My chrono vibrated, waking me. It had only been a few hours, but my headache was gone, and that was enough. The time was too valuable to waste, and while groggy, the spike of adrenaline when I realised where I was, was more than enough to wake me up.
Glancing round, Zardelle wasn't there, but I could see her standing near the Lady Inquisitor, deep in conversation.
I briefly wondered what they were talking about and even considered making my way over, but shook that thought away. That could come later. I didn't want to risk not being able to come back.
Snuffles was in the corner, still faithfully standing guard.
I dropped back into the surprisingly comfortable and supportive chair to get back to work. I started where I'd left off, grinding through blueprint after blueprint, still on the smaller components. But it wasn't just mechanical parts, I also got genomes, enzymes and proteins as well. All of them were crucial to genetics and the later stages of chemistry or biology.
A great find was basically a super lubricant. Once applied, it removed all friction. Not some or even most, all.
It required a lot of steps and machines to get it, not to mention some exotic compounds, but the STCs covered all that, so when I was finished with it, I had all I needed.
By the time I felt I had a good selection of what I considered foundational parts, I could feel the pulsing behind my eyes once more. I had gone through hundreds of the blueprints, maybe even 1000s, getting slightly faster each time as some information was duplicated across the different STCs. Even so, it was a slog, and I needed a break.
I groaned as I stood, stretching and looking around.
Snuffles had moved nearer to my seat, noise still pointed at the door, but perked up when he saw me moving and scrambled up to trot over to me.
"How you doing boy? You hungry? Of course you are."
I should be hungry, but I felt more sick than anything. I forced down some corpse starch and water anyway, having given Snuffles his long-overdue meal. The second cube had just settled into my stomach like a brick when Zardelle entered the room once more.
"How's it going? Getting whatever you need?" She asked, shutting the sliding door behind her.
"It's going well. What's it like outside?"
"Tense. The Archmagos and the Inquisitors are clashing over what to do. The Archmagos doesn't want to move any of the STCs, not until more of his tech priests arrive so they can do the proper rituals before moving them, for fear of damaging them." She slumped into the chair by the door and popped off her helmet to eat and drink.
Having taken a sip of water, she continued. "Whilst Inquisitor Elion argues to move as much as they can before the chamber becomes a battlefield."
"So they haven't found another way in?"
"No, that is the only entrance, and I heard one of the Grey Knights mention psychic fluctuations are coming from the room."
"Who won?"
"Huh?" She said, glancing up from where she had been petting Snuffles, who, having finished his meal, went over to her for scratchies.
"Who won? Like what are they doing with the STCs?"
"Bit of both. The Archmagos is slowly moving them to the doorway, but it is slow going. Only other priests can touch them and he won't let them leave his sight. With the rites he does for each one they have moved less than 15 since e have arrived. Inquisitor Elion is livid. I wasn't even the focus of his glare, and it made me want to run away."
"How long until more priests arrive?" That could affect my plans.
"No idea. Their communication can't get out, so he had to send runners, which they aren't even sure got through."
"Really?" I asked, surprised. "None have made it back down."
"No. The Archmagos even asked if you could guide them out. Well told, really. But that was shut down hard."
"By Inquisitor Brigitta? Why?" Either way, thank fuck they had. I'm not sure what I would have done. Maybe lock the door before we could leave and pretend I couldn't get through?
"No Inquisitor Elion again, and he didn't say. But I bet it was to try to twist their arm to start to move the STCs faster. Although there is something you might not like. But first, are you going to tell me what you are doing?"
"I will later. Trust me. Now what is the thing?"
"I do. Most havent noticed you. The Holy Angles don't seem to care about anything bar the doorway to their target. Only the Inquisitors seem to know you are doing something. However, they still want a guide and the next best thing to you was Snuffles."
"What?"
"I know, but it looked like they were going to come to blows, and you said how important it was you stayed here, so I suggested him." Zardelle said, looking slightly nervous.
I sat back in thought. On the one hand, I was angry she had volunteered him without asking. But if it was that or me leaving, then it was clearly the better choice. He would be back soon enough anyway.
There was also the small part of my mind, whispering that it would keep him out of harm's way. He was a powerful combatant but best at close range.
"When does he need to leave?"
"ASAP."
"Hmm." I muttered, tilting my head from side to side, weighing things up. In the end, I couldn't see another way forward. "Okay. It was a good call. Thanks." I said, standing up, grinning at her.
"Thanks." She said with a relieved smile. "Come on Snuffles."
