The ground trembled underfoot, as long clawing shadows stalked his flight through the labyrinth of rubble and shattered bodies. The last of his craftworld kin, Eldrenniel, moved cautiously, driven by the urgency to escape the dark horror that hunted him.
As foreseen, the Imperial hive world had become a monument to the devastating warp incursion that ravaged everything in its path. Yet the Seers of Yme-Loc must be warned of the daemonic threats’ true extent before it was too late. Though his wraithbone armour had been tattered by the raking claws of the daemonic horde, his helms spirit-sight revealed a still-functioning vessel lay buried within the cursed city.
A sudden whirring caught his attention. Eldrenniel froze, drawing a shuriken pistol, scanning the ruins for the source of the noise. Emerging from around the street corner, the Monkeigh thing was a brutish, ugly construct of metal and wires. Its once canine form now battered and scorched. Enhanced sensors flickered, struggling to maintain focus as it scanned the area, growling low when locking onto him.
Eldrenniel’s lip curled in distaste.
The humans had taken the creature and twisted it into a mechanical abomination, grafting their crude technology onto flesh, stripping it of any natural grace. He considered destroying it. But as he watched the cyber-hound limp forward, struggling to stay upright on its damaged legs, pity struck him. The creature had not chosen this fate. It was a victim, just as much as this world was. Eldrenniel slowly lowered his pistol as he regarded the creature. The cyber-hound paused, its head tilting slightly in confusion. There was no malice in its movements now as it limped closer, only weary dogged determination.
As the cyborg approached, he knelt to examine its injuries. The creature’s leg was badly damaged, shrapnel embedded in its synthetic muscles, hydraulic fluid leaking from the breach. He reached out, gently removing the shrapnel. Wide sensor-lenses fixed on him, perhaps realising that, unlike its slain masters, this kind stranger was not human.
While tending makeshift repairs to the Monkeigh creation Eldrenniel’s thoughts wandered to the countless lives lost, and the strange twist of fate that had brought him to this moment.
‘There,’ he said, as if speaking to a wounded comrade, ‘we’re both survivors; let us continue our escape.’ The cyber-hound emitted a low, mechanical whine that Eldrenniel took as a sign of understanding.
The air grew colder as they both descended deeper into the city’s ruins, the cyber-hound limping beside him as they navigated the treacherous debris. Eldrenniel kept his senses sharp. For its part, the hound stayed close. Nearing a destroyed shrine, the hound suddenly stopped, its sensors whirring rapidly. Eldrenniel scanned their surroundings as the hound emitted a low growl, its body tense, as if trying to communicate a warning.
He felt it then, deep rumbling so low it seemed to resonate within his chest. The air grew heavier, the familiar sensation of the warp thickening around them.
Eldrenniel slowly turned his head as the horror emerged in the distance, birthed from the shadows of ruin. The daemon, its massive form shrouded in darkness, stalked through the devastation. A grotesque fusion of flesh and flickering warp-energy, copious eyes glowing with blue fire. It moved with a dreadful purpose, each step sending tremors through the ground.
Eldrenniel’s breath caught in his throat. The daemon was close. Too close. He glanced at the cyber-hound, which had already slunk toward a nearby crevice in the rubble, sensors still locked on the daemon. Hesitating briefly, Eldrenniel followed, pressing himself against the cold, jagged rocks as the nightmare drew nearer.
The hound crouched beside him, its body low and still, sensors focused entirely on the approaching threat. Eldrenniel felt the daemon’s foul presence growing stronger, the air around them warping under the weight of its malice. He held his breath, willing himself and his soul-fire to remain as small as possible inside the crevice they hid within. Knowing any movement or ill-thought could mean their doom.
Looming closer, the daemon sniffed at the air as if it could taste their fear. Eldrenniel’s hand rested lightly on the hound’s head, the gesture of reassurance and silent command to stay hidden. The cyber-hound remained perfectly still, its sensors dimming to avoid detection.
In the distance a sharp crack rang out, echoing through the ruins. The daemon’s head snapped toward the staccato rhythm of gunshots, its clusters of glowing eyes narrowing with interest. With a final rumbling growl, it turned and stalked away in the direction of the disturbance.
Letting out a slow breath, the tension of Eldrenniel’s body gradually eased. The cyber-hound, too, relaxed, its sensors whirring back to life as it scanned the area for the danger to pass. They remained in hiding, waiting until the daemon’s presence had fully receded into the distance. With cautious movements he rose from their shelter, the hound at his side.
Eldrenniel worked quickly to uncover the Eldar ship, buried in the ruined plaza. The hound stood vigil as he dug through the debris, hefting the rubble aside with renewed urgency. Finally, his efforts were rewarded by a section of the Aeldari vessel’s elegant hull revealing itself.
The hound emitted another low growl whilst moving to Eldrenniel’s side to lay low, as if instructing Eldrenniel to do the same. He immediately stopped, ducking down into a hollow beneath a ruined statue, as a pair of winged-spawn silently glided over the plaza. The silhouettes of their leathery wings passed across the plaza’s floor, mere metres from them, before arching away to disappear screeching into the distance.
By nightfall they had excavated enough to free the vessel. Engines roared to life as Eldrenniel guided the ship up and away from the cursed world. The cyber-hound settled beside him, its whirring sensors focusing on the void as the planet shrank below them.
‘Come, my new friend,’ Eldrenniel whispered, his voice soft with newfound warmth. ‘Let us return to my people, for they can clothe you in noble flesh once more.’
