Heracio Santos had been delighted at the news of Salbatore's return. In truth it was a matter that had taken him by surprise. The Timeflayer, surprised. The universe was littered with irony.
He had been in touch with the Captain, and promised his reunion once he had answers.
That had been 2 weeks ago.
In the time since, the Timeflayer had secured a meeting with the Shadow Keepers, the Adeptus Custodes whose duty it was to lock up and watcher over the cruellest and vilest of creatures human or otherwise that not even death could find purchase. Soulless monsters that required the greatest of the Emperor's servants to watch over. It was to their hands the Librarian had handed over Malachi, the thrice cursed. The demented champion and warlord of the Mortnek Pandemica.
Krillion had begun speaking, and the Timeflayer could not be allowed to be distracted with prison guarding. How right the Time seer was.
Smoke.
Ash.
Lightening.
Whether it was flesh, stone or metal. None were left to remain.
The vision had been so real. Santos could taste the burning air, the copper tinge of blood. He could hear the screaming, the alien tongues. They wailed and wept. He saw devastation. Mighty monuments laid low. The Timeflayer reached out and a hand grasped him. Pleading desperately for aid or comfort, before it too turned to nought but ash.
There it was. The hopelessness. That nothing could be done to ever change this fate. It was here.
Santos dared to look up, above the destruction. A terrible shadow that held itself aloft above the wreckage, the smoke and the ash. It spoke. Only a single word. The Timeflayer's mind could not comprehend, he fell to his knees unwillingly, his eyes rolled into his skull. Darkness.
****
"Time Seer" came a familiar voice, "Mon'keigh, awaken I beg you..."
Santos opened his eyes, he nearly had to shield them from the sharp stabs of bright blue light.
"We have little time...Alexandros is too far and Galen's council will come no where near. Ardashir and Sarcoma search...but you soon shall be gone, as will I. "
"What...Where am I?"
"The Shatterering, a place neither here nor there. A single moment. A prison. For my Kin and I."
The Timeflayer began to recognise the being before him, he had seen it before. In the warp, chased after it. Santos began to open his mouth.
"Please Time Seer. No time for questions. We can not keep you anchored here for much longer, you are slipping..."
Santos against his better judgement held his tongue.
"You must go to the Abyss. The mouth is opening. What will pour out is untold decimation..."
The visuals infront of the Timeflayer's eyes flickered, blinked.
"...Suania abhors Doom, and we failed. The betrayer's succeeded after our imprisonment. closing off our tunnels..."
Another blink.
"...had it been another's fate, it may never have come to this, but for the foul Promise that landed and cracked open the earth..."
Blink.
"...your race did this, and now all of the galaxy will suffer..."
Blink. Blink.
"...only hope is to follow my kin underground, they will show you how to get..."
Blink. Blink.
"No we are losing him... No, see to the others, we must show them the way, it is our sacrifice...
Blink. Blink. Blink.
"Time Seer... Stop D..."
****
The Timeflayer woke up, exhausted. He was knelt on the floor, his body drenched in sweat. Blood had dripped from his ears and nose, which were already clotting. What manner of vision had that been? He had not meditated nor begun a ritual of transition. The Exilium City Command Centre was a hive of activity. Santos senses return to their normality and he was able to pick up sensations around him. Something serious had occurred. He closed his eyes and listened. Phantoms. Phantoms had been reported flickering and blinking out of existence across Suania. Also, the dark eldritch storm had returned.
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