Iron and Fire

"We know who any of these guys are?" One of her squad speaks up.

"No. But anyone who fights tyranids is our ally. At least for the day."

"Yes Lieutenant."

The squad quiets before Minerva holds up a hand. They stop, and listen. Bolter fire and the sounds of battle. "Ahead." Minerva says, retrieving her power axe from her hip. "Let's give them a hand." She says as she breaks into a sprint.

The thunderous sound of sprinting terminators echo through the forest.

The fighting was thick and it was brutal.

Freyja had led her Noosemen here expecting easy pickings. This world had already been besieged by vicious foes. The Noosemen would be like carrion birds, sucking meat from the bones of whatever was killed here. Just when the people of this wretched Imperial colony had thought themselves safe, their worst nightmares would strike. The denizens of this pathetic planet would hang by their entrails as a monument to Gods of all the cosmos!

But that wasn't what happened here. Instead Freyja's host was met with swarm after swarm after swarm of insectile abominations the likes of which her people had never seen before.

Her necromancers weren't much help either. When in the presence of this multitude of things, they could not work their potent magics. No one could. The powers of the Gods were useless here. That left a brutal battle of claws, teeth, bolters, and chainswords.

The smaller ones were easier prey, but they did not last. Larger and larger beasts entered the fray, tearing out throats and skewering Noosemen on their chitonous blades.

Freyja would have prayed for a miracle if she thought her Gods could hear her here, yet they had abandoned her witches. So she fought on, coating Mercy and Venom in parasitic gore, certain that this would be her final stand.

But then,

Thunder to the west! Ceramite boots striking the forest floor like drums!

Could this be the miracle she was hoping for?

Ah, that must mean the large thing with scything limbs headed their way. It was larger even than the fearsome Mistress of the Noosemen, nearly the size of a main battle tank. Its thick carapace stood firm under the weight of an assault cannon's, stubbornly refusing to buckle.

Its armor was thick, but Freyja spied soft fleshy bits beneath what passed for a neck on the creature. A well-placed blow with Venom could rip its throat out and topple it like a tree.

"We know who any of these guys are?" One of her squad speaks up.

"No. But anyone who fights tyranids is our ally. At least for the day."

"Yes Lieutenant."

The squad quiets before Minerva holds up a hand. They stop, and listen. Bolter fire and the sounds of battle. "Ahead." Minerva says, retrieving her power axe from her hip. "Let's give them a hand." She says as she breaks into a sprint.

The thunderous sound of sprinting terminators echo through the forest.

The fighting was thick and it was brutal.

Freyja had led her Noosemen here expecting easy pickings. This world had already been besieged by vicious foes. The Noosemen would be like carrion birds, sucking meat from the bones of whatever was killed here. Just when the people of this wretched Imperial colony had thought themselves safe, their worst nightmares would strike. The denizens of this pathetic planet would hang by their entrails as a monument to Gods of all the cosmos!

But that wasn't what happened here. Instead Freyja's host was met with swarm after swarm after swarm of insectile abominations the likes of which her people had never seen before.

Her necromancers weren't much help either. When in the presence of this multitude of things, they could not work their potent magics. No one could. The powers of the Gods were useless here. That left a brutal battle of claws, teeth, bolters, and chainswords.

The smaller ones were easier prey, but they did not last. Larger and larger beasts entered the fray, tearing out throats and skewering Noosemen on their chitonous blades.

Freyja would have prayed for a miracle if she thought her Gods could hear her here, yet they had abandoned her witches. So she fought on, coating Mercy and Venom in parasitic gore, certain that this would be her final stand.

But then,

Thunder to the west! Ceramite boots striking the forest floor like drums!

Could this be the miracle she was hoping for?

Revenants.

Fucking Revenants!

Now she was fighting a battle on two fronts! First, these vile insects, and now the bloody Revenants! This was no blessing; this was a fucking curse!

Dammit all to the four hells! If she was going to meet the Gods today, she was going to meet them a warrior, soaked in the blood of her kills.

