Chapter
1 – The Beginning
“and so it should be…Nabu we grant you the
rank of Apostle with, which to spread the word”
“and so shall it be” came a chorus of
voices from around the darkened room.
The man in centre of the room lit by a
single candle rose from his crouched position still with his head bowed. “I
thank the council for this chance, I will spread the word to those who have not
yet heard it”
“You have studied the scriptures well and
proven yourself on the battlefield, we expect great things…”
“I will serve the gods and preach the word
of Lorgar”
“That you will…now go, gather your men and
begin your pilgrimage to true enlightenment as Lorgar did”
The newly appointed apostle turned and began
to leave the room, as he left the chorus of voices began again speaking a
prayer in the name of Lorgar.
As he made his exit, the great doors to the
council chambers came open and the light of the world poured onto him, as he
left the chamber he whispered a short prayer to himself, to help him embark on
his journey. A short walk from the chamber Nabu arrived at his quarters on the
daemon world of Sicarius. He pressed the pad on the door and the doors to his
hab-cell threw themselves open to reveal a simple hab with nothing more than
the cot, scriptures and the new armour of his host. It was a dark red and silver design, common
amongst the Word Bearers legion, but with new adornments and scriptures on the
legs and shoulderpads in a bright gold, each scripture a testament to the Book
of Lorgar. The hulking astartes walked towards his new armour, thumbing his
fingers over the different folds and curves, these would be his tools for which
to deliver the word and for that he was grateful. Although he taken a back by
the grandeur of his position, his true blessing was the crozious for which he
would help shape the future of the world.
With a loud buzz a monitor turned on behind
him, the ghostly figure of a deck hand appeared “My lord, your ship is ready
for your pilgrimage, shall I assemble the men?”
The figure slowly turned to face the screen
“Assemble the men, it is our turn to bring the word to the galaxy…”
“By your word Lord”
The viewing screen switched off, leaving
Nabu with his thoughts on the journey that he was to undertake. He began to
take his armour off the racks and began to adorn it on him. Fully clad he left
his hab and went to the hangar bay where a old imperial thunderhawk was waiting
to take him and his host to his assigned cruiser: Fates Reach.
As he approached the thunderhawk his new
followers dedicated to his word were already embarking on to the ship awaiting
the word. In his terminator armour, Nabu’s steps were heavy but with the mass
of servos built into armour he was unstrained by the movement. He clambered up
the assault ramp “It is time brothers, let us begin our pilgrimage”
“By your word”
As the words were spoken the assault ramps
closed behind Nabu and he moved to take his seat in the airship. With a roar,
the engines powered up but not a single marine twitched and the bird began to
leave the hangar ready to depart to the Fates Reach. Not a word was spoken by
the Apostle or his brothers on the journey, each in quiet contemplation of the
journey laid out ahead of them.
Finally, the Thunderhawk approached Fates
Reach, a voice came over the vox channel, “Welcome My Lord, We live to serve
you and the word…Your quarters are ready for you”
The Apostle, still in contemplation of his
personal pilgrimage, the reason he had been granted this position was to
complete a single task, a task that he did not fully understand yet, gave no
response. The bird landed in the hangar
of fates reach, the deafening roar of the engines cut out and the assault ramps
lowered. “We have arrived my lord, your pilgrimage can begin”
The warriors of the word departed the
thunderhawk to be met by a series of men clad in dirty imperial uniforms. As
the armoured warriors approached the small contingent of men they saluted,
dwarfed by the warriors in their red armour. “Welcome aboard my lord, this ship
is in your service, by your word we will serve your host the best that we can”
“You will serve to your end, in the name of
Word…we are the Bringers of the Word and we will deliver it to the Imperium”
The Apostle waved his hand at the men and
they lowered their arms and began to ease themselves around the astartes. “My
lord, we are going to ready the ship to depart, do you have your first
destination of your pilgrimage in mind?” asked the still nervous Fleet
Commander.
“To Lastrati” was the only response that
came from the Apostle.