I sent a warm feeling to him and nodded at him to go. Chuffing, he trotted over to me and licked my hand be following after Zardelle.
I watched him leave and walk over to the Inquisitors before diving back into the database.
Now that I had done the basics, I wanted to move on to a few essential systems, or what I considered essential anyway. Like auspex arrays, from close range to the long range ones, called auguries. I didn't bother with the simple ones and went straight for their best, which came in three major flavours.
There was a close range, like found on armour. Then medium range, which you might have on smaller vehicles or within structures. For example, the sensors within the ruins we were in used them. Finally, there were long-range ones that could scan entire star systems or even sectors.
From there, I moved on to chips and shielding. And I couldn't forget about the things to power them, from the batteries, superconductors, wireless power transfer and power generators. I actually got a few types of power generation.
I, of course, got the best I could find, but having seen some of the requirements, it was a very long way out of reach, so I also got some that I might be able to use within the next 1000 years. Like the Atomantic Arc Reactor, which was superb for smaller machines, but when scaled up to ones to power starships or stations, there was a better option called ZEUS Energy Crystal or just ZEUS, which I also grabbed.
For shields, I picked up Atomantic Shielding, mostly because the documentation linked it with the Arc Reactors. Then several conversion fields. I didn't mean to at first, but the best shield I could find was a type that weaved several interlinking fields together, providing a layered defence.
Finally, before moving on to larger, more complete machines, I grabbed a few rare metals and minerals. Several had jumped out at me. First, which was listed under experimental, was phase iron. They'd developed it several years before the end of their era and were testing the use cases for it. I also picked up the linked research, where they had several materials that enhanced psykers.
Like a crystal called Zytherael, as well as an alloy made with a mixture of silver, gold and several other alloys.
Like with everything, there was a paralysing amount of choice. But not to a level I would have expected for the work of an entire civilisation, and when I looked for it, I started to find gaps.
Not that it mattered.
By that point I needed another break.
Crashing out once more, I woke with a start. I checked both with Zardelle and the door through my chip.
Thankfully, there was no change, so I took a stim and got stuck in once more. I had less than a day before the door would open. Although there was a niggle at the back of my mind. Why was Snuffles not back yet?
His biomonitor read all green, and I had access to the ruins systems, so I could reach the outside world, so I knew he was okay.
That would do for now; he could take care of himself.
Back to the STCs. Every minute counted.
I knew what I wanted first, which came in 2 parts. First was construction or fabrication. Molecular construction and manipulation, as well as nanites, allowed the construction of wonders, from planet-sized space stations to machines smaller than the eye could see.
That alone took hours to read through; there was so much to it. But my god was I looking forward to getting there. I could just imagine parking a ship above a planet and then turning it on and turning that planet into hundreds of more ships, using the raw resources and manipulating matter when I didn't.
The other part was the system that I had become so familiar with whenever I dived into the ruins. They had been a mystery to me all my life, and I wanted to have the curtain pulled back.
The sensors I had already picked out, although not the complex IFF system linking them to people, so I got that. Then there were the defence fields, which, when I learned about them, were far more powerful than I expected and really showed how time was the true killer.
But finally, I got the part I was truly interested in. The special warping and stacking technology. How it allowed the ruins to move corridors each Tidefall.
When I had finished reading through the chunky data file, it actually linked to something I hadn't considered.
Digital weapons.
Of which there were many to pick from. To be fair, the options were niche; in fact, most of the STCs were around their research into the warp, crystals and gravitational effects. The digital weapons didn't have any special manipulations within them, just incredibly advanced miniaturised components, which I naturally learned but didn't grab my attention.
It was another tangent that did.
It jogged a long-forgotten memory of an alien in a blue box that was smaller on the outside. It allowed more to fit more into less, which brought all sorts of interesting ideas to mind.
There was still a lot to look through, but I was very conscious of the time and how fast it was slipping away.
So, for the ultimate goal of my freedom and my dream of parking a ship in orbit, I started to look through them.
I started small, getting an interceptor fighter, then a gunship. Both were small and by this point not very complex, as they didn't introduce any new concepts. There were crewed versions and automated versions.
I got both.
I did get the lesser versions, as the more advanced designs required AI to run, and since I couldn't find how to make them anywhere in the database, I left them for now. With them, I wanted to move up the classes, like to a corvette, then a cruiser.
But I ran into two issues. The first, they didn't have any designs that actually fit my needs, and with only a few hours left, I didn't want to waste the time.
