The Wayward Son

Seiras opened his eyes in confusion to find himself in an unfamiliar setting. It was unquestionably alien given the xenos designs and symbols that he saw covering the walls and the technology around him. He had no recollection of getting there and quickly realized that he must have passed out from his injuries.

His mind raced frantically as he instantly understood the gravity of the situation. Without wasting another second, he jerked upright only to find himself in strange bone-textured restraints. They had all four of his limbs bound to some type of table. He was alarmed greatly by this but was even more confused to find the upper half of his armour was missing.

His awakening had caused alarm to an unseen individual which he quickly noticed after a moment. There was one alien present in the room.

The librarian panicked momentarily as he used his psychic powers to break free of the restraints. Lightning crackled and seared through them as he crushed them apart and ripped his arms and legs free. Judging by their tough but smooth texture, he realized it was wraithbone. Before the nearby alien could react, the space marine leapt up and grabbed a hold of it pinning the creature against the wall. With deadly intent, he spoke quietly, "Where am I?!"

The alien pinned beneath his superior strength looked terrified of him as his grip firmly held it by the neck. Seiras took this time to identify it and confirmed that it was an Eldar. It was most likely female judging by the look of it, and she was wearing clothing as opposed to armour. Her robe was teal and white much to his curiosity.

The alien trembled in fear as the space marine stared at her. She did her best to speak in Gothic with his hand around her neck, "Please, don't hurt me, human...I'm not an aspect warrior. I am not your enemy."

Seiras was surprised that the Eldar spoke gothic to him and was even more surprised that an Eldar would admit it was afraid of him. In all of his years, none had ever done so. That unfortunately made him not trust the deceptive creature. Seiras slightly loosened his grip on the Eldar and looked at her dangerously, "Where am I alien? What am I doing here? Answer quickly or die."

"T-they just told me to tend to your injuries, human. You're in the third healing chamber on the Eldar Eclipse Battle Cruiser, Crow of Fate. Our Aspect Warriors recovered you from the Chaos flagship and brought you and your surviving allies here," she said fearfully.

'Did she just stutter? I've never heard an Eldar stutter in speech before. She also speaks gothic strangely for an Eldar,' Seiras thought bewildered as he took a moment to look the creature over. She returned his gaze with one of her own.

They stared at each other for several seconds in silence. Had it been with another human, this would have become extremely awkward after a few moments, but Eldar were different when it came to this sort of thing as Seiras understood it. Often, Eldar would simply stare or use body language to communicate. From what he could tell, the female alien was subconsciously trying to express sincerity and simultaneously size Seiras up as a legitimate threat to her safety.

She looked young for an Eldar, which was an interesting thing to consider as most were centuries to millennia old at least. The female alien had long golden hair which was surprisingly not in a ponytail. That was quite a rare sight among Eldar in Seiras' experience as pretty much all of them favored hightails or ponytails of some kind. The young alien female also had flawless porcelain skin, fiery sunset-coloured eyes, and a sharp angular face. She was quite tall as well matching the height of the fleet Commissar from the Avenger of Terra. Seiras thanked the Emperor that he did not find her attractive, but the alien was surprisingly not ugly or unpleasant to look at by any means. Eldar had a certain elegance about them despite their repulsive alien nature.

She appeared curious about Seiras' examination of her. Eldar were renowned for having superior senses and could detect someone's intentions very easily based off dozens of miniscule details. This in part was also due to them all being inherently psychic in some way. Finally, she relaxed in the space marine's grip when she realized he wasn't going to kill her and stared into his eyes as their gazes met again.

Once again, Seiras stared back briefly but he soon found his eyes trailing towards her forehead. The librarian briefly examined the symbol on her head and finally spoke, "I don't recognize that symbol...what aspect are you?"

The young Eldar seemed surprised by his knowledge about aspects and answered quickly, "Path of the Healer...in the simplest way of describing it to a human I would be the equivalent of what your kind calls an apothecary or a physician."

"You speak gothic better than I would expect for someone of your position and lack of experience," Seiras noted as he let the female Eldar go.

She was no threat to him currently, so he had no reason to keep her pinned. He found it strange that such a young and low ranking Eldar would know the language of humanity. Typically, not many of their kind bothered learning it except aspect warriors or pirates. The ones that did speak gothic spoke it in a way that made nobles sound like commoners. This Eldar healer on the other hand spoke how a common guardsman or a civilian would. Seiras found it very unusual to compare her alien appearance to her almost human-sounding Eldar voice. It still carried an echoic haughtiness to it but was not quite as condescending as he was used to hearing.

She looked as if she contemplated running away immediately and getting help after Seiras let her go. Seiras detected a slight twitch in her movements and his eyes barely followed. The Eldar seemed to notice his quick reaction to her twitch and decided not to move.

Seiras could tell she wanted to say something about his awareness, as he moved to sit back down on the wraithbone table he had awoken on. The Eldar appeared confused by his actions as he looked away from her and stared at the ground deep in thought.

'I'm on an Eldar ship...in the middle of Emperor knows where. Why would they save me? How many of the others did they save? Where are they? In fact, where is this ship? Eldar Eclipse Battle Cruiser...Crow of Fate. Why would they bring us here?' Seiras' mind rapidly raced over these troubling questions.

The healer looked at him curiously again before speaking, "I have never seen a human like you before. The Aspect Warriors talk about the Losseainn, but you are the first I've encountered."

Seiras looked at her curiously, "I'm the first space marine you've encountered? How old are you? You seem like little more than a child to me."

"I am between an adult and an adolescent among my kind. In your Terran years I am 153. This is my second path, so I am not as inexperienced as you might think," she explained.

'Eldar have children in these times? I wonder how long it takes them to mature? She looks like a teenager. Why would they have children if their race is doomed? It seems pointless to me. Wait…why would she know about Terran years? This alien is strange,' Seiras thought concerned.

"So, you're a teenager then? That explains everything," Seiras said conclusively. That's all he needed to know about her regarding her modesty and unrefined speaking. She must have been socially awkward among her own kind.

"How old are you?" she asked with an uncharacteristic curiosity.

The Blood Raven gave her a mean glare, "Why would you ask me that? What kind of an Eldar are you? I thought your race knew everything."

She seemed surprised by the man's sarcasm and hostility. It was clear that she had no real experience with sarcasm and was unsure of how to respond to him.

"Well, we know a lot. Legends of the ancient times say we were close to knowing everything before the Fall. In this case I simply wanted to know how old you were in human years. We already have your biological age based on the examinations of you-," she finally managed to reply.

"Why would you care to know alien?" Seiras interrupted shaking his head.

"Is this not what humans call small talk?" she countered with a question.

'This is unprecedented. An Eldar is purposely trying to speak with me? What in the Emperor's name is this?! Where are my brothers?! Where is the fleet?! We need to get out of here! I need answers!' Seiras found a hard time dealing with the gravity of the situation as he uncomfortably looked around the room.

His anxiousness seemed to alarm the young Eldar healer who was undoubtedly concerned that Seiras was about to snap and go on a killing spree.

Before she could do anything, Seiras stopped and looked at her again, "You should probably go tell your superiors that I'm awake. I have no doubts that whoever is in charge around here just can't wait to monologue about why I'm here."

"They wanted you alive, and your allies have not been harmed. I believe the farseer intends to let you go according to the aspect warriors that brought you here," the Eldar female explained cautiously.

Despite his conditioning to hate and never trust aliens, Seiras now found himself in a very unusual predicament. Emperor knows why, but these Eldar saved him and he was not in a position to be completely hostile until they gave him a reason to be.

"Are you part of the Eldar fleet that arrived to help us fight the chaos fleet?" Seiras asked concerned.

She nodded, "We are."

