From a dark and dreamless sleep he awoke with the imagery of a nightmare still roaming through his restless mind. It took him a brief moment to realize he was awake, and swiftly he brought his hand before his eyes... The metal engineering that made up his fingers made him see it had been no nightmare, and as he looked around him, he realized the cruel images he awoke with were not mere dreamscapes... His kind had been deceived. Another explosion, like the one that alerted his senses from the dreams he was lost in, made the structure around him treble. Canoptek Scarabs crawled from underneath the tomb's blast doors to repair the systems that had been damaged in this last impact as a howling cry pierced the walls of his sleeping refuge. "Eldar!" He yelled with indescribable hatred, as he took his warscythe and rammed the blast door open. Outside, there was laser and fire all around as the Eldar tore the tomb guard in a swift onslaught. Kafele-Mikhamun charged at the nearest enemy unit possessed by anger and drowned in melancholic thoughts, just the swing of his arm turned a Banshee's cranium at an impossible angle, and when he followed with his weapon, he split the frail energy weapon of another opponent in half, breaking her arm and rendering her helpless. The Banshees' howls made his systems overload with sounds and he was becoming damaged, but as he fought his circuits fell back in order once more. The Howling Banshees fled after he crushed the life out of a third victim. Kafele turned his attention to a Falcon grav-tank that was fusillading the tomb with its missile launchers, and as he charged towards it the tank opened fire at him. He resisted its shots, but the high calibre of its shuriken cannon damaged certain systems in his torso associated with smoke release. Coughing in his own fumes, he reached and grabbed the Eldar tank with the massive gauntlet he had for a hand and became attached to it. The driver tried to shake him off but it was already too late. He drove his warscythe through the side of the vehicle and almost immediately it exploded. Mikhamun left the Falcon, now a flaming debris, and headed back to the place where he had been buried - he had to make sure she was intact. He entered the darkened chambers once more and sealed himself in. The battle seemed so distant there... Aligned at each wall were his most trusted warriors - his Lychguard squad, resting in a standing position with their shields and their blades solemnly before them. They were there to protect this tomb's most valuable treasure... Her. There was a tiny sarcophagus right next to the one he had been dormant in. He wished he still had his warm, soft hands to open her coffin, he wished he could caress her perfect pale skin once again... It had been centuries, but he still well remembered its flawless texture, its sweetened scent. He released the locks and opened the lid carefully, knowing well that his beautiful partner was no more. Still, he had made the Crypteks remodel the vessel that contained her soul, her new body... And it was a stunningly precious carcass, he had to admit. Laying in the soft, worn blue cloth where he had put her to rest thousands of years ago, there she was... Sakmet-SeNamun, his queen and his secret lover. Her body frame was small, so small it reminded him of her former self. She was adorned by beautiful blue stones and her face was now a plain mask with no features but the insinuation of her left eye painted gloriously in simple black traces. He released her from her dormant prison. "Sakmet, it is time to awaken." It took her a moment to reply. "Kafele... I had the most terrible of nightmares-" at the metallic sound of her voice she arose in distress. "Kafele! What have we done!?" She screamed. Kafele-Mikhamun tried to embrace her but she struggled in his now-cold arms. She could not get familiarized with the terror made of metal her beloved was now - not in the panicked state she was in, not with the unseen but irreparable damage she had suffered in her centuries-long sleep. Kafele endured her struggle patiently, her punches and kicks a metal against metal noise that he could no more feel. "It is I, my One, Kafele..." He whispered as softly as his new mechanical and threatening voice could. She came to her sense minutes later. "It's all true, then... These images, these memories... What have we done? Where are we?" She asked. "There is no time, Your Highness. Your tomb is under attack, and we must awaken your warriors." "What use? Let them destroy us... Whatever's left." "Our essence, our culture... The hopes of coming back to life - you'll have them torch that as well? There must be a way, Your Highness." "I have given away the souls of my people..." "And for them you must fight! Stand!" Kafele-Mikhamun pulled her to her feet and she collapsed. "I feel... Weak. Clouded." "We will fix that when we're safe" answered Kafele as he awakened his Lychguard. Their eyes all shone in unison like a chorus of blue precious gems in the dark. Sakmet took her Staff of Light and she was escorted out the room by her warriors. Outside, the tides had turned for the Necrons as more and more phalanxes came back to undead "life". Necron Warriors marched in impeccable formations