Warhammer Inquisitor

"Do you know the city of Sodom?"

"I've heard that in the ancient times of Terra, there was a legend in a book called the Bible believed by the barbarian tribes in the West, that the city was destroyed by sky fire."

"Then do you know whose sky fire it is? This is the story I want to tell you."

——

1100 BC

Middle East, by the Euphrates

The towering city gate stands on the street, and the July sun in Mesopotamia slantly shines on the wall and the street. Selling goods and hawkers from the East are shouting loudly on the street, attracting people who come and go Passers-by stopped to watch.

"We moved here, you've done it in your life, and there are very few things that are right."

"I'm glad you finally realized after all this time."

The crowd gathered in front of the booth to watch. They were admiring a person holding a torch. He inserted the torch into his mouth and spewed out a long flame amidst a burst of exclamation, which caused the children to yell and scream. Pointing in surprise.

In the bucket in front of the man, a lot of copper coins had been gradually thrown into it, and another one was thrown in. The fire-breather smiled and nodded at the rewarder, and said something in an unfamiliar and distant language.

"You still give him a reward? With this little trick, you can finally become a great one. What is your name now? Damn, you have too many names, I forgot."

"How many times have I told you that you should change your identity like me so that you won't be exposed."

"So what if it's exposed? Let's play a little trick, and tomorrow we can move into the temple to eat and drink, instead of crowding in that crappy house."

"Vito."

"Okay, okay, I know, stop preaching, it's annoying."

The two walked side by side on the street. There were stalls on both sides of the narrow street, and Mesopotamian residents coming and going in the middle. Their skin was brown. Vito looked at them and raised his eyebrows slightly.

"There are more and more people here. People from Tbilisi, that one is from Taj, and the one who just breathed fire is... Indians? It should be, what is that, damn it, the black one is the same as coal balls."

"Africa, there are a lot of outsiders here, that's why I brought us here, so your skin won't show so much, considering, you don't have Transfiguration to say."

"Hey, you idiot invented that transfiguration technique. Do you know that every time you use it, it makes people feel like your whole body is burned? How did I meet you, a mentally handicapped person?"

"Then you're an idiot, then we're quite a good match."

The two walked in silence for a while, and then Vito burst out laughing. He patted the shoulder of the tall man beside him. His brown shoulders were hidden under the shoulder-spanning linen clothes.

"That girl has changed you a lot. Look, you are not so boring now. What is her name? Maria, is this love?"

"She and I are not lovers, Vito."

"When you're with her, do you feel your heart speed up, and when you're chatting, it feels like the fucking world is getting better? And every time we go out hunting, you always slap the prey to death, killing every one of us. The fun is gone? You dragged me back to chat with the shepherd's daughter."

Vito patted the huge bison that the man was carrying on his shoulders. The monster-like thing with a broken neck was being carried by him rolling its eyes.

"It's called love, my old man. Believe me, I'm an expert in this area." Vito smiled with his hands on his hips, and picked up an apple from the fruit stand on the side of the road. He didn't pay for it. The old idiot was sure to point fingers at Vito, but now, he didn't.

Vito laughed, took a bite of the apple, and said vaguely while chewing, "You are also lucky, since you met such a good girl."

"It should be said that it was our good luck. After the monster was dealt with that time, without her, we would have died a long time ago." "Yes, it's a pity that you, the magic stick, didn't die. You were the first to wake up. Well, she's stuck with you for the next three months, but, well, I'm not interested in the stuff you're talking about.", "So you hooked up with the miller's wife and killed us Evicted?", "Hey, can you move here without me?"

The two looked at each other and smiled. This time, he didn't argue with Vito, "She is a knowledgeable woman. Considering that she is only the daughter of a herbal doctor, this is really rare. She has unique insights in many fields. .”

"That's right, that's right. It can even impress this old bastard. For the first time in a century, he has feelings for people, although he still refuses to admit it."

He shrugged his shoulders, shook the buffalo on his shoulders, and continued on his way without stopping, passing through the workshops and trails, all the way to the place he longed to return to as soon as possible, where there were people he wanted to see.

