In the Name of the Emperor

Another relatively short chapter. Kill me later mmkay?



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Silver eyes snapped open but she couldn't see anything. It was pitch black and it was cold. She sat up and started coughing. She stood up and put her hands out in front of her. She started walking, trying to find a candle or some form of light source. She came against something hard that nearly knocked her over, but it was just a wall that she'd walked into very hard.



"King? Father? Where are you? Why is it so dark in here?" Her hands slid against the wall as she walked around, trying to find a table or anything. she didn't even care if she ran into it with her legs or tripped over it. She was prepared.



"Jenavive." she stopped and her heart started pounding.



"Father? Andrus? Maricce?" Her voice grew higher, more panicked. That voice wasn't one she was familiar with. She started repeating the three names, stumbling around the wall trying to find something to use as a light.



"Jenavive Veldin." There was a snap of fingers to follow the strong, booming voice. Jenavive stopped instantly and fell to her knees.



"Where am I? Where is my father?"



"You have been through a terrible tragedy child." The voice, which had been booming not a moment before was now soft and smooth. It had a deep timbre.



"What tragedy? I do not know what you are talking about. Where is my father? I want my Guard."



"They are all dead dear child. There were no survivors."



"That is not possible. My Guard is not easy to kill. He's invincible."



"No one is invincible child." The voice was stern but still soft and soothing. She drew her knees to her chest. When she touched her right hand to her leg she hissed in pain. her hand hurt like crazy. But her chest hurt more. Before she could stop it, she was crying again in silence.



"Where am I?"



"On a ship." The voice paused before she heard the turning of pages. She knew the sound very well. "I have been reading the texts we could salvage about your peoples. Your father was a good man. Smart and strong."



"He is a good man. He has a heart for the people, just like my Guard."



"Your guard?"



"The King. My King. My-" she choked up. "I want to see them."



"They are dead."



"I want to see the bodies! I have to-Ihavetoseethem-" a whirring to her left made her words stop. All she saw was blackness. A loud thunk on the floor that she felt with her bare feet hurt her ears. Then there was the sound of metal scraping and of something rolling. It stopped rolling when it hit her legs. She picked it up. her fingers examined it and she cried harder a wail coming out of her mouth. It was...his helmet. The feathers were missing and it was slick in places with what she knew to be blood. And it wasn't attached to the live man. She wrapped her small arms around the metal and hugged it tightly, rocking back and forth, calling his name over and over like a mantra, trying to bring him back to life, thinking this was nothing more than a terrible dream. Then that voice spoke to her again.



"This pain you feel, this heavy weight that feels like it's poking your heart--it is sorrow. Hatred in it's purest form. Look child."



"I don't want to see! Leave me alone!" A hiccup escaped and she pressed her forehead to the helmet.



"I believe you need to." Suddenly, there was a near blinding light, but it came off or a globe. It was like the globes her father would summon to show her positions of other kingdoms. As she watched, the surface of the globe became covere in black and red. The black and red started encroaching on one last green spec of dirt. "This is Chaos and what it does when it takes hold of something. Your father dear one, was betrayed. Your King was betrayed. And this is the result. We are hunters of Chaos, those on this ship and I. We find Chaos and we eradicate it so it cannot cause harm to humanity." The ship she was on, or at least that was what the man said it was, started to shake. "Remember this hatred and always feel it towards Chaos. That way, you will never fall prey to it." White lines started towards that last green spot of land and before her vary eyes, that one spot started to turn inwards. Then...everything exploded. The blackness around the planet started to twist and spin and become one dark hole. The globe disappeared and she was left in the dark once again.



Her voice trembled as she whispered into the dark, "I want to die..."



"Do you? Why not live and protect other planets from this fate?" She wasn't hearing him.



"Everything I knew...everything is gone."



