The Wayward Son

Somewhere under the battlefield, Commorragh

An excruciatingly painful teleportation later, Seiras collapsed onto the ground in a deserted chamber of some sort. It was very dark, but the eerie green alien lights decorating the room showed him enough about his surroundings.

Seiras quickly recovered from the painful teleportation before putting his helmet back on. He gripped his halberd tightly and spoke into his vox, "Alright, Melisara, I'm here. I see the beacon."

"Good good! Okay, we don't have much time. I'm tracking Nelfaera is about ten minutes away from your location. She's moving fast, so make this quick." Melisara remarked casually.

"Ten minutes?! I thought you said we had over an hour! We didn't talk for THAT long did we?!" he gritted his teeth.

Melisara's laughter filled his vox, "Ahaha, yeah well they found a shortcut. That's why I went ahead and ended our lovely conversation abruptly. Anyways, I'll start you off with fifty. Make sure that beacon's destroyed before Nelfaera gets there. If she sees it, she'll know she's tracking a false signal."

"Fine…I'm ready." He responded immediately.

Upon uttering his response, enemies were already phasing in around him on all sides. Seiras wasted no time hacking them apart with relentless haste as they materialized in. The unfortunate Kabalites were all hopelessly confused by the situation, but due to the vast quantity of them coming in, Seiras couldn't kill them all in time.

"I went ahead and just dropped them all in. Go ahead and destroy the beacon now. Tell me the exact moment it's destroyed so I can time the signal transfer accurately," she instructed.

Seiras barely had time to look in the direction of the beacon before splinter fire opened up in his direction from all sides. True to Ferrus' claim they were effective at penetrating his power armour more than he liked. A majority of the Eldar were specifically aiming for the claw holes in his cuirass as well.

Using whatever tactics he could, the librarian violently and efficiently went to work killing them as fast as possible. Seiras grimaced in pain as blood erupted from the weapon's fire piercing his armour, but he managed to charge his way through a crowd of enemies cutting a swathe of them down. After the opening slaughter, he immediately took cover behind the beacon and let the splinter rounds do the work for him in damaging it. As he suspected many grenades came his way. At least a dozen from what he could see. He ranged them as best he could and felt a slight bit of relief when he saw them easily disintegrate most of the beacon. The Blood Raven then quickly spoke into his vox as he circled around to kill more enemies behind cover, "It's destroyed Melisara!"

"Transfer done. Now you just have to kill them all before Nelfaera arrives. I think someone is close behind her too. They're picking up speed, so it looks like you only have about 5 minutes now left based on my scans here," Melisara said as if it wasn't a big deal.

Despite the injuries he had sustained, Seiras could already feel his wounds regenerating unnaturally. Part of him wondered how it could even work with the collar on, but he didn't have time to speculate on that topic.

He went to work systematically obliterating the remaining kabalites with increasing urgency. After wiping out about two thirds of them, he noticed many were trying to run away. To his relief, the door they were running towards sealed unexpectedly in front of them. Luckily for him the remaining third were all grouped up now at the door.

"Okay, I hacked the security system and locked down the doors in that chamber. I'll reopen them when you're done." She stated as he opened bolter fire into the mob of bunched kabalites. Twenty or so died to the storm bolter's entire magazine emptying its explosive rounds through their ranks.

Realizing they were in trouble now, the survivors doubled down on their efforts to kill him as they used the rest of their grenades and all focused their shots on his chest. One splinter round pierced his gorget and actually erupted near his carotid artery causing him to start bleeding heavily from the neck within his armour and through its many holes. Several grenades blew up beneath his feet in quick succession and melted parts of his armour but he was still standing.

While a normal Astartes could certainly have survived this much damage, they would not have been as unfazed by it as he felt right now. Tanking onward, he managed to wipe out the last dozen or so near him and watched as the last survivor was crouched down near the panel of the sealed door. The kabalite urgently tried to override the lock on it and was hunched down behind the cover of corpses.

With one clean bolter round he blew the kabalite's head off. He looked around carefully to make sure all of his enemies were now dead. His armour was covered in heavy damage ranging from countless holes, melted ceramite plates, and quite a few scratches from the few sybarites that had power swords. Nevertheless, he felt his body slowly regenerating from the damage as countless splinter rounds and their shrapnel painfully fell out of his healing flesh.

Deciding to be extra cautious, he took this opportunity to go bury the remains of the beacon under some rubble and bodies. Checking his helmet's HUD he scanned around for any life signs. There was a faint one near the door on the ground next to the kabalite he just killed.

