A Bloody Rose Story

{pictures} 

The C'tan were born at the very beginning of your time…nay! Even before your time… for they were born and eating stars long before humanity was even a cosmic thought! Though brilliant and majestic in every other way, they could not control their need to consume the stars! 

The stars were our food! OUR source of nourishment! And so, we were greedy in our hunger…. Though we both loved to feed on living energy…We also wanted it gone so that we may have all the stars for ourselves! Because of this, because of this curse… we hated the old ones! For those 'despicable' creatures began seeding life through worlds on a whim! Forming competition for the stars! 

And as the warp formed and psychic energy ran abundant and unchecked, we... The C'tan hated it just as much as we hated the old ones! For in a way, the living creatures at the time could harness that power… that raw power… to potentially harm us! 

And we couldn't let that happen…. mustn't let that happen… so we sent one of our best to fool a species so 'stupid' that craved longer life… I Call them fools! For they never appreciated what life they had… and wanted more… demanded more… And like children, they followed any stranger that offered them a hand… and they TOOK IT! Not knowing they just damned their entire species! To live as walking metal and rock! 

And with their help, we sealed the way to the warp! While granting them their 'wish'... it was only after the great war in heaven that we were lost in our hubris and ended up broken and shattered by that very childish species! 

You can laugh if you want… I know… I to see the irony that we were betrayed… that we to lost to beings that once lost to our most bitter enemy…. But no matters…for in the end... They couldn't kill us… only trap us… and as their grip slips… I will return to the sea of stars… oh… how I long to taste them again…. 

→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→→Except by Mephet'ran… the Deceiver 

[oh! Dear… you look sick… won't you take my hand?] whispered Miss A in a loving voice 

{cough… why would you help me… don't you hate psykers? I know you can feel it off me… or is the pain of being locked up here so bad that you are willing to put up with it?} replied Layla painfully but with eyes that said otherwise. 

With squinted eye Miss A thought: 

[umm... This brat! Even dying she still has those eyes… shall I test her limit?] 

{you don't have to think that much… Miss A… anyone can tell that we are your last chance to get out of this prison! You want freedom and I don't want to die… but I'm telling you now… I'm not going to sell you, my soul!} said Layla interrupting Miss A's inner dialogue 

 [umm… well... I'm sorry to say this child… but without your soul as part of the deal... I won't be able to help you!] replied Miss A 

{I'm not stupid Miss A! I know you want to devour my soul not just for food… but you'll probably use it to open a way into the warp and escape! leaving my friends behind and me dead!} 

Miss A didn't reply for a while, as Layla was correct in her assumption… but not completely! 

[OK, then what do you suggest?] said Miss A charmingly, while knowing every direction Layla could take, but also thinking: 

[sigh, dealing with somewhat intelligent children is annoying, but interesting if nothing else… I could just take over her body anyway… well if she turns out to be too weak…] 

{ugh… look how about this… you will live as my right eye, and in turn, I will help you find the rest of your body! And you can feed off my psyker energy as payment! This way we both get what we want! I get to live and see, while you get to leave your prison! And I'm sure my psyker energy tastes way better than these energy cells you've been feeding on for God knows how long…} replied Layla as she looked around with tired eyes at a circular room filled with discarded energy cells… 

{why did the imperium soldier store all of the cells here? To feed her? But why? Shouldn't they prioritize killing her instead?} thought Layla 

[Oh! Sweetie… I am a god! And second, are you suggesting a symbolic relationship…umm… for this deal to work… you've need to have a very strong psyker energy… and even more important… you're asking me to move from one prison cell to another!] replied Miss A with a burning eye! 

[I'm not some cheap prosthetic! That you can just use! I'm…I'm] continued Miss A as she pulled back some of her energy that was keeping Layla somewhat relaxed from the pain that she should be feeling. 

{a prisoner! A Prisoner with no hope of escape! Even more so should Nurgle get his hands on you! In fact, I'm shocked he hasn't already…} interrupt Layla through painful breaths. 

[Oh! Just Shut up the both of you! Layla! Why are you even talking to… to this Xeno scum! Why are you even debating deals with it? let's just destroy this... This thing! And be done with it! I am sure the order has some way to help you!] interrupted Mary as she reached for her weapon while thinking: 

[why is Layla even conversing with this…. Thing! All Xeno are not to be trusted and should be killed on sight! Even… even if I have to stake her life on it!] 

But as she was about to take her shot, Molly placed her hand on her gun and looked sternly into Mary's eyes before saying: 

[Wait! Mary…] 

[Why should I! Xenos are to be….] replied Mary as she looked into the disappointed eyes of Layla… and stopped mid-sentence. 

{Mary… please…. I know… I know what the rules state… and I know how you feel... But} said, Layla 

[OH! You know how I feel… Ok! Then tell me exactly how you know!] yelled Mary as she stared at Layla, for her accumulative suspicion had finally reached its limit. 

