It seemed as though she was standing on a street, surrounded by tall buildings of Gothic-Roman architecture. She recognized the slight variant of the architecture as belonging to the very old world of Byzantium. Its rich history extended back over ten millennia, before the time of the Emperor. Its classical architecture reflected that cultural inheritance.
Then her perspective began to rise, as though she were being lifted in the air. Within moments, she was looking down at a sprawling city that lay in the valley between seven hills, crawling inexorably up their slopes. As she soared through the sky, she could see that the pristine white beauty of the city's buildings was marred by smoke, fire and blood...spreading from sector to sector.
Further and further she rose, the city dwindling away beneath her. She could see smoke rising from other cities, black and acrid columns reaching up into the blue sky. Warfare and death was spreading across the proud planet of Byzantium. Still her perspective continued to rise, until the sky dimmed and she was floating in the void, surrounded by stars. Below, the blue-green orb of the planet grew smaller in her vision.
Then, a giant, pale hand with blood-soaked claws reached out...fingers surrounding the planet as though it was just the size of a tennis ball. Her gaze followed down a slender arm to the form of a colossal Keeper of Secrets...the greater daemon princes of Slaanesh. The eyes of the daemon large enough to swallow the world whole met hers and it's mouth opened...
"Katherine..."
Katherine awoke with a start, sitting up straight in her firm bed, simple white linen sheets falling away. Her heart was pounding in her chest, her eyes open wide, struggling to see in the dark. Her room at the convent was sparsely furnished, as was befitting a Canoness of the Adeptus Sororitas...the Sisters of Battle. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply to calm her heart rate down. Katherine was not known for any gift of prophecy, but the dream had for some reason touched her to the core of her being.
She closed her eyes and ran her fingers through her long blond locks, damp with sweat. She whispered a short benediction to the Emperor.
When she opened her eyes, she let out a shout. Standing before her bed was a tall, statuesque woman with chestnut hair and grey eyes. She was garbed in armor in the fashion of the Adeptus Sororitas, in lustrous red-gold. However, the torso plate of the armor was torn free, jagged edges splayed outward. Her entire chest was ripped open, the bloody cavity where her lungs and heart should be open to the air. Her face was serene, despite the blood splattered across it.
Saint Magdalena as she appeared when she had died...just over five years ago on Kali V. Her mentor. The woman who had raised her in the convent on Pentateuch for as long as she remembered. Katherine had witnessed her martyrdom fighting against a Sorcerer of Tzeentch. She had seen her risen from the dead by the miracle of the Emperor to once again lead the Sisters into battle. She had mourned her again when she had been slain by the Daemonic pet of a corrupt Inquisitor of the Order Hereticus.
Katherine's jaw dropped, her mouth slack in shock. Before she could summon the breath to speak, Magdalena's voice filtered into her head, though the mouth of the apparition before her remained closed. "Mother Superior Katherine. There is grave danger on the world of Byzantium. A plot unfolds there that can shroud the Imperium in darkness. The forces of the Eye of Terror are moving."
Saint Magdalena reached forward with a sad smile, cradling Katherine's cheek with hands as cold as the void of space. "You were always my protégé, Katherine. Destiny swirls about you like a cloak. Embrace that destiny." She leaned forward and her icy lips kissed Katherine's forehead...
Katherine awoke, disoriented and confused. There was a persistent rapping on her chamber door. The voice of Sister Rhoda, her closest confidant came muffled through the portal, "Mother Superior? Mother Katherine?"
