Editing Trip Into Hell (Warhammer High) (section)

===The Mouth of Hell===
They knew the route; it had burned itself into their memories. It wasn’t long before the emerged into the defence laser chamber. 

The Defence laser chamber was different now. It was lit with a ruddy red light, and the Cables and conduits were gone. The chains and hoists once used to move the weapon into firing position were now heavy with the skulls of men and Orks. Hellish symbols had been painted in blood all over the walls, snake-like runes and eight pointed stars. There were bloody footprints on the floor, bloody handprints on the walls. It was a scene from the nightmares of a madman.

Ahriman and the Daemon were duelling before the open door of the Plasma Reactor, the source of the hellish light. Heqa staff met bird-headed staff in blow after blow so fast Julius could barely see them. As they fought before them, it seemed as though the combatants had swollen to inhuman proportions many times their real size.

“What do we do?” Summer asked him as they stood there, numbly watching the titanic clash.
Ahriman saw them and briefly looked over. It was only for a split second, but his Daemonic foe only needed that.

A swing of the bird-headed staff, and Ahriman was sent sprawling. As he struggled to his feet, he yelled at Julius.

“Julius! The Daemon’s too strong! It must be weakened! Use that Grenade, destroy the Reactor! That’s the source of the Daemon’s power! That's how it's maintaining the Warp Rift! Destroy it and I can banish the bastard!”

Julius nodded, thinking fast. He drew his pistol and ran. Something struck him across the shoulder and flung him aside like he was a rag doll. He struggled to his feet, only to be sent flying again. He could not see what had flung him across the room, there was nothing else in here save for him, Summer, Ahriman and the Daemon. She raised her Lasgun to shoot, but a moment later it was snatched from her grip by invisible hands and flung aside. It was powerful indeed, more powerful than he had expected. But then, what could you expect from a Daemon?

Julius turned and ran again, but this time he had an idea. He felt for the touch of the Daemon, the tug of invisible fingers, and no sooner did he feel the prickling feeling on his skin than he straight away hit the deck. He began to crawl for the open door, hoping that down here the Daemon couldn’t touch him. His hope was shattered when he felt a pain in his leg, and turned to see a sliver of metal impaled in it. More metal fragments were flying at him, and as he pulled himself up to run a wall of invisible force smashed him aside.

The Daemon is toying with him, torturing him for its own amusement while it battles with Ahriman. Julius didn’t know what to do, what he could do to stop a creature with powers beyond his darkest nightmares. Ahriman continued to duel with it, but he was tiring, the Daemon landing several blows against his armour, cracking it with every strike. He wouldn’t last long, and without him they couldn’t survive. The planet couldn’t survive.

Before he could make another move he saw Summer dash out, twisting and turning as she headed for Julius. He felt the vortex surrounding him weaken, and he knew this was his chance. He reached down, pulled the metal sliver out of his leg and ignoring the pain shooting up his leg he ran. He thought he had run hard when he had escaped the Brass Scorpion, but now he ran even harder. His body was wracked with pain; he could hear the whisper of the warp and feel invisible fingers probing for him, trying to grip him. But the Daemon couldn’t focus on all three of them at once, and Summer seemed to understand that. She lunged for her discarded Lasgun and fired several shots. None of them hit, but they distracted the Daemon for a few seconds. That was all Julius needed. The reactor blast doors loomed before him.

He pulled the pin and threw the Vortex Grenade with all of his might into the reactor room, pulling the door shut behind him. His eyes shut as a flash of light came from within, and the Daemon shrieked, a sound which grated in Julius’s mind. He had done it, the Reactor was gone, the source of the Warp Rift removed. Next second a blow of invisible force flung him high into the air. As he hit the ground he felt his cracked ribs snap and pain tore into him with a vengeance.

Through blurred vision he saw the Daemon hovering before him. He had destroyed the reactor and foiled its plans, now it would kill him.  Ahriman was sprawled out nearby; it had knocked him aside in its desire to get at Julius. He felt his skin crawl at the mere presence of the Daemon. It was polluting the galaxy just by being in it.

“I renounce you, evil one,” Julius stammered. He touched the symbol hanging around his neck. The Daemon didn’t respond or even seem to notice his action; it raised the bird headed staff for the killing blow. 

A shadow fell over it before it could strike. Summer stood before it, confronting the abomination. She held the symbol of her faith out in front of her in one hand, her Lasgun in the other. Julius wanted to yell at her to run, to get away, but his tongue wasn’t working.
She tried to shoot it, but it contemptuously knocked her Lasgun aside. It readied to strike at her.