"Alright Seiras, I hope you got them all, because Nelfaera is right around the corner. Good luck! See you back at the lab," Melisara said cheerily before ending the vox call.

Seiras swiftly ran over to the surviving kabalite. She had been standing behind someone he cut in half earlier and had a large scar across her torso from where his halberd barely sliced.

As he raised his bolter to finish her off, the door unfortunately opened and in came Nelfaera. The syren took in the carnage of the room for a moment but quickly pressed the trigger switch for Seiras' collar causing him to howl in pain.

"Bad boy! BAD!" she chastised him like he was a dog. After sinking to his knees from the shock collar, Nelfaera switched it over to the stun setting to keep him paralyzed in place.

"How did you get a trigger switch again? Didn't Renfaeda take yours?" he decided to ask Nelfaera.

She smirked at him, "This one is Faelan's he let me borrow it when I found your location."

The cocky syren looked around the room somewhat impressed, "Wow, did you really kill all these kabalites by yourself? What were they all doing in this room I wonder?"

"I don't know…" he replied calmly.

This situation was unbelievably bad. With the survivor still there, Nelfaera could possibly figure out that they were teleported in. The survivor immediately tried to dart past Nelfaera as she made a break for it outside the door. Nelfaera easily tripped her and immediately pulled her helmet off before grabbing the kabalite by her hair.

The syren grinned smugly, "Where do you think you're going? What were you guys doing in here?"

Divine intervention must have happened a moment later as the kabalite was shot in the head by someone else coming into the room. It was none other than Mokaela.

"Am I a good shot or what?" the sassy succubus giggled as she stylishly blew the firing hole of her splinter pistol.

"Mokaela! What the hell?! I wanted to interrogate this one!" Nelfaera groaned as the succubus came trotting into the room.

Her eyes lit up with astonishment, "Woah! Look at all the dead bodies. Did Seiras kill all of them by himself?"

"It certainly looks that way…his armour is covered in dents, burns, and holes. I don't know what they were doing in here, but that bitch you just killed could have told us! Thanks for that!" Nelfaera groaned.

"How are you, Seiras?! I was worried about you when you went missing on the battlefield. We've been looking for days during our cleanup sweeps. What are you doing down here?" Mokaela asked while ignoring Nelfaera's sour mood.

"I was thrown off the spire by those Night Lords. I've been trying to get back up here but with all the damage I've sustained, it's taken a while," he lied.

Mokaela seemed to believe him right away surprisingly, but Nelfaera looked unconvinced, "Right…so you didn't try to escape then?"

"Why would I? Where would I go? I don't know where this place is or how to navigate this twisted realm. As much as the idea appeals to me, I'm better off with you lot," he countered.

Nelfaera rose a brow, "Well that's certainly true, but you've been gone for eight of your solar days. Your tracker has been glitching as well."

"That's probably a side-effect of Vect shooting a black hole at the spire. I got launched off shortly after that happened by a Nightlord with a jump pack. Fortunately, I salvaged one as well to save my fall, but it was damaged. I fell for several kilometers before it started working," Seiras tried to reinforce his story.

The syren shrugged, "Well whatever…you look like you got your ass beat. What the hell have you been fighting this whole time? I didn't realize there were this many kabalites still entrenched down here."

"I guess they were trying to escape. I tried to go around them, but I'm rather noticeable," he added.

Speaking into her communication device now, Mokaela addressed the others, "Good news Renfaeda, we found Seiras. Looks like he's been fighting kabalites down here under the spire. He said he got thrown off the spire and had to climb back up."

Renfaeda's voice came over the alien comm a moment later, "You found him?! About damn time! Did you figure out why his tracker has been acting weird?"

"He thinks it might have to do with the blackhole Vect used on the palace spire. It would make sense considering he was way beneath it," Mokaela replied.

"Hmm…well I guess I'll ask Melisara then. She's the one who built the tracker anyways," Renfaeda stated, "bring him back to the ravager. We have no reason to stay here now that we've found him. Faelan says has to stay with the Kabal for now and coordinate Velatha's surviving forces…but our job is done."

"We'll be right up," Mokaela responded before ending the call.

"Alright, well let's get back home! I'm gross and I need a bath," Mokaela announced.

Seiras began to follow her as she departed. To his concern, Nelfaera lingered behind momentarily and appeared to be looking at something before subtly picking it up. Mokaela stopped when she noticed the syren wasn't following, "What are you doing, Nelfaera? Let's go!"

