduce myself: I am Kometta Ignis, known by my overly exaggerated titles such as Songstress of Nusquam and Voice of the Heavens. A voice that, until now, sought only to praise our Lord and to entertain, perhaps to inspire, within the boundaries of my craft.
When I heard the news that you quelled the fires of war with a song of such divine potency, I confess, I wept. As one who has devoted my life to music, who has, perhaps vainly, sought to move souls through song, it humbled me beyond words to know that the Emperor Himself had granted you a voice powerful enough to halt Chaos in its tracks and restore peace to our broken world.
Your song has swept through the hearts of millions since that fateful day, and I, among countless others, am deeply indebted for the deliverance you have granted us. Words cannot hope to capture the reverence and wonder I feel; yet I find myself drawn to express, even if humbly, the gratitude that fills me with each thought of your sacrifice.
It is a strange notion to think that I, who have laboured with notes and lyrics all my life, may have only ever caught echoes of something grander and eternal. I am filled with a profound desire to understand, even a fragment more, of what the Emperor revealed to you in that sacred song.
If ever you should permit it, I would be honoured beyond measure to be in your presence, to speak of music and faith, of miracles and melodies that transcend our mortal realm.
May the Emperor's light guide you to guide us, always.
In eternal gratitude,
Kometta Ignis
A local celebrity wrote a letter to me. I was being reminded that my actions had affected this world far beyond the citadel walls.
'A singer, do you like her songs?' I asked Welminah, who quickly nodded with a hint of sheepishness. From what was passively read from her mind, I realised she was a fangirl of this Kometta, which was surprising for a member of the Sororitas.
Now which fan would not want to interact with their idol?
I passed the fancy letter to Welminah, who received it with both hands and a face of anticipation.
'She expressed interest in meeting up with me. While I doubt that will happen anytime soon, let Kometta know her letter reached me.'
'How would you like me to notify her?'
'That is up to you.'
Have fun, girl.
I returned to my suite, took off my armour and did the basic maintenance work before taking a bath. Back in my white robe, I sat down in the living room and turned on my super high resolution television, searching the programs for anything related to this Kometta.
It didn't take long for me to score some hits at the music section, she was omnipresent there. A very pretty local diva, but why the blue hair? I went through some of her songs and concerts, most of them were the Emperor and Imperium praising kind due to local taste. She had quite the voice and obviously put a lot of work into her singing.
Looks, talent, effort. This lady seemed to have all her overpowered tri-factor engines firing overtime. Some of her past concerts were grand spectacles to behold, she was a bona fide superstar of this world. It felt weird, past life normie me could never hope to get close to a high profile celebrity, and here one of them was actively reaching out to me. I turned off the television, started thinking about tomorrow when I would be jumping off an aircraft for the first time.
Jumping out from an aircraft?
I felt a delayed jolt of realization as the weight of what I had signed up for finally hit me. The more I thought about it, the more nervous I became. Resolving to be as prepared as possible, I fired up [Simulatio] and started doing loops of base jumping and flight simulations inside my mind.
I vowed to face the morning with the unshakable resolve of a seasoned Seraphim veteran.
* * *
It was early in the morning aboard a Valkyrie gunship high in the air, Seraphim trainee Lethine Keel winced from a sudden spike of pain. She instinctively reached for the back of her neck, but the contact of hard ceramics reminded her of the fact that she was completely encased within a power armour.
'What's wrong, Leth?' asked her squadmate and best friend Furxia, whose voice was digitally distorted over the vox channel.
'Pain around the implant.' Lethine replied.
'The one for the jump pack interface? Is it bad? Do you want to abort this jump?' asked the squad leader, Sister Axella.
Lethine flexed her neck and tested the connection with her jump pack. 'Seems fine, I will see a Sister Hospitaller after this. Can't wait to get back to my sword practice.'
