Hyperpunk Virgo 1: Dreams of Oblivion

Emerging into an open chamber, Aodhán took note of the 4 warriors in power armour spread throughout the area.

Two were concentrating fire- one with a Charged Plasma Cannon and the other with a Triple-Barrelled Microgun on a floating monstrosity that looked more like a distortion in Aodhán’s vision.

A black inky void with rows upon rows what looked to be at once eyes and mouths, suspended in the air and pulling itself along by embedding inky barbed tentacles into the bone walls and furred floor, launching itself towards the warriors that dived out of the way of its massive form. Its malignant form absorbing the plasma and deflecting the mass-accelerated projectiles of the Microgun.

The other two were behind the cover of raised growths of cubic bone at the mouth of a smaller antechamber from which an otherworldly blue glow undulated like firelight from; firing Battery Rifles at the floating forms of the Twisted. Beings no longer merely lost, they were now so lost they circled right back to being found. Sadly it was by something that knew nothing else but ceaseless hunger.

From what was once their chests glowed a ball shaped tumour, lifting their screeching forms into the air and dragging them along in unnatural formations as they schooled through the air into the darkness above.

Aodhán prepared to fire at the Aberration, a spawn of Gyot-Mhoghuloth and no doubt the being that brought this chaos upon the Fireteam- only to see in their peripherals several of the Twisted swooping down backwards towards them. Their backs to Aodhán and Hector but not bare- tearing themselves open to reveal the gnashing mockeries of mouths made of rib and muscle.

The Gealt- Aodhán- side stepped the swooping Twisted leaving it to hit the ground. Smashing the stock of the cannon to the skull of another as it lunged for them, stunning it long enough for Aodhán to fire a bone-shaking burst of rounds into the creatures chest before turning on their feet to fire at the other grounded being as it scrambled along the ground towards them.

To their morbid amusement the 15mm munitions when through and through, cracking apart as the rounds seemed to explode after embedding themselves into the environment.

Looking to Hector, who had crushed the chest of one warped being beneath his boot and ripped apart the torso of another to tear out an inky black tumour; concentrated the fire of his autocannon on the Aberration. The bolts of chromatic red plasma striking the swirling form of the wretched being, sparking and rupturing against the inky void but seemingly doing nothing more than irritate the beast as its many eyes turned to focus on Hector… and then to Aodhán.

“RUTIGILE!!!”; the Aberrant Demon hissed with a bellowing cacophony of voices, before shooting out tendrils and lunging.

Magic burned through Aodhán’s arm as they launched a firebolt at the demon, blinding its many eyes as they then threw themselves through the air to the right, in the gaps between tendrils as the demon pulled itself past them.

Landing into a roll Aodhán turned mid-roll and fired through the tendrils, snapping them off and sending the Creature careening into the wall, splintering the bone surface and letting the marrow within leak through.

More so by conditioning and training rather than pattern recognition, they fired at the Aberration assuming it too would do nothing.

But the 15mm slugs seemed to pass through the void and then explode within it, calcifying the whirlpool of eyes and teeth into grey rock that then cracked and burst wide open- black puss seeping from the wound, leaving exposed what looked like a bone socket if the bones was made of crystalline nerves.

Not missing a beat, Aodhán cocked the Cannon up at an angle and pulled the trigger of the large-bore grenade launcher.

The force of what might as well be a mortar launching from the big gun pushed them back a step as the projectile flew off into the open wound of the Aberration, pushing through the nerves and exploding within its body.

The force of the explosion was contained somewhat by the outer shell of oozing mucus, but it didn’t ameliorate it.

The overpressure ruptured their body from within, releasing a detonation that blew half the Greater Demon apart and a concussive shockwave that blew Aodhán backwards.

They felt their head smash against something hard and for a few moments they blacked out. When they came to, they were staring up into the darkness above as they felt something wet trail down against their temple, friction against their legs and a feeling of being pulled by the arms.

They were being pulled by Hector, evidently away from a whirlpool of mouths.

Left dazed with a ringing in their ears, Aodhán realised that the Aberration yet endured, dragging itself after them even as half of its body had be blown open, the fireteam of Wild Hunters concentrating fire into its exposed innards, a core of crystalline deadlight- which began to bleed as mass-accelerated projectiles cracked away at it.