"Yeah, I'm coming…" she snapped out of her daze. Nelfaera found it strange how most of the kabalite corpses at the door were grouped up. There was no doubt in her mind that they were trapped in there with Seiras for some reason. The sight of one dead over a panel was a huge red flag to her. Nevertheless, she pushed her concerns aside for now.

As they ascended back up together, Seiras did his best to brace himself for whatever inevitable punishment was probably in store. This entire ordeal went far too well, and he felt a great unease creeping in. There was no way things were going to go this well. From the corner of his eye he briefly examined Nelfaera's expression. She looked to be deep in thought and there was no doubt in his mind that she was suspicious of something.

The walk back up was mostly silent other than Mokaela and Nelfaera talking a bit. To help fill the silence, the succubus had also taken the time to explain a bit more about how the battle ended to Seiras.

He tuned out most of it as he honestly didn't care about their alien politics. All that mattered was they won and the Kabal was going to be in a weakened state for a while until Faelan returned. Mokaela seemed super excited about something else as well. Apparently, the Ynnari forces had cult of strife wyches helping them in the battle and the Cult of Eternal Night was able to capture some.

"We killed most of the little red-headed whores, but you'll be happy to know we captured some of their leaders. Two Cult of Strife Hekatrix Bloodbrides and one Syren! Their succubus got away unfortunately, but at least they'll be fun to torture," Mokaela elaborated on the subject almost gleefully.

Seiras took this time to remove his helmet and clip it to the side of his armour. He gave her a perplexing look, "Why would I care?"

"Don't you hate the Cult of Strife too?" she responded while looking back at him.

'You're all the same to me…' he thought carelessly. He thought about saying that, but considering the circumstances, it was probably a better idea for him not to.

He nodded, "I suppose I do."

"Hahaha! Ah this is always my favorite part of winning battles…the spoils! You should come torture them with us! It's going to be fun!" Mokaela giggled like a psychopath.

The librarian almost felt sorry for the prisoners and he hadn't even seen them yet. Wych cult rivalries were already cutthroat within their own ranks. There was no telling what kinds of cruel and twisted things they would do to wyches from another cult.

A Short Walk Later, Terrace of Endless Slaughter

After a few hours or so of ascending back up to the battlefield, Seiras looked around at the sheer destruction it had wrought. The entire palace spire was in ruins as well as countless other buildings. The Terrace itself was covered in debris ranging from downed ships, buildings, and endless corpses.

He paid the scene no mind as he followed Mokaela and Nelfaera back to a ravager. Upon getting there he saw the leaders of the assault all speaking together. They all perked up at his arrival and had various looks of surprise.

"Ah, you found him after all. Good work," Faelan smirked as he walked over and briefly examined Seiras. He seemed exceptionally fascinated by the amount of damage Seiras' armour had taken.

"You are quite tough, Seiras…I'm honestly amazed you can still walk with damage like that. I'd expect you to be more injured with your armour looking like that," Faelan noted.

"We heal fast, and very few shots got past my black carapace," he acknowledged Faelan's comment with a simple cover story.

Renfaeda now looked him over with a disapproving face, "So, you were thrown off the spire you said? Where exactly?"

"Over there…I salvaged a jump pack from one of the Night Lords I killed but he damaged it after suicidally tackling me over the ledge. I landed what I assume is many kilometers down below. I had to climb back up the spire. It was difficult and I didn't really know where I was going," he reinforced his lie with more details as he pointed to the direction where he had been earlier.

"Well that would explain quite a few things. I was under the impression you tried to flee, but your signal never did leave this area. We've had a difficult time tracking you. I suppose the singularity could have affected it, though I'm surprised Melisara would make a mistake like that," Renfaeda said as she narrowed her eyes somewhat dangerously.

"Like I told them…I didn't try to escape. I have nowhere to go and I don't even know how to navigate this place," he sighed.

"True…but maybe you were looking for someone who could. You haven't seen any harlequins around here, have you? I also suspected that they tried to abduct you from under our noses," Renfaeda explained.

Seiras thought for a moment about reinforcing the idea, "I mostly just encountered mandrakes, kabalites, and scourges. Though I did get the feeling someone was following me, and I was ambushed a couple times by unseen enemies."

"We found him in a chamber full of Poisoned Tongue Kabalites. They were all dead, but they looked like they were up to something," Mokaela added.

Faelan placed a hand on his chin, "Hmm…I'll have some men look into that. What kind of chamber was it?"

