# A Choice Encounter - Smile at Me - Black Horizon



## zacktheRipper (Jan 23, 2012)

This is just a tiny short story I wrote, in the fashion of the shorts you may find in a Codex. I hope you all enjoy it!



Orelius stood on top of a smoking Imperial Rhino, staring down at the burning city kneeling before him. He could see explosions, fire, and he could hear the crumbling buildings shattering themselves on the earth. Tall, magnificent constructs wept as the humans fought inside of their walls, their supports being blasted away by meltaguns, their floors collapsing as explosions gnawed at them. Orelius smiled a wicked grin, the thin flesh of his 10,000 year old face crinkling as his fanged maw showed itself to the quivering city. He was a man of some repute in this sector, leading a Warband that dwarfed the Imperial presence here. Millions of screaming mutants, zealous heretics and bloodthirsty renegades marched under the Eye of Horus, fighting in his name, and killing on his command. His personal army was a force of some five hundred Black Legionnaires, their studded black power armour dull in the murky sunlight shining pitifully, arrayed impressively behind him. Orelius had ordered his horde to sack this city in the morning, yet they had met an obstacle they could not overcome; a small force of Imperial Fists. He admired the Loyalist's tenacity, but as his Black Legionnaires prepared themselves for the final assault, he knew they would not last. Orelius stood high, and turned to face his guard.

"Men of the Black Legion, servants of our Dark Gods and our master Abaddon, today you shall have vengeance! Today, you shall feel the skulls of your old enemies shatter as you pound the life out of them, and you shall relish in the cracking of bones! Oh yes..I see the hunger in all of you! I hear your hearts beating fast at the prospect of your victory! Go forth, now, my brethren, and teach these Loyalist dogs a lesson they shall never forget! Fill their bodies with your bolts, stick them like the meat they are on your blades, and eradicate their false belief of their Emperor's protection! Forward, for the Dark Gods!" 

Five hundred voices met his cry, as their boots thundered into the Rhinos and Land Raiders awaiting their patronage, spiked heads showing their dead emotions as their killers began their march. The roar of all these engines momentarily blocked out Orelius's senses, as they paraded down the broken hilltop, turning corpses into mush, and obliterating rubble into dust! He could not help but laugh, his Warp-powered body rattling with his outburst of mirth. Truly, never has a man in this universe been as happy as he! He turned to face the despairing city once more, and watched as the black hulls of his army crashed into the city, knocking away whatever resistance they faced with Lascannon blasts and bolter fire. Positions were swept away like a child may swipe away an ant's nest, Imperial Fist marines being driven before the hands of Abaddon's finest. He saw Guardsmen being spitted on the spikes of Rhinos, Commissars failing to halt a Land Raider's deadly approach, and Chimeras exploding in a brilliant display after a Predator has caught their scent. Orelius raised his hands to the sky, his bloodied Daemon Weapon shining with the delight of the Dark Gods as his forces met the most fierce resistance at the heart of the city. Ranks upon ranks of his foe fled the approach of his Black Legionnaires and the wave of renegades with them, buildings falling down as the very ground itself trembled. Now, he saw Daemons being summoned into this existence, impaling pathetic Imperial soldiers on their Warp-honed blades. 

Defense lines saw their masters being slaughtered before them, their metal platings reflecting the horrors that the servants of the Dark Gods were inflicting on the city's defenders and the unfortunate inhabitants still there. There shall be no mercy for them, and there shall be no remorse after their corpses were strung about the trophy-wife of his Warband. Orelius knew, there shall be no end to this carnage, for he desired no end. There shall be no rays of hope for them, for he willed the very light of their existence to darken. Oh, he knew there will be no rest for them, for his host shall devour their very souls! They were all animals bowing down to the butcher's axe that was his Warband, and they knew exactly how to kill! Orelius cried out to his Gods in his moment of glory, and they embraced his spirit in pride! As the last defenders were being ripped apart, as the last buildings were receiving their next coat of blood, he screamed into the blackened skies shaking in fear, "Glorious powers of Darkness, let there be more blood!".


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## Serpion5 (Mar 19, 2010)

This is not bad at all, but it belongs in the Original Works forum rather than Homebrew Fluff.

- Moved.


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## Dave T Hobbit (Dec 3, 2009)

Excellent work developing the story within such a short piece.


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## zacktheRipper (Jan 23, 2012)

Original works? I'll post things like this there then.


