To welcome the arrival of the new Rune Priests Axis held a grand banquet aboard the Avenger-class battleship.
Space Marines from the other two ships were summoned to join the celebration as well.
Under the leadership of Wolf Lord Axis, everyone raised their glasses to toast the new brother who had just joined their ranks.
"Go ahead and introduce yourself! Tell us your name, age, and what you like to do," Axis said, turning toward the newly arrived Librarian. "From now on, you'll be part of the pack!"
The man stood up and bowed respectfully to Axis.
"Great Wolf Lord! My name is Mader, a psyker born on Prospero. I went through the neophyte transformation fifteen years ago and just turned thirty this year.
"As for my interests, I enjoy studying all sorts of psychic disciplins."
To be honest, by rights, his original path in life should have been to receive Lord Magnus's gene-seed and become part of the Thousand Sons.
But fate had other plans.
Fifteen years ago, when he went to undergo that notorious neophyte surgery with only a one-in-ten chance of success, this very man, Axis, had arrived on Prospero.
He remembered clearly: at the time, Axis placed a hand on his forehead, and a strange energy called 'Ki' flowed through his body.
After completing his transformation, he discovered the gene-seed implanted in him wasn't from Magnus at all, but from Leman Russ.
He was to become a Space Wolf.
From that day forward, he received the same training as all other new recruits, and after graduation, he was even personally taught by the man he admired most, Lord Magnus himself.
Together with a dozen others, he received some of the finest psychic tutelage Magnus had ever given, even better than some of the Thousand Sons themselves.
Upon their graduation, Magnus had proudly told them that they were the first batch of Librarians cultivated by the Thousand Sons, destined to become an exceptionally powerful unit among all Space Marines, and perhaps even a decisive force in the future.
They would use their psychic might to shield the legion, foresee danger, and drive away the Warp's corruption.
As for Axis, the Wolf Lord standing before him, Mader's feelings were straightforward.
If not for Axis's intervention, he might have died during the neophyte surgery, as before Axis arrived, the Thousand Sons' mortality rate for recruits was notoriously high.
He never imagined that, after joining the Space Wolves, he'd be chosen by Axis himself to serve as his personal Librarian, or, as the Wolves called it, Rune Priest.
"Hahaha! That won't do, Mader! Starting today, you'll need a few more hobbies, like drinking, and brawling for example!" Axis laughed, raising his glass.
"Yeah, newbie! The Wolf Lord's right. You gotta learn to drink with us!" someone shouted.
"And as a new brother, by our tradition, you've gotta fight every single one of us, and no psychic powers allowed!" a Space Wolf clapped Mader on the shoulder and grinned.
Mader pursed his lips, a bit speechless as he glanced at Axis.
He'd heard stories before joining the Space Wolves, but it turned out these guys were wilder than he'd imagined.
"Hahaha! You've got to learn to fit in!" Axis shouted, "Lukak, show our new brother how it's done!"
"Fight! Fight!!" Over a thousand Space Marines pounded the tables, shouting in unison.
"My brother, let me teach you the traditions of the Wolves," said Sergeant Lukak as he stood, removed his power armor, and dragged Mader to the center of the hall.
If psychic powers were allowed, ordinary Space Marines would be no match for a Librarian as one could easily wipe out a dozen or twenty regular Marines.
But when it came to pure physical strength, that was another story, especially since Axis had already used Ki to strengthen these Wolves.
It took only a few rounds before Mader was left battered and bruised.
'Who am I? Where am I?'
Wasn't this supposed to be a welcome? Why were they beating him up?
Madar could only stare blankly at the ceiling of the hall as he lay on the floor questioning his existence.
At that moment, a hand reached out, and Madar, almost instinctively, took it.
Lukak got Mader to his feet, all the while grinning and patted his back encoutraing him, and pouring him a drink.
Through it all, Mader felt no hostility at all. In fact, with his psychic senses, Mader could feel only warmth and camaraderie from the Wolves.
This really was their tradition.
It was a far cry from what he'd expected.
He'd thought the outside world would hate or even despise psykers. Instead, this new environment was looking pretty good.
During the banquet, Mader noticed there were two other psykers beside him in the company.
His new Wolf Lord, and the beautiful woman seated at Axis's side.
By now, all his nervousness about joining a new Chapter had vanished.
After another bout of friendly brawl, two Space Marines helped him back to Axis's side.
Axis himself handed him a cup of mead, to celebrate the addition of a new Rune Priest!
"Hahaha! Mader, do you know who the mightiest warrior among the Space Wolves is?" one of the Wolves said, sitting down with a drink.
"I imagine it must be Lord Leman Russ himself!" Mader replied.
Was there really any need to ask?