"What craftworld are you from? Biel-tan? Saim-Hann? Ulthwé?" Seiras named the three craftworlds he hated the most and the ones that had the most probable cause to keep him alive for some sinister reason.

"No, we're from Iybraesil," she explained.

Seiras felt relief knowing it wasn't one of the craftworlds mentioned as he had killed members from those three many times and they would likely have known who he was. He had never heard of Iybraesil before much to his curiosity.

The librarian turned towards the Eldar perplexed when he saw she was still staring at him and not moving. He narrowed his brow confused, "What is it? Shouldn't you be getting your superiors?"

"Well, you're still injured and not very presentable. I have my orders to heal you and I need to finish tending to your wounds if that's alright with you, human," she said nervously.

Her timid attitude and unusual lack of condescending hostility was the most refreshing thing he had ever seen in an Eldar. A Biel-tan Eldar would have left him to die in the void. That or they would have mocked his every breath from the moment he awoke. Based on his initial impressions of this healer, he believed the Iybraesil Craftworld couldn't have been nearly as bad as Ulthwé or Biel-Tan. Nevertheless, they were still xenos and all xenos were enemies. Seiras knew he would have to proceed with extreme caution and decided to test her.

"Go ahead," Seiras said as he leaned back and stared at her from the operating table he was on. The healer skittishly approached him again and went about her business in using surgical tools and Eldar psychic witchcraft to mend Seiras' remaining injuries.

The librarian felt sickening tingles from the alien touching his bare torso and watched her with extreme prejudice expecting deception at any moment. Despite her fear of the situation she went about her work as smoothly as he would expect from an Eldar. The thing he could not understand was why she would bother to tend to his wounds at all now that he was in no danger of immediate death.

"These ports on your body are designed to interface with your armour aren't they? They made removing it quite a chore. Your entire biology is rather crude and unnatural, but these black ports connected to your inner tissues are appalling," she noted as she repaired skin damage near his chest where a lascannon wound had burned through his armour and parts of his black carapace were visible.

"They're none of your concern, Eldar," Seiras said dismissively.

The healer seemed to disapprove of his reply but said nothing as she continued. Neither one of them spoke for several minutes as she went on with her work. Seiras tried not to move or even look away much to the alien's discomfort, but she continued nonetheless. She finally spoke again after a long silence, "Your wound is already healing rapidly. My work should help to alleviate most of the process."

"Where's my armour?" Seiras asked seriously as he sat up and looked around.

"It's highly damaged, but I'll put it back on if you want," the healer replied.

"Yes…how did you even manage to remove it in the first place?" he wondered.

"You underestimate Eldar ingenuity and intelligence. Your crude power armour isn't that complicated. To be honest, I find it rather barbaric how it plugs into your body," she said distastefully.

The librarian shook his head, "I could care less what you think alien. Put it back on."

"As you say, human," she said clearly offended by his attitude.

Some time passed as Seiras watched Eldar constructs and machines reattach his upper power armour to him. Part of him was relieved to have it back on despite the large hole that the lascannon shot put through it. However, another part of him was greatly troubled by the fact that Eldar knew how to put on and take off Space marine armour.

He looked around for his helmet, and quickly realized it was attached to his armour where he usually placed it. He found it quite unsettling that the Eldar knew to put it there. That made him extremely uncomfortable. Unfortunately, his armour looked like it had seen much better days. It would take a techmarine or some mechanicus experts to fully repair all the damage it had suffered. His psychic hood was also damaged significantly much to his disdain. They were extremely difficult to repair, and he'd be better off getting a new one. As the constructs finished putting his armour back on, Seiras looked at his helmet for a moment. He decided it was probably a good idea to not to put it back on. It would likely intimidate the Eldar if they couldn't see his face.

When his armour was finally back on completely, he turned towards the alien and spoke, "You have my thanks, child."

"I am not a child! Do not insult me!" she snapped out of nowhere.

Seiras said nothing as she stared at him for a moment. As if immediately, she got over her emotional tantrum and spoke up surprised, "Gratitude? I hardly expected that after all you've said to me."

"You're not unbearable to be around at least. That's more than I can say for most Eldar. At least you know when to shut up too," Seiras shrugged.

"Is that supposed to be a compliment? You certainly have a strange way of expressing yourself. You're an unrefined brute in every way possible," she remarked shaking her head.

Before Seiras could say anything, a door opened nearby. The healer perked up seriously as she immediately addressed the arrival in her alien tongue, "His wounds are healed, the human is conscious and calm, Farseer."

The librarian instantly turned his gaze towards the arriving Eldar. In the doorway stood a robed Eldar farseer. She was wearing no helmet which left her golden hair and dazzling green eyes to be seen. To her sides were a Dire Avenger Exarch and several other various aspect warriors. If Seiras had to guess, they were likely the ones who found him. The farseer had an escort of several warlocks as well much to his disdain. His sense of impending danger began to rise again as he braced himself both physically and mentally.

"That is surprising. I half expected him to try and kill you, Irulan. Space marines are not known for tolerating our kind," the Dire Avenger Exarch said in the Aeldari language.

"He did panic at first and pin me to the wall. I thought he was going to kill me. Though fortunately, he quickly gained an understanding of the situation," she responded back.

The farseer spoke sternly, "I have not seen your death anytime in the foreseeable future. I told you there was nothing to fear, Irulan. Besides, you're the one that volunteered to do it anyway."

"I know mother, but you could have at least warned me that he was able to break out of those restraints. He moved faster than I could! I didn't know humans could move that fast!" the healer, now identified as Irulan protested.

"Calm yourself child and let it stand as a learning experience. I let you go through this for a reason. Space marines are the most dangerous humans you'll ever encounter. Don't let their size fool you. They're larger, but faster than regular humans. Though they are crude brutes in comparison to our aspect warriors, they are almost as deadly," the Farseer replied calmly.

"I tire of your harsh lessons," Irulan said in the Eldar equivalent of a bratty voice.

"Nevertheless, child, you did heal his wounds. I'm rather surprised he let you do so in a now conscious state," the farseer noted.

Irulan crossed her arms, "So am I. He's been surprisingly cooperative but is unbearably crude. May we get him out of here soon? He's making me uncomfortable with his staring."

The aliens all turned to examine Seiras' reaction to their conversation. During their entire exchange, he remained poised, silent, and unreadable as he took in their expressions.

As far as he was aware, they had no knowledge of his insight into the Eldar language. He could learn a lot by playing stupid. Seiras maintained a cunning straight face as he spoke in Gothic, "What are you aliens talking about? Why am I here?"

"I will explain that shortly, Seiras," the farseer replied to him in Gothic.

The librarian was shocked that she knew his name but maintained a stone-faced stare at her. He quickly tried to figure out how she knew his name and assumed that his allies possibly told her...or the spirit stone did!

Reflexively, Seiras reached down towards his waist and felt the chain where the stone usually hung was no longer there. The farseer smiled knowingly at his action and spoke smugly, "Prince Kalyra has told me a lot about you, librarian. Though to be honest, I already knew about your deeds."

"What has Kalyra told you then? What do you know of me?" Seiras asked her.

"That you were involved in Taldeer's defeat on Kronus. That you have fought and killed aspect warriors from Ulthwé, Biel-tan, Saim-Hann, and Alaitoc. Kalyra even tells me that you've fought the Drukhari as well. You're no friend to us," she said conclusively.

'Damn that stone to the warp. I should have destroyed it when I had the chance,' Seiras thought concerned.

"Obviously, I'm no friend to any xenos," Seiras replied blankly. He was not going to react strongly to her goading. He knew Eldar liked to get a rise out of people's emotions.

"I would like to hear what exactly happened to Taldeer from your perspective," the farseer followed up.

