Everchosen : Chapter 23

-991.M41-

-Miracle of Suffering, Segmentum Solar-

-Joshua Pendrarc, Everchosen-

Arist, his Marine-Librarian tutor in the psychic arts, was more than happy to set up the necessary wards and mufflers required to further his training. He was especially happy to hear that Joshua had managed to take the first step in utilizing telekinesis, and eager to test the limits of his new ability.

Well, that was exaggerated, Joshua didn’t really know how happy or eager the superhuman clad in reinforced power armor was, but he chose to translate the vaguely-approving grunts and blank stares as both. He was certainly willing to keep teaching, at least.

“It is rare for the initial manifestations of one’s psychic abilities to be so… regimented.” Arist observed in a blunt manner, standing to the inner side of the warding circle. 

Joshua, having tried and failed for several minutes to manifest a third arm, grunted and dropped his effort. The golden limbs that hovered near to his body also dropped and slowly began to fade, losing opacity as the moments passed until they were barely visible again. “Unless there’s another lesson I have to teach myself that I’m failing to realize here…?” He asked in an almost hopeful manner to the man clad in a half-ton of advanced armor.

Arist shook his head. “Not after the initial breakthrough, no. Aspirants almost always see some moderate success with expanding their uses of the ability by now, that you have not speaks to me of firmer limitations.” 

Joshua huffed in a somewhat petulant manner, dropping to the ground in a cross-legged manner and resting his chin on one fist, and elbow on one propped knee. 

His telekinesis was fairly strict in what it did and did not allow him to do with it, for whatever reason. He furrowed his brows and exerted a bit of mental effort, the golden arms coming into sharp clarity once more before reaching out to take hold of a toppled bolter-round. Delicately, the arms began to flip the round around on fingertips, making the bullet dance in the middle of the air. 

He couldn’t even do that with his actual fingers, and yet the psychic limbs made the action easy. 

He also couldn’t do telekinesis without the golden limbs manifesting. Any application of will would, in turn, manifest the limbs to perform the action that corresponded to his desire. Increased effort would make the limbs come into sharper relief, and letting go of the effort would have the limbs slowly fade away over time.

This was a downside, because the limbs were visible to the naked eye. He had the distinct problem of people being able to dodge his psychic might because they could actually see it coming. Telekinesis for normal psykers did not have this issue. 

He also couldn’t manifest more limbs that the standing human body plan allowed. Two arms, two legs, a torso, and what he thought was a head but he could never see it clearly. Even with a mirror, the head was never distinct enough for him to make out, more of a brilliant spot of flaming light instead of a human face with readable features. 

What this meant in more practical terms is that he could only do so many things at once with his telekinetic abilities. A normal psyker could, after a bit of training, pick up ten balls and make them rotate around with moderate effort. Joshua might be able to grab ten such balls, but he couldn’t make them rotate around in the same way, because they were constrained by being held in only two hands. He could not manage to manifest another set of hands.

He couldn’t grab things with the golden feet either, every time he tried to ‘grab’ the hands manifested, never the legs. He could use the feet to empower his own legs, and brace a fall, but not manipulate objects. 

Two manipulators, visible to the eye, and no more. That was the rules of his telekinetic abilities. 

“It is too early to suggest whether these limitations derive from your own psyche or something engraved into you by the God-Emperor.” Arist continued, idly observing him playing with the bolt-round. After several long moments of watching the golden limbs flip and toss the bolt about, he spoke again. “Your dexterity is quite advanced for how recently the ability was unlocked.”

“It’s certainly not all downsides, despite the limitations.” Joshua agreed in a conversational manner, nodding with the sentence. 

The limbs were significantly better than his own limbs. Strength, durability, speed, manual dexterity- in all facets he could think of to compare his flesh and blood to these psychic projections, flesh came up significantly short. Golden fingers tossed the bolt round up before catching it in the palm of its hand and then crushing that hand into a fist.

The bolt resisted for a moment, then was crushed inwards and detonated. The explosive within the advanced munition went off with a flash of light and a muffled sound, contained entirely within the golden fist that hung suspended in the air. 

The golden fist slackened its grip slightly, allowing a trail of fumes to escape its air-tight grip and start rising through the air. Nothing but spent powder and a fragment of twisted metal remained in the palm.

All of this strength without needing to care about the petty concerns of reality such as leverage or distance. 

It wasn’t important enough to draw on the Tarot for, but Joshua directed a mental question towards that fragment of blinding divinity in his core. Did you do this?

The grafted gold between the folds in his soul did not reply, leaving the answer a mystery. 

He supposed the Emperor would be a lot less numinous if he just answered every idle question his ‘chosen vessel’ had. 

The grafted gold warmed in an amused response. Joshua let an unimpressed look come over his face. 

“We will attempt another test.” Arist declared with a declarative nod. Walking over to the far side of the warding circle, he removed another bolt-round from his sidearm and gently sat it down on the ground. “Go the far edge of the circle, opposite of this round, and attempt to move it from there.”

Joshua pushed off the ground and walked over to the far end in a dutiful manner, turning on the heel and staring at the bolt round. The golden limbs manifested as normal, reaching out to grab at the round.

