Epilogue Three: We are William Part Two
Note: These are two chapters combined into one.
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"Men of Tanith, do you want to live forever?"
From Colonel Commissar Ibram Gaunt, Gaunt's Ghosts Series.
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The audience room was massive and glorious that could match the Imperial Palace on Terra. Passing through the long hallway to the throne, men of the Tanith and Colonel Commissar Ibram Gaunt only look straight forward but are able to see majestic decorations of gold and other rare metals built in the entire room. The pillars that support the ceiling are big as houses while walls are covered with pictures of battle scenes and murals of various events including history of the Imperium.
As men were walking forwards, Gaunt saw one particular picture that got his attention. A small oil painting of a planet which is about to break in half. The picture describes a red planet in critical state which is about to break due to massive impact that can be seen in the middle of the planet.
'What planet could this one be? It can't be an Exterminatus or planet's natural end.' Gaunt thought to himself and about to whisper but it was too late as they were about to reach the end of the line. Gaunt reset his mindset to current state as he is about to have an audience with Chapter Master of unknown Astartes. Even in the crusade, authority of the Chapter Master can hold great power and even ability to simply ignore the order from the War Master of the Imperium.
Front of the men sat a giant armoured man clad in black grey and black blue. Besides the main and secondary colors of the armor, it was also decorated with various purity seals and other insignias that hold a story of their own. After long hesitation, Gaunt took his eyes off for a second and realised that Chapter Master wasn't alone.
Standing in front of stone pillars stood armors of Astartes equipped with shields and spears. Gaunt quickly realised that all those armoured Astartes aren't statues but rather guards as there are about thirty in total and their heads are following him. The guards have been following him and his men this entire time and none of them realised they are surrounded.
Gaunt is a seasoned veteran and with experience comes battle intuition but for him to completely miss being observed from the start made him panic from inside as he realised that these guards aren't normal Astartes.
'Just who are these Astartes?' Gaunt quickly saw the face of his men and it seems they also realised as their face showed an expression of shock but able to recover quickly.
When the men reached the end, all took one knee and waited and bowed their heads as if they weren't worthy to see the one in the throne. With grace and hubris as servants of the God Emperor, they stay silent to be recognized by the Chapter Master. After a few seconds of dead silence, a booming voice spoke and voice held authority within.
"Rise, men of Tanith. You have held the planet while facing death's door. I'm Chapter Master William Nullinanis of Blacksouls. You may rise."
The Gaunt and his men rose from their knees and raised their heads to see the man in the throne chair. They saw a man, a man who commands an Angel of Death authority given to him by the Emperor himself. But his eyes told a different story. William's eyes possessed a wrath and fire that couldn't be tamed by a mortal man. It was the face of a stern loyal servant of the Emperor who will do anything to achieve his goal.
Throughout Gaunt's experience he saw few men in military campaigns who possessed that kind of face and they ended up becoming heroes of their own story and achieving great deeds in Imperium history. But with great cost.
The moment Chapter Master met Gaunt's eyes, his face expression changed to tired soldier and worn out veteran who suffers from tired campaign. Unknown to everyone, William decided to use First Warmaster Horus's diplomatic tactic. Horus was famous for his well rounded method of talking to people based on their personality and history. It was said that Horus can talk to thousands of people individually and make them willingly follow his will by simply approaching them as someone who can relate to them. Also having a max charisma helps a lot.
"I have summoned you all to discuss the future of the Tanith regiment and their homeworld." Chapter Master spoke in a sympathetic and sadden tone as he waved his hand in which a large hologram appeared, showing the current state of the planet Tanith.
The planet is covered in scars of orbital bombardment as vast forests and many of the cities are still on fire. The hologram also shows the movement of the various ships around the orbit of the planet as many of the troops are deploying to the surface or returning to the ship for supplies.
"By the Emperor's light, Tanith is burning." Corbec said in disbelief as his home planet is in jeopardy beyond recognition. If this continues, Tanith will be no longer habitable and no infrastructure to rebuild. In short, the planet will become a dead world.
"That may be true but this tragedy will be a new opportunity for the Tanith." William spoke and activated another button which showed a larger view beyond the planet's orbit. More ships are entering the Tanith system and based upon its number, it's a fleet of Imperium ships.
"More ships? I thought this was the entire fleet, is there more?" Rawne asked in confusion as he thought ships in orbit were the main fleet of the Astartes.
