Is Warhammer 40K's Inquisition REALLY as Tough as Everyone Says

Warhammer lore Vault

In the smoke-choked manufactorums of Kratos Tertius, one worker faces the Inquisition’s shadow… and survival costs more than life itself. Step inside the grim darkness of the 41st Millennium with this **Warhammer 40K dark cinematic documentary**, where survival under the Inquisition is not a triumph but a sentence.     Disclaimer: This channel is an unofficial, fan-made Warhammer 40,000 project created purely for storytelling, educational, and entertainment purposes. It is dedicated to exploring the forgotten truths, brutal histories, and everyday struggles of life under the Imperium through cinematic narration and immersive lore-driven narratives — from the heart of hive cities to the farthest war-torn stars. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Games Workshop in any way. Warhammer 40,000 and all associated names, characters, factions, lore, and imagery are the intellectual property of Games Workshop Ltd. All rights belong to their respective owners. Some contents are used for educational purposes under fair use. Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational, or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.   #Warhammer40K #warhammer #Wh40K #WH40KLore

Transcript

00:00:00The rosette burned against my retinas like a brand, gold and red in the manufacturing smoke, choked air.

00:00:07I had seen the inquisitorial seal before, stamped on requisition orders and execution warrants,

00:00:14but never this close, never worn on living fleshed, never accompanied by the smell of ozone and ceramite that meant

00:00:22power armor and storm troopers,

00:00:24and the absolute certainty that someone in this facility would die screaming before the day ended.

00:00:31My name is Theron Vask, and the moment I saw that rosette hanging from the inquisitor's neck,

00:00:38my life split into two distinct periods before, when I was a human being with hopes and routines,

00:00:45and the small dignities that make existence bearable, and after, when I became something else entirely, a survivor, a witness.

00:00:54A ghost-wearing skin that no longer felt like mine, the Manufaktorum where I worked sprawled across three hive levels

00:01:02on Kratos Turchis,

00:01:03a world so polluted that rain fell black and tasted of rendered fat.

00:01:08We produced lasguns for the Astra Militarunk, specifically the rifle stocks that cradled the sacred power packs,

00:01:17and gave the common soldier something to brace against their shoulders when they died for the Emperor.

00:01:24Station 40, 7, Gamma was mine, had been mine for twelve years, and I knew every scratch on the conveyor

00:01:31belt,

00:01:32every hiccup in the rhythm, when the machines cycled into their blessing phase.

00:01:38The work was monotonous in the way that preserves sanity, each stock identical to the last,

00:01:44each prayer the same words in the same order, until they stopped being language, and became pure sound.

00:01:50Vibration, the human component in a ritual that pleased the machine spirits and kept production quotas acceptable.

00:01:59Six hundred workers shared my shift.

00:02:02Faces I recognized but rarely spoke to because conversation slowed the line, and drawing attention meant trouble.

00:02:10We moved in synchronized patterns, our hands blessing wood while our lips recited the litany of function,

00:02:17and the overseers watched from gantries above with chronometers and data.

00:02:23Slates.

00:02:24Recording our output and flagging anyone who fell behind.

00:02:28The air itself was thick with sacred oils, and reclaimed protein paste from the meal hall three levels down.

00:02:35That particular stench that coats your tongue, and lives in your clothes until you cannot remember what clean air tastes

00:02:44like.

00:02:44I had stopped noticing it years ago.

00:02:47The same way I stopped noticing the ache in my lower back, or the numbness in my fingers,

00:02:54or the way my bunkmate Hesha whispered prayers in her sleep,

00:02:58terrified that silence would let the warp seep in through her dreams.

00:03:03Hesha believed in the emperor with the kind of faith that leaves no room for questions.

00:03:08She attended chapel twice daily, wore prayer beads that clicked against her wrists when she worked,

00:03:16and kept a small icon of the imperial acula above her bunk.

00:03:21The paint chipped but the double, headed eagle still visible in the candlelight.

00:03:26I envied her certainty even as it exhausted me.

00:03:29My own faith was murkier, built less on devotion, and more on the pragmatic understanding that belief kept you alive.

00:03:38That the imperium punished heresy and rewarded compliance,

00:03:42and survival meant performing the rituals whether you felt them in your soul or not.

00:03:48I kept my doubts small and private, splinters beneath the skin that hurt when pressed,

00:03:54but never infected into something dangerous.

00:03:57At least, that was what I told myself during the long shifts when the prayers felt hollow,

00:04:03and the emperor seemed too distant to care about one factory worker on one factory world among millions.

00:04:12The morning the Inquisition arrived, Hesha and I had been arguing about prayer.

00:04:17She insisted the emperor heard every word we spoke,

00:04:21that our voices reached terror through some mechanism we could not comprehend,

00:04:26that faith itself was the carrier wave.

00:04:29I had suggested, carefully,

00:04:32that perhaps the sheer volume of prayers across the imperium created static,

00:04:37that individual words might get lost in the noise.

00:04:41She had looked at me with something close to horror,

00:04:45told me that doubt was how the warp found purchased,

00:04:48and made me recite the litany of protection three times,

00:04:53before she would let me leave for the meal hall.

00:04:56I had humoured her because Hesha was my friend,

00:05:00one of the few people in the manufacturum who remembered my name,

00:05:04and because arguing about theology was pointless,

00:05:07when we both knew the truth, belief, or doubt,

00:05:10the emperor's gaze, or his absence.

00:05:13None of it mattered as much as keeping your head down,

00:05:17and your numbers clean.

00:05:19The meal hall occupied a converted storage bay,

00:05:22rockcrete walls stained with centuries of grease,

00:05:25and the ghosts of old advertisements for products,

00:05:29that no longer existed.

00:05:30We ate at long tables made from repurposed machine parts.

00:05:35Twelve hundred workers crammed into a space designed for half that.

00:05:40The noise level a constant roar of conversation and clattering bowls.

00:05:44The food was corpse, starch gruel, grey and flavourless.

00:05:50Supplemented occasionally with protein chips that tasted like salted cardboard.

00:05:55I had learned to eat without thinking about the sauce.

00:05:58To let my mind drift,

00:06:00while my body performed the necessary functions of consumption and digestion.

00:06:05The bowl in my hands was warm,

00:06:08the gruel thick enough to coat my spoon,

00:06:11and I was halfway through my ration when the vox system shrieked.

00:06:15The feedback was deliberate,

00:06:17a weapon disguised as technical malfunction,

00:06:21and it drove through my skull like a spike.

00:06:24Around me, workers dropped their bowls,

00:06:27clapped their hands over their ears,

00:06:29and the gruel I had been eating sprayed across the table as my own bowl hit the rock crete,

00:06:36and shattered into fragments that skittered across the floor.

00:06:40The vox, grills mounted in the ceiling crackled,

00:06:43and a voice emerged,

00:06:46modulated through layers of augmetic enhancement,

00:06:49until it sounded like something that had never been human,

00:06:53that had been born speaking with perfect clarity and zero warmth.

00:06:57All workers of Manufakturum 7,

00:07:007, 7 are to cease activity immediately.

00:07:03Maintain your current positions.

00:07:05Movement will be interpreted as resistance.

00:07:08Compliance is salvation.

00:07:10Resistance is proof of heresy.

00:07:12The god-emperor watches,

00:07:14and through his servants,

00:07:16he judges.

00:07:18Silence crashed down like a physical weight.

00:07:21Twelve hundred people froze mid-motion.

00:07:24Spoons hanging in air,

00:07:26conversations severed,

00:07:28breath held in communal terror.

00:07:30The machines in the levels below us continued their work.

00:07:34Grinding and stamping and blessing,

00:07:36because machines did not fear the Inquisition,

00:07:38but we did.

00:07:40We feared it the way prey fears the predator's shadow.

00:07:45Instinctively, viscerally,

00:07:46with the understanding that fear was not weakness,

00:07:49but recognition of reality.

00:07:52Hesha's hand found my wrist under the table,

00:07:55her fingers cold and trembling,

00:07:57and when I looked at her face,

00:07:59I saw the whites of her eyes all the way around,

00:08:02saw her lips moving in silent prayer,

00:08:06saw the faith she had always worn like armor cracking,

00:08:09under the weight of actual danger.

00:08:12The gantries above us came alive with movement.

00:08:15Power armor does not sound the way you expect

00:08:18from propaganda reels and cathedral mosaics.

00:08:21There is no thunder,

00:08:23no majestic announcement of imperial might.

00:08:26Instead there is a whisper,

00:08:28a sugerus of servo motors cycling through motion algorithms,

00:08:32of ceramide plates sliding against each other with microscopic precision,

00:08:38of something massive moving with the silence of a hunting cat.

00:08:42The shadows on the gantries resolved into figures,

00:08:46five of them,

00:08:47descending the iron staircase with measured steps

00:08:50that rang against the metal despite the quiet of their armor.

00:08:54The leader wore black plate trimmed with purity seals,

00:08:59each one inscribed with names I could not read and prayers I did not recognize,

00:09:05and on his chest hung the rosette,

00:09:07the inquisitorial seal that represented authority absolute and unquestionable.

00:09:13The inquisitor reached the floor of the meal hall and stopped,

00:09:17standing in a pool of light from the overhead lumens

00:09:20that made his armor gleam like oil on water.

00:09:24His face was human, scarred,

00:09:27older than the armor suggested,

00:09:29with gray eyes that moved across the crowd in systematic sweeps.

00:09:33He did not look angry or zealous or any of the things I had expected.

00:09:37He looked calm, professional,

00:09:40like a man performing a task he had done a thousand times before

00:09:44and would do a thousand times again.

00:09:47Behind him came his retinue.

00:09:50Two stormtroopers with helgens held at low ready,

00:09:53power cables glowing faintly blued.

00:09:56A scribe hunched under the weight of a data,

00:09:59lectern welded to his spine,

00:10:01his fingers already dancing across input keys I could not seat.

00:10:05A servo skull-wreathed in brass and suspensor tech,

00:10:09its eye sockets replaced with auspex units

00:10:12that swept the crowd in methodical patterns,

00:10:15and an interrogator,

00:10:17a woman whose face was hidden behind a ribrether mask,

00:10:21whose hands were wrapped in leather gloves

00:10:24that creaked when she flexed her fingers.

00:10:27The inquisitor's voice carried without amplification.

00:10:31Another gift of augmetics or training,

00:10:33or something I did not want to consider.

00:10:36You are servants of the Imperium.

00:10:39You labor in his name.

00:10:41You eat his rations.

00:10:42You breathe air he provides.

00:10:44In return he asks for purity,

00:10:46for faith,

00:10:47for vigilance against the enemies that surround us on all sides.

00:10:51He paused,

00:10:53letting the words sink in.

00:10:55And I could feel the collective tension in the hall,

00:10:57could smell the fear,

00:11:00sweat rising from twelve hundred bodies,

00:11:03pressed too close together.

