Drakur stepped into the room containing a council not knowing what was coming. He walked without fear, as Sergeants with his record in service to the Commander Dante and the Blood Angels never knew fear. He stood before them, looking around the large room.
"Sergeant Drakur Kanotae Redragon, for your service to Commander Dante of the Blood Angels, you have been chosen to lead a successor chapter. You will take your new recruits and find a suitable home world to begin your chapter," the council lead said. Drakur nodded slowly in acceptance. Dismissed, he turned and left the chambers. He ran through all of the systems and planets that he could settle on, attempting to find a place to settle. He walked to the navigation room of the facility, hoping to find a place to settle.
As he poured over the hundreds of planets and systems, his eyes fell on something he remembered from his studies of his Chaos enemies. Auretia. It was a planet that was supposedly assaulted for trying to assassinate Horus just before his betrayal. He knew what he was going to do. He was going to liberate a people that were under the yoke of Chaos and that could assist him in creating new tools that could destroy his enemies. He quickly submitted the order and left.
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Inquisitor Lord Daymar looked at his board, slowly reviewing everything that came in. Although this task was usually fairly boring, today he saw something that caught his attention. Auretia, a planet that had been attacked by Horus, was now being petitioned to be a home world for a new chapter of marines descended from the Blood Angels. He didn't like it at all. He just didn't know if he should stop it or simply watch over it.
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Months later, Drakur stood and looked over his men. Fifty trained scouts stood in front of him, each ready to kill. He had prepared the ship that would be taking them to their soon to be new home, and now he stood in front of his men. Each suit of armor was shined to perfection, each weapon gleamed with lethality. This would be the last time that any of them looked like this. Soon, they would be covered with dirt and encrusted with the blood of his enemies.
Luna, the head chaplain and long standing friend of Drakur, who was standing behind Drakur as they faced the assembled troops, stepped forward. He turned to face Drakur and held a golden chalice containing blood taken from Drakur an hour earlier. He raised the chalice to his chapter master who drank of it. Then he drank of it. He went to the first man standing in the line.
"Drink of this, and you will forever be a part of the Angelus Mortis," Drakur said, speaking in a voice that resonated throughout the hall. Perno walked down the line, giving each man a drink from the chalice. Each drank to their chapter master, an honoured tradition passed down from Sanguinus himself.
"We go now to war!" Drakur bellowed as the last man drank from the cup. They marched to the battle barge that would take them to their new home. Each of them was ready to kill, even to die for their new chapter. Each was ready to kill a thousand enemies on command. They were no longer simple men. They were Space Marines, they were the Angelus Mortis.
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Shaarn Varyron looked over the assembled forces. A few hundred men that he had raised from the depths of the slums now stood before him. They had been attempting to force the Chaos from their land for some time, but it was proving fruitless. Now, the Chaos legions had assembled against them in one final push. They were the last standing free army of Auretia. They would be swept up and destroyed easily. He prepared his men for the fight of their lives.
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Drakur waited aboard his new battle barge, looking at the display in front of him. He was looking over every scrap of data still available from the archives, trying to find the perfect way to execute the attack without losing too many soldiers. They were fresh, but they needed to act as veterans. As he stared on, a message came through from an old friend, Librarian Perno of the Dark Angels.
"Brother Drakur, congratulations on your promotion," he said as the message screen came up. Drakur allowed a smile at his old friend.
"I thank you, but I suspect this is not a social call," Drakur responded. Perno's face became serious quickly.
"Indeed, it is not. I am being dispatched to assist you in your endeavors, Chapter Master Redragon," he stated flatly. "On our friendship, please do not inquire any further," he added quietly. Drakur nodded.
"Then we shall wordlessly accept your assistance," Drakur said. The link went blank. Drakur sighed at the fact that his friend couldn't tell him more, but he didn't press the issue. Something greater was at work in the Dark Angels, and he didn't want to know what. He returned to the terminal holding the data he had been searching through. War would soon be upon them.
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The first salvo of fire ripped through the chaos lines. Shaarn smiled slightly, but that was quickly erased by the return fire. The soldiers of Chaos were swarming against him, and he had to hold the line. Behind him lay the camp, in which hundreds of women and children gathered helplessly. An evacuation order had been given, but there wouldn't be enough time. His men returned fire again, tearing down more of the Legion. As he did, demons burst from the fallen soldiers and continued to surge forward. He couldn't hope to defend himself for much longer. He called into the fray for his men to continue firing at all costs. Another squad of his soldiers fell to the onslaught. Hope was fading fast for the assembled men, though what hope was there ever really? He bowed his head, resigning his soul to the Emperor.
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Drakur looked at his assembled men. Each packed a bolter and enough various kinds of ammunition to complete any task at hand. They walked to the dropships that would be placing them on the surface. Drakur stood in front of his troops, Luna at his side.
"Soldiers of the Angelus Mortis, we go now to fight the Chaos Legion and liberate this planet in the name of the Emperor. We have received a distress call from one Shaarn Varyron, the last remaining vestige of strength still loyal to the Imperium. We will assist and destroy the enemy before us," Drakur briefed. Luna stood quickly and recited a prayer for those going to battle. They loaded into the drop ships and prepared for battle.
