Flapping her wings hard, Rainbow quickly got within sight of the shrine. Smiling, she dove towards the ground, waiting for the last possible moment to flare her wings, and stopping a scant few inches in front of the entrance way.
“Nice form.” Tar’nek murmured, pushing himself off the wall and walking over to Rainbow.
“So what was the call for?” Rainbow asked.
“I’ll wait for Kaliden to explain it to you.” Tar’nek said, gesturing for Rainbow to follow him as he walked into the Shrine.
The pair made their way towards the centre of the temple, Rainbow keeping silent as she followed the Eldar.
Eventually, they both emerged into the centre room, and took up positions with the rest of the aspect warriors. Tar’nek took his position in the centre of the group, while Rainbow stood at the end. The eight warriors stood in silence as they waited for the exarch to arrive.
A few moments later, Kaliden entered the room, garbed from neck to toe in his armour, with his helmet gripped tightly under one arm, and his lasblaster gripped in his other hand. The final thing that Rainbow noticed was a large hilt that stuck out from between his shoulder blades. Shifting her weight slightly, Rainbow saw that it was a massive, two handed sword.
She momentarily shuddered as she imagined what sort of damage such a massive blade could do, but she pushed the thought away and focused on the Exarch.
“The craftworld has been called upon, and we will answer its call.” Kaliden began, before placing his hand on a holo-control pad.
Instantly, the room was plunged into darkness, before a projection of a planet appeared in the centre of the room. Walking forward, Kaliden indicated the planet.
“Unotipa IV. The sixth planet in the Sarcux sector. This planet, and the sector, are just outside of the Octarius sector, which has been embroiled in a war between the Orks and Tyranids for years. Until now, the planet has been inhabited by feral Ork tribes who have been in a state of constant warfare. That was, until recently.”
Moving his hand slightly, Kaliden changed the projection image, and it was replaced by the form of a massive green biped. Its right hand was clutching a crude, orkified version of a human plasma gun. Its other arm was completely mechanical, attaching to its shoulder in a massive, and once again, crude, lump of metal. The hand however, was completely replaced with a massive claw, which looked like it could cut through the hull of a tank in a few seconds.
“This, is Warboss Gazgutz. He is in charge of the blood cult clan, which is rapidly growing in size, and thus, influence. Our farseers predict that in a few more weeks, this clan will have asserted its dominance over the rest of the planet. Shortly afterwards, they will have the capability of interstellar travel, and will join the Octarius war.”
“How will this affect the craftworld?” Jolee asked.
“The war will escalate.” Kaliden stated simply, moving his hand once more and changing the projection, this time displaying a galactic map with large green arrows converging on all sides of a series of planets, while another series of purple arrows pushed against them. On the very edge of the map, a thin red line appeared, moving across the map before leaving. One slightly smaller green arrow however, was moving to intercept the red line.
“This red line here, is the path of Saim-Hann.” Kaliden pointed out. “While this green arrow here is the predicted path of the new Ork crusade. If Gazgutz is allowed to continue, we could possibly face an invasion directly on the surface of Saim-Hann. However, a quick strike against his fortress may be able to eliminate him, and will cause the Blood Cult clan to fracture. The infighting will delay the inevitable uplifting of these Orks until Saim-Hann has passed the Ulthan line. Once that happens, the Craftworld will be safe.”
With a flick of his wrist, Kaliden dismissed the projection and the lights turned back on, momentarily blinding Rainbow, before she got used to the sudden light.
“Will the wind rider clans be joining us?” Juhani asked.
“The clans Nar’bok, Fireheart, Ice-breeze and the Shadow Guardians will be reinforcing members of the Warp Spiders Deadly Web shrine, our own shrine, and a wing of Crimson Hunters of the Bloody Blade shrine. The slower forces of the Craftworld will not be participating.”
“When do we leave?” Faren asked.
“The Celestial Ideal, a Shadowhunter class vessel, is preparing for a voyage now. It will be ready in an hour.”
“We should prepare then.” Tar’nek said, turning towards a door that led to the arming chamber.