"Taldeer wasn't killed on Kronus, we captured her. Kyras and several other librarians interrogated her before she died. He kept her spirit stone I believe. I was not among those present that interrogated her as I had been sent to the Deathwatch by then. Though, Lord Kyras did ask for me as I had already recovered Kalyra's spirit stone decades prior and was an expert at torturing Eldar within them." Seiras told her with blunt, stoic hate.

"Hmph, amusing response human. I half-expected you to justify your actions or condemn me in some petty way. It would seem Kalyra was right in that you were at least honest. While you are clearly no friend to us, you have done us a great service by recovering his spirit stone. The Autarch's spirit stone is priceless. Despite the atrocities you've committed, your recovery of Kalyra is something of a good deed in our eyes. Aldmorian's history shall not be lost with Kalyra now recovered. I find it curious that you kept him all these years even after he expended his usefulness to you," she said crossing her arms.

"Where is he?" Seiras asked her curiously.

The farseer eyed him with cautious interest, "Why do you care to know?"

"I guess it doesn't matter. He got his wish after all…he's back with his own kind," Seiras replied.

"He tells me you understand our language and that you rescued him from Typhon Primaris. A good thing you did too, because I know that planet was destroyed by the Inquisition. Kalyra spoke highly of you, Seiras. He says you've fought the Great Enemy's champions and that you are smarter than most monkeigh. Kalyra believes that you are not wholly unreasonable." the farseer spoke her language to him.

"So what?" Seiras replied in their language. Their visible faces all cringed and reacted in unusual ways to the sight of a space marine speaking the Eldar language. He imagined to them it must have been the equivalent of him seeing an animal speak gothic.

"A monkeigh can speak our language?!" the Dire Avenger Exarch seemed shocked. The several surrounding warlocks all voiced similar reactions as they had laser focused glares on the librarian now.

The healer, Irulan, looked even more horrified as it implied that Seiras heard what she said earlier. Irulan looked down in embarrassment and shame as she avoided Seiras' glance.

"Do you know why you're alive, Seiras?" the farseer asked him curiously.

The space marine sighed in annoyance at her, "Don't waste my time with talk. If you're going to kill me then do it. If not, then let me go. I have no more words I wish to share with the likes of your kind."

"Leave us. I would speak with him in private," the farseer spoke to her escort.

Several tried to protest, but they were immediately silenced by her stoic glance. With reluctance all of them left minus the Exarch and the farseer's daughter, Irulan.

"With all due respect, Farseer, I do not feel comfortable leaving you alone in the presence of a space marine. He may be an inferior human, but something seems off about him," the exarch spoke seriously.

"Fenarus, leave us. Gather Seiras' belongings and bring them to a transport. Wait for us there and take Irulan with you," the farseer ordered.

"As you command, Iruna..." he said reluctantly before leaving.

Seiras watched as the exarch guided the curious Irulan out of the room. Her gaze lingered on the librarian and the farseer with desperate curiosity before the door closed.

"Nice kid you got there, Farseer Iruna," Seiras spoke to her in a dark tone, "who is the father?"

Iruna sent him a fierce glare, "Do not test my patience, human! That is none of your concern! Be thankful you didn't harm her, or I would have shattered your soul!"

"Let me guess was it that exarch? Is he the father?" Seiras goaded her.

Seiras was immediately forced to the ground by the farseer's superior psychic might. Her hands crisped with streaks of lightning as she hissed at him, "Mind your own affairs!"

The librarian forced his way back up against her psychic might but was soon met with a singing spear pointed at him, "Do not provoke me, Seiras. Kalyra told me that you fancy such tactics against others. I will not tolerate these petty mind games of yours. You will not win any argument with an Eldar."

"Of course, farseer," Seiras said as Iruna backed away and calmed down, "but why would you put her in here with me? How could you be sure I wouldn't have killed her?"

"That is not the future I have seen," she replied cryptically.

Seiras sighed, "What is the future you have seen then? Why am I alive on this ship?"

After a moment of silence, Iruna spoke in Aeldari, "I would prefer to converse with you in my language human. Is that acceptable?"

Seiras shook his head and replied in Gothic, "I would prefer not to. Your language gives me a headache."

"Amusing, because I feel the same way about yours. What a predicament we find ourselves in. So be it. What is the last thing you remember before waking here?" she asked.

"The last thing that I remember was getting shot by a lascannon while escaping the Pride of the Emperor with my allies. How did I end up on an Eldar ship?" he asked again seriously.

"Fenarus and his infiltration team found you and your allies in the hanger. I knew you would be there with Kalyra's spirit stone, which is why I sent him to board the ship in the first place. They were also there for another important mission. They were there to retrieve this..." she held up a strange looking device that Seiras didn't recognize.

"What is that?" the librarian asked confused as the farseer held it up for him to look at more closely.

"It's called a Webway Generator Remote...we use these to open the large space webways. Without a ship generator, they only open small webways. Fulgrim's fleet had one of these, and we needed to take it from him. Fenarus and his team destroyed the generator and brought back the remote. Our mission has saved billions of lives...including that of your fleet and many your own kind. More importantly, it saved many Eldar lives," the farseer elaborated.

"That doesn't explain why I'm here or how you knew I would be there. What purpose does saving me provide you? You already got the spirit stone. Why did they bring me here when they could have just taken the stone and left me to die?" he questioned suspiciously.

"I am about to tell you, Seiras. You spent decades learning our ways from Kalyra. You stand opposed to many dangerous threats to this galaxy. Necrons, Tyranids, and Chaos. You are an unusual human according to him. He believes you are dangerous...as do several other Craftworlds judging by Saim-Hann's attempt to assassinate you. Your name is also known to several farseers from what I understand. They've all seen visions of your potential futures,"the farseer lectured.

"What are you saying?"Seiras asked seriously.

"Omegon knew who you were as well. That is why he found his way into your company. Fulgrim now knows who you are as does most of his fleet. I have heard your name whispered and echoed in the warp, and so have they. Your life now holds greater value than you can possibly understand,"the farseer spoke seriously.

Against his bitter sense of pride, Seiras curiously tilted his head, "Are you saying Omegon infiltrated Kill Team Calamity because of me?"

"The rogue primarch's intentions are beyond understanding...but his actions were on behalf of the greater good of the galaxy. He negated one of your dark futures by stopping Fulgrim on the Pride of the Emperor. Had Omegon not been there...you would have been taken alive and surrendered to Chaos. Obviously, I could not allow that to happen. You cannot be allowed to fall to Chaos with the vast knowledge you have on the Aeldari. It would doom many of us,"the farseer explained.

The librarian got angry at her bold statement, "You're mistaken, witch! I would never fall to Chaos willingly! Had that traitorous bastard not been there, I would have died as is my duty!"

"Kalyra said that Fulgrim knew who your primarch is and that he was about to yell you. It's curious to think how different that would have turned out had Omegon not been there or had Arius arrived several moments later," she said deeply.

Her insight into the recent events disturbed Seiras more than he wanted to admit. The librarian maintained his bearing though.

"You know nothing of me or my future, alien,"Seiras hissed.

"I know you will fall to Chaos unless we intervene,"she explained.

"Enough! I want answers. Where are we and where are the others that were with me?"Seiras demanded.

"They are waiting in the hanger to be taken back to what's left of your Inquisitor's fleet. We informed them that we have the five of you. The Inquisitor asked about you specifically, but I told her we wouldn't turn you over until we were certain you were stable and uncorrupted," the farseer explained.

"You intend to let me go even with the risk of me falling to chaos?"Seiras asked disbelievingly.

The farseer nodded, "Yes, but I wanted to talk to you before we sent you off."