"It's really rare." Vito smiled and took a bite of the apple, and then followed. Vito followed him from a distance to eat the apple, and said hello to the women in their neighborhood.

But gradually, the streets on both sides seem to have undergone some changes. There are more broken logs on both sides of the road, the doors of some people are closed, the windows are tightly covered, and there are many tableware that have been spilled all over the road. Fork and knife, Vito knew the cauldron, which he had given to Maria.

"Damn, I have a bad premonition." Vito walked out of the alley, at the end he saw him and stopped, stopped in front of a small wooden house, he was stunned watching the house, the door was pried Open, all kinds of herbs were sprinkled at the door, as if they had been looted.

"Vito! Gilmore!"

An old woman emerged from the side of the road. She held her bleeding arm and ran towards them with a tired and hasty face. Her weak body fell and fell, but Vito helped her in time.

"Masha Barrera? Aren't you supposed to be in Maria's clinic? How did you get out, what happened here?"

"They! The temple guards, they came, they captured Maria, they said she was a godless demon, poisoning the people here with evil herbs, they captured him, and killed everyone in the clinic."

"What? Are they out of their minds? We have agreed." Vito exclaimed, he looked at the old bastard, his face was also full of shock, "I heard before that the temple changed hands A fight between the polytheists, one of the factions of the gods has just come to power, they are eager to make a difference, and Maria and I have argued with them about their beliefs before."

Masha Barrera took Vito's arm and knelt down weakly. Her face was crying, and the tears wet her eye makeup, making it seem like black tears flowed down her face, "They took her to the temple Square, they're going to kill her, burn her alive for heresy."

"Oh shit."

Vito cursed, before he finished speaking, he heard a heavy bumping sound, he turned his head suddenly and only saw the head of the buffalo that fell on the ground, the guy was gone.

"Damn it! Wait, Jill Ogram! You fucking wait! Don't do it when you're out of your mind." Vito chased after him and yelled. All kinds of damage, but he, the kind of person who is often the calmest, is the easiest to blow up when he is really provoked.

People like Vito are like gunpowder with a long fuse, always burning, so you can see that he is always impulsive, but he, he is just the opposite, he is calm and usually does not say a word, but that is because of his The fuze is the shortest, either it does not explode, or it explodes instantly.

Vito chased after him, watching his back from a distance, "Ogom, wait, don't go there, damn it, there are too many people there, it's not suitable to do it, you will affect many people, including..."

The guards under the arch leading to the square rushed towards him with drawn swords, and then he waved his hand lightly, and the guards were photographed against the wall. When they fell, their heads were broken or shattered, and the viscous brain was still there. Staying on the wall, Vito froze as he watched the people whose heads had been blown off.

"Damn it."

Vito cursed and followed, he got into the dense crowd in the square, half of the city was here, they huddled together in the square, looking at the platform in the distance, where the high piles of A woman is being tied to the firewood, her head bowed, her face covered in blood.

Blood stained her skirt, and she stood alone. He was wearing the clothes of the gods of the polytheistic temple behind him, surrounded by many sacrifices. He raised his hand high, holding a ritual dagger in his hand.

"Today is a holy day, a day of purification, this witch, she does not believe in gods, does not worship gods, our gods, she believes in pagan beliefs, worships those dirty gods, and she is still using her evil witch in the city technology, poisoning our people, polluting our water sources, bringing misery and strife.”

"But don't worry, because today, under the guidance of the great gods, we, the servants of the new master of the pantheon, will bring her to justice, and the pious will be saved, and those who are not godly... will get the same as her Punishment! The gods cut off her hand!"

The priest held up that hand, the severed hand, Vito stopped, staring at the slender, white palm with wide eyes, the priest held it up high, so that everyone in the square could see, the believers in the crowd They cheered, and even those outsiders who didn't believe in God followed suit and roared.