Following Tar’nek, the rest of the shrine moved into the arming chamber. As they did, the cases slid open with a tiny hiss, as the armour within moved outwards so it could be donned more easily. Moving over to their own set of armour, each member of the shrine stripped down until they were wearing absolutely nothing.
Kaliden stood front and centre, wearing only his spirit stone on a chain around his neck.
“The peace is broken, the harmony falls to discord, only war remains.” Kaliden began.
Rainbow followed the lead of the others, taking the bodysuit that was folded on a small ledge behind the armour.
“Now we clothe ourselves, with bloody Khaine’s own raiment, as a warrior.”
Rainbow stepped into the rear legs of the bodysuit. It felt odd, as if she was donning it for the first time, it felt completely different from the first time. The bodysuit was large, and sagged on her limbs, and gathered in unsightly bulges between her legs, and over her hooves, making them next to useless.
“In Khaine’s iron skin, we clad ourselves for battle, which fire burns within.”
Rainbow’s heart quickened, and she momentarily was confused. This hadn’t happened like this the first time, it felt, angrier, more aggressive. In her gut, the serpent of her anger stretched out slowly, rearing its head and bearing its fangs. She flapped her wings, and adopted a standing position on her rear hooves, and placing her fore hooves together, as the others placed their palms together. In response, the bodysuit tightened. As the fabric of the suit shrank against her taut muscles, dormant pads began to thicken, forming ridged areas across her barrel and Withers.
“The spirit of Khaine from which we draw our resolve strengthens within us.”
Rainbow kept her eyes on Tar’nek, following the new motions that he and the others were doing. This was so much more regimented than when she had first put on her armour, and it scared her slightly. Reaching behind the armour, she undid the clasps along its back, letting the bottom half fall free into her hooves. Wrapping it around her body, she quickly attached the claps together, fastening it into place. Its stiff presence around her midriff was reassuring, squeezing her sides in a firm embrace.
“War comes upon us, we must bear its dark burden, upon our shoulders.”
Following the lead of the others, Rainbow undid the clasps fixing the back of the armour to its stand. She lifted it over her head, solid, but not heavy. With careful movements, she lowered it down onto her back. The plates gripped the surface of the undersuit, extending over the front of her wings, leaving the feathers exposed, but protecting the leading edge. The rounded bulge of the small power source slipped easily in-between her wing blades. Slowly, she returned to her standing position on all fours, and with a life of its own, the armour adjusted to her new position. As she did that, the undersuit began to ripple, and Rainbow began to get nervous. This had not happened before, even when she had put the helmet on.
The nervousness turned to fear a moment later as the bodysuit extended up her neck, beginning to cover her face, before it stopped just before her ears, not unlike a Wonderbolts uniform. The fear passed, as Rainbow took comfort in the feeling of the uniform she longed to wear. She took a deep breath and steadied herself, as the other members did the same, turning to face Kaliden, fully armoured except for their legs and helmets, the others having already donned the wings that would allow them to own the skies above Unotipa IV.
“We stand before Khaine, unyielding in our calling, free of doubt, free of restraint, free of fear.”
The leg armour came next, for Rainbow, it was all four of them, but for the others, it was the final part of the procedure. The armour felt comfortable as she fitted it snuggly against the rest of her suit, its surface writhing as it shifted to contour itself to her body shape.
“We do not fear death, rather, we walk in its shadow, daring Khaine to reach out and snatch us for himself, proud and unafraid.”
Lowering herself to the ground, Rainbow found herself once again fully armoured, aside from her helmet. She knew in her mind that she had done almost the exact same thing with Jolee a scant few days ago, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that this was different.
“We strike from the skies, as swift as the hawk, with a deadly purpose to our talons.”
Her penultimate act was to retrieve the empty spiritstone from where she had placed it on the ledge beside her armour stand. Detaching it from the chain it was on, she placed it within the central niche in her armour, feeling an odd sensation from the stone as it felt the comfort of the familiar armour.
“We give of our blood, as Khaine’s call roars around us, calling us to war.”
The exarch took a small knife, and made his way around the warriors of the shrine. As he approached, they extended their right hands, the fabric over their hand retreating, and allowing access to it. As this happened, Kaliden made a sharp slice with the knife, drawing blood and letting it flow into a bowl, where the lifeblood of the shrines warriors mingled together. Rainbow winced slightly as the blade sliced through her hoof, but didn’t take her eyes off the point where she was staring, keeping the fixed straight forward.
