I couldn't even feel the pain of landing on my chest when I finished falling thanks to my armor, but it still took me a minute before I was able to look around without blurry vision.

What I saw... I hated...

It reeked of chaos, the stench fueling the fire in my chest anew into a roaring inferno as I shakily started to stand. Blood stained my visor and gave the entire place a red-green tint as I scanned the woods.

A feral growl started in my throat as I saw what I could only describe as monsters; warped, twisted creatures that walked on various sets of legs and gibbered in unintelligible tongues. I quickly reached for my bolt-pistol only to realize that I no longer had it, but I could see my sword, it had only landed a few feet away.

I made the lunge, feeling the familiar presence of my sword accept my hand as I rolled into a crouch to bring my sword up to impale one of the creatures shishkebab-style on the flawless adamantium blade. With a quick swing I flung the beast at the rest of the group as we both charged.

We met within seconds, their claws and spear-hands merely bounced off of my blessed armor as I began to swing my blade with wild abandon, each swing letting out a satisfying wet squelch as another beast was either cleaved apart or lost a limb to my blade's insatiable hunger for the blood of heretics.

As I used my armored hand to tear off the arm of one of the beasts while keeping it down on the ground with my foot I realized that I had begun to laugh.

...It wasn't a laugh that one would have with friends...

...It wasn't one that would be chuckled in private...

...It wasn't even one that I truly recognized as my own if I hadn't regained a little bit of sense...

It was a laugh of a madman, a man who had let himself become absorbed with his lust. And the best part...

It was MY laugh, it was a laugh that I truly felt the exhilaration for as their blood splashed onto my armor.

My blade drank deep the blood of the beasts as I cut a swathe through the forest, quickly they began to flee in fear, the fear that I loved to feel as I pursued. My pace slowed as I came across another clearing, my heart nearly stopped dead as I felt the cold wash over me. We were locked in place, unable to tear our gaze from each other as my rage and hatred began to come back, bringing the pain in my mind as my power tried to force itself to the fore. In a moment of clarity I finally understood what was happening...

And it was all because of the Fallen Angel standing across from me.

As I finally let my resistance down I felt the flood of power course its way through my body, the power of psionics. It was beautiful, I charged with all of my hatred focused on the sinner before me and through my will did my heavenly blade call upon the very wrath of the Lunar Empress herself as it wreathed itself in a blue flame.

My sword met his winged mace and he nearly crumpled under the first strike, I could taste his fear... It was faint but it was there, with a mighty laugh I let out yet another prayer for the Empress.

“In the name of Empress Luna you shall burn in the fires of the warp, Heretic!” Whatever he had said was lost to the babble that he spewed, I cared not, for I had a new enemy to fight, one of my strength, one that I could savor the fight for.

He finally managed to loose his weapon from mine as we parted, I took note of the skull-helmet he had on yet it was one more detail that I didn't care for as I brought my blade up, readying to strike.

-[Alhardir]-

Alhardir felt a fleeting moment of confusion and slight surprise when he saw his chapter master in the forest clearing that the AI he had met earlier had marked for him. He had quickly blink-clicked away the connection before he noticed Astelan charge at him, loosing a war cry that sent a chill to the depths of his soul.

”This isn't the chapter master!” was all he could think before he had to bring his own mace up to keep his battle-brother's blade from cleaving him in half. With a slight grunt he began to struggle against the Chapter master as his friend began to swear at him in an unfamiliar tongue. A small shift later and he managed to get the enraged marine off of him to give him just a moment's breath before the blade came again, making inhumanely fast and strong swings. The effort to parry and block a few of the more deadly of attacks was slowly beginning to drain what little stamina the Reclusiarch had remaining from the battle they had left in Canterlot.

”If I don't do anything soon... I won't have the strength left to survive... … … HOW THE HELL DOES HE EVEN HAVE THIS MUCH STAMINA!?” The Reclusiarch cursed his luck as he quickly tried to remember where the old castle was. ”Maybe seeing Empress Luna here would give me the opening I need...” With his improvised, and quite shaky, plan in place he quickly aimed a swing at the Chapter Master's jaw to stun him and give the Reclusiarch enough time to start sprinting.

Alhardir could feel his head begin to hurt a little as he sprinted, the blood pounding in his ears while his heartbeat seemed to keep pace with his bootfalls.

"AI!! I... I DON'T REMEMBER WHAT YOUR NAME IS! I NEED YOU TO ALERT THE GROUP TO MY ARRIVAL, READY THEM TO SUBDUE THE CHAPTER MASTER, SOMETHING HAS GOTTEN TO HIM” Alhardir shouted into the vox.

Author's Notes:

Little bit of a short chapter, but hey, at least now we begin to see deeper into the mind of our beloved Chapter Master :D