Warhammer: Dark Knights

The clash of weapons echoes through the fog, sharp and relentless. As you move closer, the source becomes clearer—a battlefield littered with thousands of bodies. Your bodies, fallen in countless ways.

Clang! A flash of sparks erupts as your weapon meets his. "Why won't you die?! How many times do I have to kill you?!" you scream, your voice raw with frustration, eyes locked on the man before you.

He doesn't answer, only presses forward with silent determination. You clash again. "How long do you plan on keeping me here?!" you shout, swinging your blade, anger and exhaustion weighing heavily on you.

You've killed him five times already, each victory costing you dearly. Each time you've died more.

Another body crumples to the ground, and you stand over it, driving your sword through his chest. "Six times now..." you mutter, barely able to stay upright, the weight of exhaustion pushing you to your knees.

Then, once again, you hear him. Walking towards you from behind.

When you push yourself up, and ready yourself to face him again. You see him changed, his entire posture change from a man that full of pride and efficiency to full of arrogance.

While still thinking about the change, he slash you with a quick and percise movement. You raise your sword to defend yourself. Once the swords clash, you see that it's sword now more like a art piece than a weapon, with the cravings of picture on the blade and holder.

You are on the disadvantage, as it's attack become more dangerous than before. Each with more precision than before, making you harder to defend yourself.

After dying for couple times, you finally corner him. With one plunge into his chest, his sword fall to the ground, follow by his body.

You close your eyes after that, choosing to rest yourself even when knowing he will return again. Strangely, after waiting for 5 minutes, the man didn't return.

When you open your eyes, you see a book. A book with black color and gold trimming on it, and no title on it too. You also see that the armor and sword that you have been equipping have disappear too, with all the bodies.

You extand your left hand to the book and the moment you touch it. The book put out a blinding light, you close your eyes and turn your head to evade the light.

"Huh, so you have pass the test?" A sound of old man suddenly appear. When you see him, he is standing at the place where the book original at with the book in hand. "Well now you can relax, as I only need you to read the book a learn." He handed the book towards you. "Now, take it so the lessons can begin."

"You mean that is a test." You say to him. "Do you know what have I been through to escape that place?" He look at you, with sadness in his eyes.

"I know." He say with sadness showing in the voice. "But this is the price you must pay, so that you can help the Imperium, help the human kind." He say seriously. "Now, take the book so we can start the lesson, while you can learn from the book yourself, but there are only things you can only learn from me." He then shoved the book into your hand, and without waiting for you. He started his lessons. And you have no choice but to concentrate on what his teaching.

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After a long time of lessons, you learn on many things. Politics, warfare, architecture, economy, administration, art and more, all knowledge that a leader will and should know about.

"Now, is there questions that you want to ask me?" He ask you after the blackboard he used to teach you disappear.

You nodded and ask. "What do you mean by test you say in the beginning? Why test me?"

"Hmmm," he hum while sitting down on a chair that just appear out of nowhere. "Just like I say, its a test. A test to see your prowess, your ability to adjust, just that simple. For why is you, because its you the reason you got test, you understand what I'm saying, right?" He finished it while looking into your eyes.

"You know." You say in shock. "Who are you!? Are you those fo...." Before you finish it, you can see the old man face darkened. You quickly said. "Are you the Emperor?"

"You can said that, if you think I'm the Emperor." His face lift back up. "What do you mean by this?"

"Just like I said, if you want to assume me as the Emperor, than I am the Emperor, and now you time is up." He suddenly lift his left hand towards you, and you felt a hard force push you behind, making you hit the floor hard and pass out. Before you pass out, you heard he said. "You still have one last lesson to attend."

When you open your eyes, you see a hammer, floating Infront of you. You see a person when you touch the hammer.

The person is building a machine, a large machine of unknown usage. Just when you want to get more closer to him, you black out again, and when you wake up, you suddenly need to process a person, that person memory. All the information on how to build maintain machines, even the information on machines that the person have build and planning to build, but most of the machines can't be recreate as them come the Dark Age and the Great Crusade, which you somehow knew.

After you recover, you see the book floating in front of you, now cover in red and blue, with shimmering gold trim with the hammer beside it, and you also hear faint sound of a animal walking or flying coming from the fog.

Before you can process all of this, you suddenly see a blinding lights and you're back to the reality. When the techpriest open your capsule.

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987.M36 (current time)

You closed the book and exited the dream to have a sleep.

The next day, you're walking the corridor with Nine towards the main hall, to meet with the other space marine. "Luck for you and me, the second batch have also just completed their transformation, so they also will be joining us." Nine say to you.

"That's good, is there anything I should watch out for?" You ask, trying to gain information about them.

Nine nods. "The first batch comes from different hive cities on Anvilus-Delta, all from the underhive. They've formed tight groups based on their home cities and are quite wary of outsiders. But, they're exceptional in combat. The second batch, though, is from the feudal world. They've had some education, which gives them a better aptitude for leadership."

"I see," you say, thinking it over. "The mix might cause some issues with unity, but that can be worked on."

Nine gives a small nod. "It's possible. But, we'll manage. As for survival rates, 98 from the first batch made it through, and 253 from the second. That gives us 351 battle-ready troops."

"That's good." you say while approaching the main hall entrance door. "If you can provide the equipment and transportation, which I trust that you can, we can start to participate in real combat to train and bond brotherhood with each other."

"Of course." Nine nodded. "The equipment and the ships all have been prepared."

You nodded while pushing the door open. You can see the 351 mens inside the hall, each standing in their own groups, only talking with the people within their own group.

As the doors open, all chatter dies. Every eye in the room turns toward you. Their faces are a mix of emotions: curiosity, suspicion, surprise, and uncertainty.

All their eyes follow you, while you and Nine walk towards the front.

"Greetings," you say, your voice steady but commanding. "I am Atharion, the leader of this chapter, the chapter you will now be part of."

Sensing their restlessness, you continue, your voice strong and unwavering. "The chapter you are now part of is not just any force. Though we are newly created, we will become the sharpest sword and the mightiest shield in service to the Imperium and the Emperor. We will be His noble knights, defending the Imperium in both light and shadow, purging traitors and xenos alike."

As they processing your words, you conclude with conviction. "And so, I declare that our chapter shall be known as the Dark Knights, knights who protect the weak and purge the enemies of the Emperor."