They scraped against the floor, missing his mark slightly. He frowned, squinting and activating the ‘zoom’ feature of his machine-eyes to get a better look. With the slightly increased clarity, he was able to deftly take hold of the bolt and toss it up into the air again, catching it in one golden hand and bringing it back to his side.

“Ten meters of range, at minimum, with minor loss in dexterity at such ranges.” Arist observed. 

“I misjudged the distance.” Joshua shook his head. “It became easier once I had my eyes magnify once or twice.”

“That is not an issue for most psykers.” Arist shook his head, making Joshua stop and look at him for elaboration. “With only the bolt to focus upon, the aspirant’s kinetikos would naturally land upon the subject and take hold of it regardless of distance, with the same level of dexterity as they would normally have.”

“...Meanwhile, the fact that I can misjudge the distance at all and apply force to something other than my target is unusual.” Joshua picked up on the implication soon enough, scowling thoughtfully. “Because my Kinetikos has a visual manifestation that can interfere with my focus.”

“Simultaneously, I suspect that visual manifestation is greatly aiding your ability to direct and apply force with your power.” Arist declared, raising a gauntleted hand to his helmet and rubbing one massive thumb against the base of his heavy gorget. “Power, speed, and control- but limited in breadth and demanding accuracy from the wielder. It is not the most unusual manifestation of psychic power that I have witnessed, not the most cumbersome.”

“...What is the most cumbersome manifestation you’ve seen, Chief-Librarian?” Joshua asked, absently fiddling with the bolt-round as he considered his limits. 

“Brother-Librarian Decimus Hestat.” Arist answered at once, making Joshua blink at how ready and sudden the marine provided that answer. As if he had the answer prepared long ahead of time. “His psykery could only manifest when adhering to the general form of a trapezium that faced towards the galactic center. He would go on to become quite proficient in all core fields of psykery.”

“...How does divination manifest in the form of a trapezium?” Joshua asked with a tone of amused bewilderment.

“That was a question that many of us had.”

Joshua chuckled at that, and the small incline of the Chief-Librarian’s helm implied humor of the faintest sense. 

A crackle sounded overhead, as the machine-vox of the ship’s internal comms came to life. Joshua stilled his chuckles and turned to look at the nearest speaker, which of course had a human skull mounted on top of it because the Imperium was just like that. 

“Passengers and Crewmen, this is your captain speaking.” Captain Bruno’s familiar voice declared over the vox. “By word of our noble Navigators, the worst of the warp-squall is now behind us. By command of our acting Admiral, we are to begin a warp-jump to mandeville-point ‘Launcel’ as soon as possible. All crewmen are to head to their muster stations. We will begin the warp-jump in one hour, after the Navigators have coordinated a route, I repeat, we will begin the warp-jump in one hour. All personnel are to be prepared for this.” 

With that announcement, the line clicked again and shut off, provoking a small amount of urgency and movement from the various watchers and observers in the great training space that Arist had prepared. 

Arist himself nodded. “In light of the recent attacks, it is best to delay further lessons until after we arrive in realspace again.”

“I believe I agree with that.” Joshua nodded, shaking his head and reaching up to slowly remove the psychic-collar from around his neck. It came loose with a hiss of depressurizing machinery and hum of fading electrical power. With it freed, he rolled his head around and loudly cracked his spine, bringing a great deal of relief to the cramped section of flesh. 

Two days of travel since the attack, and the diversion seemed to be working. The bulk of the fleet would escape their attackers.

All it cost was half their ships and roughly a tenth of their number.

They would probably recruit more men from Launcel IV, when they arrived there. Those men would probably be glad to die on his behalf, as the vessel of their incarnate God. They might very well need to die on occasion, to ensure victory against the countless enemies set against humanity and the Imperium.

How many would be dying in his name by the time this year was over? By the time this decade was over? By the time the century was over?

How many?

“...Lord Vessel?”

He blinked, pulling his gaze up from the psychic collar and towards his tutor. Arist stood a respectful distance away and looked down to him, nothing in particular about his stance or inflection giving away his thoughts.

“I’m fine, merely thinking.” Joshua shook his head, handing the psychic collar over to the marine and stepping over the ward-circle, letting the barrier pass over him with the distinctly uncomfortable feeling that he was entering a wall made of gelatin before emerging onto the other side. “Do you know anything of Launcel IV, Chief-Librarian?”

“Only what others have told me, Lord Vessel.”

“I’ll have to find someone who is more informed then, I find myself interested in the world.”

“Why is that, Lord Vessel?”

Because it felt a shame that someone might die for him and he knew nothing about them.

“Any world that has giant humanoid warmachines is bound to be fascinating.” He lied with an easy smile.

“I see.” The Librarian’s sense of humor was not quite as refined as Hercule’s was, it seemed. 

Joshua resolved to visit the medical ward and see if giant demigod was awake yet, after the transition to the warp was done. 

—

He found himself rather nonplussed, upon returning to his chambers, to find a large crowd of very tense individuals standing in the broad corridors outside of it. 

