The Composer

PART ONE

A man, destined to become the greatest sorcerer the Third Legion has ever seen, once was nothing more than a Legionnaire.

He grew up on Chemos, as the son of a police officer, who'd destined him to become a soldier for the Imperium, in one way or another. His mother died young, leaving him with just his art-loving father. Especially, however, his father was fond of music. By the age of twelve, there was no instrument his son wasn't able to play, from keyboards to the horns, which he and his father made out of precious ivory.

His first organs were implanted by the age of fourteen, and, eventually - he would become one of the best trainees of his squad in the recruitment year, sliding through recruitment process and beating every challenge with ease.

He got set into the third company, under the command of Marius Vairosean. Under him, he fought many battles with his brothers, in the time the Emperor's Children ventured through the endless dark as the fifty-eighth Expedition Fleet.

At the age of twenty-two, the Legionnaire felt a weird tingle, as if something tried to speak to him. Sometimes, he heard single words, sometimes - even whole sentences in his head. It spoke a language he'd never heard before. While browsing through the Bibliothecarum of the flagship, he eventually discovered that these voices were from the Warp, and that he should report these incidents to his commander. But, since he knew that he was going to be deported, since a so-called 'psyker' is a dangerous thing, he suppressed his powers when around higher ranks. However, nothing prevented him from touching the warp, and thus - he ventured down to the deepest machinery rooms and tried to communicate with these strange voices. One evening, he felt a power that tried to press itself into his head. Naturally, he immediately cut the connection down.

From evening to evening, the young psyker touched the Immaterium a tiny bit more than before, without any idea what powers began showing interest in him. Whilst not fighting, training, or attending drills, the young Legionnaire focused his attention on music. His beautiful melodies could be often be heard all over "La Fenice". Especially with the remembrancers on board of the Pride of the Emperor, he had a lot of communication with them. Sometimes, he was sitting in "La Fenice" for hours, if not for whole nights. There were certain remembrancers he took a special interest in, for example composer Bequa Kynska. They were exchanging notes and sheets, helped each other with their compositions, and even composed music together. Another remembrancer he had a special connection with were the twin artists, Andior and Andiel. Both brothers specialised in the art of sculpting. They even made a special sculpture of the Thirds' sigil for him, which he later placed into his room as an honorary present.

All while this was going on, he perfected his link with the voices in his mind. Thus, he slowly began to understand them, learn from them. They taught him how to concentrate his power, and he even managed to shoot a bolt of lighting around in his room, afterwards. One time, he was successful in changing the look of a sculpture the Twins gave to him. It didn't resemble what he was trying to make it, though, more likely - it resembled a terrible, laughing face, a mask of beatific joy with certain cruelty in its eyes. The image of this face couldn't get out of his head, and so, he hid it in his room, always looking at it, inspecting it in quiet moments.

His skills in the art improved a lot over his time inside "La Fenice" , as he'd already mastered the arts of music and crafting in his young age, but now, the art of sculpting, singing, drawing, writing and even dancing were added to his skill base. Slowly, he began perfecting them, once again. Not only that, but he also was an outstanding swordsman, though he didn't quite have the powerful swings and hits, unlike the other Legionnaires. However, the future Composer was one of the best when it came down to agility and dexterity. With long-range weapons, especially with the stalker bolter or the lasgun, he demonstrated a lot of hidden mastery.

He proved to be a loyal and skilled Legionnaire, as well as an honourable and smart soldier, a lover of art of all kind. His special skill with the blade even gave him the opportunity to duel against Lucius, rightfully regarded as the best duelist in the whole legion. The young man, however... He lost that brawl quite fast, for it took only four exchanges of clashes for the artisan to sink to the bottom, a wound in his stomach bleeding on the flagship's flooring. He realised he could learn much from Lucius, and thus began to talk to him more, using every opportunity to train with him. Although Lucius was a cruel and unforgiving teacher, the Legionnaire has become even better with the sword.