Yarrick stood on the east wall of the fortress, staring at the jungle.
He had been standing there for half an hour, trying to figure out what was bothering him.
The darkness not only covered the ground, but also the sky was pitch black, as if all the stars had disappeared.
When he realized that someone was vaguely visible to his right, he turned around and saw a tall figure striding towards him.
It was an Astartes wearing Terminator armor.
When he walked, the entire protective wall seemed to tremble. If a warrior's requirements are strength and rationality, then he has both.
Alex felt more and more that this night was unusual.
"Commissar Yarrick."
Sosh Yang greeted him.
"Good evening, my lord."
He originally wanted to talk to Yaric about how to deal with some post-war issues and some of his personal arrangements for Yaric - to try his best to let him leave the battlefield at the end of the war.
But after walking to the other party, he felt a thin energy surrounding the young political commissar.
Soshyan immediately judged that the other party must have experienced some psychic phenomena - this was not a good sign.
Many soldiers infected with the aura of Chaos will experience psychic visions before going crazy, such as visions or auditory hallucinations, and most of the time, mortal will cannot resist these visions.
"What are you looking at? Can you tell me something?"
Alex chose his responses carefully, doing so out of responsibility rather than avoidance.
He would neither hide nor equivocate from the great warrior who had saved him - he was struggling with a frustrating ambiguity.
"I am not sure."
He worked hard to formulate appropriate language.
"There's a smell in the air that I can't identify."
"We are on a wet planet, and given the richness of life, some mix of smells and flavors is not surprising, even for us."
"Are you going through the same thing, Chapter Master Soshiyang?"
"My perception is different from most people's."
Soshyang said it without hesitation, as if it was a common thing.
Alex hesitated for a moment, then decided on an explanation that was not easy for him to accept.
"The air smells of blood."
"Of course, we have all witnessed the cruelty of this planet."
"But there is something underneath the smell of blood. I have never encountered it before."
Sosh Yang was silent for a while and then said:
"Describe it"
"I hope that I can."
Alex closed his eyes and took a deep breath of the stench of the night.
"The smell means nothing."
He then stopped again.
What am I saying, that's wrong.
Alex had doubts about his senses in his heart. Since leaving the battlefield, he seemed to have become a little suspicious, which was not a good sign.
What's down there? Apart from blood, but related to it, it does have a smell, it tastes like...
Suddenly, he broke through the disguise of his senses and fell into the abyss of impossibility.
"It tastes like shadow."
Alex gasped, shadows filling his throat.
He tried to expel them by coughing, he couldn't shake the thought.
"How are you?"
Alex could barely hear him.
"I feel the smell of death."
He didn't know if he said it loudly.
Shadows and whispers filled the world, they existed in a fragrant hell, and something struggled in the smoke clinging to the shadows, and it was impossible to see what had shaped them or their shape.
Because Alex didn't actually hear the whispers and couldn't understand them.
He was only aware of the outlines of language, and the venom and stench in it - a stench that could not be understood by any rational mind.
It lingered outside his consciousness.
There is a shape that sounds like the laughter of prey and the scream of a planet.
When his knees began to buckle, Soshyan held his arms.
A strange buzzing sound surrounded him, which seemed to come from his own body - and the sound kept repeating something.
After a while, Alex realized that it was his own name.
When he realized that he seemed to be a little abnormal, the fanaticism and fearlessness on the battlefield returned to his body like a ray of sunshine.
Reality became reliable again, and his senses corrected himself, allowing him to straighten his back.
"I don't know what happened-"
Alec muttered.
"I'm not a psyker"
Soshyan stared at him with a scrutinizing gaze. After a long time, until there were some hairs on Alex's neck, he spoke:
"Think clearly about where we are now, Commissar. The barrier between reality and subspace is very thin here. We cannot be surprised by the impact of subspace invasion, but it would be a shame if we gave in."
"I will not give in! But this is not just an illusion, whisper..."
Soshyan interrupted him immediately.
"There were no whispers, I didn't hear anything... Yarrick, you have withstood the test on the battlefield. I believe that your loyalty to the Emperor and the Empire is extremely firm. From the time I met you, all mortals have
There are signs of wavering, except for you, and I believe this is a revelation."
I'm really not as great as you think, Mr. Chapter Master.
Alex sighed secretly in his heart.
But then he threw those thoughts away.
Soshyan was right, he reacted like those who waver, but he knew clearly that he would not waver.
Perhaps to be more precise, this should be uneasiness or some kind of premonition?
Not a single whisper.
Alex lowered his head, and there was no shadow under his tongue. The most important thing was that nothing evil happened here.
"Perhaps you are nervous because of the Inquisitor's presence."
Soshyan suddenly changed the subject.
"But I'll make sure you're okay."
Alex raised his head and heard something else from these words.
In fact, as a political commissar, he is not completely unaware of the current situation. After encountering such horror, how good can their outcome be?
It's just that Alex doesn't want to think about these things.
"grown ups--"
As soon as he said two words, someone suddenly started screaming.
"What----"
For a while, Private Arthur thought the scream was his own.
His mouth was still open, his hands were pressed against his ears, and his eyes were closed tightly in the darkness.
But he could still feel the rustle of a million insects, could feel the breath molding filth and words on his lips - and of course there would be a scream.
But upon closer inspection, the voice was not his.
His throat was tightly locked with an almost invisible fear.
Arthur felt eyes wandering over him, it was no more important than a thought, maybe that was all.
But an idea could be very dangerous, and it was the thought and other things that kept him immobile.
This thought sliced through his body like claws, making his heart feel cold.
It wasn't his idea, or anyone's idea, but it came from something that knew exactly the shapes, details, and flavors of the desires and fears in the hearts of men and women.
It knows them so well, as if it was born of these things.
Arthur immediately gasped from his tight throat and let out a small, high-pitched whimper.
Something lingered in his mind for a while and then disappeared.
He didn't know where it had gone, but it no longer tempted him to open his eyes and let madness take over him.
But there are still people looking around, because there are still people screaming, there are people seeing things that are not there - it exists as a concept, and that is enough.
Arthur pricked up his ears and listened carefully.
The voice was male, sounding more like an animal than a human being, and the man kept screaming without stopping to take a breath.