Everyone can see, Vito can, and he can, see the bracelet on the severed hand, the gold ring he forged and gave her

"Ogham? Calm down, she's not dead yet, you can't die with a broken hand, maybe she won't be able to be a doctor, but we can."

Vito looked around, desperately looking for him in the crowd. He pushed through the cheering crowd and walked through the sea of ​​people, like a jackal that fell into a herd of antelopes. He was looking for another jackal. He went through the sea of ​​people and saw After seeing him, he was standing in front of the altar, looking at the priest waving his severed hand, and Maria behind her with her head down and her long hair covering her face.

She was motionless, drops of blood trickled down her face, and gradually filled the basin below her with blood, and Vito rushed to him, reaching out to touch his shoulder, "Calm down, man, I've been in war, I know what it's like to die, and she's alive."

Before Vito finished speaking, flames exploded all over Ogham's body in an instant, his sackcloth burned up in the blink of an eye, and his dark brown hair turned into flames and flew up. Large expanse of flames.

The person closest to him was engulfed in an instant, and before he even had time to react, he still looked towards the altar, the flames rushed to the sky, the flames shot to the sky, stirring the clouds in the sky, they were lit by the fire, not , They themselves turned into raging fire, and the whole sky burned.

"Ogham!" Vito looked at him, and at the same time saw the woman on the altar who raised her head slowly, her face covered by her hair looked at him, opened her mouth gently and called out his name , but he didn't hear it, and neither did Vito, because the whole altar was engulfed in flames in the blink of an eye.

The raging flames spread to all directions, the ground cracked instantly, and the blood of the earth gushed out from it. Vito raised his head to look at him, and then he was engulfed by the universal flames. That was Vito's last vision. After that, everything disappeared, and after the light, there was darkness.

Vito was in the dark, as if he had fallen asleep, no pain, no burning sensation, nothing, just, just like falling asleep.

In his dream, he vaguely heard the sound of buildings collapsing, statues collapsing in the fire, the hissing of silk cloth under burning, the sound of bones breaking, the sound of flesh vaporizing and evaporating, and...

"Oh what did I do."

Vito opened his eyes suddenly, he took a deep breath and sat up abruptly, Vito coughed violently, clutching his chest, but found that he was sitting naked on the ground, anxious on the land.

"Great, you're alive, thank you, I almost thought I lost it" Ogham knelt on one side, he was breathing heavily, and his body was also naked, but the remaining traces of the fire still hadn't dissipated, and the eyes between his eyes , filled with the afterglow of the fire.

Vito looked around, surrounded by scorched earth, wreckage of buildings, standing charred corpses, in short, the whole city turned into a piece of charred charcoal.

"Oh shit."

Vito stood up. He stood in the sizzling hot wind. The ashes flew in the air and blew on his face. The man also stood up. He staggered and walked from the collapsed front of the altar. Walked up, there was a vertical wooden stake, and a person stood on it, with her head held high, kneeling on the dark ground.

Ogham knelt down weakly, he lowered his head, and knelt in front of the figure, Vito walked up and held his shoulder, "Dude.", "What have I done, Vito, I What have you done."

He knelt down, lowered his head, and raised his hands tremblingly to caress that face, that dark face, but her outline was still clearly visible, as if the gods deliberately left it for her, silently mocking.

Vito raised his head and looked at the temple that had already been wiped out. There was nothing left of it, and the ashes piled up high. The lifelong statues in the polytheistic temple were only rickety shadows, still inserted in the pile of ruins. The fire wind dissipated along with the whole city, but that wind, that fiery wind, was extraordinarily cold.

"I let the anger swallow me, I... I heard your words, she was still alive, but at that moment, the anger swallowed my heart, I seemed to forget everything, this world, everything, anger, only Anger is left."

"Oh, forgive me, dear." He stroked the face of the scorched body with his hand, and said sadly, Vito pressed his shoulders behind him, sighing silently.

"Ogham."

"Forgive me, Vito, I know there are people in this city that you care about, they are innocent, as I always told you before, but I killed them, the whole city, my hands are covered with Blood, all blood."