Aodhán figured they probably should have been afraid as tendrils shot forth, barely missing their legs and throat before embedding themselves into the surfaces beside and behind them.

The Greater Demon continuing to drag itself towards them even as Hector lifted them over his shoulder and sprinted full pelt as far from the parody of life as he could.

Maybe it was the head injury but all the Aodhán could really think about was where their Cannon went.

An explosion of magical energy drew their attention instead as two Wild Hunters began to project bright yellow flames into the core of the Abyssal Demon from its flank.

The orange crystals that lined their power gauntlets, pauldrons and breastplates glowed so bright they left black spots in Aodhán’s eyes as the flames that erupted from their hands began to spiral narrower and hotter until they turned white. Into hellfire in its purest form.

The Aberration reacted as anything that was halfway alive should react. It howled in pain with its many mouths and writhed in agony. It tried to pull itself away, to shield its insides from the flames.

But to no avail as the 2 flanking Wild Hunters cut down its tendrils with gunfire.

Aodhán found themselves propped against the wall beside the entryway to the antechamber- Hector stalking back to within striking range of the Demon, a kaleidoscope of orbs glowing across his being as he formed a ball between his hands, a distortion of space.

Magic flowed through his being and frost formed over his arms. Growing and shattering under every micro-gesture as the ball grew brighter and brighter. Compressing and densifying until Hector saw fit to let it fly of towards the Demon.

On contact, the ball ruptured and imploded. Aodhán could feel the winds change and the temperature drop in the split second before the Aberration, the immediate area around it and the Twisted schooling above were consumed by what felt like a great howling blizzard sucking everything in towards itself in a flash of blinding light.

When Aodhán opened their eyes again, they peered through the mist that remained to find the gargantuan demon still and lifeless. Frozen solid within a body of ice that had spread throughout the centre of the hall to the landing of the slope.

The Twisted had likewise been frozen in air, yet somehow they continued to float. Drifting aimlessly through the air as if the illusion of gravity no longer had a grasp upon them.

With a sigh of relief Aodhán rose to their feet, an act that felt like a mistake as their head throbbed in disorientating pain.

Reaching for support from nearby growths of bone, they looked to Hector as he checked his comrades. Confirming they were still operational, they glanced to Aodhán, moved to smash through a growth of ice with a powered fist and lifted up the Assault Cannon that had been encased under it.

Regarding it for a second, they turned to approach Aodhán while pulling the bolt to retrieve a shell.

“Depleted Uranium and Fell-Galvarithium composite?”; Hector observed, holding the shell up to their eyes. Likely so his armour or his optical implants could scan the oversized bullet, “Interesting… our Battery Guns are fed by Tungsten/Silver composite blocks. Silver is anathema to Abyss Demons. Figured it was adequate for this mission”.

“The Phantasmal Labyrinth is not a place that conforms to constants or established norms. Its denizens don’t either”; Aodhán remarked, gesturing to the floating corpses as they messaged their temple before taking back the Assault Cannon as Hector passed it to them, “I’m assuming that there are gaps in the Wild Hunts knowledge regarding this realm?”.

“Aye. Hence why we are here”; Hector answered matter-of-factly, “Most of the Abyss Invasions that occur in Mortalis are done by Abyssal Demons of the Plague, Metal and Blood Domains. Their methods vary but they flood entire worlds with Hellspawn. But not the Demons of this realm. Nor that of the Silent Devil. We don’t know how they operate. Evidently we know even less than we thought we did”.

“Well we came, we saw horrors beyond our comprehension and learned that we’re not nearly insane enough to understand half this shite, but hey at least we killed a Greater Demon and found a hunky half-naked Fomóri”; snarked one of Hector’s companions.

“Not just a Fomóri, Saoirse. A Flamdwyn”; Hector stated, allowing the silence that followed to be saturated with shock and relief, “Marvel in wonder later. Saoirse, cut off some tissue samples, we can analyse it on the Nagilfar. Aisling, Farrell, get us ready for Blue Shift. Murdina, with me and our new companion. We need to keep this area secured”.

While the fireteam began to fan out, in the darkest part of Aodhán mind- in a place no psyker could seek out and lay bare- they considered if the Assault Cannon and its ammo was powerful enough to go through the armour of the Wild Hunters.

If they had it in them to kill 5 ancient warriors trained by the Overlord, who had shared lifetimes with her, just to silence them. To keep the knowledge of their existence from reaching Helheim.