Lastrati was once a place of pilgrimage,
until the Black Templars arrived and had, under the order of Marshal Gervhart,
cleansed the world of the taint that had taken hold. This was where the pilgrimage
would have to begin, where they would look for the first answers to their
quest. Although it was believed that the Black Templars had long forgotten the
world and left it to ways, believing its taint removed, this was not the case.
The world was still steeped in heresy and this is where Nabu would begin the
recruitment into his host.
Chapter
2 – The Appointing of an Apprentice
The journey to Lastrati would take three
terran weeks, ample time for the warriors of fates reach to prepare themselves,
should the devout taint of the Black Templars still be present. Nabu believed
firmly in the word and spent the majority of his time reading the word, letting
the feelings flow through him, empowering him to be a devout follower of
Lorgar. His fellow astartes however had focused more on the training at hand,
spending their time focusing on being combat ready, one in particular had
caught Nabu’s eye on the solemn occasions that he had left his quarters, Erra. Although
Erra was like other astartes, large in mass and devout in faith to the book of
Lorgar, his passion was like no other Nabu had encountered in his time serving
the Word Bearers in their various crusades across the galaxy. Erra was born in
the eye of terror and had been brought up on the book of Lorgar even before he had
been inducted in to the ranks of the astartes.
Nabu decided that he needed to meet with
Erra, this young astartes had drawn his attention, he sent a message via the
vox on the ship. Erra was sparring with a combat servitor in the training
grounds of the battle cruiser when the message finally reached him. As the
message appeared the servitor thrust at Erra with a long sword, the astartes
reflexes easily dodging the blade and thrusting his own power sword into the
servitor, causing oil to exhale from the newly formed wound. The servitor was
no more and collapsed in a heap as he turned to face the viewer screen. The
fleet commander, that Erra had identified as Adanu, appeared on the screen
“Greetings Lord, Apostle Nabu requires your presence in his chambers
immediately”
“By his word, I will be there shortly”
“Thank you my Lord”
And the screen turned off, as quickly as it
had turned on. Erra went to the weapons rack, returning his power sword to the
sheathe, grabbing a cloth from the side he wiped off the sweat from his body,
adorning his robe, he left the training grounds to see the one that would bring
the word to him.
Nabu
was sitting at his throne looking through the scriptures of Lorgar as Erra
entered his chambers. “Aah my son, you have arrived. Do you know why I have
asked you here?”
“No sire, I seek your divine wisdom on the
summoning”
“I have a special interest in you Erra, you
are truly devout of the word and that is to be commended in one so young”
The Chaplain began to leave his seat,
moving towards his brother, “I feel that you follow the word as I do, and I
want to train you fully in the following of the word”.
“I am honoured to be offered such an
opportunity, I will not disappoint you”
“You best not my brother, for your death
will be a simple blessing instead of the pain and horror inflicted by those
from the warp”
Although to any human it would of seemed
that Erra had not moved, Nabu with his astartes senses noticed the twitch of
horror on his face, realising that his failure would lead to eternal damnation
by the gods.
“Although I am the bearer of the word, you
will help convert brothers to our cause”
“I am to be charged with the recruitment to
our host?”
Nabu stood there, seeing the genuine
question as more of a joke, yet realising that this was a serious request
addressed his apprentice
“Yes Erra, I will spread the word and you
will help preach it to our new brothers, enlightening them of the word of
Lorgar”
“By your Word…”
“Leave me now Erra, I must consider the great
word and how it can best support us in our pilgrimage”
Without further comment, Erra left his lord
alone to consider the word and to consider his newly appointed task.
* *
*
Fates Reach was approaching the world of
Lastrati and in that time all of the host had focused on the upcoming task of
seeking the enlightenment of the world, of what the Black Templars had seeked
and found, although not to their liking, could be a key to the freeing of the
daemon spirits and proving to the Gods that they were worthy of notice. Nabu
had seeked enlightment in the weeks leading up to arriving in orbit of Lastrati,
pouring over the books of Lorgar deciphering the will of the gods…is it of a
focus of bloodlust, of spreading plague, the sensation of englightenment or
focusing on the hope of making change…either way Nabu saw the answer in the
world of Lastrati.
