The Time of Ending

The Stormseer and Qin Xa moved through the Imperial Palace.

"That Ultramarine didn't say where exactly the Regent wanted you to go."

"But by convention, Librarians and Psykers like us are deployed wherever things are most critical."

"The southern part of the Imperial Palace is in dire straits right now. A huge swarm of daemons is attacking it."

The Prophet Wuwei walked ahead.

"There are no specific orders, but clearly we don't need any right now. As Librarians, we only need to go wherever the situation is most critical and support the battle."

"I'm sorry. You just got back, and instead of welcoming you properly, I'm sending you straight into war."

Qin Xa walked silently behind him, surveying the scene inside the Imperial Palace.

Everything he saw and heard was ruined and desolate.

Wounded Space Marines were piled up in the corridors. There was nowhere to put them, and no one to care for them.

Qin Xa had just been about to ask where each unit's Apothecaries had gone when he saw groups of Apothecaries being hauled back by mortals in trucks. From the look of them, every one of them was thoroughly dead.

The remaining Apothecaries had likely all been drafted to the front lines, where the fighting was fiercest. The Apothecaries still in the rear of the palace were merely corpses awaiting burial. That was why no one was tending to the wounded.

The wounded being left unattended was only one of countless urgent problems.

As he walked through the palace corridors, Qin Xa could hear hushed conversations from every direction, both mortal and Space Marine.

They were discussing when food would arrive.

"Ecclesiarchy priests will come and raise our morale."

"Priests? I don't fucking want priests. I want food!"

"Those superhumans look like they're about to starve