Yet the Revenants did not cut her forces down as the Chieftainess of the Noosemen had expected. No, the fuckers were actually being useful for once, instead of being pests. They were joining in the slaughter, cutting bugs down left and right with ferocity to rival the Noosemens' own.

Four hells, the Gods sure did have a sense of humor, didn't they?

Freyja's own laughter joins Minerva's. Perhaps she herself has gone mad, thinking herself insane for having accepted the aid of a Loyalist chapter, or perhaps she was enjoying the bloodbath a little too much.

𝐃𝐈𝐀𝐋𝐎𝐆𝐔𝐄 :

➔ you're gonna be okay , just keep your eyes on me. ➔ don't move - you're going to make it worse. ➔ it's not that bad. ➔ you saved me once before , now it's my turn. ➔ you fucking idiot , you weren't supposed to take the hit for me. ➔ i told you not to do that! now look! ➔ you're lucky that i know basic first aid , or you'd be dead! ➔ stay with me, okay? stay awake. ➔ i'll be as gentle as i can be , i promise. ➔ you're bleeding - oh my god , you're bleeding. ➔ you told me it was a scratch , this is not a fucking scratch! ➔ there's so much blood. ➔ next time you want to play here , just don't. ➔ stop fighting me and let me help! ➔ you're banned from doing anything remotely dangerous. ➔ you could have died , what were you thinking? ➔ if you die on me , i'm going to be pissed off. ➔ you didn't have to be so reckless just to prove a fucking point. ➔ the wound will heal but you'll have a scar.

𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒 :

Evil Horus

The Horus Heresy Sentences, Condensed

(Sentences from The Horus Heresy (2006-2024) and related stories. Adjust phrasing where needed)

"The difference between gods and demons depends on where one is standing at the time."

"A weapon doesn't question who it kills or why. That isn't the point of weapons."

"I have never quite come to terms with my status. I see what I am capable of, and what is expected of me, and I shudder. The mere fact of me frightens me sometimes."

"The truth can't be wrong, even if it is ugly."

"Some of the things you have told me sound like wonders, yet you yourself do not seem to wonder at them."

"There is no fundamental immutable evil in the cosmos. It is too large and sterile for such melodrama."

"Answer me this: how far does your loyalty go?"

"I am your sword. Tell me where to strike."

"Common decency and civil behaviour are just a thin veneer over the animal at the core of mankind that gets out whenever it has a chance."

"It is only those who have neither fired a shot nor heard the shriek and groans of the dying who cry aloud for blood, vengeance, and desolation."

"There is little of you that can still be called human, isn't there?"

"When you live as complex a life as I have, you learn that it always comes down to a single moment. A moment in which a man finds out once and for all who he really is. This is that moment. Will it be a moment you are proud to look back on, or one you regret for the rest of your life?"

"No army will stand before you, no power of mortal man will lay you low, and no ambition will be denied you if you swear yourself to me."

"The more we learn, the more we question - and the more we question, the more we see through the lies perpetrated upon us."

"Glory? Glory is for those too weak to find inner strength, leaving them hollow parasites feeding on the affection of lesser men."

"There is no virtue in fighting for conquest. Nothing is more worthless and hollow than obliterating freedom for the sake of more land, more coin, more voices singing your name in holy hymn."

"Freedom is the only thing worth fighting for. It is why tyrants always fall."

"There are no gods. No herefores and hereafters. No futures but those we make for ourselves."

"We think we have seen it all, and yet there always comes a day when the universe shows us the folly of that hubris."

"There comes a moment for each of us when we are tested. What happens in that moment is the true measure of us."

"You are afraid of this truth because it is of such magnitude that you will be forever remade by it. What you do not realise is that you have already been changed."

"I envy you. You have something I do not. A duty. You know what it is you must do. You can find that clarity of vision - a mission you must strive to fulfil."

"Only in death does duty end, and you are not dead yet."

"You are my brother. I would have walked unto death with you. Why could you not have done the same for me?"

Horus Lupercal

Send Lore Drop! And I will talk about lore or a head canon regarding my muse.