From reaching the Overlord.

Hector had turned his back to them, Murdina was more focused on firing her Battery Rifle at the floating corpses, blasting them apart as they dissolved into nothingness; and Saoirse was holding the Plasma Cannon to the corpse of the Aberration, its metallic maw opening and shooting out a continuous stream of plasma through the beings frozen flesh.

They weren’t focusing on them. They could get the drop on them all.

Aodhán shouldered the stock, held the barrel up by the grip and prepared to kill a part of themselves off.

“So, no deflection this time”; Hector began as he looked over his shoulder, forcing Aodhán to discreetly throw the cannon over their shoulder instead, “What exactly are you trying to find out here?”.

Aodhán looked away, sighing in frustration… they would be dead soon. What damage could it do?

“Oblivion”; Aodhán answered coldly.

“Oblivion?”; Hector repeated incredulously. Almost too aghast at the implications to form another sentence, “Why are you trying to reach the place of all endings!?”.

Aodhán said too much… but soon realised with a relieved half-laugh that they had stood still for too long.

From the various darkened tunnels surrounding them, and from the darkness above and below- sounded out what felt more like an inhale. A sudden reverberation of air against all the walls. Rising and rising in its volume until it stopped, returning with haste as a long throat-rending bellow shook the realm. A single word carried in its echo.

“Eligitur!!!”

Aodhán hung their head for a moment, trying to breath out their frustration as Hector looked around, seemed to search his mind for some crucial bit of information- then looked to Aodhán with some unreadable and pained expression.

Murdina meanwhile had managed to break off a part of the Aberration. Saoirse briskly walking to her side and aiding her in lifting up the chunk of frozen ink and glassy meat.

An eruption of blue light and the alien sound of space being twisted and folded across dimensions echoed from within the antechamber. A hole in reality like a swirling vortex forming within a stone archway.

Hector gestured for Murdina and Saoirse to get going. His face hardening as a distant rumble echoed in the ground and soon followed the low hum of augers gnashing against bone.

“What is hunting you?”; Hector asked broodingly.

“A Baalgarog”; Aodhán answered bluntly.

“That’s… concerning!”; Hector observed before giving Aodhán a more pointed look, “Nowhere near as concerning as you being an Eligitur though… You’re not the first I’ve met in this life that has been born host to a force of despair. You won’t be the first to succumb to it either”.

“I won’t succumb to it!”; Aodhán growled in barely suppressed anger.

“Hector!”; called over Murdina, “Scanners have pinged, whatever’s making that noise is 500 metres out and closing in fast. We need to blue shift and close the damn portal before it follows us out”

Hector looked to Murdina while Aodhán held their ground, moving to a position between the frozen Aberration and the entrance of the antechamber.

“It’s after me. I’ll draw its ire. You return to Helheim and close the portal. Tell them… tell them Aphothia stands. That they endure still”; Aodhán stated, burying their sorrow beneath an illusion of certainty, “They deserve that at least”.

“For how much longer? While you live you risk history rhyming. A history that is far more barbaric than the books could ever describe”; Hector stated, only for realisation to dawn upon him after a moment, “Oh… oh so that’s why you seek Oblivion… You realise you chase a fantasy right? Everything that dies ends up here. Nobody gets to just move on”.

“What would you rather I do then?!”; Aodhán barked angrily, “I’m doing everything I can save waiting for you bastards to come and drop a neutronium bomb on the shitehole world I’m trapped on!”.

Hector turned his gaze towards the Antechamber, then to Murdina and Saoirse yelling at them to move his ass.

He then looked back to Aodhán, then to the many tunnels that surrounded them.

“If you stay, that thing will do worse than merely kill you”; Hector stated calmly.

“It will certainly try!”; Aodhán snarled.

“…If I stay, will you try and kill me?”; Hector asked grimly.

Aodhán glared at him. An anger swelling in them that tangled itself into their despair and sorrow. Into their disgust of themself.

“Go”; Aodhán answered with barely contained malice.

Hector stood his ground for a mere moment, before once more raising his left hand to his chest, bowing his head and turning to leave.

Aodhán didn’t watch him go. They didn’t dare. They feared that if they did their hands and fingers would act on their own.

Aodhán was many things, whether they knew it or not.

The one thing they knew they didn’t want to be was a kinslayer.