(part one of the little narrative I'm building for an upcoming battle can be found here: part 1)
Every time he delved so deep within the infinity circuit, withdrawing became that little more difficult. Muscles took longer to respond, joints were stiffer, the feel of crystallisation within his limbs as bone became that little more attuned to the matrix was always a telling sign that each time may be the last, and he would finally join the others as a permanent fixture of the Garden of the Seers. Not this time though, the spirit of Kaela Mensha Khaine was stirring and the infinity circuit was awakening, hostility growing as the Craftworld readied for war.
Throughout the Craftworld, artesans set down their tools, artists their brushes, and the music halls and studios fell silent. Prompted by the prevailing mental currents, all of these otherwise peaceful members of the eldar community gravitated towards the warrior temples to begin the preparations for war.
It wasn’t only on a single craftworld that this occurred, for the warrior temples are linked throughout the galaxy via the webway, allowing those on the path of the Aspect to navigate to places where they are most needed. As the spirit of Kaela Mensha Khaine awakens in any one location, its effects ripple outwards through these webway links and so when a Craftworld goes to war, it is rarely alone.
The Bahzhakain of Biel-Tan was preparing for war. Their Seers have divined that the coming moments were ripe to reclaim the Maiden World of Yne’gen and cleanse the sacred sites of the cursed Mon-Keigh. They would not be alone, and their wrath would be terrifying...
Of all the chambers within the Aspect Temple, this was the least used. All the others, training rooms, storerooms, armouries, gymnasia, debating chambers, workshops and libraries were used on a regular basis; some functional, some ornate and some were relaxing spaces, meditation focused where warriors could decompress from a harsh training routine.
ReplyDeleteThere was one door in, which led back to the common area of the Aspect Temple. The door less aperture was a constant reminder of an Aspect Warrior's true purpose. And one door out, which led directly to a place which only truly existed in the webway, a nexus of access points for the Craftworld's Aspect temples, all of them, active, dormant and mummified. It was where they led back into the Craftworld directly behind the main webway gate.
But this one was the only one that might be termed stark. The ritual hemisphere was not even that big. Fourteen figures in their psychoplastic aspect armour, their helms set on the floor in front of them, sat cross legged and unmoving. As still as statues. The exarch moved with solemnity around the broken circle of warriors. Before each she sank to her knees and dipped her fingers in the goblet containing some of the blood of each of them and drawing the aspect rune with it's curled tail on their foreheads.
Once they were all adorned and the Exarch was back at her place in the circle, there was a period of stillness and silence. It might have been a second. it might have been an hour. Or hours or days even. Then by psychic signal they all reached up with two hands, picking up their helms and tipping them onto their heads chin first, shaking their sensory manes out behind them. There was another moment of stillness and then, without further ritual, the Aspect Warriors took up their chainswords and rose to their feet, as one they turned to walk through the war gate to where ever Kaine would lead them, their chameleon armour rendering each Scorpion invisible before they reached the door.
Epic! You sir have a talent. Its taken me most of a day to rustle up my few lines, and you create something much more evocative in minutes. I bow down
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