00:11:05This manufactorum produces weapons for the Emperor's armies.

00:11:09Corruption here does not simply endanger you,

00:11:12it endangers every soldier who holds the lascans you bless.

00:11:16It endangers worlds.

00:11:17It endangers the Imperium itself.

00:11:20He gestured.

00:11:22And the servo skull descended from his shoulder,

00:11:25spiraling down to hover at eye level above the crowd.

00:11:28Its Auspex units glowed red,

00:11:31scanning faces.

00:11:32Cross,

00:11:33referencing data from archives I could not imagine.

00:11:36Some of you are innocent.

00:11:38Some of you harbor corruption,

00:11:40knowingly or unknowingly.

00:11:42You may have been exposed to warp,

00:11:45tainted materials,

00:11:46to Xeno's influence,

00:11:48to the whispers of chaos.

00:11:49You may not even know you are infected.

00:11:52That is why we are here.

00:11:54To identify the threat,

00:11:56to excise it,

00:11:57to ensure that the Imperium's work continues uncompromised.

00:12:01He drew himself up,

00:12:02and the purity seals on his armor rustled like dry leaves.

00:12:07Those who are pure have nothing to fear.

00:12:10Confess your doubts,

00:12:11your dreams,

00:12:12your moments of weakness,

00:12:14and we will determine if you can be saved.

00:12:17Hide them,

00:12:18and you condemn yourself.

00:12:20The purge began with the Overseers.

00:12:23There were twenty.

00:12:25Three of them scattered throughout the Manufactorum,

00:12:28men and women,

00:12:29who had risen through the ranks by attrition and competence,

00:12:33who carried data, slates and chronometers,

00:12:36and the weight of production quotas

00:12:38that could break a worker's spirit as surely as physical labor.

00:12:43Kellen was pulled forward first,

00:12:45the man who had supervised my section for eight years,

00:12:49who had lost his left eye to a servo,

00:12:52skull malfunction,

00:12:53and never bothered with augmetic replacement.

00:12:56He walked to the center of the hall without resistance,

00:13:00his shoulder squared,

00:13:02his empty eye socket weeping clear fluid down his cheek.

00:13:07The interrogator circled him,

00:13:09her rebreather hissing with each breath,

00:13:12and her questions were too quiet for me

00:13:14to hear from where I knelt at my table.

00:13:17Kellen answered each one,

00:13:19his voice steady,

00:13:20his hands clasped behind his back.

00:13:23The interrogation lasted five minutes, maybe ten,

00:13:26time-stretching in that way it does

00:13:28when you are watching someone's life

00:13:31being weighed on scales you cannot see.

00:13:34Finally,

00:13:35the interrogator stepped back,

00:13:38consulted with the Inquisitor in a whisper,

00:13:40and the Inquisitor nodded once.

00:13:42A purity seal was pressed into Kellen's palm,

00:13:46wax still warm,

00:13:47and he was directed to stand against the far wall

00:13:50with the handful of other overseers

00:13:53who had already passed.

00:13:55His relief was visible in the sag of his shoulders,

00:13:59in the way he clutched the seal like,

00:14:01it was the Emperor's own benediction.

00:14:04Seventeen more overseers were questioned.

00:14:07Fourteen received seals,

00:14:09three were taken.

00:14:09The first was dragged screaming to the holding pens,

00:14:13the stormtroopers had set up near the entrance.

00:14:17His voice cracking as he swore his loyalty.

00:14:20Swore he had done nothing wrong,

00:14:23swore the Emperor was his salvation.

00:14:25The second went quietly,

00:14:27her face blank,

00:14:28her eyes already dead.

00:14:30The third tried to run,

00:14:32made it perhaps ten steps

00:14:34before a Helgen shot took him in the leg.

00:14:36The lass, bolt-cooking meat and bone

00:14:39with a smell that made my stomach heave.

00:14:42He was dragged the rest of the way,

00:14:45leaving a trail of charred blood on the rockcrete,

00:14:48and the message was clear resistance was not tolerated.

00:14:52Even the impulse toward resistance was proof of guilt.

00:14:55The interrogations moved into the general workforce.

00:15:00The Servo-Skull's auspex scanned constantly,

00:15:03pulling names from personnel records,

00:15:06flagging individuals based on criteria

00:15:08I could not fathom.

00:15:10Production history,

00:15:11psychological profiles,

00:15:13attendance records,

00:15:14prayer participation rates.

00:15:16Everything we did was logged,

00:15:18archived,

00:15:19analysed,

00:15:20and now weaponised against us.

00:15:22My name was called in the twentieth hour,

00:15:25after I had watched sixty workers questioned

00:15:28and twelve executed on the spot.

00:15:31Their bodies left where they fell

00:15:33as warnings and examples.

00:15:35My legs were numb from kneeling,

00:15:38my bladder screaming,

00:15:39my mind fuzzy from fear and exhaustion.

00:15:42I stood,

00:15:43and Heshia's hand slipped from my wrist.

00:15:46And I walked forward through the crowd

00:15:48that parted for me,

00:15:49like I was already contaminated.

00:15:52The interrogator gestured for me to kneel

00:15:55in the centre of the hall,

00:15:57in the space where the Inquisitor

00:15:59could see me clearly,

00:16:01where the Servo-Skull

00:16:03could scan me from every angle,

00:16:05where the entire workforce

00:16:07could witness my judgement.

00:16:08The rockcrete was cold and stained

00:16:11with fluids I did not want to identify.

00:16:13I knelt,

00:16:14and the impact sent pain

00:16:16lancing up my thighs.

00:16:18And I kept my head bowed,

00:16:20because eye contact felt like challenge

00:16:22and challenge was death.

00:16:24The interrogator's boots

00:16:26entered my field of vision.

00:16:29Scuffed black leather

00:16:30that had walked through more blood

00:16:32than I could imagine.

00:16:34Her first question cut through

00:16:36the haze of my fear.

00:16:38Do you love the Emperor?

00:16:40The words should have been simple,

00:16:43should have triggered the automatic response

00:16:45I had been trained to give since childhood,

00:16:48but my mouth was dry

00:16:50and my tongue felt swollen,

00:16:52and the yes that emerged

00:16:53sounded more like a croak

00:16:55than an affirmation.

00:16:56She waited,

00:16:58her rebrother hissing in the silence,

00:17:00and I tried again,

00:17:01forcing volume into my voice.

00:17:04Yes, I love the Emperor.

00:17:06He is the master of mankind.

00:17:08The guardian of terror,

00:17:10the light in the darkness.

00:17:12The liturgy spilled out,

00:17:14rote and desperate,

00:17:15and I prayed to him

00:17:17that it would be enough.

00:17:18Recite the litany of devotion.

00:17:20I began,

00:17:21stumbled on the third line,

00:17:23my mind blank with terror,

00:17:25and then the words came back in a rush,

00:17:27and I continued,

00:17:28my voice gaining strength

00:17:30as muscle memory overrode panic.

00:17:33I finished the litany,

00:17:35moved into the prayer of protection

00:17:37without being asked,

00:17:39poured every scrap of faith

00:17:41I possessed into the words,

00:17:43and when I finally stopped,

00:17:45my throat was raw

00:17:46and my eyes were burning with tears,

00:17:48I refused to let fall.

00:17:50The interrogator let the silence stretch,

00:17:53let me hang in the moment of uncertainty,

00:17:56and then she moved to the next question.

00:17:58When did you last attend chapel?

00:18:01Fourteen days prior,

00:18:03I told her,

00:18:04which was true.

00:18:06I had attended the dawn service

00:18:08on my rest day,

00:18:09had recited the prayers

00:18:11with hundreds of other workers,

00:18:13had taken the communion waffer

00:18:15that tasted like sawdust,

00:18:17and represented the Emperor's flesh

00:18:19feeding his children.

00:18:21Fourteen days felt like a confession of neglect

00:18:24when spoken aloud.

00:18:26Like I should have gone more often,

00:18:28like the gap itself

00:18:29was evidence of wavering faith.

00:18:32The interrogator's head tilted,

00:18:34a gesture that might have been

00:18:36curiosity or condemnation.

00:18:38Why not more frequently?

00:18:41I explained that my shift schedule

00:18:43made daily attendance difficult,

00:18:45that I prayed at my station

00:18:47during work hours,

00:18:48that faith was not measured

00:18:50in physical presence,

00:18:51but in devotion of the heart.

00:18:53The words sounded like excuses,

00:18:57like rationalizations for laziness or doubt,

00:19:00and I hated how defensive

00:19:01they made me sound.

00:19:03The interrogator's gloved hand

00:19:05reached out,

00:19:07gestured for me to continue,

00:19:08and I told her that I kept a small icon

00:19:11of the imperial acula above my bunk,

00:19:13that I recited evening prayers

00:19:16before sleep,

00:19:17that the Emperor was in my thoughts

00:19:19even when I could not be in his chapels.

00:19:22She said nothing,

00:19:24simply turned to the servo skull

00:19:26and made a notation I could not see.

00:19:28Do you dream?

00:19:30The question landed like a blow.

00:19:32Dreams were dangerous territory.

00:19:34The place where the warp could seep

00:19:37into an unguarded mind,

00:19:38where daemons whispered,

00:19:40and chaos planted seeds

00:19:41that grew into corruption.

00:19:44I wanted to lie,

00:19:45to say I slept soundly

00:19:47and dreamlessly,

00:19:48but the interrogation

00:19:50had already taken hours,

00:19:51and my exhaustion was obvious,

00:19:54and claiming perfect sleep

00:19:56would be more suspicious

00:19:57than admitting to dreams.

00:19:59Yes, I said carefully,

00:20:01everyone dreams.

00:20:02It is the nature of the human mind

00:20:04to process the day's events

00:20:05during sleep.

00:20:07What do you dream about?

00:20:09The interrogator leaned closer.

00:20:12Her rebrother inches from my face,

00:20:15and I could see my reflection

00:20:16in her mask's faceplate,

00:20:18distorted and small and terrified.

00:20:21I told her I dreamed

00:20:23of the manufactorum,

00:20:24of the assembly line,

00:20:26of the prayers we recited,

00:20:28and the rifle stocks

00:20:29that moved past my station.

00:20:31I told her,

00:20:32I dreamed of my childhood

00:20:34on the agricultural levels,

00:20:36of the grok's pens,

00:20:37and the nutrient gardens,

00:20:39and the smell of fertilizer.

00:20:41I told her mundane things,

00:20:43safe things,

00:20:44dreams that had the texture

00:20:46of memory,

00:20:47rather than the strangeness

00:20:48of warp intrusion.

00:20:50I did not tell her

00:20:51about the colors

00:20:52I sometimes saw,

00:20:53the shapes that moved

00:20:55in my peripheral vision

00:20:56during sleep,

00:20:58the voices that spoke

00:20:59in languages

00:21:00that made my teeth ache.

