Night Freya declares Esdeath's future towards…
As Esdeath lay asleep upon her bed, her body of flawless and cold beauty rested with a few rises of her chest every minute to denote her status of being in a deep sleep. Judging by the smile upon her face, she was having a rather pleasant dream not even caused by the network of tubes that led to her bedchambers the screams for death and mercy from the hundreds of thousands of special case prisoners funneled from their very cells that was her daily lullaby.
Let's dare to take a look, shall we?
Inside Esdeath's dream…
The setting was cold, metallic, and filled with angular edges that could carve marks into steel plates should they just rub together. The lighting was low thanks to hundreds of saucers that held a blue flame, burning to life from its liquid, sap-like fuel source. The blue flames' flickering cast shadows of each other upon the walls, imitating creatures of unimaginable shapes dancing in blurring motions.
The area was massive, hinting at its size only thanks to some of the torch saucers that lined the walls hundreds of meters up. Hidden with the shadows of the dark and those shadows cast by the flames were hundreds of pitch black tunnels that spread throughout the realm like tunnels in an ant bed. All was not silent though. The heavy movements of large creatures and the distant sounds of laughter or blood-soaked slaughters echoed from the tunnels' mouths, beckoning any blood thirsty creature or warrior to investigate and hopefully participate.
*Tap**Tap**Tap*
The clacks of hard boot heels crunching the ground beneath their owners echoed rhythmically as Esdeath walked down the main hall that stretched fifty miles from stern to bow of her ship, Cocytus. She fondly relished the atmosphere of her own Hell and Heaven. Even in her dreams, she could not escape the personification of her soul—that of Cocytus herself that she has molded from its original design to suit the needs of her soul and the needs her queen has for torturing any prisoner for either punishment or information they may have.
Sure, Neblading was a sure way of doing it but sometimes they got prisoners who would be detrimental to a Valkyrian diet, mostly due to some form of malignant disease not encountered before or because biologically, it just wouldn't be wise to eat it despite the Valkyrians' powerful stomach acids. As such, they resorted to their pent-up imaginations molded by their tenures in the facility.
Esdeath was excited though. She had kept around ten thousand Orks alive after the battle on Justification. Sure, they were dumb in many regards, but they had soooo much potential. Queen Freya saw them as a loose cannon long rampant from its creators—as is the most popular theory anyway—and since all they knew how to do was kill everything without forethought, what use could they possibly be of? What do you do with an entire species that spreads literally like a fungus and only knows how to bash their heads against enemies?
For Esdeath, the answer was simple. You start a revolution.
The answer caused her to sniffle and wipe a frozen tear from her left eye.
She finally arrived far enough down the hall to see the corralled Orks who were watched over by thousands of guards and automated defenses. If she had her way, the guards would be unnecessary. At her approach, the nearest guards saluted, drawing the attention of the Orks nearest her while the further away ones continued to yell out in a cacophony of unintelligible insults.
She created a pillar of ice that lifted her up tens of meters and slapped her hands together, creating a sonic boom that silenced the Orks as it traveled down the corridor.
"Much better," she said, though her voice was amplified by the power of her vocal cords. The voice was each Valkyrian's most devastating tool, whether as a weapon or a non-violent tool. Queen Freya has already shown that the power of an old Valkyrian could destroy a forest and sway a suspicious, untrustworthy crowd.
"Now, I'm quite sure many of you are wondering who I am. Well, if you didn't know, I am the Warboss of this ship, though I do serve a couple of other more powerful Warbosses."
Due to her using familiar terminology, the Orks were quick to understand and many liked the ship they were on and couldn't wait to challenge her for it.
"However, as I have personally killed your weak Warboss, I will now be adding you all to my own warband. I am preparing to unleash a WAAAAGH! of my own against an unsuspecting enemy. She is very powerful and only the most elite of our species' warriors serve under her command. However, I believe you all will be of great help. How does that sound?"