"What makes me so important to the likes of your foresight witch? What do you see of my future? Why does my potential to fall to chaos frighten you so? Surely my knowledge of your species cannot be that dangerous to you can it? And if it is, then why not simply kill me? Isn't that a much simpler solution?" Seiras asked her curiously.

"You have a very important role to play in dark days to come. You may not be very impressive as a warrior or a psyker in comparison to most. You may lack the feats of other legendary members of your kind. However, you are important because you possess a unique ability among psykers. It's psychic glamour…though we call it Soul-Bonding,"she explained.

"Soul-Bonding?" Seiras questioned confused, "I've never heard of such an ability. Is it similar to Soul-Binding?"

"Soul-bonding is rare among humans. It allows you to psychically bond your soul with others. It is similar to what your kind calls Soul-Binding except it works differently and on a weaker scale. One with this ability can subconsciously form psychic links with other beings and enchant them. Your Emperor and his primarchs all possess this ability. It is also seen among your kind's most powerful psykers. The fact that a weaker, insignificant psyker like you has this ability is extremely dangerous,"she replied.

"So, you're saying I have the ability to link my soul to others? I can see the Emperor having such a power, but I wasn't aware the primarchs had this ability,"he said disbelievingly.

"Yes, it functions in an opposite manner to the way untouchables repulse everyone near them. As its name would indicate, it allows you to enchant everyone around you by psychically projecting your soul and temporarily linking it to theirs. In other words, it's why you're able to make people like and trust you with little effort. This type of psychic glamour makes you unnaturally charismatic," she explained.

"That would explain a lot," Seiras said thinking about some of the unusual events in recent years.

Iruna shook her head, "While it may seem beneficial, this ability is a curse to a weaker being like you. It makes your soul as bright as an Aeldari soul in the warp. That makes you just as vulnerable as we are to She-Who-Thirsts and the other ruinous powers. Your primarchs who all possessed this ability did not fare well with it, which is why half of them were corrupted by Chaos Gods and they effortlessly dragged their legions with them."

Seiras looked at her confused, "Why do I possess this ability then if I'm not that powerful?"

"It's a statistical anomaly that you inherited this ability from your primarch. Only a rare few space marines have acquired it, and almost none of them were trained psykers. The plague marine Typhus of the Death Guard possesses this ability as well. You may not know this, but he fell to the whispers of Chaos long before any of his brothers or even his primarch. That is the danger of Soul-bonding. He corrupted countless others with this power and fell to the worship of the Chaos God, Nurgle. The Chaos Gods fancy this ability as it is corrupting in nature," she elaborated.

"How does this ability affect other psykers?" Seiras wondered as his mind thought about Atia's unusual behavior whenever he was around her for too long.

"It's very potent against weaker psykers, but works as a double-edged sword. It's dangerous if you psychically bond with a stronger psyker. Such a bond with a Daemon Primarch like Fulgrim, would corrupt you immeasurably because he also possesses the ability and is far more powerful than you," Iruna said grimly.

Seiras held his head in disbelief as his eyes trailed down, 'That explains why Fulgrim was able to affect me like he did.'

"How could I have never noticed this before? I was not even aware I was doing anything." Seiras said somewhat disturbed, "What about you? Am I affecting you right now?"

Iruna shook her head, "No, you're not. I have stronger psychic will than you do so you can't affect me with this power. In actuality, I could dominate you if I cared to."

"I can see why me having this power would be concerning to your kind," Seiras said aloud as he began to understand a lot of the strange behaviors people had around him now. It was especially haunting to think about how enamored he felt around stronger psykers too.

'I guess Selana was right...I was manipulating people with my psychic powers. But how? Surely someone in the librarium or even an Inquisitor would have noticed this ability? That also begs the question…how was Selana more immune to my psychic glamour than Jessenta? Captain Arius is undoubtedly stronger than me. I wonder how he affected me? Was Lord Kyras aware of me having this ability? He always did show me special favor over the other librarians. Though I always did idolize him as well. This is unbelievable assuming she's telling the truth.' Serias thought concerned.

As his mind focused back on Kyras, he began to recall how enamored he always was in his former chapter master's presence and how he was one of Kyras' honour guards in the Ordo Psykana. He would have sided with the traitors had he not been in the Deathwatch away from his corrupted Chapter master at the time. He only helped hunt down traitors during the civil war later after hearing about Kyras' fall to Chaos. If anyone other than Davian Thule would have told him, then he wouldn't have ever believed it. That thought was somewhat haunting to him. This ability made him susceptible to the wills and influences of stronger psykers.

'Maybe Lord Kyras did know about it, but never told me so that I would fall to chaos with him?' Seiras theorized briefly as he felt a sick knot form in his stomach.

"Is there any way to negate this ability?" Seiras asked seriously.

The farseer nodded, "Yes, there are a few ways, but I doubt that you're willing to do most of them. You could wear a wear a Psionic limiter and suppress your psychic powers altogether. That would at least shield you from the chaos gods to some degree. Although, I doubt you're willing to do that seeing as how you rely on your warp abilities to fight. Staying around a stronger psyker that you trust would work as well, though it would only make you a bigger target for the great enemy and could potentially endanger them too. The most appropriate solution is to keep the company of an untouchable."

"I would rather keep the company of aliens than that of a blank," Seiras said dismissively.

"The only true boon that your ability gives you is it allows you some negative resistance to untouchables. They would weaken your powers, but you would passively negate weaker untouchables with your power. Essentially it would cancel out your power and their negative presence. I believe your Emperor had this ability on a much grander scale as he also kept the company of untouchables from what I understand. An untouchable would nullify your psychic glamour but not your powers altogether. Should you fall to Chaos, this ability of yours would give whatever warband you were a part of a dangerous advantage against opposing forces, as resistance to untouchables is a useful trait." she explained.

"If I'm such a danger to this future you've seen, then why keep me alive? What purpose does my life serve? If you are convinced that I will fall to chaos, then how does it benefit anyone to allow me to live? What is this role that I have to fulfill?" Seiras asked.

"As I said before, your life serves a greater purpose. Telling you what I know would prevent the future that must come to pass. For that reason, I will say no more. Be wary of your power, Seiras. It is a blessing and a curse. The best wisdom I can offer you is to seek the company of an untouchable before your powers draw too much attention from the warp," she concluded.

"How am I supposed to do that? Blanks are even rarer than psykers," Seiras replied shaking his head.

"One will cross your path eventually. Of that you can be certain," she said hauntingly.

Seiras felt a slight chill from her words. He detested cryptic divination and farsight. It was his least favorite among psychic disciplines as he found it depressing and stressful to know his own death or that of others. For that reason, he typically limited his investment into the discipline. It didn't stop the occasional vision here and there, but it kept his own farsight limited to short term present events.

"May I leave now?" he asked.

"Before you go, Kalyra wanted to speak with you. I will bring you to him," Iruna replied.

"I take it you put him in a wraith?" Seiras asked her as he followed Iruna out of the room. He was quick to notice several of the warlocks were waiting around outside as if they were expecting to intervene on the farseer's behalf.

Iruna said nothing to them as they followed behind Seiras and her. The librarian could practically sense the warlocks glaring holes into the back of his head. He felt extremely uneasy having his back to xenos witches but didn't have much say in the matter.

Iruna wasted no time taking him to a large open room where a number of bonesingers were busy crafting things. A large number of wraith constructs were present in the room. Most appeared to be non-functioning, but a few showed signs of life whenever the group of Eldar seers entered the room.

Seiras saw one of the constructs begin its approach to them as they walked through the large room. It was a large and prestigious wraithlord coloured in teal and white. Seiras took note of this color scheme as it was likely Iybraesil's colors.

"Seiras, it is fortunate to see you alive," the Wraithlord which was obviously Kalyra spoke. His voice was ghostly and echoic leaving a psychic echo in his mind.