Five towering forms of the space marines, their helmets frowning at the people among them. Ten irritated looking sisters of battle, clutching shields and halberds in tight formation. Twenty normal men in carapace plate, with lasguns slung over their shoulders and gruff looks on their faces. 

They looked to him as he approached, simultaneously bowing their heads and clapping their hands into salutes of aquillas. The sisters went a step further and dropped to their knees as he arrived. 

“I see a crowd has formed outside my chambers.” Joshua observed after a moment’s delay. He felt slightly awkward, holding a bag that contained a standard rations snatched from the kitchens that he was planning on enjoying in solitude. None of them responded immediately. He wiggled a hand. “Can any of you care to explain?”

“Lord Vessel-”

“Lord Joshua-”

“Incarnate-”

All of them began talking at once, provoking them to look at each other with irritation and silence for a moment. After a silent debate, the space marine with the red helmet spoke first. “Lord Joshua. In light of custodian Hercule’s current injury, Chapter Master Milton has saw fit to assign our squad to indefinite guard duty to your persons.”

“Same here, Lord Incarnate.” The gruff looking voidsman in carapace plate declared with a nod, rolling a kind of cigar around between his teeth. “Head of Security told us to station ourselves ‘round you, to make sure you aren’t alone if another attack comes.”

“Canoness Apollyon commanded similarly of us, Lord Vessel.” The sister of battle at the front declared sharply. “As our group served you in such a role once already, we are most suitable for this role.”

“You are not a marine.” One of the space marines observed in a dry tone that carried through the mechanical reverberation of his helmet, making the sisters of battle growl and glare in his direction. 

“There’s only five and ten of you respectively- that’s not enough for a proper round-the-clock rotation of guards.” The voidsman declared with a shake of his head. “You’ll have gaps in your defenses.”

“We assure you, voidsman, there will be no such thing.” The marine sergeant declared bluntly.

Joshua was hungry, and therefore a bit cranky. Ideally he could just eat his meal in peace, but it was looking like there would be a very long and irritating argument if he let them continue. 

Indeed, the various squads of soldiers started bickering with each other about who was best suited to defend him. He watched on blankly for a few long seconds, glancing down at his bag of rations and quietly wishing they would move out of the way so he could go into his room and start dinner. 

What decision did he even make here? Choose one and send the others away? Just have all of them hanging around? Did he even need to make a decision or could he just let them argue while he left to eat?

There was a distinctly unimpressed feeling in the back of his mind with that thought. 

He restrained a sigh, closing his eyes and considering the situation.

If he chose one faction, it would be a sign of blatant favoritism and that could only cause problems. If he didn’t choose a faction, he’d have to deal with thirty five soldiers following his every action and taking up space and never giving him any privacy. 

He needed to trim their numbers down to a manageable amount while not showing any particular bias towards one group or another. 

“One.” He declared, very thankful that his voice did not crack in that exact moment. His voice cut through the argument, making the soldiers hush and look to him. He let the oversized sword he was burdened with lean against his shoulder and raised one finger, opening his eyes to give them his best ‘stern’ expression. “Go back to your captains and commanders, and tell them to select a champion from amongst yourselves. One champion from each group will serve as my interim honor-guard, no more.”

They paused to look at each other, then to him again. 

“Lord Joshua- a mixed unit squad would not operate as effectively as a homogenous squad.” The space marine sergeant said with only the mildest hint of hesitation.

“The entire ship are my bodyguards, the countless thousands onboard. The only purpose an honor guard serves is immediate defense to buy time for the other countless soldiers onboard to rush to my defense.” He pointed out with an annoyed scowl. “One champion, from each group, that is all I will allow.”

Then, with a little wave, he gestured down the hall. “Now go tell your commanders what I told you, and stop crowding the path to my chambers. I haven’t eaten dinner yet and this bickering amongst yourselves is obstructing me.”

They were very quick to clear out of the hall when he said that, fervent apologies and rushed feet carrying them down the way and around the corner, allowing him sight of his door once again.

There was a feeling of vague, stern approval in the back of his mind.

“Out of curiosity, Your Divinity, what kind of ration did you select from the mess halls?” The remembrancer, his faithful and incredibly furtive companion, asked with a polite air and a small lean forwards. 

Joshua held up the bag for him to see. ‘Grox slab steak with heavy gravy, flatbread with pepper spread, fruit and grain bar and two types of recaff’ was writ in Low Gothic across its front.

“Ah, my thanks, Your Divinity. I didn’t quite catch it earlier.”

“No problem.” Joshua nodded, grabbing the overlarge sword again and walking into his chambers, letting the remembrancer through before closing the door and going over to his desk to sit, make a quick prayer, and start digging in.

It wasn’t a bad ration but he didn’t like gravy, so it was a mostly mediocre dinner.

Alone in his room.

Rather than amongst the chatter of sisters gossipping about nonsense, Hercule quipping, or Denaira’s silent reactions to his antics. 

He sighed, leaning forwards, propping his elbows on the table, and resting his face in his hands.

He somehow managed to finish dinner, despite losing his appetite.