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## zacktheRipper (Jan 23, 2012)

*Smile At Me*

The broken man knelt before Sidonius, his breath heavy and his chest heaving. The cracks on the man's Flak armour were stained with small rivers of the wearer's blood, faded green paint turning dark with the red of his life blood. His face, plain and honest, was scrunched up in pain and confusion at his body's new paint job, his eyes going dull with the effort of keeping his mind and his heart working at the same time. Sidonius, a man of the Black Army Traitor Regiment, was personally very pleased at this man's suffering, and doubly pleased that his own black armour was only witness to other's blood, and not his own. The broken man, with his scruffed boots and cracked Flak Armour, was a survivor of Orelius's sack of this city, and Sidonius himself had delivered the many brutal hammer blows that brought this Guardsman to his knees. He was a Sergeant, and now his task was to torture this man into given him further information. 

Now he smiled, his hard face barely making any motion despite Sidonius's attempt, and his teeth glinted in the dim light of the broken man's death place. He brandished a thin, wicked looking knife, one of the only reason Sidonius has managed to survive the many melees that would of robbed him of his mortal life, and now gave the broken man a promising look. The man seemed not to of noticed, as he was far too focused on the blood already trickling down his leg. Sidonius laughed a very coarse laugh, and heaved the man to his feet. Looking straight in the Guardsman's small eyes, Sidonius plunged the unforgiving knife into the knee of the Imperial slave. His victim yelped, and started whimpering out a pathetic song that pleased Sidonius greatly. This was by far the best part of being a free man in the service of the Dark Gods, the fact that, once you survived, you got the best rewards!

"Tell me, fool..do you cherish anything in your meager existence? Has your dead Emperor given you leave to have a wife, or a child? Or have they died in the endless Hab Complexes, with their unforgiving walls and their blatant poverty? I'll tell you this, you pig, if you give me the information I need, perhaps the Powers will see fit to leave you with life! Perhaps they'll see fit not to guide my blade into your beckoning throat you dog!" Sidonius screamed in the man's face. There was something about a man that had the skulls of humans dangling on his belt, barking in your face, that made people break.

"Please don't kill me! PLEASE! Please I know nothing, I am nothing, please!" the broken man was cowering in the corner by this point, his injured knee quaking and his heart pumping blood happily out of his cuts.

"That is not good enough. Tell me, now, or you'll see find yourself drowned in blood." Sidonius smirked, and licked the blood already on his blade. There was nothing better than taking the life of some pathetic piece of meat.

"I don't kno-" Sidonius didn't let the man finish, as he didn't have the patience to hear any more dribble. He lovingly started to saw away the man's head from his shoulders with the serrated edge of his knife, and the man replied by leaning back and screaming away whatever time he had left. Back and forth the blade went, wedging itself deeper in to its new nest as if it were an animal shying away into it's abode. The man's liquids sprayed into the air, showering Sidonius in a lovely rain! He smiled one last smile as he finished up, taking the man's head and skewering it on the hook on his belt.

As he exited the small ruin, he looked about the blasted city before him. The mutilated corpses of captured Guardsmen strung about whatever buildings remained, some alive and crying, some long dead and crawling with Nurgle's life. Shards of metal from blasted wrecks were laying no the ground, whatever else remained of those war machines already made into blades or put into Renegade tanks. Sidonius walked amongst the ruins, the broken man's head bumping against his thighs along with his two comrade's skulls, as he headed towards the Champion's tent. He entered the pavilion, its door flanked by two spitted Commissars, its roof coated in the blood of Priests.

Inside, the exalted Champion stood waiting. He noticed the head, instantly, his Daemon gifted eyes showing the mirth his mouth did not. He nodded to Sidonius, his favoured Sergeant, and spoke in happy tone.

"My dear Sidonius, it matters not that you failed in that small task. Come, and see where we head now. You know that these pathetic Imperials try endlessly to take back what they failed to hold, and so that is what happening now. Warhound Orelius has opted to meet these cattle in the field, and put them in the ground. The mutant hordes are already charging, and our task is to take them on the flanks. My dear Sergeant, I feel today will be the day Tzeentch recognizes your ambition, do you not feel the same?"

Sidonius was content..perhaps today he may receive the blessing of the Gods! "Yes, my master, I do. Am I to lead our men?"

The Champion bashed his Eight Pointed Star-etched chest, the scars of his body grinning at Sidonius. "The Gods deem it proper. Go forth, my new Champion, and break their backs. For the Dark Gods, brother."

As the Renegade Guardsmen started screaming their glee outside of the pavilion, their weapons belching fire into the air and their tanks starting up Warp-fed engines, Sidonius drew hammer. As they formed ranks and entered their transports, as they prepared to slaughter their game, Sidonius raised his ornate weapon into the air and spoke his promise to his Master.

