Warhammer: Start with a dog

Geratos first joined the Black Templars as a new blood more than two centuries ago. After fighting for the Emperor in this dark galaxy for nearly a century, he was given the honor of wearing a skull mask, training to become a soul mentor, and becoming a preacher of the Emperor's wrath in the Eternal Crusade.

And since he met Caleb, he watched this enthusiastic monk from the difficult joining of the Brotherhood of the Sword to becoming the master of the castle, leading the expedition company on the Inevitable Retribution, preparing to reunite with the Black Templar main fleet where the Eternal Crusade is located or to see if he can support the Helsreach Crusade launched by the Hermit Master Grimaldus on Armageddon. Nearly a whole century has passed.

The scarlet energy surging from behind the torn curtain is like a frenzy of pus and blood from the decay of a dark body, which dragged the Inevitable Retribution, which was sailing in the subspace, into supernatural waves and fog, disrupting not only space but also their time.

After a series of terrifying moments, they rushed back into the real universe before Geller's position broke, and then found that the entire ship and the crew on it had been thrown beyond Armageddon, the Great Rift, and the entire star field, appearing on the edge of the Calixis Sector.

At first, they were frustrated that they might have completely missed the Helsrich Expedition, so they came to Wandering Port rather than in a step-by-step manner and landed in person to request supplies. Now it seems that everything is the will of the God-Emperor. After meeting the destiny of His eternal gaze and guidance, all members of the Inevitable Retribution now have their own expedition. They named it "Saint Redemption Expedition" and won the honor of becoming Emperor Champions.

Everyone has received a divine call.

As a member of the Brotherhood of Priests, Geratos has a deeper understanding than other members: undoubtedly, this expedition will leave most or all of them here forever, and he will not be the only one who died in this battle. And the expedition they participated in will be an extremely important page even in the history of the Human Empire.

With such awareness, he gently moved the black armor that had just been maintained by the technical sergeant and the servitor on his way to the room where the Demon Lord and Holy Dorn were. His genetically enhanced olfactory organs could smell the ink on the parchment pasted on the front and back of the power armor, the red wax scent on the purity mark, the holy oil on the weapons that had just been maintained, and the sweat smell on the skin of the servants when they installed the power armor for him.

Jeratos covered his black armor with a bone-white robe. He slightly tightened his artificial muscles. The neural interface on the black shell sent a familiar shock pulse. The servo motor joints were running well. He took a deep breath, put aside the glory of every expedition and victory written on the parchment, and strode forward.

"I am Geratos of the Black Templar, I come for the Suffering Saint, and I am here to accept any challenge of fate!"

The electronic eyes of the two iron ring mechas guarding the door flashed a few times at the priest, and with a confirming beep, these abominable creatures made way for him to let an Astarte pass through.

With the sound of the airtight lock, the door slid smoothly to the side.

All the sounds, smells, and sights in the room rushed towards Geratos.

——————

Six hours later, when the Atreus brothers had taken the other two to Wandering Port to start their journey of penance, Lord Caleb received a notice from the Desert Ark.

"Black Templar? Come and pick up your priest."

An ominous premonition immediately enveloped the Lord's heart like a haze.

He waited in the hangar of the Inevitable Retribution with his pharmacist brothers.

Then he received a Geratos who he had never thought he would see like this.

A priest who was almost soulless, had no reaction to the outside world except mumbling the confession scriptures, and was exhausted.

"God Emperor's throne!" Kaleb shouted, "What did those demons do to you? My brother!"

Jeratos was not wearing a helmet, so everyone saw that the priest's rich sapphire eyes, which were always full of surging faith and fanatical anger, had lost their former fierce brilliance. He looked at Kaleb empty and blankly, as if his soul had been sucked out.

Finally, he moved, and then spasmed, struggled, bounced and howled violently, like a mortal with severe epilepsy. Kaleb could hardly hold down the crazy Jeratos until the other two monks came and held him down, and the pharmacist injected him with the maximum dose of sedatives. Only then did Jeratos get a moment of peace under his tired expression.

Caleb held his weapon tightly, the ozone of the power field diffused in the air, but he had to endure, patience is also a virtue of redemption and asceticism - the instructions that Holy Dorn had given to them by the Demon Lord through the projection line in the helmet, not to fight, engage in fire, provoke, etc., were still shining clearly on the edge of his retina.

"What happened to Geratos?! What happened?! What did you do to him?!"

The one who sent Jeratos back to the Necessary Retribution was a man wearing fine Terminator Armor... The emblem on his shoulder armor looked a bit like the Silver Skulls, but not exactly the same. Caleb intuitively thought that he should be a disguised Iron Warrior, but he was very different from the twisted and miserable Chaos traitors that Caleb had killed.

This particularly pale-skinned Astartes had neatly combed black hair, and thinly pigmented blue eyes dotted on his handsome face with very light scars, making him look more delicate, elegant, deadly and dangerous in the silver Terminator Armor, like a well-maintained exquisite high-tech firearm with a cold and deadly beauty. The ribbon on the Terminator's chest was even engraved with the name of the owner of the power armor: Ahalin, as was the custom of the Empire.

"My master came to let me tell you that he is fine." The heretic spoke, his voice was surprisingly normal, and it could even be said to be a soft and pleasant baritone after deliberate practice, which was very suitable for announcing the menu for a gorgeous banquet or reading bedtime books to the master. "He may have just been hit hard for a short period of time, which caused the system to shut down. It is more likely that his psychic sensitivity is much higher than he actually thinks."

"You call it no big deal? Do you know how pure and tough Geratos's faith and soul are?!"

The heretic Astartes opposite seemed to have seriously considered how to answer Caleb.

"Your priest actually... At first, I must say that he has done quite hard to some extent. But there is one thing I am not sure about, so I sent him back on purpose, and by the way, I would like to ask you, can your eyes see something that others cannot see? Or feel something that others cannot feel? Is it just him? Or do you all?"

Caleb looked back at the other person's light ice-blue eyes vigilantly, and those eyes also stared at him without fear or emotion.

Finally, the abrupt visitor nodded.

"I know."