as Canoptek Wraiths crawled amidst the vaulted ceilings above. Fire from a nearby Scatter Laser found its mark near Sakmet, but one of her Lychguard blocked it. "Eldar..." Her voice was alight with hatred as she pronounced their ancient enemy's name. They were spotted by the enemy, and a fusillade coming from nearby Dire Avengers fell upon her unit like a rain of destructive discs. In seconds, half her Lychguard was rendered useless. The remainder of her unit charged in, mercilessly crushing the blue-clad Eldar warriors with their brutal attacks. She tried to remember her techniques with the Staff but all she could think is how appealing the exposed flesh on the corpses seemed. A voice inside her - her old vibrant voice - kept telling her to... She dropped her Staff completely and drove her fingers into the eye sockets of an Eldar helmet. As the high-pitched scream of the Avenger reached her senses, she retrieved her fingers and saw the warm liquid staining he tip of her metal hands. It was so... Satisfying. When the unit had been wiped out she tore out a piece of white flesh from an Eldar female to try and shove it in her mouth... Frustrated, she realized the mask her body had been designed with had no slot to depict a mouth. "Sakmet-SeNamun!" Yelled Kafele when he turned to her "...No!" He fell to a knee beside her and pried the flesh from her hands. "No, Sakmet... Not you!" And suddenly it was all clear for her... She had been infected. "Oh my One... No..." She said as she stared horrified at her blood-stained hands. "All is lost" whispered Kafele, standing. "The Flayer Virus of C'Tan Llandu'gor..." (OOC: There hasn't been any books or anything written about Necron from the Necron side, and with the new codex I think they've gone soft enough for all of this to be lore-wise. Anyone can counter me with an argument? Let me know, I won't take it the wrong way.)
OOC: Finally someone made smart use of what the new Codex made available. Nobody wanted me to believe the new Necron Codex was good but thank you for doing this to convince people otherwise. Also Necrons have not 'softed' they simply got a purpose with the new Codex and personality ; I love what you did to them. They may show pure hatred and cold calculation against their enemies ; but that does not restrict them towards each other (Kinda like Eldar) A Deathmark - One of the less talented ones under the services of Sakmet-SeNamun and Kafele-Mikhamun - phased out next to them, having delivered a shot into the head of an approaching Dire Avenger. "We cannot fight for all eternity, only a handful have awoken, milord." He did not notice the Flayer Virus yet, but he was the only Deathmark so far and his memories of how much he had failed in the past was a pain, but this time he would not fail. He would protect the leadership and make sure they would be safe - even if it cost the life of his own ... Or what remained of it. Nayrumus was dedicated, brought his rifle one more time up and turned the head of a Dire Avenger who held his sword high into dust.
(OOC: Wow thanks! Glad you liked it! Many people might disagree... But I actually love the new Necron codex. I am a modeller, and even have custom Sakmet and Mikhamun models. We play them as Nemesor and Vanguard Obyron.) Mikhamun responded through the iron pipes system that made up his voice now. "Sakmet, you heard your soldier, they are not all lifeless husks!" The smaller construct stood with the help of her staff, hearing the loyal shooter speak told her he might still have an essence, an identity, and maybe - somewhere - a soul. She couldn't let the tombworld fall. The commanding software kicked in at that moment, and the Necron Lord was able to see clearly through the virus. In a moment she assessed the condition of all phalanxes and Kanoptek constructs, overriding the Great Sleep command. In the belly of the tomb, countless blue eyes sparkled to life, as bluish liquid ran through their inorganic veins and weapon chambers. Some limbless, some intact, and some in repair by the scarabs, but the Necron awakened. "Let us rise, to batt-!" Sakmet's voice was silenced as an Eldar ranger had scored a shot where her breastbones used to meet. Kafele-Mikhamun took her with a roar of rage, opening a portal with his warscythe to teleport them both away. "Take care of them" he commanded, turning to the now-invisible deathmark before stepping into the portal.
The Deathmark nodded and took cover behind an Obelisk-Pillar. Whenever he came forth he already had a target in mind, his rifle pointed out, aimed and took an Eldar out. Nayrumus first brought vengeance upon the Ranger who dared to do such shot. Before anyone could aim at the Deathmark he was already vanished again behind the Obelisk. Although instead of shooting from the same position again he alternated his position quite frequent - using his phasing abilities for that. As his rank indicated he brought death upon each he marked. And he marked all of the Eldar.
A mental image of the voiceless queen came to Nayrumus' mind, though the audio was unintelligible as the Flayer virus interrupted the communications. She spoke again "wh...re... s... res... your squad?" This time the signal had been a bit better - an inquiry.
