Awakening

Awakening

A mind without resolve wandered like a purposeless soul through the dark wilderness.

Endless darkness, terrifying darkness. Within the depths of consciousness, there was not a single flicker of light, only a peace-bringing darkness. Could he finally rest?

Indeed, only death could bring true peace to the life of a mighty warrior.

He instinctively reached for that familiar position, but the power hammer that had accompanied him for centuries had vanished completely.

Not just the hammer; in the void, besides darkness, there was nothing else.

So this was death. Yet the words in his mind were so clear; who could ignore life and death, pierce the void, and whisper beside him?

The Emperor's will shall be your torch, and shall shatter the shadows before your eyes.

The Emperor already knows, and is watching.

There was still no color in the void, but he had long since recovered his consciousness.

It was the Emperor once again protecting the subjects of the Imperium! Long live the Emperor! Long live the Imperium! he roared involuntarily in his mind. He finally remembered his identity: a mighty Space Marine, lieutenant and squad leader of the 7th Squad, 2nd Company of the Raven Revilers ― Angus.

He wondered if Nova IV had been overrun by those damned Orc brutes. In his trance, Angus had forgotten the fact of his death, and in his consciousness, it was as if he heard a different voice once more:

I walk amidst the fires of war

Dozens of drop pods trailed long, fiery wakes across the sky, screaming as they violently smashed into the green ocean.

Each drop pod generated a shock wave dozens of kilometers in diameter upon landing, and billowing mushroom clouds swept across the land like a low-yield nuclear explosion.

Within the impact zone, there were hardly any intact Orcs, and even the crystallized earth could not withstand this terrifying attack.

After continuous tremors, the flesh and blood on the ground were reduced to powder, and the ranged assault cannons began a new round of salvoes, pulse cannon arrays painting fiery checks in the air, ultimately mixing into the gunsmoke.

I strike upon the anvil of strife

From the landing drop pods, terrifying killing machines leaped out continually, skillfully forming battle formations. Meanwhile, the green Orc horde had their attack rhythm disrupted by the previous onslaught, and subsequent Orc forces surged forward like a wave under the command of their warlord.

He held the Ultima-pattern Mark III power hammer in his left hand and a storm bolter in his right, instantly emptying one hundred and twenty-eight bolt shells. With a thought, he activated the energy shield on his armor, and Angus led his squad to crash head-on into the green frenzy.

Where the power hammer swung, the Slugga Boyz were merely grazed by the gale-force wind as if struck by the full force of a giant battering ram; their shattered bodies were excited by the vibrational energy into fine, powdery dust. As for the battle-hardened Ork Berserkers, if they were touched, they fell to pieces; if they brushed past it, brains splattered and blood flowed everywhere.

Even the Orc Nobz were sent flying one by one amid wails, with collapsed chest armor and violently torn limbs. These powerful Orc warriors were not a match for a Space Marine in a single blow.

The pale blue armored energy shield also caused the Orcs' attacks to be completely ignored; bursting arrows and roaring rockets did not require Angus to deliberately dodge them. An Orc warrior's desperate heavy slash barely raised a ripple, and the chieftain had to personally come forth to face this peerless reaper just to barely resist the Space Marine's advancing pace. Viewed from the air, it looked as though green waves were washing against these black reefs, yet the reefs were pushing forward against the current.

The tactical display before Angus's eyes clearly showed that the Imperial Defense Force in the rear was also clearing out the Orcs who had broken into the fortress, and was stepping up its evacuation from the surface fortifications.

A harsh warning tone told him that he did not have much time left.

Soon, the Imperial Navy cruiser fleet would enter near-orbit and obliterate all life within the area. He had to enter the Imperial Guard fortress before then. A silent command shuttled among the hard-pressed Space Marines.

The Raven's warriors jointly erupted with a massive energy shock, causing the Orcs' offensive to stall momentarily. Seizing the gap, they rapidly transitioned into a retreat formation and headed toward the fortress. As a lieutenant squad leader, Angus naturally took up the rearguard position.

We are the Ultramarines, the most loyal warriors of the God-Emperor, our valor admits no doubt! The land of war is the place of our worship, and the roar of bolters is the sound of our prayer. Our bolters are loaded with death, and all the Space Marines swore aloud: "It is the God-Emperor's holy wrath!"

The Orcs were not a race that easily conceded defeat. As the Imperial Guard continuously retreated into the underground fortress, the Orc heavy units suppressed by ranged firepower also entered the field. Grots mixed with Kill Burstas accelerated in an attempt to bypass the retreating Space Marines and attack the Imperium's underground fortress. Now, without looking up, one could hear the huge engine propulsion sound of the cruiser Retribution; railgun orbital sweeping had entered countdown.

"All personnel retreat at full speed, Squad 7 cover the rear. I repeat, all personnel retreat at full speed, Squad 7 cover the rear." As Angus spoke, he leaped up and struck the foremost Orc tank with his hammer.

He converted all the energy in his body into a small black hole bomb. He only needed to stall for a few seconds so that all the Space Marines could safely retreat, while the base's underground fortress defense system could fully activate to withstand the terrifying orbital bombardment.

Angus's energy armor temporarily lost mobility due to overloading, and he could only passively fend off the greenskins' attacks. The Retribution's energy charge could now output maximum energy. In the next second, surging white particle energy swept across the entire heaven and earth. At the end of the battle, only shouts filling the sky could be heard at his ear:

Waaaaaaaaagh!!

Vinctorus aut Mortis! Angus calmly spat out his final dying words before completely losing consciousness.

732.M41: The Orc Blood Hand Clan army ambushed Nova IV in the Altair System. After the Imperial Defense Force held out for 37 days, the Raven Revilers intercepted the signal, completely annihilating all invading Orc forces and safeguarding the peace of the Imperium.