'Huh, your obsession with the swords is worrying,' Furxia teased, 'are you aiming to best Sister Superior Markeylla in the upcoming Crucible of Sanctified Blades?'
Lethine slowly shook her helmeted head. 'I am far from her level. She is the aspiration for my swordsmanship, just like Seraphim Superior Zharphia is your aspiration for flying like an angel.'
'Speaking of Seraphim Superior Zharphia, some last minute commitment had pulled her away so she won't be leading this jump,' Sister Axella chipped in.
'That's unusual,' another sister commented.
'I believe I know the reason,' Furxia remarked with a hint of mischievousness.
Lethine scoffed. 'Why are you behaving like a gossiping Novitiate? Just share what you know already.'
'Always so grim, sister. Very well. Yesterday I saw her tutoring a single individual, probably the Holy Daughter.'
That remark caused an explosion of responses from the rest of the squad, and the gloomy interior of the gunship got lively.
'Are you positive about that, Furxia?'
'The Holy Daughter doing jump pack training?'
'How long will it take for her to learn this? It took us weeks to master the fundamentals.'
'Is that even safe? No offence but I have seen her a few times from a distance, she is borderline scrawny and can use more muscle…'
'Drop zone imminent! Cease the chatter!' Sister Axella dropped the order and the vox went silent. 'Be reminded that this is a close formation drill. We will drop and land closely with other squads to simulate simultaneous drop attacks. Anyone caught with amateurish collision mistakes will be handed severe penances. Prayers to Him!'
As one, the squad started murmuring their prayers until the drop indicator light went from red to orange, then finally green. The gunship's rear hatch abruptly dropped, letting in the early morning light with cold howling winds.
'Go!' Axella voxed, and the Seraphim trainees began their disembarkation by jumping off the aircraft. It was quickly Lethine's turn, but just as she stepped onto the ramp, the Valkyrie bounced violently.
'Clear-air turbulence!'
The pilot's alarmed voice voxed through as Lethine found herself tumbling out of the gunship, unprepared for the jump. As the world spun around her, the battle sister breathed deep and kept her cool, not panicking about a situation she was trained for.
Suddenly the pain on the back of her neck returned, with more severe intensity this time. Lethine winced and somehow in the chaos activated her jump pack, it propelled her forward in a random direction. Almost cursing out loud, Lethine quickly cut her acceleration before trying to get a bearing.
'Leth, behind you!'
The sister heard her name being voxed in a desperate tone. Alarmed, she looked around, just in time to see a Valkyrie gunship of another squad rapidly heading straight towards her.
'Throne damn it!' Lethine cursed and blasted her jump pack again, narrowly avoiding a direct collision with the cockpit. She was so close to the gunship that she could see the pilot's panicked expression. Just as the battle sister thought it had been a close call, a huge wing smashed into her. Lethine felt the crushing impact, then her head hit against something hard, and a sensation too intense to be called pain washed over her.
The world spun again, more rapidly this time. Lethine's jump pack was still following her last mental command and left on full blast when she lost consciousness.
* * *
One of my dreams in my past life had come true as I cut through the air. I was gliding down from high up the sky, savouring every second of my first limited personal true flight. The speedometer displayed in my helmet showed I was going at a breakneck speed while the altimeter steadily ticked down.
Like many other geeks of my time, the dream of experiencing personal flight had at one time become an impossible aspiration after a certain man of iron became a dominant force on the silver screen, and never I had imagined it would materialise here.
'You seem happy,' Zharphia voxed over as she tailed me from behind. Normally as a trainee I should be the one shadowing the instructor, instead with my safety as the priority we had this reverse arrangement.
'Yes, this feels fantastic,' I replied.
We dropped through the sky in controlled glide, while halfway heading towards the designated landing zone we came across a clump of cloud. The Seraphim training manual had dedicated a whole chapter on the specific dos and don'ts on dealing with clouds. Seeing that this looked to be an ideal scenario to experience what was mentioned in the teaching material, I voxed Zharphia.
