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The Warp’s Curse – Extract

A Black Library Publication

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The Warp’s Curse

By Michael J. Hollows

The Imperium burned. Flame licked at the periphery of her vision, threatening to cloud it, to overwhelm it. Everywhere she looked was fire. She tried to scream, but no sound escaped her mouth. She closed her eyes, but the flames were always there, a bright ethereal warning. The fire brought death, and there was nothing she could do.

Her surroundings were like smoke, intangible. Somehow she was outside the fortress, outside herself. In the void of space the battle raged around her. She saw untold death, the terrible destructive power of the fortress.

The Imperium burned.

Ships launched munitions at the fortress, but it wasn’t enough. It would never be enough. Torpedoes and energy beams, the heat glare of shipborne lances, dissipated against its cold, unforgiving, matt-black surface. Scorched sections folded back into its shell to be replaced by pristine layers of unblemished obsidian. Imperial vessels fell in waves, their existence blinking out in explosions of plasma and debris. Others threw themselves against it in a desperate last-ditch defence.

Nothing could stand in its path. Untold numbers cried out in terror as stone cracked under immense forces. Every one of them called for the Emperor’s help, but for them it was too late.

‘Witch?’

The voice snapped Aradia Madellan out of her vision. She continued her stride onto the Blackstone Fortress, the tap of her stave on the floor echoing back. Her eyes refocused, no longer looking inward. As soon as her boots had touched the deck of the fortress her warp-sight had flashed into life, showing her a vision. The vision had disappeared as suddenly as it had come. She uttered a mantra, words she had taught herself years ago, when she had been trapped and alone. Part of her training as a psyker, it was designed to calm her mind, to give her focus and steel her against the warp. The psych-reactive collar around her head flared with ethereal blue light, bathing the obsidian deck around her. It was an alchemical glow, tinged with a black light on the edge of her perception. It dimmed as she calmed, reciting the words over and over.

I am in control.

The vision still lingered on the edge of her memory, tempting her to fall back into its embrace. She focused her mind on reality, away from the unreality of the warp. The closer she came to the Blackstone Fortress, the stronger the visions were. Now that she was standing on the fortress itself, it had been even more vivid than before. She had felt as if she were there, witnessing the destruction of the Imperium, one planet at a time.

She reached now for the Emperor’s light, but out here His presence was distant and cold, a muted hum at the back of her mind. Even with the explorers at her side, the primaris psyker had not felt so alone in a long time.

‘Witch?’ Taddeus spoke again, his voice clearer, more distinct this time. ‘Is something wrong?’ he asked. His cassock was lined with shadows in the black-lit gloom, and the relic at his broad chest glowed with a faint blue light like Aradia’s stave. She knew that his concern was not for her, but for himself. Since joining forces, he had shown no regard for her abilities. Like many in the Imperium he saw Aradia as something other, an outsider, a threat. His eyes bored into hers, judging every second of her existence. His ruddy face was even more flushed now than it had been before.

‘I’m fine,’ she lied, ignoring the term he had used. He would not be the last to call her that. She could only have been out for a second, but it had been long enough for him to notice. There was no way she could tell him what she had witnessed. As she had learnt in the schola, a half-truth was always better than an outright lie. ‘The Blackstone Fortress has… changed,’ she said, waving a gloved hand at the aperture. ‘Something is different.’

‘We should go,’ Taddeus said, stepping off the alighting ramp of their vessel, Pious Vorne close at his heel as always. She wore red robes under fire-blackened armour, and like Aradia her head was completely bare, shaven of all hair.

‘The God-Emperor’s holy mission can wait no longer. I have seen our path.’ Taddeus hesitated, then lifted the heavy leather tome that hung at his waist. ‘The code is here. It is all the God-Emperor’s will.’

Taddeus was hiding something, she could feel it. There was something there in his mind, just below the surface. The amount of time that Taddeus had spent in the fortress had only strengthened his convictions, and increased his piety. The priest was like many of her teachers back at the schola, overweight and self-important. He clutched a heavy power maul in one bionic arm. Aradia had been threatened by similar weapons in her youth.

