The Ballad of Davin Kelos

[Bruce Malcom]

374.M42

Segmentium Tempestus

Disporai Sector

Gravi System

Forge World Minocus

 

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Primaris Intercessor Davin Kelos of the Red Angyls Chapter sat in his Repulsor with his battle-brothers, checking and checking again his bolt-rifle. The sergeant, Greogor Mastallean, sat beside him. The rumbling of the anti-grav machinery keeping the vehicle afloat was constant, but calming rather than annoying.

 

KZZZT! The vox sputtered to life with a crackle. “Squad Mastallean! Prepare f-”

 

The incoming could not come fast enough, as the tank was shattered and Davin’s vision was covered in a blazing blue light…

 

...then came the black.

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Davin awoke later, strapped to a massive slab of metal. Upon further examination, it was perhaps the plate of his transport’s armor. In front of him, the disgusting celebration of another battle won.

 

Cultists, thought Davin.

 

The wild, multi-colored dancers performed for their brothers and sisters, each dressed accordingly to each ‘god’ of the Ruinous Powers. Flames burst from torches, doused in promethium and the blood of their poor victims. Scarred helmets of his brothers sat on spears stuck upwards.

 

Davin looked around for a way out, finding... a bolt rifle! He tugged on his chains, the cultists too busy to notice. They numbered in the hundreds, but he could surely take all of them…

 

The chains strained. The foolish cultists forgot one thing to take from him; his battle-plate!

 

CHINK! The chains snapped, and pieces went flying in all directions. Only a few cultists noticed, and horror struck them harder than the bolt rifle that Davin had just retrieved. 

 

“DIE, TRAITOROUS SCUM!”

 

The kick of a bolt rifle is not something to be scoffed at. Even the boltgun, the smaller, older brother of the bolt rifle, has the kickback to shatter a normal man’s arm at their peak. Yet Davin held the bolt rifle in place, and fired it in its fully automatic state. He double checked the rune dedicated to the rate of fire of his gun, and saw it was on its maximum setting. Pleased, he continued to unleash the wrath of every Astartes to ever live, with the same ferocity of all of the augmented warriors at the Imperium’s disposal.

 

He then saw a charging, crazed khornate berserker. Chainaxes in both hands, the heretic came barreling forward...only to meet the Intercessor’s knee, stunning the berserker. Davin threw aside his bolt rifle, grabbed the berserker’s arms, and twisted them. The chain weapons fell from the heretic’s grips, and one slid into Davin’s hand. It came back up with a roar, and collided with the berserker’s neck, and with a series of thuds, the revving of the weapon, and a gruesome splattering sound, the berserker fell limp.

 

The cultists all grabbed melee weapons of all sorts, and charged Davin. Davin smiled, laughed, and gritted his teeth. “EVEN THE IDIOTIC FALSE CHAOS GODS WOULD KNOW THAT THIS IS A PITIFUL DISPLAY! THE EMPEROR IS ALL! THE BEST YOU CAN EVER HOPE TO IS MAKE PALE MOCKERIES OF HIS WORK!”

 

Davin kicked forward, obliterating the first cultist to even try to charge. The rest came, piling on with their downsized, mortal chainswords and pathetic laspistols. The chainswords were easily deflected with a shoulder shrug, and the las-weaponry weren’t even worth the effort dodging; the Mark X plate he wore protected him from everything short of a bolt.

 

Davin swung his stolen chainaxe, slaughtering every cultist in his path, before throwing it and the weapon slamming through the head of the head cultist, who was screaming litines in the name of the Blood God.

 

Davin retrieved his boltpistol from a nearby bench, and unloaded an entire clip into the encroaching horde of despoiled bodies. “DIE, SCUM! FEEL THE EMPEROR’S WRATH!” The horde started to disappear, the horde’s morale quickly broken. Those who attempted to flee were either gunned down by those attempting to salvage morale in the style of their former commanders, or by the Intercessor.

 

Davin unloaded his pistol, and then loaded it once more. With the click of the inserted clip, the rest of the horde ran, the ones attempting to restore morale and all.

 

In the end of the carnage, he retrieved his weapons, and picked up the weapon of the berserker he had used. It radiated hatred...but the martian within him made him feel as if the weapon had found a new deity it was fueled by. Not one of pure malice, but one of stern authority and destiny.

 

Then came the familiar crackle of the vox. “KZZZT!---Ss--Ua---Mastallean! What’s your status?!”

 

Davin responded. “Brother-Captain...I fear it’s just I, Davin Kelos of the Fifth Company, left of Squad Mastallean. I avenged my squad-brothers in glorious bolter fire, and await further instructions.”

 

“Well, Brother Kelos...regroup at the Guard outpost, Fort Thesson. Purge every heretic, mutant, and xeno you find on your way...the Emperor Protects!”

 

Davin revved his new weapon. “The Emperor Protects...He is our shield, He is our sword...and He shall guide my fury at those who deserve it most.”

 

[Bjorn Firewalker]

It's a good start. Here's hoping Davin killed actual Chaos cultists, and not innocent Imperial citizens he perceived as Chaos cultists, due to a Chaos sorcerer screwing with his mind- you titled the story a "ballad," after all.

