Malivate and the sword of Kith'arous
As a sorcerer of dubious faith in the warp, Malivate needed an edge. His power; raw, unfocused, but ready to boil over at a moment's notice.
Combined with the Balestar of Mannon and the 'gift' of the voices, Malivate knew he needed a true focusing agent or the powers he harnessed would easily overwhelm him one day and the very potential of power he sought to achieve, would simply turn on him, and devour him like so many sorcerers before him.
Malivate contemplated this fate often in his meditation chamber aboard the Crimson Slaughter flag ship. Finally, this day his trance slipped into a state of clarity that overwhelmed him with nausea. Briefly, Malivate felt both of his hearts stop. Was he dying? No... a sensation of floating, leaving the materium, and a deep blue light that seemed to shine with the power of a thousand suns, yet he was transfixed by it and could not look away.
The light grew to a gem, and then a large world, but not of the material world. This world was wracked with pain and suffering, seemingly this blue tinted world was a projection of emotion, not reality. None of this was real.... was it?
Gliding towards the brightest source of the light, Malivate was drawn towards the source of this image, the source of the pain and suffering. A massive daemon the size of which Malivate had never encountered before stood before him. Even hunched over the daemon was easily the height of three stacked landraiders. It appeared to be in extreme agony, trembling at times, involuntarily at times the warp beast's neck would spasm uncontrollably. It appeared to be bound, but no restraints were visible.
Malivate found himself with feet planted on the blue hued daemon ground staring up at the giant winged beast, "Why am I here?" He asked.
"Because I invite you. You exist, only because I allow you, and I will give your life meaning from this moment forward." The Daemon responded with a psychic link to Malivate.
Before Malivate could respond, a sudden flash of intense imagery flooded through his mind. Along with the imagery came a flood of emotion. Hardly able to control the raw emotion of the living memories, Malivate doubled over, trying to catch his breath. Both of his hearts beated like he had never felt before.
The daemon's name.... was Kith'arous, or at least its most recent name... ancient, wise, and incredibly powerful. Malivate struggled to process all the imagery that smashed through his mind. Then the agony, and the pain came. He wondered how something so powerful could be bound here, on this warp fueled planet.
Finally the imagery slowed to show a mighty battle. Kith'arous was hunted for a very long time by a large contingent of Grey Knights. Now the source of pain became greater, more focused. Debilitating pains had spread across Malivate's back. He could barely stay conscious. The Daemon's back; something was there, something that prevented the daemon from leaving this plain.
"You are here because I deem it so. And you will benefit from that which has confined me to this wretched place." The daemon projected to Malivate's mind. "Now remove it, and seek the focus, and power that you desire."
Malivate stood, fatigued at the waves of emotion, and imagery he struggled to process. Wearily he climbed up a blue crystal rock formation and slowly came to face the back of the daemon. There in the center of its spine was a black sword planted deep into the mass of Kith'arous. Malivate hesitated, was this a trick? Was any of this real?
"REMOVE IT!" Came a startling psychic voice. "Our connection will be complete with this act. We both live in this moment, or die together in the next. These are strings that even I cannot see, but I do know we are connected from this moment forward."
Malivate leaned over, and with both hands he slowly withdrew the black sword. Servo motors in his armour struggled to assist his superhuman physique and finally the weapon came free. The gaping wound in the daemon's back emitted blue lightning, pure warp energy, a part of the beast itself fired through the wound and into the sword.
Glowing, and staggering in pain, Malivate fell to the ground with his new weapon. "How are we connected?" He stammered. "How does any of this matter, and how did you find me?"
Kith'arous, free of his binding curse turned to smile upon Malivate. His toothless, almost bird-like grin hung several feet over the sorcerer. "When your chapter joined the warp, or the 'curse' as your master would call it, that is when I saw my chance. There was a brief moment, a nano-second of your time, when your chapter was very open to receiving the voices of the warp. That is when I used all the power I could summon and I bonded with you at that moment. From then on I have slowly cultivated our bond, until finally I could project you towards me."
With a glowing blue eye, the daemon gestured towards the sword Malivate held. "That is our bond. An essence of me now resides in you, and it connects us and that weapon for eternity. There is no breaking this bond and by freeing me you now ensure that your power will be focused, and grow in time. But for now my time, your time, in this place must conlcude. Maybe you will already feel this too? You see the Grey Knights will know of my freedom, and this presents a danger for you as well Malivate."
Malivate finally broke his gaze from the black sword, as blue lightning continued to lick the length of its blade. "What do you mean by that?"
"That sword contains my essence. It not only focuses your ability it is my life essence. The Grey Knights will be likely to hunt and track you as they do me. Heed this warning Malivate, and use the gift of the sight I have given you to misdirect, and confuse them." The Damon was slowly floating away.
Just as Malivate was going to respond, an intense flash of light blinded him. His eyes opened to a loud boom, the sound of two titans colliding. He was thrown across his meditation room, back aboard the Crimson Slaughter flagship. His body slumped forward and hit the ground with a thud. A moment later he heard a clang of rock and metal hitting the floor as well.
Malivate sat up slowly, trying to absorb the experience. His hands wrapped around the ornate golden handle of his new weapon, "The sword of Kith'arous." He mouthed quietly and grinned.

+++ Malivate and the Sword of Kith'arous +++