“The Emperor protects!” she screamed at the Daemon.

As she screamed that oath to her god, something changed. The silver Aquila suddenly blazed in her hand, thrust before her like a talisman aimed at the Daemon. White fire poured from it, bathing the Daemon in white light which battled with its own blue light, slowly consuming it.
“The power of the Emperor commands you, abomination!” she yelled at it.
Julius could do little but watch in amazement as she slowly took one step, and then another, towards the Changeling, pushing it back. The monster was transfixed, its four limbs flailing as though some invisible force attacked it; its screeching laughter turning into the pitiful wails of a monster denied its victory.

“In the name of the Emperor, go back to hell and stay there!” Summer commanded, her confidence in the miracle surrounding her growing as the substance of the monster diminished, its internal hell-light fading and flickering as it fought to hold onto existence. The light from Summer’s eagle outshone its hellish illumination tenfold and the entire massive space was bleached with its brilliance. Even Ahriman was staring in wonder as she blasted the Daemon to eternity. She had done it; she had killed it where Ahriman had not.

The Daemon still had one last trick up its sleeve, and as it disintegrated it threw a final ball of warp-fire at her. Time slowed down, Julius could only watch in horror as it flew towards her, as slow and inexorable as death itself. She noticed it too late. The fireball caught her between her breasts, sinking through her body armour and disappearing into her. For a second, it seemed like it had done nothing to her, but as she light from her Aquila pendant faded, she began to sway.

“Please...” she whispered as her legs gave out and she collapsed to the floor. Barely knowing what he was doing, Julius ran over to her, catching her, lifting her up, holding her close. 
He tore off her flak vest and ripped open her bodyglove, not caring who saw. There was no mark on her skin where the daemonfire had hit her, nothing to suggest it had harmed her. His tongue had returned to him, and he couldn’t stop talking.

“Summer, hold on Summer. You’ll be alright. You did it, you killed the Daemon. You saved Seadelant, you saved Ahriman, you saved me. You’ll be hailed as the heroine of Seadelant, the one who saved us all.”

“Julius…”

“Don’t say a word. You need to conserve your strength. The Thousand Sons are here, the Pavoni are the greatest healers in the Galaxy. They will take care of you. Just hold on tight, I’m right here with you.”

“Julius…”

“Don’t think it! Don’t even think it!” her voice, so soft and tired was hurting him. He continued to yell, as if the decibel level of his voice could hold back the inevitable.

“There are no marks on your skin, so you can’t be hurt! You’re fine, you’re just tired, that’s all. You killed a Daemon; of course you’d feel tired.”

“Julius…”

“You can’t! You mustn’t I won’t let you! I won’t let you go! Not now, not at the moment of victory. We’ve fought together for the last thirty days, and we’ll fight together again. You just have to hold on, hold on!”

“Julius…”

“No!” Why was she acting like this? Why was she not fighting? “No! I love you!”

“Julius.” Her voice had not changed an iota despite his rising despair. “I know you do. And I know you love another as well, and she will need you. You must be there for her always. I was a vessel for The Emperor’s will, but he has burned me up. My fire is going out Julius, the Emperor has summoned me.”

“Don’t speak like that Summer; the Emperor isn’t finished with you yet. I’m not finished with you yet. You can’t go; you can’t leave me here, not like this.”

Summer reached up and slowly and longingly kissed him, a kiss which he deliberately stretched out for as long as he could, as if he could force life back into her through his lips. Eventually she broke it; put a finger to his lips to stop him saying anything before reaching over and pulling the Aquila from around her neck.

“One does not question the Emperor’s will Julius. Surely you know that.” She coughed gently, the fire in her eyes flickered, wavered.

She pressed her Aquila into his hands, closing them around the symbol of her faith. “Keep this, and remember me. Tell Isis about me, she deserves to know. Always remember Julius, the…Emperor…Protects.” The last word left her mouth like a faint breeze, and her body slackened. The fire went out of her eyes; the fire which filled her soul was snuffed out.

At that moment Julius felt his soul break, a pain so pure it hurt him all the way to his core. He searched for his god, but He wasn’t there. He searched for the Emperor, but he wasn’t there. He held Summer in his arms, her body already beginning to cool, and he screamed out over her, all the pain and anguish of thirty days of war released in a single traumatic shriek as he felt his soul tear.

[[Image:Summer's End.jpg|thumb|right|Summer's End]]