'See that cloud? I am going to fly through it.'
'Be careful, I will see you on the other side,' Zharphia voxed back.
We split up and I flew straight into the cloud, my surroundings changed rapidly from the dirty purple sky to misty white, then gloomy grey. Visibility dropped to near zero within seconds and the swirling dense fog surrounded me like a living grey sea. The immediate sensation was a sudden drop in temperature, then came the rapid pinging sounds as my armour made contact with a mass amount of airborne water droplets at a speed faster than terminal velocity.
In the blink of an eye, dampness had clung to every surface on my armour and condensation beads formed on the visor of my helmet. The experience was less fun than expected so I fired up my jump pack to speed through the cloud. The jump pack hummed angrily, compensating for the cool drag of moist air until I burst free from the cloud line.
Zharphia was waiting on the other side, she let me speed past her before following me down. We landed shortly after, and took off our helmets to enjoy the rising sun.
'My lady, I must confess that you astonish me,' Zharphia commented. 'Never have I witnessed anyone learning this fast. I believe you truly have His blessings.' Her praise almost made me blush.
'I have a great teacher,' I said.
'I wish it was that simple,' Zharphia replied with a light chuckle. 'I have trained many Seraphims, none were close to you in raw talent.'
Suddenly an urgent vox message came through on both our helmets. 'Seraph falls! I repeat, Seraph falls!'
The training manual materialised inside my head informing me that was the code they used to indicate a free falling accident, and Zharphia's concerning reaction confirmed this was not a drill.
I looked around and was surprised when my superhuman eyesight picked up a scene in the distance; a Seraphim was speeding head first from the sky on an erratic flightpath, she appeared to be unconscious and her jump pack was firing at full throttle.
Within the next instant I was sprinting at full speed toward the falling sister, my armour straining as servos groaned in protest with the sudden demand. The world superficially slowed down for me as thought acceleration took over, and multiple notions surged through my consciousness.
The first part of my mind was in awe of my own actions, the past human me would have hesitated. Running towards an accident? Is it because I now have all these powers?
Another part of my mind had begun the calculus of possible outcomes. Saving the sister would surely bolster my fledgling reputation as the prophesied saviour; failure, however, could have the opposite effect. Conclusion: this might not be the wisest course of action. The sheer cold logic of it sent a chill through me, but I pushed it down with the simple desire to save a life.
Redirecting my mind, I focused on the falling sister and the complications of saving her from the current scenario. A heartbeat later, my mind informed me I faced a myriad of serious challenges. From closing the distance to catching the sister mid air without breaking her neck, none of it was for the faint hearted.
Refusing to give up, I gritted my teeth and searched desperately for a solution. Time slowed further as my consciousness expanded, possible ideas went over my mind one after another until somehow I came up with a complete rescue plan.
The first part was to close the immense distance and grab her midair. In theory I could "hack" the cogitator unit of my jump pack with my ability to bypass the actuator's safety operational perimeters. This should allow a short burst of super burn that would use up all the fuel for a short span of turbo speed. I was also quite sure my jump pack would be trashed in the process, but that was a later problem.
Will it work?
My inhuman intellect quickly sorted out the complex calculations on the fly and concluded the odds were in my favour. Up there the sister was still speeding down from a dirty purple sky, but at least her flight path had stabilised. It was now or never.
Here goes nothing.
Proceeding with the plan, I first jumped as high as possible while tuning into the cogitator of my jump pack. Responding to my command, the hardwired system was bypassed and my jump pack flared up with a huge burst of flame, using all the fuel in one go. The explosive force sent me rocketing upwards at great speed on a calculated path, covering a huge distance in a few seconds.
After reaching the apex height with my unsustainable short flight, I glided down on a smooth intercepting trajectory towards the unconscious sister, aiming to break her fall without breaking her neck. I held my breath and carefully adjusted my flight path as the distance between us rapidly decreased.
