First Bolt Shell: Legion of One

[greyerrant]

Characters: Garviel and you
Setting: Multiple floors
Format: Prose
Summary: Garviel wanders the tower doing various things including kicking butt
Warnings: Anything is possible including a heck of a lot of violence. Definitely descriptions of blood and war.



Floor Fifty-Six:

A huge armored figure is wandering the strange hospital ward, as if seeking something he has forgotten. He calls a name every now and then.
"Ferrus? Samus? Aqua? Nikolai? Arturia?"

Nothing but silence greets him. Lights flicker as he moves from room to room, a grey ghost of a battle that was fought in this very tower, and on a thousand other worlds as well. And yet... there is something plaintive in the sounds of the names he calls out in this place.

Floor Sixty-Seven (NIGHT)
The strange twining staircase has become a veritable waterfall of gore, blood and ichor slicking the steps from iron to light in all hues as the sound of battle crashes higher up. It would appear Cerberus set upon a band of orcs at night, or the band set on him, and he decided to single-handedly re-enact the battle of Ullanor. He holds one aloft, just over the edge of the stairs, his armor scarred by their cleavers and bows, then casts it down, smashing it into a pulpy, broken mass onto the stairs itself. His armored chest heaves, and he turns, growling in an almost-feral manner as he continues his ascent. Dare you approach?

Floor Twenty-Five: The grey knight stands vigil in the meadow, his massive form suggesting a grim sentinel in an otherwise beautiful place. He appears to be... shocked by it. Completely at a loss of what to do in a place of undespoiled natural beauty which has not been touched by war.

Floor Fifteen: A pale-skinned man one size too large to be human appears to be working dents out of a breastplate using the tools available in the workshop, hammering away at them in a less then adept manner. It would seem he has only enough skill to effect the most basic repairs on his own armor. Care to offer him some advice?

Comments

[tohko_amano]

It's 2006 for me..but I'm guessing that you're from the far future, right?

[greyerrant]

You are correct. I come from the time of Unity and the Great Crusade.

[tohko_amano]

[At that, Tohko would sigh and scratch her head.]

What happened during those times? I'm not from your universe, so I have no idea what those two things are.

[greyerrant]

The golden age of mankind. When we fought back from the brink of destruction, and conquered the entire galaxy.

[tohko_amano]

I see..while it's good that you didn't die out, what were you fighting against? And why did you want to conquer the whole galaxy?

[greyerrant]

Xenos, Abominable Intelligences, Warp-spawn. All the things that enslaved or abused humanity during the Long Night.

And we wanted to conquer it, or rather reconquer it, to return the light of secular truth to a galaxy that had been held in the dark of superstition and ignorance for too long.

[tohko_amano]

[..Tohko isn't quite sure whether this guy's campaign was as righteous as he made it sound out to be, but for the moment, she would reserve her deductions and her judgements for later.]

I see..however, not all of the aliens could have been terrible, right?

[greyerrant]

The only ones that weren't were killed because of treachery, to my dismay.

[tohko_amano]

[At that, Tohko sighed again.]

..I'm sorry to hear that. Why did people think that there was anything wrong with them? After all, not all aliens are bad, just like not all humans are murderers.

[greyerrant]

Probably because they were busy enslaving, murdering, and eating people.

[ He says, feeling a bit gruff. ]

The most numerous xenos species was known as the Orks, which you may know of, since I've seen them in the tower here. Savage green-skins, who live for nothing but war. I do not see how there could be a 'good' one.

And beyond that, there were the Eldar, artists of war, reavers and kidnappers, who would commit acts of piracy and murder, and could depopulate an entire world in a night, or carry them off to their slave pits.

There were other Eldar as well, such as the Exarchs, but they opposed us for reasons we couldn't even understand, because of prophecies and the like.

I have been in the legions for 200 years, and only once did I see a xenos we could have even considered leaving alone. And that was only because they were deadly brutes on a world with no value.

[tohko_amano]

Sure, quite a few of them may have been at odds with you and other humans, but that doesn't mean that a few Orks, Eldar, and Exarches couldn't have liked humanity or helped it out. You may have lived for a long time..and I am sorry that you have, since immortality is a terrible curse..but that doesn't mean that you've seen everything in the world.

[Yes, she called immortality a curse.]

[greyerrant]

I've seen enough to know there is only war. From the Orks at least. They are born to fight, and can take up arms the moment they emerge from whatever strange fungal pits they spring from.

And so they will. They are inimical to all life other than themselves, and see humanity only as something worth fighting. They and things like them are the reason the Legiones Astartes; an organization of warriors like myself, were created.

But don't misunderstand me. Orks don't hate humanity. They like us. We're enjoyable to fight. And that is the whole problem. War is where their entire existence begins and ends. They think of nothing but battle, and it is their religion as well. The greatest triumph I ever took part in was the breaking of the ork empire at Ullanor.

[tohko_amano]

[At that, Tohko sighed again. While it was good to hear that the Orks didn't hate humanity, she still wasn't sold on the idea that they were all bloodthirsty war-lovers.]

The majority of them may have fighting built into their culture that they won't ignore or go back on..but there may be some who decide not to, eventually. You may have seen a lot..but you have not have seen it all.

[greyerrant]

Mamzel.

The only peaceful ork is one that has been killed. They don't feel pain, or fear, they only dislike -not- fighting.

I had to kill a dozen this day simply to ascend the stairs.

They grow through war. Literally. An ork who defeats a strong opponent will become physically larger and more powerful. That is how Warbosses arrive.

[tohko_amano]

[..Well, some of that puzzles Tohko.]

While I don't believe that they don't feel pain or fear, what is a mamzel? Or a warboss?

[greyerrant]

Have you fought one? Spent months in warp transit studying briefings on them? Have you seen them lay waste to human colonies simply for sport?

[ He answers her questions, though his voice has clearly gone cold. ]

A mamzel is a young unmarried lady, and a warboss is the chief of an ork tribe.

[tohko_amano]

As I said, they don't exist in my universe, so the answer to your questions would have to be no. However, even though quite a few of them might be horrible, I'm sure there's at least more than one that is good.

[She then nodded, burning the information onto her brain.]

Alright then..but you know, you don't have to call me mamzel. I'm Tohko Amano, the book girl.

[greyerrant]

Right then. Tohko.

[tohko_amano]

[At that, Tohko managed to smile a little bit.]

Yup..by the way, what's your name?