Chapter Text
Diary of a Necron Overlord
(Gladius Prime Arc)
Prologue:
Defeat can be a powerful teacher.
Before the Necrontyr shed flesh, I served my Phaeron Obzyrekh and his great dynasty loyally. I led armies into battle, commanded fleets, supervised construction efforts… and I had never known failure. Not until my people met the Old Ones, and dared to attack their star-spanning empire. When the War began, we were on the front lines, and thus we were some of the first to face their wrath. Our worlds were scoured and besieged for generations…
When the Star God called the Messenger - now the Deciever - promised the Necrontyr immortality through biotransference, I snatched at the opportunity greedily. I didn't think of the consequences… witnessing my brothers and sisters having their souls devoured by the capricious C'Tan. It wasn't until later in the War in Heaven when the Silent King, honored be his name, bade us to rise up against our masters, betraying the C'Tan and shattering their bodies into shards, to now be used as tools.
All this came too late, sadly. Though our new soulless metal forms were nigh-indestructible, the Old Ones encircled our crownworld, trapping us underground in the very tombs we built per the Silent King's wishes. Hiding underground, we awaited the final blow… but it never came.
A final transmission came from the King himself: sleep, he told us, until the galaxy is prime for our return.
And sleep we did…
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Entry 0
I awoke to the soft skittering of scarabs. I groaned absentmindedly as I tried sluggishly to move my limbs; millenia of slumber weighed my body down, despite the strength in my metal limbs and joints. Huh… I didn't think that drowsiness would be something I'd experience again after biotransference, yet here I was… drowsy.
How long had it been…?
I erected myself with some difficulty, the comfort of my sarcophagus beckoning me to remain even as cables and wires decoupled from my frame. My crypt seemed… well, it was hard to tell with the scarabs keeping things clean, but it seemed as if quite a long time had passed since the Silent King ordered us to sleep.
Memories of that dreaded day came flooding back to me…
…Obzyrekh's glorious empire collapsing around us…
…the Old Ones encircling this, our Crown-World, and trapping us here with their otherworldly powers, their damned webway technology spearing through the planet's crust…
…our armies forced into the underground tombs that the Silent King had ordered built, to escape their onslaught…
…waiting for the final blow, which never came…
And now?
I stepped out of my crypt with more urgency, realizing fast that the Old Ones likely had fortified the surface, as well as orbital space around the planet. Two Lychguard bowed to me as I exited, but I didn't waste time on pleasantries. I instead bid them walk with me as I returned to the Royal Pyramid, my base of operations.
As we walked, the guards informed me of current events: indeed a long time had passed. About 60 million years, to be exact. The Old Ones were nowhere to be found, according to scouts that had been sent forth. What could be seen were signs of battle between their creations - the Krorks, and what seemed to be Aeldari - littering the surface, along with Webway gates built by the Ancient Enemy. What was more, the energies which had kept us trapped underground were somehow surrounding the whole world - possibly all of space around us, as well. It looks almost as if we are within this Realm of Souls.
We have received no word from the Silent King... it is unknown if he even still lives...
As I entered the Royal Pyramid, I beheld images on the viewscreen of the surface. Our tomb-city, Xahm Temol, was in the midst of a vast volcanic ashfield, scattered with ruined buildings and red-leafed trees. Either an immense geological disaster had destroyed much of this section of land, or we had been awoken in the midst of planetary chaos...
I sat in my seat, resting my fingers to where my temples would be, were I still flesh and blood. It seemed I would have a long day ahead of me... we all would, in point of fact...
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