Heightened focus with thought acceleration allowed me to slow everything down in my final approach. Just before making contact I turned myself upside down and successfully caught the sister by hugging her from the front.
I got you.
As the sister and I embraced in mid air, the smell of blood and promethium hit my senses. I didn't put on my helmet in the mad dash coming here. A quick scan confirmed the sister was in a bad shape and barely alive. I had no time to celebrate as the next major problem rapidly approached - how to land safely.
While I most certainly would survive the landing impact with my transhuman physiology, the same could not be applied to the badly injured sister. I quickly accessed her jump pack control with my ability, intending to use it for our landing. To my horror, I found it was empty of fuel. Of course it was empty, she was blasting it all the way down.
Cursing my own stupidity, I accessed and engaged the emergency jettison function, ditching her wings to reduce load and improve our aerodynamics. That done, I turned myself back to the right side up while noting the alarming rate of us losing gliding speed.
Half panicking, I activated thought acceleration again and did a brainstorm mid-air while having a front row view of an impending disaster. A moment later my intuition told me I was out of options. Without any physical leverage there was only so much one could do even with all the attributes of a superhuman.
That said, this was a universe where means beyond physics exist. Facing a rapidly approaching landscape, I combed through the knowledge in my mind and found a silver lining, a psychic "spell" called Wings of Sanguinius.
Utilised by the Blood Angels Space Marines to allow their psykers temporary flight, it left an impression on me upon introduction as a friend abused it to send his Librarian Dreadnoughts soaring across the battlefield, wreaking untold havoc.
I dug deep into the old recesses of my memory to haul up an ancient edition army game book. In my mind's eye I quickly flipped to the spell page, and found the book revealed disappointingly little about how the spell actually worked. It was a game book after all and basically just said you are supposed to sprout wings.
Like how? Sister, I hope the Emperor is on your side. I activated [Psykana Activa] and willed with all my mental might to make the spell take effect. Wings, give me wings!
Nothing happened, we plunged further.
As the land got closer and closer in slow motion, I remembered my summoning of a spectral dove with wings of golden hues. Reacting to my thoughts and heightened emotion, a huge flock of heavenly birds suddenly materialised around me. I was flabbergasted.
I need wings! Not birds!
The ground got closer still. In this frantic moment I recalled about Sanguinius himself, Primarch of the Blood Angels, the Great Angel, the mightiest and most noble of all the Emperor's sons. Most importantly, he sported a pair of angel-like wings from his back.
I can really use a pair of wings like that now, brother.
Time dilation effect over, crashing imminent. The wind howled in my ears as we continued to plummet. I flinched at the coming conclusion: after smashing hard into the ground, I probably would end up fine; the sister though, would be beyond dead. Some saviour I am.
At this crucial moment when it seemed to be a total lost cause, my mind was somehow occupied by Sanguinius' brutal final fate. I remembered how he stayed in noble defiance until the end. The very end. For this girl, I too will fight till the end.
I resolved to cushion the injured sister as best I could. As the ground raced up to meet us, I jettisoned my own wings to reduce the risks of piercing hazards. As the wings fell away, one of the birds flew over and for the briefest moment my view was completely blocked.
Then the weirdest thing happened.
The howling winds abruptly stopped, I was struck by an odd sensation and felt an indescribable presence. In the very next moment I found myself in a strange space and could not believe my eyes as right in front of me was a suit of golden armour too large to be worn by even an Astartes.
The brilliant armour that appeared out of nowhere gleamed gloriously in the sunlight. In the centre of its chest piece was a strikingly large crimson gemstone. While I was being dazzled by the armour's craftsmanship, the most shocking part of it was a huge pair of bird-like wings that could be seen behind it.
What in the world!?
Utterly bewildered, I traced my sight upwards to look at the golden interloper's face. Even with my speed I only managed to catch a majestic jawline with a faint smile before another damned bird completely blocked my view a second time.
