A Bloody Rose Story

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I still remember… I still remember the time I saw all of them together… for they were the hope of our kind… of our species… our God's children... Oh! How amazing they were together! They could do anything and everything… but those times didn't last… for I remember the time when they fell from grace! The wars… oh! The wars… the blood, the dying… the countless worlds gone… all because of one stupid son's choice! 

His Heresy destroyed our future… our Gods' future… our species' future! I still remember the hope in the emperor voice when he had introduced us to them: 

"They shall be my sons, and with them comes the hope of Humanity. They will be our strength and our rock, for not only in victory, but even when it seems futile, for when doom settles like a veil. In those times of hopelessness, my noble sons will be the shiniest of stars." 

I still remember the cheers… the smile on our children's faces…. The looks of a passionate future! And most importantly of all… I still remember… the horrors that came! For those memories are as vivid as the day it happened, for time has yet given me the pleasure of forgetting it… for as I beheld Sanguinius last words… ever engraved onto my soul… I will never forget… for I would never… 

→→→→→ →→→ log number unknown, found in unknown… left behind by unknown 

As a spark of a flame lit a small part of the red mist… the dark shadows that casted themselves onto the flowers that stood. The Canoness watched, for that's all she could do with her hands being tied… for as the crows fled, she watched… she worried for another! For as that terrible demon ran down that lane… stood the youngest of flowers! 

A budding flower… one she chose herself… one she picked herself! Worried for that flower safely, she prayed to the emperor for her… for a miracle to show itself! But when that miracle didn't come… when she watched that demon kill flower after flower! She knew if she didn't stop it… no one could! But what could she do? While Locked in a conflict with the mad man that was in front of her! She could do nothing! She could only watch from the corner of her eyes, as that scaly demon leaped onto her new precious flower! Seeing that moment right before her eyes! Caused her eyes to bleed! To turn bloodshot as she gave into the rage all her order envisioned! 

But while her eyes were in the middle of the change, while her tear ducts were but a fraction away from bleeding, the miracle she prayed for happened! For the girl she thought would run, to flee into the jungle alone, instead stood her ground! With calm eyes she watched… with calm eyes she saw! She saw the moment that could redefine everything! 

For that flower named Layla did the inconceivable! For as the air left her lungs, the time around her stop, the midnight birds stayed in their places, the grass no longer swayed by the wind! The moon's shadowy light cast half of her body! And in that dark moment… in that dark half… Layla's weapon glowed with a psykers white light! A light so warm that as the Canoness stared into, she thought to herself, that this little girl, this girl who was surely but a moment ago was cowering in her boots, somehow put that all away for this every moment! 

As that burning blade sawed through those scarlet scales of the demon, the blood rushed painting the forest floor, and while that floor drank up that paint, the vegetation around wilted away into ashy dust. While that dust blew into the wind, the once red night turned into sapphire flames! For but a second Layla once hazelnut eyes turned into a burning blue gem! While her light blonde hair shined at the hinges into golden flaming tips! 

When all was said and done, Layla looked confused... Like she didn't know what had happened… what she had done… what she really was… but while she was lost in her confusion, the Canoness eyes bulged from the shockets! She had some theories how this could happen, but none that can be confirmed for the time. For now, she must take this time to force on her adversary, who was at this time just as shocked as everyone else at the sight of such a thing that happened! 

However, in the end… to the man who was surrounded, out gun and out man… it didn't really matter… to him… for he already expected his death… in fact he relished in it… in a way… because in the end he got what he wanted… and that was blood for his God! And skulls for his throne! Even if that meant his own skull and blood would become a tribute! That just simply means he was too weak and deserved it! 

But just because he expected it didn't mean he would just let himself be killed! Because at the end of the day, when your back is against the wall, and you have nothing else to lose… that is the moment that defines your worth… at least he thought so… so much in fact that he willingly gave himself up to the demon within! Mutating his body to better fit the demons of Khorne! 

For as the spirit of the demon took over the man's body, his once pale skin turned molten red! His muscles grew twice as big, while two blackish horns rested on his head! His eyes remained the same searing sweltering red, with a roar the once human man charged headfirst at the Canoness whose tall demeanor now looked like that of a small child before the size of the man! 

But did the man change worry the Canoness… did it frighten her perhaps? No! Neither of those two emotions stirred inside her as she watched the charging monster before her, No! Instead she only felt rage! Rage at a monster who was once human side with the evil that is chaos! That he would be so willing to throw it all away, to make himself the enemy of the emperor! For as she stood there with her gun at the ready, her power armor humming ready, she looked to her left and right, and heard the sounds of her sister breathing, felt their rage, saw their faith! For she wasn't alone in this fight!