"My lord, none shall leave this place unbloodied. They shall feel fear today, and know this; the Gods will smile on us both, as I quench their bloodlust! For the Powers!"


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## Ambush Beast (Oct 31, 2010)

*Hi*

Not too bad. There were some missing words as well as grammar issues, but it was readable. I did like the paragraph spacing. Will there be more to this story?


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## zacktheRipper (Jan 23, 2012)

Lol yeah, i'll edit it, I wrote it late at night. 

Most likely, yes! It ties in with another one of my pieces on this forum, A Choice Encounter, and the next will follow a different Heretic before returning to one of the other characters. I'm glad you enjoyed it!


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## zacktheRipper (Jan 23, 2012)

*Black Horizon*

-continuation of Smile at Me and A Choice Encounter-

Neros gazed upon the ceremony before him, his weary eyes centering upon the faces of the Imperial citizens scrunched up in confusion and agony. His eyes, which saw all, noticed the curves and the wrinkles of their skin, the flecks of colour in their retinas, and the festering life in the cuts all over their bodies. He noticed the moisture welling up before they released themselves in rivulets, following their descent and their subsequent death as they dashed themselves on the wood below their creator. Neros smiled a very weak grin, and took pleasure in the small indulgence that was the burning of these citizens. As their screams began to blossom, a Champion named Sidonius began beating their already burning bodies with his hammer. Neros let himself lean back and took notes of how flesh curled about the licking tongues of flames, and how they burst into the air after the impact of the hammer hitting their bodies. Neros smiled his weak grin again, wondering how rapturous it must be to feel your very essence leave you in a burning sacrifice to powers more important than you.

Although he bored of this display quickly, Neros still found release inside, as he casually felt simple pleasure over the touch of the stone below him. Laughing, he raised himself off the ground and towards his own pavilion. He stopped before entering, and observed one of his spitted kills, a Mordian commander, and watched as the worms wove their way through the rotting flesh underneath a grand uniform. The old red and blue decals were still gorgeous, but Nero grew tired of the golden aquilas on their lapels. With a bored flick, he lashed a lightning quick snap with his knife and cut both of them off. He smiled at these old bodies, and began speaking to them as if he was speaking to an old friend.

"Good sir, won't you please do me a favour? If anybody is to approach my tent, will you please let them wait here for just a moment? I find myself bored of human company. So..unattractive, what other people do sometimes. So please, be a doll and remind them this is MY tent, will you?" Neros patted them on the cheek and entered his tent.

It was adorned magnificently, with pink ribbons and banners made of ornately carved Tau bones. The rugs on the floor, laid over white wood planks, were made of only the finest furs. There was also a grand mirror, standing 10 feet tall, in the center of his tent. Neros took a long look at himself. He was a Space Marine, yes, but unlike his brethren, he took it as a responsibility upon entering the service of Slaanesh to get himself thinned. Now he was elegant and slim, his slight body retaining all the strength of his barbaric cousin. His hair was long, blonde, and curled. His eyes were gifted to him by Slaanesh himself, and could detect even the slightest differences in textures. Hence why he watched the burning citizens. Neros walked about the camp in nothing but a silken loincloth, yet his Power Armour was a work so breathtaking many of his underlings lost themselves at the sight of it. Over the hardened surface of the armour, Neros used his influence as a Lord to acquire the most precious metals and gems, and now his armour was covered in gold, diamond, and the most precious of Xeno materials. On top of it all, the valuable suit was carved to the microscopic level, murals of war, bodily pleasures, art and life set in so deep only his Daemon gifted eyes could see them. Neros let out a happy sigh, and stared, until a voice from behind him awoke him to the mortal world again.

"You must not waste so much time, Neros, on your trivial Slaaneshi pleasures. We have a war to fight, and the Dark Gods only smile upon those who have action in their hearts."

"Ah...Orelius, my dear old friend. Come again to pester me with your talk of conquest? I find myself bored with the way human flesh tears. Did you know one of the Champions in your host..Sidonius, is it? Anyways, this Champion burnt citizens for a good hour straight. Theres only so much skin I can stare at Orelius."

"You irk me, fool. My Legionnaires speak of war, and war is what they shall get. There is yet Imperials to slay and heads to mount. There are yet sacrifices to be made to the Dark Gods, Neros, or are you too busy drowning yourself in pleasures to bring your Warband up to my standard?

"Warhound, you bore me. War, war, WAR WAR! You pathetic,uncultured Undivided fools! You take in all of the attention the Dark Gods can give you but in the end you burst from all of their attentions! Of course my Warband will march when you wish it, but do not seek to tell me only war gives glory. Slaanesh smiles on ALL excesses, he smiles upon all works of art and all works of poetry, and he smiles on all of the things I can enjoy and consume."