00:21:02Those dreams I buried,

00:21:04locked away in the part

00:21:05of my mind I did not examine,

00:21:08because acknowledging them

00:21:09would be acknowledging

00:21:10vulnerability.

00:21:12She studied me in silence,

00:21:15and I could feel

00:21:16the weight of her assessment,

00:21:17could feel her measuring

00:21:19my words against

00:21:20some internal standard

00:21:21I could not access.

00:21:23Finally,

00:21:24she produced a device

00:21:26from her belt,

00:21:26a brass cylinder

00:21:28perhaps 20 centimeters long,

00:21:31with glass vials

00:21:32embedded in its surface,

00:21:34and a needle that gleamed

00:21:35in the overhead lights.

00:21:37This will determine

00:21:38if your blood carries

00:21:39the taint of warp exposure,

00:21:41of Zeno's contamination

00:21:43of mutation.

00:21:44The test is sacred.

00:21:46Sanctioned by the Inquisition

00:21:48and blessed by the

00:21:49Adeptus Mechanicus.

00:21:51It does not lie.

00:21:53She pressed the device

00:21:54against my temple,

00:21:55just above my left ear,

00:21:57and I felt the needle

00:21:59punch through skin

00:22:00and into bone

00:22:01with a sharp cold pain

00:22:02that made me gasp.

00:22:04The device hummed.

00:22:06A vibration that traveled

00:22:08through my skull,

00:22:09and made my teeth rattle,

00:22:11and I could feel

00:22:12my blood being drawn

00:22:13through the needle,

00:22:14pulled into the vials

00:22:16with suction

00:22:16that felt like violation.

00:22:18The extraction lasted

00:22:20perhaps 10 seconds,

00:22:22but it felt like hours,

00:22:23and when she withdrew

00:22:25the device,

00:22:26there was blood

00:22:27trickling down my neck,

00:22:28warm and sticky,

00:22:30and the hole the needle

00:22:31left behind throbbed

00:22:33with each heartbeat.

00:22:35The interrogator held

00:22:36the device up to the light,

00:22:39studying the vials

00:22:40that had filled

00:22:41with my blood,

00:22:42dark red,

00:22:43almost black

00:22:43in the manufacturer's

00:22:45artificial illumination.

00:22:46She handed it

00:22:48to the scribe

00:22:48without comment,

00:22:49and his fingers

00:22:51danced across

00:22:51his lectern's input keys.

00:22:54Data scrolling

00:22:55across screens

00:22:56I could not see.

00:22:57The servo skull

00:22:58descended to hover

00:22:59beside him,

00:23:00its auspex units

00:23:02focusing on the blood

00:23:03samples with

00:23:04mechanical precision

00:23:05that felt more judgmental

00:23:07than any human gaze.

00:23:08I knelt there,

00:23:11bleeding from the needle wound,

00:23:13waiting for judgment,

00:23:15and the seconds

00:23:16stretched into eternities

00:23:17measured in heartbeats

00:23:19and labored breathing.

00:23:20The scribe's fingers

00:23:22stopped.

00:23:22The servo skull

00:23:23emitted a soft chime,

00:23:25musical and incongruous

00:23:27in the tent silenced.

00:23:29The interrogator

00:23:30turned to the inquisitor,

00:23:32and he stepped forward,

00:23:33his gray eyes

00:23:34studying me,

00:23:35with that same

00:23:36professional detachment.

00:23:38Acceptable,

00:23:39he said,

00:23:40and the word

00:23:41was deliverance.

00:23:42A purity seal

00:23:43was pressed

00:23:43into my palm,

00:23:45wax still warm

00:23:46from the blessing,

00:23:47and I was directed

00:23:48to the far wall,

00:23:49where the others

00:23:50who had passed

00:23:51stood in shell,

00:23:52shocked rose.

00:23:54I walked on legs

00:23:55that barely supported me.

00:23:57Clutching the seal

00:23:58like it was the only thing

00:24:00anchoring me to life,

00:24:01and I found a space

00:24:03against the wall

00:24:04and pressed my back

00:24:05against it

00:24:06and tried to remember

00:24:07how to breathe normally.

00:24:10Hesia was called

00:24:11three hours later.

00:24:13I watched her walk forward,

00:24:15her prayer beads

00:24:16clicking against her wrists,

00:24:18her faith visible

00:24:19in every line

00:24:20of her body.

00:24:21She knelt

00:24:22in the same spot

00:24:23I had knelt,

00:24:24and the interrogator

00:24:25circled her,

00:24:26and I could see

00:24:27Hesia's lips

00:24:28moving in constant prayer

00:24:29even as the questions

00:24:31were asked.

00:24:32Her answers

00:24:33were loud,

00:24:34fervent,

00:24:35full of the absolute

00:24:36certainty

00:24:37that had always

00:24:38defined her faith.

00:24:39She recited liturgies

00:24:41without stumbling,

00:24:43proclaimed her love

00:24:44for the emperor

00:24:45with tears streaming

00:24:46down her face,

00:24:48detailed her chapel

00:24:49attendance

00:24:49and her devotions

00:24:51with the pride

00:24:52of someone

00:24:52who had nothing

00:24:53to hide.

00:24:54The blood test

00:24:55was administered.

00:24:57The device hummed.

00:24:59The vials filled.

00:25:01The scribe's fingers

00:25:02danced across

00:25:03his lectern,

00:25:04and I watched

00:25:05his movements

00:25:05from across the hall,

00:25:07watched the way

00:25:08his fingers

00:25:08suddenly stopped,

00:25:10watched the way

00:25:11the servo's skull's chime

00:25:12sounded different

00:25:13this time,

00:25:14sharper,

00:25:15more urgent.

00:25:16The interrogator

00:25:18stepped back,

00:25:19the inquisitor

00:25:20moved forward.

00:25:21Hesia's prayers

00:25:22grew louder,

00:25:23more desperate,

00:25:24and the storm troopers

00:25:25shifted their helgens

00:25:27from low ready

00:25:27to active positions.

00:25:29No,

00:25:31Hesia said,

00:25:32and the word

00:25:33cut through her prayers

00:25:34like a blade.

00:25:35No,

00:25:35I am faithful.

00:25:37I am pure.

00:25:38The emperor

00:25:39is my light,

00:25:39my salvation,

00:25:40my purpose.

00:25:41I have done

00:25:42nothing wrong.

00:25:43I have served him

00:25:44all my life.

00:25:45Please.

00:25:46Please,

00:25:47I am innocent.

00:25:48The inquisitor

00:25:49knelt beside her,

00:25:50and his movements

00:25:51were almost gentle,

00:25:52and when he spoke

00:25:53his voice carried

00:25:54no anger

00:25:55or disgust,

00:25:56only the same

00:25:57professional calm

00:25:58he had maintained

00:25:59throughout the purge.

00:26:01You are infected.

00:26:03The taint in your blood

00:26:04is microscopic,

00:26:06invisible to the

00:26:07naked eye,

00:26:08undetectable

00:26:09without specialized

00:26:10equipment.

00:26:11You were exposed

00:26:12to warp,

00:26:13touched material

00:26:14seventeen months ago,

00:26:16during a supply shipment

00:26:17from the lower hive.

00:26:19The shipment was

00:26:20contaminated by

00:26:21a cultist cell

00:26:22we have since

00:26:22eradicated.

00:26:23You did not know.

00:26:25You could not have known.

00:26:27Ignorance is not

00:26:28innocence,

00:26:29but it is also

00:26:30not guilt in the

00:26:31moral sense.

00:26:32He paused,

00:26:33and one of his

00:26:34scarred hands

00:26:35touched Hesia's

00:26:36shoulder with

00:26:37something that

00:26:37might have been

00:26:38compassion.

00:26:40The corruption

00:26:41will grow.

00:26:42In five years,

00:26:44perhaps ten,

00:26:45you would have

00:26:46become a gateway

00:26:47for warp entities

00:26:48that would slaughter

00:26:49everyone in this

00:26:50facility.

00:26:51You would have

00:26:52suffered as they

00:26:53tore through you

00:26:54into real space.

00:26:56Your death now

00:26:57prevents that

00:26:58suffering.

00:26:59It prevents the

00:27:00deaths of your

00:27:01co-workers.

00:27:01It serves the

00:27:03Emperor's will.

00:27:04Hesia's face

00:27:05collapsed into

00:27:06something I had

00:27:07no words for,

00:27:08grief and terror,

00:27:10and betrayal

00:27:10all mixed together.

00:27:12Then save me.

00:27:13The Inquisition

00:27:15has resources,

00:27:16methods,

00:27:17there must be

00:27:17something.

00:27:18The Inquisitor

00:27:19shook his head.

00:27:20A small movement

00:27:21that carried

00:27:22absolute finality.

00:27:23The taint is in

00:27:25your cells,

00:27:26woven into your

00:27:27genetic structure.

00:27:28Purification would

00:27:29require destroying

00:27:30you completely,

00:27:32and rebuilding

00:27:33from molecular

00:27:34foundations,

00:27:35technology that

00:27:36exists only in

00:27:37the deepest

00:27:38archives of Mars,

00:27:40and is reserved

00:27:40for those whose

00:27:41value to the

00:27:42Imperium justifies

00:27:44the expenditure.

00:27:45You are a

00:27:46manufacturing worker.

00:27:47The cost-benefit

00:27:48analysis does not

00:27:49favor your salvation.

00:27:51I am sorry.

00:27:52He drew a bolt

00:27:54pistol from the

00:27:55holster at his hip,

00:27:56a massive weapon

00:27:57decorated with

00:27:58purity seals and

00:27:59scripture.

00:28:00pressure, and

00:28:00pressed it against

00:28:01Hesia's forehead.

00:28:03She had time for

00:28:05one more prayer,

00:28:06the first line of

00:28:07the Litany of

00:28:08Protection, and

00:28:09then he pulled

00:28:10the trigger and

00:28:10the mass,

00:28:11reactive bolt

00:28:12punched through

00:28:13her skull, and

00:28:14detonated inside

00:28:16her brain cavity,

00:28:17and her head

00:28:18came apart in a

00:28:19spray of blood

00:28:20and bone and

00:28:21grey, matter

00:28:22that painted

00:28:23the rockcrete

00:28:24in patterns my

00:28:25mind, tried to

00:28:27find meaning in

00:28:28and fail.

00:28:29Her body

00:28:30remained kneeling

00:28:31for a moment,

00:28:32propped up by

00:28:33rigor and

00:28:33momentum, and

00:28:34then it toppled

00:28:35sideways and

00:28:36lay still, and

00:28:38the Inquisitor

00:28:39holstered his

00:28:40weapon, and

00:28:41blessed the

00:28:41corpse with a

00:28:42gesture I did

00:28:43not recognize, and

00:28:44moved on to the

00:28:45next name on the

00:28:46list.