"You thought this was the main fleet? Hahaha. Man of Tanith, this is only a single ship and its supplement. What you saw a moment ago are troop ships and supplies from my flag ship. Due to urgency, I ordered my ship to speed ahead before rest could." Chapter Master explains and shows his ship from hologram as a massive ship is continually deploying troops, supplies and now evacuating the civilians from the planet.
"A single ship. This whole space battle was done by a single ship? Not even Warmaster Slaydo had a ship as big as this or even close to it. What kind of Astartes possess this kind of fire power?" Gaunt spoke without realising that he was standing in front of Chapter Master in questions. The sheer amount of resources and technology it contains could start a major political conflict with priests of Mars and even High Lords of Terra. No chapter of Astartes could possess this kind of warship without reasonable explanation. Chapter Master ignores the shocking news he reveals to his guests and continues his explanation of the incoming fleet.
"These ships are the main force of my Chapter and Imperial Guardsmen attach to my authority. They will be the muscle that rebuild the Tanith and make sure the rear sector of the Sabbat Worlds remains clear from the forces of Chaos." These words and its meaning shook the men in front of William as he just announced to them that he will pour entire resources on the dying planet and expand it beyond the local system.
"Do you mean to claim the Tanith and its system as your own, my lord?" Milo asked as his voice was a mix of excitement and fear of asking questions to the Emperor's Angel of Death.
"Why yes, I'm. Under full authority given to me by the Emperor himself, I have the full right to calm the planet of my choosing and rule as it fits."
"What? Is that even a thing?" Rawne spoke out loud with surprise that everyone next to him panicked in fear of showing disrespect to the Chapter Master.
"Of course, it is rare for the Chapter Master to use full authority to take the planet in question but if the situation demands it, it can be done. I will be using Tanith as my temporary homeworld for the next hundred years and in exchange, I devote myself into healing and full recovery of the people of Tanith. This also means that Tanith wouldn't be giving an Imperial Tithe for next hundred years except for supplying my chapter with one hundred youth every year as Aspirant. I will make sure the High Lords of Terra get that memo." Chapter Master William spoke with ease as if this was some kind of casual business deal. To Gaunt and his men, this was a big deal. An unknown loyal Chapter of Space Marine took control of the planet and command of the rear guards while the crusade continued in the frontline. Gaunt is not a psyker but he can predict that Inquisition is going to have a field day when they find out about this event.
"My lord, what about us? What will we be doing as you help with the recovery of Tanith?" Gaunt questions Chapter Master's intent as he doesn't know what his instruction is now. His original command from the Imperial forces was to ship to the next battlefield but now that Chapter Master holds the command of the planet and its people, Gaunt needs clear guidance on what his regiment must do.
"Why Colonel Commissar, you will follow your original order for deployment as well as future one as Imperial regiment. I understand that your men lost several key equipment and supplies from the earlier Chaos attack. I will provide the latest wargears and ships for your next mission." Chapter Master's words shook Gaunt as he literally just said Space Marine is providing much needed supplies directly.
"Thank you my lord, we will deliver the Emperor's wrath to his enemy knowing that Tanith is in safe hands." Gaunt accepts the gift given to him but more questions appear in his mind. He is uncertain about this Chapter of the Space Marine but at this point, Gaunt doesn't have power to investigate or even overrule the authority of the Chapter Master.
"From now on, your regiment will be known as Tanith First and Only. As Tanith is no longer providing the Imperial Tithe now, you must replenish your number from the other planet." The dire words from the Chapter Master made men of Tanith upset as their number is now limited but this is something they must endure as Imperial Guardsmen. Chapter Master William continued.
"One last thing, Colonel Commissar. When you meet a man named Cuu, please kill him without question."
Three days later, Colonel Commissar Gaunt and his men of Ghosts left the Tanith system for the first war zone. Tanith First and Only are now equipped with latest hell gun scout lasguns with universal power packs and various other supplies, making them in full strength and ready for anything.
As for the Tanith, William's legion made full use of their resources to help with the planet's recovery and its people. In honour of Tanith and the temporary homeworld of the Blacksouls, William's Astartes took the tradition of the Tanith blue tattoos as their own.
The Imperium would not see the changes William and his legion will make in the short term as Imperium tend to busy themselves with other conflicts and in fighting within. The galaxy is vast and unimaginably large but William's action will make a huge difference in the 41st millennium. That is until William got an update of an Imperium history data and discovered some anomaly he wasn't aware of.
