While Ahzek Ahriman searched Zharrukin's ruins, Hathor Maat and Atharva also arrived.
Niko Ashkali served as the Thousand Sons' guide. He was Morningstar's senior cultural conservator.
Terran-born, he now fully embraced Morningstar's culture, mentally transformed into a local.
Ashkali's iron-grey hair was bound by a patterned headscarf. His voice came through a respirator.
"I led excavation work at the Zharrukin site. But this is the first I've known about an ancient colony ship hidden here."
His emerald eyes, deeply set, stared in astonishment at the leviathan revealed in swirling dust.
Hathor gripped his staff tightly, sending Atharva a thought-pulse:
'Approaching the magnetic storm zone. We should report our progress to the Primarch.'
Atharva nodded. He gazed eastward at the mountains, where dazzling radiance of a massive magnetic storm swept over peaks.
Morningstar's unpredictable weather systems made the storm's path completely unpredictable.
Twisted light shone upon Atharva. Pale ivory adorned his left pauldron the Thousand Sons Legion's serpentine, star-shaped emblem.
Within the emblem, an observing eye was embedded.
That was the Athanaeans Cult symbol.
Atharva first sent a thought-pulse to their gene-father, then a brief report via comms channel.
Dust and debris stirred by lightning formed furious pillars, roaring hundreds of meters high.
The Thousand Sons' contingent carefully skirted the pillars, heading toward the colony ship Shai-Tan.
Lightning-laden pillars collided. A fireball mushroom cloud erupted.
Another followed. Rubble rode swirling air currents and twisting magnetic fields, soaring high.
Atharva's lieutenant, Raptora Cult's Phosis T'kar, abruptly raised a hand. Telekinetic force surged.
BOOM! ROAR!
Continuous severe tremors collided and erupted within the ruins.
T'kar's kinetic shield flickered. After a long while, the roar gradually subsided.
A biting wind surged from the mountains, scraping against Thousand Sons' armor.
Magnetic storm vortexes, carrying dark clouds, pressed upon the contingent.
Torrential rain hammered down, lashing power armor.
T'kar didn't maintain the kinetic shield. Compared to earlier explosions, heavy rain posed lesser threat.
Rain washed dust from power armor, refreshing Hathor and his Pavoni.
A hundred meters from the Shai-Tan, Atharva suddenly halted.
"Do you hear it?"
"What?" Ashkali and T'kar asked simultaneously. They looked around. Besides distant sounds of the magnetic storm, they heard nothing.
Hathor warily watched Atharva. His Lord told him Shai-Tan, as a Warp entity, often used possession to act in the material realm.
Psykers were suitable hosts. Thousand Sons with potent psychic power and physique were even more suitable.
Atharva hearing more voices made him the most likely target.
"Storm's voice." Atharva's tone subdued, drowned by crackling thunder. Ashkali didn't hear.
T'kar's superhuman hearing filtered thunder, hearing Atharva's words. He sighed with relief.
"Magnetic storm's voice. I hear it constantly."
But Hathor grew more vigilant. He seemingly casually stepped aside, as if searching.
Atharva spoke no more. Amidst storm sounds, he walked toward the Shai-Tan.
The contingent in an instant reached the Shai-Tan. Atharva bluntly said to Ashkali:
"Open the hatch!" Ashkali felt the Thousand Son's tone completely different, unlike their cultivated scholar image.
The senior conservator approached the hatch, masking a flicker of anger in his eyes.
"The runes on the hatch differ entirely from earlier. I need time."
Before Ashkali finished, Atharva's angry roar interrupted.
"You have no time. Move!" At that moment, T'kar also realized Atharva's abnormality.
Instinctively, he raised his staff defensively.
"My Lord!" Atharva seemed to not hear. His fingers rapidly tapped runes.
Ashkali stared in astonishment as runes lit one by one. With hydraulic sounds, the hatch opened.
Atharva immediately tried to charge in. Suddenly, lightning struck him.
Hathor prepared. He allowed Atharva to open the Shai-Tan, then launched a charged strike.
Currents coursed within Atharva. His body numbed, crashing heavily into the metal chamber.
"None shall stop me!"
Atharva dazedly turned his head, emitting a piercing psychic shriek.
Many Thousand Sons were perplexed by two Captains clashing. This was the first internal conflict.
Their guards gripped staffs and boltguns tightly, warily eyeing each other. None attacked first.
Atharva's psychic shriek swept five members from both guard squads indiscriminately.
Screeching echoed in their minds. A Third Fellowship member who'd just mastered the first layer of Enumeration, weaker willed, bled from nostrils, collapsed in agony.
Third Fellowship guards immediately attacked Second Fellowship.
Chain lightning danced among Second Fellowship, numbing them.
Their other hands clenched, as if squeezing hearts.
Second Fellowship's blood boiled, as if every cell burned.
They endured discomfort, psychically linking.
They shouted in unison, causing the Pavoni thoughts to halt.
"Cease!" Hathor commanded.
He said to T'kar: "Atharva is controlled. You are the commander now, have your Cult stop."
T'kar hesitated no more. His telekinesis surged, pressing upon guard members.
Intangible shackles bound guard members. They couldn't move.
After restraining guards, T'kar looked toward Atharva.
"Now what?"
"Restrain him. Withdraw from magnetic storm zone. Await Father."
"Agreed." T'kar raised a hand, coordinating with Hathor to control Atharva.
Suddenly, Atharva opened his mouth, roaring words Thousand Sons never heard.
"Magnetic reversal!" Ashkali saw glaring readings, screaming in terror, warning Thousand Sons.
Through the sound of electromagnetic roars, screech of electromagnetic static surged through all audio systems.
The ground shook violently. Cracks opened. Several Thousand Sons screamed, falling into fissures.
T'kar raised a hand, using telekinesis to lift several Thousand Sons.
The Shai-Tan wave with the ground, trembling violently.
Hathor using Pavoni arts, maintained balance.
But Atharva seized the chance to break free. His body repeatedly struck chamber walls, vanishing from Hathor's senses.
"Retreat!"
Hathor shouted the order.
Thousand Sons were about to flee, feeling tremors intensifying.
Seismic activity along Morningstar's crust spreading along branching faults, tearing the ground apart.
Morningstar's largest hive city cluster straddled a geothermal rift. As groaning tectonic plates fractured, it sank into the fiery chasm that once powered it.
Simultaneously, three coastal cities were submerged by tsunami waves.
Hathor saw a figure emerge from the Shai-Tan.
The figure walked leisurely amidst the magnetic storm-induced earthquake. Terrifying storms circled his red armor.
Hathor's eyes widened. He thought to himself.
'Atharva has been possessed by Shai-Tan.'
.....
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