In the next instant I was facing the ground again, with the winds howling in my ears. The strange moment vanished like a bad glitch in reality. Still in shock, I felt something surge within me as a warm and almost violent sensation bloomed between my shoulder blades, then the winds went silent. My falling had stopped and I was somehow maintaining my flight.
I gasped, there was a new sensation on my back, something that wasn't there just a moment ago. They felt like …wings. A pair of magnificent wings seemed to have unfurled from my back. I could feel them - vast and powerful. I stretched them wide, embracing the wind as it carried me and the sister. The ground no longer an onrushing blur but a vivid landscape stretching out beneath me. I floated, surrounded by a large flock of ethereal birds, feeling my hair fluttering in the wind.
Tentatively I flexed my new wings and instantly I gained altitude. The sensation was alien yet instinctive, they responded like an extra pair of limbs that had always been a part of me. Intending to land quickly, I started gliding downward with the unconscious sister still in my arms.
A moment later my feet finally touched solid ground and exhilaration flooded me. The unreal birds did not disperse, instead they stayed and swirled around me in a dazzling display of flight formation, but my mind was too disorganised by the eerie experience to appreciate the sight. Reflecting on my emotions, I realised with a shock the peculiar feeling emanating from the golden winged figure could only be described as a strange sense of kinship.
Sanguinius? But he was dead! Dead for more than 10,000 years!
The mere recalling of that unbelievable presence gave me goosebumps. For a while I just stood still and questioned everything about this universe. The sounds of people fast approaching woke me from my stupor. I looked behind and was startled to see the huge pair of wings for the first time. They were angelic-looking and translucent, shimmering with a radiant divine glow.
This is… psychic manifestation with a packaging of divinity.
Instinctively, I knew despite their impressive appearance, these wings shouldn't be able to facilitate my flight with their surface area. Yet they were able to defy the laws of the universe by supporting the weight of two people with power armour. Their non-physical nature was obvious, as they had sprouted right through my armour and the remnants of my wingless jump pack.
While I was checking out my non-corporeal wings, people started to reach me. Just like last time Zharphia was the first to arrive, landing close by. I turned to face her. Unlike me she was wearing her helmet and even carried mine over. Zharphia froze upon having a proper look at the scene, and slowly she removed her helmet to reveal an awestruck face.
'She needs immediate medical attention,' I said to the wide-eyed Seraphim Superior, but she just looked at me in a dream-like trance. I realised belatedly this could go down disastrously.
What was I thinking? I just sprouted wings!
While they looked every bit divine in origin, there was no denying this was supernatural. Time seemed to stretch as I held my breath, half-expecting Zharphia to burst into a tirade of accusations of heresy and witchcraft, but she simply remained still.
'Sister Zharphia?'
Being directly addressed finally snapped her out of it.
'Ah, my apologies. Help is already on their way, my… saint.' After saying those words, Zharphia reverently knelt down to me.
Huh, I passed the test. But come on, this is neither the time nor place for another session of "kneely willy".
While relieved beyond measure, for a very brief moment I felt like reprimanding Zharphia before noticing her aura had changed, the sister was practically radiating faith and conviction. It was so palpable that I didn't need to read her mind to understand that from this moment onward, with or without the Church's recognition, she had fully embraced my status as a living saint and the embodiment of the Emperor's divine will.
By then a full group of Seraphim trainees arrived, the downward thrust of their many jump packs created waves of fluttering grasses in the field. Upon witnessing me with my wings, every single one of them emitted vivid emotions of awe and veneration. Following Zharphia's example, upon touching down they all knelt before me.
There I was with my angelic wings outstretched, standing in the centre of a swirling flock of heavenly birds, princess-carrying a battle sister while being surrounded by kneeling Sororitas.
While I must have looked every bit like a mythical saviour, all I felt was numbness and a deep sense of dread. The sister in my arms just went limp, her heart had stopped beating.