00:28:47I stood against

00:28:48the wall with my

00:28:49purity seal clutched

00:28:51in my hand, and

00:28:53I could not look

00:28:53away from Hesia's

00:28:54body.

00:28:56From the way her

00:28:57fingers were still

00:28:58curled around her

00:28:59prayer beads, from

00:29:01the way her mouth was

00:29:02open in the shape of

00:29:04the Emperor's name, I

00:29:05had known her for

00:29:06twelve years, we had

00:29:08shared a bunk, had

00:29:09argued about faith, had

00:29:11eaten together and

00:29:12worked together, and

00:29:14existed in each

00:29:15other's orbit, with

00:29:16the casual intimacy of

00:29:18people who survive by

00:29:19cooperation.

00:29:21Now she was meat and

00:29:22bone and cooling blood,

00:29:24blood, and the

00:29:25Imperium had decided

00:29:26her death was

00:29:27necessary, and I was

00:29:28alive because my

00:29:29blood had tested

00:29:30clean, and the guilt

00:29:32of survival wrapped

00:29:33around my throat like

00:29:34a noose.

00:29:36The purge continued

00:29:37through the night, and

00:29:39into the next day,

00:29:40forty, seven workers

00:29:42were executed on the

00:29:43spot, bolt pistols

00:29:44and hellguns ending

00:29:45lives with brutal

00:29:47efficiency.

00:29:48Twelve more were

00:29:49taken for further

00:29:50interrogation, loaded

00:29:52into armored transports

00:29:54marked with the

00:29:54inquisitorial seal, and

00:29:56we never learned what

00:29:57happened to them, though

00:29:59the screaming from the

00:30:00lower levels suggested

00:30:01nothing merciful.

00:30:04The rest of us, the

00:30:05survivors, stood against

00:30:07the walls, and watched,

00:30:09and learned that faith was

00:30:11not armor, that devotion

00:30:12was not protection, that

00:30:15the Imperium you served

00:30:17with every fiber of your

00:30:18being could decide you

00:30:20were expendable, and there

00:30:22was nothing you could do, but

00:30:24accept judgment, and pray

00:30:25for a quick death.

00:30:27When the inquisitor finally

00:30:29left, ascending back to his

00:30:31shuttle with his retinue in

00:30:32tow, the silence in the

00:30:34manufactorum was absolute.

00:30:37We stood in the meal hall

00:30:38surrounded by bodies,

00:30:40surrounded by blood,

00:30:42surrounded by the wreckage of

00:30:43lives we had known, and no one

00:30:46spoke.

00:30:46The overseers did not give

00:30:48orders, the cogitators did

00:30:50not chime.

00:30:52Even the machines on the

00:30:53lower levels seemed to

00:30:54pause, as if the spirits

00:30:57within them were mourning

00:30:58or judging, or simply

00:31:00waiting to see what we

00:31:01would do, with the

00:31:02knowledge, that we were

00:31:04disposable.

00:31:05Eventually, the Vox system

00:31:07crackled back to life, and

00:31:09the manufactorum supervisor's

00:31:11voice emerged, thin and

00:31:13strained and trying for

00:31:14authority it no longer

00:31:15possessed.

00:31:17Our workers will return to

00:31:19their stations.

00:31:20Production has fallen

00:31:22behind during the purge.

00:31:23The Imperium's war machine

00:31:25does not pause for grief.

00:31:27The soldiers on the front

00:31:29lines need weapons.

00:31:30We will meet our quotas.

00:31:32We will serve the Emperor.

00:31:34This is our duty.

00:31:36This is our purpose.

00:31:37The words should have been

00:31:39rallying.

00:31:40Should have given us

00:31:41something to focus on

00:31:42besides the corpses.

00:31:44But they landed flat and

00:31:46hollowed.

00:31:46And when we filed back to

00:31:48our stations, we moved

00:31:50like the dead ourselves.

00:31:51I stood at station 40,

00:31:54seven gamma and blessed

00:31:55rifle stocks until my voice

00:31:57gave out.

00:31:58The prayers felt

00:31:59meaningless, sounds without

00:32:01content.

00:32:02But I recited them, because

00:32:04stopping meant thinking and

00:32:06thinking meant remembering

00:32:07Hesia's face, and I could

00:32:09not do that and remain

00:32:11functional.

00:32:12Around me, the other

00:32:14workers did the same.

00:32:15Six hundred people

00:32:16performing rituals that

00:32:18had become purely

00:32:19mechanical.

00:32:20Serving a machine we no

00:32:22longer believed would

00:32:23protect us, but could not

00:32:24afford to abandon.

00:32:26The shift lasted 16 hours.

00:32:29No one complained.

00:32:31Complaining drew attention,

00:32:32and attention was death.

00:32:34Three days after the purge,

00:32:36a servo skull appeared at my

00:32:38station during the night

00:32:40shift.

00:32:41It was different from the

00:32:43one the Inquisitor had

00:32:44used, smaller, with faded

00:32:46script etched into its

00:32:48surface, that I could not

00:32:49read in the poor light.

00:32:51It hovered in front of my

00:32:52face until I stopped

00:32:54working, until I met its

00:32:56Auspex unit gaze, and then

00:32:58it projected a hololithic

00:32:59message in flickering green

00:33:00text.

00:33:01Theron Varsk.

00:33:03Report to Administratum

00:33:04Office 7, Level Spire,

00:33:07Apex, immediately.

00:33:08Non-compliance will be

00:33:10noted.

00:33:11The message dissolved, and

00:33:12the servo skull rotated and

00:33:14flew away.

00:33:15And I stood there with a

00:33:16half, blessed rifle stock in

00:33:19my hands and terror, rising in

00:33:21my throat like bile.

00:33:23The other workers did not

00:33:24look at me.

00:33:26Looking was acknowledging, and

00:33:28acknowledgement meant

00:33:29association, and

00:33:30association with someone being

00:33:32summoned could spread like

00:33:34contagion.

00:33:35I set the rifle stock down on

00:33:37the conveyor belt, stepped

00:33:39away from my station, and

00:33:41walked through the

00:33:42Manufactorum toward the

00:33:43elevator shafts that led to

00:33:45the upper levels.

00:33:47The journey took an hour.

00:33:49Through corridors I had never

00:33:51walked, past checkpoints where

00:33:53armed guards scanned my work

00:33:55identification and my purity

00:33:57seal with suspicion that made my

00:34:00hands shake.

00:34:00The elevator shaft groaned, and

00:34:04creaked as it carried me up

00:34:06through levels of increasing

00:34:07administrative importance.

00:34:09The architecture changing from

00:34:11industrial rockcrete to polished

00:34:13stone.

00:34:14The air losing its oil, and

00:34:16sweat stench and gaining the smell

00:34:18of parchment and incense.

00:34:21Administratum Office 7 occupied a

00:34:23space that had once been a chapel.

00:34:25The original devotional mosaic still

00:34:28visible beneath layers of filing

00:34:30cabinets and data lecterns.

00:34:32The room was cramped despite its

00:34:35high ceiling.

00:34:35Every surface covered with

00:34:37documents and scrolls and data,

00:34:40slates that represented the

00:34:42endless bureaucratic machinery of

00:34:44the Imperium.

00:34:45Behind a desk made from reclaimed

00:34:48starship plating, sat an old woman

00:34:50with augmetic eyes that whirred, and

00:34:53clicked when she focused on me.

00:34:55Mechanical pupils dilating and

00:34:57contracting as they scanned my face,

00:35:00and compared it to records I could

00:35:02not see.

00:35:03She did not introduce herself.

00:35:05She did not waste time with

00:35:07pleasantries or reassurances.

00:35:09She simply slid a data slate across

00:35:12the desk, the movement economical and

00:35:14practiced, and told me to read.

00:35:17The document displayed on the slate

00:35:19was a transfer order, dense with

00:35:22administrative codes and official seals.

00:35:24But the core message was clear.

00:35:27I was being reassigned from

00:35:29manufactorum, work to the

00:35:31administratum's census division.

00:35:33My production numbers during the

00:35:35purge had been flagged as

00:35:37exemplary.

00:35:38My psychological profile deemed

00:35:40stable.

00:35:41My faith confirmed by inquisitorial

00:35:43review.

00:35:44The transfer was effective immediately.

00:35:47Refusal was not an option.

00:35:48I tried to protest, tried to explain that

00:35:52I was content where I was, that I had

00:35:55worked the same station for 12 years, that

00:35:58changing now felt like punishment for

00:36:00surviving when others had not.

00:36:02The old woman's augmetic eyes clicked,

00:36:05refocusing, and her voice when she spoke

00:36:08was flat and final.

00:36:09The inquisitor himself recommended you.

00:36:13He noted your composure under extreme

00:36:15stress, your adherence to protocol, your

00:36:18visible faith.

00:36:19The imperium has use for such qualities in

00:36:23positions of greater responsibility.

00:36:26To refuse this transfer is to question the

00:36:28inquisitor's judgment.

00:36:30To question the inquisition is heresy.

00:36:33You will report to census division sub,

00:36:36section 14 tomorrow at the beginning of

00:36:39first shift.

00:36:40This conversation is concluded.

00:36:42I signed the data, slate with a stylus

00:36:45that felt too heavy in my hand.

00:36:47The pressure of my signature creating a

00:36:50legally binding acceptance of a future I

00:36:52had not chosen.

00:36:54The old woman took the slate back, stamped

00:36:57it with a seal that smelled of hot wax and

00:37:00authority, and dismissed me with a gesture.

00:37:03I walked out of the office.

00:37:06Back down through the hive levels, and when

00:37:08I reached my bunk Kellen was waiting for

00:37:10me.

00:37:11His empty eye socket was red and raw, and

00:37:15he gripped my shoulder with a hand that

00:37:17trembled.

00:37:18You are lucky, he said, and the word felt

00:37:21obscene.

00:37:22The administratum is safer than the floor,

00:37:25less physical danger, more opportunity for

00:37:28advancement.

00:37:30Thank the emperor for this blessing.

00:37:32I wanted to tell him that blessings did not

00:37:36feel like being torn from everything familiar and

00:37:39thrown into uncertainty.

00:37:41I wanted to tell him that luck and survival were

00:37:44not the same thing.

00:37:45That being singled out by the inquisition felt

00:37:48less like salvation, and more like being marked by

00:37:52something I could not escape.

00:37:54Instead, I thanked him, and he released me, and I packed my few

00:37:59possessions into a canvas sack, and walked out of the

00:38:02Manufactorum barracks for the last time.

00:38:05Behind me, the machines continued their grinding work, and ahead of me

00:38:10waited a future I had not asked for, and could not refuse.

00:38:14The census division sprawled across six levels of a

00:38:18HAB block that had been converted into office space so long ago that the

00:38:23original residential architecture was barely visible beneath layers of

00:38:28filing cabinets and data leptons.

00:38:32The air here was different, still and dusty, with the smell of old

00:38:36parchment, and the faint ozone tang of cogitators running constant

00:38:41calculations.

