I saw the old wolf sitting near the great hearth in the ships great feasting hall. As I walked over to him the firelight accented his battle scars and lines, evidence of his age, they ran all through his face like river that had eroded away over a course of thousands of years.
“Lord Mijolnir?”
“Yes? Ah brother Vali, you have a question, I can smell it.”
“Yes me lord, I have been quiet curious as to why we do not return to our home, to Fenris.”
“So my young blood claw, you want to know why we stay away from our
home world do you? Well if you get me some ale I'll tell you of the
great tragedy that keeps us away from our home.”
“I remember the day well, like it was yesterday, when really it has
been nearly a Millennia. I was acting as a bodyguard to my brother,
the rune priest Ðorbjorn. We had cleansed the planet Serac of the
remnants of a splinter fleet that had broken off of the hive fleet
Kraken.”
“As usual we went about celebrating by retelling stories of
great feats, done by ourselves and others, with the Imperial
Guardsmen who had accompanied us in our mission. Of course ancient brother Sven had the largest audience. We all know that no
great tale of heroism and battle deeds can be told without ale. We
drank all through the night. The imperials had long since passed out, poor devils can't even enjoy a decent amount of ale. My self and the rest of the company soon fell into an ale ladened slumber.”
“I remember waking to the sudden scent of
blood completely over powering all of my senses. I leapt to my feet,
as I expected all the others had too. I found my brother, Rune Lord Jaric, and we were
soon joined with the others from his body guard, also our wolf
priest, Vlad. Slowly we led the company through the doors that lead
to the massive corridor in which we had left the guardsmen. The smell
of blood became so over powering as I approached the doors I was
almost lost to an animalistic blood lust. When I finally stepped
through the doors the scene laid before me was something out of a
nightmare.”
“Piles of bodies barely recognizable as once being human
lay thrown about the corridor, its immense walls washed with red with
blood. What ever had done this had just done it, the blood on the
walls was still wet. We searched the corridor for any signs of what
had done this, and for any survivors, we found nothing. Then out of
nowhere there was a noise. It came from everywhere and nowhere at
once, a wave if clicks like, like chitin on metal. All of a sudden
from all directions poured wave upon wave of genestealers. The
initial charge was brutal, while scores fell to bolter fire their
numbers were too great, they slammed into us knocking over a few
blood claws.”
“I was separated from my brother by the swirling mass of
chitin claws and sinewy flesh tearing at me and my armor. I
mercilessly smashed them to pulp with my mighty thunder hammer as I
fought to get back to my brothers side. All the time I was thinking
to myself, how could we have missed this many? How did they get in?
As I looked up again to search quickly for my brother I saw coming
from behind the genestealers, great giant looking serpents with
gigantic claws. Raveners! Almost before I could realize what had
happened one was blown away in a bright flash of lascannon fire.
Quickly following that a hole was opened up by what could only have
been a plasma cannon, the dreadnaughts were assuredly taking out
their share of the bugs.”
“I turned to my right and there, just a mere
30 meters away was my brother alone the remnants of his guard dead or
dying at his feet. As I fought my way closer to him I felt the ground
shake and buckle beneath me. Just seconds after that the ground
opened in front of my brother, out of this gaping hole rose such a
creature as I can hardly describe. It must have been 20 meters long,
it had four huge talons and jaws that looked easily able to swallow
one whole. As I neared my brother and this monster I saw him attack
it with all his might, but his weapon seemed useless against it. Then
with a speed unimaginable for a creature that size, it grabbed my
brother with its talons and crammed him in its mouth and down its
throat.”
“Howling with rage I let the beast within consume me, I charged
this, this thing and fueled with a rage of vengeance I began smashing
at it with my mighty hammer. I stopped only when I saw my brothers
body from among the rest of the carcass. I pulled him out as best I
could, thank Russ he was not yet dead! His face and parts of his body
was horribly burned by the acid inside the creatures stomach. He
could no longer speak, his breaths came in short halting gasps; when
at last he had passed onto the halls of the fallen I laid him down
and resumed the fight.”
“I turned back to the rest of the company, and
I was shocked at what I saw. While nearly all the genestealers and
raveners had been destroyed, over half of our number had been wiped
out, including our younger dreadnaught. When all was done we had
scarcely more then a few squads left, we had only fifteen grey
hunters, twenty blood claws, Sven our venerable dreadnaught, wolf
priest Vlad, and I myself was the only wolf guard member still alive.
I was voted by the remnants of our company to succeed my brother and
become the new Wolf Lord of what was left of our company. It was my
decision not to return to the Fang until we had redeemed ourselves
from the shame of that night by having done one great deed for every
life lost that night.”
“And that my young companion is why we will not return home just yet.”
Who am I? I am Vengeance. I am the all consuming hate within each of
our souls. I am Mjolnir the Blood Drinker. I am Space Wolf.