He stared at the wraithlord for a moment and finally responded, "It seems you got your wish after all, Kalyra. You're back with your own kind, and I just got a lot of bad news from your friends here."

"Iruna and I have already spoken at length about your situation. I actually suggested that she kill you initially, but she informed me of your…future. I was right, Seiras. The Aeldari were willing to help you," Kalyra responded eerily.

"And?" Seiras said crossing his arms skeptically.

"Your suffering has only just begun, Seiras. It would have been more merciful to let you die in peace, but your survival is necessary for a day yet to come. The things I have taught you, will prove invaluable, and they will be your only salvation in the darkness," Kalyra said cryptically.

Seiras rolled his eyes, "What is it with your kind and cryptic, veiled prophecies? Is there nothing you can tell me about any of this nonsense?"

"There is only one thing I will tell you," Iruna spoke up causing everyone to focus on her and Seiras intently.

The librarian said nothing as he stared at her anxiously.

"She dances alone in sad depression," Iruna replied cryptically.

"What are you talking about, witch?!" Seiras demanded.

Iruna refused to answer as she looked Seiras in the eyes, "Sing for her, and she will dance with you."

The librarian couldn't exactly fathom her cryptic wisdom but had a feeling it was connected to him finding a blank.

Deciding it was probably best to not dwell on the matter, Seiras simply pushed it out of his mind as he nodded.

"Am I allowed to leave this ship now?" he asked with annoyance prevalent in his voice.

"Yes, I will take you to the hanger," Iruna said calmly as she gestured for him to follow her outside the room. Unsurprisingly, the warlock entourage followed behind them.

Seiras glanced back at Kalyra one last time as he left. The warlocks all sent him death glares as he faced back, but he ignored them as his gaze briefly lingered.

"Move!" one of the warlocks practically hissed at him in gothic. Seiras didn't bother acknowledging her as he turned his gaze back forward.

Iruna glanced at him with an odd expression, "Is something wrong? You seem awfully focused on Kalyra."

"It's nothing," Seiras replied carelessly as he followed the farseer towards the hanger

As he followed her, they walked in silence for a while. Seiras took this time to memorize the layout of the ship and took note of structural aspects. He didn't even try to be subtle about it as he glanced over and saw the holo-field generator in a large open deck below their current walkway.

The same warlock from earlier quickly voiced her concern, "I know what you're doing, monkeigh! You're pathetically transparent!"

"Oh, is something bothering you, witch?" Seiras asked her with a clearly careless tone.

"You're hopelessly naïve if you think we're oblivious to your actions," she hissed back.

"You're hopelessly naïve if you think I care about anything you have to say," he countered.

"You ungrateful, monkeigh! Has it escaped your attention that WE saved your life?! The least you could do is show some respect!" the overly emotional warlock demanded.

"I have shown some respect...to Iruna," Seiras replied.

"How dare you address her by name so casually!" she shot back.

"Calm yourself, Elaerya," Iruna interrupted with a commanding but calm voice.

"Yes, farseer," she bowed her head briefly.

"Yeah, Elaerya, why don't you ease off. That or you can get lost," Seiras taunted her.

"Why don't you go mate with some more cultists!" she countered.

Her response was quick to trigger Seiras' anger. He wanted to retaliate and kill this damn Xenos for daring to mention that event to him. Against his pride, he chose not to respond.

"I was rather curious when I heard about that from Kalyra. He says he did not witness it but heard of the event. I wasn't aware, Losseainn cared for such things," Iruna spoke up catching everyone's attention.

Seiras said nothing as he kept his head forward. He was beginning to realize that arguing with Eldar wasn't a very good idea in his current situation. The awkward silence continued for another few minutes before the group finally arrived at what was presumably the hanger.

Iruna broke the silence as they stopped outside of it, "Do not mistake this for kindness human, but I want you to have this."

Seiras looked at her confused as she handed him the webway generator remote.

"Why give me this?" he asked confused.

"It can open the webway for you and it contains a map should you ever find yourself there," she said with a strange knowing expression.

He would be lying if he said he wasn't completely creeped out by the Eldar farseer's unusual expression. She had this look as if she was peering into his very soul. Seiras accepted it without protest despite his reservations.

"You're giving that to him?! Farseer, what are you doing?!" Elaerya protested.

The blonde farseer focused on the red headed warlock, "Begone, Elaerya. I tire of you undermining my decisions. We will speak in private later."

The red-head's blue eyes focused intently on the farseer before she turned and left. The other warlocks were thankfully passive and quiet. Seiras didn't care much to wonder why as he focused his attention into the hanger.

As they made their way to the hanger, Iruna looked at him again, "A ship will bring you back to your Inquisitor's fleet."

"Good…I wish to leave," Seiras said deep in thought.

The two advanced through the hanger to a transport further inside where they were met with Fenarus. Much to Seiras' shock however, he also saw Selana in there as well as the three Stormtroopers that got stranded with them. Selana appeared extremely tense and uncomfortable as she sat against the transport looking around with skeptic caution.

The stormtroopers appeared relatively calm, though they were clearly bored judging by their expressions. Armed dire avengers were around to make sure they didn't do anything, but none of the humans were restrained. They were unarmed however.

All of them perked up with relief and excitement when they saw the librarian approach.

"Seiras!" Selana called out to him relieved, "thank the Emperor, you're alive!"

"He got shot with a lascannon…twice. I'm amazed that guy can walk. Astartes are crazy tough," one of the stormtroopers remarked.

"I've never been so happy to see your dumb face, Seiras," Selana exclaimed with relief as she walked over to meet him halfway.

"As I promised, your ally is unharmed," Iruna said to the Sororita.

The black-haired sister scoffed at her, "About time…a few more hours and I was about to go haul his giant ass out of here myself!"

"I see gratitude is not an attribute either you or this overgrown brute possess," Iruna said condescendingly as she looked between Seiras and Selana.

"You have my thanks, Farseer Iruna of Iybraesil," Seiras reluctantly thanked her.

She crossed her arms at his tone, "I can imagine it will take you some time to cope with what I've said."

"It will," he simply responded.

"Farewell, Seiras. We will meet again," Iruna waved as the librarian and Selana approached the transport.

He felt an unusual shiver run down his spine upon hearing those words but decided not to dwell on it as Iruna departed.

Selana shook her head at the farseer and spoke to Seiras, "What happened? What did she tell you?"

"Nothing I care to discuss right now," Seiras replied as he made his way towards the Eldar transport.

The sororita frowned at his statement but did not press the issue as she followed him. The nearby host of dire avengers all motioned for the five humans to get inside shortly afterward. All of the Eldar were armed and facing the humans whom they had sitting on the ground in the back of the transport.

As they all settled in, one of the stormtroopers shook his head in relief, "Glad we're getting out of here. These Eldar give me the creeps."

"I can't believe we're all alive…when I saw that lascannon take Seiras down, I thought it was the end…" Selana trailed off.

"Shit, when we got separated from the others, I thought we were all screwed," one of the stormtroopers added.

"We would have been if Seiras didn't stay behind…he could have teleported out," Selana said softly as she looked at the Astartes sincerely.

"We owe you, sir…" the main stormtrooper said as Seiras glanced over the four humans.

The librarian said nothing in response as he looked down.

"I'm Lieutenant Derrin Reinhardt by the way…these are my men, Sergeant Markus Trenus and Private Quintus Rex," the stormtrooper lieutenant introduced them. Their faces weren't very distinguishable as they looked like regular soldiers. The lieutenant was blonde, but the other two had short brown hair.

Seiras nodded at them to acknowledge their introduction but didn't respond beyond that. His gaze trailed towards the dire avengers on the other side of the transport who had weapons practically pointed at them.