00:38:42My new station was a desk wedged between two others in a room that held

00:38:47forty similar desks, each one occupied by a worker hunched over documents.

00:38:52Their fingers stained with ink, their eyes red from reading faded script by

00:38:57candlelight.

00:38:58My supervisor was Corvin.

00:39:01A man so thin he looked like the parchment he worked with, all sharp angles

00:39:06and bloodless skin, with ink stains on his fingers that had become

00:39:11permanent tattoos.

00:39:12He spoke in whispers, as if the walls themselves were listening, and he checked

00:39:18every document three times before filing it, and he taught me that mistakes in the

00:39:23census division were not punished with reprimands.

00:39:27Mistakes were investigated, investigations drew attention.

00:39:32Attention from the administratum was a slower death than attention from the

00:39:37Inquisition, but no less certain.

00:39:39My job was to verify birth and death records from the lower hive, cross, referencing them

00:39:46against tither quotas and production numbers, and flagging discrepancies for further review.

00:39:52Each entry represented a human life reduced to data points, date of birth, assigned work

00:39:58designation, productivity metrics, date of death, cause if known, organs harvested for

00:40:05servitor conversion if applicable.

00:40:07I processed hundreds of entries per shift, and each one blurred into the next until they

00:40:13stopped being people, and became pure information.

00:40:17Numbers to be validated and filed and forgotten, the work was mined, numbing in a way that

00:40:23manufacturum labor had never been.

00:40:26At least on the assembly line, there had been the satisfaction of creating something tangible,

00:40:32of seeing the rifle stocks move past, and knowing that somewhere a soldier would hold what

00:40:38I had blessed.

00:40:40Here there was only paper and data, endless chains of verification that served purposes

00:40:46I could not see, contributing to an administrative machine so vast that my individual labor was

00:40:52meaningless.

00:40:54But the work was safed, or as safe as anything could be in the Imperium.

00:40:59And I threw myself into it with the desperation of someone who needed distraction from memories

00:41:05that clawed at me every time I closed my eyes.

00:41:10The nightmares started three weeks after my transfer.

00:41:13I would dream of Hesia kneeling in the Manufactorum.

00:41:17But when the Inquisitor pulled the trigger the bolt never reached her, hung in the air between

00:41:23his gun and her head, and she would turn to look at me with eyes that were no longer human,

00:41:29eyes that swirled with colors I had no names for.

00:41:33And she would ask me why I had survived when she had not, why my blood had tested clean

00:41:40when hers was tainted, and I would wake gasping and covered in sweat with no answer to give.

00:41:46Other dreams followed, stranger ones, less grounded in memory.

00:41:51I dreamed of corridors that stretched into infinity, lit by a light that came from nowhere

00:41:57and revealed nothing.

00:41:59I dreamed of voices speaking in languages that hurt my ears, that made my teeth ache,

00:42:06that left me with the taste of copper in my mouth when I woke.

00:42:10I dreamed of shapes moving in my peripheral vision.

00:42:14Things that vanished when I turned to look at them directly,

00:42:17but left impressions like bruises on my consciousness.

00:42:21I never mentioned the dreams.

00:42:24Dreams were private, and privacy was the only freedom we had,

00:42:29and admitting to warp-touched visions was signing my own execution warrant.

00:42:34But the dreams left me exhausted, hollowed out, and Corvin noticed.

00:42:38He pulled me aside after a shift where I had nearly flagged a correct entry as discrepant,

00:42:44because my eyes could no longer focus, and he whispered that the Inquisition had left watchers

00:42:51in the manufactorum, that several workers who had passed the initial purge had been taken in the

00:42:58weeks after, that purity seals were not permanent protection, but temporary reprieves.

00:43:04He did not elaborate, but the message was clear I was being observed,

00:43:10had always been observed, would always be observed,

00:43:13and survival meant perfect behavior in every moment,

00:43:17because there was no such thing as unwatched privacy in the Imperium.

00:43:22The paranoia that followed was suffocating in ways I had not experienced even during the purge.

00:43:29At least then the threat had been visible.

00:43:32Embodied in the Inquisitor and his retinue, something I could see and fear appropriately.

00:43:38Now the threat was everywhere and nowhere,

00:43:41embedded in every conversation, every interaction, every moment of silence.

00:43:47I examined my own words before speaking them,

00:43:50analyzed my thoughts for traces of doubt or heresy,

00:43:54monitored my dreams for signs of warp corruption.

00:43:57I became my own Inquisitor,

00:43:59judging myself more harshly than any external authority could.

00:44:04Because the punishment for internal failure was death,

00:44:08and I had seen enough death,

00:44:10to know exactly what that meant.

00:44:12I stopped attending the communal meal halls because conversation was dangerous.

00:44:18Every word you spoke could be misinterpreted.

00:44:21Every question you asked could be construed as doubt.

00:44:24Every silence could be read as concealment.

00:44:27I ate alone in my bunk, corpse, starch rations that I chewed mechanically,

00:44:33while reviewing my work for the day,

00:44:36searching for errors I might have missed.

00:44:39Mistakes that could draw the wrong kind of attention.

00:44:42I stopped going to chapel because the prayers felt like traps,

00:44:47waiting to catch me in a misremembered line.

00:44:50And the other worshippers felt like potential informants,

00:44:54and the priests themselves might be inquisitorial agents monitoring for signs of wavering faith.

00:45:01I withdrew into myself,

00:45:03made my presence as small as possible,

00:45:06became a ghost that processed paperwork,

00:45:08and existed in the spaces between notice and significance.

00:45:13The other workers in the census division learned not to speak to me,

00:45:17learned that I would not respond to casual conversation,

00:45:21or questions about my past,

00:45:24or anything that required revealing information that could be weaponized.

00:45:29I became efficient and silent and invisible.

00:45:32And I told myself that invisibility was survival,

00:45:36that the smaller I made myself the safer I would be.

00:45:39But the truth was darker I was erasing myself,

00:45:42piece by piece,

00:45:44scraping away every part of my personality,

00:45:47that could draw attention until nothing remained,

00:45:50but the function I performed.

00:45:52Six months after my transfer,

00:45:54the second purge began.

00:45:56It was quieter than the first,

00:45:58more surgical,

00:46:00conducted without the theatrical arrival of power,

00:46:03armored inquisitors.

00:46:04Instead,

00:46:06servo skulls appeared at random intervals,

00:46:08hovering over workstations,

00:46:11until the person beneath them stood and followed,

00:46:14and those people never returned.

00:46:17Their desks were cleaned within hours,

00:46:19their belongings distributed to the administratum stores.

00:46:23Their names struck from the rosters as if they had never existed.

00:46:28The rest of us did not ask questions,

00:46:31because questions drew attention to the pattern.

00:46:35And noticing patterns,

00:46:37meant you were thinking about things that were not your business,

00:46:40and that kind of thinking was how you ended up following a servo,

00:46:44skull into the lower levels.

00:46:47Corvin disappeared on a night shift,

00:46:50his desk cleared by morning,

00:46:52and the new supervisor who replaced him was younger,

00:46:55harder,

00:46:56with augmetic implants in his throat,

00:46:59that made his voice sound like scraping metal.

00:47:01He announced that productivity expectations were being increased by 15%,

00:47:07that errors would be punished with reassignment to more dangerous work details,

00:47:13that the emperor's gaze was upon us,

00:47:16and we would prove ourselves worthy through diligence and obedience.

00:47:21He did not mention Corvin.

00:47:23No one mentioned Corvin.

00:47:25Within a week it felt like he had never existed.

00:47:28Another ghost in a hive full of them.

00:47:31I lasted three more months before the servo skull came for me.

00:47:36It appeared above my desk during the graveyard shift.

00:47:39When only 20 of us were working in the dim candlelight,

00:47:43our faces lit from below by the data,

00:47:46slates we read from.

00:47:47The servo skulls or specs units glowed red,

00:47:51and it made a sound like a musical chime,

00:47:53and I felt my bowels turn to water.

00:47:56Around me.

00:47:57The other workers kept their heads down,

00:48:00kept working.

00:48:02Refused to acknowledge what was happening,

00:48:04because acknowledgement meant association.

00:48:07I stood on legs that barely supported me,

00:48:10and I followed the servo,

00:48:12skull out of the work room,

00:48:14through corridors I had never walked,

00:48:17down into sub,

00:48:18levels that smelled of mildew and decay,

00:48:21and ancient things sealed away and forgotten.

00:48:24The architecture here was older,

00:48:26pre-imperial,

00:48:27the walls carved from rock rather than poured from rockcrete.

00:48:32I could see the bones of the original colony embedded in the stone,

00:48:37entire structures swallowed by the hive's growth,

00:48:40and left to rot in the dark.

00:48:42Water dripped somewhere in the distance,

00:48:45a sound like weeping,

00:48:46and the temperature dropped until I could see my breath misting in the air.

00:48:51The servo,

00:48:52skull led me deeper,

00:48:54through passages that narrowed until I had to turn sideways to fit,

00:48:59until the ceiling pressed down,

00:49:01and the walls closed in,

00:49:03and I had to fight the urge to run,

00:49:05because running was guilt,

00:49:07and guilt was death.

00:49:09Finally we emerged into a chamber that had once been something else,

00:49:13maybe a storage bay or a transit hub,

00:49:16now converted into an interrogation space.

00:49:19A single lumen strip hung from the ceiling,

00:49:23flickering and buzzing with failing power,

00:49:26casting shadows that moved wrong.

00:49:28A table sat in the center,

00:49:30and flanked by two chairs,

00:49:32and in one chair sat the interrogator from the Manufactorum purge,

00:49:36her rebreather mask still in place,

00:49:39her gloved hands folded on the table's surface,

00:49:43with the patience of someone who had all the time in the world.

00:49:47The servo's skull took up position in the corner,

00:49:50its auspex units never leaving my face,

00:49:54and the door behind me closed with a sound like a tomb ceiling.

00:49:58The interrogator gestured to the empty chair,

00:50:01and I sat because there was nothing else to do.

00:50:04The chair was metal,

00:50:06cold enough to leach heat through my clothes,

00:50:09and I placed my hands on the table,

00:50:11because hiding them felt like guilt.

00:50:14She watched me in silence,

00:50:16and the only sound was the hiss of her rebreather,

00:50:19and the buzzes of the failing lumen,

00:50:22and my own breathing that I could not slow.

00:50:25No matter how hard I tried,

00:50:28minutes passed, or hours,

00:50:30time becoming meaningless in that flickering space,

00:50:33and finally she leaned forward and spoke.

00:50:36You have done well,

00:50:38Tharon Vask.

00:50:39Your work in the census division is exemplary.

00:50:42Your productivity is above average.

00:50:44Your error rate is negligible.

00:50:47Your faith is documented in your attendance records,

00:50:50and prayer participation metrics.

00:50:52Your loyalty to the Imperium is not in question.

