The Meeting

by Paul Scoffone

"He's gone mad, I know it, maybe hes been tainted, Emperor forbid" thought Inquisitor Czerlak. "The most fearsome hunter of Chaos in the Galaxy turned? No its impossible, not after what he's been through, perhaps this trial is justified, it will expose him or clear him, but why did he want to meet me here?" mused Czerlak as he looked around the magnificent room, perhaps the most magnificent in the entire Universe. Well perhaps the word "room" doesnt quite do it. It was vast, even Czerlaks enhanced vision couldnt see from one end to the other, and the ceiling seemed to reach to the stars. The floor itself was magnificent. Inlaid with every imaginable gem and precious metal, in every square foot there was probaly packed enough wealth to support a hive city for several weeks. Statues of the greatest heros of the Imperium jutted out challenging Czerlak at every chance. Czerlak paused in front of the statues of the Primarchs, the untainted anyway thought Czerlak. He looked up at the fierce face of Leman Russ and wondered what it must have been like in those days, things must have been so simple, today however things are different behind every smile, a knife. "This is the place" Czerlak muttered. Suddenly he realized that he wasn't alone, as he whirled around he felt a huge hand clasp around his throat and lift him high in the air. As a grand Inquisitor Czerlak had never been handled like this, he had fought hand to hand with the most fearsome creatures that this universe or any hell had ever spawned and never been overpowered, but this.....

"What business do you have in here Inquisitor, none are allowed in the Golden Throne" a voice boomed Czerlak desperatly wanted to answer him as he realized that he was in the grasp of one of the Emperor's Guards, the most deadly beings that Humanity could produce, fanaticly devoted to one cause, defending this room, each one with the power of a titan packed into a human frame, and this one about to crush his windpipe.

"Enough!!!!" Czerlak heard a voice boom just as he passed out.

Arelius had been watching the entire episode. He knew it was a matter of time before the Guard pounced on him and would have killed him or anyone else in the Throne room without the leave of a High Lord of Terra, such as he was.

"Guard, take your leave, and turn off all monitoring devices I demand privacy in this sector for the next hour"

"Aye M'Lord" the guard replied as he disappeared into the shadows. Arelius didnt worry about his orders being followed, he knew they would be. "Perfect beings" Arelius admired as he revived Czerlak. Incapable of deception, pure of purpose and singleminded in intent. Arelius hoped that Czerlak heard him order the Guard to stop, this little bit of psycology would be important in giving him edge in the offer he was going to make him, after all he saved his life, am I not your Savior?

Czerlak awoke and for a brief moment he thought he had gone to the afterlife. Then he realized that A. he was alive and B. he didnt believe in an afterlife.

"Arelius?" Czerlak choked as he looked up and saw his mentors face against the backdrop of the Throne room.

"Czerlak, thank the Emperor your alive!" Arelius nearly shouted. "I came just in time, that Guard nearly terminated you right here in the hall of our Lord. How ironic that would have been, killed by the protectors of man whose dream we strive to protect" Arelius laughed as he helped his fellow Inquisitor up.

"I fail to see the comedy Arelius. You are going to trial before the rest of the high Lords in about a hour to answer charges of treason, just meeting with you could damn me!" Czerlak nearly shouted.

"Then why did you?" Arelius said as he looked calmly at Czerlak.

"Today is not the only day you saved my life, not just countless times in battle, but when I was a boy on that slave colony, and you gave me my career and my life. And then I hear that you have been brought up on charges of treason, I was on my way back to earth when I got your message summoning me for this meeting. I have to know, are the charges true? Are you a traitor?"

Arelius looked at Czerlak for a long time, he looked on him the way a proud father gazes at his son. Finaly Arelius spoke "The charges are True"

Czerlak's world collapsed. Everything he held dear was shattered. He wanted to ask Arelius why, he wanted to kill him with his bare hands, he wanted to be a little boy again when Arelius was the greatest thing in his universe. But that was gone. The anger welled up inside of Czerlak and he readied himself for attack, even though it meant certain death.

"Before you try to kill me before the High Lords get thier chance let me explain. I said the charges were true, but I am not a traitor!" Arelius firmly stated

"Wha.. what?" stammered Czerlak. Then he straighted himself up. "What is going on?"

"Czerlak, both you and I and our breathren have dedicated our lives to what? To the elimination of Chaos from our universe, to remove any trace of it from our Space. Dedicated, no fanatical devotion to our cause has let us set ourselves apart from the rest of humanity, only we are the pure. Czerlak I have not never betrayed my cause, I am as dedicated to our cause as I have ever been, I am untouched by chaos."

"But the charges.....?"

"By fools who do not understand our cause. I asked the Lord General of the Imperial Guard once what he felt was the overriding characteristic of the forces of Chaos was. His answer was 'Evil' Ha can you belive it the fool. Good and Evil are ancient obsolete concepts that no longer apply to our reality."

"Arelius, what are you talking about? Do you no longer believe Chaos is evil, after what we have seen, the Black Crusades, the demons, the slaughter, have you lost your mind?

"On the contrary, I have never seen things more clearly. I have taught you many lessons, now learn this final most important one. You talk about the bloodshed by them. Let me ask you Czerlak, How many times have you called in Exterminatus"

"Thats different, I had..."

