pungent green-blue liquid, and sparking electricity flashed from within them occasionally. The
contents of the jars had been placed under close scrutiny to try to tease the secrets from the
preserved, ancient brains.
The red robes of the magos had been stripped from his mechanical body, and without its all
concealing hood, the priest’s head was exposed. Little human flesh remained of its face, and what
existed was corpse pale and twitched uncontrollably. Tubes and pipes fed via thick needles had been
shoved into his exposed flesh, pumping him with serums and foul secretions. “It would seem that it
has some kind of protective field generator around it,” Kol Badar had explained when the magos
had first been discovered amongst the wreckage of the crashed airship.
“I would presume that this is what enabled it to survive the crash,” he had said. “Allow me to
demonstrate.”
The Coryphaus had fired a burst of fire from his combi-bolter towards the magos and an energy
bubble surrounding the priest of the Machine-God shimmered as it absorbed the momentum from
the incoming bolt-rounds, slowing them enough for them to fall harmlessly at the magos’s feet.
But this device did not protect him any longer. No, the device had been prised from his flesh and
the Chirumeks of the Host were even now examining its workings. Marduk could do whatever he
wanted to the magos, who now had no defence.
“Greetings Magos Darioq.”
“I will not aid you Marduk, First Acolyte of the Word Bearers Legion of Astartes, genetic
descendant of the traitor Primarch Lorgar. My systems are failing. This flesh unit is dying and I
shall soon become one with Deus Machina.”
“You will aid me, and you will not be granted release. Yes, your flesh is dying since we
removed your filthy dwarf clone, but soon you will be… changed. A daemon essence is being
164
nurtured especially for you: you should feel privileged. Soon it will merge with you. Daemon,
human and machine will become one within you. You will become that which your order loathes.”
Marduk smiled, the buzzing glow-globe lighting his face daemonically.
Soon you will be a puppet, dancing to my words, thought Marduk, and then you will beg to do
my bidding. You will unlock the secrets of the Nexus Arrangement and a new era of destruction will
be unleashed upon the Imperium of Man.
Scanning and basic
proofing by Red Dwarf,
formatting and additional
proofing by Undead.
(The End)
