47. Power of Belief

Before my eyes was a battlefield of immense proportion; on one side were Cruisers akin to living organisms of metal, their black shape smooth and organic-like as they stood steadfast in an impenetrable formation above a Maiden World we were in the process of displacing thanks to the combined might of their arcane shielding.

The Lethe Field, in this configuration, made for a beautiful iridescent energy barrier that absorbed the bulk of the kaleidoscopic death rain thrown its way from the opposition of much more numerous, sleeker, smaller Cruisers surfing elegantly across the void with extreme swiftness and coordination.

An immovable wall against untouchable targets, but alas, the wall wasn't indestructible, and the target could not adapt. How poetically frustrating… The Ark of Life couldn't compete against the Aeldari Empire using the classic and verified Aeldari tactic of hit and run. 

We were at numerical inferiority and had infinitely fewer resources to spare; we had experience and knowledge, however. It was annoying regardless, and I needed to be careful.

"Began the tenth phase." My voice echoed in the golden room, and the little bat at my right nodded, the telepathic message spreading across the planet to my Magi instantly.

How good did it feel to have them back… 

They were an elite order exclusively composed of the most gifted psykers, making it appear at first only of Aeldari and the occasional Khrave if not shape-shifted. Ideally, it would be only Aeldari, discriminatory as it may sound. They were created to manipulate psychic energy, but it wasn't an impossible wall to climb for other species if the talent and willingness were there. 

Compared to the Harlequins of my brother, they were far less extravagant, defenseless even. At the end of the day, they were a bunch of nerds, and it wouldn't be wholly inaccurate. Their function, for the most part, was to play supportive roles and control the battlefield through teamwork-based spell casting via soul synching.

That didn't mean they weren't trained in the physical aspect and direct combat, but their primary purpose was to be in the backlines and, if not, assist individuals or groups. 

But despite all that, they were the most decisive factor here, their combined mind and psychic power far outstripping that of my Avatar in terms of raw numbers. As a matter of fact, they forced the star of this system to go supernova, forcing the Empire to retreat for those swift enough.

Monitoring the entry and exit of the Labyrinthine Dimension was one of their responsibilities, too.

Rendering the deployment of controlled weaponized gravitational singularity impossible was one of their tasks as well. If one thing was certain, it was that the Empire's Aeldari were selfish by virtue of being part of it to survive, and the kind of black hole they used messed souls badly, more than a regular one with their pseudo connection to the Warp. It was there the raw materials for Blackstone were collected after all. 

Let's say most wouldn't risk existing in one's general vicinity without heavy specialized protection battle-focused Cruisers didn't give. Still, with a potentially higher-ranked individual, there always was a chance, an uncertainty that it was used regardless of the political backlash. It wasn't as if they lacked bodies to throw.

But potent the Magi may be, they were flimsy, and if disturbed enough, heads would pop in a gory chain reaction by the psychic backlash generated, literally. It happened regularly in the training bouts; they were lucky Isha had her version of them, dedicated biomancers and healers of all kinds. A head splattering like a watermelon with the healing devices on Yuggoth made such 'injuries' flesh wounds.

But nothing was instantaneous, so it was needed to gain time for the Magi to teleport this Maiden World. It was a scenario that wasn't unique from the Raid of Somnolence to this one and hundreds more, evidently not all spotless victory. 

Wars were a messy business, unimaginably so on a galactic scale when you were the 'underdogs.' We couldn't spread ourselves ad infinitum and weren't omniscient; we lacked far seers. On several occasions, because of that, the ones we came to assist either ultimately betrayed us or were traps from the get-go. 

It was part of the game. It wasn't good. No matter how intense the instincts forced on me generated a rush of euphoria about it and shattering my designated enemies. 

I was a divine machine of war and destruction like all my brethren, only below Khaine in the desire to create and fuel it. I could live in peace, but when the engine was on… the lines blurred. More, more and more, something screamed, always more, constantly in the escalation, to new paths to travel and explore, new darkness to dive into and unearth, new magic to experience and make. 

Each boosting the last in a feedback loop, my divinities were multifaceted. Magic wasn't only the arcane. It could be a memory associated with a good time, whether of my mind or others. It would influence me regardless of my consent if enough beliefs from soul-bearing creatures existed. 

The less explicative a concept was, the bigger the net of connections would be. Godhood was as much a curse as it was a blessing.

No routes in the cancerous Sea of Souls were straightforward, even if I meticulously directed my worshiper into the correct path.