"It matters not. Play with your toys afterwards. We march at dawn, to take the next city. Will you be prepared?"

"I shall, Hound. I shall."

Orelius left, and Neros sighed. He had very little time to do anything he wished anymore. The citizens burning was the only thing he did other than war for the past two days at least. Even then he only had the pleasure of watching. Neros walked out of his pavilion, smacking away the rotting head of one of the Mordians with a blink of an eye, and strode up the hillside to the right of the ruined city they were camped in. In the distance, with his Daemon gifted eyes, he saw a great host of Imperials preparing a defensive strategy around yet another city.

This time, Neros had no complaints about war, as he released his seed at the exciting prospect of all of this death. Perhaps, though he had already pushed the boundaries of pleasure, this time he'll find of even more ways to stimulate..perhaps this time HE'LL burn? Neros smiled as he looked up to darkening sky.


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## Ambush Beast (Oct 31, 2010)

*Did you know...*

That by going to the first story you posted, you can hit the Reply button located at the bottom of the page below your story and post the next section to your story? Doing it the way you are doing it will separate the story you are working on unnecessarily.

P.M. Boc and ask him to merge the threads together so the whole story is in one thread so it is less confusing to everyone.

Also you do not need to capitalize the "important" words. If the story is flowing well enough, we the readers will know what the "important" words are. 

The story is flowing well. 

On a side note, and this is just me, mind you. I am not, nor have I ever bin a big fan of strong language. It vexes me to the core and seems to take away from the skill of the writer.

That said, you do write well so don't stop. I look forward to seeing this warband torn apart and decimated upon the anvil of war!


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## Boc (Mar 19, 2010)

Since these stories all follow the same storyline, they have been merged. Let me know if you prefer the overall story thread to be titled something differently.

-Boc


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## zacktheRipper (Jan 23, 2012)

Apologizes, I didn't know people preferred it in one big post.


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## Boc (Mar 19, 2010)

Eh it's not really a big deal, but for closely linked story arcs it tends to be good to have it all in. One post. This simpliefies it for readers who want to read the continuations or the prequels but don't know they're already on the forum. For example, my Skull Reaper is all one giant thread, but my other shorts each have their own thread.


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## Ambush Beast (Oct 31, 2010)

*Hi*



zacktheRipper said:


> Apologizes, I didn't know people preferred it in one big post.


Its not that we prefer it to be in one big post, but it does make it easier to follow for everyone. Plus it just makes since to be able to find the whole story in one place.

And it looks stunning, don't you think? lol


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## zacktheRipper (Jan 23, 2012)

Sorry for the wait! Here is the next one in the series!

"Breaking You"

'Orelius, the Warhound, a Lord of the Black Legion, stood in the midst of a red fog that stretched as far as he could see. His thin face was pulled back into an evil smile, and every part of him was happy, down to the points of his fanged teeth. His black Terminatour armour was adorned with a rack of jagged spikes, caressing a gaggle of human heads that saw the hint of life just mere minutes ago. The Dark Gods sent Orelius to crush this Imperial Planet, with his millions-strong horde pleasing themselves upon puppets of meat and bone. They looked up to his huge form and his Chaos gifted body and quaked, eager to show their master how many trophies they have acquired in order to garner some favour.

Yet today was Orelius's day. His Black Legionaries and his fell horde pushed the remaining nine hundred thousand Guardsmen to their last bastion, a line of jagged Bastions and cannon emplacements, and the Chaos followers have reached the last line before the structure itself. They found themselves lagging behind their Warhound master, as his own Land Raider and his retinue were busy gorging themselves on the enemy. Now Orelius and his Terminatour armoured Chosen stood by him. Orelius raised his power fisted gauntlet into the bloody mist, and bellowed a challenge to the quaking Imperial Commander in the forest of trenches before him.

"Listen to my voice, you fool! Listen to the sound of the damnation, listen to the sound of the Warp and the sound of the Damned! Listen to the sound of free bloodshed, and free will! The Dark Gods have signaled you out for sacrifice, and have called forth this tribunal of hatred to see you accounted for your weakness! Do you feel the shiver of dread in your breast, you fool? Do you feel the shiver of death creeping through your spine? That is me! That is me! I am here! Die!". His Chosen bellowed in rage, and began charging towards the trench line, las bolts, autocannon rounds, and missiles coating their vision and shaking their step. Their Warp forged Terminatour armour forsaked any death giver that sought them out, and the Dark Gods wrapped Orelius in an aura of black protection. Their boots crunched on blood stained rubble and spent casings, the ruined defenses to their left and right seemingly weeping in fear. Finally, Orelius first arrived in the Imperial trenches, and he saw the faces of the Guardsmen that were, today, about to meet their doom.