Once he had collected the blood, Kaliden moved back around the squad, this time placing a single finger into the bowl and, taking great care, painted the rune of the Swooping Hawk on each of their foreheads. Rainbow watched in nervous awe as she watched the other warriors eyes glaze over, their muscles twitch and spasm with a life of their own, and their lips stretch back from their teeth in silent snarls.
Then she felt the blood upon her own skin. With a hiss, she nearly recoiled from the finger, it feeling more like a firebrand than a digit, but she managed to hold herself steady, as the rune was traced onto her head. The pain instantly turned to anger, welling up from deep within her. The anger drew on the weakness that Rainbow felt within her, of her failures, both in this universe and back in Equestria, wakening emotions that Rainbow thought she had conquered and buried.
Quivering, Rainbow did nothing as she felt something deep within her mind erupt outwards, covering her psyche in a mental bubble. Her blood thundered in her ears, and the cut on her hoof burned slightly, as she realised what this new feeling was.
Kaliden and the others had often mentioned it, talking about it in hushed whispers, as if they feared to speak of it loudly.
This was hers.
Her war mask.
Like some sort of obscene birth, the warrior spirit that had been unleashed by Kaliden burst through her mind, seething with rage, and hungry for war.
“The spirit of Khaine, from which we draw our resolve, strengthens us from within.”
The rune instantly froze, and Rainbow was shocked at the sudden change in temperature as it went from liquid rainbow hot to Pinkie Pie ice cream in a few nanoseconds. Its freezing touch spread through her, until it almost stilled her heart, slowing its beating down until it was almost as if it had stopped, before the fingers withdrew, her heart returning to its normal rhythm, and the fingers dragging away her remorse, crushing her doubt and engulfing her pity with thoughts of blood and death.
“War comes upon us, we must bear its dark burden, upon our shoulders.” Kaliden repeated. “We stand before Khaine, truly unyielding in our calling, now free from the notion of doubt, and the lie of peace.”
Rainbows heart was like a drumbeat. A never ending drumming, endlessly marching onwards.
A call to war.
Reaching forward, and in perfect tandem with the others, she grabbed her helmet, raising it upwards, before bringing it down onto her head, attaching a few pipes to the armour, before, with an angry hiss, it sealed together, sealing Rainbow into her armour.
For a moment, Rainbow was blind, before the inside of the helmet lit up, the eye lenses opening and showing a cacophony of information about her surroundings. Concentrating, Rainbow dismissed most of the information, only leaving one small count down in the top right hand corner of her right eye. The count down to zero hour, when they would land on the Ork planet and reap their blood for the glory of Khaine.
“See not with your eyes, but allow anger to flow, lets Khaine’s gift guide you, and let his anger fuel your actions.”
Something was placed on Rainbows back, and she felt the familiar weight of the magni-clamps activating as her lasblaster was attached to her by unseen hands.
The darkness once again engulfed her, as she closed her eyes, looking inwards as a fiery daemon creature appeared before her in her own astral plane. She smiled as she recognised her own anger personified in flames within her, struggling to be set free once more.
The darkness was inside her now, merging with the darkness she had imposed on hers outside, the fiery eyes of the daemon staring directly out of her head. She now knew who she had been fighting before, what she was trying to overcome in coming to the shrine. It was her own mind she had fought. She had strained against the urges and desires that had burned within her. She had trained to suppress those thoughts, and had tried so hard to eliminate them completely, but she had fought in ignorance.
The darkness was no more, as Rainbow opened her eyes again, to be greeted by the emerald eyes of her helmet, bathing the shrine in a green hue as she looked over the world with a fresh view.
Taking a step forward, she easily slipped the rifle off of her shoulder, bringing it up, before dropping down into the floating strike position.
No more was she a mortal thing of flesh and blood, reason and emotion. Now she was a warrior. She was part of the Bloody-Handed God, an aspect of Kaela Mensha Khaine.
Rainbow Dash was no more.
In her place stood a Swooping Hawk, a warrior of the Floating Assault shrine.