"The Emperor only discovered seventeen out of twenty Primarchs?" For the first time since his arrival to the Imperium worlds, William was speechless as something was off about the world of 40k. Unknown to William, his duplicate, a mortal version of him, traveled through the warp and made small changes which created a large ripple effect in the lore rich universe of Warhammer 40k.
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"Argel Tal often said that Fate had a vicious sense of humour. Khârn never doubted it for a second." From Aaron Dembski-Bowden, Betrayer
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Subject: Mortal William
Time: Unknown
Location: Inside of the Warp Current
Current Status: Lost at time and space.
William is currently traveling through the warp without knowing where his destination is. For all William knew, he is lost in the Sea of Souls and the only reason his mind is intact and remains sane was because of Rana's divine protection she previously cast before being thrown out to random warp.
'Damn you stupid Tzeentch! You just had to be a sore loser.' William cursed the Chaos God of Magic and Change but this was temporary as something big and many began to appear around warp. Ripping through thin layers between space, minor daemons began to appear but stayed distant from William. Due to the light generated from the divine shield surrounding William, daemons kept their distance but it wouldn't stop them from testing the limit of the protection.
"Shit!" William begins to panic as a number of daemons begin to appear one by one and starts to build up. Out of panic, William attempts to grab his bolter from his hip but it was pointless as he realises that he is no longer in the body of an Astartes. Just as William began to panic, one of the daemon made its move. A small and frail daemon with multiple eyes and mouths slowly approaches William with a hesitation as light of the Emperor slowly hurts it.
'Fuck! Damn it!' William couldn't think straight or even do anything to stop the small daemon from getting close. All he could do was swing his arms to see if he could 'swim' away. Eventually, the daemon got close enough to touch William but before it could do anything, one of William's wild swings slapped the daemon in the face.
William's slap which is imbued with Emperor's light hit the daemon's face and gave burning damage of unimaginable pain as daemon couldn't recover from the injury it received. The realization hit everyone including William as the situation just turned 180 degrees and it wasn't looking good for the daemons of the warp.
"Who wants to get punched in the face?" William turns around to show who is the boss but to his surprise, his courage and bluff fall apart real fast as a mosh pit of daemons jump towards William as if they have nothing to lose.
"FUCK!" William closed his arms together, making a defensive form to brace for the impact of daemons but before turning into a pancake, something pulled him into the portal, sending William into a different path within the warp itself.
"Now what?" William turns around to see where he is now. What William saw made him speechless as thousands of warp portals are at the end of the line and the current of the warp is preventing him from escaping.
"It is possible that those portals could lead me to anywhere in the 40k universe but to where?" Just as William figured out what was going on, several objects flew past him. Twenty pods of the same type, it was similar to what William made for his sons but much older design and they all are heading towards warp portals of their own destination.
"Twenty pods… THE LOST PRIMARCHS! Am I in the moment where they are scattered?" William began to panic as he found out where he is now. A critical moment where all twenty sons of the Emperor are lost to the warp and heading towards their own planet which they will call it home until found later by their father, the Emperor.
"This is an opportunity. I can use this to get out of here." William dives towards the pods, hoping to grab one to get out of his current situation.
Soon, William managed to reach one of the twenty pods and grab onto its side handle to stab his flow within the Sea of Souls. Just as William expected, the Primarch pod was an old design but capable of sustaining its passenger's life for a long period of time. After a closer look, William found something that could help him identify the pod's passenger. At the front of the pod was Roman Numeral of VIII, number 8.
'Number 8, who the heck is number 8?' William couldn't remember which Primarch this was at the moment but it didn't take that long as William's ability came to help him out. William's appraisal ability activated and displayed the detail information of which Primarch this was.
[Konrad Curze aka The Night Haunter. Primarch of the Night Lords and Gene Father to 8th Legion.]
'Fuck, this is baby Konrad Curze!' William let go of his grip for a second but quickly recovered as his reflex grabbed the pod before drifting away. Just as William reorganises his thoughts, an idea pops up from his head. What if he could change the trajectory of the pod's destination. William could change everything and give the perfect opportunity to give the middle finger to the Tzeentch and his three siblings.
'Screw him and screw them all. If I'm going to suck into the worst universe in all scifi, I'm going to do something about it.' William, with new determination positioned himself to somewhat stand above the pod and gave a big push. Pushing himself away from the pod but also changing the entire direction where the pod was heading.