"It was part of some labyrinth beneath the terrace. Seiras said he crossed paths with them on his way up, so I imagine there's probably some escape route they were heading for. They could have been bunkering down waiting for a ship maybe?" Mokaela answered with shrug.

A nearby Bladed Sun Dracon quickly explained it to them, "There is a hidden foundry beneath the spire…I imagine many survivors likely tried to use it. The monkeigh's explanation does make sense."

"Well that place was a fucking labyrinth, so I am not shocked it took him so long to get as far as he did," Nelfaera stated.

'I can't believe my cover story seems to be working this well. Why do I get the distinct feeling something is about to go wrong though?' Seiras thought seriously.

Faelan shook his head, "Well it doesn't really matter…it's good to see you back, Seiras. You girls are free to leave now. I have some things to take care of here and then I have to go meet with Lord Vect. Try not to burn down the palace while I'm gone."

"When are you coming back, Faelan?" Renfaeda asked curiously.

"I'm not sure yet…I'll let you know," he smirked before walking away with his incubi.

It was only then that Seiras noticed there was something wrong with the situation. Meela who was in her full armour didn't follow them right away. Faelan noticed her lingering and looked back, "Is something wrong, Meela?"

'I'll wager she can sense all the warp residue on my armour…she knows I'm lying to them.' Seiras immediately figured out. He mentally chastised himself for overlooking that detail and was even more surprised that Melisara would. They had even been speaking about Meela earlier, and he didn't consider this until just now.

The pariah looked over at Faelan and made some hand gestures, (May I ask him a question, master?)

Faelan nodded without saying a word much to the confusion of all the Eldar present. They seemed particularly focused on the situation and were no doubt unhappy about their inability to understand what Meela was gesturing about.

(Were you attacked by a psyker? I sense residual warp energy on you.) the silent sister asked.

Seiras gestured back to her, (That ambusher I mentioned. I'm not sure what they were, but I think it was an Eldar Shadowseer.)

The librarian then turned towards Faelan expecting him to react in some way. The archon tilted his head before gesturing himself, (The one from the play, right?)

(I believe so. I didn't think it was a good idea to mention it in front of everyone here. They could possibly be watching still.) Seiras lied.

Faelan then spelled out the shadowseer's name in sign language (You were right. S-y-l-a-n-d-r-i V-e-i-l-w-a-l-k-e-r is her name. She claims to work for V-E-C-T but is an Y-n-n-a-r-i agent. We'll discuss this later. I had a feeling they were still lingering around. Don't tell anyone about this if they ask.)

Meela then made another gesture (Watch your back when you return to the Kabal. Faelan suspects a trap and doesn't want to be there for it.)

This time around Seiras was paying extra close attention to the negative spaces between her hands. To his surprise he caught two hidden words in her sentence: 'Impressive' and 'liar'. He was somewhat amazed he was able to pick it up so quickly, but it seemed easier to understand now that he knew what to look for.

He simply motioned back, (Be seeing you) to where she could see the hidden word, 'alone'.

Meela didn't react at all other than a brief wave before following Faelan and his incubi away.

Once they were gone, Renfaeda looked completely annoyed, "So what the hell was that all about?! What did the mute bitch say to you?"

"I'll tell you about it later, Lady Renfaeda…Faelan told me not to discuss it in front of everyone here," Seiras made up a conveniently vague lie.

"Very well," the succubus queen replied in gothic before switching to her own language, "Go on ahead without me girls. I want to talk to Faelan for a bit. I'll meet you back at the training grounds for the party. Don't kill those Cult of Strife leaders until I get there though, okay?"

"We can still 'have fun' with them right?" Mokaela asked anxiously.

Renfaeda nodded, "Yeah, just don't mutilate them yet."

"You got it, Faeda! Let's go hekatarii!" Mokaela announced as she hopped on the ravager. Seiras reluctantly followed her as they all loaded up on it. He noticed Aelendriel looked a bit beat up, but she was incredibly quiet. The younger succubus was staring at him so intensely that it actually made him uncomfortable.

Once the ravager was a good distance away from the battlefield, Mokaela turned towards Seiras, "So…what did the null girl say to you?"

"She said something about Maeralya that I didn't understand. She told me to watch out for her. Faelan told me not to say anything about it," Seiras lied.

Mokaela looked at Aelendriel now, "We should keep an eye on that smug bitch then."

Aelendriel then glanced at Seiras with a sly face, "Well since Renfaeda isn't coming back for a while, you're welcome to come party with us."