Primaris Intercessor Davin Kelos of the Red Angyls Chapter

Is "Angels" misspelled? If not, what's an "Angyl," spelled with a "y"?

[Bruce Malcom]

It's a good start. Here's hoping Davin killed actual Chaos cultists, and not innocent Imperial citizens he perceived as Chaos cultists, due to a Chaos sorcerer screwing with his mind- you titled the story a "ballad," after all.

Primaris Intercessor Davin Kelos of the Red Angyls Chapter

Is "Angels" misspelled? If not, what's an "Angyl," spelled with a "y"?

 

Angyl is spelled the way I intended. The culture of the chapter's home planet is all about honor, valor, and generally heroic warrior stuff. Their ancient religion was no different, and when the Imperial Creed was introduced to them, they simply interpreted the Imperium's forces to fit with their religion. The Angyls (their misspelling of Angel, Age of Strife tended to screw with language) were the warrior demi-gods (think Hercules) that all warriors, good or bad, would become if they perform enough acts of valor and glory before they died. So, when they got their own Astartes chapter, they believed the process of Astarteshood was basically the Angylhood of the days before the Imperium.

 

Whether the Angyls were simply the ramblings of old men, misheard and misunderstood, or some act of a divine god blessing their chosen champions, is up to you.

[Bruce Malcom]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lKUYAnqxjU

 

Not sure if it helps reading the story, but I listen to something every time I write, and I listened to this as I wrote this.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

 

Not sure if it helps reading the story, but I listen to something every time I write, and I listened to this as I wrote this.

You have good taste in music. I personally prefer the 2011 movie, as its portrayal of Conan is much closer to that in Robert E. Howard's original stories (Conan will NEVER pray to Crom, as he specifically stated in Queen of the Black Coast that Crom will answer them with dooms instead of fortune)- not to mention Thulsa Doom fails to transform into a giant serpent for his final battle against the barbarian (talk about subverted expectations)- but to each his own.

[Bruce Malcom]

 

Not sure if it helps reading the story, but I listen to something every time I write, and I listened to this as I wrote this.

You have good taste in music. I personally prefer the 2011 movie, as its portrayal of Conan is much closer to that in Robert E. Howard's original stories (Conan will NEVER pray to Crom, as he specifically stated in Queen of the Black Coast that Crom will answer them with dooms instead of fortune)- not to mention Thulsa Doom fails to transform into a giant serpent for his final battle against the barbarian (talk about subverted expectations)- but to each his own.

I haven't seen the 2011 version, but I hear it's serious heresy (and Ah-Nold Conan did diss on Crom, 'TO HELL WITH YOU!') I'll check it out sometime, but original works aside, you must agree the older movie is at least great on it's own, no?

 

Next chapter coming soon. Big baddie will be established, plot will be set, and the adventure will truly begin! (BTW, Primaris are incredibly resistant/immune to corruption by Chaos, correct? If Davin does some serious glory and valor stuff ((but for the Emperor secondly, revenge and glory first), is he susceptible to Khorne or Slaanesh?)

Edited December 30, 2019 by Bruce Malcom

[Bjorn Firewalker]

The 1982 movie would be fine if it was about Kull of Atlantis, who DID have a feud with the sorcerer Thulsa Doom. With the main character named "Conan," but not acting the way Conan did- remember, Conan knows Crom will react to "god bothering" (praying) in a VERY BAD way, so he will never pray to Crom, though he will pray to other gods- there's a significant hurdle to for me to enjoy it as a fan of Robert E. Howard's original stories.

 

Besides, the fact Conan kills Thulsa Doom by

stepping behind the sorcerer and cutting his throat while Doom is just standing in front of a crowd, giving a speech

without resistance- no demonstration of the immunity to physical blows the original Thulsa Doom demonstrated in Delcardes' Cat (also published as The Cat and the Skull), no transforming into a giant serpent to fight the barbarian in one final battle- is a big disappointment to me.

 

Will Thulsa Doom serve as inspiration for Davin's nemesis? I hope this nemesis is better written than the one in Oliver Stone's script.

[Bruce Malcom]

The 1982 movie would be fine if it was about Kull of Atlantis, who DID have a feud with the sorcerer Thulsa Doom. With the main character named "Conan," but not acting the way Conan did- remember, Conan knows Crom will react to "god bothering" (praying) in a VERY BAD way, so he will never pray to Crom, though he will pray to other gods- there's a significant hurdle to for me to enjoy it as a fan of Robert E. Howard's original stories.

 

Besides, the fact Conan kills Thulsa Doom by

stepping behind the sorcerer and cutting his throat while Doom is just standing in front of a crowd, giving a speech

without resistance- no demonstration of the immunity to physical blows the original Thulsa Doom demonstrated in Delcardes' Cat (also published as The Cat and the Skull), no transforming into a giant serpent to fight the barbarian in one final battle- is a big disappointment to me.

 

Will Thulsa Doom serve as inspiration for Davin's nemesis? I hope this nemesis is better written than the one in Oliver Stone's script.

I have not read Robert E. Howard's original stories, so the movie is fine to me. I'll give those books a try, when I find the time.

 

And yes, he will. But trust me, he will be far different and far more powerful than 1982 Doom. FAAAAR more powerful.