His mind did not scurry. His mind did not question or quarrel. For despite the unending dark that lie before his every sense of self, Adventios, Honoured brethren veteran sergeant of the Hospitalers space marine chapter, seventh company, was enveloped within a complete sense of peace. He began to feel himself, as he would if he had just woken from a slumber, the rush of his blood, the essence of his Primarch and his Emperor sweeping through his physical form. He felt the activity of his own mind, the electric sense of things pouring into his very brain like a gentle dribble of fountain water. He felt his iron-hard bones, wrapped in thick muscle that was as tempered steel, laying rested, decompressed and feeling almost like simple extensions of fluid spanning from his core. A thunderclap rang through his ears, as if a war titan had just taken a step right beside him, a noise that shook the placid surface of peace that was his own mind. He immediately steadied himself, realizing it was the sound of his own heart, the first heartbeat he had heard in a very long time judging by how much the experience had jolted him. His mind sent out ripples of ever intensifying layers of consciousness, complexity of thought building up onto itself as he began to, for the first time in what seemed like an age, actually think.

Adventios, he who’s beloved brothers named him The Wrath of the Ridorian Bridge, would have frowned at this very moment, yet found he could not. His eyes would have shifted and rolled to observe his surroundings, yet no environment of any kind reached his sight, only an unending emptiness. He remembered what it was to breath, but as his tried desperately to draw in the air his body desired, nothing granted him welcome. He tried, with all his famed and feared might to struggle from the terrible sense that was overcoming him, the sense of having been unmade into dust and shade, nothing more. He tried to buck, toss and lash out at the hell that had surrounded him, but found his thoughts and feelings, now boiling with hate and frustration, to be trapped within a body that had may as well have been long dead. He would have screamed at this moment, roared like a thousand lions riding a thunderbolt. Such a thing was a hopeless dream.

A light lay ahead. It was a faded greyness of a light, but still a thing to be seen and savoured. Steeled from the terror of his paralysis, the space marine observed the expanding blur of illumination with an almost animal anticipation. A shape moved before the light, then again shortly after. Being raised within the marble and gold city of the Hospitalers, taught by their scholars to be an open hand to the people of the Imperium, rather than the closed fist most Astartes chapters identified themselves as, the Sergeant hoped by his blood that whatever life held presence before him knew of reason and good will, a life who could help him out from his sorry state, so he could honourably return the favour by giving his life in defence of its own, such as he had always done.

The light before him grew a clear illumination, building intensity, but narrowing into a defined shape and eminence. Some form of observation lantern was held before him, a small, single spotlight held suspended by a strange, sleek mechanical arm of sorts. The violet light drew a sense of wariness from Adventios as it sharply lifted back and away from his face, sliding gracefully to his left to seemingly attend to something else. The marine could feel the cool moisture of his eyes as they began to move, his eyelids washing over his sight frantically for a moment before he steadied their use. He began to draw breath, gently at first, then faster and more ravenous as he delighted in the sensation of clean air washing through his chest. Though icy and stale, it was nourishing all the same. A soft whine could be heard, and a more felt than heard voice whispered into his mind, a voice that told him it was once again one with him. Tensing his chest and shoulders, Adventios was delighted to feel the tension of a form fitting apparatus around him along with the sound of a gentle, near inaudible purr of micro-mechanical mechanisms flowing with activity.