Going for broke, I found the two largest ships I could. First was a repair/fabricator ship. It was massive, over 80km long, and even as a support ship it was bristling with weapons, shields and armour like a weapons system called an adrathic beam.
The other ship was a battleship and actually followed the same principles as the fabricator ship, with many of the same systems, so I just glanced through it to get the general idea.
When I glanced into my fragment, I could see the incomplete STC, with large blank sections waiting to be filled in.
There was another ship mentioned called a Construction Arc, which was a continent-sized ship, but it didn't have the detailed plans on that. It did note that it could contain a full STC list. But I pushed that from my mind as irrelevant, I'm sure they were all destroyed by now, and turned my attention to other tech.
That left one major area. Biological. Rejuvenation treatment, gene manipulation, biological engineering and enhancements.
The lists were extensive and pleasantly quick to get through as they mostly revolved around the same things. I didn't go into as much detail as I would have liked, but with what I had, I should be able to slowly fill in the blanks.
A note in one of the designs reminded me of bionics. I knew I wanted them; I still had the ones I found on the body all those years ago. With that in mind, I started to flick through what I could.
It was surprisingly limited. Mostly around civilian applications, but still incredible to read.
My mind was almost dead by this point. It was like working through a fog, and no stim pack was helping, but I pushed on. I had eight hours before the doors opened, and I needed to sleep before then.
I started to skim blueprints, pausing on interesting ones, like another stronger machine interface, linked through a throne or adaptive metal.
I struggled on, even perking up on a silicon-based brain that could perfectly mirror a human's, even able to experience emotion if a human consciousness was uploaded into it.
But it was no use, my mind was shot.
I started flicking through other ones, hoping something else would perk me up. Several trucks and tanks later, also very limited, and so I moved on.
Stompy robots and massive stompy robots. One even had something called Ciricrux Anima, which I paid close attention to. According to their notes, they had been working on developing a new version of it.
I pushed on. Interesting armour designs. Environmental suits. Several software packages which were very easy to get down, so I stayed on that longer than I probably should have.
Then it was communication.
---
"Aleric, it's time."
I brushed away the arm tapping my shoulder. I would deal with whatever it was later. My head was killing.
"Aleric!"
I jerked up as the voice smacked me. "Huh?" I said, confused and disoriented.
"The door is about to open; we need to get ready." Zardelle said.
Adrenaline pumped through my system, giving me a much-needed boost. The stim I pulled out helped, but I was still dead tired.
"Got it." I said, standing up, locking the display as I did. I must have fallen asleep in front of it. Slapping my cheeks a few times and hopping about in a desperate attempt to wake up, I slotted on my helmet and stepped out.
Still no Snuffles. Or reinforcements for that matter. He was still green and even in the ruins, but not with me. That was worrying, but at the same time, I didn't really want him anywhere near the fighting, because he would be in the thick of it.
I wasn't sure what to expect, but it was unlikely to be an easy fight.
I checked my connection to the door, and it was still locked down. Annoyingly, I couldn't lock him in, which I kind of wanted to. If it gave me more time looking up STCs, I was all for it.
I joined just in time to hear some of the tech acolytes complaining once more, but they were dismissed by the Grey Knights and Inquisitors. I joined the lines surrounding the vault door.
I noted the closest STC crystal wafers had been moved and were carefully staked in the corner. But the rest looked almost untouched.
We were about to have a battle, and they had left them in the same room as the Grey Knights. Surely they had seen them fight? Collateral damage didn't seem to be a concern for them.
Apart from the moved crystals, some fortifications had been put up. What good it would do, I didn't know, but I was very glad to sit behind them as we got a countdown from the Tech priests, perfectly mirroring the one I had from the chip.
A heavy thump echoed through the room. And another and another deep boom, as the huge locks slid out, unlocking the massive vault door.
The tension in the room could have been cut with a knife, and we all froze in stillness as we waited for the door to swing open.
Blue and purple light poured through the cracks in the opening door.
With it came a pressure wave passing through the room, slamming down on us all. Several of the Tech Priests and kill team members grunted and dropped to their knees.
The pressure was far greater than I had ever experienced. Greater even than when Zardelle maxed her field out only a few feet from her. It was like a thousand claws scratching at my soul, trying to find purchase and worm its way in through my crystalline defences.
I pushed them aside and marshalled my soul to brush aside the weight pushing down on me, but it was harder than I would have liked. I took a few steps closer to Zardelle, who was the least affected of us all, and instantly felt the pressure drop.