00:50:56She paused,

00:50:57and I waited for the inevitable contradiction,

00:51:01the but that would shatter the fragile hope

00:51:03her words had kindled.

00:51:05It came like a knife between the ribs.

00:51:08But you are troubled.

00:51:10Your sleep is irregular.

00:51:12Your social interactions have ceased entirely.

00:51:15You exhibit signs of psychological strain

00:51:18consistent with chronic stress,

00:51:20and potentially exposure to warp influence.

00:51:23I tried to protest.

00:51:25Tried to explain that the strain was from the purge,

00:51:29from watching Hesia die,

00:51:30from living in constant fear that I would be next.

00:51:34The words tangled in my throat

00:51:36came out sounding defensive and weak,

00:51:39and she raised one hand to silence me.

00:51:42Trauma is understandable.

00:51:44Trauma is human.

00:51:46The Imperium does not punish suffering,

00:51:48only weakness that leads to corruption.

00:51:51But trauma creates vulnerabilities,

00:51:54cracks in the psyche,

00:51:55where warp entities can find purchase.

00:51:57A mind under stress is a mind

00:52:00that cannot properly shield itself from the immaterium.

00:52:04You are a risk, Theron.

00:52:06Not today,

00:52:07not tomorrow,

00:52:08but eventually.

00:52:09The Inquisition does not wait for corruption to manifest.

00:52:13We identify potential vectors

00:52:15and eliminate them

00:52:16before they become active threats.

00:52:19She reached into her coat

00:52:21and withdrew the blood test device,

00:52:23the same brass cylinder with glass vials

00:52:26that I remembered from the manufacturum.

00:52:29She placed it on the table between us,

00:52:32and the vials caught the flickering light

00:52:34and seemed to glow from within.

00:52:37You will submit to further examination.

00:52:40We will determine if you can be salvaged

00:52:43or if you represent an unacceptable risk.

00:52:46Refusal is admission of guilt.

00:52:49Compliance is your only path to survival.

00:52:51Do you understand?

00:52:53I understood that I had no choice.

00:52:56I understood that the Inquisition

00:52:58had decided I was worth investigating,

00:53:00and investigation was the slow death

00:53:03that happened in rooms like this,

00:53:05in the dark places beneath the hive

00:53:08where screams were swallowed by stone

00:53:10and no one came looking for the bodies.

00:53:13I nodded,

00:53:14and she stood,

00:53:15and the examination began.

00:53:18They kept me in a cell for three days.

00:53:21The space was barely large enough

00:53:23to lie down in it.

00:53:24Rockcrete walls that wept moisture

00:53:26and smelled of old urine and fear.

00:53:29Food came through a slot in the door.

00:53:32Nutrient paste in portions

00:53:33too small to sustain me,

00:53:35and I understood that starvation

00:53:38was part of the process.

00:53:40That weakening the body

00:53:41made the mind more pliable,

00:53:43more likely to confess things

00:53:45that had never happened.

00:53:47Just to make the questioning stop,

00:53:49I ate what they gave me

00:53:51and tried to preserve my strength

00:53:53and failed,

00:53:54because you cannot fight biology

00:53:56with willpower alone.

00:53:58The interrogations happened

00:54:00at irregular intervals,

00:54:02sometimes after what felt like hours,

00:54:05sometimes after what felt like days.

00:54:08They took me to the same chamber

00:54:10with the flickering lumen,

00:54:12sat me in the same chair,

00:54:14asked me the same questions

00:54:15in different orders,

00:54:17searching for inconsistencies

00:54:20for the moment when exhaustion

00:54:21would make me slip

00:54:23and reveal the corruption

00:54:24they believed

00:54:25was hiding in my soul.

00:54:27The interrogator asked

00:54:29about my dreams,

00:54:30and I described them in detail,

00:54:33because hiding them now

00:54:34felt pointless,

00:54:35because maybe confessing them

00:54:37would satisfy

00:54:38whatever they were looking for.

00:54:40I told her about

00:54:42dreaming of Hesia,

00:54:43about the colors in her eyes

00:54:45that did not exist in real space,

00:54:48about the way she asked me

00:54:50questions I could not answer.

00:54:52I told her about the corridors

00:54:54that stretched forever,

00:54:56about the voices in languages

00:54:58I did not understand,

00:55:00about the shapes in my peripheral vision

00:55:02that vanished

00:55:03when I looked at them directly.

00:55:05She listened without interrupting.

00:55:09Her rebreather hissing in steady rhythm,

00:55:11and when I finished

00:55:12she asked me how the dreams

00:55:14made me feel.

00:55:15I told her they made me feel afraid,

00:55:18guilty.

00:55:19Confused, exhausted,

00:55:21she asked if I had ever felt

00:55:23drawn to the things in the dreams,

00:55:24if I had ever wanted

00:55:26to understand the voices,

00:55:27or see the shapes clearly.

00:55:29I told her no,

00:55:31that the dreams were torment,

00:55:33that I would erase them if I could.

00:55:36On the second day

00:55:37she brought in a psyker,

00:55:39a broken thing wrapped in chains

00:55:41and suppressor tech,

00:55:43his eyes covered with a leather blindfold,

00:55:45and his mouth sewn shut with wire.

00:55:48The psyker's handler,

00:55:50a priest in robes marked

00:55:52with the seal of the

00:55:53Adeptus Astra Telepathica,

00:55:56explained that the psyker would read

00:55:57the surface of my thoughts,

00:55:59would detect any warp taint

00:56:01that might be hiding beneath

00:56:03conscious awareness.

00:56:05The process would be painful,

00:56:07but not damaging if I was pure.

00:56:10If I was corrupted,

00:56:12the psyker would know,

00:56:13and the knowledge would kill him,

00:56:15and I would be executed

00:56:16immediately afterward

00:56:18to prevent spread of contagion.

00:56:20They removed the psyker's blindfold,

00:56:23and his eyes were empty sockets

00:56:25filled with pale light

00:56:26that hurt to look at.

00:56:28He made sounds through his soon lips.

00:56:32Sounds that might have been words,

00:56:34or might have been screaming,

00:56:35and I felt his presence in my mind like

00:56:38cold fingers peeling back layers of thought.

00:56:42The sensation was violating in ways

00:56:44I had no comparison for,

00:56:46worse than the blood test needle,

00:56:49worse than the interrogation questions,

00:56:51a complete exposure of self

00:56:53that left nothing private or protected.

00:56:56I felt him moving through my memories,

00:56:59through my fears,

00:57:00through the small secret doubts

00:57:02I had buried so deeply,

00:57:04I had almost forgotten they existed.

00:57:07The psyker's handler watched his charge

00:57:10with the attention

00:57:10of someone monitoring a dangerous animal,

00:57:14and when the psyker suddenly convulsed

00:57:17and vomited black fluid

00:57:18through his sewn lips,

00:57:20the handler pulled him back

00:57:22and replaced the blindfold

00:57:24with movements that spoke of long practice.

00:57:27The psyker was dragged from the room,

00:57:30still convulsing,

00:57:32and the interrogator leaned forward

00:57:34and asked what I had been thinking about

00:57:37in the moment the psyker had reacted.

00:57:40I told her I had been thinking about nothing,

00:57:43about trying to keep my mind blank,

00:57:46about the fear that any thought

00:57:48might be the wrong one.

00:57:49She made a notation on a data,

00:57:51slate I had not noticed her holding.

00:57:54On the third day,

00:57:56she administered the blood test again.

00:57:58The needle punched into my temple

00:58:00with the same cold violation.

00:58:02The device hummed.

00:58:04The vials filled with my blood

00:58:06that looked almost black in the poor light.

00:58:09She withdrew the device

00:58:11and studied the vials in silence

00:58:13that stretched until I thought I would scream

00:58:16just to break it.

00:58:18Finally, she set the vials down,

00:58:20removed her re-brother mask,

00:58:22and I saw her face for the second time.

00:58:25She looked older than I remembered.

00:58:28The scars on her cheeks deeper,

00:58:30her eyes more tired,

00:58:31as if the work she did aged her

00:58:33in ways that went beyond normal time.

00:58:36You are clean,

00:58:37she said,

00:58:38and I felt relief crash through me

00:58:41like a wave,

00:58:42like drowning in reverse,

00:58:44like being pulled from water

00:58:46I had not realized

00:58:47was closing over my head.

00:58:49The blood shows no taint.

00:58:51The psycho-detected doubt,

00:58:53anxiety, trauma,

00:58:54but no warp corruption.

00:58:56Your dreams are the natural result

00:58:58of stress and fear,

00:59:00not evidence of demonic intrusion.

00:59:02You are psychologically damaged,

00:59:05but not compromised.

00:59:06She paused,

00:59:07and I waited for the rest,

00:59:09for the punishment that would come

00:59:11even though I had passed.

00:59:12However,

00:59:14you represent a statistical risk.

00:59:17Your psychological profile

00:59:18indicates vulnerability to corruption

00:59:21under continued stress.

00:59:23The Imperium cannot afford

00:59:25to monitor you indefinitely.

00:59:27You will be assigned to a new position,

00:59:30one with reduced stress

00:59:31and increased oversight.

00:59:33You will attend mandatory

00:59:35counseling sessions

00:59:36with the Ecclesiarchy.

00:59:38You will submit to regular blood testing.

00:59:41Any deviation from this protocol

00:59:43will result in immediate termination.

00:59:46She replaced her mask,

00:59:48stood,

00:59:48and opened the door.

00:59:50I stumbled out of the cell,

00:59:52up the stairs,

00:59:54back into the census division,

00:59:55and I sat at my desk

00:59:57and stared at the parchment stacks

00:59:59and felt nothing.

01:00:00The relief I had felt

01:00:02in the interrogation room

01:00:03had evaporated,

01:00:05replaced by the understanding

01:00:07that I had not been freed,

01:00:09but placed under permanent suspicion.

01:00:12That the rest of my life

01:00:14would be spent proving over,

01:00:15and over that I was not corrupted.

01:00:18That each day was a test

01:00:20I might fail without warning.

01:00:22The mandatory counseling sessions

01:00:24began the following week.

01:00:26They were held in a chapel annex.

01:00:28A small room with a faded mural

01:00:31of the Emperor's ascension,

01:00:32and a priest who introduced himself

01:00:34as Father Malleus.

01:00:36He was old,

01:00:37with a voice like gravel

01:00:39and hands that shook with palsy,

01:00:41but his eyes were sharp

01:00:43and his questions were sharper.

01:00:45He asked about my faith,

01:00:48about my relationship

01:00:49with the Emperor,

01:00:51about whether I believed

01:00:52he could hear my prayers

01:00:53from terror.

01:00:55I gave him the answers

01:00:56he wanted to hear,

01:00:58professions of devotion

01:00:59and certainty,

01:01:00and he nodded

01:01:01and made notations

01:01:02in a leather bound book

01:01:05I was not allowed to see.