She had several at the mention of starting a WAAAAGH! against a powerful Warboss. They loved fighting and didn't care who they fought as long as they were given an awesome battle. Many however still wanted to test their skills and strength against the smaller human-like female. If she had killed their own Warboss, then she was sure to be strong.
The crowds of Orks began growing restless at the promise of violence whether against this Warboss or her own leader. The gestalt force that manipulated and shared their feelings for war began growing and Esdeath was not going to tolerate anymore interruptions. With an upwards raise of her hands, ice spikes grew up underneath hundreds of Orks and speared them through each of their ankles, hands and stomachs before splitting to tear through their shoulder blades.
At the simple display of her power, the Orks calmed down again as they didn't want to suffer such an easy and humiliating defeat. Esdeath smirked at their quick learning and made a short plank from her spot that went out towards the Orks. As she walked forward, she mused aloud, heard by all.
"I never thought Orks essential. They're crude and plain. But I do see a glimmer of potential, should they ally to my visionary brain ."
She steps off the plank and drops in front of the Orks, making a few steps back in caution and curiosity. Each step she took, ice spread like a thin dew across the floor. It touched the Orks who tried to avoid it after seeing what it could do but to their surprise, it didn't latch onto them or turn into any kind of weapon of impaling nature. Along with her steps, the blue fires would brighten and grow in rhythm.
" I know your power of retention… are as wet as your own backside," she began, her voice going from a simple talk to having a drawn out tone. "But dense as you are, PAY ATTENTION! My words are a matter of pride."
Her sharp command caused many Orks to stiffen and she walked up to one and ran a cold hand across his jaw. The touch of her skin simply made him stiff as stone, waiting for her to freeze him into a block of ice. Thankfully, she doesn't.
"I can tell from your stupid expressions… that your minds are not on my track.. but we're talking queens and succession... ." she leaves him and closes the distance quickly to two more standing by a saucer, an evil no-good smile on her face as her appearance startles them to tripping backwards. "... so you must always brace for an attack! " The unlucky Orks fell into the saucer and the blue sap stuck to their bodies like napalm. They screamed in pain as the fires clung to their bodies, causing all of the nearby Orks to laugh at the duo's misfortune.
She turns to regale all of those watching her. "So prepare for the chance of a lifetime!" She and everyone ignored the two burning Orks running around behind her as they died from their wounds seconds later. "Be prepared for sensational news!" The sly, seductive grin promised pleasures untold and unlimited to the Orks that could see her.
She skips among the Orks, her hands ghosting across the flesh that leaves frozen gashes in them. "A bloody new era is bull rushing nearer."
"Wha da yous mean?" a Nob-ranked Ork asked. She regarded him like a child.
"Just imagine this scene," she said while pulling his cheek. He swiped at her but she was already somewhere. She had somehow instantly appeared back on her original platform looking out over them like a queen.
" I know it sounds sordid, but you'll be rewarded when at last I am given my dues. With war abundantly shared! Be prepared!"
Several of the smarter Orks understood the meaning and joined in.
"Yeah, we be prepared! " They scratched their jaws and looked at her in confusion. "Prepared for war?"
"FOR THE DEATH OF THE QUEEN!" Esdeath shouted.
"We kill her ?" one Ork asked. Esdeath was by his side in a moment with him in a headlock as she pressed her face near his.
"No, idiot! I'm going to kill her !" she shouted. ".. and Loki too," she grumbled.
The Orks FINALLY caught on as Esdeath was talking about the Warboss she was gonna let them fight with her against. "Yeah! Who needs dat Warboss!? Yous strong! No Queen!" Several joined in, chanting it like a call to battle but Esdeath shut them all up with a shout.
"IDIOTS! THERE WILL BE A QUEEN!"
Many of them were confused now. " But yous said— " They were interrupted however.