But even Zardelle wasn't untouched and had to fortify her aura to push back the pressure of the alien presence.
The stillness was broken by a defiant roar as the Grey Knights charged, only to be knocked back flying as a figure emerged from the vault door.
The man, if he could still be called that, was changed. Gone was the twisted and gaunt man of before. In his place was a man in the prime of his life, positively glowing with health. His robes were black, clean and of good make, but the most striking item was the crown on his head.
Silver with a glowing lines of purple flowing around it in ever-changing patterns. I could make out several of the runes as they flashed past. Power. Drawing Strength. Feeding. Stabilising. Hidden.
It kept coming back to two I didn't recognise, a writhing, flaming snake, constantly shifting in colour and a pulsing star with a slitted eye within.
Just looking upon the eye, caused a sharp knifing pain through my head as something slammed into my soul. Luckily, it didn't make its way through, but I turned away from it.
Though the Inquisitor had been restored to his prime, he wasn't untouched by the Immaterium.
Where his right eye should have been was a gaping hole that seemed to be sucking in everything around it, including light. From it, a pointed tip of a purple crystal emerged, with most of the rest of the crystal hidden from view.
Then set in his chest was another gem, clamped by a multi-layered mouth, each one lined with teeth opening into another until the final one that had the gem clamped in its mouth.
The gem bared a striking resemblance to the one all those years ago.
Finally, from his back, two large, feathered wings emerged.
The Grey Knights flew back a dozen metres, smashing into rows of the crystal data slips, crushing them into power. More were smashed as the Knights exploded with power and charged forward one more.
A scream of pain, rage and despair came from the lead Magos as he saw his precious STCs destroyed. From within the vault came a wave of grotesquely deformed mutants, the last remnants of the cultists.
"Fire!" The Inquisitors commanded, as if we needed it. Needing no further encouragement, we opened up, tearing through the charging mutants. Stray shots pinged off the crystals, causing them to shatter and tinkle to the floor.
The mutants were cut down with ease, the Grey Knights bolters making short work of them.
But they weren't the threat.
The now fully emerged Ex-Inquisitor was.
"Behold the power of the Emperor and burn under his sacred flame heretics!" he screamed with glee, throwing his hand out, a shimmering shield appearing in front of him.
Our shots, fizzing or pinging off it harmlessly.
That pressure intensified, the Grey knights and other psykers grunting as they tried to push him back.
It wasn't enough for many of the kill teams and priests, with many collapsing where they stood, convulsing. My soul and mind compressed under the strain, locking together and hardening under the force as my many techniques paid off.
A wave of flame erupted from him, only to be blocked by the Knights, who then returned fire with a brilliant lance of white light. As it struck the Ex-inquisitor's shield, he laughed, the attacks splashing harmlessly against it. "You can't stop me now heretics. The Emperor is with me." He screamed, hands raised higher as if he was giving a sermon.
Another pulse left him, the shockwave visible in the air, blowing both dust and people from him. I could feel the power trying to get a hold of me and lift me back, but I strained with my soul, using my will and rejecting that reality. I still staggered back a few steps, whilst many of the others were thrown back metres.
With more STCs shattering and trampled underfoot.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Zardelle advancing with a determined gait, her face hidden by her helmet. Knowing it would be impossible to dissuade her, even if I could, and I wasn't sure I would, I charged after her, slowly at first but picking up speed as I neared her.
Ex-Inquisitor Domikio threw us a glance and dismissed us to continue throwing powerful attacks at the Grey Knights and Inquisitors who were taking the majority of his attention.
Even that glance distracted him enough for several attacks to land, cracking his shield. He whipped his head back and responded in kind. Bathing a Grey Knight in plasma, with so much force it pushed him back, his armoured feet digging deep gouges into the floor. Around him, more crystals were vaporised.
But we weren't fully forgotten, and a wave of flaming lightning zig-zagged at us.
Well used to it by this point, Zardelle didn't slow charging through the fire, me right on her tail. The fire provided us the cover we needed, Zardelle slamming into his shield. It showed how strong it was, with even her next to it, it didn't shatter and held for a moment.
Enough time for the heretic to turn to us, eyes wide in shock, before the great ocean flowed through him, bolstering his mind, and I could see his eyes glaze over once more in rapture. Pushing a hand at us, I could feel his mind smash into Zardelle's aura and then into our minds.
She had one last attack, shattering his shield near her before she collapsed, her mind under assault. My defences held, able to turn away the blunt assault. I raised my relic pistol and held the trigger.
