He spoke of weeks of constant shelling, of tanks and Titans and of the lethal cancers that base treachery had infected the men and women of his regiment with. But more than this, he spoke of noble courage. He spoke of a warrior named Eshara, a Space Marine of the Imperial Fists, and the sacrifice he and his men had made before the Valedictor Gate. Uriel felt a fierce pride well within him at the thought of such a noble warrior standing before impossible odds, and wished he could have met such a brave hero.
But ultimately, the story did not end well. The Iron Warriors finally took the citadel before Imperial reinforcements could arrive and Leonid wept as he spoke of the brutal slaughter that took place upon its final fall.
'It was a nightmare,' said Leonid. 'They showed no mercy.'
'The Iron Warriors serve the Ruinous Powers,' said Uriel. 'They do not know the meaning of the word.'
'Captain Eshara bought us some time, but it wasn't enough. The cavern below was too large and there was too much gene-seed to destroy. We—'
'Wait,' interrupted Uriel. 'Gene-seed? There was Space Marine gene-seed beneath your citadel?'
'Yes,' nodded Leonid. 'An Adeptus Mechanicus magos told me that it was one of the few places in the galaxy where it could be stored. The Warsmith Honsou stole it and brought it to this world along with the slaves he took for his forges at the battle's end.'
'Who is Honsou?' asked Pasanius.
'He is the warlord who dwells in the fortress you saw as we came into this valley,' said Ardaric Vaanes.
'It is this Honsou's fortress that is besieged?' said Uriel, unable to mask his interest.
'It is,' confirmed Vaanes, wandering over to join the conversation and squatting down on his haunches. 'Why are you so interested in Honsou?'
'We have to get to that fortress.'
Vaanes laughed. 'Then you truly are here on a death oath. Why do you need to get to Honsou's fortress?'
Uriel paused, unsure as to how much he could trust Vaanes, but realised he had no choice and said, 'Our Chief Librarian was granted a vision from the Emperor, a vision of Medrengard and bloated, daemonic womb creatures called daemonculaba giving birth to corrupt, debased Space Marines. We are here to destroy them and I think that more than mere happenstance has brought us to this place.'
'How so?' asked Vaanes.
'Can it be coincidence that this Honsou has returned here with quantities of gene-seed for these daemonculaba and that we should learn of it from a man who was there to see him take it?'
Vaanes looked Ellard and Leonid up and down. 'I wondered why I hadn't left you to die with the other slaves on the Omphalos Daemonium. Perhaps something other than curiosity stayed my hand.'
Uriel started. 'You know of the Omphalos Daemonium?'
'Of course,' said Vaanes. 'There are few on Medrengard who do not. How is it you know of it?'
'It brought us here,' said Pasanius. 'It appeared within our ship when we made the translation to the immaterium. It killed everyone on board and then brought us here.'
'You willingly travelled within the Omphalos Daemonium?' said Vaanes, aghast.
'Of course not,' snapped Uriel. 'Its daemon creatures overcame us.'
'The Sarcomata…' nodded Vaanes.
'Aye, then the iron giant within the daemon engine brought us here.'
'The iron giant?' asked Leonid. 'The Slaughterman?'
'Slaughterman? No, it said that it only wore the flesh of the Slaughterman, that it was the will of the Omphalos Daemonium that commanded.'
'Then the daemon is free!' breathed Vaanes.
'What is it anyway?' asked Uriel.
'No one knows for sure,' began a sallow-skinned Space Marine of great age wearing armour of deep red and bone, with a raven's head on his shoulder guard. 'But there are tales aplenty, oh yes, tales aplenty.'
'And would you care to share any of them?' asked Vaanes, impatiently.
'I was just about to,' growled the Space Marine, 'if you'd given me half a chance.'
The Space Marine turned to Uriel and said, 'I am Seraphys of the Blood Ravens, and I served in my Chapter's Librarium in the years before my disgrace. One of the greatest driving forces of my Chapter is the seeking out of dark knowledge and forbidden lore, and over the millennia of our existence we have discovered much, and all of it gathered it aboard our Chapter fortress.'
'Your Chapter knew of the Omphalos Daemonium?'
'Indeed we did. In fact, it was a source of particular interest to many of our secret masters. Over the centuries I read much of this daemonic entity, and though much of what was said I believe to be false, there are some things I believe are true. It is said that once it was an ancient and powerful daemon prince, a servant of the Blood God that existed only for slaughter. The skulls it piled before its dark master were legion, but always one creature ever outdid it, one of the Blood God's most favoured avatars, a daemon known as the Heart of Blood: so terrible it was said to have the power to summon bloodstorms and drain the vital fluid from its victims without even laying a blade to their flesh.'
Uriel and Pasanius shared a start of recognition as Seraphys continued. 'This avatar was a daemon of deadly artifice who forged for itself a suit of armour into which it poured all of its malice, all of its hate and all of its cunning, that even the blows of its enemies would strike them down.'
'What became of these daemons?' said Uriel.
Seraphys leaned closer, warming to his tale. 'Some say they fought a great battle that sundered the very fabric of the universe, hurling the debris across the firmament and thus were the galaxies and planets born. Others say that the avatar of the Blood God outwitted the Omphalos Daemonium, and trapped it within the fiery heart of a mighty daemon engine bound to the service of the Iron Warriors, becoming the dread chariot of the Slaughterman - ever to hunger in torment for vengeance.'
'Then how is it that it is free?'
'Ah, well, that the ancient legends do not tell,' said Seraphys sadly.
'I think I might know,' said Leonid.
'You?' said Seraphys. 'How could a lowly Guardsman know of such things?'
Leonid ignored the Blood Raven's patronising tone. 'Perhaps because when Ardaric Vaanes and his warriors freed us from captivity, we were able to defeat the Slaughterman and drive him into the firebox of the daemon engine. We thought we had destroyed him.'
'But all it did was free the daemon within the firebox to take the Slaughterman's flesh for its own,' said Vaanes.
'Does anyone know what became of the Omphalos Daemonium's rival, the avatar?' asked Sergeant Ellard hesitantly.
'There is nothing in the tales I have read of its ultimate fate,' said Seraphys.
'Why?'
'Because I think I have seen it.'
'What? When?' asked Leonid.
'On Hydra Cordatus,' explained Ellard. 'Sir, do you remember the stories that went around when the Mori Bastion fell?'
'Yes,' nodded Leonid. 'Mad stuff, ravings about a giant warrior killing everything in the bastion by his voice alone and a whirlwind that… fed on blood.'
By now a sizeable crowd had gathered to hear these tales and the synchronicity of these revelations was lost on no one.
Ellard nodded. 'I saw it too, but… I didn't say anything. I thought they'd section me for sure if I said what I'd seen.'
'Don't keep us in suspense, sergeant, what happened to it?' demanded Vaanes.
'I don't know for sure,' said Ellard, 'but once it killed Librarian Corwin, it opened up some kind of… gateway… I think. I'm not sure exactly. It was some kind of black thing that it stepped through and vanished. That was the last I saw of it.'