I acknowledged it; it kept me going, but I didn't pay much attention to it back in the war. It was one destruction of my humanity among thousands. But now I did and was powerless to change it like one couldn't simply rip away a metaphysical chunk of what made themself as a person. And certainly not anyone in my state.

But as vexing as it was that a part of me was violated into endlessly drugging itself to enjoy, it wasn't my entire self.

And it was partially the reason why I came here per se. My presence was good for morale, but direct actions had the proper oomph behind them. I wanted to de-stress, and there was a high chance of Dark Muse pretense from the new strand of this twisted soul-rotting plague. 

In front of me was the illusory image of a golden ring within a smaller one spinning opposite to the other to stabilize the golden sphere of dark runes. If not for the distinct shape and small size, it wasn't so different from one of the many Golden Gates, but this one had only one function, and it was to be a beacon. 

It was a rather complex device that would let me use my rings more or less freely in a range equivalent to a tenth of light years through the Material Realm and the Emperium, the latter of which the definition of range got… finicky for one unable to perceive the world outside of a three-dimensional space. 

It had two weaknesses: if I ignored the time required to conjure it. It was immovable and fragile.

Also, it needed to be in the hedge of a Golden Gate zone of effect to function appropriately, but it was because it was a signal amplifier. And it was small, an optimal device for situations like the one here.

Well, now that this was done, the fun can begin in earnest.

-Garroskar?- I probed one of the highest ranked Krork's mind, and the measured mental response I got made me smirk. Oh, so calm, composed, and educated were they compared to the Orks. It was incredible, really. They may be self-replicating murder machines, but they were honorable gentlemen, which had no price in this insane galaxy.

-Yes, Lord Hoopa? What divine edict must we follow? Say no more, and I will obey. Your great will shall be done in earnest.-

Oh, they hated the two parasites born of their lesser kins Warp presence, like the lesser kin themselves. Loyalty wasn't a problem either; they were to obey their superiors, the foolish toads, and yours truly as a member of the Aeldari Gods. To a large degree, it wasn't absolute, but inverting their psychic field wasn't hard if somehow betrayal there was.

Getting the little robot thief was genuinely great.

-Would you like with your boyz to board the ships of depraved trash?- I chirped back, and the bloodthirsty yet collected howl approved that idea. They weren't Orks, but they weren't peaceful by any stretch either, and Garroskar in particular. Krorks weren't afraid of dying, and if one like him survived for more than a decade with that demeanor here? 

It was a feat of legend, though personal recall warp drive also helped and stopped a number of unfortunate fates. I wasn't unfamiliar with torture and all of its branches, even if I dabbled only in a select few, and the kinds the Aeldari of the Empire were experts in were disgusting, plain and simple. 

And it was… dull from what I saw besides some examples—sloppy and crude, too, for such a technologically and magically advanced society. If you twist my teaching, at least have the balls-ovaries and be competent while doing so.

That reminded me of something… Hmm, what was the name?

Who were the bugs that fucked humanity over in that novel I read…? Ah, the Qu, yes, it was of that variety, the one that was utterly pointless and led nowhere for everyone involved. It was a useless path only ending in ruination, and they knew.

Well, even if this escape failed, their souls were marked, and I could euthanize them, or they could. Suicide was better than turning into a screaming chair. 

Anyway…

From my horns, wrists, and ankles, the rings vanished, reappearing in two places for each, creating gates for the Krorks to attack the enemies' Cruisers from the inside. Accompanying them were Khraves, Aeldari, and an array of other sophonts highly trained, modified if needed, and equipped to fight to the death.

It didn't take long for me to join the fray on the mothership kept securely in the Labyrinthine Dimension, a grin on my young feature that I don't doubt looked properly deranged.

"Greetings!" I boomed as the hell of projectiles and energy shot my way as the alarm blared off, "Hmm, is that how the cultivated and wise Empire treats foreign diplomats?"

As the savage they were, my answer never came as the cascade of destruction never stopped, but similarly, it never had a chance to affect me. 

Enuncia, as Ollanius renamed it - because he couldn't bother to pronounce its real name with a weak excuse on human biological incompatibility, the little shit that he was - didn't work by words like he foolishly believed. It worked on intent and visualization, for that knowledge and understanding were required, but otherwise, thoughts were enough to use it. Vocal use was only a crutch.

"Enough." I sighed, tapping my foot gently on the damaged floor made of a mix of mostly aware living people, or what remained of them, their mental scream of anguish from the shared pain echoing away as I granted them eternal slumber warping the chimera that was the agglomeration of souls stitched together making them into the Dark Cradle for further care if possible.