His armour was famished and unsteady, the nuclear powered exoskeleton suit activated in a very hurried, uncomfortable and unsanctioned way. The armours machine spirit could be felt at the back of Adventios’ mind, its strange, almost alien sense of intelligence Adventios had come to know so well was almost whimpering in discomfort as its systems were awoken in a very undisciplined manner, out of sync with one another and taking more time to properly grow functional. The Astarte drew a sigh and closed his eyes as he directed his thoughts to calm himself, and by extension the instability of his wargear. The thrum of aggravation coming from the neuro-link to his armour steadied, slowed and died down into a calm heartbeat that synchronised with his own. Opening his eyes once more, the veteran looked out onto a sight much clearer than before. He looked out upon a large room, quite enormous actually, about the same size as a spaceport storage warehouse. It stretched out into the darkness that robbed Adventios of truly determining how far the room went on for, but its length could be seen by the two walls flanking his sight, standing apart the same distance as a Knight pattern War Titan was tall. The surface of the room was very much alien, highly tech-influenced, and designed for sleek, convenient applications, a space for ease of access and manoeuvrability. The surfaces were a dark grey with a strange gloss to them, almost like an oil spill frozen into stone. Sharp angles cut there way through the floor and walls, revealing strange, light blue illuminations beneath that appeared digital in nature, much like the storage core of a data slab. The ceiling could barely be seen, yet the calm glow of blue lights gave away a surface from which the lights must have been situated. The light washed over the room with a certain sloth, its energy falling upon the seemingly icy surfaces lacking any gleam or glare, just allowing their presence to be barely seen.

Adventios was about to note how the room held certain angles that seem obscure and almost chaotic in nature. However the angles, the cuts in his perception seem to move slightly as the Astarte grappled to a small degree of control over the movement of his head, able to gently shake it from side to side no more than a half an inch either way, yet the obscurities did not remain were he had first seen them, but instead moved in time with his erratic movements. Adventios cold now see around him, the slightest tinges of blue, some surface of a crystalline formation around him, yet the surfaces did not seem to be the face of a cage held around him, not wall keeping him from the world beyond, but almost as if he had become infused within the inner mass of a crystal itself. Adventios could move more now, breath easier, and peered down at himself. His armour, white as brightest day, shoulders trimmed red along with the left of his back mounted power pack, the decoratives he had earned through honour and determination forged of bright, gleaming gold, at the centre of his chest, his left lower left leg, right pauldron and pack sat a single item of crimson crystal, forged into his armour in the shape of a drop of blood to honour his chapters origins. About his power pack, left shoulder, belt and knees hung glass vials, each half filled with sacred blood, thrice blessed and imbued with the divinity of his Primarch, Sanguinius himself. His golden wreathed helmet was nowhere to be seen, nor his grenades, combat blade, chainsword or storm bolter. His ammunition and supply pouches appeared to have been emptied also.

His arm slipped back, as though released from the iron grip of a dreadnought. Adventios look down to find the very air around him seeming to flux and melt away, the blue tinge gaining a glossy edge that travelled away from his weakened body and out towards the edges that hung in the air. Adventios soon realised what had seemingly become of him, he had somehow, through the absence of his efforts, been entrapped within some alien stasis device that had frozen him in a crystal boulder. He looked up and around to find his ‘cell’ being held aloft, away from the wall behind him by four elegant mechanical pincers, each clasped tight around an edge of the crystal that contained him. More machinery could be seen in the form of consoles just below him, having been raised out from the very floor in hexagonal segments, as well as a few built-in consoles lining the lower half of the wall to his right.

The solid surface of the crystal around him receded further and further, reaching out towards the dark of the room before him. A sense of desperation wormed into the sergeants mind as his escape from his prison seemed to grow ever closer with each heartbeat, this sense forced his hand to flare gently to life at his right, then the arm it belonged to slowly raised up wards and out to the freedom that awaited. The crystal breached with a sound of twisting, groaning wood that writhed in pitch and tone as the breached before him melted outwards like ice against a raging fire, yet no fluid was relieved from the structure around him as it retreated. The hole before him grew to the size of a mortal being, a couple of feet shorter than himself, yet some artificial force began to grasp hold of the space marine and pulled him forwards, his armour making a plastic-like peeling sound as he was pulled from the skin-tight sealant that had formed at his back. The breach had grown into a full meltdown by the time Adventios had bee fully pulled free, roughly half the boulder having disintegrated, allowing the Astarte to float forward from his confines unobstructed several feet before being suddenly, and rudely, dropped to the floor below.

