It is easy to go down to hell; Night and Day the Gates of Dark Death stand wide;
But to climb back up again, to retrace ones steps to the open air,
there lies the problem, the difficult task.
Virgil, The Aeneid, Book VI
But to climb back up again, to retrace ones steps to the open air,
there lies the problem, the difficult task.
Virgil, The Aeneid, Book VI
Malatesta Outpost, Sheol, Plaga Chaos
Whispers echoed through the massive hallways, as men and women, whose plain clothing and weariness matched their stoic manners, sought to decide something that, from the number of present individuals, a major turning point for their entire lives. The hall was a classically built, Athenian Agora, except for the fact it was so massive that it could house millions inside, with pillars and floor stretching as far as the eyes could see, towards all directions, and somehow, everyone could hear the voices, understand each other despite the massive number of individuals who were participating. Two words were commonly repeated among their discussions, two words which had a very strong meaning.
"New World," a short, brown-skinned woman wearing a black, seemingly blood-stained power armor spoke, "something that we, the damned but free people of Sheol, have for many years dreamed of. Something that I, as someone who can no longer remember how is peace, for many centuries have dreamed of. Now, the signs are clear, that it is time for us to depart from this world of death."
There was something weird about her gaze. It seemed almost like she was one of their enemies, from the very strong sensation that all those who stared at her had, that such woman was completely insane and psychotic. And yet, there was a demonic charisma with her, that drew people to listen to her speech, to ignored her unkempt, disheveled manners and seeming disregard for everything. Perhaps the facade of hatred, covered by stoicism, was nothing but a shield to avoid such person from falling into complete madness, which happened to most veterans of the Eternal War.
"Now that we have discovered the secrets of travel from the alien scum, I have found a new world! I have seen our new world! And we shall reach our new world!" she shouted in a passionate manner, stomping the jackboot over the floor, "and nothing shall stop us from achieving what we must, to secure our survival!"
"Alina Herrers," suddenly a voice came, asking her about the event, "isn't that planet already inhabited?"
"Like our homeworld, Glacius, such planet is inhabited by aliens, and like what happened in Glacius, we shall not let these aliens condemn us to an eternity in Hell!" there was a terrible hatred in her voice as she spoke of aliens, "look around, come outside of this simulated reality! We have lost many of our friends and families to the forces of Chaos that define this world, we have fought against our own brothers as their minds were corrupted, and we have taken a long struggle to reach this point. For twenty years we have worked hard for this day to become real, the day we can finally depart from this grave. The day we shall finally rise from the ocean of death, and from the ocean of mediocrity our home world has become."
"Wait, but aren't they very similar to us?" Another individual asked, trying to open a field of debate.
"Which makes them even more abhorrent!" Alina shouted, "mockeries of our fine human race! And thieves of the only wealth our dying world has!" she opened the palm of her left hand, showing a black gem, "they dare to come here, to sneak like cowards, and steal these gems from this planet which belong only to us, those who have managed to keep it tamed for decades!"
Suddenly, a blindfolded figure literally fell from the ceiling, moaning in pain as it remained on the floor of the Agora. Her pointy ears were very evident, and the figure wore a typical Eldar ceremonial attire. Despite her condition, the elf remained trying to keep a proud stance, as Alina pulled the elf up by grabbing her collar, and said:
"This is our assembly, alien. As you can see, you are not welcome here." Alina immediately threw the alien to the floor, knocking her head with such a force that, were this happening in the material reality, the elf would have been killed, instead, she simply writhed over the floor, clearly suffering terrible pain.
"This is the least painful of what can happen to you here," Alina threatened, as she crouched next to the alien, and kicking her, she finished, "because this is a wonderful world. You can never die here, but you'll still feel as much pain as if all happening here was real."
The crowd began to cheer, suddenly forming spontaneous mobs as from afar, a group shouted:
"Let us lynch this bitch! Let us do this alien thief!"
"Easy now," Alina said in a serene voice, trying to calm down the passions of the masses, "do you want to lower to their level? Because I don't," she gently helped the alien to get up again, and she said, directing at her:
"Have you learned?"
"You shall pay a terrible price for this, Mon-Keigh!" the prisoner in this virtual world shouted, as Alina sighed, tapping the elf's shoulder:
"Well, well, you are acting exactly like," suddenly a history book popped right among her hands, as she began to browse it, leading to an illustration of a French noblewoman being put to the guillotine during the French Revolution, "a reactionary bourgeois, and we don't like people who think they are superior to everyone else."
"So sayeth those who seek to conquer worlds." the elf snickered, still seemingly unafraid of their threats.
"It is a matter of survival," Alina sighed, "not a matter of feeling superior to others. We aren't superior to your kin, but this world is too small for two top dogs, and between you and us, I'd obviously choose us. But don't worry," Alina tapped her shoulder in yet another cynical gesture, "I'm sure your kin in the planet we are going to settle are going to be gentle enough to give us a continent, and thus we won't have to exterminate every one of them, but you."
"You are digging your own grave with this! Do you think the universe will stand silent to your savagery?"
"The universe doesn't care," her laughter echoed through the massive Agora, as she then said, "but now, what is your name?"
"Why do you care?"
"We aren't that savage, you know," Alina Herrers again tapped the elf woman shoulder, as she said, "we need you to negotiate a continent in your home planet, and I am sure you can convince them, because you know what we will do if they refuse. Come, just say you agree and we'll let you go free. You don't have much choice anyway, because once we depart from this world, you know what will assume total control over it."
"You want to take a world which is not yours into your hands, and how will I trust you will keep your word? The Immaterium whispers of your genocides, Mon-Keigh, and you shall crumble. I refuse to convince my people to surrender!"