Among them included Fenarus. The exarch caught his gaze and spoke in the Aeldari tongue, "What is it, space marine? Why are you looking at me?"

"Where are my weapons and other belongings?" Seiras replied in Gothic.

The exarch pulled out a large Nemesis Force Halberd and a Force Sword tucked away nearby, "You can have these weapons back when we get there. The sword isn't very impressive, but the halberd is one of the better human weapons I have seen. The rest of your things will be deposited once you've been offloaded from this transport."

Seiras nodded in acceptance at Fenarus' answer much to everyone else's surprise.

"Can you understand what he's saying, Seiras?" Selana asked uncertainly.

The librarian didn't answer her, but it was completely obvious to every alien and human in the transport that he could. The Dire Avengers there appeared particularly disturbed by it. If they weren't staring before, they definitely were now.

A long silence passed as Seiras kept his gaze focused on the floor and his mind deep in thought. Selana and the stormtroopers would converse about random topics to pass the time but were routinely silenced by the Eldar who found their conversations annoying.

After a considerable amount of time had passed, Derrin spoke to him, "Hey, Seiras, mind if I ask you a few questions?"

The librarian turned towards the man curiously, "What is it?"

"Why did you stay behind for us? We're a lot more expendable than a Space Marine librarian." he said seriously.

"I've been left behind before on a mission. It's not something I like to put others through," Seiras replied as he drifted to a memory of a past battle.

"Really? What happened?" Sergeant Markus asked.

"I'll tell you some other time when we're not in the company of aliens," Seiras trailed off.

"We're almost to your flagship, humans. I am hailing your vox channels now," Fenarus interrupted.

A moment later he opened communications, "This is Exarch Fenarus. We have survivors from your strike team with us."

"Land in Hanger 2…do not try anything xenos," a response came back over the vox. Seiras immediately recognized it as Admiral Hightower's voice.

Shortly thereafter, they finally landed inside of the hanger where a large force was waiting for them. It mostly consisted of guardsmen, but there were quite a few Imperial Fists, several White Templars, and even some of Seiras' Kill Team brothers.

The Stormtroopers were relieved as they immediately got off the transport. Selana got off next and was fondly greeted by several Sororitas who were also present. As Seiras began to exit, he noticed the Eldar push out a large crate of some kind containing their gear he assumed.

Fenarus handed the librarian his force sword and the nemesis force halberd as he exited. He spoke in his own language so only Seiras could understand him, "I don't know why Iruna decided to spare an Aeldari killer like you but know this…I will not hesitate to avenge Taldeer should I ever see you again, monkeigh."

Seiras said nothing as he blankly glared at the exarch who got back in the transport and quickly departed from the hanger.

After he was gone, Seiras felt something lift him off the ground, "Seiras, you bloody magpie! You're alive!"

He quickly realized Viggo was holding him in a bearhug. It was rather childish and bizarre to the stoic Imperial Fists and the disciplined Stormtroopers as they all remained silent watching the scene with disbelief. Most of the hanger's inhabitants began to disperse after the Eldar transport left. Servitors were quick to come and retrieve the crate that was dropped as well.

Focusing on his brothers, Seiras was surprised to see them in good condition. Viggo looked rather fine despite the injuries he suffered on the flagship. It made Seiras wonder just how long he had been on the Eldar ship.

"Seiras, praise the omnissiah you made it brother," Nemias approached next as he smiled at the librarian.

"I can hardly believe the Eldar saved ya. I'm never gonna let ya live this one down!" Viggo said with a light chuckle.

Nemias frowned as he shook his head, "The Eldar never do things without a reason…it must have been for some sinister future plot of theirs."

"How long ago did the battle end?" Seiras asked confused.

"About two days I think?" Viggo said looking at Nemias for confirmation.

The Salamander nodded, "50 standard Terran hours to be precise."

"How are the others?" Seiras asked as he looked around for Kallius.

Nemias frowned, "Kallius suffered the greatest injuries out of all of us. He and Commander Jessenta are currently in critical condition in the medbay. The Imperial Fists have their apothecaries working on him. They've been at it for a while now."

"What of the commander?" Seiras asked seriously.

"They have all the best people working on her, but she's almost as injured as Kallius," Nemias answered.

Decimus soon approached them and looked at Seiras, "It is good to see your return, Seiras. When I heard the Eldar had you, I volunteered to spearhead a recovery. The Inquisitor did not allow it. We've been wiping out residual warpspawn and daemons for the past two days."

"I take it we're stranded with the warp storms going on right now?" Seiras asked.

"Surviving navigators were relocated to the flagship, but we cannot leave the system while these storms persist. Captain Arius and the Inquisitor have been working on a solution. For now, we're heading towards one of the nearby planets to repair," the Minotaur explained.

"Where's Gregorius? Is he in stable condition?" Seiras asked.

"He is with the Chaplain Evaldus and some other Imperial Fists. They are praying I believe," the Minotaur answered.

"Oi, Seiras…so I couldn't help but notice you got a fancy new halberd," Viggo chuckled.

Nemias shook his head, "You didn't…is that a Nemesis Force halberd from one of the grey knights?"

"I figured I would put it to better use seeing as how I was alive still," Seiras explained.

Viggo laughed heartily, "You're a shameless looter, you know that?"

"I'll return it to Captain Arius," Seiras said shaking his head at their amusement.

A moment later he placed his two weapons with the other supplies for the servitors to take away.

"Sure, you will…mark my words, that weapon is going to end up in the reliquary," Viggo chuckled again.

Without humoring their joke, Seiras simply began to walk away, "I'm going to see Kallius."

"Well make sure ya hurry up with that. Her royal highness demanded that you report to her as soon as you got here," Viggo bellowed.

"Why are you acting so light-hearted right now? We just found out Nogemo was-" Seiras was interrupted mid-sentence.

"We're not allowed to talk about that, Seiras. Only the survivors from the bridge are allowed to know," Decimus interrupted him.

The librarian sighed, "Regardless then…Atia can wait. I need to go see Kallius," Seiras said as he began to walk off. He soon found the three Astartes following behind him as he departed from the hanger.

As they came upon the exit, Selana and her Sororitas quickly caught up with them. Nobody said a word as they all went straight to the ship's medbay.

Avenger of Terra, Medical Bay

After a short journey through the large ship, the group finally reached their destination. Along the way, Seiras spotted a great deal of dead bodies and whatever warp filth remained.

'I feel worse for the survivors…the Inquisition is never going to let these people live normal lives again,' Seiras thought as he noticed a few crew members of the ship working to clean up the mess.

As he entered the medical bay, he was quick to locate Kallius being worked on by two apothecaries. The Blood Angel was out of his armour and was chained down over all four limbs and even his head. Seiras was surprised to see a collar covering the Blood Angel's mouth. It was undoubtedly there to keep him from biting anyone.

The apothecaries immediately noticed the Kill Team. One addressed them, "His condition has not stabilized since your last visit. We have physically tended the worst of his wounds, but he's been in this wild delirium ever since he awoke. We cannot finish his surgery until he is calmed. The tranquillizers we've administered have done nothing to soothe his frenzy."

"Well that would explain the chains," Viggo noted.

"Will he live?" Nemias asked hopefully.

"That is difficult to say…whatever he's going through is not something we can fix. To be honest, I have never seen anything like this," the apothecary replied shaking his head.

Seiras approached the Blood Angel Sergeant and placed a hand on his head. The Blood Angel writhed in fury upon spotting him. As the librarian looked the Blood Angel in the eyes, he immediately knew what was wrong.

'It's the Red Thirst…it's gotten worse in him,' Seiras thought to himself.

