A tale of d'Malkin

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Okay guys, this is essentially a Warhammer story which I wrote for another forum. However, I am using the character here, and am using this story as part of a larger one which I am writing, and hope to have published, so I would greatly appreciate any oppinions and\or critisicms that you might have, so here goes:


Daie sat at the edge of the battleground, and watched the carnage within. Great Khornate warriors clashed, Tzeenechi wizards sent destructive lightning bolts careening round, Nurgle warriors festered at their tables, and Slanneshi sorcerers and warriors sat drinking, attended by seductive daemonettes.
A few short hours before, he had been part of this, but now…. Now he was an outsider. Part of him told him to return to Ulthuan, but another part, the primal part, the part filled with ambition, lust, bloodlust and decay urged him to return. He knew what must be done. The Wastes beckoned. Giving a silent farewell to his cavorting comrades, he left, not knowing if he would ever return.

Two weeks later saw him deep within the waste, his food-long gone, drink-long gone. He estimated he had roughly two days left to live. The heat had sapped his strength, and will to live. Just as he gave up all hope, he saw before him a lush grove, not unlike his own home way back on Ulthuan. As he entered, he drew both swords. This was his grove. But how? Where? Why? A thousand questions whirled through his head. But all queries were brushed aside by the sight of the familiar pool in the centre of the clearing, complete with its waterfall and the berry bushes nearby. He rushed forward, and gorged himself on the life giving nutrients, and soon after he had filled his belly, fell into a trance like sleep.

A dream, a choice. He walked the ash wastes, the bleak nothing surrounding him. He felt so alone…..
Suddenly, a shadow appeared next to him. It made no sound, yet he heard its voice in the back of his mind.
“Daie, Dai, Die.” It whispered. “Same sound, same meaning. Many choices before you. You know of what I speak.”
“Choices, what my fate dictates, which path I walk. Plague, Pleasure, Death, Power, or the return.”
“Nay Child of Ulthuan, the fifth choice is not open to you. Return is impossible. The taint has had you for too long. Your soul is pledged to the entropy. Not all the atrocities you committed can be blamed upon possession. You let your primal urges take you. You cannot return to Ulthuan.”
“ I did not, the daemon… it….” Daie trailed off. There was no denying it. It was his fault he couldn’t return.
“”There is a fifth choice Child of Ulthuan. You now what it is.”
“Undivided.”
“Yes soulless one. Undivided. When you awaken, you will be visited by five. The five emissaries chosen by those who thirst for conquest. Each will present their case, and it will be your choice. I go now, the dream time is almost gone” The Shadow started to drift away.
“Wait, I would know your name.” Yelled Daie.
A faint whisper floated back on the wind, a sound like “Lakk’siyalltl”

Daie awoke with a start. Sweat dripped from his body, and he realised that his clothes were beyond all his efforts to clean or repair them. He rose, and decided to take a shower under the waterfall.
He stripped off, and proceeded to wash the sweat away from his still drowsy body.
He heard a long, low, drawn out whistle behind him, and at once the daemons words came back to him. “Five emissaries” it had said. “Well” he thought “Here we go”
He spun around, to see a daemonette before him. It slunk towards him, tentacles writhing. Daie warily stepped back, acutely conscious of his nakedness.
The daemonette stopped, and seemed to sniff the air. He felt his mind probed, and the daemonette shimmered, and then, suddenly before him stood the figure of his long dead wife, now alive and beautiful as ever.
“Anna” he breathed “But… dead….. gone….how?” but the words wouldn’t come out, and he choked back sobs. He had never recovered from her death to druchii raiders, and indeed, it was on a retaliatory raid that he had been possessed.
“Daie d’Malkin.” Breathed the figure “It’s been a long time.”
“Anna…no… dead… gone…..impossible…..trick….” realisation dawned on the High Elf “Daemonette….succubus…..shape shifting….trick…”
The daemonette Anna stalked forward and stroked his cheek, wiping away the tears.
“Tempted,” It asked “ I can be yours, it will be as if she had never died”
Daie flinched from the caress, but was sorely tempted. His wife back.
“Ponder this handsome one. I’ll be back. Remember, as if she’d never died.”
The daemonette disappeared, leaving Daie naked and shivering on the beach.

Daie sat at the campfire in silence, thinking over the mornings events. There was no doubt that the Anna-thing had been Slannesh’s ambassador, but who would be next.
This question was answered when a pillar of flame, stretching right up to the heavens shot up from the ground. A huge Bloodthirster stepped out, and the pillar vanished.
“Daie d’Malkin” It screamed “ I have come to show you your inner self. Watch.” It commanded.
Daie stood, helpless as waves of sounds and images shot through his mind. Screams, Blood. Khorne.
“You have felt this before, no?” the daemon asked.” The power. You liked it.”
“It is familiar to you. Go back to what you know. You could carve an empire amongst the ruins of this ‘Old World’. All would fear Daie d’Malkin. You know what to do.”
And with that, it vanished.


That evening, as Daie skinned his latest catch, and soon to be his latest meal, a horde of flies settled upon his dinner. He dropped the piece of meat, knowing what was coming. Sure enough, soon a gigantic mass of rotting flesh materialised in the glade.
“Daie” it breathed, in a voice like plague “Daie, I have come.”
“So I see” he replied “ What do you offer, unclean one.”
In answer, the Great Unclean One gestured to the trees surrounding them. In an instant, the vibrant glade was a rotting compost heap, death and decay evident everywhere. And then, just like that, it was back to normal.
“This is what I offer you, the power of life or death over all living creatures. The position of Plaguespreader of Father Nurgle. Think about it.”
And then it was gone.

Daie sat at the campfire again, staring into the flames, waiting for the next visitor.
As he stared, he noticed the flames swirl into the form of a Lord of Change, Greater Daemon of Tzeenech.
“Greeting MageLord” It said.
“I’m no MageLord.” He replied.
“Yet.” Retorted the demon. ” See what may become.”
At this, another set of images flooded his mind. He saw himself commanding arcane magicks, the world at his feet. He saw the worlds greatest wizards and conjurers paying homage to him. He saw the mighty Teclis humbly requesting to become
Daie d’Malkin’s apprentice.
Of all the visions so far, this was definitely one of the most tempting
“Think with your mind, not your heart.” The daemon urged as it vanished.

The final apparition arrived at midnight.
“Lakk’siyalltl” exclaimed Daie.
“Yes soulless one, I am the servant of Entropy, Undivided, Neutrality. That is what you strove for before chaos wasn’t it.” It was a statement, not a question. ”You could use chaos, not the other way around, not for evil, not for good, but for balance, eqilibrium. I needn’t say any more.” Lakk’siyalltl added as it disappeared.

Daie didn’t sleep that night, he sat up and considered the five offers. What should he do? What would his friends do? Genghis would choose Khorne obviously, Dechalor Slannesh, but what should he do?
He didn’t know.
He didn’t know.