Konrad Curze's pod is now heading towards a different warp portal and no one knows where he will land since Knorad Curze will no longer land or crash into the Nostramo. The destination is altered and destiny forever changed as pod of the 8th eventually disappears to a different warp portal.
'One down, eight more traitors to go.' William dash towards the nearest pod to find more future baby traitors.
Few minutes later…
William found one of the loyalist Primarch belonging to Roboute Guilliman. Not what he wanted, William moved to the nearest one without disturbing the Guilliman's baby pod. This time, William found a pod belonging to the traitor and it was a good one as this pod belonged to Child of the Mountain.
[Angronius aka Angron Thal'kyr the Red Angel. Primarch of the World Eaters and Gene Father of the 12th Legion. Currently not angry.]
William smiled at the screen as he knew exactly what to do. Supposedly, Angron's home planet, Nuceria was located near the border of Ultramar. If Angron landed somewhere much closer, his future would have been better than being subject to the Butcher's nail.
'This one I have to change no matter what. You would have been better brothers if you didn't lose your ability to feel other than rage.' William unhook his belt and looped around the Angron's pod handle and pushed himself and the pod towards Guilliman's.
With a little bit of adjusting and pushing, William locked the two pods together using his belt. Now, Angron and Guilliman will head towards the capital planet of the Ultramar, Macragge where two brothers will be discovered by the Nobleman of the Macragge and have completely different paths compared to the original one.
'Now, where is that damn Lorgar Aurelian?. I need to make sure he doesn't meet Erebus.' Just as William searches for the next traitor baby, he gets interrupted by another traitor's pod as a pod belonging to the Perturabo comes out of nowhere and hits him in the back, sending William to a random warp portal. William slowly loses consciousness and the last thing he remembers was the rest of the pods entering their portals before he himself entered one as darkness engulfed his mind.
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Real Space
Time and location: Unknown
A bright light exits out from the warp portal and heads towards the habitable planet in incredible speed. Meanwhile, two major factions on the planet were at war and able to detect the mysterious light entering the atmosphere.
One faction identified the bright object as a religious symbol of the God Emperor while another faction saw it as an unidentifiable object, possibly a meteor that went off course due to unknown reason.
When the light finally made it to the planet's surface, nothing could stop it from crashing to the ground as one of the big ships known as Manta got hit in the middle, destroying it mid-air as it exploded to pieces, killing everyone inside. As for the light itself, it crashed into the planet's earth, creating a crater and massive dust cloud which engulfed the active battlefield.
William regains his consciousness as soon as he crashes land to the unknown planet. He was feeling pain all over his body as he is now a mortal and it felt like he just got hit by a truck. Thankfully William didn't have broken bones or internal bleeding as Holy Shield from Rana protected him from physical harm (not the impact unfortunately).
"Where the hell am I now?" William got up and picked his head above from the crater as the familiar noises of battle can be heard. Keeping himself as low as possible, William saw lasers and projectiles flying above while two major factions' armies were crashing against each other.
'Oh shit, that's Tau mechs.' William saw familiar battle mechs flying low while firing missiles and lasers towards enemies opposite from them. By the look, William saw human vehicles and soldiers being destroyed by the Tau forces. He was locked between Tau and Imperium conflict.
'Ok, ok. At least I'm in the Imperium world. A human world. It could have been worse. I just need to find the nearest human troops and find a refuge as a 'citizen' of this whatever planet this is.' William thought to himself and timed himself to get out from the crater as he crawled out like an ant. Hugging the ground close to his heart, William moves very slowly towards the human side as bullets and lasers fly above him while dust clouds cover him from both sides visually.
"Just a little more." William said to himself after but just as he was able to see human shaped soldiers at distance. Someone's voice can be heard inside of William's head.
[Stop! Don't go there.]
'What the hell?' William heard a voice of a woman and hesitated for a moment. Just as William halted from approaching further, dust cleared and human shaped soldiers can be seen clearly. Ten men were standing from their foxhold with their weapons up, ready to fire. William remained prone to the ground and got himself covered but able to see the men of the Imperial forces. That was until he saw who they really are.
Many of the men's military uniforms weren't matching at all. Actually, most of their clothes were more of a construction or industry workers uniform as it was dirty and patched up with other materials. As for their weapons, it was rusty lasguns and autoguns made out of salvaged parts. In short, they aren't Militarum standard weapons.
As for the soldiers, they have purple skin tone unlike normal humans and this itself gave alarm to William as he expected a worse from this. And to his expectation from a second ago, a man who looks like a leader has a third arm, equipped with a pistol that has seen better days.