Snapping my finger, the passage of the fourth dimension slowed down to a crawl, except that it was at a different rate for the mind, vital, and nervous system of the Aeldari five hundred meters around from me. It was a sphere where I could do whatever picked my fancy, and outside, it would only be ten seconds at best. How good was chronomancy?

Humming a small tune, I floated to the nearest Aeldari and tapped her chest, where a pentagram flashed briefly. Her frozen body rippled like a sheet of paper and, with a satisfying squelch, disappeared, replaced by a beautiful donut glazed with dark chocolate, colorful freckles, and powdered sugar filled with a reddish jam.

As I savored my organic hand-made fruity and chocolatey transmuted pastry, my eyes flicked to the other nearby Aeldari, the wrath, confusion, and shock of earlier rapidly turning to fear, which was also becoming terror as I floated toward him.

-Did my magic trick frighten you?- I asked gently, unclasping his entire armor as I trailed a hand on his left pale, gaunt cheek as a caring lover would. Then my fingers of that hand grew a pale purple chitinous exterior, three dozen short, spiky articulated legs each, and an insectoid head with sharp mandibles where the fingertip used to be.

The terror kept on growing.

Not waiting any further, the five centipedes crawled within every orifice, one perforating the eardrum, another digging below the wide-open eyes, two by the nostrils, and the last in the mouth. My target was the brain. Digging into my choir director's head, I reached the delicate organ and went deeper.

Then, I stopped and altered the nervous connection to amplify certain sensations and emotions and change the perception of reality, such as pain and its meaning. It was a crude operation, but my purpose wasn't to avoid him dying in a few days from me scrambling his braincase.

-Would you love to share your experience with your friends? Of course, you would silly me. Friendship is magical, and you adore both.- I cooed, smiling ever so wider at his newly modified feelings, amplifying what an Aeldari would by a hundredfold, all the while keeping sapience for a few minutes.

-Ah, excited now, are we?- I chuckled, dominating his ability for telepathy and connecting everyone in my time sphere to him, my mind buffering any attack as I put him as the lead and made him begin the choir with a powerful solo to begin the performance.

Evidently, it wasn't only the Aeldari here that had the chance to be blessed for them to share and amplify the soundless wails like a professional chorus. Soon, thousands and thousands were in sync with one another, with my dear boy at the epicenter, and it was spreading further away as time went on, and I used their soul-stuff as fuel. Each new singer enjoys the culmination of every member's experience.

They were supposed to love pain, and that was what I was granting them. But I wasn't as generous as them.

Daintily licking my fingers of the mess my organic treat made, I slowly closed my hand into a fist, the string of their souls tensing up at once, slowly but surely beginning to show signs of snapping until they did it in parallel. Every mind connected cried for one last time, one last crescendo as a psychic blast exploded, frying the systems of nearly every non-strongly warded psycho-technology in its blast that was not of mine.

"Oh…" I let out, staring and tapping the blade sticking out from my forehead, "I praise your ability to hide your presence."

Turning around, I was met with an extensively pissed-off Aeldari in quite a skimpy suit, not that I was one to judge with this Avatar. Another dagger was plunged, this time into my left eye, blinding me on that side. In response, I summoned one of my rings in his skull, causing the nameless, if far stronger, Aeldari to seize up before his head exploded from the ring's expansion.

"Filthy parasite, false god, you shouldn't have come parading with your abominable puppet! Twisted abomination of perfection!" He bellowed with vitriolic, righteous hate. His body reformed intact from the toxic fumes the corpse had become. 

I instantly understood who I was facing: a Dark Muse. I was not impressed, though his control of his trick was on point, and he would be in the upper top echelon even back then.

"Lord of Poison Shaimesh, I presume?" I questioned, turning mentally, taking out the two long tapered objects penetrating me from behind and in front. Poison laced the blades from the damage. It was designed to deactivate an Avatar. I did deal with worse; still, it was a potent toxin, and a few seconds of quiet to purge it was required. 

Again, this Avatar's strength didn't lay in raw psychic might. It was built for surgical strike and mobility, but it wasn't by choice. It was far inferior to the Avatars of the past crafted by Vaul and his worshipers. Technically, the Dark Muse before me wasn't significantly weaker, psychically speaking, and that's why he wasn't affected by my rapidly extinguishing time sorcery.

I didn't get an answer. However, all of a sudden, my smile vanished.

-Brother, I come bearing ill news. Yuggoth will soon be under assault by the three Chaotic Tumors' full might. Or so, if my eyes do not deceive me, whatever squeaky toy you are munching on, please be quick to tear it asunder.- Cegorach announced any ounce of humor and levity from his usual tone was gone.

*

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