"I will be queen! " the woman clarified. She gestured with her arms wildly like a pastor getting his crowd riled up. "Stick with me and wars will last FOREVER! " she proclaimed as the blue fires around them lit up into blazes, casting her a giant shadow against the surrounding walls.
The Orks were now understanding the offer and they couldn't be happier. "Yeah, alrighty! Long rule da Warqueen!" several Nobs shouted, causing the rest of the Orks to chant as well.
"LONG RULE DA WARQUEEN!" The torches on one side of the wall all flared, revealing thousands of Orks lined up.
"LONG RULE DA WARQUEEN!" The torches on the other wall did the same as well, revealing the other half of Orks bunched up as far as the human eye could see.
" K-K-K-K-KILL! "
By the next moment, before a posturing Esdeath, the thousands of Orks were marching in formation, coincidentally much like the Nazi army did in their parades, and all were singing in unison. Truly a monumental accomplishment never thought possible by those who've faced the Orks for thousands of years.
"IT'S GUD DAT WE'LL SOON BE LED BY!... A WARQUEEN IN ETURNLE WAR!"
Esdeath was shocked by how quickly they organized but she was happy as well that such beasts could be so easily tamed. Honestly, what was Queen Freya thinking when she declared these green gems unfit for existing.
"Of course, quid pro quo, I'm expecting… you to make atrocities happen," she announced while her form was briefly and continuously covered by the passing shadows cast of the Orks by the fires behind them. As she looked over the corridor, the Orks were in perfectly aligned columns and files, marching in perfect synchronization due to, ironically, the gestalt WAAAAGH! pushing their attitudes in one direction.
"The universe is littered with bloodshed.. and though I will keep it be... " Esdeath hops down and stomps towards a single Ork who stumbles back from her predatory gait. "The point I must emphasize is…" she stomps the ground that spears the Ork much like the ones in the beginning, though not enough to kill him, though she yells in his face with a hungry grin. "YOU WON'T SWING A CHOPPA WITHOUT ME!"
She twirls in place as the ice at her feat begins creating an elevating pillar underneath her, lifting her high into the air. This was not the only pillar and the entire floor became a field of unevenly rising platforms to raise groups of Orks around her.
"SO PREPARE FOR THE END TIMES!" She and the Orks sung in unison.
"BE PREPARED FOR THE BLOODIEST SKIES!" Esdeath sang as a quad of Orks chanted as backups "Oooooh, la la la!"
"Meticulous planning." "We'll have war!" "Tenacity spanning." "Lots of war!" "Eonsof denial." "We repeat! " " —is simply why I'll— " " Endless War !" they all sang as she arose past dozens of platforms while waving her arms at each insult to herself that she suffered over the millions of years under Freya's watch. "—be Queen undisputed. Worshiped, saluted! And seen as the marvel I am." As her platform and those around her came to a stop, she took a deep breath as if to mean every word she'll say next.
"With War indiscriminately shared… BE PREPARED!"
"Yeah, Our choppas and shootas be bared! "
"BE PREPARED!"
The impromptu musical ended with Esdeath laughing maniacally, joined by her new small Warband of WAAAAGH! starving Orks that she would grow and train into the most deadly and efficient Ork force in the universe. She'd grow them in the crucibles of her own demented battles, growing their numbers upon each of their deaths to raise an even greater army at a pace to match the production of a full Drone factory, bigger and meaner then the last generations.
As the flames go out one by one to put the corridor into darkness with the only lights eventually being Esdeath's own blue, flaming eyes, the real Esdeath wakes up with a gasp.
She pants harshly for several moments before recognizing the quaint and homely setting of her own bedchambers. She readjusts herself in her bed but pauses as she feels an unexpected feeling. Lifting the sheets and spreading her legs, she sees much of her legs and the bed soaked in her own sexual juices brought about by the ecstasy of her dream.
She sighs in resignation and exasperation. "Dreams are the cruelest things in existence." With another sigh, she lies back down to hopefully have a dreamless sleep this time.