Editing Ghosts of Rage (Warhammer High) (section)

=== Bound by Blood ===

The road trip wasn’t long, but it felt like an eternity for Furia. All her mind could think of was the conversation she had with Atmok only minutes beforehand. Apparently, the planet held some sort of secrets. This made her stop and think that maybe she wasn’t sent on some wild goose chase by her grandfather. Maybe Nenavist actually had more than meets the eye.

Now all Furia needed to know if Atmok was actually insane like how he acted, or was there some actual truth behind his omens. Only time would tell.

Unfortunately for her, she was short on time as it was. The chimera came to a stop after nearly fifteen minutes of driving. The back door opened slowly as the occupants stood up.

“Out,” Kortal ordered. She gave no resistance as she stepped out of the vehicle. She was eager to find out what she got herself into.

She paused and considered the sight before her, unsure of how to make sense of it. She knew mechanicum digging techniques were renown of getting the most possible resources in the most efficient way possible, but she was still unprepared for the scale of their operations.

The cavern was unimaginably huge as it spanned in front of her into the far distance. Try as she might, she couldn't see the end as it fell into the darkness ahead of her. And for the first time since she had arrived on Nenavist, deep beneath the earth and in a large dark cave, she actually felt she was surrounded by what she could only describe as being evil.

Kortal moved ahead of her, leaving her standing by some guards. She only then began to notice the many workers near the walls on either end, working against the rock with machines and muscle. There was probably a good 30 of them in this section, toiling at their work. The foreman by the ground walked up beside Kortal and started a talk, glancing at her every once in awhile. After a minute, he took out a horn and blew it into the cave.

The sound echoed loudly all over the room, gathering the attention of all the workers at the walls. Soon enough, they began making their way over, a large group of miners wondering what all the commotion was about. A small few stared at her as they approached the foreman and she wondered what they were thinking about. Still, none made a move towards her with the two armed guards at her side.  She could probably guess what Atmok’s test was.

And as if she had mentally summoned him, he arrived himself after ten minutes of waiting. Everyone turned to the sound of an approaching Chimera behind them. The large metal box rolled forward steadily through the rough terrain of the underground with relative ease, even crushing some small rocks on the way.

The large armored transport came to a stop a few meters away from where she was, parking up beside the one she arrived in. The door in the back opened and out came Atmok, surrounded by several guards. All of them seemed to be armed with some sort of handcrafted automatic rifle, probably created by the miners themselves.

“Doing well, Kate?” Atmok asked her as she approached. She sneered at him, giving no other verbal response. The red robed figure chuckled at her as he walked past her towards the group of thirty men. “That’s good. I need you to be angry. It makes it more interesting.”

He didn’t wait for a response as he turned to the group of thirty and raised his hands. “Men, I have a simple task for you. I am giving you ten minutes, I repeat, ten minutes to beat this female into submission. Whoever manages to hold her broken body above their shoulders can do whatever they want to her. Understood?”

The air was still as Furia gritted her teeth. She had an idea that this was going to happen, but the prize was a bit startling. She should have expected it from a planet so barbarous.

All the miners had turned to look at her, and Furia flexed in anticipation. Silence continued to fill the air as no one made a move, as if expecting a starting signal. Then it came as Atmok looked at her, then at the group and sighed. “Nine minutes and forty seconds remaining.”

The crowd exploded. Miners clawed at each other as they tried to get to Furia first. Some began fighting amongst themselves before the first challenger managed to get in front of her.

Furia didn’t notice the man’s details, nor did she care. Her heart began to race and her fists clenched in readiness. She glared angrily as the man simply tried to grab her with his hands, hoping for a quick victory.

The lightning punch caught him by surprise as it not only broke his nose and knocked him out, but also broke a few teeth. He fell backwards into the wave, but his comrades didn’t bother helping him as the rushed forward towards her. She roared in fury as she prepared for the long run.

---

Furia liked to fight. It was in her blood since birth. Between her father, Kharn and Hana, she always had an excuse to throw a punch. So she could easily boast that she was a veteran of fist fights and brawls. She was trained in different ways of fighting, but in the end always back to the idea of hitting hard. It usually worked out for her.

But for the first time since she could remember, she was actually tired of fighting. Ten minutes of quarreling with strong, drug enhanced miners was enough to make her breathless, as she struggled to keep standing and have her fists in front of her, awaiting the next challenger.

Her arms ached and so did her legs. She was pretty sure she was bleeding at least from the nose, possibly from the mouth as well. Her clothes were torn in several places, and she could feel that her ribs were bruised when one of the attackers managed to get a kick off into her abdomen. She made him pay as she kicked him right back.

A slow clap from the side was the first sign that something had happened. It was Atmok, and she realized that this was probably the end of his challenge. She looked around and noticed that it would matter anymore. At least half of the original group of attackers was on the ground, either unconscious or in large amounts of pain.

The remaining bunch were a mix of having injuries that no longer made them fighting capable, or simple too wary of what she had done to the other challengers. Either way, they kept a good radius around her, not making a move to anger the brown haired girl any further.

“Congrats child, you managed to pass my test. Guess I won’t be killing you yet,” Atmok announced as he approached her, still escorted by his guards.

Furia would have normally made a witty retort, but all she could manage to do was grunt, neither in approval or against. Atmok stopped clapping as he approached the young teenager, and she had to resist the urge to kill him, primarily due to the many guards following him. “I am truthfully impressed Kate. I have never seen a warrior with such brutality, such... fury.”

She said nothing as she stared at him through weary eyes. He smiled at her, but she felt threatened by the sight of his teeth. “You came looking for answer,” he whispered to her. “Maybe it is time to show you.”