My shots peppered him, mostly inconsequentially, but several scored the crystal in his chest.
Enraged, the crystals flared, energy pouring through them, and a wave of purple liquid rushed out from him, turning and twisting into hands, arms and tentacles as it did. Zardelle and I were blown tumbling back to slam into the far wall.
As soon as I came into contact with the liquid tentacles, I could feel it trying to change, corrupt my body. Pulling from my pool of energy in my soul, I fought it, forcing my belief on my body to maintain its shape. Even with the armour's inertial dampening, I still felt jolted as I hit the wall, and it was likely the only thing that kept me alive.
Twisting round, I saw Zardelle a few metres away, clambering to her feet.
The water didn't stop at us and kept expanding in all directions.
The Knights and Inquisitor put up a golden barrio protecting one side of the room, blocking it from reaching many of the kill team and priests.
Those not protected by this were swept up in the wave, mutating and twisting before our eyes.
Rolling, I moved closer to Zardelle, just in time as the wave reached us once more. This time, Zardelle was aware and ready, her aura compressed to only a few metres from her and at full power.
The purple liquid dissolved and vanished as soon as it crossed the threshold and recoiled almost as if it was aware.
The room looked like a war zone, and I could still see the wave of corruption vanishing off into the distance, carrying debris with it.
The psykers were in a full duel now.
Flashes of psychic power flowing from each, the Knights moved as if one, reacting to the heretic flawlessly. Even so, it was on a knife-edge. A missed block sent a streak of lightning into some of the surviving priests, vaporising them. Only the holy man's presence seemed to hold it back from killing more of the kill team.
It was a fight; it looked like we were losing.
Zardelle was back on her feet. She had a few cracked ribs, but otherwise was okay, at least according to her bio monitor. Her mind, I wasn't so sure.
I could only hope she was okay, and my training had helped her. To make sure, I moved over to her and touched her shoulder. As I did and pushed my power into her, bolstering her and her aura.
I exhaled a sigh of relief. I didn't feel anything wrong with her, but I couldn't be sure.
Regardless, we moved forward once more, taking a circular path to flank him from the right.
'The crystal! Target that!' I shouted to Zardelle as we ran.
'Copy!'
I stuck a few paces behind Zardelle and calibrated my pistol to its max. It would drain most of its charge in three shots and might fry the gun. But we had to make this count.
Protected by Zardelle's aura, we made it within striking distance once more unnoticed. I slid to a halt, pistol raised and braced, ready to fire.
Zardelle charged on a few paces and jumped at the shield still swirling around him. I felt her aura retract into her. I knew why, even as I grunted under the sudden weight of the psyker's presence. Her aura would be at its most potent like that.
It showed.
She hit the shield and pushed right through it, as if it were sticky treacle.
Then she was on him. She brought her power sword slashing down in a two-handed overhead strike.
Somehow, he noticed her at the last second. He had just enough time to twist, raising a medallion. I couldn't see what was on it, as smoke poured off it and it burned up. Zardelle's power sword struck something, like hardened air, but still made it through, nicking him as he was twisting, cutting a wing off. She also clipped the crystal, cutting the tiniest shard off.
At the same time, I fired. Like in practice. Two in the chest, one in the head.
The first two caught the crystal straight one, bubbling and melting its exterior. The one aimed at his right eye missed, vanishing into the black hole around the crystal.
He shrieked in pain and rage. It reverberated oddly like there was another voice crying out at the same time, with the same rage.
There was a flash of light, and I found myself crumpled into the wall again with no memory of reaching it.
A body dropped a few metres to my left, Zardelle. Rolling, I looked over at the ex-inquisitor.
He was almost hard to look at now; the light and power pouring from the crystals were so bright. Even my helmet couldn't reduce the glare enough.
But through it, I could see him glaring at us. He wasn't going to let us off easy this time. He threw a powerful attack at the Grey Knights, battered and smoking but still very much in the fight, forcing them back.
I couldn't see the Inquisitors or the Kill team, although with the piles of debris around, they could be hidden by a mound.
With them distracted, the heretic clenched both hands and, with a roar, threw them out in our direction.
I was already clambering to my feet when he attacked. From his hands, a churning light blue cloud emerged and rolled over to us. My sensors in my armour were telling me the anomaly was moving towards us slowly, but my mind could see it rapidly approaching.
I tensed, ready to throw myself out of the way, when I spotted Zardelle staggering unsteadily to her feet, unaware of the danger.
Without thought, I pivoted my jump, leaping into her and knocking her far out of the way.