Adventios was dazed, confused and tired, but he could have sworn he had heard at least a couple of gasps coming from in front of him as his massive, armoured bulk hit the floor like a truck. For a second, Adventios just lay there, tired and feeling somewhat helpless as his limbs gave firm protest to being used, yet a reserve of determination came flooding into his mind, a solution that was half zeal, and half stubbornness. And so his armour ground against the strange metal of the floor that seemed more like a high density plastic. The micro-motors and powered fibre bundles of his joints gave a painful whine before beginning to gently hum and purr into more bearable life. He pushed himself up, fell sideways into a kneeling position in a somewhat clumsy manner, then arranged his arms upon his thigh and knee to brace his ascent to stand. His nostrils flared and gave a soft, yet deep grunt as his knees bent in to full length, his arms falling to his side with loosely clenched fists. His head held strong as it swivelled from side to side slowly, assessing his surrounding with a tactical sharpness any computing system would be lucky to bear. Shapes stood before him in the shade, yet his eyesight was built for the dark of war and could make them out in rough detail. Most stood no taller than the average Imperial trooper, a couple exceeding this height by a fraction only. Yet four stood tallest, two no more than seven feet, but only just, the second tallest was easily over seven feet tall, and well built, the tallest however was truly an impressive sight, standing seven and a half feet tall, bearing thick, powerful, yet strangely graceful limbs, and adorned with a pair of large wings at her back. Indeed it would seem all who stood before the Astarte were female, their bodies generously curved at the least, their legs long and heads bearing few, if any angles, and as much as it was clear these beings were alien in nature, Adventios could not deny their physical impression appeared outrageously feminine. None of them were armoured, nor did any hold weapons that could be seen. One shielded its form behind one of the larger ones, and a couple others were clearly trembling a little.

I am not a monster

Being raised within the super-city, the citadel Metaphos, Adventios had lived a large portion of his life among the rabble of common folk that made up the Imperium. Unlike most brother chapters, the Hospitalers walked among their people as sires and lords, even going so far to form social bonds between themselves and the alien species that composed the citadels population. Thus, Adventios felt a terrible psychological pain to see mortal creature cower and tremble before him. They were not murderous heretics, not despicable traitors nor rampant xeno scourge, just an alien species he had not seen before, just scared people who had probably woken him through some accident or misunderstanding. This thought caught alight with an intense illumination all of a sudden, causing Adventios to sharply raise his eyebrows in revelation.

These people had set him free.

At least it was a very likely thing to assume. Adventios must have truly appeared quite imposing to the mortals that held a firm distance away from him, they might well be terrified by his alien appearance. Adventios took in a breath, savouring the taste of air in his lungs and composed his face. Any tightness in his expression was peeled away, his visage gaining a sense of calm as he breathed out again. Fixing his golden eyes on the group before him he swiftly, but not too quickly, took a step forward, followed by another, then once more again. As he strode forward, his thick, armoured boots thundering against the strange metal below him, the creatures he advanced towards took almost as many shaky steps back until the tallest seemed to swallow a sense of composure and stopped. She stepped forwards, when at the groups front raised her arms and held her hands back to signal them to remain behind her as she cautiously took half-steps towards the alien that approached her.

"My name is Princess Celestia. I-" The tall female had a coat of fur whiter than sunlit snow, her hair and that of her tail was long, had a chalky technicolour appearance and seemed to be removed from the effects of gravity, instead floating in the air slightly as if she were submerged under water. She spoke with a voice he could have sworn sounded familiar, a voice that held a motherly warmth, along with a motherly sense of authority. Adventios would have let her speak further, but felt certain understandings had to be met.

"Who woke me?" His voice was deep, but far from the guttural growl some space marines exhibited. His words were firm, but far from feirce and easy to understand. This was a curious thing since he had been sure such aliens would have never been able to understand low gothic, let alone speak it themselves. This made Adventios conclude that perhaps, if most likely, these people had once been a part of an Imperial civilisation, but had somehow become lost to time and records that he was aware of.