Within the entire legion, the strongest combatant was, of course, the Primarch. And below the Primarch, if Mader guessed right, it should be their own Wolf Lord.
"Hahaha! Wrong answer!"
"Another one fell for it!"
"Brother, the strongest in the Space Wolves isn't our Father Wolf," the nearby Space Wolves all burst out laughing.
Every new recruit got asked this question when they first arrived.
The answers were always the same.
In their eyes, the mightiest was obviously their father.
But in truth, the strongest was their Wolf Lord, Axis.
After entering that berserk transformation state, Axis could even beat Russ in a fight.
The two of them had actually sparred several times, and the result went without saying.
Whether it was eating, drinking, or fighting, Russ was now suppressed in every way.
"How… How is that possible? A Primarch is the strongest aside from the Emperor himself!" Mader was completely stunned.
A human stronger than a Primarch, besides the Emperor? and he was a Space Marine at that!
"This is the Wolves' secret, my brother. You must guard it well. Everyone here trusts you enough to tell you this," one of Axis's officers said, clapping Mader on the shoulder, "Out there, Lord Axis is just a Wolf Lord, the strongest Wolf is still our Father, understand?"
The power of Ki was as closely guarded a secret among the Wolves as their Wulfen transformations.
"Don't doubt it, brother. In the Space Wolves, the strongest of all is Lord Axis! He truly is the greatest human alive, aside from the Emperor himself," another Wolf confirmed.
"Hahaha! You'll see for yourself one day," Axis said, giving Mader a friendly pat on the shoulder.
To outsiders, the strongest, other than himself, was obviously Russ. But in truth, after all these years, the Saibamen had grown a lot as well.
Dou and Thor, when empowered by Ki, could actually beat Russ in combat.
Of course, if Russ used his psychic powers, it would be a different story. His old man hadn't slacked off in psychic training these years!
But on the surface, their old man was still the number one warrior.
Only Axis and the two Saibamen could beat him.
After the welcome banquet ended that night, Axis assigned Mader a room and provided him with a mortal servant.
…
Back in their quarters, Axis turned to Kasha and asked, "Kasha, what do you think of this Mader's psychic abilities?"
"Not bad at all!
"Among psykers, he's actually pretty strong. The body of a Space Marine, plus the power of a psyker, along with Prospero's psychic arts…
"His power is several times greater than other psykers at his level! He may not be even weaker than I was before," Kasha replied.
Of course, that was before she went to Prospero.
Now, Kasha was confident she could match even Malcador himself.
"Good. Then let's include him in our plans and have him assist you.
"If something really goes wrong with me, with both your psychic powers combined, you should be able to pull me back to my senses," Axis said.
"Isn't this a little too soon? He's just joined us, and you're already telling him something so important?" Kasha asked, slightly surprised as she helped axis with his armor.
"If we want him to truly become one of the Wolves, we can't keep secrets from him.
"Besides, I'll be using this transformation on the battlefield eventually. There's no hiding it."
Axis really disliked the Imperial way of doing things.
The Super Saiyan transformation would come out sooner or later anyway.
Sometimes, hiding things only bred distrust.
It was as simple as this, a man died for those who truly understood him.
That was real brotherhood!
"Alright then. I'll talk to him when I get a chance," Kasha finally agreed with a nod, while taking the chance to feel Axis' chest and abs, a mischievous glint in her eyes.
Axis was a bit speechless as he helped Kasha with her robes.
"We've been tother for over a decade now, Kasha," Axis said, pinching Kasha's tongue that was going for his nipple.
"But this never gets old," Kasha said, her words incoherent because of her outstretched tongue. But the smile inher face couldn't be hidden as Axis looked at her.
Axis felt a smile involuntarily lighting up his face.
The 6 year old saiyan Axis would've never imagined himself being like this with a women, especially not in a wretched universe like warhammer.
But fate always brought you through paths you never thought you'd tread.
"Indeed," Axis muttered, leaning down with his head, and capturing the soft lips of the tip-toeing women in his hands.
It's been decades, but the soft arms that wrapped around his neck never failed to give him that tingling feeling at the base of his stomach.
"I'll tell Mader myself tomorrow," Axis told Kasha, who was sprawled on his chest, panting.
The both of them needed a proper shower.
…
Early the next morning, Axis summoned Mader and told him about Ki and his upcoming plans for transformation.
"Lord Axis, I'm actually familiar with Ki. There's even a deputy legion commander in the Thousand Sons who can use it," Mader replied.
"Then I'm counting on you today.
"It'll be up to the two of you to wake me up if I were to loose control during the transformation," Axis said.
...
WAAARGHHH 800 powerstones!!!!! Have a great day/night!!
still no news from pa--treon