He knew about the condition thanks to his past experiences with Kallius and some of the first company Blood Angels. They made him swear to never speak of it to others, to which he honoured his word. That being said, Seiras wasn't an expert on how to soothe this condition as its span of time was very situational. Kallius' recent trauma and the betrayal of Nogemo were likely not helping the matter. There was only one way to satiate the Red Thirst…blood. Seiras only knew of one thing he could do as he had seen Kallius do it to someone when they first met.

Looking at Nemias, Seiras held up his arm, "Take off my gauntlet, Nemias."

"Why?" the techmarine asked confused.

"Just do it. Also take that collar off of him," Seiras told the apothecaries with a serious expression.

Nemias quickly removed Seiras' gauntlet with the help of his various tech attachments. As this was happening, the apothecaries eyed the librarian bewildered.

"I would advise against unbinding him, librarian. He almost bit me earlier when he awoke," one of them explained.

"Just do it…" Seiras commanded.

With reluctance, the two apothecaries exchanged doubtful looks with one another and removed Kallius' head restraints and the collar over his mouth.

The Blood Angel instantly tried to jerk upright but was held down by Seiras pushing against his head with his armoured hand. The others all watched with confusion as Seiras bit his unarmoured wrist and allowed blood to trickle out of it. Before it could coagulate, He held his bleeding wrist against the Blood Angel's mouth.

In a barbaric frenzy, Kallius bit against it and began to suck his blood. The entire scene was bizarre and somewhat disturbing to the others, but they watched in silence as this went on for about a minute.

Finally, Kallius seemed to be calming down much to their disbelief. When he was in a more passive state, Seiras pulled his arm away causing the Blood Angel to lay there in a strange stupor for a moment. Shortly afterward, the Watch Sergeant fell asleep.

Seiras could feel the effects of the blood loss, but quickly recovered as he looked over at the apothecaries, "That should calm him down. Don't let him die."

"What was that?" Nemias said shocked.

The wound quickly began to heal around Seiras' wrist and he held his arm up to Nemias expecting him to put the gauntlet back on. The techmarine took the hint and proceeded to do so, but had a bewildered look on his face.

"That was…strange," Viggo said trailing off, "giving him blood calmed him down? I guess that's why they call them Blood Angels eh?"

"I saw a blood angel do that to one of his brothers once. I figured it would work," Seiras told half the truth. He didn't want to explain the Red Thirst to them, and assumed his explanation was valid enough while still maintaining the secret.

The main apothecary looked at the librarian curiously, "We will contact you if his condition improves. We have your vox channel."

"I guess that's that, then," Nemias said looking at the librarian's fully armoured arm again, "You ready to go see the Inquisitor, Seiras?"

"Yes, we might as well get that over with," Seiras sighed as they left Kallius' operating room.

Upon exiting, Selana approached Seiras, "Can I speak to you in private, brother?"

The librarian looked at his Deathwatch brothers who all had curious expressions before nodding, "Sure. Go on without me brothers, I'll meet you up there."

"There he goes again," Viggo snickered to Nemias.

"Haha," Nemias chuckled in amusement.

Decimus spoke sternly, "Do not delay, Seiras. Atia is not in a good mood right now."

"I'll be right along," he said as the three Astartes departed.

After they left, Selana guided him into Jessenta's room where she was lying on a bed with countless medical devices attached to her. There was nobody else in the room which led Seiras to believe that she was in stable condition. Finally, alone with Selana, he spoke, "What is it?"

"What did that witch tell you? She seemed awfully friendly. Why?" Selana asked.

"She said I was in danger of falling to Chaos and that I…" Seiras trailed off not really sure if he wanted to tell the Sororita about his soul-bonding ability.

"You what?!" she almost demanded.

"That I am capable of corrupting all of you as well," Seiras decided not to tell her the whole truth.

Selana frowned, "Hardly surprising. Are you…okay, Seiras? I mean not many Astartes or people in general handle exposure to Chaos very well. Do you actually feel any corruption?"

"What if I said yes? Would you kill me for heresy?" he asked.

"I owe you my life…for whatever that's worth. So obviously I wouldn't if I didn't have to. Why did you stay behind anyway? I've been nothing but rude to you ever since we met. If it were Jessenta I could understand…but why stay behind for me?" Selana asked distantly.

"Don't dwell on it. Like I said, I've been left behind on a mission before. It's not something I like to do to others if I have the power not to," he answered.

"I suppose that makes sense. Whatever your reason…I appreciate it. Perhaps I was a bit harsh with you. Though given recent events, I fear for your soul," she said sadly.

"Do you know where I can find a blank?" Seiras changed the subject and asked her.

"A blank? You mean a pariah? You're more likely to run into a daemon prince than a pariah. Why do you ask?" Selana said interested.

"I want to keep my psychic presence down for a while. To silence the warp until I can purify myself," Seiras told her.

"Don't blanks harm psykers just with their presence? You're out of your mind if you willingly want to go near one as a librarian," she said disbelievingly.

"Do you know where I can find one or not?" he said annoyed.

Selana nodded, "The Inquisition usually keeps a few as witch-hunters or Inquisitorial bodyguards. The Ordo Hereticus has the most I believe. The Officio Assassinorum employs assassins who are blanks as well. Though I highly doubt you would ever want to go near a Culexus Assassin. Other than that, I don't know of any that you could easily find."

"Perhaps the Inquisitor would know," Seiras said aloud.

"If you tell her you're corrupted by Chaos or are in danger of it, she'll kill you. One of my sisters' informants on the bridge told her that Atia had apparently ordered Captain Arius to kill you if you showed signs of corruption. For your own sake, I would suggest you keep things on a need to know basis," Selana warned him.

Seiras looked at her confused, "That's odd coming from you. I would have expected you to be the first to condemn me and celebrate my execution."

"As much as I would like to see this issue as black and white, I can't. You've never once faltered in your loyalty. This mission would have been doomed if you weren't here. While I don't excuse your heresy, I respect you. If finding a blank will fix whatever's wrong with you, then I would be more than willing to help in any way I can," Selana responded.

"Well, we'll speak of it more later. I shouldn't keep Atia waiting," Seiras said with a sigh.

'I'm affecting Selana with psychic glamour…there's no way she's had a change of heart all of a sudden. This ability is wrong…how can I trust anyone's sincerity or loyalty anymore?' Seiras began to contemplate as he left the room.

The Bridge, Avenger of Terra

Despite what he told Selana, Seiras took his time getting to the bridge. He was not in any hurry to explain things to Atia and was already dreading the inevitable accusations of corruption and heresy.

As he walked onto the bridge, he was surprised to see it mostly empty. Several Imperial Fist Astartes were in there as well as their Chaplain Evaldus. All of Kill Team Calamity minus Kallius and Nogemo were also present. None of the Sororitas were present, but a few stormtroopers and high ranking naval officers stood at the center of the bridge where Inquisitor Atia was.

The moment Seiras came into their line of sight, everyone's attention turned towards him. Nobody said a word as he walked towards Atia which led Seiras to suspect the worst.

"You're alive, Seiras…that is good news. Unfortunately, it's the only good news I've received in the past two days You're just in time. We were all waiting on you," Atia broke the long awkward silence.

"We have much to discuss about what happened with Fulgrim," Captain Arius spoke up as his eyes trailed on Seiras.

"Can we truly trust him?! Seiras was in the company of aliens for two standard days!" Gregorius immediately voiced his concern.

It was not surprising that the Black Templar was highly suspicious. Seiras couldn't even blame him sadly. He had every reason to be concerned as they were all still in shock from what happened aboard Fulgrim's ship and even more so by the Eldar showing up out of nowhere.

Nemias and Viggo were in a good mood in the hanger, but they didn't look too amused or light-hearted now as compared to when Seiras saw them earlier.

All of his Kill Team brothers had strange expressions on their faces as if they wanted to say something but couldn't.