"Answer me! How many times?"

"17 times" answered Czerlak his face full of anger at Arelius at mentioning what they have always left unmentioned, but his heart full of shame.

"17 times, 17 planets have had there populations exterminated. The guilty with the innocent, the young, the old, EVERY MAN WOMAN AND CHILD ON 17 PLANETS. My son your hands drip with the blood of innocents and you talk to me of Good and Evil. But I do not damn you, I have killed 10 times that number. Those souls used to weigh down on me like the burden of Atlas, until I awoke. I AM AWAKE, I refuse to sleep any longer, for I have seen the enemy Czerlak and it is us. We are the enemy, not the Inquistion, not the government, all of us. What is Chaos? Dont you know Lord Grand Inquisitor? I'll tell you. It is our reflection in the mirror, it is made up from what were are, without us there would be no Chaos. But we fuel its existance, we gave it life and we feed it with our own blood. So it would seem our cause is hopeless. Even if we destroyed every semblance of Chaos in our universe, banished its "Gods" and wiped out every trace of its existance in one split second in the next it would be here again. Because Chaos springs not from evil, but from every roll of a dice, from every abberant thought from our deepest dreams, Chaos is a Byproduct of the free will that is our enemy and it is unbeatable and unstoppable, and we fight and die and kill in vain"

"Stop!" shouted Czerlak "So we should just give up, throw ourselves over to Chaos, not fight, even if our cause is hopeless I will never surrender, you are wrong, you have to be!!"

"No I'm not wrong, look inside youself you know the truth. But I dont think we should surrender either" stated Arelius

"But you just said we cant beat ourselves" said Czerlak slowly, not understanding

"Our salvation, Czerlak, lies in genocide. We are not the future of this race, we are the end, we stand in the way. Take that guard for example, his every move is regimented, planned, his every moment is foreseeable, nothing is left to chance, for chance is the midwife to Chaos. Why do you think Chaos fights hopeless winless wars so often? There is nothing more Chaotic than a battle field and with every shot fired, or sword crossed this universe is steeped deeper into Chaos. But that guard is more Machine than man, he incapable of freewill and therefore, uncorruptable. Even though they are the greatest fighting force we have, one could take on a whole army, they are kept out of battle so they remain uncorruptable and pure. But fill this universe with guards is impossible as it goes against their very nature, but the way must be cleared"

"You are mad Arelius, you plan on destroying humanity and replacing it with what? How do you plan on doing this." whispered Czerlak

"By opening up the floodgates, the power of our emperor keeps all manner of races and threats on our borders. I have found little holes in which I have opened wide enough to sneak in small fractions of what howls at our gates. Several hundred years ago I opened one and let in a race that was driven by a single purpose, it kills all regardless of Human, Chaos, Eldar or Ork."

"Tyranids" breathed Czerlak

"Correct, my apt pupil, but I found them to be lacking the intake of massive amounts of our genes changes them they take our weaknesses as well as our strengths, in time they would fall prey to what we have fallen prey to. But recently I found a race, a beautiful one, perfect, concerned only with the obliteration of life, lifeless themselves, Machines, we call them Necrons, but I believe the name is C'Tan. When I open the gates for these machines they will come pouring in, Humanity can only fight on so many fronts, and the first that will give is the wall between us and ourselves. Chaos will take over humanity and as the Necrons gobble up what is left with other races, chaos will fall in on itself as it cannot survive without sentiant life, but I will be prepared ready waiting and when the time comes I will repopulate this universe with a more perfect human, one without the old imperfections, I will become the new emperor of humanity and lead the new breed to a new golden age" Arelius finaly finished and looked at Czerlak

"What do you want of me?" Czerlak asked him

"I cannot do this alone, I need to turn the Inquistion into the harbingers of a new age, you must first get me off Earth before my trial, as only you have the resouces to do this, next I need you to hide me and then turn the Ordo Mallus on our side, then the rest will take care of itself, we will let down the ramaparts and let these imperfect races destroy each other then in their weakness we will spring forth and with us a new Dawn. Will you join me.....Son?"

Czerlak lowered his head and walked to Arelius. Arelius put his arms around him and embraced him. Then he closed his eyes and marked this as the year one of the new humanity. The father and the son. Seems strangly familar to him.

Suddenly Arelius felt a sharp pain in his back it was deeper that any he had ever felt. As he stepped away to look at Czerlak and ask him why, he saw that it was not Czerlak but a female.

"Shapeshifter...how?"

"The name is M'Shen and the mistake is your own because you were so fearful of Psychic powers you had this meeting in the one place where no such power could ever be dared used. Next did you ever believe that a Inquisitor Lord would ever meet with a traitor? Czerlak told us the minute you contacted him. There was never going to be a trial, Arelieus, some secrets should never be reveled" the assassin spoke as she lay the High Lord on the floor to die.

"Truer words were never spoken assassin." spoke the guard as he picked her up and tore her in half. For a brief second the spirit of the emperor reached out into the body of one of his guards and he sealed the secret in his tome with him forever.

I know the endings weak, the next one will be better, or maybe I'll just rewrite the ending, any suggestions