Commissar Ciaphas Cain, Hero of the Imperium, had finally run out of luck. Completely drained, he sank to his knees, panting for breath as he steadied himself with one hand and held his softly humming chainsword in the other. He'd lost his laspistol during the last assault, and his chainsword had many damaged or missing teeth after going toe-to-toe with the last Ork. His black greatcoat was stained with varying colors of mud and blood, and his uniform was ragged and tattered from the many close calls and flesh wounds he'd recieved during the close quarters fighting he'd barely managed to survive. Somehow he'd managed to keep his cap on, though the peaked cap was crooked atop his head and seemed to be barely clinging on for dear life. Gasping for air, Cain looked around himself to examine his surroundings. Several dead Orks were piled in the trench around him, though he was sure most of them were Jurgen's doing.
Cain noticed the body sprawled out next to him was not an Ork, though it smelled the part. He realized to his horror that it was Jurgen - part of this was fear for the well-being of his friend, while part of it was the realization that he was finally out of human meatshields. Rolling his friend over, he found Jurgen alive but unconscious. A large dent was obvious on the side of his helmet, and Cain realized that he'd seen a bolt round ricochet off of his comrade's helmet during the fight, though he hadn't registered it during the fray. "Lucky…" Cain sighed, jealous of the fact that Jurgen wouldn't be awake to experience whatever fate the Orks had in store for them.
As if on cue, a loud cry of "WAAAAAAAAAGH!!!" roared from nearby, as the Orks launched another assault towards their position. Cain feebly sat back, fishing an extra service laspistol from the jumble of pouches on the combat webbing Jurgen always wore. There was no use in running. He didn't have the energy, and even if he did, the Orks would cut him down the moment he emerged from the trench. So, as he flicked off the safety of the laspistol, he prepared to make one final stand against the coming tide of green. Suicide was out of the question; Cain was too much of a coward for that.
The footfalls of the approaching Ork assault grew louder and louder. In seconds, they would be upon him. Cain sighed. He'd been a Hero of the Imperium all his life, according to everyone but himself. He'd always been a coward, looking out for his own skin. But, with no other alternative available, he decided he should at least die like a Hero of the Imperium… There was just one thing that kept him from acting out this resolution, though, and that was the creature that materialized in front of him at that very second.
There was a bright flash of light, and the sound of electricity discharging into the air. In front of Cain in the trench, where nothing had been the moment before, now stood a human. No… With a gasp, Cain realized that what stood before him was not human at all. Tall, slender and elegant, the creature was clad in red robes and a crimson cape, all of which wore strange golden glyphs and sigils along their borders. The creature had fair features, clear and pristine skin, pointed ears and purple eyes, as well as long purple hair tied back into a ponytail. No… No, it was not human at all. Standing before Commissar Cain, having just appeared from nowhere, was the most dangerous, mysterious, and feersome breed of Xeno in all the universe - an Eldar. And it was staring straight at him!
—-
Vaarsuvius was confused. Previously, she'd been sitting around a campfire with her friends, playfully insulting Roy about his airborne prowess. Now she was standing ankle deep in mud in what appeared to be a trench, surrounding by dead bodies, and there was a man in black sitting on the ground staring up at her with a horrified expression on his face. He was holding some sort of handheld weapon, it seemed, and he stank of fear and shame. Also, he seemed to have just pissed himself. There was another man sprawled out beside him, though he seemed to be unconscious, and he gave off a stench so horrific that V considered making a Fortitude Save.
She turned her attention back towards the man in sitting on the ground in front of her. His mouth was hanging open, his jaw slack with what appeared to be shock. The weapon in his hand was shaking, and he appeared to be making some sort of strange choking or gagging noise. Either he was suffocating, or she'd scared the sense out of him with her random appearance. Probably the latter. She started to ask him about his identity and their location, but she suddenly noticed the sound of feet stomping and armor clanking. Wheeling about, she realized that someone or something was charging the trench they were in.
It was at that exact moment that the first Ork reached the trench. Appearing atop the wall, he let out a loud roar upon setting his eyes on the elf below him. Vaarsuvius found herself momentarily stunned - what kind of Ork was this!? It was even larger than the Orcs she was used to facing, and it was weilding a rather viscious looking battle axe, which appeared to have some sort of metal teeth moving along the edge of the blade! However, her instincts quickly took over, and Vaarsuvious raised a hand up towards the brute to cast a spell. "Magic Missile!" she yelled.
Vaarsuvius had expected the spell to work on what she expected to be a slightly stronger-than-usual Orc. She had expected it to hit the Orc in the face, his eyes turn into large black X's, and his body simply slump to the floor dead. Instead, the results were a lot more… brutal, than she'd hoped. An orb of purple arcane energy materialized in her hand. In an instant, it shot through the air and collided with the Ork atop the trench wall. The results disturbed the wizard the moment she witnessed them.
The missile of arcane might, instead of dissappearing, impacted violently against the creature's skull before dissipating into a shower of sparks and whisps of energy. In a hideous display of physics, the Orks face was warped in a disturbing fashion as its forehead and nose caved into, its eyes ruptured, and the majority of its brain matter erupted from the back of its head. Its body was sent cartwheeling backwards, and the battle axe it had been holding managed to hang in the air for a moment or so before gravity brought it crashing to the ground in front of Vaarsuvius. A strange whimpering noise came from somewhere behind her.
Vaarsuvius gaped in horror at what she'd just witnessed - at what she'd just done. (Demon Roach: Welcome to GRIMDARK, baby!) But before she could fully grasp what she'd just experienced, a sharp electrical crack exploded from behind her. A beam of vibrant red energy lanced through the air beside her, and her eyes quickly raced to follow it. It came to a stop in the dead center of another Ork's forehead, just as it emerged atop the trench to replace its fallen comrade. An instant later, she heard the man behind her begin to yell…
—-
Commissar Cain gaped at the Eldar standing in front of him. It was an alien, a filthy Xeno, the enemy! He needed to attack it, to kill it! But his hands were shaking to the point that even if he had the mental capacity to pull the trigger, he would miss no matter what. He tried to speak, but words could not come to him. All he could make were random choking noises, which he did so without thinking. At some point, he had lost control of his bladder. He was about to die, either at the hands of the Orks, or at the hands of an Eldar. And he didn't know which would be worse…
The Eldar suddenly spun about, just as an Ork reached trench. The Ork, which was wielding a viscious looking chain axe, roared down at them and prepared to attack. But it never got the chance. "Magic Missile!" he heard the Eldar exclaim, its voice revealing its gender to be female, or so he believed. An instant later, a blast of blasphemous Warp energy ruptured forth from her hands, obliterating what had milliseconds before served as the Ork's skull. Cain whimpered at the sight he beheld, before he realized that the Eldar had barely put any effort into the attack. If killing the Ork had been that easy for her, she could have killed him without a second thought moments before. Which meant she did not - at the moment, at least - intend to kill him. Which meant there was a chance he could get out of this…
Another Ork suddenly appeared at the top of the trench wall, which the Eldar failed to realize. She seemed to be distracted by something. The Ork was weilding some sort of ramshackle gun, which was aimed straight at the Eldar's head! Cain realized that if he didn't do something, he'd lose his only chance to suvive this thing! So, without hesitation, he opened fire with his laspistol, incenerating the Ork's face before it had a chance to fire. The Eldar seemed caught off guard by his killing of the Ork. "THERE WILL BE MORE OF THEM ANY SECOND!!" he yelled, taking aim at the top of the trench and preparing for the next Ork to appear. "WATCH OUT!!"
- End Chapter 2 -