"Why did the Eldar save you, Seiras?" Atia asked him skeptically.

"I don't know, Inquisitor. They are not an easy xenos race to understand. For all I know, they saved me because of some cryptic prophecy a thousand years from now. Understanding their motives is a futile effort, even for the xenos experts I've worked with," he replied with a calm stoic expression.

His answer wasn't exactly a lie, but it was vague enough to conveniently deflect the question.

"Yet, you're supposedly an expert on Eldar…how convenient that they showed up. According to Chaplain Evaldus, your Kill Team brother Nogemo claimed to have brought them here to stop Fulgrim. Or should I refer to him as Alpharius…his true name," Atia said eyeing him with suspicious doubt.

"Actually, he told Fulgrim he was Omegon…the other twin," Seiras corrected her.

"Wait…the Alpha Legion has two primarchs?" Nemias interrupted confused.

Seiras nodded, "Alpharius and Omegon. It's not common knowledge but they were twin primarchs."

"Why am I not surprised that he knows that?" Gregorius said with a fierce glare directed at Seiras.

"Regardless of which one it was, I have eyewitness testimonies claiming that you and he spoke in private before the mission. Their reports tell me you two spoke in the mess hall. It's all rather convenient isn't it. Were you aware that he was a primarch?!" Atia demanded.

"How could I have known? None of us saw it coming. Nogemo had been with us for nearly ten years now," Seiras said shaking his head.

"Inquisitor, explain to me how a traitor primarch managed to infiltrate a Deathwatch Kill Team and avoid suspicion. Is the Inquisition getting lazy in their screening of new members now?!" Evaldus demanded.

"His infiltration is folly of the Ordo Xenos, NOT the Ordo Malleus! He would have never slipped through our vigilance." Atia countered.

"Yet he did here…this reflects everyone's failure as a whole," Evaldus said clearly disgusted.

Arius interrupted to defend the Inquisitor, "To be fair, the Alpha Legion is notorious for infiltration, stealth, and subterfuge. Seeing as how he was a primarch, his godly abilities would give him a considerable advantage over us."

"I knew something was wrong with him. Astartes aren't that large in standard power armour. Besides, he always looked like he wasn't trying," Gregorius said exhaling a hateful remark.

"The real failure to detect him falls upon his Kill Team in my opinion. They served years with him and were blindly trusting of a Blackshield. The librarian Seiras is at fault for not detecting this sooner," the other surviving grey knight spoke up.

Gregorius shot the Grey Knight a death glare, "What did you just say?! This isn't our fault!"

"We never should have brought in Deathwatch to help in this mission. You're better off killing orks…not daemons or traitors," the Grey Knight responded.

Viggo shook his head finally unable to restrain himself any longer, "Oi why don't you shut your mouth, Grey Knight! If it wasn't for that traitorous bastard being there, we all would have died! The Ordo Malleus are a bunch of sodding, backstabbing hypocrites! Don't badmouth my Kill Team or Seiras!"

"Stand down, Space Wolf," the Grey Knight said threateningly as he raised his Nemesis Force Sword and glared at Viggo.

"Oh, just try it!" Viggo growled as his lightning claws ignited in a crackling hiss.

"Stand down, brother Regulus. We cannot blame them for the deaths of our brothers," Arius told the other Grey Knight.

Every Astartes in the room reached for their weapons as the Grey Knight and the Space Wolf were about to charge one another. Before they had a chance, Decimus forced Viggo's clawed arm down and Arius blocked Regulus.

The Imperial Fists all watched with silent anticipation with their weapons readied in case they had to respond.

Evaldus quickly calmed the scene when he shouted loudly, "Stand down! Cease this childish argument at once!"

Viggo finally calmed himself as he spit on the deck, "Don't you ever insult us again, or I swear by Russ I'll shove these claws up your ass!"

"Be silent, all of you!" Atia interrupted angrily.

Regulus, the Grey Knight, didn't say anything in response as all the Astartes were forced back into silence.

Seiras broke the following silence with a calm tone, "Honestly, we all should have been more vigilant. Regulus is right though…I personally should have been more aware. I knew Nogemo was from the Alpha Legion, but I never suspected he could be a primarch. This is my failure."

"Brother Regulus speaks out of anger, Seiras…this is nobody's fault. This disaster of a mission was simply an unfortunate turn of events. The fact that we even survived it is a miracle," Arius spoke up alleviating some of the tension.

"Things could have ended up much worse, but at least we saved the Sub-sector from the Chaos fleet. Omegon is gone now, but so is Fulgrim. Our mission was a success. Albeit one of great cost, but a victory nonetheless. Sub-sector Justicar stands," Seiras followed up calming everyone down.

"With that matter settled, there is something else I want to address with you, Seiras. Arius tells me that you were using Doombolts against Fulgrim. He says it was unintentional, but that is a chaotic warp power. We have every reason to believe you're suffering warp corruption," Atia said grimly. Her face was plastered with a serious look.

"If that were true Inquisitor, then why would the Eldar let me live? They have no remorse for the ruinous powers and those corrupted by them. If they feared my corruption, they would have killed me," Seiras reasoned calmly.

"Relax, Seiras. I am not accusing you of anything, but I will not ignore this potential issue. You piloted the ship for a week straight in the navigation chamber and then fought a battle against a daemonic host. It's hardly surprising that you're unstable with warp energy. For that reason, I'm assigning Captain Arius to watch over you for a while. If you're stable in a few days and he if he ensures me you're fine, then I'll allow you freedom again," she explained.

"Yes, Inquisitor," he said nodding.

"Since we're all here, this is probably the best time to ask. What do we do now, Inquisitor? With the warpstorms going on, we won't be able to leave this system for a while," Admiral Hightower asked.

"Maintain the fleet's course to the hive world Corun, Admiral Hightower," Atia commanded.

Evaldus looked disgusted as his face glanced at the nearby map, "An Imperial hive world? What purpose would going there serve?"

"Corun is a wealthy planet. We can resupply and repair in orbit. They lack a large void station, but their shipyards should suffice in repairing our fleet," Atia explained.

"I doubt they'll look kindly upon our arrival. Corun is filled with nobles and aristocrats," the fleet commissar said shaking his head.

"They won't have a choice," Atia replied with a stalwart grin.

"We have no idea how long the warpstorms are going to last. We could be stuck in this sub-sector for years. Resupplying is essential. Not to mention, we just saved this sub-sector. I'm certain the aristocrats will be accommodating even without the Inquisitor's authority," Admiral Hightower added.

"We can't be certain of how long Fulgrim's fleet was here. What if he's already corrupted the system?" Evaldus asked.

"Then we'll purge it. While we're stranded in the system we should identify potential heretics and snuff them out," she said conclusively.

Evaldus nodded in approval.

Arius looked at Atia a moment later, "I would advise we psychically screen every survivor before allowing them onto the planet. One potential person corrupted by chaos could cause great harm to Corun."

"We will ensure everyone is stable," Atia remarked as her gaze lingered on Seiras.

Admiral Hightower sighed, "I should probably gather an estimate on our survivors. For now I'll ensure nobody leaves the fleet without express authority."

"Very good admiral. You're all dismissed!" Atia waved.

Everyone immediately departed afterward. As Seiras attempted to follow his Kill Team off the bridge, he was stopped by Atia.

She looked up at him seriously, "Seiras, you're being relocated to our quarters up here. It will make keeping an eye on you more convenient for Arius and myself," Atia said to the librarian.

"I need to get my armour repaired," the Blood Raven protested.

She rolled her eyes, "Have your techmarine come to retrieve it from you later then. I don't want you leaving the bridge. You can stay in the room next to mine."

"Yes, Inquisitor," Seiras nodded. He was already starting to curse his survival. Nothing good would come of his proximity to Atia.