Casat sat immobile amongst the legion of Necron warriors. The Destroyers were arranged in rows of five with a Heavy Destroyer anchoring the center; amongst them Casat had the honor and bore the rightly named Heavy Gauss Cannon. Several scarabs flitted back from his form as the hover engine replacing his legs moaned to life and lifted him into the air. Azure light streaked through every crevice, ultimately filling the cannon with immense light and power. Their tomb was under attack, wordlessly he received several data streams on the situation; Flesh had invaded their halls, ancient flesh of an ancient foe. They would not be tolerated. A hundred foot steps echoed through their cavernous gathering hall as the warriors began their march, streaking overhead were the Destroyers who made for an exit that would quickly lead them to battle. Gliding through the air Casat began analyzing each force of the enemy. It seemed the various Eldar Aspect Warriors had split up in teams to accomplish their objectives and terminate key structures and units. Fire Dragons were advancing below while Swooping Hawks were dueling with the Destroyers above and beyond the reach of their Fire Pikes. They intrude upon their realm of slumber, they dare slay his own kin and dare threaten the Lord and His Queen. All crimes worthy of his hatred, but first and foremost among his reasons for wanting them dead was their mere existence. Leveling his cannon as a Wave Serpent transporting a group of the Fire Dragons he struck, the graceful machine's front half was torn away in the blink of an eye as the Gauss weapon atomized a large chunk along with it's pilot. Jerking about wildly it came to touch the ground where it skidded along with the Fire Dragons bailing out before it could crash. Several spears of light scored on his body, destabilizing his position in the air a moment until the Heavy Destroyer skirted away as a plasma grenade detonated mid-air near him. In an instant he traced the trajectory of the explosive and found it's throwers previous position. Another series of las-blaster shots raked his right side and his cannon tracked onto the Swooping Hawk responsible, firing a powerful arc of blue energy toward his projected landing area, the Hawk simply re-coursed himself and avoided it by a large margin. Anger flared through his systems and the Destroyer forced himself toward the Aspect Warrior as quickly as his grav-engine would carry him. Strafing from side to side he focused on dodging more of the lasblaster volleys until an opportunity opened up to deal with the Eldar. For a split second the warrior slowed as he re-adjusted himself to fly over Casat, leg strapped grenade launcher readying a Haywire for him. Before he could pull off the devastating maneuver his Gauss cannon spoke death, striking the ancient one from existence in the midst of his attack arc. A vehicle and a single bothersome gnat were dealt with so far, unsatisfactory. Much more death was required to sate his own warped systems...too long had he rested, too long had his gun been silent, too long had the flesh been alive.
Sakmet appeared in the underworld of her own tomb, where the ceilings were so high even Eldar Swooping Hawks made battle with her destroyers. The Nightschytes were being bombarded, and there was a single squad of destroyers keeping those aerial Eldar at bay. Kafele-Mikhamun opened another portal to bring his Lychguard squad in so they could help fight the Fire Dragons and the rest of the ground Eldar forces. His squad - now fully repaired and functional, charged down a magnificent broad flight of stairs to meet the Eldar. Some fusion blasts deflected by their shields, though some did come through and blew up entire constructs. Kafele charged with his warriors, leaving the Necron Lord exposed, but in his mind ran an equation that deemed the chances safe... He wasn't counting on the cunning of the Eldar. When the squad was engaged with the Fire Dragons, far enough from the delusional Sakmet, a squad of Striking Scorpions crept out of the darkness...
Nayrumus kept his eyes open but he was only one Deathmark, where could he attack to change the tides of the battle more efficiently? Which target should he focus on? He looked among the Necrontyr forces and among the enemies - The Eldar. The Deathmark took a position in higher altitude - on top of a Necron building. From there he had a better view - but his decision matrix still made it difficult. After some struggle he decided to aid the Destroyer-Force which was attempting to hold or perhaps even counter-attack the Eldar. Their bravery shall be supported! A Swooping Hawk fell like a dead bird from the sky. 'One down, many more to go.'
In the back of the tomb, heavy foot steps filled the cold empty air, the battle was to far away to be heard, yet the scanners of the Overlord picked up the heat of the battle, already fully awoken he had entered the Tomb for a moment of silence to gather his thoughts, His origen was the Sacarelic Dynastys core world. yet his Hunger has brougth him beyond his Territorium, a hunger would be the wrong word, yet the Felling was the equal. He hungered for souls... in his arms and a few bags he carried several Spirit stones. Stolen from Eldar... As he hunted for Races to harvest of souls himself, he found a singel pack of Eldar. a chance of a few high class souls was to hard for him to let down... what he didnt realize was the scouting team of a greater force . as he retreated his command barge got taken down and he needed to find an alternative Transportration... Yet with the Eldar, hot on his heels he accedently found the crypts and began to search for a replacement for him to "borrow". the plan was simple, walk in find some transportration and then leave... maybe leave a Few power cores for them as replacement, yet as an Swooping Hawk crashed the roof above, the overlord saw it all crumble...