"Aye." There was a heavy sigh before Jenavive cried out in shock. Light had suddenly appeared inside where she was. Something heavy landed on her shoulder and she froze, her head turning slowly to stare. She saw a giant hand. She followed the hand up to a wrist and arm, then up the arm to a shoulder. She followed the shoulder to a face. "Would you stop this from happening if given the choice? Or would you become like the man who killed everyone?"



"I would never become like him! He was evil! And how could I do what he did? I'm only eight-"



"There are children even younger than yourself who destroy whole planets kingdoms Jenavive. It is my duty, and that of my brothers, to stop this from happening. Sometimes, we are unlucky in our endeavors." His voice grew solemn as he look down at her with dark brown eyes.



"What are you asking me?"



"Do you wish to protect or destroy?"



"I-" she paused and looked down to the bloodied helmet in her grasp. "I want to protect and be strong like Andrus and my father." She choked at the last part and another hiccup came out. The hand on her shoulder moved to rub slow, comforting circles on her back.



"From what I can tell, they were good strong men indeed. They had pure hearts and meant good. That is a wise choice indeed." The man removed his hand and moved to the front of her. He must have stood up because where she could see his face with twisting her head up and around, she now had to lean back to see his face. He. Was. Huge. She noted he was standing in white robes with a red belt around his waist. The robes were actually just a simple long tunic and stitched onto the left breast of it was an intricate "I". Right above the heart.



"Why are you so dirty?" She had never seen a man so brown with dirt. He was nearly black. The man in front of her, regardless of how dirty he was, smiled and she saw perfectly white, aligned teeth.



"Your planet did not partake in interstellar trading dear one."



"What?" She squinted in confusion.



"Nothing child. Where I come from there are many men and women who look like me. I am not dirty, this is just the color I was born." Be bent to one knee in front of her and patted her head. She noticed four metal studs above his left eyebrow. She reached up with one hand and touched one, then the others.



"What are these for?"



"You will have some of your own one day, should you chose to serve the Emperor."



"But what are they? And who is this Emperor you speak of?"



"These are testaments to my service. I have served the Emperor for just over two hundred years." she laughed.



"That is ridiculous! No one lives for two hundred years! It is a physical impossibility." He stood and held down two of his large fingers to her. This man was just as big, if not a little bigger than her King was. Looking from his fingers to the helmet in her hand and back again, she quickly realized that it would take both hands to hold the thing and that would leave her not holding his hand. So, she slipped the giant helmet, which was really three sizes too big, onto her head and tilted it back so she could see. Then she took his fingers and he helped her up. The helmet fell forward so he used one hand to hold it back so she could see, while she held onto his fingers like a lifeline.



"When you serve the Emperor dear one, you live as long as he blesses you with life."



"But I do not know this Emperor." The man reached over and grabbed the hand holding the helmet, her right, and held it down in front of her face. Well, that was why it hurt so much. It was red and blistered, but it was branded in the shape of her amulet.



"This is the symbol of our Emperor. Our protector and our guide. The father of Man. This symbol and faith will protect you."



"What about this man? He must be great or something if he has a symbol of his own. Is he a god?" The man's mouth opened and shut before he opened it again to speak.



"He is. The Emperor is good and just. He knows right and He knows wrong. He is...everything." The man seemed to reflect for a moment before smiling at her, showcasing once again, his pearly white teeth. "My name is Khamaad. My title is Inquisitor Khamaad. For your stay on this ship, you will be under my care. Come along now." She really had no choice but to go with him. He was the only person she knew in this unfamiliar place. He was kind and gentle, if not a little stern. And he'd saved her apparently.



"Okay." She held his hand tighter, her right hand going back to the helmet to hold it so she could see, and then she followed to the side of him. She held his hand tight enough that her little hand threatened to cut off the circulation to his fingers, but he said nothing.



At eight years old, Jenavive had suffered something truly tragic and she did not know why. Only that something called Chaos was to blame. Never, ever would she forget what she had learned in that room as she follow the big man.