01:01:07The sessions happened

01:01:08twice weekly,

01:01:10each one an hour

01:01:10of theological discussion

01:01:12that felt less like counseling

01:01:14and more like

01:01:15continued interrogation.

01:01:17Father Malleus probed for doubt,

01:01:19for questions,

01:01:21for any sign that my faith

01:01:22was performative

01:01:23rather than genuine.

01:01:25I learned to perform perfectly,

01:01:27to recite the liturgies

01:01:29with the right emotional inflection,

01:01:32to speak about the Emperor

01:01:33with reverence

01:01:34that sounded sincere,

01:01:36because I had practiced it

01:01:38until sincerity

01:01:39and performance

01:01:40were indistinguishable.

01:01:42After three months

01:01:44Father Malleus

01:01:45declared me spiritually stable,

01:01:47and the sessions

01:01:48were reduced

01:01:49to once weekly,

01:01:50but they never stopped entirely.

01:01:52The blood tests

01:01:53continued monthly,

01:01:55administered by Medica staff,

01:01:57who wore the inquisitorial seal

01:01:59on their uniforms,

01:02:01and did not speak

01:02:02beyond the necessary instructions.

01:02:04Each test

01:02:05was a reminder

01:02:06that I was not trusted,

01:02:08that my continued existence

01:02:09was contingent

01:02:10on biological purity

01:02:12I could not control,

01:02:14that at any moment

01:02:15my cells might betray me,

01:02:17and I would die

01:02:18for corruption

01:02:19I had not chosen.

01:02:20I lived in a state

01:02:22of permanent tension.

01:02:24Waiting for the test

01:02:26that would come back tainted,

01:02:27for the Medica

01:02:28to look at the vials

01:02:29and call

01:02:30for the storm troopers.

01:02:32For my life to end

01:02:34in a bolt pistol's roar.

01:02:36Years passed.

01:02:37The tension did not ease.

01:02:39The nightmares continued,

01:02:41though I learned

01:02:41to manage them.

01:02:43To wake before

01:02:44the worst parts,

01:02:45to recite prayers

01:02:46in the dark

01:02:47until my heart rate slowed,

01:02:49and I could convince myself

01:02:51to sleep again.

01:02:52The work in the census division

01:02:54became automatic.

01:02:55My hands filing documents

01:02:57and verifying data,

01:02:59while my mind drifted

01:03:00through empty spaces

01:03:01that felt safer

01:03:03than engaging with reality.

01:03:05I watched other workers disappear,

01:03:07watched new faces arrive,

01:03:09and learn the same lessons

01:03:11I had learned.

01:03:12Watched the endless cycle

01:03:14of purge and replacement,

01:03:16and the grinding normality

01:03:17that filled the spaces

01:03:19between catastrophes.

01:03:20I stopped marking time

01:03:22in conventional ways,

01:03:24stopped counting birthdays

01:03:25or anniversaries,

01:03:27because those measurements

01:03:29assumed progress

01:03:30or meaning

01:03:31and I had neither.

01:03:32Instead,

01:03:33I counted blood tests,

01:03:35survival measured

01:03:36in monthly intervals,

01:03:37in vials that came back clean,

01:03:39in the absence of servo,

01:03:41skulls appearing above my desk.

01:03:4348 blood tests,

01:03:4572 blood tests,

01:03:47100.

01:03:48Each one a stay of execution,

01:03:51each one proof

01:03:52that I had survived another month,

01:03:54though survival felt

01:03:55less like achievement

01:03:56and more like endurance

01:03:58without purpose.

01:03:59The Imperium ground on.

01:04:01Wars were fought on worlds

01:04:03whose names I would never know.

01:04:06Manufacturums produced weapons.

01:04:08Census workers filed reports.

01:04:10The machine of humanity

01:04:12turned and I was a component

01:04:13within it,

01:04:14replaceable and insignificant,

01:04:17kept alive not because

01:04:18my life had value but

01:04:20because replacing me

01:04:21would be marginally

01:04:22more expensive

01:04:23than maintaining me.

01:04:25I understood this.

01:04:28Understanding it was part

01:04:29of survival.

01:04:30Accepting it was the price

01:04:32of continuing to draw breath.

01:04:34On my 120th blood test,

01:04:37something changed.

01:04:38The medica who administered

01:04:40the injection paused

01:04:42when looking at the vials,

01:04:44called over a colleague

01:04:45and they conferred in whispers

01:04:47I could not hear.

01:04:49They took additional samples,

01:04:51three more vials worth,

01:04:53and told me to wait

01:04:54in the examination room

01:04:56while they ran further analysis.

01:04:58I sat on the cold metal

01:05:01examination table

01:05:02and felt the certainty of death

01:05:04settling over me

01:05:05like a shroud

01:05:06because something in my blood

01:05:08had finally betrayed me

01:05:10because the taint

01:05:11they had been waiting for

01:05:12had manifested

01:05:13because my time was finished.

01:05:16The wait lasted two hours.

01:05:19When the medica returned,

01:05:21they brought a priest

01:05:22and a stormtrooper

01:05:23and I knew what that meant.

01:05:25Priests delivered last rites.

01:05:28Stormtroopers delivered execution.

01:05:30I stood because sitting

01:05:31felt like cowardice

01:05:33and if I was going to die,

01:05:35I would do it

01:05:36with whatever dignity

01:05:37I could maintain.

01:05:39The priest opened a small book

01:05:41and began reciting the prayer

01:05:43of the Emperor's mercy

01:05:44and I joined him

01:05:46because the words were familiar

01:05:48and familiar things were comforting

01:05:50even when they preceded death.

01:05:53But the stormtrooper

01:05:54did not draw his weapon.

01:05:56Instead he produced

01:05:58a data slate

01:05:59and handed it to meat.

01:06:00And I read the text

01:06:02through vision blurred

01:06:03with tears

01:06:03I had not realized

01:06:05were falling.

01:06:06The analysis

01:06:07had detected anomalies

01:06:09in my blood,

01:06:10markers consistent

01:06:11with long-term low

01:06:12level exposure

01:06:13to suppressed psychogenetics.

01:06:15I was not corrupted.

01:06:17I was not tainted

01:06:18by chaos.

01:06:19I was a latent psycher.

01:06:21My abilities so minimal

01:06:23they had never manifested,

01:06:25so deeply buried

01:06:26that they registered

01:06:27only as statistical noise.

01:06:29The Inquisition's protocols

01:06:31for latent psychers

01:06:32were clear.

01:06:34Immediate transfer

01:06:35to an Adeptus Astra Telepathica

01:06:37facility for evaluation

01:06:39and potential training

01:06:40or,

01:06:41if the abilities were too weak

01:06:43to be useful,

01:06:44sanctioning for use

01:06:45as a psychic resonator

01:06:47in Imperium infrastructure.

01:06:49I was being transferred

01:06:50to a black ship,

01:06:52the prison vessels

01:06:53that collected psychers

01:06:55from across the Imperium

01:06:57and transported them

01:06:58to terror

01:06:59for the Emperor's judgment.

01:07:01My departure

01:07:02was scheduled

01:07:03for the following week.

01:07:05In the meantime,

01:07:06I was confined

01:07:07to monitored quarters,

01:07:09forbidden from contact

01:07:10with other workers,

01:07:12kept under armed guard

01:07:13to prevent any possibility

01:07:14of escape

01:07:15or psychic manifestation.

01:07:17I sat in those quarters,

01:07:19in a room barely larger

01:07:21than the interrogation cell

01:07:22had been,

01:07:23and I tried to feel

01:07:24something about this revelation.

01:07:26Fear.

01:07:27Anger.

01:07:28Resignation.

01:07:29But I felt nothing,

01:07:31just the same hollow numbness

01:07:33that had defined my existence

01:07:35since the first purge.

01:07:37The black ship arrived

01:07:38on schedule.

01:07:39A massive void,

01:07:41faring vessel,

01:07:42that docked

01:07:42at the hive's highest spire,

01:07:44and loaded cargo

01:07:45that included me

01:07:46and thirty.

01:07:47Seven other latent psychers

01:07:49identified on

01:07:50Crotos Tertius.

01:07:51We were shackled

01:07:53and blindfolded

01:07:54and led through corridors

01:07:56that smelled of incense

01:07:57and burning fleshed.

01:07:59Crammed into holding cells

01:08:01that held twenty people

01:08:02in a space meant for ten.

01:08:04The journey to terror

01:08:06would take months,

01:08:07maybe years

01:08:08depending on warp currents

01:08:10and the ship's schedule.

01:08:12And during that time

01:08:13we would be tested

01:08:14and evaluated

01:08:15and sorted into categories

01:08:17that would determine

01:08:18our fates.

01:08:20Some of us

01:08:21would prove strong enough

01:08:22for training,

01:08:23would become

01:08:24sanctioned psychers

01:08:25serving the Imperium's

01:08:27various branches,

01:08:29their minds bound with wards

01:08:31and their souls

01:08:32scarred by the training process,

01:08:34but their lives

01:08:35preserved in service.

01:08:37Some would be too weak

01:08:38for field use

01:08:39but suitable

01:08:40for static positions,

01:08:41becoming astropathic relays

01:08:44or psychic resonators

01:08:45in communication arrays.

01:08:47Their consciousness

01:08:48sacrificed to maintain

01:08:50the Imperium's

01:08:51vast information network.

01:08:54Some would be deemed

01:08:55suitable for the Golden Throne.

01:08:57The ten thousand

01:08:58daily sacrifices

01:09:00that powered

01:09:01the Astronomicon

01:09:02and kept the Emperor's

01:09:03spirit sustained

01:09:04within his decaying

01:09:06physical form.

01:09:07I did not know

01:09:08which category

01:09:09I would fall into.

01:09:11The Black Ship's crew

01:09:12did not share

01:09:13that information,

01:09:14did not speak to us

01:09:16beyond the minimum

01:09:16necessary instructions.

01:09:18We were cargo,

01:09:20not passengers.

01:09:21Our humanity relevant

01:09:23only in so far

01:09:24as it affected

01:09:25our utility.

01:09:26I sat in the holding cell

01:09:28with the other latent psychers,

01:09:30most of them

01:09:30younger than me,

01:09:32many of them

01:09:33weeping

01:09:33or praying

01:09:34or staring

01:09:35at nothing

01:09:36with expressions

01:09:36I recognized

01:09:37from mirrors.

01:09:38We were the Imperium's fuel,

01:09:41about to be fed

01:09:42into the machine

01:09:43that powered humanity's

01:09:44survival across

01:09:45a million worlds.

01:09:47The irony was not

01:09:48lost on me.

01:09:49I had survived

01:09:51the Inquisition.

01:09:52I had passed

01:09:53every test,

01:09:54every interrogation,

01:09:55every blood screening.