While Angus, or rather Angus's conscious entity, was still immersed in the glorious battle, the entire void began to slowly warp, and endless void barriers began to tear. Numerous aetheric fragments continuously entered Angus's body. Although he was merely a conscious entity, the discomfort of foreign objects entering his body made him realize that he was absorbing something.

On the endless wilderness, farmers were farming everywhere, actually holding hoes and pitchforks from the Old Iron Age.

By the boundless sea stood a towering lighthouse. A two-masted wooden sailing ship drifted on the sea surface, and even the sailors cleaning the deck on the ship were clearly visible.

With dappled tree shadows, a carriage traveled along smooth flagstone streets, while guards on duty outside the windows leaned lazily against their longspears, dozing off.

A chaotic crowd, weeping women and children, crowded the port. Sailing ship after sailing ship was packed with fleeing refugees, and the air was filled with the smell of the fires of war.

A slightly dilapidated wooden cabin, a warm bonfire, practicing swordsmanship diligently, an apple handed from behind and a pair of tender little hands.

Underground skeleton frames wobbled to their feet; warriors who had died heroically lunged forward with a blinding red light toward the comrades they had fought alongside just a moment before. The green Orc army roared as they shattered humanity's defense line, red lizards in the sky spewed flames, and people fled desperately for their lives. In the distance, a pitch-black mass of ghouls and gargoyles also attacked frantically...

Angus's consciousness was gradually filled by these endless memory fragments. For a Space Marine who had experienced cruel battles spanning several millennia, his inner heart remained entirely calm. Only upon seeing the familiar greenskin brutes did a trace of a ripple appear. How he longed to once again smash his hammer into those buck-toothed, ugly faces, and then stomp down fiercely.

These images were so vivid, as if Angus had experienced them personally himself, but how was this to be explained?

Could it be that after death, his soul had arrived in the Warp, and Slaanesh had stirred up the desires within his heart? Or was it Tzeentch's false yet lifelike illusion?

As a Space Marine most valued by the Emperor, the dark gods paid the utmost attention to this group. Thinking of the tragedies in history, Angus began to quietly pray to his liege, while those memory fragments in the void grew increasingly numerous.

A warmth so endearing one clung to it, a small head sucking with all its might, a body growing larger day by day, an incomparably reassuring aura beside a beautiful woman. Was this, was this Angus's mother?

A face covered in rough stubble pricked him into a fit of crying. Though it was only a shoulder, sitting upon it felt as high as sitting on a mountain peak. The sword in those hands conjured several sword flashes, and a piece of wood transformed into a small wooden sword. Then this man like a mountain was presumably Angus's father.

Angus now felt waves of excruciating pain, as if his soul had been torn apart by someone and then crudely stitched back together. Space Marines had all undergone the highest-grade modifications, and their pain receptors had been largely excised; both flesh and consciousness could hardly feel such intense pain anymore.

Yet the visions before his eyes grew increasingly real, and Angus abandoned the thought of continuing to resist. Whether facing the running dogs of the dark gods, the beasts of the greenskins, or the damned traitors, a Space Marine would press forward valiantly. If this was hell, then let the Emperor's wrath continue to burn within hell!

The illusion before his eyes did not end; the Orcs defeated humanity's forces, and the capital city was also breached by the enemy.

They retreated all the way to the small seaside town, where his father was conscripted again to continue the fight against the Orcs. The infant girl his mother adopted along the way also needed care, and smiles gradually faded from the woman's face, replaced by the weathering of the years.

As the long war dragged on, the Orc forces began to retreat step by step. Everyone looked forward to news of victory, and the whole family waited together for the father's return. In the end, besides victory, all they waited for was a ring left behind by his father.

Worn down by years of fatigue, his mother was finally struck down by such devastating news. After losing his revered father, Angus lost his dearest mother as well, and he grew up slowly, depending on his adopted younger sister for mutual support.

Yet this world became even more dangerous. The Orcs fled to another continent, a plague swept across the entire kingdom, the prince killed his own father and destroyed the Kingdom of Lordaeron, panic gripped the town, and the confused knight did not know where he should go.

No longer resisting, Angus could no longer feel the pain brought by the fusion of the fragments. The person in the illusion was him, and the former Space Marine was also him; then should the Angus in reality be the same person as the Angus in the illusion? The Angus in the illusion had once heard a gentle female voice, "Let's name our child Roderick, Roderick Northumberland."

His consciousness felt pain once more, and even soft whispers began to ring in his ears. Angus faintly heard low sobbing, and the sound turned clearer in the next moment.

"Has Roderick woken up yet?"

"The priest from the church has already treated him, older brother will be fine, sob..."

"It's all Arnold's fault for running off to the seaside. If it weren't for him, we wouldn't have run into so many Murloc, and Roderick wouldn't have gotten hurt."

"I'm sorry, sob, it's my fault, it's me who got Roderick killed, sob..."

"Shut up, Arnold, older brother won't die, sob..."

"Roderick, you need to wake up, all these children need you, and Southshore needs you even more..."

The entire void began to spin and rise, and Angus's consciousness body correspondingly began to fall. Roderick, that name sounded so familiar; was someone calling him? With the accelerating speed, the entire void world crashed into countless fragments with a loud bang, and the space in front of him was instantly filled with a blinding light. He could not help but blink his eyes.

"Sob, older brother..."

"Great, he finally woke up."

"I'll never dare to act on my own again, sob... Roderick."

"Go quick and call the priest over, I'll go make Spiny-whiskered Catfish chowder, you kids be careful..."

"Is this a new life?" Roderick could not help closing his eyes.