I wasn't so lucky.
I escaped most of it; only my arm was bathed in the cloud. It flushed, like it had been frozen in a deep cold before agony poured off it.
Worse, I could feel the agony creeping up my arm.
Landing heavily onto the floor, I shifted to look at it. Before my eyes, I watched as the arm hit by the ray vanished into ash. Around the wound was the same smoky cloud, and it was moving up my arm, disintegrating it as it went.
I could feel it. Not just the agony, but I could feel it breaking the bonds in my arm. Closing my eyes, I focused on that. I was distantly aware of Zardelle dragging me off to the side, calling out to me and another person screaming, only to realise it was me or the titanic clashes further in the room as the Ex-inquisitor turned his attention back to the Knights.
But that was far away as I brought my being, my soul and all my energy onto the slow death creeping up my arm.
I focused, willing and enforced my belief onto my arm. To stop it from disintegrating.
Whatever it was, it fought me. It slowed at first, almost confused, before the malicious energy renewed its assault. It was a battle of wills, one I held strong with. But I was losing energy. That pool of energy I was using to force it to stop was vanishing fast.
Too fast.
The cloud renewed its journey up my arm, passing the bicep and almost reaching my shoulder.
But then I felt it slow once more. Running out of whatever energy had been fuelling it. With renewed hope, I threw the last of my energy into halting it and even pushing it away.
My mind was burning. My soul felt like it was going to shatter, but I held. The cloud raged, but it only burned itself out faster and then dissolved, fading away.
I slumped to the floor, landing on Zardelle, who was still kneeling next to me.
My vision swam, almost going black, but I held on.
'Aleric?'
'I'll live.' I rasped, my voice raw.
'Good. But you really should have moved out of the way.'
'Bitch.' I said with a small laugh. Relieved she was okay.
Ever so carefully, each jolt sending shooting pain through my body, I peered over the pile of rubble we were hiding behind.
The battle was still raging, and the Knights were still losing. However, something had changed. I could barely see it, even with the magnification on my helmet, but there were hairline cracks forming within the crystal in the Ex-Inquisitor's chest.
The more the Knights battled him, the larger these got.
I was distracted from the battle by a glint in the platsteel in front of me.
It was a large fragment of a crystal wafer. Without thought, I grabbed it and tucked it into a protected compartment within my armour. I had a use for that, an idea already forming.
Looking back at the battlefield, we watched as the fighting reached a climax. It was far too dangerous for us to get involved now. The Knights were moving in a tight formation, glowing golden shields overlapped around them, protecting them from the furious assault of the heretic.
I could barely follow their movements; they were just blurs.
Their power weapons flared each time they went to strike the ex-inquisitor, who dodged out of the way or threw up a powerful shield.
More and more power poured out of the crystal to keep up with the Knights, turning them back from each assault. The flashes of light as they exchanged psychic blows came quicker and quicker, and then a clink cut through the room. Both quiet and defining at the same time.
Without warning, the gem in the Ex-inquisitor's chest shattered. It flashed, flaring up like a new sun, before exploding outwards. Diving behind the rubble pile, I pushed myself into it, with Zardelle next to me, her aura blanketing us.
When the wave of destruction passed over us, it was just noise and light. It seemed to last for years, but in actuality, the light faded after a few minutes.
I could feel the heat start to lick at my armour, pressing back a tied Zardelle. I threw what little power I could into her, bolstering her, and she held just long enough.
When it stopped, the world was a little dimmer, like the colour had been bleached from everything. Now clear I looked around and could only see devastation.
Scorched rockcrete, melted and twisted metal. Blackened walls.
None of the once orderly room was untouched.
On the far side, I could see pockets of untouched areas. Those who had shields or powers to protect themselves stood in circles of calm amid the chaos. But they were few and far between.
I had no idea how many lived.
Off in the distance, my armour auspex picked up an alarm. It was muffled coming from a side room.
I connected my chip to the network to see what the issue was and was instantly bombarded by warnings and error messages.
Containment Breached: Purging.
Purging Failed: Entering Lockdown.
Containment reestablished: Lockdown lifted.
I almost shat myself when I read purging, suddenly having horrible visions of being killed just as we won the day.
But that might explain why Snuffles and the reinforcements hadn't arrived. The time of the lockdown wasn't long after he had left.
Another timer caught my eye.
What had been weeks now read hours before the tidefall would come to an end. I tried to stand but swayed unsteadily, so instead voxed the Inquisitor that the ruin would be closing far sooner than expected.