01:09:57I had done

01:09:58everything right,

01:09:59had maintained

01:10:00my faith

01:10:00and my loyalty

01:10:01and my obedience

01:10:02to every protocol.

01:10:04and in the end

01:10:05it had not mattered

01:10:06because my genetics

01:10:08had betrayed me,

01:10:09because something

01:10:10in my cells

01:10:11that I had not asked for

01:10:13and could not control

01:10:15had marked me

01:10:16as too dangerous

01:10:17to remain freed.

01:10:18The Imperium

01:10:19I had served

01:10:20with every fiber

01:10:21of my being

01:10:22had decided

01:10:23I was more valuable

01:10:24as fuel

01:10:25than as a worker

01:10:26and there was nothing

01:10:27I could do

01:10:28but accept

01:10:29the judgment

01:10:30and hope

01:10:30that what

01:10:31Deva came next

01:10:33would be quick.

01:10:34The black ship

01:10:35slipped from

01:10:35Kratos Turchese's

01:10:37docking spire

01:10:38and translated

01:10:39into the warp

01:10:41and through the walls

01:10:42of the holding cell

01:10:43I could hear

01:10:44the Jela field

01:10:45generators humming.

01:10:47The technology

01:10:48that kept us

01:10:49separated

01:10:50from the Immaterium

01:10:51we traveled through.

01:10:52Beyond those fields

01:10:54were things

01:10:54that would shred

01:10:55my soul

01:10:56and feast

01:10:57on my consciousness.

01:10:59Daemons

01:10:59that waited

01:11:00for any crack

01:11:01in the protection

01:11:02to pour through

01:11:02and take possession

01:11:04of flesh

01:11:04too weak

01:11:05to resist.

01:11:07The psychers

01:11:08in the cell

01:11:09with me

01:11:09could feel them

01:11:10could sense

01:11:11the presence

01:11:12of the warp

01:11:13even through

01:11:14the field's protection

01:11:15and their terror

01:11:16was a physical thing

01:11:18a sound

01:11:19that started

01:11:19as whimpering

01:11:20and rose

01:11:21to screaming

01:11:21that went on

01:11:22for hours

01:11:23until the crew

01:11:24flooded the cell

01:11:25with sedative gas.

01:11:27I did not scream

01:11:28I had nothing

01:11:30left to scream about

01:11:31fear required

01:11:32the energy of hope

01:11:33required believing

01:11:35that things

01:11:36could be different

01:11:36if only you fought

01:11:38hard enough

01:11:38or ran fast enough

01:11:40or prayed

01:11:41fervently enough

01:11:41I had no hope

01:11:43left

01:11:44hope had died

01:11:45in the Manufactorum

01:11:46when Hesha's head

01:11:48exploded

01:11:48it had died

01:11:50in the interrogation

01:11:51rooms

01:11:51when I realized

01:11:53that innocence

01:11:53was not protection

01:11:54it had died

01:11:56in the countless

01:11:57blood tests

01:11:57and counseling sessions

01:11:59and moments

01:12:00of paranoia

01:12:01that made up

01:12:02my existence

01:12:02what remained

01:12:04was acceptance

01:12:06not peace

01:12:07but the absence

01:12:07of resistance

01:12:08the understanding

01:12:10that my life

01:12:11had never belonged

01:12:12to me

01:12:12and pretending

01:12:13otherwise

01:12:14had been delusioned

01:12:15the journey

01:12:17through the warp

01:12:18lasted four months

01:12:19by the black ship's

01:12:20chronometers

01:12:21though time

01:12:22in the immaterium

01:12:23does not flow

01:12:24consistently

01:12:25and it might

01:12:26have been longer

01:12:27or shorter

01:12:28in real space

01:12:29the crew

01:12:30kept us sedated

01:12:31for most of it

01:12:32waking us only

01:12:33for medical examinations

01:12:35and psychic evaluations

01:12:36that involved

01:12:37psychers stronger

01:12:38than us

01:12:39probing our minds

01:12:40with the same

01:12:41invasive coldness

01:12:42I remembered

01:12:44from the interrogation

01:12:45each evaluation

01:12:47left me exhausted

01:12:48and hollow

01:12:49and I could see

01:12:50the same exhaustion

01:12:51in the other

01:12:52latent psychers

01:12:53could see them

01:12:55being worn down

01:12:55by the process

01:12:56until they were

01:12:58as empty

01:12:58as I was

01:12:59when we finally

01:13:01translated back

01:13:02into real space

01:13:03and approached

01:13:03Terra

01:13:04the throne world

01:13:05itself

01:13:06I was brought

01:13:07to a viewing port

01:13:08for the first time

01:13:09since boarding

01:13:10the sight was meant

01:13:12to inspire

01:13:13aught

01:13:13to remind us

01:13:15of the imperium's

01:13:16majesty

01:13:16and the emperor's

01:13:18power

01:13:18to give us pride

01:13:19in the sacrifice

01:13:20we were about

01:13:21to make

01:13:22Terra hung in the void

01:13:23like a diseased eye

01:13:25the planet's surface

01:13:27hidden

01:13:27beneath layers

01:13:28of hive cities

01:13:29and industrial sprawl

01:13:31that covered

01:13:32every continent

01:13:33and ocean

01:13:33the astronomical

01:13:35blazed from

01:13:36the imperial palace

01:13:37at the planet's

01:13:38north pole

01:13:39a psychic beacon

01:13:40so bright

01:13:41that even we latent

01:13:43psychers could feel it

01:13:44a scream of psychic energy

01:13:46that reached across

01:13:47the galaxy

01:13:47and guided ships

01:13:48through the warp

01:13:49I felt nothing

01:13:51looking at it

01:13:52no awe

01:13:53no pride

01:13:55just the recognition

01:13:56that I was looking

01:13:57at the heart

01:13:58of the imperium

01:13:59the place

01:14:00where the emperor's

01:14:01physical form

01:14:02sat intoned

01:14:03in the golden throne

01:14:04where 10,000

01:14:06psychers died

01:14:07every day

01:14:08to keep him sustained

01:14:09where the administratum's

01:14:11archives

01:14:11stretched for kilometers

01:14:13beneath the surface

01:14:14and held records

01:14:16of every citizen

01:14:17who had ever lived

01:14:18and died in service

01:14:20to mankind's survival

01:14:22I was about to become

01:14:23another record

01:14:24another entry

01:14:26in an endless ledger

01:14:27another sacrifice

01:14:28in the name of humanity's

01:14:30continued existence

01:14:32against the horrors

01:14:33of the galaxy

01:14:35the black ship

01:14:36docked at one of

01:14:37Terra's orbital platforms

01:14:39and we were transferred

01:14:40to shuttlecraft

01:14:41that descended

01:14:43through the planet's atmosphere

01:14:44through layers of clouds

01:14:47that were not natural

01:14:48but industrial

01:14:49smog and pollution

01:14:51so thick

01:14:51that the surface

01:14:52was barely visible

01:14:53until we were

01:14:55nearly touching down

01:14:56the facility

01:14:57where they took us

01:14:58was massive

01:14:59a fortress

01:15:00monastery complex

01:15:02dedicated to processing

01:15:03the constant

01:15:04influx of psychers

01:15:05from across

01:15:06the imperium

01:15:07we were sorted

01:15:08by evaluation results

01:15:10our shackles

01:15:11marked with colored codes

01:15:12that determined

01:15:13our destinations

01:15:14my code was amber

01:15:16which meant low

01:15:18grade psychic potential

01:15:20suitable

01:15:20for static

01:15:21infrastructure support

01:15:22I was placed

01:15:24in a group

01:15:25of 300 similar cases

01:15:26and we were led

01:15:28through the facility

01:15:29to a preparation chamber

01:15:31where priests

01:15:32of the Adeptus

01:15:33Astra Telepathica

01:15:34explained what would

01:15:36happen next

01:15:37we would be

01:15:38surgically modified

01:15:39our minds bound

01:15:41with wards

01:15:41and suppressor tech

01:15:42and then installed

01:15:44in the psychic relay

01:15:45network

01:15:46that powered

01:15:47Terra's communications

01:15:48infrastructure

01:15:49we would spend

01:15:51the rest of our lives

01:15:52as components

01:15:53in the system

01:15:53our consciousness

01:15:55spread thin

01:15:56across vast distances

01:15:58our individuality

01:16:00dissolved in service

01:16:01to the collective need

01:16:02the process

01:16:04would take three days

01:16:05we would be

01:16:06unconscious

01:16:07for all of it

01:16:07when we woke

01:16:09we would no longer

01:16:10be individuals

01:16:11but parts

01:16:12of a greater whole

01:16:13some of the psychers

01:16:14around me wept

01:16:15others prayed

01:16:17a few tried

01:16:18to resist

01:16:19were subdued

01:16:20by servitors

01:16:21and dragged away

01:16:21for processing

01:16:22regardless of their will

01:16:25I simply stood

01:16:26and waited my turn

01:16:27and when it came

01:16:28I walked into

01:16:29the surgical theater

01:16:30on my own feet

01:16:32and lay down

01:16:33on the table

01:16:34and let them

01:16:35strap me in

01:16:36the last thing

01:16:37I saw

01:16:38before they

01:16:38administered

01:16:39the anesthetic

01:16:40was a priest

01:16:41making the sign

01:16:42of the Aquila

01:16:43over my chest

01:16:45blessing the sacrifice

01:16:46I was about to make

01:16:47thanking me

01:16:48for my service

01:16:49to the imperium

01:16:51the last thing

01:16:52I thought

01:16:53before consciousness

01:16:54faded

01:16:54was that I had

01:16:56survived the inquisition

01:16:57only to discover

01:16:58that survival

01:16:59was not escape

01:17:00that the imperium

01:17:02found use

01:17:02for everyone

01:17:03eventually

01:17:04that there was

01:17:05no freedom

01:17:06in service

01:17:06only varying

01:17:07degrees of subjugation

01:17:09and that I had

01:17:11spent my entire life

01:17:12believing compliance

01:17:14would protect me

01:17:15when the truth

01:17:16was that protection

01:17:17was an illusion

01:17:18and the only certainty

01:17:20that the machine

01:17:21would use you

01:17:22until you broke

01:17:23and then replace you

01:17:24with someone else

01:17:26who

01:17:27who had not yet

01:17:28learned how

01:17:29disposable they were

01:17:30I am Theron Vask

01:17:32and I survived

01:17:33the inquisition

01:17:34I wish that had mattered

01:17:36yet in the endless

01:17:37archives of the imperium

01:17:39there are countless

01:17:40stories like mine

01:17:42voices silenced

01:17:43fates consumed

01:17:45truths hidden

01:17:46if you would bear witness

01:17:47to more of these

01:17:48forbidden chronicles

01:17:50remain with us

01:17:51subscribe

01:17:52return and step

01:17:53once more into the

01:17:54darkness of

01:17:55Warhammer 40k

01:17:56for the next tale

01:17:58is already waiting

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