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Shaarn barked another order at his fast dwindling squads. The enemy was upon them with fury, and he was losing ground fast. He heard a rumbling in the sky and looked to see what new terror the enemy was visiting upon him. What he saw, however, confused him. He saw drop ships of the imperium, but they bore symbols he didn't recognize. Space marines leapt from the drop ships to his aid, slaying many of the legion in one opening salvo. They began to push them back from Shaarn's line as quickly as they had come on. One of the marines walked up to him.
"Lt. Varyron, I am Chapter Master Drakur Redragon, responding to your distress call in the name of the Emperor. We will assist you in the routing of the forces of Chaos," Drakur called out over the din of the fighting. Shaarn nodded sharply in reply, dumbfounded by the sudden interest in their planet. He returned his mind to the fighting at hand.
As the Angelus Mortis made landfall, Librarian Perno emerged from his own ship with a squadron of bikers. He revved forward in search of his quarry. The general in charge of the legion was a suspected Fallen, and Perno was not going to let him get away. He found his target and pushed his bike to the limit. He arrived, letting his mind touch on the Warp. He drew the power and hurled it at his enemy. In an instant, the enemy felt the force of his sins weighing on him. Dropping to his knees, he began to babble on about the sins he had commited. Perno smiled, but his elation was short lived. The elite guard charged at him, the head guard erupting in a gory blast. Standing where a chaos marine once stood was a greater demon, staring at the small frame of the librarian. With a mighty swing, it sent Perno crashing against a cliff, breaking every bone in his body in an instant.
Drakur led his forces to victory that day, finishing up the legion forces in the field. They had been broken, but they would return. He smiled to himself as he negotiated with the commanding officer of the rebel forces. He knew that the war was far from over, but this battle had been won in glorious fashion.
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Perno looked around him. He saw only darkness. The hatred welled within him. He had taken his prey, but he had been beaten. He refused to die, least of all to a demon. He felt the blood leaving his body, slowly mixing with other blood that had been spilled that day. He felt a new strength, a power he didn't understand. In a flash, he saw the death of a primarch, a memory he couldn't have. His mind raced through the history he had learned. A name in the darkness: Sanguinus. He felt his soul anchored to his body, unwilling to leave and strengthened by the hatred and desire for revenge within him. He pulled himself from the brink, opening his eyes and standing despite his broken body. His old enemy meant little to him; his vision was filled with the death of Sanguinus. Vengeance for the blood spilled, vengeance would be his.
Drakur saw the look in Perno's eyes and recognized it in a second. It was the look of a man who had witnessed the death of his father. He sent the apothecaries to care for Perno's seemingly fatal wounds. The man would not die, not without first exacting vengeance. Drakur smiled and nodded; it was the same way for him.
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Darkness. Sin. Crushing weight. Can't breathe, can't move. So many sins. Must defend Auretia against the forces of the imper....no.....must defend Auretia. Sin, can't breathe. Who am I, the sinner? No pennance for the wicked deeds. No, must defend Auretia. Who am I? I am the Reaper...Reaper of souls of the damned. Pennance paid. Sin...sin washed in the blood of those that would harm Auretia...precious Auretia. I am the Reaper.
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==Three weeks later==
Drakur stood in the palace of Auretia, liberated at long last from the grasp of the Legion. His men had fought valiantly. Though many lives, Auretian and Angelus alike, had been lost; at long last victory was theirs. Beside him, Perno stood as chief librarian of the Angelus Mortis. He had given up his duties as a Dark Angel to instead serve for vengeance of blood spilled. Luna stood a step behind, taking the dark duty of Astorath the Grim for the budding chapter. Already, a few of their members had succumbed to the Black Rage. It was inevitable, but unfortunate. Shaarn was the first man to be made a space marine from the Auretian people, his position as Master of the Recruits a necessity. And every once in a while, a strange figure could be seen gliding into battle, calling himself the Reaper. Drakur wasn't sure, but he though that it was the lord that he had fought in the field. He didn't much care, as the being was very much a boon to the forces whenever he took the field.
Drakur looked around at his new palace. He knew he wouldn't spend much time there, but he didn't care. He would leave the ruling to a member of the newly established court so that he could spend his time doing what space marines were created to do: fight. He looked out the windows to see the forges beginning to churn out metal beasts for the good of the imperium once again, instead of for ill. As he looked out, a hand fell on his shoulder.
"Lord Redragon, the Inquisition has arrived," his First Company captain, Forthian whispered in his ear. Drakur nodded almost imperceptibly before turning and walking towards the approaching party.
"Chapter Master Drakur Kanotae Redragon of the Angelus Mortis, how fare you?" the inquisitor lord asked him. Drakur bowed his head in respect.
"Quite well, my lord. And to whom do I have the pleasure of speaking?" he asked, mustering as much respect as possible.
"I am Inquisitor Lord Daymar, and this is Grand Master Hunt. We are here to keep an eye on these...Auretians...to make sure that they are truly loyal to the Emperor and Terra," he stated flatly. Drakur bowed his head again.
"I shall provide regular reports to you, then. Do you require a place to stay?" Drakur responded, knowing full well that they had landed on the moon of Auretia two days prior.
"No, my dear Chapter Master, we do not. We shall be in touch," Daymar said, turning and leaving. Drakur knew that it was inevitable, especially with it being a Blood Angels successor that liberated the once Chaos held world. He didn't mind much, so long as they stayed out of his way. This was his chapter world, after all. And he intended to use its full strength to rage against Chaos until there was nothing left but peace.