He knelt on the ground and looked at his dusty hand. In an instant, it seemed that pieces of blood flowed from that hand. The red blood stained the sky, the city, and the earth red.

Vito didn't speak, he just pressed his shoulders and stood behind him, he knew that he needed time to think, go, say goodbye.

He stroked Maria's face, the silence lasted as long as a lifetime, but in the end, he slowly got up and picked up Maria's body.

He turned and left, walked on the avenue of ashes, Vito followed him, walked with him on the road full of ashes, until he walked towards the bloody sky in the distance.

In the shadow of the ruins of the Pantheon, a laugh echoed in it, a shadow appeared in the ruins, it looked at the two people going away from a strange vision, hissing like a ghost.

"Let the game begin, Emperor, the great game awaits its players, are you right?"

More voices laughed, echoing again and again in the shadows.

——

"After that, we buried Maria, on a hill where there were many white flowers, and he knew she liked flowers."

Vito leaned on the bench, looked at the golden statue and said, looking at those eyes, Vito also closed his eyes and sighed, while Guilliman bowed his head in deep thought.

"He looks like a man."

"Who says it's not, like a person, a helpless person, I watched him kneeling there, and then I knew that we are actually no different from ordinary people."

"Is that the only person he's ever loved? All his life, all his life."

"Who knows, like I said, we didn't know each other that well. After that, he left, and then he started to study the soul. The next time I met with him, he had changed. Cold, heartless, rational, coming to me with things about the warp and demons."

Vito shrugged, and sighed helplessly, "He became that person, the emperor you are familiar with. After a hundred years, a thousand years, all humanity was gradually wiped away."

"He started working on the Warp after that, and after that, at first, I guess he just wanted to figure out, how to resurrect Maria, we all know that the soul can be manipulated, but no one had ever figured it out before that, Well, not after that, he is the first person, and probably the only one.”

Vito put his hands in his arms and sighed long, "He spent a lot of time on that matter, one hundred years, two hundred years, several centuries, he hid in his corner."

"To revive Maria?"

"Of course he didn't admit it himself, and he couldn't admit it, he was a stubborn guy and turned into the most sloppy old bastard ever, but I believe that is the case, go back to you and say you have changed To be honest, I don’t know if he has changed, another person.”

Vito scratched his head, leaned on the bench and smiled self-deprecatingly, "Well, I can't even explain myself, but it's ironic, right? What do you think we are for, something nobler, greater, flawless The purpose of taking this path? People believe so, people always believe their leaders do, but, no, Guilliman."

Vito looked over, shrugged with a smile, "We are all selfish, he, I, and our original purpose are not so noble."

"So I know that he is not a god. A god is not helpless. He looks like a mortal. But he, I have seen his helplessness with my own eyes, just knelt there, unable to do anything because of his own mistakes."

Vito was talking, as if he was talking about himself, and for a long time, he fell silent, and finally only the sound of breathing was left, and those weather-beaten eyes were still blinking.

"Okay, the story is over, I don't know if it will work for you, but, I have to admit, I'm not good at telling stories, so let's see this."

As he spoke, he handed a book to Guilliman, who took it in surprise and looked at the book, "What is this?"

"The Holy Words, the original version, compared to the seventy-eight eighty-eight version that was revised later by the empire, this version can tell you more things, take a look at this, and think again, is he a god?"

"Let's go, I'm not a Primarch, I don't need to sleep."

Vito left, the silver armored boots stepped on the ground, and the jingle sounded in the distance. Guilliman looked at the book in his hand and turned his head, "Vito, why did you go on this road?"

"Want to hear my little black history story? Ask other people." Vito walked away with a smile, while Guilliman raised his eyebrows strangely, "Who knows?", "What do you think?"

Guilliman turned his head to look at the statue, where he was sitting.

"The game is undecided." Vito said as he walked out of the monastery, the door slowly closed behind him, and the starlight and darkness disappeared on the other side.

Damn, I forgot to take the title, so let's take it