//------------------------------//
// 7~The Shattered Citadel 
// Story: The Emperor Preserves 
// by Centurion Pike-Wall 
//------------------------------//

Anton growled as he shoved a branch out of his face. He lowered his cursed body slightly so as to go under it, before righting himself and continuing to walk. All around him, the dark woods obscured his sight too far ahead. In the distance, the bubbling of the river by his camp reached his ears, even though said camp was at least a klom or so back. 

He adjusted the strap of his lasgun across his shoulder, the body of the weapon resting against his side. After the past few months (At least he assumed it was months; he hadn't bothered to count), most of the animals had come to avoid the clearing in front of his entrenchment, meaning he had to range out to find food. Beyond that, he wanted to properly build up the fortifications into something more permanent. Specifically, he wanted to construct a pillbox that he could put the Heavy Bolter in; and for that, he needed wood. 

He stopped at one of the trees in front of him, noting the fact that there appeared to be a clearing beyond it. Unlike most of the other trees, this one appeared to have grown up relatively uniformly, lacking the almost signature curved trunks that the vast majority of the other trees had. Another benefit, the tree was small compared to most of those other trees, meaning it would be less of a major effort to move it. Not that he minded the extra effort; the exhaustion was another form of penance. 

He grabbed pulled out the auspex, flicking it on. As it booted up with a whir, he used his aura to pull out the entrenching tool from his back, stabbing it into the ground. Green pulses went out, yet nothing popped up on the motion tracker. He shut it off and put it back into its case, before picking up the entrenching tool again and starting to hack into it. 

After a good ten minutes, alternating between using his aura and his hooves, he heard cracking coming from the tree. Backing away, the tree fell to the ground, only held to its stump by a few strands of broken wood. He smiled to himself, putting the entrenching tool away. He was about to try and move the log when his peripheral vision picked up something. He looked off to the side, his vision now unobscured by the cut-down tree, and his eyes widened.



He ducked behind the log after his mind caught up with his eyes, unslinging his lasgun. He propped it up on the log, aura poised around the trigger. He did as he had been trained to do: scan the upper parts of the structure for snipers, or the movement of enemies. After a few seconds, he stood up, lasgun still held in its aura, as he slowly began to move forward. 

He raced across the bridge when he reached it, diving into a bush next to the derelict path. He once again looked up at the castle, eyes darting across the ruins to see if his movement had drawn any attention. Once again, there was no one there. He stood up, coiling his legs and darting out of the bush, before running to the front of the ruin. 

He slammed into the wall, hissing in brief pain. He skimmed along the edge of it, coming to the base of the staircase. He climbed up the stairs as fast as he could, lasgun aimed up at the broken sections of the wall above him. He pushed open the door with the barrel of his lasgun, shifting his body in to look inside. 

Down the sights of his lasgun, he scanned the massive interior. The room was long, with the remains of a high, vaulted ceiling hanging above. Bits of stone and other debris littered the ground, while patches of grass stuck out of the ruined floor. Several hallways jutted off from the side, running off into other areas of the fortress. On the far side, a pair of tapestries hung in tatters above some sort of dais, depicting some sort of creature...

After looking at them for a second, he looked over his shoulder at his own cursed form. The two figures, whatever they were, appeared to be similar to him. He scowled at the thought; so that made him either a Xeno or a type of stable mutant. That didn't mean a thing to the Emperor, as both of those things were nothing but scum. He closed his eyes, muttering, "I swear to remain steadfast and true in my Loyalty, and may the darkness claim my soul if I prove unworthy." After a deep breath, he pushed his shoulder into the wall and entered, scanning his lasgun in every direction.

As nothing revealed itself, he stalked along the edge of the room, levitating out and reactivating the auspex scanner. Once again, there was nothing on the motion tracker. Still keeping it out, he checked each of the hallways along his side of the room, moving further and further down the chamber. Finally, he reached the far side, looking up at the banners. 

The one in front of him was mostly a dark blue, with a mix of later and darker patches that were shaped like clouds. The main figure was another shade of blue, bordering on purple, in the vague shape of his own cursed form. Like it, this figure also had a horn, while lighter blue shapes were in the form of a tail, hair, and wings. A crescent moon was above the figure, white on the dark blue. Looking over at the other banner, the other one depicted a similar figure, save for being white and dull pink, having a background of various shades of yellow, and a sun above it instead of a moon.

"Some form of idol?", he asked himself out loud. Looking up on the dais, he saw it lead further into the ruin up a pair of stairs. 

His eye darted back to the auspex, its blinks once again revealing nothing. He went up the stairs slowly, peeking in-between one of the railings once he reached that height. Once up on that level, he saw another room down the hall. 

After stalking through the corridor, he nudged open the door with the barrel of his lasgun, peeking in and looking around. The interior of this room was, for the most part, bare, with only a few vines and loose stones around the room. The room's main feature was some form of... shrine was the closest analog that he had. A pillar rose up from the center, topped by a stone orb. Several more orbs jutted out on supports, these ones carved with symbols as opposed to being blank like the one in the center. 

He walked around it, looking to see if it had any form of inscription or other indication as to its purpose. After a while, he found none, and simply decided to spit on it. "Xeno heresy", he muttered, before heading to one of the windows. 

This room looked down onto some form of an inner bailey, which was in even worse shape than other parts of the fort he had seen. Parts of it had been completely broken apart, with tiles and chunks of stone from destroy structures littering the court. Creepers, bits of grass, and even a few bushes broke through the cracks in the stone, stubborn in their dedication to live. 

His eyes fell on one of the stone blocks, lowering the photo-visor on his helmet to see if he could get a better look. It looked relatively intact, considering the state that the rest of the structure was in. He raised the visor, another small smile on his face. Despite the fact it was a rope bridge, the bridge that connected this ruin to the rest of the forest had been pretty stable. And, if he could move the blocks, he might be able to get a pillbox of stone instead of wood. He put away the auspex, slung his lasgun over his shoulder, and cracked his neck.