The Codex Purgatorium: A Warhammer 40k Story

silent angel

-Charity Blake-

Charity was barely conscious as she gazed into the sky, or more accurately, at the enormous ship that filled it. She could make out turrets and spires of metal, and a monumental amount of artillery.

If she had been anywhere that wasn't an active war zone she might have found joy in the sight, it was the type of ship she imagined Sabael piloting to save those who were in need, but she knew Sabael couldn't help her now. With an incredible effort, the child pulled herself from the ground and shakily stood in the remains of what had been her hiding spot, where trenches full of people had been lay only the smoldering remains of a massive blast.

She began to walk without intent, simply trying to move as she allowed her mind to escape from her situation, escapism was a deadly passtime that Charity found herself falling into often. She let her mind flow to the angel of the Emperor, the beautiful and deadly woman in armor. She used her imagination to fill in the details that had been made fuzzy by shock and terror. In her mind she imagined herself in a similar suit of armor, her longer black hair cut short in her imagination of her future self.

"WATCH OUT!!!" Charity was ripped from her fools paradise as a gloved hand roughly grabbed her and pressed her against their body as a hail of bullets slamed across her saviors back.

The weight of the solder falling nearly dragged her down with the man as he slid to the ground, she was luck she couldn't see his face as he died, his black gas mask saving the child from the image.

"Men! You are not made to live, you are meant to die in the Emperors name!" Another soldier screamed as las fire burned the air around her. She followed the stream of fire toward the writhing mass of war and death that was the main battle.

Charity found a second wind of energy as she ran towards the line of soldiers, her luck seemed to see her efforts and defy her. The blast at the front line threw her backwards. Her eyes closing as she tried to block out the images of guardsman body parts flying out to create rainbows of blood and viscera.

-Sabael Kane-

Sabael watched with a sense of awe even her experienced brain couldn't squash as the knight blasted its way through the greenskin hoard with its terrible volcano cannon. It almost looked as though the sisters of battle were not needed for this fight .....

As the day wore on the ork forces dwindled and were reduced to fleeing masses of fungal filth that the Astardes were cleaning up well enough.

"Sisters, report," she barked her order over the vox, the quick responses of the other sisters filtering in one at a time.

"Southern flank being cleared Cannoness," came one voice, another told of similar success upon the north and west, the engagement looked to be for all intents and purposes, concluded.

With a sense of almost disappointment, Sabael found herself as little more then a cleanup detail to the Space marines that fought on ferociously. She couldn't help allowing her mind to return to that of young Charity Blake, the child she had failed. With a silent growl she made herself a vow, she would carve the child's name upon her own skin as penance for her loss, and so she could always remember the child and her faith in the failure that was Cannoness Sabael Kane.

-Aureus Fulgur-

The primarch of the second legion grinned in the satisfaction of a battle well fought, she had missed this type of thing in her two hundred year absence from her father's empire. They had fought other things of course but most had been small skirmishes to recruit soldiers to the tempest guard and other auxiliaries of the legion.

"Our mortal allies have fought well, send for the comanders to meet me aboard the silent angel. I wish to honor them for their bravery," Aureus voxed to comander Palmeth, the leader of her first company.

With a shining light of warp fire, the primarch summoned her ephemeral wings once again to lift herself from the ground and fly to her personal Thunder hawk, wishing the wings would remain with her always like those of dearest Sanguinius.

"Begin the drums of victory my daughters, tonight we celebrate the return of the second Legion to the imperium!" She heard a roar of triumph from her daughters as they took up Storm Jackals war cry, "for the song of eternity!"

That had been one of the primarchs titles once, her favorite one, 'the songbird of eternity' given to her by lord of nostramo upon their first meeting,  konrad had said many things that day.... some that had proven true.... and thus more she hoped to be wrong for the sake of all.  Her daughters had taken it up as their battle cry, altered though it might be.

She was ferried from the planet to her Gloriana class Battleship were she removed her battle plate and donned a simple tunic of her legions redish-purple, awaiting the arrival of her most honored guests. She had been absent from the empire for some time, she was curious of what had changed, what was happening....... but most of all she wished to know the fate of her dearest brother primarchs.