"Shit! SHIT! They are a Genestealer Cult. I'm locked between Tau and Genestealer Cult." William cursed in quiet swiper as he realised how screwed he was.
[Didn't I tell you not to go there?] A woman's voice spoke to William's mind. William thought to himself for a second as it was a familiar voice.
"Mother? How are you here?" William said but before he got his answer, six Tau battlesuits landed from the sky as they suddenly appeared in the blink of an eye. The Tau Stealth unit made their first move and opened fire at the Genestealer Cult while ignoring William completely.
[I'm here with you because I was injected into your body the moment you gave the main ship your blood sample (Please see Chapter 67 where Mother injects unknown nanobots into William's body while getting a sample of his blood). I'm a personal AI unit inhabiting the inside to observe but to no one's surprise you are in danger and I had to jump in to save you. Why do you think Tau battlesuits are here? I called them to save your butt.] As mother explains, Tau forces continue to wipe the Genestealer Cult members as each side exchanges weapons fire.
To everyone's surprise, one of the Genestealer Cult members pulls out a rocket launcher from the bottom trench and fires upon one of the Tau Battlesuits. With each side blasting with heavy weapons now, William remained where he was as he was lying on the ground stealthy as possible. Eventually, the fight ends and both sides, Tau and Genestealer Cult end up killing each other except for one Tau Battlesuit who is still standing with minor damages.
[This is your chance. Take the suit for yourself.]
Just as Mother said to William, the Tau XV8 Crisis Battlesuit opened up, exposing the pilot from his seat. William saw the whole thing as the battlesuit itself grabbed the pilot from his cockpit and tossed him to the ground.
Both William and Tau pilot were shocked and puzzled at first as something such as a battlesuit simply took command of its own as if it was alive. While these two were paused, Mother who temporarily took command of the XV8 Crisis Battlesuit waves its right arm, pointing William to take the cockpit.
"Oh shit," William is the first to recover from his shock and gets up from the ground quickly moving to take the battlesuit's cockpit. Just as William was about to touch the battlesuit outer armor, the tau pilot also recovered from his own shock and attempted to stop a human from taking his suit.
"Get your stinking paws off me, you damn dirty Xenos." William yelled and kicked the Tau pilot's face, sending the Fire Warrior back to the ground hard and possibly with a bruised face. With Tau pilot down, William quickly got inside and shut the Crisis Battlesuit cockpit door, securing himself a chance to survive in the middle of the warzone.
"Mother, now what do we do? If Genestealer Cult are active that means Tyranids must be on their way here." William asked Mother as the battlesuit activate its stealth module and took its flight, away from the ground battle.
[That is why we must find the escape route soon as possible. I'm detecting remnants of Imperium high nobles vox communication as they are attempting to escape using a hidden warp capable ship. We will survive as long as we make our escape and find your other half.]
"My other half? You mean other me who is Astartes?"
[Yes. If you are here that means he must be here somewhere in this universe. He will be your only solution as your other half possesses a major fleet and military power to fight back. But first, we must make our way to the escape ship.]
William didn't reply as he knew what he must do to survive. The full horror and nightmarish things of 40k is upon him and he no longer possesses a body of Astartes. His only chance to survive is his knowledge of the universe lore, personal AI implant from Dark Age of Technology and his skills… ?
While the battlesuit is being piloted by Mother, William opens his inventory skill to see if he still got it. To his relief, his entire inventory from weapons to treasures are still there as well as a list of his abilities and more.
Ding! You have a new message.
[Welcome to the world of 40k. A universe where nightmare is just another Tuesday and eldritch horror of Chaos is as real as it can get. You receive a new skills due to interaction you had with Primarchs. Gained passive ability Incorruptible: Due to your action to save Primarchs from their worst faith, you gain the ability to stay who you are from corruption of Chaos and other foreign influences. Stay true to God Emperor and you will never fall from grace.]
"Well, I'll be damned. I might have a chance after all" William said to himself as battlesuit flew towards the hidden facility where high nobles of this planet plan to escape using the ancient ship of the first colony who settled millennia ago.
The end of an epilogue
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This ends William's adventure "In the World of Sword and Magic as a Space Marine." Thank you for reading this part of the fanfic and I hope you enjoyed it as I had fun writing this story. I hope one day I return to write more story of William or new story that could make you laugh and entertain.
Thank you and stay safe.
From: ElJonson