"I have no desire to do that," Seiras responded hesitantly.

"Yeah, you want to come torture Cult of Strife whores with us?!" Mokaela beamed cheerily.

Seiras sighed, "Not really…"

"Well too bad! I want you there, and I'm the next one in charge, so you're coming!" Mokaela laughed.

'Emperor preserve me…I already saw from Nelfaera what their idea of 'partying' is.' Seiras felt the horror of the upcoming event already.

The party wasn't the only thing that had his mind troubled. Faelan didn't want to return to the kabal yet and Renfaeda actually left him alone with her wyches. This dire situation could only end in trouble.

Back at the Kabal, Wych Training Grounds

The journey back was about as unpleasant as Seiras imagined it would be. The returning Kabalites and wyches were all celebrating and some already had slaves or torture victims that they were eagerly humiliating on the decks of the ship or everywhere else imaginable.

After doing his best to tune out the depravity, he eventually found himself back at the hanger with the wych posse. The hanger was filled to brim with slaves from the enemy forces. They varied from actual slaves themselves, to captured warriors that were now playthings for the other dark eldar.

The sight of a female scourge being raped in the middle of the hanger by four kabalites was the least pleasant thing he had seen today, and he had been in the warp mere hours earlier. Another unpleasant sight was a captured dracon being castrated and flayed alive by ravenous kabalites.

Seiras did his best to ignore the cries of horror and despair as he exited the Foundry hanger with the wych leaders. He almost felt relieved to get out of the hanger as they crossed the bridge back to the palace. Many other wyches soon caught up with the group. Most were proudly parading around trophies or dragging unfortunate victims by chains. It was only then that he caught sight of the several dozen Cult of Strife wyches who had been captured. They were all being taken to the cult's training grounds and living quarters.

The librarian actually felt pity for them and the horrible fate that probably awaited. His time here had shown him firsthand just how hateful and malicious wyches were to even their own cult members. A rival and infamous cult wych would undoubtedly have every indignity done to her. Rape and mutilation were probably the mildest horrors they would face. He couldn't even imagine what else Renfaeda's wyches would do to them, but he knew it would be far worse than that.

He was drawn from his silence as Mokaela spoke up, "Alright girls, don't start the party without us! No mutilation or anything until Renfaeda returns, got it?! I'm going to take Seiras to get his wargear put away. We'll be there in a bit."

"I'll come with you! We shouldn't travel alone if there's danger lurking at the Kabal after all." Aelendriel immediately volunteered to come along.

Nelfaera found her rival's eagerness a bit concerning and quickly did the same, "I'll come too."

Aelendriel seemed a bit put off by Nelfaera coming along, "Why are you so eager to come with us?"

"I wanted to speak to Melisara actually…" Nelfaera obviously lied.

A weird tension filled the air between the two wyches before Aelendriel huffed, "Whatever…"

Mokaela herself didn't look too thrilled about it, but shrugged, "It's just a little chore, Nelfaera…but come along if you insist."

For once, Seiras was actually thankful for Nelfaera's nosiness. The last time he was alone with Aelendriel and Mokaela in Melisara's lab ended in depravity.

Melisara's Lab

The entire walk to Melisara's lab had been one of the most silent and awkward experiences Seiras had ever endured. One could probably cut the unusual tension in the air with a knife, and there was a clear unspoken annoyance that the wyches had about the situation.

Upon reaching the lab, Seiras truly felt relieved to see the haemonculus happily floating around gathering things. The sight of forge equipment in two of her four hands made it clear to him that she was getting things for Ferrus to work on.

"Melisara, we're back!" Mokaela announced to the haemonculus.

Feigning surprise, the haemonculus turned around, "Ah, so that's what all that noise was. I take it everything went well?"

"There were a few complications, but luckily Lord Vect had a solution for them," Mokaela explained.

"Oh my, what happened to you, Seiras?! You look like you got quite the beating out there." Melisara acted surprised by the damage on his armour.

"He went missing for most of the battle and we only found him a little while ago. Your tracker was malfunctioning. He thinks it has something to do with the singularity Vect used on the spire," Nelfaera added as she intensely inspected Melisara's reaction.

Like a perfect actor, Melisara rose a brow at her, "You're implying MY tracker is flawed? Are you sure you simply didn't misread it?! You children tend to have a difficult time understanding my masterworks."

"No, she's right…we thought he tried to flee, but the tracker kept showing him in different areas beneath the spire. He looked like that when we found him in a room full of dead Poisoned Tongue Kabalites," Mokaela shook her head.