Aradia couldn’t understand why Murad, her superior, had made her seek out the priest when she had been tasked to lead this expedition, but he was supposed to know more about the Blackstone Fortress than anyone else. Aradia hoped that the rogue trader had been right.

From here, Aradia could look back through the aperture into the void and see the star field beyond. The tiny pinpricks of light that showed the core of the galaxy. Within that small view, thousands of Imperial worlds spun through the darkness of space, each containing billions of souls. Aradia could almost feel them, almost reach out and sense them, but that would be impossible. Her psionic powers could never be that strong. Every one of those worlds was threatened by the existence of this fortress. They would all suffer if she failed.

‘Why are we waiting?’ Taddeus asked, looking at Aradia from the corner of his eye. His contempt was barely masked, a slight snarl turned the corner of his lips. ‘Have you lost your wits?’ Aradia didn’t answer.

Vorne lifted her two-handed flamer and glared at Aradia. There had been a beauty there once, but like most things it had been ravaged by hate. Aradia could feel the hesitation in the young zealot. Vorne wanted nothing more than to do the Emperor’s work, and she would let nothing stand in her path, not even another servant of the Emperor. Especially not a witch. Aradia fancied she could feel some kind of kindred there, deep down in Vorne’s psyche, but above the rebreather that covered her mouth like a muzzle the zealot’s eyes burned with disgust. Aradia would have to watch her back while that one was around.

She looked about, taking in the area. The aperture was vast, revealing a glimpse of the fortress’ interior and allowing their small vessel a space to land. Many other explorers had come this way, and even now other ships sat waiting. Some of them looked as if they had been there for years, like barges of the dead, waiting for explorers that would never return.

Aradia sensed a presence. A figure appeared out of the gloom. Underneath a green cloak, polished, bone-white armour shifted and warped like light, until a lithe figure became fully apparent. Aradia could taste a faint metallic tang as her mind reached towards the aeldari. Pain flared in her temples, and she recoiled. There was a barrier there, and knowing that mind would come at a price. She had the sudden feeling that if Amallyn Shadowguide did not want to be seen, then they would never have known she was there.

‘You came,’ Aradia said. It wasn’t a question. The Blackstone Fortress drew them all, whether they wanted it to or not. Even so, she had not fully expected the ranger to honour the deal.

‘We had an agreement.’ The soft voice emitted from some kind of vox-caster clamped around her mouth.

Aradia turned back to Taddeus, and saw that the preacher shuddered with barely suppressed rage.

‘Xenos filth!’ he shouted, pointing an accusing finger at the aeldari ranger. ‘You sully our holy mission!’ The servo-stubber attached to his shoulder cycled, its automated feed rattling. Aradia felt the slight static discharge of his power maul activating. To her credit, Shadowguide didn’t flinch. The ranger stood, impassively regarding the preacher with cool, intelligent eyes. Had Aradia sight of her mouth she imagined she’d have seen a superior smirk there.

‘I have ventured into the Talisman with the false prophet before,’ Amallyn said, her voice a soft purr. ‘Were those endeavours not holy enough for you?’

Aradia tentatively reached out to Taddeus’ mind, thinking to use her telepathic powers to calm him. Something intangible held her back. The look of hatred in his eyes was enough of a warning, and a deep scowl crossed his features.

‘Get out of my head, witch,’ he said. ‘I can feel your abominable itch in my skull!’

Aradia switched tactics. ‘Stop, Taddeus! Stay your weapons.’ Her voice wasn’t quite the commanding boom she had intended. She was used to following orders, not giving them. ‘If we are to clear the fortress in the Emperor’s name then we will need help. Your faith is not in doubt, but it will not be enough. We need to work together.’

Taddeus glared at the ranger, his weapons still active. Then he sighed and let the mace fall. ‘We will work together for now, witch,’ he said, not taking his eyes from Shadowguide. ‘While we do the God-Emperor’s work. But you will not always be part of His plans. Only those that can see His truth will earn His protection.’ He bared a row of off-white teeth. There was a cruelness there that Aradia hadn’t expected. He marched towards the maglev transport, Vorne following in his wake.

Aradia took one last look back over her shoulder at the abyss of space, before plunging on into the darkness of the fortress. She had to trust the priest and the aeldari to aid her in her task. If not, they were all doomed.

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