The first man he saw dropped his weapon in despair, and fell to the ground, hands in the air as if he were trying to hold back a particularly strong wind. Orelius cared not, and simply stepped upon his head. His head simply exploded like a fruit, spreading dark red gore about the three meter deep trench, bits of skull hanging off the dark earth. One of his companions yelled a prayer to his dead Emperor, and pathetically tried to plunge his bayonet into Orelius's side. The blade bounced off the armour as if it were made of the weakest material in the universe, and shattered as the man recoiled his arm. Orelius laughed, and punched the man in the face with the weaponless gauntlet. Even this was sufficient with his Warp-strength, and his gauntlet beckoned the man's skull to sink into it, and to explode on the outside of the skull. It could do nothing but oblige, and the man fell into inactivity on the end of Orelius's arm. He laughed, and flung the man's corpse into one of his fellows. All about the Warhound, his Chosen slaughtered the Guardsmen and their Stormtrooper reinforcements as if they were meat, and Orelius continued through the trenches. Men abandoned their posts to try to escape him, but he simply taught them that their cowardice was not going to save them. Humanity fled their corpses as they turned into nothing but a bloody cloud to add to the fog of death, and their pathetic Emperor was not there to save them. His power fist came down on any brave fools who stood before him, and his armoured foot stomped upon any that did not die by other means. A man with the face of a child in the armour of a Stormtrooper leapt off a bunker with a meltabomb on his chest, but he soon found himself flying off in the opposite direction. A simple human did not see the world as Orelius did, and he did not react as fast!

At last he was at the doors of the last Bastion, where the Imperial Commander stood waiting inside, a frown upon his solemn face. Yet, his foe had nothing but a small smile to return behind the armoured blast doors. Orelius waited as the world turned to calm, and when finally the horizon was filled with corpses and the screaming minions of Chaos, Orelius let his men place the charges on the Commander's bastion. Time seemed to of stood still, and the Warhounds snarling face seemed as if it was the end of all life in its anticipation of the slaughter to come. As the breach occured, the only other sight was of Orelius barreling through autocannon fire to rip apart the unfortunate man. He killed and ripped life away until he was the top of the Bastion, its Lascannon silent and broken, and he Imperial Commander crying at the sight of such senseless carnage.

"Why, Heretic? Why would you wish such hate towards mankind? Why would you see us all in shackles? Tell me!" His old, withered face, that saw so much war against Xenos all over the galaxy, crinkled in depression and confusion. He laid down his cap, his golden aquila red with the blood in the air, and drew his ornate Power Sword.

"Why? I shall tell you why mortal. In 10,000 years, I have seen your Imperium rot like the bloated thing it is. I have seen the ages of heroes and Primarchs pass into memory for you smaller men, because your pathetic Inquistion deem the mere knowledge of such times 'incentive' for further Heresy, reeking of weakness. Chaos grants me, just one Lord, the strength to kill countless of your soldiers, while you here could have no hope of killing just one Marine. Your Emperor has done nothing! Are you ready to meet him, 'Commander'?" Orelius smirked, and his fangs glinted at the mortal before him.

"I shall die an honourable death, heretic.". The man charged forth, but to no avail. Before his sword even managed to fall upon Orelius's armour, his weaponless hand grasping the Commander's sword hand and breaking it with no effort. The old veteran grimaced and sighed, before Orelius's boot found his chest. As his spine and inards flew out of his back and his body folded in two, his mangled flesh flew off the Bastion into the horde of Chaos below. The old Imperial stared with sorrow at the enemies of man in the second he had after Orelius's blow, and as the warriors of Chaos held his corpse high into the air, Orelius screamed to the Dark Gods laughing above. 

"Reavers of Chaos, marauders of death and champions of hate! Hear my call and rejoice! You have done a great deed today! Around me I see the blood of our foes hanging in the air, petrified like a child witnessing his father's death! I see you smiling, my friends, my minions! I see your pleasure! Know that it is shared! Today, we have done the Powers a great service! Glory to the Dark Gods! Glory to Abaddon, and the Black Legion! Death to the Imperium and the False Emperor!"

And as millions of voices roared in dark revelry, hope wept. Hope wept, but then it sighed in relief, as an Imperial Fist vessel arrived in the system at the moment Orelius hung the Power Sword of the Commander on his Land Raider.


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