Melisara rolled her eyes, "My tracker is perfect…it would not have malfunctioned. I used to work for Vect so I had the singularity interference in mind as a possible issue when I designed it. Tell me exactly what happened…"

"Well, Lady Malys had a Talisman of Vaul and it-" Nelfaera began but was quickly interrupted.

"There's the problem right there…those things use the warp and it distorts signals. I suppose I did overlook the possibility of Malys having one of those…still my tracker is not defunct!" Melisara sighed.

"A warp distortion? Hmm…that actually does make sense," Nelfaera's face relaxed as she seemed to believe it now.

Melisara shook her head, "Well, at least you didn't lose him. Seiras is quite a valuable slave."

"That damage he took is crazy…how did he survive that?" Aelendriel asked as she pointed at the countless holes and burn melts in his armour.

Melisara chuckled, "Skill aside, he's a space marine. All that bulk isn't for nothing. They're built to take a lot of hits since they're not fast like we are. You little girls like to dance around naked on a battlefield but you're not nearly as durable as he is. There's nothing surprising about this."

"Considering how much damage he took in the arena without armour, I can sort of see your point," Mokaela noted.

"Well unequip him…we're going to take him back to the slave chamber," Nelfaera announced causing both of the other wyches to eye her confused.

"Are you now? Are you sure you're not going for a detour?" she smiled wickedly.

Mokaela blatantly dismissed Nelfaera's claim, "He's coming to the party! We'll take him back after that. Renfaeda and Faelan aren't coming back for a while, so I figured we'd have some fun."

"Yes…just make sure to have your fun before Renfaeda gets back. She definitely wouldn't allow all three of you to play with her favorite toy again if she were here," the haemonculus purposely called all of them out in front of each other.

Nelfaera immediately voiced her confusion, "Again?! You two have fucked him?!"

"When did you?!" Aelendriel shot back with obvious disapproval.

"Right before we left actually. We even had that little Khestri whore join us. Me and her are the two sexiest eldar here. Seiras even said as much. Are you jealous?" Nelfaera boasted when it became apparent that Aelendriel was upset about it.

"Oh yeah?! Well Mokaela and I fucked him in this lab! He even agreed to be our boyfriend!" Aelendriel countered.

"In the lab?! You allowed that Melisara?!" Nelfaera went wide-eyed.

She nodded, "Yes, I wanted semen samples and they were more than happy to oblige."

'Now I see why Melisara told me to go along with this nonsense. They're fighting each other. Why over me though? How exactly is this going to help?' Seiras found the situation bizarre.

"I thought you hated monkeigh, Aelendriel…turns out you're just a desperate whore who couldn't wait to give herself to the first person that would have her," Nelfaera sassed back.

"You had better show us some damned respect, Syren! We both outrank you! There's only so long Faelan and Renfaeda can protect you," Aelendriel got flustered now, "and besides, you're a hypocrite! You can't shame me for this when you did the same thing! You've probably wanted him since we captured him!"

"And what if I did? Can't exactly shame for that, now can you?" Nelfaera put her hands on her hips.

Mokaela shook her head, "You're both being ridiculous…we can all have sex with him, you know. Unless you intend to tell us to back off, Nelfaera…"

The elder succubus had a dangerous look in her eyes as if she were daring Nelfaera to tell them off. The syren begrudgingly backed down, "Fine…I'll share. But just so you know, Renfaeda got angry when she found him in my room with me. Pursue him at your own risk. She won't kill me because we're family."

"I'll fuck him right in front of Renfaeda, do you think I care? She can even join us. In fact I hope she does." Mokaela laughed.

"Uhh...that doesn't seem like a good idea," Aelendriel spoke up with evident concern.

Nelfaera smirked, "Well you're the ranking succubus right now, Mokaela, so I'll defer to your decisions then."

"Well sadly your 'fun' will have to wait. I have some experiments I want to run, and I want to make sure he's uninjured. I also want to see if I can fix his tracker since it malfunctioned apparently. Go on girls, I'll return him to the slave chamber when I'm done," Melisara responded a bit humorously.

"What?! But we had plans, Melisara!" Aelendriel protested.

Mokaela frowned, "Can't that wait? I was looking forward to the party…"

"By all means, please go indulge yourselves, but it will have to be without him for now," Melisara replied.

"You can't do that though…he's property of our cult. We get to decide where he goes and what he does," Nelfaera said unhappily.