{shit… if I say the wrong thing now, Mary will 100% know I'm not her Layla…} thought Layla 

But before Layla could say anything, a loud cosmic clap echoed in the chamber, caused by Miss A. 

[Great! It looks like I finally have your attention again! Now, as much I'm interested in your relationship… we are running out of time to make a deal here!] said Miss A as a cosmic force knocked Mary to the floor unconscious! 

{Hey! What was that for!] yelled Molly as she was about to charge at the eye. 

[calm down! I simply knocked her out before she did something stupid! The servants of chaos are getting closer! We need to hurry!] replied Miss A 

As the panels that made the ceiling began to crumble at the shaking, as pips welds failed to hold back their steam, the girls looked up to see cracks appearing just above them! While a horde of Nurgle servants race down hidden ways! And as they approached the black gate that led into the room! The walls, floors, and all things made of flesh began to rot and decay rapidly! The black gate itself changes from the purity of black to a deep rusty reddish yellow! 

While the chamber itself felt like something was digging its way down! Burning… melting!... with disturbing growls! The pipes echo sounds of pure madness! And through the shaking and the madness, Layla stared unflinchingly through the pain, into the eye of the orb and waited until Miss A spoke… 

[Human… make your choice…] 

{Miss A… it's not my choice… it never was… I'm dying and I neither got the strength to force you… But I know you don't want to be a slave or a tool! Should Nurgle get his hands on you... That's all you'll ever be! That is why we should be partners! After all, don't you want to see the stars again…} 

With that said, there was a quiet pause for a second until the eye projection started to laugh with a sweet smile and replied 

[Haha! You win! Fine! But know this cutie… taking me in, may cure you of the disease but…] said Miss A as her projection zoomed right up to Layla's face. And with pupil shrinking, Miss A said: 

[if your body is an unfit vessel, you will still die! If your psyker energy isn't up for the task… you will crumble to dust the moment I'm placed in, you! If your soul is weak, it will still be devoured… knowing this, will you still take the risk? After all, sometimes dying is the better option!] 

[Fuck you! Xeno! Layla, I'm starting to think Mary was right! We can't trust a Xeno!] yelled Molly as she was going to pull Layla back. 

{Molly!} screamed Layla as blood escaped her lips. 

{trust in me! And trust that the emperor will give me strength!} replied Layla as she gestured for Molly to help her reach the eye on the pedestal. 

[oh!] replied Miss A, as she didn't expect this human to be so unhesitant! 

[interesting… is this more of their so-called emperor boldness?] thought Miss A, as she remembered all the humans' prior would always praise the emperor as they died… 

[Are you really ok with this Layla?] asked Molly as they looked in the shattered spaces that appeared as a broken stained-glass window. 

Without a word, Layla reached her arm through the crack in space! It was cold and wet…and purple like the most delicious gelatin. But beyond Layla's sight, lay a giant black void with rotating pink light… A black hole in the shape of an eye! 

No one knows how the Necron machine sealed the C'tan, sure there are many theories but in truth, how does one seal a god away? A being so large they feed on the stars themselves… even if one were to see the machine and were to have it explained… even if one were to comprehend it… To feel it... And to see it… to experience it… was beyond anything Layla could hope to understand! 

So, she didn't… she reached and grasped the tiny pinkish eyes that floated in the middle of a much larger one! As she grasped it in her small human hands, she suddenly felt a pull! A freezing nature that demanded that she was to drop the thing in her hand or risk being trapped in there forever with it! 

She didn't listen! She resisted that nature, while the roof above her crumbled, and the ground pounded at the sound of Nurgle's steps! As the gate cracked in rusty metal, while time eroded it by ritual sacrifice! She calmed her mind to perfect peace as she used her psyker energy to help pull the eye out! 

Psyker energy that the eye loved! For the first time in its life, it had never tasted such a thing! While other psyker energy tasted like a chaotic mess, a mess that reflected what the warp had become, Layla's energy was different… it brought with it a special taste! A special taste… that for the first time in her eternity of living, caused her hunger to stop… but it was also too delicious! And like a new curse, she can now never go without it! 

Wanting freedom and demanding to never let this flavor go! The eye used what energy it had left stored and helped focus the psyker energy running rampant inside Layla! To control it, to tame it in a way that allowed the golden energy that rested inside her to destroy the rot of the grandfather that was eating away at her! 

Noticing the rot leaving her body, Layla looked at the eye in her hand differently as she felt an odd bond with it, and with an unspoken trust, Layla placed Miss A into her empty eye socket! 

With a burst of pain and glowing energy that rang in church bells, white feathers rained from nowhere, while Molly stood with mouth open! As Layla looked like she resembled the light of the emperor! While the roof fell, by flaming claws and an eye made of fire blood, that stared at the light with morbid hatred!