"I did!" The voice almost made Adventios flinch with its raw energy. It was chipper, almost childish in its tone, and had been spoken by the small female who now raised her hand in a manner of verification. The girl, her entire body uncovered by the brightly coloured, loose-fitting clothes, was hot pink in colour, her hair and tail a mess of curls that seemed to hold a sort of elastic bounce to it as she hopped up and down slightly while waving her hand in the air.

"Pinkie, please! I'm sorry s...s-siiiir~? Um, we're sorry we disturbed you, to be honest none of us are really sure what we expected when coming down here. The hologram thing said...something was being held in this room, so we thought we'd try our luck to see what we could find." This one was another of the taller ones, purple in colour, hair straight and neatly cut and kept.

"Your awakening is my fault, I brought everypony down here, so it is I who should appologize. But please, try to understand we are currently in quite a terrible situation, and we have searched for years for some means...any way to save our country." The tall white princess, this 'Celestia', took another step forwards, her posture enclosed if somewhat sheepish, but her hands held out in a gesture that spoke she meant no harm.

"Celestia, you said your name was? Princess?" Adventios asked, holding his ground firmly.

"Yes." The princess responded simply.

"I'm sure the reasons for your coming to this place will be revealed in good time, however my primary concerns at this time are those of what this place is, why I am here, and the whereabouts of my brethren. These answers I wish to seek out immediately, but not before I grant you my thanks. It would seem the kindness of fate saw it best to deliver you to engineer my release from a prison I was never aware I had been placed in." The Astarte allowed the slightest of smiles to grace his features, so slight he was unsure those before him even noticed the change in his expression.

"Oh...Oh, well, thank you. We were...unsure what we would find, and when finding you all we were very unsure how you'd react to your release. I'm relieved you're taking this all so well." Princess Celestia's surprise grew quickly into a relieved, yet no less beaming smile, a sight that found itself catching upon Adventios' heart as quite a beautiful one. But the largest feature of the Princess that caught his attention were her words.

"All of us?" The sergeant inquired, his eyes tightening slightly.

"Well...you were wondering were your compatriots were?" Celestia said while looking up above and behind the Astarte.

Adventios wasted no time on swiveling himself around swiftly, turning to look behind to were his containment crystal had been. There is was held, still, the half disintegrated crystal, appearing as a shining over-sized shard of blue-tinted diamond, but half molten as if made from plastic. It floating a couple of feet above the floor, suspending by a number of sleek, insect-like mechanical limbs that grasped its edges. However beyond this single cell, both besides and above it, sat a frightening sight.

Dozens. Dozens upon dozens of large crystal blocks. Each slightly unique in its composition, each one bearing different angles and overall shape as if cut by hand by a team of stone-smiths. each was sunk half way into the wall behind him that was fifty feet across and perhaps twice that tall. Obscured by the various sharp angles along with the translucent depth of the crystal, was the image of a single space marine. White and red armour and gold embellishments all, stood still, frozen within the strange substance that surrounded them. Adventios would, beyond this moment, not be too proud to admit his mind was awash with a sense of despair, in seeing his brothers cast in their own personal prisons, helpless to whatever mercies put them there in the first place. His expression dropped, his eyes fluttering for a second as turbulent waves of emotion battered the foundations of his mind. Turning and taking a couple of clumsy steps forward, Adventios peered up, attempting to gauge exactly how many of his brethren were being held in this place, concluding that it appeared to be the entire crew of the Remergence, the Astarte frigate he had remembered last being on, along with all those before him.

"Excuse me, sir."

Adventios turned with a great lack of speed or swiftness to Celestia's voice, to once again face her and her companions, only this time bearing a shock-striken face, his expression loose, eyes wide and skin cold. Celestia had stepped closer to him, no further than arms reach. She held her hands together anxiously and looked slightly up at him from being just fraction shorter, her eye tense and brows knitted together in an expression of deepest concern. Concern, however, Adventios felt was not for him.

"We need your help."