Melisara sighed, "You should know that Renfaeda also gave me authority to oversee him when she and Faelan were absent. I'm also in charge of the Kabal until Faelan returns. By that account, I have all the proper authority here. Though if you wish to attempt forcing the issue, then I can certainly inform Renfaeda of your intentions."

All three of them gave her a shocked expression. Aelendriel looked appalled, "Wait…you set us up then the last time we were here! It was your idea! Now you're trying to use it against us?!"

"I guess your authority explains why Faeda had no issue sending him back with us," Nelfaera crossed her arms.

"By all means feel free to indulge later. I will even keep it confidential. However, for now I require him here. So if there is nothing else…" the haemonculus stated almost threateningly.

Aelendriel looked noticeably intimidated by her remark and even the psychotic Mokaela immediately backed down. Nelfaera on the other hand had a curious look on her face as if she had just figured something out.

"Well that sucks…but you're saying we can at least do it later?" Mokaela groaned disapprovingly.

"Of course, there is plenty of time. Renfaeda sent me a message saying she wouldn't be back for a while. She and Faelan are working on something top secret. Though you should keep some vigilance in case of a counterattack on the spire," Melisara noted.

"Alright, well fine…let's go torture those Cult of Strife whores. That'll keep me entertained until then," Mokaela said with clear disappointment on her walk out. Aelendriel followed closely behind her.

Nelfaera lingered behind as if waiting for the two of them to leave. They noticed her remaining and stared over. Aelendriel addressed her immediately, "You coming or what?"

"I said I had to talk to Melisara about something. I'll be right behind you," Nelfaera motioned them away.

"Go on girls…it's probably one of her beauty treatments," Melisara diffused the tension masterfully causing Mokaela and Aelendriel to laugh as they departed.

"Beauty treatments?! Hahaha! So much for being all-natural!" Aelendriel laughed.

Nelfaera looked a bit horrified at being called out for that but stayed quiet until they were gone. Once they left, Melisara sealed the lab shut and stared at Nelfaera, "So what can I do for you, Nelfaera?"

"First of all…you know damn well I've never been here for a beauty treatment! Why did you have to embarrass me like that?!" she hissed.

"So they would leave without suspecting anything…I take it your concern is something serious yes?" she replied.

The syren nodded as she pulled up a hacking bypass from the kabalite that nearly escaped Seiras earlier, "We found Seiras in a chamber full of Poisoned Tongue Kabalites. He killed them all, but they looked trapped in the room. One was using this to bypass the door manually. What do you make of it?"

Melisara glanced over at Seiras now briefly before speaking, "You suspect he is hiding something?"

"Obviously…there was something off about the whole thing, and it's no coincidence that your tracker malfunction disappeared shortly before we arrived," Nelfaera pointed out.

'Wow, so that's why she was so curious about the chamber. Of course nothing ever goes right. I wonder how Melisara will handle this?' Seiras thought concerned.

"You're implying I had something to do with it? Quite a bold accusation, my dear." she stated the obvious with an unfazed smirk.

"I'm not accusing you of anything, Melisara...but it's obvious to me that Seiras is hiding something. The whole situation seemed weird to me." Nelfaera pointed out.

"Perhaps someone else encrypted that system to try and capture him. Faelan sent me word to watch out for harlequins targeting Seiras. Sealing him in there with Kabalites would be a good way to trap him. There's also the possibility of them altering the tracker as well to throw off your pursuit. It could have returned to normal when they realized you were almost there," Melisara shrugged.

"I suppose that could be a possibility. Well, I just thought I'd bring that to your attention, Melisara. Please let me know when he's free. I want to take Seiras to my private party. If you would be so kind, would you please give me priority over those two?" Nelfaera smirked.

"Of course dear, I'll give you priority. Come back in a few hours. Do be careful around the Kabal until then," the dark-haired haemonculus responded peppily as she opened the door for Nelfaera to leave. The door closed shortly afterward.

Once she was gone, Melisara glanced at Seiras, "Well, that could have been bad. She suspects you're up to something…be wary of Nelfaera, Seiras. She's smarter than she looks."

"I am starting to get the same impression about her," the librarian agreed.

Melisara quickly went to work unequipping his armour in the following silence. Afterwards, he was in his clothes again. They were covered in holes and dried blood, but the wounds beneath them were all healed.

"Light bruises and scarring, but no lasting injuries," she said more to herself as she did a brief examination of his shirt, "I'll have to get you some new clothes."