"Pretty stubborn and proud," Alina said, as she removed the blindfold from the elf, staring at her green eyes "but we'll see what you are made of. Lets see if you'll keep this way if you go to the flesh-slicer. If you do, then I'll be impressed.
"You are a demon, not a mere Mon-Keigh!" were the elf last words as an iron maiden like device popped into the virtual reality, its inside lined with multiple, very small electric saws, small enough to not make deep cuts, but so prevalent that they would cut through multiple areas in the body of a victim, being a terrible, extremely monstrous torture device.
Shoving the elf inside it, Alina closed the sarcophagus door, some of its blades already cutting through the skin of the elf without even being activated from their tight pressure, as she said, "You have one last chance to change your mind, and I am being generous. Do you want to go through this?"
"You will never break my will! You will never convince me to damn my own people!"
"Good for you," Alina said, as the hall began to fill with commotion, and she suddenly changed. Suddenly, the hall became weird for her, its pillars twisting and shifting, as she began to feel a terrible despair and lack of hope. Decapitated heads began to emerge and hang from the pillars, as the floor became a massive, shifting layer of flesh, and mutilated corpses appeared hanging on nooses in the ceiling. Alina couldn't withstand the horror, and suddenly an unnatural thrust pushed her, as a sharp pain came to her back, as if countless of tiny blades were digging through her flesh.
"Stop this!" she shouted, "stop now or," her sentence could never finish as a level of pain comparable to that of being in the Hell of old religions came. The blades began to move, slicing and cutting her flesh all around her body, while mutilating her eyes. It was the worst Alina ever passed through, and while it lasted, it seemed eternal.
Until it vanished all of a sudden, as a mob began to shout all around the room:
"Do it to this bitch! She tried to break your mind Alina! She deserves it!"
"Go!"
"Go!"
The hate-filled crowd demanded, but then, it was becoming clear. The pain she felt, was something so terrible that there was a glint of morals inside her, telling her that not even an alien deserved such suffering. They were desperate, only trying the same as them, to ensure their survival, it was perhaps wrong.
Or perhaps, it was all part of something bigger.
"No! I will not please our true enemies in this world!" suddenly, the people began to look angrily at her, as Alina released the elf from the torture device and ensued it would vanish. It was no wonder when thousands began to run for her like rabid animals, as the mass, made by either six or seven from every ten men in the meeting began to shout:
"Traitor! Traitor! Traitor!"
"Chaos... it got the best of us."
"Catch my hand, quick!" Alina shouted to the Eldar, the enemy, the threat to mankind freedom and survival.
As the alien grabbed her hand, both vanished from such reality.
------
Fortunately, the only sentients in the outpost were Alina Herrers and the gems thief she caught. As she tried to get used to the reality, her eyes adjusting to the clarity of shifting hues outside, trying to ignore the rain of blood that was visible from the thick, reinforced window in the room. It was a large, empty room other than for a table with two chairs, one of which the alien sat at, looking right at Alina.
"I know you'd exterminate the entirety of human race if doing so can ensure the survival of only one of yours. So know this very well, I am not doing this to help you and your egocentric kin." Herrers said, as she placed her hand over the table.
"And wouldn't you have done the same?" the elf questioningly rebated.
"Yes, we would, but we see no need for doing so, as of now, because you haven't yet done what it takes to become a real threat to free mankind." Alina looked at her and explained, "It is not over yet for our people. Through the seeding of hatred and disunion, Chaos have entrapped us in this world. It have played with us to ensure that our departure would be foiled. Now, if we don't manage to depart, you know what shall happen, and you know it is suicidal for you to try escaping by yourself with all we have of orbital attack systems."
"What makes you think I am going to help you?"
"Slaanesh has a very strong presence here. I am sure you didn't stay in this hell for more than a few hours, and you already know. Last year, we lost one third of our population as Chaos destroyed many of our cities. We cannot survive much longer, and you, even less."
"Your Mon-Keigh peers now despise you, whether they are being puppets of Chaos or not."
"Don't worry, they can be aggressive sometimes, but they will forget it, and forgive me. They know all I have done for them. They know how much of my humanity I have sacrificed for them," she sighed, "and how sometimes I wish I hadn't sacrifice that much. Let us just wait, I have everything necessary here: food, drinks and all. I won't force you to stay here, but I wouldn't leave if I were you."
"What sort of game are you playing with me?"
"No games, I just can't afford to let this happen after fighting for thousands of years for freedom. Now feel yourself at home, because we'll have to stay here for a two or three weeks, as then they will forget that I refused doing that."
"I see, something tried to break you once," the eldar continued as cynical as ever, "and now you remembered how it feels."
"Perhaps," Alina seemed to not care about the veiled insults, "or perhaps now I'm realizing where all the negative traits our people tried to eliminate from humanity ended. Our search for perfection is not yet over."
"I see..." the alien laughed, "so you spout all this rhetoric and in truth you shouldn't even call yourselves human anymore."
"We are not less human because we don't kill those of our own species as oftenly as our savage and inferior ancestors did, and because we are naturally inclined to refuse hierarchies." Alina said.
"You are machines, machines your ancestors created to match their petty idealism."
"Nope, we are still perfecting our nature, rather than letting randomness and flawed natural evolution define it. Perhaps we transcended humanity in all but physical appearance," Alina suddenly yawned, "but this is irrelevant philosophic banter, so if you wish to have a dinner, ask the drone for one."
Alina then left, saying no further words and headed for her private quarters, locking its, just in case, as she fell asleep, hoping to not have yet another nightmare.
(OOC: This will still "heat up", for now it's just a building up of events for the real action that will. I will inform once it becomes possible for participants to join. In essence it is a mass exodus that will happen, onto a planet that already is inhabited. If you wish to have the planet they are trying to "colonize" as yours, just send me a telegram explaining the details)