"So…Meela talked to me when I returned to Faelan's company. She could sense the warp residue on me. I made up a story about the shadowseer chasing me," Seiras explained a troubling issue still on his mind.

"Hmm…I figured she would react in some way. This was also an interesting test to see if she would call you out in front of everyone. It would seem she did," Melisara stroked her hair as she looked away briefly.

"She made these gestures as well. I think I caught the words 'impressive' and 'liar' in her sentence," Seiras replicated Meela's earlier hand signals for Melisara to examine.

The haemonculus smirked, "Interesting…she said you're an impressive liar. Fascinating that she would do so without telling Faelan."

"If you said I couldn't trust her, why would you risk her seeing me with warp residue still lingering on my body?" Seiras asked.

"Because she wouldn't be able to distinguish what it was. I am pleased to see you used harlequins as a cover story. That reinforces what Renfaeda already assumed and the cover story I gave to Nelfaera," the dark-haired alien replied approvingly.

"You can teach me the rest of that hidden sign language right? I'm actually curious about trying to see where she stands," Seiras asked anxiously.

Melisara nodded, "Of course my dear. I'll give you a crash course on that."

"By the way, where is Lord Ferrus at right now?" Seiras asked as he looked around the lab.

Floating over to her sealed chamber, Melisara opened it and gestured for the librarian to follow her. She still had several tools in her hands, "He's in here. I was just bringing him some supplies to start working with."

Following her inside the chamber, Seiras saw the Gorgon sitting at some bench with a plethora of salvaged imperial tools and reagents all around him.

He noticed their arrival and immediately addressed Seiras, "You return alive…I take it your endeavor was a success?"

"Yes, my lord," Seiras answered.

"Good…I will be forging myself new armour and weapons with the materials that the alien has provided. How long before you'll be ready to escape? I need a time estimate so I can prioritize my workload," Ferrus replied.

The Blood Raven thought for a moment, "A terran week at the most. The archon and the lead succubus are both absent for a while, so it would be a good time to set up for the escape. I need to gather my allies up and come up with the distraction for our escape plan. How long do you need my lord?"

"There's no point in rushing this just yet. Do what you must to ensure this plan works. It will take me at least a week to remake myself wargear. If we're pressed for time I can expedite my work. I just need to know what's going on," Ferrus replied

Melisara placed the forging equipment down in front of Ferrus now, "This should get you started on crafting yourself some new power armour. I have some necrodermis pieces if you want too."

"No…I'm not using alien metal for my power armour," he protested immediately.

"Aww, don't be like that! Your arms are covered in alien metal. Just take a look at this design I made. I've been working on it for a while and hoped you might want to forge it," Melisara handed him a data slate.

He looked at it disapprovingly, "This is ridiculous…"

"Ferrus, get with the times will you. The Deathwatch uses alien technology all the time, and if we're being real here…the Golden Throne is alien technology that keeps the Imperium alive. Don't be so stubborn about it. You'll need every advantage you can have for when you return to the Imperium," she countered.

"Ughh…I'll look at it, but I make no promises that I'll use this dumb design," he shook his head.

"Also, Seiras' armour is heavily damaged. I have no problems fixing it, but if you would like to have a look at it, I'm certain he would appreciate a primarch's touch." Melisara pointed out. Moments later, the device that held the librarian's armour came floating into the room and opened up for the primarch to see.

He stared at the damaged power armour briefly before standing up and walking towards it. He then saw the holes in Seiras' shirt, "It would seem you were right about his regenerative abilities. I will fix his armour first. Do you have any requests, librarian?"

"Do what you think is right, my lord," Seiras responded.

Examining the armour more closely now, Ferrus frowned, "This armour used to have an iron halo on it. It was removed by the looks of it. This is Thousand Son librarian armour. I will make you a new one. Do you have any requests for its design?"

"You're…going to make me an iron halo?!" Seiras said disbelievingly.

"Yes…I suppose a raven will do to match your chapter, but something fitting your station as my advisor should also be present," Ferrus noted.

"I would be greatly honoured Lord Ferrus," Seiras bowed his head.

The Gorgon then glanced at Melisara, "Leave me now, alien. I have work to do. Don't bother me for trivialities."

"Oh alright, let's go Seiras. It's time to teach you advanced sign language," Melisara chirped as she guided the librarian out of the chamber.

'At least something good came of my captivity in this place,' Seiras thought approvingly as he and Melisara left the chamber before it closed again.

Turning towards him now, Melisara smiled, "Alright, let's get started. We'll go to my room for this."